Chapter 3: Tech Noir
August 31, 1998
"Where could he have gone?" Buffy nearly shouted as she paced back and forth in the front room of Giles' apartment. She had somewhat reluctantly finished her patrol before heading over, though mainly in order to try to see if she could track down whomever Faith had met. With little luck, her only other option was to see her Watcher, who had not been so pleased to see either Slayer so early in the morning.
Giles just sat in his robe on the couch, turning his head back and forth as Buffy walked and vented. The sudden possible return of the boy was enough to get his attention, although he was hardly at full capacity so late in the night, or early in the morning for that matter. "I have no idea. All of the research that I've done indicates that, at best, he would have been sucked into some hell dimension. There's scant information really."
"So what, he broke out or something?" Faith put in, a smile on her face. She leaned back into the plush club chair that she was slouched in. While Kakistos had unnerved her, she knew that it didn't do to dwell on the past. "Color me even more impressed."
"Why would he look older?" Buffy asked, stopping and turning to stare at her Watcher in search of answers. She was torn. While she wanted her old friend back, she didn't quite believe that he was and he was so different, and so it might very well be some imposter.
Giles considered the question, thinking about it intently. "Time does not work the same in all dimensions. That could account for the difference in age. It would narrow down the dimensions he could have ended up in I suppose, but we don't know all that are out there. Still, the chances…"
It wasn't exactly grasping at straws, although the probability that it actually was Xander was extremely low. Hell dimensions were notorious for their danger, and while Xander had proven himself capable of surviving more than the average person, as well as take more damage, there was little chance he would have been able to survive a hell dimension for as long as Faith had described. There were other possibilities with greater likelihood; it was not like shapeshifters were unknown to the Watchers' Council after all.
"And why wouldn't he come to-" Buffy started to say exasperatedly.
"There is the possibility that it is not Xander," Giles interrupted as delicately as possible, not wanting Buffy to get her hopes up too much. While she did know about the places he could have ended up in in a general sense, he had sugarcoated how bad most of them really were. "We do not know enough to speculate, and even though I, loathe to admit it, want it to be him, we need to consider how unlikely it is, and prepare for that possibility."
"So what do we do now?" Faith asked, curious about this mysterious presence in their lives. He had to have been something significant in the past to have such an effect on Buffy and the Watcher.
"Be careful on your patrols. I know you'll try to find him with or without my approval, but be wary. He may not be what he seems," Giles warned, looking at the both of them with concern on his face. "I'll do what I can to find a way to track his whereabouts here, but…"
"But what," Buffy asked, starting to calm down now that they had a plan of action. Even if it didn't provide all the answers she wanted.
Giles took a deep breath and held it for a few moments. "If it is him, we have no idea what he has been through. He may have a reason for not coming to us. He could be dangerous. To us."
Buffy wilted at the thought.
xxx
He had gone home the night before fairly happy. His team had made some significant progress on the programming for the tracking system that they had been tasked to work on for the last couple of months. Joseph Frakes was not sure about all that the project entailed, but he could make some guesses based on the specifications and requirements that they had been given by his technical superiors at Cyberdyne, not to mention the hardware that they had been issued for testing purposes.
His son had told him that an FBI agent had visited him at his school, and while he had been perturbed by that, there was no harm done. It was probably related to the project that he was working on for the defense department. He had dealt with high security before on government contracts, but the secrecy for this project was on a whole other level.
The computer scientist believed that the project, which was split up amongst different subsidiaries and divisions across the joint venture, was to build a next generation unmanned combat aerial vehicle. Something that would surpass the abilities of the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator. A UCAV that was not just more maneuverable, better armed, and better armored than the Predator, but with a paradigm shift in command and control. The director of Cyberdyne had decided to use the Falcon as a test-bed for an artificial intelligence system that was capable of more than simple execution of pre-programmed flight and evasion processes, but actual on-the-fly multi-variable decision-making.
To date, Frakes had never figured out where the base system had come from, the parts he had access to being far beyond anything he had ever heard about, let alone seen. But, that was not his objective. The neural net processor had been in development for years and multiple revisions, and the main trick was to write the programming that would run on it as well as design the modules that would gather and compile the data for analysis by the neural net.
"It's all gone," Frakes said, distinctly less happy than he had been the night before. He ran a hand through his thinning hair. He kept his calm though. As the head of research, he felt that it was much better for the creative process if he did not overly micro-manage those under him or be too overly emotional. Part of that meant not losing his temper.
"Yeah," Carl said, nodding his head from his seat in the director's office. He was in charge of procurement, and the call that he had received early that morning had not made him happy. Delays were a part of the process he knew, but this was something else. Something else entirely. "All five pounds of it. There were other things missing too from us."
"How quickly can we replace the coltan?" Frakes asked, mentally going over the timetable and how the delay would affect it. He had deadlines to live up to after all. "And whatever else is missing?"
Carl shook his head, wincing slightly. He had run it through the ERP system as well as got in touch with the brokers that he knew. "The good news is that most of it can be replaced pretty quickly. A lot of it is just off the shelf parts. But, the coltan is another matter entirely."
"How long will it take?" Frakes asked again, sighing. He knew that the metal was highly in demand as well as hard to come by, and that refined coltan to the level that they needed was another step up in difficulty to obtain or even manufacture for that matter. It required highly pure ore, which was much much harder to find than the already rare coltan was.
"Two months," Carl said, shrugging because there was nothing that he could do. Not even the brokers he knew could expedite an order, no matter the price. "We got lucky last time, but refined coltan is a lengthy process. I've already put in an order, but..."
"Same vendor?" Frakes asked.
Carl shrugged again. "There's nobody else near here that can refine to the level that Tetsuo can. It's the best we can do. But, the police are investigating, and I've been talking to them to make sure that security will be tightened for our next orders. They promise that it'll be delivered as promised this time. In two months."
"I suppose that's something at least," Frakes said in resignation. He was still going through the now revised timeline, and it didn't look so good. He supposed that more time in the simulations would be helpful and it gave him more time to optimize the programming subroutines, but his higher-ups at Calax and Cyberdyne would not be pleased by this stumble. The Department of Defense tended not to like delays just as they did cost overruns. "I guess that's it. Let me know if anything changes."
Carl nodded and stood up, ready to leave.
