Chapter 09

'Alex descends into hell for a bottle of milk / Korova I'

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AN: Now, there are author notes where I talk about chapters putting up stiff resistance, this one and the next gave me severe writers block. When I was planning on doing my take on season 3 of Buffy I had absolutely no idea how to proceed after Döppelgangland. In a way I had to dream it up all over again. So here it is, consider it a late X-mas present. Thanks for three nominations in the Crossing Over Awards, two for best anime, one for best original character. Belmo is pleased. If still haven't, please be so kind as to leave a few votes. For those wondering, the title comes from an obscure U2 song, the B-side of The Fly single.

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Captain Riley Finn, US Army Special Forces, now on temporary duty to the US Air Force stood to attention in the small office. He was facing two men. One of which was the US Air Force major who had conducted his initial briefing. He was sitting behind a table with a large stack of files beside him and one folder opened in front of him.

The other man was a man who until recently he never believed could even exist. Unlike the major who sat behind the table, he sat on the table reading a file, his file most likely, reading it attentively through a set of reading glasses. He was a strange man. Strange hair that at first glance seemed to unkempt but which at closer inspection looked like perfectly natural hair growth. It just grew in ways that seemed to defy gravity. There were the strange black irises. And the hideous tattoos that adorned his arms. His Pantera shirt only bared his lower arms but Riley was sure they went up all the way.

"Interesting," the man said not bothering to look Riley in the eyes, "it says here that not only are you the youngest captain in the US Army, you also received several recommendations, including a Purple Heart and the Congressional Medal of Honor."

"I am, sir," Riley said businesslike, then he looked slightly unsure of himself, "Sir, I'm not sure how to properly address you?"

The man looked up for a moment and chuckled.

"Oh, that is alright, Captain Finn, I go by many names. When entering the hallowed training ground I am called and will only respond to the name of Satiya, which means revered teacher in my language. When we are in combat I expect to be called First. For now I am just Mr. B., Captain Finn. No need to call me sir."

"Yes, si…Mr. B."

"Good," Mr. B. nodded approvingly, then he continued to read from the file, "while your list of recommendations is impressive, your file is remarkably vague regarding to where and how you merited some of them. Could you elaborate on that, Captain Finn?"

"It's not my place to tell," Riley said deadpan, "besides, those missions were declared top secret."

"Come on, you are amongst friends here," Mr. B. said as he gestured around the room, "what is being said between these walls will stay between these walls."

"You can tell Mr. B. anything he wants to know," the Air Force major said, "he has full clearance."

Riley turned towards the major.

"With all due respect, sir," he said unimpressed, "I don't care if you are the President of the United States. I was sworn to secrecy regarding those missions. Now you may go above my head and secure the release of those mission records and I can't stop you. But unless you can give me good cause that keeping my silence presents a clear and present danger to the United States I will remain silent."

The major slowly rose until he stood up, his hands still resting on the table.

"You are out of bounds here, captain," he said aggrieved.

"That is your prerogative, sir," Riley said as he lifted his head up. Damn arrogant Air Force pukes!

"Relax, major," Mr. B. said as he gestured the major to sit again, then he smiled at Riley and read on, "your file is most extensive, Captain Finn. You saw quite extensive action in your short but busy army career. From Latin America to Africa and Asia. But what intrigues me most is an incident in Bosnia."

Mr. B. stood up and while still reading Riley's file he began to walk around the room, circling Riley.

"In 1996 you and your unit were attached to the 1st Armored Division as it entered Bosnia as part of operation Joint Endeavor. In April of that year you were notified by the division commander that the wanted war criminal Radko Mladic had been spotted in the Brcko area. Since the local Serbian police would tip off any major troop movements heading to Mladic's hideout he deemed it more prudent to send your unit in instead."

"Your unit arrived unspotted at the Mladic hideout in the mountains west of Brcko just before dawn. And that is where things went pear shaped. Your unit CO, a captain named Michael Kinsey, disregarded your suggestions to approach the compound through the woods and instead ordered a frontal assault. Straight into an ambush. A firefight ensued in which a third of your unit was either killed or wounded. Including the incompetent but unfortunate Captain Kinsey who suffered a stomach wound. Displaying great acts of courage you personally pulled some of your wounded to safety and led your unit onwards, defeating the enemy forces. Only to find that your target had escaped during the battle."

"Afterwards the Army decided it was better to hush up this incident. News of this incident might have enflamed still volatile tensions in the region. And Captain Kinsey's father was and still is a very influential US senator. So everyone was sworn to secrecy and the incident marked top secret. The divisional commander however was still impressed with your conduct and personally recommended you both for promotion and the Congressional Medal of Honor."

Riley nodded impressed as Mr. B. put down his file on the table and sat down on it again.

"It would seem you do have all clearances, Mr. B.," he said. Mr. B. gave an amiable smile, then he held up a finger.

"I wonder though," he said curious, "why did you refused to tell us of these events, Captain Finn?"

"I gave you my answer," Riley said, eyes straight, chin up, "I was sworn to secrecy."

Mr. B. folded his arms across his chest.

"You are willing to take the fall even now. Even though at the time, you recommended that Captain Kinsey be court-martialed for, and I quote, gross incompetence, dereliction of duty and cowardice under fire. Even though this Captain Kinsey, who escaped such a fate only through the intervention of his influential father, is even now a major in the 3rd Infantry Division and will most likely make it into the Pentagon some day. Why do you feel so honor bound to maintain that silence for such men?"

"Because in this life my word is all I have," Riley replied, "and it doesn't matter to whom I give it. It only matters that I don't dishonor myself by breaking it."

"Good answer," Mr. B. said smiling as he hopped off the table and came forth to Riley to give him a hard slap on the back. One that nearly knocked the wind out of him and made his shoulder ache.

"Welcome on board, Captain Riley," Mr. B. said walking back to the table, "you passed the test."

"I wasn't aware there was one?" Riley said rubbing his painful shoulder.

"There is always a test," Mr. B. smirked, "Tell me, what did they tell you prior to coming here?"

"I was told that aliens from other worlds were real and that I was selected to partake in a program, that where I would receive training in alien martial arts. That this training would allow me to do exceptional things and receiving such training was a matter of the highest priority and national security."

Mr. B. smiled, then he walked to the door and signaled Riley to follow him.

"Walk with me, Captain Finn," he said holding the door open, "we have things to discuss."

Mr. B. led Riley outside the building they were in, a set of former munitions buildings situated in a remote part of the Vandenberg base complex. To the north the large launch installations could be seen but here it was mostly rugged wilderness.

It came as a surprise to most people but many of the bases that the US Ministry of Defense maintained were so large they contained extensive tracts of nature. Often being refuges of many species of plant and animal wildlife. This part of the base was like that. Like life itself, military bases underwent changes as their missions changed. Once Vandenberg had become the US Air Force's counterpart to NASA's Cape Canaveral this part of the base had been allowed to fall into disuse. Until now.

Now Riley Finn was talking a stroll with an alien from another world. If you didn't know he was an alien from outer space you would probably have shrugged off the little details. And now Riley couldn't help but stare at them. But what intrigued him the most where the tattoos. As a soldier he wasn't unaccustomed to seeing tattoos. But these were of truly hideous designs. Where they part of his culture? A rite of passage? What stories did they tell?

"The universe is a complicated affair, Captain Finn," Mr. B. suddenly said as he looked up to the sky, "Which is not much to the liking of us warriors. We prefer things to be black and white. Kill or not kill. Too much thinking obfuscates our thinking. Unfortunately for us the universe, despite how black it looks, is made up from shades of grey. Nevertheless we try to imprint our own sense of morality onto it in an attempt to make sense of it all. Henceforth the codes of conducts we strive to live by. I myself find it hard to trust a man who has none or easily forsakes his."

As they walked they rounded a corner and came upon a table and some chairs.

"Sit," Mr. B. smiled and extended an arm as he pointed towards one of the chairs, "Can I offer you some tea?"

"Uh, sure," Riley said unsure. There was a glass teapot on the table but it was empty, together with a couple of clean cups. Mr. B. took of the lid and looked inside the pot.

"Oh dear," he said as he smiled at Riley, "it would seem the pot is empty."

"Look, it's no big deal…" Riley tried to say but Mr. B. waved away his objections.

"Nonsense, I would renege on my duties as a host," he said smiling and walked to a tap that was against a wall. There he filled the pot and then walked back to the table where he put the pot on the table

"How are you…" Riley tried to say, but Mr. B. just smiled and put his hand against the pot. Suddenly the water inside began to boil and steam rose into the air. Then Mr. B. removed his hand and reached into a side pocket to pull out a teabag which he held up triumphantly.

"My own special mélange," he grinned as he dipped it into the teapot. Then he let it soak for a while before he started to pour for both Riley and himself.

"Is a good cup of tea not one of life's great delights," Mr. B. smiled as he handed Riley his cup.

"How….," Riley stammered as he accepted the cup from Mr. B. who sat down opposite him.

"Life force," Mr. B. said as he sipped from his still piping hot tea, then he held up his other hand and a small ball of blue energy appeared in it, then it was re-absorbed, "You see, Captain Finn, there is power inside everyone. Power that can be tapped and harnessed by those who know how. On your continent of Asia there are martial arts disciplines who aim to do just that. Learn how to tap into that power. Which allows them to do various amusing antics, like smashing concrete tiles with their bare fists or bend a spear while the spear point is at their throat."

"I watch TV," Riley said blowing over his teacup to cool it down, "I've seen Ripley's believe it or not. And we do study martial arts in the Special Forces."

"Indeed," Mr. B. nodded ruefully, "and while some of your disciplines offer amazing insights, barring two exceptions they all fail in one little aspect regarding life force."

"Which is?" Riley asked.

"That it is one thing to use what you have, but that it is just as important to make sure you get more. We Saiyans have mastered the art of how to do just that. I will teach you not only how to fight using your own life energy but also how to increase it."

"Wait a sec," Riley interjected, "I know a few martial arts masters. My karate instructor at Bragg told me it takes years, if not decades to become a true martial artist. Does this mean….."

Mr. B. began to chuckle and held up a hand.

"Relax, Captain Finn, you will only receive a crash course. I have neither the desire, nor the time to invest in training you for years."

"Wait another sec," Riley objected, "does that mean we only get the kiddies version?"

"Captain Riley," Mr. B. said somewhat condescending while he shook his head, "both me and your government are in agreement that you cannot handle the real version as it were. Maybe if your government would give me a few hundred talented young children I could deliver them a force that can conquer the galaxy in, let's say 20 years?"

Pffff!

Riley sprayed tea all over the table.

"Twenty years?" Riley exclaimed not believing what he was hearing. What kind of training took twenty years?

"To be honest its closer to sixteen," Mr. B. mused, seemingly oblivious to Riley's shock, "but usually a Saiyan youngling is paired off to an experienced warrior for the remaining four years to learn the ropes. You humans call it on the job training. When I first told your superiors this they were more then happy to accept the alternative. And I can see the point. Better to have something now then something better way too late, right?

Mr. B. sighed as he enjoyed another sip of tea before continuing.

"You are lucky that you are human, Captain Finn."

"How's that?" Riley asked as he tried to clean off some of the tea he had spilled..

"We Saiyans frown upon using weapons. We have some for ceremonial use, but by en large we rely on our chi. We never even had a large space faring navy. So my training will focus exclusively on hand to hand combat. At least you humans have a strong tradition of hand to hand combat. It resonates strongly in your culture. The Jaffa, the aliens you will be training with on the other hand are more wedded to their weapons. It will be harder for them to give them up."

"I don't know," Riley chuckled, "I've known my fair share of gun nuts in the army. Everybody seems to like their guns bigger and better. As the saying goes, there is no such thing as overkill, only fire and reload."

"Amusing," Mr. B. said ruefully, then he emptied his tea cup and put it on the table, "Alright, Captain Finn, here's the deal. I did not freely offer to spend a lot of time training you. I had no desire to do so and was more or less forced into it. So be it, a deal is a deal. In return for training you and others like you, I made some demands of my own. Firstly, that what you learn will not be used against others of your kind. I do not wish to be the cause of an arms race on this world that will tear it apart. What I teach will be used to defend humanity, not to destroy it. Which is why some of the other countries participating in the stargate program have been allowed to join in as well. Not only will your governments be made to uphold this bargain, I expect all of you to swear an oath on this as well. The same kind of oath that kept you from talking about your former captain."

"Secondly, all of you who follow my training will for the duration of that training, cease being part of what you were before. Once you enroll you will no longer be Riley Finn, captain in the US Army. You become my students. Your ass will belong to me and for that period your loyalty lies with me, and me only. Not the US Army nor the Unites States of America. In Saiyan culture a student belongs to the teacher's household and in a Saiyan household the authority of the head of the household is absolute. He answers only to his mate. And here I do not have one. So that makes me even more your god. In return I give you my word I will not force you to do things that will go against your country or your core beliefs."

"Thirdly, I require that you swear an oath of silence to what you may see whilst in my service. I will make you see things you have never seen before, take you to places you have never thought existed before and meet people who are out of this world. All of this has to remain a secret. For that I need your word on that as well."

"That, my good captain, is the Saiyan compact. The holy covenant between teacher and student. The student offers his fealty, obedience, silence and promises to live up to his teacher's honor and expectations. In return the teacher looks out for him, teaches him what he wants to know and promises to be worthy of the student's trust."

Riley leaned back in his chair not sure what to say.

"That's quite a lot you're asking for, Mr. B.," he said cautiously

"Nothing worth having ever comes easy," the alien shrugged, "this is how it has to be. You may reject my terms. I will think nothing of it and wish you good fortune as you return to your unit. You do not have to agree here and now, you may confer with the major inside. Although I am sure he will tell you that you should accept as he deems what I will teach you a matter of the highest national security."

"I will think it over," Riley said as he stood up. The alien nodded and poured himself another cup of tea.

"As you should," he said sympathetically, "one should never rush into any major agreement. Personally I hope you stay with us, Captain Finn. I liked what I read in your file. I will wait here."

Riley turned around and walked back inside. Only to re-emerge ten minutes later.

"You were right," he said as he sat down next to the alien again, "he didn't quite issue a direct order to me but it's as close as it got."

"A direct order from him would be pointless," the alien smiled at Riley, "the holy covenant should only be entered into by men free and willing of mind. To force somebody into doing so would bring shame and dishonor to both teacher and student. I explained things as such to Major Davis. So have you reached a decision or do you need more time, Captain Finn?"

"I accept," Riley said, more certain then he was of anything in his life. He still didn't quite understand the implications of what he faced, but he did understand that he was now at a crossroad in his life. Whatever lay ahead of him, he would most likely regret it forever if he would not take this course and saw what was out there. Only when he had first joined the army had he been this serious.

"Good," the alien smiled and poured some new tea for Riley.

"Do I have to sign anything?" Riley asked curious, but the alien shook his head.

"What need do I have of paper between men, Captain Finn? Governments need written agreements for they lack honor. Which is why I have a written agreement with your government. Between warriors however, a sworn oath will suffice."

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BLAM!

A large blast slamming into her signaling the end of yet another pathetic attempt. Again she had failed as the dust settled and she wiped her blood of her cheek. Always her blood. Never hers.

"Given up?" the contemptuous voice sneered.

Giving up? To her? She'd die first!

"Never," she hissed defiantly as she picked herself up. Despite the beating she had received she surprised everybody by moving at immense great speed, appearing in many places at the same time.

"Now I'm here," she said taunting, "now I'm….."

Like her opponent just knew where she was she ran face first into a knuckle sandwich.

"You talk too much," her opponent sneered as she fell on her ass, clutching her now bloody nose, "let me show you how it's done."

And with that her opponent unleashed a series of extreme, fast moving ghost images, lingering long after she herself had moved on. A ghost image appeared in front of her. Or so she thought when suddenly it lunged for her and grabbed her. She was thrown against a wall and held there. With her free hand her opponent created a yellow orb of death in front of her face.

"Is this what you want?" her opponent said coolly, "this is what happens when you fail. When you're useless!"

"Shut up and finish it, B." Faith hissed barely able through Buffy's grip on her throat.

"Oh, I will," Buffy smirked and the orb of death grew in size.

Then a hand gripped Buffy's hand.

"Enough," a voice yelled.

"I told you Oz not to interfe…," Buffy tried to say but to her surprise it wasn't Oz who had stepped in.

It was Angel.

"Don't," Angel said shaking his head steadfastly, "you've proven your point. No need to punish her."

Buffy gave Angel a dirty look for a moment. Then she relented. She re-absorbed the energy attack and let go of Faith who slid down the wall of the gravity gym as she grasped for her own throat.

"What's the matter with you?" Oz said accusingly towards Buffy as he rushed by Faith's side. Angel looked at Oz.

"Oz," he sighed, "this is not the time."

"It damn straight is!" Oz said angry pointing to Faith, "This isn't training! This is punishment!"

"It's not my fault she's weak," Buffy snorted in disgust.

"Short stuff, please," Faith coughed, "don't interfere. This is between…."

"You, shut up as well! I'm not buying the tough chick martyr act," Oz said pointing at Faith, then he pointed at Buffy, "and you, at what point did you mistake train her for beating the shit out of her?"

Buffy's face turned red and her voice went up an octave.

"I'm not beating the shit out of her!" she screeched.

"Fine, beating the living snot out of her then?" Oz said unimpressed as he helped Faith get up, "delivering a tailass whoopin'?"

"It's not my fault she's weak," Buffy muttered as she turned her back towards Oz and Faith.

"I heard you the first time," Oz replied offhand, "and can't see why she bothers you so much. Not only has she been a Slayer for less then a year, you've had twice the amount of training she had."

"All the more reason for her to shape up," Buffy said pertly, "With Belmo and Xander gone we can no longer afford for her to slack off."

"Slack off!" Faith exploded, "Me? You bi…."

Oz suddenly put his hand on her and cut her off.

"Not now," he said before turning to Buffy again, "if it's all about power with you, why always rag on Faith? I never hear you rag about Angel. And he's way weaker then Faith. In fact, even I could whoop his ass."

"Hey!" Angel protested, "Only if you pull that crazy werewolf transformation!"

Buffy looked at Angel, then at Oz.

"That's different," she said.

"Sure," Oz shrugged sarcastically. Buffy looked at Angel.

"Tell him it's different," she said looking for support. Angel looked lost for word and began to scratch the back of his head.

"I, uh, um," Angel said forlorn, "he um, does have a point there, Buffy."

Despite her aching muscles and the major asskicking she'd just received from B. this was one of those Kodak moments Faith would take with her to her grave. The look on B.'s face made it all worthwhile.

