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Wanda showed up where Stark and Rogers both were the next morning, shaking her head at Sam's odd look. "I talked to Forger last night. He got my Ka spirit back from where whoever had made a deal with them," she told the two staring heros. "I had a vision during it. We have worse coming. I saw a gaudy gold glove with gemstones. The purple guy holding it was scary and insane. He wants to take over earth to destroy it."

"Is he mechanical?" Clint asked.

"No. Or Asgardian." He nodded at that. "But he's the guy that gave Loki his staff. That was a flash I got from him during it."

"So we're talking super powerful," Stark said. She nodded. "Were they trying to summon him with you?"

"Forger said something about special twins. So now I have my brother nagging me to brush my hair." She looked at him then at them. "It got us free of the sacrifices to bring him here."

"A bit of Casper time is better than dying to bring a powerful thing here," Stark quipped. "Are you okay?"

"Mostly." She looked at Steve, who patted her on the hand. "Someone stopped me on the way in this morning saying that they needed The Twins of Power, the Forsaken One, and a lot of mystical power. The Tesseract is one of the things in the glove." She wobbled, holding her head. Steve got her into a chair. "The staff holds one. The cube, the destructo-egg, the aether, and one I can only see in shadow. Then the Mad Titan comes to give his lover more Death for her pleasure." She passed out.

Steve got her onto the floor, patting her cheek while Natasha came in to help her. "She had a vision or something."

"It's said Forger had some so perhaps he activated the gift in her," she said quietly. She got a damp cloth to help. Wanda moaned, waking up. "Don't move. You passed out after having a vision."

"I hate him for giving them to me," she said, taking the water to sip. She sat up with help, looking at them. "Those suck."

"I'm sure they do," Steve agreed, smiling at her. "At least you're safer now." She nodded, looking at her brother then at him. "Is he mad?"

"Fussing. He couldn't do it before but now he can nag." She finished the water. She looked at Natasha. "Is it worth having one?" she asked quietly.

"It's part of your soul. Having one is always comforting."

She nodded. "That is comforting." She relaxed again. "What did I say?"

"You told us about the great apocalypse coming up," Stark said. "Something about a glove and stones and a mad guy who wanted a lot of death."

"The mad guy is dating Death," Wanda corrected. "She's his lover and he wants to gift her things. He was jealous when some guy in a mask was flirting with her and needs to prove his love." She stood up with help. "Those suck."

Clint walked in, handing over a small zippered bag. "This was sent through my window last night on a plain arrow. Directions are inside for headache tea."

She looked then got some hot water to steep it. She grimaced as she drank. "Yuck."

"Helping any?" Steve asked. She nodded. "Then I'm guessing that's so you don't overuse it?"

"I'm sure it is." She finished and put the cup down with a grimace. "That's gross."

"Most native medicines are," Natasha assured her. "You never want to know what's in them but they do tend to work for certain things."

Clint nodded. "Forger told me last night he had visions so I'm guessing it's someone he asked to send the tea stuff to you. I'm sure he knows what's in it if you need him to get you more."

"Thanks, guys." She looked at her twin's ghost then at them. "He had to bring back Pietro's ghost."

Natasha nodded. "Sometimes you need someone who does nothing but care about your well being." Clint nodded he agreed with that.

Steve nodded too. "I had Bucky doing that when we were younger." He patted Wanda on the arm with a grin. "You can talk to him in front of us. We understand he's there and you're not cracking up."

"Thanks." She relaxed. "So what do we do about the evil guy who wants to date death and maybe the weird guy in the mask that was dating her too but that's why he's got issues now?"

"Weird guy..." Natasha said. "Red and black?" Wanda nodded.

"Swords?" Clint asked. She nodded again. "It figures." He and Natasha shared a look. "We'll talk to him back in New York. He's usually there and he seems to know about Bucky too."

"He gave me some good intel that led me to Alex," Steve said.

"Alex is home now," Clint told them. "Forger managed it before he left for Africa."

"Why didn't he go too?" Stark asked.

"I don't believe he could," Natasha said. "The only agent who was there watching beyond Sam said he told Alex to go while taking out the demon trying to stop him."

"Sam said the same thing," Steve said with a slight nod. "And that Bucky told him stuff that made it seem like Forger was way too tired of battles at the moment."

"I'd guess you'd have to be if you're fighting demons," Wanda said. "I got a few flashes off him while he and the chaos mage guy were working on the problem for me. Including a lot of girl warriors with ancient weapons."

Natasha looked at her then groaned. "He used to hunt demons."

"I'm pretty sure he's still hunting demons, just some of them are human," Stark said. "Because some of the guys in HYDRA are nightmares for humanity." He sipped his coffee then put the mug down. "Now what, people?"

Wanda looked at him then at Steve. "You two are tearing us apart and we're coming up on a bigger problem than Ultron. Yeah, we need to argue about a few things, but is that going to work? Pietro is worried about that." She looked at her ghost then at them. "I'm not ready to die for you two to argue."

Clint patted her on the shoulder. "There's a lot of important problems behind both viewpoints, including things like independents that aren't on a team and newbies who just come out."

"Or guys like you that have skills," Natasha said simply. Steve and Tony both nodded they agreed. "Though Wanda is correct, we must work this out before that battle. We cannot win against a higher enemy when we're so split up. This one's not only super powerful but I think he's immortal or something. It seemed like it from what little I got."

Clint pulled out his phone to call someone. "It's Barton. Is Deadpool near there?" He listened. "Thanks." He hung up and called the other bar in his neighborhood. "Hey, it's Barton. Don't start, man. I'm looking for Deadpool, he's got intel I need right now." He listened. "Arabian peninsula? Why?" He nodded. "I've seen that happen. Yeah, if you can please. Tell him it's about one of his ex-girlfriend's other boyfriend. Apparently he's going to cause problems. Thanks." He hung up. "He's off killing people."

Natasha shook her head. "Some of the assassins in the world are very weird."

"Better weird than typical," Wanda quipped.

"You'd just have to meet him to see how weird it is," Clint assured her.

"He seemed nice the few times I've talked to him but he was talking about stuff I had no idea about," Steve said. "And he's got a bit of BO."

"He's in spandex all the time, Steve. You sweat in that stuff," Clint quipped. "Especially since his is full body covering." Clint looked at Wanda. "He's got a lot of scarring."

"That happens to some people," she agreed. "I'm not going to be mean to him, guys."

"Okay. Just...if he's talking about his talking boxes, kinda ignore it, okay?" Clint suggested. He looked at the others. "So are we going to have an actual talk about the problems splitting us?"

"I think...."

"I think you're one they wouldn't want on the list," Steve said. "And I don't want to see us at the end of that slope we'd be starting down. Treating people like they're lesser beings because of how they're born is *wrong*."

"It is," Stark agreed. "I'm all for not including the average joe and jane in the list, Steve. The ones who come forward, want to do the work, yes. We need to know who they are anyway in case we have to work with them at the very least."

"And yet, it will not stop there," Clint said simply.

"No government has ever stopped at the easiest and safest step," Natasha agreed. "It will become the monster we'd have to fight. We have hopes of controlling it somewhat."

"Run by a lot of the guys we're presently fighting," Steve said. "I can't trust them not to start other programs off it."

"I can see that point but we can stop it going further."

"Or we can stop them making the list in the first place because it'll never be fully stopped. Someone in the background will have that information just waiting on it to come up for their own purposes. Just like in Germany."

"We weren't so clean," Stark reminded him. Steve glared. "I'm sure you saw what happened to Japanese Americans, Steve."

"I did," he agreed. "And I had a lot of strong words over it. I wasn't in a position to change it then. I am now." He stared at him. "That way we don't repeat the evils of the past." He looked at Clint. "Are you all right?"

"I'm good. Saw a few sights I hadn't had time to see before on missions, all that. I still want to know what Forger can do."

"He trained as a shaman," Wanda said. "That's how he was able to help me." She noticed her brother's ghost staring at something and looked then kicked Steve and nodded. He looked then got up to go talk to Bucky since he was clearly waiting.

Steve came back. "Guys, we have to move this talk. There's a few goons coming this way."

"Russian mob?" Clint asked dryly.

"No, HYDRA." Steve stared at him. "Though I heard."

"They're annoying," Clint said with a shrug. He grinned. "But my dog's great." He walked off with Wanda. "C'mon, you're more vulnerable right now from the headache. I'll get you back to the hotel and we'll go so Stark and Steve fall out last. They'd want them more anyway." She nodded, taking the pouch of medicine tea with her. Natasha followed.

Stark stood up. "I don't have to pack or anything so I'm heading to the airfield. Am I flying everyone back?"

"If you're willing," Steve said. Stark nodded so they gathered at the airfield to go back to New York and argue some more.

Across a few rooftops, Bucky smiled at the sensible plans going on. Someday soon they'd have another battle and he'd have to actually step in, not just nudge. Now, he had to find Forger and get him out of his moment of remembrance and temper. The kid had some issues he had to work out too. Then again, he was a hero now so of course he did. Maybe Steve's friend could help him some if Bucky tied Forger up on his bed.

***

Xander spotted the moving shadow, following it. It turned to attack him, making him fight them back. "Wow, you've slacked more than the one in my realm did," he said in Swahili. The guy backed off, glaring at him. "Hi. Why are you up here?"

"It's none of your business."

"Actually, it is. I'm watching over someone who's having problems." He shifted his stance, shrugging some. "I worked with some shaman in your country, Prince. So why are you here? Call me paranoid but yeah, I am now."

The guy stared at him. "Someone said something about a displaced warrior from my home country."

"Not fully. I trained with some shaman there. I trained with shaman in a lot of places actually. I was training the slayers in my world and needed some of my own training for some problems I was having with spirits."

"You believe that stuff?" he snorted.

Xander looked off to the guy's side then grinned. "Cute teddybear your Ka has," he said quietly. "Blue with a brown polka dotted ribbon. Little sailor shirt." The guy shuddered, backing off. "Yeah, I can tell those things," he said dryly. "Which is why I'll ask again. Why are you near one I'm helping protect tonight?"

"I was looking for one who is going to upset my people."

Xander pointed. "Seven blocks, Prince."

"Thank you. You know of them?"

"And saw what happens when they haven't pulled their heads out of their asses in time for the next true battle." The guy groaned, shaking his head. "Visions, yay," he said sarcastically.

"Wonderful. Let me go network."

"You have fun with that and watch out for non-people with plots. Non-human people with plots specifically."

The guy stared at him. "Vision?"

"Yeah. Muchly. And I don't mean the helpful guy either." He grinned slightly. "Don't worry, it'll come after we hear that one of the heros might die." He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "For a while anyway. He died but showed up in the next battle." He sighed. "Just....seven blocks that way, okay?" He nodded, heading off into the shadows.

"Who's going to die?" Clint Barton asked from behind him.

"Heard you sneaking, dude." He looked at him. "You guys are a comic book in my original realm and even without the vision that confirmed it, it's gonna suck."

"Why?"

