Headhunters

zTiamaTz

=H=H=

GIRL ABOUT TOWN

=H=H=

My ass was freezing. As I got up, off of the wooden crate that served as a toilet seat in the backyard, I'd found a new reason to wish I was back in California.

I scrambled to get back inside, and decided we'd have to add a blanket for a roof to go with the one's we'd set up as privacy walls. The snow I had to brush off, had just made things intolerable. I groaned as I thought what Cordy's reaction would be.

After coming back into the house, I went into the dining room to once again inspect our small armory. I had laid everything out on the table this morning, so that Cordelia and I could decide how to proceed. Now, I was just waiting for her to wake up.

We'd managed to get two more pistols like the one I'd found on the soldier. I decided Cordy could take one, and I'd carry Rodriguez's revolver.

The sniper rifle that Cordelia was so interested in was huge, almost the length of the table. I was amazed how light it was though. I just hoped we could figure out how to use the scope on the thing. That had me worried, especially considering how interested she was in it.

There was also a smaller machine gun, without a chainsaw. It was maybe half the size of the one I had used yesterday. It was beat-up, and rusted in places, but it looked like it could do some damage. I thought this might be a good one for her too.

We had two shotguns. I hadn't even known what they were, until I'd seen the shells for them. It didn't have one of those pump things though, it had a lever to pull. It reminded me of the one Arnold used in T2.

Finally, there were three things on chains. There was a handle, a foot long length of chain, and then a head. Two were similar to each other, they were about six inches long and wide. The third was the same length, but three inches in width.

I was pretty sure they were grenades, but I didn't want to mess with them until I knew what I was doing. We also had a reasonable amount of ammo as well, I figured as long as we didn't get into a full-scale firefight, we'd be okay for now.

I sighed, and hoped Cordy would wake up soon, I wanted to get down to business. I had promised her I'd wait to go out until my ankle was healed, but I was aching to see how much damage I could do with them.

=H=H=

I sat at the table getting breakfast ready as Cordelia came down the stairs. "Morning Cor, I have good news, and bad news."

"Xander, I just woke up, I don't need this crap." She definitely wasn't a morning person.

"Fine, I just wanted to soften the blow."

"I'm going to give you a-" She gave me a dark look. "For what?"

I snorted at her near miss. "Like I said, good news, or bad?"

"Well, considering last time we did this, the bad news was that you peed yourself. I don't think I need to worry." She replied smugly.

"Fine Cordy, the good news is, I found a can of the chicken soup you like."

"Okay loser, what's the bad news?"

"Let's just say, if you want to use the latrine, bring a snow shovel."

"What?"

I cracked a smile. Oh yeah, I still got it.

=H=H=

After breakfast and insults, we went into the dining room so I could show Cordy our arsenal.

"Wow, when I packed it up, I didn't realize there was so much of it."

I could see her practically drooling over the sniper rifle, it was amazing what a few fight or flights could do to a cheerleader. She had the same look in her eyes Buffy did, whenever she got a new sword or axe.

"What are these?" She asked, as she picked up one of the chain things.

"I'm pretty sure they're grenades."

Cordy let out a little yelp, and dropped it back on the table. "You could have warned me ahead of time dork."

"What's the fun in that?" I replied as I reached for the sniper rifle.

She smacked me in the back of the head. "That was fun, now give me that thing."

I placed the stock on the floor in front of her. The barrel came up to her breasts, something I couldn't help but notice.

"Have you inspected all the guns this closely?" Cordelia asked icily.

"Uh, why don't go into the backyard, and see how this thing works?"

"Nice save dweeb, but you're still going to pay for that." She replied as she hefted the large rifle.

After grabbing the smaller assault rifle, I left to go out the back door. "I never had any doubt Cor."

=H=H=

After she dressed heavily, we got outside, and Cordelia looked extremely unhappy with the snow. Unhappy enough to curse it a half-dozen times. Once she got it out of her system, she made sure to peek around both sides of the house to see the street was clear.