Buffy wanted to say something, then she turned around and stomped towards the exit.

"Fine!" she yelled aggrievedly as she opened the gym's door, "Have it your way! Don't come crying for me when the next bad guy comes along and kills her. Like Kendra!"

No sooner had she opened the door and stepped through as Max the cat slipped in, making straight for Darth Vader.

"Meow."

"Buffy?" Angel called as he went after her until he stood in the door opening but she had already gone upstairs to Belmovekk's old quarters and slammed the door shut. Then Angel sighed and turned around.

"Look, I'm sorry," he said trying to smooth things over.

"For what?" Oz replied still pissed off, "For her behavior? She's getting worse and worse. Especially now that she's in charge. If it weren't for Willow I'd really let her have a piece of my mind."

"Red's going to chew your head off already," Faith grinned at her partner, "maybe she'll turn you into a newt."

"Buffy just can't do anything wrong with her," Oz said shaking his head. It was really beginning to piss the young guitarist off. The constants sneers and ragging used to be bad enough but ever since Xander had left and then the Saiyan also left again, things had moved from bad to worse. He'd really wish that he and Faith weren't so dependent on Buffy for their training. Before in the Saiyan's absence they could always go to Xander with his borrowed Halloween box of Saiyan tricks. Xander was always willing to help. And barring that, there were Giles' notes. But Giles hadn't always kept notes. And the further Buffy's and Xander's training had progressed, the less notes Giles had made. Lately he hardly made them at all.

And that wasn't even because he now had Watcher Poster boy breathing down his neck. Wesley was remarkably easy to fool. He seemed more interested in Belmovekk then in them. Whenever Wesley hadn't run him an errand or shamelessly used him as an assistant, Giles had immersed himself lately in a set of prophecies. With a zeal that had the group worried as to what horrors he would tell them once he learned its hidden meaning.

Unfortunately that left Oz and Faith at the mercy of what Buffy could teach them. And her attitude towards Faith aside, she sucked as a teacher. Relying more and more on Angel to help her. Also growing way too close again in his opinion. If it weren't for the fact that the vampire still had a soul Oz wouldn't be surprised if the two were sleeping again. So it came as no surprise to Oz when Angel began to defend her.

"You gotta understand," Angel said pointing towards where Buffy had gone, "she's got a lot on her mind. With that Saiyan gone and Giles demoted it now all falls to her."

"Boo hoo," Faith said unimpressed, "how do you think I had to fend in Boston?"

"But were you hiding secrets from your watcher?" Angel countered, "Besides, the twins are teething and they keep her up all night."

"I don't for the life understand how Xander managed to put up with her," Faith said shaking her head in dejection, "Love truly makes you blind."

"Xander wasn't blind," Oz said in defense of his friend, "or to her faults. Yes he loved her, in a way, but he also was her friend. He knew how to cheer her up."

"He cheered all of us up," Faith echoed, "he was fun to have around even after that cheerleader dumped him."

"Even though it pains me to say it," Angel nodded in agreement, "but that annoying goofball was the glue that held this group together. And now that he's gone this group is slowly falling apart."

"True," Oz echoed.

"Look, I have to go," Angel said and pointed upstairs, "Buffy…, I have to…"

"No surprise there," Oz said dejected after Angel had left.

"Pff, let him," Faith waved dismissively, "if B.'s already this bad, imagine if tall, dark and broodsome weren't there to hold her hand."

"Worrisome," Oz agreed, then he began to clean the gym up.

"Faith," he suddenly asked as he stopped for a moment, "talking about Xander, why didn't you and him…?"

"Hook up you mean?" Faith snorted, "Puhlease, Short Stuff. You know perfectly well I don't do relationships and he don't do causal flings. Besides, he's like you. Which would make him, well, like a brother. You just don't do your brother. Unless you live in the Appalachians or something."

"Definitely big on the no no," Oz chuckled, then he grinned, "so I'm a big brother now?"

Faith walked up to him until they stood next to each other, then she put a hand on her head and moved it over to Oz's.

"You might be a little height challenged," Faith smiled as she ruffled Oz's hair, "but you do always look out for me, so I guess that does make you my big brother, Little Brother."

"And there is the age thing," Oz added, being a few years older then Faith, "alright, Big Sister, let's go hit the showers. And don't forget, Dingoes has a gig tomorrow, remember?"

"A shame that recording deal didn't work out," Faith said. Oz nodded slightly and shrugged.

"That's what you get if the rest of the band only knows how to play three chord songs. I'm sure we'll do better once we progress into four chord songs."

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"What's that damn noise?"

Larry the head chef (and only cook) of Portia's Diner, South Bend Indiana, stuck his head through the serving hatch of said diner. On the other side, the only other staff member still present, Jane, shook her head.

"Some crazy couple's at it again," she said dejected. Inside the diner a young couple were having a loud argument. With lots of assholes, bastards, bitches and whores being thrown around. To be fair though, it was mostly the guy doing the yelling as every time the girl tried to speak he cut her off.

"Whoa," Larry said impressed as he leaned through the serving hatch to enjoy the row, "The mother of all rows! What started it?"

Jane shook her head.

"Some argument over the tip," she said, "he thought she was paying too much."

Larry looked at Jane oddly.

"What? He comes with her to a diner, lets her pay and then argues about the tip? What kind of man is he?"

"I don't think he's the one earning the big bucks, Larry," Jane said dispirited..

"Girl looks hot though," Larry grinned as he ogled the girl and smiled, "nice set of fun pillows."

"Men!" Jane said rolling her eyes, "Can't you see they're fake?"

Larry grinned from ear to ear.

"As long as they look good and feel good I don't care," he smiled.

"I think she's some sort of stripper or something," Jane said, "Just look at her!"

"Oh, I'm most definitely looking at her," Larry grinned.

"You really are a sexist little pig, aren't you?" Jane said semi-disgusted.

"No, honey, I'm just a man," Larry grinned at her, then he nodded towards the other guy arguing, "The only difference is, real men know how to control themselves and garbage like him doesn't."

Suddenly the arguing men swept his arm across the table and sent dirty dishes, glass work and cutlery across the floor.

"Aw crap!" Larry said dismayed, "That does it! A little late night spat is one thing but this is getting ugly!"

Not even bothering to take off his dirty apron Larry stormed out of the kitchen and into the restaurant.

"That's it!" he said angry as he ran up to the arguing couple, "I'm going to have to ask you two to leave the premises!"

"Get lost!" the man said angry at being interrupted, "Can't you see I'm having a discussion with my woman?"

"This is not a public place, pal," Larry said resolutely, "either scram it or I'm calling the cops."

The man stared ahead of him silently for the moment and Larry wasn't sure if it was because he was considering what he had said or because the asshole was about to erupt again.

"Look, you don't have to pay for what you broke," Larry said more amiably as he pointed towards the broken crockery, "but you can't stay he…"

Suddenly Larry's assessment turned out right about the latter as the man stood up and sucker punched him in the gut.

"Oooph!" Larry said as the wind was knocked out from him and he fell on his knees.

"No Mike!" the girl cried out but the man turned around and slapped her in her face. The girl fell back in her seat clutching her face.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry….."

"Shut up, bitch," the man said looking over his shoulder. Then he kicked Larry some more in the gut.

"I'm calling the cops," Jane said and made for the phone. The man turned to her and ran towards her.

"Oh no you don't, bitch!" he yelled, pushed her aside and yanked the phone from her before she could dial. Then he yanked the cord lose and threw away the receiver. Holding up a hand as if about to strike her he stood over her.

"If you're going do something like that again I'm gonna bust your lip as well," he said menacingly, "Bi…Aaaaahhh!"

Suddenly his menacing hand was grabbed from behind and painfully yanked towards his back.

"What the….," the man said as he looked over his shoulder in a mix of pain and anger.

A young man, more a teen on the cusp of manhood, dark haired and looking very much like he hadn't had a shave in weeks had his arm locked in an iron grip as he shook his head disapprovingly.

"Lemme go, you bastard!" the man said angry.

"Do I look like I'm stupid?" the teen chuckled, "Didn't your father teach you any manners?"

The angry man didn't answer. Instead he tried to struggle himself loose. But as he tried to get his arm loose, the teen gave it a twist and with a loud pop his shoulder came free from its socket. Then he let go and the man fell yelling in pain to the floor.

"You dislocated my shoulder, asshole!" the man said as he writhed in pain on the floor.

"You're lucky that's all I dislocated," the teen shrugged as he went back to his table in the back where he retrieved a carrier bag which he shouldered, "You don't hit women! Period!"

"Fuck you!" the man screamed but the teen ignored him and helped the cook get up

"Thanks!" Larry said once he was up and began to straighten his clothes, "There's always a schmuck like him."

"Especially on Wednesdays," Jane sighed as she held the broken telephone receiver, "always the Wednesdays!"

"Aaahh," the man cried, still in pain, "call me a doctor!"

Jane dangled the ripped off phone receiver in front of him.

"With what, asshole?" she said angry, "You broke it, remember?"

"Here, let me pay for that," the teen said as he fetched a credit card from his wallet, "least I can do."

"Oh, you've done enough," Jane said as she accepted his credit card and looked at the name, "Mr. Zack Allen? It sounds familiar?"

"Long story," the teen smiled, "and don't forget to give yourself a decent tip."

"Why thank you," Jane smiled at the teen.

"I'm gonna get you, Allen," the man on the floor said through gritted teeth, "I'm gonna kick your ass!"

"Shut up!" the cook said and gave the man a kick.

"AAAAHHH, fuck!

"You and whose army?" the teen snorted as the waitress returned his credit card and he put it away. The asshole however was still defiant.

"Well, me and some of my buddies will find you and kick your ass, Allen! Oh God it hurts!"

"Serves you right," the cook said, not showing one ounce of pity.

The teen kneeled next to the writhing asshole.

"I was going to a make a clever remark but I think your skull is impervious to my sarcasm," the teen said shaking his head, "but to show you how little you matter…"

With a swift push the teen popped the asshole's arm back in, causing him to scream as soaring pain ripped through his body.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"Now, turn in your penis, we're kicking you out of manhood!" the teen grinned as he shouldered his bag again and left the diner, "Have a nice day!"

Once outside the cold air hit him and he shivered as he buttoned his coat. This place was way colder at night then he was used too, with cold winds from Canada blowing in from over the Great lakes.

"I'm no longer in Kansas," he sighed dejected and turned right, to where the bus depot was.

He barely had walked sixteen yards when behind him the door of the diner swung open.

"I told you I was going to kick your ass," the asshole's voice called behind him. The teen turned around slowly. The asshole was holding a gun and pointed it at him.

"I see your arm's better," the teen smiled.

"Time to pay, asshole," the asshole grinned, "time to get your ass kicked!"

"With a gun?" the teen said unimpressed as he put his bag to the ground. Then the diner door swung open and the asshole's girlfriend came out followed by the diner's staff.

"Michael, no!" the girl shouted desperately. She tried to run up to him to discourage him but he turned around and hit her in the face.

"Not now, Ange," he yelled annoyed. As she fell down covering her face again, writhing in pain he turned around to face the teen again but suddenly felt a hand grip his neck in an iron vice and then lift him up from the ground. Before he could react another hand reached for his gun.

Strangely enough the teen that held him didn't yank the gun from his hand, instead he pressed a button on the gun and the ammo clip fell from the handgrip. Faster then was possible the teen let go of the pistol and caught the ammo clip as it fell. Sporting a huge grin, the teen held out his hand and one by one he flicked off the pullets from the clip with his thumb until none were left in the clip. Then he let it drop as well.

"I always wanted to do that," he grinned as the asshole clawed at the hand that held his neck, then his grin faded, "now what did I tell you about hitting women?"

The teen made his free hand into a claw and held it in front of the struggling asshole's face, just a few inches away.

"If I want too I could shove this up your nose and rip out your brains," the teen said coldly, then he smiled again, "Then again I would get your stupid all over me."

Then the teen swung the asshole and threw him across the street as if he weighed nothing. The asshole flew across the street, landed with his back against a building and then fell face first into a open dumpster which then fell shut on him.

Meanwhile as the asshole's girlfriend and the staff from the diner stood gob smacked at what they had just seen the teen picked up the gun the asshole had let drop. Examining the gun one hand the teen looked at the deadly weapon. Then he shook his head.

"I hate guns," he said and applied pressure with his thumb, then he threw the gun towards the cook, "catch, chief!"

To bewildered to say anything the cook caught the gun. To his surprise the barrel was bent.

x

x

O'Neill was no stranger to hardship and endurance training. He liked to keep in shape and often surprised many of the men back at the base at how fit he still was at his age. Often being able to keep on running after many a cocky Marine or Army puke gave up. If there was one thing you learned as you got older it was that while speed may get you ahead, learning to pace yourself and knowing when to commit would win you the day.

But slow and steady was far from what this crazy Saiyan was all about. Lee Ermey, had nothing on the guy. When Teal'c proposed the two of them would hitch a ride to Vandenberg and join in what he would liked to call 'the fun', Jack reluctantly agreed. Just to get a taste of things and to see things would get off on the right foot. Training began before dawn, as was to be expected. The Saiyan had kicked everybody out of bed at 04:00 but instead of making them undergo all sorts of strenuous training as O'Neill was used to and expected he made them run twelve miles through the worst terrain to the Vandenberg main supply building. There, he told them to pick up a stack of crates and containers that awaited them and take them along with them, running the same distance.

"I get it," O'Neill huffed as he and Teal'c each took the handle bar of a container, "you're pulling a Karate Kid on us right? Make us buff your car and sand your wall so that at the end of the day we know a new technique?"

"Uh, no, not really," the Saiyan said shaking his head, "but we got to have breakfast, right? We cannot begin training on an empty stomach."

O'Neill let the container handle slip and his half of the container fell to the ground.

"You gotta be kidding me?" he decried, "Then what the hell did we just run 24 miles for?"

The Saiyan looked at him like he had just made the dumbest remark ever.

"A mere stroll to work up an appetite," the Saiyan smiled in his infuriating smirk.

The run on the way to the supply building had been brutal, but the run back with the supplies was punishing to the extreme. An open back humvee followed them and by the time they arrived back at the compound it was absolutely loaded with those who had to drop out. In the compound their only staff member waited for them, Dr. Frasier, and she began a quick examination of everybody. She especially worried about Colonel O'Neill's condition. Somehow Jack had found the energy to make it all the way back to the compound after Teal'c shouldered the container and carried it himself. For some strange reason the Jaffa seemed disgustingly fit, outpacing everybody. This was why the Saiyan put him and the least exhausted on kitchen detail preparing breakfast. As they slaved away making breakfast Belmovekk hovered along, occasionally reaching into a pot to grab a tasty piece of food. Which was where Doc Frasier found him as she came looking for him

"Look mister," Doc Frasier said not amused as she gave her report, "I've just finished examining most of the men and some of them aren't in good shape. Most of them are puking all over the place."

"It's not my fault you Earthers are in such poor shape," Belmovekk protested, "or those Jaffa for that matter."

As if that was the end of it he reached inside a pot to retrieve another tasty morsel. Janet rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Please tell me you don't have anything planned as strenuous as you put these men through," she said.

"Well, we have to eat for lunch and dinner," the Saiyan said casually, "and I did not even begin real training yet."

Janet Frasier's mouth nearly hit the floor.

"You've got to be kidding," she gasped horrified, "you'll kill these men before the day is over!"

"No need to worry your pretty head, darling," the Saiyan suddenly grinned very mischievously his accent momentarily changed to a very unfamiliar one, "I have you to keep them alive. If this were planet Vegeta any death would be deemed acceptable. Losing two/thirds of the trainees was quite normal."

"That's horrible," Janet gasped clasping her mouth. The Saiyan only gave a slight shrug.

"But those who survived knew they were exceptional. The best of the best. Nobody ever complained. So again, good doctor, you just keep them alive while I run them into the ground."

Janet shook her head dejected. Why on Earth did she have to volunteer for this assignment? Sure it looked promising on paper. A chance to study the process that would allow human to exhibit those strange powers. To bad she had more or less forgotten who was the instructor.

"Now that the early early training is over we can begin our early training after breakfast," the Saiyan smirked after he retrieved another morsel, "unless you think anyone of them is unfit right now?"

"In my medical opinion they are all suffering from severe exhaustion already," Janet replied.

"But not unfit?" the Saiyan grinned in that infuriating smirk of his.

"Not as such," Janet sighed and saw the Saiyan's smirk grow even more.

"Splendid doctor, splendid!"

"But I must protest about Colonel O'Neill," Janet said, "he will not be able to keep up this pace for long."

"The good colonel invited himself," the Saiyan shrugged, "as the deputy warleader of the SGC and thus my employer I cannot forbid him to partake. Since he is not my student however his wellbeing is not really my concern. And if he were to suffer greatly it would most likely discourage him to invite himself again in the future."

"You're a cruel man," Janet huffed. The Saiyan just reached in the box for another tasty morsel, then he threw it into his mouth and walked away before replying.

"I am more then usually certain of that."

x

x

Much later that day, also much to the South of Vandenberg where a certain colonel now desperately wished he'd gone fishing instead, Dingoes Ate My baby played the Bronze again. As Sunnydale's premier rock band, the Bronze was more or less their home turf where they had a sizeable following. This was why Ron and Anita, the Bronze owners, let them play there so often.

While below the masses were jumping around on Dingoes' rock beat, Faith stood on the upper balcony watching the band, spying for hot looking guys. Which was by now getting harder then she was used to. She had probably slept with most of the hot ones by now in this god forsaken town. At least it was easy when Dingoes were touring. As Dingoes senior (and still only) roadie the work was easily done. While the rest of the band usually made a beehive for the beer in the backstage room she and Oz quickly lifted the heavy gear into place and removed the then empty flight cases. After that it was up to the band to finish setting up their gear as each band member knew best how they wanted their stuff set up.

This was usually the time Faith took off to do some old school patrolling. Go out, find some supernatural baddies and do what she was supposed to do. After she managed to find a vampire or demon and killed it, it put her in the right mood for S.E.X. At which point she had a great selection once she returned in time for the show to start. She even had a deal with the band; she could use the backstage room while they played.

This had not always gone smoothly at first. Having a hot female roadie along in an all male teenage band with only one guy in a stable relationship was usually a recipe for disaster. Until Oz, God bless him, pointed out to the others how ruthlessly Faith dumped her conquests afterwards and surely they wouldn't want to suffer similarly? So why ruin a good thing? Especially since Faith had no qualms whatsoever in helping the other band members get laid with hot and eager women as well.

