The Paladin Project 1 - Prodigal
Title: The Paladin Project 1 - Prodigal
Rating: R (For Language later)
Relationships:
Story: Action\Adventure
Feedback: In lieu of a Faithbot yeah.
E-Mail: [email protected]
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters just worship at their altar.
"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."
"Any ideas Faith?"
The raven-haired Slayer glanced across at her companion with disgust. "Gee Woodie, I don't know, you, me, and six Ubers. I'm thinking orgy maybe?" If she was on her own she could maybe run, but with Wood in tow that option was out. Man, these Ubers were scary mothers.
"I'd pay to watch that." Faith blinked at the strange yet oddly familiar voice behind her. "Even supply the baby oil. But maybe we'll get rid of the ubers first."
Suddenly a pair of figures burst past her even as another duo appeared behind the ubers facing her. "What the fuck!" the four figures tore into the ubers, their swords flashing.
Faith took a second to inspect their rescuers. One was an African-American in his late thirties who despite his thickly muscled bulk moved with an amazing finesse and wielded his katana with a skill that she only could dream of. But as good as the dark-skinned man was with a blade, the two men behind the ubers were even better. Both men looked to be related, perhaps brothers or cousins and worked together with an ease that hinted at years of practice. The strangest character though was a slight man with the white face of a mimic who tore into the ubers with a breath-taking brutality; easily taking hits that would have knocked her flat on her gorgeous ass and staggering the demons with punches she would have been proud of.
As the last uber exploded into dust, she turned to the trenchcoated man who'd appeared by her side and drooled. He was a tall brown-haired man who must have weighed 220lbs easy but not a body-builder's bulk, rather the lithe functionality of a top class athlete. There was something about him that reminded her of somebody in her past, course with her past that still left a hell of a field. Suddenly the African-American spoke, his deep voice gravelly. "What next kid?"
"Back to base Blade. Leave the Slayer and her boytoy to clean up."
Boytoy. Faith's eyes widened. Now she had it, it was Harris, some sixty pounds heavier than the last time she'd seen him and way better dressed but definitely the Xman. Suddenly her lips parted in a snarl as she remembered what the bastard had done. Drawing back her hand she started towards the man only for an arm to snake out of the surrounding darkness and restrain her. Growling ferally she looked up. Her mouth dropped open. "Angel! What the fuck are you doing protecting that prick?"
Her mentor smiled thinly. "Who says I'm protecting him?"
Faith's blood chilled as she saw the sawn-off shotgun muzzle peeking out of the man's trenchcoat and the cold look in the man's eyes. Suddenly Harris was a very serious player. "He got you sent hell!" she blustered.
"And saved the world in the process," the vampire replied evenly. "Let's not forget you trying to kill him eh? Just call it a draw."
"Deadboy," it was Xander. "You got the attack dog under control yet?"
Angel let out a groan. "You've heard of diplomacy Xander?"
"Heard of it," the man chuckled, "not got much use for it though. Got a minute, in private?"
Angel nodded and started towards the man. She began to follow only to find her way blocked by the black man. "Xander said private," the man growled.
"Never was much good at following orders," she attempted to push past the man only for the man to push her back.
"Don't try me little girl." Faith blinked, he was close to as strong as her.
* * *
"What a fucking mess."
I don't see your problem Xander," Angel said innocently, "we saved two innocents isn't that a good thing?"
His friend sent him a withering glance. "Faith, an innocent? That's a real strange definition of the word Deadboy. That's right laugh it up, I definitely preferred you broody."
"Yeah I wonder who changed me?"
"I blame Wesley," his straight-faced friend retorted.
"Wesley?"
"You know all the music hall jokes, Benny Hill routines," his friend sighed. "Fuck Angel what do we do next?"
The vampire looked at his friend with concern. For all the skills and experience Xander had amassed over the past four years he was still terrified of Buffy. "Xander, I'll go back with Faith and fill the others in. Tell them how things stand."
Xander's shoulders slumped in relief. "You sure? You and her don't exactly get on these days."
