Telling Tales As Old As Time. by Voracity2

Telling Tales As Old As Time.

[Reviews - 3] Author Profile: Voracity2

Story notes:

The 'other' is for the original characters, who do get seen regularly later.

Telling Tales As Old As Time.

Xander showed up at a restaurant his target was at with his team celebrating someone's birthday. He stared at the guard. "I'm here on official Council business," he said quietly. "I can wait a bit but not until tomorrow. Let him find me at the bar when he's ready to not be happy?" He walked that way.

The guard, who had been with the team for years, and hated the one having the birthday, called it in. "Baron, it's the bouncy one from that mission in Marseille," he reported. "He said it's official Council business and to find him when you're ready to not be happy. He's in the bar." He hung up and went back to guarding the restaurant.

The bartender looked at the guy walking over. "We're closed."

"I'm on official business." He put his business card down, getting a flinch back. "Shit's gonna suck in a bit. Gotta warn people. But I'm going to sit in a corner for a while with a single soda without liquor please?" He put down money and got a glass, going to a corner table to wait. His target strolled in, looking less than amused. "Go finish the happies while they last," he ordered quietly. "They're precious."

"Are we having a slayer in our country?" he asked dryly.

"Yes but not why I'm here. She's almost a year old." He shrugged. "We have visions, Baron. And it sucks greatly. Send your family away tonight. Until after it's over." He sipped his drink, staring at him.

"What?" he demanded. "Why would I do that?"

"Three visions from various sources. All of them have no time code. All of them saw the majority of your country destroyed. Ninety percent casualty rate." He stared at him. "They need to be safe so you can be the big, damn hero. I'm here as a courtesy on my way to nag my newest trainee to go to Scotland or Wales."

He blinked. "Germany?"

"With a new sacrificial cult? Probably not healthy for her until she's at least a teenager and less innocent."

The Baron sat down, staring at him. "What visions?" Xander laid them on the table in front of him. He read them over, grimacing. "How correct?" he asked, looking up. He didn't want to believe but the boy looked too serious this time. No sign of the bounciness he had the last time they had run into each other. Or even from Marseille.

"I've been off-time twice. I don't have a time code for you. But I respect your version of badass and for the help you gave me way back when, I'll let you know sooner so you can arrange things beyond the official ones. Otherwise I'd show up to your president tomorrow after I nag the mini." He took another sip, seeing the anger.

"Usually I'm not allowed to specifically warn. It's seen as skewing and playing favorites, which we're not allowed to do. I can go on the news to warn *everyone* but not single people unless it's directly about them." He handed over the other one from his pocket. "Why I'm warning you personally though." He read that and went stiff, grimacing with a nod. "So.... They didn't see that one. I didn't record it because I think I can change that one."

"if their deaths are destined perhaps not."

"But at least they won't be dying by the whole country floating and then falling back into place."

"No, it won't be that horrific of a death," he agreed quietly. He tapped them together. "My copies?"

"No. But I do have another one. I realize the nature of governments, especially in relation to Council matters. Yours are hidebound asses. They probably won't want to do anything because it'll look fishy. I did warn the slayer houses nearest to here so they can be alert that at that time, they're going to need clean up and post-apocalypse procedures.

"I warned some groups I deal with in Africa that work with refugees. That way they know it's coming even if we don't know when. There's not a plan for European refugee crisis times. This would be worse than that so needs a bigger plan and you've got the skills and the contacts to do that best."

"No, we don't have one," he agreed. "Fuck!" He had to let that out. His whole life, destroyed thanks to someone's hubris.

Xander nodded, finishing his soda. "That's why I wanted you to finish having a happy time tonight. Before you stick your son and wife on a plane tomorrow going somewhere as far from here and them as you can get."

"Yes, they're going to visit her mother in the Carribean." He blinked, making plans. "How can we stop it?"

"Get Stark to stop his shit? He's...he's trying to do the right thing from what I saw. He's worried about what happens when they're down on heroes due to injuries or deaths. Who's going to handle the bigger shit coming. So he's going to make something to handle it. We've warned him. We're pretty sure he decided to just fix his idea."

The baron sucked in a breath then let it out. "This year?"

"Couldn't tell you. I didn't see a time code beyond no snow."

"Which is about ten months of the year," he realized, rubbing his forehead while leaning back. "My son is seven."

"So he's a good age to look at boarding schools?" Xander offered, staring at him. "Because if you go to that end stage one, then you become the sort that I usually attract and then help end other problems. That could probably use fixed but that happening is the key point of a new major threat chain starting. You're the signpost."

He stared at him. "What sort is that one?"

"A purple space mother fucker who wants to kill half of everyone and everything. And may win." The baron slumped. "By snapping like the queen he wants to be."

"Shit!"

"Yup, my feeling. That vision actually caused a migraine because I went into handling mode to make plans. Which no one wanted to hear until I showed them the vision and the prophecy." He stared at him. "I'll give you the opportunity. I do respect you for the help you gave us and me. Plus for being the badass role model I can look up to. Unlike my earlier one from the underground SHIELD comics." He grinned.

"I noticed that problem with you at that event." He looked down then nodded. "Will it save them?" Xander shrugged and shook his head. "You have no idea?"

"I haven't seen either way about them. During that one vision I saw your face imposed on a manor house and it falling down from the sky with them in it and being destroyed. Pretty, old country manor house type of house. With a nice hedge garden out back."

The baron nodded. "My home. Yes, they need to go visiting tonight." He swallowed. "Thank you."

"Welcome. Figure out an evac plan if you can? Your country has almost no emergency plans in case of an attack and you're awfully near a hellmouth in Southern Russia." He gave him a pointed look before getting up and heading off.

The Baron reread them, handing them to his second-in-command when he came in. "The bouncy young one was nice to warn you," he said. He took the other one from the table to read, then grimaced. "Oh, dear." He looked at his boss. "I can see you doing that."

"I can see me doing such as well but I'd be the signpost of another emergency starting." He stood up. "My family is going visiting."

"I'll call your wife to alert her you're on your way home."

"Please. Though he's right, we don't have any emergency plans." He took the visions with him. "If their families go visiting, good. All he knows is there's no snow."

"Understood, sir." He went to tell the others. They were mostly still there. Only the birthday boy had went home with his girlfriend. He didn't deserve that on his birthday. "That one was Council. They have visions."

"The point in Southern Russia?" one asked. "The cult we've heard about in Germany?"

"Worse. Avengers." They all groaned. "And we all died. Most of the country." They all looked at each other then at him. "He agreed, if people want to go visiting, they should probably. We meet tomorrow." They nodded, going home to send their families to safety. He did the same, though he didn't have a wife and family. He had siblings and they had to flee tonight.

***

Xander met with the Prime Minister of Sokovia. "Sir. Xander Harris, senior watcher to the minis at home in Africa. Also the Council's seer."

The man flinched, staring at him. "Oh, dear. We're having an apocalypse battle?"

"Worse. Avengers level battle." He laid the copies on the table for him to look at. "We've warned Stark. We're not sure if he can mitigate it or go around it. Your people don't have an evac plan. It's my duty to warn you."

He read them slowly then grimaced. "Can it be gone around?"

"I don't honestly know. I know there's no time code. All I saw was no snow. The other seers didn't see one either."

"My people tell me you were in the country last night."

"I stopped in to talk to a person I met during something in France a few years back." He smiled. "Said hi, inquired about his wife and son, warned him that him losing his family was the signpost of another major Avengers event starting. It's part of a prophecy and a vision. He deserved the right to know."

"Is he going to lose them?"

"I don't know. I don't know if it's here, somewhere else, if it's a car accident instead. But if he falls, then that's the countdown timer starting on a situation that brings a space threat that wants to kill half of everyone and everything. And he'll win for a bit." The guy winced. "But by then it would've been at least a year since your country fell. With the ninety percent death rate we saw, I'm pretty sure that's what was going to happen to them."

"I can understand that." He considered it. "What can we do?"

"The thing starts with an attack on Avengers tower. They're all gathered there. Having some fun, and then a robot attacks. Somehow. One that Stark realizes about. But he wants final peace. And he's going to make this country his throne." He stared at him, eyes flat, face expressionless.

"So maybe some emergency plans? If something like the hellmouth in Southern Russia acts up or is opened, you're within three hundred miles so would get some overflow problems. The groups I've worked with in Africa with refugees say there's no plans in any of Europe for anything that might cause refugees."

"No, we don't," he said, tipping his head up. "All right. I need to tell my people."

"That's why we sent me to warn you. So your people can handle that when and if it happens. If we can mitigate it, it might lessen it. It might not happen at all. It might happen somewhere else. Then I have to go warn the EU about the other problem that's coming. Because the space mother fucker is insane and not able to be fought at first. We spend five years without half of everyone and everything. Then something happened and they came back. Then the war was won."

The Prime Minister stared at him. "That's heinous. And probably magical."

"He's got some sort of glove thingy that has power." He waved at his hand. "I saw sparkly things. He snapped his fingers."

The other man sighed but nodded. "Charming."

"About, yeah. But we've gotta handle what we've gotta handle. And I've gotta warn others."

"True. Are you an agent?"

"No, I'm the guy who jumped in at sixteen because one little blonde airheaded bratling shouldn't be saving the world by herself," he quipped.

"Then how did you meet our black ops team?"

"I was in France and got invited to a formal event but some of my contacts and lovers were also there so I nicely used the Baron as a shield against them causing a scene. He was deadly enough to be one of mine but not evil enough." He grinned. "He was very nice."

"Oh, all right. That's interesting." He nodded. "I'll let our people know."

"Thank you. Also, I'm going to nag our new mini in country to move. She's a year old."

"That could help her survive, yes."