Yeah, life on the road agreed with Faith. Especially since it meant not having to look at B.'s sour face. Or to see Red look at her jealously. Damn, ever since she became some big sorcerer Willow's jealous nature regarding Faith's and Oz's completely harmless and non-sexual relationship seemed to have grown with her magical talent. Must be hell on Little Brother though (she just couldn't call the vertically challenged Oz big) but that was his problem. As far as Faith was concerned she did nothing wrong.

Suddenly Faith spotted her target for the night. A hot dude of the right age, packing in the right places and most important, one she hadn't slept with so far.

"Come to mama," Faith grinned as she rubbed her hands in glee. She was about to leave her spot on the railing when she saw boytoy make it for the exit.

"Hey?" Faith said aggrieved, "Where the hell do you…..?"

As boytoy walked through the door she saw a familiar figure standing next to the doorpost.

x

Trick.

x

Who grinned as he looked up and saw that she had noticed him.

x

He even had the audacity to salute her.

x

"You!" Faith hissed angry. Wasting no time she jumped over the railing and landed in the middle of the crowd. Shocked by her sudden jump the partying crowd members didn't know how to react to her sudden appearance so Faith had to claw herself through.

"Get out of my way!" she yelled to make herself heard over the loud music.

By the time she reached the exit Trick was gone. She made for the entrance, passing boytoy on her way but by now he was old news. Neither in nor outside the Bronze there was any sign of the elusive vampire. Frustrated Faith began to yell and curse, causing some of the Bronze visitors to look oddly at her and give her a wide berth. Finally once she had composed herself she took out her cell phone and dialed a number.

"Jeeves, it's me," she spoke, "I've seen him again."

x

x

It was way past two o'clock in the night when Xander entered the strip club. The music was blazing as naked girls were dancing on the stage as he made his way inside. There was a time when the mere thought of seeing naked girls occupied Xander's mind day and night. Often when he and Jesse hung out together the two of them fantasized what it would be like to go to one of those mythical strip clubs. Now he was in one and all Xander could think of was just having a seat and getting a beer.

Cleveland was just not living up to its reputation, Xander thought as he went to the bar and showed his (fake) ID to get a beer. Once he got one and paid for it he leaned against the bar and looked around the place. Back home he had been surprised to learn that Sunnydale wasn't the only Hellmouth in the world. Perversely enough being from the Sunnydale Hellmouth had ill-prepared him for the Cleveland Hellmouth. As it turned out if the Sunnydale Hellmouth was the Big Apple of evilness then the Cleveland Hellmouth was more like Texarkana, Arkansas.

Since he had come here, all-in-all Xander had run into three vampires. And two of them were just hanging out in Cleveland's counterpart to Willy's bar, this strip club, each harmlessly nursing a pint of blood. The other one had been stalking a prey, but Xander had seen fledglings back home move better then this one. After he killed the luckless vampire he didn't even bother checking out the local cemeteries.

As Xander drank from his overpriced bottle he scanned the place. Besides the two vampires, one of which was now enjoying a lap dance, a mixed clientele of humans and demons were present watching the mostly blonde strippers. Real or not. Xander couldn't help but chuckle as he was reminded of a Chris Rock joke that everybody liked blonde white women. Except for blonde white women.

Then he saw his target.

Sitting in a separate booth, but still able to see the stage was a large fat demon, a topless girl with large breasts on his lap and two burly demons in tuxedos standing guard.

Taking another swig from his bottle Xander left the bar and made for the demon. Once he arrived at the booth, the two demons stepped in front of him looking menacingly.

"Waddaya want?" one of the brutes asked harshly.

"Business," Xander said offhand and tried to walk past him, but the demon stopped him by putting his hand on Xander.

"Look, I'm going to sit down with your boss," Xander said sizing him up, "so the question becomes, how many pieces do you want to be in when I sit down?"

"Tough words from somebody so young," the fat demon in the booth said.

"What can I say," Xander shrugged, "I'm from Sunnydale."

The demon waved his hand.

"Let him pass," he said and gestured to the opposite end of the table for Xander to sit. The two demon bodyguards stepped aside so Xander could sit. Meanwhile the fat demon squeezed the tits of the stripper on his lap one more time and then gave her a nod to leave.

"Go do another show, hon," he smiled. The girl said nothing but she briefly gave Xander a wink before leaving.

"Quite a setup you got here, Xichulub," Xander said impressed as he leaned backwards on the booth's couch and emptied his beer bottle. Xichulub was, as he had quickly learned once he'd gotten here, the demon to see if you needed something.

"It pays the rent," the fat demon smiled, "so you're from Sunnydale? How fares life there?"

"Same old," Xander shrugged indifferently, "only with a little more structure these days."

"I heard," Xichulub chuckled, "must be tough living with that edict?"

"Only if you break it," Xander smiled, "then I kill you."

"I knew it," Xichulub said triumphantly, "I knew I had you pegged as a do-gooder the moment you walked into the joint., Mr…..?"

"Xander, Xander Harris," Xander replied, "but I'm not here to kill bad guys. Much! You can say I'm on sabbatical."

Xander looked around the place.

"I have to admit, things are different here. I was expecting Cleveland to be a little more rowdy, the Hellmouth considering."

"I guess after the anarchy that's California you might expect that," the fat demon smiled, "we do things a little different. More organized, less violent. Live and let live, that's our and that other famous American motto. The business of America is business."

"What, no crazy let's end the world apocalypses here?" Xander asked incredulously.

"Are you kidding?" Xichulub said and gestured around and to the stage in particular, "I love the world! Do you think I get to look at and fondle these beauties in Hell? It's a ghastly place. Here, I'm on top. In Hell I'm just small fry. If the world ends I'd have to start all over again."

"That's one way of looking at things," Xander nodded. The idea that demons could police themselves out of self interest without the sword of an Edict hanging over their heads was new to him. But it made sense after what he'd seen here in Cleveland.

"Of course, it does help that all the nut jobs go to Sunnydale and not here," Xichulub shrugged, "but when one comes here they usually end up sleeping with the fishes in Lake Erie. Our turf, our rules."

"Indeed," Xander agreed. Then the fat demon leaned over.

"But you didn't come here to discuss how we run business, did you?"

"Indeed," Xander said as he also leaned over, "I didn't come for that. I have a business proposal."

"Then you've come to the right place," Xichulub said as he leaned back again, "First and foremost I'm a business man."

Xichulub gave a signal to one of his bodyguards and he (or was it a she, Xander couldn't quite tell) signaled to the bar. In no time a waitress came by and brought Xichulub a bottle of Snapple soda and Xander another bottle of beer.

"Thanks," Xander said as he held up the bottle in gratitude, "is it free or…"

"Depends on your business proposal," Xichulub smiled amiably.

"Of course," Xander nodded as he took a swig, "I hear you and some guy called Fat Tony arrange fights. Underground bare-knuckle fights. Fights between humans and demons."

Xichulub raised an eyebrow. Or what supposedly had to pass for one. It always was hard to tell with demons that couldn't pass for human.

"You're better informed that I had you pegged," he finally said.

"You'd be amazed what you can learn if you beat a few demons up," Xander chuckled.

"And you wish to...…, visit one of these fights?" Xichulub asked wearily.

"Nah," Xander said shaking his head, "I want to fight in one."

Xichulub sized up the teen sitting in front of him. While not bulging with muscles like a bodybuilder he did have the right kind of build for a fighter. Contrary to public opinion however bodybuilders made for lousy fighters, their big muscles making them slow and ungainly. This guy looked well trained, with muscles bulging underneath his clothes, but not so much that they slowed him down. No doubt he could probably give his bodyguards a good run for their money. But could he take on Fat Tony's current champion?

It was through a strange roll of the dice that here in Cleveland it was the human underworld crime lord Fat Tony who specialized in employing demon fighters while the demon crime lord, Xichulub, specialized in employing human fighters. It wasn't out of any love for humanity. Fat Tony knew that demon fighters were stronger and the sure bet, whereas Xichulub banked on the mostly human audience's desire for the human underdog to win.

So far Fat Tony's new champion had sent all of Xichulub's champions into the morgue. So Xichulub was in the market for a new one.

"Are you any good?" he asked.

"I survived Sunnydale for 19 years," Xander shrugged.

"Yeah, but that's easy nowadays," Xichulub countered, "there's that edict thing. And from what I heard there are two souped up Slayers there, and something even more powerful."

Xander leaned forward.

"I trained with the Slayer when there was only one. I helped train the other one. I invented the damn Edict in the first place."

"Tough words for one so young," Xichulub said trying to sound unimpressed, "but suppose I take your word for it, what's in it for you?"

Xander pulled out a slip of paper and a pen and jotted down a figure on it. Then he slipped the figure over towards Xichulub.

"You've gotta be kidding," the fat demon said as he read the figure.

"I checked," Xander said as he took another swig from his bottle, "you haven't won a fight in over a year. I can end your dry spell."

"A bold claim for one so young," Xichulub remarked wearily, "Do you have anything to back that up?"

"There've been a couple of fights in New Orleans and St. Louis recently," Xander grinned smugly, "Have you heard anything about those?"

Xichulub looked annoyed.

"Cleveland may be no Sunnydale but we're no Rednecks. I keep up to date. Some new fighter cleaned house there. "

Xander leaned back in his seat smugly.

"Well, pleased to meet you," he smirked, "Slicky Wicky sends his regards."

The demon's eyes grew bigger for an instant.

"You know Slicky Wicky," he asked surprised. Self-satisfied Xander reached into his coat and pulled out a picture of him dressed in boxer shorts standing next to another demon.

"Holy shit, it is Slicky Wicky," Xichulub gasped as he saw the photo. Even one of his bodyguards leaned over to see the picture

"Alright, suppose you're the kid who won those matches, I still require a demonstration though," Xichulub said thumping the polaroid.

"Of course," Xander nodded and looked at the two bodyguards, "Them?"

"No, not them," Xichulub said and gestured over his shoulder, "they're good, but I got something better. In the back."

"Fair enough," Xander shrugged, then he leaned over again, "I'll knock off a third of my price if you can find me a good mage or witch. A powerful one."

"Why do you need one of those for?" Xichulub asked surprised, "They're all crazy. The young ones are all out to make a name for themselves and the old ones are dangerous as fuck. And crazy."

"I need one to make contact across dimensions," Xander said deadpan.

"What?" Xichulub said, "Why do you need a mage for that? There are thousands of common-or-garden variety spells and rituals to contact the various gods and underworld demons. Why do you need a mage for that?"

"Because I don't want to contact some God or underworld demon. I need to contact somebody in another reality. And if possible cross over."

x

x

Faith knew it was going to be a long day when she entered the Library and found Wesley looking pompous again at the head of the table. It never ceased to amaze her how nobody found it strange that the high school library, supposedly a public place in this school, seemed to be little England these days, with two Brits being present there full time. Then again, there was that jock she once slept with who told her that most students preferred going to the town public library instead. Besides it having a few good make out spots, it also didn't feel like what the jock called Spook Central. It would explain why there were almost never any students looking for books in Jeeves' library.

Besides Wesley's pompous face, Faith also noticed that B. and Jeeves were present. God! It was probably going to be one of those meetings.

"Ah, Faith, so good of you to come," Wesley said amiably and pointed to the other end of the table, "have a seat."

Regretting the day she let B. and Oz talk her into acknowledging the fop's existence as their new boss Faith took a chair and sat down in it apprehensively. After she sat down Wesley put his hands together in front of him and gave an amiable smile. Then he leaned slightly forward.

"Do you feel happy, Faith?" he suddenly said to her surprise, "Do you feel you're a valuable part of this team? A good team worker?"

Faith was too flabbergasted to say anything but voicelessly mouth what the fuck? She then looked over her shoulder towards the door.

"Did the Hellmouth shift again and I somehow walked right through it?" she remarked puzzled

Both B. and Jeeves looked at each other and exchanged a quick amused glance as Wesley raised an eyebrow in surprise. Then he took a deep breath, stood up ,walked over to Faith and sat down on the table to her right side. Then he tried to reach out for Faith's hand but she withdrew her hand before he could touch it. For a moment Wesley looked vexed, then he resumed his smile.

"What's with the Twilight zone?" Faith asked getting uncomfortable, "Shouldn't we be out looking for…."

"Faith, good Faith," Wesley smiled, "It has come to my attention that I may not have been a good Watcher."

Faith tried to say something but Wesley put up his hand and stopped her.

"It's okay," he continued smiling, "it is no fault of yours. The fault is entirely mine. In my rush to assume my position of Watcher here I failed to give you equal attention as I did to Buffy."

Again Faith wanted to say something as Wesley cut her short again.

"Now, while I am man enough to admit my failings I must say that my lack of proper oversight isn't entirely mine, Faith. While Buffy has more or less accepted the change of the guard you fail to properly, how shall I put it, acknowledge the chain of command?"

Again Faith voicelessly mouthed what the fuck? Meanwhile Wesley briefly glanced at Jeeves.

"Of course it didn't help that my, um, predecessor, more or less neglected you as well in favor of his other charge. But considering she was his first, it was sort of understandable. But things are going to change Faith. From now on I am taking a personal interest in you."

"Lucky me," Faith sighed, barely able to contain her lack of enthusiasm.

"Don't see it as the end, see it as the start of a new beginning," Wesley smiled not having picked up the bulk of Faith's sarcasm.

"You do realize me and authority figures don't go well?" Faith said looking at Wesley, then she remembered something, "Hey! What's with the Faith bashing? What about Trick?"

"Ah, Trick," Wesley said as he stood up and went back to sit in his seat at the head of the table, "the vampire Trick."

"Yeah, Trick!" Faith said as she stood up and leaned forward, her hands on the table, "Who I saw last night. Like in the bastard that used to work for Kakistos and that got my Watcher killed. Don't that mean anything with you guys?"

"I have read about the unfortunate demise of your previous Watcher," Wesley said as he reached for a book and read from an open page, "She was killed by Kakistos back in Boston, about a month before your arrival in Sunnydale. From what you told Rupert here and from what the Council learned afterwards it would seem that our mystery vampire seems to live up to his name. Having tricked your Watcher into entering Kakistos' lair which ultimately led to her unfortunate demise."

Wesley slammed the book shut and pushed it away as he leaned back.

"A most unfortunate affair," he sighed as he looked at Faith, "but I see no reason to alter our plans."

"What!" Faith exploded, "This bastard's in town and you're doing nothing? What kind of…"

"Faith," Wesley said harshly, his smile gone, "we have no time to indulge in your obsession, let alone your flights of fantasy at the moment. The matter is closed. We have a job to do."

"How can you say that," Faith nearly yelled, "I saw the bastard with my own eyes!"

Wesley shook his head like he was disappointed.

"After you called Rupert last night we launched an investigation and no sign of this Trick has come up. I can only conclude you were mistaken."

"I know what I saw," Faith huffed, "The bastard even had the gall to salute me."

"Then why did nobody but you see him?" Wesley smiled amiably, "We've contacted our sources in the 'underworld' and nobody has seen or heard from Trick since Kakistos' demise. Buffy and the vampire Angel have hit all the demon bars and came up empty as well. There is no Trick. At least not here."

"They're lying!" Faith said pointing to the outside, "You just let me loose and I'll dig the bastard up!" I'll beat the truth out of those lying bas…."

SLAM!

With a loud noise Wesley slammed his fist on the table.

"No more!" he said angrily, then he took a deep breath and composed himself, "Like I said, Faith, we don't have time to indulge ourselves into flights of fancy. Not only is Trick not here, this is not the time. Once things have quieted down you can do whatever you want in your own time. But for now we have a mission."

"We do?" Buffy asked, for the first time speaking out.

"Yes," Wesley replied as he reached for a note, "since this concerns you as well, listen up as well, Buffy. A few days ago I received word that a high ranking city official has important information for us."

"Information about what," Buffy asked.

"Information regarding what goes on in this town," Wesley replied, "things we don't know. Things that will happen. Who really runs this town. To be frank, I was a bit dismissive at first but Rupert here seems to place great stock into this new contact. He has reason to believe there is some unseen player at work. Some prophecy he has dug up somewhere. And from what I've seen it looks legitimate. Now this official wants our help to escape from Sunnydale and get as far away from here as possible. The Council can hide him but only if we succeed in extracting him unseen. It is absolutely imperative that nothing goes wrong."

Wesley stood up again and handed the slip of paper to Buffy.

"Who is it," Faith asked Buffy.

"It's the deputy mayor," Buffy said surprised as she handed Faith the paper.

"I want everybody out in force tonight," Wesley said as he straightened his jacket, "Nothing must go wrong. You bring out both of your partners. Faith and her partner will stick to our official like glue, while you Buffy will, as you Americans call it, ride shotgun and be on the lookout for any sign of trouble. If necessary you are authorized to kill."

Both Faith and Buffy looked at each other. This meant that if necessary they were allowed to kill humans in order to protect their charge.

"You think that's wise?" Buffy said incredulously. To her surprise it was Giles that answered.

"Yes, Buffy," he said as he took off his glasses, "For months now I've been suspecting something is wrong here and this confirms it. Our books can only take us so far. We must know more so we can act. Anyone who is smart enough to remain unnoticed in Sunnydale is smart enough to use humans to do his dirty work."

"If you say so, Jeeves," Faith said and pointed to the door behind her, "can I go now, chief?"

"You can go," Wesley replied, "be here at seven."

"Whatever," Faith replied and walked out of the door. She was barely out as Buffy came after her.

"Faith, wait up," she called out.

"What?" Faith said annoyed as she turned around.

"Are you okay with that order?" Buffy asked as she stood up to Faith. Faith rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Typically B.," she exclaimed, "you and Jeeves let Pestley crucify me for supposedly crying wolf and you worry about a license to kill instead?"

Buffy bit her lip for a moment.

"Yeah, but you were crying wolf, Faith. I put my foot on Willy's neck and he still came up short."

Faith waved her hand dismissively at Buffy and started to walk away.

"Whatever, B., whatever! I don't care."

"Wait," Buffy called as she walked after, "you're not bothered about this extreme prejudice thing, Faith?"

"Granted, it's not something you hear everyday," Faith replied without looking back, "but it's hardly the end of the world, B."

"Wesley and Giles just told us to kill humans if necessary!" Buffy exclaimed. Faith stopped again and turned around sighing.