"Yeah I know but she's not never tried to kill me," he hid a wince at his friend's sudden loss of colour. "But I'll need back-up in case she gets insistent."
"Take the McLeods and Eric," his friend offered. "I think Blade can protect me."
"Prevent you from getting in trouble you mean," Angel replied dryly.
"You wound me Sir Vampire," Xander grinned. "So you think my dad and Jack have bonded with Wes yet?"
"Unlikely," the vampire replied dryly.
* * *
"Angel!"
Buffy moved to engulf him as he made his way into the lounge but he stepped aside, evading her grasp. "Buffy," he said neutrally, his even tone betraying none of the anger he felt. Angel nodded at Giles, smiled at Dawn, and ignored Willow's attempts to get his attention.
"B," it was Faith, "we got big trouble, Xand's back and he's got some serious back-up."
"What!" Buffy's eyes flashed dangerously. "That bastard! I thought he'd learnt his lesson the last time. I'll-."
"You'll do nothing!" Angel thundered. "You and your fists of fury did enough damage last time."
"You know what he did. He-."
"He saved the world," Angel interrupted coldly. "If Xander hadn't lied to you you'd have held back, stalled, to try and delay me from opening Acathla. And if you hadn't come at me full tilt I would have beaten you."
"Yeah, like you could ever -."
His fist smashed into Spike's jaw lifting the bleached blonde vampire off his feet and dumping him on the ground. Snarling, Spike attempted to rise only to stop as the McLeods held their swords at his neck. "Be quiet childe," Angel growled, "your better is talking."
"It was my decision!" Buffy shouted. "He had no right -."
Angel felt his temper snap. "No Buffy! You're the one who had no right to hospitalise a powerless innocent who'd saved your life four times that I know of! That had twice saved you from Angelus!"
"What do you mean?" this was from Dawn.
"Buffy went patrolling with the flu," Angel didn't move his angry gaze from the blonde," I more or less beat her into unconsciousness before Xander put my head in a sack and kneed me in the face. Later I went to the hospital to kill, rape, and turn her." The Slayer paled. "But Xander was waiting and backed me off. And what you did to a man who'd have gladly laid down his life for you," Angel decided to tell the Slayer the entire truth. "It wasn't Giles who found Xander after you'd beat him to a pulp it was me."
"What!"
Angel ignored Buffy's shout. "I figured with Graduation being the next day it would be my last chance to try and apologise to Giles for what I'd done. Instead I found Xander lying in a pool of blood, barely hanging onto consciousness and muttering your name again and again. I thought he was muttering the name of his hero not his attacker. I tried to comfort him, held him in my arms, and told him," he glared at the fidgeting Slayer, "told him we'd get the demon that'd done it. Even thought it might have been Faith to get at you the beating was so brutal."
"And then I entered the library, saw Angel hovering over Xander and came to the obvious conclusion," Giles broke in, his face set in a grim line. " I attacked him, Angel sought to restrain me but I was a wild man. If Cordelia," Giles broke away from his recital to stare at Buffy, "hadn't awoken from her beating to tell us what happened who knows what might have occurred. Tell me Buffy, what had Cordelia done to get her black eye, concussion and dislocated shoulder - try and stop Xander's assault I believe?"
"Still next to Xander she got off lightly - a concussion, perforated eardrum, broken right collarbone, broken jaw and nose, three cracked ribs, sprained left wrist, three broken fingers, a bruised kidney, and," Angel winced, "a ruptured testicle." Spike began to chuckle. "Quiet childe or I'll stake you right now." Once Spike had fallen silent he continued. "I waited until Xander was stabilised then arranged for Giles to have him transferred to L.A. so Cordelia and I could look after him. After all I didn't want you to have another chance to kill him on my behalf. After four months he was fit enough to start training and working with me."
"So that's where Xander's been the last four years?" Willow broke in. "Working with you?"
"For a few months. Then Cordy had a vision that Faith was coming so I advised Xander to leave before Buffy inevitably arrived."
"So what's he been doing?"
He smiled at Dawn. "He's been hunting independently."
"Oh I bet Droopy's a raging success."
