Lara Croft pursed her lips as she sank back into her plush armchair her eyebrows raised in curiosity. She had just come back home from riding to find a very unwelcome 'visitor' waiting for her. Not that she had anything against the blonde slayer, as such, but with her came memories of a dark haired betrayer of her heart.
"What can I do for you?" Lara asked after a moment of inner contemplation.
Buffy shifted from one foot to the other nervously, no one knew she was here everybody thought she was in LA, Dawn was staying with Giles and Willow was helping him. The only person who may have suspected something was awry was Xander, and he…didn't really care about anything much anymore, which was the reason for her trip to the UK. To see the one time holder of his heart, the one woman who possibly knew Xander better than any other person on the planet, including even her.
"We need to talk" Buffy said finally.
"I see you've been resurrected," Lara put in; She had a feeling she knew where this conversation was heading and didn't want to deal with it. Not after Africa.
"Yes, thanks for the Urn. It helped a lot, apparently" Buffy said with a small half smile.
"I see that the great god Osiris must have been feeling unusually generous that day" Lara said a half smile on her face.
"I don't think Willow would have taken no for an answer." Buffy told her with a smile of her own.
"Then she really must be much more powerful than I remember, I hope that she has also learned control" Lara said her blue eyes fixed on the slayers green hazel ones.
"She has, but that's not why I'm here", There was silence for a moment until Buffy got back to the point, "It's about Xander"
"Hillary, call Miss Summers a taxi" Lara said shifting her boots off of her highly polished and priced desk and shuffling papers in a display that she hoped would cover her feelings.
Hillary detached from the wall just by the door, hiding in almost plain sight ready and waiting for Lara's call, "Miss Summers…" he paused and smiled slightly, "You're a Taxi," he said and promptly walked out of the room. Leaving Lara to glare at his back and then the door. She was seriously toying with the idea of firing her manservant when Buffy derailed her thoughts.
"What happened in Egypt?" Buffy suddenly asked, her entire reason for being there.
"Sorry… What?" Lara said slightly wrong footed by Buffy's sudden bluntness.
"Egypt, what the hell happened there?" Buffy repeated and clarified, she had to know, she had to know what had effected her best male friend so she could possibly fix it, help him as he had always helped her.
Lara took a deep breath and studied the blonde slayer for a moment. Death hadn't been cruel to her, she still looked as perky and attractive as she had back when she had first met them all. There was a certain spark there now, that wasn't before, maturity, possibly, the trials of being a slayer would make anyone grow up fast, and with her mother dying as she had… Buffy had become the mom, as the Americans like to put it. Now, she was here in England asking about the adventure that forked off from that simple prayer bowl, why? That was certainly a good question, "Did not Xander tell you this himself?" Lara asked finally.
"Xander doesn't do the talkie, talkie thing so much anymore" Buffy said with a sad frown. It was true, in the year since he had been back in the dale, he had been introverted, quiet. He wasn't totally stand offish, or anything, he just wasn't quite Xander. Buffy had been led to believe on her return, (resurrection), that Lara had taken him on a little adventure to 'Get That Sparkle Back'. He did have it, it was just a little too muted for Buffy's liking.
An almost movie reel like flood of memories hit Lara, torturing her of with images of Xander and her back in 1925 as well as their adventure together in America. It was too much for the daughter of Lord Croft and she reacted as she did now, anger, "I see, this is my problem; why?" she asked in a tone of voice that stated clearly that she didn't want to continue this conversation.
"I didn't say it was" Buffy said her temper flaring, "I just want to know what the hell happened in Egypt!" she said her hackles rising and the knowledge that she had hit a nerve did nothing to dampen her curiosity, in fact quite the opposite.
Lara let out a long breath, "Not much, got sucked back in time and fought an ancient and powerful priest by the name of Imhotep. All in a days work really!" Lara said with a superior smile.
Xander Harris's Apartment
Xander sat staring at the blank screen, well not blank. There were icons, a mouse pointer colorful buttons to press and there it was the cursor… blinking at him mockingly. Apart from that, there was NOT his next page turning, block-busting action packed adventure that his publisher wanted. There was in fact nothing, zip, nadda.
A knock at the door stilled his attempt to pick the monitor up and throw it out of the window. "Coming" he called out as the knock came again.
He walked over to the door and pulled it open. The sight there made his heart freeze for a moment, until a warm smile spread across his face. That was, until the slap came.
WHACK! Her hand slashed across his face in a surprisingly hard and stinging blow.
"You stupid, stupid man" Evie admonished him as she walked in; sweeping past him as he held a hand up to the angry red hand print on his face.
"Hi Evie, nice to see you" he said in a mocking voice.
"Oh, don't you mess with me young man" she said her dark eyes spitting fire, "A year!"
"365 days, 50 odd weeks and a load of hours, what of it"
"Oh quite the wit aren't you!" Evie spat, "Or should that be half"
"Is there a point to this? Or did you just come all the way from America just to insult me?" Xander said taking a deep breath.
"You utter bastard, you know what you did don't you?"
"Not at this current moment in time," Xander commented wryly.
"I've waited a year, a whole year to see if you got your arrogant, stubborn American head out of your bum, to no avail. Now, Lara is a closed off from everyone, even Hillary and Bryce can't get through to her. Why, what possessed you to hurt her that way. If only I'd have known before I would never have bothered with you!"
Xander winced, visibly, "Look Evie. Things aren't always what they seem" he tried.
Evie's eyes spat fire, "No kidding, that note, do you remember what you put in that damn note?"
"Look after Lara for me" Xander said reading the note from the inside of his eyelids as if it was yesterday that it was written.
"So I am, and have for nearly thirty years. But YOU" she said prodding him in the chest, "Undid all my hard work" she snapped her fingers, "Just like that"
"Evie, I promise you…" he was cut off.
"Now she's just got back from Africa, where she had to kill a man that maybe, just maybe she could have loved, because you made her cold enough to do it"
"Now hang on!" Xander began.
"Shut up!" Evie said poking him again, "I'm not finished with you, yet!"
"Africa?" Xander said suddenly frowning, then his face cleared and he smiled, "Then she did it," he said, mostly to himself.
"Did what?"
"The Cradle of Life, she kept it safe" Xander said his eyes dark.
"How…" Evie trailed off, only she and a select few knew anything about that particular adventure and no one that Xander had any contact with.
Xander smiled at her and his dark eyes nailed her to the spot for a long moment. "I think it's time you and I had a little chat"
Buffy blinked, "Sorry, what?"
"He really didn't tell you anything?" Lara asked with an amused smile.
"No, well, I mean everything was kinda confused there for a while, with me coming back from the dead and all. When I finally did ask him he just shut me out," Buffy said not even trying to hide the hurt in her eyes.
Lara regarded her over fingers set into a steeple, "I still don't see what this has to do with me?"
Buffy looked at her then leant forward very slowly so that she was resting her hands on the oak desk and staring Lara straight in the eyes, "What. Happened. In. Egypt?" She once again asked, this time with serious menace in her tone.
Lara's generous lips curled into a smirk, "Just as I said"
"What happened to Xander specifically, something that would change the man, I Know we both Love into what he is now"
"I do not Love him" Lara said her eyes flashing in anger.
Buffy just smirked at her and leaned back away from the now enraged Lara, "I think the lady doth protest too much" she said quoting Giles.
Lara sat back and calmed her breathing, then her eyes lost their focus as she ran over the painful events of Egypt in 1925 "I'm not entirely sure what it is you're looking for?"
"Anything" Buffy said her face intent
"Very well, for the most part things were going well, we had some fun as before then, suddenly he was different"
"When?" Buffy asked eagerly.
Lara winced slightly as the memories over ran her mind; "After he met the builder," she said her face suddenly shifting into a puzzled frown. She had been too hurt to put two and two together before now; something WAS a little off about that situation.
"Builder? What builder?"
"He didn't even tell you that?" Lara asked shocked, "Xander told me he met the man who built the Cavern in the Grand Canyon"
Buffy slumped into a nearby chair, "Well Shit!"
"Then I suggest you start talking young man!" Evie said as she took a seat.
Xander let out a sigh running a hand down his suddenly tired face, "You remember that you all thought I was dead"
Evie smiled slightly, "All except Rick"
Xander's eyebrows rose, "Really?"
Evie nodded, "He never did believe that you'd been caught in the City of the Dead. I asked him why and he just said that he wouldn't have"
Xander smiled widely, "That's possibly the nicest thing I've ever had said about me"
"It's a shame he was wrong, you're nothing like my Rick" Evie said her eyes flashing again.
"Look, Evelyn, it's like this. I found out that Lara needed to be able to do something, and that if I was there it wouldn't happen. It's that fucking simple, and I did it because yet again, the fucking world needed a savior, and to get one it needed a martyr"
"The Cradle" Evie said her voice shocked, "How?" then her face cleared, "The Builder"
"The Builder, Alexdrious, that old bastard" Xander said with no real menace behind his words, "Told me a lot of stuff, most to prove he wasn't full of shit, that was among them"
"Why couldn't you have gone along as well?"
"Because I would've wanted to drag that damn box outta there and Lara wouldn't have stopped ME" Xander said looking intently into Evie's eyes, "Before you ask, why, because it also holds the key to closing the hellmouth"
Evie's mouth dropped, "What…"
Xander nodded, "Yeah I know, you see that box holds the key to a lot of things, life, death, the after life!" he smiled grimly, "Yeah, now you're getting it" he said his eyes as dark as his tone of voice, "So, you see I had to, because if I'd have opened the box, it all would have been released"
"Oh drat"
Xander nodded again then ran a hand down his tired face, after it had passed a new expression bloomed on his face, "Fuck!"
"Language Xander!" Evie admonished him, "I let you get away with it before…"
"Shut up Evie, I'm thinking" Xander cut her off with a half smile.
Evie's eyes widened, "Well I never"
"Evie" Xander snapped, "Look, I've just realized something, I'm such a doofus. Its time I got going so I'm afraid its time for you to go"
"Xander?" Evie said in a small hurt voice.
Xander looked at her for a moment, "I'm sorry Evie, but the time has finally come for action once again, and I can't waste any of it on decisions I've already made"
"You love her Xander!" Evie said, gaining a little of her old fire back, "She loves you also"
"I know" Xander said turning away from her and walking into his room.
"Then do something about it" Evie said following him.
Xander reached into his closet and pulled out a suitcase and started to throw things into it. "It's a little late for that don't you think?" he said as he pulled open a drawer and pulled out a matching set of chrome pistols. He looked at them for a long moment and then stuffed them into the shoulder holster he also retrieved. Then he reached into the drawer again and pulled out what looked to be three sticks.
He stood fully upright and let go of two pieces; there was a clack, clack, and click as his walking cane sprang open to its full length. He twirled it in his fingers for a moment before whipping it around his body and accelerating its speed. The hard wood end of the cane WHACKED into a wooden panel smashing it inwards.
Evie smiled slightly, "I had thought you'd lost that"
Xander walked over to the panel and ripped out the pieces of wood, "Lose this, never!" he said with emotion filled words. "I'd rather die" he reached in as far as he was able to the now gaping hole in his wall.
"Xander, dear, what are you doing" Evie asked in complete confuddlement.
He smirked into the wall, "You might not want to see this Evie"
"Why on earth not?"
Xander smiled and retrieved his arm, "Because I'm going to have to tie you up if you do"
"Well, really!" Evie said, then her eyes widened, "Oh dear god, Xander what the hell do you think you're going to do with that?"
Xander hefted the item his eyes dark and inwardly facing. Then he turned and walked towards Evie with no emotion in his eyes whatsoever.
"Xander, now you stop this, this instant, do you he…" Evie sagged as Xander with great care used a deft movement of his hand using a very exact pressure point to render her unconscious.
"I'm sorry Evie, but I couldn't let you try to stop me" Xander said then tossed the object he had retrieved from his wall onto his suitcase. Where the tear of Imhotep glinted in the light of the overhead spots.
Lara leaned even further back into her chair and propped her feet back up on the expensive desk, "You're still here?" she said, asked, with a slightly annoyed tone.
Buffy's eyes darkened, "You know, I used to think you were a snotty bitch before, but you're off the chart now. Why are you being such a bitch?"
"You come into MY home…"
"Just... cut to the chase, Lady Croft" Buffy said her eyes flashing with annoyance, "I'm trying to get to the bottom of why a friend has been acting so damn weird for the last year, and now I find you are acting weird… …er as well. What gives?"
Lara glared up into the diminutive blondes green hazel glare, "Is it true, did you meet him in the bronze?" she asked out of the blue.
Buffy just nodded, "I did, I remember it well, Mr. Williams killed him, just for a moment and built the bridge I used to help him"
"Why?"
Buffy blushed slightly, "It's Xander"
"Why?" Lara pressed.
"You know why, I think you feel the same way"
"I think you're insane if you think I love THAT, THAT Bastard!"
"Hey" Buffy said surprised, "What the hell happened between you two?"
"That really is none of your business now is it?"
"I'm making it my business" Buffy said daring the elder woman to make something of it, "He hurt you?" she said in a moment of sudden insight.
Lara laughed, "Please"
"He really, hurt you. I know that look Lara, I've had it myself."
"I really…"
"When Angel left me to go to LA, I was broken, a wreck. I had that look in the mirror. He left despite the fact I loved him, I thought that maybe he didn't love me as much as I loved him. I was wrong as it turned out. What happened to make you think that Xander doesn't love you? Because I KNOW, like no other could, that Xander loves you," Buffy said passionately.
"I…" Lara trailed off her mental and emotional shields back in place.
Just then Hillary bursting into the room with a cordless phone in his hand cut off any further reply, "Lara" he called out.
"What is it, Hillary?" Lara asked, worried due to his somewhat rude entrance.
"It's Lady O'Connell, you had better talk to her," he said throwing the phone at her.
Lara listened on the phone for a second, "HE DID WHAT!" her face contorted into rage then the voice on the other end continued talking and her face dissolved into shock, "He's got WHAT?"
Xander walked down the steps into the parking garage lugging his case and shifting his cane from hand to hand. He felt bad for knocking out Evie like that, but he hadn't hit her that hard having used a technique he had picked up in his martial studies.
He knew that she wouldn't expect it, according to Alexdrious; this was the first time this had ever happened or would happen, or will be… Xander groaned his head aching and nose figuratively bleeding from the time travel thoughts already.
"Hello" a pleasantly English voice loomed out at him from the darkness of the Parking Garage.
Xander turned around and swore softly to himself, "You're dead," he said finally.
"I know, I am rather, all thanks to your treachery" Mr. Powers said as he walked out of the shadows.
"Ok, so what Mojo's brought your ghost to piss me off then?" Xander said.
"No Mojo"
Xander's hand whipped out of his pocket and tossed a quarter…right through Mr Powers, "The First" he spat.
The handsome visage of Mr. Powers morphed into the more attractive visage of Jenny Calendar, "Hello Xander; Its nice to see you again"
"Shit, don't you ever learn?" Xander asked with a faintly annoyed glare.
The first in Jenny Calendar's body sashayed across to Xander with a seductive roll to her hips, "What, aren't you pleased to see me?"
"If you really were Miss Calendar I'd be ecstatic"
"Who's to say I'm not?" Miss Calendar said licking her lips and pouting sexily at him running a finger down her chin trying to make Xander's eyes follow the motion.
It didn't work, he glared into the Firsts Eyes, "I am" Xander said flatly, "Your tricks won't work on me, so just go away, I'm late for a meeting"
"Really, do you need a case for that?" The first asked shifting into Buffy's form, "Don't ya wanna stay, have some fun?"
"No, not really" Xander said triggering the lock on his sports car and tossing his case in the boot. He calmly pulled out one of his chrome pistols and took a careful bead on Buffy/First's head. Without a further thought he caressed the trigger and sent a slug flying straight through the non-corporeal body of the first and into a parked car obliterating its windshield. The car's alarm system wailed out in protest.
Xander shrugged and put away the deadly pistol before turning his back on the annoyed form of Buffy, "It was worth a try" he tossed over his shoulder and slipped into the Classic Sports Car.
Then the First watched in annoyed silence as the Shelby Cobra growl out of the parking garage to the background of a car alarm siren.
"I'll get you yet Harris" the First growled before a sound like a thousand banshees sounded and it was gone in a puff of black smoke.
Xander let the hammer fall, the car gaining speed as he left his old life behind him and accelerated out towards LA, where he had a little business to conduct before he pushed onwards.
Cordelia buffed her nails with, a nail buffer, and blew a bored breath into the air. Her eyes turned balefully towards the staircase, where she knew Angel would be resting upstairs, completely oblivious to the boredom she was feeling. She was in half a mind to go up there and wake the undead Irish guy up, but held off knowing that whilst she was bored he was much worse.
She let out a small growl.
"Anyone ever tell you that's REALLY sexy?" a familiar voice said from the doorway.
"Xander!" she said with a happy smile, "I'm so very happy to see you today"
Xander blinked, "Why?" he asked in a surprised voice a slight smile creasing his lips.
"I'm bored," Cordelia admitted with a small smile that was still dazzling, "So whatcha doing here?"
Xander chuckled slightly, "I've missed you too Cordy"
Cordelia shrugged and walked around the reception desk to find Xander's eyes tracing across her form and a slight smile crossing his otherwise dark countenance, "What?" she asked.
Xander tossed her a sexy half smile, "Just thinking"
"Well, use the big head, the little head will just get you in trouble" she said with a slightly teasing and half flirtatious smile.
Xander met her eyes and smiled, "Ain't that the truth, look Cordy. I've got a job for you and curly"
"Curly?"
"Hey Mo!" Xander said waving his hand around.
Cordelia's face creased in a frown, "What is your trauma?"
Xander let out a sigh, "You've missed out on all the classics Cor"
"What about this job, geek" Cordy shot at him with her usual lack of venom despite the words.
"Well, Harpy, I want you and Curly to find something for me. It's in LA, but other than that I don't know" Xander said.
"Scooby business, what's wrong princess Buffy the risen not bothering to go out of Sunnydale at all now?"
Xander rolled his eyes, "You've got no reason to be jealous of Buffy"
"Who said I'm jealous?" Cordy asked with a haughty expression her eyes flashing slightly.
Xander just cocked an eyebrow at her, "Here" he said passing her a sheet, "Those are all the details I've got, Payment to your accounts have already been made, once you find it, give it to Giles he'll know what to do with it" he told her and turned away.
"Hey!"
Xander turned back to find Cordy glaring at him, "What?"
"Don't I get a hug anymore?" she asked with a twinkle in her eye.
Xander smiled at her and walked back to engulf her in a very large hug.
Lara put the phone down with fire dancing in her eyes, "He's dead!" she stated forgetting her present company.
"Who?" Buffy asked
"Xander, he's a dead man walking, it's not bad enough he hurts me, he then hits an old lady"
"Old Lady, hit, Xander?"
"No Xander, hit, Old Lady" Lara shot back mockingly.
"No, there must be a mistake" Buffy said uncomprehendingly, "He'd never do something like that"
"Oh, he would" Lara said without a moments doubt, "Considering he's got the Tear Of Imhotep, he'd have to otherwise Evie would've strung him up"
"The what of who?"
Lara let out an annoyed breath, "It doesn't matter" she said.
"It does, Hey where you going?" Buffy said as Lara turned to leave.
"After Xander"
"Why?"
"He hit Evie"
"Evie, no way"
"You know her?"
"Of course, he and she go way back, she used to visit him, although not for the last year or so"
Lara shook her head, "Something fishy is going on here" she said tapping her noise, "I can damn well smell it"
Buffy's lips pursed, "Is it old fish then?" she said with fake innocence.
Lara just glared at her.
"No!"
"Yes"
"No!"
"Yes"
"No!"
"Yes"
"No!"
"Yes"
"Oh for..." Lara said finally breaking the chain, "I said no and that's all there is to it"
"No, that is not all there is to it. Xander is my friend, I will go with you to find him"
"He is in possession of a very powerful artifact that has the ability to warp time and space, if my studies are accurate. It is also said that the Tear Of Imhotep could bring about the end of time. Now, considering who has it, I think we need to worry and you will just slow me down"
Buffy glared harder, "Xander must have a reason"
"Silly little cow" Lara said moving to push past the small blonde.
Buffy blocked Lara's arm and sent her back with a simple palm push, "If I'm not going, nor are you little miss English bitch; milady"
Lara's eyes flashed and she launched a side thrust kick at the small blonde. Who moved a fraction to the side and pushed Lara's leg away causing the larger woman to spin on the spot as she followed up with a roundhouse punch that Buffy moved aside with a wave of her hand.
"Move aside, little girl"
Buffy smiled, "You know, I've heard that before by much scarier people than you milady"
Lara countered with a combination kick, leg sweep, punch that failed after the sweep. Her kick made contact with the really hard form of the slayer almost sending her over herself but she continued with the leg sweep that Buffy neatly jumped over. Thus leaving no target to hit.
Buffy's hand whipped out and tapped Lara on the nose, with surprising gentleness but also with and incredible display of speed and control.
Lara growled and moved back on the attack. Buffy countered every blow before finally letting out another simple palm thrust that sent Lara slamming against her library wall.
"Damn it, I don't have time for this" Lara said pulling out a pistol from the small of her back and pointing it at the slayer.
Buffy's eyes narrowed and then she MOVED. The next thing Lara knew she was looking up at the slender slayer and into the barrel of her own gun, "I'm coming"
Lara actually smiled genuinely and nodded, "Very well," As far as she was concerned anyone who could do that to her, that FAST, could definitely keep up.
Buffy smiled slightly and then just nodded.
Xander let go of Cordelia and cupped her face in his hand before giving her a very warm smile, kissing her gently and backing away. He reached the door before finally stepping into the hot LA afternoon.
Cordelia watched him go with a growing feeling of apprehension her face etched with worry, "ANGEL!" she shouted out as loudly as she could and turned and ran towards his room.
Xander walked over to his cobra and hopped over the door and landed in the seat with a small smile that slipped into a slightly pained expression. Then with a roar of powerful horses and the squeal of burning rubber he set off into the sun.
A low-slung sports model slipped into the road behind him and Xander's eyes flicked to his rear view. A grim smile crossed his face as he recognized the driver.
"I wondered where you were; but damn it did you have to turn up NOW?" Xander said reaching for his gear stick and shifting the car into a better torque and letting rip with the juice. The small car leapt forward and Xander's attention switched to the front of his car, where the trouble would be if he didn't keep close watch on the road.
In response the sport scar behind him sped up as well. This time Xander didn't have the advantage of more power, as his little Cobra was no match for a 911. Back in Oxford things had been a little different.
"Alright then, Nat wants to play" Xander said with a feral smile on his face he suddenly turned the car down one of the many side streets in the district.
Papers exploded upwards, kicked up by the passing car as it bombed down the slender alleyway increasing in speed at a suicidal rate. The growl of the powerful American Sports car bouncing off of the tall buildings either side as the grunting 911 steamed along behind it.
Xander's eyes flicked up to the wing mirror, there wasn't even a flicker of fear as he glared at the large burly form of Mr. Williams glaring right back at him as the 911 pulled in close to the Shelby. Xander's hands seemed to blur around the cockpit of the slender car as he down shifted, pulled the hand brake and pulled into the skid, released the hand brake, up shifted and disappeared up another side alley. Mr. Williams had no chance to keep up with the nimble car, as it seemed to take a 90-degree turn without loosing speed. The 911, German sports flew on down the straight alley as it's driver growled in frustrated anger.
"It's not bad enough he disappeared in Egypt and I lost him for an ENTIRE YEAR!" Mr. Williams screamed out, "But now he's FUCKING TRON!"
Xander glanced back into his rear-view and smirked as he slowed down his little sports car and slipped back onto a main street with a slight smile still curling his lips.
After several hours driving he finally pulled into the docks area and slipped out of his car and walked into a warehouse. As he did so he pulled out his cane and let it drop, the high-tech stick clicked out into its rigid form Xander then walked with it across the warehouse and over to the small dirty looking office.
Xander's neck prickled with a strange sense that he was being watched so he glanced up and around him keeping a more wary eye out for danger. The people he had come to see were not the nicest on the planet.
"Chao Lee" Xander called out in a perfect English accent as he reached the doorway not stepping inside, wanting to keep as much moving room as possible.
"Mr. Croft," the handsome Asian man said as he stepped out from around his desk and walked over to greet his business associate, "How nice to see you. Is it time already?" he asked with false innocence.
"You know it is" Xander said without humor.
"Now Mr. CROFT, what is it we are supposed to be doing for you again?" Lee said over pronouncing Xander's chosen name.
"I need room and board for a little jaunt over to the republic, we've been through this"
"The money" Lee snapped out reaching into his pocket and hitting a small transponder. "Where is it?"
Xander reached slowly into his pocket, leaning heavily onto his cane and pulled out a mobile phone. His finger pressed and held number 1 and the DTMF tone's were easily audible. He then passed the phone to Mr. Lee.
"Mr. Lee?" a pleasantly accented voice came over the line.
"Yes?" Mr. Lee said.
"I can happily inform you that 1 million US dollars have been credited to your account"
"Thanks" Mr. Lee said and nodded with a slight smile, "And thank you Mr. Croft" he said passing the mobile back to Xander.