"Because your civil war epic adventure is going to be worse than eye-opening. Then bad shit's coming." He stared at him. "Very bad shit." He walked off. "If I'm not around, call me."

"Sure. Will I know when?"

"Yeah, before the funeral." He waved, then got off that roof to head off somewhere more private to work on his headache.

Clint sent out a text message to a few friends, who agreed that he had visions, a few had seen him have one, and one of those had been about a battle with a space alien guy. And Deadpool had to get *very* drunk after witnessing it. Clint winced, going to find Deadpool. "Okay," he said when he ran into him, getting an odd look since the guy was flirting with some poor hooker. "Visions and alien guys? Is it the same one Wanda had?"

"No clue about the pretty redhead." He strolled over, letting his intended prey escape for a bit. "Why? You could ask Forger. He'll tell you."

"He's a bit creepy."

"Nah, he's the sort of white knight a lot of you were. Then he got brought here and let it go for being a warrior." He shrugged.

"Wanda saw some purplish guy with stones and a tacky glove."

"Yup, he had that one near me. Creeped me the fuck out in a permanent manner. But when the alien overlord destroying sort comes, call me and I'll show up to help."

"We heard he was your ex's ex."

"Yup, him. Thanos."

"At least we have a name. Anything else you know?"

"Seriously. Mentally. Cranked. Beyond even *my* levels of cranked on the bad days, Barton. Beyond even whiny teenage girls in a mall who think they're hot cranked." Clint winced but nodded once. "Other than that, Forger keeps a journal." He patted him on the arm. "Let me find that pretty little filly for a midnight ride." He strolled off whistling.

Clint looked up then went to find Forger again. He was hard to find but not too difficult if he wasn't trying to hide. He actually found Bucky first, who was looking for Forger. "He had a vision?"

"Which one?" was grunted and Bucky turned to look at him.

"Thanos. Huge battle after the Avengers have a civil war and someone dies."

"Oh, great," Bucky complained. "Yeah, I'm going to step in when it comes too."

"Deadpool said he has a journal?"

"That's a weird friendship I'd like him not to have but if anyone understands displacement issues, it's Wilson." He rubbed his forehead. "I have no idea where his vision journal is. He was working in it earlier."

"So he's had others?"

"He averages at least two a day right now. However they summoned him turned it on high according to him, but a lot of it he had already read in comics." He shrugged. "I don't understand. I really just want him to calm the fuck down sometimes."

"Like you, he's mourning most everything he had," Clint said dryly. "Only he doesn't have a Steve to lean on." He gave him a pointed look. "Speaking of, he's moping again. Can't you at least send him a cryptic text message now and then to make him loosen up? Let me know if you find out about the battle please?" He handed over his card and left to have his own headache.

Bucky tucked the card into his pocket. "Maybe I'll just drop him there. He can do both for me." He found Forger later that night beating some punks in the park and kicked one back down. "You this bored?"

"Yeah. They lifted classified info from someone they stabbed." He tossed the envelope from his pocket at him then finished off the last two. "No one needs that shit."

Bucky looked in the envelope, nodding. "Nope, no one needs this stuff. I'm going to kill Alex if he gets back."

Xander looked then shrugged. "He's revisiting seventh grade."

"Excuse me?" Bucky demanded, staring at him.

"That was Warren's science fair project with Andrew in seventh grade. I'm guessing he was feeling nostalgic or he was missing them again. They both died a few years ago."

"I'm still going to thump him for leaving it somewhere it could be stolen."

"Not my doing, boss."

"Fine. Go give this to someone who won't use it." He handed the envelope back. "Then taunt Steve and tell Hawkeye everything about that battle with the alien guy. He asked." He walked off.

"He hates me."

"I don't care."

"Fine." He looked at the guys. "You're lucky. This way I can't finish working my stress levels out on you." He strolled off, nodding at the floating robotic guy who was hovering at the edge of the trees. "Don't even try."

"I can tell them you're coming."

"I won't be there until tomorrow. I've got to go clean up more of Alex's stuff. Apparently someone stole things from him again." He grimaced, heading off. A flight to DC... Then Lebanon.... Then Paris. Then back here and he'd go visiting.

"Hand that over first," Bucky yelled from somewhere. "Then go get the other stuff."

Xander sent a text message saying that was the lighter thing of everything Andrew could have created, it was probably stolen by HYDRA or SHIELD of some form or another, and he didn't want the harsher things in anyone's hands. For right now, it was fine. He'd put it in a lockbox. He got given the same order again and sighed. "Fine, whatever," he agreed.

"You're the boss and you can disarm the damn neutrino bomb he probably built in Lebanon. Have fun with that because I'll be running like my last name is Bolt." He went to sneak into the tower. It wasn't that hard. Stark's security was automated and magic versus science still meant science lost. He smirked as he walked in on the good doctor. "Bucky had me hand this to you before I went to find the worst things Alex created." He held it up. "Even though I was going to get the rest all at once to you so you couldn't use it."

"Why wouldn't I use it?" Banner demanded, sitting up in his bed.

"Because you have ethics. Unlike Alex's former cohorts when he was younger, who wanted to be evil overlords." He tossed him the envelope. Banner looked it over and moaned. "Exactly! I got it off some pickpockets who stabbed the courier carrying it. I believe he was some form of SHIELD, but we don't trust them either. We figured you wouldn't use it."

"You and Bucky?"

"No, me and the three spirits presently hanging around nagging me. Just...don't ask. It's a shaman thing...." He flapped a hand. "They complain about everything. Then again, they were nagging bitches before they died. So..." He shrugged.

"You see spirits?"

"Doc, I'm a trained shaman and I had a problem with possessing things before then," he said dryly. "You haven't lived until the hyena takes you over because you accidentally stepped into someone's work area to help a kid being bullied." He waved. "Anyway." He called up something on his phone. "Send that to bow guy for me please. I don't have his email and he's been asking a lot of people. Which means I've got to hide harder and pay hookers more when I need the stress relief because they realize I have fantastic stamina that wears them out."

Banner took the phone to look over then sent it. "I've seen a tv show with you."

"Could be." He grinned. "I know there was two seasons here but it got canceled for being pro girl power." He took his phone back and took off the tracker, handing it back. "I've got to rescue the rest of Alex's design work from someone." He waved and disappeared.

Bruce leaned back groaning until someone pounded on his door and walked in. "How did he not get seen?" Stark demanded.

"Magic, Stark."

"What!"

"Yup." He looked over as Clint strolled in with a grin. "Get it?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

"He said quit mentioning him, it's driving up the price when he has to rent stress relief because they realize he's the guy with the stamina."

"I heard about that. He was having a moment and wore out three higher classed pros over the course of four hours of sex. Then he got off." He grinned. "He's very good to his lovers apparently."

"I don't need to know," Banner said with a wave.

"Thanks, Doc." He went to read the information with Natasha and Wanda, who agreed with what she had seen.

Stark stared at him. "You know something about him."

"Two seasons of a tv show I caught when I was on late night science benders for noise. It got canceled for being pro girl power." He looked at him. "About vampire slayers."

Stark's eye twitched. "Excuse me?"

"Yup."

"Fuck!"

"Basically. It's on netflix."

"Yup." He went to look that up, staring at it from his desk chair. He identified the kid easily enough. And yup, there was magic and other freaky things that would bother his science. "I need to make a magic sensor. Maybe it'll let us know when he's around."

***

Phil Coulson stepped into his office and paused. "This looks familiar."

"That's because it slightly is. They stole Alex's updating work and it's dangerous to the world, Coulson."

"How dangerous?"

"His and another friend's seventh grade science fair project was a working neutrino bomb."

Coulson blinked, closing his office door. "How?"

"Warren and Jonathan wanted to be evil overlords. So did 'Drew but they thought he was kinda soft, but he had skills they wanted to use." He shrugged, leaning back again. "The guys who captured it got it off a bag n'tag team from HYDRA trying to get us back. It's dangerous. I'd like to lock it away with someone who has ethics. Dr. Banner has some of it and if you guys go after him for that I'd hate to be you."

"Me as well. I know Banner won't use it, Xander." Xander grinned. "It was Skye who realized you looked just like the guy on that show."

"Yup. HYDRA wanted mystical warriors. Boo-yah," he finished flatly. "Thankfully I had been training slayers in their native environments for four years before they summoned me. I went from a knight to a barbarian warrior type." He grinned. "Now that all my skills are back from 'Drew...."

"He did?"

"The day I went missing there was a huge battle and he wished for my skills in battle since I couldn't have gotten there anyway. I was meditating so I wouldn't confuse him with what I'd normally be doing when they summoned. Which was why I unleashed the dead when I woke up and he showed up with demons helping him when they summoned him."

"That's weird."

"Yup." He grinned. "All the wacky that was my life since I can't get home." He stared at him. "So, Andrew's stuff?"

"If you can get it without harming any true agents, have at it and I'll respect that Banner will tell me how bad it'll be when I ask him."

"Good deal." He stood up. "May's really nosy."

"She's an agent. It's part of our training," Coulson said dryly.

Xander grinned. "You need to see the visions I sent to bow boy later. It's going to be horrible and some of Skye's people are the problem and some are the heros." He went out the window again.

Coulson reached over to open the door, staring at May and Skye. Skye nodded. "If you let me know I'll ask," she said.

"Thank you."

"Welcome." She walked off. "Should I call them?"

"I will. Expect to see him tomorrow." He looked at May.

"I'll pay you the twenty I owe you later," she sighed, walking off. "Let me know if he needs help getting the information from them."

***

Skye walked into the meeting area the next morning, staring at Banner. "Apparently my genetic relatives are involved in the battle coming up?"

He slid over the printout of the battle. "We heard."

She read it over, tapping something. "That's... huh. I know him. I'll ask him. Can I..." She pointed at the paper. He nodded. She grinned. "Thanks, Dr. Banner. Director Coulson wanted to know how bad the information was."

"Neutrino bomb."

"As in a real one?"

"Yes."

"Damn."

"Exactly." He smiled. "It's safer if I hold it."

"Definitely. You won't use it. Thanks." She left, going to find her trainer. He was waiting on her, he usually was when she needed him. She handed him the vision then read it to him. He groaned and explained a few things. "I need to tell them."

"Please do. His reappearance is a bad omen for all."

"Thank you." She went to tell Coulson, dialing the number for Stark's personal phone once she made it into the office. "I heard more about the purple guy and what he can do. He's immortal."

"Great," Stark sneered.

"The glove gives him god-like powers that make Loki look like a whiny baby playing dress up."

"Even worse," Stark agreed.

"The stones are super powerful alone, with all five you're basically The One In Charge. There's more powerful beings, they just bet on us doing things."

"So no help?"

"He can be beat. You have to destroy the glove and separate the stones," she said, looking at Coulson. "You can't destroy the stones. You can destroy the holder. You can get them hidden. Some of my people may be willing to help. My trainer's going to talk to them."

"Thank you, Skye," Stark said dryly. "Any good news?"

