Headhunters

zTiamaTz

A/N: This chapter will mostly be excerpts of Cordelia and Xander's week off.

=H=H=

IS IT HOT, OR IS IT JUST YOU?

=H=H=

~~Cordelia POV~~

We stopped in the middle of the street and stared at our house. After what seemed like forever, we had finally made it home. We were battered and beaten, I knew I looked like shit when Xander started hiding the mirrors.

I didn't care about that anymore. As I looked down at the bloody pillowcase, hanging from my belt, I was just happy we were both alive, and in one piece.

I wasn't that stuck-up bitch, that everyone secretly hated anymore. I had a guy who cared about me, maybe loved me, and a real home to come back to.

"Ya ready Cor?" Xander asked, breaking me from my thoughts.

I looked over at him and saw him twirling the large, wooden mop handle he had carved into points on both ends. It wasn't anything fancy, but why screw with what worked?

"Yeah," I smiled, he was still such a dork, but he was my dork. "I can't wait to get this done, my feet are freaking killing me."

"I'll see what I can do when we get inside, promise." Then he gestured toward the pillowcase. "What do you wanna do with that thing?"

"Where do you think is a good spot for it?"

We had a small lawn in front of the house, actually in this city, it was huge. It had a nice little slope about half-way between the house and the street. It was covered in snow now, but in the spring, I hoped it would look nice.

"We should just put it right in the middle, where everybody can see it." He happily suggested.

"Sounds good to me Xander, stick it where you think it'll look best."

I followed him as he made his way to the top small hill and rammed the handle into the ground.

I dropped my pack into the snow and yanked the pillowcase free from my belt. After grabbing a glove from the bag, I reached in and pulled Mongo's head from the bag by what was left of his hair.

His wide-eyed, open-mouthed expression from the last moments of his life were frozen on his face. Poor Corporal Murphy had one similarly, but since Xander had found her body, at least she was going to get a decent burial.

I grabbed the pole to steady it as I pushed what was left of the neck onto the point. It made a crunching sound that quickly turned into a slimy, tearing noise. Finally, it was on there far enough, I knew it wouldn't come loose.

Taking a step back, I took time to admire my work with Xander. As we stood there, I had a thought, I just wasn't sure where it came from.

"Looks good Cor."

Turning to him, I decided to see what he thought. "You don't think I'm a monster, do you?"

"No, I don't." He told me as he put his arm across my shoulders. "When Rodriguez and those Gears were being chased, you wanted to help them. We tried to save his life. A monster doesn't give a shit about anybody"

"I know that Xander," I laid my head on his shoulder. "I just want to know if you think I'm some kind of crazy person..."

"I don't Cor. Honestly, I probably would have done a lot worse."

"Really?" I couldn't think of what could be worse then what I'd done.

"Yeah, after what he tried to do to you, I would have kept him alive for a very long time."

I had known Xander a long time, he'd cut off his own arm to help someone he cared about. I didn't doubt for a second he wasn't serious.

"So," He asked, trying to change the subject. "Do you think the Locust enjoyed their present?"

=H=H=

||An almost-empty street||

"Hun-ger."

The Butcher lumbered down the street, it's sole purpose was to serve the Queen by finding food for the horde. It enjoyed the hunt for Rockworm, but the flesh of a dead Locust or human made it's loins harden.

"Hun-ger."

It had caught the smell of human blood mixed with death. Turning a corner, it found it's target shortly after. A headless, unarmored, human corpse. An object was stuck to the body, it neither understood, nor cared, why it was there.

[EAT ME]

Sticking a hook under the corpse's ribs, it dragged the body away to feed the horde.

"Hun-ger."

=H=H=

++Xander POV++

"They better enjoy it," Cordy replied with a giggle. "We gave it to them already roasted, for God's sake."

I was happy to see she was in a better mood, because what I was about to ask her to do, wasn't going to be fun for either of us. We'd exchanged our stories on what happened on the way home, but I'd left one thing out. It was just too fucked up to talk about.

Cordelia must have caught on to my mood shift, she touched my arm. "What's wrong?"

I sighed, I really didn't want to do this to her. "Remember while we were walking home, you told me that you got grabbed while you were on the can?"