When we were reasonably sure we wouldn't be interrupted, I popped both lens caps and held it up to my shoulder. As I looked through the scope, I was amazed how close everything appeared. By twisting the knob on the scope, I was able to zoom in close enough to clearly see Sanders' dog tag.

When I passed it to Cordy, she mimicked what she saw me do. "Wow! I could kill one of those things from so far away, they'd never be able to find me!"

I shook my head. "I don't think it's that easy Cor, in the movies, they had to make calculations, and be aware of the direction of the wind and stuff."

"I never saw that in any movie." She replied indignantly.

"That's cause they don't have snipers in chick flicks."

She gave me a dirty look. "What do I get to shoot?"

"Nothing, I don't want to attract attention to the house."

She sullenly pointed it down toward the ground. "How are we going to test it then?"

"I've got an idea, but you won't let me leave the yard, remember?"

"It can wait-" She grabbed my arm. "Look."

"Ground walkers!" A distorted voiced announced from the street.

I followed here gaze, and saw another Locust in a helmet. This one had metal spikes along the top like a mohawk. He was in the street, with a revolver in his hand. He was staring back at us, but didn't move.

"Oh shit."

I raised the assault rifle to shoot, and he took off running, probably to get reinforcements. I guessed the heads had worked.

"We've got to get whatever we can from the house and get out of here."

"What?" She turned to me, shocked. "No Xander."

"We can't fight them all Cor. We'll find a new place, I promise. But we've got to move, now."

She dropped the sniper rifle and snatched the assault rifle right out of my hands.

"What the hell are you doing?" I watched as she ran after the mohawk guy.

"We are not losing this house!" She yelled over her shoulder, before disappearing out of sight.

"Cordelia, get back here!" I just stood there for a second in disbelief.

I knew I couldn't run after her on this ankle. I moved to the back door as fast as I could, and into the house. I grabbed the revolver, and one of the shotguns. I tossed one of the meat cleavers, along with some extra ammo, and a can of paint into a backpack, just in case.

Finally, I grabbed two of the comm's from the clean ashtray next to the door. I decided from now on, we'd be carrying them anytime we left the house. I wasn't going to go through this crap again.

As I left the house and went in the general direction they had gone, I really hoped Cordelia knew what she was doing.

=H=H=

~~Cordelia POV~~

I still didn't know what I was thinking, chasing after this thing. I was just so angry. The house was where we kept everything we had to survive, and that bastard was trying to take it all away.

I had finally caught sight of him two blocks up, and one over. Mohawk was obviously bigger and stronger, but with that ugly, shoulder pad armor, he couldn't outrun me.

As I neared him, he reached his right arm back, and fired off a shot without bothering to look back. It was way off, striking the snowy ground to my right.

In response, I aimed for Mohawk's back as I continued after him, but all I got was a click. What if Xander hadn't loaded it? What if it didn't work? I was quickly snapped out of my worry by another shot though.

This time, he had looked over his shoulder to aim. He still missed, but not by much.

I pulled the trigger, another click. Smacking the gun several times, I tried desperately to get it to fire.

Mohawk must have noticed I wasn't shooting back. He stopped, and whirled around on me. There was only about twelve feet separating us, and I realized he was raising his gun to shoot.

I threw myself against the rear of a broken down car just in time. The bullet flew straight past the spot I had been a second ago. I was really wishing Xander were here right now.

I looked desperately at the gun to see if I could figure out what was wrong with it. Suddenly, there it was, a switch! In the mean time, I could hear Mohawk make an evil laugh as he approached me.

I remembered the doofus had showed me the safety on the pistol yesterday, this thing had one too. I flicked it back twice, and hoped that would solve the problem.

I crawled to the passenger side of the car as he came along the driver side. I gripped the gun tightly as his boots crunched through the snow. I prayed this would work, since I only had one chance. After that, I was dead.