"Yeah. Don't start the civil war, Stark. Did you even read the vision and how it starts off?"

"I... Not yet."

"Do it," she ordered then hung up on his grunt. "Because that war is going to get your hero assassinated for a bit." She walked off to Coulson's stunned look. They had to prevent that one from starting, much less happening.

Coulson sat back, considering things. He called Stark back. "How do we stop this before it gets Steve assassinated?" he asked quietly. Stark took him off speaker while spluttering. He heard what they had heard from Forger about that, how he'd get better somehow. "I don't know. I know I don't want it to happen. So let's work this out so we have some sort of peace treaty, even if it's a bad one. We can't be that split when Thanos happens."

He nodded, listening to what he was thinking and what caused the split. "I understand that. It does also live up to the road to hell is paved with good intentions. So let's have a talk to work things out, Stark. You, him, me. Meeting somewhere. Because we need to and if I don't, the other attempt to restart SHIELD may cause more problems. Thank you. Let me know." He hung up and rubbed his forehead. That was not an acceptable loss in any manner.

***

Stark walked out, going up to the others hanging out in the living room. He hauled Steve up and into the kitchen, handing over the printout of the vision. "Did you get that last night?"

"No."

"It's been spreading around but we know a few things. Thanos is immortal. There's five stones, the glove is vulnerable but not the stones." Steve winced. "It's going to get worse. Read where it starts," he said flatly. Steve read it, wincing at the notice of his death and then he looked confused later on. "Forger said you got better, somehow." He sighed. "Coulson just called. He wants a Geneva convention meeting. You, me, him."

"I..." He looked at him. "Who else has seen it?"

"He gave it to Clint last night," Bruce said from the doorway. "The rest of us have seen it. I thought you would've been given it earlier or I would've given it to you, Steve."

"Thanks." He looked at it then at him. "Why was he here?"

"Some of Alex's past research and tinkering led to higher weapons that should not be in human hands that might use them. They decided I wasn't going to tinker with them."

"I'm not even going to ask because it's probably magic based," Stark said dryly.

"Seventh grade science project was a neutrino bomb."

Stark blinked then nodded. "No, I don't want that info in any hands. It'll restart an arms race. No. No new weapons-based cold war."

"A what?" Steve demanded. Bruce pulled up something for him to see. "So it's like a worse A bomb." The two science bros nodded. "Great." He looked at them. "He did that in seventh grade?"

"He wanted to be an evil overlord sort," Bruce said, smiling at him. "Nearly managed it but they considered him too nice."

"Oh, dear."

"Now he's helping in Forger's old job."

"Great." He looked at the phone then handed it back. "Hide it?"

"Better than anything I've ever done," Bruce assured him. "And the rest that he's getting back from whoever." He walked off.

"Yeah, we need to talk," Steve agreed, looking at Stark.

"I agree. We need to talk before we talk to Coulson."

"Agreed. When?"

"Pick a time and place, Rogers. I can get there." He walked off.

Steve figured out a safe place to hold a discussion that would probably include shouting. It had to be safe. It also had to be private. They had to vent some ill will between them. His phone rang with a text so he looked at it. He smirked and sent one back, but that number didn't accept texts. Bucky at least knew when to cheer him up. Which meant he was probably nearby. He went to look for him out the windows.

***

Xander finally had the last of the information he wanted out of others' hands, and he was in pretty bad shape today. He limped back to the tower, being open about it this time. He ran into Natasha outside, staring at her until she stared back. "I need to talk to the good doctor please, ma'am," he said with an evil grimace. "To hand over the rest of this bullshit."

"You're injured." She moved closer.

"Yeah, had a bit of a problem in Paris. Half the world's agents were there to get to the stuff being auctioned by HYDRA."

"Wonderful. Come, we'll get you to our infirmary."

"I don't trust doctors, sorry."

She stared at him. "We've all seen that show by now."

"Unfortunately it didn't go into graduation, which was a huge battle, or a military project that the general after Banner would've adored to run, or any of the other battles. I don't trust doctors."

She sighed. "I will stay with you and Bruce is in the infirmary anyway. He's working on Steve's shoulder sprain."

"Then I might step in but I still don't trust people."

"I understand that fully."

He nodded. "I figured you would. I have half of it here and half's in a safety deposit box that I put your name on as well as mine."

She tipped her head. "Very cautious of you."

"I could die at any time and who knows who'd get it if it didn't have an alternate owner." He limped after her. "There's one in DC too, but Alex and I only put in the stuff we got on Bucky."

"That's good." She led him inside and up to the infirmary. The guards all tensed and so did the boy. "Easy. They will not harm you or I'll take them down for you." He looked at her. "I'm quite good at it."

He grinned. "I know. You're a comic in my world, Natasha." She almost blushed but smiled. They walked into the infirmary, Xander stopping just inside the doorway. "Doctor Banner, I've got most of the rest of that stuff. Some I had to dump really fast into a safety deposit box in Paris. They were holding an auction and I didn't want to take it with me or leave it in the hotel room. Fortunately your pretty, talented teammate has her name on it too." He pulled out the envelope.

Bruce walked over to get it, looking over the information in it. He stared at one then looked up. "He fused magic and tech?"

"Probably. Knowing Andrew? Yeah, quite likely. Then again, Warren built his own girlfriend and we couldn't really tell she was magnetic. Or when they built the bot from Buffy to help her. Unless they were in the same place and the robot was talking about her programming instead of her shoes, I couldn't tell."

"Why would someone build a robot of her?" Natasha asked. "She seemed shallow."

"Well, originally it was for Spike's sex needs," he said dryly. "They were dating." Natasha grimaced, shaking her head. "Then we kinda took it for patrols while Buffy was dead. She died a noble bit of parts thanks to the demonic biker gang, which was just before Willow brought her back."

"Your world is insane," Natasha said.

"Sometimes, yeah." He nodded but smiled. "I'll tell her where the rest are so she can pick it up more safely. One of the HYDRA scientists was having an auction of that stuff."

"That's always a bad idea," Bruce agreed. He looked over the rest then up at him. "You're injured."

"I'm fine. It was a bit hard getting out of the auction."

"I can change bandages for you."

"I don't trust doctors. Sorry. Thanks but sorry." He waved and left, limping all the way out.

She looked at him. "Apparently they had a program like General Ross would've liked," Natasha said.

"That's gross," Bruce agreed. "We need the rest of this safely out of the way. Just this stuff is really bad."

She took it to look over, frowning. "Why would one do that?"

He looked then pointed. "Because you end up with that and that's a powerful bomb apparently."

She nodded, handing the information back. "I'll gather that file as soon as possible so no one breaks into that bank." She left, making arrangements for a quick flight to Paris and back. Clint sent her a text message that had the bank's name and that it had been sent to him because the kid didn't have her text number. Plus to please pick him up some pastries. He was missing the good stuff. She rolled her eyes but it didn't take that long to drive by a pastry shop for Clint's sweet tooth.

***

Xander was sitting on the edge of his building's roof when his buddy showed up. Xander looked over at Deadpool as he huffed but sat down. "I need someone who can stop the stupid before we're fighting Thanos after each other. They still haven't stopped fighting yet."

"How bad?"

Xander handed over something. "I had a demon contact get me those two series. Oh and one of yours that I'm not sure is still right with the changing I'm planning on doing." He handed that over too. "You do chaos so well. Nearly as well as I do."

"Yeah, me fighting Thanos? Not a good plan to have." He flipped through one but Xander handed him the other one instead. "This one's sooner?"

"This one's starting."

"Great." He flipped through it, humming. "That's not good. I'm almost nowhere."

"You had your own side story." He smiled some at the other guy. "It's going to be even more messy. At one point in time, Stark took over SHIELD and Rogers took over the US."

"We'd all be uptight," Deadpool muttered. "SHIELD would turn into that snake that eats itself. Probably fun to watch." Xander handed over the rest of the stack of Deadpool comics. "Hey, I'm popular."

"Yup, you sure are, and a bit goofy at times. I really liked you talking to dead presidents, then you got the SHIELD agent in your head too."

"Eww." He went back to those. "Can I shove them at Rogers?"

"Shove them at someone. They won't listen to me." He shrugged. "Be subtle if you want. If not, don't be subtle. They still won't listen to me. I'm just the guy from that other realm and I've got two demon lords to take down between now and then."

"I'd let you borrow a sword but they're special."

Xander held up his battle axe with a grin. "I had the same contact steal this while he stole my comic collection back from the other one." He stood up and strolled off. "Happy reading, Wade."

"Thanks, Xander." He looked back. "Was she that bitchy for real?"

Xander snorted, looking back at him with a grin. "She got convinced for years that I was *normal*."

"Eww."

"You didn't get to see Anya though. That would've been after high school." He winked and strolled off. "I've made sure she won't answer a call about you, that way she doesn't have fun torturing you for a few years. You'd end up like me."

"Yeah, not my cup of coffee," Deadpool said, getting up and hiking off with his new comics. They were a good warning of things not to get into he guessed. He went to find someone who could find someone. He'd try for subtle. Of course, he missed the one guy and had to go to his own cohort. He plopped down in front of him. "Forger had someone steal the comic books in his realm about us. I've got a ton of them," he said with a grin.

His fellow hero shook his head. "I don't want to know."

"Including that we're going to have the US split into Rogers vs Stark? Then an apocalypse battle?"

"That's more important," he agreed. "How bad?"

"Very." He put that comic on the table. "Forger's been trying to stop it. No one's listening about that yet."

He took the book to flip through. "How right?"

"As far as I know, pretty. Forger's had visions about it too."

"Wonderful."

Deadpool leaned closer, smirking evilly now. "It ended up with Stark in control of SHIELD. Rogers as president." Cable shuddered, handing back the book. "So we need to find a way to make them both read it."

"Sit on their couch reading that one?" he suggested. "They might appreciate that."

"Maybe. Forger asked me to handle it for him. He's got a demon emergency thing coming up. Or two."

"I'll keep my ear out so I can run the other way."

"Me too. Demons are freaky things." He smirked. "Wanna help?"

"Not right now." Deadpool put down another comic and pointed at the title. "You?"

"Them. Right after the war."

"Yeah, call me for that one." He finished his beer and walked off.

Wade decided that wasn't a bad idea. He went to the tower, sneaking in and upstairs. He could read his books until heros usually got up then switch back to reading the other important one so they caught a clue. He caught Barton, who shook his head at the Deadpool comics. Then he spotted the one laying beside him on the couch. "Forger had them brought by a demon contact. Also, two demon things coming up for him so he told me to be my charming, subtle self." He smiled.

Clint took that book on the civil war to look through, groaning and sighing through it. "Fuck us all."

"I could do that but you'd enjoy it."

Clint looked at him. "I can hand this to them."

"I was going to be here reading when they got up."

"Stark's in the lab, he won't be waking up until tomorrow sometimes if he gets to bed anytime before midnight tomorrow. Rogers doesn't really sleep all that often." Deadpool took that one back, going down to the lab. He could sneak in, he was an assassin. Clint leaned back, shaking his head. This was going to be really bad. No wonder Forger had tried to make them work it out first.

