The Horror Bringer
(thanks to Lady Foxfire for the title)



Xander Harris looked at the area around his former high school. And town. And the forest around the town was looking dead too. He looked at the creature beside him, who he had summoned. "We lost," he said quietly. "Even though we won."

"You also stopped a worse problem going on."

Xander nodded. "Yes, but before he died, his last spell loosed a lot of demons that humans can't handle and the only slayer alive now is in a coma and kinda evil." He blinked at the area then at the wish demon again. "Was it enough?"

"No," she admitted, shaking her head. "No. Within three years, this whole continent would be down to survivors." He nodded once. "But that's why you summoned me." He nodded once again. "How do you think I can help?"

He looked at the demon over lost childhoods. "Plenty of yours got evaporated, Halfrek, and that wasn't our intention. We just wanted to stop the Mayor. He did the spell that made all the destruction."

"I know. It's sad."

"Can I make a wish to stop that last few spells of his?"

"One of them was cast about six months ago. It's the reason the town was destroyed, Xander." He slumped, grimacing as he contemplated his options. "You can wish for the battle to have only taken him out."

"I know any battle means we can lose fighters. We lost at least twelve before he got blown up and the spells went off." He looked away from the destruction to stare at her. "I want to wish to make it so the spells didn't go off. That all that happened was the battle. I know that'll cause later problems from what you said. Can it help that?"

She shook her head. "The government is doing bad things down there. That would take an even higher problem to fix."

He considered it. Then he slumped. "I'll become a messenger for anyone but the Powers That Be to warn them."

"That would mean you're sacrificing your life, kid."

Xander stared at her. "Mine for over three thousand here and over eighty million later?"

She sighed. "They'll need you to defeat that group."

"Or I could be a messenger and go warn others so they don't have to fight the military. We've had a strange amount of military guys at the mall recently," he said sarcastically when she stared at him. "I figured it was their fault."

"It is," she agreed. "And it's a really horrible thing."

He grimaced. "Yeah. That figures around here, huh." He rubbed his forehead. "I want Willow to have a wish one year after I become a messenger to stop all this shit going on," he said, staring at her. "In return, I'll do my best to end those problems and the Mayor's problem. I'll go after the battle and she has one year to wait."

"Your body will be dead by then. They've tried to dose you with something and those who're on the Mayor's side want you out of their way and out of the hunting."

He grinned. "I heard," he said quietly. "I've had a ton of headaches, Halfrek. I actually went to see someone." She slumped. "And I'm probably not the only one they got and if I die from this, that's ...well it's better that it's me than someone like Giles probably."

"You're not in the way, Harris."

"I know. Even if they don't know I know." He grinned. "There's a few ways I can become a messenger. I found a book for some reason." She winced, shaking her head with a sigh. "Can we do that?"

"You won't survive."

He grinned. "Then I'll stay a messenger and annoying those who need to hear that something's going to kill them."

"Whoever you go toward will limit you."

He leaned closer with an insane grin. "Halfrek, that book was on Ascension," he said very quietly, staring into her eyes. Then he grinned. "Which I've already started on." Her eyes went wide. "All I need is her to be able to make a wish in a year. Willow's mind works in weird ways but she can handle that."

"I..." She licked her lips. All the destruction was calling out to her. "We can rewind it so the battle is won and the other spells don't get out. Then you have one year, Harris, and you have to try to end that program."

"Agreed." He rubbed his forehead. "Let me go handle this. I kind of expected to die in that battle to be honest." She sighed, shaking her head. "I know, some chaos god's own luck," he quipped with a hand wave in the air. "I'm just beloved that way, dear."

"You're touched in the head."

"No, they don't know about the tumor." She groaned again. "Please?" She nodded and cast the wish. It was complicated but it would save humanity. And keep her employed.

***

Six months after the battle, Xander was in semi-ascended form. The brain tumor was getting out of hand and they had knocked him into a medical coma, and didn't expect him to come out of it. Perfect release from his body. So he was now looking around. He spotted some other beings but ignored them screaming at him. He went to find someone and stared at them, fading into view. "Hi."

"Hi. Which ascended are you?"

"The one that just released his body but it's a bit complicated. I'm also a messenger."

"What happened to non-interference?" Daniel Jackson asked, frowning a bit.

"I don't play by their rules. Their rules suck and I'm not a playbook sorta guy. Not sporty at all." He grinned. "I'm here to warn you that my town has a huge problem that even Nazis would get sick at. The military is doing it to non-native species."

"Plants?"

"Some are plant based, but they're also sentient." He held out a hand. "I can bring you."

"Others can't."

Xander laughed. "I'm not like them, Doctor Jackson. I'm a Knight in a very *old* war." He smiled. "C'mon." He wiggled his fingers. Daniel hesitated so he pulled him out of his body and pointed. He wrote a note saying he had Daniel out of his body to show him a huge problem going on. Then he took Daniel with him. Daniel taught him how to phase out of view before they got caught and they wandered around that base.

"I grew up in this town," he said. "At sixteen I found out that there really were demons, and vampires, and only about fifteen percent of all demon species and most vampires were evil." He looked at him. "My friends hunted the bad ones. Most of the beings here are not only sentient but peaceful. And that one's a really, truly evil thing but it's a child." He pointed. "And your military is doing this."

"I'm a civilian but this is wrong," he agreed. "We need to stop this."

Xander nodded. "Yes we do. It's really super important that we stop this." He stared at him. "Which is why you're here with me. They won't believe me." He took him back to his body, helping him climb back in around the medical team. Daniel gasped and sat up. Xander reappeared. "I left you a note," he told the woman glaring at him. "He was fine."

Daniel held his head, staring at him. "I'm going to tell people about that."

"The base's higher up knows. You guys got files in the lab marked biology from them."

"Hell no," he said, struggling to stand up. "Get me O'Neill," he ordered. "He found some truly bad things going on." Xander grinned. "Why aren't you the normal ascended?"

