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Commander Alexander Harris sat alone on the Command Deck, the ship silent as a tomb around him. He'd been there longer than he could remember off hand, and even the voices in his head were quiet. The screen was lit up, showing the continental united states below him. Once upon a time he could have seen the lights of any major city from where he sat, without magnification.
Now, the continent was effectively blacked out on a clear night, looking as dead as if he'd failed.
"Commander."
"Leave me alone, Merlin." He said tiredly, uncaring of what matter Avalon's AE might have for him. "Tyke, I told you I wanted to be alone."
"My apologies Commander."
"Tyke..." He growled warningly.
"Alexander then," The young voice of the Ticonderoga's Avatar said softly. "I believe you should listen."
"Fine. What is it, Merlin?"
"It's about San Francisco, Com..."
"That's out of our reach, Merlin."
The flat tone of his voice belied the emotion that flared at the mere mention of that city, the one place on the entire planet that he dared not walk.
"Commander, I believe that the situation has spiraled beyond the hope of..."
"Merlin!" Xander snapped angrily, "I said that's out of our REACH."
There was a long silence, then Merlin responded, "Very well, Sir. I apologize."
In the silence, Xander stared at the screen, eyes seeking out the place where San Francisco should be. It wasn't there, though, the Paris of the West had lost it's lights.
"Are you going to yell at me too?" Tyke asked, appearing at his side.
He sighed, shaking his head. "No."
She looked sadly down, sighing, "I almost wish you would."
Xander sat in silence for a long moment, "Show me San Francisco, Tyke."
"Aye Sir."
The screen shifted, flashing down rapidly and lightening as the Ticonderoga enhanced the image and magnified it massively. In moments they were floating over the city, looking at the infamous landmarks that had survived the pulse and the panic afterwards. It look... normal.
A lot more rundown than it should, to be sure, but still... it was San Francisco and it was intact and... well peaceful.
The Image wavered suddenly, then abruptly flashed bright white as the screens overloaded.
"Signal disrupted, Sir. Shall I initiate countermeasures?"
"Negative." Xander said softly, shaking his head. "No, I think I've pushed my luck enough for today."
"Not even he can get through my defenses, Sir."
"I'm not afraid for myself or you, Tyke."
The Avatar of the Ticonderoga nodded, "Yes Sir, I understand."
"Even screen."
As the command echoed, the screen snapped back into focus, showing the United States again, dark as it was... Xander's lips twitched slightly as he noted that the area over where San Francisco should be was a spot of pure white.
He snorted, almost amused by that small show of power.
"Nice. Very nice Wyatt." He said softly, shaking his head. "You always were my best student."
"Trained him a bit too well, if you ask me."
Tyke would have jumped if she had human nerves, as it was she instantly initiated internal defenses and adjusted the gravity all around the commander's location to a bone crushing twenty gees. The figure in the suit didn't even seem to notice.
Xander, for his part, didn't look around.
"Go away, Voice." He said quietly. "You never bring any solutions, and I have enough problems already."
"You already have the solutions, Alexander, and you know it."
"You want me to move against him, I suppose?"
"Someone has to."
"He's contained."
"Keep telling yourself that." Metatron said archly. "keep telling yourself that you haven't merely given up the initiative to someone younger, more powerful, and infinitely more hungry than you are."
"I've lost too MANY PEOPLE already!" Xander roared, rising from his seat and spinning on the Seraph. "How fucking DARE you tell me to sacrifice them too!?"
"I'm not telling you anything," Metatron said calmly, in his unruffled way. "It seems to me that you're the one saying it."
Xander shook his head. "Go away, Voice."
"This is your brilliant future, then?" Metatron asked, nodding to the screen where the darkened continent still floated below. "men huddling in the dark, demons one again beginning to move freely..."
"My people are out there." Xander said, "Show us, Tyke."
The image changed, dots sprinkling across the landmass, some blue, green, and red. Xander knew, as did Metatron, that each dot represented a team down there working to fix what had been broken.
Some where holding back the demons, others were replacing the entire power distribution system of the entire continent, and others were doing whatever else needed to be done.
"It won't work." Metatron said softly.
Xander turned to look at him, "Our projections say otherwise."
"You're wrong."
No obscure references, no shadowy language. Xander looked at the Seraph, eyes narrowing. "You never tell anyone anything straight."
"I'm telling you, now... it won't work." Metatron said, sighing as a comfortable chair materialized behind him, cluttering the Tyke's command deck, and he sat down. "There's a war coming."
"There's always a war coming."
Metatron smiled thinly, "True. However, I mean soon. The enemies you've been playing cat and mouse with for the past decade and more are readying to move in the open. When they do, they'll crush the precarious progress you've made toward rebuilding. There is nothing you can do to stop that."
Xander just shook his head, "It figures. So, if we're doomed... what are you here for?"
Metatron glanced up, "I never said you were doomed, but really... that's something for another time."
Xander snorted, smiling dryly as he rolled his eyes. "Tell me that everything we're working toward is going to fail, then say it's a conversation for another time."
"It is." Metatron said calmly. "I'm here for something else."
"And what, pray tell, could you *possibly* have to interest me after bringing something like THAT up?" Xander asked, throwing his hands up.
Metatron smiled thinly.
"Merlin!" Xander called, trusting that Tyke had already opened the line.
"Yes, Commander?"
Xander didn't pause, walking straight over to a central cylinder that turned to reveal his primary kit just as he'd left it. "Status of Prosperity."
"Pardon me?"
"You heard me."
"There have been no reports..."
"Confirm that no incidents have occurred in Prosperity, Merlin."
Xander demanded as he pulled down his black suit and began stripping.
"Acknowledged." Merlin said, sounding rather miffed.
