Title: No gold watch - Part 1
Rating: PG15 I think (If anyone who reads this thinks it needs a higher rating let me know)
Author: Anthony Hawke
Category: Crossover
Pairings: B/X/F W/O G/J
Spoilers: Up to Season 4. After The Freshman but before Living Conditions
Summary: AU. The Watchers Council decides to retire Buffy and Faith... permanently.
Disclaimer: Any characters whose names and descriptions are used are the property of their original owners, and no copyright infringement is intended or meant. No money can be made from this story. It can be distributed freely so long as it is kept in its entirety, with all notices and copyright information intact.
Vamps Lair
Sunnydale
October 1999
Sunday the vampire stepped in front of Buffy holding her 'Class Protector' award. "Oh, and this. This is my favourite item."
Buffy gave the vampire a warning look, "You don't want to touch that."
Sunday dropped it on the floor and stomped down on the handle, hard, breaking it. She then moved over to Buffy and grabbed her left arm. "You know this arm's not looking so good. It might have to come off."
With a mixture of both anger and sadness at the destruction of the only physical acknowledgment of her life as the Vampire Slayer, Buffy addressed Sunday. "You want to know the truth? I only need one." She hit Sunday with a roundhouse punch with her right fist, sending her spinning. Rolling to her feet she kicked Sunday in the face and then flipped her over the couch onto the coffee table. She then snagged some broken wood from the coffee table with her foot and kicked Sunday in the face with it. With a look of surprise on her face, Sunday fell into a pile of clutter on the floor.
Sunday got up with her face all vamped out. A fat Vamp ran in to help Sunday. Buffy, grabbing a tennis racket from the large amount of junk in the lair, stepped onto the arm of a chair and roundhouse kicked Sunday followed by a backhand swing with the racket into the fat Vamp's face, sending her flying over the couch. The impact breaking the frame off the racket leaving a perfect stake in her hand. Sunday moved in closer to Buffy for some close-in fighting. A vamp, dressed in camouflage clothing, decided it was time to leave and moved towards the door. Before he could reach it the door opened, revealing Xander in the lead with Oz and Willow behind him both brandishing crosses, which forced the vamp back. SpicoliVamp saw Willow struggling with a crossbow and rushed her. Willow got the crossbow up just in time and shot the bolt through SpicoliVamp's heart. With a surprised "Woah!" SpicoliVamp turned into dust.
Oz, handing his cross to Xander, moved up to protect Willows back, while Buffy proceeded to mop the floor with the vamp Sunday. Unnoticed by the others, Xander had the cross knocked from his hand by a sweeping arm block of CamoVamps. Gliding forward with a smooth step, CamoVamp then proceeded to throw a strike at Xander's throat. As the hand strike streaked towards his throat, Xander's body posture underwent a transformation. From his usual gawky method of arm waving, sudden lunges and wild body checks, Xander's body settled into a confident looking ready stance. Blocking the strike towards his throat with an efficient movement of his left arm, he struck out with his right at CamoVamps left shoulder joint. Jumping back, CamoVamp gave Xander a look of surprise before taking up his own ready stance. Slowly circling each other, they ignored the sounds of battle coming from the rest of the lair.
Sunday was lying on the floor with Buffy standing above her. "When you look back at this, in the three seconds it'll take you to turn to dust, " Buffy said "I think you'll find the mistake was touching my stuff. "
Sunday got to her feet and rushed Buffy, who swung one-armed at her which Sunday blocked, eventually catching the arm in a hold. "What about breaking your arm," She grabbed at Buffy's left arm. " how'd that feel."
"Let me answer that with a head butt." answered Buffy as she jerked her head forward, sending Sunday staggering.
"And for the record," Buffy made a fist with her left hand. "the arm is hurt," She uppercut Sunday, sending her flying. "not broken."
Oz and Willow walked up behind Buffy, "Hey, Buffy. Need a hand?" Oz said.
Buffy, brandishing a stake with a twirl. "No thanks," She twisted around throwing the stake into Sunday's heart. "I'm good."
Sunday shook her head and put her hands on her hips as she turned to dust. Buffy went over to retrieve her 'Class Protector' award.
Staggering back from a powerful palm strike to the chest, CamoVamp bumped into Oz.
Giving a small growl Oz grabbed the vamp by the throat and threw him against a wall of the lair. Bouncing off the wall the stunned CamoVamp striped over Buffy's weapon chest and landed on the leg of an upside down chair before disappearing in a puff of dust. Looking at the dog tags that got entangled in his hand while he was holding CamoVamp's throat, Oz shrugs, and dropped them to the floor.
