Extraordinary

Author: MH <mh_7[at]juno.com>

SUMMARY: Challenge Response

TIME LINE: Up to S2 Buffy: the beginning of 'Surprise'

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the rights to the characters that I will be using.

RATING: NC-17

SPOILERS: S1-2 up to 'Surprise' on Buffy

CATEGORY: Action/Adventure/Horror

PAIRING: Xander/???

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story started out kinda slow, but it'll pick up pace around part 3 or so.


Chapter 1

Two hundred years ago a power hungry mad man established an elite combat unit for his own purposes and inadvertently created the greatest force against evil.

In times of great peril this 'league' is called upon to rise above insurmountable odds and safeguard humanity.

Now the year is 1998.

A new evil has arisen, threatening the very existence of humanity.

And the time has come once again for those extraordinary individuals to band together in order to combat this threat and save the world.

Soon the battle for humanity will begin...

*****

Around the world, everyone that knew about vampires, demons, and other supernatural forces, felt a cold shiver run down their spines as they felt a strong unknown being force its way into this dimension from a hell dimension.

But, as of yet, they had no idea who or what it could be.

This being appeared in the desert a few miles away from Las Vegas, Nevada. It was dressed in shreds of cloth, that was somehow able to cover its body. It had wings that were oily black, no light seemed to reflect off it. Its long shoulder-length hair and eyes were of the same lifeless black. But with very pale white skin.

A Dark Angel.

It was here to accomplish a single mission.

To send the world to hell.

It shot into the night sky towards the closest place where he felt the essence of human lives.

It looked down at the humans as they went on their way, unknown to them that this would be their last day alive.

It shot down Hellfire, killing the 20,000 inhabitants, burning the city to the ground.

It landed in the rubble, concentrating on a powerful spell, that would summon those who would serve his master well.

The wind picked up, as smoke swirled around the sky, and dark souls from around the world were being magically snatched away from where they were and deposited here around him.

As soon as they appeared, chaos erupted, as they traded threats as to how they would maim or devour the one who was responsible.

"SILENCE," Its voice boomed.

All of the gathered, had stopped their threats, were staring at It in awe of the power that seemed to be flowing from its body.

"I HAVE GATHERED YOU ALL HERE FOR ONE REASON," It said, "TO SERVE MY MASTER AND BRING HELL INTO THIS WORLD."

*****

Angelus was back, Buffy was a total reck, and they still had to worry about Spike, Drusilla, and the Judge.

This world was going to hell, Xander knew it. All of Giles' books with info on the Judge had all said "no weapon forged by man" could destroy it.

Xander walked home from school that day, having nothing to do, and not wanting to stay there longer than he had to. And like always, he grabbed the mail, knowing well enough that his parents would be too drunk or lazy to get it themselves.

No one seemed to know or care about Xander's personal life. The things that were going on in his house. It definitely wasn't his home. Just a place he lived in until he had enough money to get his own place. A real place to call home.

Xander walked into the house, headed straight up the stairs, and right into his room, closing and locking it behind him.

Bills, bills, junk, bills... huh. Something for him?

It was a plain white envelope, nothing out of the ordinary, addressed to him. But it had no return address, so he had no idea who could have sent it to him. He opened the letter, and read it. It's not like it could be anything bad, right?

"To Alexander LaVelle..." Xander stuttered, "great, another person that knows my damn middle name."

"...Harris," Xander continued, "It is of the utmost importance... yeah, right ...that you attend a meeting I have set up for the 19th of January, 1998. This meeting involves Angelus' whereabouts."

That last part made up his mind. If Angelus wasn't in Sunnydale anymore, and this person that sent him the letter knew where he was, Xander had to do whatever he could to stop the now evil vampire.

Even if it meant not telling Buffy.

Xander looked over at his calendar.

"Today's the 19th," he confirmed.

"At exactly 9:00 pm on the dot," Xander read on, "everything will be explained to you when you arrive."

They at least gave him an address, which happened to be in LA.

A very cryptic letter, arrives in the mail for him, and he was getting a very bad vibe from it.

'This can not be good,' Xander thought, 'getting the letter on the very day this person wants to meet?'

It was most likely cause Deadboy was so cryptic, that he didn't like the vibe he was getting from reading the letter.

Xander left his room, with the letter in his pocket, and yelled out to his parents that he would be out for a while.

"Be careful," he heard his dad yell back.

"Both of y'all shut up, I'm trying to watch the tv in here," he heard the screech of a banshee. Who wasn't really a banshee, but his mother.

Xander didn't have a great relationship with his mother, the only thing he had in common with her was their blood, but at least his dad made living with her a little more bearable.