Stark looked over at the feeling of difference, noticing the guy in red and black spandex who was reading a comic book on his couch. "Who're you?" he demanded.

He lowered it, smiling at him. "Deadpool. Forger asked me to come be subtle." He went back to reading.

"Subtle about what?"

"You're already missed the clue, Stark."

Stark looked around then at the comic book, walking over to snatch it. He looked at the title then flipped through it, groaning at what he saw. Deadpool was reading a different graphic novel instead, one that had him in the title. Stark sat down to read the story about their civil war. "Why couldn't he tell me?"

"He did. You're dense."

"Why didn't he show me this instead?"

"He just got it from his own realm." Deadpool changed the page then had to separate them and read that one. "He's off handling a demon problem or two for the next little while so he asked me to be subtle. So I decided to be a geek like Alex was." He looked over the edge of his graphic novel, wiggling his eyebrows behind the mask. "I have one where apparently I'm going to lose my mind and go after Thanos if you want to bum that one too."

Stark looked at him. "In a few days?"

"Gladly. I don't want that nasty thought either." He tossed that novel over. "Somehow in his realm the comic me got married. That's so weird. I even had a kid that SHIELD was having raised by someone normal."

"That is really weird, yeah." He looked at the book then back. Deadpool was gone. Stark sighed. "Make sure he gets out of the building, Friday." He went up to Rogers' suite, knocking on the door. Steve opened it, looking half asleep. "Forger decided he didn't have time to keep being delicate." He held up the graphic novels. "He made some guy in red and black spandex tell us."

"Swords?" Stark nodded. "Deadpool. Clint told me about him." He opened the door so he could walk in. He took the first graphic novel to look over, staring at the title page for a few seconds. "That looks bad."

"Bucky looks good with your shield."

Steve went toward the back, staring at all that. "Yeah, if he wants it, he can follow me. Him or Sam," he said quietly. He sat down to read the book, slumping at a few points. He looked up at Stark. "We do have to work this out."

"Yup, we do. I don't want that. Especially not right before a battle. Dealing with Ultron was hard enough with all the problems we had." He sat down across from him. "So what do we do? We're going to have to disagree on that topic for now."

Steve nodded. "We do need to hold a few talks. Us and the team." He put the novel on the coffee table. "Can we work that out?"

"Yeah. I only skimmed that." Steve let him have it back. "The other's on Thanos kind of." He let him have that one instead while he read the first chapter of that important book.

"Deadpool seems fun," Steve said finally. "Thanos seems really dangerous." Stark nodded, switching back with him. Steve kept reading, frowning at what he was seeing. "This is real close to that vision."

"So we're not far off the realm that Xander comes from, or the comics on his world come from."

"So what do we do?"

"We work this shit out, Cap." Stark stood up. "I don't want you dead because of this. I don't want to spawn an underground movement, none of it."

Steve looked up at him. "I agree. When do you want to start?"

"Tomorrow? After breakfast. I've got to finish something for Pepper." He left, leaving those there.

Steve laid on his couch to finish reading those. This was looking very bad if that was his future. It was a weird view of it but if it helped he was all for stopping the fighting.

***

Xander looked up from handling a demon, then went back to chopping it into smaller pieces. "Hey." He finally got the thing beheaded. "There, now we can set it on fire, again. Before it regenerates again." Bucky added his lighter. "Thanks." He stepped back, wiping his forehead off. "One down, one to go."

"When?" Bucky asked, looking at him. "You're injured."

"Ya think?" Xander asked dryly. "Who would've thought? The last time I fought that one I had two slayers and a few guys with guns there." He looked around. "I know it's watching." A smaller demon showed up with a note then disappeared. Xander read it, snorting. "Yeah, that'll be fun."

Bucky took the note to read, grimacing. "At home?"

"I can't get there. So they're going to have to do it themselves. Unless we can open a portal so I can fire artillery over without having to cross over. As far as I know I can't do that."

Bucky nodded. "No way to get you home?"

"Nope. The higher powers there decided I was too strong." He looked over. "I told them if they wanted me to be a better warrior they should've just had me possessed again." Another demon appeared, sobbing on the one on fire. Xander shook his head with a sigh. "Let's go." He walked off. The demon attacked him with a scream so Xander cut back at it, getting it on the chest. The battle wasn't long but it wasn't easy either. About ten minutes later the demon died and Xander set that one on fire. He sighed and walked off. "I hate it when the grieving ones show up to retaliate." He walked off shaking his head.

Bucky scowled but followed. "Does that happen often?"

"To me? At home? Yup. Here? Not as many of them." He looked back. "We'll deal with it as it happens. I've got another one coming sometime." He checked. "I need to clean you." He pulled off his t-shirt to wipe the blade and handle down.

Bucky shook his head with a sigh. "Let's get to somewhere you can clean yourself up. You're nasty."

"It happens." He grinned back. "There's been worse. Believe me, there's been a lot worse."

"Yay." He pointed. "Car?" Xander headed for the obviously stolen car. Bucky followed so he could drive. The motel wasn't bad and Xander could clean up then change into something he got from a local mini mart store. "Where's your gear bag?" Bucky asked.

"At the nice hotel up the road that's run by a demon mafia clan." He grinned. "It'll still be there in an hour." He went back to showering. When he came out, he was finally clean and Bucky had the first aid kit waiting. "Thanks."

"Welcome." He dosed and bandaged the cuts then they went to pick up Xander's gear bag and regular bag before leaving to find the other demon. It'd show up where they were since it had a vendetta against Xander. Maybe New York. Maybe it'd be a way to make all those supposed 'hipsters' become normal New Yorkers instead of whiny things.

***

Steve was getting coffee, staring at the people who weren't quite panicking but were definitely agitated and heading away from something. He put down money for the coffee, finishing off the cup before hiking toward whatever it was. It was a rather large...being that was being fought by Forger. Steve called that in. "Guys, Forger's fighting something huge with a battle axe."

"You can't shoot it," Xander called. "It has to be beheaded!"

"Sure," Steve yelled back, finding a street sign he could rip off so he could help. The demon batted back at him, knocking him into a building. "That's not polite," he told the demon, hopping up to get back into it.

"Watch the claws, they're poisonous," Forger said. "I've got a great anti-venom I can make later." He cut the demon's arm and paid for it by being slammed into a building. "Oh, fuck you and the demon queen that pushed you out." He got back into the fight.

Deadpool jumped in. "Beheaded?" he asked.

"Yup. Thanks for the help. Watch the claws, they're poisonous."

"Great." They got into the thing, killing it before the Avengers could get there. Deadpool stared at it. "Where did it come from?"

Forger stood up from panting, looking at him. "His mama hit on me so I took her out because she was nibbling on a school. Then his big sister tried to flirt with me but I wasn't going to do that nasty thing. So he's fighting for their honor."

"Hmm," Deadpool said, shaking his head. "Is this the second one you had coming?"

"No. It's larger. It'll take artillery. It's waiting." He pointed behind them. "He said to let the young pup fight for his mother's honor first." They looked at Steve.

"Stark's coming."

"That'll be handy," Xander agreed with a grin and a wave. "Let me go deal with this one." A female demon appeared, staring at him. Xander stared back. "Hi, Dawn."

"Not your Dawn," she chided with an evil smirk.

"I know that. My Dawn is a good girl, not a succuba." He pulled something out of his pocket to flip at her. She left with a shriek. "Thanks though. Unless you can bring me what's in my former jeep?" He waved. He looked back at the ground shaking. "You can wait." He looked at Rogers again. "You don't want to have to see this one."

"Bull. I can help."

"It'll take artillery and bombs. Not a battle axe. Though you can hold it for me if you want." He held it out with a grin.

Deadpool took it. "I'll clean it for you since I can't help until we get artillery." He walked off.

"Thanks," Xander said. He looked at the demon again, shrugging. "So?"

"You're unarmed," he smirked.

"I'm never unarmed, dickhead." The demon growled, inflating himself.

"I'd say something about that name but his head does look like male genitalia," Steve said, staring at it. It was huge. For some reason he wanted to run from it. Maybe it was something the demon was doing? He nodded at Sam as he landed with Barton jumping off. "He said he needs artillery."

"SHIELD's coming," Sam said. "We hope they'll have some."

Stark landed, firing on the demon. It laughed it off. "Why is this one visiting?"

"Its kid tried to kill me," Xander said. "His wife tried to fuck me. I'm not into that so I stopped it. Now this one wants to use me to bring them back and he's not going to get that." He shrugged. "I have no problem with peaceful beings from any plane, but you're not and she wasn't either." The demon growled and lunged. Xander pulled out a tiny something and let it grow in his hand, then used it against the demon. Stark fired on it with Barton's explosive arrows. Then a missile showed up to blow into the demon's stomach. Didn't do much more than make it yell but it helped some maybe.

"How does this thing die?" Clint called.

"Dismemberment and then fire is always handy," Xander quipped, grabbing something from the SHIELD agents and blowing that demon up. "Damn I thought that was the stronger version," he complained. "Got anything stronger?"

"That was."

Xander cut his arm and muttered something in Latin, making people glare at him. A demon appeared, staring at him. "All I want is my fucking jeep with everything in my safehouses in it please?"

"Why should I?" the demon sneered. "You're about to die."

"All my owed debts from every source go to my Dawn to use as she sees fit." The demon shuddered, shrinking down. "Or you can do a bit of moving stuff for me right the fuck now please?" He pointed at the demon. "Not like I'm asking you to bring me back there to piss off all the higher ups."

"Point." He disappeared and came back five minutes later with a jeep full of things. Xander looked over then flipped backward to grab something to use. The demon blew up. "Wow. Why did you have that?"

Xander leaned on the case, staring at it. "Did you see Tunisia?"

"We all hated that."

"So did I. That's why I had that." He grinned. "And hey, we still have the invasion in LA here in two years. And no slayers here." He smiled. "Thanks." He blew a kiss. "That means you only owe me two?" The demon huffed but disappeared. Everyone was staring at him. "Poker debt." Steve groaned, shaking his head. Xander looked and adjusted the things in his jeep, getting in to drive off. "Thanks for the help, guys." He paused by Deadpool, taking his axe back. "Thanks, man." He drove off with a cheerful beep.

Stark looked at Deadpool then at Steve. Then at Barton. "He's warped."

"Ya think?" Bucky demanded. "I'm going to spend days getting him calmed down if he hasn't went to fix himself somehow." He walked off shaking his head.

"Disarm him," Stark called after him.

"I haven't managed that yet."

Coulson looked then at Steve. "Maybe you two should talk?" he said.

"We have," he admitted. "And so has Clint." He got out of Clint's way. "Thank you for helping."

Clint punched him, knocking him out. "Not a problem." He walked over Coulson, heading for the nearest taxi. "Let me see if I can help Forger calm down. He's a guy like I am."

