Part 4:Tribulations
Xander was walking home a couple weeks later, glad to be carrying with him, his latest paycheck. And his last from the ice cream truck job. He just couldn't take it anymore, so he had given his notice just the week before. His job with the construction company was to start in a few weeks time, the first job, building a new town library. The good news, they weren't going to name it after the Mayor.
Bad news, his secret identity as the White Knight was taking up more and more of his time as he learned how and what to listen for more crimes to stop or prevent. Unfortunately, while doing that, on more than one occasion, he ended up being chased after by some cops or news hounds that were also on the scene. Fortunately, with the ability to create holograms and disappear entirely, he always managed to escape without any big messes left behind.
A prime example would be that, even as Xander was just walking on the sidewalk, in Sunnydale, in broad daylight, a very large portal opened up in the middle of the street, and then ejected a demon that was equally large along with at least fifteen human-sized demon minions. The minions stayed around their master's ankles until he boomed in a large voice before the stunned crowd of onlookers, "This world will be mine! Capture me slaves my children, so that they can begin to build my castle!"
The moment the demon had come from the portal, Xander had ducked into a dark alley. By the time this proclamation had been made, the White Knight, riding in on a glowing white Pegasus, showed up before the minions could so much as twitch.
"Hi there, new to the Hellmouth?" White Knight greeted.
"What manner of creature are you?" the demon asked after staring for a moment or two.
"Well, I could ask the same thing about you," he glibly replied, "I am known as the White Knight, protector of the innocent and defender of humanity." Corny as it may sound, with the name 'White Knight', Xander figured it was as good a catch-phrase as "Fights for Truth, Justice, and the American Way". Better even.
The demon stared, and then began to chuckle, before laughing outright and very loudly. The minions nervously copied their master after several moments, and quit the moment he did. "So, White Knight, you fashion yourself a protector of this world? Very well then defender, face me in fair combat to the death and the victor shall do with this world as he pleases."
"Dude, you are so seriously over your head, you have no idea. I'm just the first line of defense here. And I'm certainly not the only super hero you'd have to fight if you want to take over the world. Not that you're going to live past this fight anyway, but just so you know," White Knight rambled as he reformed the Pegasus in to the angel wings.
At the sight, the demon hissed and growled, "So, an Archangel protects this world as well! Very well then guardian, I am the Demon Lord Mari-Nova and I will rip your wings from you and scatter the remains of your soul across the universe!"
White Knight stared for several seconds, before turning and saying to the remainders of the crowd below, "Now that's a threat."
"Here's another," he continued while lighting up and gathering as much spare light around him as he could. And given that it was the middle of the afternoon, there was plenty to go around. "You are going to die in ten seconds."
The demon began to laugh again, but before he could finish laughing, the construct that the young hero was creating began to form. Within five seconds of his threat, White Knight's solholo was formed and ready. A twenty foot, five feet taller than the demon, robot, white of course, standing on four pointed crab legs with four claw arms, two of which had four claws instead of just the pincers, was standing right behind the White Knight on the street.
In the remaining five seconds, all of the arms lashed out at amazing speed and proceeded to rip apart all of the demon's minions with no quarter or mercy. Once the minions were taken care of, the claws all waited before the demon lord while White Knight floated over closer to it.
"You're getting another ten second reprieve on the account that I need to ask you some questions demon," he hatefully spoke.
The demon lord gulped, and nervously nodded his agreement.
"Are there going to be any others coming through that portal of yours? Can I expect more of your kind to try and invade my world?" he asked, disdain and anger dripping with each syllable he spoke.
The demon hastily shook his head no.
"Where did you come from? And why should I believe that you aren't just some scout sent by some hell beast and if you don't report back, it'll be a full invasion? Huh?"
Hesitantly, the demon answered, "B-b-be-be, because I am an outcast exile of the 9 Circles of Hell. I came to this world in hopes of building my power to return and take back what was stolen from me. No one will care that I'm dead or that I'll never return. In fact... they'd probably be glad about it. And I came from one of the lower demon dimensions. This was the first portal where I found a world worth conquering, so I took it without hesitation."
White Knight smirked, his hatred for this creature growing by the second.
"I've got one last question for ya Mari-Nova," White Knight said, even as the solholo behind him began to tense, ready to rip the demon lord to shreds at a moments notice. "Why are you being so cooperative in answering my questions?"
Again, the demon gulped, but barely hesitated before answering, "Archangels aren't known for their tolerance. They destroy demons without hesitation or mercy, no quarter given. I'm surprised you just didn't kill me and take the information you wanted from my demonic spirit."
White Knight smirked as he replied to that, "It's not really my style. I prefer to let you demon scum feel the same fear you inflict in the people I protect before I kill you. Any other reason?"
The demon shook his head to the negative.
White Knight nodded, understanding. "OK, thanks then."
The solholo claws began to tear into the demon lord. A four-taloned claw ripped the demon's head off even while the pincer claws ripped his arms apart and the other shredding his torso apart into little pieces of demon goo.
Even as he watched this massacre, White Knight's hatred of the demon grew, until he felt a burning fist of fury in his gut. He couldn't bottle this down with jokes and humor, and he didn't want to. Unfortunately, as most metas in this day and age, White Knight's powers were tied into his emotions.
His eyes, beneath the helmet in the field of black, turned a bright and burning red, and with a scream of rage, White Knight tore the infrared spectrum from all of the surrounding light and concentrated it into a burning laser that atomized all of the demon's remains in a fire of fury. The moment that the light stopped, so did all of the fires, taking the demon remains with them.
The few remaining people on the street just stared, slightly afraid, and even more afraid to be relieved. However, everything there was to be afraid of left within moments of the demon's demise as the White Knight disappeared in a flash of blinding light.
Later that evening, Willow stormed into Xander's basement apartment, the look on her face quite clearly saying everything she was about to say. Xander took one look, then sighed, rolled his eyes, and laid back on his bed.
"What the hell is wrong with you!" she screamed.
Xander looked back up, stared for a couple of seconds, and then laid back again.
"You, you, you... you killed a demon lord, and... and without even, without even..."
"Without even needing to consult Giles' books, or tell Buffy, or spend hours of worthless time researching while that thing was out and "catching slaves" until we found it's one weakness and Buffy exploited it while we cheered her on from the background, or tried to fight that thing's army of demon minions," he finished for her.
Willow just stared at her superhero friend for several long moments before belatedly shouting, "You pretended to be an Archangel. Everyone on that street is talking about it, and every news crew in the Western region of the WORLD is interviewing all of them!"