Xander smiled. "Great. Have a good talk, Prime Minister." He bowed and left, going to her house. He knocked and looked at the woman answering the door. "Agent Romanoff, haven't I warned you off from going near the minis because you wanted to spare them their calling in the worst manner possible?" He stepped in.

"I'm trying to get her to leave."

"So am I." He walked over, staring at the mother, grinning. "I'm Xander. I train the minis in Africa. While we leave the minis in their homes these days, because we want the girls to be happy and healthy children until they're old enough to understand the calling that sucks so hard, the country's not safe. There's an Avengers level problem coming some year soon. We don't know when." Romanoff gasped.

"It's going to destroy the country. Ninety percent death rates *seen*. So I'm here to let you ask me questions, give you the first contact stuff we give to our minis's parents, and then encourage you to move countries. Not to Russia. They have a hellmouth near here." He sat down, smiling at the kid she held.

"Hey, Princess. May I?" She slumped but let him hold her. The baby beamed and babbled noise at him. "Hi!" He grinned. "Yeah, Sineya told you about me, huh? I'm a good trainer when you're older. But you don't get a single bit of training until you're at least eight and then we just let you know and let you learn about the bigger girls."

He handed her back with a smile. "We *demand* that our kids have a happy childhood, because their later years are going to suck and they need to be healthy and happy people to survive. They need the basis that a loving family gives them. Those of us who didn't have it, we don't live, we survive. The girls should all live and make their choices." He stared at her.

"My cousin was one years ago."

"Yeah, that was the old Council. They all got blown up by what took down Sunnydale. Which meant the Sunnydale team reformed it so it was good to the girls and supported them and their duties. Even if they chose not to take it up. That's her choice when she's eighteen. Until then, we want her to be happy, playing, making friends, going to a good school, all that.

"When she's about eight we show up and tell her she's a future Chosen. We let her ask questions if she's realized something's different due to the mole. Or if she beat a bully and sent him to the ICU from a single punch like one of ours did." He grinned a bit. "The little bitch deserved it for trying to give her to a janitor they thought touched the kids.

"At that age, and before if you wish, you can send her to self defense classes. We do encourage it at that age if you haven't yet. That way she's safer as she turns into a teenager. When she's hit puberty we hit her with the sucky things, like identification and the like. The truth about patrols. That way she hits all the bad points in her life at once and can wrap her mind around it all.

"Then she learns identification and all that, plus how to patrol, when she's at least sixteen. She can start identification at fourteen but the house closest to here won't let them until sixteen." He shrugged. "The minis are told to call if something's weird and they'll show up, which we will. We let them have their formal field manual." He pulled around his pack to hand it to her.

"For the parents. In case they see something weird. Sometimes the peaceful community will watch over the younger girls. Sometimes to make bets about how she turns out. Some of them think about the girls like Snow White. Because we've got some petting girls in the minis in Germany." He smiled.

"They'll pet anything with fur or scales or hide. So they make sure they're all right but not heading for anyone important. At sixteen, they can opt to go to a slayer house for training duties or do it by long distance and then show up the next year for some training patrols. That way they know what to do if they are attacked.

"That way they're not the sort that has to handle things accidentally and then break down. They go out on monitored patrols, taught how to do it, all that. Whichever house she picks with your help. At eighteen she chooses to go on patrol or to go back to a normal life and just protect those around her house and family. Sometimes in colleges things happen and they have to handle it because there's not time to call in help.

"We'd never leave them too innocent to help themselves. Buffy was adamant. She tried to get her first watcher to go away. He made her meet him in a cemetery and she accidentally staked one then realized what he had been trying to tell her. We'd like the girls to have a bit of a better intro to that instead of just instincts. We want our girls to be safe little heathens who're healthy and happy girls. Even if Buffy's part of the slayer spirit will prompt them to shop."

Natasha sat down. "Why wait so long on self defense?"

"Because it can scare a younger girl. At eight, she's capable of some logic. The slayer spirit is starting to talk to her about things around her. She's starting to notice things. At six, self defense is considered fun but they have no idea why if their parents are good and are lucky that they're not mugged." He stared at her.

"They don't get weapons until they're at least fourteen. Then it's safe practice weapons for swords, axes, and those things practices. They have blade guards on them just in case she'll need them because we're honest that a teenager is in more danger than anyone but a newborn." He looked at the mother when she nodded.

"But we're here to help you and her. We're here for support, training, all that. I won't lie and say that some of the older watches aren't assholes," he admitted with a smirk. "And so am I sometimes, but we'd never hurt a mini. We only step into family things if we need to protect the girl or she asks for us to. We did have to step into a divorce.

"She called crying to Buffy so Faith went to tell her parents to grow up and quit fighting in front of the kid. By that night they had gotten things worked out with Faith staring at them while guarding the mini from the fighting going on." He grinned. "The kid's fine though. The parents figured out how to co-parent almost immediately."

"There are children in the houses," Natasha said.

"They have social workers in their lives, Agent Romanoff." He stared at her. "Most of them are orphans. The most vulnerable are in a specially hidden house. The others are hopefully near where they grew up. A few...that was dangerous so they're not. They're either in hiding or in the main house because of the protections on it. And one's in Texas because I sent her at her big sister.

"She's not a slayer but the rebels we had to hide her sister from came back for her parents and no one was local to help them. The police got there ten minutes too late. They evacuated the kid to me, I gave her to her sister after getting her calmed down and arranging the funeral with her help. The old Council took in the girls. We don't.

"They have a family for a reason and that reason is so they grow up healthier than the old liners did and happier than they made them. We honor their memory so we never go back there again. If I'm dead at that time, I've called in a life debt to call me back so I can come correct that problem." She smiled at that.

He looked at the mother again. "So consider us like nosy aunts and uncles." He smiled. "I'm not the usual one around here. I'm in Africa about eighty percent of the time. It would've been Kennedy coming to tell you but she's got a broken leg and I had to come tell people about a few visions. Which is why we want to nag you to move for hers and your safety."

"What is this problem?" the agent asked.

Xander shifted to cross his legs, looking at her. "What happens when you're all, all the Avengers, are old, broken, or dead. Or even in the ER after a battle and another one pops up?" She moaned at that. He nodded. "Someone has an idea and it might be a good one but he goes full on 'world peace is only attainable one way' and tries to start here." She slumped, muttering.

"We've warned him. I don't think it's been fully stopped. I hope so but I can't say for certain. When the country's flying around and then plummets to the earth...." The mother clutched her daughter, making Xander nod. "So, can we sponsor your move to another area?" he asked with a smile.

"I will see if my husband can change offices. Soon?"

"No time code in them that I or anyone saw," he admitted.

"None at all??" Romanoff asked.

"All I know is there's not snow. I can't even tell if it's this year or not. Thanks to Buffy's warping I saw some runway fashions from this year but also some older ones and only one I didn't recognize but it could just be because she didn't force her fashion crimes under my nose again to get my opinion as a guy who won't be impressed with anything she wears. Apparently she finally realized I can do that because I won't perv but she's done that to me since we were teens." He grimaced.

"She is said to be a fashionable girl sort," Natasha admitted. Xander moaned and held his head. "Oh, is that a vision?" He nodded, holding up a hand. "Is that a time code?"

He blinked, wiping off his face. "If you ever want to see your sister again, the one from Ohio, go find her now. Before they can stop her from giving others the chemical freedom. If you crash them, warn the civilians and aim for farm land." She gasped, standing up. He nodded. "They're on some flying thingy." He waved a hand. "So many are under chemical control. She's working on that."

"I thought she died."

"Nope." He stared at her. "And watch out for Ross! Who annoys me greatly." She nodded, saying something quietly to the mother before going. He looked at the mother again. "That's an old problem that can be fixed finally." He got comfortable. "Ask me questions. I'm used to it from the mothers of my minis." He grinned.

"What if she doesn't want to patrol?"

"Then we pay for college. Even if she does want to patrol we pay for college or whatever training she wants. They're to have whatever sort of life they want and if they want to retire after college, it seems to be a common thing with the girls." She blinked a few times. He grinned. "I've got one of mine that just started vo-tech to learn to drive trucks. We've got about sixteen in colleges around the US and another ten in the rest of the world.

"When she's ready, she'll tell us what she wants to do as an adult. We'll help her get there and help her learn how to protect herself no matter which choice she makes. If she wants to go no-patrol or just bigger battles, that's fine!" He smiled.

"A lot do. Some due to religious and cultural choices. At sixteen she'll be told she has choices and start to talk to the older girls about their choices and about patrol stuff. We'll let her talk to any of them she wants. They have their own mailing list and bulletin board. It's on the back page of the book."

She relaxed. "The older girls are not allowed to share any bad information with the minis. They hear that we have memorial services but not why, not how, not because of a boyfriend or a battle. They don't get told that until they're teens."

"I can see that." She sighed, looking at her daughter then at him. "If something happens to us?"

"We'll go talk to whoever your will leaves her to. If we had to take her in, we can do that. We have two that their parents have made that decision. One's mother is a truck driver, which is why the mini decided that sounded neat. She shows up for summer camp and out-of-truck times. She's almost nine I think. The other...we've got a watch with the local officers because her mother's a bit...not fully good at it.

"She's not the sort to torture her kids for any reason but she almost let someone talk her into doing an exorcism that would harm her daughter. At which time the officers know to call one of us and we'll come pick up the kid. We only intervene when we need to. We do not snatch the kids anymore. And if I find one that likes that idea I kick an ass. A lot. Sometimes even with my special battle axe," he finished with a grin. "We haven't had too many like that since then."

She tried not to smile at that. "You're very fierce."

"I try. But my minis in Africa still call me mushy. I show up, go over their school work with them, help them learn self defense because most of them are in smaller village areas instead of cities. Some are near war zones. I end up buying a lot of groceries when I show up with my girls because of their villages." She nodded she understood that.

