Exposure

Exposure

By Adrian Tepes

Rating: PG-13 to R.

Summary: The actions of Champions bring changes across the world and to one man in particular. This is his story.

Disclaimer: All properties, characters, etc… are copyright of their respective owners. I make no profit off this and am writing for my own amusement and enjoyment.

Takes place during the S8 comics and follows/replaces/adds on to the series canon from there.

Author's Note: Special thanks to everyone who helped me with this story. You know who you are. I couldn't have done it without you. You may archive just tell me where ie, shoot me a link.

Timeline: Takes place during S8 comics Issue #6, "No Future for you Part 2"

Chapter Four: Gold Dust Woman.

"You're being remarkably calm about this."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"Because", Buffy paused, "you're the one that insisted on all the layers of security in the first place. I'd thought you'd be a little more upset that someone managed to penetrate all of them without setting off an alarm."

Xander sighed, "Yeah there is that. It's just that we don't know anything about either one of these guys. The new demons or Satsu's new that buddy doesn't like them very much. "

"We need to come up with a better name for him."

"No more Mr. Knight Guy?"

Before she could respond, A Slayer from the research group interrupted them. "Here's the latest Mr. Harris."

"Oh thanks, Rose." He nodded at the dark-haired Slayer who smiled at them briefly before leaving the room.

"Mr. Harris? I thought it was 'Xander'?"

"Hey I'm trying. I didn't tell her or any of the others to call me 'Mr. Harris'. Besides you know Rose. She's more comfortable researching then actually Slaying."

"Awfully defensive there Mr. Harris" Buffy observed with a smirk. "What were they looking for anyways?"

"Oh I asked them to look up information on the artist formerly known as Gray and Scaly." Xander frowned slightly as he read the printout.

"What is it?"

"According to this, the Gurgiloness aren't really known as the dismemberment type. Says here they prefer to devour their prey whole."

"I think you were right the other night. You even sound like a Watcher now."

Xander lowered the printout he had been reading to look at her with an uncertain look on his face. "I do?"

"Yep. You had the girls researching a monster that's already been slain and even managed to pronounce its name right on the first try. I tell you a few more weeks and you'll be signing up for the tweed-ness."

"As I said once before. No power on this Earth will convince me to wear Tweed."

Buffy's grin disturbed Xander at his core.

Willow stood to look across the counter at Satsu. "So you think Tori's description matches that of the Gurguiloness?"

"Yes, Tori is a very smart woman. She's seen one up close before." Satsu explained.

"Okay. And you think the only option is to carry heavier weaponry?"

"Yes, it's the only effective countermeasure to them I can think of."

"Hmm," Willow mused, "there might be another way." She laid her hands on Buffy's beaten up sword. There were nicks and dings in the blade from the previous day's battle bearing silent witness to the strength and fury to both the Slayer wielding it and the demonic armor opposing it.

"Maybe there's a way to use this a sword like we did the Scythe." Willow spoke thoughtfully.

"How so?"

"Maybe I enchant the blade to never dull, never rust –"

"Or cut through tough demon hides?" Satsu interrupted.

"That too. It'll take some time to research the proper incantations and gather the materials though." Willow qualified.

"And you think Buffy would be okay with it?"

"Of course. Buffy's always been open to exploring new things."

"Where is it?"

"I'll never tell you or your kind anything."

"Humans."

A balding man with grayish-brown hair slammed into one of many racks of various knick-knacks in this store. Located far from the main thoroughfare it was meant to cater to those seeking more legitimate items of mystical power and origin. As such it turned a nice sum for its owner. Unfortunately it also led to situations like the present customers.

One of the gang approached the man who was now bleeding from a cut on his forehead. Snarling the man's face changed to reveal a more demonic visage. No longer needing to hide any further the Vampire gripped his human captive by the shirt and hauled him off his feet. "I'm not going to ask you again. Where is it?"

"A curse on your kind and the madman you're working with."

The Vampire growled, preparing to dish out more punishment when one of the members of its gang stopped him. "Hey, Silas. Check it out." The other vampire was holding up a bag, retrieved while the leader was intimidating the shopkeeper.

"Give me that you idiot." Silas snatched the bag from his minion as he passed his hostage to another underling. "Here hold him".

He opened the bag and withdrew what looked like a child's snow globe. Except most snow globes don't feature the glass globe grasped in claws and aren't marked with decidedly inhuman writings. "This is it. This is what we were looking for."

"So what do we do with him?" The minion restraining the human hostage asked.

Smiling, Silas turned to face the shopkeeper, "Well offhand I'd say that's our bonus."

There were smiles all around as the vampires closed in.

