My Ship Loves My Minis!
About a year after we left Giles paddling Willow and Xander making plans to escape:
Xander looked up from his campfire and roasting the bird he had caught, nodding at the tribal warrior standing there. "Hey. Share my fire?" he offered, waving at it.
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm Xander Harris. New Watcher's Council." The guy pulled a weapon. "We reformed, dude. I made sure the girls are protected. I'm here to talk to the local one so she knows how to train herself and protect herself. The *new* Council doesn't take the kids from their parents unless the parents are shitheads." He pointed. "Sit if you want. I know she's in the next town but I wasn't going to show up at dark and freak her parents out that way." The warrior pulled out a phone and called that in. Xander sighed as he got up and got something out of the front of his truck, handing over the folder for the new slayers. "This is what we give to the girls in introduction. Then I help her talk to the slayer spirit and help her decide what she needs to train for." He sat back down, turning his bird. "I'm sorry if I'm trespassing on tribal lands." He looked up at the warrior, nodding at the woman in uniform stomping his way. "Hey." He waved. "Share my fire?"
She sat down, staring at him. "We do not have one of yours."
"All the slayers were called into duty recently thanks to the final battle in Sunnydale." She glared at him. He pulled out his phone to show her the information file. "Found by scrying. She's young and we at the *new* Council don't remove the kids. They've hopefully got a fully great family that they want to protect. I'm here to help her figure things out and to teach her what she needs so she can train herself in the way that's the most applicable for her area. Not like most girls down here will be club hunting for vampires," he finished sarcastically. He grinned slightly. "Though I do recognize the uniform. I ran into one of yours in Kenya, when I was getting our girl there out of someone's encampment."
"She told me," she admitted, tipping her head slightly to the left. "This girl is how old?"
He looked. "It says about six or seven. The last battle in Sunnydale was against the First Evil," he explained. "To fight it we needed seven slayers." She winced. "We had two. CPR will give enough time to call a second as we found out about eight years ago now." She frowned. "Buffy, the first one I worked with, drowned thanks to a master vampire. I did CRP. It called into being another slayer, who we worked with when she showed up. She was Council raised, Buffy wasn't. When she died, another was called but Buffy dying won't call one. So we went from two to all of them now called due to having to need seven. The witch that did the spell on the slayer's scythe couldn't focus it on just the ones that made it to Sunnydale after the Council got blown up by the Bringers."
"I saw that on the news," the tribal guardian said.
Xander nodded. "I nearly cheered. They were huge problems and we hated most of them. Our slayer, Buffy, fired them and kept her watcher. None of us respected the old Council. So when they blew up and we had to rebuild, we built the new Council the way it should be, to protect and backup the girls." He looked at the female warrior again. "We saw how bad they were thanks to Kendra," he said quietly.
"We'd never let that happen or I'll rip it the fuck down myself." She grinned with a lot of teeth. He grinned back. "I'm a bit militant but I'm good at it. Anyway, our young one may not even know she was called into duty. Though she probably had a lot of very bad dreams about the Bringers killing a lot of the potentials that would've ended about a week before the battle.
"I'm here to tell her what's happened, teach her how to meditate to talk to the slayer spirit, because it holds the essence of every other slayer that's ever been called. I'll introduce her to the newly set up chat rooms so she can talk with the other girls and hear warnings. We'll go over what sort of problems are in the area with her parents so they can decide on her training goals and how to meet them. We do pay for training classes and education costs. Including college."
"Our schools are free," she admitted. "We can train her how to use a weapon."
"Can you teach her how to behead?" he asked. "How to stake?" He got up to get another, bigger, folder. "This is our field identification manual as it stands right now. They're weeding out three thousand books to make it field capable." He handed it to her and sat back down. "We have no problem teaching the locals as well. Being a backed up slayer leads to a longer life and a happier life. With the old Council's ways the girls lasted maybe two years. Buffy was called at fifteen and she's just turned twenty-three." She looked amused.
"Because she had those of us who helped. I'd like our young ones down here to get the same benefit. If you guys want to learn, I've taught a few regional militaries as well. That way they know how to handle things without calling a young slayer to a huge battle and expect her to take on a full invasion force by herself, like what happened in Peru last month."
"That would be nasty. Why weren't you in LA?"
"Buffy didn't call me," he said dryly. "She thought I was happier over here dancing around fires and telling Sunnydale stories to the girls to train them. Instead I was in Mozambique handling that slaver who had one of our girls. Which Buffy will never hear about because I'm not into being nagged about being normal."
She laughed. "You don't seem that way."
"Yeah but you know how friends see you differently," he said dryly, smirking a tiny bit. "If you guys want to help with her training, that's fine. I don't have to be totally involved outside of showing up to check on her now and then. Or if she calls me to handle something huge because she's just a kid and should not be handling anything but schoolroom bullies."
She nodded. "That's sensible. She's in the next town."
"I would've gotten there about dusk. I didn't want to freak anyone out so I stopped here to rest, clean up, eat a bird." He looked and turned it then looked at her again. "Then I'd show up about mid-morning tomorrow to talk to her family after watching them for a few hours. We had one girl we had to remove from her wedding. She was twelve." She grimaced but nodded. "We talked to her family after that wailing was done and the husband nearly ran the other direction because his wife would be stronger than him. We found a local boarding school she's in now. We insist the girls get a good education. Your mind is your strongest weapon."
She nodded. "We feel the same way about most children," she agreed. "You would not mind warriors training with her?"
"Hell no!" He smiled. "That means that it's not an eight-year-old girl expected to go into a battle." She smiled and nodded. "Backed up slayers are safer, healthier, happier, and live longer. We at the *new* Council all want the girls to become grandmothers some year. Can't do that if you fall in a battle."
She nodded. "That's true. Some day I'd like my sister to become a grandmother too."
"If I had one I would too. I basically adopt the slayers I work with as semi-sisters if I can stand them." She tipped her head again. "We have a few ultra bitches in the slayers," he said dryly. "They're all teens or early adults so they're bitchy until they grow up."
"I grew up around a few of those," she agreed. "I usually laughed at their stupidity."
"I'd do that to most of them but they'd try to beat me and I got told making them cry by beating them during sparring sessions was mean. Buffy said it was ruining the girls' emotions by beaten by a normal guy." She burst out laughing. "Yeah. That's why I was only in Cleveland for six weeks before coming back down here." He grinned at the warrior. "Are you sure you won't share the fire with us? I'm not the mean one of the Council."
"I'm fine. Your bird is burning. Did you save the feathers?"
"Yeah and it was an injured one." He pointed at the feathers. "I was going to bury them and the bones respectfully." He nodded at that. He looked at her again. "It was on the ground unable to move. Had a broken leg and wing on one side."
"That was probably a merciful thing then. We don't live as natively as some peoples do."
"I've met and trained with some of them and some of the more industrial areas. Most of the slayers down here are in small villages but one's in a nomadic herding tribe and two are in urban areas in the south. One's in Sun City and the other's now in Kenya working on a huge problem there. The native one in Kenya is only ten so she volunteered to come up for a bit."
"That's a good thing," she agreed.
"We like to see the slayers as a sisterhood. You were chosen to join it and the girls will fight like sisters but they've always got each other's backs."
She nodded. "We have that in our warrior corps."
He grinned. "I heard." She nodded once. "I know she looked at my list of slayers. Did she warn you I was coming?"
"That we had one here in the country."
He nodded. "Is she in a good family, a supportive one?" She nodded. "Then that's fine. I'll stop by to help her as needed and check on her every few months. If you and your ladies of battle can help her train?" She nodded. He grinned. "Then that should help a lot. She'll need to know how to behead, how to stake, and how to use a sword."
"Do you really have to use those?"
"Do you know of anything else that's silver that can cut off a head?" he asked.
She considered it then shook her head. "No, not really."
"Sometimes you can use bigger things. There's been plenty of times I loved me some artillery." He grinned. "But a lot of demons that would cause problems are specific in how you kill them. Not as persnickety as the ones in Asia are about how they go down, but a few are real picky and they're higher beings so usually you have to kill the minions one way and then the higher up another. Thankfully, we only go after those causing problems anymore."
"That is good, yes. Our local demon population?"
He shrugged. "If they're peaceful and not causing problems why would I do more than say hi? I've got a lot of things to take my attention with all sixteen of my slayers down here. Unless I get invited into a kitten poker game they're just decent beings. The same as all the others everywhere are."
She nodded. "We like to see them that way, though kitten poker does freak us out."
He grinned. "Back in Sunnydale and in Cleveland now we play kitten poker to hear the gossip and hear any intel going on through the circuit. It's stopped two different apocalypse battles by bankrupting them so they couldn't pay their minions." She burst out laughing. The warrior was chuckling. He nodded. "Faith is a card shark. I like to win artillery. It comes in damn handy when I don't have to find a weapons dealer and take them down to get their stock right before a battle."
She patted him on the arm. "We will help you talk to her. She's a sweet young girl."
"They all are until the world becomes scary for them. We'd like them to leave that off as long as possible. So identification and lessons like that after they hit puberty please."
She nodded, smiling at that. "It's a good plan." She stood up. "I'll meet you in town tomorrow."
"Gladly." He held out a hand and she shook it, walking off with the warrior following her. He got into his bird then buried the remains as promised. He made sure his fire was fully out and his camping area wasn't too touched by him before he climbed into his truck to nap for the night. Maybe this one of his slayers would become one of the great ones. He hoped she didn't need to but if she could, it would help the others by being a regional leader. Sana would have to retire some year soon so maybe this one could take over for her.
***
Xander was talking with one of his minis when Valkyrie called. "Hey, Valkyrie, what's up?" he asked. He listened. "Can you lift them all? Huh. Yeah, I can do that. Let me know how much I have to help. Tonight good? Yup, thanks, dear." He hung up. "Sorry, I have to go help a friend tonight," he told the slayer, grinning at her. "It's not even about demons. It's about bad guys."
"Bad guys are mean," she agreed. He nodded, smiling at her and going over the next flashcard set her parents had made for her identification lessons. "That's a Fornix."
"Forenx," he corrected gently, "but yup it is." She grinned and wrote that down. "What do they do?"
"Drool a lot and are hairy but not harmful?" He nodded. She wiggled. When she got through all the set of cards he gave her a chocolate chip granola bar. It helped her a lot and she needed a snack anyway.