"Because I'm still technically alive, Doctor Jackson. They knocked me into a medical coma thanks to the brain tumor that group gave me. And is presently giving Buffy's mother. Which will destroy her. She's the reason that you guys are still here after our graduation." Xander faded out. "I'm going to get your buddy some help."

"Please do." He looked around. "I need to speak to O'Neill *now*." One of the guards ran off to find the base's general. "Not you," he told Landry when he came running up the hall toward them. They were taking him to the infirmary. "I need Jack. The ascended one found something horrifying." He got free of the hands. "Leave me alone. Carter!" he bellowed when he saw her. "Get me Jack now! An ascended just showed up to show me something horrifying that the military's doing."

She nodded, pulling out a hallway phone to call his cellphone. Daniel got taken to the infirmary and put into a CT scan. He came out and the doctors were conferring. "I know I'm fine. He found the drugs that somehow got into my system and wore them out for me." He sat up. O'Neill stomped in and Daniel pulled him closer. Daniel knew how to pull himself out of his body again and take Jack with him. He took him there to show him. "He came to tell me about this."

Jack wandered around and came back green and steaming mad. "No. Not on my watch. We're not Ori."

Daniel smiled. "Exactly!"

"Let's get back so I can go stomp on someone." Daniel got them back to their bodies and they woke up, Jack grabbing the desk phone as soon as he could move to call a general he *knew* wouldn't be involved.

"Xander said he's getting you some help and I saw an older white male in a Gunny Sergeant's uniform in his mind," Daniel said. "He researched who to tell."

"Not that many of those," Jack decided. "Did he show you anything else?"

"The last name started with GI. I couldn't see the rest."

"Okay. Active?"

"Reserves. He had a reserves patch."

"That narrows it down." He called his assistant. "Find me a ....Army, Danny?"

"Oh, no, Marine."

"Marine Reserve Gunny. Name starts with GI....actually that may be him," he admitted. "I'll talk to him as soon as I get back but if he or someone shows up wanting to talk to me, call. I'm at Cheyenne." He hung up, looking at Landry. Then at Daniel. "If you see him again, tell him I said thanks."

"Look into who he is, Jack. He said he's out of his body and ascended right now because that group gave him a brain tumor. He's in a medically induced coma."

Jack grimaced. "That's horrible."

"He also said something about his graduation."

"Even worse." He nodded. "Let me go stomp on them like I'm making grape juice." He stomped out, calling his teammates to come help. He brought Mitchell with him too. He'd need Carter for her science skills. Mitchell was his backup soldier. Teal'c was off-world and Daniel would kill them before he could so he could rest for now and figure out that new ascended helpful person.

Landry looked at him. "What is going on?" he demanded.

"A new ascended showed up to get some help to stop a project that's killing sentient beings for fun like they're Ori," he said bluntly. He slid off the bed, looking at the doctors. "I'm good?" They nodded. "Then I'm going back to my office to note all this down for future study." He left, still scowling.

Landry looked at the doctors. "He's sane?"

"He reads as normal, General," one of them said. "Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Great. Do we think it's the Ori?"

"No idea. I have no idea what they saw," the other doctor said. He nodded, stomping off to find Jackson. Who was off base by the time he got to his office, with his journals that he had worked out his former ascended issues in.

***

Xander faded into view, staring at the young woman who was giving him a horrified look. "I'm not here for you."

"Good!" she said. She patted her phone until it rang out loud. "McGee, I have a ghost down here."

"I'm technically not dead enough for that. I'm just out of my body and I need your linked friend to talk to about a huge problem we tripped into." He grinned. "It's so bad the president should probably commit suicide for authorizing it."

She winced. "McGee, get Gibbs." She hung up. "You're not a ghost?"

"I'm out of my body. I'm kind of mostly ascended. So I'm basically a messenger of doom." He grinned at the two men stomping in. "You're not the one I came to talk to. Where's the older guy?"

"He's on his way," one said. "You're a ghost."

"I'm out of my body. The ones I need to talk to him about gave me a brain tumor." He looked at Abby. "By any chance are you like my Willow friend and a hacker?" he asked hopefully.

"McGee and I both are. Why?"

He came over, brushing a hand over her forehead. "He'll need to see there, pretty one. It's *that* important."

She nodded, looking up that town and various video cameras. "They don't have any cameras in town. How backwards that is."

"College. UC Hellmouth has their base underneath it." She grimaced, but found that and looked into the available cameras listed. She found one. Then she found a hidden server and went into it with McGee's help. She gagged at what she saw. "Yeah, them," he said. He stared at the guy coming in. "The only way I could find you was to find her. She's got a huge spike on this plane." He pointed. "Most of them aren't evil and even then it's not ethical for the US Army to do that, is it? Or to give my friend's mom a brain tumor like mine?"

Gibbs stomped over to look and stared, turning pale. "Where?" he demanded.

"I'm from Sunnydale," he said, smiling slightly when Abby flinched. "I used to help Buffy, pretty one. She's dating one of them and is about to lose her mom to the same reason I'm out of my body." He looked at him. "I told someone in Cheyenne who is *very* righteous and will stomp them flat so he could talk to his linked person I couldn't find directly. Daniel Jackson's not a bad guy and he's more than mad enough to help his general buddy with that stomping. But they'll need help." He stared at Gibbs. "Can I trust you to help him?"

"Yes. How long?"

"At least a year. They started my brain tumor and it's been eight months since they found it."

Gibbs blinked, but nodded. "You sure?"

"Yeah. And my friend Buffy's mom got the same shot so she's growing one right now. Our town's hospital is more a food source than not but still."

Gibbs grimaced. "I'll let Abby tell me about that town, kid." Xander smiled. "Are you going to survive?"

"Don't know," he admitted. "But being a messenger of doom is not too bad. No chocolate or caffeine but I can still steal a twinkie now and then."