"Thanks Carl," Frakes said, turning to his computer to send an e-mail to his bosses to inform them of the new situation.
xxx
Detective Henley stood with his hands on his hips as the forensics teams finished up their work. He had already determined a rough timeline for the crime, and as loathe as he was to admit it, he was pretty impressed by the capability of the thief or thieves.
The fence had been cut, the door lock had been broken into which had disabled the alarm system, and material had been stolen. All of it had been done in less than fifteen minutes, with the security guard none the wiser.
He stroked his thick mustache before waving over to one of the uniformed officers that was standing by to assist him. It was a young officer that he had not had the chance to get to know, although given the turnover in the Sunnydale PD, it probably wasn't all that necessary. Henley looked at him, memorizing his face in case he'd have to talk to him again. "Anything, Officer Ramirez?"
"The security guard reported hearing what could have been shots somewhere in the area, probably near the time of the robbery," the officer said, looking at the notes that he had hastily copied down in his notebook. "It could be related."
"Okay," Henley said, walking to the cut chain-link fence and looking in either direction. The uniformed officer still stood in the yard behind him. Considering, the detective turned around. "Get some guys and canvass the area. Three block radius from here. If there was gunfire, I want to see it."
The uniformed officer nodded and turned around, walking back to the center of the crime scene and looking for more officers to help with the search.
Henley just continued to look out into the street. While robberies certainly did happen in the town, his twenty years on the force told him that they didn't happen like that. Robberies in the middle of the night, while common in other cities, were not so much the norm in Sunnydale. He got the feeling that there was something more than a simple robbery going on.
xxx
"They placed another order for coltan," Burke said, turning around from his computer and looking out into the front room of their apartment. He had hacked back into the Calax computer network and had easily noticed the new purchase order. The estimated time of delivery gave them some time to play with, but it still meant that the project was going forward. "So exactly what's the plan here? Keep stealing the coltan and hope they get tired and end the project?"
"No. I knew it'd only delay the project, but it does buy us some time." Xander undid the screw at the barrel end of the shotgun, removing it and setting it on the coffee table that he was sitting in front of. He punched out the trigger housing pin and began to disassemble the receiver. "They may start paying more attention to the other parts for this project too. If we can figure out what they're using to build the thing, then we can figure out what it might be."
"And until then?" Burke asked, wondering exactly what else they had.
Xander removed the bolt from the shotgun that he was holding, getting ready to clean the individual parts. He needed to pay special attention to the barrel, given the ammunition that he had been using the night before he wanted to make sure that the barrel hadn't been worn too much. "Keep an eye on Frakes. See what else Calax and Cyberdyne are working on."
"And what about your friends?" Burke frowned, the tips of his fangs barely visible. He didn't have a problem with the Slayer seeing him. After all, to most humans he looked just like the rest of his species as rare as they were. There was no way that the Slayer could know by sight which one of his people he was. One of the benefits of looking so dissimilar to humans he supposed.
"Hide. Evade." Xander turned to look at his partner. "It's what we're good at after all."
Burke just scoffed, rolling his eyes. "You've never been good at keeping your head down."
xxx
May 16, 2023
They were all crowded around the old table, dim light centered on its stained and cracked surface as the Resistance fighters took in what was on it. They had moved in only a couple of months before, carving out something that was somewhat livable and could be defended if the Skynet machines discovered them and tried to attack.
As it was, the rumbling of T-1's as they patrolled, which could just be felt even down there, reminded them how close Skynet really was to their position.
"We've received word that Skynet's in the process of repairing a power station in Hawthorne," Connor said, looking around at the men and women in the room. They were some of his best, and all had earned their places at the table. They all looked dirty and tired, so very tired. But, it was the job, the mission. It was the life that they all led now. And they all looked to him for guidance.
It was a job that his mother had prepared him for before he was even born.
John Connor jabbed at a point on an old map that had been scribbled on multiple times. "Olsen wants us to hit it, bad enough so that they can't use it and won't want to bother to repair it. If we can do that, then we shut down the production facility they've been building in Gardena."
"There's no cover," Barnes said, dragging a finger around the map in what would be a quarter mile area all the way around. He was from near that area, and had seen most of it go down before he was able to get out post J-Day. "That area's all been flattened."
"Air strike's out," Blair Williams stated, folding her arms across her chest. She was one of the few pilots they had left, her beauty standing out despite the sweat and grime. Her main ride was an A-10 Warthog, and while old, it was still a match against the aerial HK's that Skynet deployed to patrol the skies. Of course, that didn't take into account numbers nor that they were starting to get outfitted with similar plasma weapons to the ones that the ogre tanks had started to carry en masse. "There's a small staging facility near there, not to mention that they've probably got anti-air defenses set up all over the place. With no buildings for cover, we'd get blown out of the sky before we got within missile range."
Xander said nothing as he switched between examining the map and glancing at the pretty pilot. He wasn't exactly sure where she hailed from, at least ethnically, vaguely Asian features mixing with her European ancestry. She'd been part of one of the fledging defense groups before the Resistance had truly formed. Probably one of their most valuable members too.
Looking at the map more closely, a plan of sorts came to his mind. It was audacious, but Connor inspired that in people. Even if he wasn't in total command of the global Resistance. In fact, he knew that some of the higher-ups disliked the reputation that Connor had gotten, especially with the local cells. It didn't do for one man to have such sway, especially in a world where the rules had stopped applying.
"There's sewer and drainage tunnels all throughout that area." Xander stepped forward and pointed with a dirty gloved hand towards an area near Compton. "The patrols don't go out that far for the most part, and a team can get dropped by helicopter, make their way through the tunnels, and blow the facility. Under the noses of the tin men."
Blair looked at the ground pounder and frowned. He was too much like Barnes in his recklessness, despite how good he may be.
Connor shook his head. "Two squads have been wiped out trying to secure that area. There's hydrobots and T-600's swarming all over, and there are rumors that there's some kind of smaller HK defending the drainage tunnels too."
Xander shook his head, disagreeing with the assessment. He looked at the map again and the route that would be needed, thinking again about how important the target was strategically. A power station was a major asset, and the fact that they wouldn't be able to bring a production facility on-line would mean a month or more setback for Skynet. "They weren't me and my team. Drop us in. We can carry a lot heavier weapons than the other squads with a lot less people."
He brought his head up, looking John Connor in the eye. "We can do it, sir."
John just nodded.
xxx
"Who's going with you?" Blair said, stepping into the armory. She leaned against the open heavy metal door and watched as Xander filled up a backpack with ammunition and supplies. A satchel, presumably loaded with C4 lay beside him on the concrete floor.
