Tony found Xander on the porch later that afternoon. The girls were all home from school and playing tag in the yard. "That's interesting."
"It's increasing stamina and letting them run and play like girls should," he said. He looked at him. "You okay?"
"No."
"Yeah, I didn't think so." He pointed. "Tea?" Tony sat down and got some of the iced tea. The girls switched from tag to pounce. "Hey," Xander yelled. "No picking on her."
"She's being a brat," one complained.
"So are you," Xander shot back, giving her a look. She pouted. "No picking on the other girls. They're your sisters in all but blood. I do not allow the inter-family picking or bullying." The girls sniffled, coming over to get a hug. "Why were they pouncing you?"
"One of them likes a boy and I said so." She pouted.
He stared at her. "While it's cute to see, it's not good to pick on the others. You know that." He looked her over. "What's wrong with your arm?" She shrugged and tried to hide it behind her but he gently pulled it closer to look at. "When did you do that?"
"Gym," she sniffled. "He said I sprained it."
"He's a lying sack of shit." She whined. "C'mon, we'll get you a cast."
"Then I can't do stuff," she whined.
He stared at her. "For two whole weeks? Really?" She slumped. "You can go back to it after it's healed because if it heals like that, you're never going to be able to do things. So we're going to the ER even if you pout. Anyone else got booboos or injuries?" A few ran over to let him kiss scraped knees and one elbow then they giggled and ran off. "Tony, can you herd?"
"Yup. Have fun at the ER." Xander nodded, picking her up and carrying her inside. Tony smiled. "Go get Romanoff to teach you girls how to tie knots." They ran off to find her and bounce around her until she joined them outside in the sun to do that. He sipped his tea, smiling at the girls. They were good girls, just a bit bouncy and hyper.
Xander waved her arm at Marta, who huffed. "The PE teacher said it was sprained."
"It was until I got pounced," she pouted.
"Yay, Gwennie."
"But I'll miss out on stuff," she whined.
"You can watch and do what you can. I'm not excusing you from playing because of your arm." She pouted but nodded. "It just means you can't use the jungle gym as much." He rolled his eyes but took the car keys from Marta, who kissed Gwennie on the head. "We'll be back. Save us dinner."
"I can do that."
Xander took her to the ER. The nurses there knew who they were. They had seen the senior girls after incidents when they got evacuated to him and the Council's main docs hadn't done more than field treat because they had bigger things to worry about. The check-in nurse stared at him. "Sprained in gym class then the other girls pounced her for picking on a girl who likes a boy. It's broken but not a compound."
"We can handle that," she promised, taking his insurance card for the girls and signing them in with all the usual checks. "Yeah, with that bruise it's probably broken."
Gwennie pouted. "Then I don't get to play or learn from Mr. Hamit this weekend."
Xander snorted. "You can do what you can but not spar. You've got a few years to make up for the missing sparring time." She nodded, still pouting. He rolled his eye. The nurse smiled. "I pointed out she could still play and all that, just not use the jungle gym."
"Air cast?" the nurse asked.
"Only if you want her to remove it all the time."
"No, probably not a good idea." She got one of the nurses for them. They weren't busy yet. There was a car crash but they were already being taken care of, and one person who seemed to have food poisoning. It was the beauty of a small hospital.
One of the nurses came out to stare at the pouting mini slayer. "Isn't this her second broken bone?"
"Yeah. The doctor said her bone density was a bit weak and we're giving her extra calcium and stuff for it." He handed her over to the nurse. "Sprained earlier then pouncing broke it."
"That's what Helen said." She smiled at Gwennie. "You can still play."
"But I want to spar this weekend," she whined. Xander cleared his throat. She ducked her head and pouted instead. "Sorry. Slayers should have good girl manners."
"They should but you're allowed to be pouty when you have broken bones." The nurse got the x-ray machine in to do her arm and they got to pick a cast color.
Gwennie looked and pointed. "That'll go best with my uniform and the girls can all write on it."
"We'll pick up a white marker," Xander said, rolling his eye where she couldn't see them about the black casting plaster. When the mini slayer looked at him he adjusted his eye patch. The nurse smiled, getting it ready. The arm bone wasn't out of place.
"Now, you may not remove this until we have an x-ray that says it's healed," the nurse reminded her as she worked. The girl let out another whine until Xander poked her on the shoulder. "No breaking it, no intentionally getting it wet, nothing like that because then it won't heal straight and we'll have to rebreak it on you to straighten it out." She nodded with a huff. "It could be a lot worse."
"I know." She pouted at her arm. "Mean."
"You see Doctor Glen next week, we can talk about it then," Xander said patiently. Gwennie hugged him. "Thank you."
"I'm sorry I'm whiny."
"It happens to all of you, even if you do drive me nuts sometimes." He cuddled her back. "We'll handle it and I doubt you won't be learning new stuff, just not sparring."
"Fine." She went back to pouting. Pouting about injuries got you extra dessert from Marta and usually being able to choose the bedtime story from Xander. She'd get to milk it for all it was worth. The nurse smiled at Xander over her head.
"When is your next book trip?" the nurse asked as she worked. "My son ran into them last time and he was happy that all the girls loved books enough to fight over one of them."
"Next weekend," Xander said. "I've already warned the store." She smiled at him for that. "We'll see if Tony can help chaperone."
"Think he'd let us get more than three books each?" she asked.
"No, he's not allowed to. You know what a library is."
"Good point but it's better when you get to own them."
He nodded. "Sometimes, yeah." She got finished up and the nurse got them checked out. Xander drove her home. Marta had saved them dinner so she got to eat with the adults.
"Mr. Tony, can you chaperone our bookstore trip next weekend?" she asked him once they were eating.
He looked at her, smiling some. "Bookstore trip?"
"Xander lets us get three books a month at the bookstore and it's our usual trip."
"Only three?" Tony joked, smiling at Xander.
"They know what a library is. They can use it for the other ones. That way they don't live in libraries like Giles does."
"Eww, I'd never dress like Mr. Giles," Gwennie said. "He wears *tweed*." She shuddered and got back to eating, using her best table manners. These guys were like slayers only they handled things the girls couldn't. She'd be an impressive future slayer.
"Hamit's coming Saturday afternoon," Xander told Tony. "I've already warned the bookstore about next Saturday morning's trip. And can you please unscrew Amanda on philosophy? She's at the hair pulling out stage again because she can't decide where it's right and wrong."
He pointed his fork at Bruce before eating the food on it. Bruce smiled. "I talked to her earlier. She caught me meditating and I helped explain some of the higher concepts. She's still confusing some of them but she's got a good mind."
Xander nodded. "We're all looking forward to her going to college until she drops out for a beat poet asshole boyfriend to have babies with," he said dryly. "Then she'll go finish a degree when he leaves for his drug dealer." Gwennie cackled, swatting at him with her bad hand then going back to eating. "Helena did."
She nodded. "We heard. Mr. Giles was yelling so hard you didn't even need the speaker to hear him."
Xander nodded. "Yeah, seriously. I had to go up to threaten said boyfriend and she yelled at me for it until I pointed out that I caught him shooting the drugs in his arm around her, I was going to rip his head off, and adopt her kid on her. She's back in college this semester and the baby's doing a lot better." He grinned and ate another bite of dinner.
"A beat poet?" Clint asked.
"Yup, old style, wanted to travel to different poetry slams, beat poet. Unwashed, hitchhiking, dumbass of a beat poet and former english major who decided some day he'd grow into TS Elliot." Clint groaned. Natasha winced. "And on two different drugs in the same needle at a time. No, we had a big brother fit." He grinned again. "Then we told Giles. Who yelled and screamed and had a talk about responsibility and choosing good boyfriends until Buffy admitted she had thought he was sweet when they Skyped." Tony snickered, shaking his head.
"I pointed out what she didn't know to save her from being paddled by Giles. She's back in Cambridge after only missing a semester to have the baby. The last I heard the boyfriend got arrested in France for an unauthorized airing of his supposedly political defiance poetry that he forced the citizens to listen to. Since most of the complaints about him cited him for doing really bad poetry, I'll let the French keep him. Maybe he'll learn a few things that'll help him in prison."
"Maybe he'll learn more about life to expand his poetic reach."
"Rhyming would help too," Xander noted.
"Some day I'm going to marry a doctor," Gwennie said.
"Of what?" Tony asked.
She shrugged. "I don't know but I want him or her to have a doctorate at least. That way I'm not marrying a dumbass." Xander gave her a look. "Sorry, shouldn't swear, good girls don't," she sighed.
"What about you getting a doctorate?" Bruce asked.
She shrugged. "I hate school." Xander rolled his eyes. "I want to own a massage and that pampering stuff spa."
"That's a good future goal," Xander agreed. "Pretty profitable. Can start simply then move up. You need business lessons."
"Which I can take in vo tech," she said happily.
He grinned back. "Or get an Associate's Degree, or use one of the community colleges."
"Point. Maybe."
"You can learn the massage stuff at some of the community colleges," Tony said.
"Huh. That might be nice." She nodded, digging in again. "Agent Romanoff, can you tell us a bedtime story tonight?" she asked with a grin.
"I have never done that."
She smiled. "We like hearing how heros defeated big, bad things. And sometimes date them like Buffy did." Xander choked, shaking his head while Tony pounded him on the back for it. "She did! She told us about Spike."
Xander gulped his water, wiping off the tears from the choking. "I'm so padding Buffy. You have better taste than Spike."
"Fine. So can you please, Agent Romanoff?" she begged, even unleashing the puppy eyes.
"I do not know many stories that are acceptable to children."
Gwennie snorted and shrugged. "We're future slayers. Some of the older ones told us about what they were fighting last. You can tell us about the space whales you just fought. We saw it on tv and Beth told us how they helped save a few buildings from them. Including a daycare."
Agent Romanoff nodded. "Perhaps not that one but I can think of a few I can tame down." Gwennie beamed and finished up then excused herself and ran off to tell the other girls. She looked at Xander.
"If we try to sugarcoat it, they yell at us. We don't give *detailed* stories but they know the bigger slayers handle bad things that can hurt people and sometimes have to get into fights with them. And occasionally this one sorcerer asshole who keeps trying to make Faith a princess in a tower. Thankfully he's got to rebuild the shit now since I blew it up to rescue her last time because Buffy was giggling her ass off about it."
Tony moaned, shaking his head. "I heard about that. Pepper had so many mai tai's about that." He stuffed his mouth again.
Xander looked at her again. "Just make it kinda have a point and not gory. The girls all hate horror movies, said it's too much like homework, but any action movie I get begged about from even the three and four-year-olds. Or any Disney movie."
"I want to be Cinderella for Halloween," one of the girls shouted.
Xander looked at her. "We need to see if trick-or-treating is actually on Halloween," he called back. "If so, then you're going in Cleveland if theirs isn't because you know we all hide from the sorcerers on Halloween."
"Oops. I forgot about chaos sorcerers." She popped over to hug him around the arm with a grin. "Is Janus still trying to get us to hype his fun?"
"Yup. His priests tried again last year. Nearly got Buffy too. And Willow." She grimaced. "I know but you have to at least respect her for her position even if you don't like her or trust her."
"I get that. We all do. We just don't like to be around her. She's creepy." Xander hugged her. "Can I go as Cinderella?"