Xander held up a hand, "Keep it, a present," he said with a smile gracing his face.
Mr. Lee glanced at the phone and smiled, "Thanks again. We're not due to leave for a few minutes yet, would you like some tea?"
Xander looked at Mr. Lee and let his peripheral vision come in to play. He noticed at the very limit of his vision a car pulling silently into the warehouse, a Porsche 911, to be exact.
His eyes went back to Mr. Lee and he smiled, but it wasn't pleasant, or even sexy, it was edgy, "My Dear Mr. Lee" he said, still effecting his cut glass English accent, "I'm most terribly disappointed in you"
"Ah, Mr. Harris, why would that be" Mr. Lee said as two guards stepped out from the sides of the office and two more from within it.
"I guess I can drop the limey accent now" Xander said with a slight sigh still leaning on his cane as the guards came up to surround him. "That 911, Mr. Williams?"
Mr. Lee smiled and inclined his head, "Indeed it is, and he paid most handsomely for your head"
"I'll bet"
Mr. Less smiled with a puzzled frown, "I must ask, Why Croft?"
Xander smiled, "Because it's the name of the person who taught me almost everything I know" he paused and his smile became feral, "about dealing with little shits like you" he said and exploded into action.
Xander used the cane to lift himself up to bring his foot up and round in an arc that caught Mr. Lee right on the chin sending him flying back into his office and across his own desk. Then he dropped to the floor and swept guard number 1's legs Xander's cane coming up and round to poke Guard number 3 in the eye. Guard 2 pulled out a gun only to have it knocked out of his hand by the cane.
Xander then pulled hard on the grapple/cane handle and pulled four foot of cable free and span around taking the cable around Guard number four's head and pulling. There was a sickening crunching sound, as the guard's throat was ripped apart by the razor sharp wire. Not wasting a moment of time Xander let go of one end of the grapple and span it around to wrap around Guard number one who was getting up. The wire sliced that guard. Then Xander reached into his jacket and pulled out his Chromed USP and let rip taking out 3 and turning to catch number 2. He then stood up and took careful aim at Mr. Lee's head and pulverized it with a bullet. Then he let the cable on his cane retract and placed his gun away before coming to a complete stand still in time to watch Mr. Williams get out of his car.
"Nat" Xander said as the huge man came to a rest two foot away from him, "Nice to see your well"
"You also Xander, I'm impressed" he said nodding towards the carnage Xander had dealt out.
"I don't have time for this anymore Nat" Xander said his voice reasonable, "I'm on a tight schedule and I don't wanna be bumping into you every five minutes, ya dig?"
Nathaniel shrugged, "Then I'll just kill you now" he said with certainty.
"No, you won't" Xander said just as sure, "I'm giving you one chance to back the fuck off, leave me alone for the next two weeks, after that, come after me again, if I'm not dead already"
"If I don't"
Xander shrugged then looked directly into the taller mans eyes, "You won't be leaving here alive"
Mr. Williams blinked, "What is this thing you have to do?" he asked curiously.
"You know about the world under this one right?" Xander said taking an educated guess.
Mr. Williams just nodded, so Xander continued, "Then get a load of this, the end of the world is coming, I've got to stop it"
Nathaniel laughed, his voice booming out in the large warehouse, where even now Xander could see several workmen coming out of the shadows. Although workmen in this case may be inaccurate, more like hired thugs. "That's rich, I like it"
"I'm not kidding" Xander said his stance relaxed but his eyes earnest and deadly.
Mr. Williams paused for a few long moments and then smiled, "No, I'll kill you now"
Xander let out a sigh, "I'm going to miss you Nat," he said
"You're being very cock sure of yourself?" Mr. Williams asked quizzically tilting his head. "That's not like you"
"You don't know me Nat. No-one really does" Xander said with a sigh.
"Not at all. I've studied you in great detail, every aspect of your life has come under my scrutiny, I know the name of your first dog to the name of the girl you went to prom with"
"Okay, now I've got my very own stalker" Xander said with a chuckle that didn't reach his eyes.
"Yes, you have" Mr. Williams rumbled and started to un button his coat slowly as he spoke he stripped of his jacket, "I thought I'd lost you in that damn dust pit, then finally I hear from a friend that a man matching your description going by Croft, I mean, come on…"
Xander shrugged, "So sue me, I'm not a super spy or anything"
"… This friend he tells me that he will deliver you for four million, with that sort of offer, I couldn't refuse"
"That friend, Mr. Lee. He's dead" Xander said with a tone devoid of emotion.
"I know, I saw, but Mr. Lee wasn't my friend, but then I don't think you'll be needing to know who he is as even if you get past me, these guys" he said cocking his head at the goons, "Will beat you to death" he smiled, "If that doesn't work, I've got the Terakans onto you boy"
Xander let out an annoyed huff, "Oh great, more bug men"
"Oh no, they come in all flavors" Mr. Williams said rolling up his sleeves showing an expanse of muscular forearm.
Evie sat in the chair and blinked rapidly, "How?" she asked as Lara appeared in the centre of the room with a small blonde by her side.
"Hi Lady O'Connell" Buffy said by way of greeting. "My Friend; Willow; she's a witch, so I got her to teleport us straight here, hope we didn't scare ya"
Evie smiled warmly at the other woman in Xander's life, "No, not at all, it was just a little shocking is all, how are you?"
"More to the point Evie, how are you?" Lara said butting into the conversation.
"I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" Evie said confused.
"Did Xander, or did he not, knock you on the head and render you unconscious?" Lara said her ire building.
"Yes, he did Lara, but you don't honestly think he'd HURT me do you?"
Lara growled slightly her eyes narrowing to slits, "I'd call being knocked out painful," she said in a low tone.
"No, I'm not sure how he did it actually, he just kind of flicked me here" she said pointing to her neck causing Buffy to smile.
"What?" Lara asked spotting the blondes smile.
"It's a variation on DimMuc"
"Death Touch?" Lara asked for clarification getting it in the form of a nod.
"He used a killing move on her!" Lara said her eyes spitting fire once again.
"No! I said variation, it's to incapacitate people without causing them lasting harm, let alone a headache"
"You See" Evie said with a smile.
Lara took a deep breath, "Do you have any idea where he has gone" she said to Buffy.
Buffy pursed her lips in thought, "I'm not sure, but we could ask Faith"
"Faith?"
"The other Slayer"
"Another Slayer?" Lara asked in confusion then her expression cleared, "I take it she was released from prison then"
"Yeah, she and Xan have been knocking boots, well, at least I think so" Buffy said with an annoyed expression on her face.
Lara's eyes flashed then she smiled a very unpleasant smile.
"Well, shall we?" Mr. Williams asked putting his fists up in a classic boxing move.
Xander smirked at him, "What? You want us to beat each other to death?"
"You're an honorable sort of man, and I think this is the best way to do this, don't you?" Mr. Williams said with a feral smile.
"Honorable?" Xander said as if testing the word for poison, his gun appeared from his jacket in a flash and he tilted his head to look at the large African American man, "Whatever gave you that idea?"
Mr. William's face dissolved into shock, "But…"
"I told you Nat, you don't know me," Xander said lifting the pistol and a killer entering his eyes, "I'm sorry" he said and pulled the trigger.
For a man his size Mr. Williams was able to move very quickly, with instincts borne of his years in the field and just because he was the best of the best in his profession he was able to bound off to one side so that the parabellum only entered his shoulder and not into his heart. He let out a bellow as the soft metal blossomed inside of his body and reamed itself out the other side of his muscular arm and exploded with a large spray of crimson liquid. Another bang followed soon after and this time Mr. Williams's trajectory was that so he was only clipped across the arm cutting a line and splitting his clothes and skin with another spray of blood.
Xander swore softly to himself as the large man dived behind a crate, he tracked him as best as he was able, but his shots had been the signal that the goons were waiting for and suddenly Xander was in the middle of a war.
A slight oriental man launched a front kick at him so he side stepped and brought his gun arm down using his elbow to shatter the mans knee. He dropped away, out of the fight, with a scream of pain and holding his injured leg.
A large Caribbean American man launched a punch at Xander's head that he reached up and slapped away with his cane before spinning around and using said cane to sweep the mans legs away and then bringing it down on the goons head.
Xander started to surge forward fighting the entire way, his gun barked out each shot disabling another hired thug and keeping others at bay until finally it ran out. He took a moment to place it in his jacket pocket before taking a deep calming breath. He stood stock-still and glanced around him taking stock of the situation.
His breathing became the centre of his universe as he slipped into a trance like state removing his focus from his body as he had taught himself to do. It allowed him to ignore the pain of his hip, among other things.
There were a good twenty men converging on his position most with weapons of some kind, baseball bats, chains and just big bits of wood. Others had no weapons and looked to be just as deadly. His way out was blocked by most of the goons and he couldn't see another way out. The 911 of Mr. Williams suddenly roared into life taking its owner screaming away with a peeling of rubber. Xander allowed himself a small smile knowing that he had managed to scare the monster for a change and then it was time to clear a path.
His cane flashed out and he triggered the grapple, pulling on it hard and loosing several feet of cable. Then he stilled the recall motion with a deft flick of the trigger mechanism and sent the cable flying around him the piton come grapple weighting the end and sending it singing around him with a whirl of death. As he started the spin of the cable to extreme levels of speed he had to spin around until it was moving fast enough for him to just use his wrist.
Meanwhile several armed men had entered his circle of death. Xander noted their positions and whipped out the cable sending the grapple straight into one mans face and whipping it back again behind him. He then ducked under the cable and launched it out to his left flicking his wrist to give it a curve. The grapple flew past one man who smiled thinking that Xander had missed, until the cable slicked his throat deeply sending him to the floor holding his throat. As the grapple reached its full extension Xander timed it perfectly to pull back on it and send it moving around him again in an arc. He used the reinforced sole of his shoe to trap half the cable sending the grapple spinning faster than released the cable to fly out and nail another man directly in the throat crushing his larynx before whipping the weighted line back around and over his back as he bent forward as it passed over his back he jumped up and round before spinning 180 degrees back to face front again, very fast sending the grapple snaking out to wrap around a set of heavy free standing shelves. He then pulled hard on it. The three men standing in front of it, ended up under it. Xander used a deft flick of his wrist to untangle the wire and grapple before triggering the auto return. His arm was jarred slightly by the powerful recoil sending his elbow into the stomach of a man creeping up behind him. Then SNICK as the blades were activated and Xander started to fight in earnest.
He kept his forward momentum going the entire way as he moved forward towards his car and possible safety. A large Latino man stepped out and snagged Xander's leg with a chain and smiled grimly down at the dark haired young man. Xander kipped back up and snapped out a punch that nailed the man straight in the eye then followed up with a roundhouse kick that sent him into LaLa land. Unfortunately the Latino man had allowed three men to get behind Xander and one of them let rip with a 2x4 knocking Xander back to the ground with stars floating around his head. Not allowing him self to black out Xander shook his head and cleared his vision just in time to catch another guys foot before it entered his head. He twisted the offending leg and sent the man to his level. He then rolled out of the way of the 2x4's return visit and smacked the guy he had just down in the face on the way past.
He staggered to his feet and brought his cane back into play slicing the wood in half causing the man who held it to look at him with a shocked expression. He fell to the floor after Xander thrust the cane forward and caught him between the eyes with the hard wood tip.
He ducked as a baseball bat went sailing over his head in a graceful arc. Xander lifted his leg backwards nailing its wielder in the nuts before standing quickly and ramming his elbow back and shattering the goons nose with a nasty squelching sound.
He kept pushing forward towards salvation.
His cane blocked another baseball bat before someone tangled it up with a chain and yanked it out of Xander's hands. With a feral scream of rage Xander went for chain guy with a lethal combination of kicks that flattened the guy. Dropping forward into a forward roll Xander narrowly missed being decapitated by a large knife wielded by an equally large man. Xander picked up the cane on the way through and hand sprang on the apex of his roll sending him to his feet facing the knife guy.
The two men stared at each other for a few moments before the knife guy finally gave himself away with a feint to the right. Xander saw through it and lunged forward past the knife wielding man slicing deeply into his opponent's stomach. The man had enough wits left to spin around and slice down Xander's back with the machete sending Xander stumbling forward but also sending his own guts to the floor.
Xander span around with a scream of rage and pain bringing his cane/sword back up and pointing the grapple at the door way, he triggered the firing mechanism and the grapple leapt across the distance to the door and wrapped around a support beam near by. Xander jumped onto a piece of sheet metal left stranded on the floor and triggered the recall.
Leaning back wards he used the metal sheet to slid across the floor. As he moved his other USP came into play. Xander took a bead on a man steeping towards his line with a knife and popped a bullet between his eyes. Two men rushed towards him, trying to intersect his trajectory. Xander threw his body weight sideways causing the sheet to go along for the ride. Then drawing on his old skateboarding he twisted his feet and slide along a shelf's edge, then he pushed off and span in the air. As he tumbled sideways he took aim and shot the two men and two others who were within easy aiming distance. Then he was back on his feet moving across to the other side of the warehouse, moving quickly forward as well. He used the wall to send his makeshift snowboard back towards the centre of the room and twisted round to fire a shot at a man with a gun. The gunman felled his pistol sought out another target, taking them out with brutal efficiency and moving on. He kept firing, using everything that laid in his path to correct his course on his sheet metal skateboard, sparks flying up from the speedy contact of metal on concrete.
As he reached the door the last goon fell to his knees dark blood spilling up and out of his mouth. Xander turned to face the interior of the warehouse with eyes devoid of emotion. He was pale cut and bleeding from multiple wounds, the one on his back the worst and it was loosing him a significant amount of blood.
Xander didn't care, he had a mission to do and they had tried to stop him. He did however need some sort of medical treatment, and he had a feeling he knew where he could get some.
Cordelia had finished telling her boss about Xander's strange behavior some time ago and had been frustrated by his singular lack of worry. She couldn't really explain it herself, there was just something off about the way Xander had acted, almost like he was saying goodbye.
A voice from the doorway disturbed her thoughts, "Hey Gorgeous, I came back for another hug"
"Xander!" Cordelia virtually screamed with a happy smile, which turned into a frown as she took in his pallor and the fact he was leaning heavily against the doorframe. Then her eyes traveled downwards and saw the blood collecting there just before Xander's body joined her gaze in its travel north.
"Xander!" Cordelia did scream rushing over to the fallen man. She called out to her boss, "ANGEL!"
Angel appeared after only a moment's pause, too many times had he been summoned to that self same screeching tone to Cordelia's voice. Nine times out of ten, it was a good indication of how bad the situation was, judging by pitch alone this was not of the good. So Angel had only paused to tool up with a battle axe, one of his favored weapons, good for demons and vampires. There were very few things you can't slay by removing their heads from its body. He skidded to a halt as he exploded out of his office to find Cordelia kneeling in a puddle of blood. That was unusual enough to make him almost smile, but it was the person currently nestled in her arms that kept the smile off of his face. The white knight and the man who could have stolen his Buffy's heart away from him was downed, and he looked like shit.
"What happened?" Angel asked as he walked up to the scene. He felt his demon banging against the mental bars he kept up around it, the smell of blood entering his nose like ambrosia. He quickly quashed the demon with the ease of long practice and knelt himself to check Xander over. What he found surprised him.
"He's been pretty banged up" Angel said thoughtfully, "Come of 'Delia, I can't help him if you don't let me get to him" he said soothingly to her. Cordelia was a strange study in contradictions, part of her still hated Xander for hurting her, but most of her was mush at this point because he was lying bleeding badly in her arms. It was her worst nightmare when they were going out in high school, that one-day he would die in her arms, more likely than not from trying to save his precious Buffy. However, Buffy wasn't here. She moved position slightly passing Xander from her own embrace into Angel's preternaturally strong arms.
The undead man picked up Xander as if the muscular 6-foot man weighed nothing and quickly returned to his office, where he kept a well-stocked first aid kit.
"We had better call Buffy" Angel said.
"Soon, first him" Cordy said pointing to the unconscious white knight.
Insistent knocking awoke the brunette slayer from a pleasant nap just before she was due to go out and get something to eat before patrol, although she had been thinking about dropping in on Xander before she did that. It all depended on how she felt.
The knocking came again, this time even louder than before. "ALRIGHT" Faith yelled out, then continued in a mumble, "Fucking Assholes"
She blinked a few times to clear her eyesight before walking over to the doorway with the grace of a cat. She opened it to find, Buffy, some brunette and an older woman she had only seen in pictures in Xander's apartment. "Yes?" Faith said with a slight smile that was all Faith and had little to do with amusement.
"Hello" the brunette said pushing past the slayer and walking in, "Where is he?" she asked. Faith realized that she was English and gorgeous, she put 1 and nothing together and got her two anyway.
"You're her," she said in an almost growl.
"I am whom," Lara said with a disdainful glare at the shorter woman.
"Lady Croft, has some questions Faith" Buffy said with a slightly annoyed huff as she took in the other slayer's attire that just screamed slut. To her anyway, the truth was that Faith had been doing well on the redemption path and the entire gang had good things to say about her, except Buffy who just didn't like her. Although that could well have something to do with her current fuck buddy, not that she would admit that to anyone, like ever.
"La de da" Faith said with a sultry smirk curling her rich and dark red painted lips.
Lara frowned slightly, "Are you sure?" she asked Buffy with a confused tone of voice, "I thought he had better taste"
'Meow' Evie thought with a hidden grin. Then she stepped in as Faith smiled at Lara in an inflammatory fashion, "We were wondering"
"Hi, Evie isn't it" Faith said with a great deal more interest and politeness than she had shown anyone else so far. "Xander talked about you a lot"
"Did he, did he mention why he might knock her silly?" Lara said dryly sardonic.
Faith's face dissolved into shock, "hat, No way, Boy toys wicked protective about her" she said pointing to Evie, "Take that back" she said her voice dropping in register and up in danger
"It's true" Buffy interjected quickly, "Although he only used a soft chi hit" she continued with a pointed glare at Lara.
"It is true I'm afraid that our boy put me out, but I was unhurt" Evie clarified.
Faith smirked and nodded, "Thought so"
"And what, pray tell, did you think, if that concept isn't oxymoronic" Lara said her voice dripping honey.
Faith turned a dead eyed glare her way, "Look LADY Croft, I may talk with a broad Brooklyn accent, I use the lingo from the streets because that's where I grew up, but none of that means I don't know that you just dissed me, so if you actually WANT any help, can the smart mouth"
"Look Faith" Buffy cut in, "We just want to know where Xander is"
Faith frowned, "What makes you think I know?"
"You and he are…" Buffy trailed off.
"Knocking boots?" Lara filled in helpfully.
Faith smiled in a predatory fashion, "Ah, wondered when you'd get around to askin me that, just been dying to know haven't ya?"
"Just, tell us Faith" Buffy said becoming annoyed; the images in her head were not what she wanted.
Faith's smile slipped, "That's none of your business" she said her gaze dropping from Buffy's.
"No, not THAT, about where Xander is"
Faith's smile tilted back upwards into a fully fledged smirk, "Again, why do you think I know?"
"We don't have time for this" Lara said and pulled out her pistol and pointed it at faith the safety snicking off with an audible click, "Now, where is the no good bastard?"
Faith growled, "Don't be calling X that, and don't…" she moved in a blur and slapped the gun out of Lara's hand, "Be pointing that at me" she finished not even out of breath.
"Buggering Slayers" Lara snarled and pulled out her other pistol taking several steps back to give her self plenty of reaction time, "Now, again and for the last time, Where is X?" she said the X said with a mocking tone.
Faith just glared at her, "What's with the Queen of England, and why do you want to know?"
"Faith" Evie began in a reasonable voice, "We believe that urh, X, may be in danger of doing something monumentally stupid. We need your help so we can find him before he does"
"Like what?" Faith asked her expression suddenly serious, "What is he going to do?"
"He has a certain artifact" Evie said, "It is believed to have the ability to warp Time and Space, although most believe that it will essentially end Time"
"Damn" Faith swore softly and started to pace, with Lara's gun tracking her every move, "Will you cut that shit out" she said finally glaring at Lara, "I'm trying to think and that ain't helping"
Lara rolled her eyes and the pistol disappeared back into its holster, "I hate Slayers," she said softly to herself. Unfortunately the two mystical warrior women were only too able to hear her words.
"The feelings mutual about now Croft" Faith spat back, "I don't know what happened with you and X but it REALLY screwed him over"
"Screwed HIM over" Lara said her eyes flashing. She reigned herself in with visible effort then smiled, "We just had a little fun" she said her tone cold and eyes devoid of emotion.
"Uh huh" Faith said her tone disbelieving in the extreme.
"Can we get back to X. I mean Xander, please, I'm worried about him, he's been acting strange ever since he came back, YOU must have noticed Faith" Buffy said.
Faith nodded, "Yeah, but I figured it had to do with Her Majesty here"
"Well, I very much doubt that" Lara said.
"Why?" Evie asked suddenly, "Why do you doubt that so?"
Lara swallowed, "Because it was he, who broke it off with ME"
Buffy blinked, "Huh?"
Xander's eyelids flickered a moment before they slitted open to allow two brown orbs to just peek out at his environment.
"Quit faking" Cordelia said her voice soft.
Xander opened his eyes fully and smiled at her, "Well you know Cor, its good to take stock in our line of business"
"Talk for yourself, I'm an actress" Cordelia said.
"I know, I saw your last movie, it was dynamite!" Xander said sitting up with a wince.
"Hey, careful, you'll rip the stitches" Cordy told him with a worried frown.
"Hey, don't frown, it gives you the wrong sort of wrinkles" Xander said smiling at her,
"Goof"
"Yep"
There was a moment's silence between them, but it was comfortable.
Xander finally broke it as he pulled himself fully upright and let out a slight groan, "Ow!"
"Hey, I said be careful"
"I am being" Xander shot back with a chagrined smile, "But I've got to get up and about, my hip hurts"
"Fine, come 'ere" Cordy said moving to support Xander by taking an arm on her shoulders.
"Well, it's been a long time since I had you in my arms Cor." Xander quipped weakly. "Nice to have a rerun"
"Dream on loser" Cordelia shot back her eyes dancing merrily, "okay, now take it steady"
Xander stood up and then took his weight himself, not wanting to burden Cordelia with it, "I'm good, thanks"
Cordelia looked at him askance, "You sure?"
Xander nodded, "I'm fine, really, I heal really quickly these days"
"Get zapped by a nice demon or something?" she asked only half joking.
"Something like that" he said with a secret smile, "So where's curly"
"He's on the phone"
"What?" Xander said in shock, "Why, to whom?"
"To whom?" she mocked him, "Been hanging around Giles a little too much?"
Xander smiled in a sad fashion, "Something like that, but to answer the question"
"Buffy, let her know…" she was cut off as Xander grabbed his shirt and pulled it painfully over his injured back and shoulders.
"What, what the hell..." Cordelia was apoplectic with anger and shock.
"I've got to get outta here, NOW!" Xander said his eyes wild.
"Why, did you and Buffy fall out again?"
"No, but…" Xander trailed off and looked around for his cane, "Where's my cane?" he asked his voice desperate.
"Cane, oh that, it's outside in the…" she was cut of again as Xander barreled out of the back office into the main reception area only to find Angel's fist coming to other way. His feet left the floor and his head bounced twice as he was sent back into unconsciousness.
Cordelia glared at Angel, "What the HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING *LIAM*!!!"
"Oh hell" Angel muttered. Then turned his attention back to the phone holding up a hand to still Cordelia's ire, "Yeah, I stopped him, you'll be here, when?" he listened to the answer and his eyebrows rose in shock, "How?" then, "Oh, right, getting powerful isn't she" he said as n aside, "Yeah, alright I'll tie him up until you get here, then you can tell me what the hell is going on" he said
"Yeah will do, thanks Angel" Buffy said as she terminated her cell phone and looked at the other women in the room, "I've just got to call Willow, she'll set up the spell and we can draw the pentagram"
"Huh, No way, I just cleaned the floor" Faith said her hands on her hips then took in the looks from the others, "What, I clean!"
Lara shook that off and turned to Buffy, "Where is he?"
"LA"
"Why I wonder" Evie put in.
"Maybe he went to check in with Curly…eh Angel" Faith said.
"Angel detained him for us, so he'll be there when we get there" Buffy said.
Faith growled, "I love that Vamp, but if he's hurt X…" she trailed off.
"Just what is your relationship with Xander?" Lara asked her.
"None of yours, babe" Faith shot back her shields up and proceeding with caution.
Lara just glared at her for a few moments.
Meanwhile Buffy had dialed Willow, "Yeah, can you do it?" she said and listened, "Yeah, great, give me a sec" Buffy said and pulled out some chalk from her pocket.
"Oh hey, that's polished wood" Faith exclaimed as Buffy drew out a pentagram with the chalk with worrying scratching sounds.
"We're Good" Buffy told Willow and turned to the others, "Anyone coming better get in the pentagram" Buffy said, Lara and Evie quickly joined her and just as the magical symbol began to glow Faith jumped in too.
"What…" Lara began.
"The Hell are you doing?" Lara finished stepping out of the symbol in Angel's reception area.