Xander shoved a cut down shotgun through the straps of the backpack, tightening the straps and checking to make sure that it was secure. He turned around, unsurprised by the glare that was being sent his way. "Burke, Clore, Vik'nik, Terry, and Thoroop."
"And you trust them," Blair went on, still unhappy with how things had gone in the mission briefing. She would fly escort for the helicopter that would drop them as close as possible to the insertion point. They'd then infiltrate the tunnels and travel miles until they reached the power facility. If they were still alive, they'd set off charges within the plant to damage it beyond repair. Then they'd have to exfiltrate miles back to the rendezvous point for pickup.
Xander shrugged, looking at the woman carefully. "We've done this sort of thing before. I can trust them to watch my back."
"It's still risky," Blair grumbled, though she wasn't exactly sure what part of the plan she had the biggest problem with.
Xander just smiled at her mild complaint. "If I didn't know better, I'd begin to think that you're worried about me, Hickabick."
"I wouldn't want to have to rescue your ass." Blair rolled her eyes. "Waste of fuel."
Xander turned serious for a moment, checking his watch. "You've got preflight. And, I'll be fine. I always am. I'll see you out there."
Blair turned to leave, stepping through the doorway and turning her head to look back at him. "Watch your back."
xxx
August 31, 1998
The terminator turned its head minutely in mimicry of concern or interest. In the course of its investigation it had expanded its search parameters to gather data on Joseph Frakes. What it had just learned had played into a secondary objective that had been placed in all Skynet units sent back in time. It knew that the human Resistance had sent soldiers back in time, some to protect subjects that Skynet had targeted for termination, and some that were attempting to stop Skynet from being created at all. Thus, it fell upon them to ensure that Skynet would be built as long as it did not compromise their primary objectives.
According to local police reports as well as Calax data files, coltan had been stolen from one of Calax's vendors. The terminator did not know whether or not it was specifically linked to Skynet related projects as other components had also been stolen from multiple companies, but it made a note to investigate further.
In the meantime, the primary objective took precedence over the terminator's other mission parameters. It would have to ensure that Timothy Frakes died, though in a way that was much more subtle than the usual process for terminators.
xxx
The music was louder than he would have liked. The thrumming bass reminded him of the rumble of tank treads as the ogres did their sweeps of the ruins. It was not something easily forgotten, and it was now hard to hear if anybody was sneaking up. Of course, it did have its good points. The Bronze was playing something with a beat, and there was a good crowd in there, helping keep any particular person from standing out.
Xander took a sip of his drink, glancing out over the crowd. It was hard to keep track of someone, especially when they were on the dance floor though. Evidently Frakes' son was no wallflower and with his good looks was attracting a good amount of attention. He made sure to keep in the shadows though, as some of those looking on were known to him. Days had passed since he had run into the second Slayer, and he was still a light antsy about that. But, he had managed to avoid people that knew him so far.
Cordelia was there, as were a number of other cheerleaders. She had evidently gotten over him, which he really didn't blame her for. They had been dating, but it was a high school thing. No telling how long those were supposed to last. Besides, as far as she knew, he was dead. More than that, he had moved on, though he had had much longer to do it in.
He knew that Burke was watching over the elder Frakes, who had taken to working late at the office to make up for the parts orders that had been pushed back. The demon would have an easier time of keeping watch over there, in the alleys, than in a crowded club for sub-twenty one year olds.
The demon had managed to dig up some more information on the Frakes family too. His son Timothy's transfer explained why he hadn't recognized the son. The fact that he was following in his father's footsteps by being the president of his last school's computer club didn't give him much hope. Fast-forward ten years, and there was no telling exactly where the hobby would end up. Of course, as far as Xander knew, the important one was Joseph.
It was grasping at straws really. There was nothing specific to point towards Tim as being significant to the future, but they didn't have much else to do. Until they could figure out what the Calax project was, or a way to break into the facility, they were left with little to work on. It gave him an excuse to get out of the apartment at any rate.
Noting that Tim had finished dancing and was heading out the door, Xander downed his coke and tossed enough bills onto the counter of the bar to cover his tap. He trailed about thirty or forty feet back, not wanting to be noticed by Tim nor people that might be able to recognize him.
Xander had to weave through a couple of crowds, ducking his head at one point to avoid seeing Oz. He hoped that the mix of people in the club would hide his presence from the werewolf's senses. He had no idea where Willow was, but it was probably for the best that she wasn't around either. Moving forward as quickly as he could, he watched as Tim moved out the door, a group of friends going with him.
Xander stayed in the shadows as much as possible as he trailed the group. It wasn't difficult as the city planners had skimped on the number of lights that lined the street. He wasn't sure exactly where Tim had parked, but it hadn't been in the main lot. He was a little wary, given that Tim still had a group with him, but he had honed his tracking skills. It paid to be able move quickly and stealthily. Especially when one was being hunted.
xxx
May 17, 2023
Xander didn't bother looking back as the Black Hawk started back towards the closest base. The A-10's that were escorting them, including Blair's were also heading back towards the Ladera Heights airstrip. They would refuel at the base they had amidst the oil derricks and wait until they needed exfiltration. If they managed to stay alive that long.
Moving quickly to cover, Xander found the building that they were looking for. Scout teams had managed to map out a good section of where they currently were, at least on the surface. It was mostly empty in the general vicinity, with routing flights and patrols to keep Skynet from pressing too hard for an area with little strategic value. That was further north, where a lot of their heavy weaponry in the LA area was. Ladera Heights, the site of a hard-pressed battle in the early days of the war, and an oil field that provided much of their supply of crude. Without oil, their birds weren't fly, and they couldn't make any fuel for their other vehicles. It wasn't like they had access to the micro-fusion reactors that Skynet had come up with for use in their HK-tanks.
The building was mostly blown through, just enough of the walls and ceiling to hide them from easy view. It seemed to have been an old storefront in the past, though it merely provided a covered place to conduct their operations in secret. Off to the corner was a bolted down manhole cover, which Xander proceeded to remove. He shined a light down there to make sure that it was clear before heading down.
He was sweating already, nervous as he descended the rickety and rusted ladder that led to the drainage tunnel. It was the most vulnerable position to be in, and he couldn't be sure that some machine wouldn't come at him from behind when he couldn't fight back.