She frowned. "Yeah."

"Well, when I came out to see what was taking you so long, I found someone else in there."

"What?" Cordy screamed, taking a step back. "Who?"

"It was Miranda. That asshole took off her armor, and propped her body up in there. He even made it look like she was aiming a gun at me."

She just stood there, staring at me in disbelief. "When you said you found her body, I thought you meant you found it somewhere."

"Look, I wish I was joking. Nobody deserves to have something like that done to their corpse." I thought that over for a second. "Okay, Mongo did, but we aren't talking about him."

"So you're telling me that woman's body has been sitting there since I got kidnapped yesterday?"

I looked down at the ground. "Yeah Cor. I was in such a hurry to find you, that I just-"

"Stop." She ordered.

I looked up at her, I just knew she was gonna rip me a new one for this.

"Xander, it's not your fault. You've been driving yourself nuts over that girl for weeks. You only did it, because you actually give a damn."

"Yeah?" I asked, I was really surprised at how this was going. Cordy wasn't heartless, but I really hadn't expected her to take this so easy.

"Yeah, and that's more then I can say for most guys." She sent a glare at the head. "And that's about living women too."

"It's bad enough her body had to get mangled like that," I said, trying to keep an even head over the whole thing. "But she shouldn't have to be stared at while she's naked by some guy."

"I agree. That's why you're going to dig the grave, while I try to get that armor back on her."

It was like she'd read my mind, and then it clicked. She knew, as soon as I told her about this, what I was gonna ask. Then, she made it seem like it was her own idea.

"Hey Cor, when we're done here, I'm going to give you the best foot rub you've ever had."

She smiled, before walking toward the side of the house. "I'm going to hold you to that dweeb!"

Considering what she was doing for me, that's the least I could do...

=H=H=

~~Cordelia POV~~

As I came around to the back of the house, I could instantly see things weren't right. The blankets on the sides of the latrine were intact, but as I got closer, I could see a long, metal bar sticking out of the rear.

I went around to the back, and saw that it had been stuck into the ground. Following it's path, I could see it had been driven into her back, between the shoulder blades. I headed towards the front, and yanked down the remaining blankets along the way.

"You poor baby." Seeing what the bastard had done to her, the look on her dead face, I felt ready to cry. All I could do was hope he hadn't done anything too bad to her before she'd died. He obviously hadn't had any respect for her body.

I pulled the pistol out of her hand as gently as possible, and worked to try and get the smaller bar out of her arm. "It's okay, I got that bastard, I got him real good, for the both of us."

Soon after, I was pulling hard, trying to get the pole out from her back when I heard a thud. I instantly grabbed up the pistol and aimed toward the fence. Then I watched, as pieces of something were thrown over the side.

After placing the gun back where I had left it, I went over to see what Xander was up to. "What are you doing?"

"I'm pretty sure he took the armor off here, then threw her body onto our side of the fence. I'm trying to get all the pieces together for you now."

"Jesus, that guy was such a freak."

"Yeah, watch out." He gave a grunt and heaved the chest piece over the side. With that done, he peeked over the side. "That's all of it Cor, thanks again for this."

I could hear the relief in his voice. I was betting this had been on his mind since he first found her. "It's okay dweeb, now go finish digging that grave, I'll get Corporal Murphy back in her armor."

=H=H=

Three hours. It had taken me three hours, to finally to get her fully dressed. Simply getting the armor on wouldn't have been so bad, But her limbs were stuck in the position she'd been left in. I wasn't sure if it was rigor-mortis, or simply the cold weather that had done it.

By working the limbs as firmly, but gently as possible, I finally managed to get her back in all the armor, even the gloves and boots. With a sigh, I headed around to the front of the house to get Xander, and to collect the door to get her body over to the grave.

I reached the front yard, and saw him sitting on the mound, I didn't blame him. The colder it got, the harder it was to break up, and shovel the dirt. Technically, I had the 'easy' job, but he sure didn't think so, and honestly, neither did I.

"Everything's ready Xander, do you need a hand?"