Mohawk reached the back of the car and fired at the spot I had just been in. I quickly stood up, and pulled the trigger. The shots went through where the back window used to be, hitting him in the left arm and side several times. He made an awful sound, and fell over.

I circled around the front of the car, not wanting to give him a clear shot if he were still alive. Mohawk lay on his back, still moving a little bit. I let out a small giggle as I imagined him trying to make a snow angel. The pistol was a foot or so from his right hand.

After kicking it away, like the police shows on television, I put my boot down on his right hand to get his attention. He made a noise that I assumed was pain, and turned his head to face me.

I leaned in toward him. "Is that black mesh over your eyes? What are you ten?" I knew I should just get out of there, but I wanted to get some answers first.

He stared at me, making a nasty wheezing sound.

"Are there any more of you nearby?" I could see red-orange blood dripping down from underneath his helmet, I was running out of time.

I could feel him trying to get his hand loose. I just leaned further down on it.

"I know you speak English asshole." I ground my boot into his hand. "Tell me something useful, and I'll let you go."

Mohawk made a series of grunts, groans, and possibly a belch.

I glared at him with disgust. "Fine, if that's how you want to do things." I stood up and shot him another four times in the chest. After giving his body a kick in the ribs for good measure, I decided it was time to leave.

My vengeance complete, I grabbed his gun from the snow-covered pavement and stuffed it down the back of my pants. Then, I looked for a place I could hide out in, I wanted to see if our little tiff had drawn any notice.

"Loser." I spat at the body as I stalked off.

=H=H=

I found a house half-way down the block with an unlocked door. Once inside, I brushed all the snow off of me, and collapsed on to a dusty couch. I couldn't believe I had actually done it!

While I broke Xander's balls, I couldn't complain about the way he had watched out for me. If I wanted to be completely honest, he could have left me to the Hellmouth, and nobody would have blamed him.

Instead, he tried to save me, and had continued to do so since we got here. That's what made this all the better for me, I had done it on my own. Now, as long as the Locust hadn't noticed, all I had to do was get home in one piece.

It hit me then, it wasn't just some random house that we used for lack of a better place now. Xander and I had made it a home, we had worked together to make it livable, improving it for safety, and comfort. That's why I had chased after that freak to begin with, I didn't want to start over again.

Besides that, I just hoped Xander wasn't too worried about me. I sighed, yeah right. When he found me, I knew I was in for it. He pretty much tried to keep the peace most of the time, he was mostly an easy going guy. But I'd seen the Harris temper before, when he was angry enough, he let people know it.

I remembered when we were in third grade, a couple of fifth graders had pushed Willow down the slide before she was ready. She had lost her balance on the way down, and fell off the side near the bottom. It wouldn't have been too bad, except she'd been wearing a dress that day. She had flashed her Rainbow-Brite panties to the entire schoolyard upon landing, and Willow had been absolutely mortified.

Xander had gone over to make sure she was alright, then he'd waited for the fifth graders to come down the slide. He'd tackled the first one to hit the bottom, and pounded away on him, not seeming to care that his opponent was much larger. When the second one made it down, he pried Xander off, and they had beat the shit out of him. Poor Xander never stood a chance.

That would have been enough for most people, but not Xander, the next day he went after the kids again. This continued for the rest of the week, he'd get a few punches in, and the fifth graders would beat him to a pulp.

It didn't end until the principle had brought in Xander's parents, and had threatened to expel him if he kept it up. He'd come in the following Monday covered in bruises, and after that, he'd been a lot quieter in school. I didn't realize what it meant at the time, but I did now.

Even after all the crap he'd gotten at home, not to mention all the stuff I'd said and done to him over the years, he still cared about me. I just didn't know how to repay him for it.