It did not take long to get to the bottom, Xander stepping down into fetid water as he brought up his rifle to sweep the tunnel. The light attached to the rail on the weapon's barrel revealed nothing more than mold and dripping moisture that added to the knee height water that was at the bottom of the large corridor. He turned around to check in the other direction, the rest of his team waiting above, but heard on the splashing of his movement.
Looking up, Xander raised a thumbs up at the floating heads above him. The demons were backlit from the dying sun that filtered in through the hole in the ground above. They started down as well, most of them having to shift their equipment so as to not get caught up in the narrow passageway down.
Xander waited at the bottom for them to arrive, all the while straining his eyes and ears for any sign that Skynet had noticed their position and was moving to intercept. Skynet used a specially designed robot to patrol the tunnels and sewers that they hadn't managed to secure or cordon off. The hydrobots were long eel-like machines, with razor sharp claws and some kind of triple drill head at one end. They were wicked fast in the water and could sneak up on a man and leap up from the water to drill through his chest without warning. He had seen the wounds before. If the blow didn't kill them directly, infection usually did.
"We're ready," Burke said quietly from behind, lifting up his Milkor multiple grenade launcher. He had a number of reloads in his pack as well as strapped in loops all over his large body. The specially designed grenades had been designed to breach the hyperalloy metal of the terminators and some of the smaller Skynet units and then detonate. A good strike was capable of destroying a triple eight in one shot. Of course, the terminators didn't tend to stay in one place.
Xander glanced behind and nodded, looking at all of his men in turn. They had all earned the right to be there, the same as he had, and all knew exactly what they were getting themselves into.
Burke had been the first to join up, bringing much of his people over from the Hellmouth. Larger than a human and far stronger, he wasn't slowed down by the heavy load of grenades he was carrying. To his side was Clore, who was almost as large. He was carrying a shortened M249 as easily as a child would a water gun. His large eyes took in much more than a human's, and in multiple spectrums, and Xander knew that the darkness of the tunnel was as light as day for the demon. Strapped to his back was a makeshift ammo carrier and bag that carried a good amount of the team's demolition charges. Vik'nik, the small reptilian demon, was carrying most of the rest of the explosives in his bag. Shaped much like a bipedal Gila monster, and colored much the same, the demon was capable of tunneling through solid rock. It wouldn't necessarily be needed here, but it was good to have that option if the tunnels closest to the target were inaccessible.
Xander watched as further back, a demon in a black robe walked past the team and further up towards him. It was Terry, who looked mostly human but for grey boney ridges that ran vertically from above his eyebrows to his hairline. He was a mage, which more than made up for whatever physical limitations he may have had in having only human-strength and speed.
Letting him stay right behind him, Xander started through the water towards their target, the sound of sloshing water and rustling cloth marking their progress. Taking up the rear was Thoroop, the troll. Eight feet tall and impressively strong, he was keeping up a rearguard with his Gatling gun. It had been salvaged from one of the T-600's they had faced in the past, not needing much re-rigging to be useful for the last member of the team.
xxx
The tunnels were largely all the same. The same dankness and smell, hours of travel would have been extraordinarily confusing if the team hadn't known where they were going. The trip would have taken about fifteen minutes by car, if it had been travelled before. When the roads were still operable and there weren't Skynet death machines waiting to ambush any living thing on them. About ten miles on the surface required a lot of crisscrossing and backtracking down in the tunnels.
Terry had cast a spell that made them harder to detect, but they had already had to stop and wait for Skynet patrols to pass them by. A number of them had been very close calls, and Xander had actually felt the distortion in the water as a hydrobot swam past his leg. It had been a rather tense moment, and they still had not encountered the rumored HK that patrolled the sewers.
"Over here," Xander said, turning towards his left. They had gotten steadily closer and the terrain had finally changed. Moving forward, Xander reached the end of that section of tunnel, the hatchway to the next room had been removed and revealed the next room. He cast his light forward, the beam reflecting off of what appeared to be even deeper water than what they were standing in.
There were pumps and dials and all sorts of mechanical equipment set in the walls on elevated platforms on both sides of the main room, and from the condition it would seem that the room was still being used for some purpose. Likely as a means of coolant control, which meant that they were nearly at the power facility.
Xander stepped over the threshold and carefully lower a leg. He went into the water deep, the water level reaching a foot past his waist. He moved forward to let the others make their way in. It was unfortunate that there wasn't another way around, but the maps all indicated that this was the only way to the emergency venting system that was their way into the power plant proper.
The others fanned out around Xander, keeping enough distance between them so as to minimize the chance that a hydrobot would just swim into them. They moved quietly, not speaking as they flanked Xander as he made his way to the other side. It was a large room and because they wanted to keep it stealthy, they were all moving slowly.
Old fluorescent tubes that were only half-working buzzed as they shed light over the rippling water. The hairs on the back of Xander's neck stood as he made his way to the halfway point. They had been lucky for the most part, and it had only been Terry's magic that had kept them from being discovered multiple times. He had little doubt that had the mage not been there, the team would have been massacred before they had made it a quarter mile. Connor had been right to be cautious, but sometimes fortune did favor the bold. He hoped.
Xander was just about to take another step when he heard it rise. Spinning to his right, his eyes widened as a small HK rose from the depths of the pool, water cascading off of its smooth metal surface and reflecting the light of Xander's flashlight. It turned on its own headlamps and aimed them at the team, running a scan before engaging.
Xander did not need to do that, instead opening fire with his M4. He was standing only a dozen feet from it, yet the armor piercing rounds did nothing but bounce off of the HK's thick hyperalloy armor. From around him, Xander heard other weapons open up, a giant ripping sound the most evident as Thoroop fired his large multi-barreled cannon at the mechanical beast.
It took a few moments, and there was a part of Xander that believed that it wouldn't work, but the large caliber bullets had their effect as they sprayed and penetrated the armor of the aquatic HK. Small hatches retracted and guns appeared, the tips of them swiveling as the HK tried to aim in the midst of the fusillade. It started to fire, but was thrown off course as a grenade impacted the HK's right turbofan and exploded, causing it to over-power its left fan to compensate.
Bullets stitched their way up the pool, sending small geysers of water up into the air. The members of the strike team dove out of the way, Clore, unfortunately picking the wrong direction to go to. A string of bullets impacted on his mottled grey skin, the demon's machine gun spraying up into the air as his nervous system twitched into death as the bullets penetrated the armor he was wearing as well as his tough hide. Thick black blood flowed from the wounds and mixed with the water as he lay back.