"Find out when trick-or-treating is. If they're both on that day we'll see if there's a school thing and make everyone protection amulets." She squealed all the way back to the family room to look it up. He groaned. "Damn," he muttered.
"Janus?" Bruce demanded.
"Back when I was in high school, Janus' high priest, Ethan Rayne, decided to open a costume shop." He ate a bite of dinner.
"He did a spell that night to turn everyone into their costumes, including the kids and the teenagers who got roped into taking the hordes of kids on candy stroll," Tony finished. Xander nodded. "Usually the supernatural takes that night off."
"All but chaos sorcerers," Xander agreed. "Last year we had the high priest of Coyote. He awakened ancient spirits to prank the girls and to help teach them things they should know. It was fun, but not really. The First Slayer was not pleased and nearly beat Buffy over the head for it. She tried to kill Willow too." He stuffed his mouth again.
Bruce looked at Clint then at Xander. "Any other ones? We've recently run into Loki."
Xander nodded once then grinned. "He's only got one small cult to him. They're *really* afraid of me and Faith, and they'd never act against the slayers because there's a prophecy saying that some day the slayers would save their asses and hand them to Loki. We're not sure when or if it was from heartburn but there's a pretty strong one and they respect the slayers. Then again, they didn't realize Faith and I were working as slayer and watcher until they tried to pounce Faith to convert her by force so they could have a girlfriend, and she nearly killed them all, and then I had a talk with the ones who came to rescue them." He grinned. "They heard 'slayer' and ran." He gave them a smug look and ate again.
"Where is their cult?" Steve asked.
"Melinda, get my green journal," he yelled. One of the girls ran off and brought it to him. "Thank you, Tiff. Melinda busy?"
"She's lost in a word puzzle book," she huffed. "You know how she gets." She went back in there after stealing some of his veggies. He wasn't eating them so they were fair game from Xander's plate.
Xander shook his head. "Ask. You have manners." He found the right section and handed it to him. "That's their town and their main base was outside of it. I don't think they've moved it, or at least I haven't heard they had."
He looked at it, then let Romanoff take it. "I know that town. I always wondered why they had those skald wannabes."
Xander nodded. "Them," he said with an eyeroll. "Almost as bad as the idiot beat poet." He took the journal back. "We need more, guys?" They shook their heads. "There's leftovers." The girls ran in to grab anything left and took it to the family room to eat. "Slayers eat a lot because they bounce it all off."
"We saw them being bouncy earlier," Clint said with a slight grin.
Xander grinned back. "They were showing off to impress you guys. You guys handled things that they'd normally be called to deal with."
"I hadn't thought about that," Steve said.
Xander smiled. "They like you because you have manners. They said so." Steve blushed. "They're girls. They're realistic girls who know they have to train for future bad things and then college, but they're still girls."
"They do an admirable job of finding a balance," Bruce said. Xander smiled. "When do they learn the harder patrol things?"
"Eighteen. With so many there's no need outside of apocalypse battles. Even then, no one below sixteen goes and they only if it's critical or they demand to go and have passed all their skill levels, which usually means seventeen instead. A few, we've needed more hands on deck but they handled it by calling in the ones from the Europe and Asia."
"How many are there now?" Bruce asked.
"When Willow called all the slayers before the battle of Sunnydale so we'd get the seven we needed to stop her, which she really didn't intend to do, she activated over eleven hundred slayers." Bruce gaped. "The Council had missed a lot because they went after the ones that were higher up and more likely to be called. The ones that had a physical infirmity wouldn't be called until the last possible one and the higher ups would usually skip them over. We have two that are in a program for the mentally disabled due to their Downs Syndrome. It's a great art and practical teaching program to teach them how to handle their own lives. They were in it before they got activated. Giles went to talk to their parents and their teachers about things.
"We can't unactivate it but they know and understand that they have special gifts beyond the ones being born special gave them. That they can't really use them and if they sense or feel something coming for them to warn us." He put his fork down and took a drink of water. "Willow meant to activate the ones with us and maybe if she had to the nearest ones to us, the ones that would get called if one of us fell. She ended up activating the whole line, even those that should have been passed over. Including two in comas and one serving a life sentence for killing a few people. She's in her fifties."
"Why did she have to?" Steve asked.
"Because if she didn't, the First Evil would've taken over," Xander said simply. "It took seven fully activated slayers to pen her back in. By the old way that means we would've had to sacrifice them on the altar to call the next one while holding off her army of pretty hard to kill super vampires." Steve shuddered. "Willow activating them all meant that they only had to bleed onto the altar and most of them had injuries from the battle to get to the altar. We were inside the hellmouth for that battle. We had twenty-three girls with us at that time, the ones who had made it away from Bringers and to Sunnydale."
"So she meant to make it those twenty-three and maybe ones that were still running toward you so they could help," Bruce said. Xander nodded. "And it went farther."
"The only thing she knew to do was push power at the spell that called new slayers. She kinda channeled the goddess to do it, bleached her hair and all that with the power she was channeling, but everyone would've died if we hadn't won."
"Which was because she pulled Buffy back," Clint said quietly. "One of the girls told me."
Xander nodded. "I heard." He sighed. "Sunnydale at the time was turning into a disaster area. No one and nothing was safe while Buffy was dead. We had up over a forty percent disappearance rate during those six months." Clint shuddered. "We did what we could as the team to reduce it, we managed some but without a slayer bigger and badder demons were moving in to take advantage of it. There wasn't a lot we could do. We didn't scare the bigger ones away, the ones that stayed away because there was a slayer there. We took out a lot of it, but we were also trying to guard non-combatant members like Dawn.
"We were all stumbling with the bullshit in our lives at the time. Missing Buffy and her mom within a month and a half seriously screwed with the group. Giles went home to grieve for a while. We did what we could. Then Willow announced she had scried Buffy and told us she was in hell for being a slayer. So, none of us really fought too hard against the idea since we all knew she wasn't supposed to be there."
"Instead, she was in heaven and pulling any spirit back can bring back the wrongness that clicks the locks on the First's seal," Tony said quietly. Tony had heard this because Xander had come to him after Buffy had been raised to get an ethical butt kicking and to have someone tell him he wasn't wrong to do it.
Xander nodded. "Yeah, and we had no idea that it could happen. Willow never researched it. She decided it was like putting Angel's soul back. I had a tiny bit of fault in that. She needed me to do one tiny little corner of the rite and I did it because I thought Buffy shouldn't suffer that way. She had saved the world at least four times a year every year for six years. She didn't deserve that spot in hell. We were college aged kids who made an emotional choice. And we're really honest when the girls ask us what happened."
"It's a decision many of us would have made," Natasha said. "Screw one to save the world."
"The only alternative was to somehow get Faith out of prison. She had a friendly fire incident during a fight in high school and it let her slip to the dark side for a while. She healed and realized a few things while she was in there so she's back on even footing. If we could have gotten her out, I would've stopped Willow. No one could even talk to her, they had her on solitary because they discovered she was extra strong, so therefore a danger if someone pounced her."
"So it was screw Buffy's afterlife to save the world, or let the hell in Sunnydale spread and end up taking over," Clint said. Xander nodded. "I can't say I wouldn't make that same choice."
"We thought it was the only possible one. We thought Willow had done more research instead of warping the one that she used to put Angel's soul curse back when he lost it."
"Soul curse?" Bruce demanded.
Xander leaned his elbows on the table. "Back before the turn of the last century, Angelus apparently messed with a gypsy tribe and ate some of them. Someone they called a favored daughter. I've never heard of that designation at any other time but it's possible she had a seer's gift or something so she was counted as special. Some members of her clan cursed Angelus to have a soul implanted. It'd make him think before he destroyed more lives basically. If he ever had a moment of pure happiness, it'd be broken.
"Apparently his moment of pure happiness was boffing Buffy for her seventeenth birthday. The curse broke and we went from Angel, who was helping us, to Angelus, who liked to torture and torment us. He did neat things like draw Buffy while she was sleeping and leave it on her pillow. He killed Willow's pet fish and left them on her pillow on a fishing line. He killed Giles' girlfriend and left her on his bed." Bruce shuddered. "He was Buffy's first love."
"She couldn't stake him," Steve said quietly.
"No. She couldn't. It got to the point where Willow found out how to resoul Angel and tried, and didn't make it. Angelus was torturing Giles. Willow was in a coma for a day then woke up and decided she'd try it again. I made an executive decision that said 'Willow couldn't do it before, she's just out of a coma; Buffy can't beat him, she's tried a few times and lost, so therefore I'm going to lie and not tell Buffy that Willow's going to try it again'. We have no idea *how* Willow managed it. Of course, he had just opened a portal to hell with his own blood and had to close it with his own blood. So he went to hell for a bit to repent for his almost a year without a soul rampaging around town and I got blamed for it. Having teenagers save the world is like a soap opera at times."
Bruce nodded. "I would've lied too. How did she manage it?"
Xander shrugged. "We don't know. We have no idea how she managed it. We have no idea how anything got managed. We know a few years later Willow was going to a dealer to get shots of black magic. I'm not sure if it started then or not. I know after that and a few other things, I was apparently *normal* and *worthless* to the girls. A lot. Until they needed something."
"They kept going 'he'll get hurt because he's normal' when Pepper talked to Willow," Tony said. "She almost called a social worker to have you taken away from them," he told Xander.
"Then we would've had problems when the only slayer was Faith. Because after that, Buffy nearly got blown up while I was fray adjacent and I had to stop the zombie trying to blow up the school." Steve shuddered. So did Clint. "They had no idea it was me and at that time I was okay with that. And the idea that silence is actually okay."
"Then he came to talk to me again," Tony said. "And I pointed out that it wasn't."
Xander nodded. "He was kind of an external stress point. When he first got back from Afghanistan I asked him if he was going to turn into me or needed tips from an experienced sidekick." Tony gave his head a shove with a grin. Xander grinned back. "I should've taken a picture of Pepper's face when she caught me stripping because the car blew up. You would've enjoyed that."
"I would have." He stared at him. "You gave her information."
"Anytime I heard stuff from the kitten poker circuit, I did. That's how we knew you were still alive and kicking."
"Thanks."
"Welcome." He shoulder nudged him with a grin. "For some reason I got a warning call from Colonel Stick-Up-His-Ass."
"Warning you about what?"
"He's showing up tomorrow."
"I'll talk to Rhodey."
"I had the people who laid the protections lay one to protect your suit if it's here, not his. You might want to warn him what happens when he has a major mechanical failure for crossing the wards? I tried and he laughed it off."
"I'll warn him. He doesn't believe in the supernatural even after nearly being eaten last year."
"I remember him fussing that I staked someone that was attacking him and walked off. He asked if you had sent me."
"I don't send you anywhere, Xander."
"I know." He grinned. "He's clearly had a few too many head injuries."
"Yes he has. I'll talk to Rhodey tomorrow. I'll bring SHIELD's SUV back for them."
"Sure." He grinned. "Hill might like it back. I haven't heard from her since she tried to sneak in and got bitten."
"They're in New York. We gave our location and Fury grunted," Natasha admitted.
"That's because he can't get in here," Xander said. "At all. I purposely excluded him and his Dumbledore tendencies. The girls aren't part of his plans and aren't allowed to be part of his plans. He may have found out about us but he's not allowed to use us. He's tried to coerce a few into being agents and got stomped on by the President for it. And once by me because she was vulnerable and a bit suicidal because her long term boyfriend had just decided she wasn't going to be his wife, a week before they planned to elope, and left with his long time other girlfriend she hadn't known about. She was a bit emotionally destroyed and we were all watching her for complications beyond diabetes from the chocolate she was inhaling."