"I have one that's part of a nomadic tribe that herds cows. The girls sent her ten tons of cutesy fabrics for her last birthday because she turned twelve. And a few stuffed animals. She made things and sold them for her future dowry. We told her about all this already and her parents know she can get married but pregnancy isn't always a safe time so she's got to make plans. I teach my girls some strategy too. It can come in handy down there. But this is Europe."

"What they need we hopefully won't. Where is safer?"

He pulled out his phone to get into his map. "These are the hellmouths and troubled spots we noted and keep track of." He let her see it. "The slayer houses are in green dots. Our head witch did the map. And we do not let Willow near the minis," he said quietly, staring at her.

"She won't hurt them but she has a few weird ideas like 'let's turn someone into a cat to give me someone to pet'." He grimaced. She moaned as she handed the phone back. "Willow's not to get near the minis unless it's an emergency. You may see Faith or Buffy though. They take turns through Europe every six months or so in rotating order. We always have two senior girls in Europe somewhere. Kennedy's in England."

"That's fine," she agreed. "My husband will be back tonight?"

"That's great. I can arrange for him to contact the other parents and make sure you can get onto the bulletin board. The parents have their own areas, the minis have their safe areas, the senior girls have locked ones that they get the code to once they're sixteen or if something huge happens so they have someone they can talk to about the stupid things that vampires can do. We have had a few attacked younger so those we give them the advanced training sooner."

"Which is sensible." She looked at her girl, then handed her over. Xander cuddled her while she got her phone and came back to talk to her husband. "Are you busy? Our daughter's future coworker is here to talk about her mole. She is a future slayer." She looked at Xander. "No, she's napping on his arm and drooling."

"Baby drool's fine. I only mind hellhound drool. It's got a high sulfur content so bleaches shirts." He grinned. "I can talk to you guys tonight if he's busy. I don't mind. I could use good food. I come to Europe and all I do is eat." He grinned. "Then I go to Africa and have to eat snake sometimes."

She listened. "No, she's staying with us. Not like my cousin."

"No, we stopped that, fast," Xander assured them. "I will kick a behind if they try that again without something like a social worker or the girl needing saved. With my battle axe if I have to. We will not snatch a kid and if we can find your cousin's name in the books we can let you know what happened to her.

"A lot of the older ones were released at eighteen without any support and often little school. She might not remember her family. We do have some of the books that tracked some of them. Some got blown up when the old Council did."

"I would like that. So would my mother."

"It's not a problem. Higgens is in the library and he can see if we have anything on her or he might know. He's been a historian for the Council since the nineties." She smiled at that. "I can wait. This is important but you've got a few years. I can wait on him to get home. It's not a problem."

"He was about to leave early and go play golf," she admitted. He hung up so she put her phone down. "Will she have the gifts we hear about?"

Xander grinned and nodded. "Yep. A lot. Faster, stronger, climbing stuff? All that. Almost all the girls are anti-book work too. Geography grades are notoriously low. They only master history when it's Council history because we make them take it a second time if they fail in their teens." He grinned. "A lot of the girls will show tendencies toward a few of the former slayers more than others. Some are very like Buffy and shop.

"She was a fashionable LA girl before she got Chosen. Some of them really love knives because of Faith's part of the spirit. And leather pants. So if she suddenly starts to look like she belongs in a biker gang, that's that. Or Sama's fault possibly. She's part of a Korean biker gang.

"A few have really started to channel Ambrice, who is a nerdy little girl who has an attitude problem about men. And some of the girls get both parts. She'll figure out who she is and tell us all. The same as you'll get to know a few of the senior girls. They're gong to check on her and you guys to make sure you're safe. They're nosy that way."

"I can understand that." Her husband's car pulled in and he came in. "Good day?" she asked hopefully.

"Mostly. Until I got called."

"Hi, Xander Harris. I'm the trainer for the minis staying at home in Africa but I was up this way to tell about a vision coming up soonish. Which means I'm trying to talk you guys into moving somewhere safer as well. Come sit and talk to us about your precious one here." The baby stretched and yawned then curled up on her side. "Okay, you can do that. You're still cuter than a puppy."

He grinned at the father. "We at the *new* Council support the families staying together. We want them to be happy, healthy young women with bright futures. I'm here to do the introductory talk so you know and when she's about eight, we'll show up to talk to her about the hairy mole problem she has."

"I was hopeful when I heard about her cousin."

Xander shifted to pull out his phone, dialing a number on speed dial. "Petrie, do you have access to the former slayer files? The one I'm informing right now has a mother's cousin who was one. I'm going to hand her the phone." He did that and she listened then told him her cousin's name, listening to what he said. She gasped. Xander looked at the father. "There's an upcoming vision that shows the country mostly being destroyed," he said quietly.

"He said Mr. Giles doesn't like that one."

He looked at her. "I haven't been more than off time yet, dear, and I didn't come up with a time code this time. It may be slightly changing but yeah, I warned the PM earlier so he can make plans." He looked at the father. "Since I was nearby I told Kennedy I'd tell you. We want her to grow up healthy, happy, and able to know her own mind. It's up to her if she patrols someday.

"It's up to her what she wants to become as an adult. She'll let us know at eighteen. We formally ask the day after graduation from high school." The father smiled at that. "She can't even train for more than self defense until sixteen. She won't get a weapon until she's at least fourteen and it'll have a blade guard.

"Now, if something comes for her, she'll try to pick one up. I had to calm down one that got attacked by a halfie at school and picked up a knife. She's got memories but nothing else yet. Who she becomes is up to you unless I have to act with a social worker or a judge."

"That's good to know," he sighed, sitting down in his chair to watch his daughter nap. "She's very comfortable on you."

"Sineya, the first slayer, tells the minis about me so they're used to what a watcher and helper is. That way they don't panic." He shrugged a bit. "It's helped a lot. I had a few parents who got really mad when I first started to do notifications. I got arrested twice for that. Then we worked it out and I talked to Sineya. So she tells the girls."

"The first slayer?"

"All slayers have an imprint of the former girls. Now all the girls who're actively called. Plus the ones that came before. Buffy got a lot from one of the ones in the late eighteen hundreds." The father sighed, shaking his head. "Yeah, basically. But it taught her how to wear a corset." The father snorted, looking amused. "She's fashionable. So if this little one shops, you'll see a lot of Buffy in her and watch out for booty skirts."

The mother burst out laughing. "The one on the phone said that's an epidemic today."

"Yeah, if I'm in the main house I enforce a dress code of 'don't look like you're clubbing'. Faith does too but isn't as strong about it. I'm downright big brother about the clothes travesties some of the girls have. Including the mistress of the heels on patrol problem."

She smiled and listened, finding some paper and a pen to make notes. The father sighed. "Can we talk to them?"

"Of course. We're here for support. Parents and our slayers both. It's a hard life but the better family is around her, the stronger they are, the longer she'll last and learn to live life instead of just surviving. Consider her like a destined soldier in a lot of ways."

He nodded. "My father was one."

"If he's still around he can probably mentor her as she gets older. We don't tell the girls themselves until they're eight. That way they're able to ask questions and think about things. Plus learn about the bigger girls. If they're attacked, we show up to help as soon as we can. Or as soon as you call us to tell us there's a problem." He nodded.

"I'm honest. There's people that hate slayers being girls. They all discount me as being a guy there when they complain about women saving them." He grinned. "Which means I've got a battle axe. If we have to evacuate her, we'd let you follow her as soon as you could or we'd put her into something like hiding if we must. We have girls who have been taken from their families for good reasons. Them we protect more directly."

"I can see that." He took his daughter to cuddle, making her yawn at him and smile then babble and pat his face. "Yes, you're a good, special girl."

Xander smiled. "That's important to her health. That's what we all want for her."

"Good." He looked at him. "What about before she's eight?"

"She can have baby self defense lessons if you want. It can help some with the strength and speed issues she can have. Also help with growth spurt tripping problems. It might also calm down the hyperness most of the girls have in spurts for a few weeks at a time when it's about apocalypse time. We have ones that we've worked with. The senior girls at the local houses would have name lists if you wanted."

"Is England safer?"

"For the most part. Their peaceful community is mostly at truce. There's a few underworld connections but they're more hidden. They tend to stick mostly to the cities and a few commune towns. There's whole areas that have almost none and if they're there they're peaceful. Usually it's multi-generational there." That got a nod.

"Our nearest house is in Germany but they're having a small sacrificial cult issue. The one that checks on most of the minis is either out of Spain or out of Denmark. She's sweet, is about to become a grandma. She's their house mom up there. She nags a lot about cleaning their rooms and not dating dirtbags." He grinned. "It's a common problem some years."

"Is there one in France?"

"France declared we're all delusional and there's no such thing as peaceful community members, or other sorts, and that slayers don't actually exist. We're role playing nerds to them." He grinned. "Then they complain they have to handle their own problems so we sneak in to handle it then sneak back out. We have an inspector in Interpol who does the paperwork people demand. He follows us into things, then does the forms while we sneak out of the ER."

"That's reasonable," he decided, looking down. "Will they hover?"

"Probably not. A few of the other minis might. We encourage the girls to talk to each other. That way they know others with the same weird things."

"That's good."

"The bulletin board has areas for parents too." He grinned. "Andrew, our house mother in the main house, set it up for them. It even translates."

"That's wonderful," the mother said, hanging up and handing Xander his phone back. "She's in New York."

"The house in New York is in Harlem. We can get you the address so you can talk to them to see if they've seen her."

"He did." She smiled at her husband, taking his hand to hold. "She'll be fine."