"Geez, B., why are you so anal bout killing humans? From what I heard, your 'twin' was nowhere near as squeamish. Being a bad guy doesn't stop with being a demon. Newsflash for B.: Humans can be evil too. I've lived for years on the streets of Boston before I became a Slayer. I've seen humans do stuff to humans that make most vamps look tame. While I don't make it my business to kill humans, when a bad one steps in my way and I have to kill him, I will."

As Buffy looked aghast Faith turned around and walked away. She had no time to waste on B.'s sensitivities. B. had enough sycophants for that. Red or Soulboy could fill that role nicely. She had bigger fish to fry. Specifically one named Trick.

x

x

"Just put me on my sofa and be done with it," Colonel Jack O'Neill said to the Air Force corpsman which was holding him upright. Jack was back in the living room of his house in Colorado Springs, supported by the corpsman.

"Are you sure about this?" the corpsman asked concerned as he helped O'Neill sit down on the big sofa in front of the big screen TV.

"Sure thing," Jack replied, then his pain stricken face lit up in relief as he relaxed on his familiar and comforting sofa, "I'll be fine. Toilet's around the corner, I can phone in for a pizza and the Simpsons will be on in half an hour. You just leave me some more of those painkillers and I'll be a happy camper."

The corpsman wasn't happy with the arrangement but what was he going to do? There were only so many things you could order a US Air Force colonel to do.

"Okay, colonel," he said and reached inside his carrier bag, "have it your way. Take one of these every two hours. Don't kid yourself thinking doing more will help you any better cause it will only get you addicted. And then you know what happens then, colonel."

"Yeah, yeah, I know the regs," O'Neill waved dismissively.

"With any luck tomorrow your pains will be less," the corpsman said, "and don't drink any alcohol after you take one of these."

"Yeah, sure thing," O'Neill replied closing his eyes. The corpsman shook his head and then he turned around and walked towards the exit.

"If you need any help just call," he said before leaving. The colonel just grunted something non-committally and instead took his remote into his hand and switched on the TV.

No sooner had the corpsman left as the front door opened again and in walked Major Carter together with Daniel. The archeologist was carrying, God bless him, a six-pack of beer.

"Sam, Daniel, you're a sight for sore eyes," Jack smiled as he greeted the new arrivals.

"And sore limbs as it would seem," Daniel smiled, "you looked like something the cat dragged in."

"Don't make me laugh, Daniel," Jack moaned, "I hurt when I laugh. I hurt even when I don't laugh."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Daniel said as he went into the kitchen to put the six-pack into the refrigerator.

"We heard you were back in town," Sam said as she sat down on one of O'Neill's chairs opposite him.

"Let's just say it wasn't quite my idea of amusement," O'Neill replied curtly, then he called out to Daniel, "Was that a six-pack I saw? Could you bring me one?"

"Way ahead of you, Jack," Daniel grinned as he emerged from the kitchen carrying two beers, handing Jack a can.

"Thanks, Daniel," Jack grinned as he accepted the beer but the grin soon turned to grimace once he tried to open the can, "Auw! Crazy Saiyan!"

Once he had handed Jack his can of beer Daniel sat down on a chair himself and opened his own can

"You don't want some?" Jack asked towards Sam but she shook her head.

"No, after what happened at Vandenberg I can't even stand the smell of alcohol for a long while."

"Funny you should mention Vandenberg," Jack said after he finally managed to open his own can, then he winced as he accidentally used another muscle better left unused.

"Teal'c still there?" Daniel grinned impishly at Jack's pain.

"And loving it," Jack said as the pain subsided enough for him to take a sip, "haven't seen him so excited since Walters first loaned him his copy of Star Wars."

"Since you're back prematurely, in pain, is it safe to say it just wasn't your cup of tea?" Daniel smiled way to impishly for Jack's comfort.

"There's a special kind of hell for gloaters, Daniel," Jack replied trying to point at Daniel but failing for another bout of pain, "Consider yourself lucky I can't kick your ass as I'm in so much pain I can't see straight, even though I got painkillers coming out of my ears. So you just go ahead and gloat, Daniel."

"Oh, I will," Daniel said as he took a sip of beer himself.

"Just remember that vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord," Jack said back as he leaned his head back, "there will be hell to pay. Just not now."

Suddenly Jack glanced at Daniel again.

"I'll forgive you if you put another beer within reach though."

"I'll think about it," Daniel grinned.

"So, how was it?" Sam asked curiously, "What kinds of things did he make you do?"

Despite him having logistical and medical support from the US Air Force, the Saiyan continued to keep a tight lid on what he was doing. As soon as this students were finished they were free to share their new abilities to the Air Force but until then, nothing. Not even from Janet Frasier. Not being able to satisfy her intense curiosity as to what was going on was killing Sam. Figuratively of course.

"Remember basic training?" Jack said towards Sam.

"Yeah," she replied eagerly for Jack to continue so he did.

"Now multiply that by, wait, maybe basic training is not that good. After all, even Daniel here could do basic training if he wanted to. Just look at how much he works out. When he's not reading something dead and old he's lifting more weights then a gay bodybuilder."

"I resent that," Daniel interjected, "I'm not overdoing it. I'm just doing some healthy working out."

Jack tried to give Daniel the odd eye but stopped because of the pain.

"Daniel, have you checked the size of your upper arms?" Jack said, "they're bigger then my legs. Women faint when you take off your shirt. And it can't be to impress the ladies because you spent 20 hours a day reading old shit. This means together with the iron, you have no social life whatsoever."

"It helps me to relax," Daniel said defensively.

"Exactly," Jack grinned, "now, where was I?"

"You were talking about the training," Sam said eagerly, earning herself another attempt at an odd stare from O'Neill.

"What's there to say?" Jack continued, "The place was packed with the fittest of the fittest. People we've been trying to recruit like Captain Finn or Lieutenant Jamison. All disgustingly healthy. With the exception of Teal'c he ran them all into the ground on the first day. Even in my tent I could hear Doc Frasier bitch and moan that it was too much."

'Yeah, but what did his training actually consist off?" Sam nearly groaned since O'Neill refused to get to the point. In response Jack looked upwards for a moment in thinking.

"Come to think of it, lots of running, lots of standard physical exercise and lots of eating."

"That's it?" Daniel said surprised, "Considering the rumors you'd think it be a little more, um, esoteric?"

"That was it," Jack said trying to shrug but failing, "I was kinda surprised myself. Especially considering he made everybody take oaths of silence, including Teal'c. Although strangely enough not me."

"He probably thought you wouldn't make it past day one," Daniel grinned evilly, causing another failed angry stare from O'Neill.

"I'm sure he did," Jack finally said, "He did strike me as a devious mischievous bastard. They all do. Even the simpleton."

"How are the Jaffa holding up, colonel?" Sam asked, "Are they getting along?"

There had been extensive discussion on the SGC as to how the two Jaffa factions would hold out once they were on Earth together. Theirs was still a marriage of necessity, not love. There were even bets on when they would start to fight. O'Neill himself had put down $50 on two weeks being together. It wasn't his first choice originally but everybody else had beaten him on any dates that were sooner.

"Still no love lost between them," Jack replied, "Even though that Saiyan has them housed in threesomes, with one of each group in every tent. Luckily the bitching about how Earth is so primitive stopped right after training began. Thank god for small favors. You can say one thing about that Saiyan bastard, he does know how to exhaust them."

"So your bet in the pool is still safe?" Daniel added.

"It would seem so," Jack said as he used the remote to switch on the TV, "at first I worried about two weeks being too long to pay off, but now I think two weeks will just be the right time for these guys to catch enough breath to start bitching again."

"Lucky you," Daniel smiled and got up to fetch Jack another can of beer.

"Thanks," Jack said appreciatively as Daniel put the extra can within reach while he flipped channels, "ooh, the Simpsons are on!"

x

x

Besides raking in the big bucks selling booze, bar nuts and basically every beverage known to demonkind (and of course information to the highest bidder), there were occasionally some lesser facets to Willy's entrepreneurial existence. Not the least of which was cleaning up after closing time. Few things were more gross then a bar's restroom after closing time, and in Willy's case that could be multiplied thanks to the various kinds of secretions demons did. Some of them, when they went to the toilet, they really went to the toilet. There was a demon species that everybody called the Hippos. Not because they looked like Hippos but because when they did a number two in the toilet, like a hippopotamus, their tail would wag and shower the place until it was coated in the most foul and nasty excrement. Luckily Hippos rarely frequented Willy's, preferring to stick to a small joint of their own. For which everybody was profoundly grateful.

But then again cleaning the restrooms was never Willy's biggest pet hate. Having grown up in a big family with lots of brothers and sisters cleaning up doo doo was never much of a problem for Willy. No, it was restocking the pantry, having to lift all the heavy crates full of bottles or god forbid all those kegs full of beer. It was at times like this that Willy desperately wished he'd have some help running the joint. Strangely enough nobody ever applied for the job. Even though a help wanted poster had been in the front window for years. Or downstairs in the sewer.

Using a heavy lifter, Willy moaned as he pulled a pellet of beer kegs along to the back of his bar, where once Angel had a blow out with that black Slayer that had gotten herself killed later.

"Need any help with that?" a voice suddenly said close behind Willy, causing the shifty barmen to nearly jump into the air yelping a high pitched whine. Clutching his now pounding heart with his right hand Willy turned around and faced his mystery guest. It was the other Slayer, Faith.

"Jesus, kid," he said breathing fast, "You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"You even have one?" Faith asked deadpan, "I mean we know you're not a vamp as we've seen you walk in daylight. But we always wondered."

"Ha ha," Willy laughed sarcastically, "very funny! Make fun of poor Willy again, like everybody else. I do have feelings you know."

"You do?" Faith smiled like she was considering the impossible, "Then I guess having a backbone and loyalty aren't part of them."

"Just pile them up," Willy said as he began to take off one keg after the other, "everybody takes a piss at poor Willy, but guess what, at the end of the day he's still left standing."

"You're such a big drama queen," Faith said amused as she hopped on a case, "which is kinda ironic since you're so short in all."

"I am what I am," Willy shrugged before turning around to face Faith, "Wait a sec, why are you in here anyway?"

"I sneaked in through the roof," Faith grinned, causing Willy to take a step back.

"Most people take the front door," he said, his nose twitching in that way only his could once he suspected trouble.

"But I'm not most people," Faith smiled, "I'm chosen, remember."

Willy pointed behind him towards the front door.

"Even chosen ones enter through there," he said, "Blondie does, including her scary stepdad. She's not here as well, isn't she?"

Willy began to look around shiftily, trying to find Buffy. Meanwhile Faith hopped off her crate and moved over to the pellet and began taking off the heavy kegs like they weighed nothing.

"Relax, Shortie," she said as she finished the job in no time, "B.'s not here."

"Are you going to beat me up?" Willy asked wearily, taking another involuntary step backwards.

"No, I'm not going to beat you up," Faith grinned as she put her arm around Willy's shoulders, "relax! I just want to have a little chat with you."

"Somehow I'm not comforted," Willy whimpered as Faith guided him into his bar towards the counter.

"Surely people come to you for information all the time," Faith asked as she parked him on a bar stool. Then she walked around the counter and began looking for something to drink.

"Yeah, but they come through the front door so I can see them coming," Willy said meek as a lamb, "Those that sneak in usually have, let's say, ulterior motives."

"Fair enough," Faith said emerging with a bottle of liquor and two glasses, "let's just say I didn't want to be seen."

"You're the Slayer," Willy countered surprised as she put one glass in front of him and poured him a drink, "well, technically you're one of the Slayers. Why would you even care? You can kick everybody's ass. Except for Blondie. And her scary stepdad of course."

"I have my reasons," Faith shrugged as she filled her own glass, then put the bottle on the counter and picked up her own glass, "Drink up Willy."

"Why me?" Willy whimpered as Faith downed her glass in one gulp, then slammed the glass down on the counter and reached for the bottle again.

"It's your own fault for being so damn, shall we say, um, inquisitive?"

"I shouldn't have been a barman," Willy sighed dejected, then he looked Faith in the eyes, "I'm not even that useful anymore. They all know you guys pump me for information. When was the last time I gave Blondie a good tip?"

"Jesus Willy," Faith decried disapprovingly, "when did you become such a sniveling pussy? Did B. rip off your cojones and tear you a vagina or something?"

Involuntarily Willy reached for his family jewels. Faith put down the bottle again and sighed as she looked away for a minute.

"Look," she said trying not to sound to scary, "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to know some information and then I'm out of here. I might even give you some information in return."

"Sure?" Willy asked wearily. When it came to Slayers and promises of not getting hurt Willy had learned to take everything they said with a grain of salt. For supposed protectors of mankind they always seemed to make an exception in his case.

"Sure," Faith smiled reassuringly and gestured to the glass in front of Willy, "now let's have a nice drink together and a nice chat."

Willy reached for his glass and took a careful sip. Faith of course emptied her glass again in one gulp.

"See?" Faith grinned as she slammed the glass down again, "Isn't my way more comfortable then B.'s? No threatening poor little Willy, just us having a nice cozy chat over some drinks."

"But it's my booze," Willy countered.

"A mere technicality," Faith shrugged as she refilled her glass, "now, Willy. I've been thinking. When B. and her friends established this edict a year ago it forced all the vamps and demons to keep an eye on each other, right?"

"Sure," Willy said taking another careful sip as Faith continued.

"Now what I would like to know is how does this all work? I know B. and her friends occasionally come over to thrash the place up but I know you're not the only source of information. In fact, I know they get most of their information from this strange wrinkled dude."

"You mean Clem?" Willy said.

"That's the guy," Faith smiled, "now, on the other hand Clem doesn't strike me as the sort of fellow that collects all that information by himself. In fact, he most definitely looks like the messenger boy. What I want to know, whose messenger boy is he, Willy? He doesn't strike me as the type all the various demons go to tell their little gossip. Who's collecting all the information in Sunnydale that comes to us?"

Willy's anxiety shifted into overdrive and Faith saw it.

"Ha," she said triumphantly, "it is the million dollar question, isn't it?"

Suddenly Faith reached out lightning fast, the way only Sunnydale Slayers and their scary friends seemed to be able to do and gripped Willy's wrist before he could bolt for the exit.

"I thought you weren't going to hurt me?" Willy yelped, his left hand now in an iron grip.

"I won't," Faith smiled, then she used her free hand to put the liquor bottle in front of her, "if you tell me what I want to know. If you don't I will pour this flammable liquor all over you and set you on fire."

To illustrate her point her index finger on her free hand began to spark with electricity.

"It would be a shame though, Willy," Faith smirked, "as we were getting along so famously. And a shame of good booze as well."

"Alright, alright!" Willy yelled, "I'll tell! They're called The Committee!"

"The Committee?" Faith said raising an eyebrow, then she let go of Willy's wrist and reached for the bottle to refill both his glass and hers, "Continue."

This time Willy downed his glass in one gulp as well before he continued.

"Not long after the edict was issued there was this vampire called Spike. Fancied himself the big bad that could take on the Slayer. He defied the Slayer and Mr. B. and came up with a big plan to trick them. It all fell apart but the Slayer let Mr. B. delivered a message everybody understood. After that it was realized that things had to be organized. If a repeat of the Spike thing was to be avoided information had to be gathered and suspicious newcomers had to be kept an eye on. And so The Committee was formed."

"The Committee keeps tabs on all the vamps and demons in the Sunnydale area, gathers information and gives timely word to the Slayer and her scary stepdad. And if need be it doles out punishment to any demon suspected of possible edict breakage. Look, I know stuff, but those guys, they know everything."

"Interesting," Faith nodded as she pondered Willy's words, "so if I wanted to know the whereabouts of a certain vampire these guys would know, right?"

"They might," Willy replied, reaching for the bottle himself now only to suddenly stop in his tracks, "wait a sec, this is about that vampire Blondie came in for yesterday. I told her and I'm telling you know, I've not heard of him, nor has The Committee."

"How would you know?" Faith asked, "Unless you're part of this Committee?"

"Me?" Willy sniggered, "you think to highly of me. I don't even know who they are. All I know is that Clem is their errand boy and he came in here yesterday after Blondie and Angel and he didn't know anything either."

Faith leaned on the counter and leaned forward.

"What if they lied?" she asked on a soft tone.

"Toots," Willy said shaking his head, "these guys exist to ward of the Slayer's wrath. And certainly that of her scary stepdad. He has the Order of Taraka shitting bricks of him. He obliterated the Sisterhood of Jhe. They say he's even in cahoots with the government. People with dark outfits and matching dark sunglasses that can make you disappear. Why would they lie to you guys?"

"Humor me," Faith smiled, "suppose they do. Could they keep the existence of said vampire a secret without B. and her friends finding out?"

"I suppose," Willy shrugged, "but I hate to be in their shoes once you guys find out. Hell, I don't want to even be in this town when that happens. I'm sure every demon in Sunnydale would be scrambling to deliver The Committee's heads on a silver platter in the hope to placate Blondie and her scary stepdad."

"Thanks," Faith said as she patted Willy on the cheek, then she walked from behind the counter back to the stock room, leaving behind her a flabbergasted Willy, "I'll be on my way now."

"Wait," Willy called out after her, "I thought you had some information for me as well?"

Faith turned around.

"Oops!" she smiled childishly, "I almost forget. It would seem that the deputy mayor of Sunnydale is going to defect to us, and he will do so tomorrow evening."

x

x

Knock knock!

Someone knocked on a door on the other side of the country disturbing the room's sole inhabitant. Then it opened.

"You's ready," a demon asked bluntly with a grating voice.

Xander opened an eye, ending the Saiyan meditative state he had been in. A warrior fought best with a clear and untroubled mind, so meditation was a regular staple in some Saiyan training regimes.

"I was born ready," he smiled confidently.

Of course confidence building was also a Saiyan training staple. At least of Saiyan Elites. Some schools had it that a warrior who couldn't imagine defeat was already halfway victory. Saiyan Elites subscribed to that philosophy and Xander had been possessed by a Saiyan Elite during Halloween.

"Xichs says haul ass in here," the demon said as he gestured behind him (or her, Xander still wasn't sure), through the door opening of the dressing room. Behind him (or her) the noise could be heard of a large crowd. It was showtime.

Xander touched his forehead once, then the ground and made a quick prayer to Priya, Saiyan Goddess of War. Not because he had suddenly discovered religion. If anything it was a leftover of that Saiyan possession, now seemingly a life time ago. Something he caught himself doing for good luck afterwards and which he kept doing for good luck. After all, good luck was something you could never have too much. He was never forced to worship her in Sunday school, unlike with a certain other religion, and it was a comforting ritual.

