CLASH OF THE TITANS 3
Author: Dampyria
Fandom: M7 / BtVS crossover
Summary: Buck gets hurt trying to help someone from the Watchers. (part 3)
Rating: PG13
Paring: JD/Xander (slash)
Spoilers: BtVS (Post season 7 – Pre Comics season 8), M7 (ATF universe)
Disclaimer: I do not own Magnificent Seven or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Xander walked the corridor of the hospital like he owned the place, a bluff that served him well in the past. Like that time with Angelus in the hospital. He just hoped that he will be able to hold the confidence and bravado in place, for he was sure that at the minimal sign of weakness Chris will pounce on him like a starving fledge.
He could do this. It's not like he didn't face much more dangerous creature on a daily bases. Vampires, demons, succubus….he shuddered at the idea of the last one… so not going there, then why did he want to throw his hands up in surrender every time he met Chris' icy stare? If Willow hadn't interfered in their 'talk' earlier he would had crumbled under those blue eyes.
Sighing, he stalled himself in front of Buck's room, taking a moment to pull himself together before knocking on the closed door and entering without an invitation.
He found the team gathered around their friend's bed. When they heard someone knocking at the door their whole attention shifted from the prom form on the bed to Xander. 'Oh yeah!' he thought. 'Second round, here we come.'
Deciding to ignore the overprotective bunch he concentrated his attention to the lone figure on the bed.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Like something have chewed me over and then spit me out and to top it all I can't remember a single thing!"
"It's not your fault. We think that the memory loss can be a side affect of the poison. So just relax and the memories should come back slowly on their own."
"And just what other side effects can he expect from the poison?" asked Chris harshly. He didn't like being kept in the dark and with this bunch he felt like they were given the round about. It just gritted on his nerves. Big time!
"You should have asked Willow, she is the smart one."
Chris was about to tear him another one when a quiet voice stopped him.
"Where is Willow?" asked JD, who was uncharacteristically silent the entire time. The others had attributed it to the shock of his best friends condition, but now they begun to see something else.
JD was looking at the stranger with big, trusty, hopeful eyes, the kind of eyes that he normally reserved for them. And on the other side of the room, Xander was returning the look with a sad, but determined eye.
"Willow went back to the lab, to help out with Robin's autopsy. She will contact me as soon as she learns something. In the mean time I would like to take a look at the place where the attack happened."
"Hey wait up, pretty boy. I still have questions!" exclaimed Buck, feeling a little bit left out of the conversation. Damn it, he was the patient after all and the others were just ignoring him.
"Pretty?" inquired Xander.
"Yes well, I am surprised that you didn't object to the boy part, like someone else in this room does all the time," he smirked.
"Hey!" protested JD. "I will have you know that he is younger then me."
The other two exchanged a look and then turned to smirk at the ruffled youth, making him blush.
"See what I mean?" smiled Buck before turning serious once again. "So who exactly are you?"
"I am working in the same place as Robin Wood, the man that you tried to save in that alley. We are here to help with the investigation."
"I am sorry I couldn't save your friend," murmured Buck.
"You don't have to be sorry. At the time you got there he was as good as dead. What you did was very brave. Not many people will risk their life for a stranger and for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart," declared Xander, raising his right hand to his chest. "I promise you that I, we will do anything in out power to find the antidote."
Buck nodded, than looked Xander straight in the eye, "What are my chances if the antidote is not found?
Xander studied the man before him, debating on what to tell him. Buck must have caught on, on that because his next words were firm and resolute, "The truth."
"The poison in your blood is lethal. If the lab doesn't find the antidote, or we don't find the perpetrator…..."
"Xander!" cried out JD, shocked at his lover's bluntness.
"I'm sorry JD, but he has to know the truth." He told JD, than turned back to the patient. "The lab will eventually find the cure, but I am not sure if they can do it in time to save you, so our best chance to un-poison you, is to find the perp."
"What about the injection that woke me up from the coma in the first place?" inquired Buck.
"I am afraid that, that was a once only deal. It won't work a second time. When the magic liquid that is keeping the poison in check fails, you will go back to a coma and shortly after that you will die. That is if we don't find a cure.
But just to be on the safe side maybe you should get your affairs in order. Just on the off chance that we don't find the guy that did this off course."