Xander just continued to get changed, grabbing his weapons and strapping them on.
"Alexander, do you really think... Knighthood security is..." Tyke said softly, watching as he changed.
"Not infallible." Xander said grimly, checking his Desert Eagle before dropping it into the hip holster and reaching for the Phased Energy Projector and clipping it opposite the big. 44 magnum.
"Commander," Merlin came back, "There is no response from our sentry stations in..."
"Have the ready team deploy immediately to Prosperity Arizona, with a full assault kit." Xander cut off the AE. "Inform them that I'll be on sight by the time they arrive."
"Yes Commander. May I ask how you..."
"Metatron."
"I see. Understood."
Xander didn't answer as he shrugged into the shoulder rig for his aging FiveseveNs, placed an armor projector onto his shoulder, and headed immediately for the door.
"Ty?"
The Avatar of the Ticonderoga nodded, and before he reached the door a white light engulfed him and he vanished from her decks.
"Be careful... Xander." She whispered softly, worry in her eyes as she paused a moment before vanishing into the ether herself.
Prosperity Arizona
Xander appeared in front of a normal looking house, already walking toward the door. He was three steps along when he knew, with no doubts, what he'd find when he opened the door. At the door he drew his Desert Eagle and nudged the door with his feet. It opened easily, exposing the broken door frame as it swung.
Xander's eyes dropped to the body on the floor and he shook his head, wincing as he recognized the former Secret Service Agent inside. He'd known the man, well enough to enjoy drinks with him a few years earlier.
During better times.
He stepped over the body, looking up the stairs, then toward the kitchen and then back to the livign room. The tv was on, and he headed that way.
Inside the living room, blood had spattered over the walls and Xander grimaced as he moved in slowly. There were two bodies there, and he recognized them both again.
Andrea Price was laying still over the coffee table, a smoking hole in her chest. Xander paused by her, and gently closed her eyes with the fingers on his left hand.
"Over your dead body..." He whispered, eyes moving from her to where Bethany Sloan was sprawled on the floor.
He moved over and knelt by the woman he'd arranged to be protected, eyeing the burns on her body, scars across her face. He gently lifted her hand, turning them over, and easily spotted the torn nails and flesh under them. He smiled sadly, "Good girl, Bethany. Don't go gently..."
The doors burst open then, but Xander didn't look up as men rushed in.
"You're late. Is the town secure?" He asked from where he knelt.
"Sir! Yes Sir. We lost the sentry sites, but there was no damage to the town, and there appears to have been no casualties in the population." Colonel Hardy said instantly, his rifle dropping as the Cadre men quickly cleared the rooms and then moved upstairs. He glanced down, recognizing the body on the table, "Sir, what's going on? Why was Price here? Why was this house the only..."
The Former Army Ranger fell silent, then he looked around again, "Sir... who lived here?"
"She's gone, Merlin." Xander said, standing just outside the home of Bethany and Jessica Sloane. The Cadre team had cleared it, and as their initial impressions had indicated the place was clean and there was no sign of any further attacks. "Whoever it was took our sentries down clean, then eliminated the Service people, along with Bethany."
"There are few capable of such a feat," Merlin replied. "Have you detected any residual psionic signatures?"
"No. The damage looks demonic, anyway. Too clean for a Pyro, too messy for a Kinetic..." Xander paused, considering, "Or not messy enough. There were biological samples under Bethany's fingernails, I need analysis."
"The labs will be waiting."
Xander nodded, then waved to the Cadre man behind him. The man saluted, then ducked back inside to collect samples from Bethany and everything else.
As he stood there a cop car pulled up, and Xander nodded when Sheriff Sam Parker climbed out. She frowned, noting the weapons and people, "What's going on, Xander?"
"Nothing you can help with, Sam." he said, walking toward her.
She was looking past him, however as the door opened, and her eyes widened. "Is that a body? Jesus, what the hell!?"
He blocked her when she tried to get past, shaking his head slowly. "Sam. Sam, listen to me. You don't want to go in there."
"This is Bethany's home!" She growled, "Damn it, Xander, she's a Prosperity citizen!"
"She's someone I put here to hide her," Xander said coldly.
Sam fell back, eyes widening, "You... what?"
"I hid her and Jessica here, Sam. She needed a place to hide from a lot of people who wanted Jessica." Xander said softly. "Prosperity was the safest place I knew."
The door opened again, and they watched the Cadre men carry the bodies out, and Sam winced then groaned when she recognized Bethany. "Oh lord. Jessie?"
"She wasn't here."
Sam pinned him with a glare, "What do you mean!?"
"Jessica is worth much more alive than dead," Xander said, hoping he was right. "She was probably taken."
"I assume calling the FBI isn't an option?" Sam asked, entirely rhetorically. Prosperity was one of the better places in America to live since the pulse, they had power, protection, and plenty of supplies. The rest of the country was a mess, and the FBI was stretched tight trying to deal with the results.
"I'm afraid not."
"Tell me that you're going after her."
Xander nodded, glancing back. "Oh yes. We're going after her, Sam. Count on it."
The Sheriff nodded grimly, "Good."
"Time to go, Sir."
Xander glanced back, then nodded before turning to Sam. "I'll be seeing you, Sam."
"We're going to have words, Xander." Sam Parker told him firmly. "You never once mentioned that you were hiding people in Prosperity. I should have known."
"Trust me, Sam," Xander said shaking his head, "This was one secret you didn't want on your head."
He turned and walked toward the waiting Cadre deployment. When he reached them he stopped, holding up his hand, and looked back. "Lord knows, I didn't."
Before she could say anything, Xander Harris dropped his hand and the entire group vanished in a flash of white light.