When his mini went back into the house for the night, Xander went back to the local rooming house. He cleaned himself up and checked his weapons before calling Valkyrie back for a sit rep. Some of them had been rescued. She sent him there with a light bending cloak to use. He found Scott's cell and shrugged at his odd look. Then he turned and shot the guy in the nuts. "Initiative fucker," he noted. He got the cell opened and handed over the cloak and the electric lockpick, patting Scott on the shoulder. "You have fun with that. And call her. She's worried as hell. She's even heard from Hope."
"Damn it," he muttered, putting on the cloak as he walked off to free others.
Xander looked at the person glaring up at him. He grinned and waved his fingers. "I know, the shaggy hair and eyepatch throw people. Recognize me now?" He nodded, pushing something. Xander stepped on his hand, leaning down. "Fuck with things some more. Watch the slayers all move to Canada due to you guys being a threat." He got off him and walked off. Scott had Valkyrie send them to the garage and then back to a city. Xander got sent back to Africa. He showered and took a nap then got up in the morning to find the expected agent waiting on him.
He got some coffee and looked at the badly overdressed agent. "Next time I run into one of the Initiative fuckers I'm going to do more than make sure he doesn't breed. Had enough of them when my former team had to run them out of our town. And bother the slayers, *please* bother the slayers," he said with an evil smirk as the guy pulled out his phone. "I'm pretty sure most of the Council would *love* moving to Canada or England."
"We can handle what they do, Harris."
Xander grinned. "Then I'd do it." He pointed at the large demon behind the guy, who he hadn't called but it was nice of his poker buddy. The agent flinched and started to pull his gun but the demon summoned it and ate it. "Thanks, Boly."
"Welcome, Xander. I came to see what you did last night. My Hive Mistress was amused."
Xander grinned. "Had to help a friend get away from idiots who think that redoing a registration list is a good idea." He walked past him with a pat for his buddy. "Scott had some problems by doing the right thing."
The demon moaned. "That would interfere with the slayers."
"We already know who they are," the agent sneered. "You're going to be eliminated."
Boly leaned down to look at his eyes. "No I will not. No mortal method of harming people will work on me, mortal. I may get injured but it would not kill me. We are not in the slayers' field manual either because we are harmless." He smirked. "You may try if you like but it will just look bad on you for picking on a harmless being."
"His sort are *thrilled* by that, Boly," Xander called. "You should probably scatter so I can hand him to someone who'd like to talk to them about how his children were tortured." Boly shuddered but did walk off to talk to the mini slayer locally. The local poker circuit wanted to meet her so she could meet ones who were peaceful. Xander looked at the agent, grinning some. "So?"
"We'll stop you."
"Unlike Boly, you can get shot." He stared at him. Then at the agent trying to sneak over. "Are you here to talk to the torturing agent who thinks he's in 1930's Germany?"
"No, Mr. Harris, I'm here to talk to you about how you got to our top secret prison."
Xander grinned. "It was necessary." He looked at the first agent. "See, this one might not get shot and left in the middle of nowhere. Unlike you." The agent pulled another gun but Xander had his in hand and shot him with the laser pistol. "The things you win at poker," he said dryly, smirking at him. "Some of the demon realms are a lot more advanced." The agent was crying at his destroyed hand. Xander looked at the other agent. "Yes?"
"Um... where did that come from?"
"One of the demon poker buddies won it off someone. I was going to train my minis to use it soon." He grinned. "They could use all the weapons they could get. By the way, if you hacked my phone, I had their addresses hidden by magic. The most visited places are actually demon bars." The agent backed off a step, looking worried. "Yeah, I heard from Sana this morning, dude. You guys have a lot of fun handling the demon emergencies for them. 'Kay?" He put his laser pistol back. "Anything else?"
"You interfered with US policy, Mr. Harris. We're not done yet."
Xander looked in his trunk, pulling out something and using it on the agents. "You're weaker than Andrew is, dudes. You shouldn't be that way." He looked at a staring poker buddy, shrugging. "Dump them somewhere?" They nodded, taking them off to dump them in the middle of nowhere. Xander called Buffy. "It's me. That registration thing? It should look like a history lesson and you need to move the girls. They came for the ones here in Africa, Buffy." He sipped his coffee. "No, I had to use an Andrew toy on one. The laser pistol really is handy."
He finished his cup of coffee, going back inside to get more coffee. "Yeah, that alert by Sana is about them. They already have the slayers on a list. Move them today. We don't need to lose any of you." He hung up, pouring more coffee once his phone was back in his pocket. "I think all the girls should move today but the local one is pretty protected," he told the inn's manager, who was the father of his local mini. He grinned. "The poker buddies are seriously in love with the little thing being so sweet and kind." He walked off, going to train her today. Sana had gotten most of the local slayers out of the way. He'd only have to go rescue two of them.
***
Xander showed up at his one in that protected country, nodding at the guardian he usually talked to. "The US government is trying to confiscate the slayers," he told her quietly. "We're moving all the slayers somewhere at the moment. Ask them if they want to protect her from them or if I should arrange to move her too?"
She nodded, moving to her phone to call in. "The Watcher is here. The US agents have tried to confiscate the slayers. They're moving most of them. He wants to know if she should be moved." She listened. "The agent here is promising to protect her."
Xander snorted. "Bullshit. I don't trust *any* agent. Even the one I was dating last month. Maybe especially her."
"There is one CIA here," she said.
"Even worse. Have them look up the Initiative files. They're sanitized but I'm sure someone can find it." She repeated that and someone did look it up then she looked sick. He nodded. "We ran them out of Sunnydale but they had been testing Buffy's skills. The girls aren't safe."
She said that and hung up. "The locals will protect her or call you if they cannot." He nodded at that, smiling slightly. "You are paranoid."
"Hell yes. I'm not going to let a single slayer get captured by those sort for testing and to being forced to fight for their ideals. I'm not a Nazi."
She nodded. "They do seem to be coming back into power." He grimaced but nodded. "All the African slayers?"
"I have one more to get and Sana's sister refused. She's pregnant and said she's safe enough with her nomadic tribe. I suggested she turn off her phone for good for a few weeks until it was safe because they could trace it. So she's in the hospital," he sighed. She grimaced but nodded. "All right, tell me if my girl needs me to rescue her from some agent suit wearing douchebag. I'll pop back as soon as I can." She nodded, shaking his hand.
He drove off, going to deal with the last slayer on the continent that might be found. He found her house in a pile of burned wood. He went to talk to the local demons, who said the locals had gotten her. Xander went to rescue her, doing a lot of damage to the local militants on the way in and out, and took her to Valkyrie then to a hospital in England. He carried her in. "Help. She's heavy." A nurse ran around to help him. He held up his ID, making her flinch. "Some militants captured her. Can you call someone for me please? I'm staying beside her for now."
"I can, Watcher."
"Thank you." He let the nurse get her checked over. "I just came from rescuing her. We got here by magic. It's been less than ten or fifteen minutes since I pried her off their wall."
"That's fine, some of the injuries are older," the nurse said quietly, looking at him. "You are not the usual Watcher sort."
"When we rebuilt it the right way, most of us were American." He grinned. "I'm actually Africa's head watcher, Nurse." She nodded at that. An officer stomped in so Xander held up his ID, getting it shoved aside. Xander stared at him. "Dude, I'm above your pay grade. Home Office people please?"
"I'll let them see you and her in jail, sir," he sneered.
Xander punched him. "Nope. You're not. Because you're not a Brit of any means. Nice Utah accent, dude." Another officer came in and looked at him. Xander shrugged. "I figured he was a fake since his accent said he's from Utah."
"No, he's in on a trade thing," the other officer said.
"I'm a Watcher, the head Watcher in Africa. This is one of my slayers I had to evacuate due to militant yahoos I got to blow the fuck up as I rescued her. I'm kinda needing someone Home Office sort."
The officer called that in, including how injured she was, and that he had punched the other guy. An agent showed up but he was holding an MI-5 ID. Xander showed his when the agent showed his. "All right," he said. "I've heard some about you, Harris. What happened?"
"Militant yahoos had her. We've been having to evacuate most of the slayers today due to the US's idiocy."
"You don't like that Accords?" the agent guessed.
"No and if someone forced me to go to war for them it'd be turned back on them. Conscripts don't usually make good warriors." He stared at him. "Since they tried for the slayers we've been moving them all day. I went to evacuate her and found her in the hands of militant yahoos. Thankfully I had some artillery leftover from the last battle. Most of them are now at least at the state of needing hospitals if not needing a priest for last rites."
The agent nodded. "That's reasonable I suppose." He looked at the slayer then at the nurse. "Will she need surgery?" She nodded quickly, getting out of there. He looked at Xander. "How did you get here?"
"Magical evacuation procedures." He grinned. "England's generally considered a safe country."
"Usually we are," he agreed. "We have forms for the slayers being evacuated for necessary reasons."
"That's why I asked for someone from the Home Office."
He nodded. "You hit an officer?"
"I thought he was a fake since his accent says he's from Utah."
"Oh, that's normal I guess."
"After dealing with dirty agents today? Yup," Xander quipped. His slayer moaned. He smoothed over her hair. "Hey, it's me. You're in a hospital. The ones that had you are dead as fuck if I had my way." She mumbled something. "No, I didn't see your sister but Henri and Thraox both said your mom made it out of the house and was worried about you." She nodded, swallowing. "Hey, nurse, can she have some water?" he called. She came in to help him with that and set up an IV. Another doctor came in. "Hey, Doc. I rescued her from the militant yahoos who had her for about two weeks."
"Was she damaged in the rescue?"
"Nope. I left the cells alone when I was showing my displeasure with artillery. She was the only hostage I found and I magically evacuated her to here." The doctor nodded, moving him out of the way to get to her side to check a few injuries. "They had her for two weeks or so according to the local poker circuit."
"That's fine. Do you have permission to treat?" the doctor asked.
"Most slayers do have one for the Council to treat during emergencies if their families aren't here. I don't have it on me. I have her mother's number though. Not sure if she has her phone with her." He pulled out his phone with a frown to call her. Valkyrie took over his phone and sent it to where that mother was. "Hey, it's Xander," he said, putting her on speaker. The mother started to cry.
"I rescued her," he said. "We're in England in the hospital. The doctor needs permission to treat her." She said something and the agent translated it for the doctor. He translated back what the Doctor said. She agreed they could help her and her aunt was in Norway right now at college if they needed someone closer. They took the number she was at and took her up to clean up her injuries. Xander put his phone back once he hung up, sighing at the end. The agent stared at him. Xander shrugged. "I got the emergency alert that agents from the US were trying to capture the girls down there at two yesterday and I've been on the go since then."
