Coming Out of the Closets. by Voracity2

Coming Out of the Closets.

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(scene continued from last part)

"Can the slayer things be found by bloodwork?" Fury asked. Buffy shook her head. "At all?" She shook her head again, staring at him. He could see the scary hunter in her eyes now. "Then why would they want it?"

"Because they can't believe in mystical pointy sticks of destiny," she said dryly. "The same as none of you wanted to think about that either."

"Point," the head of the CIA said. "What if we end up with someone who is gifted as a slayer in our service?"

Buffy stared at him. "Taking out humans breaks the slayer spirit in many bad ways. Faith ended up in jail thanks to that." He slumped. "We're meant to fight demons and let human things be handled by people like you and Mr. Fury down there."

That got a nod, and a few notes made. "We have a test to tell slayers. It's a little drop on the hand that changes color and makes your hand itch. A lot of us who could got our moles removed for being ugly. The plastic surgeon guy did mine in the office in under two minutes and I have a tiny little scar."

"I can see why they would," he agreed. "Are you putting out information on how to find out if you're a future slayer?"

"We scried them all and marked them on a magical map so we can keep track of them. We've alerted all ours that this is going on so they're cautious in case something goes on around them. We do the yearly scrying right now to find any newly born ones. We feel it if one of us dies."

"I had no idea about that. Some sort of sense?"

"An intense stomach cramp with the knowledge of who it was," she admitted. "Or from slayer dreams we see it happening if we're asleep. I unfortunately saw each and every one the First took out due to slayer dreams. Those can be prophetic or informational but they all suck. I need more sleep, not less."

"You can rest on the way home, Buffy. You know I won't let you drive."

She nodded with a sigh. "I tend to aim for the demons on the sidewalks instead of staying on the road. It's a common problem." She shrugged.

"No one's mentioned the middle east," President Bush noted suddenly.

"I imagine we're not the only ones who have to avoid that area for our own health," Buffy said with a wave at the MaCUSA guy.

"No, we have a community there and a very strong international school in the capitol of Saudi Arabia."

"Really? They tried to put us to death so we moved all the girls out of the region," Buffy told him. "Maybe it's because we're girls."

"That may be," he admitted. "Are there slayers born to there?"

"We think they're going to have a few problems in a decade or so because we had three born in the region about ten years ago," Buffy said. "Usually if we're born near an area that means some of us are going to have problems. Three girls were born in Brazil and are teens. Their hellmouth started to act up when Sunnydale went down. Two of the other girls who aren't very old were born near LA and Sunnydale. So they probably would've been closer in case something happened there."

"Any others get that mass birth?" the head of the CIA asked.

"Yeah, there's four Russian slayers, all from the more northern parts. Katya's a fantastic slayer. She's nearly an adult." She looked at Giles. "Do they have one?"

"Oh, yes, I forgot." He handed over a hand written list. "The current hellmouths and places that look weak enough to form one so people can pay attention to those areas. Chaos sorcerers could rip open one of the non-started, which would create a problem as it couldn't be closed again. The rest radiate slightly and can bring problems but not as many."

They looked over the list. "I've had ops in six of those," Fury said dryly. "That explains a lot."

Buffy sent a text and got a full file. "This is our working map of problem areas. Including hell gates, temples, immigration areas." She put it up for them. They all moaned. "That not-quite-a-hellmouth area in lower Turkey is probably why those girls were born near there. I'm guessing it's able to be opened easily."

"Hellmouths form when the barriers between the realms is thin," Giles reminded her. "So it's possible there's some expansion in those areas."

"Like a stretch mark," she agreed with a smile and a nod. "So that one will probably go from a minor stretchy spot to a full on mark. Katya was born near the one in Russia. The other girls are from about a hundred miles away but in all directions."

Bush looked at the MaCUSA guy, who shook his head slowly. "We don't have many things near any of those outside the one in England, which is near a community."

"And the Devon coven," Giles said. "They watch over that ancient, not very open spot."

"I wonder if they know each other. Can we copy that, Miss Summers?"

She smiled. "Sure! Save me some work!" They nodded and made copies of everything for themselves. During that her phone beeped a new message. She took it to look at. "Oh, boyfriend." She answered she was on a roadtrip and wouldn't be back until tomorrow, could they go to dinner then? He agreed so she let them have her phone again. "Willow has the contacts locked down so you can't get those." That got a nod from everyone. She looked at Giles. "He's taking me to dinner tomorrow night."

"That's fine, Buffy. Dating is good for you. Are you going to finally tell him about your duty?"

"Not sure," she admitted. "Maybe." She shrugged. "Though he'll probably break up with me for it. It's hard to date a warrior with a duty."

"It is." He patted her on the arm. "You'll find someone someday."

"Then the PTB will have me dying within a week," she said dryly. "They'd like that."

"Yes but we wouldn't. The same as Xander wouldn't."

"Point. They'd get him the minute he finds his. They'll lock eyes or whatever and he'll have a heart attack because they hate him more."

"Possibly true but don't give them ideas."

"Yeah, I'd hate that. He'd come back to haunt me. Or I'd end up having a kid and it'd be him reborn or something." He swatted her harder this time. "Sorry. Probably not the time for that." She grinned at the head of the CIA. "Xander's about fourth in command right now too. There's two hidebound assholes between him and Giles." He cleared his throat. "There are."

"I realize he would not be happy with them and would probably remove them somehow if he had to protect the girls from their ideas," he said dryly. "So do they, Buffy. And behind them is Willow." She shuddered but nodded.

"Someone once said my Dad had Dan Quayle because no one would assassinate him to make Dan president," Bush said dryly. Then he smiled at Giles, who smiled back. Buffy just nodded at that idea. "All right, what can we do right now?"

"Go guard the girls in Cleveland so they can get back to school," Nick Fury said. "I have some people who can use swords and I can lend them to help guard the girls and maybe up some of their training, plus figure out what other agents need to learn to jump in. Would that be all right, Mr. Giles?"

"As long as they wouldn't harm the girls in any manner or keep them from being girls. We could always use a temporary trainer."

"Two of them are the sort that if they asked I'd let them go to your people instead. They're uptight about what they think their duty is but I trust them not to be stupid."

"That's fine then," Buffy agreed. "If they annoy us too much, we have closets to lock them in. We have a few others in the past." She looked at the head of the CIA. "I think one was yours."

"I think one may have been ours at one point in time," he agreed. "Sorry about him. His new people apparently sent him." He looked at the head of Homeland, who was sighing and shaking his head. Buffy just smiled at him too.

"Would you like those ones that were given to my people back?" the head of the Homeland Security asked.

"No, we're not supposed to be taking out humans," Buffy said. "You have fun with them."

"I can gladly do that, Miss Summers." He nodded at Giles. "Mr. Giles, you'll let us know about future battles? Even in other places?"

"If I hear beforehand I can do that."

"You'd probably get it faster afterwards if you get the demon news channels," Buffy said. "We often do and then ask them if they have a report on what happened. That's about the only reason Xander sends in reports some months."

"There are?" a few of the men asked.

She nodded. "We have to tune ours specially to get them but yup. There's also a witches' home shopping network thing for slimy parts they may need. Like HSN for witch things. Willow got a pretty crystal one night when she couldn't sleep and a new cauldron."

The head of the magical US communities gave her an odd look. "There is?"

"Yeah." She got up to fiddle with the tv in there, getting instructions from Willow, who was apparently scrying now. She found that one at least. "That's the Witches' lifetime network. They do all the lifetime movie shows and movies for witches." She wrote down the instructions Willow gave her and then fiddled again. "Hmm. Demon news but very much like FOX news. We don't like them. They think we're bimbos. I can't get the other ones."

"We have a few other tv's we can retune," one of the room guards offered, taking the notes to call in. "We have one older tv that has a tuner system thanks to the satellite, they can find them all, sir," he reported a minute later. "That other news people are very not pleasant. Makes O'Reilly look nice."

"Charming of them." He watched the current news program going on. They weren't decent about how they covered this meeting but they were covering it from outside. "Anyone able to spot their people?"

The room guard called that in. "No, sir. That spot is showing nothing."

"So a clouding spell," Giles said. "Put on sunglasses, the tinted with yellow kind usually work best." He called that in and suddenly they found them. He smiled. "Clouding spells are light bending."

"Great to know. We can add that to our usual gear," the guard decided, moving back against a wall.

"There's other ways of being invisible," Buffy said with a point. "Like the guy against that wall. I figure he's the magical guy's guard." That one appeared with a nod. She grinned. "I could hear you breathing."

"That can happen, Slayer Summers." She grinned again. The MaCUSA president looked at him. "Aurors, sir."

"That's reasonable I suppose." He looked at her. "How many others can you find?"