Xander paused when they arrived, the men moving past him smoothly. The place was... empty. He tried to compare it to a decade ago, and simply couldn't. There was no comparison, even though Avalon had three times the people now than before, they were never there.
"Commander."
"Merlin." Xander didn't look to the side as the AE appeared beside him.
"I've begun analyzing likely results stemming from the death of..."
"She's not dead."
"You said that evidence indicated demonic intervention," Merlin stated, "What possible purpose could a demon have for keeping her alive?"
"Sacrifice."
Merlin considered, frowning thoughtfully. "Very few demons would have the power required..."
"Merlin, our sentries were taken out clean. Clean." Xander said, "How many low level demons do you know that can pull that off?"
Merlin considered, but before he could say anything Xander went on.
"Hell, how many demons of any level can you think of that would BOTHER?" Xander said as he walked. "Most with that level of power would have wreaked havoc on the town while it was undefended. This was a pro job, Merlin. Demonic involvement or not."
Merlin considered, then nodded in agreement. "very well. Teams are being alerted now. We have..."
"Two days. I'd figured that out, yes." Xander said, knowing that any sacrifice would be at it's most powerful on the combined focus of Jessica's birthday, and the celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. "We're on a countdown, I want every available team ready to move within the hour."
"Aye Commander."
Xander paused, glancing toward the CiC, and took a deep breath.
"I'll check in with the General."
"A sound plan, Commander." Merlin said calmly, with only a hint of humor.
Xander ignored him and strode up the stairs to the CiC.
The squeal of the weapon detection system went off, and Xander smiled thinly as the General rose up and twisted around.
"Who the FUCK is bringing weapons into my..." General Eugene Irwin snarled, only to come up short as he recognized the figure darkening his door.
"Commander on Deck!" He called instantly, straighting to attention.
"At ease." Xander said, stepping in as the CiC staff relaxed slightly from attention.
"Sir, good to see you back on Avalon," Irwin said as Xander stepped up beside him.
Xander nodded, knowing that he hadn't been on the Island much since the Pulse. His... the people on the Island, they knew their things and didn't need him around. He just nodded, looking up at the tactical map.
"I'm just checking in, General." Xander said, nodding to the people as they took surreptitious glances back at him. "Keep up the good work, General."
"Yes Sir."
Xander nodded one more time, then turned and left.
Irwin watched him go, ears picking up the whispered conversations behind him.
"Jeez that was HIM."
"I thought he'd burned out."
"That's Harris, you idiot. He's a legend."
"I know some guys down in Cadre bunks who still swear he's the best."
Irwin cleared his throat, bringing silence back to the command center. He looked over the people slowly, "If you're all done gossiping like a pack of old hens, we have a job to do. Her name is Jessica Christine Sloane, people. She's out there somewhere. Find her."
"Xander!"
The voice cracked across his back like a whip, and Xander froze when he heard it. He didn't turn around as the footsteps approached.
"Don't you DARE ignore me, Xander."
"I'm sorry, Dawn." He said, not looking back.
"Sorry?" She grabbed him by the shoulder, forcing him to turn. "SORRY!? It's been almost a whole YEAR!"
He didn't meet her eyes, and Dawn's hand snapped up in a blur to rock him across the cheek. He just rolled with it, and didn't respond.
"Damn, you Xander. It's bad enough I... we lost her. Do I have to lose you too?"
Xander closed his eyes, fighting back the emotion until he got a solid lock on himself, then he looked Dawn in the eyes. "I couldn't be around, Dawn. Not when I can't..."
"You, you, you." Dawn spat. "Damn you, Xander. WE lost her, she was my sister. Our family. They all are."
Xander shook his head, "I can't do this, Dawn. Not now, not ever... not until I find them."
"WE find them, Xander. Not you. WE." Dawn said fiercely. "Why won't you let us help?"
"It's my responsibility, Dawn. I didn't see it... I didn't realize."
"Damn it, Xander, He had us ALL fooled." Dawn snapped, pausing when she noticed a group forming behind them. She looked both directions, then grabbed Xander by the black suit and jammed her thumb into her mouth, then bit down.
A drop of blood fell, as she winced, and a flash of green light erupted in the hallway. When it cleared, they were both gone.
They reappeared in Dawn's room, or so Xander figured. He noted the dark d?cor, and smiled a litte sadly.
"yeah well," Dawn said, catching his expression, "it suits me."
"It shouldn't."
"Why not? I'm feared by my friends, hated by my enemies, and I've lost more family than I actually have." Dawn said with an ironic twist to her lips. She turned her focus on Xander, eyes narrowing, "As for you, there was no WAY you could know what Wyatt was planning. He was one of us, Xander... Christ, he made Crusader before he was Sixteen. You know better than me how SMART you have to be to do that."
Xander snorted, shaking his head.
"Don't give me that me so stupid bullshit, either," She glared full bore at him. "There's no one here on this entire Island half as smart as you are at doing what you do. Wyatt was a bona fide genius, a prodigy. He fooled you, yes. He fooled us all, and took them from us. Not just you, Xander."
"I was the one who trained him, Dawn. I taught him, I commanded him, Wyatt is my responsibility." Xander said darkly. "I'll bring him down."
Dawn nodded, "I know you will. You're the only one who can... but we can help put you right where you need to be. Don't forget that we have things to contribute, Xan. We have to do what we can... I have to do what I can. If I don't..."
Xander closed his eyes, nodding.
Dawn lunged in and grabbed him, "Don't leave us again, Xander. We need you."
Xander hugged her, sighing. "I'm sorry, Dawn."
She buried her face in his shoulder, missing the distant look in his eye as he stared at the wall behind her.
"I'm sorry."