Xander paid it no attention as he tried to move into a better position, still firing his rifle. He couldn't risk glancing over to see how his men were doing, but shouted, "Burke!"
Burke said nothing as he moved back for another shot. Aiming carefully, the demon fired his grenade launcher, feeling the recoil move his shoulder back as he sent another grenade towards the HK. This time it hit the flying machine in the head, blowing out the glowing red sensors and blinding it. Another grenade a moment later exploded the compromised main chassis, causing it to crash back into the water that it had risen from.
"Metal!" Thoroop shouted, as he whirled around. The moment of quiet that had fallen after the destruction of the HK had allowed him to pick up movement from the rear. The weapons fire had alerted other Skynet sentries of the security breach, and they were descending on them now.
Opening up with his Gatling gun, the large troll watched as one triple eight blew apart, its coltan-enhanced armor not capable of defending against that from such close range. Other models appeared as well, a dark colored T-700 and a couple of T-90's managed to make their way through the hatch only to be struck down by a green energy wave that Terry threw.
Xander and Vik'nik moved to flanking positions, opening up with their rifles at the terminators' heads, hoping to hit the vulnerable areas to penetrate to the processor core.
Having to pause to reload, Xander managed to glimpse a couple of hydrobots leaping into the pool, the muzzle flashes and fluorescents glinting off of their shiny metal bodies as they maneuvered over the lip of the hatchway and into the larger pool. "Snakes. Fall back!"
The team could barely hear over the din of weapons fire, but they had. The remaining members of the strike team headed towards the hatchway that led closer to the power plant, hoping that it would provide them some cover if they could reach it in time.
Burke hissed as he was struck by a stray bullet, hurriedly opening up his grenade launcher and inserting fresh ones. Diving to the side to avoid a burst of machine gun fire from another of the floating HK's, the demon fired his reloaded grenade launcher rapidly in succession. He hit the machines in the room they had just come from, blowing a number of the robots apart. Then he tilted his launcher up, blasting at the ceiling above the doorway on both sides. The destruction of the concrete ceiling caused more than just rubble to come down, but also the packed dirt that it had been supporting. The falling material managed to cut off the rest of the machines, burying them in the next room as well as, keeping them from entering the coolant pool.
Xander held up a hand for the team to stop, sweeping the light over the water. While there were no more terminator or HK's visible, two hydrobots had managed to make it through. He scanned back and forth, trying to pick up their presence by their underwater wake. "Where are they?"
Time seemed to slow as one of the hydrobots leapt from the water, its drills whirling in a high-pitched whine. Xander was bringing his rifle up to bear, but it was no use. A burst of rapid-fire caught it in the head and tail, blasting it into scrap metal before it could dive into him.
"That's one," Thoroop said, taking his finger off of the trigger. It was a good thing that he was strong enough to control the weapon, or else he might have taken off the team leader's head with the Gatling gun.
The other metal eel was more careful, coming around behind and then leaping at its target.
Xander managed to hear Terry scream, whirling around as he saw the demon mage try to grasp at his back. It was no use, as the head of the machine burst through the front of the demon's chest, covered in thick blood.
Terry somehow was still alive, looking down and grasping at the writhing body of the robot as it writhed and cut up his upper chest and hands. Looking up at the ceiling, Terry tried to speak, blood flowing from the corners of his lips as his shredded lungs started to fill with blood. "Sho…shoot it."
Gritting his teeth, Xander raised his rifle and fired a burst of rounds, caving in most of the robot's head as well as penetrating the mage's body. Both fell as Terry died, floating in the increasingly dirty pool of water, blood and hydraulic fluid polluting it even more.
"That's the last of them," Xander said, moving forward and double-checking to make sure that the hydrobot was dead. He moved closer and ran his hands down the demon mage's cloak, checking for any particular useful or sentimental objects. Reaching into the mage's pants pocket, Xander pulled out a folded piece of red cloth. It was wet with water and stained, but Xander knew what it was quite well. He opened it up to see the familiar coat of arms, the back of the armband simply had Terry's name hastily written there in black ink.
He folded the piece back up and shoved it into a pouch on his armored vest. Looking up, Xander noticed that Burke had done the same for Clore.
"We need to move," Xander said, turning around and heading towards their destination. The others followed suit, leaving the bodies without a word of protest. They all knew that they couldn't take the bodies with them, and it was better that they try to complete the mission than to dwell on what they couldn't change. He only hoped that the fallen understood.
The remaining members of the team stepped through the hatchway and into the outer corridor of the venting system. Making sure to lock the hatch to give them a little more time, Xander was just glad that the deeply underground and narrow tunnels meant that Skynet had had to give autonomy to the robots and was not in constant contact. There would be no instant response as a result of the attack.
xxx
September 4, 1998
He stood underneath the awning of a store that had closed down, newspaper taped to the inside of the windows, and the light above turned off or broken. It allowed him to stay hidden as he watched Tim say goodbye to a few people.
Xander sunk further into the darkness as Cordelia and her friends left in her unnecessarily expensive convertible. The person he was following waved as he watched them leave, heading towards his own vehicle as soon as the girls had turned the corner. Xander got a bad feeling, the hairs on the back of his neck twitching, and so reached behind his back, resting his hand on his belt next to the handgun that he had placed back there.
Headlights turning on from down the street to his left caused him to squint, turning to look in that direction. It was probably nothing, but Xander stepped forward a little to get a look at the driver. The face was mostly obscured in the darkness, but the street lamp across the street and the reflection of the car's lights off of the asphalt lit up the driver's seat for a second. His eyes widened as he recognized the face. With slightly curly gray hair, and a thick face and prominent chin, Xander remembered the face well. He had seen it up close on both sides.
He ran, not thinking about what he was doing, and forgetting about the gun that would be useless in the present situation. Rushing through the street and painfully close to the car that had swerved to barrel down towards Timothy Frakes as he rounded his own car to get into the driver's seat, Xander jumped and grabbed the kid by the upper chest, rolling them both over the smooth hood of the Mustang and down onto the concrete sidewalk on the other side.
Less than a second later, the car shook and both of them heard the shriek of metal on metal as the terminator's car sideswiped the Mustang. Xander heard it rush off, the tires squealing as the machine made its get away. He wasn't sure why the terminator hadn't stayed to finish the job, but he was thankful for small favors.