Xander read the numbers from his laser measure meter. He then compared the distance to the list he had memorized before his trip. Although it met the requirements he knew it had to, he elected to dig out his Sidekick to check just in case. As the head of control operations he wasn't supposed to be out here. On the other hand, he was apparently the only one with surveying experience in the castle so that meant he had to be out here.

"Mr. Harris, is it right?"

"It's Xander. My father was 'Mr. Harris." He smiled at her. "Yeah it's in range. Thanks for the assist Renee."

At least he had Slayer help; Renee had volunteered to accompany him once she heard he was headed out of the castle. Currently he was surveying the castle grounds to make the best usage of the newly installed radar and other surveillance devices. Sometimes as much as he liked having all these neat gadgets, he did miss his old hammer and tape measure.

Actually he missed more then that, he missed his job and construction crew.

And the Bronze. The Magic Shop. His apartment. Anya.

Xander shook his head and refocused on comparing the readout with the information stored in his sidekick. This was important work he was doing, keeping his new home safe. Buffy and Willow wanted any and all holes plugged so that certain 'knight-shaped' intruders couldn't penetrate. Which meant he had to be really careful when he…changed.

Renee walked towards him, a smile that would require surgery firmly etched on her face. She had just crossed the halfway mark when several trees near her promptly exploded, showering bits and bark everywhere.

"What the hell?" A stunned Xander wanted to know.

He got his answer when a familiar gray form leaped into his line of sight. Xander belatedly recognized this foe as the one that had ambushed Tori that morning. "How the hell did that get in here?"

"Duck!" Renee screamed.

Xander responded to Renee's warning as the demon opened its mouth and let loose what looked a focused roar on where he had been. He winced as his formerly expensive equipment shattered and cracked under the intense pressure of the blast.

Great. Now he had more stuff to replace.

Suddenly Renee was beside him, sword at the ready. He shifted slightly so he was behind her, out of the way. Xander grabbed her arm, drawing a surprised look from the Slayer. Xander shook his head, "Not here. We need to warn the castle."

She nodded and moved to follow him. Unfortunately, the demon had other ideas and charged, stretching its claws towards them. In response, Xander went one way, and Renee another forcing the Demon to pick a target. "I'll hold its attention Xander, get help."

Saying this, she let out a Slayer war cry and attacked. And she learned the lesson that Buffy had learned the day before about how ineffective conventional Slayer weaponry was. The resounding clang of metal vs. the hardened skin of the demon echoed throughout the woods.

Xander reached for his phone, intent on getting help one way or another. By the feel of his phone and the sudden weight around his waist, he knew immediately at least one option was off the table. Without looking at the phone, he dialed the number as though it was second nature, than slid the phone as he said the final part needed for the transformation.

"Henshin."

"Error."

"What?" He barely got the word out before he blasted backwards by a nasty electric jolt. Xander bounced off a tree behind, dropping the phone in the process and letting out a groan. "What the hell happened?"

His first thought was that the demon had blasted him but a quick look and listen told him that Renee was still fighting with it. Next he looked down and there he found his answer. The belt he was currently wearing was not the same one he had worn previously. This one was black as before but the red was replaced with yellow. Looking around he found an extremely odd looking pistol hanging off his right hip. "This looks like something out of laser tag."

He stood up and hunted for a bit before finding the phone. Like the belt it was black and yellow, with a looking purple symbol where the original had a yellow and red one. Experimentally, he pushed the cover and saw another way this one was different. Both the previous phone and his personal one were flip models. This one was of the slider design where the cover rotated up and out of the way. And as soon as he moved it to where he could see the whole keypad, he felt a much weaker electric jolt go up his arm. More like his arm tingled after he had been laying on it.

As the tingling subsided, he somehow knew what to do. He did as he had the first time, pressing three numbers on the keypad, repeating them to himself. "9. 1. 3." He then slid the cover shut and heard a familiar greeting, "STANDING BY". Xander barely noticed that this voice was decidedly deeper than the other phones as he inserted the phone into the belt.

"Henshin".

"Complete."

Xander saw gold light encircle his body.

Amid her cries and demonic roars, Renee discerned a familiar and welcome sound, engines. She grinned as several 4x4s pulled up around her, one of which sported a familiar driver. Buffy Summers chucked her helmet off and moved to stand alongside Renee as the other Slayers arranged themselves beside them. Buffy reached behind her, asking, "Situation?"

"I can't seem to get through its armor" Renee replied. "And it's got a horrible singing voice."

"So we heard back in the Ops room" Buffy responded. "I can't do much for that but I found something I think will work on his armor." She revealed around a very modern looking crossbow and notched an equally modern arrow. The other Slayers did the same around them.

"What's that?" Renee gestured at the weapon.

"Latest remake of a classic", Buffy answered. Saying that, she and the others pointed their weapons at the Demon who was standing and watching them. "Ready? Aim. FIRE!"