Jarod looked up as the figure walked in, eyes lighting for a moment as he recognized his friend. He nodded from across the room, greeting the man who'd changed his world. Xander nodded back, looking around the Cadre bar briefly, then made his way to a corner booth to sit down.
He didn't know why he'd come, there was no chance at all of privacy, but after year away from Avalon he suddenly felt the old urges now that he was back.
Jarod was the first to move his drink, though Xander could see the uncertainty in his eyes. No wonder, Jarod would know, of all people, the ambivalence Xander felt toward company... any company... just then. Still the pretender took a seat across the table, and that was a signal to the others.
Cole Turner was next, the former demon nodding grimly as he took a seat beside Jarod and settled in. Andy Trudeau was next, his dark look enough to tell Xander exactly what he was thinking about, and Leo Wyatt was right behind him.
None of them said anything until Jaqueline Standish took her place in the group, eyes boring into Xander as she pulled out a chair and flipped it around to straddle it.
"You've been gone too Oberon Damned Long, Commander." She said flatly, her head and hands shaking slightly. "We've let this stand too damned long."
Cole and Leo murmured in agreement, Andy nodding as well. Only Jarod stayed quiet, his features inscrutable.
"I'm not here about that." Xander told them each, his tone flat and emotionless.
"You damn well should be!" Cole snarled, rising up. "He's walked all over us, and you're just letting him get away with!"
"I don't have time for this, Cole."
"Don't have..." Jacks rose up, her hair beginning to defy gravity as she quickly became even with Cole despite the actual height difference. Power crackled audibly as she bared her teeth, her eyes bleeding pure white, "What could POSSIBLY be more important...?"
"Jessica. Christine. Sloane."
The men looked confused, not understanding a word really, but Jacks suddenly looked like she'd been kicked in the gut and she drifted back to ground level. She stared at him for a long moment, then finally rasped out, "What happened?"
"Someone raided the house," Xander said, "killed the service people, killed Bethany... and took her."
Jacks inhaled, her fist clenched so her knuckles were white as porcelain. She shook visibly, and Xander could see her struggling internally.
"It doesn't matter." She said finally. "That's not my concern."
"Well, you can think that if you like. I don't agree."
"VIN is my only concern now, Xander, and you should think the same!"
"What am I supposed to do!?" Xander's eyes flashed, and he rose to his feet as well. The room, already quiet, turned deathly silent as they watched the Commander and the woman most of them only knew 'The Fey' faced off across a table as some of the top men in the Knights watched on. "Go in with guns blazing? You already tried that, for all the good it did!"
"Together we could..." she argued desperately.
He cut her off, "You've seen the projections as well as I have. We'd flatten San Francisco if we did, and the odds are we'd lose them forever."
"We have to do something!" Jacks snarled in return. "He betrayed us! Damn you, Xander, you trained him!"
"Thank you for reminding me," Xander said, his voice going soft. He shook his head, "Face it, Jacks. Wyatt outflanked us. As long as he holds the secret to where he hid them, we can't move against him. We'd lose them for sure, and the collateral damage of a fight between us and his forces in a city like San Francisco? He has the whole city hostage... Vin, Beth... Phoebe, Prue, Piper... Paige, the others... they're just icing on the cake to him."
Jacks slowly deflated, but he could see now how close to the ragged edge she was. She'd never been the most stable person he'd known, but it was obvious that she'd degraded deeply since Vin had been taken. Xander cursed himself, hating how he'd become so tied up in his own pain... how he'd missed something like this.
"Jacks..." he said more softly, gently. "Even if we win... we lose. For what we risk, all we have to gain is revenge."
"What about the people of San Francisco?" Andy asked seriously, distracting them both. "Don't we have their freedom to gain?"
"Against what? Wyatt, for all his twisted ambitions, has kept San Francisco as one of the top cities on the entire continent," Xander said, shrugging helplessly. "He's a despot, yeah, but the quality of life in San Francisco beats the hell out of say, Seattle."
"Always did," Cole replied, with a dry twist to his mouth that brought an involuntary snort of laughter from the others.
"You know what I mean," Xander said calmly. "San Francisco is probably the single richest, safest, and most secure city in the states."
"All you have to do to be rich, safe, and secure is give up your rights to the warlord of a demonic army," Cole said dryly, then he paused and glanced at Leo and grimaced. "Sorry."
"It's alright," The former Whitelighter said calmly. "I've had time to accept that Wyatt... isn't who I would have wanted him to become."
That quiet pronouncement may have seemed an understatement, but Xander knew how hard it was for Leo to speak against his son, especially among a group that he had to know was likely to include the person who would eventually have to kill the young man.
"Wyatt is a problem for another day," Xander said, shifting the subject. "For now, we have something more important to deal with."
The men eyed him for a long moment, and finally it was Leo who again spoke. "Who is Jessica Christine Sloane?"
Xander half smiled in amusement, "Never really thought the secret would hold as well as it has... Of course, someone obviously saw through it, so I guess it hasn't. Tell me Leo, do you remember what happened on Christmas Day, Nineteen years ago?"
Leo frowned, thinking back, "That's... it's familiar."
Surprisingly, or perhaps not, it was Cole who suddenly paled.
"You're kidding."
Xander shook his head.
"That was YOU?" Cole swore under his breath, "Every demon for three dimensions swore that a Cherubim warrior had descended to protect the child."
Leo suddenly went white, "Oh god."
Jarod and Andy frowned, completely lost.
"Pardon me," Jarod cut in, "But what are you discussing?"
"The birth of a prophecy child," Cole stated, "possibly the daughter of the Lord Creator... some say the second coming... Jesus...
Jessica.. Christine..."
Cole laughed dryly, "Seems a little blatant, Xan."
