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 4"
Faint moonlight shone down on the group of four figures as they arrived at their destination. Jakob Bean pulled the hood back from his face, smirking as he did so. He and his assistants had journeyed back to where this plan had originally begun, nearly thirty years ago. His helpers had been very different years ago, as had he, all of them eager to begin their lives. Of course he had held the upper hand then and he still held it now. He held aloft the key in one hand, "Now", speaking to himself, "for some batteries".
Buffy frowned as she stepped aside to avoid a particularly unpleasant looking spot on the ground. Around her walked Willow, Satsu and several other slayers spread across the area. They were finally intent on putting Willow's newly fashioned sharpening spell to the test. Fortunately for them, having their own private Scottish castle complete with isolated surrounding lands, gave them a lot of leeway and privacy to carry out the test.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
Buffy looked back at Satsu, "Oh nothing, just wondering why I let you and Willow talk me into testing this out tonight. One of my favorite episodes of Passions is on tonight."
Satsu couldn't keep the surprise out of her voice, "You watch Passions? I would have thought you hated that show."
Buffy smiled, "I did, but someone --it was their favorite TV show and seemed like the least I could do was watch it with them."
"That doesn't sound like too big of a deal" Satsu commented.
"It wasn't to--us," Buffy halted, "we thought it was just comfort at first." The last part she said more to herself then anyone else. Looking up, she peered in to the surprisingly close face of Satsu. The Asian girl held an intense look in her eyes. "Maybe I should just stop trying to remember what happened in the past and move on, huh."
"Buffy!" Willow's voice brought both Slayers back to reality, and she addressed her best friend, "Huh?"
Willow landed a few feet away, "There are some rock formations not too far away from here, that should be good enough for the spell test."
"Cool."
Renee walked with the comfort of a Slayer patrolling in the evening, turning she addressed her companion. "So you think they'll be able to pull it off?"
Xander didn't miss a beat with his answer, "When we were eight years old, Willow figured out how to set and record all of the good Saturday morning cartoons so we could sleep in. Renee, Buffy's always gotten the handle of new things very quickly. I'm sure they'll be fine."
The dark skinned girl continued moving alongside him. "So why then are we secretly following them?"
"Because… well I want to see this for myself and being back inside the Castle on a night like this drives me batty." That much was true. He didn't, however, voice his other reason; that the telltale Hellmouth-y feeling of impending doom had reappeared in the air.
They had almost reached the rock formation Willow had described when the fog appeared. It billowed forth from nowhere it rolled across the landscape and engulfed the group. The fog was thicker than normal fog, clinging to every surface across the ground, hiding even their feet from their vision. Its presence seemed to dampen and dull the senses, even the sounds of the night felt muted. Then from a slayer on her right, Buffy heard, "What the hell was that?"
Everyone stopped, Buffy unconsciously noting that Willow and Satsu both were fairly close to her. "What happened?"
"The fog. There's something in the fog!" a girl yelled from her left, Buffy whipped her head around trying to see what was going on.
"Everyone stay together", Satsu yelled out. "Willow, what is going on?" Buffy turned to see the witch was unconscious on the ground. "Willow!"
The fog rippled as the shadows within it closed in.
They had been walking in silence when Renee stopped and peered into the night ahead of them. "What is it?" Xander asked.
"Something's wrong, I heard shouting and now nothing." She pointed in the direction they knew Buffy's group to be heading in. "That way."
As soon as she finished, he took off running. Renee hesitated briefly and followed. Despite her Slayer senses, it took a bit of effort for her to find Xander and then catch up to him. Maybe it was combination of concern and dread that had filled him but Xander didn't let up even as he felt his legs burning and tiring from the exertion. Beside him Renee ran unflinchingly in the darkness, racing to assist her sisters in arms. Somehow, despite the darkness, neither had an accident and both arrived at the scene quickly.
Before them lay Buffy's group who had departed the castle earlier that night. As Xander tried to recover from his run, he looked over the girls. A sigh of relief went through his body as he released none were seriously hurt. Then a chill ran up his spine as something else became apparent.
"Where are they?"
Renee looked up from her efforts to rouse Satsu, "Where are who?"
"Buffy and Willow, They're not here. Where are they?"
Satsu's voice was weak and filled with sleep as it broke the night air, "-The fog took them."
Renee looked down at the other girl, "What do you mean the fog? What fog? What took them?" She looked up again and saw that Xander had vanished.
"XANDER!"