"For as long as we can all make sure of it," Xander assured them, standing up. "My number's in there too." He smiled at the parents. "If you have questions, let us know. Either by email, calling, or on the bulletin board. I'm more likely to answer a phone call as I'm never in my email unless I'm sending in reports. She'll be fine, but we do want you to be safer so move soon?" They nodded. He shook hands and left them to talk about her future.

***

Xander got pulled into a meeting, literally. Agent Romanoff hauled him off the street by his arm, making him glare at her. "I am open to polite requests," he said dryly. Someone took a swing at him so he stabbed them and then glared at her, knife still in hand. "So, not who you're pretending to be, because she's off saving others. What did you want to talk to me about?"

"You should lose that temper of yours, boy," Thaddius Ross said as he came to the doorway of the room they had wanted him in.

Xander stared at him. "Aww, it's the guy who wants to do medical experimentation on babies! How cute!" He sneered. "Like fuck you'll get a slayer while I live and if I die, they'll call me the fuck back by an owed life debt." He smirked. "So you won't win. The only thing you can do is blow yourself. We'd prefer if you blew yourself up, but hey, any way that works for you and entertains us," he said sarcastically.

"I can have you put in jail for stabbing him, boy."

"I doubt that." He smirked. "Should I make a call to check?"

"He's in here and removed that *permission* of yours," Ross sneered, moving closer.

"Yeah, that's not the president. The president always smells like baby powder thanks to his wife's perfume he has to help her put on. That guy in there smells like roast beef."

"You're enhanced," Ross said smugly.

"No. Just had a possession." He let it forward and chuckled, his eyes glowing. "She's a great friend to have over my shoulder." Ross looked horrified, backing away. Xander let her out fully, going into full hyena mode to kill the others. Ross ran from him and managed to escape. The fake president was cowering in a corner when Xander made himself come back up.

The fake agent was bloody and leaning against a wall. Xander threw a dagger as he dialed the video calling system, killing her as the president answered. "It's not her, I had a vision she had to go handle since it was her former people." He walked over to remove the device, letting the president see who it was. He looked at the picture again then showed him the one in front of him.

"Who in the frilly heck is that, Harris?"

"Don't know yet. I went full on Hyena to get Ross. Who had that fake agent pull me off a street." He coughed and spit the blood onto the body then reached down to remove the veil over that fake president's face. "Huh." He looked at the picture.

"I don't recognize him."

"I do. He's part of a private group." The president winced. "Yeah, that one. So.... I had to hyena out. Got a few soldiers, got a few ...others who may be agents. Nearly got Ross. Can't I just blow him the fuck up next time, Sir?"

"I mean, I'd rather you not blow up the Secretary of State, Harris. But if he's trying to get a mini slayer or one of the girls, go for it."

"Can I just preemptively strike?"

"No. That's not good. We can't allow that. Handle..." He waved a hand. "And don't bother the ones here in DC. We're having a bad summit about who handles what and how to make sure no more HYDRA people get in."

"I'd be more worried about why Wolfram and Hart wanted SHIELD, Sir. They were behind the LA invasion and want to rule the world just as much. Which could mean the slayers have to handle SHIELD." He grinned. "I've got a few human poker buddies who'd be very pleased at that."

"Don't tempt me, Harris." He hung up with a sigh.

Xander hummed as he kicked the guy a few times, pointing his camera on his phone at the guy. "Hey, Cointreau."

"Creme de Cacao? What?" He quit kicking the guy for a second then did it a few more times, making the other man groan. "What did he do?"

"He was wearing an illusion veil like SHIELD uses pretending to be the president while Ross was trying to get me." He stared at the screen once he flipped the camera around. "We're in New York." He grinned.

"Oh, dear. They're going to hate that."

"Me kicking him so much or his actions? Because I haven't gotten a call in even when it was demonic."

"You're retired."

"Mostly. Right now I'm more handling upcoming emergencies. Did you get the email?"

"No." She looked then sighed and found it in another person's email. "They have mine forwarded because there's one from my daughter." She read his and groaned. "Oh, fuck no!" she burst out.

He grinned. "I warned. A lot. Including that nice Baron that helped us in France. Including about that last part. So...." He grinned at the camera and shot the person coming in. "Anyway.... What do you want me to do with this one?"

"I... Hold on. COLA!" she bellowed.

"What?" came back in a cranky female voice. She came in. "CC?"

He flipped the camera for a second then back to his side of the phone. "He was pretending to be the president, who does know, while Ross was trying to get me. What am I doing with him?"

"Hell if I know," she admitted. "That's not Ginger Ale right?"

"His brother. The former one."

"Oh, shit," she said.

"And my emails were forwarded to his inbox. Including a few from Darcy," Cointreau said dryly.

Cola, the head of the tech department most of the time, when her boss wasn't napping in his office, just nodded. "Fuck if I know, kiddo."

"Is this like the old Arthur that nearly got Kingsmen shut down during Valentine?"

They shared a look. "No idea," they admitted together.

"Call Campari?"

"The president warned me not to call anyone in DC. They're having a summit."

"Hold on. Whiskey!" she called, making him backtrack.

"Yeah, Cola?" he asked, staring at her then at the screen. "CC?"

"And the former Ginger Ale," he quipped. "Who was pretending to be the president while Ross was trying to get me."

"Fuck," he said.

"My emails were forwarded to the current one's inbox. He had read one from Darcy complaining about her love life," she said, leaning back.

Xander nodded. "Yeah, not liking this implication. And why am I not being called in?"

"That I don't know," Whiskey admitted. "Huh." He considered it. "Well...."

"I'm in New York. I can kick him some more."

"No, let me get him gathered. Are you secure?"

Xander looked out in the hallway at the soldiers. "Guys, I'm Council. This one attacked me," he called. "I made the mess. Already told the president on myself. And he knows Ross set this whole shit up." The leader groaned, looking at him. He shrugged. "Hi, Xander Harris with the Council." He hung up.

He got a text message saying that their pick up was in twenty minutes. Xander sent back he had to brief people about an upcoming apocalypse thingy and he was already late. He sent one to that contact, who said they had heard Ross had him grabbed so it was fine. He shared that with Whiskey and the others. Then he looked at the soldiers once his phone was back. He reached down to turn back on the veil and pointed. "With Ross."

The soldier came in. "He looks like the president."

"Yeah, that's SHIELD tech Ross was having him use. I've called his people because I have a poker buddy who knows them." He grinned at the one stomping in. "Sir. Are you here to pick up my kicking target?"

"Nope. Here about you, Harris." He smirked.

"Yeah, I recognize you from the underground comics. I used to stan because you were the only normal guy who just said fuck it, someone's got to do it, so I had a role model."

Someone came jogging up the hall. "Sir," they said. "This drunken person?"

"Oh, he's not a full drunk," Xander said, getting out of the way. That was the Statesmen's coded phrase. "But his face is awfully broken." He turned off the veil again, making that agent gasp. "Yeah, working with Ross. So was she, pretending to be Natasha Romanoff."

They looked and got them both loaded then let the soldiers escort them and clean up the mess. "So," Clint Barton said, staring at him with a grin.

"I'm late for a meeting about an apocalypse."

"I got sent to pick you up by them. Where is Romanoff?"

"I had a vision of her as a kid with a sister so she went to save her from the chemicals infecting them. Plus probably take down the flying fortress or whatever the Russians are calling it."

"I wish she had called. I would've helped. Let's go talk."

"To the UN?"

"Stark tower."

"UN first. Unfortunately they're part of it."

"Shit." He followed Xander, who was wiping his shirt off with a grimace. "Why are you out of Africa?"

"Visions suck," he said, looking at him from across the SUV. "Especially when you see a whole country die. Then one of the grieving ones taking out the UN, and that's the signpost of timing for a space mother fucker."

"Aw, damn it!"

"Yeah." He nodded with a grin. "We did warn you guys."

"I heard." He got in to drive. Xander got in with him and they went to the UN. "Here you go, one delayed person who had to handle some problems."

Xander looked at him. "You know, if Wolfram and Hart keeps infiltrating SHIELD, sometime soon the slayers are going to have to handle it. Since they can't handle humans so someone's going to have to go to a poker contact. Mine are busy but...."

"Shit!" Barton muttered. "The guys behind the LA invasion?" Xander grinned and nodded. "Super shit," he muttered. Xander nodded at that. "Yeah, let's stop that. How did you hear that? Contacts?"

"A certain astrophysicist I was helping guard got told."

Clint looked pained. "Great." The others in the room looked at them.

"It dovetails," Xander said, pulling up copies of the visions. Then he looked. "That's not the right file." He got into another one and that was tampered with so he pulled it up off his online site, which wasn't tampered with. "Demon mafia owned. No one wants to hack them. Being eaten sucks." He pointed.

"We have three visions of the first event. We did warn the one in the event, and the PM over there. Which means Europe's going to have a refugee crisis in the middle of itself. None of you have emergency protocols for that." They all groaned. "After that, I saw a grieving soldier from Sokovia blowing up people in the UN to cast blame towards someone else." He looked at that person.

"I'm sorry to say I saw your death, King T'Chaka." He winced. "Then that's the signpost for this one." He let that one up. That one was changed but he stared. "That's been added to by another source that's probably Willow. Oh, they think they saw how it got fixed after five years of half of everyone dying in a snap. The only time code for Sokovia is I didn't see snow."

The Eastern European block's ambassadors all shared a look then at him. "Will it happen?"

"I've warned. If Stark can undo it, maybe it can be mitigated. I'm not sure. I did warn their PM the day after I got there. I had to find our new mini in the area to get them to move. I talked to that soldier too. Just so he knew and probably might not do that particular thing." He looked at the King of Wakanda. "If the battle site looks familiar, it's off your western edge. I saw your son there. And daughter. And Dora Milaje."