"I didn't name her, her mother did." Xander said calmly, "But the point is, someone got to her. Two days before her nineteenth birthday, someone got through our security and grabbed her."
Jarod frowned, "You mean... you've been protecting the child of the Creator?"
"Possibly." Xander said, shrugging, "At the very least, I've been protecting the last scion of a very powerful bloodline, who's birth was sufficiently important enough to attract the attention of the Creator, and an entire demonic legion."
"And now you've lost her," Cole said dryly. "My GOD, Xan, when you mess up you do it in spectacular fashion."
Xander spared him a dry glance, but didn't argue.
Leo sighed, standing up. "He's right, guys. This is more important."
"Fine." Andy said, shaking his head, "But we're not done with this, Xander. When this is dealt with..."
The unspoken promise lay on the table between them, and Xander saw the others nod in agreement. He took a breath, then shrugged.
"Whatever."
"NO!" Jacks snapped, hand shaking wildly as she pointed at him. "No more avoiding this, Xander! We'll deal with this situation, but when it's done either you come in and we figure out what to do... or the rest of us do it without you."
"If you go after Wyatt without me giving the word, all you'll do is get yourselves killed or worse." Xander countered angrily. "And if you somehow survive, but you get them killed by being reckless... so help me, Jacks, I'll hunt you down myself."
The normally pale woman was white as the driven snow, lips taught over gleaming teeth as she shook with anger.
"He's alive, Jacks. You know it." Xander told her firmly, "You can feel it. Dead, they're of no use to Wyatt. They're the only things that keep us from tearing his demon army apart with our bare hands to get at his throat."
The others, save Leo, nodded in agreement, knowing it to be true.
"Wyatt is too damned smart to have killed them, and you know Vin is alive the same way I know Beth and Paige are." Xander told her grimly. "The same way Leo knows Piper is..."
Leo nodded, his eyes downcast.
"Don't do something to change that, Jacks." Xander told her grimly. "We're long lived here, even the most normal of us. We can afford to wait..."
"It's not being apart from him, Xander..." Jacks said, suddenly calm and eerily 'together'. "It's the simple fact that someone is standing between us. I can take a thousand years of separation, but not having someone hold this kind of power over us."
Xander smiled mirthlessly, his teeth a deaths head grin against greyish features. "That, Jacqueline, is something I understand too damned well."
"Just promise me that we're going to look for a way, Xander," She said, eyes boring into his, "promise me that much."
Xander took a breath, looking away. Finally he looked back and nodded, "Fine. When we're done with this, we'll discuss our options... what few we have."
Jacks nodded jerkily, taking a deep breath of her own as she sank back onto the chair and leaned her chin on the back.
Before another word could be said, Merlin's voice cut in.
"Commander, the lab results have come back."
Xander nodded, rising to his feet. "I'll be right there."
"I'm coming with you." Leo said instantly, and was joined by the others.
Xander didn't gainsay them the decision, but merely stepped out around the table and headed for the door with them at his back.
As they left, the gathered Cadre and Crusader troopers watched them all leave and many shivered.
"Holy crap... I thought they were going to draw down once or twice..."
"Count your blessings they didn't. The Fey and the Commander alone could have flattened the room. With Pretender, King, and Balthezar involved we'd be lucky to get out alive."
"I think things are about to heat up again, guys."
"Like they ever cooled down... but yeah, Harris is back... and he's looking like a man on a mission. I'm going to head down and check my kit, see you guys later."
Several others agreed with the last speaker, and the word quickly spread. In five minutes the Cadre Bar was empty, with no sign that anyone had been there for some time.
"Are you SURE!?"
Xander's eyes were fiery, pinning Kate Libby to the wall as he looked up from the display she'd passed him.
"Of course I'm sure." She said defensively, glaring back.
"Seitan Clan." Xander said, murmuring softly, barely hearing the hiss of surprise from Leo and Cole behind him.
"What does that mean?" Jarod asked quietly.
"There's only one person on the planet who commands Sietan Clan Demons skillfull and disciplined enough to pull off this hit," Xander said, his stomach lurching.
"Wyatt." Leo and Cole both replied as one.
"So..." Jacks smirked with a crazed eagerness. "maybe we were talking about the same thing, after all."
Xander's world was spinning around him. It was too soon, he wasn't ready to face Wyatt. He couldn't guarantee the safety of those who had been taken, he couldn't even FIND them yet. But time was up... less than two days, and the clock was ticking down.
He took a deep breath.
Now what was he supposed to do?
Wyatt Halliwell looked down at the girl, young woman really, as she sat in the corner, her legs curled up under her. She had streaks of tears down her face, her dark brown hair cascading over her face as she avoided looking at him.
He shook his head, "So much power... so little concept of it all."
She looked up finally, eyes glistening slightly, "W... who are you? Why are you doing this?"
"My name is Wyatt, and I'm doing this because of who you are." He said, walking over to her.
She flinched back as he reached out, "Who I am? I'm nobody!"
He chuckled, drawing the crucifix from her chest and holding it out to where he could see it better. "I can feel the incredible strength... if you'd known, my Seitan could never have take you down... The upper hierachy were insanely stupid to let you grow up this long without telling you... they depend too much on Alexander's strength."
"What are you t-talking about!?"
Wyatt shook his head, "I'll give him this much, he hid you frighteningly well. Only someone like myself, with the trust of the community and the Knighthood could possibly have located you. Anyone walking into Prosperity without that trust would have been tagged, followed, and eliminated before they got within five feet of your doorstep."
Her face was a mix of total confusion and sheer terror as this insane person just spouted off nonsense that meant nothing to her.
"I... I don't understand..."
"And you likely never will," He told her, letting the cross drop to her chest with a thump as he rose up to tower over her again. "Tell me, Jessica... did you never wonder why your crucifix glowed a radiant blue? Did no one ever ask?"