"Why not let one of the other girls do it?" Steve asked.
"Slayers aren't supposed to harm humans," Xander said. "Their gifts are to harm demons who are causing problems. Humans causing problems are a whole different matter and it can break a slayer in ways that no one wants to see repeated. Faith gave them that talk. So it was up to the normal people to go stomp on him for it. That's how I knew who Hill was. Usually I liaisoned with Coulson. He didn't irritate me to no end when there wasn't a reason. He actually did a background check," he told Tony. "He found the lawsuit and all that."
"He told me that once." He sipped his water.
Xander nodded. "He couldn't get her free of Fury because he was in Columbia and not due home soon. He said out of the country but the kitten poker circuit knew where he was and told me when I had them help me get in there. They all thought he was great and a good helper for the Council. I came out of the portal, got her out of the room, and when Fury and Hill showed up to complain I hit him a few times and then knocked him into a wall to stomp on him before getting her home. The paralytic gas I had with me worked really well." He grinned slightly. Clint gaped. Xander smirked. "I'm not stupid. I only go in with stuff I need. She got an apology letter from the President and he assured her Fury was going to stop it. He hasn't come near us since then. Though I'd hate to see my file."
Tony shook his head. "I removed it last year." Xander grinned at him for that. "Coulson had a hard copy in his safe probably. I know at one time he asked me how anyone dealt with you. I said it wasn't hard if you weren't on the wrong side. I never had any problems." Xander smiled at him.
"There's secretive bullshit behind that, right?" Clint asked. "We've noticed hints of it."
Xander nodded after a glance at Tony and a nod from him. "Yeah. Back when I was sixteen, the Council was trying to kill me. Again. Their people kidnaped and dropped me on a psychotic geek, who kept getting frustrated with my blood. Then I ended up in a cell with Stark. We got out a few days later and Stark had to bring me with him because had nicely given us matching little explosive capsules as a wedding present. Not that we signed anything or were there......"
"We're still trying to get it annulled or divorced," Tony said.
Xander nodded. "They've since denied that there is a license, even though we have copies of it. Apparently someone was taking a lot of bribes and got scared when people decided they were idiots." He looked at Tony. "I actually almost got sent to help them when their capitol was taken over by a demon. Then I told Giles why I was laughing my ass off at it since it was probably the same person. He groaned and sent someone else."
Tony smiled. "Good idea."
"I would've let it have the politicians because maybe the next set would've helped."
"No, they haven't." He sipped his water then sighed.
"So, technically he's married to you," Steve said.
Xander nodded. "That technicality has made a few of my dates shriek when they found out."
"Xander, you were dating assassins," Tony said bluntly. "Stop dating. Pepper heaves a fit every now and then about things," he told Steve. "She knew when I found out." Xander nodded. "Rhodey too."
"Colonel Rhodes was acting like a jealous boyfriend now and then too. He tried to ask me what my intentions were toward you and I said none. He didn't like that answer."
"He was trying to help me relax," Tony admitted. "He never got the point of having an external being you could talk to about stuff. He thought you'd be a danger to Iron Man and me, plus the company if anyone found out."
Xander nodded. "I'd keep whoever you wanted there unless Pepper set up a huge fit at me for having to deal with shit."
"I've redone my will." Xander grinned. "Yes, finally, after you nagged."
"Did you check into what she did?"
"And undid it on her then told the board to bite me. She's my heir for the business unless I somehow spawn. One suggested she had to be my wife and I bluntly said 'then go tell that one country to grant me a divorce since they had me married off against my will and won't even try to cooperate'. Then I dumped the paperwork file on them. They were not pleased and do not know who you are."
Xander grinned. "That'll help. Then again, I'm also a majority stockholder to back you up if you needed it. That's what I used my insurance for my eye to do."
Tony grinned. "I noted that."
Xander grinned back. "Better to have you in good hands than theirs or Fury's. Because his lawyer sent an offer to buy the stock from me."
"Thank you."
"Welcome." He patted him on the arm. He looked at the others. "We've worked it down to a case of friendship and the rest we're still fighting against. Frankly, he'd drive me nuts and I'd end up tying him to the bed to keep him out of the lab when I wanted to talk to him. That's not healthy for either of us."
"I still say you should have dumped Anya before she taught you things like that," Tony said, going back to his dinner.
"I could've seen marrying Anya but her friends decided to tell us how horrible we'd have been together. That's how she got her powers back."
"Anya?" Bruce asked.
"Formerly Anyanka, Vengeance for Women Scorned," Tony said bluntly then stuffed his mouth.
"She had gotten fired," Xander said. "I took her to the prom. After my attempted road trip that went so poorly, she kinda came back and moved in to get a lot of sex."
Tony nodded. "She *demanded* in public to have more orgasms every day," he told Romanoff, who shuddered. "Put it just like that, demanded at least five a day and he was falling down because he was working all day at construction and then patrolling with Buffy."
"I did get a lot of stamina from dating her," Xander said. "It helped when I was training the girls in Africa and Asia."
Tony shot him a dirty look. "You asked me where to get her the wanted birthday present of a two thousand dollar platinum vibrator, Xander."
"I figured you or Pepper would know," he defended. "And it was an important one. She turned 1150. You get the special, huge presents for the important birthdays."
"You're not joking," Steve said.
Xander grinned and shook his head. "No, not in the least. She was a vengeance demon for over a thousand years. She had a bunny phobia. I think that's why I let the demonic bunnies hop around here, in case the Powers send her back as a messenger of doom. Cordelia kinda freaks out at the three unicorns we have. That way I don't have to hear the bitching with the news."
"It was still a two grand platinum vibrator," Tony reminded him.
Xander nodded. "It was that or a fake engagement ring. We had to have that talk about how I couldn't legally marry her again so she changed to the vibrator. She had over a hundred of them when she died. I'm just glad I introduced her to oral sex before she killed my back one night. Sorry, Rogers," he said at his blush. "I learned how to be blunt from Anya too."
"She ran into Pepper once at a Starbucks in LA," Tony said. "She told Pepper she needed to bring Xander home and tie him down for me so I could do my husbandly duty properly, that way Xander would quit having bad ideas. Only she was more graphic and went off on what she'd like to be able to watch."
Xander nodded with a sigh and a slight grin. "She tried it a few times with me too."
"Pepper came home and emptied one of my really expensive bottles of rum then came to ask me who that was," Tony said with a grin. "When I told her she went on a fit about finding you someone proper and easy but not slutty. She kept going on about how she knew that Anya wasn't nice enough for you."
"Anya would've loved that. She loved expensive things. Said only the best stuff should be consumed that way."
"Even after all this time, if you mention anyone named Anya around Pepper, she gets this little eye twitch on her left eye," Tony said with a grin for him. Xander smirked back. "I know, Anya would've been proud."
"Probably."
"I've never met anyone that blunt," Steve said.
Bruce shook his head. "Me either."
"I'm just glad my ex never called on her," Clint said.
Natasha smiled. "I would never call on anyone like that. I'd take matters into my own hands. Your ex as well." Clint nodded that was true.
"Yeah but you can't do what she did to them," Xander quipped with a grin. Tony covered Xander's mouth and shook his head. "Sorry, he's still eating."
"Let's just say if the girls said something like 'eat shit and die' she'd probably have asked whose to use," Tony said dryly.
"She could get creative," Xander agreed. "I actually checked on one of them when I was in Central America. He's still there and working. He kept making noises that sounded like 'burn me down'."
"Why?" Natasha asked.
"Some guy's wife beat her for not putting the toilet seat back up for him. So his wife wished him to be a working flush toilet in a village that had none." Natasha's mouth flopped open then she shuddered. "Small village. Only about eighty people plus kids."
Bruce shuddered. "I think I know that village." Xander grinned at him. "That's definitely a strong lesson for the other men around them." Xander nodded with a smile. "If I remember right, a few sons who were turning into bullies got sent to school for plumbing training." Tony dropped his fork and gulped his water. "Sorry."
"Anya didn't get much repeat business in towns," Xander said.
"I wonder if she had anything to do with that horse," Natasha told Clint.
Who nodded. "Probably." He looked at Xander. "Russian mobster into a horse?"
Xander nodded. Everyone stared at him. "There was a guy who was stringing along six or seven different girls. He was a wannabe Russian mobster. One of them called her when he dumped her for demanding more of his time since she was pregnant. She said 'his name is Horse in the underground; perhaps he should be so the sluts that want him can screw him' from what we heard happened."
"Oh, dear," Bruce said simply.
Xander nodded. "She told me about him. She said it wasn't really a great wish since it meant the others couldn't counter-curse him as well. She was hoping to get them all to curse him so she could do something really special. That was around that birthday. I still miss her and Hallie."
"What was Hallie over?" Tony asked.
"Childhoods." Tony winced. "Pretty much, if there was a 'serial killer' that got a whole family but the kids, it was her. She didn't get to do the fancy stuff most of the time."
"I would've loved to have met her at one point in time," Clint said. "To see if I needed to thank her for the circus."
Natasha patted him on the hand. "Perhaps." She looked at Xander. "Did someone take her place?"
"Yeah. I've seen her a few times over the slayers. There's been a few families that have gotten a bit...upset that their daughters suddenly had super powers to their viewpoint. We've stopped exorcisms, and a few burnings. One in Arizona wanted to burn her daughter at the stake for making demonic deals even after we told her what was going on. She went on a rant that her daughter had abandoned God and this was her punishment. She was from a tiny little village down by Panama, just below the canal. Needless to say, when her replacement sent me there because she was handling something, the mother was not pleased and the priest trying to stop her started to pray since I appeared with my battle axe in hand. She's now safely at Boston College studying psychology."
"No officers?" Clint asked.
"They couldn't get near her. She had already poured the gas on Rachel and had a lighter in her hand. They were trying to talk her down with the family priest. Then I showed up and she screamed in fear and hid behind the priest. I took Rachel with a word to the officers that I was with the Council, she was a slayer who had chosen to train at home, and they sent a social worker to talk to me the next day, then her. No one was going to say her mom was *fit*." He considered it. "I think her mom gets out of jail next month." He pulled out his phone to find her name and number, texting her. "She might have to do a restraining order." He sent another message to the main house to get that file sent up. It landed on the table with two others. He looked at them. "Rona's last shitbag and Emily's husband of doom." He put them on the floor beside his seat. "I'll handle the paperwork to renew their restraining orders in a few hours."
Another file fell, this time on Stark's plate. He handed it over. "I think that was for you. I don't usually have people magicing me files."
Xander looked at it. "We have a new slayer. I guess when Emma died last month she called her. She's nearby. That's good." He put it down there too. "I'll go visiting tomorrow. It says she's in the hospital." One of the girls leaned in with a smirk. "No."
"I can help by showing off."
"You have a math test."
"Oops." She grimaced. "Can't I skip?" He snorted, giving her a pointed look. "I suck at it, Xander."
"So? Try your best and if it's a C then so be it."
"It's more likely to be an F, I don't understand math."
"I'll see if I can help."
"You don't understand math," she quipped with a small grin. "Please?"
"No."