"He assumed I was an Archangel. I just didn't bother to correct him. And I just happened to be there Will. I was just walking along the street, minding my own business when the portal opens out of nowhere. What was I supposed to do? Run home and call Buffy and then head over to Giles'? I'm a superhero for crying out loud Willow! I did what I was supposed to do!"
Willow obviously didn't have a response to that, so she just stayed quiet for a little bit longer. Xander laid his head back down and went back to just staring at the ceiling.
"It's getting to you, isn't it?" she asked quietly as she sat down across from him on the bed.
"What's getting to me?" he asked with a sigh.
"Being a hero, doing amazing things, saving hundreds of people's lives, and rescuing me and Buffy from that Dr. Light character... and not getting any of the credit for it." Willow answered. "Superman at least got the key to Metropolis, not to mention his image is practically everywhere, and he's known as the greatest hero of the age. You... well, you're a mystery. The new hero on the block. You run from police and reporters alike, but you're still known as a hero. And Buffy has a crush on you and you can't even tell her that it's you."
"Oh," Xander mumbled.
"It... it doesn't bother me. Really! Doesn't bother me at all, not at all. OK, it bothers me a little. Especially the part about Buffy." Xander sat up suddenly. "I mean, I've dreamed of, and practically chased her since the first day I saw her, and I see her be attracted to every guy but me, and then because of this stupid secret identity thing... when she's actually looking at me as something more than a friend... argh!"
"I know how you feel," Willow sympathized with her friend.
"How could you possibly know how I feel?" he snapped.
She just calmly looked him in the eye and let him realize his own conclusions.
"Oh, yeah. That," he said sheepishly.
Willow sighed and looked around the room before speaking again. "Look, the whole, you killed a demon without us thing aside, that's not the whole reason why I came over here. There was something more in the report on the news that we need to talk about. Some people said that the White Knight shot a beam of red light at the demon as it was dying and that the thing caught fire and then was vaporized shortly after. What exactly happened?"
Xander sighed and fell back on the bed.
"Xander, talk to me," Willow begged.
He remained silent and still for several long moments, long enough that Willow began to wonder if he had even remembered what they were talking about, until finally he got up from the bed and began to pace back and forth around the basement.
"I got the idea, ironically enough, from that Dr. Light guy. See Wills, he fired a concentrated burst of ultra-violet radiation at me. But what is ultra-violet radiation? It's just another spectrum of light that normal humans can't see. But Will... I'm telling you, I saw him do something to the light around him when he fired that beam. It was like he... he... he tore something out of the light itself, taking only what he needed and then tossing the rest aside like, like, like something to be thrown away carelessly."
Xander paused and tried to organize his thoughts a little.
"It looked like he tore out purple light from all of the surrounding light. Which was majorly weird, until I started to think about it."
"Uh oh," Willow couldn't help commenting.
Xander glared at her, but still remained overall enthusiastic. "He fired ultra-VIOLET light at me. Violet! Purple! I actually saw his weapon working. So... like I said, it gave me some ideas. If he could take out only one particular spectrum of light and concentrate it like he did... maybe I could do the same thing."
"Xander..." Willow sounded worried.
"No, no, no, let me finish here Wills," Xander shushed her. "So, I've been practicing. Nothing dangerous or even outright reckless, cause you know me. Reckless I may be, but danger and I do not get along very well. Well, more like I try to avoid danger, but I still can't get that restraining order, so it keeps popping up around me. Anyway, I've been trying to pull only one spectrum, or rather color, out of ordinary light. And it's not the same as making something change colors, because that's just manipulating the spectrum's to show only one color over another. They all still interact with one another. What I've been doing is taking one spectrum and completely isolating it from others. What I used against the demon was a heavily concentrated burst of infrared light."
Willow was stunned for several seconds. Unable to think of anything to say, she just sat there, staring confusedly at her friend.
"And I'll admit, the whole fire thing kind of surprised me, but I just absorbed the light right back into me and the fires went out just like that. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not stupid enough to believe that I can stop forest fires or any fires just by absorbing their light, but if I accidentally start a fire with my Infra-Blast, I can just absorb it and nobody gets hurt!"
Willow perked up and glanced at him after he stopped talking and repeated, "Infra-Blast?"
He shrugged sheepishly and replied, "Came up with it myself. Had to call it something. What do you think?"
She stared for several more seconds before a soft chuckle escaped her throat and she just shook her head humorously. "Just don't go out there shouting about how if the bad guys don't stop you're going to fire your Infra-Blast at them!" Her chuckles then developed into full-on giggles.
"Yeah, yeah, yuck it up," he waved at her annoyed, sitting in a recliner across from his bed.
"So, was that it? You heard about the White Knight taking out a demon and using a new power and you came here to confirm? Could have just called and I would have said yes to all your questions Will," Xander told her.
She stopped giggling and quickly sobered.
"Well... those are all of my legitimate reasons," she admitted. "I also wanted to make sure you were OK. I mean... Xander, that was a Demon Lord. I don't think Buffy could have taken it out without some major help. Like either magical, or even another rocket from the army."
Xander nodded, saying he understood. However he did not really verbally respond.
After another minute or two of silence, he said to his guest, "Look Willow, I appreciate the concern, I really do, and I'm fine. But I'm sure you've got plenty of college homework to do, and actually, I am feeling kind of tired, so... if you don't mind?" he stood up and none-too-subtly gestured towards the door.
"Oh, right, how silly of me, it's so late," Willow began to bluster, and almost obviously was trying to appear like she wasn't about to start crying, despite being on the verge of tears.
Without another word, and only a lasting worried glance at the young superhero, Willow left.
Xander just went back to bed and lay there, staring at the ceiling. The same thought that had been in his head since he had first gotten home echoing through his mind once more.
'I killed a demon that Buffy could never have defeated.'
Xander was still wondering about his new life the next afternoon when he was meeting Buffy and Willow for lunch at the Espresso Pump on Main Street. And he had been assured when they offered that there would be no talk of the White Knight by anyone at the table. At least somewhat comforted by this, Xander had cleaned himself up and was sullenly walking along Main Street, keeping an eye out for his friends.
He had a lot more free time on his hands, being between jobs at the moment, however this also had the unfortunate side effect of putting him on a very strict budget so as to actually have money at any point in the future.
At that moment, he spotted Buffy and Willow already sitting together at a table in the restaurant. Putting on a smiling happy face, he quickly walked towards them, just catching the end of their conversation as he sat down.