She looked down, confused, then shook her head, "I... it's just luminescent..."
Wyatt shook his head, "Amazing what people will accept as normal, given the opportunity."
He looked her over again, then nodded to the bed in the corner of the room. "You may as well be comfortable, there's really no sense in cowering in the corner."
He turned, heading for the door, and only paused when she spoke up again.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Because I can." He said, walking out and locking the door behind him.
Wyatt stepped into the foyer and paused, looking at his younger brother in annoyance. "Back again? I thought you'd given up on me."
Chris sighed, shaking his head grimly. "You need to stop this, Wyatt."
"Didn't you learn anything from your little galivanting off to the past?" Wyatt asked wryly, "Really now, blaming it all on poor Gideon. As if that old fool could have had any serious impact on me. He did make a nice little distraction, I suppose."
Chris glared at his brother, a spell flitting across the forefront of his mind, but Wyatt merely lifted his hand and showed a gleaming ball of magical power floating clearly in his palm.
"Ah ah," The eldest Halliwell, or at least eldest in THIS dimension, said with a smile. "You're my brother, and really of no threat to me, so I tolerate your games... but don't push it, Chris. I'll not have you ruin my mood when I'm this close."
"You really did it, didn't you?" Chris demanded hotly.
"Of course I did. If you'd care to meet her, she's in Prudence's old room. Enjoy a chat, but don't try anything stupid..." Wyatt suggested idly, "All it would bring you, or her, is pain..."
With those words he turned his back on his younger brother, and walked away.
Chris seethed as he watched him go, unable to do anything though he very much wished to do SOMETHING. When Wyatt was out of sight, Chris looked up the stairs and took a deep breath before he headed up.
Jessica flinched when the door opened again, this time to admit another young man. This one seemed... smaller, less imposing than the first, but that brought her no real comfort.
"Are you ok?" He asked softly.
She stared at him incredulously. "Are you kidding me!?"
He looked miserable, and she lashed out at the perception of a chink in the armor of her kidnappers.
"My mom is dead! I've been kidnapped by MONSTERS, and I'm locked in a room while some maniac does God alone knows what!" She screamed, throwing a book from the end table at him. She fell silent in shock when he vanished in a shower of white light, then reappeared in the same spot after the book at hit the door behind him. "W.... wha...
what are you?"
"I'm half whitelighter." He said, shrugging. "Kind of like... part guardian angel."
"A... are you here to...?"
"No." He shook his head, knowing what she was asking even as she trailed off. "In this house... I have almost no power."
"but you just..."
"My brother controls this place, Jessica." Chris said, "He lets me do somethings here, but only some. I couldn't take you out, or protect you from him... I'm sorry."
"He's your brother?" Jessica thought, thinking back to the study of mythology she'd taken, encouraged by her Mom, her aunts and uncles, and the other friends of the family who'd drop by. "let me guess... his dad was a devil, yours was an angel?"
Chris smiled crookedly, "That would be simpler, wouldn't it? No, same dad... same mom. Dad was an Angel, mom was a Witch. Both good 'stock', no evil in our bloodlines."
"Then why...?"
"I don't know. I thought I did... I tried to fix it," Chris sighed, "I thought I had... we all did. We were wrong."
"Well that's just great," The girl sighed, pulling her knees up under her chin as she sat on the bed. "So now what does he want with me?"
"He'll sacrifice you on your birthday," Chris told her with a certain brutal honesty that took her breath away.
She stared at him for a minute, then just sighed. With the monsters that attacked, the powers she'd seen, well she supposed that a sacrifice was the logical conclusion. "Great."
"You're taking this pretty well."
"No. I'm screaming incoherently on the inside," She said sourly, "But I spent a lot of time around people who always told me that panicking solves nothing. Stay calm, and stay aware."
Chris half smiled, "Let me guess... Xander Harris?"
She looked up sharply, "You know Uncle Xander?"
Chris nodded, "He's... well, you could say he's my uncle too. He's a very good friend of the family... or he was until Wyatt flipped out on us."
She frowned, shaking her head, "How is he connected to all this? He's just... Uncle Xander."
Chris chuckled, "He's connected to you much the same way he's connected to me. Xander Harris has been our guardian in the shadows since we were born. He... he's even the one who trained Wyatt."
She looked at him, eyes wide, "H... He trained that... he trained your brother?"
Chris nodded.
"Oh great." She slumped, "Andrea used to tell me all the time that Xander was one of the scariest guys she knew... and SHE was plenty scary, let me tell you. I never saw it, but Andrea... she never lied to me..."
"No, she didn't. Not about that anyway," Chris said, taking a seat in a chair across from the bed. "Xander's the only person on the planet now, that I know of, who has a chance against Wyatt... and I'll be honest, it's not a great chance. Wyatt... he's... he's a force of nature."
She looked confused, so Chris continued.
"When Wyatt was born... Magic took the day off." He told her, shaking his head, "That's like... the sun deciding not to shine in honor of someone's birth. It just doesn't happen."
"So I'm doomed. Great."
"Maybe. Maybe not." Chris shrugged, "Because of who you are, even Wyatt isn't going to be making any assumptions until it's over."
"What's that supposed to mean!?" She glared, "He was all cryptic about who I am too! Who am I that all of this is happening to me!? Why me?"
"Now that... is a loaded question." Chris told her evenly.
"And THAT.... isn't an answer," She responded sarcastically.
"You know, for your bloodline you're a pretty sarcastic type."
"Enough with the cryptic hints already!"
Chris sighed, "Look, I don't know anything for SURE... just the rumors in The Community."
She frowned, almost able to hear the capital letters, "The Community?"