He brought his head up to me, he looked tired. After everything that happened since we'd landed wherever here was, we both did. At this rate, Xander, and I would both be prematurely wrinkled by the time we were thirty.

"No, I finished up a little while ago. I was giving you another ten minutes, before I went back and offered to help."

"I appreciate it," I told him as I walked over, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Now come on," I yanked him to his feet. "Let's get that door, so we can give her some rest."

=H=H=

++Xander POV++

"How many this time?" I asked Cordelia, as she looked through the peephole I had made in the door.

"Four of them, walking right by." She pulled back and stuffed the rag back into the hole. She stood up and turned to me. "I'm really surprised they haven't messed with the graves. They seem like they would do that kind of stuff."

"Small favors Cor." I told her as I walked back to the couch to continue working on my latest project. It was a real bitch trying to jam nails into a baseball bat, especially in candlelight.

"Is that thing really necessary?"

"No." I replied, not bothering to look up.

She stepped in front of the candlelight. "Then why are you making it?"

After stabbing that fucking Grenade five times with almost no effect, I figured I needed something a little bigger. But why not have some fun with it? "I've decided I want to try S&M, and I was hoping you wouldn't mind being called Mistress Helga."

"Do I look like a Helga to you jackass?" She asked.

"No, do I look like I really want to try some S&M?"

"Maybe." She said, sticking her tongue out at me.

"Is that interest I hear?"

"You wish buster."

"It's okay Cor, I'll be your leather daddy." I told her, with an exaggerated leer.

I flinched as she smacked me in the leg. "Keep it up, and you'll be sleeping on the floor."

"I'll try to remember that." I muttered, as I went back to hammering another nail into the old bat.

=H=H=

~~Cordelia POV~~

I walked downstairs after taking my nap. The dweeb had called me for dinner ten minutes before, and I was looking forward to talking to him. We'd been going through the things Xander had found in the basement I'd been held in since returning.

I had been looking through the books that Xander had grabbed earlier. I knew he wanted to work on the guns and stuff, but the other books caught my eye more. The tech guide was crazy, the things that were in there were something I definitely wanted to see in person.

But what really caught my interest, was the survival guide. There were things in there that I could make today. While Xander didn't think so, I felt like I didn't carry my weight around here like he did, I wanted to really show him what I could do.

Sitting down across from him, he could tell something was on my mind. It was weird, how easily it had become for us to read each other.

He put down his knife and fork, and gave me his complete attention. "What's up Cor?"

"I've been looking over those books you got the other day, a lot of the stuff we'd need to do those things are pretty easy to find, I want to try it out."

"Sounds good to me, but I don't want to do it here at the house."

"What?" I asked, confused. "Why not?"

"We shouldn't centralize everything, we need to have a place to fall back to in case the Locust find us."

I nodded, what he said made sense. Plus, we'd have a lot more space split between two houses. "That works for me, it'll give me plenty of extra room for some of the stuff I want to try from those books."

=H=H=

Xander smiled. "I was hoping you'd say that, I've been itching to work on some of those guns. I didn't want you to hafta sit around, bored to death."

I got angry hearing that. "You thought I'd wait around, while you did all the work? What do I have to do, to prove I'm not the rich-bitch anymore?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa..." He held his hands up in surrender. "That's not what I meant at all. I'm doing this thing with the guns because I want to. The thing is Cor, I didn't know if you were even interested in the other stuff."

"And why wouldn't I be?"

"Because as close as we've gotten, outside of what we do here, we don't know a helluva lot about each other."

"Oh come on Xander that's-"

"The truth." He insisted. "It's not a knock on either one of us Cor. We've been doing everything we can to survive, and that hasn't left a whole lotta time for anything else."

I stopped to think about it, outside of our budding romance after being thrown together, most of our perceptions of each other were based on our interactions at Sunnydale High.

I decided to change that, right now. I grabbed the candle with one hand, his arm with the other, and led him toward the stairs.

"Where are we going?"

"We're going to get to know each other, after some fun of course."

=H=H=

++Xander POV++

After taking two days off, and waiting for things to settle down, we figured now was a good time to check and see if the generator was still in one piece.