=H=H=

++Xander POV++

I had been making my way down the streets for half an hour now. While I wasn't nearly as slowed as I had been, my ankle could have definitely used some more time off. I'd heard gunshots awhile back, but nothing recent. With those two running, I wasn't sure how far ahead they were of me. Hell, I didn't know if Cordy was dead, and just the possibility of it was killing me inside.

While I had been able to follow their tracks for a short time, the snow was coming down steadily enough, that they were getting covered up quickly. The street I was walking on now, was the last to have had visible tracks.

I held the shotgun close to me. It was loaded up, but I hoped I wouldn't need to use it. While she was by no means helpless, Cordelia had grabbed a gun we hadn't even tested yet, she was lucky the thing was even loaded.

I was really worried that the Locust had been a decoy, and she'd run into an ambush. I'd considered calling out her name, but decided that would be a last resort. Sure I might find Cordy, but more likely the Locust would find me instead.

Being so focused on finding her, I almost missed the body on the ground to my right. The red-orange blood against the white snow had made it stand out.

I gingerly knelt down, and examined what was left of the Mohawk. His entire chest was shredded, and his revolver was missing. It had to be the one Cordy was chasing. I looked around desperately to see if there was any red blood, but I saw none.

I let out a small sigh of relief, I wouldn't be satisfied until I found her, but it was certainly looking better then it had. Standing up, I looked at the buildings along both sides of the street. I figured Cordy was hiding in one of them to wait for the heat to die down.

A loud screech to my left quickly got my attention though. I looked towards it, and saw several skippers. They were on the ground, and others were climbing on top of the cars. They stopped and sat there watching me, as I stood watching them.

I had eight shells for the shotgun and six rounds in the revolver. The problem was, I didn't know how many more there were, that I couldn't see. The street was choked with cars, and every one of them could easily hide two or three of them.

There was no running this time, if I turned my back, I was done. I backed up and started toward the closest building to my right, I could see the one's on the roofs start to creep forward.

Without turning away, I tried the door on the building, locked. There was no time to get to kick it in. On the bright side, I had a wall to my back. Facing out, I could see they were starting to inch forward now, waiting for an opening.

"Come get me you cock-suckers!" I was ready. The first of the banana-heads to get within seven feet of me, was getting a shell in the face.

One got some courage and came at me, I pulled the trigger. It went down with a screech. I worked the lever and shot another one. The things were spreading out now, trying to surround me.

As I used the lever once again, another charged from the right. I kicked it back and turned to shoot one coming to my left. Five more appeared on top of or around the cars. I was fucked.

=H=H=

~~Cordelia POV~~

"Come get me you cock-suckers!"

I jumped off the couch, with a start. That was Xander! All of a sudden, there was a boom, and then another. He'd come looking for me and now he was fighting something.

I rushed out the door, determined not to let whatever it was hurt him. As I got out to the street, I could see those hopping things surrounding him. He kicked one and then shot another.

I ran towards the fight, and could see at least four hoppers, but I was too far away to shoot them. I didn't want to waste whatever ammo I still had left in my gun.

Three of them noticed my presence and started towards me. I shot the closest one four times, killing it. I shot the next a single time, then my gun was empty.

Xander's gun went off three more times, I hoped he had killed the one's attacking him. I threw my rifle at the hopper, and fumbled for the pistol I had picked up from Mohawk.

I aimed at the second one and fired. I was suddenly hit in the face by something, and I fell back on my butt. The hopper I had just shot was dead, but the third was quickly bearing down on me.

"Cordy, get out of the way!" I could see Xander running towards me with what I thought was a shotgun.

I didn't ask questions, I rolled to the right. Another boom sounded, and I watched as the things legs got blown off. The hopper crawled toward me, and reached for my ankle. I looked down at it in disgust, as I brought my boot down on it's head with a splat.

I looked up to see Xander calmly reloading his gun. He finished and looked back at me. I groaned, I could tell he was furious.

=H=H=

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Xander yelled as he walked up to me.