"The mystical community," He explained, "a loose conglomeration of demons, angels, and those in the middle that exist on the Earth plane."
"Demons and Angels? They get along well enough to have a community?"
"You'd be surprised," Chris shrugged, "But don't get confused... not all demons are evil and not all angels are, well... angels. Wyatt is half Angel, remember."
"Oh. Yeah. Right... what's up with that?"
"On the Earth plane you don't get many pure bloods from either side. It tends to result in a mix of loyalties... and even when dealing with pure bloods... well, Lucifer, for example... not the nicest Angel around..." Chris grimaced, "Not technically a bad guy but..."
"Wait... are we thinking about the SAME Lucifer?"
He nodded, "Yeah. The Lord of Hell... note the capital letters there. He takes his title seriously too, and you DON'T want to be on his bad side... in fact, you probably don't want to be on his good side. Better that he just not notice you, you can ask Xander about that..."
"I thought he was the ultimate bad guy...??"
"No, he's a pretty powerful player, but he's solidly on the side of light... which mean," Chris said with a fatalistic shrug, "That if he were permitted, he'd probably be down here laying waste to the entire city in order to get YOU out of here."
She blinked, "Me? Why me? Why ANY of this?? Why would Lucifer give a damn about me!?"
"Your Mom was Bethany Sloane, right?"
She nodded, swallowing hard.
"Bethany was the last Scion... the last living descendant of Jesus Christ." Chris told her, "This much... this much I know for fact. That makes YOU, at the very least, the last of that bloodline now. There's a lot of power in that, Jessica..."
She swallowed even harder, shaking slightly. "You've got to be kidding me. I... I mean, I studied all this... Mom and Uncle Xander and everyone kinda made me but..."
"Why do you think they did that?" Chris asked, shrugging. "They were trying to prepare you."
"For... this!?"
"For whatever." Chris said, rising up.
"Wait! W... where...?"
"I can't stay long," Chris looked up, "Wyatt will only tolerate so much and I... I'm not strong enough to even slow him down."
"Just... tell me..." She asked, staring at him, wide eyed and biting her lower lip, "Is there... is there any hope?"
"There's always hope where there's life, Jessica..." He said, forcing a smile.
"Yeah..."
Chris ducked his head, then left.
"right."
"Avalon stands ready to deploy, Commander."
Xander nodded dully at Irwin's assessment, walking into the command and control center with leaden feet. Irwin moved out of his way, clearing the central chair, and Xander took his place in it. He took a breath, then keyed in a sequence from memory.
The world rushed around him, and a white light exploded out, and in a moment Xander was sitting at the silver wedge imprinted on The Table. He summoned Elan to his hand and laid the collapsed weapon into the reception slot that was waiting for her.
"The Table, and Avalon, recognizes Commander Alexander Harris."
"Thank you, Merlin." Xander said, sighing. "Show me... show me the progress on rebuilding the infrastructure."
"Yes Sir."
In the center of the long circle of stone a display lit up, and Xander noted the changes with one part of his mind as the other part was focusing on other things.
Things he didn't have any answers too.
"Complete restoration of the national power grid is at fifteen percent. The Mystical pulse blew out every piece of power relay, power transformation, and most power generation facilities for almost the entire continent." Merlin said, repeating things he knew that the Commander already was familiar with. He'd already guessed, of course, that Xander wasn't there for the progress report. Not really. "The information infrastructure was only slightly less hit. Magnetic and electronic based information systems were effectively destroyed when the Hellmouth imploded. The total national damage was... significant."
Xander laughed bitterly, shaking his head. "Way to go with the understatement, Merl."
The AE shook it's head slightly before continuing. "RT Inc initiatives, combined with strong support from Group W, Xanatos Industries, and Vorschlag Industries have begun to effect the complete replacement of the national powergrid. Fiberoptic systems were salvageable, so internet and information services are ahead of schedule..."
"Enough." Xander said, leaning back. "Tell me something, Merlin... What do you think I should do?"
The AE was silent for a moment.
"Mr Halliwell has proven to be an unacceptable quantity to leave in the 'wild' as it were," Merlin said solemnly. "His actions in leaving his position with the Knighthood proved that he is too powerful, too intelligent, and too ruthless to be left to his own devices. It is only a matter of time before he achieves what he needs to match us in open field battle. When that happens, the death toll will be...staggering."
"And his hostages?" Xander asked tersely.
"Unfortunate casualties of the situation."
"Unfortunate!?" Xander rose up from his seat at The Table, glaring at the avatar of the AE. "UNFORTUNATE!? They're our friends and family, Merlin!"
"And which among them would ask you to sacrifice thousands to save them?" Merlin responded simply. "Answer me that, and I will retract my statement."
Xander sank back down, knowing that he couldn't answer that. None of his family would ask him to do that, most would openly demand that he do otherwise. That was what made them all heros.
"When Wyatt dies... it's all over for them," Xander said softly, not realizing that he had said 'when' and not 'if'.
Merlin, however, noted it and understood the shift.
"Perhaps. Perhaps not." The AE said, "they have been banished from his plane, but they can be tracked down... possibly."
Xander snorted, "Time may be your element, Merlin, but you either know squat about dimensional physics or you're blowing smoke up my ass."
"The odds are long, yes," Merlin admitted, "However, depending on where he sent them... we may have time to search."
Xander sighed, knowing that was true. Other dimensions were... strange in their adherence to temporal laws. And the simple fact of shifting from one dimension to another opened the possibility of reentering the dimensional plane at a different time point. It was how the American government managed their Seven Day Backstep project, before the pulse.