But his family problems could wait, right now he had to find and stop Angelus. Deadboy lost his soul, tried to kill Willow, and now he wasn't even in Sunnydale.

Angel was bad news, and just because it had come out of his mouth, his two best friends had chalked it up to jealousy.

How could he expect vamps and demons to take him seriously if his own friends didn't.

At least he knew he wasn't the only one to have friend's like Buffy and Willow, considering whoever came up with the "with friend's like these, who needs enemies" saying.

Xander knew he couldn't tell anybody about the letter, they'd order him not to go, to disregard the letter and to throw it away.

So he walked to the bus station without telling his friend's that he was going to LA.

Xander waited in line to buy his ticket to LA. Luckily, he didn't have to wait long.

"What'll it be?" asked the elderly man that sat behind the counter.

"One ticket," Xander replied, "to Los Angeles."

"It'll be twenty-five dollars," the elderly man said.

Xander gave the amount to the teller, and waited patiently for the man to give him his ticket.

"There you go," said the elderly man as he gave Xander his bus ticket.

Xander had nothing to do, so he got on the bus, and waited till he left Sunnydale, and on his way to LA.

Chapter 2

Xander stood deathly still.

It was his first time away from the Hellmouth, and it felt eerily frightening.

And to make matters worse, he had no idea where to find this address.

So he was about to ask one of the booth venders for help, when someone bumped into him.

"Sorry," an over weight man apologized.

"Can I ask you a question?" Xander called out, before the man could leave.

"Sure," the man replied, as he turned to face the young man.

"Do you think you can give me directions to this address?" Xander asked.

He handed the man a piece of paper with the address written on it.

"Yeah I know where it is," the man answered, "it's just a few blocks away from here. When you go outside, just turn left, and go down about five - six blocks. It's a big building, a very old building, a public library actually."

"Thanks," Xander thanked the helpful man.

"No problem," the man replied, as he walked away.

Xander turned and left for his destination.

*****

Xander made his way to the public library, taking in the few sights of his very first time in LA. There wasn't much, a donut shop, a McDonald's, three gas station. Very ordinary things, things that you would see in every city in the US. But to Xander they all appeared to be shiny and new.

But as soon as he reached the library, he got serious, whoever wanted to meet with him should be prepared to answer the many questions that he had.

He entered the library, and was hit by another problem, who in the hell was he supposed to meet with.

"Xander Harris?" Xander heard someone ask.

He turned to see a man with a worse sense of dress than he had.

'Man, Cordy's really rubbing off on me, if even I noticed this,' Xander thought.

"Who's asking?" Xander replied, trying to sound as if he wasn't a little wigged out about all of this.

"The man you're here to meet," the man in a brown leather jacket and a fedora hat answered, "name's Whistler."

"So Whist," Xander began, "what's so important that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Might I suggest that we go somewhere more private before we talk?" Whistler replied.

"And why's that?" Xander asked.

"Because our little talk has to do with 'Things that go bump in the night'," Whistler answered.

"Alright," Xander gave in.

He'd only been fighting vampires and demons for less than two years, but he knew a lot of people would think he was crazy if he talked about it in pubic.

Xander let this Whistler guy lead him into a private room in the library's basement, he sat down in one of the many chairs that was in the room.

Before Xander could ask his question, another man entered the room.

"The lady at the front desk told me to come down here," he said.

"Mr. Williams," Whistler greeted the new man, "just on time."

"What's this all about?" Mr. Williams asked.

"I'll answer all of your questions as soon as the others get here," Whistler replied.

"How long will that take?" they heard a voice call out, but couldn't see the man that had asked the question.

"Ahh, Mr. Skinner," Whistler announced, "it's good of you to show up on time."

"Who in the hell are you talking to?" Williams asked.

"Me," the voice called out, "that's who."

A book floated off of the table, and fell right back down.

"If you would be so kind as to show yourself to this two guys here," Whistler told the invisible man.

"Well, if you insist," the voice of Skinner floated through the air.

What they saw freaked out the two men, Xander and Ash, far more than anything they had ever witnessed before. A black leather trench coat floated off of the chair it was on and seemed to move on it's own accord. The flat fabric began to fill in as if someone was putting it on.

Next came the hat, as it sat, perched on the invisible man's head.

"The name's Rodney Skinner," Skinner announced, he pulled out a thin metal cylinder object from his coat pocket, "Thief extraordinaire. I was named after me great-great-grand-pappy."

He dipped his fingers into the white powder, before rubbing it into his face.

But before he could continue, another person stepped foot into the room. But unlike the other people in the room, this person was most definitely female.