"Let's do this," Xander said and got up from his cross-legged posture and walked to the door. The only clothing he was wearing was boxer shorts and a pair of Converse trainers. He followed the demon through a long corridor trying to focus on the fight, his second one now in three days. The first one with Xichulub's largest bad ass demons to see if he was any good. He passed that test with flying colors. Not that it surprised Xander as the demon was barely above Slayer strength. Nice guy too as it turned out as they shared a beer together afterwards.

Xander had barely knocked out his big ass body guard cold when Xichulub wasted no time making a phone call to Fat Tony to arrange a fight which landed Xander in the old abandoned steel works he now was in. The demon led him into the main factory floor, now devoid of heavy machinery except for some to worthless to sell for scrap. Instead it was now full of people of various plumage. Most of them were humans. Ostentatious nouveau riche with trophy wives/mistresses, other criminals, businessmen, politicians from local and state government, the Cleveland chief of police and some of his department heads, some priests of various churches and even a few average Joes on the in.

Not that Xander could recognize them, it was just that Xichulub seemed to revel in describing to him how well he was connected, without naming any real names of course. The demon crime boss sure loved the sound of his own voice. That and fondling human women. Even now he had a hot blonde, scantily dressed underneath her coat, standing next to him. Still, Xander couldn't begrudge him loving the ladies. Especially the hot ones he surrounded himself with. And as demons go the crime lord seemed to be quite decent. One of the girls at the strip club had even told him that fondling and watching was all he could do.

He couldn't quite say that of the other demons present, but Cleveland seemed to be a live and let live kind of place, a far cry of the kill and let kill kind of Sunnydale he had come to know. From what he could see, the cross selection of demons seemed to be also lesser then Sunnydale. An average night in Willy's showed more different kinds of demons.

"Ladies, gentlemen, and other sexes, welcome to tonight's main event," Xichulub said as he raised his voice to address the crowd, "It is so good of you all to come on such short notice. But what a great event do we have planned for you tonight. On behalf of Fat Tony and me, your gracious hosts for this evening, I welcome you all to this fight. And what a great fight this promises to be. For the first time in a long while there is a chance that the reigning Great Lakes champion could be dethroned. With great pride I present to you, coming all the way from California, the Xandman!"

People began to applaud as Xichulub pointed towards Xander and the teen raised his arms to acknowledge their attention. Then, like Xichulub had instructed him, Xander gave a quick demonstration of his skills, doing a short kata from the Saiyan Mal'ki'itsu martial arts discipline in a moderate tempo. Moderate from a Saiyan point of view of course as Xander didn't want to give away he could wipe the floor with anybody but the three Saiyans and their retinue. For his audience it seemed pretty damned impressive as there were lots of impressed oooh's and aaah's..

Then Xichulub spoke again and pointed towards the other side of the factory hall where one of fat Tony's strong men was leading Xander's opponent into the hall.

"His opponent for the evening, the reigning Great Lakes champion and with an undefeated record for a nearly a whole year running, I present you with Drum!"

A large beast, a demon version of a sumo wrestler but still bulging with muscles and seemingly sharp claws walked into view. It was over 7 feet high of sheer malevolence and many audience members involuntarily stepped back several steps as it walked up. It grinned evilly as it observed the reaction to its appearance. But it also had only one eye, a large scar present on the right side where an eye socket used to be. It added to its menacing appearance.

It also meant it had a blind side Xander thought. Then again this was probably where everybody tried to attack it in the past to no avail as the beast still lived. Xichulub had told him the brute was impressive and seeing was believing. Still, Xander had confidence in his training, his skills, his combat experience and above all his 14.000+ powerlevel. Drum may be a big mean looking motherfucker but Xander was an even meaner bad ass motherfucker himself. At best, the beast was no stronger then two to three times a standard Slayer. It should pose no problem. Most likely his biggest problem was going to be how to put on a convincing show without revealing the overmatch in strength. Or going too fast. After all, a fight nobody could see wasn't much entertainment either.

So while Xichulub continued with the introductions, Xander was already working out a game plan as to how he was going to handle the fight. It was probably best to go by the classics. At first show he would slap this Drum around a bit, then let Drum get in a few good ones. After that a bit of tit-for-tat pounding on each other. And then the threatening downfall, as he would let this Drum get in some really good ones. Finished off by the miraculous came back from behind, a strike on the thing's other eye. Since it was a death match the least Xander could do for the thing was bring back a little symmetry to its face when he would kill it.

As Xander lowered his power to a power level of 50 to look convincing, Xichulub proceeded to lay out the rules. Which basically didn't exist. Everything was allowed except outside help and weapons and the fight would go on until one of them was dead.

"Now it so happens that we have a bit of celebrity this evening, Cleveland," Xichulub said as he pointed towards the girl by his side, "all the way from Hollywood we have Miss Madison Lane, star of many such well known classics as the Underworld Lovers series."

A modest applause sounded for the porn starlet by Xichulub's side.

"And remember people, if you're interested, she dances at the Palace until Thursday," Xichulub grinned as he gave the starlet a playful put on her ass, then he gestured towards a bell and handed her a small hammer, "if you would be so kind, Miss Lane."

Smiling the starlet took the hammer and rang the bell. The signal for the fight to begin.

The two fighters began to circle one another amidst the large space that was set out for them. It wasn't a real ring. Nothing separated the spectators from the fighters except the distance they kept. Which meant the fight could always spill over into the audience. And undoubtedly add to the thrill of it all.

"So big guy," Xander smirked at his opponent, "are you ready for it?"

Drum said nothing as he (or she or it, not even Xichulub knew for sure) just smirked back.

"Big strong silent type, eh?" Xander nodded as he slowly circled backwards until he was close to the some audience members.

"Kick his ass!" a spectator suddenly yelled behind Xander, causing him to glance. It was a catholic priest holding a glass of whiskey in his hand and a middle aged but trim and good looking woman in his other of all people.

"Shouldn't you be molesting choirboys?" Xander bit back annoyed.

"This is so boring, Steve" the woman said bored to the priest.

Ignoring the odd couple Xander faced Drum again, who oddly hadn't made a move. Which was odd. The brute probably toyed with his opponents, making the fight last longer to please its master. Well, two could play that game.

"HYAA!" Xander yelled as he leapt the 8 yard distance between him and Drum, transferring the momentum of his leap into a punch aimed at Drum's head, the right side of course with the missing eye. The brute however ducked the punch faster then his massive bulk would seem to allow for. Then, just as fast he counter punched, aiming for Xander's head, a blow which Xander barely managed to block. Both fighters followed up with a flurry of punches, counter punches, blocks and kicks.

They kept this up for a whole minute then both stepped back to catch a breather.

"Yeah, that's more like it!" somebody yelled. He wasn't the only one as many roared their approval. Xander of course ignored the shouting as his eyes never left Drum. Drum was still smirking at him, but Xander could see the glint in his eyes. There was still confidence, but the thing was also re-appraising him as well. Then the glint disappeared and Xander felt something, a light almost unnoticeable tremor vibrating through the hall.

He was holding back as well!

As the brute just raised his power to way above Slayer strength, Xander followed suite, but not by much. So the brute was a little stronger and faster then expected. Big deal, Xander still had plenty left in reserve and he still needed to put up a good show. It was time for the brute to get in a few good punches, as was part of his original game plan.

"Let's go," Xander grinned, "We're not getting any prettier here. Well, maybe one of us will."

x

x

The Sunnydale port authority wasn't one of the largest in the country, since after all Sunnydale was barely even a city. But it did have a deep sea port allowing larger ocean going ships to enter port. And the docking fees were smaller then LA's so it did attract a decent amount of traffic. Enough for the port authority to be the town's biggest employer.

Inside the port a large roll on/roll off car carrier from the Far East was being unloaded so large trucks carrying rows upon rows of pristine cars thundered through a dim lit street close to the sea. Faith and Oz, both dressed as shabby homeless on their way to a shelter (conveniently put by the mayor away from the city center) had to step aside to evade yet another truck as they went about their business. But not fast enough as the truck drove through a puddle and splattered muddy water over Faith's trousers.

"Aw crap," Faith cried out in disgust, "this night just gets better and better."

"You're supposed to be homeless," Oz shrugged unimpressed, you're supposed to look dirty. See it as the finishing touch of your disguise.."

Faith stopped and looked at her pants.

"I'm not going to wait for it to dry," she said and concentrated for a moment. Then steam began to rise from her pants until all was left was dried up sand and mud. She then proceeded to brush the caked up dirt off as best as she could. Then she looked at Oz who had been looking at her.

"You're not going to make a clever remark?"

If Oz was going to say something he decided not to at the last minute and shrugged. Then he pressed on followed by a grinning Faith. Who soon lost her grin as she had to make way for yet another truck.

"Why on Earth did he have to hole his ass up here?" Faith sighed, "The port is the first place they're going to look for him."

"Maybe they think he couldn't be so stupid," Oz shrugged, "the obvious place can be a very good place to hide."

"I suppose," Faith said without much enthusiasm. Suddenly a light shone upon and the both of them turned around. It was a SDPD police car, with the officers inside shining the car's spotlight on them. Within a second the police officer operating the spotlight switched it off and the car drove on.

"That's the third police car already this evening," Oz said as he watched the car drive on.

"You think they're looking for somebody?" Faith asked rhetorically. Suddenly before Oz could say anything a voice spoke through their earpiece monitors.

"Shall we dispense with the idle chit chat and get on with the mission?"

It was Wesley's voice coming through the earpieces. Lately he was fancying his role as 'commander in chief' more and more and went to the point of buying a state of the art communication system for everybody. Not that they were needed as they had their scouters. But these were still being kept a secret and Wesley's earpiece monitoring system at least did the communication job just as well. It even had the benefit of being les conspicuous. The downside was that he was using it to keep an ear on things. Like right now. And it was beginning to drive at least one person crazy.

"Raaah!" Faith yelled as she took her earpiece out, then yanked on the cord connecting it and the microphone to the transmitter. Once she had the transmitter in her hand she crushed the damn thing and threw it in one of the many rubbish bins that littered Sunnydale.

"Chit chat this," Faith yelled to the rubbish bin. Then she walked away, followed by an amused Oz as he had his hand on his ear containing his earpiece.

"Our Imperious Leader is not amused," he said, "he says, and I quote, that was a $300 dollar state of the art communicator device."

"He can kiss my leather clad ass," Faith said without looking back, "once I change clothes of course. That is if our Imperious Leader can be bothered to stop chasing Xander's ex's ass for a moment. And you can quote me on that!"

Oz sniggered for a moment and then did as he was told. Then he laughed again.

"Buffy says why didn't she think of that," he told Faith.

"Lack of originality," Faith replied back. As she turned a corner they encountered yet another police cruiser shining their lights on them.

"Number four," Oz said after they were gone.

"Well, at least we're here," Faith said as she halted in front of a warehouse. As she looked around she realized this was actually next to the building where Kakistos had holed when he had been after her, in another lifetime ago.

As Oz stood lookout Faith knocked on the door in the agreed upon pattern. After what seemed like an eternity a small panel in the door opened, then the door itself and the deputy mayor of Sunnydale opened, holding a gun at her looking very nervous.

"Hello," Faith smiled, "Slayer Inc. here. You ask, we kill. No demon's too big, no fee is too small. We're here for a pickup?"

The deputy mayor gave her a odd look, then his eyes narrowed as he recognized her and stood back, so Faith and Oz could get in.

"You're the other one," he said in a mixture of surprise and disappointment, "I thought they would send the other one. The real Slayer."

Faith looked up and rolled her eyes quickly. Then she smiled again as she put her finger on the deputy mayor's gun and pushed it gently downwards..

"Yeah, well, you don't think the deputy mayor rates sending in her worship. You only rate the deputy Slayer. Now on the other hand, if you had been the mayor…"

It was like the guy suddenly turned to jelly when Faith mentioned the mayor. He was already more shifty and high strung then Willy with B's foot on his neck but now he went into overdrive.

"Don't say things like that," the deputy mayor said almost in panic, going to the door again to open its panel and look outside.

"Somebody needs a Scooby snack and fast," Faith singsonged softly to Oz. Seeing nothing suspicious but still far from feeling safe, the deputy mayor closed the little port hole and walked past Faith and Oz to a cot where he had a small suitcase waiting.

"Why couldn't the Slayer have come?" he said nervously as he began to pack his belongings, "Why's she not here? Where is Buffy?"

Before Faith could roll her eyes again Oz stepped in.

"Buffy's outside, keeping an eye on things. Keeping you safe."

That seemed to visibly relax the man.

"Thank God," he sighed relieved, then he looked at Oz like he recognized him, "Your that kid! The one's who's with the wannabe witch. Shouldn't you be here with your van?"

Now it was Oz's turn to look upwards and roll his eyes so Faith stepped in.

"Are you crazy?" she said pointing to the street, "There are police everywhere. They'd recognize his van in an instant."

"You're right, his van would be a little inconspicuous," the deputy mayor nodded in agreement, then he put up a finger as if he realized something, "Still, you could have used something else. Why not steal something else? Faith here could easily have stolen something."

"Now he suddenly thinks I'm useful," Faith muttered to herself, "All the time its Buffy this and the real Slayer that, but when there's stealin' to be done its suddenly, hey lets get Faith. She'll know what to…."

"Wouldn't work," Oz interjected, "especially with all the cops out there. They've got SCMODS, remember?"

"Of course," the deputy mayor nodded as he began to pace nervously.

"SCMODS?" Faith asked puzzled at Oz.

"State County Municipal Offender Data System," Oz explained, "A computer linked network system telling the cops which cars and which bad guys to look out for."

"Oh," was all Faith said.

"Then how are we going to get out of here?" the deputy mayor asked, "Neither of you two can fly."

Both Oz and Faith looked at the man bewildered.

"You know that?" Faith asked incredulously.

"Of course we do," the man replied still pacing, "we keep tabs on all of you. And of all the latest things you've learned. And what you keep secret from that new Watcher that…."

Before he could finish Oz had yanked the microphone/receiver cord from the transmitter, causing the deputy mayor's eyes to grow big as saucers again.

"You're wearing a wire?" he almost yelled aloud, his voice going up an octave.

"Yeah," Faith said pointing to the cord, "and guess who was listening on the other side, you idiot! Princes Margaret!"

"But they could have picked that signal up," the deputy mayor said as he raced back to the door.

"It's encrypted," Oz said as he pulled out the transmitter, "trust our glorious leader to finally order something good once in a while. He still has Faith shacked up in her dingy motel but spending $4000 on a state of the art communication system? No problem!"

Oz tried to see if the cord still fitted into the transmitter and noticed that no harm was down. Then he looked at the deputy mayor.

"If you know what we can do, then not another word about our abilities from here on. Otherwise we'll make sure you get an 'accident'. And I'm using the word accident using sarcastic quote marks."

"You're threatening me?" the deputy mayor asked incredulously, "I thought you guys never harmed people?"

Faith held out her hand close to her ear and pretended she heard something.

"You hear that?" she said, "That's the sound of me not giving a damn. You're mistaking me for miss Goodie two shoes. I kick ass for the good guys because I got nothing better to do."

"And to get laid of course," Oz said deadpan.

"Well, obviously," Faith echoed with a big grin, "perks of the job."

Then Oz turned to the deputy mayor again.

"Now if you want to make it out of here in one piece then I suggest you shut up about what you know about us and instead shut open about what you know about the bad guys."

"Got it," the deputy mayor nodded, "but how are we…"

Oz put one finger on the deputy mayor's mouth to shut him up and put his other arm around the man's shoulders.

"Now, as it so happens my girlfriend is a little further advanced then being, as you put it, a wannabe witch. She's a full blown sorceress. Now take these and put them on."

Oz handed the deputy mayor a pair of bracers. Taking one in each hand the deputy mayor looked curiously at them.

"What are these for?" he asked.

"Teleportation spell," Oz replied, "Giles has Wesley convinced Willow's a witch now, so Wesley dug up a teleportation spell from the Council archives. While both a hindrance and a bore our new imperious leader does have far greater access to all sorts of Council toys Giles never had."

"No magic!" the deputy mayor said shaken as he gave back the bracers like they were infected, "no magic!"

"What's with the panic?" Faith asked, "I thought you'd be thrilled if Red would yank you to safety."

"You don't understand," the deputy mayor said ash stricken as he revealed an engraved medallion that hung around his neck, "he's too powerful. Without this he would have found me already. He's got this town wired for magic. The moment one of you uses magic he'll know. That was why I was hoping the Slayer could carry me to safety."

"Oh brother," Faith sighed, "he just needed Air Buffy instead."

For a moment Faith cursed B. for still not having taught both her and Oz to fly. Even though she had taught that undead boyfriend of hers, the both of them ready to come flying on a moments notice. Who might even be on their way right now since Oz abruptly turned off his transmitter. Then she looked at Oz.

"You might as well give the signal for plan B.," she said resigned, "we're not going to be the ones carrying him to safety."

Plan B. had always involved Buffy and Angel swooping off the deputy mayor with an appropriate excuse made up to Wesley afterwards. Since no mentioning of it could be made through the wireless the signal would consist of Oz raising and lowering his chi in rapid succession a few times.

"Let's go to the roof," Faith said after Oz had done his chi thing.

"But shouldn't you…" the deputy mayor objected as Oz's chi show had gone unnoticed to him. Instead Faith gave him a push and nodded for Oz to get his suitcase.

"They know," Faith said getting fed up with the sniveling little weasel, "just show us how to get to the roof."

Giving Faith an injured look the deputy mayor led them to a stairwell which gave access to the roof.

"Where are they?" he asked nervously once they got there, for the first time out in the open.

Faith and Oz looked around them, sort of surprised that Buffy and Angel weren't there already.

"There," Oz said as he pointed towards the northwest, "they're coming in low."

"See, no problems" Faith said as she turned to the deputy mayor.

"Thank god, I was…..," the deputy mayor tried to say when Oz suddenly began to yell.

"LOOK OU…"

Then the deputy mayor's body suddenly jerked and Faith's hand reached out and snapped something from the air just inches in front of the deputy mayor's head. It was a bullet.

"SNIPER," she yelled as both she and Oz dove towards the ground, letting herself fall on top on the deputy mayor and envelop the both of them in her chi. No sooner had she done as she felt the impact of high velocity bullets coming to a harmless dead stop against her chi. But while she was safe she saw that the deputy mayor was starting to bleed heavily from a chest wound.

"Oh shit," she said as she got up on her knees and started to examine him.

"How is he?" Oz asked worried as he tried to look where the sniper was situated. Made more difficult because he had stopped firing.