"Of course they would fight for everyone," he agreed with a nod. "My children?"

"Your son got snapped, King T'Chaka. So did most of the ones in this room. Barton didn't. I'm not sure if I did." They slumped. "Stark and them figured it out but it took them five years. Then everyone came back to the same state they were in when they left. Which meant those who were on planes when the idiot snapped came back in the same location and we had an it's raining people moment in some areas." Barton winced at that. Xander patted him on the arm.

"You ran home." He stared at him, getting a heated look. Xander nodded. "All of them," he said quietly. "So went vengeance." He looked at them. "Someone's got to handle that and make some plans. The slayers can help but I'm not sure what sort of help they'd be in a battle with higher weapons.

"Swords might not work too well. We have taught the girls how to shoot, but they might be better at protecting things." He looked at the king again. "I saw Mimsy there. I talked to her parents, they were going to go see her father's aunt who works in a college down that way. She was probably eleven and she's nine right now. So we have some time for that point. Which means that it's probably sooner instead of later."

"How correct are you?" one of the ambassadors asked.

"I've been off-time twice. Trying to fix it delayed it." They all nodded at that. "But I don't have a time code for Sokovia. No looking at my watch or anything. That showed it might be able to change but...." He shrugged. "You guys gotta know to handle things. Like a whole country going down suddenly and ninety percent of them dying. And eventually two new avengers members which is helpful in that first battle and the second because one of the twins was super powerful. Reminded me of Rosenburg."

"Twins," the king asked.

"Yeah, I have no idea. I know they're twins. In the vision I saw Barton telling them about going into battle means they're avengers suddenly." They groaned and Barton nodded. "So, how can we help you guys make plans? I've warned the people I work with in Africa who work with refugee agencies so they're aware there's a huge few visions coming."

"You warned them first?" the ambassador for Russia asked.

"Yes, theirs is first. They had to handle emergency plans sooner and more personally than you guys, who have none if the hellmouth in Southern Russia goes off. They'll need immediate evacuations if possible. You guys are close but it'll be them personally. Their main city floating and them plummeting down." He winced, rubbing his head. "Oh, hey. Call her, Barton. She's gotta have a contact. Tell her about Dmitri being too dirty this time?"

"Sure," he said, texting that suddenly to her phone. Then another contact he used in that part of the world who had been SHIELD. That got a 'thank you for the warning'. "She said thanks, kid."

Xander looked at him. "I'm not that young," he said dryly, smirking at him. Then at the others. "Everyone underestimates me." They all smiled at that bit of levity. "They all think I'm normal too." He looked at the king. Then at the others. "So what can we help you guys do?"

"We need an EU wide plan," one said with a nod. "And possibly a NATO one as well." He looked around the table. "Where is that hellmouth? Can it be closed?"

"It's relatively closed right now. It's got a thin film over it to keep it mostly just a small leak. And it's..." He pulled up his map then another map off google maps. "There." He pointed. "On the southern edge of that county. If you bring out an energy sensor you can track it to a small obelisk that was planted there by a Russian mystic who used to protect it back during the war against the Ottoman empire.

"The obelisk is just to the north of the site by a few feet so he had room to work if he needed to do something. People can use it and it'll end up opening like Cleveland does but right now it's at the colicky stage of toddlerdom. Every now and then it'll move a bit, have a slight fit, whine a bit, then go back to sleep. There's a small coven or something near there that keeps watch over it but they're super hidden in a village that's not in this reality half the time."

"Do they Brigadoon it?" Clint asked.

"No, not temporal. They have a gateway. They just put their village in a bubble." He looked at the higher ups again. "That's why three of the current slayers were born within six hundred miles of it. Two of them within a hundred and the other is a good backup slayer but probably not going to handle the hugest things. She's delicate and likes being girly, and we like that about her."

That got a few nods. "Though it is nice that each time it whines at anyone the higher level underground demon that's tunneling around the world to find his wife to breed again moves away from it. Which causes a small shaking in Italy." They all groaned. "Yeah, those. The giant tunneling demon is moving. His wife is under Thailand the last I heard. He's halfway under Russia and about ten miles from there but it might just be his tail now. He moved about two miles a year."

"Can we take that one out?" the Belarusian ambassador asked.

"There's no practical reason to and his body's big enough to fill his tunnels. If he's not in it, I'm a bit worried they might collapse. Which means a lot of falling in areas since he came over from the northern sea." That one winced but slumped and nodded. "I have no idea. You can ask that to Giles, who thought it was allegorical until we took pictures of the thing's side for him."

"Charming. Are there children already?"

"Yeah, two. One's down by Cuba coming up through Florida. I think the head might be near Georgia. The other's still in South America. It found a nice place in a cave and I think it's still there. Not my job to keep track of Central and South America. They made sure I knew that when I went to enforce the peace treaty with the gangs in Brazil who wanted the slayers down there." He grinned at that king, who was groaning and shaking his head. "Yeah, same way. They decided to leave the girls alone."

"You're nuts," Clint said.

Xander blew a kiss with a grin. "Thanks! The girls drove me to it." He looked at the others, a few were smiling at that. "How can we help?"

"Let us talk and think, Harris. Is it this week?"

"I can't say it's not but I don't think so. I was thinking fall but I didn't see turned leaves. I did see some people in non-summery clothes but that could be most of Europe half the year." That got a nod. "I just didn't see snow."

"We can figure that out and work on a refugee and help treaty over that," the Belarusian ambassador decided. "We do not need that to happen and us not respond."

"Can you guys work out what happens if it's an invasion in Europe?" he asked with a wince. "Before we get more from France that it's not happening so people have to answer from Germany and Spain?" They all looked at each other then nodded. "Thanks!" He grinned.

"We all worried about that with the few demon cults that're hiding in France that they don't want to admit exist. And the coven of mages that are probably going to be causing problems. Probably by accident because they're not very good at it." He put up that vision, letting them see it. "That's next year." They all moaned at that. Clint looked and took pictures to share around with his contacts list, the full list. "I've done that too."

"It's a good idea," Clint said. "Do we think it'll be another invasion like thing?"

"That's a portal. Like we get now and then in Madagascar." King T'Chaka moaned loudly and looked up. "Yeah, that thing." He looked at Clint. "There's a portal like Wolfram and Hart used, a tuned, permanent structure one. I don't know where it goes. I haven't gotten to see it clearly enough in a vision or in person.

"If I'm right, it goes to another realm. Worst case scenario is a demon prison realm." Clint winced at that. "Best case, they do it by accident, the other side snorts, and closes it so it can be destroyed on their end. Worst case, it's from the ancient demon societies and they're all huge suckers so we'll need artillery."

"I think anything like that I'd want artillery for," Clint told him.

"Yeah but no one gives us weapons. I can only win so much at poker. Or make my own grenades." He shrugged. "I do what I can. Talk to those militaries who don't even show up when it's in their countries."

"Yes, I will be," King T'Chaka agreed. "It's weird that you got terrorists into it."

"Well, they wanted to prove they were the rightful rulers of the people. Rulers fight for their people. It seemed to work well." He grinned. "Are the former SHIELD and HYDRA people doing okay while I'm not there?"

The king looked at him. "Yes. Thankfully they have been. It was brilliant you got them to help."

"I offered to infect them with demon blood or let them turn themselves in instead." He grinned. "I needed the backup. I'm one human, mortal guy. The Council doesn't want to make more of me. Agent Barton here is the next best thing to me when I fall." He grinned at him.

"I'll be getting more artillery even if I have to steal it from SHIELD."

"I stole from HYDRA bases after blowing them up. I'm told they called it a Code Asshole Hunter." He smiled at him. "Rumlow was laughing about that."

"He would." He sighed. "Let us on the team know and we'll gladly help with what we can and try to stop the robot faster before it gets to Sokovia." That got a nod. "We'll go talk to them. Unless Xander had more to say?"

"No but King T'Chaka's daughter was an instrumental part of saving the five-years later battle." He gave him a look, getting a nod. "Give the Princess some candy for me for that?"

"Gladly. My daughter could use the candy. Thank you, Watcher Harris."

"It's my duty to warn about what I see." He bowed and left with Barton following. "I'm good. I've got a motel room," he told him in the hallway. "That way I can change shirts."

"We can get you a t-shirt on the way, Harris. Come talk to Stark."

"Fine." He took off the overshirt and t-shirt underneath it, letting Clint throw them out for him. They paused at a tourist t-shirt stand outside the UN then went to Stark tower. Xander walked off the elevator first. He stared at Stark. "Did you stop it?"

"I hope I fixed it."

"If not, can you stop it sooner?"

"If at all possible," he agreed with a nod.

"Try to start with blocking off the internet?"

"Yeah, I've done that, kid. What else was seen?" Xander let him see those visions, letting him project them. "What the heck is that!"

"He's a purple, genocidal, space fucker, Stark." He grinned at Thor. who moaned. "Yeah, that's the one that tortured your brother." He looked at Stark again. Who blinked a few times. Xander nodded. "Yup. And if you say his name he hears and pays attention."

"So...big purple thing was behind Loki invading Manhattan?" Stark asked, looking at Thor, who shrugged.

"Yeah." Clint nodded. "I remember hearing echos of that from him. Someone weird and alien but flashes of the purple guy on a throne laughing at the other one torturing him."

"He wants death. He thinks he's saving people by killing half of everyone. And everything." Stark blinked then rubbed his face. "Yours was a lead up, Stark. Then Thor had to go handle something on Asgard after some visions of his own. Then the purple guy was coming for the tacky, shiny things?" he asked Thor. "On his glove?"

"The stones," Thor realized. "Oh, that's Thanos."

Xander nodded. "Yeah, that forbidden name. I think."

Thor winced, shaking his head. "That is his plans usually. Do we have stones down here?"