"He went for hos," Deadpool said with a grin and a wave. "To wear them out. He does it a lot. Makes the rest of us look less than manly if we can't make them scream at least twice." He left, going to get a bit drunk. Demons were too weird for him. He looked at the little box he saw. "I realize why Xander's so screwed up but *damn*. If I die someday I'm leaving him my swords and guns." He walked off shaking his head.

Steve squinted then sighed, looking at Stark. Who nodded. "It's Miller time," Stark said. They got back to the tower with Sam, who settled in to talk about Xander. He was worried about the guy's mental state. So were the rest of them now.

***

Back in Xander and Andrew's original realm, Andrew untuned the portal, shaking his head. "At least he handled it. I should've brought his stuff to him or had the demon that picked up his comics bring the weapons." He went back to baking, smiling at the tiny slayer peeking over the top of the breakfast bar. "Need a snack?"

"Candy?" she asked quietly.

He leaned on the breakfast bar, staring over at her. "I'm making chewy cookie bars."

"Candy's better. Not healthy."

Andrew grinned, handing her something from the bowl on the counter. "You'll ruin your dinner."

"I'm a slayer. We can always eat." She grinned at him. "Was that Xander?" He nodded. "Is he okay?"

"He's fine. He managed to get the demon that was hunting him. He used his brains and a poker debt. Slayers should always use their brains."

She smirked. "I do that at school because the girls are butts." She ran off. "Andrew's making cookie bars," she called. "Xander defeated the bad demon."

Andrew went back to cooking, smiling at the staring girls from the doorway. "Twenty minutes to bake." They left and came back once the bars were out of the oven. "Someone check Xander's room. See if anything else of his is here?" One of them went to do that so he could pack it and send it to him. The others got their cookie bars then went back to practice.

***

Bucky looked up at the sudden sound of babbling girls, finding Alex staring through a portal. "Alex. You left stuff I should beat you for."

"Oh, someone got my thinking journal?" Bucky nodded. "Sorry. Is it safe?"

"Banner has it." He looked at the staring girls, staring back. "They yours?"

"Mini slayers." He handed over a backpack and two other bags. "Xander's stuff from here. Mostly clothes but his spare crossbow. Sorry but I packed the ugly shirts too."

Bucky took the bags. "I'll hand them to him when I find him. How's your cat?"

"On top of the fridge at the moment. The girls were trying to pet Fang too often." He smiled and took a bag from one of the minis. "Here, I baked. You haven't eaten today, Bucky." He waved and the portal shut.

Bucky looked then sniffed the bag. "Healthy cookie bars. He's so weird." He put them aside and looked in the bags. "Ugly shirts. That figures with Forger's wardrobe of choice." He texted him and Forger showed up through the back door a few minutes later, grabbing his stuff. "You can have some of the cookies too."

"Doesn't go with the mead. Maybe for breakfast." He yawned. "Thanks, boss." He left, going back to his hidden apartment. It had no windows, was tiny, but it was well hidden in his building. No one knew he had taken over this storage area as his apartment. His favorite t-shirt got pulled out and put on, making him grin as he relaxed and dealt with his sore spots for the night.

***

Sam Wilson looked at Steve that night. "Bucky looked better."

"He seems it. Frustrated by Forger but better."

"I've offered to talk to Forger for him."

"I'm not sure if it'll help any, Sam. He's burned out. He doesn't think he can get home again. He's trying really hard to fit in here but he doesn't seem to be able to get out of warrior mode. I've offered to talk with him too." He looked at his buddy. "Is there anything I can do to help him?"

"Get him talking."

"He won't," Clint said as he walked behind their couch. "Even those of us who know about him knows he won't talk about it. It might hurt the slayers there."

"What's a slayer?" Sam asked. Steve queued up the tv show, letting him watch it. "That's Forger."

"Yeah. There's two seasons of it. It got canceled for being all girl power according to Bruce."

"Okay." He settled in to watch the first episode, wincing at some things. "Does she get less airhead?"

"Not totally. Maybe later since Forger said this was only two years but there were more. He had graduated and had at least a year after that before going to Africa to train the other slayers."

Sam considered that then nodded. "He's seen way too much."

"Yup," Clint agreed from the kitchen. "And he's got bad stamina problems. He wore out three pros earlier. A lot of squealing and he let them have the hotel room for the rest of the night." He came out with coffee and a sandwich. "He's not fully burnt out. He's still got some light and he's still a bit goofy. I don't know why he favors a battle axe though. I'd want higher guns with what he had been doing." He ate a bite of sandwich. "He's hiding somewhere in the city." He ate another bite. "He's still got all the cases too. Including a holy water grenade. He wasn't exactly fighting the same war as the rest of us. Oh, he spotted Thor." He grinned as he chewed his next bite. Steve was staring at him. "Walked up to him, mugged him totally, nearly dipped him during the kiss, told him to say hi to a female warrior by name and his brother. Then strolled off while Jane spluttered." He walked off again with a grin.

Steve looked at Sam, who shrugged. "That's weird but okay I guess."

"I'll try to talk to Bucky about Forger again. Maybe you can help him?"

"I'd hope so. At least then he'd calm down. He wouldn't need to rent three girls."

Steve's phone rang with a text message and a video. He let Sam see the message of 'he nearly married her, his stamina's high from her' and then the video that he had apparently stolen off Forger. It was a young woman nagging Xander about orgasms and her not getting enough of them, plus he wasn't working enough overtime to give her good presents. Steve looked at Sam at the end.

"Okay, so maybe he does need three of them," Sam said dryly. "The poor guy needs better taste in women too." Another text message, this time from an unknown number. "What's a vengeance demon?"

"No clue," Steve admitted, texting that back. He got a longer text about that subject. "Huh." He let Sam see it.

"He really needs better taste. That has to be a trauma induced problem." He sent back a text message saying he'd be more than happy to work with him if he wanted to talk about it. The text message bounced. "He changed his number." Sam handed back the phone, shaking his head. "The boy could use some therapy."

"Probably," Steve agreed.

***

Xander looked up as someone sat next to him at the bar, buying him a drink. Deadpool never paid for his own drinks if he could get away with stealing them and Xander wanted his tonight. "Bad night, Wade?" he guessed.

Deadpool looked at him. "You look like someone fucked Alex's cat on your bed."

Xander shook his head. "Fang's happy with Andrew and avoiding the slayers of mass petting." He sipped his own beer, then shrugged. "Been a long night of nagging me because I have stamina."

"I've seen and heard." Deadpool patted him on the back. "You could start going around to kill people like I do. I can introduce you."

Xander looked at him. "Half of them I've had fun with. That'd take some of my fun."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah." He grinned. "I've had fun with a lot of people. Here and not here. Which is somehow getting merged in my head again. I'm guessing I need to be demagiced again." He took another drink then poured a potion into it and gulped the rest, waving for a second while grimacing. "Eww." The bartender handed him a bottle of water. "I need taste, please?" He got handed a lemonade packet to put into the water. He combined them and shook the bottle then gulped it. "Eww."

"What was that?" Wade demanded.

"Demagicing solution. It weakens Willow's magic on me." He finished the water. "I'm going to be nauseous and dizzy later."

"Want walked home like some damsel?" Wade taunted with a smirk.

"Yeah, if you could." He heaved. "Before the liver damage is going to make me heave in here."

"Liver damage?" Wade demanded.

Xander looked at him. "I stopped a witch going suicidal and genocidal. She hit me with black magic and damaged my liver. It's mostly out but with the new spells that *someone* put on me, it's gotten worse. The whole point of that potion." He grimaced and belched. "Let me go puke in the alley." He walked out and barely made it to the alley. Puking up sparkly blue stuff was nasty, like always. He heard a cleared throat and waved a hand then went back to it.

"Lord Thor," Deadpool said. "He just had to take a potion to remove spells from him. Let him puke up stuff that looks like unicorn piss."

Xander snorted, shaking his head. He finished bringing it up and stood up, wiping off his mouth with his t-shirt's bottom. "Unicorns piss uncolored looking stuff. I know this because some of the younger slayers brought some to pet while helping a tiny witchling under Willow's watch." He looked at Thor. "Sorry. Potion for spell removal."

Thor nodded once. "I've seen such. How did you know my brother?"

Xander grinned. "In my realm? I'm Xander Harris, white knight to the slayers and Savior of Karata." Thor blinked hard, staring at him. He smiled. "HYDRA wanted a mystical warrior. I'm full of hellmouth energy and was helping with a mystical battle against yet another demon lord by lending my skills to the other one they drew." He shrugged. "Though me dating Sybiline was sweet. She was really nice and taught me to make that potion."

"Can we see into your realm?" Thor asked.

"Yeah but I can't get sent home. The Powers That Be liked this plan because I taught their chosen warriors about having free will and kept them winning when the PTB wanted *balance*."

Thor nodded. "I have heard of those powers. They are not rational." Xander nodded. "Are you well?"

"I had to demagic again. I feel like shit to be blunt but sometimes that happens."

"How did you get that magiced?"

"A witch in my realm lost her soulmate. She decided to show humanity how much pain she felt as she killed them all. I interrupted her to stop her. Seven. Hits. Of. Black. Magic." Thor shuddered. "Plus some new spells recently that were making me sicker I had to solve."

"We cannot find you a way home?"

"No. With my hellmouth taint and them making sure of it, no. Otherwise I would've headed back with Andrew. I couldn't even get near the portal."

Thor nodded. "That is a bad thing but you can help us here."

"And I do. I do a lot of it behind the scenes. I still don't want to see the Rogers vs Stark war coming up."

"I told them about it," Wade said with a shrug. "If they listen...."

"True." He hugged him then smiled at the God. "I'm going to bed now. Have a better night, Thor." He nodded at Wade. "Let me wander home."

"I'll drive your jeep."

"I didn't drive. I'm not stupid and I hate the cabbie killing people that's picked me up twice. I'm not in the mood to kill him back tonight." He wandered off.

"Let me make sure he gets home so I can poke through his weapons," Wade said. "The Avengers would never show up in this bar. It's way too low class for anyone but Hawkeye." He hurried after Xander. "Let me help so I can poke through the weapons."

"Sure. Just don't borrow without asking. I can't get more here. All my kind, nice, treating dates were in that realm." He grinned. "I need to make more friends but Bucky gets upset."

"Sometimes you gotta have friends."

"Yeah, but he doesn't like that." He shoulder-nudged him. "He scowls at me about being a friendly sort with you too."

"Of course he does. He wants you to be the lone hero sort he is. Sometimes you gotta have people around."

Xander nodded. "Very often. I hate being alone."

"You two fags go somewhere else," someone yelled.

Xander looked at him. "First, if I was bending him over, he'd be begging, not walking. Secondly, who said I'm gay? Can you prove it?" The guy sneered, standing up. Xander pulled out a knife and waved him on. "C'mon, big boy. You think you're so tough?" A few of his buddies came out. "Aww, you need buddies to help you gay bash. So damn pathetic. I know teenage girls who're better at it." The guy roared and rushed him and got stabbed. Two more got hurt then Xander looked at the last few, shrugging. "You guys have problems too?"