Gibbs winced. "Nothing more important?"

Xander stared at him. "I did that for years, Gibbs. This is like a vacation from hunting the bad things that live in my former town. I spent four years hunting those things. Now, I'm telling you so you can handle the problem before a group of teenagers have to. That way it can't be reused and the soldiers can't be recycled into even worse areas. Because knowledge of this is all the way to the top of the shitpile of assholes."

Gibbs grimaced. "Figures. I'll help whoever handle it." Xander smiled and faded out. He looked at Abby. "Decrypt it."

She pulled up a site on her other monitor. "That's his town, Gibbs. And that's the truth." She pointed. "That's him during the battle that his graduation ceremony turned into." They all watched it and Gibbs walked off shuddering. "Be safe and watch your throat," she called after him. "And go see O'Neill!" The two male agents followed their boss while she removed all those searches and went to hide in the morgue for a bit. The head ME Ducky looked at her as she stomped in. "We just had a guy out of his body warning us that the government is doing really evil shit. So I'm hiding." She skipped into his office. "I'll start tea, Ducky."

"Thank you, Abigail." He went back to his present autopsy. When agents stomped in to find her, he sent them to look elsewhere. He could take the dear one home with him to protect her more while Gibbs was out of the area.

***

O'Neill looked at the hard looking man who met him at the airport. "You're Gibbs," he said. "O'Neill."

"General," he said, shaking his hand. "Did you talk to Harris?"

"He talked to Danny boy." He looked at the two silent people behind him. "We've got others helping too."

"Good," one of them said. "We'll need more than we probably have. According to our sources, there's a lot of people there, General."

"I've got friends coming to help."

"Decent." They left, avoiding the two grab teams in the airport. One of them tried to stop them at the car rental area but Gibbs and his team got them down. "Don't touch a general," Gibbs told him. "Anyone we can trust out here?"

Xander faded in. "Epps. FBI. Uptight jackass but he has morals and wouldn't stand for this shit. And he's on his way." He waved at the general. "It's going to get worse soon. They captured something really powerful and really evil. And a human chaos sorcerer that will need help getting back to somewhere in the UK probably." He waved and disappeared again.

"Okay," Gibbs decided. "DiNozzo, go find that agent."

"On it, boss." He went to stop the agents showing up. "We were told to handle this with Agent Epps, boys." He held up his ID. "We're out here stopping some really bad shit."

One of the agents nodded. "Epps is on my team."

"Great. Gibbs is waiting on him. We were referred to him for a local help."

That one called that agent. "Ten minutes."

"That's fine. We can hold them down for that long." He walked off. "Boss, ten minutes."

"Thank you. There's only four. Look for any other members."

McGee pointed. "I'm watching him, boss. He's calling someone to report in." O'Neill pointed and his people got that person down.

"General, found his ID," one called, walking it over. He looked at Gibbs. "Many of them?" He showed him the US Army Rangers ID.

"From what we heard, yup," McGee said. "Mostly."

"I'm better than they are," he said. "It'll be good to handle that sort of disgrace to their uniforms." He went back to haul up that agent and bring him back to the others. "A pretty package, General."

"Thank you, Mitchell." Another agent showed up and stomped over. "Epps?" He nodded once. McGee handed over the notes they had made from hacking on the way out there. Jack looked at him, smirking some. "Hacked?"

"Necessary but yes. As part of the investigation." He smiled slightly. "I'm Agent McGee, this is Agent DiNozzo, and that's Agent Gibbs, NCIS. We got informed of a problem out this way that had to have very strong stopping."

Epps read it, then grimaced. "I want to be sick."

"Me too," O'Neill said. "We got told so we could help them. My people won't flinch at anything up in Sunnydale."

Epps stared at him. "We hate that town and tend to ignore it exists."

"Is that why no one questioned anything about the battle at a recent graduation?" DiNozzo asked. "It's on film captured by the local ATF office but there was no investigation other than the film."

Epps blinked. "There was? We were told it was a gas explosion."

McGee pulled up the file he had saved down. "ATF tried to remove it when they found someone looking." He let Epps see it. "By the profiles I could find, that's the former Mayor. And that one," he said with a point. "Is the guy who came to get our help."

Epps finished watching it. "Hell no. David!" He came over. "Get someone to find me that file and file a real report on what happened." He let him see that file. "We might like to ignore it but not that much."

"Who had the film?" he asked the other agents.

"ATF." McGee smiled. "They tried to remove it once they found out someone had watched it."

"We heard it was a gas explosion. That figures with that town. Need us?" he asked the general.

"We have lots of friends but if you want to come help, go for it. The more the merrier this time."

"David, stay with Megan to start that. I'll bring Colby. He's recently discharged, General."

"That's fine." They looked around. "Let's gather and head. Before we bring more attention and news crews." They split up and headed toward that town. Someone tried to stop Gibbs but they ended up in the trunk of their sedan.

A young blonde girl met them on the campus. "Guys." They stared at her. "I'm here to help you."

"Miss Summers," McGee said, walking over. "We had a visit from your former back up," he finished more quietly. "Telling us how bad this really is. Also, he had a note about your mother being given the same serum that gave him the brain tumor." She went pale. "Agent Epps would probably be able to help you find an excellent doctor."

"It's my duty to deal with the bad among those that got captured. Then my mom's going to an ER in LA." She pushed her hair back, pulling it into a ponytail. "They've heard rumors that you're coming so my friend sleep spelled the base."

"Good," he agreed, smiling at her. "That will hopefully help and mean less trying to cover up things by killing others." She nodded, following him back. "Her duty is to handle bad things, boss."

"Abby said so." He stared at her. "You need to help your mother."

"You'll need me to get help for those who've been hurt," she said. "Then my mom and I are going to an ER in LA. The hospital here is horrible at keeping people alive when they have anything tiny happen to them. Much less worse things." She looked at the obvious military guys. "Why you?"