"That's reasonable," the agent agreed. "Punching the dummy...." Xander grinned at that reference. "Are you still British?"
"We reset up the Council in Cleveland but we do keep UK buildings. The local house is, I think, about seven blocks away. This is their evacuation point."
"We know about the local house and they're pretty well guarded. The agents watching them won't let them do a single thing due to the Accords but they're safe."
"They shouldn't be local," Xander reminded him. "Because there's some mighty idiots."
The agent nodded. "We'd let them evacuate."
"I'll go talk to them in a few minutes." He ran a hand through his hair. "Let me know if she's got problems. I'll have her evacuated when she's released."
"We can guard her from even those sort. They won't want injured people."
"Yeah but they're stupid." He went to check on the surgical suite. She was fighting so he leaned in. "Hey!" She flinched but stared at him. "You're in England. I saved you."
"My sister!"
"Your mother got her and your stepdad out of the house. I didn't find any other hostages when I rescued you. And that was after I got locals in to stop them from moving a whole lot of them. So either the government has her or your mom does. But you're hella cut up. Let the docs handle it. I've got to go talk to the local girls. I'll bring you dinner." She slumped and the nurse helped her back onto the bed. "The only one I haven't evacuated beyond you is Tin. Her people said she's safe." She relaxed and let the sedatives work. "Sorry."
"No, it's reasonable," the surgeon said. "Do we need to scrub you in, sir?"
"No, I'm going to check on the other slayers locally. I'll be back with dinner for her later." He left, going to check on his girls. Two agents tried to get into his way so he shoved one. "Hi, I'm the head Watcher in Africa." He knocked and walked in when no one answered the door. "It's Xander," he called. The girls peeked out of the safe room. "Let's get you ladies evacuated." They nodded and he called the coven to help. They were frazzled but agreed, all the girls had to flee this stupidity. Thankfully Faith had won a safe space so the girls could be safely off realm. Xander made sure they got the important things with them. Then he left again, shoving that same agent. "They're safely out of the way of harm, boys. Even from you." He stopped to get himself lunch and his slayer dinner, going back there. Now there was the agent he expected there. He nodded at him. "Hey. Xander Harris. I had her evacuated after I blew the fuck out of the militant yahoos who had her."
"Why evacuate her here instead of somewhere safer?" he demanded quietly.
"Because I have the marker for the local girls' evacuation point and it's not any longer to bring her here than it would've been to Greece. Magic makes it just as fast of a trip."
"The coven...."
"Those are preset. It doesn't ping them."
"Oh, all right. The others?"
"Evacuated." He grinned. "Because the girls don't need a harder life." He looked in at the groan, going to hand her the food. She moaned and dug into the soft food he had gotten her. "I know, you need food. You guys eat more than Superman does." She snorted but kept eating. He came back out. "We'll evacuate her once she's out of the hospital."
"That's reasonable in this situation. What started that off?"
"The Accords." The agent winced. "Yeah. The slayers are on that and we all agree they're bad ideas. Conscripted people don't fight for you." The agent nodded, shrinking back some. "So yeah, we're evacuating all the slayers we can. Before things get worse and someone takes advantage of the slayers being locked up." He sat down and opened his lunch. "Sorry, first food in about two days. I've been evacuating all of my slayers in Africa." His phone beeped a text message so he looked at it. "Yeah, that's a good reason," he said, texting that back. "Thanks, Valkyrie." He put his phone up and ate another bite, nodding at the officers coming up the hallway. He looked at the agent, who shook his head. "Problems, guys?"
"You were at the slayer house, sir," one said.
"Yeah, I'm the head slayer in Africa, guys." He ate another bite. "I've spent the last two days evacuating my girls." He belched. "Sorry, first food in two days." He finished it and sighed in pleasure, sipping his soda. "Better." He tossed out the box and bag then leaned back. "I also evacuated the local slayers. We're not going to play along with the Accords. We're not conscripts. That's why I found out this one was in danger from other yahoos." He nodded in the room. "And had to save her."
"Sir, the UK government...."
Xander snorted, shaking his head. "Dude, I'm a US citizen. I'm only here due to her. The local slayers were going to be evacuated tonight no matter what the UK government thinks. Because there's too many that agree with the idea behind the Accords. Just like they did when it was a Jewish registration." He stared at one. "Noticed that mark on your neck by the way." He looked at the head officer. "The girls aren't going to be conscripted."
"We can arrest you, sir. You're clearly an illegal immigrant," one of the officers in the back said, sounding happy.
Xander grinned back. "You can try but I have international immunity to handle situations that would mean the end of humanity. And you guys having the slayers hostage would create that when a demon took advantage of it. Them being off realm won't probably." He shrugged but grinned at him. "You can *try* but you're going to be in a lot of misery. Especially since that gives the people who want to kill me for making them deal with the demons themselves a steady target to get me."
"Shit," the Home Office agent muttered, sending that message to his boss. "I'm Home Office, boys, and my boss said that the slayers are to be evacuated." He looked up. "This one is allowed to heal as long as she needs and then she'll be evacuated." He looked at Xander. "He said you're a mouthy asshole."
"Yes I am."
"And you did something to some agents' memories when they tried to capture your little slayer."
"Andrew created it." He grinned. "He did want to be an evil overlord in his early days."
The Home Agent just nodded. "I can see why. Are they safe?"
"Yup. Faith won a safe hiding spot during a kitten poker game. The girls are up there."
"Must be crowded," the slayer called. "It's only got room for eighteen girls."
Xander leaned around the door to grin at her. "In Sunnydale we had a three bedroom, one bathroom house and twenty of us before we moved to Angel's old house." He sat up again, grinning at the agents. "I was still working construction most days then too. Cold showers, yay."
"I can only imagine," the agent said with a nod. He walked off. "I'll make sure she's fine to rest and heal here, sir."
"Thanks." He looked at the officers. One of them tried to hit him and Xander pointed at the cameras after he had blocked it. "We have hackers too." They stomped off. He waved at their backs. He went in to sit with her. "There's some mighty idiots in this world," he said quietly.
"Which one didn't get moved?" she demanded.
"Tin." He grinned. "Her people said she'd be safe."
"If not?"
"She'll end up being safe." She relaxed. "You, rest. Call your mom?" He handed over his phone so she could call her. He relaxed, letting her check on everyone. Her dog had died in the fire but the people were fine. It was safe for her to destress, cry, and grieve. Xander helped her through it. By that night, she was more healed. She was healed enough that when someone tried to raid the hospital she was brought to the evacuation spot and Xander got moved by the ship to where Tin was. He nodded at her, then at the guards around her family. "You okay?"
She shook her head. "Bad things are going on, Xander."
"I know." He leaned down to kiss her on the head. "And it has nothing at all to do with your duty beyond they want their own personal army." She relaxed and took her mother's hand to hold. He looked at the guards. "You guys swore she'd be safe. I just got one of them out of the area earlier."
"We got information on you blowing up many militants," the guard he had talked to first said as she walked in. "She was protected. They're making sure she will be." Xander pointed at them. "We had a small coup."
Xander rolled his eyes. "Politics, yay," he said sarcastically. One of the new guards tried to hit him so he shot them. "I deal with bigger, badder, and more evil than you ever will be," he told the new guards. "I beheaded a few hell gods with a sword. You're not shit and you're not allowed near the slayers. If I have to make this more clear, I can." Someone said something. Xander sneered at him. "You sick fucker. I'm not like that and if you can think about that shit without being disgusted you're obviously admitting things." That one yelled and tried to hit him. So Xander blew his head off. He put his gun back. "There, one less person who would harm a child," he said in the native local language. The female guard laughed but nodded, taking the slayer from him. "I apparently need to go beat things up. Will you protect my slayer?"
"Of course, Xander. You know we would never harm her. Some day I look forward to helping her training."
Xander grinned. "She could do a lot worse than your group of awesome warriors. There's myths about you guys in multiple countries. I can only hope she grows up as strong as your women are."
She nodded. "It would be an honor to have her later. We can help her with her duties and she can help us with ours."
The girl's mother nodded. "It would be good for her training and safety. Thank you."
Xander grinned. "Let me know if you need more training materials for the others. The more who know, the less of a solo duty a battle is." She nodded, taking the family with her to safer places. Xander looked at the new guards. "Slayers are outside all the stupid of politics. Every country's politics. Because we have to go save a lot of ungrateful assholes like you. If you don't like the slayers, then you go beat demon emergencies for us."
He walked off shaking his head, letting the ship know he was done so he could be taken back to his truck. Which had been impounded but they let him go when he appeared and paid the small bribe. He checked to make sure he had all the weapons. He found a note saying they knew who he was so they had only checked to see what he was carrying and had not touched anything. The piece of artillery they confiscated could mean that the next demon wasn't beaten. Xander grinned, tucking it into another compartment so he could get in and drive off. Today had been a shit day.
*** (sent to list's archive to here)
Xander got beamed up to the ship with his truck this time, going to the control area. "All right, Valkyrie. How do we solve some of this shit?"
"I evacuated the young lady you wanted watched over to the ship so she would be safe."
"Thanks. Shuri's a great young woman. She'll be important some year."
"I'm seeing a lot of talk about Thanos from visions, Xander."
"Fuck. Okay, I'll keep that in mind. What are we doing now?"
"Now, we must interrupt some of the pro-Accords groups that are causing problems."
Xander sat down in the control chair, tipping the recliner back so he was comfortable. He got the virtual screens pulled up so he could see where she was worried about. He sent a few smoke grenades to those who only needed a distraction to get away. He sent a bigger distraction by calling in a poker debt to help someone else. Scott and Hope were apparently on the run with her dad. Xander considered it then deployed something that Jonathan had been working on in high school, and that Scott had finished building. It blew up the people going for them and let Hope get them out of the way.
He grinned at the odd look Scott sent at the sky but oh well. He brought up something Andrew had been building, that he stole, and it didn't work. He changed his options and put that one on the list to be fixed. The new weapon went off and stopped a group of people threatening some of the mutant kids and a mutant he had seen news stories about. She looked real confused but her and the kids got out of there easily enough.
"Xander, we are being hailed by a helicarrier."
"Tell them to blow us in some demon language, dear."