Growling ferally Angel crossed the room in a blur and slammed a foot into his grand-childe's balls causing Spike to scream in pain.
"How dare you!"
Angel stared impassively at the furious blonde. "I dare for one very simple reason. If anything happens to me, my very good friend Demonsbane will kill you. And that's if my companions here don't manage it."
The tense silence that followed Angel's pronouncement was broken seconds later by Giles' explosion. "You're saying Xander is Demonsbane?"
Angel nodded and smiled. "Yes."
"Who's Demonsbane?" the question came from Dawn but everyone except his companions, Spike, Wood, and Giles looked confused.
It was Giles who answered a dazed expression on his face. "Demonsbane is the bogeyman, the myth that demons, vampires, and other denizens of the occult underworld fear above all other. His skill and ruthlessness are legendary. What's Xander actually done? There are so many rumours."
"Here's just a few edited highlights. March '00 helped Blade-."
"Bloody hell!" Spike turned even paler than usual.
"Eliminate a demon dealer in human children in San Diego. In Jun '00, he helped Lady Croft foil an occult artefact smuggling ring. In July," Angel glanced at the intently listening brunette Slayer, "Xander saved your life."
"Well fuck, I know I'm not the brightest bulb in the lamp but I think I'd remember that!"
Angel ignored the interruption. "The Council put out a contract on you with the Order. Xander got to the assassin, took his head, and sent it back to Travers with a note warning him that if any more attempts were made on your life he'd answer to him. That's the man you were going to attack tonight." Angel savoured the embarrassed look on Faith's face. At least one Slayer appeared willing to admit when she'd made a mistake. "In Sept '00, he prevented a demonic hit on Tony Stark."
"Xander knows Tony Stark!" that came from a high-pitched sounding teen he didn't recognise. "That is so cool!"
"In December '00 he prevented a revived Atlantean High Mage from resurrecting Atlantis," judging from the looks on Willow's and Giles' faces they knew exactly what that meant, "in the same month he helped the FBI hunt down a demon-worshipping serial killer."
"Bloody hell," Giles appeared to be the only one left with the power of speech.
"January '01 was a busy month too. He helped Doctor Strange," Willow's mouth dropped open at the mention of the world's premier occultist, "stop a dimensional eater and the Charmed Ones deal with a magically immune witch- hunter. Then in March 01, he saved Jack Crow, the Vatican's top gun, from a vampire attack. May '01, he helped the Charmed Ones imprison a fallen angel. In June 01, he helped his real father," he saw Willow and Buffy exchange puzzled glances," deal with an alien-shape shifter."
"I always knew there were -."
The high-pitched man shut up at a golden flicker of his eyes. "Sept 01, he helped Eric," he nodded towards the slight man stood beside him, "deal with a group of vampires preying on his club's patrons. In Oct 01, he executed an Oriental sorcerer running an extortion racket throughout the U.S.' Chinese communities. In Feb 02, he helped Jack Crow rescue the Cardinal in charge of their demon hunting program from a pack of vampires intending to turn him. In May 02, he helped Blade rescue a dozen kids from a cult planning to sacrifice them to summon an apocalypse. In Jun '02, he blew up the Takaran HQ." The room exploded in commotion, Angel waited until the room had quietened before continuing. "Wolfram & Hart put a contract out on him; Xander tends to be direct these days. In Aug 02 he helped Lady Croft and James Bond foil a plot to mass-hypnotise the U.N. Security Council. In Nov 02, he ran into the Scourge," Angel grimaced as he remembered Doyle's death to save him, "and helped the McLeods deal with them. In January of this year, he helped his dad and a double-agent foil a terrorist plot to take over a military base and unit. Oh, and 2 weeks ago he helped my gang save the world from one of the ancients."
Giles swallowed. "I think I need to sit down."
"S..so you're saying Xander has worked for the Vatican, the UN, FBI, the Pentagon, and the world's second's richest man?" Dawn asked, her eyes as big as saucers.
"More they, and the CIA and the British government owe him big." Angel replied candidly.
"And a lot of people too," Eric broke in, "Xander's been real busy setting up the Paladin Project."
