Sorry for the wait ... My stupid computer also sais he's sorry ...

A shout out to my beta Venea Taur ... you are awesome

Also I, sadly, don't own BtVS or NCIS ... Not for the lack of trying, of course...

Enjoy

Chapter 8

As soon as the five women entered the ISWO base of operation in DC, they were engulfed in mayhem.

The girls in the apartment were throwing articles of clothing and pillows at each other, while arguing loudly about a matter that neither of the five could understand. The teenagers didn't even notice the five other people in the apartment as the battle went on.

"Sweet, a pillow fight extraordinaire. What do you say, B. Want to join and show the minis who's the boss? If we team up they don't stand a chance." Faith looked at her fellow slayer. Buffy was glad that Faith was smiling again. The comments about Robin upset the Dark Slayer more than Buffy expected and she was sorry that she even brought it up.

"As tempting as that sounds, we have work to do. Maybe after we save Xander." The blond stepped further into the apartment and looked at the girls that represented her squad. Bringing fingers to her mouth, she whistled loudly. The girls stop, startled, before taking defensive positions.

"I see you girls didn't waste time getting familiar with our temporary base," commented Buffy, humor dancing in her eyes.

"Yes, ma'am," came the unison answer from the five teenagers in the room. They all looked at the floor, ashamed being caught playing by the Slayer. Their team leader was a woman to be admired. And, although, they knew that she wasn't really strict or anything, they wanted to impress her.

"The perimeter is secured. The weapons are prepared to be used at a moment's notice. And the nearest place that delivers is ten minutes away. The number is by the phone," reported Satsu, a small Chinese with a taste for funky clothes and original hair styles. She'd been on Buffy's team the longest and knew what the blond woman wanted to know first.

"That's great to know. Good job, girls. And please, how many times do I have to say, stop with the ma'am. It makes me feel old." Buffy and the women walked further into the apartment and started to unpack the things they brought with them to DC. Buffy then disappeared in the kitchen, the noise following her only companion.

Willow's small purse soon produced different ingredients and utensils for various spells.

Renée took one look at all the things and whispered to Kira. "Don't we just need the stuff for the location spell? What's the other things for?"

Kira jabbed her friend in the ribs. "Of course we need all that. It's Xander we are saving today, nothing is set in stone. We could be dealing with an apocalypse." The two shared a look and walked away, their minds full of things that could happen.

Kennedy unfolded the map of the town and started to set red, blue and green dots on it. The red dots were the locations where the supernatural beings gathered, the blue dots were places where Xander met any demons and the green dots were for crime scenes where the victims died because of demons.

"These dots show any demonic activities that Xander knew about. Xander had written detailed reports about the supernatural movements and so far, we didn't detect any rising threats so we are working on an assumption that whatever happened was spontaneous. That means that we will have fewer clues to help us find Xander." She finished putting the dots on the map and stepped back, so that she saw all the slayers in the room.

Faith stepped next to her and continued the briefing. "We're going to split up and visit all the places where the demons like to hang out. Kira, you are with me."

She pointed to the district where most of the green dots were, indicating the crime scenes. Kira, the African-American teen with long wavy red hair nodded and started to study the alleys.

"Renée, you will stay here with Red, while she prepares to cast the location spell. You will have to hold the fort down and call for backup in case we alert anyone or anything that doesn't want to be found." Renée, already armed with daggers, nodded. She knew it was going to be boring, but it was important that she had Willow's back, while the which did her mojo.

Buffy came to the table and continued what Faith already started. "Satsu, you and Leah will check the east side of the town. See what you can find, talk to anybody that might know something." She looked at her two charges and smiled wickedly. "And you can use as much brutality as you want, if the need arises."

Turning back to the map, she continued with positioning the minis. "Rowena and Kennedy, you two should look here and here." The blond Slayer pointed on the north and northwest part of the town, where there were the blue dots. "But remember that we are here to find Xander, so you are not allowed to get side tracked with some random demon."