Getting to his feet, Xander extended a hand down to help the teenager up.
"Thanks," Tim said, getting to his feet and brushing himself off. He checked himself for injuries, but other than a couple of bruises that would likely form in the morning, he wasn't too bad. He turned to look at the man that had saved him, not recognizing him. "What was that about? Drunk driver?"
Xander stood watching as the car turned the corner, its red rear headlights disappearing as it made its getaway. "Yeah. Probably just a drunk driver."
He was frowning though. Not only was there a terminator operating inside of Sunnydale, it was on a mission to terminator Joseph Frakes' son. It looked like the Frakes family was related to Skynet, even if it wasn't in the way that he had previously thought.
xxx
The terminator kept driving, heading back towards its base of operations. Mentally, the machine was reviewing what had happened as well as scanning its memory banks to see if it could identify the person that had interfered in its mission. Unfortunately, the man had not been facing the right direction and it had been too dark to be able to get a clear shot of the man's face.
It did not get angry or annoyed at the failed operation. It would have to come up with another way to accomplish its primary objective.
xxx
"So he's been targeted for termination?" Burke sighed, leaning back on the couch. He didn't know why a terminator would not take the most direct, and therefore unsubtle, method of termination, but it was clear that this particular unit was intent on killing the younger Frakes.
"Looks like it," Xander said, as he started to load a shotgun. There was no telling when he would meet the terminator again, and he wanted to be prepared. "It could be something the kid does in the future, but I don't remember him."
"We don't know everybody in the Resistance. Or everyone that created Skynet," Burke pointed out as he started to load his M79 grenade launcher. A lucky shot with that would be able to kill a terminator, or at least there was a better chance of that than Xander's shotgun would have, even if it was loaded with special shells. "So what? You follow him to school?"
Xander shook his head. While he might have been able to get himself enrolled as a senior transfer at a school with Burke's hacking abilities, that wouldn't work if it was Sunnydale High School. "If it's supposed to look like an accident, then he should be safe at school. I'll have to trail him after that though. How's the father?"
"Working hard. But, other than that nothing out of the ordinary that I can see." Burke set the weapon onto the coffee table. It had been a lot of dull stakeout work, which was certainly better than the alternative. He was in little mood for action, even if it was necessary much of the time. "With the metal in town, we may have to do this the hard way. Take the dad and interrogate him."
"You may be right," Xander admitted, as loathe as he was to go in that direction. But, with the stakes they were playing with, it might be necessary. "We need to find the triple eight though. There's no telling what it's been programmed to do aside from taking out the kid."
"If it found him once, it'll find him again," Burke said, shaking his head. If there was one thing that the machines were known for, it was that they didn't give up. At all.
Xander looked at the demon and nodded. "You got that right."
xxx
May 17, 2023
The venting system was unused and mostly unwatched. There was little need for it since the coolant tanks were empty and the plant was still unworking. Additional units were needed elsewhere on the global battlefield, and so it needed to get its production facility up and running as soon as possible. Skynet was quickly repairing the power-generating system, and would soon be able to bring the nuclear power plant online. As it was, most of the material necessary was already onsite, the hardest part had been acquiring and manufacturing nuclear fuel rods to the tolerances needed.
Xander knelt down behind a large pump. He listened intently, trying to pick up the unique whine or thunk of the various Skynet units that the central core had deployed to protect the facility. There was nothing that he could detect. Nodding to himself, the Resistance soldier looked at his fellow soldiers and unslung his backpack. "Okay, Burke, take the control room."
Xander took out a portion of the explosives he had in his pack and passed them over to the demon, turning to the next demon in turn and passing out more of the C4. "Thoroop, reactor room. It's probably going to be the most secured. I'll be coming with you."
"Alright," the troll grumbled in a deep and gravelly voice, grinning as he raised and checked his large Gatling gun.
Xander just nodded back and turned to the last demon that was there. "Vik'nik, tunnels underneath the cooling towers. I want them all down."
Vik'nik, licked his lips with a long forked tongue and nodded. He already had his share of explosives in his backpack, adjusting the heavy pack as he tasted the air. But, the best way to do that was to burrow a network of tunnels beneath them and then collapse the tunnels with the explosives. It would be tricky though to avoid bringing the towers down with him still underneath them. "Got it."
Some of them were supposed to be doubled up for this stage of the operation, although Xander had planned for the possibility that not all of them would make it to the facility alive. Still, it would have been better if Burke was able to take a second man with him. And Terry's stealth spells would have made things quite a bit easier. Of course, there was no point to think about that now. They had a mission to complete.
xxx
The power station sat as it normally did, with a few roving Skynet patrols ensuring that there was no damage to the facility and no human presence. The artificial intelligence was still unaware that a portion of the Resistance strike team that had penetrated the station had also managed to make their way to the reactor intact. While they had had to duck a few patrols, Xander and the troll had managed to find it and get in without detection. He was placing the last of the charges to the base of the reactor, with Thoroop keeping a lookout, and Skynet was none the wiser.
"Got it, let's go." Xander slung his now lighter pack back over his shoulder and brought his rifle forward, walking forward out of the shadows. He made his way over to the stairs where the large troll was standing. Checking his watch, they had made good time. With a little luck they'd be able to make their way to the secondary exfiltration point and be able to bypass the way that they had originally tried to come in. Exits would be a little easier since they could access locks from the other side now.
He was still wary about why the Skynet units in the sewers hadn't warned the ones up above about their presence in the sewers. Maybe the cave-in had destroyed or delayed them enough. Perhaps they figured that they were all dead, but it didn't seem characteristic of the machines to simply make those assumptions.
"Good," Thoroop said, glancing to his side. He was about to make his way forward and further up the stairs when the concrete wall above their heads exploded out, fire licking at the edges of the large hole that had just been made. As he raised his giant gun, a T-1 wheeled forward, swiveling its twin miniguns downwards.
Both machine and troll fired at the same time, though the rounds had a much more disastrous effect on the meat than on the machine. Thoroop twitched as the large bullets started to shred his body, falling back and sliding down the stairs as he died. His finger was still on the trigger though, and the minigun kept firing, pushing the mini-tank back.