"No," one said. "Who're you?"

"Forger." He grinned. They backed off, shaking their heads. "Aww, are you guys HYDRA?" They ran off. "I think that's a yes."

"Dibs," a female voice called. "I'll track."

"I'm good enough to deal with them," Xander decided.

"Not likely," Wade said, walking him off. "You're still shaky. Leave some of the bad idiots for the rest of us. Okay? I'm bored."

"Yeah but they don't want you like they wanted me."

"Even more reason for you to rest. I need to make them more scared of me before I get rated as a sidekick." He got him to his building, going up with him. It was a dinky former storage area that had a cot, a radio, and a lot of weapons boxes. He looked in one and winced, putting the lid back down. "Someday I'm going to borrow that to make a huge mess." He looked at the little windows only he saw and grinned. "They'll make pretty messes."

Xander grinned. "I like that but make sure it's a harmful thing?"

"Yup," Wade said. "Rest." He left, letting the kid put on whatever security devices he wanted. He ran into Bucky, blocking his path. "Xander had to take a demagicing solution. He's pukey."

"A what?" he demanded.

"It's not the first time."

"I've never seen him do that."

"I saw three other times of taking it," Wade said. "He threw up in an alley then we ran into a street gang that thought we were gay and were aligned with HYDRA. I put him into bed."

"How long has that been going on?"

"When did he stop the suicidal witch?"

Bucky grimaced. "I hadn't heard a thing about that."

"Liver damage he said."

"Or that. I'll go interrogate him myself," he muttered. "Thank you."

"Let him rest. He'll probably puke on you if you don't."

"I've seen sick people before." He went up to the former storage area, wiggling his way in. He looked in that same weapons box and sighed then looked at his protege. He was glowing. He was sweating, he was unconscious. "This isn't good." He checked him over then huffed. He woke him up, getting groaned at. "Don't do that. What's wrong?"

"Her," he moaned. "Trying something." He curled up. "I need to smite a witch."

"Is there some way to block her?"

"Andrew if he's there. Which he probably isn't. She likes to get him too." He sat up with help, holding his stomach. "I'm going to kill her this time." He glowed with another brighter spell. "Fuck you!" he growled. "I'm going to end you. And the you in this realm for this, Willow." Another spell got laid on him.

"That potion?"

"Thirty days." He sucked in a breath. "Help me get to a bar. There's other ways of ending it but it'll be a pain."

Bucky helped him up. "I can get people here."

"Mages don't come to you, you go to them," Xander said, blinking at him. "And the one that would want to deny me is a bitch about this sort of thing. He thinks he's always right." He limped off, Bucky following. Xander came back to get a special dagger and then limped back out and down to the street. "We need to go to the East Side." Bucky nodded, stealing a car to get them there. Xander walked up to a door, knocking on it. He blinked at the woman answering. "She's tried to spell me again."

"We don't help your type," she sneered.

He cut his thumb with the knife. "I swear I am not here to harm anyone who is not harmful to humanity as I'm a protector of it." She gasped at the blood coming out. "I'm not from here, ma'am."

"Oh, dear." She stepped back. "Stay."

Xander winced as another surge of magic happened, leaning on the doorway. "Please? I stopped her nearly killing humanity once. She was my best friend." He looked at her. "I'm going to kill her soon when my hellmouth taint reacts. I'm holding it in as hard as I can but I need help to weed those off and I took a demagicing potion earlier thanks to her."

She nodded. "Stay." She jogged off. "Master!"

An older man came down glaring at him. "We do not like your kind, Xander."

Xander glared at him. "If you actually did your job, I wouldn't be in this shape, Strange. Beyond that, I didn't come for you." The other one came down the stairs. "It's Rosenburg. Again." He swallowed. "I took the demagicing potion earlier."

"That is bad." He checked him over, grimacing. "What is she fouling up this time?"

Xander laughed. "I think she's trying to make me harmless so I can't harm her or anyone." He looked at Strange then at him. "Please? Before my hellmouth taint explodes?"

"That's an apocalypse in the making, boy." He led him inside, looking at Bucky. "You can sit quietly in the corner while we drain him in case she sends something to attack him." He helped the boy into his working area and things in there lit up on their own.

Xander looked at one. "Not right now please? Before I have to fight Rosenburg?"

That one floated back to the table. Xander collapsed to the floor in the center of the working circle. The mage finished the lines to start working on him. "Steven, I need you to block that sorcerer. She's your kind." He looked over. "She's causing harm, do deal with her for me please."

"Fine." He moved to a corner to work on that problem. He felt the spells coming and the intent, wincing. The boy was back to glowing.

"Let us drain off those spells," the mage ordered. He started by blocking off new ones and draining the ones that were infecting him. "They're trying to latch onto the hellmouth taint."

Xander looked at him. "The only way to decrease that is me to release it and we know that's a bad idea. Then I'll get blamed because she was 'just trying to help you, Xander'," he mimicked. "The coven there doesn't give a damn about me. Or humanity apparently."

The mage nodded. "They need rearranged." He drained off the other spells, grimacing. "I wish I could capture that energy."

Xander pointed at something. "It can gather it in a capturing vessel if you set it up right. The same as you would blood."

The mage nodded, going to gather his capturing vessels. He set them up and Xander let the magic be pulled out of him and into them. The boy was glowing but concentrating on keeping his own energy inside. "You can let some out if you need to," he ordered.

Xander shook his head quickly. "It'll definitely draw things here I'll have to deal with. Thanks though." He looked up at him then up. "I'm going to fry your ass." He sighed, centering himself again on his breathing. "I feel the urge to backlash her. I know it's wrong."

"Somewhat," Strange said dryly. "Though it may startle her."

Xander leaned over to look at him. "I'm infected by two hellmouths and a third that was started by me ending a battle. I'm pretty damn sure I can breach the realms and kill her." Strange shuddered. Xander sat up, holding his knees. "This sucks. It hurts and it sucks. I need to stop this."

The mage smiled. "How did you get infected by them? Perhaps you should undo it."

"Sure, I can undo being born." He looked at him. "Don't give her ideas though." The air wavered and he grabbed it to stop it. On that realm the spell got ended before it stuck. Xander handed the haze of energy over to the mage. "Here, before she killed that realm."

Strange grimaced. "Why did the kraken be defeated by an ascended one?"

"Sunnydale's hellmouth," Xander said dryly. "Kraken in it. The ascension was our high school graduation." The sorcerer supreme stared at him. He grinned. "I was born really near to the thing and for some reason that may or may not have been that witch I sucked up a ton of the energy. I have to wear a blocking thing so I don't get sick from the radiation's lack. That's why that one battle ended up with me starting a new one instead of it ending the continent. I channeled the energy that way instead."

The mage looked at his necklace, taking it from him. Xander had to struggle to pull in the energy so he handed it back. "Can we not weed that out?"

"It grows," Xander said with a shrug. "No matter what I do it grows. If we could it'd be nice but it won't. Any more than I can heal the liver damage her going suicidal gave me."

The mage winced, checking him over. "There's still many too many bad spells on you."

"I only care about three protections," Xander said, pointing at the tattoos. "One's from a shaman I trained with to help me prevent more possessions. One's done by the witch that is like my sister and the other one's done by the idiot witch's soulmate but she's gone. It's a letting me know something bad is going to happen one and may have been why my visions activated when my eye got popped."

"You're a medium," Strange said, standing up. "That is not a good thing."

Xander looked at him. "I found that out later, after two possessions, ghosts giving me sicknesses, and having my visions activated. Now I'm a shaman."

The mage nodded. "It's a good use of your skills, Ghost Shaman." Xander smiled weakly, nodding at that. "Though you being a killer is odd with that gift."

"I'm a demon hunter and HYDRA pulled me." He stared at him. "They're a threat to humanity as well."

"Good point," the mage agreed. "We don't find them nice either."

"They're going to end up activating the prophecy that will bring Thanos with his pretty gauntlet. Thankfully the other one they pulled managed to get home. Is he all right?"

"The male sorcerer I can feel is suppressed," Strange said. "He was here."

"That's Andrew. Yes he was. He got home. The Powers That Be hate me so I'll never get to go home. So now I'm the warrior protector of this realm."

The mage nodded. "It's a necessary thing, especially if Thanos shows his ugly mug." He got back to weeding out the magic. "Push like you're giving birth, Xander." Xander pushed the magic from him and they drained it from him until he was less healthy and still glowing but only with hellmouth magic. Then they put a protection on him to end that attempt. The boy was unconscious, sweaty, and sick. He was protected now. That sorcerer in that realm got free and attacked with Strange's help. That witch turned sorceress was going to be in very bad positions soon. Strange could get there to deal with her. It was his job after all. The mage looked at Bucky. "He'll need watched for a few days. It's like he's got the flu only with a migraine and worse problems." Bucky nodded. "Can you?"

"I'm not good at it but I can protect him. Or I can rescue him later from SHIELD's revamp."

Rupert Giles shook his head. "They would probably be more problem than they're worth. They would definitely see him as an odd specimen." Bucky nodded once. "Can you protect him from them all?"

"Probably. He's got a hidden area."

"Every hunter needs their own pack lands." He smirked. "Take him home. Give him fluids and broths. He's right, the hellmouth taint will regrow but it's normal to him so it'll make him feel better. Right now it's like he's coming down from radiation exposure. Let him rest. The boy is dreadfully pissed."

"Thank you. Do you need paid?"

"I can do some wonderfully protective things with that power I sucked off him." He smirked. "Including around myself and my students so we don't get touched by Thanos."

Bucky nodded. "Thank you." He lifted the kid up and put him over his shoulder, walking out with him. They went back to his tiny former storage closet. The landlord was in there but he wandered out looking confused. "That's a weird spell, kiddo." He put Xander on the bed and got him some water from the stolen water pipe in the corner. "Here, drink." Xander sipped and drifted off again. At least he felt healthier and wasn't making his hair stand up from the energy he was leaking.

***

Bucky walked up to Bruce Banner where he had been giving a lecture at a local college, pulling him aside since he was done. "I'm going to trust you with this but if it gets into SHIELD's hand, then they'll use Forger as a specimen." He handed over the notes he had made.

Bruce looked it over, grimacing. "Is he all right?"

"Exhausted. Drinking but he's still sweating and in pain."

"What's the liver damage from?"

"Spell. Black magic thrown at him."

"That's so weird." He considered it. "I can come see him if you want."

"Please. He's getting worrisome."

"Let me know where and I'll grab a kit." Bucky wrote down the address, then headed off. Bruce went back to the tower to pack up an emergency kit, then left to find that address. It turned out he lived a few blocks from Clint's other apartment. He walked up, meeting Bucky in the hallway. "Tiny apartment?"

"Full of stuff he needs for demon battles." He opened the door to let him inside.

Bruce looked then nodded. "That figures. I remember his jeep." He wiggled in to look over the patient, wincing at what he saw. "He needs IV fluids."

"Can we get one? I know Xander knows how to lay them."