"And they were saying that he just fried him like he used fire powers or something. Don't you think that kind of puts him in kind of the demon category? You know with the whole fire and brimstone thing? Or maybe in the really real angel category because people said that it was either an evil space alien or a real demon, and if it was a real demon, then him being a real angel could send the demon back to hell in fire and all that, don't you think?" Buffy was asking Willow.
Willow, who had seen Xander the moment he walked up, was briefly distracted from the conversation with Buffy, and chose to greet their best guy friend at the moment rather than answer Buffy's question. "Xander! Hey! Glad you could come. We saved you a seat, and guess what, I'm buying so if you want a mocha..."
"Nah, that's all right Wills, I'm OK for right now," Xander declined as he sat down across from the two young women, "but I am kinda curious about what you guys were talking about. Something about demons? Are you guys leaving me out of the loop again?"
Xander's voice, given the topic, was surprisingly neutral, Buffy decided, but her reaction was the same either way. "What? Gawd no, Xander! I promised never to do that to you again," she immediately responded, meaning every word of it.
"We were talking about the White Knight," Buffy said, a faint blush tinging her cheeks. "He was in the news this morning. Apparently, somehow Giles missed the fact that some kind of portal was going to open up in downtown Sunnydale and let out a whole bunch of demons. But the White Knight was there in like an instant and killed all the demons with some kind of fire powers."
"Fire powers?" Xander repeated, sounding surprised and excited all at once.
Across the table, the young hero noticed Willow squinting her eyes in what might have been either anger or annoyance at him. It was getting difficult to tell these days.
"Yeah, that surprised me too! So far he's only shown powers over light and making things appear out of that light. Now this thing with fire powers... I was thinking maybe he really is an actual... you know... angel. A real angel. It would explain how he beat the demon, if he sent him back to hell or whatever. At least that's what I was thinking. What do you think Xander?"
Startled slightly by the sudden question, Xander hesitated, racking his brain for any acceptable answer. But this is Xander we're talking about.
"I... think... that..." he said slowly, trying to gauge each of his best friends, "he did us a really big favor."
"Huh?" both women said together after a brief look of confusion at each other.
"Well, look at it this way," he said, getting slightly more enthusiastic since they weren't pounding on him or groaning like he had told a joke, "We don't have to do major research after Buffy coming across this guy and getting her butt kicked across half of Sunnydale late night on some patrol and Willow gets more time on the net to do school work and fun stuff instead of searching for hits that might not even be on this demon or whatever it was. Then there are the side beneficiaries of me not having to spend my hard earned money on snacks and Giles not having a headache and us hearing him complain about it because we're intruding on his domain so we could have a months later climatic battle with that demon or whatever it was."
They just stared at him for several seconds before he added, "And fewer people get hurt or killed too."
The result was certainly not what he expected.
"Are you saying that I couldn't take on that lame ass demon that the White Knight, easily I might add, wasted!" Buffy yelled.
A breath later, "I'll have you know that I actually enjoy helping Buffy research and contributing to... certain activities Xander! And how dare you imply that I'm still the nerdy little bookworm I was in High School! I've grown, I've matured. Hell, I've even had SEX! There! I said it! You never saw me saying it in High School without going all red and embarrassed and stuff! Well not anymore! Sex, sex, sex, SEX!"
Willow suddenly stopped, realizing where she was and that everyone, except Buffy, was now staring at her.
"And another thing, favor or not, the next time I see this White Knight, I'm going to go up to him and see exactly what he's made of, and then I'll ask him what side he's on! And I won't apologize! Come on Willow!" Buffy, thoroughly incensed, grabbed the grateful redhead and dragged her out of the coffee shop, leaving Xander sitting there, wondering what he had done.
"I'll just never understand women," the White Knight muttered to himself for the thousandth time that evening. He was running a basic patrol over the downtown 'slums' area of LA and so far he had stopped 11 attempted rapes, thereby becoming several young women's personal hero of the hour, 15 muggings, 3 what could have been accidental murders, stopped a gang war just by flashing around blue and red lights, and killed over 30 vampires. Not all at once, or even synchronously really, in fact there were almost whole hours between the events that came to that total for the midnight hour.
He was glad that for the next couple of weeks at least he wouldn't be worried about having to get up in time to go to work. And it wasn't so bad, the hours he kept now were very similar to Buffy's, and there was the fact that the moment sunlight hit him in the morning, he was wide awake as ever. No matter how much sleep he had gotten the night before, or rather lack of.
At the moment he was flying along an unlit section of town, save for a couple of broken and flickering street lights and whatever porch lights or car lights illuminated the area. Of course to him, and his ability to bring a little bit more light to the area, as well as summon that reflected light right into his eyes, the street and the whole city might as well be in daylight at high noon instead of half an hour past midnight.
He was still mulling over the conversation he'd had with Buffy and Willow that afternoon, and still trying to figure out where he'd gone wrong. It wasn't going easy.
Fortunately at that moment, he heard a terrified scream from down below, shaking him out of his thoughts and without hesitation, his wings raising for a dive, dove down to the street searching out for the disturbance.
And he found it.
A young woman, about 25 or so, was being cornered in a dark alley by two hooligans in ski masks. Yep, that's right, hooligans. Cause they obviously weren't gang members and as near as Xander could tell, with his enhanced vision, they were hardly professional anything.
As the woman screamed again for help, White Knight entered the top of the alley, his solholo wings spreading, allowing him to hover above the two attackers.
"Evening folks," he greeted in a very calm manner, "Is there a problem here?"
The problem actually was from the moment he entered this alley he felt like he had just walked into a trap. Something left over from the Soldier memories, and it was not the first time those hidden instincts had warned him of such and saved his life, and the lives of his friends several times over.
"Oh thank goodness, you've saved me!" the woman suddenly cried in what Xander thought was a drastic over-exaggeration of gratitude, or just really bad acting. Especially with the way the moment that he had entered the alley, the two attackers had stopped attacking and just stared up at him, their faces neither afraid nor confused. In fact, they were entirely neutral.
White Knight decided to stay hovering for the moment, not trusting the situation entirely and not willing to give up the advantage of flight in an unknown sitch like this. "Well, seeing as there's no longer a problem here, why don't you all just go on home. No reason to be out this late. And it can be dangerous out here at night."
"Ain't that the truth," an unknown voice said from above White Knight just before he felt something incredibly heavy drop down over him.
At first, as the net, he quickly realized what it was, passed through his solholo wings, he managed to hold the weight and stayed exactly where he was in the air. Then, like magnets were on the end, the ends of the net connected with the floor of the alley and that dragged him down until he was on his knees. The moment he touched the floor, the entire net, and whatever he was resting on, became electrified.