"Fine." She pouted. "Are you bringing one of the Tiny Terrors?"
"Yup, probably. They're cute and harmless, so they won't alarm parents." She nodded.
"I wanna go!" a tiny voice shouted. "Please!"
"Fine. Make sure you have something nice to wear." Xander shook his head. "She loves showing off. I've got to get her into theater when she's in school."
"She's cute too." Xander grinned. "You need help?"
"Probably not." He looked over the file again. "The social worker at the hospital called Giles. So, no."
"Suspicious injuries?" Bruce guessed.
"Yeah, that's why the doctor had the slayer test done. He's seen a few of us over the years. He spotted the mole by the statement and had her call. She was probably attacked by something testing her, acted on instinct, and got a bit roughed up." He put the file back down and shrugged. "We can handle it. I've talked to many new slayers."
One of the older girls bounced in. "Ems just called." Xander stared at her. "She said that myth up in Boston isn't a myth, they spotted her working and asked what the hell she was doing so she pinned them to talk to them about shit, her words before I get grounded, and they're going to tell her if there's problems."
"Okay, that's good. Did she file a report?"
"She'll do it later. She called in while talking to them."
"Okay. I'll call her tomorrow." She grinned and headed off again. "It's nearly bedtime." Natasha went to tell the girls a story. Clint followed. Xander looked at Tony. "Have you called Pepper?"
"I texted her earlier. She's still having a hissy fit about all that and calming down."
"Okay, then I'll expect her to storm in here tomorrow." Tony smiled and nodded. "Remember to talk to the Colonel before he crashes and the bunnies think he's a playmate. He didn't really like the demonic bunnies or ferrets last time." He got up to go to his study. "After the story, it's bedtime." The girls moaned but oh well. He filled out the files while the story went on and on, then shooed them up to bed with Marta's help.
Tony looked at Steve. "It's really complicated and neither one of us is inclined to act on the legality. Personally, I'd like to see Xander date a *nice* dangerous sort since they're the only ones that like him." He got up and went to help clean up the kitchen mess for Marta. Steve and Bruce helped by clearing the table for him.
***
Xander grinned at the family in the hospital room. "Hi, I'm Xander Harris, I'm with the new Watchers Council."
The mother blinked. "They explained some of it to us."
"That's what I'm here for. This is Amber, she's a mini slayer who begged to come along so she could get out of school shopping."
"I don't want to go to school," she reminded Xander, who shrugged. "I know," she sighed. "No slayers are allowed to be dumb." She climbed up onto the hospital bed, looking at the older girl's bruises. "Were they green or yellow?"
"Yellow."
"I saw one of those. They came for me when the Bringers took down my house. They weren't very nice either but there was my watcher and he saved me." She settled on the bed. "Back when I was a baby, all the slayers got activated. Xander...."
"Because she was so far down the list she probably got activated in that second wave after LA. We know the slayer spirit had ignored some that were marked but found them then. It probably hasn't needed to hit her until recently." He looked at the parents, smiling slightly. "There's all sorts of stuff we need to go over. Including you guys deciding if she's going to train at home or with us." The mother relaxed. "The old Council, they were like that. We're not. They got blown up by the First Evil. We reformed under people who had sense, including common sense usually."
He smiled and handed over the new slayer packet. "This is us. This is the training center, which I run. She's welcome to find refuge there, or just show up whenever she wants some other training time. We have suggestions on what sort of training she should be taking if she's going to stay at home. Including which martial arts should suit her best." They nodded, going over the packet with him. The girl put in a few ideas.
So did Amber, who told her about the training center. The mother looked over. "My mommy died with the Bringers. I was barely born when they took out my house. I have a great memory for demons because of the slayer gifts so I remember some fuzzy things about it. My watcher got me to Mr. Giles and Sunnydale so I'd be safer. Then Xander moved all of us tiny ones out of harm's way to the training center he set up so the bigger slayers that had patrol duties could do that without worrying about us."
Xander nodded. "I did. It needed to be done after LA." He looked at the parents. "She's an orphan. We have a lot of those thanks to the Bringers. We have some that their moms are on rotation so we took them in. The girls are all allowed to be girls. They run, jump, play, tease the demonic bunnies that have adopted the training center as a refuge. Occasionally play tag with our three unicorns." The father blinked. Xander grinned. "We've let a few harmless or protective species find refuge on our ten acres of woods. They don't need harmed and the girls like the animal time. We let a few vet trainees that want to come in from U-Conn to look them over every year.
"I've made it so the girls have a home there, and they get to be girls, even if on the weekends they do get self defense lessons from certain trainers and they do learn a lot without realizing it. As they get older and the danger gets bigger, they learn and train more. Generally, demons want to take out baby slayers because they're easy, or ones past puberty because then the gifts start to really manifest in them," he said more quietly. "It makes them eligible for some species' sacrificial rites and the like." They both shuddered. "Which is why I'm a super protective, boyfriend threatening big brother to the girls in the center. They need the support my housekeeper and I give them."
"A female?" the mother asked.
"Marta. She's from a peaceful demon species. She's a great cook and she's helped with the girls a ton when they get too big for a guy to help with bath time or diapers."
She smiled. "I can understand that. How many girls are there?"
"Right now we have sixteen under school age. They get to go to school at eight as we go through a private school. We home school in the basics before then. Which is why all the girls get latin, because a lot of the books are in it, before they enter school. We have twenty-three in school, and the New York City slayers in due to the emergency the other day. Their house caught on fire. We have injured and retraining slayers in and out all the time because it's safe to be limping and weaker there."
"So it's really all ages and more like a sisterhood," the father said.
Xander smiled and nodded. "Oh, they fight sometimes," he assured him dryly. "We had one this morning over who was using who's hair things." Amber giggled. "Marta and I got to pull the fight apart and put them into corners for breakfast. I said if they didn't quit it I was going to color code everyone's things. Each girl would get two colors and that was it. They pouted and said they'd quit fighting."
The mother smiled. "That might be helpful."
Xander nodded. "It could be. I really need to start that with the few toddlers we have. And one really tiny baby. Her mom's in jail for abusing her abusive boyfriend back."
The mother smiled. "I would've done the same thing."
"Me too," Xander agreed. "So we're working on it and I'm watching her daughter too."
"Melissa's kinda slobbery," Amber told them. "She drools a lot."
"She's cutting teeth. You did the same thing and teethed on Willow's ear for a bit."
"I still say she used magic to make me quit fussing."
"I think she used herbs instead of magic," Xander said dryly. "A tiny bit of them pressed into alcohol."
"Eww, you mean I drank?" she demanded.
"No, you never got more than a drip on your gums. You maybe got enough to coat a finger a few times."
"Eww!"
"Hey, no more cutting teeth," he said with a grin. "When your adult teeth come in, you can decide if you want it or not."
"No, I don't. Alcohol is *gross* and bad for us." She looked at her new sister slayer. "You know that, right? We girls are all very much no smoking, drinking, or bad things. They do bad things to our bodies and we won't ever be really great big girls that do things like go to college if we drink and smoke. We even made Faith and Rona give it up because it was bad for them."
"They tied them in a closet for three days and came in to give them water and nag them," Xander said, rolling his eyes.
"It worked," Amber said smugly.
Xander nodded. "They did mostly give it up so you'd quit nagging and let them go take a shower."
The mother burst out laughing. "Really?" Xander nodded with a grin. "Oh, dear." She was still laughing.
"We train the girls to be strong willed, opinionated, thinking girls who just happen to have a duty at times to handle things. All the girls are girls first and then future slayers. After meeting a few the old Council trained, we vowed to never let the girls go down that path. And they haven't."
The mother nodded. "I can see that. Are there people here to train them?"
"Oh, yeah. We've got a few that train within a few miles of here. Two of our self defense trainers are from outside Hartford." She smiled and nodded. "We can set all that up for you, and we do pay for training costs. We want all our girls to make it to college so they can go on to do great things. We're honest with them about things but we know it can't take over their lives or they die sooner and they get depressed, which is usually why they die. We want our girls to be excellent role models, excellent students, very good at life, all that. Then be slayers behind that."
The mother nodded. "I could like that." She looked at her husband, who nodded.
"It's definitely not the way it was." He pulled a gun. His wife gasped. "Harris."
"Hmm, old Council. Retired due to faulty brain waves?" Amber pounced him but the guy shot Xander in the shoulder first.
"Mother fucker," Amber said, beating his ass. "How dare you shoot our Xander!" Nurses and doctors came rushing in. "He shot our Xander! Someone needs to take him before I remember that slayers aren't allowed to kill humans!" The girl on the bed pulled her out of the way. She looked at her. "Did you know?"
"No, I didn't. I swear I didn't."
"Then it's okay and your Mommy's okay if she didn't know." She hopped down. "I need his phone." A nurse tossed it over. She called the 911 number they all memorized. "It's Amber. Xander was up meeting the new slayer and there was an old Council guy up here," she sniffled. "He shot our Xander in the shoulder. He might be okay. We're in a hospital so he'd better be okay. Here, Dawn. She's got his medical records." The nurse took it to talk to her. She looked at the slayer, who cuddled her with her mom. "We can't go without Xander. He takes care of us and helps us. He's our big brother." She sniffled. "Buffy's going to be mad and yell at him. We're going to have to stomp her again before she's mean to Xander."
The nurse looked over. "This one said she's not going to tell Buffy for a few days, dear. Is there anyone who has authority to treat him?"
"Ask Mr. Tony. He's at the training center and Xander was talking last night about them having legal things. He might know. I didn't understand but the bigger girls did and they giggled."
The nurse repeated that. "Please. Thank you." She hung up and handed Amber the phone and Xander's wallet. "Hold those for him. He'll be just fine. He shouldn't need to be in here overnight." She nodded, snuggling in. They went down to the surgical floor to handle the wound.
Amber called the center. "Marta, it's Amber. A mean bastard from the old Council shot Xander in the shoulder." She sniffled. "They said he might not have to stay overnight. I'm here with the new slayer we came up to talk to. They came to get him and take him to surgery, and the guy who shot him because I stomped him flat. Please. Thank you." She hung up. "She'll tell Mr. Tony and have someone sent up." She looked up but the girl pushed her head down so she snuggled in, getting a bit sniffly.
***
Marta hung up. "Stark!" she bellowed, bringing him running with one of the girls he had been working on math stuff with. "There was an old Council member there." He growled. "He's in surgery, both of them since Amber said she stomped the shooter."
"Technically I'm his power of attorney so I can handle that. Keys?" She tossed him some. He tossed them back. "He drove, right?" She nodded. "I'll bring his car back." He went to get his suit that Pepper had sent him. He had a new portable version. He kicked it open and put it on, flying off.
The senior girl went into the gym. "Ladies," she said, getting full attention. "Someone from the old Council showed up with that new girl." That got a slow growl from Beth. "He's injured but Amber called Marta. Tony took off to help." They nodded. "Everyone make sure that Xander's got clearance to sit in bed and mope or have a fit. Let's warn the others when they get back from school, let's not give him any hell." They all nodded. "I'm pretty sure someone probably called the house or Dawn. Amber knows to call Dawn if something happens."
One of the girls was texting. "Dawn does know, she's sent them pertinent Xander medical facts. She said the nurse said he might not have to stay overnight. The new girl didn't know, she heard Amber ask her and her mom." That got a nod. "So we'll figure it out, ladies." They all nodded and got back to their workouts, looking a bit worried.