"Coming with, to make sure nothing bad happens to X" Faith said simply whilst smirking, "HEY FANG!" she bellowed.
"Good Lungs" Evie commented.
"Doubtless her only charms" Lara commented icily.
Evie just eyed her, "What?" Lara finally asked.
"Nothing dear, anyone would think you were…"
"… Don't even think it" Lara cut in.
Evie smiled sweetly, "Of course not dear."
"Buffy"
"Angel"
"Faith" Faith said with a smile, "Hey, guys we're here, where's my boy?"
"Your boy?" Angel asked with shock written on his face. He glanced at Lara and Faith frowned at the expression.
"Yeah, mine, where is he?"
"Through here" Angel said pointing to the back room. They walked in as a group Buffy smiling at Angel as she passed. To find Cordelia with Xander's head in her lap stroking his hair gently. Xander himself was chained with heavy manacles wrapped around the low-slung sofa he was led on.
"Hey Queen C" Faith said smiling at the taller brunette, "How's my boy?"
"Your Boy?" Cordelia said her brown creased in confusion as she glanced at Lara.
Faith narrowed her eyes, "Why is it everyone keeps saying that!"
"Moving on" Buffy said, "When will he wake up?"
Angel shrugged, "I don't know I hit him kinda hard"
Faith tossed him a baleful glare "You hit him?"
"Oh hey, I've been through this with 'Delia, I didn't have a chance to do anything else"
"And he's already awake" came a deeply annoyed voice from the couch.
"Faker" Cordelia said with a smile.
"What and miss this, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven" Xander said as he tried to sit up, "This is new, I didn't know you were in to this?" he said to Cordy who smirked and slipped off the sofa and stepped away from the prisoner. Xander turned to Lara his eyes meeting hers.
"Xander" Lara said her voice hard.
"Lara" Xander said his tone guarded
"Buffy" Buffy said and smirked, "What, I can't have fun too"
Xander smiled at her and then turned to Faith, "Hey trouble, what you doing here?"
"Don't give me that X, why are YOU here and why are you hurt?" Faith said noticing his bandaged form under his shirt for the first time.
"Shopping, trip, the malls murder this time of year, its sales season" he said with a perfectly straight face.
Faith chuckled slightly.
Lara let out an annoyed sigh, "Where is it Xander!"
Xander met her eyes, "Where is what?"
"The Tear Of Imhotep as you very well know"
"Never heard of it," he stated flatly.
Buffy walked over and checked him over, "What the hell happened to you?"
Xander actually smiled, "An old friend decided to up the stakes, again!"
"Not him again, I take it you mean Mr. Williams" Lara said her tone actually light.
Xander smiled into her eyes, "Yep, again, this time he brought friends"
"When?" Faith asked her eyes going dark, "And where can I find him?"
Xander met her eyes and sent a soft smile in her direction, "YOU don't I DO"
"Don't be a hard case X it don't suit you"
Wesley chose that moment to appear, "Angel, Angel we may have a problem… Oh, hello, why is Xander trussed up like last years chicken?"
"Hey, it's Wes everybody" Xander said with a fake perky voice, "Hey Wes"
"What is it?" Angel asked cutting through the comedy.
"Ah, well, it only may be a problem, there was a very large fight earlier at the docks, apparently one man took out several toughs and walked out alive. I believe we may have a 'Player' moving into town"
Xander's face showed absolutely no reaction so how Faith read in it what she did he would never know, but then they had spent a LOT of time together of late. "No way" she said her voice quite, "How many guys?" she asked Wesley.
"Twenty bodies found, but there are signs of perhaps ten more according to the Police"
"Bodies?" Buffy said tuning into the conversation.
Faith met Xander's eyes a silent question in their depths. Xander met her gaze and gave a tiny movement of his head, a slight inclination.
"Damn" she muttered softly and blew him a kiss, "nice one" she mouthed.
Xander didn't show any reaction except a tiny flicked of one eyelid as he started to work on his cuffs. "Where's my cane?" he asked conversationally.
"Told you before doofus, in the reception" Cordy said, "I don't think you need it right now"
"Back to the Tear" Lara said shaking her head at the room's antics.
"Need some thread?" Xander said.
"No, Tear as in Cry" Lara spat, "not Tear as in what I'm going to do to your head if you don't answer my questions to my satisfaction"
"So much rage Lara, you should see a shrink," Xander said mildly as he worked a cuff loose ripping off several layers of skin in the process. His eyes flicked around the room gauging exits and stratagem.
"Oh no you don't" Lara said moving forward to still what she knew would happen next.
Xander dived between her legs, literally sliding along the floor into the reception room. Lara turned in a flash her pistols making an appearance as she started to pop of shots trying to wing him. Xander twisted round as he slid across the floor turning round to face her he came to a stop and rolled backwards up onto his feet, then jumped onto a chair and leapt backwards in a flip and back flipped his way across the floor narrowly avoiding her shots. He reached the front desk, grabbed his cane and then ran like mad out of the door with Lara in hot pursuit.
"Damn it she's trying to kill him" Faith shouted shocked and moving to follow and protect Xander form this mad woman.
"She isn't, I assure you" Evie said stepping into Faith's path, "She won't kill Xander, never Xander"
Lara exploded out of the front doors of the Hotel and glared around her looking for any sign of Xander and growling in annoyed frustration when she found none. Her eyes traced over every bump and lump in the surrounding area but found no sign of him whatsoever. She turned on a heel with her ponytail whipping out behind her and stalked back into the hotel.
Xander watched her from the roof letting out a slight sigh of relief at her departure. "Damn, that was too close" he said twirling his cane before finally kissing the handle. As he walked away his hand smeared some blood onto the roof leaving a clear indication that he had been there.
"That was most impressive"
Xander span like a cat and glared at the vision in front of him, "Mr. Powers, or should that be The First?"
"Which ever is to your preference" Mr. Powers replied congenially, "Tell me dear boy, what is it you hope to achieve with this ridiculous chain of events?"
"Wouldn't you like to know" Xander said taking a running jump off of the hotels roof, the grapple reaching out to the next roof and tugging him along for the ride. From there he scaled down the fire escape and went to retrieve his car. Not seeing that Lara had left the hotel soon after she had entered it had tagged the Cobra with a transceiver.
She watched the car pull away with a slight smile on her face and turned back to talk to Evie about what and how they were going to do with Xander.
"You're looking strangely pleased with yourself" Evie commented as Lara came back in the room.
"Am I?" Lara said smiling softly.
"You better not have hurt him!" Faith said stepping up to glare up into the taller woman's eyes.
"Why would I do that?" Lara said with a shrug, then turned back to Evie, "I'd just forgotten"
"What?" Evie said with a slight smile.
"That's he's rather good" Lara said with a laugh, "Of course, not as good as I am"
Faith snorted gaining a look from Lara and Evie, "What?" Lara asked sweetly.
Faith smiled at her secretively, "Nothing" she said with false innocence, "Hey Wes, that guy, what did he look like" she called out still looking Lara in the eye.
"The police said he was about 6'1" Dark hair and well built, wearing a dark jacket walking with a cane…" he trailed off as the room turned to look at him in shock, "What?"
"No way" Buffy breathed, "No way"
Faith just smirked, "WAY babe, totally way!"
"I see" Lara said then smiled sweetly at Faith, "Thanks for the lead"
Faith's face fell, "Fuck it"
Lara stepped past the police line with Buffy and Faith in tow. She hadn't wanted either of them to come but then, there really were no gainsaying two Slayers, especially these two. She had used one of her numerous contacts to gain access to the crime scene and luckily the police had already dealt with the scene and moved on. They'd put in down to a rival gang. The 'owners' of the warehouse had been smugglers who specialized in getting in and out of communist china. What worried Lara is what Xander had wanted with them.
Faith let out long appreciative whistle, "BoyToy, must've been PISSED!"
"Uh huh" Buffy agreed looking around at the numerous chalk outlines and the accompanying blood stains. "Not like him to kill indiscriminately though" she continued in a low voice.
Lara's keen eye traced the floor, "He didn't" she stated flatly, "There was one hell of a fight here"
"No shit, Your Majesty, I think we can see that" Faith said after a snort. "Just look at the spread of the bodies, you can see that X started over by that door there" she said pointing to the Office, "Those goons must have come at him from the side, then after that he paused there for a while, see, you can still make out the imprint of his cane where he leant on it to rest his hip. Then, man they left the shell cases" Faith said stalking forward and picking one up and tossing it to Lara, "You're the gun girl, what's that?"
Lara smirked slightly and pulled out her UPS and pulled out the clip double-checking her thought, "Same as mine, they're Xander's"
"Thought so, so he shot, what four times from there and then started moving. There's blood going off behind that box and it stops there, so I'm guessing from the tire marks that a car went outta here from there, but it wasn't X because he carried on up towards the door" Faith said walking forward her eyes intent on the ground.
"How do you know all this stuff Faith" Buffy finally had to ask. As Lara was nodding along with what Faith was saying.
Faith smirked at her, "Because I'm not blonde?" she hazarded, gaining a snort of amusement from Lara.
"What bugs me though" Faith said as Buffy wound up her retort, "Is why X was here in the first place. This place stinks of Crims, I should know I spent enough time with them"
"You are one" Buffy said snidely.
"Even more reason for me to know" Faith continued reasonably.
"So Xander wanted some Chinese Smugglers to get him, what, into china?" Lara said, mostly to herself, "Why?"
"What's in China?" Faith said
"About a billion Chinese," Buffy put in helpfully.
"Martial Arts, X, likes his kick ass" Faith offered.
"No, it's got to have something to do with the Tear, I just know it"
"What is it about this tear thing, any how?" Faith asked her sultry lips pursed in thought.
"The tear is from Egypt, it is believed that Imhotep himself used it for some of his more powerful scrying and spell casting" Lara filled in, "As said before, it is supposed to be able to manipulate Space and Time"
"Okay, so why would X, want to do that?" Faith asked her mind whirring along.
Buffy pursed her lips, out of the three she had known Xander for the longest but was starting to wonder if she had ever really known him, "What happened in Egypt" she asked Lara once again.
"Back to that are we?" Lara said shortly.
"Hey, It might have something to do with what's happening now" Buffy said just as shortly.
"Now, no mud wrestling till we get X back so he can watch" Faith said with a smirk.
"Can it gutter brain" Buffy said a slight smile curling her lip.
Lara stopped dead and looked down, "Strange" she muttered.
"What is?" Buffy asked walking up beside her.
"Xander's footprints end here"
"So?"
"So, how did he get to the door?"
Faith who was ahead of them let out a chuckle, "I'm not sure, but I can guess" she said holding up a piece of badly scrapped sheet metal twisted where it had hit the wall, but there was still a very distinct footprint set in the dark dust that covered it.
"I should never, have given him that Damn Cane!" Lara said sharply, but with no real malice behind the words.
"Lady O'Connell" Cordelia said disturbing Evie from her thoughts.
"Yes, dear, Cordelia isn't it?"
"Yeah, urh…" Cordelia trailed off unsure how to carry on, "What happened in Egypt?"
"When?"
"Well, all I've managed to get is that Xander and Lady Croft went to Egypt. I know they had a thing before, you know the Grand Canyon, and I'm just wondering why she hates him so much. I figured that it happened in Egypt"
Evie smiled slightly, "Lara doesn't hate Xander"
"Coulda fooled me," Cordy said.
"Well, perhaps right at this moment she does, but you heard that he cut things off with her"
"I know, and I understand the appeal of Xander Harris only to well, I gave up my social standing to go out with him in high-school, so I get the appeal, but WHY did he break it off with her and WHY does she hate him for it?"
Evie pursed her lips thoughtfully, "Ah, I see your point, I think. If we can find out why Xander ended his relationship…" Evie trailed off thoughtfully.
At that moment Lara, Buffy and Faith walked into the reception looking worried, "What ever is the matter?" Evie asked them.
"BoyToy had a little fun and these two are freaked" Faith said flopping down on a sofa.
"Sorry?"
Lara cocked an eyebrow, "A little fun, the place was a blood bath"
"Better them than X" Faith said crossing her arms over her chest. "Any day"
"You're not evil again are you?" Buffy demanded.
Faith turned a dark glare her way, "What makes you say that Barbie"
Buffy ignored the remark, "Because killing humans is wrong"
Lara snorted, "Hardly, I would have thought you'd have grown out of that by now"
"I have to agree with her highness, I may have done bad in the past, but I'd still kill a human if it was them or me, and I'm still on my redemption kick" Faith said earnestly, "So knowing X…" she trailed off with a shrug, "He's the same, that YOU must know"
Buffy nodded, "I just don't like killing Humans"
Lara quirked a smile, "Funny, he said the same thing in Cairo, after we had been attacked by some of Mr.… Ah yes, he did mention that Mr. Williams was involved didn't he" Lara said smacking her own forehead, "I'd forgotten in all the fun"
"Mr. Williams, that big scary guy" Buffy said then growled, "Okay, there's one human I'd kill"
Faith looked at her with surprise, "What? Why? I thought you were little miss clean?"
"Mr. Williams is the reason that Xander limps and needs a cane in the first place" Lara filled in, "He shattered Xander's hip and to my knowledge its still beyond repair"
Buffy nodded her eyes burning, "I saw it, when I was" she jerked her head up, "He killed Xan, so I was able to bridge across and help him, a little"
Lara laughed, "More than a little, I've seen him in full flow, that piece of slayer spirit you gave him makes him fast, reactive and hit very hard, for a human"
Buffy shrugged, "I didn't really know what I was doing, I just wanted him to heal and knew that it would work, I didn't expect him to be able to channel it"
"You remember Heaven?" Faith asked looking the slender blonde in the eye having stood up and walked over to her.
Buffy nodded, "Yeah, sort of, mostly just a feeling of comfort, being loved, but that bit in the bronze…" she smiled, "That I remember well" she said touching her lips and blushing slightly.
"You have been kissing my guy, B?" Faith said with a smirk.
"Actually at the time, he was mine" Lara said and muttered, "Still is" too quietly even for slayer hearing.
"Anyway, back to the point" Cordy said finally having enough of the banter, "What do we have?"
Faith let out a sigh, "Nothing"
Lara smiled, "Actually" she said pulling out her PDA and fiddling with her watch for a few seconds.
"Well?" Buffy pushed.
"By Patient" Lara said distractively, then smiled, "Got it"
"What?" Faith asked.
"Yes dear, do share" Evie put in.
"I put a tracker on Xander's car"
"Which one?" Faith asked.
"Sorry?"
"He's got like four"
"Shelby Cobra"
Faith smiled, "Oh THAT one" she said, "Yeah, that's one of his"
Lara looked at her for a minute and then went back to her PDA, "He's still in LA"
"Moving?" Buffy asked.
Lara shook her head, "No, he's parked, wait a mo" she tapped the screen zooming in and bringing up a street map a slight smile curling her lips as she recognized the hotel, "He's staying at the…"
The hotel Xander was staying in had certain emotional attachments for him, having been were he and the others stayed after the Grand Canyon adventure. However, that wasn't the only reason that he had stayed there. He knew the hotel well, every nook cranny, entrance and exit. It gave him a certain feeling of safety, well if not safety exactly certainly the knowledge that he COULD get out alive if needed.
Which was fine, until he had walked in to find that they had totally changed in layout and were currently extending the place upwards by about twenty stories. Apparently a chain had just purchased the hotel and they were doing what they usually did. Messing everything up.
Xander had toyed with the thought that he would leave the hotel and find somewhere else, but unfortunately, that wasn't going to help much. He had the Order of Teraka, Mr Williams, and most scarily, Lara after him now. The Terakans were a complete unknown certainly, but it was what he knew about Lara that worried him. She was the best of the best in her field and part of her skills was tracking down people when the need arose. He had trained with her, she had taught him everything he knew about tomb raiding and the skills that surrounded it, unfortunately he had a more than sneaking suspicion that she hadn't taught him everything that SHE knew.
He dredged out of his hotel room, deciding to make use of the bar meals rather than stay in his room. Lara was less likely to try anything if he was in public at least, that was the way she HAD been.
Xander walked into the elevator and smiled at the elevator attendee.
"What floor please?" The pleasantly smiling blonde middle-aged man asked.
"Ground" Xander replied returning the guys smile.
The attendee reached out and pressed the button, Xander noticed a strangely shaped symbol on his signet ring, "Hey, what frat is that ring from" Xander asked, curious; research for his book never ended.
"Omega" The man replied without hesitation.
"What college is that?"
"A small college out in Ohio" The man said with an edgy smile.
"Okay, thanks, research, for my new book" Xander clarified not wanting the man to think he was trying to chat him up or something.
The elevator pinged to show that they had reached the ground and Xander reached into his pocket and tipped the guy with twenty bucks, "Thanks"
"Thank you Mr. Harris"
"Not a problem" Xander said and walked out of the elevator thinking hard about his problems.
He walked straight into the bar and took a seat by the bar itself and picked up the menu glancing through the items thinking that he needed to eat a fair bit to replace what he had used up so far today.
The bar man walked over, "What can I get for you sir"
"I'll have Steak with the Peppercorn Sauce, Fries oh and can you get me Ketchup with that."
"Anything to drink?" the bar tender asked his pen scratching across his pad.
"Oh hey, you must be from the same college as the elevator attendant," Xander said glancing at the barman's hand.
"I am indeed" The Barman said, "I'm Frank, he's Larry my brother in law, my cousin Eric is around somewhere as well"
"Lucky to all get a job here"
Frank smiled, "Family contacts" he said his eyes boring into Xander.
"Cool, oh and drink, right sorry, JD and Coke…actually better make that just coke"
"Certainly sir, it won't be a moment"
Xander glanced around at his surroundings. The Bar itself was a fairly large room with wooden paneled beams holding up the roof at an interval of about eight foot. The main doors were double and were directly opposite the bar itself, but Xander was sat at one side so his back wasn't to the door. There were several comfortable solid looking armchairs and a low, coffee table style table to four chairs, arrayed around the floor. The bar itself was virtually empty apart from Xander and about ten guests all sat around in either couples or singularly.
His drink arrived a moment later and was placed directly on the Bar top slightly spilling a few drops of its contents, "I'm sorry sir" Frank said.
"Don't worry about it" Xander said with an amenable smile, his eyes narrowing at the ring once again, there was something very familiar about it he just couldn't quite place.
"Will there be anything else?"
"No, that's fine thanks Frank"
"Not a problem Mr. Harris"
Xander frowned slightly about to ask how the man knew his name when a well-known voice disturbed his thoughts.
"Hi BoyToy" Faith said slipping into the seat next to Xanders
"Faith, Hi" Xander said looking around worriedly, "What you doing here?"
"Lara figured you'd come here, they went up to your room, and I begged off to get a drink"
"Frank" Xander said smiling slightly, "Get my friend a Jack, straight, no ice"
"Right away Mr. Harris"
"Hey, everybody knows you name hey, famous author and all" Faith said with a smirk.
Xander's face drained of color as his brain went CLICK.
"Teraka" he whispered almost to himself, but Frank heard him ducking under the bar and grabbing a sub machine gun he leveled it at Xander and smiled.
"Your contract is worth thirty Million, I'm going to enjoy this" frank said his eyes turning black and the air around him shifting, or seeming to, but it was in fact revealing Franks true form, basically humanoid but with bright blue skin with a red lightning streak down one side of his face, black eyes and jagged sharp looking teeth.
"Oh hell" Xander said looking down the barrel of the AK47, "Since when did demons use guns?"
"Who do you think invented them?" Frank said his voice several octaves lower than it had been.
Xander smirked at a scared looking faith, "He sounds like Mr. Williams" he commented dryly.
Frank frowned, "You do not seem that worried that you are about to die, human!"
Xander smiled a slow predatory smile, "Die, me?" he chuckled slightly, "What makes you think that?"
BOOM, Xander's H&K pistol barked once sending a round straight through the thick oak of the bar and into Frank's thigh.
"AHHHH!" Frank screamed out his finger pressing down on the trigger automatically, the AK spraying Xander's position with hot lead. Only Xander had already thrown himself sideways taking Faith down to the floor as he did so. No sooner than he had landed than he was moving back up slightly and retrieving his second pistol. With a practiced motion he flipped off both safeties with a double click-click.
"Stay down" he ordered Faith.
"Hey, I'm not a dog" Faith commented but as the words left her mouth Larry appeared at the entrance way his hair floating around his head as Magic kicked up static and currents of air around his body. An electric blue ball of fire zipped across the room towards Xander and Faith. Faith leapt up and barreled into Xander sending them both out of the fireballs path as the room exploded into action as the patrons turned out to be stoolies. Several reached into their jackets, other's their briefcases all brought out weapons, micro Uzi's ruled the day as they started to pummeled the room in automatic fire.
Xander wheeled around and pulled himself and Faith behind a post and breathed in quickly then out again setting his mind to calmness. "Damn" he said darting a quick look. The bad guys were arrayed across the entire room and some were working their way around to their position.
"Okay, when I say go I want you to dive over there" Xander said pointing to a collection of the armchairs.
"No way, I want to stay with you" Faith said her eyes desperate.
Xander shook his head, "No can do Babe gotta get you safe"
"No way" she said again and then pointed to one of the pistols that Xander was quickly reloading, "Give me one of those and I'll fight"
Xander was shaking his head before her sentence had finished, "Nah, I'm going to need them both. Look, do you trust me?"
Faith nodded with out hesitation.
"Then do as I say, NOW!" Xander said and exploded into action himself. Faith paused for a fraction of a second and then dived behind one of the solid armchairs peeking around just enough to watch Xander go into action.
Lara kicked the door to Xander's room wide-open and dived inside without waiting for Buffy. Her gun came up and traced an arc to cover the entire space from her cover. After a few moments she frowned, "Bugger"
Buffy meandered into the room idly swinging her bag with a mocking smile on her lips, "He's not in then?" she asked sweetly.
Lara narrowed her eyes at the blonde slayer but said nothing, moving to standing she quickly checked the other rooms, "He must be…" Lara paused her eyes creasing as she listened. She glanced at Buffy to find her already moving.
"Gunfire" she said over her shoulder and started to run. Lara cursed softly and set off after the diminutive blonde.
Xander ran in the opposite direction to Faith launching into the air and twisting to face the gunmen. His pistols described an arc as he brought them to bear on a gunman the left lagging behind slightly to track another. His pistols barked once sending out their death and nailing both gunmen between the eyes. Moving as fast as he was able the guns picked out two more targets and fired. Xander had just enough time for his eyes to widen as he felt rather than saw the fireball heading towards his destination.
It blossomed into a fiery wreck of superheated furniture. His mind racing along at the speed of light Xander made a quick course correction by twisting his body and letting his leg hit the floor and propelling him off to once side. He landed hand in an armchair sitting upright.
From his position he watched Larry create another fireball and Xander stamped on the floor and threw himself backwards. The fireball sped across the floor hitting the back of his chair as Xander toppled over backwards landing hard on his shoulder.
He didn't allow himself to feel the pain instead spinning on his injured shoulder and lifting his legs up into the air his pistols swung round and spat death towards the magical assassin causing the middle aged man to have to dive off to once side. Spinning himself round on his shoulder Xander flipped his body round and over landing on his feet his pistols leading the way he did the one thing no gun man ever expects.
He ran straight into the center of the room and thus the gunmen.
Time slowed to a trickle as Xander brought all his knowledge and experience into play. His mind flashed through a thousand scenarios before it settled on what appeared to be a crazy plan. Jumping up Xander's legs tucked in close to his body. His arms spread out wide and pistols unleashing their death, he took out two with four shots. Then one leg dropped down on the headrest of an armchair and he propelled his body up and round warms crossing in mid air his took two more shots, then as his body reached the apex of the flip it was traversing they barked out again, two more death hits. A strayed shot winged him, flying straight through his shoulder as he landed and up righted himself. The pain was incredible and a cry of it did escape, but that was the only sign he showed that he had been hit as he dropped down flat.
The four gunmen that had converged on his position had started firing already, effectively sending death each other's way. Once, a longhaired Asian managed to cut of his fire before it hit his opposite number, but it did nothing to stop the other mans bullets hitting him. As he dropped to the floor the Asian man brought his weapon to bear on the other man and shot him in retaliation.
Xander launched himself up and again with the full power of his thighs from his crouch sending him back into the air, he used an armchair to change trajectory to another chair jumping from one set of four to another he crossed the room his pistols barking death as he went.
The Terakan came back into play with a blue shimmering shield surrounding his body. The shield was apparently not two ways as a fireball whacked into the chair that Xander had been standing on and exploded into fiery chunks of upholstery. Xander was sent careening over to the left his flight uncontrolled he smacked straight into a column, but as he slipped to the floor his pistols once again barked out. One bullet hit the Terakans shield the other hit another gunman. Using the flare of the Terakans shield as cover Xander dived around to the other side of the pillar and reloaded with a deft movement.
Xander almost absent mindedly patted out a small flame that was starting to eat through his trousers and then slid back up the pillar.
A fireball hit the pillar behind him and set light to the wooden panels there causing a wash of heat to hit him even on the other side as it curled around and licked him.