"Who's got your brother's staff?" Clint asked. They all looked at Stark, who looked it up.

"Some guy in Sokovia who's using it to experiment on people like the twins you'll need to get help from but they hate Stark," Xander said. Stark looked at him. "I didn't get much on them. She's powerful. He's fast. She's important and I didn't see her twin brother after the battle in Sokovia."

Stark blinked, looking around. "HILL!" he bellowed. She came up a few minutes later. "Get in on this talk."

She looked at the vision then at Harris. "Who got you on the way there?"

"Ross. Plus a not-Agent Romanoff and a not-the-president that I knew the identity of so I let his people have him."

She stared at him. "Like... the small group that you helped a few years back, Harris?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I help so many, Hill. Be more specific in code?" She walked closer to hiss in his ear. "Yeah, them. They have him."

"Good." She sat down. "How bad?"

"Half. Fully half. Everything, everyone, half for five years. Then you guys figure out something." Stark was muttering swears.

"If we have a stone down here, he'll come for it," Thor admitted. "He does desire to have all five." He looked at Xander. "You saw my brother's staff?"

"Dude, I'm easily possessed, Thor. It talks. It's chatty. Most artifacts holding sentience are chatty. Just like your hammer is. And it misses the one who cleans her." He hugged his hammer to his chest. "Apparently you don't give her a proper, good bath often enough."

"I'll scrub her carvings tonight like Lady Darcy would," he decided.

"How easily possessed?" Hill asked.

Xander looked at her. "I can't put up shields, Hill. Thankfully the first one, the hyena matriarch, keeps most of the others from sticking because they annoy her." She shivered at that, moaning some. "Yeah but she's helpful. Very purry too tonight. And Rumlow said hi and you never check your email because someone pissed him off."

"I'll do that tonight," she said, pulling her phone out to get into that email address. Then the other one. She got up to go tell others. "Is Romanoff busy?"

"Yeah, I had a vision in front of her of her old people." She shuddered but nodded.

Clint pouted. "She should've asked, I would've helped."

Stark looked at him then at Xander. "Can we mitigate it?"

"Don't turn on the robot? Will it stop the purple one? Probably not. And talk to a counselor for team marriage counseling? You guys need it worse than mine does and the girls are driving me nuts again." He left, leaving them to consider their response.

"What things?" Tony called after him. But Xander didn't answer. "Anyone got any ideas?"

Thor shook his head. "I've seen Xander in battles but do not understand him that well. He's not like our warriors. Though ours find him nice enough. Apparently my brother wanted a child between them to have a true essence of chaos."

Clint looked at him. "Ya think it'd be a daughter?"

"Probably," Thor agreed with a nod. "Xander thought so." He looked at Steve then at Stark. "I have no idea of what he spoke of for that counseling."

"We should probably work things out," Stark decided. "I won't turn on that system. Even to debug it. I'm going to isolate it completely so it can't reach out from the drive it's on." They smiled at that good idea. "How would we handle that purple guy?"

"He's said to be immortal," Thor said. "I know not much about him, Stark."

"We'll figure it out then." He leaned back, considering it. "Is Harris worthy to lift the hammer?"

"I have not been asked if he could try. Though he is a warrior who does protect others."

"Hammers aren't his thing, he doesn't use them well in battle," Clint said. "Bladed things, axes and swords, he does okay with. By his file he does good with a crossbow." That got a nod from the others. "How right his file is? I don't know."

"Apparently he can build grenades," Stark shot back.

"Yeah, one of the weapons dealers that thinks he's like a sugar baby taught him. The guy shows up before battles, gets laid to get calmer so he's not anxious, gets weapons, then goes to handle things. Thankfully some of the HYDRA guys went with him when he captured them."

Stark shook his head quickly. "Is that why he mentioned Rumlow?" Steve Rogers asked.

"Yup, sure was," Hill said as she came back. "He got them all with a demon smoke grenade of some sort, including the clean up team in London. Got everyone to their hotels with some peaceful community contacts, and told STRIKE that they could help him or they could turn themselves in but he might infect them with demon blood or something first if they were annoying him too much.

"They chose to sacrifice in the name of humanity." She smirked as she sat down. "He did that same sugar baby/weapons stealing thing to Rumlow and Rollins once then made them help with the battle he stole them to use in. They were not happy but amused. Now they're getting weapons for him. Which is probably why he's uptight, he's without sex again."

"He told us while he was guarding my Jane that succuba can feed off him but not drain him for some reason. They could not kill him. He gets some stress relief from that."

Hill looked at him. "Wow."

"My father laughed at his request to let the one trapped in a vault out because she had been accidentally stuck. She got freed and ate half the army down to exhaustion then went to find Xander to cure it. He had a happy night according to Heimdall."

Stark looked at him then at Barton, who shrugged. "When the only ones drawn to you are deadly and dangerous, you pick the best you can."

"Yeah, sure," Steve said with a nod. "I'm sure he would."

"All his would protect the girls," Clint told him. Then grinned. "They've helped him a few times like that down there. And a few watch over the girls in the US if they're up here." Stark sighed at that. "They don't have enough people."

"We offered agents but Harris ran off half of them because he figured they'd be bad to the girls or go back to their agency's conditioning," Hill said. "He got one of ours who did have orders that way. The new ones that're in training are Brits of fairly decent birth and smart kids. I don't know where they found them." Clint looked at her, staring at her oddly. "Oh," she realized. "I didn't even think about them." He nodded with a grin. "You sure?"

"Yup. And earlier's was one of the US's ones."

"Great!"

"Pretending to be the president to help Ross capture him. Some other woman was pretending to be Natasha." She raised an eyebrow. "They took them."

"If I had a contact...."

"I can ask Jane if he left her one," Thor offered. "If not, perhaps Lady Darcy would know. They seemed friendly when we were under their guarding."

"Yeah, about Lewis," Stark said. "What the hell is up with her? She's got an alternate identity?"

"Ask her yourself," Thor ordered, staring at him. "I didn't understand about her grandmothers."

"Oh." He nodded once. "I was going to offer Foster a spot in the lab but Lewis' background came up with a weird thing."

"She's got two grandmothers who were countesses," Hill told him. "She doesn't use it in the US or her actual full last name. The last name would get her noted to be related to her former uncle, who was a problem. The title would get ignored."

"So she's a Lady or whatever?" Steve asked.

"Countess. Countess Lewis-Stonager officially. But she doesn't use it." Steve nodded at that. "Her grandmothers were both on the radical side who wanted to have world peace one way or another. Their groups fought about methodology."

Stark looked at her. "Is she like that?"

"No. She'll make world peace by stunning everyone somehow. Not sure what she's doing right now in her new degree program."

"Jane tricked her into it," Thor admitted. "She does well."

"That's good," Stark agreed with a nod then a sigh at the end, rubbing his face. "What can we do now to prepare?"

"Prepare for a war that will be heinous," Thor said. "Not a simple battle. Tell our allies." That got a nod from Hill. "I'll ask our people if they can help with information at least. Though...why was I not there at first." He looked at the vision again. "That is odd. I would be here for such a battle if I could be. Was I ill? On Asgard?" He went to talk to Heimdall, who told him what he had seen. He came back. "I was fixing my sister apparently." He packed and left to handle that.

Stark just nodded. "Okay that makes sense." He looked at Rogers then at Hill. "How's the summit going?"

"Annoying. Half the agents are arguing. A few have settled in with snacks to watch it happen. We're not amused at NCIS either. DiNozzo has snacks, Gibbs is demanding, and we're about to shove his coffee cup where the sun doesn't shine real often." Stark snickered at that.

***

Tony got an email from someone he didn't usually talk to, Whiskey. He read it then deleted it before sighing. That wasn't good news but the suggestion was cute. "Boss, I've heard from a contact outside DC. Rumors are going hard that you should take up that new tanning idea that the hippies are going with before they ruin it with your coffee cup."

Gibbs looked confused. "I get enough sun, DiNozzo."

"No, Boss, the new hippie sunning thing is um...." McGee looked at Tony then at Gibbs again. "Basically bending over and letting it...give you natural Vitamin D in a...less than friendly way."

"They wanted you to sun your asshole so when they shoved your coffee cup up it for you, it'd help you absorb the vitamins the sun gives us," Tony said dryly, staring at Gibbs, who shook his head quickly. "Apparently you've annoyed everyone now, Boss.

"They've said if you start it again tomorrow they've found a sunlamp to help you with that idea and will be tying you in a locked little closet so they can see if coffee cups can be melted by sunlamp light as it's acting like a plug." He gave him a pointed look. "Considering that agent was in New Mexico last year....."

Gibbs grunted, then huffed. "I'm not that bad. They're weak."

"They're normal," Tony reminded him. "Not Marines. Very few were soldiers. I don't think that particular agent was kidding and I know he likes to tie people up. He used to do rodeo things." He gave him another pointed look then got back to his email. He hadn't gotten one from others recently and that was weird. He checked his settings and then wrote Darcy to fix it for him. She did and found the emails.

"Awww, someone screwed with that antivirus I have to keep friends from contacting me. How damn sweet they are!" He smirked at his laptop while he checked on his contacts and girlfriends. CC told him who it was and who else was involved. And offered an idea for Gibbs. Then sent him the visions. "Oh, shit," he said, reading them. "Fucking hell," he muttered very Britishly, which Ducky would usually have appreciated.

"Um.... Boss, downstairs. Morgue. Probie, don't even look yet. We've got to alert some people. I just got notified there's a vision coming." The kid winced at that, screwing up his face. "Yeah." He locked his system down and took Gibbs with him to the morgue. He pulled it up on Ducky's system, looking at him. "Xander. From the Council."