"Amber has to be freaking out," Beth said quietly to the others. They nodded and she called Xander's phone, getting her. "Hey, Amber, it's Beth. Are you okay?" She listened to her. "That's good but are you okay?" Amber sniffled and said something. "Mr. Tony's on his way up and he'll help get you and Xander home. Sure, if she wants to come this weekend that's fine. She can come back with you for all we care, you know that. There's always a free room even if it's the couch." She smiled at the others. "Okay, it'll be okay. If officers show up, you tell them honestly what happened and tell them to call Dawn about why, okay?"
She nodded. "Good girl. Relax, help the new one by telling her about all of us. That way she's not surprised when Buffy shows up to nag Xander about getting shot. Yup, you'll see Mr. Tony soon. Just relax and share slayer gossip. Get her onto our bulletin board and all that. Call us if you need help. Xander's phone has all our numbers in it. No, I think Faith's back in England so she doesn't smite Buffy or Kennedy. Sure, you can call Faith. We like to call Faith for support. She's great at it and she's not a bitch like Buffy and Kennedy." She smiled. "Sure, you call if you need us. Try to get a bit of rest." She hung up.
"Think she was hidden from us or from that second wave?" one of her fellow senior slayers asked as they got back to lifting weights.
"Xander thought second wave due to her age. He might've hidden her from the Council though. Amber said the girl's mom didn't know." They all nodded at that. They could handle that.
The remaining Avengers looked at each other. Natasha texted Pepper to let her know. Anything that affected Stark Pepper needed to hear about.
***
In New York, at the meeting with Fury and Hill, Pepper looked at her phone. Her face tightened. "There was someone from the old Council that just shot Harris," she said, sending a text message back. "Thank you, Agent Romanoff," she muttered quietly as she typed back. She put her phone back after sending a thank you text. She looked at them. "Stark's up to help him since he has power of attorney for Xander."
"I'm aware of why," Fury said. Pepper smiled. "He good?"
"Agent Romanoff said he got hit in the shoulder while talking to the new slayer that got found. So the older girls that are usually here in the city are contemplating why she just got found since she's a teenager."
"We can look into her family," Hill said. "Will he need more support?"
"No. He had one of the mini slayers with him for show and tell as he usually put it. Tony flew up to help him. She's not that far from the training center."
"That's a good indication it was a trap," Fury said. He shook his head. "The girls are going to go spastic."
"All the Avengers are there," Pepper said. "If Xander's laid low for a few days, all the girls like Tony. He talks to them about weapons." She crossed her legs. "Natasha did say that Tony told them about that one kidnaping and the license issue."
"They might have to tell the senior staff at the Council to keep them from reacting," Hill said quietly. "Summers is still in spoiled mode over Xander at this time."
"Of course she is," Pepper said dryly. She pulled out her phone to call someone. "I need the file on Harris sent to me at SHIELD's base. Thank you." She hung up. "It should be here soon if we need it. I was going to go up there later."
Fury nodded. "Please do. We need Stark under watch in case he does something stupid."
"I doubt he would." Pepper stood up. "I'll talk to you later this week, Director, and Deputy Director Hill." She nodded at them and left. The file was waiting with her driver. She smiled as she took it from him. "Thanks, Happy."
"Welcome, Pepper. The boss okay?"
"Xander got hit in the shoulder by someone trying to get that old Council bounty on his head."
Happy Hogan shook his head. "The boss is going to have someone's liver." He closed the door for her and walked around to drive. "Home?"
"Training center."
"Sure. The girls are charming." She smiled at him. It was a pretty day for the short drive. By the time they got there, Buffy was there trying to get the girls to come to Cleveland and nagging Steve Rogers that he didn't have a right to be there. Pepper walked in and handed her the certificate copy. "Xander and Mr. Stark both suggested that they need the healing time after that huge battle in New York," she said simply. "Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers, and Agent Barton are all more than qualified to help the girls learn new things while Doctor Banner is highly traveled and can help in other things. Also, I talked to Tony on the way up," she told Buffy, who was still staring at the certificate. "Xander is fine, he is out of surgery. He should be home tonight as long as his wound doesn't start to infect. He'll be on couch rest for a few days but you know that's never kept Xander from helping the girls with homework or anything." She stared at her.
Buffy stared at her. "They're my slayers, Miss Potts."
Pepper smiled. "You don't own the slayer line, Buffy. They're slayers, yes, but they are not possessions. They haven't been since the old Council blew up."
"I need to protect them."
"From someone who also went to surgery? The police reports state that Amber sent him to surgery for multiple broken things. She told the officer he shot her Xander big brother so she stomped the idiot flat. Perhaps literally in a few places."
"She's already talking to Faith," Beth said. "We called, Buffy." Buffy stared at her. "Our house caught on fire. We've been driving in for patrols." Buffy nodded once, still grimacing.
"The few supernatural things in New York have really calmed down after a warning," one of the others said from her spot on the climbing tower. "They got the point that the people there were on the verge of a panicking moment that would get all the demons killed if they acted up."
"They all got the point that they needed to calm the fuck down and help everyone rebuild so even the bad ones looked like ideal citizens of New York that were pulling together with everyone else," Beth added. "A few of the vampire haven clubs have let people in to take showers and rest during the day."
"That's good of them. I'm more worried that there's other old Council members who will try to take you girls," Buffy said. She looked at Pepper. "When did they do this?"
"They didn't. They got taken at the same time when Xander was sixteen and they filed that then without letting them know or helping them. When we found it we've sent up legal challenges but so far they're not willing to do anything about it. So it's standing until we can make them undo it or let them have a divorce."
Buffy huffed. "He didn't tell us."
Pepper stared at her. "He told Anya. He was honest with her." Buffy grimaced at that. "Frankly, I wouldn't have told you either with the way any information passed back to Mr. Giles could get back to the people that were trying to kill him. They still have the account with the ten million in it to take him out. It earns nice interest every year I'm told." Buffy winced. "Plus the ones from the underground. He's known about them since before that kidnaping, Buffy. He did the right thing anyway because it was the right thing to do. Can you really find a better role model for your slayers?"
"No, not on that. Kennedy and I think...."
Pepper held up a hand. "Kennedy doesn't think. She's never thought about anything beyond her own pleasures and desires. She's a spoiled bitch to put it bluntly. Frankly, there's a lot of people in the know that think if you die, and Kennedy tries to take over, they'll never let her handle anything. No one likes Kennedy's spoiled bitch moments." She smiled. "However, we do find Faith to be more than capable and she understands multiple cultural backgrounds due to having been raised in the immigrant portion of Boston. She knows people and Kennedy knows shopping. Even the president has mentioned that he hopes he never has to deal with Kennedy as the head slayer."
"She's grown up some," Buffy said.
Pepper smiled. "Really? Is that why she's forced some of the non-US slayers into changing their method of comfortable dress? Xander had to call up to ask for a location recommendation to suggest for your girl Abara to go to where she'd feel comfortable but was still safe for her to patrol in. Kennedy nearly drove her to needing psychiatric care because she had no sensitivity to the fact that Abara's from Saudi Arabia and they're *very* modest over there. That they're fully covered even at home most of the time. That they do not show skin. Kennedy was the one that forced her to wear clothes that bared her throat, her cleavage, and her legs, which is a highly improper thought to her people.
"She called Xander crying about being so bullied." Buffy sighed and slumped, shaking her head. "Frankly, a lot of your girls aren't from the same background you and Kennedy share. They're not flirty, they're not immodest, they're not trained to be strong women with opinions, because none of that's allowed and if you do any of those your family can kill you for dishonoring it. Abara's mother apparently sent her a letter saying they would remove her from the family if she dishonored them by turning into you." Buffy glared. "Xander asked how he should respond during the same conversation. He talked with someone who knew about very modest clothing for her and the girl from the Orthodox Jewish family so they could have appropriate clothes for patrol that would not hinder their movements yet not upset their sensibilities and religious mandates. You could have."
"I try."
"I know. You're only one woman and you can't be everywhere. Which is a great thing to remember, and thank Xander for taking a lot of stress off you." Pepper stared at her. "For now, the Avengers need to rest and recuperate and the lessons they can teach the slayers are invaluable. They just fought an apocalypse battle the other day. The girls need to learn from them like they learned from you and Faith. That's why Xander let them recover here."
"I get that," Buffy said, looking around.
"Wouldn't matter if you didn't," Beth said with a grin and a slight wave. "We'd just tie you up in the closet again." They got back to work. "Agent Barton, my crossbow work is about two inches too low and Xander said you're a marksman, can you help me?"
"I can," he agreed. "Crossbows instead of regular ones?"
"It's easier for us to carry one on patrol," another of the girls said. "I totally suck at it. Even Xander couldn't help me there. I'm better with bladed weapons."
"Each of you has your own speciality and skills," Buffy reminded them.
"Xander made sure we knew that," Beth quipped with a grin. "He's done a great job raising us into being mostly normal young women who happen to have a duty now and then."
"He has," Buffy agreed then sighed. "I'm sorry, I was reacting. I was worried that all that would lead to you girls being attacked."
"Here?" Beth snorted. "Really?"
"Point I guess." She looked at Pepper. "You chew butt nearly as good as my mom used to."
"Some day I'll think about children." She stared at her. "Xander will probably be home later tonight if you wanted to check on him."
"I can do that. Thank you. This...." She waved the certificate.
"They didn't want it to get out. It could hurt Stark even though Xander was old enough by their standards. That's another reason Xander never shared it, because it would hurt Tony's business."
"Oh, I guess that's reasonable and all that. But ewww."
Pepper stared at her. "Not like they've ever acted on it. They do chat now and then. Tony has power of attorney paperwork for Xander with Dawn as the backup person."
"That works I guess. Thank you." She texted Willow and got brought home to talk to them. "Someone married Xander off without telling him."
Giles blinked a few times. "I'd heard rumors from the Council. They were upset at someone for stepping in their way as well and thought it would help them get them both by using them as bait for each other if I remember right."
"Yeah." She put the certificate down.
Giles stared at it. "I suppose that explains why he gives the girls their weapons lectures each year."
"Miss Potts said they've never done anything but fight against it."
"I wouldn't care as long as they were happy together," Giles said firmly.
"She also said that even the President hates Kennedy," she said more quietly.
"So I've heard. He suggested I make it more firmly known about who was going to be in charge if you or I fell."
Buffy nodded. "I can see why I guess."
Giles nodded. "The other old liners like her because she's easy to manipulate. Faith and you are too shrewd for that usually." Willow scowled at him. "She is easily led."
"Maybe but I don't like it. She's senior here."
"I'm senior here," Buffy corrected. "Faith's the second slayer as she's the next oldest. Then Rona because she leads the girls in Europe."
He considered it. "Kennedy would be in the next level down but I suppose that Maria would be higher up as she's the better field general and could lead a continent's girls."
"She has no interest in it," Willow said.
"Me either," Buffy said. "But sometimes it's the job."
Giles nodded. "I've felt that a few times." He considered it. "Kennedy would probably come after Maria but there's Gwendolyn down in Argentina who's leading all the South and Central American slayers."
"Gwen's a bear," Buffy agreed. "She could lead the head house into multiple apocalypse battles. I like her more than Maria."