She laughed but did that. "They are not amused and had some sort of electronic translator that said we were rude."
"I am rude. They're evil. Oh well." He fixed that one weapon as he sent Andrew a message about having stolen it for a good reason. Andrew let it be activated and he blew one of the engines on the helicarrier. It flew off because they didn't have a lot of weapons at the moment. "Let's move you somewhere safer, Valkyrie."
"Sure." She flew them off to another area. "I am worried about Thanos."
"So am I. We'll have to see what we can do to help them. Maybe...if he's near a hellmouth, we can have it eat him."
"That might not work."
"It might work. Not sure yet. Or hey, we can talk to someone." He called someone. "This is Watcher Xander Harris, head Watcher in Africa," he said in greeting. He got a grunt back. "We are presently warning about logging a lot of visions about an immortal, non-demonic, being named Thanos."
"Why would that bother us?" the male voice complained.
"Well, he was behind Loki invading according to my sources," he said dryly. "By the information I have available to me, he's an extremely powerful being who is hunting for some mystical stones that are super powerful. One of which was the thing that was in Loki's staff. There's five of those stones and you need to evacuate most of them off-realm. He can travel dimensions if he has one of them but not realms."
"All right. Hand over the information and we'll look into it."
"Dude, you can't read most of the information. Though, you should probably ask Thor's people, who just had a run-in with his girlfriend, who's about to destroy Asgard."
"Oh, dear. These stones? The staff.... any others?"
"Ask Strange. He knows the list. It's in a book he has I'm sure. I know one was in the staff. His Order of sorcerers hides one of them. We know a lot about Thanos' glove and some about him. He is immortal and not demonic for all that he's supposed to be purple. He's related to some further groups of people in another planet's group. I've only heard rumors about a Guardian and a Nova Corps.
"By the information I've gathered on Thanos, he is from a group of beings that predates that foggy stuff that turns on powers, that came from his people originally but the current ones aren't from his people. That's how it was written for me." He scowled up. Valkyrie translated it better. "The information that got passed on said that there's five stones. He's got some tacky disco-era gauntlet they fit into. Him having all five makes him basically Godly. As in Higher Being godly, not like hell god."
"So we need to stop him from getting the stones."
"Yes we do," Xander agreed. "The safest way is to get them off realm. He apparently can't go off realm but dimensions and planets are different."
"Understood, Watcher Harris. Are you going to keep interfering with our work?"
"Yes, because I'm not going to let any genocidal fuckheads capture people to make them conscripts. Then again, the conscripts could just turn the war back on you. I'm not into that life so yeah, you're not getting the slayers. You're not getting anyone I know." The ship got hit by a beam of some sort. Valkyrie groaned. "Dear, go ahead and blow them the fuck up for that." She fired off something and that ship did explode and have to make an emergency landing. "Don't test me. I'm not the nice guy. Sunnydale did do that to one." He hung up and sighed, calling the sorcerer on a video call. That guy knew how to skype at least. He waved. "You know who I am?"
"You're the watcher that stopped that sorcerer in Ghana," the assistant said. "The Sorcerer Supreme is busy, Watcher."
"I'm Xander Harris," he said with a grin and a wave. "You need to tell him Thanos is coming for the stone. It needs to be moved safely off realm. It's safe off realm. Thanos can switch dimensions and planets but not realms."
"Oh. That is important. I will pass that on. How soon?"
"Visions state within months. He's going to show up down here after being involved in the destruction of Asgard."
Wong nodded quickly. "I will pass that on, Watcher Harris. Thank you."
"Let me know if I can help." He hung up and sighed. "Valkyrie, let's move and cloak again if you can."
"We're not damaged, Xander. Though one of the rotors is a bit weak."
"Can I fix that or do you need to tell Scott?"
"I can tell Scott, dear. I know you're not technical in that manner."
"I can attach things if that's all it'll take."
"We can land and do that." She landed them in the ocean and Xander got up to go fix that rotor problem. It was going to be a long day.
***
Xander reappeared where Scott was, tossing him the spare remote to the ship. "She's pouty that I fixed a rotor issue." Scott smiled a tiny bit. "Just ignore it if someone in a helicarrier gets pissy. They're in with the dickheads that I had to start telling people about recently." He grinned at Hope. "You can join him. She won't mind. She thinks you're neat."
"I...sure," she decided. "We can hide up there. Helicarrier?"
"Yeah, they tried to fire on a group of teenage looking mutants and your witchy teammate," he told Scott. "They got pissy when I sent something to defend them. They're still a bit pissy and I don't really care. Right about now, I'm more worried about the huge intergalactic being showing up soonish."
"Soonish?" Hope demanded, hands going to her hips while staring him down.
He grinned at you. "You're as fierce as any slayer, dear, but he's looking for mystical stones and will become the US standard version of god if he gets all five. And half of humanity will be dead." She gaped. He nodded. "I tried to warn them. They got pissy about that too. Pity, but I don't want to deal with it. If he shows up, I'm going to see if we can have him eaten by a hellmouth. He's definitely not expecting that." He grinned at the agent sneaking their way and then hit his taser into him. "I'm not into you today. You're too dirty to be one of the bad guys who wants to date me."
He walked off. "I've got a major demon issue to help handle today. You guys go be safe." Scott grabbed onto Hope's arm and the car, pressing the button as they all came into contact. Xander grinned at the agent, waving a bit. "You know, if you hadn't started that stupid shit, you wouldn't have two demon attacks in the next week. Pity, but your own fault." He walked off humming. His truck was nearby so he could drive off. He put his Council ID on the mirror so anyone curious could spot it. He ran into a few slayers. "Tell me you guys volunteered and you're being safe," he said as he got out of his truck, walking around the back to pull out weapons.
"They'd better not cause us problems or we'll let the demons eat them," Kennedy said. "Why are you here?"
Xander looked around the end of the truck. "Are you brain damaged?" he asked casually. "Why do you think I'm here to back you ladies up?" She huffed. "Suck it, sweetheart. You're not that good and I've handled *way* more than you thanks to my slayers being minis." He pulled out two cases and a few spare swords. "In case someone's breaks." He took one of the ones he spotted. "Your grip is loose. Tool kit in the back too." She nodded, sighing as she went to fix it. He spotted someone and strolled over. "Morning," he said in their native language. "How are you today, Princess?" The ship had let her brother rescue her when it appeared he was going to be fine to evacuate them.
She looked at him then smiled. "Watcher Harris."
"We're having a battle here today, you should probably go be safe."
"We're dealing with the coup."
He nodded. "I vowed that if they touched her I was going to show back up and feed someone to the hellmouth near your southern border." He grinned. "I might even be mean enough to not take them out first."
"He's a good fighter."
"Snipers still win," Xander quipped, waving a hand at the staring people. "Hi. Watchers' Council. We've got an issue coming in a few hours." The gang kids walked off nodding and calling others. "Not a huge one but warn Virginia if you have any members there," he called after them. "They'll be hit worse." He looked at her again. "You should go be safer. You're too pretty and the demon might take you as a special concubine."
She laughed but swatted him. "I'd fight back and win."
He handed her a sword. Then he pointed at the button. "I got it from a demon realm. Hand it to my girl there?"
"I can do that." She looked it over, pressing the button. It electrified the sword. "That's nice. I can make that better."
"Make the sword stronger. It's a bit weak." He shrugged at the man stomping over. "I'm making sure she wants to go somewhere safer before our battle in a few hours."
"I can agree with that," the prince said. "That's a nice sword."
"I got it from a demon contact. Give that or the updated version to my slayer please? One of your senior guards has her safely out of harm's way."
"I can do that. Do we have one of these soon?" the prince asked.
Xander nodded. "Intergalactic bad guy who wants to be god and is already immortal. He wants the infinity stones." The prince winced. "It's going to be bad. Like half of humanity dying bad."
"Shit," Shuri muttered. "How do we fight it?"
"Move the stones off realm. He can travel dimensions and planets but not realms." She nodded quickly. "And you can't win a field battle against his people. Be more sneaky." He looked at the prince. "Do what you can." He nodded. "Be safer though. Huge battle in a bit."
"We can get out of harm's way," he promised, leading his sister off. "Where was that place?"
Xander grinned. "Valkyrie? No comment yet." He walked back to the slayers. They were staring at him. "Yeah, that's a prince and princess. They're having issues. One of my minis is in their people."
"Hell," Kennedy muttered, then shook her head. "Is that...Prince...." Xander nodded to shut her up. "Wow."
"They've got *very* strong female warriors and one's taking my mini under her wing." He grinned. "She's great at it."
"Good. That means she'll learn more than you're teaching your girls."
"I do teach them how to stake but it's not practical down there, Kennedy. The local vampire species has to be beheaded." She grimaced. "They can't club hunt, there's not clubs like in the US in most places. They don't really do getting down and funky due to cultural reasons. The girls in those areas get trained in the other skills but we focus on the important things they'll need to protect themselves."
She sighed but nodded. "I can see why they did that. Is that one going to be one of the great ones?"
"I hope none of mine have to but possibly. Sana will need someone to take her place. Tin's almost eight, I'm letting her grow up to be a happy woman, the same as the rest are getting."
She nodded. "That's a great thing. Those warrior women are fierce?"
He smiled. "Their weakest ones can beat the ass of two slayers at once. That's who was rescuing that one lady the house in Toronto saved." She moaned but nodded quickly. "They're great and one of their team leaders has taken Tin under her wing personally. She'll be fine."
"Good." She looked at their battlefield. "This is going to be messy."
Xander looked then nodded. "Yeah it will. Let me go talk to the homeless person so they can evacuate too. Talk to any normals or officers. Call me if they get uppity." He walked across the broken ground of the empty lot. "Hey." The homeless man flinched and looked around. "Peace, dude. Just a warning. I'm Watchers Council. We're going to be having a battle here in a few hours." He pointed. "We have a portal event starting there. You might want to move for a few hours at least so you're not in danger."
"I'll be fine," he complained.
Xander moved closer. His hands were in clear sight. "You may be but I'm not sure it won't kill the local buildings. We don't want anyone hurt who isn't that demon. So maybe some hiding? That way you're safe? We'd never want to hurt a harmless person or being. We're just warning you so you can hide and tell others if they're around this area. I'm not sure what sort of force they're coming with." He heard sirens and looked back. "Shit. They called in backup. Go hide?" The guy looked then nodded, gathering his bags to carry off. "Tell the others," he called after him. "Down to the pets if you can please." He waved and walked back there, getting glared at. "I'm the head Watcher in Africa, guys. We noticed a homeless man who might get caught in the crossfire so warned him. Did the portal detector find it yet, Kennedy?"