"Of course," snorted Buck.
"Buck, don't do this! We will find that guy and after he hands the antidote over we will make him sorry to be alive!" interjected JD.
"He is right. We will do anything humanly and inhumanly possible to save you. You have my word," vowed Xander. "So now about that crime scene…"
"I can show you," offered JD, but Chris stopped him right there and then.
"No JD you will stay with Buck. Josiah, you will accompany our guest to the crime scene. We don't want to loose him. The others are with me. We have an investigation to run. JD, call me at the slightest change. Buck hung in there!"
"You won't get rid of me that easily."
Chris nodded at his oldest friend and after that stormed out of the room with the others in tow.
"As boss-man said, hang in there," said Xander, before turning to JD, "You too. I will ring you as soon as I have anything. Stay safe and may the force be with you."
"Oh God another sci-fi geek! Wasn't I punished enough?" exclaimed Buck looking at the ceiling.
"Hey!" came the replay in stereo.
"Mr. Sanchez, I think we should go take a look at that alley."
"That we should," agreed Josiah, leading the way out of the hospital.
Xander threw an impatient look at the driver of the car. He hadn't uttered a single word since they left the hospital. Not one single word! The big guy was just sitting there driving silently, like Xander wasn't even there.
Xander shifted in his seat impatiently. Another five minutes and he was gonna address him, just a little longer and if there was not a conversation going on he was starting one.
….
….
"Okay that's it! What's with the silent treatment? I know for a fact that the boss-man paired you with me so that you can work your profiler magic. So what is it with the lack of, you know, talking and grilling? Not that I am complaining or anything."
"There are more ways to judge a man worth then just by his words. Words can be faked but the body is always true to peoples intentions."
"Yeah, yeah non verbal communication. I get it. But how will you know if I am telling the truth if you don't ask me any questions?"
"I am not interested in your intentions in this case, I'm interested in you."
"Whoa man, isn't it a little soon to be throwing this kind of affirmations? We just barely met."
Josiah just looked at him with his profound eyes and said nothing. The scrutiny lasted less then five seconds and yet Xander had a feeling that the man had read him like an open book.
"That was intense," he remarked. "I feel like you know me from the inside out. Care to return the favor and maybe tell me something about you? How about we start with your favorite color?"
"Pink."
Xander blinked, "Pink? Kind of unusual color for a guy."
"Is it?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"I think… Because… you know what, you win. Let's just be silent."
Xander couldn't be sure, but he could swear that the big guy smirked at him and somehow that freaked him out more then Chris' glares. The guy was scary.
Ten excruciating minutes later Josiah stopped the car in a busy commercial district
with small stores all over the place. Of course at the time of the attack most of
the stores would have been closed and there would be a lot less people on the streets.
But still there was a fair chance that somebody saw something, even if they denied it.
Xander first concentrated on the dark alley. It was your typical closed street, with only
one way out. Trying to ignore the blood that still adorned the ground he walked to the
far end of the street and run a hand over the surface of the wall.
There were some scrapings there, but nothing recent. Xander took a step back to have
a better look and that's when he saw it. A good two meters from the ground run two
sets of parallel claw marks.
"Mr. Sanchez? Can you give me a hand with something," asked Xander before
turning around and finding Josiah right behind him. Without thinking he shifted his
stance, ready to strike before even realizing who it was that was standing in front of
him.
"Shit. Would you please make a sound before you creep behind someone on a crime
scene?"
"I am sorry to have startled you."
"Are you? Because from where I'm standing you are just testing me. Look, I
understand that you are doing your job and all, but startling me here is not a good way
to go about it. I could have hurt you."
"I see. In that case I apologize. Now Mr. Harris, how can I help you?"
"First of all, please call me Xander. Mr. Harris just freaks me out," he said, then rummaging through his pockets he dug out a small digital camera and pushed it in the other mans hands.
"And second, can you take a picture of me so that those marks are visible in the photo?"
"You are not suggesting that the criminal climbed out of this alley?"
"Seen weirder things. Besides even if the guy didn't climb out of here those marks are fresh. It could mean something."
Josiah didn't seem convinced, but none the less readied the camera and then waited for the other man to get in position. Once they took several photos of the marks and the alley Xander decided he wanted a better view of the lay out of the alley.