"So we'll name them as you, Faith, Rona, Gwendolyn, Maria, Kennedy," Giles decided. Buffy nodded after a pause to think. Willow sighed but nodded. "Good." He smiled. "I'll post that notice to clarify things and who is after me in the hierarchy. I doubt they'll like Xander being in charge."
"Hey," Willow complained.
Buffy looked at her. "Willow, the girls don't want to be in the same room as you and you do good with the research teams but not the field ones. Xander handles both very well and he's done most of the stuff that Giles doesn't get done right now." Willow pouted. "As Miss Potts and the girls up there pointed out, Xander's their right hand of God and he's their big brother too. They would riot if something happened to Xander."
Giles nodded. "I've tried to talk him into getting a few assistants and the girls nearly did riot and threatened to start a whole new Council with him as the head until he stopped them."
Willow nodded. "I guess I can see that. I don't go on home visits or anything like that."
"There's a severe lack of people who can handle the non-research portions. The field watchers we have are good and some of them could back up the girls but not all of them and I'm not sure who I'd name after Xander and you, Willow."
She shook her head violently. "No, I'm not in line for the top spot," Willow said. "Head researcher, yes. Doing all this? I have no idea how to lead in a battle or how to train the girls, or even how to order all the food they eat, Giles."
"I can train you for the daily tasks," he said.
"I still can't lead them into battle and they need that. They need people who can handle battles and the daily patrol stuff, not the research side. We're really a separate group most of the time."
"Are you sure?" he asked gently.
She nodded. "I am. I'm kinda hurt but Buffy's right. I have no idea how to handle a real battle if Xander isn't there. Or...or you."
"I do tend to lean on Xander for that as well," Giles admitted.
"Me too," Buffy agreed. "He has to quit getting hurt."
"Or he needs to train someone to be third in command," Willow said, looking at her.
Buffy nodded. "He does. He really does. Well, apparently we can lean on the Avengers a tiny bit for right now. Miss Potts said that they had things they could teach the girls since they just had an apocalypse battle too."
"Yes, it was, and from what I saw, someone had the idea to end it by a missile. That's what Iron Man carried up into that portal." Giles grimaced. "I finally realized what Xander meant." Buffy shuddered at the coldness in his voice. "I'll be talking with a few of us later."
The girls both escaped before he did that. Willow found Kennedy pouting in the hallway. "What's wrong?" Willow asked. Buffy fled the girlfriend talk.
"They don't trust me."
"Kennedy, you do okay enough at running the house, like I do or Andrew does, but the girls have to go into battle and they can't do that with you. You don't do tactics, or battle plans, or anything like that. That's why I'm satisfied being the head researcher. I don't know a thing about tactics or battle maneuvers. How would either of us lead them into a battle if something happened?"
"They took Xander's side."
"Honey, Xander's made our battle plans since tenth grade," Willow said. "We trust him to make them. Some of the field watchers get that same sort of trust. They were usually in the military or did stuff like hunting before this." Kennedy glared at her. "Can you honestly say that if you're in charge of the next battle, most everyone will make it out okay?" she asked quietly. "Because we have one coming up again in LA. Xander's already been handed the folder since I sent it up."
"I can lead the girls."
Rona came out of the kitchen. "Sorry, Andrew summoned for someone here. Didn't mean to interrupt. New battle?"
Willow nodded. "One coming up in LA within a month."
Rona grimaced. "Giles, am I sending you any of mine for the next battle?" she called.
He came to his office door. "We might have to borrow some exceptional fighters. It's another takeover bid I believe but from a different sources. What are you doing here?"
"Someone told Andrew to summon me." She looked back as the Argentinian head showed up.
Willow's eyes went wide. "No! Go home. Andrew, get them home!" she shouted. "We just named them after Buffy and then they got summoned!" He sent Gwendolyn home and then got Rona as people burst in. "Shit, it was a plan." She raised a hand and all the bad guys turned into stone. The few places that had bulletholes were bad. Giles had one in his leg. Kennedy had two in her stomach. Willow's magic had stopped hers and stopped it from hitting Buffy.
Kennedy blinked from her spot on the ground. "You protected Buffy?" she asked.
Buffy looked at her. "She's had them on me since graduation, Kennedy. It's not personal." They called people to help. Including an ambulance. Kennedy was staring at Willow, who was helping her wound.
"I put that on Buffy when we went into the Initiative base the first time so the soldiers couldn't shoot her."
"Oh."
"I love you even when you're being a jealous bitch," Willow said, kissing her on the head.
Kennedy winced as she tried to move. "They were going to make me senior."
Buffy flinched, looking over. "What?"
"The head people were going to make me senior."
"Did you know they were going to do this?" Willow demanded.
"No! If Buffy fell, I was going to be Senior Slayer. They said there was a prophecy about her dying again in the next year."
"No," Buffy said. "Not a chance. Sorry." She didn't look at Willow, going back to tending Giles while the officers and paramedics showed up.
The officers looked at the stone bad guys. They looked around. "Rosenburg, was this you?"
"Yes," she said. "I'm not sure if I can turn them back yet."
"Can you turn back the inanimate?" one asked. "So we can get the guns first?"
"Let me get Kennedy taken to the ER and make sure she's all right. She's my girlfriend."
"Okay," the officer in charge agreed. "We'll go with you so you can stay calm and no one bothers you." Buffy shot him a look. "We don't need a repeat of that nurse problem you had the last time she was in the ER for an injury." Buffy sighed, shaking her head. Willow went with Kennedy and Buffy went with Giles.
Andrew came out of hiding. "Dawn!" he shouted. She appeared. "Giles and Kennedy got shot by the bad guys." He pointed.
Dawn walked over, separating out the guns for the officers that were waiting. "I can't undo them," she said quietly. "Willow put her back into it." They nodded at that. She looked at the mess then looked at Andrew. "What happened?" He told them what he had heard and overheard. "I hate the old Council members," she said. "We need a purge." She called her sister. "As of this moment I'm third in command," she said firmly but quietly. "Bite me if you don't like it." She hung up and called the training center. She knew who was there. She had done some of the protections. "Miss Potts, Dawn Summers. I need the name of someone who can find out who had the brilliant idea to shoot Giles and Kennedy while trying for the entire list above the girls." She listened. "That would be acceptable. No, I'm here. Neither are critical that Buffy said."
"Kennedy's might be," one officer said. "She got hit in the stomach."
Dawn nodded. "Kennedy might be so we might have to sedate Willow."
"Kennedy said the old liners told her that she'd be senior after Buffy," Andrew said. "They had a prophecy that she'd die within a year."
"Probably from their own hand," Dawn said. "Please. Yes, I am. I've told them. They apparently didn't realize. Thank you." She hung up and looked at Andrew. "I need my boyfriend to help. He's military." Andrew shrugged. "Okay." She called him. "I need a hand holder. I'm in charge until Giles gets out or Xander's out of his hospital bed. No, it was a plot. Thank you." She hung up after hearing the sound of a gunshot. The bullet froze within inches of her head, making her look at them. "Yes?" she asked him. He blinked. She smiled. "Who did you think I was?"
"That mutant little sister of Summers," he sneered.
"No, I'm not a mutant. I'm a real live girl. Sorry." She slammed him into the ceiling and let go of some of the bad mood on him. "Shut the fuck up, you moron." He was shaking. "Before I rip your molecules apart." She let him hit the floor. "We're going to have a Xander style talk. Guys, would you like to help?" she asked the officer next to her.
"We're not supposed to let you torture him," one said.
Dawn smiled. "Sure, I get that." She floated the guy back up, staring at him. "Hi." She smiled at him. "You want to tell me things, right?" He shook his head, looking scared. "It's me or Xander and I'm pretty sure he's going to be in a foul mood with his shoulder being messed up. Who knows who he'll channel this time." The guy started to heave so Dawn slammed him up against a wall. "Real men don't puke in fear." She walked forward. "Lets talk. I'm sure you can be civilized and talk like a good boy." Her boyfriend appeared thanks to Andrew. "Thanks, 'Drew."
"Welcome, Dawn, because you've become the scary bitch again."
"Yes, I am." She took a kiss from her older boyfriend then smiled. "He tried to shoot me."
"I heard that." He stared at him. "Hi. Colonel Sheppard." The guy's eyes went wide. "Lets go talk." He hauled him off with Dawn following humming a tiny bit. "Your sister?"
"Not injured. Giles has one on his leg. Kennedy in the stomach."
"Willow?"
"Probably about to blow. Andrew heard Kennedy say that the old liners were going to make her senior if and when Buffy fell again."
He hummed. "Not really a good idea." He slung the guy into the gym and locked them inside. The officers could wait. It'd let them do the paperwork before they arrested him. Half an hour later, Dawn let the officers in to get the crying, begging guy. "I'm really proud I didn't break the skin," John said. He smiled at the officers. "He's a bit...sore. Nothing broken though."
"Thank you, sir. You are?"
"Colonel John Sheppard, USAF."
"You're stationed...."
"Classified," Dawn said. "It's where I'm working too." They nodded, making note of that. They knew they could get hold of Dawn if they needed to. Dawn leaned up to kiss John as they led the idiot out. "Thank you."
"You need it. People like that keep coming for you."
She smiled. "Sometimes, but not as much as they used to. Xander kinda scared a lot of them."
He smirked. "I do that too." He walked off with her under his arm. Buffy was walking in with Giles on crutches. "Buffy."
"John. Dawnie?"
"I'm after Xander," she said bluntly to Giles. "Deal with it."
"I hadn't thought you'd want it," he said.
She shrugged. "I am and I have people I can lean on for the things I'm weak in, like John." She smiled.
"As the president and I talked about his job, I see no problem with that."
"He didn't tell me," Buffy complained.
Giles smiled at her. "It's highly classified, Buffy. He wanted me to not worry about Dawn's present job or boyfriend. Also so I could tell Xander not to threaten him."
"I met Xander. Dawn made sure of it," John said. "He stared at me then shook my hand and said I'd do. He told me how to get into the training center so I could come help the girls."
Buffy nodded. "None of mine ever got that."
"I'm not going to say a word," Dawn assured her with a grin. Buffy huffed but grinned back. "Giles, go rest. Want me to get Faith here, Buffy?"
"No. It's me, Faith, Rona, Gwendolyn, Maria, and then formerly Kennedy." She looked at Giles.
"Willow and her research team are at the other building. They will be staying there and Kennedy can be their protection. She is not coming here again. If they should break up, Kennedy can go patrol somewhere."
Buffy nodded. "I like that. It keeps me from killing her."
"Did she have an involvement?" Dawn asked.
"No, she had an expectation," Buffy said. "I asked." Dawn snorted, shaking her head. "Okay.... So, anyway. John, welcome to the slayer house in Cleveland. Can you and Dawn stay for a day or so?"
"I can. My general said it was important."
"Good. Dawn, I want to know what you know about Stark and his buddies."
"They just formed for the battle, Buffy. There's not a lot there."
"Hmm. Can they help the girls?"
"Yes. I know a few people there. They're good enough."
"Good. I guess. I'm kinda.... lost." She shook her head. "I'm going to take a nap."
"I'll get Faith here so you get a day off and video call the others," Dawn said. Buffy and Giles both nodded. She checked by texting Faith. She was fine. She got brought there and was bandaged. "Old liners?" she asked.
"Yup," Faith said then grimaced. "Why?"