"What's the Paladin Project?" Buffy demanded.
Angel regarded his ex sadly before answering. How could he have been so wrong about her? All the qualities he'd once so admired had faded away leaving a bitter and selfish harpy. "Tony Stark is above all else a humanitarian. When he learned of the world's dark under-belly, he immediately gave Xander sole charge of a one billon dollar trust fund," there was a thud when the squeaky-voiced man fell to the floor in a faint, "to use for fighting demons. In addition to setting up a dozen groups across the nation with substantial annual budgets, Xander has also created a network of uniquely talented contacts who all fight evil in one way or another and will assist other team members in case of an emergency."
"That's great," Buffy broke in. "With the First in town we need all the help we can get. "Tell them -."
Eric laughed. "We don't take orders from you."
"Who then?" the blonde glared at first Eric and then him. "Are you in charge?"
"No, Xander."
"Xander!" Buffy laughed derisively.
"Xander's the man who paid your back property taxes after your mother died, although that was for Dawn rather than you. Xander's the man who paid off your mother's medical bills. And Xander's not the man who assaults his friends or tosses aside a man who'd acted as their father for three years in favour of a power-hungry maniac. Xander's not the one who twice forced the same father-figure to take a murderous vampire into their home. I could go on but the bottom line is Xander has proven his loyalty, dedication to the cause, and leadership ability beyond doubt. You," Angel shook his head, "you're not even close. We'd follow Xander into hell, you we wouldn't follow to the end of the street. Let's go."
"Wait!"
Angel turned back to Willow. "Yes?" his clipped tone showing exactly what he'd thought of someone who'd abandon their oldest friend without a second thought.
The Wicca faltered under his gaze. "Why does he still fight?"
"Some," he glared at Buffy, "have to be forced into the fight against darkness. Others, Faith and I for example, fight the darkness to earn redemption. Others, the true heroes like Xander, having seen the darkness find they cannot idly stand by and allow the innocent and helpless be consumed by it." After shaking Giles by his hand and hugging Dawn he turned to his companions. "Let's go."
Title: The Paladin Project 1 - Prodigal
Rating: R (For Language later)
Relationships:
Story: Action\Adventure
Feedback: In lieu of a Faithbot yeah.
E-Mail: [email protected]
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters just worship at their altar.
"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."
"Any ideas Faith?"
The raven-haired Slayer glanced across at her companion with disgust. "Gee Woodie, I don't know, you, me, and six Ubers. I'm thinking orgy maybe?" If she was on her own she could maybe run, but with Wood in tow that option was out. Man, these Ubers were scary mothers.
"I'd pay to watch that." Faith blinked at the strange yet oddly familiar voice behind her. "Even supply the baby oil. But maybe we'll get rid of the ubers first."
Suddenly a pair of figures burst past her even as another duo appeared behind the ubers facing her. "What the fuck!" the four figures tore into the ubers, their swords flashing.
Faith took a second to inspect their rescuers. One was an African-American in his late thirties who despite his thickly muscled bulk moved with an amazing finesse and wielded his katana with a skill that she only could dream of. But as good as the dark-skinned man was with a blade, the two men behind the ubers were even better. Both men looked to be related, perhaps brothers or cousins and worked together with an ease that hinted at years of practice. The strangest character though was a slight man with the white face of a mimic who tore into the ubers with a breath-taking brutality; easily taking hits that would have knocked her flat on her gorgeous ass and staggering the demons with punches she would have been proud of.
As the last uber exploded into dust, she turned to the trenchcoated man who'd appeared by her side and drooled. He was a tall brown-haired man who must have weighed 220lbs easy but not a body-builder's bulk, rather the lithe functionality of a top class athlete. There was something about him that reminded her of somebody in her past, course with her past that still left a hell of a field. Suddenly the African-American spoke, his deep voice gravelly. "What next kid?"
"Back to base Blade. Leave the Slayer and her boytoy to clean up."
