I - I can remember, standing by the wall, and the gun shots above our heads. And we kissed, as though nothing could fall, and the shame was on the other side. Oh, we can beat them, forever and ever, then we could be heroes - just for one day.

David Bowie "Heroes"

Title: We Could Be Heroes(1/?)
Rating: R-ish
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Timeline: Season 2 Halloween onward
Pairings: Most canonwise, Xander/Faith
Crossover Material: Assassin's Creed
Spoilers: General BtVS and AC ending information
Summary: After Halloween, Xander finds himself with the knowledge of the assassin Altair Ibn La-Ahad and the decision to either use these new skills to help his friends or not. But not everyone is very happy with that arrangement...

It was an extremely well made costume for getting it so cheap. Almost as if it had been taken off the very back of the person it was based from. Some sort of assassin from the Crusades, the shop owner had said, which the design of had been bundled together from several different accounts.

First there were the underclothes, soft white pants and a long sleeved shirt. Over that was a hooded white robe with an intricate pattern that looped around the shoulders in black thread, over which there was the wide belt with its attacked knife sheaths with a red sash underneath that hung down at the front and back. It took a moment to straighten the strap attached to the belt so it would hold the sheathed faux sword and then the costuming continued. Across the chest came a set of two straps, one which crossed from shoulder to under the left arm across the back with a half open sheath attached with the other going under the right arm and attaching to the strap at the back with a triangular buckle near the right shoulder fastening them together. Now to bend and pull on the brown leather boots and fasten the buckles on them before the last touches. To the right arm, a gauntlet of brown leather that covered the forearm and left the hand free to move. Finally the left glove, leather inlaid with silver ending in a fingerless glove – and this glove had a hidden secret.

Blades slid effortlessly into their proper sheaths then Xander moved to look in the long, scratched mirror as his hands absently flicked the tails of the robe. He blinked a bit at his reflection, which looked much more fearsome than he felt.

Shifting his left ring finger, he closed his hand into a fist and popped the hidden blade. Grinning that it worked so well, he let it slide back then pulled the hood of the robe over his head, shadowing all but his nose and chin.

"Time to go then," he said to his reflection and gave it a nervous thumbs up before he left his room to start the trek over to Buffy's.

Cordelia ran as fast as she could – which was rather difficult in heels – trying desperately to get away from the demon chasing her. And it was talking about eating her to hurt Buffy for whatever reason.

Just once seen with those losers and it got her this!

"Guhth!"

The pavement suddenly swooped up at her and she hit hard, palms scraping bloody against it. She then rolled over and screamed as the demon swung its arms, claws ready to tear her apart. Rip into her guts and…

Where was the pain?

Blinking, Cordelia looked up to see the demon toppling backwards, a dagger each buried deep into an eye and its throat. As it hit the ground, she heard soft footsteps behind her and turned to see a cowled figure in white approaching. His head tilted slightly towards her then he bent and retrieved his daggers, wiping the blood off on his red sash.

"You should get inside," he said in a low, strangely accented voice.

Then he was gone, walking off without even offering to help her. He didn't even look back when she started yelling.

The bastard! Whoever he was…

Willow desperately wished she could be useful. But, no, she was a ghost and was worthless to her friends except to look outside the warehouse at the demons and Spike.

Worthless!

She glanced outside again and saw the blond vampire some distance away, lighting a cigarette as his minions still strove to get the warehouse doors open. He couldn't even do his own dirty work…

Her attention was suddenly caught by movement above him, something white flashing in the dark.

What…?

As Spike blew out a puff of smoke, he descended suddenly like a diving bird of prey or some sort of avenging angel. She gasped as the figure in white landed hard on Spike's upper back, left arm drawing back as the vampire crumpled. A blade flashed briefly then the arm came down like a striking snake, driving the metal hard into the base of his neck. Definitely a killing blow for a mortal…maybe even to a vampire…

Willow gasped as he stood and drew a short blade from behind his shoulder then moved forward with quiet footsteps. As he reached a patch of light, she finally recognized him.

Xander. It was her best friend, as trapped in his costume as the rest of them!

"NO!" she screamed and ran towards him, realizing he aimed to kill the demons – the kids. She had to try to stop him!

And just as she expected to run through him she slammed into his chest. Looking up, she found Xander looking down at her in confusion from under the shadowing hood before she disappeared, dragged back to her body.

"Okay," said Xander as he sat in his room in the afternoon of the day after Halloween, "checklist."

"One: Those clothes are real cloth and leather.

Two: All the blades are suddenly very real.

Three: I know at least half a dozen languages now.

Four: I know way too many ways to kill someone with hand or blade.

And five: My left ring finger is missing, which is just plain weird."

His eyes darted across the room to where the white robes were carefully folded on top of his dresser, the rest of the outfit lying neatly next to them with the boots sitting on the floor underneath. And all of the abruptly very real blades were lying next to him on the bed where he'd been cleaning them with oil snatched from Giles' weapon store.

"So…now the question is to slay vamps or not?"

He picked up one of the carefully balanced daggers, weighing it in his hand, before he hurled it at the wall. Two inches of blade quivered in the wood and Xander smiled.

"To slay, I say. Though we're going to have to dye the robe gray or something, white just stands out too much.d

Still smiling, he rose to retrieve the dagger from the wall and began to plot how to train himself up to snuff with the skills now in his head. Because he knew how to throw but he didn't have the muscle as evidenced by the sudden strain in his right arm.

But vampires and demons beware when he was through with that!

There was a new player on the scene in Sunnydale.