"Here too. Wanted Kennedy in charge."
"Fuck no," Faith said bluntly. "I'd kill her myself."
"She's being banished to be Willow's protector," Dawn said. "Oh, this is my boyfriend John."
"Xander said she finally found someone worthy," Faith said, shaking his hand. "Let me go change shirts."
"We're holding a video talk with the others to name the lineage." Faith nodded. "Buffy's having a moment in her room."
"That's fine." She went up to her room to grab a shirt she kept here for emergencies. She pulled it on with a wince and a hiss, going to check on Buffy first. "Hey."
Buffy sniffled, looking at her. "Old liners?"
"Yup."
"I'm going to fuck them up."
"You'll have help. X will help."
"They got him in the shoulder."
"I'm pretty sure that even if he was missing it, X would find something to take them out with," Faith said dryly. "He's figure out how to fire artillery with one hand and a stick in his teeth if he had to so we were protected."
Buffy sniffled but grinned. "I can see him doing it but I never want to."
"His choice, his life," Faith said bluntly. She walked off. "We're calling around."
"Okay. I'm going to baby Giles." She went to make him some tea and lunch to bring to him in bed.
Dawn looked at the people on the screens. "Good morning. Due to the attack here in the main house, on Xander when he was visiting a new or hidden slayer, and on Faith, we're going to clarify some things." One of the research watchers opened her mouth. "Not yet." She closed it. Dawn looked at the various screens. "If Giles is taken out, the line of succession goes him, Xander, me, Perkins, who works with my boyfriend and has shown he can lead a battle unit wonderfully plus has a half-sister that's a slayer, and then Evan Lorne, who also works with my boyfriend and I've been training him with Xander's methods."
She looked at them. "Giles knows about Perkins and has agreed on me training Lorne. They're both current military and can lead the girls into battles if necessary. They also work on a project with a lot of scientists, mostly of the Nobel winning level so therefore the research council won't have a problem either. With me, as I'm weak in that tactics spot, I'll lean on my boyfriend, who is on a good project that we trust a lot. Giles has talked to the president about them all." A few slumped. "The line for senior slayer is Buffy, Faith, Rona, Gwendolyn, Maria, Kennedy, but she's being removed apparently due to the plots of some people who are a bit pathetic. You had to make up a prophecy about a slayer dying? Really?"
She stared at them. "By the way, your brother's still stone. I'm not sure when Willow can change him back." She stared at the groups again. "As of this moment, the petty bullshit stops, people. If we have to, we know people we can turn the Council over to so the girls and humanity are protected. Giles has emergency plans in case the Council implodes or gets blown up again. He's the head so of course he's never shared them with you. He holds a lot of secrets. So do I." She smiled. "Remember, I had that tiny little mishap with the demon blood myself and after two days of being telepathic inside the house...." A few flinched. She smiled. "Yeah, I heard all of it." She looked at them all again. "Any remarks now that you know?"
"What happened earlier?" one asked.
"We suddenly found a new slayer who's a teenager." The woman gaped. "Her daddy ended up being an older Council person who got missed somehow. Shot Xander in the shoulder. Faith got attacked at her house somehow. I haven't debriefed her yet but she's got a lot of bandages. I'll be getting what happened there after this to see if Xander needs to carve a new name." They nodded. "Then we had seven people here burst in with guns. We know it was seven because they're statues at the moment thanks to Willow. They shot at Giles, injuring him. They got Kennedy, injuring her."
"Where does Willow stand?" one of the researchers asked.
"Head researcher. Kennedy is her protection and her pet slayer." They nodded at that. It was a clear demotion for Kennedy. "Also, if we need emergency plans for Willow losing it again? John's people have a way. We've already talked about it with Giles and he agreed on it."
"We should know those. What if he wasn't here?" one asked.
"People, you didn't realize I was in the lineage until I called," Dawn said dryly. They slumped. "And yes, that's why we're making a few things clear. Xander knew them. I'm going to make sure a few around Xander know more because Xander could use some more help with the girls. They could use new big brothers and sisters." She tipped her head to look at one trying to hide off to the side. "Peter, questions?" He was horribly afraid to be seen by anyone due to some injuries from the Bringers.
"Not really. That's how some of us figured it would go. We know you were hidden for your protection."
"I was. And I like where I'm serving. They have a huge amount of ancient stuff I get to play with and translate." They smiled at her for that. "We have to have a conference." She looked at John.
"If you can get the president to set it up."
"I can ask." She looked at them again. "Any other questions?"
"Did Willow lose it?" one asked.
"No, she didn't. She just turned them into stone." They nodded at that. "If she had, I would've been here sooner." She smiled. "We have an alarm." They nodded. "We'll spread out some of the non-critical, hidden emergency plans later on, people. Maybe a few more need to know than we thought but then again they called some of the girls that got named to the upper levels here right before they attacked." A few winced. "Yeah, so we're going to have to figure out who else was involved. Xander has a friend who can help." She hung up. John hugged her. "I'm not happy."
"I get that," he promised.
She smiled. "You can kick as many asses as you want and spar with the girls. They could use a challenge." He smirked. "I like to watch you spar, you know that." She poked him on the stomach. "Make me hot, I'll give you a blowjob later." She winked and walked off to check on everyone.
John strolled after her. It was pretty hot watching Dawn handle things.
***
Pepper hung up. "Agent Romanoff, would you like to help the Council by finding out how many people were involved in the plot that not only got Xander shot in the shoulder but also got the main house attacked?" The girls all stared at her. "Willow stopped it, girls." They groaned. "They wanted Kennedy in charge."
"Fuck no, some of us would do the time for homicide," one of them muttered. "Gladly."
Pepper looked at the older girls. "Bad thoughts."
They grinned. "For Kennedy, yup."
"I would adore finding that out. We have questions about the Council anyway."
"Wonderful. I'll make sure you get to Cleveland tonight." She made that call and got her sent on her way. She looked at Clint then at Bruce and Steve. "Xander hates to be fussed over. Can you help the girls with sparring since he won't be able to?" They nodded, moving to help them. "Thank you, boys. Let me make sure Marta can handle things." She went to talk to the housekeeper. "I need to find ten people like you to help me at Stark International," she said.
Marta laughed. "I have a few cousins but they don't want to be in business. Sorry, Miss Potts. Everyone fine?"
"So far. Giles is injured. Kennedy's got an injury."
"Poor things. I'll tell the girls Xander will be late."
"Excellent. Does Xander need help?"
"Yes. The girls need someone else to lean on at times."
"I'll see what I can do. Perhaps the others in the line of succession should be noted to them." She left, going to call the President about that. He agreed it was a good idea. He knew who that was.
***
Tony landed at the hospital, taking off the armor even though people were staring. He walked in carrying the suit. "I have power of attorney paperwork for one Alexander Harris. He was shot upstairs while visiting."
She looked him up. "He's in surgery, sir." She pointed. "Up two floors please. Check in up there."
"Thank you."
"We've heard rumors there was a visitor with him."
"I'll get Amber in a few minutes. Let me find out what she'll want to know first." He went up there. Pepper had sent the virtual copies of the paperwork to his phone. "I have the notarized copies in LA."
The nurse nodded. "He's in stable condition. He's in recovery." She walked him that way. "Is that a briefcase?"
Tony smiled. "No, it's not. It's my battle suit." She swallowed. He grinned. "Don't worry, I like Xander. He's a nice guy." He got let in to talk to him. "Hey."
Xander blinked, eyes heavy. "They are not allowed to fuss."
"Your girls?" he snorted. "Fat chance you'll get to escape. You've taught most of them to hunt."
"I have, yeah." His head rolled to one side and he had to struggle to put it back. "Go get Amber?"
"I'll get her in a minute." He stared at him. "Are you staying?"
"Nope."
"I'll drive you and Amber back. The new one?"
"Amber asked, I heard her ask."
"I'll go talk to her." He patted him on the foot then looked at the nurse. "When he's ready to get discharged, I'll bring him home."
"That's fine, sir. The paperwork is noted on his file."
"Okay, let me go get his mini slayer." He walked off. He knew where the girl was. He walked in.
"Mr. Tony," Amber said, staring at him. "Is Xander okay?"
"He's fine. He's knocked out on the drugs they gave him."
"Eww, drugs."
"Pain killers," he told her. "He needs them."
"I know. He doesn't heal booboos like we do."
"Sometimes." He looked at her. "He'll want to go home soon."
"This is Brenda. She's one of us. Her mommy said her daddy had adopted her when he escaped the Council."
"Hi, Tony Stark."
Brenda stared, mouth slightly open. "You work with slayers?" she asked in a tiny voice.
"I know Xander and sometimes I give weapons lectures to the girls." Brenda smiled slightly at that. "Do we need to arrange for your mother and you to have security?"
"No, Dad's still in the ICU. Amber broke all his ribs."
"I treated them like a bouncy pad," she said. "'Cause he was mean. He shot Xander."
Tony hugged her. "You can give Xander a report later on. You helped but now it's time to calm down."
"Yes, Mr. Tony." She looked at Brenda. "Still coming this weekend?" She nodded. "Cool!" She hugged her. "We'll see you and your mommy then. Remember when you pull in to go really slowly in case the bunnies come to meet you." She hopped on Tony's shoulders, hugging him around the neck. "Piggy back ride?"
He grinned at her. "Sure, why not." She giggled. "Call and we'll let you in if Xander's knocked out." He left with her. Xander was up and complaining at the nurses. "Shut up," he said as he walked into recovery. "You can go home. That's why I flew up."
Xander took Amber to hold. "He's not a pony."
"It's a piggy back ride. He's a piggy bank because he's rich, he holds a whole lot of pennies." Tony snorted but smirked at that. She looked at the nurse. "Can we bring Xander home? The girls will want to fuss over him. They're going to go spastic." She looked at Xander. "I treated him like a bouncy pad for shooting you. He was mean!"
"He was but you know not to attack people."
"So?" She snorted. "He was bad to you. He deserved it." She handed him his wallet and phone. "The nurse said to hold those for you. I called Dawn and I called Faith and I called Marta."
"You did a really good job," Xander assured her.
"Thank you." She cuddled him. "Sign the papers, Xander. You're taking up valuable fussing hours before bedtime."
He signed the papers for the nurse, who was smiling at the hyper little slayer. Tony took the car keys and went to get the car so they could go home.
***
Beth walked up to Clint and looked at him. "Are you the one that Coulson told us about?"
He flinched but looked at her. "You knew Coulson?"
"He was the guy they sent to talk to us about stuff when it happened. We all liked him. He never freaked out, no matter how strange something was. He'd just go 'huh' and make notes."
"Yeah, you knew Coulson." He looked at her. "He was on the heli carrier and tried to face down Loki."
She grimaced. "Like Xander, sometimes they do things they have to."
"It..."
She held up a hand. "I heard." He stared. "Demon poker contact of Xander's called to tell us what happened yesterday."
"So you know, huh?"
"Yup, including that the shithead had you under control." He looked at her. She stared back. "Dude, there's a reason they call it brainwashing or mind control. It sucks but you need to work on the thinking stuff probably." She nodded, taking him to the senior gym. "This is the gym for the girls allowed on patrol." He looked around then at her. She hit the buttons to turn things on. "If we come in here before bedtime, the Tiny Terrors try to come help us. It was noted you were trying to wear yourself out. Use ours. It's harder." She looked at him. "We'll miss him and he'll be going up on our stuff somehow 'cause he was one of us too." She walked off.