"There's at least two scrying spells," Giles said with a point at each. "And one other being in here who may or may not be human." Buffy pointed at him. "Yes, that one. I sent out a magical sense when I walked in to find any additional ones. One of the scrying ones started recently so I'm supposing that's Willow's doing. It does rather feel like her and the coven head.

"The other, I can't identify by signature." On the news, someone was reporting that they had been found and their scrying as well so they shut it down. "Willow, it's fine, dear. Do quit now. Thank you." That one stopped as well. "She was probably worried after someone tried to gather the girls last night." He looked at the head of the FBI. Who shook his head. "They were carrying your badges."

"I have not heard a thing and I did not order that. If they're mine they're fired. I'll make sure of that when I get back. Did the Cleveland PD arrest them?" Buffy nodded. "I will be stopping that problem immediately."

"They could be the super religious cranks like have been shouting about us for weeks now," she reminded him. "Even the Pope had a 'we'd rather not think that God had to make female warriors' that meant we had to move some girls thanks to some priests."

"We heard," Bush said. "This has really thrown a wrench in how we see things. I'm sure you understand how jarring that is." She nodded. "I wonder if he's heard about the magical community."

"Probably from my kind of magic user," Giles said with a slight smirk. "As they used to force them to work for them hunting out others. Many of us can open up the catacombs down there to show the diaries that they used to keep."

"He'll probably hate that but it might be handy." He looked at the MaCUSA president, who was shaking his head. "None of yours?"

"Hadn't actually heard of that problem. But I'm not a historian so I can ask one of our universities."

"Do you guys have full colleges or is it like the Watcher program in Oxford's colleges?" Buffy asked.

"Mostly the second style. We do actually have a program in Oxford itself. The Council does?"

"And has since about Oxford's third year," he agreed. "We did help build that as well. Nary is ours."

The man moaned. "Oh, dear. We thought that was a fraternity."

"In many ways," Giles agreed smugly. "With lessons that enhance our chosen fields. My own of museum studies and history was wonderfully enhanced. Is Peter Edmonds one of yours? I always thought him a bit odd but could never figure out if he knew about magic or not when we worked beside each other at the British Natural History museum."

"I haven't been there but I can ask. It sounds like something one of us would do." He made himself a note of that name to look into. "Would any of your teachings enhance our own?"

"The history track may. We have true histories back to the beginning of humanity that were overthrowing the former demonic courts. That's why and when the slayer was created. It was passed down until writing and then we have three different ancient accounts in some of the earliest writings stored in a safe that I'm sure didn't get blown up with the rest."

"Could their people go excavate the old building to find our books?" Buffy asked. "I know Xander tried and had to give it up because the ghosts there hated him."

"He banished most of them but they still tried to keep him from grabbing the books so we could use them now. The old biddies in the library were like that however."

"We have ways of banishing the ghosts," the MaCUSA president said happily. "We can probably figure out how to do that together. I'll have to ask Gringotts if we can borrow a few cursebreakers."

"That could be of great help to us. We haven't been able to get nearly anything out of there. Including the stored artifacts. Some of which hold trapped beings." The MaCUSA president winced at that. "We've been trying."

"I'll ask them and call you tonight, Mr. Giles. That would probably be safer if moved. And I'm sure you'd need the library."

"It had enough books for all of Cambridge's libraries but yes, we could. There were some fairly important books with prophecies in them that we need to make sure of. I know a few have been invalidated because of Xander but we still must check and make notes on such."

"He was so proud that him giving someone a cold took out a prophesied invasion," Buffy sighed, shaking her head. "He does the wacky that way," she told the others, who smiled at that. "He dated one succuba, not realizing what she was, and it led to her overthrowing her bosses to remake the system for them.

"She couldn't even feed off him and she still did it so she could get him back." Giles smacked her on the back of the head, hard. "Sorry. Probably not the time for that either. You guys will get to know Xander later I'm sure." Giles scowled at her. "If you're going to get into the building it's him or it's Scravner."

"True. Perhaps." She rolled her eyes. He looked at the others, who were grinning at him. "I'm fairly certain each of you have a person like Xander in your agencies."

"I have a lot of them," Nick Fury admitted. "They drive me nuts but I can count on them to do what they think is right."

"Exactly," Giles agreed with a nod.

"That explains a lot," another said. "I know some of Director Fury's people like that."

Buffy grinned when he looked at her. "No, I know what I need to do. That's why I'm a slayer." He nodded at that. She looked at the two presidents. "Do they hold special elections for the magical community? Or do they vote in both?"

"They vote in both, but we have our own Congress and president," the MaCUSA president said happily. Bush rolled his eyes. "Almost no one realizes there's actually two governments."

"That's great. Is that how some of those conspiracy sorts that talk about the illuminati and the dark spaces get it?"

"Probably. I don't usually pay too much attention to those sort. They do give one a headache."

"We have Andrew for that. He used to want to take over the world with his geek buddies." The head of the CIA moaned. She grinned. "He's reformed and our housemom now. Now we only see robots at battles and sometime if we have really gross laundry so he doesn't have to touch them. Or the trash dissolving ray that he uses on those clothes."

The head of the CIA moaned. "Oh, dear."

She grinned. "We got warned Warren and Jonathan's ideas may have made it out of Sunnydale. Andrew would probably be proud of his former friends if they did."

"I...I know someone who'd like to talk to him about that."

"Sure! I'll have Willow make sure he's not making more nanites to stop the girls from picking on geeks again. We had to make him stop that earlier this week because a few were turning into mean cheerleader sorts." She got smacked again, harder this time. "Hey!"

"Andrew would not normally do that. He was lacking sleep and felt sorry for the young geeks he was protecting." The head of the CIA smiled at that and nodded. "Usually he's very courteous these days. He's one that Xander can talk to about comic books because the rest of us do not understand."

"I have a few like that myself," the head of the CIA agreed.

"Me too," Nick Fury said. "Two of them are in the group I'm sending you anyway." He put down two names and underlined them.

"Can one of those agents sneak me and two of the younger girls to a mall?" Buffy asked. "They're about to need their special girl shopping trip and I do those because Faith's not comfy with getting the girls their first bras."

"They can probably do that too," Fury agreed with a nod. "I have a few female agents who could handle that." She grinned at that.

Giles smiled at him for that courtesy. Then he looked at Buffy. "Take Belinda with you as well please. I'm tired of ignoring her bouncing out of her clothes."

"I am too but she insists she doesn't have to wear those sort of bras. I've tried!"

"I'll have a talk with the dear myself then. She really must have something before she harms herself some night."

"Too late." She looked at Director Fury. "How many are you sending us so I can warn the girls not to treat them like they're pets?"

"I'm thinking four to five. One female agent among them." She grinned. "I doubt they'd let you treat them like pets."

"We have a few little kids in the house, Director Fury. One's a slayer's daughter. She'll walk up to me, call me a puppy, and push me to sit down so she can pet my hair for me. Beyond that, I doubt they'd want to hurt the girls who were trying to pounce them to see if they were okay or not. That would immediately get them locked in a closet."

"Point. We'll see how that works out, Summers."

"Thank you." She looked at Giles. "Can we get a snack on the way to the airport?"

"Yes, Buffy," he sighed. "I know it's been hours and you need to eat to keep up your metabolism." She nodded.

"They have a higher metabolism?" the head of the CIA asked.

"I eat about six, seven thousand calories a day to keep from losing any weight," she admitted. "Though I do try to set a good example by getting healthy snacks."

"Wow."

Fury nodded. "I've seen some that have hyper skills that do the same thing." She nodded at that. "I'll warn those agents so they don't stare."

"Warn them the Chinese buffet won't let us in anymore. We kinda had the kiddy group there and the four-year-olds cleaned it out." She ducked her head, grinning some. "They had been playing in the park before then."

He nodded. "I can do that too. You have to replace the energy you've burned." She smiled at Giles.

"Let's stop this meeting here and come back to it in a few weeks," Bush said. "That way we can all make the changes we need to make and make sure the girls are safe for now." They nodded, going to do that. Both presidents went to hide and moan in their offices because bouncy, nice girls were saving their butts.

Nick Fury made it back to his office and ran into his assistant, who was waiting on him. He handed over the notes. "She plays airhead so very well. We're sending her those five. We've agreed if the agents are assholes they can be shoved in a closet. Warn them that the younger girls will try to treat them like pets to test how big of assholes they are."

She nodded once, looking at the notes. He handed over his copy of those files. "From theirs that they shared." She smiled at that. "Their guy in Africa is alone, bouncy, drawn to bad boy lovers like assassins and arms dealers, took down a bioweapons person, and is the same age as Summers."

"We can look at him and have been since we heard him mentioned. There's some impressive work he's helped handle."