Boytoy. Faith's eyes widened. Now she had it, it was Harris, some sixty pounds heavier than the last time she'd seen him and way better dressed but definitely the Xman. Suddenly her lips parted in a snarl as she remembered what the bastard had done. Drawing back her hand she started towards the man only for an arm to snake out of the surrounding darkness and restrain her. Growling ferally she looked up. Her mouth dropped open. "Angel! What the fuck are you doing protecting that prick?"
Her mentor smiled thinly. "Who says I'm protecting him?"
Faith's blood chilled as she saw the sawn-off shotgun muzzle peeking out of the man's trenchcoat and the cold look in the man's eyes. Suddenly Harris was a very serious player. "He got you sent hell!" she blustered.
"And saved the world in the process," the vampire replied evenly. "Let's not forget you trying to kill him eh? Just call it a draw."
"Deadboy," it was Xander. "You got the attack dog under control yet?"
Angel let out a groan. "You've heard of diplomacy Xander?"
"Heard of it," the man chuckled, "not got much use for it though. Got a minute, in private?"
Angel nodded and started towards the man. She began to follow only to find her way blocked by the black man. "Xander said private," the man growled.
"Never was much good at following orders," she attempted to push past the man only for the man to push her back.
"Don't try me little girl." Faith blinked, he was close to as strong as her.
* * *
"What a fucking mess."
I don't see your problem Xander," Angel said innocently, "we saved two innocents isn't that a good thing?"
His friend sent him a withering glance. "Faith, an innocent? That's a real strange definition of the word Deadboy. That's right laugh it up, I definitely preferred you broody."
"Yeah I wonder who changed me?"
"I blame Wesley," his straight-faced friend retorted.
"Wesley?"
"You know all the music hall jokes, Benny Hill routines," his friend sighed. "Fuck Angel what do we do next?"
The vampire looked at his friend with concern. For all the skills and experience Xander had amassed over the past four years he was still terrified of Buffy. "Xander, I'll go back with Faith and fill the others in. Tell them how things stand."
Xander's shoulders slumped in relief. "You sure? You and her don't exactly get on these days."
"Yeah I know but she's not never tried to kill me," he hid a wince at his friend's sudden loss of colour. "But I'll need back-up in case she gets insistent."
"Take the McLeods and Eric," his friend offered. "I think Blade can protect me."
"Prevent you from getting in trouble you mean," Angel replied dryly.
"You wound me Sir Vampire," Xander grinned. "So you think my dad and Jack have bonded with Wes yet?"
"Unlikely," the vampire replied dryly.
* * *
"Angel!"
Buffy moved to engulf him as he made his way into the lounge but he stepped aside, evading her grasp. "Buffy," he said neutrally, his even tone betraying none of the anger he felt. Angel nodded at Giles, smiled at Dawn, and ignored Willow's attempts to get his attention.
"B," it was Faith, "we got big trouble, Xand's back and he's got some serious back-up."
"What!" Buffy's eyes flashed dangerously. "That bastard! I thought he'd learnt his lesson the last time. I'll-."
"You'll do nothing!" Angel thundered. "You and your fists of fury did enough damage last time."
"You know what he did. He-."
"He saved the world," Angel interrupted coldly. "If Xander hadn't lied to you you'd have held back, stalled, to try and delay me from opening Acathla. And if you hadn't come at me full tilt I would have beaten you."
"Yeah, like you could ever -."
His fist smashed into Spike's jaw lifting the bleached blonde vampire off his feet and dumping him on the ground. Snarling, Spike attempted to rise only to stop as the McLeods held their swords at his neck. "Be quiet childe," Angel growled, "your better is talking."
"It was my decision!" Buffy shouted. "He had no right -."
Angel felt his temper snap. "No Buffy! You're the one who had no right to hospitalise a powerless innocent who'd saved your life four times that I know of! That had twice saved you from Angelus!"
"What do you mean?" this was from Dawn.
"Buffy went patrolling with the flu," Angel didn't move his angry gaze from the blonde," I more or less beat her into unconsciousness before Xander put my head in a sack and kneed me in the face. Later I went to the hospital to kill, rape, and turn her." The Slayer paled. "But Xander was waiting and backed me off. And what you did to a man who'd have gladly laid down his life for you," Angel decided to tell the Slayer the entire truth. "It wasn't Giles who found Xander after you'd beat him to a pulp it was me."