"Miss Summers, we deal with things from other areas that want to kill us all," O'Neill said. "I may not know your duty very well but I kind of have the same job."

"I guess that's fine. We don't really trust any of them. Well, I kind of trust Riley but not totally. He's, um, not exactly one of them anymore."

"We can work with that," Gibbs assured her. "How do we get in?"

"Two entries. Forest," she said with a point. "And we know one's on campus, we think at a frat house."

"McGee, take two soldiers and guard that exit," Gibbs ordered. "Be damned if I want any of them to get away with this." They found the forest entry and went in with Buffy's help. They came out to total silence. He looked at her.

"Willow helped," she said quietly. "They're napping."

"That's helpful," he agreed.

O'Neill gave some silent hand orders and his teams moved out to gather the problems and release any hostages. It took about five minutes before a light sleeper got up and tried to alert everyone. He got a gun butt to the head. Within an hour all the soldiers and scientists were gathered and cuffed. O'Neill was helping someone who was keening in pain.

Buffy looked around. "There's healers in town. I can run and get them."

"Mitchell, send someone to drive Summers," O'Neill ordered. "They're getting docs."

"Got it," he said, pointing at one. "You got the keys." He took Buffy back with him.

She gave him directions to the local demon healer's office, rushing inside. "The base was raided by people who want to end them. All the injured ones are up there and need help."

The demon nurse stared at her. "The military?"

"Stopped them," she said with a grin. "Xander told someone from being out of his body."

The nurse nodded. "We may not trust them."

"O'Neill came to help. He's a general."

"We know of him, Slayer. We trust that one. He is much like you only less sane and fashionable." She went to get the healers. "O'Neill is here freeing that base. They need healers." She called others and came out, going with Buffy and that soldier. The nurse would tell the local demon community in case it was a trap.

Buffy came back into the base with the healer. "O'Neill?" He waved her over.

The healer looked and whined. "I hope the Dark Ones eat them cell by cell for eternity for doing this." She called in more help. The soldiers there were helping them release victims.

Buffy pointed at one. "Not him yet. He's highly powerful and evil. I'd hate for him to attack any of the other victims." She stared at him. "Would you stay peaceful if we release you now?" He shook his head. "Then we'll release you before we go. They need and deserve to be healed before we have to deal with you."

"Slayer," it sneered.

"Yes and my people were working on getting them down when we heard about O'Neill."

The demon looked at him. "We have heard of you and your mission to rid the universe of evil. We respect that but you would still make a good toy."

"Not really. My ex-wife thought I sucked at it," O'Neill shot back. The demon backed down. He looked at Buffy. "How many are dangerous if released right now?"

"A few. Willow's on her way to help me with Giles. He's my...well, long story, ask him." She looked around. "We need to find the human sorcerer guy that Giles got pissed at and let Riley have for turning him into a demon."

O'Neill blinked at her. "That's not really ethical."

"No but Giles was messed up after being a Fyral for a day." She looked around. "Middle aged British guy?" she called. One of the soldiers pointed. She jogged over to look and released that one. "Go," she told him. "I know you're a Watcher, go." He stomped off, letting the soldiers get him to a medic. She found Ethan and released his cage forcefield, staring at him. "Giles is probably really sorry but can you two fight after we clean up this mess?"

Ethan sneered at her. "He'll be paying."

"He's already paying, Ethan." She helped him up. "And he's on his way here but we need his help to get all these victims home. Can you two fight later? Because I don't want to have to witness it. I'll help him when he's in traction." Ethan stared at her. "Giles was messed up by his day of being demony," she said quietly. "It's not an excuse but please beat him later?"

"I can do that, chit. Thank you for the rescue."

"Thank Xander. He's in the hospital with a brain tumor these guys gave him." She choked back a sob, shaking her head. "There's time for that later." He stared down at her. "Apparently they were getting my mom too."

"I hope she gets treated. It's a serum they slipped into a drink. They were telling me about it before they tried to dose me but my magic rejected it."

"Thank you for that. Go. Be safe." He nodded, letting a soldier escort him out to a medic and then let him disappear before he and Giles came to blows. He needed to be stronger for that.

Buffy looked at the soldier with her. "He used to play magical games with Giles in the bad old days." She walked off, releasing more harmless, minimally injured demons. "There's healers by the infirmary, people. We got Healer Martkit from town to come help us free you." They stumbled that way with help. "How many more halls?" she asked the soldier.

"Ten and these are the least injured. We warned the healers and one already went down there. Most of them are too injured to put up a threat even if they're evil like that one."

"Okay. Let me know if I have to go defend a healer. I only hunt the bad ones and this is super wrong on a scale I can't even make up." She got another demon out and to the healers. More helpers from the local community came in with Willow. "Willow." She gave her a hug. "Giles. We already released Ethan. He's getting healed and then headed home. You two can talk about all this later." She walked off. A few of the demons were so bad it made her start to cry. She still got them helped and sent to safety with the healers.

It was her duty to protect the peaceful ones and the humans.

***

O'Neill came out with the last of the hostages, nodding at the agents waiting there. "Let the healers head home. They need to rest." One of the agents pulled up a gun and O'Neill shot him in the thigh for it. "I said let the healers go rest."

Epps stomped out and got into the lead agent's face. "I'll be damned if the government or the FBI or the ATF is going to condone torture. Especially not on this scale. If you don't like it, move to somewhere they like that."

"We were told to ignore it."

"I wasn't and I don't take orders like that. I'm not a Nazi." The agent stepped away from him. "You'd better bring someone bigger and badder than you are, Stipling. I'll have you arrested with the ones who did this." He waved and his team came forward to arrest those agents. Including the ATF's bureau director for LA. He found his boss waiting on the campus. "Sir, are we taking you with these hopefully former agents?"

"No. I'm here to see how much more support we need. Megan showed me what was going on. They hacked into the local security cameras."