The gang left the house carrying Buffy's stuff in boxes. Xander carrying her trunk, paused to pick up the dog tags and slip them into his pocket.
"So, all that other stuff in there? That's just gonna sit in there, right? Uh, I mean, no one owns it in the strictest sense." Xander asked.
"It seems wrong, somehow." Oz said.
"Dibs on the rowing machine." Xander said with a small smile.
"Buffy!" Giles ran up carrying a crossbow in one hand and a cross and battle-axe in the other.
"Hi, Giles." Willow said.
Xander looked at Giles with a smirk "What's with the arsenal?"
Giles, looking worried and guilty, said to Buffy "I've been awake all night. I know I'm supposed to teach you self-reliance, but I can't leave you out there to fight alone. To hell with what's right, I'm ready to back you up. Let's find the evil a-and fight it together."
"Great! Thanks! We'll get right on that." Buffy said with a wide grin.
Stepping around Giles they continued on their way.
Giles, following the gang said. "The evil is this way?"
Buffy looking ahead said over her shoulder "My room is."
"Hey Giles, could you get this box on top?" Willow nodded at box on top of the armful she was carrying.
"So, college not so scary after all, hunh?" Xander asked Buffy.
Buffy answered him with a smile. "It's turning out to be a lot like high school, which I can handle. At least I know what to expect."
Xander dropped back besides Willow. "Hey Will, can I see you do something for me?" he whispered. "I need some help from Net Girl."
Fishing out the dog tags from his pocket, he placed them on top of the boxes she was carrying. "I need you to find out about this guy." he continued.
Willow grinned, "Sure, it shouldn't be hard. I'll see you during lunch tomorrow."
**********
College Canteen
Sunnydale College
"Xander! Over here." Willow waved from a paper-strewn table in the corner.
Walking across the canteen Xander looked at the table Willow was seated at. Practically the whole surface was covered with piles of books separated by a number of loose papers. Directly in front of Willow was clear space that held the remains of a salad with an empty carton of milk set beside it.
"Hey Will," Xander said with a grin while waving a hand at the table, "great idea you've got there. Combination library and canteen."
Looking closely at Xander after his unusually weak joke, Willow noticed a slight look of worry on his face. "What's wrong Xander?"
Leaning back on his chair in casually seaming pose, "Nothing Will, everything's fine." Xander replied.
Looking at Xander's unconvincing pose, Willow decided that slightly stronger measures were needed if she wanted an truthful answer. With her patented 'resolve look' on her face, Willow pinned Xander to his chair. "Xander!"
With a resigned sigh, Xander lent forward. "It's that Vamp last night Will, the one dressed in camouflage."
"It was probably one the soldiers from the base. It's not all that unusual Xander. Sometimes, before they can be warned about the 'drug gangs', a newly posted soldier comes into town for a night out and gets turned." Willow said with a sad look.
Xander shook his head, "No Willow, he wasn't Army, he was Air Force. He wasn't just regular Air force either, he was Special Forces Air Force."
Scrabbling around in the paper covered table, Willow finally found the dog tags that Xander had given her the night before. Tilting the dog tags slightly as she looked them over, Willow read them for the first time.
"Oh, I see now, USAF. But Xander, it doesn't say anything about special forces." Dropping the dog tags on the table Willow looked at Xander with a confused expression. "How do you know he was Special Forces?"
Waving his arms around in a vague sort of way, Xander tried to explain. "It was how he fought last night. He used the unarmed combat style taught to special forces." Xander gave a slight shake of his head. "There's none of that flowing movement or eastern philosophy you see in the martial arts Will. It's a combination of all the deadlier moves from them, coupled with an nasty attitude. They use it mostly when they have to be quiet while taking someone out."
Willow interrupted Xander, "How do you know all this? I mean, you don't even like war films,. So how do you know all this about soldiers and Special Forces?"
"Remember that Halloween when we turned into our costumes? Xander reminded Willow. "You became a ghost, Buffy became a useless noblewoman and I became soldier boy?"
Willow nodded for Xander to continue as she remembered the night Giles's old enemy Ethan cast that Janus spell over everyone.