"One of those films was his first planned battle at their graduation." She went to run it and then backed away from the screen by two steps at the demon coming out. "Exactly. The locals were all dirty and said it was a gas explosion. No one came to investigate it."

She looked at him. "How?"

"Magic bullshit."

"Oh, that reason." She ran the other films. "Is that...Al Shabab's subsidiary?" she demanded.

"Summers said he wrote a note praising them for helping defeat that so their higher ups were pleased with them." He smirked at her. "He's like one of ours only more wacky it seems. He doesn't have the training to back it up."

"Fuck that, he's all but one of ours except we don't pay him. Him and Barton could be siblings, sir."

"Don't even tempt someone," he ordered, going to his office to take something for his headache and stomachache. She ran the rest of them then called a staff meeting to show those ones going and others who had to know what was going on. One hated that idea and tried to counter idea that they'd gather the girls themselves but she found herself a pet within a few minutes thanks to a magic user who was not there.

Agent Hill looked at the new cat. "Interesting. Thank you, Miss Rosenburg," she called, looking up and waving with a smile. The heavy feeling in the room left. She smirked at the ones going. "Be safe around the girls and be careful with them. Fury's notes said that you're sneaking some of them out to a mall for a first girl's shopping trip for bras."

"I can do that," she agreed. "It's an important thing to have." They went back to the films. She sighed. "Is that common?" she asked after the graduation one.

"No clue. Find out and tell us all."

"I will," she agreed, looking at the other agents then at her. "Modern weapons?" She showed her one of the ones from Africa. "Interesting. Huh." She grimaced. "Is he a Barton?"

"Not that we're aware of and Director Fury said not to tempt someone."

"Granted," she decided. "I'll tell him so he can liaison with that one as well. It's best to let them find out who they can trust among us." She went to go pack. The others followed her. The former section head was still meowing pitifully and had dirtied the carpet. Cat guts were shorter than human ones apparently. She took her up there to hand to the director so he could ask for Victoria Hand to be changed back from a cat.

***

Xander looked at the guy strolling his way right after a battle. "If you're one of those reporters that tried to discredit me last week, blow me. If you're an agent here to complain, especially about girls saving you, blow me squared and buy me a beer between 'em."

The agent grinned and shook his head. "Not even close, Harris. SHIELD sent me to liaison with you over all the stuff down here so we can watch your girls' backs."

Xander grimaced, looking at the nearby soldiers. One said something and a few laughed. Xander looked at him again. "Did you wait until after the battle on purpose?"

"Only got here ten minutes ago. The road's torn up thanks to the helicopter fire. Otherwise I would've jumped in. I can use a short sword." Xander smirked at that. "I know, not actually practical at that length but at least I know some."

"That's about all I claim most of the time too," Xander admitted, finishing the bandaging job he was doing on one of the soldier's leg then stood up. "Their medical people are back about a mile."

"They followed us in." He waved. "Medics," he called. They rushed over. He looked at the battlefield then at Xander. "They all dead? I hear groaning."

Xander looked then grimaced. "Probably not. They'll burn the field clean in a few to make sure there's no other dimensional germs. Really, this shouldn't have been a battle but the people on that side dosed their maximum security prison with stupid shit and then sent them here to give them mercy and early release," he said bitterly.

"Oh, fuck. They warn us?"

"Poker circuit heard. Thankfully. I was in Borneo last night." He huffed, glaring at the area. He looked at the staring generals. "So?"

"If they survive that and are not harmful once they're sober, we don't care unless they start problems," one decided. "We called a demon healer to come in." He pushed his hat back. "Why is SHIELD interested in this battle?"

"We just found out about the slayers too," the agent quipped with a grin. "And are kinda horrified that we didn't know about battles to jump in and help 'em. That's my job and I should be standing in the same battle instead of them letting some underage girl volunteer. If they're adults then that's their choice," he told Xander. Who nodded.

"That's my statement usually too," he agreed. "Which is why they can't even learn the depths of the bad things until they're sixteen, can't even ask to go on a trainee patrol until seventeen, and can't be put on any sort of rotation until at least eighteen, but if we have an apocalypse battle the better trained seventeen-year-olds can volunteer to be in the very back of the line. We don't have that many."

"SHIELD has thousands of agents. We can take their place."

"If you want. We let anyone show up to help with battles, dude. Even if they're bigots who hate us. As long as they leave without harming the girls afterwards, jump in. Please," he said dryly, staring at him.

The agent grinned. "Good! I like that idea." He punched him on the arm. A stooped demon limped over. "Ma'am, want help?"

"I'm fine, human."

"Healer Elmira," Xander said with a deep bow. "They drugged a prison and this is how they gave them early release. We tried not to kill everyone. I'm sorry you had to see them do this."

She looked at him. "I saw the last two. Those, they all died. At least some are still living."

"As long as they stay part of the peaceful community here, we do not care about over there. They may have funny laws we don't." The general bowed to her. "Can we turn them over to you?"

"You may. My staff is coming with some other healers."

"Need my help or my energy stores?" Xander offered. She blinked at him. "It fucking sucks that they did this," he said in her native language, making her grin and nod. "If you need my energy, I can donate. Not like I won't have more and I could use a nap anyway." He looked out there then at her. "I can help if you want me to or need me to."

"No, Hunter."

"Watcher," he corrected. He grinned. "You know I'm the training watcher down here."

She hummed. "It's good you can put up with bouncy future warrior women." She pinched him on the cheek. "We should not need it." She walked past him but he helped her out there. The soldiers still walking helped her gather the living.

The agent came out to help with his backup team. It was respectful and he hated this stuff too. "Let us help, ma'am." She blinked at him. "I'm a SHIELD agent sent to learn from Harris so we can help the slayers when they have battles."

She hummed again. "Interesting." She looked at him. "Why do I sense snakes about you?"

Xander looked at him. "HYDRA? Really?" he quipped with a grin. "Are you here because I brought down that one base with the bioweapons program?"

"That was you?"

"Yeah. They wanted my blood and I said no. Very hard." He grinned his best boyish grin.

The agent nodded. "We didn't like that arm anyway and plenty of us who joined both had to so we were protected. Be damned if I want the world to fall to this either, kid." Xander stared at him. "I don't want to hurt any of the girls. Take their place in the future but not hurt 'em."

"Good. I'd hate to have to add your blood to this field." The agent nodded at that. "Hey, Healer Emmy. Let me help. We ripped up the ground out here." He helped a younger stooped demon over the torn up ground to a group of groaning demons. "You can take of my energy if you need to," he assured her.

She smiled. "You are a walking hellmouth, Xander. Go sit. You feel tired."

"I was in Borneo last night." He did go to help the healers to the field then sat down like the obedient guy he pretended to be.

The agent got his team to help them carry victims back to their transport trucks. They'd have to work on that guy until he respected them at least. Or prove how badass they were. Something.

Xander looked up as something appeared, walking over to hug him. "Hey." He looked up at the seven-foot-eight-inch God. "What's up, Nort?"

"What happened here, Xander?" He patted him but let him go.

"They decided to mercifully give their prison an early release by drugging them and sending them here." Xander grimaced. "We tried not to kill them because I thought the healers might be nearby. Thankfully the Generals agreed with that."

Nort the Demon God nodded at that. "That's good." He patted Xander on the head. "What if the healers had not been here?"

"I have that beam thingy," he said quietly. "It would've been merciful."

Nort nodded. "I like that." He grinned at the generals. "Xander is ever like some of my soldiers."

"Are you a war god?" a general asked. The other two just stared.

"No." He smiled. "I'm a healing god, General. I just have a lot of battlefield healers under me on my native realm." He looked down at Xander. "You do good with that."

"I took extra lessons just in case it was needed. I didn't get everything out of Willow's mom's textbooks." He heard something crunch and looked back. "Healer Emmy!" He rushed out to help her up. "Are you very injured?"

"I will survive for a bit longer, Xander. Let go."

He picked her up and took her to the truck, staring at her once he had her on a seat. "Take my energy to heal yourself," he ordered. "I won't ever risk a healer unless it's necessary and this isn't. So take mine. I've got plenty." He took off a necklace, which made him put out a slight glow. She didn't move so he cut his hand and put it onto her bare arm skin, making her shiver as her body automatically sucked from him to heal herself.

She moaned as her leg reset. By the time he let her arm go she was fully healed and looked years younger. He bowed to her. "I won't risk a healer. You're too damn important to the community," he said quietly. "You know that."

"You're pushy."

He grinned. "You give me some of the sweetest compliments, Healer Emmy." He blew a kiss, going to do that to Healer Elmira. Who swatted at him but he did it anyway. It healed all the damage the healing had done to her. Xander was exhausted but yawning when she was as better as he could make her. "Ask me to donate if you need it. As long as there's not an immediate battle, I'm good with that. You know that.