"We know the ATF ignored a battle at that graduation, sir. They had film from it and agreed it was a gas explosion," Colby Granger said as he joined his team leader. Don was in a fiery bitch mood right now and needed backed up. "We came in with NCIS and some military people under the command of a general."

The FBI supervising agent stared over then at him. "I've heard the President was mad it got busted but we don't condone torture and I told him that when he tried to get me to stop all of you." He saw the blonde girl go jogging past. "She looks familiar."

"It's her duty to handle the bad ones. We saved her from having to take down this group with her helpers," Epps told him. "She's taking her mother to an ER because we found evidence that this group was giving her something that was causing brain tumors. She wasn't the first." His supervising agent winced. "So she's taking her to get help. She's already got one helper in a coma from his, sir."

"Wonderful. Can it be fixed?" Epps shrugged. "Does she have the information on it?" He nodded. "The full file?" He nodded again. "Good, she should share it before someone tries to shut everything up."

"I can suggest the President commit suicide if he liked this thing," O'Neill said with a smug look. "I'm on an eyes-only project." He walked off. "Boys, let's disappear once everyone's in Gibbs' custody. We need to see if anyone's into this on our own project."

"Permission to beat them to death if they are?" Mitchell asked with a smile. "Because if they do this and knew this was what was going on, they deserve it."

"As long as they can stand trial," O'Neill said, turning back to Epps. "Gibbs said he's taking lead in the arrests so he has to do more paperwork."

"Not like we'll be sleeping for weeks," DiNozzo said as he walked someone past them in cuffs. "I see many nights getting drunk to forget that in my future."

The supervising agent blinked then looked at Epps. "That is Gibbs' second-in-command," he said quietly. Epps pointed at where Gibbs was yelling at one of the soldiers. "Oh, that is him. His director's having a fit."

"Maybe they and the president can share a gun," Epps said, walking off. "Let me go help, sir."

"Rest, Epps. I brought up agents to help with the arrests." He pointed and his people moved to help Gibbs. He called his boss. "Sir, that project is ended. Arrested. The victims are being helped. One's on her way to talk to a doctor about the brain tumor the group gave her. We have over three hundred people being arrested by ours and NCIS, sir. Yes, you can tell them that. Gibbs just looks sickened, sir, and DiNozzo said he'd never sleep again. Yes, sir, I saw a few of the victims being removed and I've never seen such horrible injuries even on mostly fully burned bodies. Exactly, sir. You can ask. Gibbs!" He looked over. "Director of the FBI wants a verbal report." Gibbs came over to get the phone, walking off talking to him. He looked at Epps. "If something backlashes, you tell me," he said quietly. "Be damned if I want this to happen." Epps nodded, walking off to help.

***

Xander smiled at the good work that had happened. He looked at the nurse who he knew could see him. "Buffy's mom is coming in with the information on how they did it to us," he told her. She blinked then called someone. "She'll be in the ER in about forty minutes." He went to talk to someone else who needed his help. He blinked at the pretty, tired feeling city. "Huh, beautiful and deadly. If she was human I'd flirt." He patted a wall, making her shiver. He smiled at the staring soldiers. "Talk to O'Neill soon, dude," he told one of them. "You've got a problem person up here somewhere. He's been doing slightly stupid, evil things to the natives. And some fully evil things that should get him shoved into space for doing it." He looked at the new one appearing. "You need to go to the place where the rising sun is a mark on the gate." He looked up then frowned. "It's not on there."

"I know which glyph that is," another person said as he huffed over. "You're an ascended."

"More just out of my body. They can't really nag me about shit since I'm not one of them." He smiled. "Neither can the higher powers." He looked at the gate then scratched the wall to get some dust so he could draw in it. "Those three," he said, feeling himself being pulled. "Dangerous but they have that power thingy you need. And talk to O'Neill. You have an evil one up here on your staff. He's been busting them all night and getting way sick." He felt himself being pulled more. "Huh, they're trying to be nosy." He mumbled and the pulling feeling stopped but everyone apparently heard the screaming in rage.

He grinned. "I'm not the standard guy and they really hate magic." He smiled brightly. "I'm so going to pull Willow some day so she can talk to them about reality." He faded out then came back for a minute. "Don't forget to ask about the evil one. He's done things that should get him spaced." He disappeared, going to talk to a woman who could make a lot of difference. He settled beside her. "Shit sucks," he said. She blinked at him. "You have more to do than to stab yourself. People will someday depend on you. You won't want it, and it'll be long after you expect it to happen, but they will. You're too important for this."

"The Elders said I was evil."

"No, evil is the people who worship the wraith. The ones who give over people to them on purpose. Are you one of them?"

"No."

"Then you're not evil." They heard someone stomping toward them and he stared, smiling at the idiot Elder. "She's not evil. You're evil. You give people to the wraith for greed. That's evil. She's not. She has a great destiny." The man was staring in awe. "You're an asshole and should give yourself to the wraith to spare innocents." The man went running off screaming. "Go see people. The more peoples you know the better it'll be when you're an older woman. Stupid things that give you notice is for the young. That makes you a better leader when you're older. Just survive." He patted her on the arm. "Go, be safe." She got up and ran off away from the village. Xander faded out, going to make all the babies in the village scream - babies hated ascended ones. It would divert the idiots for a while.

***

Willow looked at the wish demon that appeared. "What?" she demanded. "I'm trying to be better."

"Someone asked for you to have a single wish today."

She blinked. "Why?"

"It's a long story, Willow. It started before the graduation battle."

Willow frowned. "Why? Is it that important?"

"Yes." She smiled. "That request meant that the Mayor couldn't destroy everyone with some of his spellwork. Before that was started, the Mayor destroyed the whole town down to dust while releasing a lot of higher demons."

She shuddered. "So my wish now would work to seal that?"

"That's sealed. That was the price they asked for to stop that destruction."