"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!" he cried out in pain.
The four mercenaries, including the woman and the unseen man from above, walked around so he could easily see them. "Like taking candy from a baby," the woman, in heavily accented English, taunted.
"Don't struggle too much, we want to keep you in as good of health as reasonably possible," one of the 'attackers' told him.
"Who the hell are you!" White Knight shouted as he struggled against the pain. He quickly realized that the armor, the real armor, was absorbing the worst of the electric shocks, but there was enough current that it made little difference, beyond the few seconds he remained conscious that is.
"Well, not that it matters much, but we're meta-hunters from Communist China," the woman answered him, "China is very strict in how it handles its metas, and we have very effective means of controlling such creatures. When it was learned that there was a meta in California with the powers of light and rumored to be an honest-to-God angel, we were dispatched to collect you. We hate metas, but they are useful, and one with the power of light, which we could control, would make us one of the greatest super powers on the planet."
"Enough talk. He's resisting the shock, tranq him," the man that had gotten the drop on the White Knight ordered.
Fortunately, the boasting of the mercs had given White Knight just enough time to gather his concentration as he focused his powers and lit up even brighter than before, drawing painful cries from his captors.
"It doesn't matter!" the woman shouted at him, hiding behind her hands and arms from his light, "The materials of the net are the strongest in existence. Nothing can cut them!"
White Knight only arched an unseen eyebrow at that as he created four solholo pruning sheers and then easily cut the four main power lines feeding the electricity into the net. In short succession, he quickly cut himself free.
"You were saying?" he asked as he stood up, lowering the intensity of the light he was emitting, and dispelling the 'light' sheers.
The four mercs just stared in uncomprehending horror at him. "How...?" the woman stuttered.
"Strongest materials, huh? Guess they haven't invented a material that can stop a solholo, or solid hologram. At least certainly not one made by me, huh?" White Knight glibly commented, keeping their attention on him, even while his was behind them, where he was creating his own surprise for the mercenaries.
Just before it was ready though, the two attackers seemed to become rather angry with him, angry enough that they tried to rush him, surprising the White Knight.
"Oomph!" he gasped as he was bodily tackled to the floor of the alley, barely able to keep his concentration. When they started punching him, it nearly became impossible. Until he lost his own temper.
There was a flash of yellow light and suddenly the two men were sent flying, propelled by the light. The source was proven as the White Knight got to his feet, glaring hatefully at the mercs, and his eyes, his eyes were solid yellow, and glowing.
With a burst of rage, White Knight slammed the light into place, creating the solholos he had been concentrating to create moments ago. Instantly, about 16 cupid angels, only a foot high, but still equipped with bows and arrows and wings, appeared in the alley and swarmed over the four mercs.
Screaming in fear, the mercs could only stand, or lie, there as the pure white cupids tackled them and then proceeded to beat them into compliance and then finally, when they were all bunched together, merged together to form a giant net, which formed completely around them, without the possibility of escape as the White Knight had done with their net.
In the process of beating them up, White Knight had noticed one of the mercs had dropped a cell phone. Casually, as they were being rounded and netted up, he went over and picked up the device and took a good look at it. "Nice cell," he commented, flipping it open and turning it on. "Mind if I make a call?"
Knowing these were international terrorists, at the very least, Xander recalled something Willow had taught him how to do, shortly after he had donned his armor, knowing there might be a reason he would need to 'officially' contact her, but neither of them wanted to be traced, so she had taught him a basic and very easy way to direct a call through numerous points and redirect points where it would buy them at least a few minutes, no matter who was tracing the call.
First, he dialed International Information, and gave them the code to get him connected to England, where he then got himself reconnected back to America and then routed himself through several 411 servers on the East and West coasts before finally asking to be connected to the University of California, Sunnydale branch.
During all of this he had finished tying up the mercs and then sported his wings once more and for a while just circled the city, making the mercs rather sick several times over.
Once connected to the university, he asked to be directed to Buffy and Willow's dorm, and then their room number. The way Willow explained it, the university's phone system was a protection of it's own as far as tracing went, because the closest the trace could be tracked to would be the university from an outside trace, and the dorm only, not the room number, from an inside trace, actually connected to the system.
"Hello?" Buffy's voice came over the cell phone.
"Hey Buff, it's me, can I talk to the Prof for a sec?"
He could hear the annoyance in her voice when she responded, "Oh, it's you. What do you want anyway? To say how I can't handle myself, how I can't handle my job? Or would you like to tell the 'Prof' how useless she is?"
"Buff, that's not fair," White Knight growled back.
"Fine. Whatever, here she is anyway," Buffy gruffed back and there was some noise and then Willow's voice came over the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey Prof," he put special emphasis on the nickname, knowing she would figure out exactly what he meant and 'who' he was at the moment, "I need a little bit of help with something."
"What... kind of help?" she finally asked at length.
"Four mercs set a trap for . . . well, me in an alley while I was on patrol. I now have them . . . tied up at the moment, but I need some place to drop them off, and I'm thinking the police station ain't gonna cut it. Any suggestions?"
"Are . . ." she paused after her initial panic and then asked in more skeptical tone, telling him Buffy was still in the room with her, "Are you serious?"
"I'm fine, just a couple bruises I assure you," he told her, knowing what she really meant.
He caught her sigh of relief, and hoped Buffy hadn't, but he continued on anyway. "Prof, I am serious about needing a place to drop these thugs off. They probably have an international rap sheet, but unless I drop them off at the right place, they'll be gone by morning, either from legal ties or from killing their jailers. What should I do?"
"Hang on a sec, let me check something," she told him.
"Well, it's their dime, so I got the time," he joked, but he could tell that Will was already on the computer and looking up whatever she was looking for.
After a few more minutes, during which he showed the mercs the fabulous L.A. Skyline several times by circling the city, Willow picked back up. "Xa . . . uh, well, uhm, uh, c-could you give me a hint as to who, or-or-or what these . . . things you picked up might be from?" she asked.
"Chinese meta-hunters. Communist Chinese meta-hunters. They came after me after the story of an angelic superhero hit the International news." Xander answered.
"The NSA then," Willow said with startlingly more confidence. "The closest branch of which is in the middle of downtown, and ironically enough, is currently renting office space in the FBI building. Best bet is to drop the mercs off on their doorstep and then it won't matter who gets to them first, they won't be bothering us again."
"Buff left the room, didn't she?" he asked, already knowing the answer.
"Only just, and to take a shower. Look . . . Xan . . ."