We hadn't been to the house since I'd covered it up, and hidden the Private's body. Cordy was hoping it hadn't been dragged off, I couldn't care less either way.

As I looked up at the smoky sky, I realized we finally had a reason to appreciate the snow. If it weren't for the white stuff pretty much covering everything in sight, half the city might have gone up.

I was suddenly stopped in my tracks by Cordy's arm, looking over, she was giving me a death-glare. "What?"

"Get down you idiot." She whispered as she shoved me behind a nearby car.

"What did I miss?"

"Why don't you stand up, maybe they'll miss you," She smacked me in the arm. "If you weren't so busy staring up at the sky like some fucking tourist, you would have noticed the Locust patrol up the street."

I peeked through the glass-less car windows as they passed through a cross street thirty feet away. It was a typical patrol, three Drones, a Mohawk and... a Flame Boomer. Perfect.

After crouching back down, I turned to Cordy, "We've got to take this patrol out."

"It was your idea to take a week off, now you want to go patrol hunting?" She was still annoyed about earlier.

This was gonna be a tough sell, but I figured I should at least try. "I want that Scorcher, Cor."

"What the hell is a Scorcher?"

"The flamethrower, we still don't have one."

"Are you fucking nuts? Even if you could lug that thing around on your back, it's like carrying a bomb."

"No, listen... I read all about it in that book. It's two separate pieces, you can just carry the gun and refill it from the tank, like at a gas station."

She was wavering, but not convinced just yet. "What keeps the gun from blowing up?"

"That round drum thing on the side," Cordelia nodded her head. "That's where the immulsion stuff, whatever the hell that is, sits inside the gun. That part is armored."

She was thinking it over, but we didn't have time. We needed to get ahead of these guys before we lost them. "If we're gonna do it, we've got to go now Cor."

Cordy gave a sigh. "You are so gonna owe me another foot rub for this Harris."

"You got it, let's go." I couldn't help but think of all the other things I wouldn't mind rubbing...

=H=H=

We were running down a parallel street, to the one the Locust were on, and hoping they wouldn't make a turn at some point. After passing a cross street ahead of them, we didn't have to worry about them seeing us.

We finally came to a stop, when it ended in a 'T' intersection. Moving over to the same block, Cordy peeked around the corner of the building with her rifle, and saw the Locust were still heading straight for us.

"This is perfect," I told her, as I looked at everything we had to work with. "Here's the plan..."

=H=H=

~~Cordelia POV~~

:What's taking so long?: I hissed at Xander over the comm. I was sitting in front of the second story window of a building facing straight down the street the Locust were on.

Through the scope of my sniper rifle, I could see them, slowly making their way up the block toward us. If it weren't for that fat-ass Flame Boomer, they could have passed by ten minutes ago.

Xander had gone down an alley behind a block of buildings on the right side of the street. The problem was, he should have been in position by now.

:Sorry, I had to saw through a lock on the rear door.: He replied sheepishly.

:Which store are you in anyway?:

:It was thee... third door down.:

I scanned over the sign of the shop, OLTURA JEWELERS below it, I could see Xander's hand waving at the window. :Anything good left in there?: I asked hopefully.

He snorted. :I'll let you know after the heads are mounted, I can hear 'em coming now.:

I pointed the rifle back to the street, the Locust were indeed closing in on the jewelery store. As I started to zero-in on the Flame Boomer's head, I knew this was going to be fun.

=H=H=

++Xander POV++

I blew out a breath as I heard the Locust approach. If this worked, we'd have a really nasty, new toy to play with. If it weren't for that Arms and Armor book, I would have never known we could carry the thrower by itself.

The best part, I finally got to try out these slug shells. :Remember, I'm not gonna fire-:

:I know what I'm supposed to do.: She growled. :Just don't get your ass shot off dork.:

:Gotcha Queenie.: I was hiding behind a four foot wide space of wall between the door and the display window. At my feet was the Lancer, just in case.

:Your head is going to end up on a stick, if you call me that again.:

I was about to retort when the Locust reached our kill zone.

Cordelia started her countdown. "Three, two, one..."

=H=H=

I heard the bullet hit the Flame Boomer, and then the shot echo through the buildings of the city. It was on.