"Who?"

"Not relevant."

"It was Xander, wasn't it?" she demanded. Halfrek stared at her. "How dare he!"

"He saved everyone, Rosenburg," she said bluntly. "By letting that tumor take him." She slumped. "He had been protected. He and a few others survived the destruction that went on for twenty-eight miles around the hellmouth." Willow whined, staring at her. Buffy walked in. "How's your mother?"

"They've removed it and they think they've countered it. We won't know for weeks." She sat down. "You're like Anya."

"I'm Halfrek, over Lost Childhoods, Slayer." She smiled. "The price to stop the massive destruction that would have happened during your graduation was giving Rosenburg a wish today."

"What?"

Halfrek walked over to the magic books and pulled one down, putting it onto the table and opening it to the right spell. "This was cast six months before the battle. Though he did it wrong. He had assumed taking blood from Faith after he spelled her was good enough and she wasn't pure." She let Willow see it. "His letting go of his protections and casting the wish to stop the Mayor's other spells, plus giving this one a wish today, was the price he asked for saving all those other people."

Buffy sighed. "That sounds like Xander." She looked at Willow then at the vengeance demon. "Will he ever be okay?"

"No. Your mother's balanced right now. She has an equal change either way." Buffy slumped but nodded. "That was one of the first things he warned about. He warned people when he was getting you help to bust that base. It was something we asked of him but he would've done it without being asked."

"Yeah, he was a helpful dork that way," she agreed. "How many others got that stuff?" Buffy asked her.

"Not that many. A few of their soldiers and a few others. They're doing some pretty experimental stuff on your mother so she has a good chance, but no one can tell right now. His is too far along to have the same treatments. Most of the others who got given that have already died."

She and Buffy shared a look. Buffy shrugged. "Then I wish that Xander would survive at his healthiest so he could find a soulmate sort that would take care of him and protect him. He really needs someone like a soulmate sort who will adore him and protect him."

"That would mean he definitely couldn't come back here," Halfrek warned.

Willow stared at her. "He deserves to be happy. Hunting won't do that."

"Besides, he'll probably need physical therapy to get back to full Xander form," Buffy said. "The docs said that Mom might for all the time she'll be in the hospital."

"Good point. Sure, I can do that. Wish granted." She felt something going on and looked up, mouth open in awe. She stared at Willow. "You turned on soulmates."

Willow looked confused. "Is that bad? I'm trying not to be bad with my magic."

"No. Not necessarily." She went to tell D'Hoffryn that. "We were both wrong. She didn't make a wish for vampires to disappear from the earth or most demon species. Slayer Summers reminded her of her friend so she wished health and happiness on him with a soulmate sort."

"Is that the surge of magic I felt?"

"Yes. Somehow it turned on soulmates for others. She stressed he needed a soulmate sort to make him happy and protect him."

"I'm sure they would but I don't think he's got one." He pulled up Harris' aura reading, staring at it. "No, he's not linked to anyone."

"Is that because he hasn't met them yet?"

"Probably. Hopefully. The wish would warp if it's impossible." He checked. "There's many that it could be but he's talked to some of them. It should have still linked to him even in his ghostly state."

"He wasn't a ghost, he was a living spirit but not quite ascended. It's how he got around all the restrictions on ascended not interfering."

"Only Harris," D'Hoffryn complained. He looked at other nearby realms' Xanders to see who they were linked with. Most of the gave him a headache. "Could the boy be gay?"

"Never asked him," she admitted. She looked over his arm into the scrying pool. "He talked to that one and the other two it shows." Her boss huffed off to consider things. She scried other nearby realms but the boy had talked to most of them. "Of course, ours has to be the hardest job ever." She found a few possibles, looking at their lives. That was going to suck huge.

Xander appeared, smiling at her. "I actually expected her to wish all the demons away."

"Us too," Halfrek said. "Why are you still out of your body?"

"Not like they've fixed the tumor." He smiled. "It won't be fixed until the wish is fully enacted." She groaned. "But anyway. I'm not into settling down yet. And really, I think we need to move to a slightly higher issue." He swirled his hand through the fountain and made another thing appear. "I think we can move around this one."

She watched, then moaned. "How?"

"Welll....." He grinned. "It'll happen." He winked and disappeared. His first target he had already met. He pulled him out of his body, waving at Gibbs before they both disappeared. "I'm fixing another huge problem coming up." He pointed around. "What you see you'll never forget." He looked under their feet. "The web connects you to all the people you'll ever be connected with."

"Why tell me this?" Tony DiNozzo asked.

"Because there's a lot of shit coming up and some needs to be warned about and some needs to be handled. You can't change everything but you can at least prepare yourself."

"I don't want this gift."

"Yeah but this time you need to have it because if not, worse things will happen. This way you can find a way to prevent a lot of problems. Like when O'Neill's people come out of the closet." He pointed at that section. "That has you in a riot. Unintentionally but in a riot. Do you want that collapsed lung and three gunshots or would you rather know that they're coming out and you can help by subtly releasing a bit of pressure on that?"

"How would I do that?"

"What we're technically doing is called ascending. A lot of things have happened due to others who have fully done this screwing up the universe in ancient history." He pointed at one point. "Letting others know what it's like about there could help ease some of the stress and shouting. So much future shouting."

"Can I change that?"

"You can ease it. You'd be like a bit of WD-40 applied. The same as I will be. Also, it'll give you a network of people you know you can trust when horrible things happen. Like if a teammate dies."

Tony stared then looked around, losing all his breath at one point that was shown. "Oh, God." He closed his eyes. "How?"

"Touch it." Tony did and let it go while shaking. "I don't know if you can change that. You may be able to change it. You may not be able to. He could find out and change his plans totally. It's up to you how you use this knowledge. Like the knowledge that some day you'll have a family." He shrugged. "Do you want that knowledge and of who, why, all that?"