"Call me Knight, I'm on the bad guys cell phone, just to be secure," Xander interrupted.
"Right. Knight. Although I could be talking about Zan, that blue plant lady you like on that new show on Scifi?"
"Subtle Prof, real subtle," White Knight began to turn to downtown. "Look, I kind of need an aerial address here. They unfortunately don't have a big neon sign saying 'Drop bad guys here'. They do for film development," he commented as he passed the sign, "but no big sign for the NSA or FBI."
"It's only about 20 or so stories high, so it's not the tallest building, but . . . Well there is a small plaque on the front door saying Federal Bureau of Investigations, but it's real small. And hidden behind a plant I think."
"And this helps me how?" White Knight wanted to know.
"Find the sign, and you'll find the building," Willow told him, then they both heard the door opening indicating Buffy had returned. "Tell you what, call me in a little bit to let me know how it all turns out and if you're still having any trouble, I'll help in any way that I can."
With a sigh, White Knight just nodded, then added to it by saying, "Thanks Prof. I owe you one. Oh, and for the record . . ."
"Yes?"
"I don't think that all you do is research for Buffy, and I'm actually glad you do what you can. I'm proud to call you my friend, and I'm grateful for the help you've given me and that you give to Buffy. But I am not sorry I wasted that demon before Buffy even found it," he confessed.
"I know," Willow sighed. "And thanks. That means a lot, a whole lot. Especially the nice stuff."
"I'll call back later."
"Oh, wait!"
"Yeah?"
"Leave the cell phone with the . . . things. There might be things on it you-know-who might be able to use. And you did . . . ?"
"I went through the standard re-routing anti-trace lesson you gave me Prof, no worries. Hakuna Matata. Anything else?"
"No, that should be it. The first number you put in it would be the only one recorded in the memory, and I imagine these . . . things have their own security measures as far as their phone goes. Good night Knight."
"Night Prof," White Knight then hung up the phone, following the light trail where his powers had brought the light of the plaque Willow had told him about right to his eyes, the moment she had made the suggestion.
"Aw, angel got a girlfriend," one of the mercs teased from beneath.
In response, White Knight just gave them a few more full-G loops, making the woman puke one more time. "I really hope that hit a vamp," White Knight commented.
The next afternoon, Buffy invited Xander over to her house for dinner with her mother and Willow, and also to hear his apology for what he said. He didn't apologize, but they did have dinner, and despite the animosity between the Slayer and the unknown White Knight, a pleasant time was had.
"So, Xander," Joyce Summers spoke as she picked up the dishes from the table and proceeded to take them into the kitchen, Xander, of course, was helping her with the chore, "what's going on in your life these days? Buffy hardly talks about how things might be going for you. Although I think I heard Willow discussing something about a new job?"
Xander nearly choked on his own tongue, until he realized he did have a new job coming up in a couple weeks. "Uh, yeah, right, I do," he nervously answered. "I'm going to be working with a construction crew on building the new Library building across from the museum on the campus."
"Oh yes," Joyce nodded as she started the sink, "I'd heard about that. When do they start?"
"Just before Thanksgiving," Xander answered, "But that's just to lay the groundwork. Actual construction won't really begin until mid-December, though they've told me they're hoping to have it finished by summer of next year."
"Oh, well that's good to know," Joyce observed. They remained in comfortable silence, Joyce washing the dishes, Xander drying, for several minutes before the Slayer's mother spoke again.
"So, how are . . . other things? Do you, uh, have a girlfriend?"
Xander looked up sharply, a wary look in his eye. For the rest of his life, for as long as he lived, he would never forget the Valentine's Day Love Spell, i.e. Curse. Mrs. Summer's question had just caught him a little off-guard and he couldn't help recalling her own seduction techniques.
"Uh, not at the moment, but I guess you could say I'm always open to options," he hesitantly told her.
"Well, with Angel being gone, I happen to know that Buffy certainly does not have a boyfriend currently," Joyce said off-handedly handing him another dish to dry.
For a second he just stood there, then finally took it from her to wipe it clean and put it with the others. Buffy's mother, Joyce Summers, was trying to set him up with her daughter?
Nah!
Or . . .
"Uh, Mrs. Summers . . ." he began.
"You can call me Joyce dear," she interrupted him with a smile. "After all, you are pretty much a grown man by now, and I do consider you a very good friend of this family Xander."
Blushing with pride and emotion, Xander just smiled and nodded before continuing where he left off. "Joyce. Uh, forgive me for being kinda suspicious here, but what exactly is this about?"
Joyce smiled warmly at him, like he often wished his own mother would have a lot more, before answering, "All right, you caught me. Xander, I'm worried about Buffy. As much as I understand about first loves and first time crushes, believe me, I may be old but I do remember myself when I was her age. I know she's still pining after Angel, and that's not good. For her or her relationships. I know you well enough Xander Harris that while you have your faults, same as every man on the planet, you are a good man. And seeing as you and my daughter are already friends, it couldn't hurt if you . . ."
"Mrs. Summers . . . Joyce, are you trying to set me up with Buffy?" Xander interrupted her.
Joyce gave him what he could have sworn was a coy grin and just shrugged.
Before she could actually answer him though, Willow came rushing in, a wild and worried look in her eyes that only Xander recognized. "Xan-Xander! The . . . TV! Come see, you have to . . . The news! Uh, something happened and it's about the White Knight!"
Xander exchanged a glance with Joyce, who shrugged again, and then they both dried off their hands and followed Willow into the living room where the TV was showing a news broadcast.
"What is it? What's going on?" Joyce asked as they all took their seats, watching the TV.
"We've been keeping up with anything the news, the real news, has to say on the White Knight," Willow answered her. "Because . . . well, because we think Buffy ran into him, sort of, a couple weeks ago and we're trying to figure out if he's a demon, a real angel from Heaven, or something else."
"Oh, well . . ." Joyce began, but was interrupted at Willow turned the volume up as the news got to the report about the White Knight.
"And more news on Los Angeles' newest and greatest superhero, the White Knight, apparently saved the city last night from some kind of terrorist attack as just this morning, he dropped a Communist Chinese Terrorist team of four into the arms of the NSA. Not much is known about the terrorists, but the FBI did release this." She looked down and picked up a piece of paper and began reading from it, "The four alleged terrorists claimed to have been in the country for the sole purpose of capturing a metahuman for experimentation. Under interrogation however, they did reveal that there was a fifth member of their team that remained uncaptured. The FBI and the NSA have begun working together in hopes of finding this fifth terrorist before he can cause any damage, and they're hoping before he, or she, can complete their objective. No information on where the other terrorists are being held, but with the White Knight out there, I think Los Angeles can sleep soundly tonight. Back to you Ron."