Buffy looked at her sister and said, "Dawn, you and I are going to comb through the center of the city. See what we can find. And we will check that demon place the NCIS mentioned, Andy's or something."

Dawn nodded and directed her attention back on the documents she had in her hands. She wanted to be familiar with what was usually going on in the town to minimize the risks when she and Buffy went out later that night.

Willow then joined the conversation. "It shouldn't take long for me to see where Xander is held. I'm going to contact you as soon as I'm finished. The one that's closest should go and check it out." Everyone nodded in agreement.

Buffy looked up from the map and finished the meeting. "So we all know what to do. We'll wait 'til dark and then go. Like I said before, Xander is a priority here, but that doesn't mean that we'll let people get eaten. Got it? The ones that will check Xander's place, please just observe. No playing heroes and going in. I want to see, what we can find anything about this situation first. No sense to make things easier for the bad guys. We gather back here at midnight. Willow, can you make sure that there is some food when we come back?"

The red-headed which just nodded and went back to her herbs and pig trotter. Buffy and Faith went to the other room to inspect the weapons, so that everything was as it should be.

"You know, I'm kind of eager for the fight. Its gona be so fun to beat up the baddies. I'm highly mad at them, but its gona be fun. So, what do you think? Who took Xander this time," asked Leah eagerly, while balancing her knife on the tip of her index finger.

"A female demon, no doubt," answered Kira. "Everyone knows that if Xander is missing, it's a female demon."

Dawn nodded from her place on the sofa. "Back in Sunnydale he almost got eaten by his biology teacher that was actually a giant mantis. And an Inca mummy almost sucked out his life force. There was also that girl just before Sunnydale sank that wanted to sacrifice him, to open the doors to other dimension. Those were fun times." She chuckles, but it sounds forced.

"I heard he was possessed by a hyena once. A female hyena," mentioned Renée. All the girls looked at Dawn to confirm or deny the rumor.

"Junior high. But to his defense, it's the females that are alphas in hyena society. And he was possessed by a soldier for Halloween the next year." Dawn put the papers down and looked at Renée.

"What I want to know is why the hell is there no slayer in DC to make sure he's alright," asked Satsu.

"The stubborn idiot refused when Buffy wanted to put a few slayers in DC. Said it would be like leaving his forwarding address to Murphy. They had an all-out fight for weeks. Xander finally won, although I have no clue what he said to her. Willow thinks he blackmailed her into letting him win the argument." Dawn shrugged.

"Cool," exclaimed the youngest of the slayers, Rowena. "Xander is sooo awesome."

The young slayers really admired Xander Harris despite him leaving ISWO four years ago. He was a legend and it was like they were rescuing Justin Bieber or One Direction.

The girls felt honored that they got the opportunity to go with Buffy instead of having to wait for her. Saving one of the former Scoobys was like participating in an apocalypse. Not that they wouldn't have gone to back Buffy up if somebody else had been captured.

"So, why isn't Oz here, helping to find Xander," the bubbly redhead, Leah, asked. She liked the werewolf. He had this charm about him and his one-word answers were just cool.

"Oh, he met one of his kind in Tokyo. Went all Master Zen on him and took him to his version of Mecca," answered Dawn. She had to listen to Buffy's explanation of Oz's absence for hours. Not to mention to her whining.

"You do know that those two things are from two different religions, right?" Kira pointed out despite knowing the likely answer. Summers women didn't care about semantics.

Dawn just shrugged. She got her point across so why complicate things? "Doesn't really matter. Oz is busy with Ichigo or whatever, so the only support he will be offering this time around will be of the moral kind."

xXx

"So, what do you think they are doing," asked Tony his partner. They had sat in front of the apartment complex for a few hours and, as on any other stakeouts, he was restless. Fortunately, the ISWO women seemed to be finally making a move.

"There are more of them than before," remarked Ziva as she observed the figures leaving. They were wearing dark clothes, probably meant to hide their movement in the dark. Well, all except a girl who wore a bright red trench coat. "They are all females. Rosenberg is missing, but they have extra people with them. They are all so young. Teenagers."