"Yeah, there," she said with a point. "On the side of that building."
Xander looked at the building then at the officer. "If it's inhabited can you go warn them? We don't want anyone hurt or in the way accidentally."
"They'll flee when the portal starts," one complained.
Xander frowned at him. "Not unless they can feel magic and they'll go into hiding when they hear us firing on the portal. I don't want to be responsible for people dying due to someone not being able to go knock on doors." He looked around. "Sybil, go warn that building please? And tell the gang kid hanging out on the corner?" She nodded, walking off texting into her phone. Twitter was great about warning for battles. He looked at Kennedy. "Okay, firing order?" he asked.
"She's only got two minions that we've heard. So no great force. The portal has to be destroyed but if she flees first, go us. The two minions are silver or blessed from the books and she's a beheader." He nodded. "If we fire on them will they run?"
"Some have," he agreed, leaning on his truck's hood. "Some it just pisses them off." He went to close up his truck since someone was looking in the back area. "Sorry, I'm the head Watcher in Africa. We need those."
"Then why are you here, sir?" the officer sneered.
Xander stared at him. "Because I'm needed here. Kennedy can't behead a being that's sixteen feet tall. Frankly, the slayers should still be evacuated so I didn't expect them to be here at all." He walked off with his special axe. Kennedy shrugged. "The rest?"
"A bit crowded but it's better. Only a few arguments about dinner." He nodded, rolling his eyes. "Less than we had before we moved to the mansion in Sunnydale."
"That's good. I told the one that I had to evacuate to the UK about that. She was not amused at three bedrooms, one bathroom, and twenty people in a house."
Kennedy shook her head. "Me either and I lived through it. Are you really good to do this?"
He grinned. "Been through worse than this. Most of mine are in the mini age range." She winced. "Though I usually get military people to back me up. Or I ...*convince* the local militias filled with yahoos with ideals to come help. I'm kinda proud that when I lured one of the groups to a battle to fight for their own lives, because they had started the problem, that the local demon community snuck into their camp to free the hostages." He grinned. "That was very nice of them and the militant yahoos mostly died."
"Always a plus to the people they're trying to oppress," she agreed. "Sybil?" she called when she came out. "We get them all?"
"Yeah, they're evacuating right now," she called back. "They know their landlord would love to torch the building for the insurance money so they know they have to pack and leave really quick in case the building's destroyed." She looked at the gang kid Xander had pointed out. "I'm a slayer. We're having a battle in a bit." The gang kid grimaced. "It'll be bad most likely and destructive." He nodded. "We're suggesting a get out of the way idea."
"I can warn others," he promised, flashing a salute before running off to tell his gang. Then his mother, who needed to move anyway.
Sybil came back. "He'll warn his gang to get out of the way too," she reported, getting a pat from Xander. "I didn't realized that slumlords were so universal."
"Yes they can be," Xander sighed, looking at the neighborhood. "This area's all older buildings so it's been falling in for at least a few decades as things quit getting updated. Well, maybe the local housing people will be able to come in to build better buildings to live in." The portal belched and nearly closed. "That's weird." He tipped his head to the side. "Huh. Are they fleeing in fear? Only had that happen once but she came through, spotted the local military, and went running to tell Daddy, who showed up about a day later.
"At least he apologized for his daughter's ideas." Kennedy laughed but nodded she had heard about that one. "Then her brother showed up two weeks later to show up his sister. Thankfully the military had someone watching the hole so the guy only got a few miles from it before being blown up. Then they reported it to me so I could make a report for the higher ups."
Kennedy stared at him. "We didn't hear that part." He grinned at her. "Did you tell Giles or Watcher Kinsey?"
"Yeah. I filed official reports."
She huffed. "They're not telling us that."
"Kennedy, they're hiding a lot of things. I told Giles most things that could be seen by others. If there was no way anyone else saw it or it was being covered up that strongly he just got a 'took out' report and a name. In one case the entire report read 'Mozambique said that the battle did not happen'. Giles' answer back was 'understood'." She moaned and shook her head. "Yeah, we get a lot of that. We have some superstitious people down there. Including ones that want to burn anyone unusual for fear that they're witches there to ruin their lives and livestock. I had to talk my way out of that a few times thanks to the eyepatch."
"So you've had a lot of battles?" Sybil asked.
"A few every few months. Not a lot of *huge* ones, like the invasion in LA was, but a good few moderately sized ones now and then. And a few idiot humans that tried to harm the girls so I had to react. The slaver did not like me very much when I blew up his house after freeing his hostages. Pity." He grinned at her. "Nami's sis is fine though."
She shivered. "Wow."
"Yeah. We have a lot of beheading capable things and some bigger things that want to stay in hiding because if I have to show back up with slayers they're going to die." He shrugged but grinned at the girls. "They decided they really wanted to be peaceful."
Kennedy was giving him such a strange look. "Like...higher being?"
"Like six, seven higher beings, yeah," he said with a nod and a grin. "They all decided to be peaceful before the slayers had to come back with me next time." He smiled. "They were really amused at what modern artillery can do instead of ancient siege engines."
She shuddered as she walked off calling someone. "We need to nag Giles. He hasn't been telling us stuff, Willow. Xander's here." She looked back. "Willow says you need to hide more than the we do."
"Willow can bite my shiny ass," he called back. "I'm fine. If I have to hide, I have a way. It might even make Andrew envious."
Kennedy repeated that and listened to her girlfriend moan in agony. She was still listening to Willow complain about Xander being normal when the portal opened and had to duck when she heard the artillery go off. No more portal. One rather large, whiny demon complaining he couldn't get home to prove he was a real male to his father and friends now. Kennedy stared at him. "That's because you're not."
He glared at her. "You're just a slayer," he sneered. "Nothing *important*."
"That's fine. The slayers always have backup now," Xander said with a wave and then lunged in with his blessed axe. Sybil and the other slayer helped. Kennedy hung up and grabbed a sword to join in, late but there. The demon died with a 'why!' whine but did die and was set on fire by the slayers. Xander looked around then at the portal. He poked a point and it tried to reform. He took a sword and stuck it into the portal then pulled out his taser to attach it, blowing up the portal for good, and destroying part of a wall of the building.
"There, now it can't reopen. Someone can use the structure to open a different kind," he said, staring at the hand reaching through it. It wasn't human. The being attached to the hand was growling. He looked at the slayers, who all shrugged. Xander pulled out his laser pistol and shot the hand, making the being scream and pull it back. Then the portal imploded. He rolled his eyes, smiling at the girls. "Have fun with the report and get back to your fallbacks, ladies." They nodded.
He carried the sword and his axe back. An officer tried to take the sword from him so Xander kicked him. "You don't get to touch slayer weapons or the weapons of those of us who work with them. Or we let the demons take over." He put the weapons back into the back of his truck and closed the camper area, locking it before getting in and driving off. Valkyrie was nice enough to bring him up and then set him back in Africa where a battle was just starting.
"Sorry, I was handling a portal event somewhere else," he said as he got out. The local military people looked relieved. "What have we noticed?" They showed him the pictures the drones they had sent to the portal had shown. "Hmm. That's bad but intergalactic instead of inter-realm or inter-dimensional beings." He considered it, walking over to the portal to look at it. He frowned and waved a hand. "Get me my axe," he called. A military guy grabbed it from the truck to bring to him.
"Thanks. That guy," he said with a point. "Seriously horrible news. Huge visions. Bad shit, losing half of humanity." They got out of there. Xander checked the portal then cut it open to lean through. "Hi, we're here on earth and you're annoying us," he quipped with a grin for the staring woman. Then he looked at the other being. "I don't care what you want. Oh, and get the damn stone off realm. Before Thanos comes." One of them attacked him so he beheaded them.
"Not wise. I take on bigger, stronger, more evil things than you could ever hope to be." He gave one person there a pointed look. "Off-realm. Today if you can." He backed up and let the coven ladies that had shown up to help close it. He looked at them. "Those visions about the huge purple guy? He's intergalactic and he's seriously more deadly than anything."
One laughed. "That's not possible, Xander. There's no such thing as aliens." He pointed. She looked and flinched. "Oh, dear."
"Thanos is searching for infinity stones." She held up a hand and nodded. "Off-realm. As soon as possible. He can travel planets and dimensions." He gave them a pointed look. "Or we'll be down half of humanity with a snap of fingers. And if there's a sixth, the void stone, hide it too!"
The ladies shared a look and nodded. "We'll pass that on, Xander."
"Thanks. Anyone attached to the earth is in danger then."
"We tend to stay attached."
"So are buildings. The last vision I had showed a lot of people turning into dust to blow away."
"Frick," one muttered then wiped her mouth off quickly. "We'll deal with it, dear. Are you injured?"
He frowned. "Not from the portal earlier or the one here. I'm wondering if I'm going to get to make it third time's the charm," he said, staring at a demon that just appeared. "They eat magic. Move." They looked and fled back behind the military people. Xander waved at the demon. Who just grinned and pulled up knives. "What the fuck are you doing?"
"You're strong. I will take that strength."
"I doubt it. Sorry, I built up this strength through years of patrols and construction work." The demon lunged and Xander fought back with it. A small missile barely dented the guy so Xander had it this time. Sure, he'd be injured and limping afterward, but yup, the demon had to die. He finally tripped it and cut into the thing's back, making it scream horribly. Xander shut it up by cutting into the neck spine. Then he leaned on his axe, catching his breath. "I need to workout more," he panted when someone came over. "Damn it, this sucks." He grabbed his side as he stood up, sighing in misery. "Ow. Okay, let me go get stitches. The third time was not the charm today." He limped off, using his axe as his cane. "Ladies, you good?" he asked as he walked past them.
"Are you?" one demanded, coming over to check him. "I hate that taint you have, Xander."
"Yay me, I got infected by mermaids," he said dryly, looking at her. "You hate the past possession more."
"True. It does make it rather hard to heal you." He nodded, sitting on a table so they could try a few healing spells. Which never worked but they wanted to try and he wasn't against that idea. Then the medics came over to treat his injuries. He noticed the female warrior staring at him and shrugged. "Had to go away."
"He did," she agreed, coming over. "Tin is fine."
"Good." He grinned at her. "I'd hate to have to come rescue her. Especially today."