"I can lay one. I'll have Clint bring me what I need since he lives nearby."

"Sure." He nodded politely at the landlord.

"Does he actually pay?" he demanded.

"Yeah," Bucky said. "He does."

"Oh, then he's the mystery payment. It's cheap for what the other places go for." He stared in there then at him. "And if those are going to get him raided...."

"Only if dirty agents show up and I'll have him hide them," Bucky said.

"Fine." He left shaking his head. "Usually I'd get nearly a grand for that space."

Bucky snorted. "Six hundred is more than generous since he had no emergency exit. You don't get a grand for the regular apartments on this floor." He stared at him. The landlord grimaced but stomped off. "I'll help him find somewhere better once he's more healthy."

Bruce looked over. "I can bring him to the tower."

"He'd hate that and we were warned SHIELD would treat him like a gerbil."

"Point but SHIELD doesn't run the tower."

"No, just levels of it."

"True." He got back to checking him over, stopping Xander when he woke up suddenly. "It's me, Xander. You're getting worse."

"The hellmouth taint regrowing is bad but the liver damage got egged on I think. I've got ways of helping it once I'm stronger."

"Did we detox it the traditional way?" Bruce asked.

"No. She spelled me majorly. I went to a mage to help me before she finished killing me."

Bruce nodded. "I have no idea about anything like magic. You need fluids. You're getting dehydrated."

"I can lay an IV."

"That's fine. I'll have Clint bring one." He stared at him then at the boxes then at him. "They should be somewhere safer. The landlord was right, agents could get mad about them."

"Only guys like us see them, Dr. Banner."

"Uh-huh. How many warriors and heros are agents?"

"Point. I can't afford a real apartment. I barely afford this place."

Bucky looked over. "You're moving back in with me, kid."

"That means moving things every two weeks."

"I have a set place and you're needed here for a bit." He leaned in the doorway. "My rent's only two hundred more than this and it's paid up for the next year, even if I do have to run off to draw HYDRA away."

"I can help." He sat up with a wince.

"No you can't," Bruce said.

"Doctor, I've been in huge battles when I felt like this. I didn't do that great, but it's necessary sometimes."

"It's not now. Right now, we need you to rest in case we get another demonic problem." Xander winced. "So you need to get healed. Would you come to the infirmary to get scanned?"

"I'd rather avoid SHIELD."

"Me too." He smirked. "I can do an ultrasound of your liver and figure out your blood tainting issues."

"I'm not so sure she didn't activate the mermaid taint." He rubbed his liver. Bruce gently pressed, making him hiss. "Ow. Please quit. I'm likely to lash out." Bruce backed off. "Ow."

"How?" he asked.

Xander looked at him. "Her soulmate got killed next to her right after they unbroke up. She was going to show everyone how much pain and anger she felt. I stopped her but she had sucked up black magic. Seven hits of black magic."

Bruce grimaced. "Could that cause organ damage?"

"Yeah, sure as shit did. I went down by twenty percent thanks to that. I had a lot of draining that magic and it's not going to get better because it regrows. Otherwise the liver might heal itself."

"We can't weed that out?"

"No. No more than I can the hellmouth taint I sucked up without knowing it."

"I'd like to hear more about this and I want to scan your liver. We might be able to find something medically we can do. Or maybe weed out that mermaid taint. How?"

"Swim coach."

"That's so weird but we're talking about demons." He straightened up. "Come to the tower for a day?"

"Let me move him," Bucky said. "Then we'll show up tonight?"

"That's fine. I don't sleep a lot. It'll be quieter and easier to sneak him in too." He looked around then at Bucky. "How are you going to move him?"

Xander pulled something out from under his pillow, tossing it onto a box. Suddenly they looked like cardboard boxes. "I paid for it a while ago."

"Still weird. I'll see you tonight after midnight." They nodded. "Good. Drink a lot today, kid. You could use all the fluid you can inhale." He went back to the tower to make sure he had what he'd need to scan him and treat him for that dehydration.

Bucky stared at him. "You could've told me."

"You needed to fuss over Alex."

"You're too used to being alone. Get over it, you're not now." He came in to gather things with Xander's help. The jeep could make three trips to move him. He had a good range of things hidden around the tiny closet space.

***

Bruce looked over at Xander after everything had gotten run, coming over to check the IV he had put him on. "You're a mess."

Xander shrugged. "Had to be handled anyway, Doc." He blinked at him. "I'm okay enough."

"Your liver is down to fifty-three percent efficiency." Xander winced. "The energy taint that you're holding and can't get rid of is apparently cushioning that. The DNA taint I found with the weird enzymes isn't harming you but is transferable in case you need to donate."

"We had to do a full blood switch to keep me from going black and slimy." He shifted. "I need to be good enough to save myself from the ones who summoned me."

"You're going to be lucky if you don't die of this." He stared at him. "You've got to take time to heal. Healing has to happen so you can protect yourself and others."

"I'm still weak from blocking her last attempt and the draining. I'll be better in a few days."

"I'm sure you will be. Will your liver mystically heal?"

"I heard livers do heal."

"If the problem killing them is fixed. The energy you've been hit with is still infecting it and I don't know how to cure that."

"Me either." He shrugged. "I've been looking."

"Can we weed some of that hellmouth taint out?"

"No. I'm not sure how or why I sucked up so much from both of them but it'll regrow until I'm about balanced and I keep something on to hold that down while muting it so I'm not picked up as a sacrificial victim."

Bruce nodded, scanning the necklace. Then he looked at him. "Does your liver bother you when you're normal?"

"Only when I'm kicked in it?"

"That's a good thing to avoid anyway." He stared at him. "You absolutely need a few weeks to heal. You need more fluids and I'm sending you home with a few IV's and some meds to help with the other health issues."

"What other health issues?"

"Your body's out of whack. You look like you're living on hard rations."

"I pretty well never stopped that. I spent a few years in Africa training slayers before I got summoned."

Bruce nodded. "It shows. Your body's out of whack and we can handle that without making you gain weight. You have to start eating though and I don't mean sweets since I've heard about you moaning over twinkies." He smiled. "Protein, veggies, very little sweets. Like you're in training, kid." Xander sighed but nodded. "That's after you're not dehydrated." He stared at him. "Watch the fat intake because it'll cause you a lot more problems if you don't."

"I've seen others with it. My parents were dying of cirrhosis before I left."

"Good. So are you only for a different reason." He stared at him. "We can probably stop it somehow. I'm not sure how yet. It may mean we have to find a way to weed that energy out of you."

"Can we do that blood test again once I'm not dehydrated and sick?"

"Definitely. Because if that helps, we'll help you deal with it." He stared at him. "Still. Month off. Heal, rest, eat, drink. All that. No sex. No training, no lifting weights, no fights unless you absolutely have to. You can trust Bucky to protect you, right?" he asked at the grimace. Xander nodded. "Good. Trust him to protect you now." He patted him on the knee. "Once that bag's gone I'll send you home with a few others. Any drug allergies?" Xander shook his head. "Good." He gathered supplies for him and handed him the plastic bag once he had the IV unhooked. Xander patted him on the arm then left. Bruce went upstairs to bother Thor for a bit. He was awake on the couch staring outside. "What's a hellmouth, how would I stop him from regrowing the energy he sucked up, and can we find some way he doesn't have to wear a piece of it to mute it so they don't spot him?"

Thor grimaced. "Sit, Bruce. Hellmouths are subjects of much debate." Bruce sat down and let Thor explain that to him. Bruce explained what the boy had told him and Thor backed it up and told him how that had happened. Very few souls would be able to unwillingly draw such energy into themselves. That one could only have three reasons to have done that. With what they knew, one was most likely. That witch had done it so she could sacrifice him later. They could help the boy heal.

***

Xander looked up as the mage that had helped him walked up to him in the park. Xander stared. "Hey, Giles. Traded places with yourself?"

"You can tell?"

"The you here is more slinky." He shrugged slightly. "Sit, please."

Giles sat down with a sigh. "Are you all right?"

"Mostly. Liver's a bit off." He shrugged again. "We got all the spell residue off finally and I'm back to balanced on the hellmouth energy problem." He looked at him. "Is she alive?"

"Mostly. She's fully bound outside of battles." He grimaced. "I was about to kill her when I heard what she had done."

"To me or to Andrew?"

"To both of you, though I do wish that Andrew were still a more gentle soul. He's much harder."

"He got pulled here by a group that agreed with Nazis but were going to make their own world order. Since he had my skills for that battle he got to do a lot of things I normally would've done."

"That's a pity. Andrew was happier before."

"Now he knows he has to savor the little things." He looked at him. "Like the cat."

"Fang is darling and has adjusted well. He's presently in my desk chair getting it all furry for me." He cleared his throat. "How long has she been doing that?"

"I don't know. She could've done it unconsciously when she first started. Bruce, Dr. Banner, thought she might've had me sucking up the hellmouth energy to sacrifice me."

"I felt you had it around you when you were younger. I'm not sure why. I never was." Xander nodded. "If so, that's a bad thing. If not, it's an odd, bad thing."

"At least I can use all my skills here to protect people since we don't have slayers here."

"I'm proud of the work you've done. Even though I never hear of most of it." Xander dug out something, handing it over. "You kept a journal?"

"Of course. That way someone could figure out what finally killed me." He gave him a look. "Gen did good not spilling it."

"She has, yes. I had no reports from her at all."

"Is she...."

"Pregnant and having a few problems so she's at the Council house in England for natal care." Xander nodded, smiling some. "She guarded your secrets very well." He looked them over, frowning. "You did what?"

Xander laughed. "There's a lot of that." Giles rolled his eyes. "I spent a lot of time wondering why people did things that way. Until one of the shaman I trained with swatted me and told me to be a good boy and just learn it, it could come in handy."

"At least you did find a mentor who could help you."

"I am, yeah. I learned a lot from them."

"Good." He flipped through the books, reading the short entries. Xander wasn't wordy unless he was complaining about the girlish attitude problems. He ran into one where Xander complained about his attitude problems too. "I had no idea why you wanted that weapon."

"Vision. Go forward three pages." Giles did and grimaced. "Kinda necessary no matter what the old farts thought."

"They've been horrified since you got sent here. We've had a lot of problems they had to help with."

"Still probably hidden ones that the girls are handling without telling you. Gen did it to me a few times. Unfortunately one she didn't kill right so it came back being all mad until I fired something up its ass."

Giles shook his head with a sigh. "I've seen the girls do that more than once. It worked but was rather nasty."

"Thankfully you're not on clean up duty."

"True. That is very good." He finished reading them, wincing at a lot of things. He swatted him for one thing but Xander grinned and shrugged. Giles handed the journal back, staring at him. "How can we help?"

"Is there a better way to detox the stuff in me?"

"Not really. There's other methods but none are...pleasant."

"I can handle unpleasant. That potion isn't all that nice when I spend hours puking up magic."

"That should only work on those who have magic but have been poisoned."

"Hellmouth energy," Xander quipped.