Without waiting for Josiah, he entered the building on his left and run up the stairs until he reached the roof. Once there he took a good look around searching for some kind of clue.
Climbing from one roof to the other he checked for any disturbances on the ground but found nothing. Than he decided to take a better look at the edge of the roof facing the alley where the attacker supposedly climbed up and sure as hell there they were, the same claw marks that he noticed earlier in the alley.
He examined them briefly to make sure that they were the same then he extracted his cell and pressed speed dial 2.
"Hey Wills. How is it going on your end of the investigation?"
'The techs are working around the clock, but so far it doesn't look good,' came the worried replay.
"What about our bad guy?"
'Here we had more luck. We narrowed down the list of suspects to a dozen species.'
"Will it help you some if I told you that the demon has four claws on each hand?"
'Xander we already knew that.'
"Did you also know that when he is not killing people with them he uses them as aid to climb walls?"
'No, that narrows down the list of suspects. Anything else?'
"Well the first mark was two meters from the ground. So the attacker shouldn't be too big. Does that help?"
'Yes, yes with the new parameters that you have given me we can eliminate the Gronmdas, the Franthrans and the Suternons… let's see …. The Balduntes will also have to go so do the Trizhirls. Hmmm, anything else?'
"Nope, not right now. I am sending you a photo of the marks and I will scrape some of the material found in the niches. Maybe further analysis can show us something new. Talk to you later."
'Bye.'
Closing the connection he took a photo of the mark and was in the process of sending it to Willow when a voice interrupted him.
"I thought that you wanted to use the camera. With the higher resolution and all."
Without turning he finished sending the picture, "Yes but for now this should do." He closed the phone and extended the hand to take the camera that was dangling from Josiah's hand only to see it disappear from his visual field.
Looking up he was met with the profilers studious gaze. Xander blinked at him and then his eye settled on his hand, "The camera?"
"Mr. Harris…"
"Xander."
"Xander, we are at a crime scene that took the life of your friend and got a cop in the hospital. The protocol and common sense state that you shouldn't wander around alone. That's why cops always work in pair."
"I am not a cop," replayed Xander, going for the camera a second time.
"Reason more why you shouldn't walk around on your own," insisted Josiah taking a step back.
"We are in the middle of the day and the streets are full of people, there…"
Xander didn't have the time to finish the sentence. Suddenly Josiah moved from his position with lightening speed and faked an attack. Not being prepared for the assault Xander reacted like any other Sunnydale survivor would, he counterattacked.
Seconds later found Josiah on his back with Xander immobilizing him with his body.
"There is no one here," managed to say Josiah.
"And if I read this situation correctly you are the one that needs help here not me."
"You are to sure of yourself, it will be your downfall."
Xander stood up and helped Josiah to his feet, "One day maybe, but in the meantime it serves me well."
"You are a very strange man, Mr. Harris, I mean Xander."
"I lived a very strange life. You wouldn't believe how many times," he started to say, but then he remembered who he was talking to and stopped himself. "…never mind. So what do you say we take this picture and get back to the hospital?"
"Very well, Xander."
"You know when you said that you sounded very much like a friend of mine. Freaky if you consider that he is English."
"Do I?"
"Totally, as would the young say. Except he would be cleaning his glasses right about now," smirked Xander snapping the picture from the camera that he retrieved from the profiler and turned around, "Okay we are done. Let's hit the road."
The road back was, much like before, a silent one, but for very different reasons. While Xander was trying to piece together the clues of the case, Josiah was trying to piece together him.
The young man sitting next to him was a very puzzling person. He went from an easy going to dangerous, from leader to follower, from childish to mature. He suspected that even the one eyed man didn't know where he stood and was still trying to find his place in the world. He suspected also that someone must have had abused the young man when he was still a child, probably a relative, possibly a parent. But that didn't help him in the slightest.
Josiah considered what he was going to say to Chris when he updated him on the situation. He respected the team leader, but not for that he ignored his faults. Right now, with his friends' life on the line, he wasn't thinking very clearly and if he suspected that Xander wasn't on the level he dreaded his reaction.
On the other hand, his professional opinion was that Xander was really intent on helping Buck. It was clear from his actions, from the way he spoke and this is all he was going to tell Chris, praying that he won't be asked for more.