"True. She is fine. The problem will be fixed soon. Within days."
"If you can, save his life. We'll need all the warriors we can find soon."
"I heard. Thank you. Do you need more help?"
"Only to clean weapons later. Thanks though." She nodded, stepping back. "Make sure Tin doesn't see this stuff. Mini slayers should get the opportunity to be as innocent as they can for as long as they can. She's still got happily ever after thoughts."
"That means her mother's good," she quipped with a smile for him. "We will shield her if we can. He has not shown an interest in the slayers."
"I doubt he would. Then again, if he did I'd get someone like Sia to come up with her native temple's queen to pay her respects."
She raised an eyebrow. "I... Oooh, that would be bad." He grinned and nodded. "I will make sure Sia is fine."
"She should still be evacuated."
"I'll check for you. Thank you, Watcher Harris."
"Welcome. Let me know if you need my special brand of help." She nodded, walking off calling someone. He grinned at the medics. "Her people are training one of the minis to be a super warrior some year."
"It's always a great thing when women can protect themselves, especially for slayers," one agreed, smiling at him. "Only two more to stitch."
"There's days I wanted to have the faster healing gift that the slayers do but I wouldn't want to be one for real." He shifted to let them get those injuries. "Thank you for treating me today."
A soldier walked over. "Our commander said that no one would be seeing this battle, Watcher Harris. They wanted to cover it up again."
Xander looked at him, nodding some. Then he pointed at the news helicopters. The soldier winced. "Good luck with that. If you have to, use it to prove that your people are training to handle it for everyone so one single female doesn't have to do it for you. You can back up the slayers as an effective force or take her place when she's not here."
"I can tell him that. Are you going to the local inn tonight?"
"I hope so." He nodded, walking off to tell his commander that. Xander got the last bandage put on and hopped off the table, politely thanking the medics and appropriately shaking hands. They smiled and let him go take a bath. He smelled of blood, gun powder, and other nasty things. Xander drove to the inn, getting his usual room. They had a nice bathroom in that room, just deep enough to soak in.
***
Giles, who hadn't evacuated with the slayers, was called to talk to some agents in DC. He went there, making sure the house was well guarded for him, not expecting more than a talk or an ambush. He got the talk instead of the ambush for a change so maybe it'd be a good day. He was let into the meeting room and sat down, staring at them. "Problems the Watchers Council can help the government with, gentlemen?" He sat down, acting confident and in control.
"We were not aware that you're housing and employing someone who is rather on the side of evil, Mr. Giles," the agent across from him said.
"Andrew has mostly turned his desires around."
"Not him. Your watcher in Africa, Mr. Giles. He somehow was in an aerial vehicle of unknown design or origination and fired on SHIELD."
"Interesting. I had not heard about that." He called Xander. "How did you fire on SHIELD from some air ship?" He listened to the story about the few things the boy would say. "Where did the ship come from?" The answer he got made him wince. "All right. We'll be talking later." Xander said something else and hung up. "At that time he was apparently freeing people from becoming conscripted into slavery, gentlemen. The ship itself was a gift from a being who knew he'd need it to help defend people. That is all I've heard about it at this time. Firing on SHIELD was because they started it."
"You can't do that in the US," one of the agents said firmly.
Giles looked at him. "And yet Xander is usually found dealing with warlords and the like causing his slayers problems in Africa. At the moment, he was seeing many of you in the same manner. Which is why all the slayers are evacuated." He stood up. "I'll talk with him to make sure he's not truly turning toward evil, just doing what he has to do so humanity is continued on in it's presently messy state. Unlike the vision he tried to tell them about that showed an intergalactic being who is going to destroy half of humanity."
He gathered his things and walked off, going to call Xander again from a more secure location. "What, exactly, happened, Xander?" He listened. "Oh, dear. No, I agree with those actions and I agree with you protecting that special gift. Though I have not heard a thing....that's where that book came from," he sighed. "Bloody hell," he muttered. He rubbed his forehead. "Yes, that's important. Can you help with that being? No, I have no idea how either than firing on it either.
"How do we plan on handling...no, if those beings who go in special uniforms can't you probably can't help much and the slayers being off-realm would protect them as well. Any ideas? A hellmouth....well, that's a novel idea," he agreed, looking around. He spotted an agent waiting but staring at him. "I am not alone now," he reported. "Oh, you are. Are you an agent of the dirty parts of SHIELD or of the hidden part with the slayer bait Skye?" he called. "Xander wanted to know."
"We were wrong to use Skye to bait a slayer into the open and Skye herself didn't know or she would've thrown a fit about it," he said blandly. "I'm not here about that. I wanted to talk to you, Mr. Giles."
"Who're you?"
"Dr. Leo Fitz."
Giles repeated that and hung up, putting his phone up. "Xander said you were respectable and we should try to protect you as well. Before Thanos gets here and kills half of everyone." He stared at him.
Leo made that note then put his phone back up. "How does Mr. Harris plan on doing anything of the sort?"
"Well, right now the slayers are all off realm. Thanos apparently can change planets and dimensions but not realms." His phone beeped so he looked at it then handed it over. "What Xander knows about that being."
Leo looked it over, frowning. He sent it to his phone then handed the older man's phone back. "Thank you. It may mean we win against him."
"Not before many have died according to the visions. I'm afraid we won't win until after half of humanity may be dead unless we can sidestep a lot of that."
"That's going to be horrible." Leo stared at him. "He fired on us."
"You lot fired on him."
"The ship was cloaked. Was it from another planet or realm?"
"I actually have no idea," Giles admitted then smiled. "All I know is that he's found a book that was written by a watcher in ten years. Some we have managed to slightly side-step. Some we cannot."
"Is this being written about?"
"That part was blocked off. Most of what we know comes from visions and some eclectic libraries we have access to." He sat down beside him. "I'm rather worried that Xander is turning much more tough than usual but it has saved the girls down there, and the world a few times."
Leo nodded. "We'd like to work with you and the slayers, Mr. Giles. My boss is interested in helping them with their duties."
"Yes, well, they won't be allowed back until after Thanos is gone the first time I'm afraid. It's much too precarious with him and with the Accords." Leo nodded at that. "The girls can't kill humans so that part may need to be helped with. Unfortunately half of the problems we solve involve humans starting something. Xander's found many of those I'm afraid."
"Do you have any idea what he's been doing down there?"
"No. Otherwise I'd probably have at least one ulcer. He sends me announcements and reports, plus information on our girls' development. He's been involved in more than one incident that the country was covering up. One report blatantly stated a country said nothing happened."
Leo grimaced. "We tried to hack his phone to get those but we didn't get too much. We think he has someone doing magical protections on it for him."
"Well, he does carry classified information. Including where all our girls down there should be. As you know there's people who would like to bother their lives quite a bit."
"Yes, we're in a war against a few ourselves," Leo admitted. "How did you manage to corral that young man?"
"He usually listens to me. Though, there have been times I have vastly underestimated Xander. He is definitely the young man who does what has to be done. Even when my slayer told him to go away, he still handled a rather large problem by himself and didn't tell us a thing because she and Willow would nag. They still think he's rather normal."
Leo shook his head but he was smiling a bit. "No, as one of those normal sorts myself, he's rather not normal."
Giles smiled. "No but his unusual nature is very handy."
"Yes but what if he turns evil?"
"We've worked with those who were evil before," Giles admitted. "Two vampires come to mind right off hand." He stared at him. "Beyond that, Xander would never be harmful to most everyone. Just to those who were problems against the slayers or the world in general." He gave him a pointed look. "If SHIELD isn't that sort of problem then why would they worry?"
"Because that dangerous nature is in the eye of the beholder."
"So is evil." He stood up and walked off. "Have a good tea, Doctor Fitz."
"You as well, Mr. Giles." He turned off his phone so his people didn't have to hear him get something for his nerves at the moment. Evil was in the eye of the beholder but some definitions were agreed on by everyone.
***
Xander hung up from listening to Giles' talk, giggling some. "Well, at least I'd do better at being evil than Andrew would," he decided. He patted the wall of the ship next to his seat. "If we have to do some evil to save everyone, I'm okay with that. You, dear?"
"I'm fine with that as well, Xander." He grinned at her nearest sensor. "I have not heard from Scott in a few days."
"He's avoiding the same people that Giles was just talking to. SHIELD isn't wholly bad but they're not exactly good either. They have a lot of bad hidden among them pretending to be good."
"I can see how that's important."
"Yeah but they also hold some that saved the world before."
"I can see how that's a miring situation. The same as your own duty is."
"True," he agreed. "We still have to figure out something about Thanos."
"The battle is projected to be near that one hellmouth, by a few miles."
"If it was closer I'd see if there was a kraken in it. Or some other thing that would pull him into it."
"I'm not sure," Valkyrie admitted. Then he flinched at the sound of a zap. "Sorry, intruder, dear."
He got up and went to check on who it was. It wasn't someone he knew. "Do we know her, Valkyrie?"
"No. I have no idea. She has some sort of identification card in her pocket. I can read the bar scan code." He patted the frozen person down, finding it and holding it up. "Hmm. SHIELD. Pity. I should send her down."
Xander tipped his head. "She's not a human, dear. I'm shocked they're not trying to conscript her."
"She's already one of them," Valkyrie pointed out.
"Yeah but not of the people who're running the Accords." He considered it, noticing that the woman's eyes were tracking him. "Well...." He looked up. "Dear?"
"No clue," she admitted. "Though apparently I need to recalibrate that system. She's still too aware."
"I noticed her eyes. It's fine this time." He stared at her. "I'm going to fuck up your world," he told her then grinned. "Because you're where you shouldn't be." He went to get Andrew's flashy device from his truck and used it on her. Then he and the woman got sent down to New York. He handed her to an officer as he walked past her. "Broke into my house, Officer. I was going to give her to her bosses but you're closer." He tossed down the pass and kept walking. He could visit that convenient sorcerer. He felt Willow target him and sighed, setting off something on his belt. It made her groan and quit scrying him. He found the house he wanted and grinned as the door opened before he could knock. "So. Any ideas yet how to defeat the big purple guy?" he asked the sorcerer.
"Not handily at the moment." He let him in. The feeling of scrying picked up again so Xander turned up that device, making all the witches groan. "What is that?" Doctor Strange asked, rubbing his forehead.
"Magic blocker." He turned it off and looked at him with a sigh. "Off realm?"
"I've tried twice. It keeps coming back."