"I'm aware of your...friend Xander," Ducky said phlegmatically. He read the email and blinked, then scowled. "What the ever living hell?" he complained.

"Yeah." They shared a look and he let Gibbs read it. "If so, we've got major problems coming. And we don't have a response team for that." He looked at Ducky. "By the way, someone was interfering with my emails." He grinned. "One of my many ladies helped with that."

"Awww. I'm sure they'll rue their bad decision."

"Yes they will be. Just as soon as I go grab the mother...in Kentucky." He looked at Gibbs then at Ducky. "How do we handle this?"

"It's not here."

"Yeah, that'll really help when half of everyone disappears, Ducky."

"True." He considered it, leaning back. "We'll persevere. We'll handle it. We'll separate out piles of dust I suppose."

"If they come back after five years in the same spot...."

"Then we'll need some ships in some areas," Gibbs said. "What about if they were flying?"

"Well, then they'll probably be falling," Tony told him. "A lot since there's at least a hundred jumbo jets in the air at any given point in time plus the private planes." He looked at Ducky again. Who nodded. "Can you...." He waved a hand. "We all know the higher ups hate people like Xander."

"I'd like the boy to have a steady relationship. It might calm him down. But I will alert others." He forwarded it to himself and let them go tell McGee. Not Ziva. She'd share it and they didn't mind that but her father wasn't going to be able to take advantage of it. Best to let the higher ups know. "Boss, going on a road trip."

"We need you there tomorrow, DiNozzo."

"We're going on a roadtrip so I don't have to see the sun shining that way, Boss. It'll save you from a sunburn." He walked him off. "C'mon. You can have a night in a bar. That's where that person probably is." Gibbs tried to get free but Tony used the little knock out drops Xander had made for him. Gibbs got put into the car and he drove off, turning on some music. It was a pretty night for a drive. And possibly a job.

***

In Kentucky, a few people heard warnings. "Campari is in no way subtle," one muttered, typing out a general warning. Which got shut down by tech support. He went to look at his people. "What are you doing?"

"Stopping you," Cointreau quipped. "Before you get my daughter dead from your stupid ideas with your husband." She smiled as she shot him in the hip. "You're not going to turn on us. Sorry, Chocolate Milk." The man moaned but tried to get help. "Cola, he's down," she called.

She came up to get their technical boss to get him treated by tying him to an infirmary bed. "He compromised multiple agents in the SCU unit for his own gain," she told the med team, who winced at that. "Him, Ginger Ale, and the last one were all involved. We've got two others and Campari got told about it. He's having a bit of a temper." She smiled. "We're all getting out of the way."

"Good idea. The only worse omen would be Creme de Cacao."

"No, worse is going to be Limoncello. He compromised her and CC both. To the US who're against people with skills. Gave CC to Ross."

The head medic nodded. "We'll patch him up and let him prepare for his tribunal and probable funeral for turning on us all." Cola smiled, going back to her office. He looked at his boss. "You were dumb." He waved over another doctor, who had heard. "I can't be objective."

"Agreed." He dosed the idiot with something to knock him out so he could extract the bullet and tidy him up for his tribunal. This was a huge problem. Plus politics to pick the next head of the group.

An ethereal voice whispered "Dr. Pepper" and faded out. They all shuddered. That name was no longer used. It had been retired when the last agent using it had turned on them all. It's why tech support became liqueurs and Cola went to training newbies.

***

At the summit the next morning, people were looking around. Gibbs was actually late? That wasn't like him. Or really any Marine. Maybe the MCRT had a case? No, there was McGee in Gibbs' place with their director.

The head of the NSA looked at McGee. "No senior agents?"

"Tony got a tip and had to go to Kentucky. Thanks to some of you talking about showing Gibbs how to perineum tan and plots on how to do that with his coffee cup helping, Tony took him with him for the day." He sat down.

A few looked up what that meant and one burst out laughing but Maria Hill needed the laugh probably. The NCIS director looked that up and looked at McGee.

"I don't know, Director. Tony was complaining someone had gotten into his special anti-virus to keep emails out from some contacts, got it fixed by one of the female contacts he has, and then took Gibbs with him after getting a few of those emails." He shrugged. "All I heard was Kentucky and he knocked Gibbs out in the elevator by the wagging chins in Security."

"Oh, good. I need to know what he used. That way I can do the same thing the next time he snarls at me for being too slow."

Hill sent that information to someone, not on Gibbs but on that new 'trend'. Then she came back to the table to look at them. "Sorry I had to miss out yesterday. We had some HYDRA people show up to give themselves up before someone had them eaten by a demon poker contact."

The VP looked down at her. "Harris or someone at the Council?"

"Dr. Jane Foster actually. Who Harris had helped guard while we dealt with our issues." That got a nod from the others.

"Have we seen the visions DiNozzo got sent by that person?" McGee asked. Everyone but Hill shook their heads so he emailed Tony and got sent them all in a big email. "Here, from him. He forwarded them." He put them on the screen. Hill rearranged them in timeline order. He grinned at her for that.

The VP looked. "What the heck? Is that a country going down?"

"The avengers have been told. Stark has said that he's not going to turn that thing on for any reason, even to debug it." A few sighed in pleasure. "It's on a hard drive and locked in a safe."

"Good!" the VP said dryly. "What was he trying to do, Hill?"

"Have something that'll handle the smaller things. Stark's nearly fifty. Captain America's technically about thirty. Romanoff and Barton are both in their thirties or forties, they won't admit to an age and change the answer each time someone asked. He wanted something to handle things they couldn't get to if they were injured or to leave the bigger problems to them. Like that last one." She shrugged.

"Good intention, bad plan," the VP decided with a nod. "We've got to figure that out as well."

"We're trying," Hill assured her. "Including who can take over some of the positions if we must. Rogers has a backup in mind. Stark has the Iron Patriot system the Air Force stole via Colonel Rhodes. We have other agents who can possibly step in for Barton or Romanoff. Maybe not with the same weapons but good skill sets for battles."

"That could be a huge problem with what Secretary Ross wants," the head of the FBI said.

Hill smiled at him. "He tried for Harris recently, using people with faked appearances. Harris managed to get himself free and hand them to someone. Including someone pretending to be the president." A few groaned at that. "Our veiling device is good but won't allow cross-gender imitation or body type. It's facial only."

"Is there someone who can do that?" the head of the CIA asked. "And can we see yours, Hill?"

"Maybe. Not sure what Fury classified it as. Right now, Romanoff potentially has the only working set. She's off the radar handling something about the people who trained her to bring them down we think. Ninety percent certain they're going to fall."

McGee's phone beeped with a new text message from DiNozzo, who apparently had heard. "Well," McGee said, looking at the NSA, who had site security since it was their building.

"I have no idea and why are they in Kentucky?" he demanded.

McGee shrugged. "I don't know. Tony's been a bit uptight since he got called on by a contact to go guard Dr. Foster with Harris."

The director of NCIS shrugged. "I have an idea. It was noted that whoever told him to go do that was related to a former undercover operation."

The VP nodded, holding up a hand. "I'm pretty sure I know who sent him," she said smugly. "If I'm right, yeah, they probably did manage a bug in here." She looked around the room. "But that's good to know." She looked up. "DiNozzo, can you confirm that you're actually on a case or not?"

It took a minute but a message came in saying he was handling a traitor agent to a small private entity and Gibbs was having a mandatory tour of a brewery and distillery while Tony worked on that. The grumbling was epic at the moment. But he did not have ears there. Someone else was listening in magically and letting him know. Then he signed off with a salute emoji.

"That figures," the VP said quietly. "Sure."

"Does that explain why DiNozzo was noted in Europe a few years back?" the head of the CIA asked. "Especially at an event in France that brought down a yearly people sale?"

McGee looked at him oddly. "We have no idea what he was doing but we know that Agent David is *certain* he couldn't have been a spy."

The head of the CIA stared at him for a moment. "She sucks at it, McGee."

"We know." He grinned. "If Tony was doing something like that on an undercover, it wouldn't shock us. We know there was one that took down a mob family in Philly."

The head of the CIA sighed, rubbing his face. "Didn't anyone do a background check?"

"It was blank," the head of the FBI said. "So much of it was listed as classified. We did what we could. And still got some wrong." The head of the NSA and the head of the CIA both stared at him. "DiNozzo himself corrected some of it on us. What we found was problematic for being a bit wrong on time frames and when he was on duty as an officer.

"There is a gap in the records from Philly for that operation. There's a few longer gaps that were classified and not noted by who. Or why. Are there other agencies not here today, ma'am?" he asked the VP. "I've run into other files marked the same way and we have no clue why or if they're a danger after all this mess."

She nodded with a smile. "Yes, there's private intelligence groups. Yes, Tony has contacts with them because they had the same target once so they know about him and have probably borrowed him at least once. Yes, the guarding assignment of Dr. Jane Foster was them sending him most likely." The head of NCIS grimaced. She smiled at him. "He's retired from all that. People started to recognize him thanks to some stories relating to cases solved at NCIS."

"Good to know. Is that who did the antivirus people wondered about?"

"Probably."

"Are they analogous to SHIELD?" the head of the CIA asked.

"What SHIELD started as," Hill said. "Back when we were SSR."

"Do you know about them?" he asked her.

"Yes, I do." She smiled and nodded. "Vaguely. We've run into some of their agents on ops going after the same target. They like Barton too but consider Romanoff weird and a possible problem that could probably use some therapy." He groaned at that. "They're not multi national but they do have branches that do have offices in other countries."

"That Brit group!" the head of the CIA said, slapping the table. "With the *suits*."

She smiled and nodded. "Same general level, yes. Though they're interesting people I'm assured. Again, we ran into them on some ops." The head of the CIA slumped and grumbled under his breath.