:He's staggered, but he isn't down!:

:Keep hitting him, am I good to take out his buddies?:

:Just be careful!:

I grinned, that's all I needed to hear. I swung around the wall and fired into the nearest Drone, it caught him in the side, splattering the one next to him with blood. Quickly working the lever, I shot that one too, as he turned toward me.

Another round from Cordy's Longshot boomed, that Flamer didn't have long now.

I loved these new shells, I'd caught the second one in the stomach, causing him to spin. The hole in his back was the size of a fucking baseball.

:Xander watch out!: Cordelia screamed over the comm.

I looked up from the Drone corpse, to see the Flamer aiming at me.

"Burrrrrn."

I yanked myself behind the wall as a jet of flame shot at me.

:Pay attention you moron! You want to end up looking like Mongo?:

The liquid flame continued to spread throughout the jewelery shop, cutting off my escape.

:Cor, you need to kill this cock-sucker now!:

:It's not my fault this idiot's helmet-: She let off another round. :Is thicker then your freaking head!:

I had nowhere to go, the back door out of there was on the other side of a huge wall of fire, the only other one, lead right out to three very pissed off Locust.

:Xander, the Drone's heading right for you!:

I barely had any time to process what she said, when the Locust came busting through the door, knocking it off of it's hinges. The Drone's momentum carried it right past me, and I quickly shot it in the thigh, blowing it's leg off.

As I brought another shell to the ready, it rolled onto it's back, ready to shoot me with it's Hammerburst rifle. I caught it in the chest just in time, before it could pull the trigger.

"Burrrrrn." The fire was quickly spreading, setting the rest of the rear on fire. It was becoming harder and harder to find a safe place.

:I'm okay, he's dead!: I told her, I didn't see a reason to worry her anymore.

=H=H=

~~Cordelia POV~~

I couldn't believe how bad this had gone, I should have never told Xander to start shooting. I didn't know what kind of armor that Flamer's helmet had, but I'd already put three rounds into it with no effect.

I didn't even know how these things survived. If I weren't trying to save the goddamn flamethrower, I could have taken the whole lot out at once, with one shot.

The Mohawk and Drone had been taking badly-aimed potshots at me since they'd discovered my location, I ignored them. I was concentrating on the Flame Boomer, simply because I saw him as the biggest threat.

All of a sudden, the Drone broke cover and ran straight for the door of the shop Xander was in. This was going to shit real fast. :Xander, the Drone's heading right for you!:

I watched helplessly, as it burst through the door that Xander was in. I thought I heard his shotgun, but I couldn't be sure. All I could do was keep shooting at the Flamer, and hope for the best.

:I'm okay, he's dead!: Xander screamed over the comm, much to my relief.

It was short lived though, as the heavily armored Locust I'd been trying to kill for the past five minutes headed toward the door now. :Now the Flamer's coming for you!:

:I got nowhere to go Cor, everything's on fire!:

:That's it, I'm shooting that-: Suddenly, I had to pull back, the Mohawk had shot out the window I was leaning out of, showering me in glass.

:Eat this!: I heard him yell, and then a shot went off.

I looked through the scope again to see the Flamer on his back outside the doorway, with half of his head gone.

:Are you out of your fucking mind?: I couldn't believe how close he'd come to getting himself burned or blown up.

"Fall baaack!" The remaining Locust yelled, as he started to run back the way he'd come.

I looked back at Xander and saw him leave the burning building, right now he was trying to drag the Flame Boomer out of it's range. When I caught up with the Mohawk again, I could see he was really moving. Where did this dumbass think he was going?

=H=H=

:Cordy, you need-:

:Shut up.: I told Xander icily. I aimed for him, but I had a hard time lining the Locust up, because of how fast he was moving. I was used to stationary, or casually moving targets. Then, he found an open lane to run, and I aimed above him, waiting for him to reach the diamond.

"Come on you bastard." If he cut left or right now, I wouldn't be able to track him again before he was out of range. I was just praying he wasn't smarter then the average Locust.

His head was in the diamond, his upper back, lower back... "Bang." I whispered, as I watched him face-plant into the snow, and then slide several yards from the combined momentum. :The Mohawk is down.: I announced proudly.