Willow turned the volume back down, but her eyes were entirely on Xander, who had stiffened at the mention of another meta-hunter out there. He would have to be on guard on patrol. Even more than usual.
Heck, he should probably skip it for a few nights, but he quickly convinced himself otherwise from that with just remembering what he was going out there to stop. Danger to him or not, he wouldn't stop being the White Knight just because some people had hired a hitman out on him.
Later, after desert and some more general talk between the gang and Buffy's mom, Willow managed to pull Xander out back to talk to him alone for a couple minutes. Once she had closed the door and made sure they were alone, she confronted him, her eyes worried, and asked, "Those are the mercenaries you called me about last night, weren't they?"
Xander hesitated, and then finally nodded. "Yeah," he admitted. "I left the cell phone with the authorities, just like you suggested, and that's probably how they really found out about the 5th man. He might have been hiding in the shadows where not even I could see him, or he might have been at their base or whatever, waiting on confirmation of success. No way to be for certain."
"But it is certain that he'll either try to get his team out or just forget them and go for you. Either way, you're in danger!" she exclaimed.
"When am I not Wills?" Xander demanded. "Yeah, I got that armor you got for me, and my powers protect me from a lot, but . . . It's still dangerous, protecting people. And it always will be so long as there are people and creatures out there that want to hurt people. I'll be more careful, that's all I can promise."
"You could give it up! You know how to control your powers now, you can't hurt anybody like you were afraid of! The White Knight hasn't been around long enough that people would miss him if he disappears for a couple of weeks. You, you, you could, could . . ."
"Could what Willow?" Xander angrily challenged her, "Could let innocent people get hurt when I have the power to stop it? Buffy ran away from her problems and it only made things a hell of a lot worse for her. And for us, the people that depended on her. Or did you forget that summer? It was only a year and a half ago! I'm not going to run. If this guy wants me, he'll find me, and then he'll have to deal with me. I handled his friends fine enough. One guy is not going to be a problem."
With that said, Xander turned and stormed off.
"Xander! Wait!" Willow shouted after him, but all she got for her trouble was a blinded eye as he lit up and the next thing she was able to see was the White Knight taking off into the sky on a flying Pegasus.
Worried, but unable to do any more than she had, Willow just turned around and went back inside.
The next afternoon, avoiding his friends by spending most of the night before and today in LA, the White Knight was making another pass over the city. So far he'd stopped a few day time muggings, stopped another car chase without any injuries and only some slight dents to the cars, and helped keep rush hour to an all-time record low.
He really wasn't expecting anything to happen with the mercs' fifth member, at least not for a couple more days, although he was keeping an eye out for anybody else that might be trying to capture him for a bounty or something else like that.
So despite being on his guard, he really was surprised when seemingly out of nowhere, he was knocked out of the sky by an anti-air mortar. The explosion had been close, close enough to knock him for a loop and send him flying for the ground, but he was undamaged except maybe for the ringing in his ears.
By the time he regained his senses and reoriented himself, he saw another of the grenades heading right for him, fired from some place on the ground. Seeing no other option, White Knight just wrapped himself up in a perfect sphere solholo shield, protecting himself against another explosion.
He could tell when the grenade exploded against his shield, although he couldn't really say he had felt it as the shield had fully absorbed the impact of the explosion. Sensing no other immediate impacts, he first created the outer illusion of the shield remaining in place, even as he made himself invisible and dispelled the real shield before dropping down as fast as he could until he was just above the tops of the buildings and created a small solholo disc under his feet to keep him in the air.
Quickly, he got to where he thought the grenades had been launched from, still invisible, and then dispersed the illusion. As he expected, the moment it looked like the "shield" was dropping, another grenade launched out. Unfortunately, it was from right beneath him, and aimed right at him! Or rather the disc of light at his feet.
He created another shield, dispersing his invisibility, only this one was more like half a shield, so he wouldn't be left completely blind to his surroundings. The explosion pushed him back, further into the air, so he reformed his wings and waited for the smoke to clear before lowering the shield to see who, or what, was firing at him.
Even he, who had seen more than many humans alive ever saw in their entire lifetimes, was stumped and shocked at what he saw. The mercenary was wearing a robotic armor that made Ironman in the comics look like some idiot wearing medieval armor from the Dark Ages. It was mostly colored red, intermixed with black and metallic colors. His arms were still arm-shaped, but looked like they hid several hundred cannons all along them connecting to shoulders just as big, if not twice as much. The rest of him was just as much an overstatement to masculinity.
"What the . . . ?" White Knight muttered, dropping his shield as the last of the explosion evaporated.
"Greetings White Knight, or whatever kind of angel you are," the mercenary's voice came through a speaker just beneath the visor on his own helmet, "I am called Meta Hunter. And you have the unmentionable pleasure of being my latest prey."
"Yeah, more like Meta Merc!" White Knight shouted back. "Met the rest of your cronies last night. I imagine they can tell you, but I take great offense at being electrocuted!"
White Knight wasted no time in creating more solholos and sending them after the Meta Merc.
The mercenary in armor just hovered there on his jet boots, waiting for the fast-moving solid holograms to get to him. Then, suddenly and deftly surprising the White Knight, he fired a couple shots from his hand cannons into the solholos, and to everyone's, especially Xander's, surprise, there was an incredible explosion around each of the solholos and then they dispersed and disappeared.
White Knight wasn't hurt, but he was shocked. Nobody, nothing except him had ever destroyed one of his solholos, and whatever that cannon this Meta Merc had used, it took only one shot in order to completely obliterate White Knight's primary line of offense. And defense, now that he thought about it, and quickly backed off and started to fly away from the armor-clad hunter as fast as he could with the wings on his back.
He could hear as the robotic armored mercenary took off with the suit's rockets, coming after him. Instinct warning him, he quickly dodged to the left, and then immediately back to the right. Each time, not even a second after he'd moved, a blast from that cannon on the suit's arm shot the space where the White Knight had been, instead impacting on the streets below them.
Not wanting, nor willing to put civilian's lives in danger, White Knight suddenly arched upward in a steep climb, going for all of the altitude he could get, still dodging the blasts from his pursuer. At least this way no innocent bystanders would get hurt in the crossfire, he thought to himself.