"No. If it'll happen yes, how, no." Tony looked around, staring at a few things. "Gibbs gets what?"

Xander looked then pointed. "That one?" Tony nodded. "Head injury."

"Oh, great." He looked at a few then at Xander. "This is mean and evil to me."

"If someone who has morals doesn't get added and help, then we'll be screwed as humanity. His project is going to bust open at the seams after an attack on the earth."

"He does what?" Tony demanded. Xander showed him. "Oh my fucking God," he muttered. "Wow." Tony ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, there's going to be a lot of screaming. And this really does look familiar."

Xander grinned. "You had the plague. You drifted here somewhat during that. It's easier to ascend when you're out of your body. I'm out of my body due to the medical coma. You got to do the same thing then."

Tony looked at him. "How many others are you visiting?"

"At least four more. Two have been here before. Two haven't fully gotten here but nearly did." He shifted his stance. "I figure that when they get blown open by that attack, demons will too. Double the screaming from the religious sort who're going to try to destroy everyone. The lube from people who do help humanity will stop some of that hatred coming out on innocents. Because some of them will be trying to take out Jack O'Neill's people by bombing them."

"That way they can't spread anything," Tony agreed. "All right, I can accept that. How do I know if I can change things?"

"You work at it." He shrugged. "I don't have all the answers, just some of them."

"Yeah, I get that. It's a good plan." He looked at him. "If I find one that can probably do that?"

"You'll know how to pull them out and you can pull yourself out for a bit. It'll make being tortured a bit easier."

"I get tortured?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "Sorry."

"No, forewarned is armed against it." He sighed. "Thanks, Xander."

"Welcome." He grinned. "Also, a huge wish got enacted that will someday soon bring up soulmate connections among humanity." He smirked. "She tried to give me one and I don't have one so it spread." He brought Tony back. "Climb back in. Like backflopping into your own body." Tony did that and woke up shaking his head. Xander disappeared to go talk to a few others. One was slightly injured so he could talk to him easier.

Tony looked at the others. "Xander." Gibbs scowled. "He foresaw a future huge issue and I'm some lube to ease it past." He sat up with a sigh. "We gotta talk, Boss."

"Fine. Now? You all right?"

"I'm good. Feel like I had a nap." He got helped off the floor by Ducky and looked at him. "You should probably hear too. Let's go use your office, Ducky." He walked that way with a stop for coffee. Ducky only had tea down there. Gibbs would need a coffee refill too. Tony poured it for him and then hiked off down the stairs. He flopped down, letting Gibbs set up the signal blocker and Ducky sat behind his desk. "First, Xander's still out of his body. Someone tried to make a wish but it hasn't been enacted yet. One of the huge problems coming up is his. She tried to wish him to have a soulmate. He doesn't have one. He said the wish is going to spread to everyone." He sipped his coffee while Ducky moaned. "We also talked about how when O'Neill's people come out of the closet, there's going to be multiple screamings, riots, attacks, and other issues. He said I'd be trapped in one riot and end up with a collapsed lung and three gunshot wounds."

Gibbs stared at him. "That's bad. I don't have a clue what he does."

"I do," Ducky said. "The screaming from the religious sorts will know no end."

Tony nodded. "Yeah, and it looks like it'll come out after an attack."

"Oh, dear," Ducky sighed. He looked at Gibbs. "Jethro, it will be worse than many wars have been. Actually it's a few wars that're going to come out." He looked at Tony. "Any other good news?" he asked sarcastically.

"Yeah. There's a terrorist who's going to shoot Kate."

Gibbs stiffened. "Excuse me?"

Tony put down his cup and took Gibbs' to put down too. "Xander wasn't sure if I could mitigate it or change it any. It's wrapped up in our future new director and a few other issues." He stared at him. "We were on a scene and she got shot in the head, Gibbs. We were all around her."

"Did we kill the asshole?"

"Yeah, he got shot but not by someone who was officially on the team."

Gibbs swallowed but nodded. "Can we change it?"

"I can sure try but if he hears he could change his plans. Or he could change targets. Since I saw him taking Ducky and Palmer hostage once...."

Gibbs took his coffee to gulp to calm down his nausea. "That's something I wanted to know. Anything else?"

"Some day I'll have a kid. I didn't look at that. I didn't look at too many things. Me being partially ascended means that I can help control some of the screaming that's going to start some year soon."

"Because you're not on that project and you're the sort that people can stare at while saying you're a good boy," Ducky said. Tony nodded. "That may help," he agreed. "It would give external points of reference to their experiences."

"Also, I was nearly there when I had the plague but I was a bit too attached to my body. That's why it was easier for him to grab me for that."

"Plenty of people a year probably reach that state," Gibbs said. "Why specifically you?"

"Because I'm a federal agent who's not attached to O'Neill. I'm like an outside source to a scandal, Gibbs. The military won't let their people talk and that'll cause more stress."

"So you'd be one they could talk to about that," Gibbs finished. Tony nodded. "Which will probably reduce some of the yelling about that subject."

"Probably some attacks on them too," Ducky agreed. Tony nodded. "Are there others?"

"He was thinking about four of them. Oh, that soulmate thing? It'll come out as patterns on your body somewhere. You match patterns."

"So a matching tattoo that proves the universe is setting you up," Gibbs said dryly. "That's going to cause some hell."

"Willow Rosenburg's wish to heal his brain tumor included him having a protective soulmate sort," Tony quipped with a grin. "Xander said he doesn't have one. So it'll spread."

"Just great," Gibbs muttered.

"Compatible doesn't mean true love," Ducky said. "Though I can see divorces and other problems when that starts." Tony nodded. "I foresee many years of strife over those."

"And some will have more than one," Tony quipped, grinning at him. "The one I saw was someone talking about a guy in Africa who had three marks and only one was from one of his wives."

"I suppose certain religious groups will enjoy that," Ducky snorted, shaking his head. "Others will scream even more about that part."