Shift the sphere and pilot out of the dimensional fabric, readjust the entry vector, and come back in seven days earlier. With enough power you could, in theory, go anywhen you wanted... The math behind it was monstrous, well over Xander's head despite Merlin and Elan's coaching, but he understood the gist of it.
The problem was finding them in the first place. Presumably Wyatt hadn't actually sent them to a hell dimension, that would be...
counter productive to say the least. Denizens of those planes would feed on Wyatt's power in an instant, given the chance, to say nothing of the hostages. No, they were somewhere else... somewhere... less inhospitable. The problem was that Wyatt had eleven base dimensions to hide them in... ok, it wasn't that bad... it was unlikely that he'd hidden them anywhere in the three physical dimensions... if he had, Knighthood witches and seers would have tracked them down.
The fourth through sixth dimensions were temporal... and it was numbers five and six that really bothered Xander. With those two dimensional axis alone Wyatt had an infinite array of places to stash whatever he wanted.
The next three axis were, for lack of a better term, the metaphysical dimensions. Locating anyone there was a pain in the ass, and effectively a waste of time.
Which left dimensional axis ten and eleven... and frankly, Xander shuddered to even imagine having to look through those.
"No." He said, shaking his head. "We're never going to find them."
Merlin fell silent, knowing that there was no point in either acknowledging or refuting the claim.
Xander reached out and tapped a pattern on the table, and in a flash the Table was gone and he was back in the Command and Control Center.
"Commander!"
"At Ease." Xander said, getting up.
He turned to General Irwin and nodded, "Eugene... I need to to call in all available strike teams, outfit the power armor squads, and scramble all pilots."
"Yes Sir..." Irwin said uncertainly. "the AO, Sir?"
"Tell them..." Xander smiled crookedly, sadly, "Tell them to put some flowers in their hair, General. We're going to San Francisco."
Irwin snapped straight again, his face becoming determined and a fierce look flashing through his eyes. "Yes Sir!"
Jessica sat on the bed, too confused to think straight as she stared at the wall and tried to process everything she'd learned. The Last Scion, her mother... herself... it was just so much to try and put together...
"You're handling it rather better than your mother did, if I do say so myself."
Jessica hissed, nearly jumping out of her skin as she vaulted off the bed and pivoted in mid air to land several feet away with her back to the wall.
"Who are you!?"
"I am... The Metatron." The man in the expensive suit said solemnly and simply. "Pardon the lack of a more appropriate entrance, but honestly those don't seem to work as well as they did."
"Met... The voice of God?" She asked, staring.
"At your service." He said, half bowing.
"Oh yeah? Get me out of here!"
He took a breath, "Ah... yes, that. I'm sorry, I can't."
"Oh so you're the voice of God the Almighty and you can't get me out of this house??" She asked sarcastically. "Right. Let me guess, this Wyatt guy is too tough for you, right?"
"He's... impressive, even by my standards," Metatron said, "However, no. That's not the reason. I'm permitted to... impart knowledge, instructions... offer guidance, advice... but I am... barred from interference by God."
Jessica slumped, her head ducking down.
"It's me, isn't it?" She asked.
"Pardon?" The Angel asked, blinking in confusion.
"I did something... God hates me."
Metatron smiled sadly, taking a step toward her. He brushed the side of her face with her right hand and gently lifted her eyes to meet his, "Nothing could be farther from the truth, Jessica. God loves you, as He loves all his children..."
"Then WHY??"
Meatron looked troubled, "I've done this before, once. I came to a young boy who was just coming into his own as a man, and told him of the horrors the future held for him. He looked at me just like you are now, and he asked me why... Why him? Why any of it..."
Jessica swallowed, "What did you tell him?"
"I told him that God has a plan," Metatron said, "It's not a great answer, I know... but it's true."
"God planned this..." She spat, "Right... and God loves me. You need to listen to what you're spouting 'Angel'."
"God didn't plan this. It's not a plan that details every little thing that happens," Metatron retorted, sounding a little annoyed.
"It's... it's a direction. Nothing more. What men do, that is left to the conscience of men..."
"I don't think that this... Wyatt has a conscience." She said, slumping again.
Metatron sighed, "Oh... he does. He just... misplaced it along the way. I need you to remember something for me, can you do that?"
She stared at him darkly, then just nodded.
"Tell Alexander, when you see him..." Metaron paused, frowning, "Tell him to remember the battle that never happened... the thing she never did... and to remember, not everything is so blatant. Subtlety is often more lethal than brutality. Can you remember that?"
She frowned, shaking her head, "The battle that never happened... the thing she never did... subtlety is more dangerous than brutality..."
"That's exactly right." Metatron said, "Remember."
She swallowed, nodding.
"Remember!"
His voice echoed on the air as she blinked and he vanished just as the door to the room smashed open, causing her to scream in shock.
"Where is HE!?" Wyatt demanded, eyes flashing around the room.
Jessica whimpered as he charged over and grabbed her, shaking her as he threw her over onto the bed again.
"Where is he!?" Wyatt snarled. "Is he still here!?"
She shook her head wildly.
He stopped, looking up. "Try that again and I'll end it early, do you hear me!? Try that again, I CHALLENGE you! She'll die the next second, damn the sacrifice!"
Jessica stared in fear as the tall young man stormed out of the room again, and felt a chill as the door closed itself behind him and the lock snapped shut of it's own accord. She curled up into a ball on the bed, shivering as she repeated the words of the Angel over and over again.
The battle that never happened.
The thing she never did.
Subtlety is more dangerous than brutality.
Alexander.
She blinked, eyes opening wide.
Who was Alexander!?
They... He couldn't mean... The young man, Chris had said... but...
"Uncle Xander...?" She whispered.
Tell him when you saw him. The Angels words echoed such that she could hear them again. She would see him. He had to be coming then, right?
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