Just then, a low flying plane, inbound for LAX crossed not even a hundred feet above White Knight's head. At that moment the Meta Merc fired another blast at his unguarded back. Sensing it, but knowing he couldn't dodge and let the blast hit the plane, he reacted as fast as his powers moved. Creating a barrier between him and the plane, White Knight turned, transforming his armor, with the full power of the sun beating down on him, into a modified form of the Juggernaut armor, the wings being transformed along with so they looked more like the metallic wings of a giant robot bird.
All this happened in the space of a second as White Knight turned towards the oncoming blast, and then reeled back, and as it was almost upon him, punched the blast of yellow energy. Of course as soon as it touched him, it exploded, and even with the extra protection around him, the young hero was knocked for a loop, falling from the sky as his solholos began to fade away.
About halfway to the ground he regained consciousness, realized what trouble he was in, and reformed the white armor around him and recreating the wings on his back. Just in time too, as the Meta Merc was zeroing in on his position.
And even as good as Xander was, he could only wait with dread as the Meta Merc shot another mortar at him, exploding almost right in front of him, flinging him through the air and against the wall of a nearby building. Groaning with the pain, White Knight only just began to peel himself off the wall, when his instincts suddenly screamed at him again.
As fast as light, White Knight was airborne on wings of light a moment later, only just having narrowly dodged what looked to be the same electric net the other mercs had used the night before. Not wanting to take the risk, he took off into the air, keeping a closer eye on the armored mercenary. Only to not be able to find him.
'What the... Hey! That's my trick!' Xander realized that the armor must have some kind of cloaking device. 'Not that it'll help him.' Xander thought to himself as he began searching the surrounding light spectrums and very quickly found his man.
Unfortunately, he was nearly right on top of him, and the White Knight barely managed to dodge another blast from that cannon on the Meta Merc's arm. Below him, an unfortunate fire hydrant took the blast and exploded with concussive force before the water exploded itself out of the same spot. White Knight paused to look back at his pursuer and was vaguely surprised when he could clearly make out the armored figure, as he was hovering over the water spout, the water landing on or avoiding his suit which made it stand out clearly from the surrounding area.
Then, he spotted it. It really wasn't even there, not visually. But he could see the spectrum change, as there was a small electromagnetic surge in the EM field around the cloak field, which White Knight could only detect through the high-band frequencies. The suit sparked.
Not too different from a toaster or some other electronic device tossed into water.
'Bingo,' Xander thought to himself.
Unfortunately, such a distraction severely cost him as the Meta Merc brought his arm up and fired again, and this time the White Knight didn't move fast enough, and was slammed down onto the street below with a powerful explosion.
Groaning, he shook his head, clearing the ringing from his ears and watched as the armored Meta Merc appeared out of thin air above him.
"Well, you aren't hardly challenging at all, are you?" the mercenary taunted.
"Oh I don't know," the White Knight quipped right back, concentrating, "I've been told I am very trying to people's patience. And I can trade bad jokes with the best of 'em."
Before the Meta Merc could work through that, beams of light shot out in several directions from the prone figure on the ground, halfway out forming into wrenches. Then, before the mercenary could really react, they reached their goals of all of the fire hydrants on the street and nearby. They rapidly unscrewed the hydrants and then reformed into fire hoses connected to the water spouts and then aimed themselves at the armored figure in the middle of the street. And not the one on the ground.
"What do you think . . ." the Meta Merc began to ask, but got his answer shortly as all of the 'light' hoses poured forth with incredible water pressure, actually pushing the robo-suit down to the ground, despite the full force of its jet boots.
"My suit is water proof fool! I don't know what you're trying to do, but it won't work!" the mercenary shouted.
"Not as water proof as you think," White Knight replied as he got to his feet. Then he directed one of the hoses to spray directly on the spot where he had seen the spark in his cloaking field. The combination of force and water pressure, powerful enough that it dented even the reinforced armor of the suit, was just enough to get the water inside where the short was, and after that, it was just a matter of physics.
At first it was just a small little spark, not even as big as the one the hero had noticed earlier. Then it repeated, and again but brighter, more intense. Then there was a small arc of electricity. Very shortly the man inside the suit noticed this, even as the water kept pouring down on him, suppressing him and keeping him on the ground. Not long after that, the entire suit began to short out and electrocute the man inside.
"Like I said earlier," White Knight told the merc coldly, "I really don't like being electrocuted."
Finally, after the suit's power supply had fully shorted out, the sparking stopped and White Knight replaced the fire hydrant covers. The mercenary, having just been electrocuted with over 5,000 volts of electricity remained conscious and on his feet for only another half a minute before his eyes rolled up in his head and he blacked out, falling over backwards into a puddle of water.
Two hours later, the police, FBI, and NSA had shown up and were packaging up the last member of the mercenary group that had been hunting the Bang Baby, who was still standing there on the street in the middle of the commotion. Thankfully the press were behind the police line, because as much as Xander hated the lime light they just kept trying to put him in, he felt he needed to be here to answer the questions of the authorities more.
The nervous Sergeant in front of him, for the moment, was the one asking those questions. Jittering nervously, and continuously loosening the collar on his blue uniform, the young man, only a couple years older than Xander himself, was holding a pen and notepad, both of which were shaking even more than the man himself was.
"So, uh Mr. White Knight, sir, uh . . ." the police officer squeakily began.
"Just White Knight, or maybe Knight for short," Xander interrupted, trying very hard not to laugh at the man. The way he jumped the moment he'd said anything almost made the Bang Baby lose it and start cackling and rolling around on the ground with laughter.
"Uh, right, I mean, yes sir, Mr. Knight sir, I mean, uh, White Knight, sir," gulping the man held out the pad and pen and even more nervously asked, "Uh, c-can I have your autograph?"
Xander stared and then looked around the crime scene. The only guys in suits, four of which were standing around the van which the Meta Merc was being loaded into, stripped of armor and handcuffed of course, were another two, who were talking to a higher ranking police officer, looked like a captain from what Xander could see, next to where the suit was being carefully stored away in a S.T.A.R. Labs van, with NSA division beneath the primary logo.
With only the press actively watching him from at least fifty feet away, the White Knight shrugged, took the pad, making sure it was just a notepad of paper instead of some kind of confession or parking ticket or something like that, and then with a flourish of his left hand, the hand he did not normally use to write with, he wrote out White Knight and then handed the pad back to the police officer.
"Th-th-thank you!" the Sergeant exclaimed, looking like he was holding the Holy Grail.
"Not a problem. Just please, don't go bragging about it. I don't like the attention I'm getting as it is, and if I have to start handing out autographs everywhere I go . . ." the hero trailed off.