"What!"
Angel ignored Buffy's shout. "I figured with Graduation being the next day it would be my last chance to try and apologise to Giles for what I'd done. Instead I found Xander lying in a pool of blood, barely hanging onto consciousness and muttering your name again and again. I thought he was muttering the name of his hero not his attacker. I tried to comfort him, held him in my arms, and told him," he glared at the fidgeting Slayer, "told him we'd get the demon that'd done it. Even thought it might have been Faith to get at you the beating was so brutal."
"And then I entered the library, saw Angel hovering over Xander and came to the obvious conclusion," Giles broke in, his face set in a grim line. " I attacked him, Angel sought to restrain me but I was a wild man. If Cordelia," Giles broke away from his recital to stare at Buffy, "hadn't awoken from her beating to tell us what happened who knows what might have occurred. Tell me Buffy, what had Cordelia done to get her black eye, concussion and dislocated shoulder - try and stop Xander's assault I believe?"
"Still next to Xander she got off lightly - a concussion, perforated eardrum, broken right collarbone, broken jaw and nose, three cracked ribs, sprained left wrist, three broken fingers, a bruised kidney, and," Angel winced, "a ruptured testicle." Spike began to chuckle. "Quiet childe or I'll stake you right now." Once Spike had fallen silent he continued. "I waited until Xander was stabilised then arranged for Giles to have him transferred to L.A. so Cordelia and I could look after him. After all I didn't want you to have another chance to kill him on my behalf. After four months he was fit enough to start training and working with me."
"So that's where Xander's been the last four years?" Willow broke in. "Working with you?"
"For a few months. Then Cordy had a vision that Faith was coming so I advised Xander to leave before Buffy inevitably arrived."
"So what's he been doing?"
He smiled at Dawn. "He's been hunting independently."
"Oh I bet Droopy's a raging success."
Growling ferally Angel crossed the room in a blur and slammed a foot into his grand-childe's balls causing Spike to scream in pain.
"How dare you!"
Angel stared impassively at the furious blonde. "I dare for one very simple reason. If anything happens to me, my very good friend Demonsbane will kill you. And that's if my companions here don't manage it."
The tense silence that followed Angel's pronouncement was broken seconds later by Giles' explosion. "You're saying Xander is Demonsbane?"
Angel nodded and smiled. "Yes."
"Who's Demonsbane?" the question came from Dawn but everyone except his companions, Spike, Wood, and Giles looked confused.
It was Giles who answered a dazed expression on his face. "Demonsbane is the bogeyman, the myth that demons, vampires, and other denizens of the occult underworld fear above all other. His skill and ruthlessness are legendary. What's Xander actually done? There are so many rumours."
"Here's just a few edited highlights. March '00 helped Blade-."
"Bloody hell!" Spike turned even paler than usual.
"Eliminate a demon dealer in human children in San Diego. In Jun '00, he helped Lady Croft foil an occult artefact smuggling ring. In July," Angel glanced at the intently listening brunette Slayer, "Xander saved your life."
"Well fuck, I know I'm not the brightest bulb in the lamp but I think I'd remember that!"
Angel ignored the interruption. "The Council put out a contract on you with the Order. Xander got to the assassin, took his head, and sent it back to Travers with a note warning him that if any more attempts were made on your life he'd answer to him. That's the man you were going to attack tonight." Angel savoured the embarrassed look on Faith's face. At least one Slayer appeared willing to admit when she'd made a mistake. "In Sept '00, he prevented a demonic hit on Tony Stark."
"Xander knows Tony Stark!" that came from a high-pitched sounding teen he didn't recognise. "That is so cool!"
"In December '00 he prevented a revived Atlantean High Mage from resurrecting Atlantis," judging from the looks on Willow's and Giles' faces they knew exactly what that meant, "in the same month he helped the FBI hunt down a demon-worshipping serial killer."
"Bloody hell," Giles appeared to be the only one left with the power of speech.