Xander was forced to make an awkward jump to the next pillar along sliding along the floor as he went. He noticed that there seemed to be a lot less of the gunmen around and for that small fact he was grateful. That didn't stop him from popping off three shots to take out three of the remaining five. As he hid behind the next pillar he puzzled over what he was going to do about the greatest hurdle, the assassin magic user who was hurling fireballs at him every time he moved. It wasn't his best situation so far, but since having set out on his quest he'd noticed that everyone seemed to be out to get him and for a change it wasn't TV induced paranoia.
He decided then and there that if he did manage to get through this episode of his life alive, he'd go on a very long and hopefully uneventful holiday. His travel plans already mapping out in his mind Xander set off moving round the pillar so he was still cover his arm moved around popping off a few shots towards the assassin. He noticed that every time he did so it flared blue, possibly blinding the man for a few short, but precious moments.
His position was sprayed by automatic 9mm hail for a second and Xander paused to take a few deep breaths and banish the pain he was feeling all across his body. He darted a look around the column and was almost decapitated when his eyes locked into a pair of dark blue ones.
"Lara" he whispered. A bullet sprayed wood chips into his ear pebble dashing him in needles of sharp wood. He darted his head back to safety and wiped the resultant blood away from his face.
Lara's guns came up in perfect harmony and fired two shots, taking out the last gunmen without pause. They dropped to the floor lifeless and the Assassin turned with a glare, "Leave this place, we are the Teraka, do not incur our wrath"
Lara's gun barked causing the shield to flair, "Oh, do shut up!"
A fireball was launched in retaliation sending Lara diving for cover. Buffy also had to dive to one side as the fireball barreled past Lara's flying body leaving her open.
Xander's mind whirred in place for a precious second until in locked on a plan. Not giving himself a moment to think about it Xander acted. His friends were now in grave danger, and it was his fault, essentially.
He quickly reloaded despite not having used his full clips, tucking one gun away he pulled out his cane and let it extract and flipped out the blades. Then with a cry of fear, rage and pure adrenaline he exploded out from behind the pillar. His USP tracked onto the Assassin and with wild abandon Xander started to fire. BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG he fired the shield flared to bright electric blue, solid and no longer the translucent it was and Xander was already running at full pelt towards the Assassin. He lifted a leg up onto an armchair as he neared the shielded man, he had a bet going with himself and he hoped he won.
He propelled himself into the air still screaming like a banshee his gun barking out and flaring the assassin shield. He flew up at a 45-degree angle and with his entire body screaming about the treatment Xander twisted over and flipped in mid air as he was directly above the Assassin. Then he unleashed his cane, sending a chopping strike straight down on the Terakan's head the super sharp blade made short work of the mans unprotected head. Magical shields are difficult to keep in place and to better enable their use; one only protects the areas that need protecting.
The blade sliced through the Terakans skull and at the point the titanium alloy finally bit into brain tissue the shield dropped and the fireball the Assassin was building fizzled out of existence. Xander continued his flip now accelerated by his movement and managed to land on his feet but was driven down into a crouch by the momentum of his leap. Not thinking, just acting Xander was back up right and running like mad for the door.
Lara's head had popped out during Xander's mad run and she had watched with fascinated horror as Xander's insane plan panned out. As soon as she saw him land and make a run for it shy also exploded into motion chasing after her ex-lover with a vengeance.
Buffy's blonde locks appeared from behind a pillar until finally her wide hazel eyes were finally visible. She surveyed the carnage through wide, amazed eyes for a moment before she heard a smoky voice.
"Fuck Me!" Faith said standing from her safe place and looking around, "FUCK ME" she repeated louder and in complete shock. Then she sort of blinked and looked around, "Where's her Majesty?"
"Come on, she's gone after Xan" Buffy said pulling herself together. The two mystical warriors set off at a mad dash following Lara and Xander in their footsteps.
Xander dived into an elevator as the doors were shutting slamming into the mirror at the back with a thud and cracking it. Lara sprinted up and slammed her hand into the button to no avail as Xander's elevator car was already past the point of no return.
Her hand slipped into her pocket and pulled out a small eye cam and boon mic apparatus, "Bryce!"
"Lara" the tired voice of Bryce came back across the line without pause.
"The De'Vere Hotel, LA, I want you to access their BMS and tell me what floor Car," She glanced at the small plaque, "5 stops at"
"Lara, it's not that easy, how long do I have"
"Ten seconds, two of which are gone" Lara said shortly and dived for the opening doors of another elevator.
"Fine" Bryce set setting himself to work. "Make it easy why don't you"
Her resident Genus only took 5 seconds, "Luckily I'd already tapped in when I watched your GPS tracker arriving there, So, hang on, right, not stopping yet"
"Hurry"
"Not me, the car, its still going up, just hit the top floor and I'll tell you… Talking of top floor that's where he just stopped at"
"Right, Out" Lara said and settled back to wait, she had already selected that floor, she just had to hope no one stopped the car. She took the opportunity to reload.
Xander' exploded from the lift and ran out onto the last and still unfinished floor of the new refurbishments. Glancing around he tried to think of what to do, he knew that Lara wouldn't be far behind him.
No real plan in mind Xander decided to hide.
Lara stepped out of the elevator carefully her guns leading the way as she used standard hostile situation procedure to enter the construction floor.
Xander watched her progress silently moving to track her position. He happened to glance back to find that his back was open to the air and a large dropped loomed behind him. He self managed the panic and turned back round to face forwards. Then a slow smile spread on his face and he turned back. There was a window cleaner's rig not far from him, completely with abseiling line.
Lara walked slowly and silently through the darkening construction site the shadows all around her seemed to be almost alive with every pace she took. A noise caused her to whip around and face the way she had come. Seeing nothing after a moments pause she turned back and made her way over to the other side of the floor until she was standing at the very edge looking down thirty floors. After a second she took a step backwards and turned.
The shadows coalesced behind her slowly taking form of a handsome man who smiled at her sharp fangs appearing. Lara suddenly felt herself being lifted off of the floor an iron grip taking a hold of her neck from behind. "Hello Lady Croft" the man said his voice heavily accented.
"Hello Yourself, Now let go so I can kick your Arse" Lara said dryly and struggling against the massively powerful grip.
"I… Think not" the assassin said, "Mr. Harris" he called out.
Xander looked up from tying his line moving forward slightly to find that there was an unknown man holding Lara in the air with one hand. "Shit" he cursed softly and started to untie his line.
"Mr. Harris, come out wherever you are. It is time, my friend for you to die"
"Look, Vlad" Lara started, "Perhaps we can…" she was cut off when the grip increased sending pain down her spine. A yelp of pain was torn from her throat, despite her best efforts to squash it.
"You're dead," a dead tone said out of the darkness. Xander slowly walked into sight leaning on his cane his bad leg dragging slightly, "Now put her down and I'll do whatever you want"
"Mr. Harris, how nice of you to join us" 'Vlad' said.
Xander's eyes narrowed, "You're one of Dracula's line aren't you" he said.
Vlad smiled toothily, "Well done Mr. Harris I'm impressed"
Xander smirked, "As spike said, all gypsy Magic and poofters"
Lara yelped again and the small amount left in Xander's eyes drained away, "Don't" he said his voice barely above a whisper.
"Why should I not?" Vlad said shaking Lara slightly, "Perhaps I will Turn her, enjoy the rights of the sire; I think she would make a fine addition to my Harem"
Xander growled low in his throat.
"No thanks, I'd rather die" Lara put in gaining another shake, but she was quickly becoming used to that.
"Alright 'Vlad' how do you want to play this" Xander said in a tired voice, "I see from your ring what you're here for"
'Vlad' smiled, "Jump off" he said nodding towards the long drop behind him.
"What?" Xander said his voice thick with irony, "Just Jump Off"
"Yes, it is that simple" Vlad told him then caused Lara to yelp again.
"Alright" Xander said holding out a hand in a placating way, "alright"
"Xander, don't be stupid" Lara said.
"Can it duchess, I'm talking" Xander said his voice rough as he inwardly winced at her angry and slightly hurt look. He walked around her and Vlad standing at the very edge of the thirty-floor drop. His eyes flicked around taking in the sights before turning to face Vlad; "You're dead for hurting her" he said and stepped off backwards.
Vlad's eyes widened, "He did it" he smiled a stray wind brushed past his face sending his long dark hair whipping around his head, "the fool actually…" he was cut off, literally.
As Xander had stepped off backwards he had pushed slightly sending him further out, as he dropped he triggered his grapple. It flew back up where he had aimed it, but his fall and its forward motion had been equal until finally its propulsion systems really kicked in and sent it flying up to wrap around past Vlad and burying itself into the wall. As the line became taught the line neatly sliced straight through Vlad's neck, decapitating the vampire and ending its undead existence. Lara was dropped to the floor unceremoniously.
Xander felt the now familiar feeling of pain as it felt like his shoulder was about to be wrenched out of its socket. The line started to recall pulling him along for the ride. He arrived at the point of his exit looking dirty, tired and beaten up.
His own concerns wee quickly forgotten as he took in Lara's slumped form and he rushed over to her. Her boot hooked his leg sweeping him to the floor and Lara punched on top of him. Their eyes met for a short moment before her forehead blasted into Xander and knocked him out cold.
This time, no expense had been spared to ensure that Xander wouldn't be slipping out of any more cuffs; this time they would have their answers. So as Xander finally awoke after a strangely healing unconsciousness he found that he was bound hand and foot, some sort of barrier spell was in place humming in a pleasant fashion and at his back was a bed. He rattled his bindings to find they were good strong metal chains with no give in them, sort of like the ones they used to use for Oz. Unfortunately for him, his enhanced reflexes, speed and even healing didn't come with Super strength as standard, just a little boost. So he had no chance of pulling himself free from anything that could keep a werewolf locked up.
"I never thought, it would be this difficult just to get out of LA" Xander commented.
"Well, My Dear Boy, you like to make things difficult"
"Hiya Mr. Powers, and my day is complete" Xander said rolling his eyes. He watched the First dissipate before his very eyes as the door to his cell/room, opened and Lara appeared.
"Hey Lara" Xander said his voice soft, "How you doing?"
Lara smirked slightly, then wiped the expression off of her face, "I see you're awake"
Xander nodded, "Yep, looks like it, but I think I must be dreaming"
"Really, and why pray tell is that?"
"Because here I am, all tied up with you in my room" Xander said with a sexy lopsided smile.
Lara's eyes twinkled slightly but her iron resolve quashed the sparkle, "What are you planning, and where is the tear?"
Xander frowned, "Tear, what tear?"
"Xander, don't try me, that is a very powerful and most dangerous artifact, it needs to be put somewhere safe, you of all people should realize that!"
Xander let out a long drawn out sigh, "Lara, Lara, Lara. I have no idea what you're talking about"
"Evie saw it, just before you coshed her" Lara spat her eyes flashing.
"I did no such thing" he protested, "I would never hurt Evie!"
"Are you so sure?" Lara said with an evil smile, "She is an old woman, could you be so certain that your little sleep touch wouldn't do her irreparable damage?"
Xander closed his eyes, pain in his heart, he didn't like seeing that look of scorn and almost hate in the woman he loved eyes "Yes" he said his voice devoid of emotional content.
Lara let out an annoyed sigh, "The Tear, where is it, Or I become creative"
Xander opened his eyes and glared at her, "Who are you?"
"What?" Lara said confused.
"It's a simple question, oh, I get it. I hadn't realized that Lara had ever died, so you could take her form. Had me going that time didn't you" Xander said and proceeded to close his eyes.
Lara watched him with a confused expression for a few minutes until a soft snore erupted from his mouth. She walked over and slapped his face, not hard, just enough to wake him. He blinked a couple of times then glared at her, "Okay, so if not it, then who are you?"
"You know very well who I am Xander"
"Play along for me"
"I'm Lara Croft, the woman you had your fun with, Twice"
Xander's eyes widened, "Lara, what happened to you?"
Lara growled slightly, "You did"
A lone tear rolled down Xander's cheek, "Oh god, I'm so sorry"
"It's too late for that" Lara said pulling her gun and resting the barrel on his chin, "Where's the tear?"
Faith glanced up at the stairs again worry etched on her face, "I don't like this" she said, for the hundredth time.
"What's to like" Buffy commented. "Xander appears to have gone to the dark side and Lady Croft is shell shocked"
"No, I don't like them being up there on their own" Faith corrected her, "I don't trust her Majesty not to hurt my boy"
"Why do you keep calling him that?" Cordelia asked, piping up for the first time.
"Because he is," Faith answered simply.
"Does that make you his girl?" Buffy said teasingly, but with an undercurrent of ice.
Faith allowed herself a small smile, "Maybe"
Buffy huffed an annoyed breath, "It's not like you to be so coy, if you're fucking him just say it"
Faith just looked at her and said nothing either way nor did she make any sign either way.
"So what had you two so 'het up when you got here anyway" Cordelia said stepping between the two slayer's figuratively at least.
Faith turned to the other brunette and smiled, "X is wicked awesome"
Cordelia cocked an elegant eyebrow, "Xander, Puh-lease"
Buffy shook her head, "I'm with Faith on this one you shoulda seen him in action"
"Hey, you had the cheap seats I was there for the entire show, he rocks"
Cordelia shook her head in disbelief, "Are you telling me that my ex the Zeppo is now some sort of awesome fighting machine?"
"Yeah, he trained with Lara for like months, and he's pretty impressive even before that, you know with guns and driving and that" Buffy filled in
"Really, she trained him, no wonder she's so mad"
"Nah, that's something else" Faith said thoughtfully.
"Do it" Xander said looking Lara straight in the eye, "But know this Lara, I didn't want to hurt you, ever!"
"The Tear" Lara repeated flipping off the safety.
"How was Africa" Xander said causing Lara to blink.
"Africa, what of it?"
"I hear its nice, especially the Cradle of Life" Xander said watching Lara's face dissolve in shock.
"How?" Lara paused, "Evie must have told you"
"Yeah" Xander said in a non-committal fashion.
"Nice try, the Tear" Lara said pushing the barrel into his jaw harder, "And don't make me ask again"
"Fine, do it" Xander said then looked deeply into Lara's eyes, "I do you know"
"What?" Lara said, frustrated and confused.
"What you said to me, I do"
"What are you blathering on about now?" Lara said unable to put any sort of logical chain behind Xander's words.
Xander shrugged with a clink of his chains, "Never mind" he said, "So you going to shoot, or are we done" he said and promptly closed his eyes.
Lara glared down at his prone form, "Don't make me do it Xander"
"Do it?" he repeated, "Better than what I had planned anyway," he continued cryptically.
Lara's hand started to shake slightly; she glared at it with betrayal in her eyes. She tried to force her finger to tug on the trigger, to unleash Xander's death and safeguard the tear against his use of it. The shaking hand started to do so, so badly the gun was making a rattling sound. "Bugger" Lara whispered, "You're a bastard Xander Harris" she spat venomously and turned on a heel and left the room.
As the door slammed behind her Xander opened his eyes another tear floating down from his eye, "I know"
Faith and Buffy looked up as the door slammed and Lara stormed across the upper balcony her arm wiping at her face and dashing a traitorous tear from her face. They looked at each other, frankly shocked at the tough English lady's tears.
Evie walked in the reception just in time to watch Lara retreating into her room and slamming the door behind her. She glanced at the two shocked slayers and the vaguely bored Cordelia and moved swiftly to follow.
Faith watched her go biting her lip slightly finally she stood up and walked to the base of the stairs.
"Where ya going faith?" Buffy asked.
"To see X, make sure he's alright"
"I'll come too"
"No, I can handle it, I don't need super slayer on my back" Faith spat.
Buffy frowned and backed off with her hands in the air, "Fine, chill out"
Faith ignored her and bounded up the stairs two at a time.
Buffy turned back to Cordelia to find the gorgeous brunette smirking at her, "What?"
"I think some ones got a crush"
"No, way" Buffy said waiving her hand in the air, "I got over that ages ago"
Cordelia laughed, "I was thinking of Faith actually, but if there's anything you want to share…"
Buffy blushed crimson fading to match her light pink shirt.
Faith exploded into Xander's room to find him staring at the wall his eyes locked onto some indeterminate point.
"Watcha BoyToy" she said and sashayed into the room, "What's the what?" she continued shooting one of his own expressions at him when he didn't answer.
"Nothing much faith, how are you?"
"Well ya see, X, I've got a bit of a problem"
Xander turned his head and smirked at her, "I'm kinda tied up at the moment, but normally I'd help"
Faith's lips pursed seductively, "I can think of plenty of ways you could help me right now, just the way you are"
"Shoulda known that you'd like the S+M scene," Xander said with a chuckle.
"But serious, there's this problem, you know how you help me with the moral stuff right"
Xander shrugged, "I try"
"Well, ya see, I've got this friend, well, he's being kept prisoner by this English Royalty type"
"Yeah, what's the problem, hasn't he got any tea for her"
Faith chuckled slightly, "Well, the problem is, that I can bust him out and I want to, but I'm not sure if it's right, ya know"
Xander met her wyes, his dancing, "That would be wrong, but thanks for the offer babe"
"Nah, Sometimes I think the right thing to do is the wrong one too, so I'm not offering" Faith said drawing a surprised look from Xander, "I'm doing" she continued and reached out grasping a chain with both hands and pulling her hands apart. The chain held her neck muscles bulged and her face turned slightly red and then it exploded apart. With a sexy smile she tugged on the chain pulling it off of him and reaching for his legs and doing the same with the chains there. Then his hands were freed until finally he was free of his bindings.
"Faith" Xander cautioned.
"I trust you X" Faith said looking him in the eye she placed a hand either side of his face and slowly moved in and kissed him full on the lips in a surprisingly soft kiss, "I've wanted to do that since I was sprung" Faith explained at his somewhat glazed and quizzical expression.
"Faith…" Xander began moving towards her.
"I know X, I know"
They looked at each other for a few moments, until Xander shook himself, "Now what?"
Evie entered Lara's room without even pausing to knock to find the woman herself pacing back and forth like a caged tiger.
Evie allowed herself a soft smile, "No one quite gets to you like him do they?" she asked almost rhetorically.
Lara span round and nailed her with a glare, "What?"
"Xander, he really gets to you doesn't he"
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean" Lara said and she started to fiddle with her belongings, reaching into her bag for her gun cleaning kit.
"I'm sure you don't, perhaps it takes someone who knew Mr. Harris and his Wife Dr Harris to be able to see it"
Lara looked up at her, "That was a fiction, a cover"
"Was it, was it really?" Evie asked, looking deep into Lara's eyes.
"Yes, I just told you did I not"
"Yes, you did, I just happened not to believe you, I think you liked being Dr Harris Lara"
"Pfft, please, I like my freedom too much"
"Did Xander ever try to stop you doing something you wanted to do then, because I can't remember that!"
"Perhaps your memory is not as good as you appear to think it is" Lara retorted frostily.
Evie smiled again and sat down on the edge of the bed, "He hurt you badly didn't he, I wonder why?"
Lara frowned, "I have a bone to pick with you actually" she said dodging Evie's question"
Evie tilted her head, "Which one"
"What on earth did you think you were doing by telling him about my trip to Africa"
Evie smiled widely, "I didn't, he already knew"
Lara frowned, a massive explosion of sound triggered her into action and she grabbed her still in one piece, piece and tore out of the room.
Faith smiled, "The window"
"I can't the barrier, My Cane"
Faith smirked and reached into her jacket bringing out his collapsed cane and handing it to him. "As for the barrier" she said suddenly whirling around her leg, whipping out and nailing the barrier that crossed the window. There was a sound like exploding glass, only with a delayed echo and suddenly there was no longer a hum, "Now scoot"
Xander paused to smile into her eyes and cup her cheek, then he surprised her by placing a scorching kiss on her lips, "I wanted to do that the night of the sisterhood" he said before diving bodily out of the window.
Faith smiled slightly her hand coming up to touch her lips, "Damn, I shoulda let ya" she whispered.
Lara exploded into the room having heard the finally explosive breaking of the shield, "What happened?" she demanded of Faith.
Faith just met her eyes and a slow lazy smile spread across her lips, "Happened, what?"
Lara growled and made to walk to the window, "Not Yet" Faith stilled her and stepped in front of her.
Lara growled again and brought her gun to bare Faith met her eyes unflinchingly for a second and then finally stepped away. "He's gone!" she said with a sure tone.
Lara swore fluently in about fifty different languages. Calling Faith just about ever name under the sun as Buffy, Cordelia and finally Evie arrived to find Lara almost ranting at Faith.
"Faith, what did you do?" Buffy demanded.
Faith shrugged, "Nothing much, just let X fly" she said and bent to rub her foot through her boot, "Damn that thing was hard"
"WHAT!" Buffy screamed her eyes wide with shock.
This time he had not wasted nay time, or expense. Xander had lit out of Angel's and headed straight for the airport. If he couldn't get in the back way he'd just have to go in the front way instead. So he had purchased a first class ticket and spent the flight over going over plans in his head. He had also consulted his Military grade Palmtop in the process, luckily the outer casing was impervious to fire, water, shock and most importantly considering the events of late, it was also bullet proof. It had an atomic battery cell, and more memory than his home system, GPS, Imaging, Route Tracing and a host of other goodies. It had cost him an arm and a leg, as well as having to do business with some very shady dealers, but it was worth it. Everything he needed was on the device, and he knew that he would need its help. Computers were not his first choice of travel companion, but thankfully it also came with solitaire so all was not lost.
The journey had also been made more pleasant by the attractive Oriental Hostess had fussed over him due to his cane, which luckily he had procured a permit for it and special transportation for his weapons. That he collected along with the rest of his luggage after he had left the plane.
He walked out of the main entrance and just stared for a moment. The city was hugely overpopulated, and the mass of humanity was unbelievable. He was on a quest for sure, but as he had once told Lara you just needed to stop and look at the scenery once in a while. With that aim in mind he walked to the nearest café and ordered a Coffee and just watched the millions of people walk by for a while.
He also planned some more in his head; he needed to get across the border after nightfall by the next day, so he had a lot to do in not very much time. First he needed transportation then he had to find a weakness to exploit. Not an easy task.
"What do you think Angel" Buffy asked the dark haired vampire looking at him intently.
"It's a fuzzy image, but you can just make out his cane, there" he said pointing to a section of the image. His enhanced Vampiric vision seeing things not even her Slayer-Vision ™ could.
Lara nodded, "Then we have a hit, that's the boarding for Hong Kong, He's going to China"
"Now all we need to do is figure out why" Evie said leaning on the counter and peering at the image of Xander, "What are you up to young man" she said, half to herself.
Faith looked at them, "Can't you just trust him?" she asked.
Lara glared at her, "That would be a no then" Faith said off of her look. "Sad, cause he really loves you"
"What?"
"I said…"
"… I know what you said, what makes you think that" Lara demanded her ire rising.
Faith shrugged, "Because he told me so"
Lara frowned at her but forced her mind back on track, "What's in China"
"We've been through this" Buffy said with a huff.
"Yes, but we didn't cover it very well now did we?"
"No, maybe not. You're the world traveler," Buffy said pointedly.
"I am, and I've not long been to China, there are gangs ruling the roads these days, the border is virtually closed, and I've no idea how we're going to get in let alone him. That's all depending on if we can…"
"What is it?" Evie asked seeing Lara's eyes becoming unfocused.
"I need Bryce and Hillary" she said in a murmur and fished in her pocket.
"Bryce" she said once she had attached her eyepiece/boom mic.
"Yes Lara" Hilary said.
Lara smirked, "You're Bryce now are you"
"He's asleep, I'm not" Hillary replied sardonically.
"Very well, I need you to look up Chinese relics, one called the Buddha's Oracle"
"Very well, do we have more than ten seconds this time?"
Lara nodded and smiled, "You do, but the clock is ticking"
"Very well, Hillary out"
Lara unhooked the device from her ear.
"What's in that head of yours missy" Evie said with a fond smile.
Which Lara returned before becoming focused, "I was just thinking about the Tear of Imhotep, and then China went through my mind?"
"Go on" Angel said leaning on the desk transfixed.
"It's a very vague memory, but I believe there is an artifact very similar to the Tear of Isis in both looks and use. It has been lost for millennia thought, to my knowledge at least. But if Xander has found it…."
"We should check his home PC" Buffy put in, "He keeps everything on that"
"Could you call your friend Willow?" Lara asked.
Buffy nodded, "On it"
Angel frowned, "It's worrying"
Evie looked at him, "What is"
"If Xander needs two artifacts that do the same thing, then he must need the extra power for whatever it is that he wants to do"
Lara nodded, "You're right… That is worrying" she turned to Faith, "It appears more and more as if Xander is up to no good"
Faith shook her head, "No way, not my X" she said her voice completely trusting of the dark harried man and showing no doubt at all.
Lara narrowed her eyes, "How is it, if he so 'Love's me that he is 'with' you" she asked.
Faith stood up and slowly walked over to Lara her eyes dark, she leaned in close to the other woman until her lips were just a millimeter from Lara's ear and then she said.
"He's not, never has been"
Lara's face registered shock for a mere flicker of time before shifting back into neutral.