"Healers are too precious to risk." She swatted him. He blew a kiss. "I'm going to tell the minis you need fussed at. I'll teach them how to make cookies too." She moaned but did get back to work. He went back to Nort, who was smirking at him. "I don't want a single healer harmed. Healing is a special gift and they're important."

"They are. Even if those two are now hellmouth tainted."

"They can filter that into the healing." He smirked. "Don't make me let the minis fuss over you too."

"They have been. Can you please remove Minnie from my temple?"

Xander laughed. "Nope!" He smiled. "The healers helped her and she's showing gratitude. She'd do it to human doctors too."

"Damn. Fine, I'll let the healers in residence train her." He disappeared.

Xander put that necklace back on with a shrug for the staring generals. "The minis love to fuss at important beings who help others. They all learn to respect the peaceful community."

"It's good of them," one agreed in his native language. He went to help the healers as well.

Xander grinned at the other two. "Let me go nap?"

"Please. You're bouncy," the one who could speak english agreed happily.

"Need me, ladies?" he called.

"Go rest before you hyper us all into youth," Healer Emmy ordered.

"Yes, ma'am." He went to take the truck with the first load of demons back to the healer's clinic to drop it off. His truck would follow. He had spells on it for that. "Here, from Healers Emmy and Elmira." The guards nodded, getting them inside to be put into beds. "They probably have another hundred more," he warned. "They have the other truck."

"I can drive this one back, Watcher. Go rest." He nodded, going to do that at the local hotel. The guard drove the truck back and drove the second truck in for them then back to the battle area.

The agent walked over to the generals. "Is he always like that?"

"He's tired so bouncy. He can be worse than the girls sometimes. Though..." He looked at the others. "We were warned not to let him have caffeine before a battle. We learned why."

"We at SHIELD would love to find more of the battle videos for training," he offered with a smile. "We gotta get used to how they do things to back them up."

"The girls are always girls. They complain about the nastiness during the battle. They complain about being sweaty even as they fight." The agent nodded at that. "Slayer Buffy will shout 'eewwww' when something gets on her jeans. She's showed up for a few battles to help." He smirked.

"They are warriors, not soldiers, but they are girls always. And a few of them raised Harris so he's sometimes a girl and sometimes just bouncy." He said something to the other two, who shrugged and called in but nodded. "And we can share our training tapes he gave us."

"Thank you." He shook his hand. "Let us finish helping the healers." He went to report that to the others while they worked.

***

That night, Xander got woken up by a 'no fucking way that worked' loudly from downstairs of his room. He blinked and stared at the floor. Then sighed and let himself go back to sleep. He had a super bouncy young mini to start working with again in the morning.

"Oh my God, she's in a skirt and heels!" that same voice complained. "And kicking things!"

Xander snorted. "Oh, that video. Yeah. There's worse out there." He drifted off again.

Downstairs, the agents were having fits about how the girls did things. Skirts and heels? Cute quips? In a battle! The higher ups were going to have to swear and drink.

***

Maria Hill got the download notification and stared. "Nick, we have some of the battle videos," she called. She called in a few others to come watch them. She put up the email first while she downloaded the first video. The senior agents all moaned at that warning that the girls were weird. She put up the video and settled in to watch it.

She had to blink a few times. "I would not be fighting in a tight t-shirt that bared my stomach. Is she in a comic book?" The other senior agents just stared oddly. Though one was ordering dinner to be delivered with a few drinks. Hill looked over then tossed over some cash for her part. Fury did the same thing.

Nick Fury watched the most unusual thing ever and realized that the world was screwed. "The blonde is Summers. The brunette in leather is Lehane," he noted. "The other slayers aren't identified openly." Hill nodded once. Then the battle got worse and the girls complained but they handled it. He sighed. "Is that the worst?"

"They sent them in the order to watch," she said. She turned on the last one on the list. "Palate cleanser two it's marked." It was a simple field battle. Something opened a portal and ran across. Okay, that was normal. Their dinner and drinks got there so they went to the one before that one. No one wanted to eat anymore.

The other palate cleanser marked video was a lot more goofy. A very hyper Xander Harris bouncing his way through a battle. Which confused people but he won. Greatly. Without many injuries. The other side was so confused they mostly stood there looking confused until Harris pulled out artillery and blew them away. Then he bounced off eating a candy bar.

"Well." Hill looked at the others. "It seems the trainer down there is ...young."

"He grew up in Sunnydale, had no military training outside some sort of possession and role playing games," Fury said dryly. "And whatever he learned on the job since he was sixteenish." She grimaced. "The slayers are all bouncy anyway." He flicked on a different video, managing his dinner now. The first battle Harris had apparently.

He had warned the generals that it wasn't something normal or nice and they had told him that they knew what was going on so he was thanking any Goddess who was listening while pulling out materials for them and offering them what they gave the slayers. They said they'd talk after this.

Xander said he had a few extra swords but they noted guns. Xander smiled and reminded them it was probably beheading today so they groaned and waited to see what showed up. Which Xander yelled at to go home. The generals snickered but a few fled him. Then Xander hopped in with a battle axe of all things and they all got to watch him whacking away at demons for a bit over an hour.

At the end Fury nodded because the generals took the information and settled in to talk to him about the slayers and all that they knew so far. "Great. He's mostly trained and they knew some because they were keeping it quiet to protect the people. At least they didn't discount him as a white guy showing up to handle things." He finished his beer and tossed out the bottle.

"Someone's going to have to teach the girls how to work with agents and military people," one of the top handlers noted.

"He sent agents," Maria Hill said before anyone could note that could be her job.

Fury smirked at her. "Ones who're a lot like them."

She stared at him. "I've got to go take down that child selling ring, Director. I'm not available for a side mission. You sent Carter, she can do that."

"Point. They'll need a standard liaison as well. Someone to pass information to." He looked at that handler.

"You sent five agents, including Carter, who can run field missions and other agents in the field, Director," he said dryly. "She can set up relations as well."

"Fine." He smirked. "But you two may still be called on to help."

"I'll jump into any battle I can help with but I don't have sword or machete skills," Hill said.

"I have machete but not sword skills," Coulson agreed. The others all nodded they had the same training.

"Summers said part of their download was weapons skills with their usual ones. Swords, crossbows, stakes, all that stuff," Fury told them. "She said she hates guns but all the girls have to learn to use one just in case, and they all like to pet artillery." He grinned.

"How did they get artillery?" Hill asked.

He smirked. "Kitten poker apparently."

She considered that. "Do I want to know?" He shook his head. "All right. Can we close that loophole while letting the girls borrow out of our armory?"

"Hopefully."

Willow appeared, smiling at them. "Sorry but can't let you do that. A lot of that stuff goes off world for rebellions that have good reason and keep immigration to here down by solving their own problems. We can't let you disturb the poker circuit. It's the major method of information passing beyond the gossip shows on the demon networks." She smirked and straightened up.

"Miss Rosenburg, before you go can you please change back the one you made a cat?" Hill asked dryly.

She shrugged. "Probably." She did that and then shrugged. "I guess she is." She disappeared again.

Hill call that in. The cat in the infirmary was now a human who wasn't Victoria Hand and she was found hiding in a storage closet they had let her hide in earlier. "We had two of those, Director. It changed the other one in the infirmary."

"Good of her," he said dryly, nodding a bit. He looked around. "All future recruits are to get at least machete or short blade training from now on. All current agents without it are to be encouraged to do that as well. There's a group of young women who're taking part of our job and I'm pissed as hell it's making them fight for us when we're all set to do that.

"They can protect the others, but SHIELD can protect itself." They all nodded. "All recruit trainers are to view all the battles we have film of by tomorrow night. The academy as well. I want our geeks to find a way around the whole blessed weapon thing that they have sometimes.

"Also, there was a sealed shut Army program that had been torturing demons, people. They rightly shut that shit down the hard way. Find their files, make sure we have *none* of those Rangers or geeks here. Ever. If you find them doing something in the field make sure they can't do it again.

"I'm told the UN has them on a demon hunting team and Homeland got the rest. I pity them having to deal with them but hopefully it'll be with a jail cell finally." Hill nodded at that. "Make sure of their information against what the slayers have and make sure that anything identifying is not released so no one else gets hurt.

"We are not going to earn ill will from those peaceful communities because I have a feeling it'll quit being so peaceful if we do, people." They all nodded at that. "But I do want to know what they found out. Without going anywhere near that same ideology. Any of our geeks wanting to mirror that? Tell me once you've got them in a cell or in reprogramming if they're mission critical." That got another nod.