Xander rushed forward to the base of the stairs, taking cover behind the body of the troll as he searched for a way out. Looking forward, he noticed a scrap of red cloth on the ground, slightly stained with blood. Grabbing at it, Xander rushed forward heading up the stairs as he blindfired at the general direction of the T-1 on the floor above. He didn't bother to stop, rushing through the hallways. He could almost feel the presence of more machines as they no doubt rushed towards him. He could only hope that the others had been able to plant their explosives without incident.
"Apache Team, Apache Team. This is Apache leader," Xander shouted into his communications link, breaking radio silence. There was no point to trying to hide their presence anymore. "Joker's Wild. Say again. Joker's Wild."
He ran through the dimly lit corridors, glancing at the walls every now and then to make sure he was taking the right turns. It was good that they still bore directional markings, though most were rather faded.
"Fuck," Xander exhaled as he suddenly had to dive to his left to avoid minigun fire as a T-600 opened up from behind as he entered a long hallway. He scrambled back, firing back though it would do little good. Getting to his feet, Xander pulled a grenade from his belt and pulled the pin. He tossed it behind him at a cracked section of the wall, glad that it was just a T-600. In the relatively tight spacing of the corridors, he would be able to outrun the machine. Hopefully at least.
xxx
An explosion went off to the west as Xander exited the door, rushing to his right towards their secondary rendezvous point. It had come from the direction of the control room and hopefully it meant that Burke had been successful. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his own radio detonator, taking off the cover and pushing the button without looking at it. It took a second, but he soon felt the vibrations of the explosions of the multiple C4 charges that he had placed. It got worse as the structure of the reactor was compromised and it started to bring the whole building down. He must have gotten a load bearing support or something.
Skynet may be technically competent, but it couldn't repair all of the equipment and infrastructure that they taking out. As he rushed behind a network of pipes and headed towards the secondary piping building, Xander heard the other explosions sound, and even more rumbling as if there was an earthquake. In the distance the giant cooling towers started to crack and buckle, as if falling into a giant sinkhole. It had a secondary affect as it disrupted the ground to his left flank and prevented the machines from coming in to strike at them so easily. He smiled slightly at the success of their mission, and even if they all died, it wouldn't take away from that success. Even if they had already played a heavy price for it.
Xander heard movement and was about to turn when a voice spoke out.
"Keep going," Burke said from behind, running and firing behind him with his grenade launcher. It kept the few machines that had gotten through to close on them back as the grenades detonated and threw up shrapnel and dust. "Vik'nik's already getting the hatch open."
Xander didn't look back as he threw himself at the door as he heard random bursts of gunfire sent in their general direction. He shoved the heavy door aside with his shoulder as he entered the building. He felt a sharp pain as he crossed the threshold, but didn't bother to check as he moved in, heading towards the drainage access that they were looking for. He stopped and turned to cover Burke as he came in.
Burke stopped as he crossed the threshold to the second room. He pointed his grenade launcher at the roof above the door and fired his last grenade, causing some of the roof to collapse and block part of the door. It wouldn't stop the machines from getting in, but it would buy them some more time to get out of there.
"Good?" Xander said, as he started to pant. His shoulder was throbbing, and he started to feel lightheaded.
"You're hit," Burke said with concern, noticing that Xander's dark uniform was getting darker as blood started to flow from an open wound in the man's shoulder.
"Imagine that," Xander said, stumbling back and leaning against the wall. His rifle dropped fractionally as he tried to keep himself upright. His backpack and backup piece felt a lot heavier.
Burke said nothing as he moved forward, ripping off some of his jacket and wrapping it around Xander's left shoulder. It would have to do for now until they could make their escape. They had already lost enough people, and he wasn't planning on losing another.
xxx
September 7, 1998
"The ballistics report just came in," Detective Preston said, dropping a file folder onto the messy desk of his partner. He went to his own desk and dropped into his swivel chair with practiced ease, leaning far enough back to be comfortable, but not far enough to tip over. Bending his arms and placing his hands behind his head, the junior detective smiled at his partner. "I think you'll find it interesting."
Henley said nothing as he opened up the report and skimmed through it. He was working off of the theory that the ruckus caused in the nearby warehouse was related to his crime scene. It was somewhat tenuous, but he wasn't a big believer in coincidences. He frowned as he came to the relevant part that his partner of three years was likely referring to. The senior detective looked up and across the desks. "What the hell?"
Preston smirked, leaning forward in his seat and placing his elbows on the desk. "Some type of exotic round. Depleted uranium, which is rare enough I suppose. Never knew that they started using them as shotgun slugs though."
"Shouldn't be too hard to track down then," Henley theorized. "I doubt that they can be legally purchased, so it leaves thefts, probably military. Or some R&D lab."
"I put in a request to the ATF and to a friend I have in the CID. We'll see what they can come up with, but this guy was good." Preston shrugged. It was only another case in a pile of cases that they were working on, and all the better if they could shove off some work to other agencies. It wasn't like those homicide guys that got all uppity about jurisdiction and turf. It wasn't like anybody n the Sunnydale PD had to worry about getting fired.
"What was he shooting at then?" Detective Henley asked, flipping the file folder closed. "If this guy was so good, then why bother leaving evidence behind. What was he firing at? Stupid place to meet with a buyer, and this guy is anything but stupid."
Preston just looked back at him, making no comment.
xxx
The coat was heavy and hot in the club, but he hadn't really had a choice. If he was forced to come up against a terminator, he'd prefer to have a heavier weapon than the handgun that he had been carrying the last time. And the only way to carry that was underneath something long enough to cover it. Luckily it wasn't actually a bar and security was beyond lax.
There was some band playing a fast song, suitable for dancing to, but Xander didn't recognize it. It probably came out after he had left the first time, but it was popular enough for the crowd of people that were out on the dance floor.
Tim was back in there, as was his crowd of friends. He didn't exactly envy the kid that, but the normalcy of it all was something of a draw. Xander made sure to stay out of sight, he had been seen by the kid and interacted with him, but had shrugged off any attempts at getting too many details. It was better that the kid think of him as random good Samaritan as opposed to word spreading about him if Tim decided to talk at school.
He had staked out a corner near the stairs so that he could get a clear view of the dance floor and bar, but out of the way of the view of most, with the metal stairs breaking up his profile and helping to obscure his identity. Xander had found that he was able to recognize a number of the students, despite it being years for him since he had seen any of them.
Looking over at the door, Xander tensed as he saw a tall figure enter wearing a black watchcap. He seemed much older than the others in the club, even compared to himself. The flashing lights and general dimness obscured the man's face, but it seemed a little odd.