It was good to be me.

=H=H=

++Xander POV++

I'd finally managed to drag the Flame Boomer away from the burning building, if it weren't for the snow, I wouldn't have had a chance in hell in making it happen. As I tried to unhook the tank from his back, I watched as Cordelia came out of the building, and started walking toward me, her Longshot casually slung over her shoulder. "You wanna give me a hand here?"

She finally arrived, and immediately started in on me. "I'm going to give you my boot, you ass. When that place was burning down," She pointed at the inferno to her right. "Why didn't you go out the back door?"

"I couldn't get to the door after the Flamer set the place on fire." I told her simply, as I finally got the four-point harness undone. "Wanna use that boot to help me shove this slob over?"

Instead helping, Cordy went on the attack. "You would have gotten burned if I hadn't warned you." She piled it on. "I don't know what you're trying to prove, but stop, okay? Just stop."

I stood up so I could look her in the eyes. "I made a mistake Cor, I'm sorry. I was just so psyched to have that Mongo shit behind us, and just be able to go out together, I got caught up..."

"I love you Xander." She told me, taking my hand. "I was so worried that I was losing you before, that for a moment, I just felt like it was the same thing all over again."

She actually loved me? I was Xander Harris, too dumb to be a nerd, and not 'gifted' enough to be popular. Yet the hottest girl from Sunnydale High just told me she loved me. I couldn't help but wonder how I got so lucky.

"I pour my heart out to you, and you can't even say anything back?" Cordelia snarked, yanking her hand away from mine, and turned to leave.

"I- no, wait." I practically begged, grabbing her hand back, to keep her from walking away. "I was just really surprised that you actually felt that way about me, that's all.

She turned back toward me, her face had softened, I was hoping that was a good sign.

"You shouldn't be surprised, you've done more for me in the time we've been here, then anyone else in my life. That especially includes Mother and Daddy, how could I not love you?"

"I love you too Cor, it's just crazy to me that we could end up here, and I'm actually happier with you in this shit-hole, then I was in Sunnydale."

"Get used to it, She told me, before planting a kiss on my cheek. "You keep coming up with compliments like that, and you're going to be happy for a long time." Then she pulled back.

I was about to reply, when I felt a sharp smack on the ass.

"Come on dork, that Flamer isn't going to roll himself over."

=H=H=

~~Cordelia POV~~

We'd managed to get the flame thrower off that fat piece of crap, and taken the Drone's heads, along what was left of the Flamer's. The damage the slug shells had done to the Drone's bodies was impressive, but the Flame Boomer's head was something else.

A part of the helmet and what was maybe a quarter of his head, were all that was left. The helmet had cracked right down the middle of the rifle round holes I'd made. We weren't sure how much of a difference it would have made if I hadn't hit it first, but we weren't planning on finding out.

We'd set up the heads on the hood of a nearby car. and now, we were on our way to get the Mohawk's as well. I had the general area of where I'd hit him down, but looking through a scope, and being up close and personal were two different things.

"Is this the straight-away he took Cor?" Xander asked, as we reached a long path, clear of cars or debris.

I was getting annoyed now, I knew I'd hit the son of a bitch, I didn't understand why it was this hard to find the body though. "I recognize that blue car," I told him, pointing to it on our left. "He should be right around here, somewhere..."

"I found some blood," He told me, picking up a revolver as he followed the trail around to the right. "It looks like-" He turned toward me, a look of fear on his face. "He double-"

Suddenly, hands grabbed my ankles, and pulled me down into the snow. I tried to turn my Lancer on him as I fell, but I didn't have the time.

"Ooh-mans" The Mohawk grunted, as he dragged himself out from between two cars, and onto me.

"Cordy!" Xander screamed.

I could hear his boots crunching in the snow as he ran toward us. I tried to pull my pistol, but I had no leverage, the Locust and I were practically nose to helmet by that point.

He wrapped his hands around my neck and started to squeeze. I fought desperately for air, as I tried to shove the big Locust off. There was a loud clang, as Xander's boot connected with the side of the Mohawk's head, causing him to finally let go of me.