"For now, protect the slayers from the yelling idiots on tv and other places if you run into it. They've got girls in a few cities in the US and internationally plus the minis as they call them learning at home. Make sure not a one of the children get harmed especially. Learn how to jump in if you must. Give me battle prep orders for the next one coming up once we find out." They nodded and left to start those orders.

He leaned back, looking at Hill, who shrugged. "Let me go sign up for a machete refresher course." He went to do that. He hated that innocent young women were called to protect him. That was his job to protect them, not the other way around, and he wasn't going to make them have to protect him and his people. They should be happy young women no matter what, he agreed with that principle, but they shouldn't have to have huge battles either.

***

Xander got recalled to England, nodding at the man meeting him at the old building's site. "Hey. Xander Harris." He held out a hand.

"Nigel Collingsworth, Cursebreaker, Mr. Harris."

"Call me Xander. I'm not stuffy like the old watchers are." He looked at the building. "This wreck again. Okay, did they give you my report or the plans for the building, anything?"

"No."

"Yeah, they didn't me either." He pulled up his report so the guy could read it. "They had non-wandy magic if it matters."

"It may. I know a few who've studied some of that if we need the help."

"The whole library is huge," Xander said dryly, smirking at him. "Half of it is probably books of prophecy that may or may not be wrong or even stopped. Some of them are some former watcher's shitty ideas of what demon species are like. But we need it at the new Council so we can rewrite a lot of it."

He nodded with a grin. "We can clear most everything out of the building."

"Great. Which slayer did they send over?"

"Ummmm....why would they?"

"They had demons, higher level demons, trapped. I can get some of them but I'm not a slayer and a few will take a woman with a blessed blade."

"Ah!" He nodded with a grin. "Aren't there some locally?"

"London. Korie's in London and she's okay but she's also in college so may not be totally available. There's a few girls in London who go on patrol but they also have day jobs."

"Oh, okay. Can we rotate them out?"

"Yeah, probably. I can ask that. I just train the minis in Africa who're at home and help out with battles down there. The head watcher guy over the UK is Herman Hanners. He's a tall, part Pakistani and part Swedish guy who got sucked into the old Council out of college. It freaks me out because he sounds almost exactly like Spike used to. Down to the same swearing and the same voice almost."

"Spike?"

"The master vampire Spike? One of the Scourges of Europe? Buffy's ex before he died?"

The cursebreaker nodded once. "That's very weird. We wouldn't even know about that sort."

"We know three of the four of them. Buffy took out one, dated two of them, and the other one is kind of insane but is a seer who's never wrong. She's just...Dru." He shrugged. "Spike had something to limit his feeding thanks to the Army screwing with demons and torturing them. So he helped the team and sometimes got chained in a tub or my recliner."

He shrugged again. "So, let's look at the outbuilding first? I'm pretty sure that was the magic working area so there might be things we could use to stop anything showing up out of being trapped."

"Okay. Lead the way." Xander took him to show him which building was which and let him look things over. He had to call in some help almost immediately for the hellhound but Xander settled in to pet the poor thing until he napped against his thigh. The other wizards were not amused but if it wasn't going to attack, they weren't going to hurt it.

The tomb team got there to clear out the fallen outbuildings first. Not a lot of artifacts but some books and a few things. A few trapped beings. Xander glared at one so she fled. The others just went back into confinement and stayed there. Xander grinned. Cursebreaker Collingsworth was amused. Greatly amused. He didn't know anyone like this guy.

Some tanned, fit, smiling with too many teeth, looking a bit too perfect, guy drove up in a fancy sports car and got out. "Xander! Baby! Long time no see."

Xander looked at him. "Didn't you stiff me with a check the last time we had dinner when the poison you tried didn't work?"

"Well, yes. Sorry about that. Orders you know." He grinned. "Are you local enough to have dinner tonight?"

"We're cleaning up the old building. Right now they're handling the minor things before we tackle the huge problem that is the former library." The guy looked with a grimace. "Sorry, I'm here to help get messy and protect these guys." The hellhound woke up and looked at the guy before letting out a light growl.

"I know, he's a bad agent guy, but he's probably not tasty." He looked at him again, going back to petting the dog. "Maybe before I leave but you've gotta pay this time. Travel wasn't included in the orders so I had to get myself and my truck up here."

"I guess I can. How long are you in town for?"

"Probably a few weeks. We have to clear the library and things out." He pointed at the building. The agent grimaced again. "Tell your bosses I said hi."

"I can do that." He got into his sports car and drove off again.

Xander shook his head. "Agents," he muttered. The curse breakers stared at him. He grinned. "I seem to draw slightly bad guys to want to date me."

"Great. Let us know if it's one of ours," one of them said happily. They got back to work. They finally got the magical building done and opened the front door of the main building. That's where Xander had to mostly stop and they had to fight that spirit too. "He's doing it for your own people," he told the spirit.

Xander got up, walking over there. "Giles is in charge and he wanted the library and things moved to the new center since this building's not even protecting the books." The ghost tried to hit him so he sucked it into something.

"Just inside is some sort of thing that makes you feel like you're in a maze when you're not." They checked and carefully moved in. They had to break a lot of protections. Banished a lot of spirits. They did a spell to map the whole building and found it was worse than they thought. This would take some specialist skills.

"Why do they have an Arthurian vault?" one asked, looking at the map.

Xander looked then at them. "I wasn't part of this part of the Council. I was doing the job in Sunnydale with that slayer and got hired on afterwards. As for that one, as far as I know, they don't have anyone buried there but this is the Council and they've had power for way too long." They groaned but nodded.

"If so, can we bury them?" They all nodded. "Thanks!" He looked around with a frown. "There's talking mystical artifacts." He carefully slunk into the building and to where they were summoning him to. He stared. "Great! Talking swords! Just what I need. If one of you possess me I'm having your blades broken," he warned. They all quit trying to get him to pet them.

"Thanks. Doubt you'd like the hyena anyway, people." He looked around. "All right, one at a time," he said, patting one. "Starting with you. Sound off your name and whatever I need to know to identify you." He took notes as they did that. "Eleven mystical swords. Okay." He looked around. "I almost expected Excalibur."

The swords all laughed at that. "Any other entailed mystical artifacts in here?" he asked loudly. A few more things sounded off and he found them to note what they were. "Let me get you guys out of here and into the fresh air. Unless some of you don't want to go outside?" They let him carry the up and put them on the grass.

One of the cursebreakers came over to look at them. "They're clearly magical." He touched it and whined, letting it go and stepping back. "Possessed!" he shouted with a point.

"Yeah. There's eleven mystically entailed swords, a few shields, and a chamber pot." He let him see the notes. "I need to call Giles on video conference if that's going to bother anyone." They watched him do it. That was tech their people wanted to know about. He waved as soon as the call connected.

"Scarvner, get you and Giles and the book guy with the blue tie in on this. I found artifacts. They're chatty." The others were summoned while Xander let the phone scan over the list so the guy could take his own version of them. "That's who they said they were."

Giles looked at the images. "Oh, dear. Scan the swords, Xander." He did and Giles moaned. "I had no idea we had those!"

"The guys here asked why we had a vault labeled Arthurian vault?"

"I have no idea," Giles said, looking at Scarvner, who was an old line research watcher over artifacts. "Any idea on any of this?"

"That was the primary basement level, lad. All of that was hidden for their own safety. The Arthurian vault does not have a body but it does have things that we suspect may have come from Camelot itself. We couldn't be sure of course but the ones at the time swore they were. The chamber pot, he died while on it and it got possessed." He stared at him. "I would've thought the outbuildings first."

"They did. The wand waving guy here brought in their tomb team." He grinned. "They already cleared all that and I sucked in the spirit that tried to stop me last time. They got the maze thingy curse."

Scarvner nodded. "I'll be over tomorrow to help with all that. I kept notes on most everything; we had to index them better than we had been. I was putting it on the computer." He left to go pack a bag.

Giles nodded. "Protect them for now. Let us know if you run into anything of true note." Xander panned the camera to the right to what he had seen flying in. "Oh, dear," he moaned. "Xander, be very, very polite."

"Of course." He walked over. "Hi, I'm Watcher Xander Harris, over the girls training at home in Africa. The New Council is digging out the old Council's stuff to transfer it to the new center in Cleveland. Did you need to come claim something or need to get into something?"

The obvious guard, who was a flying fairy in chainmail, stared at him. "Why do you read as evil?"

"I was born on the Sunnydale hellmouth. I helped the Slayer Buffy guard the town." He grinned. "I somehow managed to suck up a lot of it. We're not sure how, but I wear a shield." He shifted it.

The guard flew backwards, nodding at that. "Wow."

"I get that a lot." He grinned. "Can we help you find something that the old Council stole from your people? We just found the chatty, entailed swords."