"Oh, I totally get it, don't worry about a thing," the Sergeant spoke like he hadn't heard a word that Xander had spoken, and he probably hadn't.
"That'll be all Sergeant," a far more stern voice spoke from behind the Bang Baby.
Xander turned and saw one of the suits that had been talking with the police captain. He was very stern looking, especially with his sunglasses on. Tall, only a little taller than Xander himself, with dark hair cut military fashion, broad shoulders, big hands, and an expression that lead the young hero to believe this man spent about 90 percent of the time frowning, including sleeping.
"Uh, yessir," the police sergeant mumbled and quickly walked away.
"How can I help you Mister . . . ?" Xander asked before the suit could ask anything himself.
His frown deepening, the suit replied, "Agent Wissper. And you can begin by telling me your full name, address and contact information."
Surprised at the abruptness of the agent, Xander just shrugged and answered easily, "Well, people on the news have been calling me White Knight, and that's close enough. Address? Well, you see it's kind of on the other side of this really big chasm across from Hell. Contact information . . . well I don't have a cell phone, and much as I'd like to suggest an Angel signal, I think it's already taken, so I'm sorry to say I don't really have any contact information. Anything else I can help you with Agent? Like, for instance, taking my statement in regards to the international mercenary group, the last member of which you are currently taking away in the big van over there, and the rest of which you found trussed up in front of the FBI Headquarters building?"
"So you admit you had something to do with that?" the agent asked, like he was asking Xander to frame himself.
"Of course I had something to do with it!" the White Knight exclaimed. "Those mercenaries attacked me after setting up a ploy of a woman being mugged just to lure me to them. Then, entirely unprovoked I can assure you, they attacked me, trying to capture me with technology I know for a fact is illegal in this country, first of all for the fact that it was lethal level poaching equipment, and second of all, they used it on a resident of the United States. May not be capital offenses, but they are reasons to hold them for trial, and I would imagine people like them have a rap sheet with both the CIA and the NSA at least a mile long. Any other questions agent?"
"I still need your contact information. For the trial," the agent smirked at the young hero.
"I'll just watch the news and be there whenever it is, provided it's in the LA area, and only if I'm needed to be there to put these scum behind bars. Hurting people by design or accident is bad enough, but hunting another creature for any reason other than punishment or food is just plain wrong. If that will be all Agent Wissper, I have to be going." And without waiting for further permission, White Knight took to the air, a brilliant flash of light indicating the reappearance of his wings as they carried him into the sky.
Despite the flash of cameras, which really didn't bother him that much, and the explosion of questions from the media, White Knight continued on without pausing or looking back. For the moment though, his mind was on things other than his direction.
Finally, after about an hour of just flying around, only paying attention to his surroundings enough to keep from bumping into things and to help people who genuinely were in need of help, he went high in the atmosphere, made himself completely invisible, and glided home in the little spaceship orb of light thing he used to get away from the media the first time.
Back home Xander was faced with either going back to his basement and risk running into his money-grubbing, alcoholic parents . . . or going to the Bronze to hang out with his friends. Whom, the last time he checked, he was angry with, and was equally angry with him.
It was a weighted decision, with nothing to tip the balance in either way, until he was actually on his own doorstep. Turning invisible one more time, he snuck down to his basement room, showered, got cleaned up, and left all before his father even tried knocking on the basement door to see if it was Xander down there or not.
Chances were, the youth thought as he walked along to the Bronze, if he thought it was somebody else down there, the most he would do would be to lock the door to the upstairs and leave whoever it was to go through my stuff as they liked.
The Bronze was it's typical self when he entered, right down to the Dingoes playing on stage. And of course, he thought, where the Dingoes are, Willow can't be far behind.
Sitting in the booth closest to the stage was the redhead he expected to find, as well as the blonde he needed to speak with as well. With a deep sigh, and bringing a pair of mochas from the bar as peace offerings, Xander headed over to Buffy and Willow.
"This seat taken?" he asked once the volume was to a level he was certain they could hear him at.
Together they looked up at him from the band, and then their faces fell into shock. Immediately Buffy was up beside him and Willow only a second behind her. "Oh my god Xander! What happened?" the blonde demanded.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Your face is all bruised!" Willow told him.
"Did a vampire do this? Damnit Xander, I knew I shouldn't have let you go home alone last night!" Buffy berated herself.
At a loss for a moment, and then remembering the fight he'd had this afternoon, and the hits he'd taken, he was just surprised he hadn't noticed his injuries until now. "Oh, yeah, sorry. But don't worry," he tried to assuage Buffy after a brief hesitation. "It was a vamp, but I managed to get lucky and got him in the end. And I know how to take care of myself Buff, so it was no big deal to patch myself up today. Sorry I didn't have time to put my makeup on."
Giggling, Buffy just grinned and made a place for him at their booth, placing him in between herself and Willow. Then gesturing at the Mochas in his hand, she asked, "Those for us?"
"Yeah, sort of a peace offering I guess," Xander sheepishly shrugged. "Wasn't too sure if you were still mad at me or not."
"Is that why you left last night . . . ?" Buffy asked, sounding a little self conscious.
"What? No, I just . . . well, there were a number of no good reasons actually. I guess you could say I just needed to clear my head a little. Thankfully the vamp bashing seems to have done it's work, and now I'm here on a mission of peace," Xander made excuses.
Buffy looked down, ashamed of herself somewhat.
"Xander I'm sorry," were the next words out of her mouth.
"What for Buff?" was his immediate reply.
"For being a haughty bitch these past couple of days. First of all I talk non-stop about the White Knight, then you make an innocent comment about how he might really be on our side and I bite your head off for thinking you were saying he was better than me. Hence, I'm sorry."
Xander waved it off, "No big Buffy. Really. Besides, I don't think the White Knight is all that. You'll always be my hero Buffy, no matter what, or whoever else comes along. I hope you never forget that."
Buffy blushed and ducked her head some.
"Well, I hope you don't mind that your hero has a hero of her own," she told him, "The White Knight is like the . . . the . . . the embodiment of good almost. He justifies what I do. I mean, it sort of proves I'm not alone in this fight. There are other people, other creatures with powers fighting to protect the world from ending same as we are. We aren't alone."
"We were never alone Buffy," Willow told the Slayer, "You were never alone. You've always had us. And you always will."
Smiling brightly, Buffy thanked her friends, "Thanks you guys. You have no idea how much that means to me."
"Oh, I think I may have some vague clue Buffmeister," Xander replied, smiling as he felt the warmth of pride in his heart from Buffy calling him, albeit a disguised him, her hero. And that justified him.
End Part 4