But Faith hadn't finished, "but he will be if I can ever get him over YOU"
Xander led back looking up at the sun filtered as it was by the sheltered roof of the junk he was currently drifting on. He had slipped the owner of the boat enough money to go out and buy another one, just for this one journey. Essentially he had both brought the Junk and the crew, as well as their protection. It was a risky gambit, but then he hadn't paid all of the money upfront. Once he paid the second half the family could set them selves up with a new boat, or do rather well anywhere they wanted so they were committed to keeping Xander safe from the authorities, so far nothing had happened. They hadn't been challenged, now papers asked for and the various boats they had seen patrolling the river had all but ignored their presence. In fact, Xander was actually slightly worried about that small fact.
He only had a short distance until he hit the end of the road, at least the watery one he was currently traveling. Once they reached Kunming, or rather close to it, Xander had to take a different means of transport. That means was currently nestled in the bows of the junk fuelled up with several jerry cans of spare fuel. A powerful Triumph Motorcycle that he had brought of off a nameless face in the center of Honk Kong. Completely anonymous, not very legal, but it did mean that the Motorbike was highly unlikely to be traced. He had given it a quick once over and it was in showroom condition.
Once he left the junk and hopped on his bike he was set to travel via the back roads up into the mountainous ranges of china, luckily, at least by his calculations, he did not have far to go before he reached the Temple of Kangshe. Once there he believed through a large amount of research that he would be able to enter the catacombs, from there he would then, (hopefully) find the entrance to the lost emperor's final resting place. At least, that was the plan.
"Alright, fine, thank you Bryce and you Hillary" Lara said and killed her comms. She turned back to Evie who she had been conversing with and smiled, "We're on"
Evie grinned like a school girl, "Really, Where?"
"Bryce found mention of Buddha's Oracle in a Ming Dynasty scripture, apparently it was buried with Emperor Hung Sung."
"The Lost Emperor" Evie whispered her eyes alight with archaeological interest. Then her face fell, "That is rather the problem though isn't it"
"Yes" Lara said with a slight smirk, "It would be"
"Lara" Evie said with narrowed eyes, "He is still lost isn't he"
"Actually, possibly, he was my next project actually, but the Cradle came up, so I could hardly ignore it"
"That is true" Evie said.
"So I've tracked a possible location of his final resting place. I think it's a goer"
"The Chinese government aren't very happy with you though, and there is that gang"
Lara shrugged, "Not a problem, I know my way around china and I have enough friends there that will help me"
Evie smiled, "Yes, you were always good at making friends"
"Hardly, I was too shy in school"
Evie laughed, "Yes, funny to think isn't it"
Lara stepped out of MC Air with a large smile on her face, she had just found transport into China, a little low level flying was in order and Mick was just the pilot to pull it off, he and Albert would once again get them somewhere nice and fast.
Them, that was a concept that Lara wasn't too happy about but trying to convince two slayers and an old woman that they couldn't come was nigh on impossible. Thankfully she had managed to convince Evie that the trip would be too arduous and had arranged for her to head back to England where she would work with Bryce and Hillary as her support team. Angel had been champing at the bit to come, but for obvious reasons they couldn't afford the limitations he would put upon their travel plans. So it was Lara, Faith and Buffy heading towards China, and Xander.
"Are we going to do it again?" Buffy asked with a gleam in her eye.
Lara actually smiled at her and nodded once, causing the slender blonde to bounce around in her seat in joy.
Faith creased her brow at them, "Do what?" she asked a sinking feeling in her stomach.
Lara turned an amused smile in her direction then called into her mike, "ALRIGHT MICK, LET'S DO IT" she shouted over the din of the engines.
"Entering Approach vector now Lara"
"See you back in the states, I owe you a drink" Lara told him, no longer shouting as her mic had compensated.
"GET READY" Mick called out, shouting for the hell of it. He was flying above the largest Air force in the entire world; he was running on an adrenaline high that he didn't even want to think about.
"Do what?" Faith asked again her eyes flaring open.
Buffy smirked at her, a look that was mirrored when Lara did the same thing.
"I'm not going to like this am I" Faith asked herself.
The Hercules rear door clanked, then started to open showing a fair expanse of sky and as it finally opened and Albert was leveled out from its dive, a lot of green.
Faith's eyes goggled, "Oh fuck oh god, I'm going to die, I don't like heights, oh fuck" she muttered in a mantra clamping her arms down on the seat and holding on for dear life.
The Jeep was suddenly sent out of the gaping bay door to the sound of Faith screaming in livid fear as Buffy whopped and hollered.
"JESUS FUCK! CHRIST ON A BIKE!" Faith yelled as the adrenaline surge from her fear sent her heart racing faster, her eye sight became pin sharp and the sound of the wind howling past the plunging jeep filled her entire world. She turned to find Lara was sat back in her seat looking relaxed, almost comfortable. If it was anyone else, Faith suspected she would be filing her nails. Then the time for thoughts was over as the chute opened and jerked on the jeep lurching them as they appeared to be lifted back into the sky, their stomachs still traveling downwards.
As the groups bodies reached an equilibrium the sensation of softly floating was allowed to last all of thirty seconds until the bone jarring landing jerked faith out of her almost comatose state.
Lara turned to her with a warm smile, that was completely fake, "Are you alright dear, because you look a little pale"
Faith blinked owlishly at her.
"YESSS! CAN WE GO AGAIN?" Buffy begged bouncing around like a teenager.
Lara smiled, "Only if you eat your greens," she said her face falling back into a mask when she remembered the other time those words had been uttered and by whom. She glanced at Faith and felt a small amount of evil pleasure at seeing the cocksure contender for Xander's heart turning green. Her brows creased, 'Contender?' she thought quizzically to her self. 'Do I still love him' she asked her inner voice. It was silent, but then she already knew that answer.
She reached out of the window and slammed the release freeing the powerful jeep from the landing pallet and her foot slammed down rocketing them forwards.
"How long till we reach, what's it called?" Faith asked concentrating her entire fiber of being on not showing how close to Ralph-ing all over the jeep she really was.
Xander watched the yellow roped men walk past, their heads shaven and smooth he identified them as monks, Shaolin if he wasn't mistaken, which he could very well be. Monks of China hadn't been a big part of his research. Once the roped men passed he slipped as silently as a wraith into the temple itself moving with all haste he made his way into the back of the temple and offered up a payer to Buddha himself saying sorry for invading his temple in this fashion.
A couple of monks suddenly walked around the corner and Xander reacted instantly jumping behind a huge vase that decorated the room. They wandered past him chatting to each other. He leant against the wall taking long slow breaths to calm his heart again and listened intently. The sound of chanting entered his ears as the heady aroma of the burning incense filled his nostrils with calming fragrances.
Three quick breaths set Xander mind back into the place he wanted it. His leg was hurting from the day and a half of riding and he was to hot, too humid and basically not enjoying this particular trip all that much. That wasn't including the fact that he really wasn't sure where the entrance to the catacombs was. Apart from that he was fine. His mind now centered and feeling calmer, Xander slipped through to the very last room in the temple, right at the back, essentially against the rock face that it was built into.
He stalked the rear wall for several long moments looking at the Mandala like imagery that adorned it. His eyes came to rest on a particular geometric shape and suddenly the world didn't exist, only that image and he were in the universe as it tried to communicate some universal truth to him that he was not yet ready to receive.
He had been so engrossed in his study of the pattern that he didn't sense, hear or in any other way detect the approach of the middle aged monk that appeared behind him.
A polite and subtle throat cough had the same effect on Xander as a .50 caliber gun going off by his ear. He span around like a cat on a hot tin roof and fell back into a fighting stance, low slung in the traditional style of Wing Chun.
The monk cocked an eyebrow with an amused gleam in his eye. Slowly he slid back into a relaxed stance that was quite upright, almost like he wasn't really bothered by Xander's aggressive stance.
Xander eyed the other man for a long moment; he had an air of great humor about him, as if he had seen a great many things that had tickled his humor over his lifetime. Xander wasn't sure why exactly, but that didn't fit his own personal image of what a monk should look like.
Neither moved both looking at the other in the eye gauging the other person until finally Xander slid back out of his stance and smiled, holding out a hand for the other man to shake. "My name is Xander Harris," he said in Cantonese.
"Pleased to meet you" the monk replied in perfect English, "Do not be so surprised Mr Harris" the monk said off of Xander's surprised look. "An elderly missionary came to my village when I was very young and taught us all how to speak English, he was however unsuccessful in his conversation of our faith"
Xander smirked, "Alrightly then, so now what, you've caught me"
"Caught you, doing what though. You were not attempting to steal our gold as most would, you are in an unused storeroom, staring at one of the most ancient of our Mandala, I see you doing no wrong here"
"You're…" Xander trailed off searching for a word, "Not what I expected of a monk" he said finally.
The monk smiled, "Expectations can be our own undoing" he said.
Xander blinked, "Huh?" then he shook his head, "Look, I'll come clean, I'm trying to get into the catacombs" he said feeling, for some reason that he could trust this man, this monk with his very life.
"I know that" the monk said, "What I do not know is why?"
"I'm on a quest, I have to collect some things, one of which is in the tomb" Xander said and knocked on the wall, "In this mountain, the entrance to which should be in the bowels of this very temple"
The monk smiled, "I see, how very uninformative of you" then he held up a hand his eyes dancing, "It does, however, tell me all I need to know, please follow me"
"Where to?" Xander asked suddenly suspicious but still moving to follow.
"I will lead you to the entrance of the tomb, after that the journey is your own"
"You know there's a tomb in the mountain?" Xander asked shocked.
"Of course, I know a great many things"
Xander smirked, "Really"
The monk smiled secretively, "Indeed my young friend, I do, I know for instance that your name means Savior"
Xander suddenly nailed him with a glare, "How?"
"I've had a great many years to read"
"Really, you only look about 40, if that" Xander said, "I would have thought that you would have spent more time here in the temple"
"This isn't my temple, I am merely visiting it," The monk said leading Xander through into the room opposite the storeroom. He reached down and pulled out a reed rug revealing a trap door set into the floor. Lifting it with no apparent effort, considering the size, the monk stepped into the hole and dropped straight down before Xander had chance to stop him.
Xander looked over the edge noting that the Monk was standing looking back up at him, apparently devoid of harm. Taking a breath Xander did exactly the same as the Monk and allowed his body to drop through the hole.
Lara glanced across at her passengers, "Something has just occurred to me" she said suddenly, starling both slayers.
"What's that your highness?" Faith asked.
"Who's looking after the Hellmouth while you two are with me?"
"Tinny, Tricia, or is it Fanny?" Faith said waiving a hand around.
"It's Sarah actually" Buffy put in with a glare at the other slayer.
"Who?" Lara asked.
"Another slayer, the Jailbird here managed to be almost beaten to a pulp by a guard and died for a few minutes before they got her back. Thus, presto we have yet another slayer running around. Luckily, her watcher isn't a complete waste"
Lara nodded once and suddenly slammed her foot on the brake, "Come on, the rest is on foot"
"What about the jeep?" Faith asked
Lara jangled the keys, "Do you really think that anyone nearby knows how to hot wire a car?"
Faith just smiled at her, "I do" she said her eyes glinting slightly.
"Then I'd better keep my eye on you, wouldn't want yet another slayer running around would we" Lara said in a thinly veiled threat.
"La de da" Faith said walking down the dirt road her hips swaying.
"I think I hate her," Lara mumbled to herself.
"She's all talk, you get used to it" Buffy said ghosting into sight along side of her.
'Bloody slayers' Lara thought to herself with a smile on her face. "Oh no, there's more to it than that, I assure you" she said almost cheerfully.
Xander looked up at the large cliff face his jaw working as he thought. "That's going to be fun," he said
"Really?" the monk asked his eyes laughing, "Looks like a lot of hard work to me"
Xander glared at him, "I know that!"
"Then why scale up there," The monk said again his eyes mocking the younger man.
"So I can get inside of the temple" Xander said as if it were obvious.
"That, is only the official entrance, there is another there," The monk told him pointing over to a bush.
"Thanks, hey why are you helping me?" Xander said moving over to look at the bush.
The monk just smiled, "Because I wanted to"
"Well, thanks, eh… Say what is your name anyway"
"I do not have one" the monk replied.
Xander turned around at his strange words to find that he was nowhere to be found. "Huh" he said with a slight smile. If he hadn't fell on the monk as he'd jumped down he'd have thought it was the first leading him astray. Luckily the monk had been VERY solid, as it rock like.
Xander looked back to the bush and swept it to one side to find that there was indeed a small opening leading to what looked to be a small prayer room. Possibly to pray to ones ancestors in times of need. Xander wasn't sure, but that was what he thought could be the reason.
He walked into the stone room, the bush flipping back into position at his back. He ignored the various arts etc arrayed across the walls, his eyes boring into the rock wall. He looked at it for a long moment until finally he smiled grimly. He pulled out a knife, flipping it open with a deft movement of his wrist. Then he traced it down the seemingly solid rock wall, the blade biting into an almost invisible crack as Xander slowly traced out a doorway. Then he ran his hands all across the doorway, looking for some sort of triggering mechanism. Finally he gave up on the door itself and started to look around the room trying to pull, push, twist and generally tugging on every likely looking thing. He wished he had Lara's knack for finding the right one on first go, unfortunately for him it took a good thirty minutes and nearly every moveable rock, bowel, loose piece of rock in the room.
The door slid back with a scrape of rock on rock, the sound seemingly too loud for the small space until finally it was open and revealing a corridor behind it.
"Yes" Xander whispered and moved off, down the corridor slowly. As he walked he pulled out his cane, letting it snick out and engage the segments until it was a whole stick. His other hand reached for his PDA and pulled it out, tracking his position and overlaying it on what he had found about the tombs plans, which was precious little. However, once you raided a few tombs or hung with an expert who had. It was easy to see a pattern emerge, they tended to have the same sorts of devices in, the same general layout in terms of rooms, the exact measurements, of course, depended on the tomb itself. Using that knowledge Xander had been able to extrapolate the layout of the tomb from the information he had found.
It didn't give him a map, but it was better than flying blind. The GPS and PDA allowed him to trace out the layout and map it for future reference anyway. Adding to his knowledge base, which would be sent to Lara when he was finished.
Lara bowed deeply to the leader of the temple, her demeanor totally respectful. She rattled off a very quick discussion with the monk her face becoming les respectful and more annoyed.
Finally she gave up and walked back over to Buffy and Faith.
"What's up?" Faith asked.
"He will not grant us permission to enter the tomb" Lara said her tone frustrated.
"So?" Faith asked clearly confused.
Lara just looked at her and frowned.
"There's no chance we're getting in there without it Faith, theirs too many of them and they all patrol the temple" Buffy said
Lara looked at her, "How did you know that"
"Kick-Flick" Buffy admitted with a slight blush, "Xan made me watch about a hundred of them after he… eh… got back, so we could 'bond'"
"Poor you" Lara said with a smirk, "Why that mans so damn sexy when he's that much of a geek I'll never know" she said distractively as she spied another monk appearing, his garb slightly different from the others. She noticed that even the 'bishop' bowed deeply to him. Her eyes met his and there was a sudden look of amusement in the monks' depths. He chatted to the 'bishop' for a few moments and then the elder man and who Lara HAD thought was in charge bowed and waived them over. "I think we're on after all!" Lara said.
She didn't see the look that Faith shot her nor did she see Buffy smiling a small half smile at her words about Xander.
They reached the Monk and Lara bowed deeply before saying in Cantonese a long sounding sentence.
"Not at all Lady Croft, I know of you" the monk replied in English.
"I see, how?" Lara asked suddenly worried.
The monk chuckled softly, "This is apparently my day for meeting the suspicious"
Buffy looked at him, "Why, who else did you see and was tall, dark and goofy?" she asked.
"That would be a most interesting way of describing the man I've just met yes" the monk said laughing, "He was a… singular man."
"That's X" Faith said smiling, "Thanks Monk guy"
"It is my pleasure, can I take it then that you three beautiful women are all looking for this one man"
"We need to stop him, he is trying to retrieve…" Lara began but the monk cut her off.
"…Buddha's Oracle, yes I know that" the monk said with a smile, "However, why is it you feel you need to stop him?"
"He has another item, with the two he could pose a danger to the world" Lara said slowly, testing her words as she said them.
The monk nodded, "Yes, he COULD" he said then held his chin thoughtfully, then smiled widely, "It is a good job for me that he won't"
"We don't know that" Lara said as Faith chuckled and Buffy watched the back and forth with interest.
"You may not" the monk allowed, "But I do, there is a strange sort of harmony in Xander's heart, he knows what he has to do and has resigned himself to it but there is no sign of duplicity or evil intent" the monk said
"We, I, still need to be sure" Lara insisted her eyes earnest. "Come, come with me and I will show you what I showed him" The monk said indicating that they should follow
"Perhaps if you can catch up with him, then you will learn what is plain to see"
Xander looked at the flickering fire of the torch with a large silly grin on his face, "Well, I'll be… Lara wasn't joking" he said noticing that there were several of the other strangely flickering light sources arrayed down the corridor and the room he had just stepped into.
He looked all around him, his footwork meticulous as he moved, carefully ensuring that he was in no fear of falling or tipping. The room was very large, a good thirty feet across with an undulating with a pool in the very centre of the room. There were several Terracotta guardsmen standing stock still on every one of the pillars, except where time and the earth's movement had sent a pillar toppling to the floor and smashing its fragile guard to pieces.
There was a large amount of fallen masonry in fact, pagoda like arches that had been felled by treacherous subsidence and a host of other like architecture downed by age. Xander took it all in before he finally fully entered the room stepping across the threshold of the corridor and antechamber.
A thrill of ice trickled down his back as some intuitive feeling, or sense, told him that something really, really BAD had just happened.
"There" the monk said pointing towards the same bush he had for Xander earlier.
Lara nodded, "I thank you"
"You can repay my help in a way if you wish" the monk said causing Lara to look at him slightly surprised.
"Of course"
"Do not judge too quickly, this man you seek. There is a great goodness in him, the potential of spiritual enlightenment. Such a man, can not do the things I know you suspect he is"
Lara frowned slightly, "I am sorry, but you do not know him like I do" she said shortly.
The monk smiled and shook his head, "That is very correct, and precisely why I can say what I do" he told her turning he walked away leaving Lara looking thoughtfully at his back.
"Weird guy" Buffy commented.
Faith nodded her agreement, "Yeah, but he seems to like X, so he's cool in my book"
"Just why is it that you like Xan so much anyway, you did TRY to kill him if I remember correctly, would have too if it wasn't for angel"
Faith dropped her head in shame, something Buffy had never expected to see from her, "I wasn't in a real good place back then and I…all of you suffered because of it. My bad, and I'm trying to earn some trust and respect even now"
"You already have it Faith" Buffy said smiling softly, "You really do, this isn't about that, its about you and Xander"
Faith smirked, "That's private"
"I'm not looking for details" Buffy shot back her eyebrow cocked.
"X, he, urh, well he's my moral compass for one thing. He helps me out and has since I was sprung. He didn't ask for anything in return only giving me friendship when none of the rest of you was willing to. Then he helped to get you all to accept me, I owe him big style" Faith said her dark eyes earnest.
Buffy nodded, "That's Xan, he can be a right bastard when he needs to be, and I'll tell ya we used to have some really good arguments back in high school. Now, he's the most stable guy I know"
"Not that stable" Lara interjected, "Or we wouldn't be chasing him across the world to stop him from ending time"
"That's why YOU are here" Buffy told her, "Not me"
"Or me" Faith said, "I know him, he's not trying to end the world"
"Perhaps you're correct, but what if whatever he has planned will do so anyway, perhaps he is not in possession of all of the facts. Have either of you thought of that?"
Lara let them stew on that as she pushed the bush to one side and stepped into the small stone room. She spotted the eight-foot high doorway straight away, because she was after all the best. "I believe that Xander has found a way in"
Faith and Buffy squeezed in after her and looked at the stone doorway with smiles on their faces, "This is so cool" Faith said after a moment.
Lara looked back at her with a slight smile, "Really, what makes you say that"
"This is like real life Indiana Jones"
"Ha" Lara laughed a genuine twinkle of amusement in her eye, "Yes, I suppose it is rather" she said, "All we need now are the sounds of a fight…" she was cut off when the familiar sound of a semi-automatic pistol shooting.
Xander's twin USP .40 caliber cannons whipped around as he tracked another bat as it launched itself at him. He had managed to get almost to the pool in the centre of the room before a flock of the furry creatures had dropped down on him like avenging angels. He had picked off about nine of the little critters already, leaving about another ten at least before he had wiped out the entire clan of them. Xander didn't like killing animals much; however, they had already raised several welts on his face, neck and shoulders. One had got through and bit deeply into his shoulder, so he figured they had it coming now. Tit for tat, as Giles might say.
The bats came round for yet another strike and this time Xander was not playing around. Both USP pistols tracked into the main clump of flying beasties and barked. As the bats scattered outwards Xander shot again and again, his pistols taking out a bat with every shot. Long practice and a natural eye had given Xander a very good aim, which was as well, because even though the bats were very large (for bats), they were still small moving targets.
After a few seconds Xander stopped firing, there was no point, nor was there any bats. He allowed himself couple of seconds to catch his breath feeling at the back of his neck and his shoulder only for his hand to come away covered in blood. With a tired shake of his head Xander looked around for any danger, climbed up to a place of relative safety and pulled out his first aid kit.
Lara led the charge, the corridor not wide enough for the three to run abreast she was ahead of the side-by-side slayers, who were champing at the bit to get past. However, Lara wouldn't let them, after all she was the expert, that and she had the only guns in the group. Neither slayer had wanted one, which had almost made Lara start to argue at their presence again, but in the end she had relented, after all having two slayers along for the ride wouldn't be a bad thing in terms of 'firepower'.
Lara reached the end of the corridor and her running stilled to a cautious creep. Her guns leading the way she moved carefully around the corner and looked out into the main cavern. She saw as Xander had the large area and smiled to herself. This was almost like home to her, after all these years of raiding tombs.
She held up her hand to still the two slayers and stepped slowly out into the main cavern. She felt the familiar tingle of anticipation as well as the dread worthy feeling of magic in the air. It wasn't uncommon to find that tomb entrances were warded to trigger defense mechanisms. From the sounds of the shots she had heard earlier she knew that those defenses had been set upon Xander. She wasn't worried about the dark haired man, he knew what he was doing well enough after all it had been her that had trained him. She knew first hand that he was possibly the best, after her of course.
With a slight smile still showing on her face she set off moving into the middle of the room looking around for any vestiges of the first defenses.
The growl was her first clue that Xander hadn't got them all. Lara span around to find what looked to be a panda bear of steroids with a seriously bad hair day, and it didn't look at all happy to find her there. Two black USP guns lined up with the creature and Lara started to move backwards her guns barking as she moved.
The panda didn't seem to care, the large 8 foot mutated animal just roared in defiance and moved in to fight tooth and claw against Lara's high-tech weaponry. Lara frowned slightly as she realized that her guns were having little to no effect and darted a glance around the place to find another way. There was always a way, Tomb builders were to most insane, arrogant bastards ever to walk the planet. They conceived the most devilish of traps, and then made a way out, but only if you knew what was going on in their insane little brains.
Xander taped the bandage to his shoulder and shrugged his shirt back into place. He had just finished his last button when the first of Lara's shots alerted him to her presence. His eyes tracked around the room from his position. He found Lara fighting a huge panda like creature and his handsome brow creased when he noticed that her shots weren't slowing it down at all. He was in two minds. On one hand he should leave her to it and get on with his quest. However, that part of his mind lost to the part of his mind that was controlled by his heart.
Xander looked around searching for a way to help his love, and hopefully get away from her again without loosing out on his quest. He had no doubts that she would ensure his incarceration this time; there would be no third escape. Frankly, he was amazed that he had managed twice so far.
He tucked his pack back over his shoulder and holstered a single pistol. Then he pulled out his trusty cane and hefted it in his hand. This cane meant so much to him, it was a symbol of his and Lara's last adventure and that fantastic, albeit, fictional, time they had been Mr. and Dr Harris, married. It had saved his life on countless occasions and he had to admit to himself it was just plain old fashioned seriously cool.
Then with his face a mask of determination Xander started to run like the wind. His arms pumping even with their loads and his legs flying across the uneven surface Xander belted towards the Panda just as it reached out and knocked Lara flying Xander reached it. With hard tug on the grapple Xander pulled out a meter of razor sharp wire and jumped into the air. He dropped the line over the bear's head and pulled HARD.
He wasn't sure what the beast was using for muscles, but the wire, did not as he hoped, just slice of the things head but slowly sawed its way through. This was a technique he had perfected in the last year, one that was very useful for taking out vampires. There was also a combination move he had come up with that was excellent, but when the chips were down, this was still the favored way of killing a vampire. Normally the wire just decapitated the vampire so fast it was almost instantaneous. So he knew that the bear was not normal, if the 8-foot panda hadn't clued him in the first place?
As he struggled to pull the wire though the Panda's neck Lara managed to clear her head and stand up. She eyed Xander's action with a smile watching with an air of amusement on her face as Xander swore and tugged on the wire. The beast for its part was fighting hard, screaming out in guttural cries of pain as blood poured down its white and black fur.
"JUST FUCKING DIE" Xander said and with a rage fuelled pull finally managed to work the wire though the beasts spine and yank it though the remaining muscle, gristle and skin spraying dark arterial blood onto his face and filling his nose with the stench of death.