The guard shook his head. "We felt the building be bothered. We had a treaty to help protect the building itself."

Xander nodded. "Some of the people in there weren't worthy of the title human so I fully understand. A few of the girls cheered some of the old Council going down."

He nodded. "So did we. Travers was annoying."

Xander grinned. "Rupert Giles is now in charge and we're in Cleveland now. In the US by that hellmouth."

"I'll let the others know, lad. Are you taking down the building?"

"Clearing it out definitely. Once everything's out it can fall in."

"That's fine. We can do that." He looked him over again. "You're not wearing a suit."

Xander smirked and shook his head. "Nah. I'm Princess Elsinore's savior and she complained about the same thing."

"OH!" The guard blinked a few times. "She is up here to make a treaty marriage!"

"I wish her great health and happiness in that marriage." Xander grinned. "I hope it's a happy, safe marriage with no complications for their very long lives."

"I'll let her know." He stared at the human. "Most of you are very weird about us."

Xander laughed. "I've been down in Africa for the last few years. I've run into hell gods and goddesses, pagan deities, ones who thought they were deities who were human and not. I've run into the fairy colony down in Madagascar too. Twice now. Once to get a baby slayer that ran away to hide in their forest."

The guard sighed but nodded. "That's fine. Is that your head?"

Xander showed him. "That guy in the center is Rupert Giles. The one on the right is Derrick Marcana. He's the head of the translation team. The two on the left are both Sedarts, one's William and the other's Augst. They're both training watchers doing the book work with the girls."

Giles bowed. "It's a pleasure to see the guardians of our former building, Guardian. I hope we caused no offense."

"No, not at all," the fairy said. He looked at Xander. "Just cleaning it out?"

"Handling anything trapped. Moving the books and stuff to Cleveland. We have Scarvner showing up for the swords tomorrow."

The fairy guard nodded. "Might be a good idea. They'll get very wet tonight."

"They can hang out with my axe in the back of my truck with me," Xander said with a grin. "She could use some companionship that's not me."

"That's not a horrible thing I guess." He shook his head quickly. "I'll let it be known that you're cleaning up the mess and expect the building to end up in rubble afterwards."

"I can knock it down once all the protections are gone," Xander offered. "I do love me some explosives."

The fairy guard grinned. "You seem like you would, Xander Harris." He flew off giggling.

Xander looked at the phone, shrugging at the dirty look Giles sent him. "What? I was a good, polite boy, Giles."

"You were," he agreed. "Very much so for your usual self, Xander. Yes, the building can be destroyed once it's cleaned out. Please guard those swords for Scravner. Then do get some rest tonight?"

"I can do that." He waved and hung up, looking at the cursebreakers, who were staring at him oddly. "What?"

"People who think they're deities?"

"You've never met anyone who thought they were a God of some kind?" he asked.

"Yeah," they decided. "We have." They got back to ending the traps. Anything with fairy based magic was carefully transferred to a loose stone and set aside so they could reclaim their magic. The rest they ripped down. That brought an old crone from the Coven.

Xander looked at her when her car door slammed. "Hey, Clorisma. This is the tomb team that we're being leant for the building clearing."

She walked over, staring at things. "They're certainly efficient. Boys, a lot of those were laid by us," she called. They stared at her. "Hi. I'm the senior witch at the Devon Coven, boys." They looked confused. "Don't do magic?" They showed their wands. "Oh, you're that kind. All right." She came over to help them unravel the spells and protections they were working against. "We know about you lot but you never seem to hear about us."

The head of the team nodded. "We had no idea there were still herb and candle witch sorts, ma'am."

"We never left," she said with a smile. "We in the Devon Coven are quite intertwined with the Council." They nodded, talking to her about stuff while they worked and Xander cleared things out of the building so it was safely out of the way.

Though he did have to stop the hellhound from chewing on a sword to get that soul.

***

Xander looked over as former Watcher Hayes showed up looking amused. "What happened to Scravner?"

"He got arrested as soon as he landed due to embezzlement from his sister's company." He came over. "The swords?" Xander let him see them in the back of the truck. "That's not very respectful to them."

"They're having fun talking to a few other artifacts." He grinned. "We're about to go past the left vault by the map they made. We'll need a slayer on site."

"I'll let them know. How are things going?"

"We've gotten the bottom six basements, including the never ending one. We've gotten the first floor meeting and greeting rooms cleaned of furniture. I rented a warehouse for it for now until it can be shipped over. The artifacts are going to one that's got security and Giles told one of his people from the Natural History museum to oversee it with the guys from the bank's higher ups." Hayes nodded at that. "Otherwise, it's a slow day. The main staircase has a few new protections we just tripped into."

"Some of those can be removed if you're marked as a watcher." He went to help and they went quiet for him. "Back until the early eighties, all watchers were marked when they passed training. The protections would quiet for us because we may need to grab something. Then Travers found out and ended that so no one could do things he couldn't do."

The tomb team grimaced at that. "He was bad all around, Lads. I'm former Watcher Hayes and the liaison from the Council to your ministry." They let him look over what they had found. "Is one of the coven here, Harris?"

"In town. Getting a nap." He sent her a text message. "She'll be here in about ten minutes." He walked in there. "Is that something that'll try to come out to eat me so it can be defeated like the others were?"

"No," one of the cursebreakers told him. "Not in the least."

"Okay. I'm going to back to telling the swords dirty jokes until you need or want me." They grinned at him. "I know when I'm in the way and usually that's around magic." He let them handle it.

Hayes smiled at them. "Magic can go spectacularly wrong around him but we were never sure if that was Rosenburg's fault or not." That name got a scared look. "She's healthier, people. Only worry about her if she shows up being mad at him. They've known each other since the first day of primary school." That got another mass nod and they went back to work.

"It was probably the hellmouth's doing," Xander called. "Tara didn't have that problem."

"That figures as well. It's the second most popular opinion of you," he called back. "That you're the personification of the old Hellmouth there wanting to get out and about."

"As far as I know whoever my father is was human," Xander quipped. "Probably. Mom wasn't usually *that* drunk." He leaned in. "The hellmouth only met me when my mother went into labor in the school. Then she had nightmares for years about plants and vines helping her deliver me." He went back to his truck.

Hayes nodded. "That figures," he muttered. "We consider Xander very unique."

"He's kind of scary," one of the cursebreakers said. "He took on a demon with an axe."

Hayes nodded. "Many times." They groaned but got back to work so they could finish this problem up sooner. Then the American could go and take all the nasties with them.

They all stared out at the sound of a squeal and then a slap.

Bouncy young woman.

Trendy, showy, bright clothes that showed too much of her.

Heeled boots.

Xander hugging her and her bouncing against him.

Hayes shook his head. "Slayer Korie." They just nodded at that and left it there. They had no idea and didn't need to know probably.

***

Hayes showed up in Cleveland with the shipping information, handing it to Giles when he met him at the doorway. "Harris said he is not coming back here, the hellmouth is acting weird and he doesn't want it to cuddle him. He got enough of that from the ancient one up by the coven." He grimaced. "Which freaked out the coven, the others not affiliated, and the fairy colonies up by it and nearer to the former building."

"Why was it acting up?"

"He found out someone was pulling on it and it didn't like it."

"Ah. Did they stop that one?"

"Yes, quite." He smiled. "The wizards were not amused."

"Excellent of them to save Xander some work then." He looked at the shipping manifests. "All of it?"

"Minus a few things that should not leave England. I talked to some of your former coworkers, who could take them in for a special museum. Though one sword was still complaining that it didn't want to be posed with some armor because it had been stuffed inside a suit of it for years."

"I can agree with that I suppose." He led him to the office. "How is Xander?"

"Tired. Nothing let him sleep for nearly a week. The last beast that came out Xander glared and growled at so it fled. We kindly sleep spelled the poor lad. He and his axe were in the truck for over a day sleeping. It let the wizards move what they needed to move without Xander chatting and confusing them. Or the slayers."

"Excellent news. Is he heading back to Africa?"

"The ambassador from Turkey to the UK asked him to show up to look at their hellmouth. It seems it's been glowing. I figure someone's trying to call on that one. So he'll go there then back to his trainees."

"I'm sure they miss him horribly."

"Probably. The girls probably adore how bouncy he can be with them." He waved a hand. "Even most of the furniture. I had the insurance people look over what we had rescued. They had undervalued the contents by quite a lot so we don't owe any of the payment back. If they were honest they'd actually owe use a few extra hundred thousand for the things that got broken and destroyed. But they're an insurance company."

Giles nodded. "I've expected that. Travers was a cheapskate."