Buffy's eyelids seemed to weigh tons as she awoke from her unplanned nap. Blinking away the sleepiness, she tugged at her arms and legs only to find them unmoving. A glance at both revealed she was firmly manacled to a large stone slab. Looking around, she saw Willow was similarly bound to another stone slab across the way. Around them, she could several large stones arranged in the ground.
"Ah good, you're awake." A man's voice drew her attention back as an older man dressed in odd robes entered her field of vision. His face was well worn with lines and signs of a harsh life etched upon it. Dark hair slowly graying at the temple framed the dismissive look he gave her.
"And you are?" Buffy asked.
"I am Jakob Bean."
"So kidnapping and assault are your hobbies then?"
"No dear girl," he glared at them. "My 'hobby' is the complete and utter destruction of England."
During this time, Willow roused herself from sleep, looked around and had the same questions as her friend. "What's going on?"
Bean's face held no expression as he answered, "What's going on, dear witch, is the end of the barbaric tyranny that you outsiders brought up this pristine land."
"Outsiders? We just moved here and-"
Bean cut Willow off with an angry wave of his hand. "Silence. From the very early days of what your people call civilization, you have sought to undermine and destroy all that was different from you. Even the native people of this great island fell before you. Now with this." He displayed a ball-shaped thing gripped by a pair of demonic claws. "I shall open the gates and burn away your kind, leaving only my people, the original inhabitants of this land, who will once again rule it."
Buffy and Willow processed this information and came to the same identical conclusion. "You're insane."
Before Bean could retort, the sound of someone stumbling and running through the woods reached their ears. The three of them turned as a fourth figure tumbled through the bushes bounced off a rock and came to a stop. A familiar groan reached the ears of the girls and they responded, "Xander!"
Xander sat up and shook his head. "Wow, I really never should do that again."
Xander looked around and noticed the status of the two girls. "Oh hi, I'll be over there as soon as you guys stop spinning."
"Odd," Bean mused aloud, "I would have thought the barrier barred any and all mystical assistance."
"Mystical? I'm not mystical. I'm a carpenter. Well a former a carpenter", Xander stopped rambling after realizing what he had said. Jakob took the other man's words with a smile, "So, a foolish young man with matters of the heart on his mind, comes to join his ladies fair in their demise."
Before the young people before him could protest, he snapped his fingers and three other figures stepped from the darkness around him. Standing up, Xander recognized one of them right away. "Hey, Linda. You're alive. But what is going on here?"
Jakob Bean smiled at the young man's confusion, "So I see you met 'Linda' and perhaps her companions already."
"Yeah they were running away from some serious trouble. Why are they with you? Are you protecting them now?"
"No, dear boy. They serve me. Show them."
Dark Shadows and lines appeared on the faces of Linda and the two men. Their bodies seemed to contort briefly before ripping apart and giving way to new forms beneath them.
Heavily armored forms, not unlike those of the previous newly encountered demons now stood before them, each covered in what looked like layers of thick scales and spikes over their bodies. Wisps of white smoke trailed from the corners of one's mouth.
Bean himself was indecently proud, letting a tone of smugness enter his voice, "Impressive, wasn't that boy?"
Xander had no answer as he stared at the thing that had been the woman he saw plunge to her death earlier, "What--what are they?" he managed at last.
"An experiment of mine from decades in the past when I was much younger and still seduced by the corrupt society around me. I even worked as part of the establishment then. Selling the soul of the land to those would destroy it. By the grace of destiny, in my pursuit of corruption I found redemption in a cave where a message called to me. It tore apart the lies and falsehoods that were the work of your kind and offered me a way to re-take this land from its thieves. Through it, I found a curious group of assistants. Only the two larger, older ones were still alive, the other three were seemingly beyond hope. Until I made the acquaintance of a London man and his friends, that is. There, I found the knowledge I needed to save those three small lives."
"At the cost of three people" Buffy observed.
Bean seemed unruffled. "Tourists. Who cares what their lives were? All was done for the greater goal. With the aid of my newfound friends, I was able to bind the remains of the three shattered souls and give them new lives in place of those bloody yanks. It's quite an involved process; I understand many other races long forgotten lived the same way. It's appropriate to use a forgotten, neglected tradition to usher in this new world, I shall create."
"Which is?" Buffy prompted.
Bean smiled, "A new world, purged free of the greed and hate brought by outsiders to this isle. Free of the shackles that the invaders have sought to chain us with. Free from the pits and shadows that we were exiled to."
"All of that with you on top of the mountain", Buffy observed.