Throwing a quick look at the other man in the vehicle another question arose in his mind. What kind of relationship existed between this man and their young hacker? They were friends that much was obvious, but there was something more there, something just below the surface that he couldn't put his finger on.
He slowed down the car and turned toward the hospitals underground parking lot. As soon as the car stopped Xander jumped out and almost run to the elevators.
"Make your call in peace, I will be waiting in Bucks room," he shouted over his shoulder before disappearing behind the metal doors.
Xanders ride up was slow, to slow for him. With every passing second he was becoming more and more nervous. For the first time since his arrival he was gonna be alone with JD and he didn't have the faintest idea of what to tell him.
Somehow he doubted that the 'Hi I am a demon hunter and your friend was poisoned by a as of yet unknown demon.' wasn't going to go down really well.
But he needn't have to worry. As he was approaching Bucks' room the door suddenly burst open and a very distressed looking JD run out.
"Nurse! Nurse!" he shouted, running in near blind panic toward the nurse's station.
One of the nurses there broke from the group and approached JD with quick steps, "What is it, JD?"
"Buck, Buck he won't wake up, he just won't wake up. Help?"
The nurse entered to room to check up on the patient with JD hot on her hills and Xander not far behind.
When Xander entered the room the nurse was checking his pulse and pupils reactions.
"How is he? What happened?" asked JD panicked.
"Please Mr. Dunne. All I can say is that your friend is stable. On my way here I have paged the doctor, he should be here shortly and give you more information on his condition."
"But you know something! Tell me, please," said JD hitting her with all the power that his puppy eyes could manage.
"I am sorry, but I am not qualified to make diagnosis," tried to resist the nurse. Luckily for her the doctor entered at that moment sparing her from another round of begging puppy eyes.
"What seems to be the problem?" he asked.
"The patient is non responsive to light but his pulse is steady," reported the nurse dutifully.
"Okay I will have to conduct an exam. Gentlemen if you would please leave the room…"
"I am staying right here!" exclaimed JD stubbornly. "I am not moving an inch until I know what is wrong with Buck."
Before the doctor could replay, Xander intervened with a calming hand on JD's shoulder, "JD come on let's get some fresh air and in the mean time the doctor would check Buck over."
JD still didn't seem convinced so Xander added, "I am sure the doctor would work faster without you hovering behind him all the time."
That did it for the young agent. He nodded his head and followed Xander out of the room. As soon as the doors were closed behind them, JD hugged Xander in a bone crashing embrace burying his face in the crock of his neck.
Xander was surprised by the fierce gesture but he returned it without hesitation. Right now his lover needed all the comfort he could get. JD began to cry quietly, his shoulders shaking with each sob.
Xanders hand was making small shooting circles on JDs back when the hacker calmed down enough to speak, "He can't die! Xander tell me he won't die"
"I can't promise you that," whispered Xander breaking the embrace and putting his hand on either side of JDs cheek and resting his forehead on the hackers, "We are doing all that we can to help him."
Then he bend his head and kissed his right eye before proceeding to the left one, following the trail of tears with butterfly kisses he finally reach the mouth, showering it with light kisses before timidly asking for entrance with his tongue.
JD responded to the kiss with the desperation of a drowning man. He pushed Xander against the corridor wall and assaulted his mouth like it was the only source of oxygen left on the planet.
Xander recognized the kiss for what it was, a desperate attempt to make the pain go away, to forget the bad things and just get lost in the sensations. He allowed the attack to go on a little longer then he slowed the kissing down until he gave JD a final peck on the bruised lips and slowly pushed him away.
"You'll be okay now?" he asked.
JD just nodded and took a step back to give Xander a little more space then turned around and leaned on the wall next to him, gently brushing his shoulder against Xanders.
With the high flying emotions the two didn't notice the lone figure hovering down the corridor observing the scene with interest. Well, thought Josiah, at least this explained that.
Suppressing his own need to go there and ask about Buck condition, he waited a couple more minutes, than approached the duo just as the doctor came out of the room.
"How is he?" Xander asked the doctor, taking the lead of the conversation. Josiah lifted his eyebrow, but otherwise stayed silent.
"I am afraid that the patient slipped back into a coma. For now his stats are good, he still breaths on his own."
"But?" prompted Xander.