"I didn't want to lose our freaking house!"

"Why didn't I think of that?" He threw his hands up in the air. "Because having that house to live in, really makes you dead in a street somewhere seem totally worth it!"

"I was just trying to help, okay." I replied defensively.

He dropped the gun on the ground, and pulled me into a hug. "Cor, please don't ever do that to me again."

I held him tight, glad he wasn't too mad at me. "I'm sorry Xander, I just didn't want us to lose our house."

He pulled back, holding me at arms length, to inspect me for any injuries. "You know you're going to have a nasty bruise, right?"

I looked at him confused. "From what?"

"That revolver smacked you in the face after you shot that skipper. Why do you think you ended up on the ground?"

"That's what did it?"

He pulled his backpack off and handed me a few clips for my gun. "Don't worry Cordy, you're still beautiful." He said with a smile.

"Like there was any doubt dork." I replied, as I stuffed the clips in my pockets.

He pulled out the cleaver. "Get all the stuff together while I take care of your buddy over there."

"What about the hoppers?"

"Not worth our time." He said, as he headed towards Mohawk's body.

I picked up my gun out of the snow, and figured out how to switch clips, while Xander found a nice place for the head.

I watched as he finished up, by spray painting our mark on a nearby car door. There was no point leaving it on the ground, if it was just going to be covered up by snow.

"You ready?" He called out as he finished up.

"Yeah Xander, let's go." I waited until he caught up to me before, we walked back to our now secure, home.

=H=H=

++Xander POV++

I fell back on to the couch, exhausted. My feet were killing me from trudging through all that snow. After cleaning up, which now consisted of rubbing clumps of snow all over to get the dirt off, I was freezing. The only thing we could do was put on layers, since we had no heat.

We had walked up and down streets, covering a ten block area. Walked up to every house and store, before coming back to our house. It had taken four hours, but we figured there was no way the Locust could tell where exactly we were, at least for the time being.

Looking back on what had happened today, I figured our run-in with the Mohawk was pure coincidence. If it had been an ambush, there would have been a lot more then a few skippers waiting for us.

"How are you feeling?" Cordy asked as she came in from the kitchen with two cans of food, each with a fork in them.

"My ankle isn't as bad as I thought." I held it up for her to see and wiggled my toes. "I think I'll be fine tomorrow."

She sat down next to me. "We'll see doofus, we aren't going out again until I say so."

"Shouldn't that go both ways?" I asked bluntly.

Cordelia smacked my thigh. "Don't start Xander, at least I could run away if I had to."

"But-"

"Shut up and eat your creamed corn." She said, jamming a can into my hands.

I checked the contents, it was indeed creamed corn. This was the good stuff in our house, equal to prime rib.

"What did you get Cor, peaches?"

She looked down into her can. "No."

"Come on Cor, you're killing me." I pressed her. "How rare is it that we both get two good cans in one meal? What did you get?"

She gave a loud sigh before turning to me. "Lima beans, are you happy now?"

"But you hate those things."

Cordelia suddenly stood up in front of me, clearly annoyed. "Can't I just do something nice? Why do I always have to have an ulterior motive for everything Xander?"

"That's not what I meant Cor."

"It is Xander. You have something good, so I must have something better." She started to pace in front of me. "It couldn't possibly be because you saved my life again today, could it?

I saw that she had stopped pacing and was staring right at me, putting me on the spot.

"It's not like that." I replied defensively, she had me on the ropes, and she knew it.

"I want more of a say in things around here from now on."

"We're partners in this Cordy, we have been since the beginning."

"Really?" She asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

I was starting to hate that word. "What are you talking about? I give you first pick on food, don't I?"

"Is that the best you could come up with? First pick on food?"

I nodded, I didn't know where she was going with this.

"What about the guns?"

"What about them? I gave you the rifle you wanted."