Xander crouched down and placed his drink glass down on the ground. Standing up again, he let his hand drift near his side, watching as the man walked closer to the end of the bar to where the cashier was.
Flashes of blue and red and green scattered over the man as the lights went through their preprogrammed routines in time with the music. Light glinted off of the steel of the gun that appeared in the figure's outraised hand, and the music wasn't loud to obscure the loud gunshot as the man shot the bartender in the forehead.
Clenching his jaw, Xander moved forward, going towards Tim, but not yet drawing his own weapon. He wasn't quite sure of the target yet, but wanted to make sure that he would be in position if it was who, or rather what, he thought it was.
The figure smashed a heavy fist into the cash register breaking it and forcing the drawer out, digging around for a moment and pulling out a large wad of cash. He shoved it into a pocket as he turned, scanning the people in the room and looking for the one that he had identified going into the club.
Xander's eyes widened as the figure turned his head and he was able to get a good look. It was the same terminator as earlier in the week. His hand went behind his back as he tried to move further up and to his right, trying to get through the wild crowd that was rushing to the various exits in search of a way out. He tried to get to Tim as well as keep an eye on the terminator, but it was hard to go against the rush of the crowd.
The terminator fired into the throng of people, aiming at his designated target, but the people running this way and that made it impossible to hit his target precisely. The machine walked forward, ejecting the magazine of its handgun and reloading it within seconds. It was just about to fire again when it was hit in the head by gunfire that deflected off of its metal skull, gouging out chunks of flesh from its cheeks.
"Shit!" Xander grunted as he intentionally drew the terminator's attention to himself. He watched as Tim fell, a body landing on top of him as the terminator started to fire more rapidly and indiscriminately. He rushed over, pushing the body off and helping Tim to his feet. The body fell onto its back, shock evident on the corpse's face as the last thing the person had known before he died.
Xander didn't spare it more than a side-glance but recognized the short teenager as Jonathan. Not one of his close friends, but he had known him. It didn't faze him though, he had seen death before, and he had a mission to accomplish.
"Get up!" Xander shouted at Tim as the boy rose to his feet, turning his head and watching as the terminator approached to get a better position on him. He shoved his handgun into his waistband, making sure that it was safetied with a flick of a finger, and brought up his sawed-off shotgun. There were less people in the club now, most having fled or were dead on the floor. He shoved a girl out of the way with his left hand as she passed him, pointing his shotgun forward and firing it.
The terminator was pushed back a foot or so as the heavy slug hit it in the shoulder, throwing off its aim. Cocking its head, it ran a quick systems check and detected more than minor damage. Considering its options, it moved forward, ignoring the gunman and going for its primary objective.
Xander fired again, hitting the terminator in the arm, and throwing the cyborg's aim off even more. He grabbed Tim by the collar and shoved him towards the front door, following him as quickly as he could. Pumping the shotgun again, Xander lowered the barrel and fired at the terminator's knee, watching as the slug sparked as it went through the terminator's leg joint. It fell hard to the ground as the metal knee buckled.
Not wasting time, Xander ran after Tim, exiting out the front door and dragging him out into the street. He heard sirens already, the police on the way. At best, they would provide a distraction and allow them to escape.
"You?" Tim said, after the man that had grabbed and shoved him had let go. He recognized him now, it was the same one that had seemed him before. "What was that?"
"Quiet." Xander pulled him into an alleyway without speaking, pushing him against the dirty brick wall of an abandoned shop front. He peeked around the corner and watched as the terminator limped out of the front door of the Bronze, scanning around. It walked off into the distance, picking the wrong way to go. Lucky for them.
"I have to go home," Tim said shakily, trying to walk forward. He had no idea what had happened, only that he had been having fun with his friends before some maniac had opened up with a gun. And then a second maniac had fired back.
Xander turned his head and pushed the boy back. He dropped his shotgun back under his coat, stopping it as it swung on its sling. "Not yet."
"What was that thing?" Tim said, still feeling the presence of the man's shotgun, even if it was no longer visible.
Turning to scan the alley, Xander looked at the far end, noticing that there was nothing more than a chain link fence that demarcated it from the other side. There would be a way out over there, and with a little luck they would be able to avoid any more action.
"Listen to me," Xander said, moving around and facing Tim face to face. "That…man was trying to kill you. If you want to live through this night, you'll do exactly what I tell you. Do you understand?"
Tim said nothing, only nodding in response.
"Okay, we're going to over that fence," Xander said, pushing Tim deeper into the alley. He reached into a pocket and started to reload his shotgun. "And then we're going to get out of here."
Tim scaled the fence quickly and silently, deciding not to run as the man still did have a shotgun. He didn't think that he meant any harm, but he was still freaking out, a lot. He backed up to allow the man to climb the fence and land on his side too.
Xander looked behind him after he had landed on the other side. There was still nobody there, and nobody had heard the fence shake. Pulling out his handgun, Xander reloaded it and placed it at the small of his back again. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cellphone, dialing Burke's number.
"What here a second," Xander said to Tim as he waited to be connected. It didn't take very long for. He didn't wait for a greeting, instead speaking first, "September. Seventh, ninety-eight. Trip eight went for the kid, it may go after the dad, so be careful. I'm taking him back to the barn now."
"It might go after my dad?" Tim hissed out, hearing Xander speak on the phone. He was getting even more anxious now. He tried to get more information out, but the man raised a hand to quiet him. He frowned, but said nothing.
Xander placed the phone back into his pocket as he ended the call. He moved the boy closer to the mouth of the alleyway. "I don't know. I'm trying to be careful here. I have someone outside your house in case it happens and he'll keep your family safe. But, right now we need to worry about you."
"Okay," Tim said, not liking it, but not being able to do anything about the situation for the moment. The man previously saving his life made the teenager give him a little bit of leeway. He walked on his own out of the alley and turned towards the left, heading towards the direction of the school and home. "I'll go with you. But, I want some answers."
Xander nodded and walked with him, careful to check his surroundings in case the terminator was still in the area. A few people were still on the street, having run out of side and back doors from the club and trying to find a place to go for safety.
The darkness of the night and having to watch out for Tim while also scanning for the terminator made him miss the short young woman that he nearly ran into. Xander moved aside, looking at her for a moment before his eyes widened in recognition. "Buffy."
All Xander saw was the girl's expression move from shock to anger. And then she moved, her fist went back, and he saw nothing.