"Perhaps; after all, I saved them. But that is for the future. For the present, I shall use you two young ladies as sacrifices to ensure the gate is held open and its cleansing energy is released upon the land. Then at last, no more shall I have need for secrets."
"Secrets?" Xander interrupted, drawing the attention of the others towards him. "Secrets, things, we keep hidden because we don't want other people to know. You kept all of this a secret so no one could stop you. You threw away people's lives for your own gain.
"Surely you're not as naïve as your words, boy. Even you must keep some things hidden."
Xander gazed at the ground and at the stones surrounding him as the chill of the night enveloped him, he reached a decision within himself and a familiar tingling encircled his waist. Removing his hand from his pocket, he flipped open the now red and black phone as he locked eyes with Buffy and Willow. "I try to not to keep secrets-- they always end up hurting the ones they're supposed to protect."
He entered the numeric sequence with one hand as he turned to face Bean and his demons, they regarded him with an odd look of disdain on their faces. As he finished entering the last digit, he flipped the phone shut and was rewarded with a voice announcing "Standing by".
Xander waited, and then spoke a single word. "Henshin."
With that, he slid the phone into the slot on the belt around his waist.
As Buffy and Willow watched, red lines streaked across his body emanating from the belt. When they completely covered him, they flared brighter until neither could see, lighting up the night sky. When the light faded, both girls wore expressions of shock and surprise.
Standing before them was a familiar armor-clad figure was Satsu's "Cyber Knight Guy"-- Xander Harris.
Before Buffy could finish processing what had happened, the demons roared and attacked. As she struggled to free herself, Buffy had an up close view of Xander in his newly transformed form, fighting for his life. And truth be told, he wasn't doing that bad of a job. Despite being outnumbered three to one, Xander was holding his own with the occasional kick and punch combination that either redirected or knocked down one or more of the demons.
The demon that had been the woman hissed and as Buffy watched, long cordlike tentacles shot from the backs of her hands, striking Xander and restraining him. This left the other two demons free to attack a considerably more helpless opponent and they did so with great delight. Each slash and blow struck on him ignited a show of sparks and cries of pain, until both demons hit him at the same time and set Xander flying backwards
"You should have quit while you were alive boy," Bean intoned, "Now they'll tear you apart."
Xander didn't bother to answer from where he lay crouched on one knee. Without turning his head, he slipped something off the phone anchored in the middle of his belt with his left hand. With his right, he removed a similar part from the bracelet worn on his left arm. Quickly, he switched the two pieces and as he finished the process, the voice from his phone announced, "Complete".
As soon as he heard that, Xander stood up and the metal chest plate split in two and rotated upwards to form a pair of massive shoulder pads. The yellow plate covering his face turned a deep red even and the rest of the armor became black and silver. Bean and the demons stopped and watched as he took up a new fighting stance. Just then Buffy noticed an odd sound in air. "Willow, do you hear a plane …"
Her voice trailed off and she missed the other woman's reply as she realized the source of the sound was Xander, and not the sky. With an imperceptible head nod, Xander charged, becoming little more then a black blur in the process. Before Buffy could blink, the demons were being tossed around and, in one case through the air. A scant second later, she swore she saw him pause in front of her to flick his wrist.
Then he was standing beside her, as she watched the shoulder pads rotate back into position on his chest along with a voice announcing, "Deformation". A flash of light drew her attention from him and looking straight ahead, she saw one of the demons, the one that spewed forth the mist, was in the process of collapsing into dust.
The sound of metal being cut drew her attention where the restraints around her wrists and ankles had been neatly sliced in two. She glanced upon in time to see Xander slashing through the same restraints on Willow with a metal rod looking weapon.
"I don't suppose you would mind telling us how you got that?"
"It's a long story Buffy." Muffled as it was, she detected a faint trace of fatigue in Xander's voice. "Are you all right?"
"I will be after we settle this. I'll take the one on the right." Saying that he broke to engage the demon that had formerly been a woman. The other demon moved to attack him. Buffy took a step and was startled to see Willow standing in front of her.
"Buffy, the sharpening spell."
Buffy adjusted the blade around from behind her back and held it before her. Willow closed her eyes as she chanted in Latin. Spreading her arms in front of her, the redhead's hands began to glow a soft blue-whitish hue, as they seemed to transfer that energy to the sword blade, which also glowed. After a few seconds, Willow stopped and slumped. Buffy reached out and grabbed her by the shoulder to steady her best friend.
"No," Willow said, "-go help Xander. I'll deal with Him."