He heard clapping come from behind him and risked a glance to find Buffy and Faith clapping. He quickly turned back to Lara his gun coming up to protect himself as she stepped forward. "Ah, Ah, AH, now is that anyway to thank the man who just saved your life?" he said moving so he had all three of them in his line of sight.
Lara stilled her movement and looked at him coolly, "As if I couldn't have handled that little thing," she said.
"Sure, Lara, Sure, I'll just pretend we did the bit where you say thank you, then shall I?" Xander said as his cane bucked in his hand and reeled out a grapple to the other side of the room and in the roof. He swept away like batman leaving Lara watching him going with a slight smile on her face and a real twinkle, something that hadn't been there since Egypt.
She watched him as he reached a perch on the other side of the room; he turned, bowed and flipped off a sloppy salute before disappearing off into another section of the tomb. She was still smiling, with her eyes dancing merrily when Faith and Buffy arrived. Both had daggers out, drawn when they had seen Lara was in deep trouble and no longer needed when Xander did his white knight bit.
"I should never have got him that damn cane" Lara said calmly putting away her weapons and turning to the other two women, "Well, that was interesting" she commented.
"Now what?" Faith asked kicking the lifeless Panda, testing its lifelessness.
"Well, I rather think we have a race on our hands, don't you" Lara said her generous lips spreading into a full-blown smile.
Buffy glanced at Lara with her eyes laughing but her face serious, "A race?" she questioned, "Why are you smiling then?"
Lara quirked an eyebrow, "This is what I do for a reason" she replied, "I love it"
"Either that or the other racer" Faith mumbled grumpily.
Xander sat back on his haunches; he had just been studying an ancient text written on the wall of small room. With a frown on his face he glared at the script, daring it to become anymore confusing than it already was. He had made a study of all of the languages he would need on his quest, but he didn't have the necessary experience to properly deal with ancient dialects. He pulled out his PDA and pointed the scanning unit at the wall. Then triggering his torch for better light he trained it on the wall and scanned the text in. Then using a highly complex Optical Character Recognition routine the PDA ran the text through a huge historical language database, using a satellite uplink.
Xander, wasn't Lara, he didn't have the education or knowledge she had, she had made a lifetimes study of such things as archaic language dialects. He had spent his school years, goofing off and then helping to save the world. End of the day, she was the best of the best and he considered himself to be a lot less than that. So he had paid large amounts of money for technology to make his life easier. It wasn't infallible, but then what was. He had tested it the best he could out of the field and for the most part he had been happy to put his life in its hands. For that was, what he was doing, one wrong translation, or dodgy communication and he was dead. It was that simple, the text he was translating told the wary of the terrors in the central tomb rooms. He was at the entrance to said central tomb and was always very WARY.
Lara leaned against the pillar of her spy point twenty meters back from Xander's position her binoculars up to her eyes and a smile gracing her face. She watched Xander sit back and fiddle in his pocket and finally bring out a PDA. Her smile slipped as she watched him scanning the text, because it was obviously what he was doing. Then she watched him nod and smile before standing up. His cane flipped down to the floor and he leaned, HEAVILY on it for a moment. His moment of heroics had cost him badly and the time spent so far in the tomb had not helped matters.
That didn't however dull her annoyance, "Cheating Sod" she said quite aggrieved.
"What?" Buffy asked popping her gum, the sound sounded like a cannon shot to Lara but she knew that there was enough distance between them and Xander not to alert him of their closeness.
"Do you mind" Lara said, her tone frosty. Enough distance or not, it was still annoying.
Buffy glanced around to find that Faith was a little ways off asleep so she turned back to Lara, "You know something" she said her voice pitched low.
"I know several things, perhaps you could be more specific" Lara said watching as Xander walked up to the wall and eyed it closely glancing down at his PDA.
Lara smiled softly, "Good boy, don't blindly trust the machine, go with your gut"
"I think you're secretly enjoying this, pitting yourself against someone you know can keep up with you. Racing against a man who could actually win, and if I know Xan, and I do, will win if this is important enough to him to run from his friends"
Lara didn't turn from her binoculars but her lips set into a grim line. She watched Xander turn towards her looking almost right at their hidden position. She looked deeply into his chocolate eyes and her lips once again curled into a smile, "Yes, I am rather" she admitted finally omitting that seeing Xander again had flicked a switch in her, turned something back on she thought that she had permanently turned off.
"Do you love him?" Buffy said suddenly becoming blunt.
Lara almost dropped her glasses but kept her cool and not a flicker did Buffy see of her reaction. She had to admit it was a good question. Did she love him; the answer to that question was possibly too difficult for her to answer within the scope of a conversation, perhaps a dissertation. Xander kept looking at their position his eyes dark and unreadable, yet at the same time Lara took a strange comfort in them. This man had hurt her more than she believed it was possible for her to be so. He had shunned her, rejected her; scorned her in fact. You know what they say about scorned women, yet just stealing a gaze into his eyes from a distance of twenty foot made her heart pulse; her stomach twist and her knees wobble, just ever so slightly.
No one, no one, was allowed to make her, the great, the legendary Lady Lara Croft feel like that, No One. Yet there he was, doing it. Again!
Xander kept looking right into her eyes, it was almost as if he could see her, or perhaps sense that he was being watched. As she watched he pulled out a disc shaped device and tossed it over his shoulder. Then her smile grew as he held up both hands and ticked off the seconds with his fingers.
"I'd cover your eyes and ears if I were you" Lara said as he reached five and blew her a kiss mouthing, 'boom' at her.
"Why?"
She took her glasses away as he reached three; "He's set a bomb, and the cheeky git knows we're here" she said and ducked behind her pillar covering her ears and eyes.
Buffy followed suit just as a massive explosion shouted out its combustive rage across to them. The sound was almost unbearable in the confined space created by the rooms and corridors of the tomb, even from their distance. There had also been an incredible flash that told Lara that Xander had got his tech from the same place she used to before she got Bryce. In other words he was fully kitted out for this sort of work, he had the knowledge and the instincts. Yes, it was true; she really was starting to enjoy this.
Xander ran through the settling dust with a handkerchief held up to his mouth and nose, his clear protective glasses shielding his eyes from the worst of it he was unhindered by the detritus.
Once he reached the large whole he had made in the wall he turned back to face the way he had been before. Not really knowing why he did it, he waited until the dust had settled and he could see Lara and the others moving around, he waited until he could see Lara's field glasses come back to her face. Then setting a cocky smile on his face and giving her a little wave he turned and ran into the entrance he had just created.
Xander scanned in yet another sign post5, watching as the translation program did it's work he smiled grimly and rushed off, knowing that Lara and the Slayers were not far behind him. They were so close in fact that as he ran around another corners they came to be just where he had been.
Lara glanced at the wall and turned to the opposite direction to which Xander had.
"Hang on" Faith said, her head cocked as she listened, "Xander went that way"
Lara smiled thinly, "Well, that serves him right for trusting a machine to do the work for him then doesn't it" she said and walked to the symbols on the wall, tapping one, "In this dialect, a sub dialect of the one I suspect Xander is using for translation, this symbol is inverted. So what's left is right, and so on"
Faith looked worried for a moment, "Shouldn't we like follow him?"
"No" Lara said shaking her head, her ponytail dancing around behind her head, "We carry on and try to get the oracle before he does, he'll realize his errors soon enough"
Faith frowned at her and glanced at her sister slayer; they were not here for the oracle they were here for their friend. Buffy nodded and cocked her head at Lara indicating that they should follow her lead so Faith just shrugged and they ran off again.
The three women ran on the only sounds were their breathing accompanied by the thud of their booted feet on compacted dirt.
They ran like that for a few hundred yards, finally entering a large cavern about the same size as the one at the entrance. Lara stilled her forward motion and looked at the room, "We must be close" she commented.
"Why's that?" Buffy asked.
"Those are the Emperors Guards for when he may need them again, their Terracotta Warriors, full size at that," Lara said looking at them curiously. "Strange" she commented just as Faith walked into the room, her entire posture its normal cock sure nonchalant self. "No!" Lara said, but it was too late, with a sound like garden pots being rubbed together the room full of soldiers came to full attention, their pottery swords coming up en guarde.
"Bugger all" Lara said un-holstering her guns with practiced ease,
"Oh man, demons is fine, these walking clay pots, not my idea of a fight" Faith commented.
"We'll soon see" Lara said, truth be told she wasn't that worried herself, apart from the sheer numbers of them of course.
"Now What?" Buffy asked, "We break them, they fall down, or are they like super tough or something?"
Lara shrugged, "I'm not sure at this moment" she said eyeing the first rank of terracotta warriors as they moved forward
Faith looked around and found a long piece of fallen timber, which she picked up and hefted, "Batter up"
Lara smiled and as her guns barked two terracotta warriors exploded into fragments dropping to the floor lifeless. The three women watched them for a few moments, then when they did nothing they exploded into action.
Faith glanced at Buffy and they smirked at each other before both sending out sidekicks that thrust into the chest of a warrior each. The warrior, weighing no small amount itself, flew backwards disintegrating into so much pottery as it smashed into one after another of its fellows. With one kick each Faith and Buffy had taken out 8 of the large, heavy and above all slow warriors.
A warrior lifted its large sword and swept at Faith sending her flying across the room when she attempted to block its swing. Buffy watched her trajectory with little concern, she knew from personal experience that a slayer could take hits like that fairly easily, not that it didn't hurt. Whirling around and placing her dainty foot with precision and most of all crushing power Buffy obliterated a warrior.
Lara's twin pistols spat lead into the approaching walking pots exploding them into just so much junk. She didn't even pause to take proper aim, knowing now that any shot was a kill shot she just popped off shots like a kid at the circus, shooting tent. The clay men didn't stand a chance against that sort of firepower and very quickly the slayer and tomb raider were working their way across the cavern with little difficulty.
After Faith landed she had glared at the back of one terracotta man before becoming a literal whirling dervish of destruction, her rage became a finely toned weapon during her stay in prison. Where it had once led her against the good, now she forced it to work for her and focused it against the clay warriors sending them flying around her as fists too small and too fragile looking to do the damage they did split the inch thick hard baked mud like thin china cups.
Buffy turned after a particularly fine wheel kick to find that faith was back at her side, "Hi, what took you?" she asked with a false innocent smile.
Faith just smirked at her and spun a foot towards Buffy's face. Buffy ducked under the kick and Faith's foot knocked a terracotta Warriors head clean off and smashed it against the chest of the one three back, sending it to the ground also.
"Thanks" Buffy said with a genuine smile. The two would never be best friends but there was now a sort of grudging respect for the others ability and they looked out for each other on patrols. It had become an almost nightly competition to see who would save the others butt most. Strangely Faith was actually ahead on points.
"Come on" Lara said from several feet ahead of the slayers.
Faith turned an annoyed glare in the English lady's direction, "I really don 't like her" she grumbled punching out at another warrior, just for kicks.
"She takes a bit of getting used to," Buffy agreed.
"Yeah, and does she have to look like THAT" Faith said, quietly.
Buffy smirked, "Yeah, she is kinda…" she trailed of the word failing her, "Easy on the eyes, I think Xander says"
"Yeah, just a bit, I didn't realize, he doesn't have any…duck" Faith cut herself off as a sword went for Buffy's neck. The blonde slayer did as she was asked sending a kick at the warrior's legs that chopped them neatly off, "pictures of her"
Buffy smiled slightly, "Yeah, he does, just the one" she said. "From before the grand canyon he keeps it in his wallet, I caught him Looking at it" she said spinning around and kicking halfway through looking and sending a warrior into the air to land on four of its buddies and crush them in the process. She looked up at Lara to find that she was waiting unmolested at the other end of the cavern.
Faith frowned, "I think I hate her," she told her fellow slayer, "She has him and doesn't want him"
"Not True" Buffy said punching a sharp jab into a warrior's helmeted head, her super strong bone structure not breaking, the clay however, did. "She does, don't forget Xander ended it"
"Yeah, I had, forgotten, but why if he loves her so much" Faith said and with a yell her foot kicked a warrior really airborne sending it ten foot up in the air and right over three ranks of the crowded warriors.
Buffy laughed, "Not that, that pisses you off or anything" she commented pressing forward smashing warriors left right and center.
"Oh, yeah, I hate it, I want him" She admitted.
Buffy shook her head, "Sorry Faith I don't think that's ever going to happen"
"Why not, not good enough for him?" Faith spat again sending a clay man into the air, possibly even higher and further this time as she vented her anger.
"NO!" Buffy said pausing to look at her sister slayer, "THAT is NOT what I mean, you are plenty good enough for him, there is just someone else" she said nodding towards Lara, "That has already won the battle"
"We'll take this up later" Faith said realizing that they were now close to Lara.
Buffy noticing the same thing nodded, "'Kay, now how about we finish this"
"I'm game B" Faith told her, the two of them then linked arms and started to move with complete coordination, they kicks flicking out as they balanced each other and moved around in circles. Anything to enter the range of that circle was obliterated in shards of flying cooked mud.
Lara's eyes widened as she watched a warrior lift off and rocket over to the other room when Faith swung the smaller Buffy round who then send a kick upwards as well as sideways, lifting the clay man into the air to smash to smithereens on the back wall of the cavern. Then, they were through and the remaining warriors suddenly stopped their assault and walked back to the centre of the room and came to a complete standstill, shifting to an At-Ease position.
"Must be some sort of proximity spell" Lara theorized to herself.
"Sure, whatever, lets get this monocle thing" Buffy said shaking out her fist.
"Oracle" Lara corrected absent-mindedly. As they turned away there was a sound like a plate smashing in reverse. They two slayers span round first and came to a complete stunned silent stand still. Lara turned around to find that the terracotta Warriors they had destroyed had remade their selves and were now standing in rank with their fellows.
"Ah" she said with little show of emotion.
"I suppose we've got to come out this way" Faith commented.
Lara was nodding, "Yes, I'm guessing we will have to"
Buffy shrugged, "Whatever, they'll be toast, just like they were before"
"Yes, but what about Xander" Lara said, a slight not of worry in her voice drawing a smile from Buffy and a glare from Faith.
Xander looked down the seemingly bottomless drop at his toecaps and swore softly to himself. He glanced around trying to find a way around but there was nothing. Thinking of movies he picked up some sand and sent it spraying across what he hoped would in fact be a path. The sand dropped down into the LONG drop and was quickly lost to his sight. He glanced at his PDA before finally glaring at it. He had worried about something like this. He had obviously mistranslated the last mural, or rather the PDA had. IT couldn't be helped, but that would explain why there had been no sigh of Lara or the Slayers in last ten minutes.
"Fuck it" he commented and turned on his heel and ran fast back the way he had came, covering the distance he had done in ten minutes in three he then carried on for a few hundred yards before coming across the same cavern that they women had only minutes before. He saw rank upon Rank of the terracotta warriors. He glanced at the PDA once again, reading about one of the dangers he had noted, the guardsmen of the Emperor Hung Sung. He pulled out his pistol and capped a clay guard from his position just outside of the cavern. He watched it explode and then again with that reversed plate crashing sound reform itself.
He stepped down into the cavern his dark eyes even darker with concentration. He then shot the same guard and when it didn't reform and the other guards came to attention he calmly walked forward past the guards ignoring them totally.
He carried on that way, with the guards turning in their lumbering fashion to follow him until he had walked into the centre of the room. He calmly swapped clips and switched to full automatic, a small adjustment he'd had a 'friend' make. He looked around him and cricked his neck calmly the sound audible even over the sound of clay on compacted dirt.
Then a slow smile spread across his face and bang, he went into action. The twin Fully automatic pistols came up in front of him and he let out a burst straight ahead, not even waiting they pointed to the left and fired again, then over his shoulder and another short burst. He ducked backwards under a lumbering sword his pistols out at either side he fired again and again, forwards and again, backwards and back to standing, then he span around kicking a terracotta warrior and smashing it his pistols snaking out backwards and forwards shooting again and again as he slowly started to repeat his movements, straight ahead, either side, backwards, front, side, back, front, side, back, front, side, back, duck, kick, elbow strike, forwards, sidewise, backwards and again and again. The air around him was filled with shards of red clay flying around in pieces the guardian warriors never coming closer than a meter he continued to fire until he ran dry. They using the clip tree Lara had taught him to use he was reloaded and firing again before the next row of warriors had replaced their fallen brethren.
He continued that way for less than three minutes reloading four times but he had cracked every single warrior. He looked around until he found one such warrior that hadn't taken part in the battle and bowed deeply to it before his pistols caused it to disappear in so much clay dust. Having done his homework he knew that, that single commander was the reason that the warriors rebuilt themselves. Take that one out and they remained factory rejects.
Lara stopped dead as she heard the distinctive roar of a USP pistol, then she turned as another went off, then she frowned as the separate bangs came in a rattle of automatic fire, with still that timbre of sound that she knew so well. Her frown increased as she listened to the fire seemed to continue far longer than it should, but after a few moments she was able to place the reloading pause, short as it was.
Faith and Buffy both turned the way they had come looking at each other questioningly, do we go back? They seemed to be asking each other. Did Xander need help? Faith set off but was stopped by Lara, "No, don't he's nearly done" she said her face a mask of concentration. She wasn't able to pick out the separate shots, and thus couldn't tell exactly how many warriors Xander had taken out, but she was able to estimate closely enough to know that he was almost done. She knew Xander well enough and had seen for herself that he didn't miss, full stop. Her theory was borne out when the shots stopped for a moment, and then an extra one blasted echoed its way to their position, then nothing.
"Come on, we've got to go" Lara said suddenly turning and running back in the direction they were traveling in.
Xander walked out of the cavern reloading and switching his guns back to single shot. He turned and watched for a few moments and when the warriors didn't magically rebuild themselves he allowed himself a self-satisfied smirk. It made him feel a little better about messing up with the translation. He had made good time back and made it through that guardian with very little pause so he wasn't feeling that bad about himself.
He walked forward; a loose pebble got under his foot and his leg slid forward. He managed to still its forward momentum but had to wince and bite back a yelp when he hip was wrenched painfully. Then with a chagrined smile and a small shake of his head his pistols were put back in their holsters and his cane SNICK, SNICK, SNAP'd out to full extension.
Then with a more wary eye and head he walked forward leaning on his cane to rest his hip for a while. He knew that Lara and the slayers were ahead of him, he had seen the tell tale signs of scuffed up dirt as well as plenty of empty shell cases littered around in the cavern. He took a small measure of amusement that Lara hadn't known to take out the commander of the warriors, but since she hadn't made the mistake in translation that he had it was only a slight amusement.
He couldn't allow her to get to the Oracle before he did, he needed it along with his and other components otherwise all would be lost.
Walking slightly faster at that thought Xander made his way close behind two mystical warriors and a Lara. His life wasn't complicated at all, not really.
Lara eyed the tiled room for a long time, several long minutes during which Xander was catching up to them. However, if she stepped on the wrong tile she could be in real trouble, plus she had to lead the slayers through it or else they all could be in trouble.
After a long moment she smiled radiantly and turned to the fellow women, "Mah-jongg" she said, "Don't you see?"
Buffy shook her head, "No, but if you say so?" she said with a shrug and a slight smile.
"We play our way across the board, just follow me exactly and you will be fine" Lara said hopping from one tile to another without a moment's hesitation.
Faith watched her closely and finally took off after her hitting the same tiles as Lara. Then Buffy followed on, her lip between her teeth in concentration.
As Buffy made her way across Lara looked at the sliding wall puzzle for ten seconds before her hands were a blur across it, moving the tiles with a sure hand.
Buffy arrived on their side of the board just as Lara finished the puzzle. Then Lara pushed the wall back and stepped through with Buffy and Faith close behind her.
As the door swung back in place the puzzle rearranged itself, the tiled floor span around the tiles flipping over as it did so. The entire room reset itself in a display of ancient and considerable genius.
Once the movement had died down the room remained silent for a minute exactly.
Xander ran into the room and didn't pause, his cane pointed forwards, the grapple flying across the room and burying itself in the wall with a puff of pulverized rock dust. The wire then became taunt and yanked at Xander. He kept running leaping as he reached the tiled puzzle floor the wire sending him flying across the room.
When he landed he disengaged the grapple and pulled out his PDA pointing it at the sliding puzzle using its specialist optical scanner and his powerful torch to scan the puzzle into a specialist program that used fuzzy logic and advanced AI to spot patterns.
The small machine displayed an hourglass for another full minute during which time Xander also glared at the puzzle whistling in a bored fashion. Finally it chimed at him and his dark eyes flicked down to it a slow smile spreading across his face. Then following its instructions to the letter he slid the stone tiles around and pushed open the door slipping through and starting the room off all over again.
Lara looked out over the strange cavern ahead of them. The cave system they were in had to extend well into the mountain range and the builders had made full use of that space. This was among the larger of the tomb's she had ever raided.
"Hey, Milady" Faith called out a smirk crossing her lips.
Lara glared back at her, she hadn't didn't liked the brunette, for reasons she wasn't willing to explore at that moment. The fact that the feeling was obviously mutual was actually a plus as far as Lara was concerned. "Yes, Faith" Lara said with no sign of her irritation in her voice and a sickly sweet smile on her face. The English term for it was Hobson's revenge.
Faith narrowed her eyes slightly then they creased at the corners as she realized she was being played, "Say, that tall dark handsome man over there couldn't be our boy could it?" she said nodding across the cavern they were in.
She looked to where Faith had nodded, "Bugger" she said with a slight smile crossing her face "I'm actually impressed" she said with that small smile still in place.
Faith eyed her with a slightly annoyed expression her eyes turning a little green. As much as she hated to admit it, and boy did she hate to admit it, Lara was turning out to be a classy lady.
Lara watched as Xander suddenly span round his cane slipping out the soft light of the cavern playing down the blade.
"What the fuck is he doing?" Faith asked with an amused look on her face, she turned to her sister slayer to find that Buffy was suddenly running full tilt down from their perch and picking up speed as she ran, moving at well above Olympic standards.
"What the devil" Lara said as she watched as Buffy continued to accelerate. She knew slayer's were fast, but this… was almost unbelievable.
She glanced to find that Faith was now following her sister slayer and moved to follow. She knew that there was no way she was going to keep up with them, but she had to know what the heck was going on. Then three shots rang out and she found that she was capable of more speed than she thought after all.
Xander glared up at the three huge demon's, slime dripping from their muscular green bodies. His gun was literally smoking as he had just popped a shot into each of the beasties but to no avail whatsoever.
They seemed to have come straight out of the wall and had managed to send him sprawling before he could possibly react to their presence.
He shifted backwards managing to shuffle to his feet as they moved towards him. Now, he looked at them he could see that there was a slight Chinese cast to their faces. He figured that they had to be the ghostly protectorate that the relief had warned him about. It was a shame it hadn't mentioned that they were huge at well over 7 foot tall with sharp claws and nasty looking fangs to match.
That and how to kill them, that was the sort of information he could have done with at that moment. He twirled his cane expertly and walked backwards and to the side. The three demons watched him silently and warily. Xander was starting to freak out slightly. Demons didn't normally act like this they were 'do or die'. These guys seemed to be shaping up more into kill, or kill.
He smiled slowly his stance shifting into a more open, wider one. It slowed his speed but he knew what he'd need here was real power and not real speed. His cane continued it's clockwise twirling. It was almost hypnotic which is the reason for its movement. The Demon's kept glancing at it distracting their gaze.
They fanned out to face him drool running down from their mouths and dripping to the floor in a disgusting indication of their personal hygiene. Xander really didn't want to have to get close, but considering the way they had just shrugged off his shots, he knew it would come down to one on, well, three.
Ignoring the pain from his hip Xander settled back and centered himself in his stance. Then he held out a hand and made a come here motion with it. Still with that insane smile on his face. The demons glanced at each other then smiled, or rather drooled wider.
Then as one, they charged.
As they reached him Xander suddenly changed his mind and dived off to one side. Powerful legs sending him flying off to one side. His cane curved backwards though and lashed at one demon's back of the knee. The demon actually went down, taking its partner with it.
Xander rolled and hand sprung to his feet. He twisted in mid air to land facing the now very angry demons. Then he moved towards them. His cane clicked as a blade appeared from the side. It was just in time to catch one demon across the throat.
Another demon managed to knock him flying with a sweep of its arm and Xander hit the wall HARD. Shaking his head to clear the little birdies away, Xander forced himself up. The sheer force of his will, propelling him forward for another salvo.
"Hello Boys, Mind if I cut it"
Xander turned a goofy smile crossing his face as he spotted his first love, her blonde hair shining like the sun.
"No, but all means" Xander said sweeping his hand towards the growling demons.
Buffy smiled at them and cocked her head to one side, "Hi, didn't I date one of you in high school"
"The one on the left does look a bit like Curly" Xander commented with a wry grin, "I mean Angel, sorry"
"Sure you are" Buffy said with a mock pout, "Always mocking me"
"What's not to mock" Faith said as she arrived at Buffy's side, "Oh hey, why are we all standing around talking?"
"We're about to fight" Buffy said with a slight frown.
Faith frowned right back at her, "Fight what?" she asked.