Tony took the binoculars and looked closer. "You're right. Gibbs won't like this. It's bad enough that he lost the case to the blond. The fact that she works with kids… Yeah, I don't want to be there when he finds out."

They followed the group until the first intersection, when Tony and Ziva encountered a problem.

"They are splitting up. Do you think they saw us," Tony asked. The girls split into pairs, going their separate ways.

"No, I don't think so. They had the intention to split from the beginning." Ziva was sure of that. "Do you see how they broke of? They knew where they were going beforehand and just matched their stride to the one going the same way."

Tony looked at his partner with a grin. "So, who should we follow? The Little Red Riding Hood, Snow Wight, Pocahontas or Rapunzel?"

Ziva glared at his antics before answering. "The sisters. Buffy Summers is the one in charge, correct? She will probably have the most important assignment. They will probably all meet with her at one point or another." She looked around and pointed the way the Summers sisters left.

"Not necessarily. Being in charge doesn't always mean being in the center of the action. I knew a few who would happily wait until it was over without feeling the need to help," argued Tony back.

"Perhaps. But I do not think Buffy Summers is one of those people. She seems like the type of person that would want to be in the heart of things. She and Ms. Lehane are extraordinaire fighters despite being in charge. That tells me that more often than not they engage in dangerous situations. No, I don't think she would wait on the sidelines. Buffy Summers is in on the action as you Americans say."

"Oh, I'd show her some action, that's for sure" he muttered before picking up the pace.

xXx

"We're…"

"I noticed. They aren't really stealthy."

"Should we…"

"Nah. It would look very suspicious if we did that."

"So what then?"

"Let them follow. It's not like we are doing anything wrong."

Buffy crossed the street and looked into the next alley. So far, they hadn't encountered anything supernatural, but that wasn't really surprising.

"They were following us from the start, but I didn't want to say anything. I find it kind of rude though. We aren't the suspects here and yet they still feel the need to follow us," commented Dawn, walking right next to her sister.

"I guess they are skeptical because of our age. Anyway, I don't think we are going to meet anybody demonic on the streets tonight. Word on the street travels quicker than the wind and by now everybody should know that the slayers are in town, looking for a kidnapped friend. What do you say if we go straight to the bar?" The blond stopped and checked her surroundings.

"That would probably be the best," agreed Dawn. She had been in this business long enough to know when the streets were deserted.

They took the shortest way to Andy's while still looking out for anything worth noticing.

When they finally arrived, Buffy stopped in front the door. "Do you think they will try to follow?" She nodded towards the car still following them and looked at her sister questionably.

"That depends on what they were ordered to do. But my guess is that they will at least try. Should I stay here and stop them?" Dawn wasn't really looking forward to going into the bar, but the idea of staying outside wasn't appealing either.

"How? They are probably two of them. Xander said something about backup. No, it will be better if we make it clear to stay out of this." They turned around and went towards the car that was following them.

Buffy knocked on the glass on the driver's side. Tony rolled it down and looked charmingly at her. "Busted?"

It did nothing to soften Buffy's facial expression. She was working right now and outsiders didn't really mix with her line of work. They usually got killed for their curiosity. It was just too dangerous for normal humans.

"Ok, here is the deal. We let you observe us, but now we came to warn you. Do not attempt to follow us in the bar unless you got a death wish. I don't care what orders you got, it's not safe for you."

"It's just a bar. Besides, we are trained agents," protested Tony.

"Not for this," countered Buffy.

Ziva caught her eye and asked. "And it's safe for you?"

Tony could see something passing between his partner and Buffy Summers, but wasn't sure what. Whatever it was, it made Ziva back off even before she got an answer.

"More or less," answered the blond.

"Can I ask why?" wanted Tony to know.

"Because I'm the reason monsters have nightmares." The smile that crossed Buffy's face was so frightening that Tony hoped that he would never anger the other woman.

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