"Bad," Faith said as she opened the deputy mayor's suit and saw the damage the bullet had done. She was no expert but if she had to guess the man's lung had collapsed.

"I, ah, um, aah," the deputy mayor tried to say but only succeeded in coughing up blood.

"Shh," Faith said gently, "don't speak. You'll only make it worse."

"He got me," the deputy mayor coughed, "he got me!"

"Who got you?" Oz asked as he knelt next to Faith and the dying man, "you're dying, you might just as well tell."

"Oz," Faith said aghast at her partners bluntness.

"He can't be killed," the deputy mayor coughed, "he's inv…."

Then he was dead.

"What did he say," Faith asked looking at Oz since he had better hearing.

"I'm not sure," the young guitarist said shaking his head, "it sounded like invulnerable or invincible."

Faith looked Oz in the eyes, then at the dead deputy mayor. Then fire returned to her eyes.

"Where did you hear that sniper shooting from," she asked without emotion. Oz pointed into a general direction.

"That way," he said, but I'm not sure.

"That's okay," Faith said as she got up, "I'll find him."

Then she ran towards the roof's edge and jumped across the street to the opposite building.

x

x

SMACK!

With a loud smack Xander hit the floor of the factory backwards and created a small Xander shaped crater. He did so right in front of his demon patron Xichulub, who was obviously not very amused.

"What the fuck are you doing kid!" Xichulub said dismayed, "Get the fuck up and clog that toad!"

"Don't worry," Xander said as he spit out a little blood, "I gotta plan."

"What plan?" Xichulub asked in despair.

"I…" Xander tried to say but the porn starlet suddenly cried out.

"Look out!"

"You should listen to what she says," a new voice said.

Suddenly the air got thinner and Xander felt intense gravity take hold of him again. Sitting upright he saw he was surrounded by a vast white expanse of nothingness. Xander looked around and suddenly there she was.

"Buffy!"

Sitting in a comfy beach chair was Buffy, the alternate Buffy, now his Buffy. A high heeled sandal dangled from one of her feet as she sat there in her bathing suit holding a cocktail in one hand and lowering her sunglasses with the other.

"Oh dear," she sighed disapprovingly, "You just don't know when to quit, do you? Glutton for punishment."

Xander rolled over until he was resting on his hands and knees.

"You're back," he said choking. Buffy took a sip from her cocktail and then put the glass down.

"You're an idiot, Fly Boy," she said, "this is what, the fifth time you're letting yourself get beaten to a pulp?"

"It pays the bills," Xander said as he touched his mouth with one hand and saw blood on his fingers.

Buffy shook her head disapprovingly and held up five fingers.

"First Las Vegas, then Denver, New Orleans, St. Louis and now Cleveland. Just because you have a 14.000+ powerlevel doesn't mean you can't get killed," she said, "especially if you keep your power lower then the bad guy, you dumbass!"

"Maybe I am a glutton for punishment since you've left," Xander said as he put a finger in his mouth to check if one of his teeth was loose, "At least every time one of them knocks me out hard enough I get to see you again."

Buffy snorted and reached for her cocktail again.

"Yeah, let the big bad demon pummel you long enough so you get to chat with your ex-girlfriend again inside your brain. Real smart, Fly Boy. Keep it up and you won't even have this for long."

"I won't have to," Xander said as his oral examination turned out negative on loose teeth, "once I win this….."

"If you win," Buffy snorted and Xander shot her a quick angry glance before returning.

"Once I win that demon will help me find somebody who can punch a whole between realities. Then we'll be together again."

Buffy took a loud slurp through her straw. Then she let out a discrete burp.

"I detect two little flaws in your master plan," she said, "first, what makes you so sure I'll be glad to see you again?"

Xander finally stood up and began to stretch his aching left shoulder, the one where Drum had delivered him a crushing blow and scratched his flesh with its nails.

"You'll huff and you'll puff, but eventually you'll get over it," he finally said, "even if I have to knock some sense into you."

"And you were always so good at that," Buffy replied snidely.

"I'll blast it into your skull at point blank range if need by," Xander said ignoring the sarcasm, "what's the other flaw?"

Buffy peered over her sunglasses again and smiled.

"You have to win first, Fly Boy. Roll over!"

In an instant Xander was transported back to the Cleveland fight and without thinking he rolled over from where he had lain. And in doing so only just evaded Drum's fist impacting hard on the concrete floor with so much force that those factory windows that still existed trembled.

Without looking up Xander made a spinning kick with so much momentum that it send Drum away flying to the other end of the ad hoc arena and left him with enough so he could jump back on his feet. She was right. Playtime was over. Doing a quick chi increase Xander launched himself at Drum, letting his chi propel him even faster.

Yet to his surprise Drum did exactly the same and both fighters crashed into each other with so much force that the clash of both fighters chi send a shockwave through the factory hall. And for the first time Xander began to realize that maybe he was taking the fight a little too much for granted.

Okay, no more Mal'ki'itsu meditations next time! They were great for pumping up self confidence. Maybe just a little bit too much. There was nothing wrong with being confident in yourself but in the end there was only enough room in the world for one Vegeta.

Despite his raised chi Drum kept up effortlessly with Xander, matching him punch for punch, kick for kick and blow by blow.

"Okay, this has so ceased to be amusing," Xander said through gritted teeth. Drum just smirked back. Still, even his smirk was no longer as confident as it had been in the beginning. To Xander it now looked more…. like a battle happy Saiyan?

"Hungering for a true challenge, huh?" Xander smirked back, he knew the feeling himself, cursed be that Saiyan possession thingy! Drum's only reply came in the form of his fists. A particularly nasty blow send Xander crashing against the factory wall, creating a cloud of dust that had nearby spectators coughing.

Wasting no time Drum leaped after Xander but instead met Xander's elbow face first as Xander came out of the cloud at breakneck speed. It wasn't enough however to stop the beast and the tit-for-tat exchange went on.

As the fight went on both fighters showed less and less concern for the spectators. As each fighter called upon more and more of their power the pace picked up and the after effects of excessive chi being thrown around by the two fighters became more and more visible. A powerful blow threw spectators on the ground twelve feet away. A block from Drum deflected so much of Xander's energy that a window in line of the punch shattered. Xander impacting on the ground created a small tremor throughout the factory

For five minutes this went in a relentless pace until a lucky kick threw Drum across the hall into a heap of old machinery parts, completely disappearing underneath it and kicking up a huge dustbowl. Then silence came over the old factory hall.

"Is it over?" the porn starlet asked from behind Xichulub broad shoulders. Say what you will about the sex crazed demon, throughout the fight he had shielded the girl whenever he could.

"I damn well hope so," Xichulub said wearily. Then he looked at Xander. The kid looked intently at the dustbowl, as if he was expecting something.

"I don't think it's over yet," he said to the girl, "the fat demon hasn't sung yet."

Then the earth began to shake.

"What's happening?" the starlet cried out as the tremors increased.

"Bad shit, honey," Xichulub said as he pushed the girl behind him and his body guard.

DOOM!

Then a loud bang went through the room and this time all the remaining windows shattered, showering shards of glass outside, but luckily for the spectators not inside. With the bang the dust was blown away and Drum was revealed, a fiery halo of white chi surrounding him. Then the thing roared a challenge towards Xander in a language nobody could understand. Still it wasn't hard to guess what was said as Xander braced himself.

No sooner after issuing its challenge Drum slammed into Xander and pummeled the teen with such ferocity it put everything gone before to shame. Xander barely managed to block half of the blows. Then Drum grabbed Xander's left leg and yanked him off his feet, then he began to swing the teen around like he was a sack of potatoes until finally he let go and threw him into the air. Before Xander could reach the roof Drum leapt up after him, overtook him and then delivered such a mighty punch the teen was driven into the ground, crashing through the factory floor into the basement tunnel system.

Still hanging in the air Drum grinned as he finally sensed victory. Then he put both hands above his hands and a yellow globe of energy began to form. Once he had gathered enough energy the brute lowered his hands until they were in front of him.

"MASENKO!"

A yellow beam shot from his hands into the crater Xander had disappeared into. All over the factory floor manhole covers giving access to the tunnel system began to erupt in geysers of yellow chi. On and on it went seemingly for forever until Drum stopped firing the beam. For three seconds it was silent. Then the factory floor began to rise up, like something was being inflated underneath it. Just when everybody thought the floor was going to break and erupt it lowered again.

And then it was silent.

"He did it," Fat Tony erupted, "my boy Drum did it!"

The crime lord began to hug his bodyguard. Meanwhile on Xichulub's side things were less cheery.

"No!" the porn starlet and Xichulub both said aghast in unison. The only difference was that she was horrified while he was angry. How dare Fat Tony employ such an insanely overpowered demon for their fights! Now Xichulub could never find a human fighter strong enough to beat that thing.

"Sorry your boy lost," Fat Tony grinned from ear to ear as he walked up to Xichulub, "but as you may have noticed, my boy won!"

"I'm glad to see you're not above rubbing it in," Xichulub sneered back.

"Nor are you above being a sour puss, Xichs," Fat Tony countered.

"Cheater!" Xichulub bit back as he pointed at drum, "You hired a demon who's way too overpowered!"

Fat Tony shrugged unimpressed.

"Who cares? Like your boy was so standard. That was not a normal human being! That wasn't even a human! I starting to think you've cheated as well, Xichs."

"He passed all the tests," Xichulub replied as he pointed to what was now Xander's cratery grave.

"Sure," Fat Tony snorted as he reached inside his jacket to fetch a cigar, "and next time get a tester who's not on your payroll."

"Like anybody is stupid enough to go up against that!" Xichulub said pointing to Drum, still hanging up there by the roof.

"I'll get somebody else," Fat Tony said trying to sooth Xichulub, "I hear there's this vampire called Spike who's kicking up quite a storm in New York."

"Please, not a vampire," Xichulub sighed in disgust, "they're so gaudy."

Meanwhile the porn starlet had silently walked over to the crater's edge and knelt down beside it, peering into the black abyss.

"No," she said softly as she shook her head. Suddenly a soft wind began to blow and she looked up, right into Drum's grinning face. The demon had come down and now floated two feet above the ground on the other side of the crater, his white halo still blazing

"Kaput!" Drum grinned as he drew an imaginary line across his hard to see neck.

"Animal!" the porn starlet said angry. Drum shrugged and continued to smirk as he landed. Then his chi flame died down, he turned around and walked away.

"Animal," the girl sighed mournfully and a tear rolled down her cheek and fell into the crater. Then to her surprise after a second it came back, floating slowly upwards in some unseen and unfelt backdraft. Then more things began to slowly rise into the air. Small specs of dust and rubble floated up from the crater. Not sure what was going the girl got up on her 6" heels and hobbled back to Xichulub, who was still bickering with Fat Tony.

"Look," the girl called out pointing to the crater.

"Not now, honey," Xichulub said dismissively, "the grownups are talking."

"But…." the girl tried to say but now Fat Tony cut her short.

"Shut up bitch or I'll bust your goddamn lip," he said angry as he raised his arm to hit the girl. The starlet immediately put up her arms and turned her head away to protect herself.

"Don't you dare hit her!" Xichulub said angry as he gripped Fat Tony's hand before Fat Tony's bodyguard could stop him. In an instant both bodyguards had their weapons drawn at each other.

"You and your obsession with human tail!" Fat Tony hissed angrily.

"Go beat up one of your own girls," Xichulub countered, "you're not hitting any of mi….."

Suddenly a piece of concrete floated up between the two men and they both followed it with their eyes as it flew up.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing," Fat Tony said softly.

"That depends," Xichulub said, his eyes going all over the place as he saw more pieces of concrete rise up into the air, "are you seeing floating stones?"

"I am," Fat Tony replied.

"Then I am seeing what you're seeing," Xichulub said.

"That's what I was trying to say," the porn starlet said pointing to the crater, "something's happening!"

Then the earth began to shake again, like had happened earlier when Drum had gone nuclear. The big demon had almost left the hall when he turned around, his smirk gone, instead he now wore the 'what the fuck' look. Then his chi flame sprang into existence again and he raced back to the crater, from which a now steady stream of concrete debris rose into the air.

Once Drum was above the crater he raised his hands above his hands again to create another Masenko blast. Again a yellow orb of death began to form above those hands, charging until the blast had reached enough strength. Or until it had reached enough power to do at least some damage in the short time allowed. Which seemed more likely.

Next Drum lowered his hands in front of him.

"MASENK….."

Before he could finish a white streak erupted and came to a dead stop against Drum's stomach.

It was Xander, surrounded by intense white chi flames, his fist burrowed up to his elbow inside the fatty folds of Drum's stomach.

"Oops, did I interrupt something?" the young teen grinned as Drum tried to gasp for breath in vain. Then greenish blood began to drip from Drum's mouth. Then faster then the any spectator's eye could follow Xander did a 180 flip and his leg impacted with a loud thud against the left side of Drum's head, causing bones to splinter and even more green blood to erupt.

Without making a noise Drum fell from the sky and crashed lifelessly next to the crater. His left skull was completely bashed in and a pool of green blood began to form around it.

"FUCK!" Fat Tony said aghast as he walked over to the body of his former champion.

Meanwhile Xander flew over and landed slowly next to Xichulub.

"Told you I had a plan," the teen grinned triumphantly.

x

x

In the end Faith found the sniper's lair faster then she had expected. Unfortunately the sniper itself was long gone. In line of sight of the roof where the deputy mayor got killed Faith found a building with an overlooking and open window. The building itself, the office of a small in and export business was empty. Only on the top floor where the sniper had been were there any signs of resent life. Faith now sat where the shooter had been. Beside her were half a dozen of spent cartridges as she looked out of the window straight at the rooftop where Oz still was with the deputy mayor's body. She could see that Angel now was beside him, examining the body.

Suddenly her line of sight was blocked and B. floated in between, hanging outside the window.

"What a mess," B. said shaking her head, "for years they come at me with swords, brute force and chi attacks and now suddenly they use sniper riffles."

While she was angry at the pick up having gone wrong, B. didn't sound angry at Faith. In a way B. was right. In a business revolving around all things super natural such a mundane thing as a sniper riffle seemed like an anti-climax.

"How do you feel?" B. suddenly asked to Faith's surprise. She genuinely sounded concerned.

"Gee, I didn't know you'd care, B.," Faith snapped back. Again B. reacted quite mild, probably chalking it up Faith's anger to the mission having gone horribly wrong.

"There was no way you could foresee this, Faith. This has never happened before. It's not your fault."

Faith wanted to say something. Then she saw an empty soft drink can lying about and picked it up.

"Yeah, well I'm not so sure about that," she said as she smelled inside the disposable can, smelling a diet soda of a certain well known brand she knew a certain special somebody had a liking too.

x

x

Back in his dressing room Xander sat on top of a table with a doctor busy beside him. Not to patch up his wounds, even though the doc had patched up some of the worst ones. But more to check to see if Xander was human.

After he had beaten Drum Fat Tony had caused a stink by raising doubts as to Xander's human origin. Claiming that if the kid wasn't human then therefore the result of their battle was null and void. And after what he had seen not even Xichulub put up that much of a fight initially, agreeing to a test. Using the fight's attending physician to perform some tests on Xander.

In his long career patching up injured fighters and helping dispose of killed ones for both Xichulub and Fat Tony, Doctor Roberts, or old Doc Bob as he was called, had seen it all. Tough fighters, not so tough fighters, scary fighters, extremely scary fighters. Bashed in bodies, torn of limbs, eaten limbs, at one time even half digested and regurgitated body parts. And he always managed to keep his cool while seeing it. Which was why he was hired by both crime bosses for their dirty medical work. But this kid he was examining, that was the first time he actually felt scared shitless. The kind where despite your best efforts your lower intestine tells you that within seconds you'd be better off if you had worn an adult diaper.

Not that the kid resisted being examined and prodded by Bob, it just was that what he'd done wasn't natural. Normal humans didn't do the stuff he had done. Not unless they had read lots of scary books bound in leather, often of human origin, just like the ink, and with scary titles with often had the word necro in the title.

Yet the kid didn't have any of the scary tattoos that came with that kind of hobby, nor had any of the paraphernalia. From what old Doc Bob could see, he was just a normal looking human kid with exceptional stamina. His only anomaly being a tiny vestigial tail. Which was odd, but not that odd.

"He's human," he told his employers who had witnessed the examination first hand, "I've run the blood test, the urine test and the Ricardo-Meinhoff magical test "

The Ricardo-Meinhoff magical test was of course the standard test to check to see if one was dealing with beings masquerading as humans or who used magic to improve themselves. It was also the only magic old doc Bob knew. Unlike some doctors he had come to know, Bob shunned using magic as a medical tool. There was always a price for magic use and if it meant using a little more elbow grease to do things the more old fashioned way, so be it. Which was why he was called old Doc Bob.

"Yes," Xichulub said relieved, who had been shitting bricks that Xander would turn out not to be human. Fat Tony looked less relieved, but then again, old doc Bob's verdict was final and considered impartial. It's why they hired him in the first place. Being both discrete and incorruptible was a rare commodity these days. Another reason why they called him old Doc Bob.

"Aw crap," Fat Tony said dejected as he threw his hands into the air, "thanks a lot, Bob! You're costing me a lot of money."

"Can't spin it any nicer for you, Tone," Bob shrugged, as if having a crime boss be pissed at you was the most common thing in the world, "all my tests came up negative. The kid's human."

"Normal humans don't do shit like him," Fat Tony said pointing at Xander, "the tests have to be wrong."

Old Doc Bob never lost his cool but there was one way to make him explode. And that was to insult his craft.

"There is nothing wrong with my tests!" old Doc Bob exploded in such anger both crime bosses took a step back. It was Xichulub that stepped in to soothe the angry physician.

"Of course there is nothing wrong with your tests, Bob," the demon said, "nor was Tone insulting your skills. It's just that Tone here has a hard time comprehending realities and the reality of the matter is that not only did his fighter lost, he cheated."

"I didn't," Fat Tony objected but Xichulub silenced him.

"Can it! You cheated by employing a demon that was way too strong for any human to fight!"

"Oh yeah," Fat Tony bit back and pointed ant Xander, "well, so did you!"

Xichulub looked at Xander, then he put his arm around Fat Tony's shoulder and dragged him along to the exit.

"Let's talk about this in my office," he smiled baring his demon teeth.

"You're office here is an old toilet," Fat Tony countered.

"But once you get inside the stalls it's very private," Xichulub said as he bared his teeth again in what passed for a grin

Xander and Bob watched the two crime bosses leave. Then the doctor turned to Xander again.