"That's probably the nicest thing ever said about that man." Giles smirked at him. He smiled back. "Even his wife hated him. Anyway, it'll be here in six days. You'll probably want a nearby warehouse to store them in so you can go over them. This building won't hold all the contents even if it were empty."

"I can do that. The mystical things?"

"Mostly locked up by their bank. Scravner finally made bail and showed up to go over the indexes they had, finding they had another few floors of things he didn't hear about. There were apparently six basement levels, one with a spell to stretch the area, and that had a storage area." Giles winced.

"Oh, yes. It was supposed to be pre storage so you could identify how bad something was. The bank was most gracious to take that whole floor from our hands. Plus a few other things with beings stuffed in there. Did you realize Harris was hanging about with some of the ancient deities down there?"

"I would have spluttered if I had been drinking," Giles chided. "But I have no doubt they've met and probably worked together somehow. Which ones?"

"D'Nar, the garden goddess." Giles sighed at that. "Larvarat, the sexual pleasure goddess. Nort as Xander called him, who was over healers. Especially battlefield healers. He called on him to help a nearby healer who was trying to heal her own child. Used a poker debt and possibly a night of pleasure. There were about seven that showed up for a poker game. The cursebreakers were a tiny bit upset by that."

"Well, if he's working with them then they're probably not dangerous to the girls," Giles decided.

"We hope. Can we be sure he's not being tainted?"

Giles stared at him. "Xander nearly married Anyanka when she had lost her power center. He left her at the altar because it was what was best for her. She got her powers back then lost them because he had awakened her conscience."

"Oh, dear Lord," Hayes muttered, shaking his head quickly. "So if there's any tainting it's the boy tainting them?"

"Quite possibly," Giles said sarcastically. "I've love to see that boy in a happy relationship. If he becomes a consort we'll make sure the wedding present is tasteful."

Hayes nodded, going to talk to the other old line watchers. One of them in the library handed him a shot of whiskey. "Thank you."

"We figured you needed one since you spent a week with Harris."

"Two weeks cleaning out the old building." They poured him another shot then a third. "He plays poker with ancient demon deities."

"Does that really surprise you?" Buffy called from finding something to read. "If they're good to him and he's happy we'll all clap and find pretty presents."

"That's what your watcher said too, girl." He poured himself a fourth shot then went to lay down. Harris did give such headaches at times. The others understood and let him nap it off.

***

The SHIELD agent in charge of Harris was not amused to be asked to bring this box to Stark Industries. He wasn't a delivery boy, and he had no idea why Harris had made sure he'd *personally* bring it. He looked at the head genius in charge, shrugging when the man huffed his way into the room he was in. "The watcher over the trainees in Africa had me bring this to you specifically, Mr. Stark. He said the note explaining it was inside. He was insistent that I not let anyone like Fed Ex or UPS handle it."

"Sure," he said, nodding slowly. "Why?"

"Don't know, sir. He didn't share or explain. Just was insistent."

Tony huffed but did open the box with a security guy's help to stare at the thing inside. "That's...just went on the market." He opened the envelope sitting on top. "Found this with a terrorist group I gave to demons so I had enough time to raid them for their weapons," he read, making the agent shudder. "They had three, used the other two, sorry, but I don't want this to fall into any other wrong hands. What the hell?" he demanded, looking at the agent.

"I was not with him that battle but I know of which one it was. There was some higher being who showed up demanding tribute. Harris had me evacuating the towns around that area just in case. The group of unsavory people who were probably terrorists, though not officially as of yet, stayed behind to prove their worthiness to lead the people. They had...how long has that been on the market, Mr. Stark?"

"It's not there yet! It's on the list for next month's sale!"

"Does that mean you've got a leak or one of the people who do the physical making of weapons for you does?" he asked, starting to frown. Now, he had a clue why he had been asked to deliver this box. He didn't think Harris knew how to handle more than bouncy girls and battles.

Stark stared at him. "I don't know yet."

"Can I call in someone higher who can figure that out for everyone? Just in case?"

"Yeah, I think you can. Because this is very bad. I don't want my gear falling into the wrong hands. US and UK military only." He frowned, staring at the piece of bigger artillery. He opened the rest of the box and nodded. "Whoever cut some lines bluntly so it wouldn't have went off. Easily fixed if you know what you're doing because he kept a few of them so you can't figure out where they connect to."

"Harris knows a bit about artillery somehow. No one's sure how, Mr. Stark," he sighed. He called that in. "Director, Simon Mercator. Harris in Africa had me bring a weapon he found down there to Mr. Stark at Stark Industries that he found with a group that's probably terrorists but didn't have the official designation. Mr. Stark has said it was not on the market yet."

"We've just finished testing it last month," Stark said loudly enough to be heard as he went over it. "Whoever this guy is, he's good at figuring out how to disable it."

"Mr. Stark, if he used two of those in in a battle, what sort of land mess did it make?"

"I'm shocked it wasn't on the news," he admitted, staring at him. "Or was it?"

"No. They manage to cover up a lot of battles." He listened. "Yes, sir, he said there's a leak somewhere, Director. He needs help to beat people to find out where it is. Thank you." He hung up. "He'll have a senior agent and handler out here tonight to look that over for you, Mr. Stark.

"For now, the Director wants you to put yourself in a safe location. Because there's been rumors of a kidnaping plot against you as well. We apparently accidentally stopped one last month. We were anticipating one when you left the US to go to Afghanistan in a few months."

Stark blinked. "Excuse me? Why wasn't I told?"

"I don't know, sir. I've been in Africa for the last six months following a guy who once had too much caffeine and bounced his way into winning a major field battle nearly by himself with a battle axe."

Stark blinked a few times. "I...what?"

"Yes." He smirked and nodded. "Those Council people and the slayers? They use bladed weapons in about half their battles."

Stark blinked a few more times then just nodded. "Damn I need a drink."

"I've felt that way a few times." He smiled. "For right now, I'm to guard you to make sure no one snatches you or kills you to keep you from finding out their plots. Can we bring this to a safer area?"

"Yeah." He got a robot to put it into a locking safe and led him to the office where he could talk with his assistant as he shut off all communication out of the company's buildings. "Pep, there's a kidnaping plot."

The redheaded woman looked up from typing something. "Why?"

"Ma'am, some of our agents stopped one last month by accident. Now we've found out some of your designs have been in the wrong hands." She winced. "I've got a senior agent coming tonight."

"That's fine. Let us look too." She frowned but let Tony take her seat to go through the computer system faster than she could. "Oh, dear," she said at what was coming up after he had started the lockdown process. "Um, that's not good." She went to lock all the doors, including the bathroom door. "There's an emergency access in there," she told the agent. She looked at Tony, who was looking pissed off. "Tony?" she asked quietly.

He looked at her. "It wasn't my doing."

"I know that. I saw that. But...." She waved a hand at the agent.

Tony waved him over to see. "Your director does know that person. There's pictures of them golfing together with my dad."

"Charming. I'll make sure he hears, Mr. Stark. For now can you stay in here?"

"I need to go lock my lab down." He got up and they went with him after sealing that computer terminal. He was scowling so much no one even nodded to them in the hallway. Even the other head of the company, his 'uncle' Obidiah Stane. He grunted at him and the older man just got out of the way of the trio, looking curious about the guy in the SHIELD jacket. He'd hear the gossip later.

Or he'd hear it when Stark put the full company into lockdown and had everyone shelter in place. That usually meant an accident in a lab but not this time. Stane was still in a hallway but security ushered him to his office and stayed with him to protect him, as Stark had ordered them to. He got into his computer to see what was going on. "Boys, what sort of accident was it?" he demanded as he tried to log in.

The head of the security team looked at him. "Mr. Stark was delivered a large package earlier by that SHIELD agent. Apparently it was found somewhere inappropriate. So they're doing a count, Mr. Stane. All the systems are locked down until the audit is done."

Stane blinked. "What the hell? Why would he do that?"

The head guard shrugged. "He didn't explain his reasons, just gave orders with the lockdown and the only one who can undo it is his AI JARVIS. He did note that we'd have another agent showing up later, Mr. Stane, but no idea otherwise yet. For right now, we need you to be protected in here. You may want to call off any engagements tonight."

"I see." He considered it. He couldn't even get into his email. His wifi password had been changed. His email's password had been changed. "Damn idiot boy," he muttered. "What does he think he's doing by panicking the staff." Really, he was pretty worried.

That AI couldn't be gotten around. If it had full control of the company's servers, it could find the hidden ones he had sealed off. Probably already had. With agents on the way in to help with this audit and inventory count....Stane was in deep trouble. He could get out of here. "Boys, I have to hit the doctor's today."

"That's tomorrow according to your secretary, sir. We checked on the way in to you."

"I still have appointments."