"That's just it Xander. You gave me the rifle, it wasn't yours to give, but that's the way you see it. Just like the pistol I've got, did you even consider maybe I liked the one you have?"

"You can have it." I told her, just wanting to end this.

"I don't want it, do you see my point?" She knelt down next to me and took my hand. "You've wanted to do this or that and I've gone along with it. I've asked one thing, that you stay in until your ankle heals, and you've second guessed me on it twice now."

I stared down at my lap, had I really been that much of a dick? "I'm sorry Cor, I didn't realize that this was such a problem for you."

"Hey."

I looked up at her, she had a smile on her face.

"I'm not mad at you dork, I just wanted you to know I'm not the bubble-headed cheerleader anymore."

"I never thought were Cor, I've known for a long time it was just an act."

"Good answer." She replied as she picked up her can and sat back down next to me. "Now finish your corn, before I change my mind."

=H=H=

~~Cordelia POV~~

I sighed as I capped my pen and placed it, and my journal back into the top drawer of my desk. I had never been one to keep a diary in Sunnydale, I was always too afraid Mother, or worse, Harmony would find it.

Now, I was afraid not to. If something happened to us, I at least wanted someone to know we existed here. I hadn't told Xander yet, I was a little worried he'd think it was silly.

I shivered suddenly, even though I'd thrown on an extra sweatshirt to try to keep warm. I really missed my silky nightgowns, but the blankets just weren't making the cut anymore.

After my snow bath, it was tough to get warm again. I thought about what First Sergeant Rodriguez had said about the winters here, from all the snow outside, I knew it wouldn't get better anytime soon.

Being awake, and cold was one thing, trying to sleep in it was a pain in the butt. I had been mulling an idea over in my head for a couple of days now, but after tonight's talk with Xander, I thought it was the right time.

Candle in hand, I padded down the hallway, my triple-socked feet not making a sound. I stood in front of Xander's door ready to knock, but I hesitated. This could go badly.

I gathered up my courage and knocked on the door.

"Yeah."

I opened the door, and saw he was in sweats, covered by an over-sized set of plain red pajamas. He had turned his bed down already, so I knew I'd caught him just in time.

"What's up Cordy?"

"It's really... cold in my room." I replied uncomfortably, as I took a few steps into his room.

"I think I've got some extra blankets-"

"That's not what I'm asking for." I could tell he was completely oblivious.

"I've got some spare sweats if-"

"Xander, shut up." I sighed. "This is hard enough."

"Spit it out already Cor, please."

In the flickering light, I could tell he regretted how that had come out, but I just wanted to get this over with.

"Fine jerk, do you want to sleep together?"

"I.. uh.. I-"

"Not like that you moron." I glared at him. "I'm freezing, if you can be an adult about it, we can both get a better night's sleep."

He paused for a second, I was betting he hadn't slept with a female in his bed since he, and Willow were kids.

"Ah, yeah Cor. That sounds uh, like a good idea. Keeping warm and all..."

I smiled, this was too easy. If I had suggested anything more, his head would have probably exploded. "Fine, we'll use my bed, it's bigger."

"Okay." He replied dumbly.

He followed me silently into my room, I was guessing he was afraid I'd change my mind along the way otherwise.

I blew out the candle, and sat it back on my desk. I turned to see him standing there, just inside the door.

"Um, where do you-"

"You take the right, I'll take the left. How does that sound?"

"Fine."

"Now it's a big bed, with plenty of room. Stick to your own side mister."

"Yeah, sure Cor."

I turned down the blankets and climbed in, facing away from him. Shortly after, I could feel him hesitantly climb in as well. He snuffed the light, and we lay there in the darkness together.

"Night Cordy." A yawn followed immediately after.

"Goodnight Xander."

It didn't take long for me to feel the heat. As I snuggled into the covers, I knew I had made the right choice.

=H=H=

A/N 2: Locust:

Mohawk - Bolter

=H=H=

END