Xander quickly shoved him off of me, and kicked him several times to put some distance between the two of us. He then grabbed it's helmet by the spikes and yanked it off.

The thing just rolled around on the ground, using his hands to try and grab us. I realized when I shot him in the back, I must have hit his spine. "I think he's paralyzed Xander."

He looked down at the Locust with pure hatred in his eyes, and I could hear the helmet creak as he gripped it tightly. "You wanna try and strangle my girlfriend mother-fucker?" Xander then stomped the Mohawk's belly and chest several times, it's thin armor offered little protection.

"Pathetic meat." The Locust growled up at him.

He flung the helmet aside, before turning back to me, clearly disgusted by the thing. "Cor, why don't we see how well that bayonet of yours works?"

I nodded, I'd wanted to test it anyway. "How about we each take a side?" I asked him, as we both ignored the grunts and groans of our captive.

Xander cracked a smile. "Works for me." He pulled off his pack, and quickly tied his Gnasher down, before he pull the Lancer free.

After bringing the chainsaw to life, he looked down at the Mohawk. "This is going to hurt, a lot."

=H=H=

++Xander POV++

After finally making it to the trap door house, we both collapsed on the couch. What had started out as a quick way to gain a new weapon, had turned into a full-scale fight. Even worse, my back was killing me from dragging that huge tank through the streets.

We'd left it by the door for the time being, but I wanted to put it somewhere a lot less likely to catch a bullet. Right now though, I was more worried about how Cordy would take the whole strangling thing.

She turned to me with a smile. "We kicked their asses today, huh?" Cordelia said happily. "If we could find out where they're hiding, we could burn them out, and shoot them down."

I stared at her in disbelief, I sure as hell wasn't expecting that kind of response.

"Don't give me that look, just because I got a little up close with a Locust, doesn't mean we didn't do a good job overall."

I didn't know whether she was playing tough, or if she was just getting hardened to all the shit. Still, I had a nice little ice breaker. "So does this mean you don't need the present I got you?"

"When did you have time to grab a present?"

"Hey, that jewelery store wasn't always burning down around me, you know." I pulled a black, fuzzy box out of my pocket that was about six inches long. It had been really uncomfortable on the walk home, but it was worth it.

She opened it up with a gasp. I was really hoping that was a good thing, since I sure didn't feel like getting pegged in the head with it. "I hope you like it."

"Xander, how did you have time to get this?"

I grinned. "There was no locked door to saw through Cor, I just walked right in and started tearing the place apart, looking for something that was worthy of Queen C."

"Can you..." She handed it to me, before turned around and held up her hair.

I took it, and carefully brought it around her neck and did the clasp.

"She turned around with a big smile. "So, how does it look.

The stainless steel 'C' hung low between her thickly covered breasts. What had made me grab it though, was the clear tube that ran through it's center. The immulsion inside gave off a small, golden glow. "Perfect Cordy."

=H=H=

~~Cordelia POV~~

"Are you sure you want to mess with this stuff?" Xander asked, obviously concerned over my idea.

"I'll be fine Xander, this book gives exact directions on how to do it. Plus, most of the stuff I need is easy to find."

He ran his hand through his hair as he looked over the stuff on the small desk, before coming back to me. "Just be careful, okay?"

"I will, now come here you big dork." I held out my hand to him. When he took it, I pulled him in for a kiss. When we finally broke apart, he had a goofy smile on his face. I liked the fact he still got that look just from a kiss.

"That's a great way to end a disagreement."

"If you're good, I'll think about continuing it in the future." I told him, before shoving him in the shoulder. "Now scoot, you promised me you'd try to fix my new Lancer."

After some grumbling, he left and I sat down at the desk. Looking over all of the things scattered across it, I had a good feeling about this. Making homemade bombs with common household chemicals couldn't be that hard, right?

=H=H=

++Xander POV++

"Come on you mother-fucker." I cursed, as I tried to get the new receiver into Cordy's bayonet Lancer. Pulling out the damaged one, and getting a new one from a spare had been relatively easy.