The Slayer nodded at her friend's words, took a firm grip of the sword handle and charged. Willow raised her eyes and locked gazes with the older man.
"Let's get to it."
"Indeed," Bean agreed.
Across the clearing, Buffy paused every now and then to watch Xander in action. The change to his newly armored status seemed to give him a determination and confidence she hadn't seen in a long time. Not since a panicked noblewoman had needed saving from a car.
A screech brought her slayer instincts into focus, and she ducked as the demon's large claws sliced thru the air where she had been. With the skill of a slayer, she dodged and slashed, pleased that the newly enchanted blade was actually able to wound the creature. She danced around the creature, never giving a hint to as to where her attack would come. At length, the demon grew frustrated and pounced with both claws only to miss her again. The creature sought to attack again but only to found its arms stuck securely in the ground from the force of its blows. Buffy seized the opportunity and slashed with the sword intent on ending the fight.
Only, at the last second was the demon able to free its arm, and used it to block the sword strike. Surprised cries of pain erupted from the monster as its arm fell from its body, cut clean through. Tearing its remaining limb free, it fled into the night.
Across the way, Xander landed a particularly punishing punch combination that sent his own opponent flying out the area. Quickly, he moved to where Buffy was standing. Looking at the arm starting crumble away on the ground to where she stood, he let out a very Xander-esque whistle.
Buffy blinked and looked over at him. "Disarmed and dangerous?" she punned, her smile reminding him of their early years back in Sunnydale.
A thunderous crackle and flash of light prevented further conversation as both had the same thought, "Willow."
And there she was, locked into an arcane duel of sorts with Bean, each throwing particularly nasty magicks at one another. Buffy and Xander arrived after as Willow tried to encase him thick bars of what looked like Ice.
"How is it going, Wills?" Xander asked as he approached her.
"He's tough. -" Black light erupted from around Jakob and he hurled a squirming, snakelike mass at Willow and Xander, that knocked them to the ground. Insanity evident on his smiling face he next turned his attention to Buffy. Holding his hands aloft, each began to manifest sparks that arced back and forth. Relying on instincts and Buffy tightened her grip on the sword and move toward Bean.
Lighting filled balls flew thru the air, barely missing her. Bean narrowed his eyes, as the misses became closer and closer until the last one barely did so. He gritted his teeth determined to end this when he realized where she was. Buffy had come to a stop directly in front of the stone that held the orb.
"You little bitch. Get away from there."
Buffy frowned at him. "You know a mouth that dirty isn't likely to make you any friends." Then she noticed he wasn't looking at her but at something just behind and below her. Risking a glance, she saw something and grabbed it. Bringing it closer to her face, she examined it, not paying attention to the swearing coming from Bean.
With a snarl he threw out his hands and with no small amount of force, yanked the orb from her grasp and set her flying into the stone. As he clenched his hands around it and pulled it close to his dark heart, the black mass that had engulfed Willow and Xander vanished. The later got to his feet and removed something from his belt and fitted it over his right hand. The former, on her knees, saw what was going on and yelled, "Destroy it!"
Buffy was trying to regain her footing when she Willow's cry. She briefly wondered what Willow was referring to and then realized the witch meant the stone. Sword in hand, she pulled back to put all of her strength into this last swing.
Bean saw this and began chanting, his skin and eyes turning black as he prepared to unleash one final spell. "Oh no know you don't," Xander's voice cut through his thoughts. The villain turned just in time to see Xander's right fist, enclosed in a large brace slam into his chest, effectively shattering the orb. Simultaneously, Buffy swung with all of her slayer strength and cleaved the stone in two.
There was a brilliant flash of light and then, nothing.
"Xander!"
With a grunt, he forced his eye to open and saw his friends looking at him. As was normal for him, he mentally checked and was relieved to find all of his limbs and parts were intact. Groaning he managed to sit up and look around. They were in one of the countless rock groupings that dotted the local landscape.
"So um… What happened?"
Buffy and Willow exchanged a puzzled glance then looked towards him. "We don't really know. All we can remember is some dark magick, a powerful evil force, then a bright light."
"Huh. You know, that's not that unusual --even for us."
"True," Buffy agreed, "and this time we got through it without having a more expensive dry-cleaning bill."
"Willow?" She turned and asked the other woman.
"Whatever was here isn't anymore. It looks whatever was here, we drove it off."
"Good. Time for Pizza."
"Xander, there isn't a pizza place that's open this late around here."
"Are you sure that the evil didn't win this time?"