All the Slayers in the group fired at the same time, each arrow striking home. Then to Renee's surprise, each arrow exploded, kicking up a huge dust cloud.

Buffy smiled as the Slayers around her cheered. She turned to face Renee who looked was surprised and a little bit sad. "There, that wasn't too hard." The dark-skinned girl wasn't so sure, "Look", she pointed at the cloud. Buffy reluctantly turned to face where she thought the demon's remains would be. Only as the cloud parted, there were no Demon remains to be seen.

Instead the Demon itself stood snarling at the group. Buffy's instincts kicked in as she and the others scattered before the demon released its roar that caught several of the 4x4 in its scope. Buffy spared a glance the aftermath noting that the one she had driven, was in the worst shape.

"Oh you are so going to pay for that." Sudden movement interrupted her as a dark shape appeared out of the corner of her eye. She and the rest of the Slayers turned in unison as the figure landed on a newly created tree stump. Buffy heard another Slayer voice her own thoughts, "Another one?"

Indeed it was another one, another of Satsu's 'knight guys'. Like the first one, this one was mostly black, with all sorts of stuff hanging off of his belt, topped with a head that featured a pair of panels that resembled eyes. There the similarities ended as this character featured yellow instead of red and silver. The eyes as Buffy thought of them were deep purple. With an imperceptible nod, it hopped off the tree stump and approached the Slayer's foe. The Demon snarled, then roared before attacking the newcomer.

The newest knight didn't wait for the demon, opting instead to charge. It took Buffy a few seconds to discern while the first knight fought like a brawler, this one didn't. He deflected the wild swings of the demon, and threw several punches, repeatedly hammering the monster's head. At length, the knight drew back and connected with a punch that had enough force to launch the monster several yards through the air.

As the demon lay gurgling, the knight grabbed the weirdest looking gun Buffy had seen off its right hip. This it pointed at the now standing Demon and fired, emitting a destructive rain of yellow energy at the monster. The now smoking charred demon roared it's defiance and let loose with the now familiar blasting attack that wreaked havoc where the knight had been standing.

The intended target of the demon's rage had moved before impact. The knight paused and did something to the gun he was holding. Buffy heard a very monotone voice say "Ready" and then a large bladelike spike emerged from gun's grip. Armed with a new weapon, the knight moved to engage the demon before it could roar again. The Slayers exchanged uneasy glances as the knight scored several strikes and slashes against the monster.

"Buffy? Miss Summers? What do we do?" One of the Slayers that had accompanied her, asked. "I don't…know." Buffy honestly replied.

That brief conversation was enough to catch the attention of the knight as its head faced towards the girls. Standing straight up, it flipped open the rather impressive belt buckle revealing a keyboard for all to see. He then pressed on specific button, in response Buffy heard a voice say "Exceed Charge". After that, a burst of yellowish light emerged from the buckle traveling up the lines of the knight's armor, up his arm and entered the gun/sword thing weapon. The knight then carefully aimed at the smoldering demon and squeezed the trigger.

This time just one blast of energy was fired, larger then the rest. It hit the demon and spread it over its body. Encased as it was, the foul thing struggled to move. In response the knight took a stance with its knees bent, holding the weapon behind him at an angle. Buffy wondered what was going on when she saw it. A large yellow 'X' made up of coalesced energy. The knight seemed to be moving towards it without moving, and then he and the 'X' slammed into the demon at the same time. The monster reacted to the impact as the barrier holding it in place vanished.

Then the knight shimmered into view behind it, holding his weapon high above his head. Buffy saw a blue flash as blue flame erupted all over the creature, which similar to its predecessor, started distingrating into dust.

If Buffy was reluctant to act, Renee wasn't, "Hey, you!" She started towards the figure with determination etched on her face. "Who are you?" she demanded. The knight seemed a bit surprised then took off through the woods.

"Damnit. Not again," Buffy vented. Beside her, Renee looked back and forth, than let out a yelp, "Xander!" And she was off running. Buffy right on her heels, her frustration forgotten.

After what seemed too long Buffy caught up to Renee standing in the middle of the woods. "What the-", she was cut off by the unmistakable sound of retching. Both Slayers had expressions of disgust as they looked for the source of that sound. Then they saw where it was coming from. Xander Harris was lying slumped over a fallen tree, facing away from them, emptying his stomach. The girls exchanged a glance and approached him gingerly.

"Xander?" Buffy asked quietly.

He let out a groan then slid around to face them. He face was flushed, as he looked at them. "Sorry," he struggled, "Got a little too close to Mr. Noisy. Scrambled everything all up. Makes a great ride, minus the. The."

"The nausea?" Buffy offered.

"The sickness?" Renee asked.

"The part where I throw up", he whirled around and started retching again.