"I should have listened to mother and gone to Hollywood to become a plastic surgeon," Bob muttered as he began fixing Xander's remaining untreated injuries.

"Wouldn't that mean you'd miss all the excitement here," Xander grinned amused. Whereupon Bob gave Xander the odd look.

"They have fights over there too, young man. Or whatever you are. In the end, most demons and demon fighters seem to end up in LA. Or that Hellmouth next to it. I'm surprised you didn't go there, instead of coming here."

"I came here to get away from that place," Xander replied as he stoically endured Bob stitching a cut on his forehead.

"That explains things," Bob shrugged. Then neither said anything and the doc finished his work. Then he packed in his gear and made for the exit, where he nearly bumped into Xichulub.

"So," Xander asked, "what's the verdict?"

"A compromise," the fat demon shrugged, "Fat Tony admits defeat and in return I will forget how he cheated by employing that overpowered demon of his. "

"So it all worked out in the end?" Xander smiled as he hopped off the table to go to his bag to get dressed.

"You could say something like that," Xichulub replied, "of course, unless the both of us want to go to war there was little choice. Wars are costly. And bad for business. Compromises are better. Most definitely not a dirty word."

"You're the oddest demon I've ever met," Xander said as he slid a sweater over his head, "certainly nothing like the demons I grew up with."

"All sorts and sizes, Kid," Xichulub grinned, then he threw something towards Xander, "catch!"

Xander picked the package out of the air. It was a fat envelope and as he opened it he saw it was filled with money. And a reservation for an airplane ticket back to Los Angeles.

"What's this?" Xander said holding up the reservation slip, "this wasn't part of the deal! You're supposed to get me a mage. Or a wizard. Or whatever!"

"Relax," Xichulub said holding up his hands trying to pacify Xander but Xander looked far from relaxed. Irate was a better word.

"Do I look relaxed?" Xander said angry, two globes of blue fire forming in his outstretched hands.

"Look," Xichulub said as he slowly stepped back towards the door, "the deal is still in effect. It's just that…"

"It's just what?" Xander almost yelled causing Xichulub to swallow before replying.

"…it's just that there isn't anybody in Cleveland, or for that matter east of the Mississippi with the kind of power you need," the fat demon blurted out.

With that the fight went out of Xander like a balloon that was deflated. Feeling all wobbly in the head he reached for a chair and sat down dejected. He could almost hear a very familiar voice laughing in the back of his head.

"For nothing," Xander said softly as Xichulub pulled out a cloth and began to wipe the sweat of his face, "it was all for nothing, me coming here."

"Well, I wouldn't quite call it all for nothing," the fat demon said as he put away his handkerchief, "you made me a lot of money, kid. Hell, you made a lot of money for yourself as well. I'd rehire you for the next fight too if it weren't that Fat Tony would suffer the mother of heart attacks the moment I mention your name again. Plus you and Drum sort of trashed the venue."

"What do I care for money?" Xander sneered, "I wanted the other thing!"

"And that's where the reservation comes in handy," Xichulub said smiling again, "while there aren't any good mages here, there are tons of them in Los Angeles. They don't call it the city of demons for nothing."

"I left California for a reason," Xander said sullen.

"Then I see three choices for you, my friend," Xichulub said holding up three well manicured clawed fingers, "either stay here and do nothing. You're welcome to stay as far as I'm concerned. And who knows, maybe one of those mages travels east. But be warned though, they're fickle. They don't mind if you make an appointment with them, but pester them when they're on business and they might stick you in a universe of their choosing. One you're definitely not going to like. The other choice is you going to LA, find one, make an appointment and reach a deal."

"What's the third option?" Xander asked.

"Well, you could always hope you might run in into a vengeance demon," the fat demon grinned, "I hear some of them can do what you ask for."

"Me and vengeance demons don't go well together," Xander said looking downward, "I sort of had a few run ins already."

"I see," Xichulub said scratching the back of his head, "well, you did make me a lot of money. And humiliated Fat Tony, which is an added bonus. So I'll do you a favor, kid."

The demon reached inside his suit for his wallet and pulled out a card. Then he put back the wallet and reached for a pen and signed the card. After which he held out the card to Xander.

"If you do decide to go to LA, go visit this place. It's called Wolfram & Hart. They're a lawyer firm dealing in all things supernatural. If I call them slime it would be an insult to slime. But if they can't find you your mage, nobody can. It'll cost you but if they can do it, they will do it. Just make an appointment and tell them I sent you. If they make trouble just show them this card."

Xander took the card Xichulub held out to him. It was a business card of Xichulub's strip club, with something handwritten on it in some alien language, which Xander assumed from Xichulub's previous writing could only be the demon's name in his own language.

Xander filed away the card. As he did Xichulub held out his hand.

"This is where our ways part, Xander," the demon smiled, "it has been a surprise and mostly a joy to work with you. Since I couldn't quite help you I left you a little more of the money then agreed upon. Good luck on your quest young man, may you find what you look for. And don't forget to let me know if you ever fight again so I can place a bet."

x

x

Riley Finn looked at his breakfast. The plate was stacked with food and there was plenty more where it came from. But the more he stared at it, the more he didn't want to eat any of it. He and the others had just returned from yet another grueling twenty four mile run to fetch the food. He should be hungry for it. Intellectually he understood the need to replenish his body. In the few days he had been here, the training had been relentless and without mercy. Only medical reasons would buy anybody a few hours of rest. But as things went on, the Saiyan accepted less and less excuses. Exhaustion was now a constant state of mind.

Which was fair enough. Special Forces training had been similar. But still nothing like this. At no point in time had Riley ever been so exhausted that even the idea of eating was enough to make him want to puke. Yet eating was what the Saiyan wanted them to do. Eating absurd amounts of food himself. The by now stale joke was that most of the food they had to carry on their runs was for him.

Still, some of the trainees had begun to eat more then was normal themselves. The big Jaffa, Teal'c was his name, big eater from day one. But he was an exception. It was only yesterday that Riley noticed that some of the other Jaffa had recuperated some of their appetite. Which was the only reason why Riley now even considered putting his spoon into the food on his plate. No way was he going to let these off worlders out-perform him. Even if it was some as mundane as eating breakfast.

Suddenly the Saiyan entered the mess tent and instead of grabbing a plate and piling up the food he went over to Riley's table, the one he was sharing with the two leaders of the two Jaffa contingents. Who seemed to dislike each other intensely. As did their contingents. Which was probably why the Saiyan ordered that the human/Jaffa contingents be mixed from the start.

"Captain Finn, First Ma'el and First Ru'pel," the Saiyan said, "ready your men. We are going on a field trip, as the Earthers say, ASAP!"

First Ma'el was the always sour looking and short leader of the Jaffa contingent which styled themselves the Sons of Priya. Riley still had no idea what that meant precisely other then that he was some religious zealot. But he was sure that if he ever asked Ma'el what it meant he would know. And regret ever asking for it. The man, as did his other men, looked like he would be more then willing to go ringing doorbells telling people the good word if only they would give them a minute of their time. Riley had met enough religious men and women in the service to know that the best way to deal with them was to never get involved in a religious debate. As far as he was concerned don't ask, don't tell was more then just a policy for gays.

First Ru'pel was the more then six foot tall black leader of the other Jaffa contingent, the Free Jaffa. And while they didn't try to convert Riley they reminded him of rabid atheists. So convinced of their own right that they just had to convince those that still believed of the errors in their ways. This seemed such a colossal waste of time to Riley as the more he learned of them, the more he believed they had so much in common. Fighting the same enemy. They reminded him of the Palestinian factions of Hamas and Fatah. One religious, the other secular. Both committed to the destruction of Israel, but both more busy plotting against the other then against their common enemy. Ru'pel by the way was also the first Jaffa to have earned a nick name by the Earth contingent, being called Rue Paul, after the flaming gay and equally tall black transvestite. To which he even bore some resemblance So far the joke hadn't caught on with Ru'pel yet. Which was probably just as well.

"We will do as you say, disciple," Ma'el said in that fawning way he always did in regard to the Saiyan. Of course Rue Paul would not be left behind as well.

"As shall the Free Jaffa," he said, already standing up to gather his men.

"Field trip, what field trip?" Riley asked curiously.

"There has been a sighting of the Androids in San Antonio," the Saiyan said, "so pack your stuff and go. A plane is waiting for you all. Follow me"

"We shall do as you say," Ma'el said without question as the three followed the Saiyan outside. The Jaffa was really getting on Riley's nerves by now. Riley knew of the Androids. The major of the SGC had told him of the Saiyan's quest to find and destroy two androids created by an evil genius. How they were linked to a deadly scheme to lay waste to the planet. And that the Saiyan considered finding and destroying them his first and foremost priority. But he hadn't quite expected to be dragged into the search.

"Why should we go?" he asked puzzled. The Saiyan and Ma'el gave him the how could you even ask look in return.

"Captain Finn," the Saiyan said as if explaining to a small child, "the training goes wherever I go. If I choose to go to the other side of the planet, so do you. Also, you agreed to enter my servitude for the duration of the training, remember?"

"I guess it's off to San Antonio then," Riley echoed trotting behind the others, then he begun to chuckle as he remembered a steakhouse in San Antonio that had one of those 'eat a big ass steak in an hour and its free' challenges. He could picture the Saiyan driving the owner of said steakhouse into despair within minutes.

"Is there something amusing, Captain Finn?" the Saiyan asked curiously as they stepped outside.

"A private joke," Riley replied as in the distance he could hear the distinct sound of a Chinook helicopter approaching, "you're traveling by helicopter?"

"No," the Saiyan replied, "for now you will be traveling through conventional means. I on the other hand will travel ahead. Use the travel time for meditation."

And with that the Saiyan lifted off in the air like some invisible bungee cord yanked him skyward. Once he reached a thousand feet he flew off like a jet fighter in a blaze of white chi.

"The Disciple of Aldur is as powerful as he is wise," Ma'el said in awe.

"Please tell me we get to do that too," Riley muttered to himself

x

x

"I'm coming," a voice muttered aggrieved, followed by some fiddling at the door's lock. Then the door opened and revealed a very sleepy looking and a not much of anything wearing Faith.

"What?" Faith said drowsily. It turned out it was Buffy who had rudely interrupted her beauty sleep.

"B.?" Faith exclaimed as her brain finally registered who had knocked on her door at this late hour. Buffy looked a bit uncomfortable as she stood there in the door opening.

"Uh, can I come in," Buffy asked uncomfortably.

"Better you didn't," Faith said as she stepped outside and closed her motel room door behind her.

"You got company in there?" Buffy asked.

"None of your business, B." Faith said folding her hands across her naked chest.

"You're having a boytoy in there?" Buffy said incredulously, "After what happened yesterday?"

Faith let out a loud snort and rolled her eyes.

"You deal with it in your way, B., I deal with it in mine. Did you come here to bitch about what happened? I thought Prince Margaret grilled us about that yesterday over and over again?"

Buffy looked upward for a moment and seemed a bit tense. Which seemed odd to Faith. B. rarely beat around the bush. Not unless something bugged her or she had to do something distasteful.

"Why're you so tense, B.?" she asked wearily. Buffy pointed with both hands towards Faith.

"You're like naked, Faith. Naked! Outside! In the middle of the night!"

"Yeah, so what?" Faith shrugged and gestured around her, "I live in a friggin' cheap motel, B.! Half the rooms here Eddie rents out to hookers and the other half to cheating couples! Eddie sees nothing but half naked chicks all the time! He's seen so much he's probably gay by now."

"Still, put some clothes on," Buffy said, but Faith shook her head. Then she put her hands on her sides.

"You didn't come here to talk about my nakedness, or about my latest conquest. Why are you here, B.?"

"We have a problem, Faith," Buffy replied again tensely.

"Oh," Faith said, "and what might that be?"

"You," Buffy said deadpan causing Faith to take an involuntary step back.

"What are you talking about, B.?"

"You told Willy that we were going to bring in the deputy mayor. You know Willy talks to everybody. Thanks to you the deputy mayor got killed."

Faith wanted to say something but didn't. Instead she looked downwards.

"How did you know?" she said softly. Buffy shook her head.

"Clem told Wesley and Willy confirmed it. Faith, if you're going to leak information, at least leak it to somebody who doesn't crack the moment I walk in through the door."

"Damn!" was all Faith muttered as she folded her arms across her chest.

"That's all you got to say for yourself?" Buffy said incredulously.

"What more do you want?" Faith snorted as she looked away, "Do you even care? You never care for what I have to say or do. Why should you now?"

Buffy took hold of Faith by her shoulders.

"I care," Buffy said trying to get through to Faith, "you're a Slayer. Like me!"

"No," Faith said looking Buffy in the eyes, "I'm just the spare. You may not say it but we all know it. Hell, even that dumbass deputy mayor knew that. He was so pissed that it was me and not you who walked in the door. So don't pull the we're both sisters crap cause you sure got a funny sense of timing, B."

Faith pulled herself free from Buffy's hands and turned around.

"Faith!" Buffy said as she again tried to reach out but Faith turned around and stepped back at the same time.

"Don't you touch me!" she hissed angrily, "You're nothing like me and I'm nothing like you! You think you know it all, B., but you don't! You wanna know why I did it? I'll tell you why! I did it to lure out Trick. That's why I did it!"

"Look, we've been over it and there is no….," Buffy tried to say but Faith interrupted her.

"You think you know it all, you really do," she said shaking her head, "you've lived here for longer then me, B., but you have no clue as to how this town really…."

Before Faith could finish a yellow orb of light fell from the sky and hit her, causing her to collapse. Before she hit the floor Buffy caught her. Faith's eyes still looked up to her as Buffy took hold of her body.

"It was Willow," Buffy said as she pushed the door to Faith's motel room open with her foot so she could drag Faith inside. Inside the room she found a boy asleep on the bed. She put Faith on a chair, then went to the bed and yanked the covers away, causing the boy to fall on the ground naked. She then quickly covered up Faith before turning to the rudely awakened and very confused young man.

"Get out!" Buffy hissed angrily and the boy scurried out of the room in no time, just barely able to gather his things before running out of the door. As he did he passed Wesley and Giles entering the room.

"There was no need for Willow's spell," Buffy said irritated.

"There wasn't?" Wesley said raising an eyebrow, "From where I was standing it looked the two of you were going to fight. And we couldn't have two Slayers fight each other in a public place. Especially when one of you was half naked."

"We were just talking," Buffy countered but Wesley seemed unimpressed.

"At the least we've prevented a public scene," Giles quickly added, "the question of Faith's involvement can be better ascertained in private."

"Besides," Wesley smirked, "I thought the two of you disliked each other?"

"She deserves a chance to explain herself," Buffy said pointing at Faith.

"And she will," Wesley said, then he turned to Faith who still looked at them with her eyes, her only body parts able to move, "Faith, by order of the Council you are hereby placed under arrest for aiding and abetting the enemy."

x

x

Xander sat in the departure lounge of Cleveland's airport. It had taken some bouts of severe soul searching but in the end he had decided to take up Xichulub's offer and take a flight back to California. While too close for comfort, LA at least wasn't Sunnydale.

So far his roadtrip/search/quest had been more or less fruitless in giving him what he wanted. Either a solution or at the very least something to take away the pain. So far every place he had gone to had proved increasingly more disappointing. Barring a promise to open certain questionable doors he was no closer to finding a way back to her, or at the very least talk to her. And the longer he was on the road the more Xander realized he was also missing his friends more and more. Just not enough to return home. For that the pain was still too great. Or too recent.

So now he sat here, at this ungodly early time in the morning, waiting for the early plane for LA to be ready for boarding. Curse Belmovekk for being responsible for having drawn the US Air Force's attention to them and taking away their chances to enjoy a personal and more enjoyable flight of their own.

That gave Xander an idea. If LA didn't work out he might as well go to Europe or Asia. Where the US Air Force wasn't deploying modified AWACS aircraft. And that was excluding the other possibilities. Giles had once told him and the others that many of the powerful demons and magic users preferred the 'old world' over the 'new world'. Especially after the fall of Communism re-opened a whole quarter of the world again for them to exploit.

Communism may have had many faults, but tolerating random demonic chaos wasn't one of them. Stalin had been as hard on the various demons, vampires, mages and you name it in his realm as he had been on his own population. Making sure that if anybody did anything supernatural or bit in any neck in the Soviet Union and its dependents it was damn well state sanctioned and approved. Giles had said that even the Council had to dance to his whims if a new Slayer turned out to be from Russia or Eastern Europe. Making sure that every assigned Watcher had a political officer from the KGB's supernatural branch dogging his steps and if necessary overruling him.

Most of that control was gone now, creating a virtual demonic wild west in many respects. With Giles often lamenting the Council was more interested in what went on in Eastern Europe then in Sunnydale.

"Excuse me?" a female voice suddenly said, interrupting Xander's train of thought. Xander looked up and into a pretty blonde girl's face, pointing towards the seat beside him.

"Is this seat taken?" the girl asked.

"Uh, um, not at, uh, all," Xander stammered unsure.

"Thanks!" the girl said as she put her bag down and then sat down herself. As she did Xander suddenly noticed that there were plenty of free seats elsewhere in the departure hall. In fact most of the terminal's seats were free, the place still being mostly deserted.

"You going to LA?" the girl asked, interrupting Xander's train of thought again.

"Uh, yeah," Xander replied unsurely. She reminded him of somebody but he just couldn't remember who.

"Me too," the girl smiled at him. As she did Xander noticed that one of her teeth looked different, the color being off just a bit from the rest, maybe a prosthetic.

"Huh, coincidence," Xander said not really knowing what to say.

"I don't believe in coincidences," the girl said, "I believe in fate though."

Wrong thing to say. Buffy once said that mentioning the word fate in Xander's presence was like holding a red piece of cloth in front of a raging bull. It never failed to set him off.

"I know it exists but generally I hate fate with a passion. I want to spit it in the eyes, knock it over and then steal its wallet," Xander said without thinking, then he leaned over towards her, "you're right in one thing though, I don't believe in coincidences either. Who're you?"

The girl flinched under his accusing gaze and looked away. Then she reached for her bag and stood up.

"I'm sorry," she said frightened, "I shouldn't…. "

She tried to walk away but Xander grabbed her free hand at the last second.

"Look I'm sorry," Xander said soothingly, "I didn't mean to scare you. It's just that…. Well, it's early and I'm just no morning person. So I might have come on a bit too strong. And I just have this sinking feeling I know you from somewhere."

The girl relaxed in his grip and she turned around.

"You do," she said, her frightened look gone

"But from where?" Xander mused as he examined the girl. He hated it when he just couldn't connect the dots.