"What if part of you is captured somewhere off realm with the stone?"
"That would only probably trap a copy of it."
"Sometimes Xerox is enough." Xander shifted his weight, grimacing. "The witches I know...." They quit scrying again. He looked at the sorcerer. "He can eliminate half the people on earth."
"Would those not touching the earth matter?"
"I figure most buildings are built into the ground. If they're on planes they might be safer." He shrugged. "I'm looking at things from some very weird libraries at the moment. Including a book from a few years from now. It says nothing about him. So either we have a paradox somehow or we have a real problem."
"A real problem is already going on," the sorcerer admitted, rubbing his forehead again. "Who is that?"
"Willow and probably half the coven. They're all protecting the slayers off realm and have to stay there until after the battle with Thanos." He looked up then at him. "Slight adjustment to the idea spectrum. There's a hellmouth within twenty miles of the palace."
The sorcerer frowned. "In the visions I've seen, the battles are away from the palace, it's in the background behind us. We're outside the city."
"No idea which direction?"
"No. Would it matter?"
"If we're near enough I might set it off to see if there's a kraken on top that might pull him in. It's really hard to destroy people when you're fighting tentacles."
"How would you know?" Wong asked from the hallway.
Xander grinned. "No comment." He smiled. "Ever. Especially not with scrying going on." Wong's eyes went wide and he looked behind Xander. Xander grinned at the witch back there. "I had a hell goddess we're on decent enough terms with open the lower Africa one to eat a group of militant idiots who had six babies and two baby slayers to sacrifice to call up an unkillable demon." He smiled at her. "It worked really well."
She shuddered. "That's fairly evil. Rupert said people are worried you'll change sides."
"Probably not. And if I did, I'd still have more class and style than Spike did. Or Angel. And I'd be picky about why and when I was evil. I might take over on Andrew's ideas but that's fine probably too."
"He gave that up," she said.
"Yup, he did. And he inherited a lot of ideas when the other two died." He smiled. "Which I kindly snatched copies of." She shivered. "One of them, *real* handy in Africa about six months ago. Twin hell goddesses who thought I'd be fun thanks to Anya bragging and the PTB sending them my way." He gave her a pointed look. "If you see Whistler or Cordelia, paddle them for me, 'kay?" He grinned again.
She hugged herself. "Oh, dear."
"Oh, yeah. The PTB hate my ass, still, for making things win. Hmmm." He gave her another pointed look. She nodded and left, going to tell the others. He looked at the two sorcerers again, grinning at them. "It's great when you're so good in bed your former fiancee brags about it from the afterlife and hell goddesses try to find out for themselves."
"I..." The sorcerer cleared his throat. "That's very unusual."
"Aren't you glad Cleveland can't turn into Sunnydale?"
"Yes I am," the sorcerer said with a small smirk. "I would help prevent it from happening as well."
"That reminds me. There's two ascending trials soon," he called, looking up. "One's in Greece. They won't listen to me. The one in South Africa we've already alerted." They all heard a polite swearing in British. He grinned at Wong again. "Greece is doing the second fastest version so about fifty to sixty yards. The one in South Africa is the second biggest attempt and he's going to be about eighty yards." Wong hugged himself and nodded. "Greece won't listen to me. The guy's doing it in some ruins too. Thankfully not some well known or used ruins. For future reference, you blow off the head." Both sorcerers nodded. "Somehow, however you manage it. Laser, magic, blow up a school...."
Wong walked off. "We have a member in Greece, I will warn her."
"Thanks. We've heard he's near Minos." He looked at the sorcerer. "Have you seen Thor yet?"
"I...not yet."
Xander nodded. "Preclude to Asgard going boom. Ragnarok boom."
Strange raised an eyebrow then sighed. "That's a bad thing."
"The one they're fighting? Thanos' girlfriend." He grinned. "Death."
The sorcerer looked down, nodding. "I'll warn others when I spot them." Xander grinned and left him to contemplate the horrors of the universe. Including the ugly shirt that boy had been wearing.
***
Xander showed up for the coronation of the new King of Wakanda, nodding at the people he knew. He caught the little girl running toward him, giving her the cuddle she demanded. "I am so proud you're worthy of that uniform, Tin," he said in her ear, making her smile and hug his neck. He pulled out something, extending it and handing it over. "It's not a spear but it should do at your age. You shouldn't have to poke anyone but you can whap them upside the butt if you need to."
He gave her another squeeze. "Go back to your line, baby." He pointed at her 'aunt'. Tin grinned and waved then ran over to show a young woman sitting facing the throne, who cooed at it. Then she ran back to her place in the lineup of Dora Milaje. The princess looked back at him so he waved with a grin and then the envelope he carried. She rolled her eyes but he just grinned and put it back into his pocket. Someone tried to grab the baby slayer so she hit him with her new staff weapon, making him yelp and move off. A few of the warriors laughed at that.
Xander motioned at the staff so she looked then activated the electrical field around it. The next time she hit someone with it they yelped louder and the warriors had to fight not to laugh. Xander grinned at her. The other warriors all looked amused at their baby member being so tough. Someone stomped in and she yelled and lunged at them, beating him back out of the room. Then she huffed before going back to her spot in the lineup. Xander was smothering his laughs too. She was so fierce.
The princess was trying not to laugh too, hiding it in her mother's shoulder. The ceremony started and they all stood up as the king came in. He paused to stare at Xander, who just grinned back. He shook his head but walked off, patting the young slayer on the head as he walked past her. He took his vows and sat down on his throne, saying his speech. The crowd cheered and dispersed to party. Xander walked up to the new king. "I gave her the first official weapon she'll have today."
"I've seen her use it twice now," he said, watching the young slayer poke someone who almost ran into her with the staff. He looked at him. "You honor us by honoring her first ceremonial duty."
"I'm actually a messenger." He handed over the envelope. "From Giles on the bad guy coming. I'd like to say the hellmouth could be helpful but I think it's too far away. If I had waited it'd have been too late."
He nodded at that, reading the notes they had. "That's not a lot."
Xander nodded. "It's not and that's all we know. We're asking around. Sorry to bring the happies down."
"No, we knew it was coming," he promised, smirking at him. "She's going to poke you next."
"If she does that I can't give her the birthday present I have for her." She wrapped herself around his side, grinning up at him. He patted himself down and found the small package. "It's girlish but you're a girl and should be a girl for a few more years," he told her in her own language, making her happy as she opened it. She squealed and put on the silver necklace, patting it so it sat under her chest armor. Then she ran off to show her mother and her training aunt. Xander looked at the king. "We'd like to remove her, just in case."
"I saw the half the people die with a snap of fingers."
Xander nodded. "Anyone who's connected to the earth. He can't reach realms. We're pretty sure the slayers are going to be safe where they're hiding."
"I can agree with that. Her mother said no." He grimaced a bit but let it clear up. "We'll protect her as we can, Xander."
"Thanks. I should go back to pretending to go evil. SHIELD thinks I'm going to become an evil overlord." He grinned. The king shook his head but laughed. "Yeah. Oh, and one of the hell goddesses down-continent said she'd show up if you think she'll be of help. She's a war and love goddess named Tiahla."
"I'll keep that option in mind. If it shows up, can you kidnap my sister again?"
"If it'll help? I'll drop a dot on her and Tin both." He smiled. "The world would be better with both of them around. Your sister will someday drive guys like Andrew nuts creating stuff better than in comic books."
"She often does," he agreed dryly, smirking at his sister since she was walking over. "If the expected problem shows up, expect to be evacuated to somewhere we think might be safe."
She scowled at Xander. "I can help. I'm not that young."
He leaned closer to her ear. "It will snap and dissolve half of humanity," he said in her ear. "Literally." She shuddered. "Being on the ship means you're not connected to the ground. So maybe safer in case something has to happen. So you can show up and take over if necessary."
She nodded once. "I can agree on that." He handed her a tracking dot and held up a second with a pointed look. She smiled and went to put it on Tin's hair. She came back. "What is that ship?"
"It's a long story," he admitted with a grin. "She's a great lady."
"She seemed it when you rescued me the last time." She hit him on the arm then grinned. "She holds many weird things."
"Could be. And I have plans from what Andrew's former group used to try to do." He winked at her then grinned at the king. "Let me go hide from the nagging. She's gotten that from the piece of former slayers in the slayer spirit so I've got to hide before she discovers it." He took a picture of her, making her pose so he could get a better one. "I'm sharing with the others, Tin. Be safe. If the big purple guy shows up, you run and hide." He stared down at her. "Its not a slayer duty and it's damn dangerous."
"I heard." She made a hand waving motion like her princess did. "We will handle it, Xander."
"Uh-huh. After he's gone again." He gave her a pointed look. "And you're how old?" She pouted. "Be a girl, Tin. You won't get to go back to being a girl without someone like Willow doing a spell."
She shuddered. "That's nasty stuff." She trotted off to talk to a few of the other warriors, who all helped her with her staff holding skills. Xander smiled and left, going to email those pictures to Buffy to share. He had to handle a huge problem that was bothering a semi-peaceful hell god because the demon had taken a new wife the guy wanted. He didn't want to get a call to come smite the demon so he'd go negotiate and talk to the wife now.
The king looked at his mother, handing over the notes. "Within months and I wish you would hide with Shuri, Mother."
She patted his cheek. "We will handle it as we can, my son." She walked off reading. This was looking horrible for her son to handle.
The king went to talk to his warriors. The tiny one was so fierce and cuter for it. Even if she did just trip a diplomat for being a pain in her hair. They'd have to teach her subtlety with the weapons training. The warrior training her was smiling at her protege and pointing out people to not hit too hard. Ayo shot a glare at her warrior but the woman just grinned back while pointing out others.
***
During the battle, Xander had to call in the goddess that had volunteered her help, asking for a specific request. She giggled but said she could do that. Thanos had crap timing. The demon queen showed up with the ascended demon she had captured to pick on for being pathetic and small. Xander pointed. "That guy's going to take out humanity before you get to eat again. Take out his people and we'll ignore you for a few hours. Don't let his gloved hand snap." The demon tried to eat him but Xander smacked it on the snout. "Do it or be launched as a weapon toward it."
The demon worm growled but flowed that way. Taking out a higher being would make his demon life great. Xander looked at the hell goddess, who nodded and pulled her swords to dive in. Xander was helping by using artillery Shuri had made but stuffed in a closet. Valkyrie was off nearer to Europe and had a lot of important people on it. She was having fun holding them hostage in a garage that had a phase shift generator working in it.
