David Bowie "Heroes"
Title: We Could Be Heroes(11/?)
Rating: R-ish
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Timeline: Season 2 Halloween onward
Pairings: Most canonwise, Xander/Faith
Crossover Material: Assassin's Creed
Spoilers: General BtVS and AC ending information
Summary:
After Halloween, Xander finds himself with the knowledge of the
assassin Altair Ibn La-Ahad and the decision to either use these new
skills to help his friends or not. But not everyone is very happy with
that arrangement...
"Where yah goin', Stud?" questioned Faith form where she lounged across their motel bed as he bustled around the room. They had been in Houston, Texas, for a few days now after constant on the road driving from Arizona and all the way across New Mexico. Had helped a little witch named Tara out too and cautioned her against going to Sunnydale like she had been planning. Xander had given her a portion of the money from the Council to get away from her family and their cell number – just in case she ever needed a friend.
Faith almost wished they'd had the room to bring her along with them. She'd liked the older girl, even if she was shy.
Tossing something into the canvas backpack he held in one hand, Xander zipped it up then replied, "Going to go buy a gun actually."
"A gun?" repeated Faith. "But…"
"Throwing daggers can only go so far," he pointed out in a bitter tone, referring to the second Terakan they'd encountered after their run in with Tara. The second assassin had been a half demon with a pair of Uzi's and it had only been a lucky throw from Xander that caught him in the throat whilst he'd been distracted by Faith. They'd been lucky to get away from that fight alive and she could see the idea in getting a gun but she wasn't that fond of the idea. And she knew he'd mentioned getting a gun to make hunting easier a few times before but he'd never gone through with it.
"If I can," he added, "I'm going to get both of us fake ID's too."
She blinked at that then asked, "Why?"
"They can still track us by name even if we don't have a credit card or anything. Hell, we might need to get a new phone too."
"Shit, X. You need me to come with yah?"
He smiled as he moved forward and leaned down to kiss her softly before saying, "I'm going to be slipping into a few nasty places, probably. And I move faster on my own."
She pouted a little but knew he was right. He'd managed to teach her a little about moving silently but she wasn't anywhere near his level at it. Plus she drew too much attention with her looks and where he was heading that would start a fight. It rankled but she understood.
"Five by five. But don't yah come back hurt any," she scolded.
Xander laughed and promised, "I'll do my best," before he kissed her again, one hand brushing along her bare thigh before he darted towards the door. As it closed behind him, Faith shouted, "Tease!" then collapsed back into bed, wondering what to do whilst he was gone. They didn't have much since they were trying to keep from being found so the cell phone was really the only thing besides the TV.
Grumbling, she shoved the pillows into a pile and slumped against them after she found the remote half underneath the bed. Flicking on the mind-sucking box she started channel surfing and finally settled on a channel showing Die Hard.
"Good enough," she grunted and laid back to wait until either X got back or she got too restless to lay in the room.
The weight of the Glock and the two boxes of ammo he'd paid for with it weighed heavily in the bag over Xander's shoulder but he wasn't focusing on that. He was waiting in a bar now after leaving the out of the way place where he'd bought the gun. A few people he'd talked to had pointed him to a man called Shawn Rey as the man to get him two decent fake ID's and one had promised to put together a meeting with him in an hour.
Two had passed now and his temper was shearing short, enough that he was ready to go back to Faith and search again tomorrow before they left.
As he lifted his glass of water – it was stupid to imbibe alcohol when you were being hunted, after all – he noted that he was being watched out of the corner of his eye. And badly too. Someone had been watching too many spy movies or reading too many bad detective novels it looked like.
Smiling to himself in his head, he spared a glance around the bar and saw a similar man with the same bad spying skills. Obviously not Council or Terakans which meant the guy who was going to introduce him to Rey had set him up. Probably had figured they could mob him and demand his money – since it took a good chunk of cash to get decent fake ID's.
Shaking his head, he left the glass on the counter and rose from his seat, heading towards the door. He saw the two would-be spies rising as well and as he passed the red-haired man that guarded the door, he heard him say in a low voice, "You're being followed."
"I'm aware," stated Xander coolly then he moved to the side as the first of the would-be spies darted through the door. Grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, he flung him aside and down towards the sidewalk. A glance towards the bouncer revealed him to have a hold on the other one and shoving him out into the empty street via a heavy boot.
"Piss off," growled the bouncer, who looked young but had a gravely voice evident of several years of drinking and smoking. "And tell Edgar to stop being a damn idiot and trying to hustle money."
As the two picked themselves off and hurried off, the man extended his hand. "Shawn Rey, by the way," he stated firmly.
"How'd you know I was looking for you?" asked Xander warily, flicking his eyes over the man's face. He looked to be in his early twenties but the long scar that ran from under his right eye to his chin said he'd seen his share of fights. The roughness of his voice also spoke of a hard life – you usually didn't drink enough in such a short time to get that sort of voice so early unless you had something you wanted to forget.
"One of the others pointed you out to me," replied the redhead. "So, fake ID's, eh? In trouble with the law?"
"Something like that."
"Alright, alright, no questions, I get it." Rey frowned thoughtfully, tapping his fingertips against the scraggly growth on his chin, then asked, "How decent do you want them and when?"
Xander frowned then replied, "Decent enough to pass some close inspection. And by tomorrow would be great."