The three demons had enough of waiting and went on the offensive. "Them" Buffy said her foot lashing out and hitting the solid form of a demon.
Faith watched entranced as Buffy's powerful kick came to a dead stop in, what was to her, thin air. "Huh"
Xander jumped up onto a rocky piece of wall and sent himself high spinning around as he did so. Then his foot lashed out and nailed a demon between the eyes. The toecaps in his boots helping the force to crush its temple.
Xander landed and the demon dropped down to the floor dead. As it landed Faith suddenly yelped, "Holy Fuck" she said as it appeared from nowhere.
"Between the eyes" Xander called out his USP H&K making a reappearance and sending a 9mm straight between demon 2's eyes. It dropped to the floor and Faith let out another yelp. "Oh! Fuck me Batman"
"Maybe later and don't call me Batman" Xander said with a sexy smile at the brunette.
Buffy span around in mid air, the world a torrent of color for a split second before her deceptively dainty foot felled a seven-foot demon.
Faith let out a throaty chuckle that did things to Xander's libido. "One day, I'll hold you to that"
Buffy smirked at them, "Hey, enough flirting, there could be more of these things"
"Talking of things, why could you see them?" Faith asked, "I'm a slayer as well I couldn't!"
Xander narrowed his eyes at the surrounding walls; there was something not right about this. The icy finger of fear was being traced up his back. The blades on his cane snicked back into the cane itself and he twirled it expertly before it collapsed into his hand. He caught it and placed it in his pocket with calm efficiency. Then with equal cool he checked the clip on his gun and retrieved the other.
As he did that Buffy smirked at Faith, " I SEE DEAD PEOPLE!" she said in a falsetto voice
Faith smirked at her, "Heh!"
"Ladies, We're not alone" Xander said his eyes dark and serious.
"You're right," Mr. Powers said from beside him. "You'll never be alone, you have me," it said before slipping into an exact duplicate of Buffy.
Xander jerked to one side and narrowed his eyes at the apparition, "Oh fuck, just what I need"
Buffy turned to face him, "What?" she asked
"What?" The First, as Buffy, asked.
Xander blinked, "O….Kay! That's confusing cut it out"
The First smirked at him and moved towards Xander, "But I like this body, I know you do too"
"Cut it out" Xander said his eyes hard.
"What, Xan?" Buffy asked with hurt confusion on her face.
"Yeah X you're freaking me out"
"They can't see me!" Buffy-First said with a singsong voice. "After the English whore saw me, I've made a few changes"
That same creepy feeling hit Xander again, "Oh hell, why now?"
"Tell me something Xander, did you ever ask her why she jumped?" The first asked pointing to the confused Buffy that it was standing in front of.
"Shut Up!" Xander yelled at the first.
Buffy flinched, "What, I didn't say anything"
"Not you, the other you" Xander said.
Buffy exchanged a look with a very worried Faith.
"Hey X, why don't you come with us, take a knap?" Faith said gently.
Xander narrowed his eyes at her, "You're always trying to get me into bed" he said with a slight smile.
"Oh, no more time for play, time for you to pay" Buffy-First said jumping up and down and clapping her hands. "You're going pay for killing trying to spoil my plans," she said then stopped jumping around. "Something big comes this way" she said a sickly smile on her face as she phased out.
"Xan, Xan, are you alright" Buffy said stepping into where the First had just been.
Xander shot her a look that chilled her to the core, "Get out of here, now, for fucks sake run" he said grabbing her by the hand and reaching back for Faith.
Then he dragged the two surprised and freaked slayer's out of the alcove like room just as the floor started to tremble and shake.
Lara panted only slightly, a sign of her tremendous fitness regime as she finally drew up close to the location of Xander. She paused for a moment to collect her breath and composure. After all there was no point in letting them see that she wasn't as good as they. Something she had picked up working with the SAS.
Her brow's shot to the roof however when Xander suddenly came haring round the corner with the two slayer's in tow. Then they were gone, round another corner.
She shot a puzzled look after them as the floor suddenly started to tilt and toss around under her feet.
Then Xander was back with Faith and Buffy still holding on for dear life. He passed Faith's hand to Buffy and reached out the now free appendage to Lara.
Without conscious thought she took it. Then a horrible feeling of dread crept up her back and she turned to be faced with a beautiful show.
Buffy and faith both pulled out from Xander grips and stepped forward to stand next to Lara as a beautiful light show swirled up from the floor. Xander frowned at the display as motes of light started to dance in a ballet like display.
A wind suddenly picked up from nowhere and played with the dust that had lain undisturbed for centuries.
"It's so beautiful" Buffy commented.
Faith nodded along with her. Lara smiled slightly, "Not something you see that often in a tomb" she admitted looking around warily. It was when she looked at Xander that she felt a sudden sense of foreboding come over her. He was looking at the lights with undisguised fear on his face. That was something she had NEVER seen him display, ever.
"This is not fucking good man" Xander said glancing at his guns and wondering if bullets could hurt light.
"Xander, what's wrong" Lara said forgetting everything bad that had happened between them. Xander backed away from her a strange look in his eyes. "Lara?" he asked questioningly.
Lara frowned, "Yes, it's me Xander, you know me"
Xander cocked his head to one side inspecting her for a moment, "You shouldn't be here" he said suddenly.
"Why not?" Lara asked snappishly, "Someone has to stop you before it's all too late"
"Stop me, why?" Xander said ignoring the lights now.
"The crystal you have is very dangerous"
"No, it's not" Xander said with a lopsided smile that was almost his old one. There was a strange darkness in his eyes though.
A low hum seemed to emit from all over the place at the same time.
Faith and Buffy glanced at each other, "I'm guessing the light show isn't so great after all" Buffy commented.
"No shit Barbie" Faith muttered.
The hum grew, ignored by Lara and Xander who were glaring into each others eyes, "Why are you doing this Xander?" Lara asked finally.
"Because I have to!" Xander replied quickly, without hesitation.
"Why?" Lara pressed trying to get details.
The floor suddenly started to shake again, this time with even more energy than before. It sent them all to the floor with it's suddenness.
The hum became a roar that grew louder and louder as the seconds ticked past.
"Okay, just get here already" Buffy grouched. "This is, like boring!"
Xander frowned at her as if remembering something, "You've all got to go" he said suddenly, the First's words coming back to him.
"What, X, we can't leave now" Faith said.
"Do you trust me?" he asked her. She nodded without hesitation and he turned to Buffy, "What about you?" she also nodded, but after a moments hesitation. "Then you two drag yourselves and her out of here" he said with a dismissive wave at Lara.
"But…"
Xander cut Faith off, "Now!" he roared suddenly putting away his guns, favoring his cane for unknown situations, and then he stalked forward.
Lara moved to stop him, only to come face to face with Faith, "We do this his way"
"No we don't" Buffy said before Lara could open her mouth, shocking her sister slayer to the core. "We find a vantage point to watch and make sure he doesn't get hurt," she said pointing up to a rock outcropping.
Lara smiled, "I like the way you think"
Faith paused slightly then nodded, "Yeah okay" she said slowly following Buffy and Lara at a fast run. She darted the occasional look back at Xander 's retreating back and wondered just what he thought he was protecting them from and WHY?
Xander came to a full stop back in the spectral protectorate room his cane spinning slowly in his hand, making a slight whoosh sound that was lost in the low rumble of the room.
His dark eyes didn't have a focus point to glare at so they darted from corner to corner, trying to find the source of the noise and then maybe he could deal with it. He had to wonder what the first was talking about, a guardian of some kind, could it be that he was closer to the next piece of the puzzle than he thought. He doubted it, he had done his research and done it well he knew that the next part of his quest was at the end of the tomb with the Lost emperor of China.
No, this had to be something else, something that the first had decided to put in his way. He must be scaring the ancient evil a little, and that scared Xander because it meant the first had an idea what his quest actually was. He didn't like that thought, his plan relied on him getting the pieces together without any intervention.
Xander smirked slightly, so far, that wasn't going too well. He had the First doing this, and Lara and F.A.B. (Faith And Buffy) after him as well.
"Oh well Harris, no good crying over spilt milk" Xander whispered to himself distractively. This rumbling sure was going on for a long time.
Suddenly all sound ceased, not a whisper of wind was to be hear and the rumbling had stilled as quickly as it had started. Xander swept round slowly, his cane tracing a circle on the floor. His eyes darted this way and that, but locked onto nothing. Then he felt a chill run up his back and span like a cat. Coming face to face with a rising column of light that lifted from the floor to about 10 foot high. It then spread out from a foot wide and continued to increase in breadth. Xander was forced back against the side of the wall until finally he had to leave the room itself to make way for the light. Something told him that becoming trapped in that light would be bad, very bad.
"ALL HAIL!" a voice came from the room filling column of light. "ZEDKAR THE DESTROYER COMES TO DEVOUR YOUR VERY SOUL"
"Yeah well whatever!" Xander said with a slight smirk playing round his lips. He was now in a large auditorium like area of the cavern. It was natural rock and large. Which considering the fact that the wall to the room he had previously been in had just started to melt, he was very glad it was.
The light started to pulse a low hum flanged in time with it, building into a crescendo that was bring up the hairs on the nape of Xander's neck.
The light then accelerated its pulse until it was in a constant state of flux until finally it suddenly stopped and the walls that had been melting suddenly exploded upwards into the air.
Xander was knocked on his ass by the concussive force of it and had the best seat in the house to watch Zedkar . A first Xander thought it was some sort of joke, there in the center of the floor was a small worm looking thing that looked utterly harmless. Then suddenly it started to jerk and flip in place and with each flip it seemed to double in size. The flipping and jerking sped until they too were almost straight on top of each other.
The small worm creature started to take a vaguely humanoid shape as it grew every other jerk warping the form of it until it was standing on two feet at nearly 8 foot tall. Arms sprouted out of the side, first one, then another and another and another until there were six arms hanging down the torso of the large creature. A head then formed, growing straight out of the main torso it was like someone was pouring colored water into a mould. The neck formed then the jaw, cheeks, nose and eyes, brow and then finally the scalp until there was a three eyed humanoid shape with six powerful looking arms standing 8 foot tall and five wide.
The jaw itself was distended slightly and when it opened its mouth Xander saw why. The jaw unlocked and unleashed another set of teeth that jumped out on a stalk with a giant screech that made his blood run cold.
"Whoa boy!" Xander said under his breath, his complexion ashen. His sword was juggled to one hand and the other grabbed one of his guns, quickly checking the load and clicking off the safety and setting it to single shot. He didn't want to have to reload very often when that thing finally came at him.
Up on a ledge over looking the arena like area Lara was as white as he. Buffy and Faith were faring no better. Faith kept jerking slightly like she wanted to run, to go help him out and Buffy had drawn blood in her hand with her nails, her fist was clenched so hard.
"Fuck this" Faith said finally moving to help her friend. She was somewhat gratified to find that Lara and Buffy both were standing at her side to go down to the man they all loved in their own ways. Then she took a step forward and her boot connected with a solid sheet of ice that had just appeared in front of her. Without pause she span round, and just like she had at Angel's Hotel, she let rip with a full power kick. Her foot connecting with what should have been an easy break and nothing except a howl of pain as the unbreakable ice flexed and send her flying to the floor, returning her force to her. She damn near went through the rock she hit it so hard, her back hit the floor and the force was such that she was rendered unconscious.
Xander took a long deep influx of air into his lungs, holding it for a second before finally letting it back out, calming himself in the process and focusing his mind.
Zedkar cricked it's thick green neck from side to side as if it was getting used to the new body before turning to face Xander and taking the first lumbering step towards him. The floor rumbled slightly, and with that step Zedkar grew an inch. It may not have been much but Xander could tell, it wasn't going to end there.
Another step another inch. 'For a creature that had started as a three inch long worm, this guy sure has grown' Xander thought with a dark smile gracing his handsome features.
The large demon continued its growth and passage until it was standing six feet away from Xander and was now nearly 10 feet tall. All the while Xander had stayed in place and hadn't shifted a muscle, just watching and waiting for the large creature to arrive. "Hi, you must be Zedkar"
"Zedkar, is me" the demon rumbled.
"Demon right, from what was it now" Xander said looking thoughtful, "the sixth level of hell?"
"Truth" the demon rumbled.
"So like, no weapon forged by man can hurt you right?" Xander said the dark smile starting to grow into a full on smirk.
"No weapon forged" the demon repeated with a nod.
"Our mutual friend needs to do their research" Xander said calmly reaching round to pull off his pack from his back.
"What is research?"
"Not too bright are you. At least The Judge had brain enough to know when he was about to die" Xander said fishing around in his pack.
"Not Die Zedkar, You Die" The demon said, one of its arms pointing at Xander.
Xander sneaked something into his pocket and stood slowly, his cane suddenly collapsing into three segments. He calmly placed it in a thigh sheath and looked at the demon with his head tilted to one side. "Ok Zedkar get on with it, I'm kinda busy"
The demon screeched at Xander, its second set of jaw's snapping at him and sending drool flying all around.
Buffy and Lara were forced to watch the huge demon face off with the man that meant most to them both in different ways. Faith was on the floor out for the count while her Slayer healing went into overdrive to get her moving again, but Buffy had a horrible feeling that it would be too late. She glanced over at Lara to find that the English lady was virtually champing at the bit to get to Xander and help him fight that monster.
Buffy's eyes flicked back to Xander, water starting to well up in them already. She wouldn't be able to take that demon by herself. She knew that Xander couldn't do it with only a fraction of her slayer spirit residing within him.
Zedkar lurched forward, striding the six feet gap with a single step, and reaching out with all six arms towards Xander. Xander dived under the creature's legs, his pistol spitting death in controlled and accurate shots as he did so. As soon as he was passed the demon he whirled around back to his feet to face the demon. Zedkar, whilst slower because of his size, was only marginally so and was running at Xander in a blink. Xander leapt up a foot lashing out to clip Zedkar's chin before he was hammered down with a single on of Zedkar's fists.
He hit the ground HARD, spitting out blood as he rolled and his head spinning. He was suddenly grabbed from behind and lifted into the air. One set of arms lifting another reaching round to grab Xander's legs and finally one to grab his arms.
Buffy stifled a scream her tears now free falling. She couldn't watch this. Lara on the other hand was glaring a burning whole in the Demon's face with her eyes. Then she smirked.
Buffy was stunned, she had known that Lara was upset with Xander but to be happy that he was about to be ripped apart was quite another thing. "Good boy" Lara whispered Lara, further confusing Buffy and forcing her to turn around and check out what the hell was happing.
Xander had freed one of his arms and was holding something in front of his face. He then yanked it away and pushed it with all his might into Zedkar's snapping jaw's, sending his fist down to the elbow. Then moving with all the speed he had he extracted his arm before Zedkar could bite down on it. Zedkar frowned slightly dropping the human in his shock.
Xander's hand whipped down to his thigh and triggered his cane without even aiming properly. He just knew he had to get away, fast!
Only thirty foot of cable was available to him in the Cane's contracted state but it was still more than enough to reach the ledge next to Lara and Buffy's. The cable hauled Xander away just as Zedkar reached for him. The demon's long claws touching Xander's leg and gouging four long rivulet's of blood there.
Then Xander was moving fast, being dragged and hauled upwards well away from the now snarling in anger demon.
Xander landed on the ledge and turned to face the Demon screaming out, "FORGE THAT FUCKER" as he did.
The demon started to take a step before exploding into a million tiny fragments. The shockwave rattling a few stalactites free and dropping them to the floor and smashing a few rocks. But most importantly it obliterated the gargantuan demon leaving only a few smoking entrails standing witness to its presence.
Silence reigned for a short while under with a snarl Faith leapt to her feet her eyes flashing angrily. Even before she was fully conscious she had been getting angry at that damn ice wall. "B" she said.
"Faith wait.." Buffy started, wanting to tell Faith that she didn't need to be so mad on about getting out of their incarceration not just yet.
Faith was already spinning, pirouetting with her foot lashing out. It hit…. Nothing causing the slayer to spin five times before she even started to slow down, finally she dropped back into a stance and shook her head glaring at the lack of ice blocking her path. Her eyes widened in realization and she spun once again, this time to glare down at the arena only to find Xander gone, "Where is he B?" she whispered.
"Faith! He's fine, look Buffy said pointing to the next ledge along. Faith turned just in time to watch as Xander blew a kiss at them and set off like spider man across the cavern.
"Damn X" Faith whispered almost reverently.
"Come ON!" Lara said suddenly snapping back to the here and now. "He's getting away!"
Faith and Buffy exchanged a look before setting off after Lady Croft.
Lara looked down at the almost glowing water with a slight smile on her face, "Oh goodie, It's time for a swim" she said ironically.
Buffy and Faith glanced at each other, they were no experts, but that water looked COLD!
Lara studied the water for a long moment before looking around the cave they were in. The water feature didn't look natural, unless the rock had suddenly learned how to grow Buddha's and intricate tiling. Lara thought that quite unlikely. Also, judging from the complete lack of ripples on the surface, Xander had yet to find this pool, or had entered via a different route. Lara was only too aware that these systems tended to be riddled with side tunnels and exit ways.
She reached around and dropped her pack to the floor, quickly popping it open and viewing the contents with a critical eye before grabbing her PDA and glancing at it before tossing it too one side. It was highly unlikely that she would be able to find a use for it yet. Then she picked out her harpoon gun, a highly compact device that shot deadly bolts using compressed air. Now THAT was something she could use. Then knowing that the water was cold just by glancing at it she started to strip off her shirt and boots.
"What the HELL are you doing" Buffy asked shocked, "You're not really going in there are you?"
Faith titled her head to one side, noticing that Lara was very athletically built, not too differently to herself only more so. She was vaguely wondering if Buffy would notice if she killed Lara but shook off the thought with a shudder.
"Of course I am!" Lara said as if she was talking to a child, "Why else would I be stripping in front of two women"
"One of X's Porno's come to life?" Faith said thoughtfully as she settled back against a rock.
Lara turned a mild glare towards the raven haired slayer but her eyes were dancing slightly, "You're not my type"
Faith smirked a sultry smirk, "You know you want me" she said blowing her a kiss, her eyes dancing with mirth.
Buffy chuckled slightly, and stood starting to undo her buttons also.
Lara turned back to the blonde slayer, "What are you doing?"
"Coming with"
"I don't think so"
"Do we have to do this AGAIN?" Buffy said in exasperation.
"B" Faith said looking the elder slayer in the eye, "This is her area, not ours. Besides, I can't swim so good"
Lara turned a surprised look at the brunette slayer, "Pardon?"
"I know, I know X was teaching me before this all started, he was as shocked as you all are. I'll say to you what I said to him. Inner city and no money equals no swimming for Faith, K?" she said ticking off her fingers.
Lara pursed her lips and nodded, "Fair enough" she said with no hint of irony. "Besides, you're right, this IS what I do after all" she said turning back to Buffy once again.
Buffy nodded, "Fine, but is there a way we can stay in contact?"
Lara nodded and pointed to her pack, "There is a spare communicator in there, it is connected to mine, once I'm out of the water we'll be able to talk on that"
Buffy nodded again, "Fine, then go, just call us when you get the other side"
"Concern?" Lara said tongue in cheek. "About Moi?"
Buffy didn't reply except to smile and point at the water.
Lara laughed and dived perfectly off of the side of the pool, sinking deeply and quickly.
Xander glared down at the water, he was still bleeding from his leg and was leaning heavily from his cane. He was pretty sure that he was fed the hell up with this tomb and at that exact moment he wished to god that he'd never met Alexdrious.
Then with a deep breath, he dived into the water without pause. Once in the water he fished in his pocket for his specialized PDA and pulled it out. Then with a tap on its screen the water proof device came online. Another tap and a very special program came to life activating a nodule like protuberance on the back of the PDA. Unheard by normal ear's a PING sounded through the water. The receiver took the echo data into consideration and quickly painted a map onto the screen using the refraction of sound and the volume of the returned pings to calculate a highly accurate display of the immediate area and a less accurate one of further out.
Xander took a second to study the map before rising out of the water and taking in lungful's of air, effectively hyperventilating slightly to flood his body with oxygen before duck diving back into the water, the PDA leading the way.
"Faith" Buffy said attracting the dark haired slayer's attention.
"B"
Buffy bit her lip slightly before pressing on, "Are you sleeping with Xander?"
"We've been through this B, ain't none of your business"
Buffy nodded, "I know, but…"
"You still want to know" Faith said with a slight chuckle, then it died away to be replaced with the most piercing look that Buffy had seen the dark slayer show.
Faith studied Buffy for a long moment before talking, "No, I'm not B… Happy now?"
"I'm not sure that I am, or not" Buffy said with a sigh.
Faith frowned slightly, "What?"
"I dunno, I know me and Xan aren't going to get together…."
"…But you sometimes wonder what would have happened if you had?"
"Yeah, but that's not what I was going to say" Buffy admitted with a half smile. "I was going to say was that he's very important to me nonetheless"
"Nonetheless, you and G been spending too much time together B, he's hot and all…"
"….Eww Faith! Giles is like my father" Buffy said with a horrified tone.
Faith just smirked at her and laughed slightly, "Whatever B…Whatever"
"Back to my point" Buffy said doggedly, she was starting to realize that Faith said shocking things to deflect situations she wasn't comfortable with. Just like Xander used his humor and smart ass comments to do the same thing, "I want him to be with someone that loves him and will be good to him and for him"
Faith's eyes glittered darkly, "You saying I'm not that person"
Buffy shook her head, "No that's not what I'm saying at all Faith… Look you and I aren't friends, I'm not sure we'll ever be, but I can see you've changed and I do think you love Xander"
Faith blushed slightly and directed her gaze at the still pool, "Wonder how she's doing"
"Faith…" Buffy said warningly.
"Okay B, maybe you're right, what's your point" Faith said throwing her hands up in the air, her posture defensive.
"I don't want to see you hurt" Buffy said looking Faith straight in the eye with a very serious expression in her hazel orbs. "He loves Lara, you know that" Buffy said bluntly.
Faith winced her eyes filling slightly, she ducked her head, her dark tresses hiding her face.
"Oh Faith" Buffy said her voice soft, "I'm so sorry" she moved over to the dark slayer who suddenly found herself enveloped in a hug.
Faith held her sister slayer tightly before whispering in Buffy's ear, "She hasn't won yet"
Buffy bit back her reply, instead her eyes filled with tears for her sister slayer and a sudden wash of emotion bonded her to the younger girl in a way there had never managed before. Faith felt a similar feeling, a feeling that she and Buffy were more alike than different after all.
Xander pulled himself out of the water, it's cloying embrace causing the muscle's in his arms to distend and pulse against the sucking pull he fought, then with a rush he was out and laying on the cold hard floor of the throne room gulping in huge lungful's of air. The journey through the tunnels had been a hard one for Xander. He was tired as hell, his body felt like it was on fire and it seemed fate had conspired with luck to make his life as difficult as possible for him.
He gave himself a few minutes to catch his breath, to regain a little equilibrium and most of all, just to rest for a short while before he pressed ahead with his quest.
"Hello Xander" a cultured, feminine, British voice called to him.
Xander rolled on to his front pushing up at the same time up onto his feet. Then standing slowly he smiled, "Hello Lara, I like that outfit"
Lara looked down at herself, she wasn't wearing a shirt and had on only her shorts and a tight vest like t-shirt that clung to her wet body in seductive ways. She looked back into Xander's eyes feeling a rush of lust run through her. She quashed the feeling back down, she couldn't afford to be getting all unprofessional at a time like this, not even when she had already won.
"Is this what you're looking for" Lara said tossing a diamond-like gem up into the air and catching it again.
Xander let out a sigh, "Yeah, yeah it is" he said leaning back against a nearby wall. He ignored the sharp rock pressing into his back, or rather it helped him to focus on Lara. He just felt so DAMN tired.
"Why Xander? Why do you want this?" Lara asked with genuine curiosity on her face.
Xander regarded her with dark eyes for a long moment before letting out a long sigh, "I can't tell you that Lara, and It'll do you more harm than good if I did"
Lara narrowed her eyes at him, "What do you mean"
She noticed that he wasn't looking at her anymore, that in fact his eyes were tracing around the room. "You're not going anywhere Xander" she said stepping back a gun appearing in her hand, "Where is the Tear?"
Xander ignored her, he was too intent on watching the first in Buffy's form stalk towards Lara with a knife in her hand.
"No" Xander whispered he wanted to do SOMETHING, but what and how?
The First walked right up beside Lara but made no move towards her, instead she smiled at Xander, "Hello darling"
"Don't call me that" Xander snapped.
"What Xander?" Lara said in confusion.
"What?" Xander said looking at Lara.
The Buffy-First walked around to stand behind Lara a hand running round Lara 's slender waist and moving up to cup a breast in one hand, "She's cute, I' ll keep her"
"GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF, BITCH!" Xander yelled his eyes flashing angrily as he took a step forward.
Lara looked at Xander with a sad frown as she lifted her weapon, "There's no need for that. To think, I thought you were different" Lara said her eyes hard.
Xander frowned then growled, "Damn it" he muttered, realizing what the first was doing. He also noticed that the Buffy-First had disappeared. Apparently happy that it had caused enough damage, for now.