The problem was, the trigger itself. It kept coming loose, and it was driving me nuts. I had all the tools, plus the book to show me how to do this, but it just wasn't working how I needed it to.

I set down the small screwdriver onto the desk I was using, and took a step back. I didn't expect to be an instant expert at this, but I didn't think the rifle would fight me every step of the way either.

Dropping back into a nearby chair, I opened up a bottle of snow-water and drank half of it down in one breath. I couldn't help but wonder if Dad was right. Would the only thing I'd ever be good at in life, was a class clown and a fry cook?

Thinking it over, did I really want that bastard to be right? I stood back up, and blew out a loud breath.

After that thought, it didn't take much, I sat back down at the desk and got back to work. This trigger wasn't going to beat me, and neither were my father's words.

=H=H=

~~Cordelia POV~~

As I looked over the survival book, I fingered my new necklace. It was absolutely gorgeous, Xander was the perfect boyfriend. Well, sometimes he was an idiot, but that was all guys in general, just some, more then others.

Right now, I was looking to make a simple fuse bomb, light the end and run like hell. Sure grenades were a lot safer, but it wasn't like we had an unlimited supply. Plus, the more experience I got with this stuff, but better the things I could make in the future.

I didn't have a whole lot of supplies, enough to make one or two. But most of the ingredients I could find in just about any house, I was just too tired to do it right now. Carefully, I mixed the ingredients into a small plastic container, and left just enough room for the fuse.

I couldn't wait to try these things out tomorrow.

=H=H=

++Xander POV++

I looked up from the desk as a knock came at the door, I didn't know why Cordelia bothered, it wasn't like we needed privacy for anything around here. "Yeah Cor."

She opened the door and came in, a smile on her face. "How's it going dork?"

"Not bad, I've got something for ya." I told her, as I turned toward around, Lancer in hand. I tossed it to her, and watched as she easily caught it.

"You fixed it, it works now?" She asked excitedly.

"Yeah, I had a little problem with the trigger, but I worked it out." I tried not to sound like I was bragging, I was just happy it had worked.

Cordy came forward, and enveloped me in a one-armed hug. "Thank you so much."

"How did things work out on your end?"

=H=H=

~~Cordelia POV~~

From the tone of Xander's voice, I knew he was trying to step lightly. I was betting things hadn't been easy for him, and he probably thought I'd had the same problem.

"Everything went smoothly, the Locust are going to have some nasty presents waiting for them, next time they try to ambush us." I told him as I stepped back.

"That's good to hear," He said, obviously happy for me.

Looking around to how he'd set his work room up, I could see a bunch of Lancer magazines stacked on a bed.

"I pre-loaded a bunch of those mags earlier, take a few, for the next time we go out."

"Thanks Xander, I've been looking forward to shooting this thing since I first stole it."

He grinned. "Glad I could help, but since you're going out anyways, can you do me a favor?"

I held up the assault rifle he'd just fixed. "Like you need to ask?"

"There's a gym bag filled with the ammo we didn't have a chance to load when I cleared out that house. Can you bring it up for me, it's got some parts I want to look at."

"Sure," I grabbed several magazines on my way out. "I'll grab us some dinner on the way back up." As I headed for my work room, I heard him say something in response.

"Now I know why I decided to start dating you."

I snorted at that. "Keep dreaming mister!"

=H=H=

After dropping off my newest baby, I headed downstairs and stared at the pile by the door. We'd brought a lot of stuff in here over the past few days, and being so exhausted all the time, we just hadn't had the time to sort it.

Going through several bags with no luck, I came across another book. Xander hadn't mentioned a fourth one, and I was wondering if he'd just forgotten about it in all the chaos. Opening it up, I was shocked at what I'd found.

Miranda's Journal - 28 Brume, 15 A.E.

Opening Thoughts -

Since this is a new journal, (I filled up the old one) I guess I'll let you know a little about me. When I'm old, I'll write my war memoirs, and I'll probably forget some of this stuff.

My name is Miranda Shannon Murphy, and I was born in 5 B.E. ...

This thing could give us answers to a ton of unanswered questions we still had about Mongo, and the COG in general. I sat down indian-style, in the middle of the foyer, and began to read.

=H=H=

END