"January '01 was a busy month too. He helped Doctor Strange," Willow's mouth dropped open at the mention of the world's premier occultist, "stop a dimensional eater and the Charmed Ones deal with a magically immune witch- hunter. Then in March 01, he saved Jack Crow, the Vatican's top gun, from a vampire attack. May '01, he helped the Charmed Ones imprison a fallen angel. In June 01, he helped his real father," he saw Willow and Buffy exchange puzzled glances," deal with an alien-shape shifter."
"I always knew there were -."
The high-pitched man shut up at a golden flicker of his eyes. "Sept 01, he helped Eric," he nodded towards the slight man stood beside him, "deal with a group of vampires preying on his club's patrons. In Oct 01, he executed an Oriental sorcerer running an extortion racket throughout the U.S.' Chinese communities. In Feb 02, he helped Jack Crow rescue the Cardinal in charge of their demon hunting program from a pack of vampires intending to turn him. In May 02, he helped Blade rescue a dozen kids from a cult planning to sacrifice them to summon an apocalypse. In Jun '02, he blew up the Takaran HQ." The room exploded in commotion, Angel waited until the room had quietened before continuing. "Wolfram & Hart put a contract out on him; Xander tends to be direct these days. In Aug 02 he helped Lady Croft and James Bond foil a plot to mass-hypnotise the U.N. Security Council. In Nov 02, he ran into the Scourge," Angel grimaced as he remembered Doyle's death to save him, "and helped the McLeods deal with them. In January of this year, he helped his dad and a double-agent foil a terrorist plot to take over a military base and unit. Oh, and 2 weeks ago he helped my gang save the world from one of the ancients."
Giles swallowed. "I think I need to sit down."
"S..so you're saying Xander has worked for the Vatican, the UN, FBI, the Pentagon, and the world's second's richest man?" Dawn asked, her eyes as big as saucers.
"More they, and the CIA and the British government owe him big." Angel replied candidly.
"And a lot of people too," Eric broke in, "Xander's been real busy setting up the Paladin Project."
"What's the Paladin Project?" Buffy demanded.
Angel regarded his ex sadly before answering. How could he have been so wrong about her? All the qualities he'd once so admired had faded away leaving a bitter and selfish harpy. "Tony Stark is above all else a humanitarian. When he learned of the world's dark under-belly, he immediately gave Xander sole charge of a one billon dollar trust fund," there was a thud when the squeaky-voiced man fell to the floor in a faint, "to use for fighting demons. In addition to setting up a dozen groups across the nation with substantial annual budgets, Xander has also created a network of uniquely talented contacts who all fight evil in one way or another and will assist other team members in case of an emergency."
"That's great," Buffy broke in. "With the First in town we need all the help we can get. "Tell them -."
Eric laughed. "We don't take orders from you."
"Who then?" the blonde glared at first Eric and then him. "Are you in charge?"
"No, Xander."
"Xander!" Buffy laughed derisively.
"Xander's the man who paid your back property taxes after your mother died, although that was for Dawn rather than you. Xander's the man who paid off your mother's medical bills. And Xander's not the man who assaults his friends or tosses aside a man who'd acted as their father for three years in favour of a power-hungry maniac. Xander's not the one who twice forced the same father-figure to take a murderous vampire into their home. I could go on but the bottom line is Xander has proven his loyalty, dedication to the cause, and leadership ability beyond doubt. You," Angel shook his head, "you're not even close. We'd follow Xander into hell, you we wouldn't follow to the end of the street. Let's go."
"Wait!"
Angel turned back to Willow. "Yes?" his clipped tone showing exactly what he'd thought of someone who'd abandon their oldest friend without a second thought.
The Wicca faltered under his gaze. "Why does he still fight?"
"Some," he glared at Buffy, "have to be forced into the fight against darkness. Others, Faith and I for example, fight the darkness to earn redemption. Others, the true heroes like Xander, having seen the darkness find they cannot idly stand by and allow the innocent and helpless be consumed by it." After shaking Giles by his hand and hugging Dawn he turned to his companions. "Let's go."