Hazel eyes widened and them man stated, "Tomorrow, eh? Alright, two hundred fifty for each. You give me the info and pictures and I'll meet you here tomorrow night – I'll be inside as it's my day off. Give me the pay tomorrow too – only satisfied customers have to pay, that's the maker's motto."
"You come to work on your day off?" queried Xander.
"I've been kicked out of all the other places," explained Rey with a casual shrug. "So…stuff?"
For a moment Xander considered walking away then flipped the backpack off his shoulder, digging into it for the two pictures he'd folded together inside a sheet of paper and handed them to the man. "Info for both are on the paper," he stated shortly then turned to leave.
"Hey!" barked Rey after him. "How about a name, stranger?"
"Look at the paper," called Xander over his shoulder as he headed on. He'd had enough of being out for the night and wanted to get back to the motel for a shower. As well as a bedful of the brunette Slayer that he loved.
Rey frowned then unfolded the paper, seeing two neat outlines of information on them. He caught the small photos in his hand then peered close at the names.
"Alex Williams," he murmured to himself. Then he opened the door and yelled into the bar, "Hey, Cob, I'm taking off early!" before he struck off down the street in the opposite direction towards his apartment.
He had work to do.
Faith was just washing the vampire dust from the group she'd found earlier off her hands in the bathroom when she heard the door open. Grinning, she turned without turning off the water or wiping off her hands and ran to hug him.
"Cold hands!" exclaimed Xander.
"Aw, is the big scawy assassin scared of chilly hands?" laughed Faith. She then pulled away from him and went to grab a towel, drying her hands off as she raked her eyes up and down over him. "'Kay, I don't have to hurt you since yah came back in one piece. So, how'd it go, X?"
He smiled and slung the backpack carefully to the floor, replying, "Perfect. We can pick up the ID's tomorrow then head out of town. I was thinking maybe a trip to New Orleans."
Faith laughed at that and moved back to wrap her arms around him again.
"So I can't wander around with yah in the bad parts of this town but I can in Mardi Gras town?"
"I never said I made sense," he piped with a grin.
"Wouldn't be as fun if yah made sense Stud." Smirking, she looked over her shoulder at the bed then purred, "That bed's looking aaaawful lonely, baby."
"Is it now?"
"Oh yeah."
"Well," said Xander, drawing her closer to him, "we've got to remedy that, don't we?"
"Yah damn right we do."
Grinning, he lifted her up into his arms and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he moved across the room to the bed. As they settled on it, still entwined, he softly said, "I am one lucky guy."
Faith smiled at that – even though she was the luckier person of the two of them – and growled, "Yeah, yah are." Then she pulled her shirt over her head and smiled at him. "Now come down here and help a girl out of her clothes, will yah?"
"As you wish, milady."
"Look good?" asked Rey as he handed the two driver's licenses over to the kid after they moved outside the bar. He felt a bit guilty about not demanding a better explanation for why the kid and that gorgeous brunette slumped against the hood of their car were running but he got the feeling he wouldn't get an answer.
Hence why he'd asked a few friends to come take a look at them and see if they could figure it out.
Xander smiled and replied, "Better than the original, these eyes say." He then reached into his coat and pulled out a rolled up wad of bills to hand to the redhead. "Five hundred. Thanks for the work."
"So long as the customer's satisfied, I'm good," said Rey as he took the money, forcing himself not to count the bills. Or to run back into the bar for a drink – as one of his roommates had reminded him this morning, it was his turn to do the grocery shopping. Plus he'd already spent a good chunk of his own money on alcohol whilst waiting for the kid. "Though I guess I won't have the pleasure of doing business with you again, eh, Alex?"
"'Fraid not," replied Xander with a smile as he started to turn away. "We've got places to be."
Rey smiled as he watched the pair climb into their car and drive away, shaking his head. Then he cocked his head towards the corner of the bar as they disappeared into the distance and asked loudly, "So…opinions, Athan?"
A man over two decades the redhead's senior and just slightly taller appeared from around the side of the building, his right eye covered by an eye patch. He stared after the vehicle for a moment then stated, "Definitely interesting, you were right about that. But it's not just the kid who's a fighter – the girl too."
"Seriously?"
Athan grinned, asking, "You doubt this eye?"
"No, sir."
The man laughed then sobered, staring at the spot where the car had disappeared again. Shaking his head, he stated, "I get the feeling those are two kids running from something big. There was a strange presence from the girl."
Rey arched his eyebrows at that. "Tattoo reacted to a little girl like that?"
"Little isn't quite how I'd describe that one," said Athan with a dry chuckle. He then reached up and touched the mark tattooed across his left cheek – a horizontal slash with four lines curving and twisting down underneath it – and frowned. "It was almost a reaction like a lesser demon's."
"Guess that means we're going to get Dev to tracking them."
"Yes, Shawn, I think we are. Not because of the girl though."
Rey gave the man a surprised look at that. Then he shrugged and dug out of a cigarette, glancing around before he lit it with a tiny flame that appeared when he snapped his fingers. Waving the flame away, he took a long drag on the cigarette then asked, "So why?"
Athan smiled coldly and replied, "Two kids who are obvious fighters and the girl gives off vaguely demonic vibes? Kid, that ain't going to be the regular sort of people after them."
"And you get the feeling they're good guys."
"Good with a tinge of dark," replied Athan. He grinned at the younger man as he added, "Just like us."
"Goody. Just what I wanted, another me."
Author's Note:
Athan and Shawn Rey are two original characters of mine. Since originals are easier to draw from than picking movie/book characters, I decided to go that route.