Thanos spotted the demon worm coming for him. "What are you!" he demanded. He yelled as the thing ate two of his minions. "Get him!" he shouted and pointed. The demon ate a few more and then went for him. Thanos fought the giant demon but the thing managed to eat a stone from the glove. Not the important one but one of them. Thanos roared and tried to destroy it to get the stone back. It distracted him from the rest of the battle.
Steve Rogers looked at the battle then at T'Challa. "What is that?" he called with a point.
"Ascended demon," he called back. "He managed it about a week ago. I'm guessing the demon goddess had him in holding for this." He pointed at her. "She's a goddess of war and love. Watcher Harris brought her." He nodded at her. "Thank you for your help, ma'am."
She smiled and patted a male warrior on the head. "This is where I should be. War is my calling. If I die here, so be it. My daughter will do well with my sword and bow." She dove back in against the higher minions.
T'Challa looked at Steve, who blinked at him. "Watcher Harris has run into many unusual beings while training the slayers in Africa. Including the tiny one we have in this country that Shuri is protecting."
"I've barely heard about slayers." They dove back into the battle.
Xander grinned with a wave and pulled something out that Andrew had finished making for him. He fired it at Thanos, making him scream as his arm was partially destroyed. Xander shifted and fired again. Thanos was not going to win. Or they'd have to do something about him with magic.
Willow and the coven appeared, throwing spells at the alien horde. It helped some. Willow gave the ascended demon a funny look but it was helping so they'd kill it later she guessed. The coven was focusing on the aliens. Willow looked. "Take out the glove," she called with a point. "Those stones are power!" The coven looked and tried to steal a few of the stones.
"Get the time one!" Xander called. "We need the time one! It's red!" He fired at Thanos again, getting the side of the ascended demon but it just flinched and attacked Thanos' dying arm again. The coven managed to get one of the stones, just not the right one. Willow grabbed it from them and moaned. "Not right now, Rosenburg! Get the time stone!"
She looked and used the stone she had to summon the glove. Didn't work totally but it loosened the stones. Another one got stolen by someone else but they tossed it into a pit in the ground for now. Willow looked then managed to find which was the time stone. It wouldn't answer her call. Then there was a cape and a guy it pulled over. He grabbed the stone from her and summoned his stone. It came at his call and he breathed easier. Willow looked at him. "Who're you?" she demanded.
"The Sorcerer Supreme," he said. "Drive Thanos off! It's immortal but annoying." She nodded, going back to doing that while the sorcerer got the stone resettled in it's case. The demon bit Thanos on his neck but the alien decided to leave. Stephen Strange went limp with a sigh.
"Kill the demon," Willow called. "Before it eats people!" Xander fired on it and it died, making the hell goddess giggle madly. "What're you?" she demanded, staring at the extra large demon goddess.
"I'm a goddess of war, Rosenburg." She smiled. "Xander asked if I could help defend humanity this time. A being like Thanos is nothing to overestimate and he'll probably try to come back at least once." She patted the warrior next to her on the head. "You are quite good. As good as my original worshipers were. I appreciate that in warriors."
Xander leaned on the weapon's casing. "The female warriors are spectacular too and one's training a mini."
"Awww!" She smiled at the female warriors. "Good. The minis need to be as fierce as I am." She winked at one and then smiled at Xander. "Let me go eat and clean myself." He walked over to kiss her on the cheek, making her happy. "Thank you, Xander," she purred, patting his cheek before disappearing.
Xander looked at Willow. "She's pretty peaceful and is keeping peace in her region. Has a few warriors in training right now who're going to be great to take my place some year." He looked at the weapon then at the nearby warriors. "Well." He looked at the weapon again. "Hey, let's move it, Valkyrie." She took the weapon from him. "Thanks, dear." He waved and sighed as he walked over to the sorcerer. "The demon has a stone. The ground has a stone now too." That got a nod and they went to find the one in the demon carcass. A few warriors came to help. Xander nodded at the coven. "Thank you for the help, ladies."
"How did that one ascend?" one demanded coolly.
Xander grinned at her. "The Goddess had him hostage to pick on him for a bit. She thought he might become useful." He shrugged with a grin. "Tiahla is very wise."
One of the witches shuddered. "I've studied her myths in the past. She is very strong. It was good she could help." She looked at the other witches. "The one that Marjorie vowed to." They all shuddered. Willow hugged herself. "Let's get back to the coven meeting area, ladies. Maybe we can get the slayers back today?"
"Tomorrow, just in case," Xander said. "So he can't come back and try again. He was going to take out half of humanity with a snap."
"So that's the one in the vision," Willow said. Xander nodded. "Oh, dear. Yeah, he'd probably try to come back soonish." She and the coven chanted and disappeared.
The sorcerer supreme looked at Xander. Then he shook his head. "They were very helpful."
Xander grinned. "Thank you for taking the stone from her," he mouthed. He bowed to T'Challa. "I'll send back Shuri and Tin soon. They're presently out of phase." He grinned and clicked his remote, disappearing.
T'Challa looked at the heros around him. "Watcher Harris is quite unusual but highly effective in getting things handled."
Natasha Romanoff opened her mouth then sighed. "We know nothing about him and the slayers. We should find out more."
One of the male warriors laughed. "He said your people thought he was turning evil," he said through his laughs. "Though I do not know where his mythical ship is."
Natasha hit herself on the forehead. "We heard about the ship." She looked at Steve, who shrugged but grinned back before looking at Bucky. "Let's clean up the mess so we can all get drunk."
Shuri showed up with a huff. "I could have helped!"
"I think Watcher Harris had a weapon you designed," her brother called.
"No, Andrew made it. I made him let me look it over. It's sweet, but too heavy and bulky. I'll make better later." She looked up. "Clear the area of the living. We're going to burn it." Her mother and the baby slayer both appeared. She looked around, nearly whimpering when she didn't see her favorite warrior aunt. Natasha poked the young one on the head and pointed with a smile. Tin smiled and ran over to pounce her to cuddle. Shuri smiled. "Watcher Harris said the slayers are to be girls first and warriors when necessary. She does good at that," she said quietly. "She will be a deadly huntress some year but also protective and happy we hope." She smiled at Natasha. "He does that with all his girls."
"It's good to hear considering how the Council used to be."
"Yes but they got blown up." Shuri looked at her mother, who wanted to fuss over her people but that was not what a queen did. Shuri got something out to burn the ground once it was cleaned of the living and injured. The demon carcass got removed to be studied. The stones that got rescued were put into safes for the time being until they could discuss things. Including hearing about slayers and that weird guy with the super weapon.
***
Xander looked up from cleaning blood off his chest when Scott stomped into his bedroom. "Hey. You good? Hope okay?"
"We're good and thank you for putting us in reserve and safety." He hit him on the arm, making Xander yelp. "I'm an Avenger, Xander."
"Yeah but you couldn't have really helped. Unless you wanted to ride on a battle rhino to get to the glove."
"Well.... Okay." He stared at him. "Hope has a girl crush on Shuri."
Xander grinned. "I kinda have a crush on her too. She so rocks. She's definitely not the usual sort of princess." Scott smirked back at him. "I'm fine, Scott."
"Uh-huh. That's why you need some bandages." He grabbed the first aid kit to help him clean up the injuries. "Why did that one demon goddess keep that demon worm?"
"That's an ascended demon." He looked back with a grin. "One was at my high school graduation."
"There's all sorts of stories about that event."
"Yeah, well, was huge problem of the year." He yawned. "I'm really okay. I was on the edges."
"Uh-huh. Shut up, Xander. Before I ask Hope to help." Xander slumped some but let him help clean up the wounds he had. By the time they were all bandaged, Xander was nearly asleep standing up so Scott helped him to his bed and let him sleep it off. He went to check on Hope. "Hey. He's resting."
"How badly was he injured?"
"Cuts. Lots of cuts. He said that demon was called an ascended demon. It was also at his graduation from high school."
She turned, glaring at him. "That demon worm thing?" He nodded with a grin. "Why!"
"I don't know. Ask him when he wakes up. He said it was the problem of the year."
She growled but calmed herself down. "We'll ask him about it later. When he's awake." She turned to look outside again. "Is everyone back home?"
"Yup." He sat down in the recliner Xander used as a captain's chair, putting the feet up. "Valkyrie, are we okay?"
"I'm fine, Scott. It didn't wear me out too much to protect those ones in the garage area. Though we may need to look at the AI's portion soon." She popped up a screen for him. He stared at it then nodded and started the program she suggested. It let her upload a spirit that hadn't passed on yet. It now made sense why she was called Valkyrie. She uploaded two extra to put into the smaller crafts they had been building for her. Scott went to check on them with Hope following, still scowling a lot.
***
Xander wandered out of his bedroom that night. "Hope, call your father. He's put out a desperate 'my daughter's missing' notice in the press," he yelled. He heard her groan and she hopefully grabbed her phone to relieve the worried father's angst. He ran into Scott in the kitchen area, taking the cup of coffee. "Thanks. Any damage I need to fix?" He sipped with a moan. "That's good. Thank you. I had starbucks for lunch."
Scott patted him on the arm. "No damage from anything. SHIELD tried to show up during the battle but Valkyrie released me and Hope to deal with them. Then she fired on their ship to make it land before she got less amused. She showed her tailpipe very well." Xander grinned but nodded. "Apparently SHIELD didn't realize there was a battle going on."
"Or they decided I'd be there so it was a safe time to try to dismantle my ship." He shrugged and walked off. "Anything I need to work on?"
"You can go back to bed after you clean those injuries, Xander," Hope called from a work area.
"Fine, Mom," he called back with a wave. She choked and complained to whoever was on the phone.
"Xander, we are being requested to land in Wakanda," Valkyrie said. "By Avengers members."
Xander looked up then back at Scott. "Why?"
"They wanted a conference," she said.
"If you're sure it'll be okay. You know more than I do about some things," he said with a pat to her walls.
"If I could blush, I would at all your flirting, young man," the ship said but sounded happy. "We'll land on one of their lakes with permission. That's where the Princess said to land."
"Sure. If it'll be secure." He finished his coffee and went back to get more then went to his own work areas. Scott and Hope came in to look at his injuries, making him let them do it for him. Hope was really mean and was holding him down for Scott to bandage and treat things. But it was nice to have friends again.
TBC...
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