Xander looked into Lara's eyes, willing her to understand what he was about to say, "Remember when I first turned up on your doorstep in England?"
Lara nodded slightly, "Don't move Xander" she said as he took as step away from her.
"You remember I thought I was going insane?"
"Yes, and I said STOP" Lara said shifting her stance into a more aggressive one.
"Just remember why" Xander said, then using all the speed available to him he dived backwards blindly hoping that he hit water and not wall.
Lara tracked him with her gun, her finger pulled on the trigger to no avail, noting happened. There was an almighty splash as Xander entered the water gracelessly and Lara looked at her gun in shock.
Xander disappeared under the water swimming as fast as he was still able leaving Lara staring at the side of her gun her eyes confused and her heart pounding in her rib cage.
Xander made good his escape once again as Lara remained transfixed to her pistol and the rookie mistake she had just made.
There on the side of the black semi-automatic pistol was the safety…
…still engaged.
"Don't say that again," Faith said with her voice dripping venom and her eyes dangerous.
Lara blew out an impatient and annoyed air, "Faith" she growled, "You didn't see him; he was crazed"
Angel and Cordelia looked at the pair, obviously sensing that things could easily spiral out of control.
"X ain't crazy" Faith almost snarled her dark eyes flashing.
"If you could just look past your crush" Lara spat back her blue eyes also flashing.
"And if YOU could just get over yourself you'd see what we all see" Faith said taking a calming breath, "X, just ain't like that"
"I repeat you didn't see him, I had always thought that Xander was one of the most stable people I've ever met, until that throne room" Lara said her eyes pleading with the dark haired slayer to understand. "He wasn't himself"
"What happened, exactly?" Angel said stepping into the conversation.
Lara took a deep breath and stepped back mentally and physically from her argument with Faith. "I was talking to him, trying to find out what was going on when he became distracted, then he reacted angrily towards me, called me a bitch for instance"
Angel's eyebrows almost hit the roof, "Xander, called you that?" he said in disbelief.
Lara pointed to Angel, "You see what I mean" she said exasperated.
Faith had suddenly become very quiet remembering a very strange conversation that Xander had with Buffy back in the cavern. She had her lips pursed thoughtfully.
Lara looked back to Faith and found that she was suddenly not looking quite as sure as she had been. With a slight tilt of her head Lara caught Faith's eyes and saw that she had remembered something that had caused her to doubt. Or, perhaps something that had caused her to reevaluate her opinion. Then she saw a fierce light enter Faith's eyes. Lara half expected the slayer to send her flying, but to her shock Faith nodded, "Okay, something ain't right with X, but we got to find out what, because I know here" she tapped just above her left breast vigorously, "That X ain't crazy"
Lara opened her mouth but Faith cut her off by prodding a finger at Lara, "If you DO really love him, you'd know it too" she said, and with that she turned on a combat booted heel and stormed off.
Lara narrowed her eyes at the dark haired slayer's retreating back and virtually glared a hole into it. She didn't appreciate something like that being said in front of people she hardly knew, especially from someone that she likewise had only just met.
Buffy walked out of the back office, Angel's private area where she had been resting a little form their long flight, her eyes were dancing slightly with slight amusement. The thought had struck her that Xander would be highly embarrassed by all this attention that he had brought down on himself. For some reason she found that very funny.
"She's right in one way," Buffy said after a moment's tense silence. "Xander isn't the one of us that I would have pegged to lose it. Not after all that he's been through, he's too strong"
Lara smiled slightly, "He's been hit hard before, believe me"
Buffy tilted her head to the side so Lara continued, "When he first turned up on my door, before Egypt, before Mr. William's turned up again, he was… lost, he loves you very much" she added the last in a soft voice and looking straight in Buffy's suddenly watery eyes. "That…" Lara trailed off, her mind going back to something Xander had said before - she had thought it to mean Buffy's death, but what if he was talking about…
"The First" Lara said snapping her fingers, "He's not loosing it…" she trailed off her eyes alight with happiness. For some reason it just hadn't quite clicked that it could be the first, of course she hadn't seen anything, but then would she have, why did she in the first place? It was slowly starting to come together in Lara's mind now, but she couldn't quite see it all just yet, there were still too many variables. Why, Why was Xander jetting around after a time twisting artifact. Why did he already have one and more importantly, what the hell did he plan to do with it. Well, one thing was for certain, they needed to find out more information. She was pacing all over the front hall now her face a mask of concentration.
"The First," Buffy said her eyes also lighting up, "that would make sense, if he was talking to that bitch and then we wouldn't be able to see her"
Lara stopped pacing and looked at Buffy, "Her?"
Buffy shrugged, "She turned up in Miss Calendar's form when I had a run in with her before"
"And no-one else could see her?"
"I could" Angel said, "It was me that it was attacking"
"Was it, are you sure" Lara said with a pointed look at Buffy, "It seems to me from what Xander told me that it was after Buffy, through you Angel"
Angel blanched slightly, "I had never thought of that," then he frowned slightly, "Xander thought of that?"
Lara rolled her eyes slightly, "It's like you all have eyes, but you totally fail to see what you have under your noses." She said to the ceiling with her hands up in supplication.
"I didn't, I do now" Buffy said firmly, "Angel hasn't seen Xander in action, not lately"
Angel nodded in agreement, "No, I haven't, but his little display earlier goes to prove he's more than I thought, I had thought it was just your training"
"Partially" Lara admitted, then pointed at Buffy, "But she's also to blame"
Buffy beamed, "Sure am"
Angel looked at her with dark eyes glittering slightly as he hid his emotions, worried what THAT meant.
"We trained together for a long time, taught him a few tricks, fighting wise" Buffy said, "He's got some moves of his own though, I have to say, I was quite impressed earlier this year. We took off right where we had left it with the sparing and our chats"
Lara suddenly felt a pang of jealousy run through her, never mind Faith! Buffy was the one woman that she had to really worry about loosing Xander to.
'Ah' she thought to herself as she ran that emotion back through her mind.
"He's picked up a few martial arts along the way and of course the driving and gun play are all him"
"Gun Play?" Cordelia asked interested despite herself, "Wasn't that the soldier?"
"Hell no" Buffy said with a shake of her head, "I've found out from his dad that Xander's ALWAYS been a crack shot. Used to win prizes all that…" Buffy trailed off then smiled, "Jack Harris" she said succinctly, "Xander hate's his mom, but if anyone knows what's going on, it's his Dad"
"Fine, we go to…" Lara trailed off in a fill in the blank kind of way.
"Vegas"
Lara smirked, "Vegas, really, how very circular" then she turned back to Buffy, "What about Xander's computer"
Buffy was already shaking her head, "Nothing, at least so far, she's still working on it though"
Lara frowned slightly, "But nothing at all so far, was it wiped?"
"Nope, there are a few chapters of his latest book according to Willow. Oh hey, and she said it's great, going to be HUGE apparently"
Lara laughed, "That's bad luck you know"
"I don't think Willow cares" Buffy replied with a sparkle in her eye.
"We need to get some research done on The First Evil, which I can get Hillary, Evie and Bryce started on, do you think that perhaps Ripper…"
"I'll get him on it, Willow has a few contact's of her own now as well, do you want…"
"Yes, and whilst you're at it, ask her if she's got enough juice to send us to…"
"Vegas" Buffy finished.
Cordelia leaned into Angel slightly, "That's scary"
Angel nodded, "It appears that when they're not fighting over Xander…"
"…They're a great team" Cordelia finished.
Willow bit her lip and flipped through the files on Xander's computer yet again, wondering where the hell Xander had either hidden his documents, or where the hell he HAD put them. She was under the impression that he wasn't really comfortable with computers, instead using them as purely a tool for his writing. From the scraps she was just now finding she had to revise that opinion.
She took her hand off the mouse and popped open a shell prompt her nimble fingers flew across the keyboard as she started running a more comprehensive search program, something that she had written herself several years ago.
Of course, in the years that she had been learning magic, her computer skills had gotten a little rusty, which she hated. She still liked to think of herself as a hacker, but she knew in her heart of hearts that as it stood currently she was more than a little out of date.
The program scrolled million's of lines across the screen before it started bleating at her. Willow tapped a few keys with her green eyes intent upon the screen. Then a slow smile spread across her face, "Well whadya know" she whispered, "You sneaky suspicious bastard" she continued her hands now flying across the keyboard.
After an hour of working on the computer she cricked her neck and hit the enter button. The screen then blanked out, much to her surprise and a military grade encryption program jumped up on the screen. Her eyes flew wide open as she recognized the 512-bit encryption algorithm.
Then with a smile of geeker joy she put her mind into gear and started to work against the program, and in the process pit her mind against the programmers of the encryption routines. She suddenly stopped the smile still in place as she realized something, "I've missed this" she muttered in surprise, Magic was seriously cool. But for the most part spells were mundane things and didn't hold the level of challenge, mentally as this did for her.
Xander stepped out into the sunshine limping and leaning heavily on his cane. He'd had very little trouble in this tomb, at least when compared to the last one. But then he'd not had Lara breathing down his neck and the First seemed to have gotten bored with him, for which Xander was eternally grateful, he just hoped that the First wasn't up to something even more nefarious.
He blinked owlishly for a few moments as his brown eyes got used to the glare of the hot raging sun as it beat down on him. Nestled in his pocket was an artifact the like of which he already had one of. He knew where they all were and he needed every single one of them back. Of course, he had absolutely no idea how the hell he was going to retrieve the one that Lara had.
Xander quickly checked himself over, making sure that his pack and guns were secure before stepping out of the tomb entrance and fully into the sunlight, glancing around warily as he did so. Just then he heard loud voices that were raised, speaking in a quick fire Arabic language native to the region and the unmistakable rattle of an AK47 being discharged. There was a short silence followed by a scream and gurgle before another gun shot and no more gurgle.
Xander moved stealthily from his location and skirted round the campsite he had circumnavigated the night before. There was a weapons inspectorate going over the area with a fine toothcomb and they had thought that Sadam was hiding nukes, or whatever in an ancient Babylonian tomb. He hadn't, at least Xander had seen none, and if he had, he would sure as shit, have told someone about it, despite the risk to himself.
Once he was past the campsite proper he found a site that caused his eyes to turn to obsidian flint. There arrayed out in front of an Iraq firing squad were the bodies of almost the entire campsite. The young and the old had been slaughtered. Xander had no idea how Sadam thought he was going to get away with it, but the order for this sort of hit could only have come from that high. It was a terrible risk, and it was a telling sight. There must indeed be something worth hiding for these people to have to die. Xander's eyes took in the firing squad as they recocked their machine guns and pointed at a lone figure, still miraculously standing amidst the carnage of their fellows.
As the machine guns leveled out Xander felt compelled to intercede. He couldn't in all good conscious allow this woman to die to keep him hidden.
He exploded into action, his cane whipping out and firing the piton across the gorge like area they were in. As it reached its target Xander was already dropping down the hill, running like crazy and with all his enhanced speed. A single .45 USP hand canon came into play and he started to fire shots at the soldiers, all the while getting closer to his guard.
Honey Midsummer stood, her legs shaking willing herself not to loose control of her bladder as she waited for the hail of bullets that she had already somehow been saved from. She knew, somehow that she wouldn't be lucky twice in a row. Her normally almost electric blue eyes were closed, in fact tightly pressed together and she was biting her lip not to scream out. Her head was dipped forward; her totally black shoulder length hair fell forward and masked her attractive features. She waited for the end to come, and as shots started she flinched, expecting to feel what her comrades had felt only moments before. The sharp sting of a bullet hit, then excruciating pain before the inky blackness of death claimed her.
But, yet again none of the bullet's hit her, in fact as she stood shivering even in the hot midday sun she thought she could hear the screams of the men closest to her.
Xander's aim, continued to be as dead on as ever, his bullet's hitting every man he aimed at. Within moments, the surprise attack had obliterated the firing squad. Luckily for him, they were only few in number and his shots would be thought to be theirs. Unluckily for him, there were at least forty soldiers, just around the corner. He could be hemmed in within moments, if he wasn't quick.
Xander continued to run and not pausing to give proper introduction, he snagged the petrified woman's waist on the way past. Then he triggered the recall on the cane and they were both hefted aloft into the air across the gorge where they landed with a thump and scrape. They eventually ended up a tangled mess of arms and legs.
Honey opened one startling blue eye and quickly assessed her situation. All she really remembered was the sensation of flying and then a painful landing. She looked at her savior, his brown eyes twinkling slightly at her from his position under her. "Hi" she said opening the other eye.
"Hello" Xander said with a charming smile, "Would you mind getting off of me, we really need to get out of here"
Honey blinked at him for a moment, before gathering her wits about her and extracting herself from him, standing and brushing her clothes off as she did so.
Xander rolled over backwards coming to his feet in one smooth move and managing to keep the wince of pain off of his face. He crouched slightly, his eyes taking in the army mobilizing down in the valley. He narrowed his eyes at them, plans of action running through his brain to be either filed for later thought or rejected out of hand. With an almost casual flick of his hand his cane retracted the cable, which whizzed through the air past Honeys ear with a sound like an angry buzz saw.
"What the…" Honey said looking at the amazing walking stick with a surprised expression.
"Come on, my bike is round the other side of this rock face" Xander said reaching out for Honey.
Honey looked at the offered hand, then into Xander's eyes. She wasn't sure what she saw there, to make her trust him, but something did. The fact he had just saved her from almost certain death, strangely, had nothing to do with her decision. She took his offered hand and they ran off round the corner together.
Lara walked into the well-appointed poker school with Buffy and Faith flanking her. She looked around slowly, her eyes picking out every detail. She noticed that the place seemed to have some quite impressive security and that it felt… good here. Strangely familiar as well, but Lara figured that was just that she knew Jack Harris from years before when she had been in Sunnydale.
An attractive blonde haired woman walked out of a back room, her light gray eyes alight with humor as if she had just heard a very good joke. "Hi there, welcome to Harris Poker, the school of distinction. How can we help you today"
"Hi, is Xander's dad here" Buffy said stepping forward with her best smile.
The woman's eye immediately changed from laughing to dangerous in a heartbeat, "Who?"
Lara narrowed her eyes, but covered it with a large charming smile, "We're friends of the family Miss…"
"Shade, Rita shade, who might you be"
"My name is…" Lara began but was cut off by a voice that was both familiar and not. Familiar because the general timbre and pitch were that of the voice she had heard before. But before she had also heard the drink soaked warble and the malady of discontent in Jack Harris's Voice, now there was none, and there was a dynamite hard edge to it as well.
"…Lady Lara Croft" Jack said walking out of the back room with a pump action shotgun and training it on the trio standing in his doorway. When he spotted Buffy the gun immediately lifted to his shoulder, but his hand was still within in close reach to the trigger. "How are you Lady Croft?"
"Why jack, you know a lady?" Rita said with a fond smile, "You never said" she turned and bobbed an awkward curtsy at Lara who blushed slightly at it. "Would you like some …tea?"
"Thank you, and please, it's just Lara" Lara said to the excited Rita.
Jack looked at her, his dark brown eyes hard as granite, "That won't be necessary Rita Lady croft won't be staying, can you just go out back, I'll explain later, okay?" he said tossing a slightly lopsided smile her way.
Rita narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend but nodded and did as she was asked.
Once she was gone Jack smiled at Buffy, "Hey Buff, how's tricks," he asked in a scary display of similarity to his son.
"They're not too great actually, Mr. Harris" Buffy said stepping forward slightly.
Jack stepped back the same distance, "Sorry to here that Buffy, how's little Dawnie"
"She is well, thanks Mr. Harris. Urh, why have you got a gun?"
"I like to be prepared for anything" Jack replied with a smirk, his eyes flicked to Lara again and she detected just a little sadness there before he hid behind his smile again and looked at Faith, "You've gotta be Faith, my son is one lucky SOB" he then quirked a lip as he realized the truth of the SOB part of that sentence.
Faith blushed slightly, "Urh, what's Xander been saying"
"Well, you know we keep in touch, but I was referring to a little…hotel adventure" Jack said with a wicked gleam in his eye.
Faith beamed at him, she seriously liked this guy he was like an older Xander only not quite as XANDER as Xander.
"We're hoping you can help us actually," Lara said stepping forward a full step before she came face to face with a cocked and locked pump action shotgun.
"Yeah, I'm stunned… really, I'd have never guessed you wanted my help, looking for my son are we? Want to catch up to him before he get himself into trouble?" Jack said his voice mocking and eyes angry.
Lara held up her hands, slightly shocked at the professional way that Jack Harris was wielding the pump action. "We don't want to hurt Xander"
Faith smirked, "At least we don't," she said pointing at Buffy and herself. "Not too sure about the Majesty here"
"You're not helping Faith" Lara shot back her eyes flashing in anger.
Faith shrugged with a cocky smirk.
Lara ignored her smirking and turned back to Jack with pleading eyes, "We just want to help your son, we believe that he has taken a course of action that will effectively…" she trailed off slightly, not knowing what Jack knew of the world under the normal one, "damage the world as we know it" she hedged.
Jack smirked at her, "You mean end the world, don't you. Do you really think that I spent all those years in the 'dale without getting a clue, or that it wasn't me who patched my son up after he'd been hurt helping her fight" he said flicking his eyes at Buffy who winced, "What, you think his mother gave a shit enough to do it?"
The room chilled several hundred degree's Kelvin, "I know more than I ever wanted to I can assure you Lady Croft. I know all about you too," he said looking at Lara intently. "I know my son loves you and I know what happened between you in 1925"
Lara blinked a few times, the one sign that she was shocked. But Jack hadn' t finished, "I love my son more than my own life Lady Croft, and I trust him and know him well enough to believe that if he is going to end the world, then it DAMN well deserves it"
Lara wasn't the only one to be stunned by that revelation, "Xander's going to end the world?"
Jack frowned at her, "I didn't say that you did. Xander isn't about to end the world. But if he did…you get the idea"
Buffy, Faith AND Lara let out a sigh of relief at that. "He's not going to end the world" Jack repeated, "But that doesn't mean that someone else isn't trying to"
"Someone always is" Buffy remarked with an ironic eyebrow lift.
Jack smirked at her, "I can't help you guys, I don't know where he is right now, because I know that's what you want to know, all I can tell you is that if you ever loved him, or still do, then for the love of god trust him"
"Far too much is at stake for that Mr. Harris"
Jack's eyes spat fire for a second, "You know, I liked you better the last time we met"
Lara frowned slightly, "Sorry?"
"The last time I saw you, you had just nearly broken my son's rib when you fell off of him, whilst…how shall we say…having some fun. You were laughing and you were very much in love with my son. Now, I know something you don't so I'm trying not to hold you anger against you, but Xander is one of the good guys. How he turned out the way he did with a drunken old gambler as his dad and frankly a bitch as his mom I'll never know" Jack said with a shrug, "The important thing is that Xander turned out good, he ain't never changing that"
"You see" Faith said mocking Lara with her earlier words and pointing at Jack, "Now do you get it?"
Something inside of Lara rebelled at her tone and she turned on the younger woman with real fire in her eyes, "Don't you get it! I know that, I know Xander better than even she does, and I'll tell you one thing you've all bloody well missed. Xander WILL and CAN do anything to protect the ones he loves, upto and including blowing us all to kingdom come to save us from a worse fate. He's got loyalty, no, devotion to his friends and frankly I admire that. But you have to remember that he is only human, one man in control of the power's he is even now in possession of is dangerous." Lara said her eyes intent and dark of hue.
With a deep calming breath that did little to calm her she tried again, "What if the first is leading him astray? Did any one of you numbskulls think that maybe just maybe he's being manipulated into something that will have dire consequences for all of us? He's been tricked before, he's only human after all, and we've all been tricked at least once I know I have"
Lara's fire died out a little as her mind reminded her of something. She turned back to the stern looking Jack Harris and fixed him with a gimlet glare, "What do you mean, that you know something I don't?"
The bike roared along the road, leaving a plume of dust in its wake. Xander rode through the desert like he was being chased by half the Iraq army, which he could well be, luckily for the two occupants of his bike, Xander had lost them in the valley's and gorges of the campsite area. Now he was just trying to put as much distance between himself and them as possible.
Behind him and holding on to his muscular torso as if her life depended on it, which, considering their speed it did was Honey Midsummer. Her mind had yet to fully run through the events that head led her to be clutching hold of a complete stranger streaming through the desert at 80 miles per hour. Nor had it allowed her to fully mull over the fact that she was virtually alone in a hostile country with information and evidence that would be damming to Sadam and could bring about war.
Nope, her life wasn't complex at all really.
They rode for a few more miles across the flat desert until they reached another range of mountains not unlike the one they had just left. Xander navigated through the gullies and rocky twists an turns, still moving at great speed. The bike's roar almost deafening in the rack enclosed area. Until, finally, he came to a stop in a secluded valley. He turned around slightly and nodded for his passenger to get off of the bike.
Honey did as she was asked slipping stiffly off of the back of the muscular motorbike and stretching out a little.
"We're on foot for a while, so stretch out a bit" Xander told his attractive passenger.
Honey nodded and did as she was asked her eyes flicking back to the still seated Xander. "Ain't you going to stretch out?" she asked, when he had made no move to follow his own orders.
Xander nodded, "Sure will" he said with a smile and then a wince, "Just as soon as my hip unfreezes"
Honey looked at him in surprise for a long moment that laughed, "What?"
Xander pushed hard on the bike, sliding back across the seat. Just before he reached the back his cane clicked out into place and he caught himself on its supporting solidness. Then he was on his feet, albeit a little shakily, "I've been riding for a few hours straight across the desert, and I've got a gammy leg"
"Gammy leg?" Honey asked, that was an English expression; she should know her parents were both English. She wasn't, she was American born and bred, but she was the first generation of the family to be so. The thing that had caught her was that Xander was definitely American, from So. Cal. if she was any judge.
"Yeah, don't worry it'll unfreeze in a minute and we can get going. Then we 'll camp for the night before shooting for the capital and getting you some help"
Honey smiled at him, "Sure"
"Oh hey, where are my manners, My Name's Xander Harris"
Honey's eyes shot wide open, "You're the writer?"
Xander frowned, "I write under a pseudonym, how'd you know my real name"
"My father is Henry Midsummer" Honey said with a slightly excited voice.
Xander blinked, "Well shit, that's my publisher"
"I'm his daughter Honey, I LOVE your books"
"I didn't even know he had a daughter" Xander admitted, "Damn small world, and thanks glad you like them"
"No I LOVE them, all that adventure and the horror aspect. Hey what on earth are you doing out here in Iraq?"
Xander bounced slightly testing his leg before stretching out and pulling against the pain, "Research"
"Yeah, right" Honey said with a smile, "Pull the other one"
"It's true" Xander said, 'after a fashion' he added in his mind.
"Well thanks for saving me Mr. Harris" Honey said with a twinkle in her eye.
"No problem, Honey, and call me Xander"
"Thanks Xander" Honey said watching Xander with an appreciative eye. There was some serious muscle play under that tight fitting shirt and it wasn't a bad sight for sore eyes in anyway shape or form.
Jack Harris smiled charmingly, "If I told you that, my son would kill me"
Lara's pistol appeared in her hand, "If you DON'T tell me, I'LL be the one to kill you"
Jack smiled again, his shotgun not wavering at the least, his eyes hard and expressionless. Buffy suddenly got how he was such a good poker player. He had to have the best Poker face that she'd ever seen. There was absolutely no sign of nervousness, not a glimmer of fear in fact, not anything showed in his face.
There was a classic Mexican stand off for exactly a second before Lara raised her pistol to the roof with a smile, "It was worth a try," she said with a smile.
Jack lifted the shotgun and walked over to come to a standstill directly in front of Lara his dark eyes so familiar to her to be heart rendering. Yet there were differences in both color and what was behind them. Jack Harris didn't quite have that core in him that Xander did, he had something else, he had love for his son that knew no bounds and that would drive him to protect him no matter what the cost would be.
"I'll ask you one question Lady Croft and if I believe you then I'll stop all the horsing around and we'll talk, deal?"
Lara smiled, "Deal"
Jack became intense his dark eyes hypnotically staring into Lara's dark blue ones, "Do you love my son Lara?"
Lara looked back at him, not saying a word for a long moment. A long moment during which Faith held her breath, and Buffy crossed her fingers. Then finally Lara finally admitted it to both herself and Jack something that she had been denying as hard as she was able. Something that she had told Xander back in 1925, and then had thrown back in her face, "Yes, yes I do with all my heart"
Faith felt the room tilt, but held on to her cool with all her life. As she had said to Buffy, Lara hadn't won yet, but the stakes had just gone through the roof.
Buffy beamed, then quashed it when she glanced at Faith, who looked, just for a moment like someone had kicked her puppy to death and then run over it several hundred times with a steam roller. Buffy suddenly felt sorry for faith, not in a pitying way, but in a friendly way. What she had said before was being shown to be untrue; perhaps they could be friends after all.
Jack nodded his shotgun then resting back on his shoulder pointing up at the roof and his entire stance relaxing, "I'll tell you what I know, and in return you have to promise to help my boy live through this" Jack said, his eyes suddenly showing great pain, before he dropped a bomb on them all.
"Because from what he HAS told me, he won't"