Clint slumped, looking at this new gym. It was the same four stories that the house was. The other gyms were all single level ones. It had a lot more work that could be done. It was part obstacle course, part climbing course, had a rock wall without handholds, and looked like a bitch to handle. It looked like something he did in the field at various times. He moved to examine all the options. He had way up high ones that were difficult to get to and other options like a tightrope. He smiled. He could like this room. He'd thank the mouthy one later for showing it to him. He started to climb up one of the poles to get to a spot he could hit the tightrope from. He had to spin around the pole to duck the laser blast. He stared at the gun. "I like you too, Xander. Thank you." That helped and it helped wear him out so he wouldn't have as many nightmares that night.
***
Xander woke up the next morning to someone sitting on his stomach. "Should you be sitting there?" he asked the teenager.
"No." She grinned. "You're trying to sleep in and Marta's going to come take pictures of you with bedhair."
"How does that lead to you sitting on me?"
She leaned down to kiss him on the nose. "You usually wake up when we open your door. This time I've been here for five minutes." He winced. "Good drugs?"
"Yup." She laughed and got off him, helping him up. "Thanks."
"Welcome. You might have to pry the archer guy out of the senior gym. He's been in there all night."
"Did whoever turn it on the safe mode?"
"I think so. I didn't look. You nearly paddled me for going in there the last time." She strolled off. "He's up, Marta."
"I'm coming," he called. He pulled on a bathrobe, wincing some as it went over his sore arm and shoulder. He wandered out, taking his coffee. "Thanks."
"You're welcome, Xander."
He plopped down, looking around. "They get off to school okay?"
"They all came in to kiss you on the cheek and then left." He moaned then took another drink of coffee. "Apparently it was very good."
"Drugs can be nice that way when you need 'em." He felt tiny arms go around his waist and looked down. "Hi."
"Hi." She smiled. "Are you too sore to watch us play?"
He looked outside then at her. "It's pouring rain. I can watch you guys play in the living room."
"That's no fun. We wanted mud. All but Kelsey. You know how she is about mud."
"I know. She's a tiny bit OCD and it's growing bigger every year." He drank more coffee. "Have everyone change into old clothes that can get stained." She ran off to tell them. He smiled at the stampede up the stairs. Steve came out of the regular gym. "The girls want mud." Kelsey pouted. "You can keep me company on the porch."
"I'll get wet and that's bad."
"Then go get your dolly and go sit and read in the living room." She nodded, patting each doorway as she walked through it on her way to her stash of dolls. She had one for each subject and they were good for her. "We know," he said quietly. The herd of girls ran out. He got more coffee and went to sit out of the rain while they wore themselves out in the mud. "Someone should have a plastic bag over her cast," he yelled.
"Oops." She ran inside to get one then back outside to play again.
Xander went back to his coffee. It took about an hour but the girls got tired of being chilled and ran inside without being prompted to take warm showers and change clothes. Marta went to help them. Xander went back inside. The gym's sensors showed two missing adult people. He'd wonder but he heard where one was. He got food for him and headed into the gym. The thing fired on him so he shot it back. He checked. It was on safe mode. He made his way over to where the archer was hiding. "I tend to hide in the tree," he said with a point. "There's no lasers over there. Just darts and the mechanical snake that likes my ankle." He handed over the bag. "Food?"
"Thanks," he said quietly. He looked up. "Coulson was your liaison?"
"Yup." He sat down beside him. "He never freaked out at anything and the rest of them got driven off or got headaches. We had two others we could stand but they couldn't stand what we did."
"I've seen people like that." He looked in the bag, smiling some. Trail mix, granola bars, bottles of water, and an apple. "Thanks."
"Figured you wanted to immerse yourself in something familiar. Like I said, I like the tree."
"I'm used to urban sniping jobs."
Xander grinned. "I learned to like trees in Africa. Most snakes can't climb. At least the animal kind can't."
He looked at him. "You heard?"
"Yeah, I did. I'm also hearing a few new things and I'm not sure why. I was texting while the girls were getting in some mud time."
"Mud? Your girls?"
"All by Kelsey. She's OCD big time."
"I noticed that about her."
"We're talking with nearby therapists to see who might be able to help her. So far it's not harmful but she's going to have a problem with her dolls coming to class time next year." He looked around. "I'm kinda glad she put it on safe mode."
"There's an unsafe mode?"
"This is how the girls prove to me that they're ready to take on a patrol spot," Xander said. "There's three unsafe modes. One with robotic vampires." He grinned. "Come down when you want to talk. We'll yell if we need you. You need the healing time. Just don't let the Tiny Terrors in."
"How many are in that group?"
"Anyone but the youngest three and the oldest seven. They came later." He smirked slightly. "Giles called them that because they used to gang up to prank him in a baby way. They talked the bigger girls into helping." He got up and walked out. He reset the safe mode setting for him and it was good enough.
Clint pulled out the apple to eat, considering things. Maybe he'd like to see the unsafe modes later.
Xander leaned into the gym. "Stark?" He looked over. "Come see what the poker buddies are telling me." He came over to see the text messages.
"There's no way in hell," Stark said quietly.
"Yeah." They shared a look. "I'm pathetic with computers."
"I'm not." He smirked meanly. "Where is he?"
"Patrol gym. It's on safe mode and I made sure it won't go to the last setting." He walked off. "Let me know if you need help."
"I can do that." He walked off. "Guys, I'm going to Xander's office to look at this."
"Is it a new battle?" Steve asked.
"No, it looks like someone was hacking into my computers." They nodded, accepting that fib for now. Tony went to the office to log into Xander's computer, which he had made him get. Xander dropped something beside him then walked off again. He looked at the phone message that was up and answered it. "That's interesting," he said, his face hard. "I want to know more about that." He hacked into Fury's computer. He had the full access and it'd save him hell later on.
***
Tony walked into the senior gym. "Legolas, let's go," he called.
Clint looked down at him. "Why?"
"Because Fury's got people on ice."
"What?"
"Coulson's in stasis, not dead. They can bring him out and Xander knows someone who owes him majorly. We can help."
"You're.... Really?"
"Yeah." Clint came down. Tony turned off the lasers and they walked out. Tony leaned into the gym. "Captain, need you. Now. Stay, Bruce. We're coming back here. The medical center is downstairs. We're going to need a bed."
"Okay," he said. "For?"
"Coulson. He's in stasis." Bruce's face tightened. Tony nodded. They walked out with Steve.
Xander paused them. "Call Dawn. Tell her to tell her boyfriend this is the favor he owes me."
"I can do that on the way there. They can?"
"On Atlantis? Yeah, they can."
Tony smirked. "I like that myth they have."
"As long as we never get wraith." Tony nodded, heading out to handle this. Clint looked like he was going to kill someone. He had that non-expression going on. Xander went to prep the medical bay. He called Dawn himself. "It's me. Tell John I remember that favor and it's being called in right now. Stark's about to call." He hung up when she agreed. He smiled at Bruce. "The girls need it after battles."
"I've seen film of a few. I looked it up."
"We do a good job hiding it." That got a nod and they got a bed ready. Xander called another person and they agreed to help. They owed Xander a lot of poker kittens.
***
Stark looked at Clint once they had parked the 'borrowed' SHIELD SUV Xander had driven the girls up in. "Where and how?" He showed him what he had.
Clint pointed. "That's not here. It's the base in New Hampshire." Tony adjusted it and he nodded. "That's not on the base maps. It's all underground. Two entries, both guarded. Neither easy."
"So?" Tony asked.
"Or there's the airways but you have to be super quiet."
"Or there has to be a diversion," Steve said quietly.
"That won't work. They have automated guards, sound pickups mostly, in the air vents."
"So we divert the human ones," Tony said. That got a nod and they went in to deal with it. Steve set up the diversion. Tony knew enough medical stuff to help move Coulson but sent some tech with Steve. He also put a few things in the air vents. "Rumblers. They vibrate as they roll along. It's like a rolling bag of marbles. Drives people batty." Clint grinned at that. The human guards were reporting a disturbance and going to check. They split the other guard so they were still covered. Tony zapped one with a hand-held electronic pinpoint module. They broke the electronic lock with it too by scrambling the machine. They found the secure infirmary and the three patients. Tony looked. "Fuck." He found where Coulson was stashed. Then there was a flash of light.
Dawn smiled at them. "Good morning, Mr. Stark. Let's help you." John and his two docs looked at Coulson first then the other three. All four got taken with them. Clint and Stark disappeared in a flash of light and Steve too. They landed somewhere and then they were beamed back to the training center. Dawn grinned. "Good morning, General."
"Summers, why are you using Stargate tech without my permission?" O'Neill asked.
She pinched him on the cheek. "Because SHIELD is full of people with plots, plans, and bad ideas that are hurting others that we like." She walked off. "I don't know who those three are, Docs. Can I help with that?"
"Yes," one said. "Get me their medical records, Summers."
"On it," McKay said from where he was working at a computer. He handed over two. "I'm getting the third. They've discovered the intrusion." Suddenly something started to print but Rodney balled it up. "They can threaten all they like, I'm still Canadian." He finally printed it off with a smirk and handed it over. "That?"
"Thank you, Doctor McKay," John said with a grin.
"Morons with plans do annoy me," he said dryly, walking off to talk to Dawn. She had asked for the favor and he understood why but not how she was involved. When he heard, he burst out laughing. He had met Harris once. The guy played dumb very well and nearly drove him insane until he realized it was on purpose and the guy was more dangerous than the wraith. He had even put that in the contact report he had done on him. The general hadn't been amused but yay.
General O'Neill huffed. "I do not want to talk to the president about this, people."
"So don't, sir. We'll just offer them a better job since they were supposedly dead," Dawn quipped with a smile. "After all, they're part of a secret government agency that's supposed to protect everyone. We can't be any more weird than the Avengers."
"Probably not," he decided, walking off shaking his head. "Or your people, Summers."
"They know about our people and the one that went to the training center was our liaison until he ran into Loki."
O'Neill stopped and turned, staring at her. "Tiny alien Loki?"
"No. Big, greasy looking human Loki, yes."
"You're sure?"
She handed him the reports on what had happened. "Got 'em from Stark when I asked nicely."
He read them, his jaw setting. "No. Fuck no." He beamed to the White House, smiling at the president's secretary. "Is he busy?"
"He's off site at a meeting, General O'Neill. Is it that important?"
"Apparently there's more than one alien Loki running around?"
She called that to him to see what he wanted to do. She hung up. "He said you are talking about this with someone tomorrow at 0900 here. Expect to see the people you just rescued from and some of Miss Summers people."
"Sure. Including Harris?"
"He did not say."
"Try to get him here too please. I'd like to see why someone said he was more dangerous than the wraith."
"A few reports have passed my desk but they were classified and I cannot relate anything on that topic, General."
He grinned. "Pentagon?"
"No."
He nodded. "Thank you." He went to talk to a few civilian sources of information. Plus ones some of his contacts knew. His former general had just retired from the head of Homeworld Security. He had to know some nice people.
The secretary changed visage and grinned then changed back. She loved being the top demon in the US. Plus it meant that she could make sure her clan was protected, even if they acted up a bit here and there to cause chaos.
***
The Ones They Want.