"I still remember some of it Will, I wasn't just any soldier, I was a Green Beret soldier and the Green Beret's are Special Forces as well." Xander looked worried as he explained further. "Look Will, most Vamps rely on their strength when they fight. You might get the odd Vamp who knows some martial arts or has a bit of skill with a sword. Mostly though they just rely on their strength." Pausing while Willow nodded in agreement, Xander continued. "What do you think of Buffy's chances against a group of Vamps who were Special Forces before they got turned? They could really hurt her....." Xander paused before whispering, "they might even kill her. We've got to find out if he was the only one Will."
With an alarmed look on her face, Willow began to pack her books and papers away. "I haven't got any classes this afternoon. I was going to spend the rest of the day here doing some studying." Blushing, she added, "Oz was going to meet me here later."
Carrying Willows bags, they left the canteen and headed towards Willows room, and her computer.
**********
Willows Room
Sunnydale
Dumping the book and paper filled bags on her bed both, Willow and Xander, headed towards the table where the computer sat.
Turning on her computer as she spoke, Willow asked. "Xander? You got those dog tags?"
Holding up the dog tags, Xander sat on the edge of her bed. "Yeh, got them right here."
Nodding her head, Willow pulled a small notebook from a pile of books stacked next to the monitor. Quickly flipping through the pages, she stopped when she reached a page with the title Pentagon written across the top. As soon as the computer had finished booting up, Willow connected to her ISP and began to type quickly. Quite soon the opening pages of the Pentagon's database appeared. Quickly flipping through her notebook again, Willow typed in a password and waited. The words 'ACCESS GRANTED' appeared before making way for a screen with input boxes.
Holding out a hand for the dog tags, Willow mumbled something about arrogant system administrators using the word God for a password.
Handing over the dog tags, Xander gave Willow a grin and said. "You've hacked them before haven't you?"
Blushing a bright red, Willow answered. "Ummm, I found the awhile back when I was just surfing." Quickly changing the subject by leaning forward, Willow began to input the details of the dog tags owner. "Name....Anthony Hawke....Serial number....5..7.." Leaning back after typing in the details, they both waited for the results.
After a moment a new page appeared on the monitor. Xander, leaning forward began to mumble this time as he read the service record. "Member of a ST team...720th Special Tactics Group.....Instructor at Air Force Special Operations School." Raising his eyebrows at that last, Xander glanced up to the top of the screen to the Current Status line. The word DECEASED followed by a number was the sole entry. Pointing to the number, Xander asked Willow. "What's the number there for Will?"
Opening another window, Willow answered Xander as she began to type. "It's the reference number for a report about his death." In the new screen the logo of the Judge Advocate Generals office appeared.
After entering the reference number, and inputing yet another password from her notebook, Willow began to read the file displayed. "Let me see...Oh wow." she exclaimed.
Giving up trying to read as fast as Willow, Xander asked. "What's the wow for Will?"
"Looks like you were right about how dangerous he was." Pointing to the relevant portion of the file she continued. "When they found his body it was surrounded by six piles of dust." Leaning forward she added. "Even though his blood chemistry showed a high level of alcohol, it looks like he dusted six vamps before they got him."
With a small smile, Xander praised the man. "Way to go man, six of them while blasted." With a sudden look of concern he turned to Willow. "Was he alone, were there any other deaths at the same time?"
After reading to the end of the file, Willow turned to Xander with a relieved smile. "No Xander, he was the only one. It happened in a small town in Colorado while he was on his way to his next posting. It looks like he decided to take a break and have a drink at a local saloon while enroute. The only recent death was two months earlier, when an old lady died in her sleep."
Letting out a sign, Xander said. "Well it looks like Buffy's ok. She won't have to tangle with a Special Forces team of vamps. We really lucked out yesterday. If that vamp hadn't tripped over Buffy's war chest and staked himself, we would have had a hell of a fight." Nodding towards the screen, he asked. "What's JAG's interest in him."
Re-reading the file, Willow answered Xander. "Here it is. Oh, they assigned a team to investigate his death because of his next posting. A former Navy pilot and a female Marine" Reading further down the page she continued. "He was enroute to someplace called SG Command." Raising an eyebrow in surprise, she added. "The security clearance for that place is astronomical. Even the JAG investigators couldn't get clearance for it."
Xander shrugged. "Probably a research facility. Plenty of those around." Standing up he headed for the door. "I'm going to get something to eat, want to join me?"
With a bright smile, Willow answered. "No, that's ok Xander, I'm going to wait for Oz."
Turning back to her computer after Xander had left, Willow prepared to shut it down. Pausing a moment to look at the file displayed on the monitor, Willow began to grin. "SG command....hmmm...I wonder." Leaning forward, she began to type. "Lets see what you have to hide from Net Girl."