She had a weird life, no doubt. Her whole family was weird. But the sight of the black trench coat,the hat, and the white face floating in mid air, really freaked her out. She hid it very well.

"So," she said, uncertainly, "no manners at all. And my dad kept telling me that chivalry was still alive."

Chapter 3

Soon enough every person that was summoned to this meeting had arrived. But the host himself had yet to tell them the reason for this 'urgent meeting'.

No one seemed to be very trusting of each other.

"Would you all just shut the hell up," Whistler yelled at the group.

Xander stood by himself in a corner, quitely studying the other occupants that were in the room with him.

Most of the occupants turned to stare at the balance demon.

"First I'll introduce everybody to each other," Whistler began, "then I'll tell you why I have sent for you all to come here."

Everyone finally calmed down for Whistler to continue.

Lucian, a very old and powerful lycan, werewolf.

A few eyebrows quirked in disbelief, but no one said anything.

Jenny Calendar, or "Janna Kalderash", a gypsy that belonged to the clan that was responsible for Angel having a soul.

Ashley J. Williams...

Xander coughed, covering up the laugh that came out when Ash's full name was revealed, Ash glared at Xander for laughing at his name.

Ash, protector of the Necronomicon, the book of the dead. The book had many blood incantations and rituals. Quite a few spells contained within the book could easily destroy the world.

Lara Croft, a famous tomb raider, her skills would be most useful in this fight to come.

Jessie O'Connell, daughter of Alex O'Connell, son of Rick and Evie O'Connell, and a member of the Medjai. Desert people that were committed to the protection and confinement of Imhotep.

Rodney Skinner, invisible man that was name after his great-great-grandfather, and the only person alive with the knowledge of the invisible formula that was passed down the family blood line.

Charles Gunn, a demon hunter from LA, good at both the hack-n-slash and the planning.

Halfrek, a vengeance demon. She agreed to help, because if there were no more life on this planet, who in the hell would she grant wishes to.

And finally, Alexander LaVelle Harris...

"Hey," Xander snapped.

The entire room broke out in evil smirks at the knowledge of knowing Xander's hated middle name.

Xander Harris, White Knight extraordinaire.

Xander glared when he heard Whistler call him a 'White Knight.'

"As we speak," Whistler began, walking towards a tv, "this is happening in San Francisco."

The tv came to life, Whistler didn't even come close enough to touch it, something that everyone noticed.

The scene showed the Golden Gate Bridge. It looked as if it were already night time, but it couldn't be since it wasn't even noon yet in LA.

A large group of humans and demons stood in the middle of the bridge holding off the cops and the army. Several cars were destroyed, with many more being destroyed as shots were fired, and magic was used.

"Oh, great," Xander said, "the three stooges."

Everyone looked at him wondering what had caused his outburst. The scene on the tv zoomed into three particular people with deformed faces.

"The guy with the big forehead is Angel," Xander explained, "but I call him 'Deadboy' just to annoy him. The guy in the duster is Spike. And the crazy bitch beside them is Drusilla. Vampires."

Several people in the room stared in horror as the three vampires bit into a soldier, draining him dry.

The scene changed again, showing a different person.

"Imhotep," Jessie said, "he was a holy priest a long time ago, in ancient Egypt. He killed his pharaoh, because he fell in love with the pharaoh's mistresses. The men in the red sashes are enemies of the medjai."

"And this isn't even the bad part," Whistler said.

The occupants in the room were about to ask him what he meant, when the scene on the tv changed yet again. Underneath the bridge was a man floating in the air by the help of his large black wings, holding a book that only one person in that library basement knew what it was.

"The Necronomicon," Ash said.

He had hoped never to come across that book again. But it looked like luck just wasn't on his side.

The others turned to him, waiting for him to give them the info on this book. Ash seeing that they were waiting for an explanation, gave them one.

"The Necronomicon is the book of the dead," Ash began, "it's a book that is made of human flesh, and written in human blood..."

The others paled at what they had just heard.

"We're going to have to cut this little chit-chat short," Whistler interrupted, "and get our little merry band on the road, so we can stop the bad guys from destroying the world. Grab a hold of someone and lets go."

They all felt a little weird, holding hands, as they let Whistler lead them. They had formed a 'V' as Whistler walked to one of the darker corners of the room, and seemed to have melted into the darkness, the others disappeared from the room as well.

In that moment, the librarian entered the basement room.

"I came down to see if... any... body... ne... needed... any...thing," Fred stuttered to a stop, "where did they go?"

With more important matters to attend to, Winifred Burkle left the basement, had headed off to do her job.

TBC…