"I was at the fight," she said and suddenly it clicked inside Xander's brain.

"Ohmigod!" he exclaimed wide eyed as he pointed at her, "Now I know! You're that, uh, um, how shall I put it, the 'movie star'!"

"This is the part where most men start to blubber," the girl smiled as she sat down next to him again.

"To be fair, so would I," Xander replied, "I used to own an extensive collection for all those long lonely nights. And for all of those mornings where you have… um, well, I'm sure you can imagine why. Although I haven't seen much..., um..., 'movies' lately. My first girlfriend wouldn't let me and the other one, well, um, she probably wouldn't mind but where we were, there were just no TV's. Let alone…, I'm also blubbering, right?"

"You're doing okay," the girl smiled encouragingly.

"Well, you sure look different from the fight," Xander mused looking at the girl who looked anything but an adult movie star, if anything she looked barely older then him.

"You don't think I go through life dressed like that every day, or do you?" the girl said giving him a slight frown.

"I suppose," Xander shrugged, "Although I know a few people who do. I had a friend who wore tight leather like it was her 2nd skin. She wears more sensible shoes though."

"What's wrong with my shoes?" the girl said as she lifted her legs up, revealing a pair of sensible sneakers which she wiggled about.

"Unfortunately nothing right now," Xander smiled, "Now, don't take this the wrong way, uh, what was your name again? Cause when Xichulub introduced you I wasn't paying much attention. Not that there was nothing wrong with they way you looked, but I had other things on my mind. Fighting and stuff, remember? The way of the warrior."

As if to illustrate his point Xander waved his arms around in a mock martial arts gesture.

"You're excused," the girl smiled and extended her hand, "Lane, my name is Madison Lane."

"Pleased to meet you, Madison," Xander said as he took her hand, "The name's Xander. Officially it's Alexander Harris and I'm so not telling you my middle name. But now I'm just Xander. Like Cher."

Madison smiled in response, but didn't say much after that. Sensing a now awkward growing silence, Xander felt reluctant to say something until eventually curiosity got the better of him.

"Was it something I said? Cause if you have to know my middle name is Lavelle and…."

"How did you do all those things?" Madison suddenly asked, "Was it magic?"

"No, not magic," Xander said shaking his head, "just old fashioned martial arts."

"It didn't look much like normal martial arts," Madison countered, "in fact everybody I've seen who can do what you did is either a demon or did something really terrible to get that kind of power."

Xander was suddenly taken aback. She seemed wiser and more knowledgeable then he had given a pornstar, and such a young one to boot, credit for.

"Look," he said slowly, "I'm neither demonic, nor evil. I just had the misfortune of growing up in Sunnyhell, California, where I had the good fortune to meet a good man who taught me these things. There is no magic involved, just a lot of hard work."

Xander looked around to see if anybody was watching. Luckily there were few people nearby nor were they watching. He then held up his right hand, palm up. Then he shielded it by putting his other hand in front of it. Next a tiny blueish energy orb appeared over his right hand palm.

"It's basically life energy," Xander explained as Madison leaned over and stared at it in fascination, "the Chinese call it chi. They even have martial arts disciplines devoted to using it. But my friend, and his friends, they discovered a way to use this in extreme ways. And to increase it. It's not rocket science, Madison. It just takes incredibly hard work, lots of practice and tons of will power. If you really wanted to and you got aptitude for it even you could learn, Madison."

Xander then reabsorbed the orb into his hand and began to explain more of the details of chi and chi fighting. But he soon noticed she was getting bored with the details.

"I may've been focused on other things during the fight but I did notice you were rooting for me," Xander said to change the subject.

"I did," Madison echoed as she bit her lip.

"Well, thanks for that," Xander grinned, "Especially since most seemed to cheer for the demon instead."

She leaned over towards him.

"I could never do that," she said softly, then she smiled, "especially after you saved me."

Xander gave her a puzzled look.

"I did?" he asked bewildered, "when did that happen?"

"South Bend," she replied, causing Xander to frown again.

"South Bend? I don't remember…," Xander said as he rubbed his bearded chin trying to remember, then it hit him, "oh, the restaurant! You're the girlfriend of the great Cornholio."

"Cornholio?" the girl asked puzzled. Xander grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled it over his head. Then he held up his hands in the air like he was surrendering

"I'm the great Cornholio," he said as he changed his voice, "and I'm looking for my bunghole. Rrrrrrrrr. I need some teepee for my bunghole."

While she had to laugh at his Beavis impersonation the girl didn't seem to catch the reference.

"And I guess you didn't get to watch a whole lot of TV either," Xander said as he pulled down his shirt collar and gave her his serious look, "so how is, um, your boyfriend?"

"Still in a hospital in South Bend," Madison replied, "besides his ego you bruised his spine and probably gave him whiplash."

"Look," Xander tried to say, "I'm sorry he's still in a hospital but he was being a major asshole. I don't regret stepping in and…"

"It's okay," Madison said as she put her hand on Xander's, "he was an asshole. He beat me. That's why I left him. You just made it, um, easier?"

"Now I'm really pissed," Xander said feeling a flare of anger, "real men don't hit women! Now I wish I'd hurt him some more."

"It's okay," the girl smiled, "at least now I'm rid of him."

"Glad to have been of service," Xander smiled and gave her a military salute, "private Xander to the rescue!"

"Thanks," the girl smiled, "so where are you going in LA?"

Xander looked aside and sighed.

"I'm not sure yet. I'm looking for something but I'm not sure what it is or where to look for it."

"That can be a bummer," Madison echoed sympathetically.

"It sure is," Xander sighed.

"Do you have a place to stay?" Madison suddenly asked.

"Nope," Xander said sullenly as he stared ahead, not picking up on the girl's vibe.

Madison shifted her hand from Xander's to his face and used it guide it back towards hers.

"Cause if you'd like, now that Mike's gone, you could stay, um, at my place?"

x

x

"I don't believe her," Buffy said in disgust.

She was sitting with Willow and Oz in the school lounge, newly refurbished after somebody (they had a pretty good idea who) had completely trashed it. Gone were the comfy sofas, in were a set of old worn out hand me downs from a youth centre. Made all the more worse because usually the school donated its hand me downs to the youth centre instead. This ultimately meant these sofas probably came from Sunnydale High originally a long time ago. It was only natural Oz had to make a 'the circle is complete' comment.

Oz was far from pleased though when he heard Faith had been taken into custody. It had taken every ounce of persuasion by Willow for him not to storm into Angel's mansion in Crawford Street where Faith was being kept, bound in chains strengthened by Willow's mojo.

"What?" Oz snorted in disgust. He still couldn't believe what happened. Well, he could believe Faith would do something stupid, it was in her nature to be rash and impetuous. What he couldn't believe was how everybody had come down like a ton of bricks on her. So, it had gotten the deputy mayor killed. It wasn't like anybody else had never screwed up and been forgiven before.

Buffy Summers? Screwed a vampire, something wholly unnatural and re-awoken the Scourge of Europe, then refused to let others clean up her mess as she held on to the faint hope things could be restored. Then when she did she ran away. Punishment? Forgiven!

Belmovekk? Lied to them by keeping secret the curse that could restore Angel, ending up with the deaths of a lot of people, including Kendra. His machinations causing the US government to take notice of them. And from what Will told him what he did in outer space was even now causing interstellar headaches as he introduced a hokey religion to a susceptible bunch. Who was probably even now pursuing some scheme that was going to blow up in their faces at some time. Punishment? Forgiven!

Rupert Giles? Member of a secret society that used young girls to fight evil without them having any say in it. Woo to the girl that dared to resist that society. Who kept secret abominable things like the Cruciamentum. Who's irresponsible actions as a teenager dabbling in the black arts caused Buffy to almost die when Eghyon came after him. Punishment? Forgiven!

Willow Rosenberg? Whose constant dabbling in those things she shouldn't be meddling with had caused some major snafu's. Like Angel's re-ensoulment at the worst possible time. Like bringing forth an alternate Buffy into this reality causing major ache to Xander. Whose constant meddling had caused Giles to lose his job and Princess Margaret to enter in their lives. Punishment? Forgiven!

Xander Harris? Lied to Buffy about Willow's re-attempt at re-souling Angel, thus causing her extreme grief at having to kill him. Always a willing participant in Belmovekk's crazy schemes like the ill fated Cruciamentum deception. Punishment? Forgiven!

But not Faith. No, her crime was being the odd girl out, the outsider, the butt end of Buffy's derision and Willow's insecurity. No, she fucked up and suddenly she was guilty. It just didn't sit right with Oz.

"I just don't get it why she doesn't show any remorse," Buffy said in response to Oz's remark, "what she did caused that poor man to die and the only thing she's pissed about is that this Trick supposedly got the better of her."

"She's always obsessed about that vampire," Willow quickly echoed, "even though we never found any evidence that he was still here in the first place."

That's because you never bothered to go out and actually look for him, Oz wanted to say but didn't. Things were tense enough between him and Willow over this. He loved Willow dearly but over time Faith had become the non-issue, the one subject they wouldn't discuss between the two of them. As Faith's partner, Oz understood perfectly where her obsession came from. And even though he knew Trick was her obsession he'd still put more faith in Faith telling him she had seen him over some wrinkled demon telling them he was not there.

"I don't see the point," Oz said, "why don't we put that guy on ice? Once the dragonballs become active again we can revive him again."

Buffy turned to him giving him the 'don't be stupid look'.

"What would be the point?" she said, a little to condescending for Oz's taste, "by then the information he had will be useless. That's why Wesley was so upset with her."

"Then we should have kept quiet," Oz muttered, "kept Prince Margaret in the dark."

"We couldn't," Willow replied, "the information about what Faith had done came directly to Wesley."

Not soon after the death of the mayor Clem made another one of his trips to Wesley and Giles, telling them the killer had been a human, not a demon. A professional hitman who had left Sunnydale within an hour of the assassination. One who had known when and where to strike beforehand. That certain information had been leaked. After that it was only a small step for Buffy to put her foot down on Willy's neck and learning the god awful truth. If only it had worked as Faith had planned, but no, Faith had been foolish indeed Oz thought, for not foreseeing that this Trick would do the one thing that seemed natural to him, outsource the dirty work

"It doesn't matter," Willow said straight-faced, "she betrayed us. She deserves punishment."

Oz didn't respond to that. Instead he shook his head.

"We should have called in Belmovekk," he said dispirited, "we should have called him the moment we learned of what Faith had done."

Willow looked at Buffy.

"That might actually be a good suggestion," she said, "maybe we should…"

"We can't and we won't," Buffy interrupted resolutely, "we can't always run to Belmo every time something's wrong."

"This is not just something," Oz said vehemently, "this is about one of us being punished. It doesn't matter if you two don't like her, she's still one of us!"

Buffy shook her head.

"We made hard decisions before Belmo came around, we'll do so while he has to play Full Metal Jacket elsewhere. We all agreed that when Wesley showed up, Belmo was just going to be our instructor. We can't upturn that now by having him barge in and show Wesley the error of his ways. We have secrets to keep."

Oz buried his head in his hands for a moment, doing a silent shout of exasperation.

"Fuck the secret!" he said looking up again, "It's Wesley. He's useless. What threat's he going to be once he learns the truth? Let him! Belmo can kill him wherever he hides and unlike you he has the balls to do it. If he values his life he'll cooperate. We can't keep fooling him forever! He's arrogant, not stupid!"

Buffy stood up and put her hands to her sides.

"I will not risk the safety of our group, or that of my mom and my sisters," she said coldly, "if that means too bad for Faith, then she shouldn't have fucked up in the first place. This whole mess started because of her actions, remember?"

Then the bell rang for the next class.

"If you'll excuse me, I've got an hour of biology to suffer through," Buffy said.

"I'll come with you," Willow said before turning to Oz," see you for lunch?"

Oz nodded in defeat.

"I'll see you for lunch, sweetie," he sighed.

As the two girls left Oz left the lounge as well. Only, unlike the girls he didn't go for class. Instead Oz went to a quiet corner. Whereas during last year they had all feared principal Snyder, who seemingly seemed to pop up out of nowhere to catch them for every little infraction, nowadays the little troll kept a lower profile. Giles had never really explained how he had managed to convince Snyder to re-accept Buffy back into school. Chalking it up to his charm and verbal skills instead.

But Oz knew a girl who had done some temp work at the school's office at the time and she remembered seeing a group of large men enter Snyder's office after Giles. And three of them sounded suspiciously like Saiyans from her description. She couldn't describe the 4th one, but him being the tallest one and having a white cape sounded suspiciously much like Piccolo. It didn't take a rocket scientist to deduce what had happened. It also explained why Snyder seemed to shun them nowadays. Every time they did ran into him the little troll's eyes shot pure hate beams but he never said anything. Barring maybe a major transgression it would seem Snyder wasn't going to do much. Oz had never told this to the others, only Faith. Who had found it hilarious. Faith who was like a sister to Oz nowadays and there was no way in hell Oz was going to sit back and let her go down the drain.

Once Oz had found his quiet corner he pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number.

x

x

Halfway across the country Belmovekk sat in an office staring at a map of the Southern United States. He had seen a lot of maps these past weeks and this one was no exception. A fan was blowing air at his face in an attempt to bring some relief from the humid heat. Even though it was still early in the year today was a hot day in San Antonio, Texas. Home to at least four US Air Force bases. Somewhere on this base Captain Finn and Firsts Ma'el and Rue Paul (after having seen a picture of the transvestite even Belmovekk couldn't help but think of the poor Jaffa in that name any more) were leading the others through an excruciating training drill in the humid heat.

No doubt the healer, an attractive but very outspoken women, a bit too much outspoken for that matter, would raise seven sorts of hell with him for it afterwards. If only she knew. Compared to normal Saiyan auxiliary training, Belmovekk was taking it easy on the recruits. Normally back on planet Vegeta the auxiliary recruits came to the program in better shape. After all, it was a highly sought after position in the subjugated cultures, a road to advancement denied to most others. With the recruits in better shape it was also considered more acceptable to train them to the point of getting a lot of them killed. After all, what are lesser species to Saiyans? And if they died then they weren't much to begin with.

No, he had to take it easy on the recruits. Until they got into shape. And for that they didn't need him to hold their hands all the time. Which gave him plenty time to coordinate the search for the Androids. A bus driver driving the route between Austin and San Antonia had remembered seeing them when questioned. After which the military had alerted all Texas border crossings into Mexico to increase their security, assuming the supposed fugitives were gunning for Mexico. With the border guards on high alert and emergency deployments from Fort Hood being rushed to the border so far no further news had emerged. Leading the ever ubiquitous Major Davis (didn't the man have any other jobs?) to conclude the deadly duo were still in country.

It didn't matter to Belmovekk though. With #15's diskey hanging around his neck he was confident the two androids had nowhere else to go but to him. Which posed the question, why were they going to Mexico?

As Belmovekk pondered that question his cell phone rang. The one only few people had its number off.

"Hello?" he said as he quickly stood up to close the office door so he could answer the thing in some privacy."

"Satiya, it's me, Daniel," Oz said as Belmovekk replied to his call, calling him by his honorific and himself by his real name to stress the urgency, "you must come back. We have an emergency!"

"Is something wrong with Buffy?" Belmovekk asked concerned, "Or with Joyce and the Twins?"

"No," Oz's voice came through the receiver, causing Belmovekk to sigh inwardly in relief, "its Faith."

"Tell me what has happened?" the Saiyan spoke. Oz explained to him what had happened. It was clear what the young man wanted was for him to come in and step in. Ruining their cover story and the ruse they had going with the new Watcher.

Stepping in and ruining the ruse however would mean exposing Buffy, his daughters and the others to the potential actions of the Council if they learned the full truth from the Watcher. And neither Belmovekk nor master Giles trusted the man enough to tell him the full truth. It could mean going to war with the Council, killing a lot of people in the process. Something Belmovekk wasn't quite ready to do yet knowing how Buffy would react.

And there were the Androids.

For the first time in a long time he was on their trail again. They had been here recently. This was where the trail was. Finding them meant finding Gero. Finding Gero meant stopping the coming of the other Androids. Saving a lot of lives, stopping the coming of the great doom he was supposedly to stop.

When Belmovekk had still been Movekk, son of Rabar and Royal Household Infiltrator, there came a time when he had moved up the ranks from mere infiltration and espionage to command rank status. In order to learn the ropes he was made second in command to a renowned warleader, a grizzly one eyed veteran called Tahina. Being second in command meant on top of your own job you got to do all the dirty jobs so the warleader didn't have to do them. And if you're very lucky he took you under his wings so you learned something, or he died so you could assume command, either through enemy actions, or your own.

While on their first mission, the day before the drop Tahina had taken him aside for a final mission briefing, going over the details one final time. After that he had offered the aspiring Movekk a glass of Ta'ree. It was over this drink that Tahina had told him what command was all about.

"In the end it's all a numbers game, Movekk," the old veteran had said candidly, "your decisions decide who gets to live and who doesn't. Sometimes you must lose a few in order to save what you can. Change X in your battle plan so Y numbers of men survive. Or sacrifice Z numbers of warriors so the outcome is more to the liking of your superiors. Even though the outcome is not always to your own liking."

"Could you please come, before something happens to Faith?" Oz asked again, pleading being the better word. Belmovekk closed his eyes and said a quick silent prayer to Aldur for what he was going to do.

"I cannot, young man," Belmovekk said, "I cannot leave where I am now. I am hot on the heels of the Androids. Faith will have to wait. Tell master Giles that he should work on Wesley to refrain from doing anything rash or stupid. And look out after her yourself."

"That's it?" Oz said incredulously, not believing what he was hearing, then he felt anger rising inside him, "You'd do it for Buffy but Faith be damned? Just like that?"

Oz's words landed like hammer blows. He was right, Belmovekk thought, he is so right! Aldur forgive me!

"I am sorry, young man," he said after he had swallowed a few times, "I cannot be of assistance. Not now. I am sorry. Do what you can yourself."

And with that Belmovekk switched off his cell phone.

x

x

AN 2017: Re-reading this Buffy probably came out a lot bitchier then I intended. In case you're wondering what crawled up her butt and died, she doesn't really hate Faith, she just doesn't want Faith to suffer the same fate as Kendra, nor does she want to get attached her in case Faith does suffer the same fate as Kendra. In the movie 'The Big Red One' there's this group of veteran soldiers who keep on going while the replacements keep on dying. As such they don't want to get to know the newbies, cause after all, they keep on dying on them. It's that sentiment I was aiming for.