"Sir, we are not allowed to let anyone leave the compound," the head guard told him. "Any attempt at breaking the lockdown will mean the quarantine system starts and that would panic the general public as well. You should probably cancel all appointments later, sir."

Stane pulled a gun and shot them all. It was enough to injure them since they had on body armor. "No, I don't think I want to do that." He moved to the door, finding it electronically locked but he had something to break that. He made it to the parking lot and found his car crunched into a tiny pile of car. He heard the whine of a laser coming on and got out of plain sight. He was saved by a SHIELD agent showing up behind him and putting a gun against his head.

"Mr. Stane, you're under arrest for aiding terrorists," the man said calmly and quietly. "Let's go, Mr. Stane."

"I will not. Do you know who I am?"

The agent stared at him. "Yes, I'm well aware of your dossier." Stane tried to fight but the laser hit him on the leg and made him scream as part of was burned. "Mr. Stark is not pleased apparently. Let's go. You can get that treated once you're logged into our jail." He waved and two agents came to gather him and arrest him. He went to the office area but his agent led him to the lab area. "Mr. Stark, what did you find him doing?"

"We found him selling arms to people I'd rather not see in power," he said dryly. "A whole lot of arms." He let him see that. Pepper waved a hand. "Did you and JARVIS get into the servers he had hidden, Pepper?"

"I did. It's not good. He was going to take over the company since you don't have any heirs, Tony." She got out of his way. He snorted, looking displeased. She looked at him, seeing the anger. "Want me to get Rhodey?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah. Get the loyal ones up here. Now."

"Happy, Rhodey, your personal geek team," she agreed, going to call them in. "Happy, Pepper. I know we're in lockdown. We found out Obie was selling arms to terrorists and had a plot to kidnap Tony, Happy," she said quietly. "I need you and Rhodey here please." She hung up and summoned the geek team, waving at Tony and the agents. "Stane had bad ideas. Help the boss." They moved to rip into those servers and his personal dealings through the SI system. That was theirs to rip into. The rest, SHIELD would have to get a warrant.

Tony looked at the agent. The guy looked a bit too calm right now. "You are?"

"Agent Phil Coulson, senior handler, Mr. Stark. I'm usually sent to deal with high profile problems."

"Fine." He waved a hand. "Please deal with that high profile problem. I have the feeling I've got to talk to generals. Or Congress again."

Pepper smiled and handed him some coffee. "Probably. I'll have your favorite suit sent out to make sure it's clean."

He grinned. "Thanks, Pepper. Redo the background on the pilot?"

"Gladly." She went to do that. She paused. "His guard team?"

"Wearing better than average body armor. So injured and already in our infirmary," Stark told her. He sipped his unfortunately straight coffee. "You could've added rum."

"Not the time for that, Tony."

"Fine," he muttered. He looked at Coulson. "Am I the high profile problem?"

"This situation is. If it was you selling arms, yes." He let out a tiny smile. "I'm glad our predictive people were wrong that you'd cause SHIELD problems."

"No, after this I'm making sure all agents are locked out of my systems," he assured him. "I found two hacking attempts by your people, one from Rising Tide of all stupid things, and one from the CIA." He walked off to look over his geeks' shoulders. "Anything yet, team?" They let him see what he had found. "Why in the *fuck* is he funding a new group that's working with the Taliban?" Pepper shuddered, staring at him. Tony rubbed his head. "Great. Just great."

"No, Stark, he was going to sell you to them," one said. He showed him the orders. "He was giving them you as a building slave."

"Slave I'm not," he said, taking that to look at. "Fuck him," he sneered, handing it to the agents. "I will make *sure* he's ended if I ever see him again. Am I clear?"

"If we can do it, he'll spend the rest of his days in a cell, Stark. Can you calm down?"

"Would you?" he demanded.

"I find being calm lets me plot faster," he admitted. He stared at him. "Please. It's counterproductive at this point in time." Stark stomped off to rant in the bathroom.

"Pepper, find his mistresses," Tony ordered from the bathroom. "See if they knew this or if they're just being used."

"Already looking for those three, Tony," she called. "One's in Cabo, one's in Switzerland for surgery on her hip, supposedly, and one's in Egypt?"

Coulson went to look at them. That was interesting. "You do find things very easily, Miss Potts. Interested in a job change?"

"Tony would die without me nagging him," she said with a fond smile. "So probably not."

Tony leaned out of the bathroom. "Do not try to steal Pepper again, Agent Coulson. I'll defend her and use you to test the new internal lasers." He went back into the bathroom to finish his fit.

She smiled. "He's a bit possessive sometimes. I make things make sense."

"Sometimes that's the easiest thing and sometimes the hardest," he agreed. He was realizing the whole profile SHIELD had on Stark was wrong. Neurotic, yes. Genius, yes. Unstructured, yes. Dangerous? Oh, hell yes. Easy to deal with? Nope. Probably a bit worse than dealing with his father had been since his father had a calming influence from his wife. This one only had an assistant. Plus an alcohol habit.

The lower agents were all amused but on edge. Geniuses could explode into evil at any given point in time if it seemed like the right thing to do. Would Stark go that evil? Probably. He did design weapons.

***

Tony Stark stood in front of the press people Pepper had called for him. "People, I need to be seriously upset here. I found out someone was using my company. A few people were using my company, my family's company, to support people who should not be in control of pets, much less people." A few flinched at that.

"As of earlier, we found out Mr. Stane, my former co-head, was selling weapons to terrorist organizations. He also tried to sell *me* to a terrorist organization," he said bluntly. A few shuddered at that cold tone. "My answer to that was 'hell no' very loudly as he was escorted off by agents.

"We also found his helpful agents that had put him in touch with said terrorist groups. I'm hoping the CIA and SHIELD have a *lot* of fun with their idiots who were also HYDRA." A few moaned. He nodded. "Yes, them. Never left apparently. After the last world war, the US and Russia took in scientists from Germany, mostly to up the cold war. Some of them were HYDRA, some weren't.

"So they were trying to take over my family's company," he finished a bit more loudly then calmed himself down. "To help reorder the world in their favor. Hell. No." He looked around again. "As of this moment, all weapons sales are on hold until we check who is buying them and make sure they're legitimate. Actually, right about now I'm about to say I shouldn't create another weapon ever again.

"I'm not totally sure about that yet so for right now, all weapons sales are on hold until we investigate the buyers. Are some people going to bitch and have a fit? Yes. They're probably on the wrong side though." He smirked. "I'm not into that.

"Never was and if one of those new age sorts could call back my father's spirit I'm *sure* he'd *love* to go talk to those sort himself. Instead, I'll do it for him. HYDRA can screw themselves to be blunt. I'm not working with them, for them, or around them. They get out of my way, out of my company's way, or they'll be flattened."

"Did agents arrest Mr. Stane, Mr. Stark?"

"Yup, sure did." He smirked. "SHIELD took him into custody as it was international crimes. The FBI can go nag them to get him if they want him." He waved a hand in the air. "If I see him out and about I'm going to end him. I already got him in the leg with a laser while he was trying to escape the lockdown. Any other questions?"

"How did we find out?"

"Someone in another country found one of the prototypes that's not even on the market with a group that was not the best for people. So he sent it with an agent to make sure it got to me." He smirked. "I'd like to thank him for that. It was very kind of him to let me know instead of keeping it himself for some later need."

"Later need?" that reporter asked.

"He's Council. He's the guy training the slayers down there from what I was told. They have battles. He said he found three and used two. Then disabled that one and sent it to me."

The reporter shuddered. "Wow."

"Exactly. So thank him for me, it was great work." He grinned a bit. "I hope he doesn't need more weapons that big." He walked off. "I need to finish going through the company's files. We've shed three executives and four board members already. I may need to fire more geeks too." He left to flashbulbs going off.

Pepper stepped up with a smile. "Mr. Stark is very upset," she told them. "Our person over the sales is presently being questioned as we go through his files so we'll see how that turns out. Until then, only the weapons department is on hold. The rest of Stark Industries is going as normal, though they will be looked over for such problems as well.

"If we have more information we'll let you know very shortly. Tony doesn't have the patience to let this be drawn out. Have a good day." She walked off. Tony needed to calm down. He was in his tinkering lab playing with his tools but not building anything so that was a great thing for him. She could keep him calm while the agents tore the rest of everything apart to make sure no other snakes were hiding.

Thankfully they had only found one hiding HYDRA person. That one had changed sides when HYDRA came for his genius child. He was now in protective custody of Stark with his family.

The reporters were reporting the news that HYDRA was still a real problem, not just a few agents here and there. They also got to talk about Stark Industries and how Stark was not happy. Plus they had learned more about that agency no one had heard of before, SHIELD. It would be a good news day.

***

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