After the Gentleman and their weird footman in the straight jackets had been destroyed following Kyle smashing the box from Faith's Slayer Dream and all the girls had screamed and made the creatures heads explode, which ew, and everyone had gotten cleaned up; they met up at the Magic Box to discuss the battle. And the military men with the weird blasters they'd seen capturing one of the footman creatures.
"Do you think they were really military?" Willow asked.
"I hope not. The last thing we need is the military poking its nose into Sunnydale." Giles said.
"If they are actually military then we've got a big problem on our hands." Xander said. "They're violating Posse Comitatus, the law that says that active duty military can't act on U. S. soil. Best the military is allowed to do and only with Congressional approval, is help with border control. National Guard can, when ordered by a governor, help civilian police with civilian matters. Riots or disasters, that kind of things. But worse, if they are active duty military, and their capturing demons, they're committing treason." Xander told them.
"How do you mean?" Giles asked, puzzled.
"How much does the Watchers Council know about WW Ii and Hitler's interest in the occult?" Xander asked.
"Well, we're aware that his interest led to finding out about the supernatural being real. We're aware that there was some experimentation in his labs and that some sort of organization, called the Initiative, shut it down. Beyond that, nothing."
"What I am about to tell you, cannot leave this room. The Watchers Council never finds about this, Giles, from any of us, ever. Swear to me. All of you." Xander said, as the Pack watched solemnly.
Puzzled, but willing to trust him, they did so.
"Towards the end of WW II, the allies learned that Hitler was capturing and experimenting with demons. His intent was to make military assets. As you're aware, the U.S. government has demon hunting squads in each branch of the military, except the Coast Guard. Uncle Rory was part of one such squad."
"The Initiative was formed to counter Hitler's attempt to make demons military assets. They were mostly an intelligence organization consisting of civilians, with some military and one Protectors Pack. An eight man, four mated pairs, group of mountain lion Navajo. That entire Pack gave their lives to shut down that operation. Over the course of several months, they took out over a hundred demons, that Hitler intended to unlease on both military and civilian targets. They left behind six children." Xander told them.
"We met some of those children." Tor said, quietly. "Along with their children and grandchildren. They gave us a different perspective on the choice to become a Protector. The very real possibility that we could die doing this. One reason both Protectors and human demon hunters out live Slayers, is that we don't hunt alone. Add to that, we hunt smart, constantly updating our knowledge and resources. But we still die. And often children are left behind. They told us, they were proud of their parents, but they missed them. It was a sobering reminder that this isn't a game. But it cemented my own decision to go through with it. I want people to have another day of living free."
Xander picked up the story. "After the war ended and The Treaty of Paris had been signed, the President then took a big gamble. He presented evidence of the supernatural and demons, as well as evidence of Hitler's intent and the Initiative's response. Some of them were already aware of the supernatural and had their own demon hunting squads. Some had even been aware of Hitler's actions. They'd countered his actions themselves. Some Axis Powers had also been aware, others hadn't. Anyway, the President proposed a second treaty, The Paris Accords, in which all signers agreed, no capturing, experimenting on or attempting to use demons as military assets. There were also special accomodations made for any demons that could pass as human, but didn't harm humans in anyway, to be allowed to voluntarily serve. What makes violating the Paris Accords treason, is that it's a Tyndareus Contract."
"What's a Tyndareus Contract?" Jesse asked.
"Tyndareus was the stepfather of Helen of Troy. He made all of her suitors sign an agreement that if Helen was ever kidnapped, something that had happened before, they'd all help to get her back. It was one of the reasons for the Trojan War. After Paris kidnapped her, the others formed an army to get her back. In the case of the Paris Accords, violating them means all the other signers will immediately move to economically embargo the violator. If these people really are using military personnel to capture or experiment on demons, or attempting to make them military assets, their risking the total economic collapse of the United States." Xander said, to the horror of those listening.
"What can we do now?" Jenny asked.
"Now I call Uncle Rory. He's kept in contact with his old squad members, especially Mark Abraham, who was the Colonel in charge of their squad. He's now a General and still with the demon hunting Operation. He, as well as the Command Staff, all the way up to the President, is aware of Protectors and of us. We're officially considered a civilian militia, given special status to operate in Sunnydale. Since most Protectors are from the Tribes, they can usually only operate on the reservations, unless given permission to hunt outside the borders of the reservations. Most have that permission, but still need to go though channels whenever it's necessary to go outside the reservations."
"I just hope we can stop this before they do something even more stupid." Heidi said.
It turned out to be a vain hope as the next day one of the non kill demons reported that this group had been capturing demons for a few weeks now and none had been seen since. Things got even worse though, when a week later Tor and Heidi failed to return from patrol one night, and those same non kill demons reported that they had been shot by men in fatigues using some kind of blaster.