"That shouldn't matter." He frowned. "I'll send the me here the other methods."

"I'm sure after a few hours at the house he'll be more than ready to come home."

"The coven came in today to talk to Willow about what happened."

"Not like they've ever stopped her."

"They have."

"They didn't. She turned a few slayers into pets while sad one night after she broke up with Kennedy. Not a thing said even when you sent her over. Nothing said about trying to harm Andrew a few times because he's a guy who uses magic. They don't care what she does and I'm not sure if that's their problem or Willow spreading out."

"They lectured her strongly."

"They lectured her for nearly ending the world, Giles." He looked at the older man. "If it had been me or Buffy, you'd have beaten us and then they would've killed us. They *lectured* her. They nearly struck Andrew down for floating pots in the kitchen one day."

"I forgot about that." He grimaced. "That's true, they do treat her differently." He sighed. "We'll deal with it later." He looked at him. "How are you doing otherwise?"

"I realize I'm trapped here. I'm handling that all right."

"You may be able to travel home via portals."

"I couldn't get near Andrew's, Giles. It nearly had me killed when I tried. That plus a few visions...." He shrugged. "This was their way of getting me out of their hair but making me better in case I'm needed to be called back. I also would really love the visions to end." He rubbed his forehead. "The witches have discovered the switch." He looked over. Not his Giles. "They get you?"

"They tried but I proved they were wrong on many things." He stared at him. "I realize now why you run from nagging." Xander grinned. "The slayers are hellions in the making and Andrew is doing good helping them. The coven...they're blinded by a higher being but I've laid a trap to undo that." He grimaced again. "I'll work up a better version of that potion. "It shouldn't work for you but since it does I'll make sure it works better. Our version of hellmouths radiate on a different stream."

"Would that help the liver damage I got from Willow trying to stop me from stopping her?"

"I hadn't heard you had any. That would make the potion cause more damage."

"It's removing the stuff she did to cause the damage and there's no other frequent way to do it." He shrugged. "It's the best of bad options."

"True, it wouldn't require anyone to do six weeks of spell cleaning in their working areas."

"Sorry."

"No, it needed to be done." He patted him on the knee. "What caused the liver damage?"

"Black magic she sucked up to end humanity. Seven hits of it."

That Giles considered that. "That would cause quite a bit of damage."

"I went to the demon bar and had them suck it out before I lost consciousness a second time. A few of the demons sucked it out of me."

That Giles nodded once. "Why didn't they stop her?"

"The coven couldn't and sent Giles to stop her during that. She downed him a bit so he put the protections on me and sent me. The coven ended up lecturing her about her grief."

"That may have helped but I would've paddled her at least." He grimaced again but let it clear up. "I'll gather the necessary recipe for that potion for you. There's a few versions that may work better than the one you pay me to make." He smirked and stood up. "Have a better day, Xander."

"Thanks, you too, Rupert." He nodded and left him to think and enjoy the park.

Xander got some sun time in then felt like someone was staring at him so he went back to the apartment to make some soup for lunch for them. Bucky was having headaches from the memories again. Someone had to take care of him and Xander was pretty darn good at it. Thankfully Xander had lost his tail so no one knew how to get into their apartment. He'd go stop the agents that were trying them again later.

***

Xander snuck into the tower, going up to the common level. It was two in the morning, Rogers was up and wandering because he had woken him with a text message. He dropped the agent in front of the soldier, staring at him. "He seems to think your friend would like to talk to him. I think he's an idiot and for some reason he's having headaches again. He's nearly slipped back once so they're doing something long distance I've got to end. Want him before I have him?"

"Sure, I can have him arrested." He stared at him. "You still look tired."

"Yeah, well, coming down from a Willow-cident." He shrugged. "I've got to handle that. If he goes back it's more likely he'll be recaptured." He left, going back there. Bucky had reverted and gotten free of the things binding him down. Xander took the weapon from him. "It's to kill demons. Specially formulated."

"I know you," Bucky sneered.

"Yeah, you should. Do you remember my name?" Bucky lunged at him and Xander hit him with the sedative needle he had paused to lift from the infirmary. Bucky went down with a groan. Xander wasn't falling for the act. "I know they don't act that fast but I need to stop the ones who're trying to recapture you."

"I don't know you," he sneered.

Xander hummed, going to draw things around the apartment and then set up blockers. James tried to leave but he stumbled and fell. Xander put him onto the couch and went back to protecting the apartment. The sedative didn't last long, the serum healed all that from his system. He got up to try to beat Xander again. Yeah, it hurt, and Xander was sore, but it had to happen. Thankfully Xander was used to faster, stronger, better fighters even before he got here. He just slipped back into that mindset. Bucky's broken ribs slowed him down. So did the minor stab wound. The one Xander had on his thigh sucked though.

***

Xander called someone three days later. "Tag, you're it," he said in greeting. "They retriggered him. He's down right now while his hip heals. No, I'm in a bit of pain, Rogers. I've kept him from going out to be recaptured. No, I'm really blaming myself. They had to have followed me. I'd leave with him but I'm not in any shape to do that. So can you come take your buddy for a few hours? Please?" He dropped the phone and pounced Bucky to knock him back down. "Stay the fuck down! Unless you want to be treated like a bad robot again, stay the fuck down!"

He knocked him out. Bucky was still in pain, he had barely managed to move through the concussion. Xander panted, staring down at him. "I hate this and I'm going to fucking kill every last HYDRA agent there ever was. Or whoever's doing this. I'm about to make a blood vow and ask a poker buddy. Don't make me go there, James. Really, you don't want me to go to full blown apocalypse battle handling."

Bucky moaned, holding his head. "What the fuck are you doing sitting on me?"

"Keeping you here before whoever retriggered you captures your dumb ass again." He stared at him. "Quit fighting me on this. I don't want to have to come rescue you."

"You won't be able to." Xander stabbed him in the stomach, making Bucky yelp. "How dare you!" He moved but Xander snapped something and it paralyzed him. Bucky gasped a few times but couldn't do more than breathe.

Xander leaned down to get into his line of vision. "Don't make me go back to handling huge problems," he said quietly. "It's always a bad idea. I've been trying to save your ass now for three days. You may not remember why but I do. Others do. We're going to keep protecting you until you can do it yourself again. Understood? Blink if you have a problem with that idea." Bucky blinked. "Tough shit." He stood up, holding his new sore spots. "You're being protected because right now you're not able to do more than kill someone and it won't be someone you want to miss."

He went to the kitchen to dampen down a cloth so he could press it against the new stab wound. Plus the old one that had reopened. He heard someone outside and sighed. "That's probably a bad idea. Damn it." He got two guns, holding one and tucking the other into his pocket on the way to the door. He opened the door, pointing the gun in the face of the guy standing there. "Hawkeye."

"Forger. Can I help?"

"Hell yes. Keep Bucky here. That paralytic gas will wear off in a few hours." He limped to the bathroom, kicking the door shut.

Clint called Steve to tell him where they were and checked Bucky. "You able to breathe?" He blinked. "Good. I've got to find out what did that."

"Blue book on the second shelf," Xander called. "Really handy and I wrote it on my travels."

Clint pulled it down to read, nodding at what he saw. "Interesting. You need Banner, Xander?"

"No. I can't leave the cache here and alone. They'll try to capture it."

"We can move it back to the tower."

Xander opened the door to look at him, watching him wince at the bruised places Xander had hidden under his shirt. "No. Thanks anyway. I don't trust some of your overlords. Especially the supposedly protecting everyone sort. Because they don't." He closed the door more gently this time. "I'm cleaning up."

"Sure." He watched out the window. He winced. "Xander, that secondary SHIELD group is here," he called.

"Fuck 'em." He came out with a bleeding hand, putting it over a spot on the wall. Outside, a huge demon appeared with a roar and looked at the agents, bending down to pick one up so he could stare at it then eat it. He hummed in pleasure, picking up another to nibble on. Clint was choking and spluttering. The agents were running for their lives. The hidden HYDRA agents were running for their lives. Steve Rogers pulled up in a sedan and got out, walking around the demon. It ignored him.

"What if there were good agents!" Clint shouted.

Xander stared at him. "Are there any of those in this city? I haven't seen a single one yet." He stared at him. "Also, that one can read intents and minds. It only eats evil things. Expect there to be fewer muggers." He heard someone coming up the stairs, leaning out to look at them. "Good, your turn to watch over him and his screwed up mind. He's decided I'm a sacrifice he's willing to make." He went back to the bathroom.

"Xander, why are you so injured?" Steve asked, staring at his back.

"Four fucking days of fighting with something." He got some water to sip from the sink. "That paralytic will wear off in a few hours. He heals slower than you do from what I've seen after battles."

Steve blinked. "Are you all right? I can call Bruce or bring you back with us."

"We have the cache here, including his. I can't leave that here for them to get." He stared at him. "I'll move it later and move somewhere safer for a bit. Just get him to safety so I don't have to keep fighting with him over protecting his stubborn ass." He took another drink and a tylenol.

"Are you sure you can't use Bruce?" Steve asked.

Xander looked at him, shaking his head. "I've handled all of them."

"You've got a huge bruise on your side and I remember why you were seeing him before."

Xander smiled. "Thanks but don't worry about it."

"Can you get rid of the demon?" Clint asked.

Xander shrugged. "Go for it. It'll be in the park later eating muggers. But hey, no more agents who're trying to capture him. I warned him not to put me back into apocalypse battle mode. He did it anyway. I could've called something a whole lot more harmful." He limped into the bedroom, tossing out Bucky's go bag. "His." He tossed out the tactical gear and then the roll of weapons. "Also his. I'll move us somewhere safer since they probably followed me. It's my bad to fix," he said when Steve stared at him.

"He'll kick himself once he's back to normal," Steve said, moving to look in there. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine and he has a trigger in there to undo anything like that. He put it in himself when I linked him to himself again. It woke up all the memories and all that."

"Okay. That's good. How do I trigger it for him?"

Xander shrugged. "I haven't seen his Ka to ask him. They're remerged." He sighed and looked out there, calling up his spirit sense. "I can't even feel a ghost or spirit around here. Sorry. Maybe once he's calmer. He should be able to do it for himself." He shrugged, pulling out a new t-shirt to pull on. He packed himself up and then started on Bucky's. "I'll drop the rest of his stuff off later. It'll be less I have to move."

Steve nodded. "That's fine. Does he have non-clothes stuff?"

"Yeah. He has a safe full of files on himself that we've found." He looked at him. "I tried to make him read one that first day and he nearly bit me."

"I'll handle it. You heal and stuff. Keep in touch?"

Xander looked at him. "I'll be fine. Thanks." Steve grimaced but left with Clint helping him haul Bucky to the car. Clint had taken that book with him. It might come in handy.

Xander finished packing things, sending Bucky's stuff via imp. His went into a specialty box he had found at a demon bazaar. Much easier to move that way. He had to find a spot but for right now any motel would do while he gathered money.

He was going to kill whoever had retriggered Bucky. He really, truly was.

***
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