The VP nodded. "Yes, they are. I got briefed and groaned a bit myself. But they do seem competent."

The other heads of agencies just nodded at that knowledge.

***

Down in Kentucky, Gibbs happened to be there when a training class burst out on a live fire drill because the robot was going off wrong. "Oh, hell!" Bourbon complained, pulling a gun and shooting the thing. "Kids, do you not know how to take down a drone yet?" he demanded. "They should flunk the lot of you!"

"It's gotten an upgrade," a female called. "Don't shoot the drone again! It could explode!"

"Oops, my bad," Bourbon called back. "Someone get me a rope?"

Someone shot a laser rifle from an upper window and the drone went dead since it was halved. "Works even better than a lasso," the voice quipped then disappeared.

Gibbs looked at the man next to him. "You hear rumors about groups that're underground." The guy next to him grinned. "HYDRA?"

"No, we shot the one we had after questioning him, Gibbs. We're nice but only when we're being polite. You guys clean that shit up!"

"Yes, sir," they agreed, getting the parts to take inside to go over what had went wrong.

"Tech intern class," Bourbon said, shaking his head.

"So, DiNozzo...." Gibbs started.

"We borrowed him once. He showed up because someone decided to turn against all of us. He's an outside investigator when we need one."

"That's good to know. Does it happen often?"

"No, we manage real background checks, Gibbs. C'mon, I'll show you the distillery." He walked him that way, which did hold part of the backup armory. He nodded at a woman walking past him. "Problems?"

"Cointreau maybe. Her last date is trying to find her and she's blushy."

"Tell her little girl or CC."

"I don't want him *dead*," she said dryly. "But I'm stealing DiNozzo to talk to her about it." She went to do that. Tony quit beating the idiot that had turned on them and went to talk to that agent for them. He had the best bullshit meter ever.

***

Tony called Darcy while her mother was tied up next to him. He waved at her. "Busy?"

"Not really. On the campus quad with my laptop to get something finished but I only need to proofread and it's not due for a week. What's up, guys?" She put in her earbuds then plugged them in. Bluetooth were insecure.

"Well, people were worried your mom was compromised."

"So was I," she said with a nod and a grin at her mother. "You look good tied up by Tony, Mom."

"Darcy!" she complained loudly.

"Turns out that skindiver Xander told you about is Ganymede."

"The wine bearer of Olympus?" she said, looking confused. "Oh! Greece! Yeah." She nodded. "So are you moving to Greece, Mom?"

"I don't know," she sighed, slumping. "I've thought about it. It is safer and less work down there."

"If that's what you want, I won't mind as long as they don't make you give up contact." She grinned. "You could use some happies, Mom."

"He was very good at it," she agreed happily.

Tony looked at her then at Darcy's image. "That's Ares staring at your back by the way. You should probably remember him from Oslo and Prague."

She looked back then waved him over. "Come sit and talk to my Mom, former roadtrip companion sort." He huffed but came over to take one of her earbuds. "So, Mom's talking to yours. Is that going to be a problem for you?"

Ares looked at her. "You already knew."

"True." She grinned. "Many years ago. And you guys need a better tech support person definitely. Mom would end that hackable database you guys have."

"I think that's why Ganymede was seducing her." Darcy's mom pouted. "Though I think he stayed for other reasons." He looked at Darcy. "You are controversial."

"Why? My internship with Jane again or something I've done myself?"

He stared at her. "Hers is being watched because it could bring great change. Yours is being watched because they've opened a new branch and they're using some of your gear?"

"Not that I've given or sold. Was it something SHIELD stole from us and sold maybe? They did some of that."

"Possibly. We saw the notes on that." He looked around. "Hmm. Their glasses are still ugly," he sneered.

"Oh, shiny one!" Darcy called, waving him over. "Are you guarding me or doing something interesting?"

"Guarding you. Something about doubloons and we've heard about another group starting. The bosses got a bit angry." He looked at the other guy, who smirked. "I just got told who you were, God of War," he said quietly. "What's going on?"

"Talking about Mom. Ask your boss if it was something SHIELD stole and sold or what so we all know?"

He tipped his head, listening. "Yup, something they captured in New Mexico and ended up on the black market. Oh, he found your i-Pod. He said he'll send it tomorrow." She squealed and hugged him. "Thanks, luv. So what's going on with them? Are we having a multi-group talk?"

"I only have two headphones," she admitted.

Eggsy looked at the screen and Merlin hacked her from that side. "That helps. What's this about a new group? Are they the ones in Germany?"

"No," Ares said. "Though we think they're funny. In many ways. Probably single case or so."

Eggsy nodded at that. "Okay. That makes sense. Should we butt in?"

"They would not appreciate it," Ares admitted. "We were wooing her mother to come join us. Greece is full of pretty men who would adore a talented girlfriend or future wife." He smirked at the screen. "They sent the young one because I was too busy."

She blushed. "I'm sure you could keep me busy, Ares." She shifted to cross her legs.

"Does this have anything to do with Ginger Ale, the last one of that name, and a few others going rogue?" Tony asked.

Ares considered that, listening to his people. "Ours think not but we're not sure. Of course, if she were to leave first it would mean they won't look at her oddly."

"Dude, we've got ninety times the people you do," Eggsy said dryly with a grin. "So said our techno wizard."

"We have plenty. Though we think that the more southern office is a bit weird and worrying. Not going down but handling weird things."

"Yeah, we know about Harris," Darcy said with a nod. "He's a great guy." Ares stared at her. She smiled. "We ran into each other a lot on the post-grad roadtrip."

"Yeah, he has a secondary name," Tony quipped. "I ran them in the field."

Ares moaned, shaking his head. "Why is he having HYDRA agents then?"

"He's their rehab placement officer and Xander needed the help down there. He's got almost no help."

"That figures. A bad snake is better than a helpful mouse." He looked Darcy over. "You could also switch."

"I've got to finish my newest degree," she said with a smirk. "Is the guy that I dealt with on that one train one of him?" she asked Tony.

Tony shrugged. "I don't know. I thought he was Spetznas."

"Huh. That'd be interesting to find out. Though Xander said he said hi."

Ares laughed. "No, mine just said he's not either of those. Or one of our groups. He's Italian Intelligence." Darcy rolled her eyes. "Did he flirt?" he teased her with a smirk.

"Tried to and tried to pickpocket me until I broke his finger." She shrugged. "I'm not a damsel."

"No, you're not," Tony agreed. Eggsy yawned. Darcy looked sleepy. "Hmm. Dear, are you gassed?"

Ares flinched, looking around. "Perhaps."

"Sure as shit is," Eggsy said, looking in the other direction.

Darcy waved and got into something else to figure that out and end it. "Chem team. Stupid idiots." She closed the laptop, putting it into her bag and looking at the guys. "Let me...."

"We can help."

"You have no way of covering it up, either of you." She blew a kiss and jogged off, heading for the security office. "I was doing air quality studies on the quad and noted a chemical release that was partially chloroform gas."

"What?" the officer demanded.

"I was outside the chem building."

"Oh, dear." He went to check that building's system. A lot of knocked out people on the video. "Let me call someone."

"Please. That can be deadly at the right strength. I doubt they wanted that outcome. Or I hope they didn't." She texted Eggsy, who did go up a tree to open a window wider. "That'll help. He's a buddy, came up to see if I'd date his friend."

The officer nodded. "It's not a bad idea. Go be safe, dearie."

"Yup, I can go to lunch. That stuff gave me the nibbles." She went back to the guys. "Let's have lunch?" They nodded, letting the fire department handle that mess. They had to have their own sort of summit with their higher ups. Darcy could put in her earbuds that linked her. Ares had his, Galahad had his. The higher ups could chat. They were all out of the way of AIM trying to gather some new scientists to lord over.

Sometimes you made friends while in the field and it was pretty nice when they could work together on things that were less than world ending.

***

Xander had to step into the open, calling someone. "It's me. It's on, call Sokovia. The thing's loose." He hung up and sighed loudly, then fired on the robotic being, getting its attention. "Hey, ugly, not gonna happen! You're not that good!"

"You're just a mortal," the robot said.

"Yeah, I hear that from girls sometimes too. They're just as wrong as you are." He put the amulet on and stared at him. "Come at me, bro." The robot sneered, firing on him. Xander had up a shield and fired back, slowly encasing the being in a shrinking box. Right now it had some gaps but it'd slowly grow smaller. It gave others time to get people out of the way.

"What is this? Magic?" he sneered. "That's such an old way."

"Yeah, well, I'm that way sometimes." He shrugged and made the shrinking happen faster. The robot tried to break free, nearly managed one edge but he managed to keep it closed. Stark showed up in his suit to handle it complaining about people breaking into his safe and stealing the hard drive.

Xander panted, but nodded and then flicked another spell at the robot, making him yell as his insides got gooed up by jelly. Which was electro conductive. He stepped back and took off the amulet to put into his pocket. "Have some fun with that but win, Stark."

"I plan on it, Kid. Go help civilians."

"Already called!" But he did jog off to help with that necessary evacuation. Starting with his mini and her family. "Now, go now," he said when the mother opened the door. "Before that idiot robot gets here. It's on its way." She gasped, grabbed the stroller and diaper bag then the baby, leaving then. Xander closed the door after her, waving her driving off. He called in a few contacts.

"I need this city evacuated immediately," he said. "Before the idiot robot destroys it. Can you guys broadcast 'go into the countryside' feelings for me please?" He nodded. "Yeah, like that in reverse. Thanks." They did that, contacting some closer to help with that. Even he felt it but it was going fine for now. People were fleeing. More would be safe. Stark almost lost for a second but gathered himself and came after the creation again. They'd figure out later who had released it.

So it began. The upcoming hell was going to be massive. But they'd handle it somehow.

The End? Not sure.

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