The doctor looked at the tree man gathered around him and sighed, "But the situation is worsening with alarming speed. If all goes well he has another day before his body gives up."
JD sobbed again and Josiah put a calming hand to his neck.
"And if everything doesn't go well?" asked Xander with trepidation in his voice.
"A couple more hours," said the doctor. "Now if you will excuse me I have to take some more tests."
"Mr. Sanchez maybe you should call the others," said Xander quietly.
The other man nodded and left the two alone to make the call to Chris that his best friend was out of time. At that moment he would have rather go against a mountain lion with his bare hands.
"Hold on, nothing is lost yet," Xander comforted JD, engulfing him in a warm hug, while JD lost himself again in his grief. The two of them stayed embraced like that for a little longer until the moment was broken by the cheery music of the song 'I kissed a girl'.
Xander districated himself from the embrace and excused himself while he went to answer the phone, leaving JD alone, hugging himself in search of comfort.
"I really hope that you have good news Willow because things got from bad to worse."
'Is JDs friend…'
"No, he is still alive, but he slipped back into a coma and this time the poison is progressing at high speed."
'There is still no news on the antidote, but from the info you gave me we managed to reduce the list of suspect to two. A Salsaus and a Sagostings. They both fit the bill quite nicely.'
"I still have the pictures and the sample that I got from the crime scene."
'Unfortunately that wouldn't help in this situation.'
"So we go after the both of them," stated Xander.
'I don't think that will be necessary. While a Salsaus meets all the requirements to be our winner the Sagostings bares a very close resemblance to the demon Robin was researching.'
"You think that Robin made a mistake in the identification and when he met a vicious killer instead of a peaceful happy go round demon, he was unprepared for the fight? Damn it!" cursed Xander. "He was a senior Watcher, he should have known better!"
'This is not the time to get angry.'
"On the contrary this is the right moment to get angry. What do you have on the cure?"
'There was a note in one of the library texts. It says that for curing the deadly sleep, I assume that, that means the coma, one must feed on the flesh of the beast.'
"Why couldn't anything be easy?" sighed Xander. "So what do you have on the creature?"
'It likes damp, cold and dark places, big surprise there. It is a solitary creature, so it will most likely be alone. The easiest way to kill him is with silver bullets since he is allergic to silver, but your normal run of the mill decapitation will do if you are in a pinch.'
"This doesn't help us much in locating him. Do you have anything else?" Xander groaned.
'No, not really, apart from the fact that he likes to eat iron there is nothing else here, sorry Xan.'
At the mention of iron a little bell rung in his ear. He couldn't put a finger on it, but it somehow seemed important. Closing his eyes and concentrating he went through his day step by step until he found himself on the roof of the building looking at his surroundings. There was something there, something connected to iron….
Then he smacked his forehead with the hand. Of course! There was an old factory close by that used to work with iron.
'Xander? Xander, are you still there?'
"Yeah Wills, I just remembered something. Look I have to go."
'Xander, wait!' she screamed, but it was too late.
Willow closed the phone with more force than it was necessary, cursing pig headed idiots that don't follow their own rules. Like the one about not going in an unknown situation unarmed and alone. The same mistake that got Robin killed.
"Problems?" asked Kennedy.
"Yeah of the Xande type," sighed Willow once she calmed down.
"We going to find him?"
"Just as soon as I can locate him," said Willow. "I will need a map of the city and some sand."
Back at the hospital Josiah just returned from his phone call to find JD alone, with Xander nowhere to be seen.
"Where is Xander?" he asked the hacker.
JD looked around a little lost, like he didn't notice the other departure, which he probably didn't.
"He received a phone call, must have left then," murmured JD, returning his focus on the room door like it held all the answers.
Josiah nodded, frowning slightly. JD was to preoccupied to notice anything outside of Bucks condition, but he wasn't. He knew that Xander wouldn't leave the young man alone, not now.
Something was moving in the investigation and he had a really bad feeling about it. He just hoped that Xander was cautious enough and took the appropriate precautions. He really didn't think that JD could survive the death of his best friend slash brother and the loose of his lover.
TBC…..
Done. Finally! It shouldn't be much longer now. One more chapter to go, two at the most. Stay tuned for the grand finale.
alea iacta est The die has been cast