"I can just see one of my ex-wives showing back up to look at my mark," Gibbs complained. He finished his coffee. "Any other huge ideas?"

"Some day I'll have a kid."

"Good. Maybe you'll quit goofing around so often in the office."

Tony looked at him. "Gibbs, I get a kid, and I'm leaving before I get killed in the line of duty. You can't raise a kid with a perpetual concussion and gunshot wounds." Gibbs moaned. "But it was in a lot of years."

"Good. Let me know when you do and I'll help you fill out the retirement paperwork so you can change somewhere more sane."

"Gladly." He looked at Ducky, who smiled at him. "All right, that's all I remember. Let me know if you hear about it starting first, guys." They nodded. "Let me get back to work." He left them to talk. Gibbs would need the calming down talk from Ducky.

***

Xander surveyed his other choices and decided against one. He was presently in a good place to be drawn out but doing this while he was captured by enemy forces...probably not the best time. He'd come back to him. He went to talk to his next choice. Who was upset. He was angry and sad and Xander didn't blame him. He appeared in front of him, staring down at the guy staring back at him. "It sucks. I imagine being divorced sucks a lot."

"You've been here?" he asked dryly, staring at the ghostly figure.

"No. The last one I dated was a former vengeance demon. You saw some of her work while you were on patrol. She did that guy with the intestines...." The guy held up a hand and shook his head with a sigh. "I'm not here about that. As sad as it is, you can always follow her when she remarries."

"She will be?" he asked impatiently.

"Yeah but he'll be good to your daughter. It won't be *easy* but it'll be good enough and you'll be there."

"How do you know and why did you come?"

"Unfortunately it's a huge problem coming in about two or three years and we need people who can take the attention from a group of military people saving all our asses."

"And that has to do with me how?" he demanded, sitting up.

Xander waved a hand. "C'mon, I'll show you." Danny stared at him, shaking his head. Xander leaned over and grabbed his arm, hauling him with him. "This is not quite the astral plane but this is where people who have visions get hit." He stared at him. "These guys," he said with a point at a picture of Jack O'Neill. "They're saving all our asses from things that I couldn't even read in comic books."

"Great. Why me again?"

"Because their good deeds are going to start off *huge* screaming by *everyone." Xander grinned. "But if others know they can point out that it's not evil. Also, there's a huge problem coming in a few years and you'll be safe where you're going to follow your daughter but the rest of the US is pretty well boned. My group solved a problem and that'll take out a future problem, but that one would've led to a hugely big issue that would've given us the people to fight that last bad thing." Danny looked confused and was shaking his head again so Xander pointed.

"Touch there." Danny huffed but touched that and flinched, backing away. "My group, I used to help backup the blonde." He looked at him again. "Then I got a brain tumor thanks to a group of unethical douchebags in the Army. All this will take out the problem that would lead to more like the blonde lady so they could fight that easier. Instead, we'll have to rely on others who have no idea and will get mad." He looked at him. "You'll be safe. Grace will be safe," he said quietly. "Because you'll be there," he said with a point at one portal. Danny squatted down to touch that and ended up smiling.

"I was going to talk to that guy first but he's kinda busy right now doing good things in a painful way. He's about to be rescued though." He shifted, blinking at the older man. "When those things happen, someone's going to scream. O'Neill's things are going to make them scream even worse. We're talking the whole world screaming and arguing about evil and military things and huge amounts of screaming. And that's about when the soulmate thing will start to happen thanks to a friend's wish." He grinned at him. "By the way, it's a tattoo looking mark. They'll match your mate."

"Uh-huh. Why?"

"Because Willow's wish I gifted her with was to heal me and give me a protective soulmate sort. And I don't have one. So it got spread to the rest of humanity while searching for mine." He shrugged but grinned. "It might make some things easier but religious sorts are going to have seizures about all that and him and all this."

"Faulty thinking point. They'll come after me and my kid."

"They won't. You'll be where one of the few that's done this without help is. He's a bishop. He got there about the same way I have, by being in a coma." He gave him a pointed look. "He can tell others some of this and you and others who have traveled here, naturally and not, can back him up. Which will mean humanity won't die because some religious nut blows up the general's people. Which would mean no one was there to protect us all when the shit gets hard."

"Jesus. Just...fucking Jesus, kid." He stared at him. "I'd rather not have to endanger myself and others with this."

Xander nodded. "But you can also tell people before the invasion happens how to help," he said slowly and clearly. "Because a cop saying that a multinational law firm is evil will get someone listening to them. Agents even, who might get to stop them from doing the sacrifices to open that portal to the people eating demons. Thereby saving LA and the rest of the US."

Danny rubbed his head. "Yeah, I can see that. Can we look at them now?"

"They might take you out. They've killed seven judges this year, and about a dozen jury members." Danny stared at him oddly. "Some of the senior people in the LA office and a few foreign nationals are going to be part of the Black Thorn group. They're the ones doing that. The law firm doesn't really care about their lower members. They sign soul contracts, the same as they're in every other agreement Wolfram and Hart put out." Danny stiffened, staring at him. "Who?"

"My ex. That's who she hired to do her divorce."

Xander winced. "Talk to Black, Brown, and Red. It's a law firm on the other side. They're fairly honest. Will she believe?"

"I'll have her read the contract. She's not stupid, she can do that."

"Okay. I hope you get her safe. There's a good thing though. They can't use her as a sacrifice. That soul contract prevents her from being ritually killed."

"Yeah, that's something."

"I gotta find a happy point or else I spend my time wandering around depressed." Danny nodded at that, staring at him. "Seriously. I'm out of my body until they cure that brain tumor I got given."

"Anyone investigate that?"

Xander grinned. "I told O'Neill about their other evil shit. They showed up to stomp them. Hard. Very, very hard." Danny shivered. "The righteous and necessary ass kicking was beautiful. Him, NCIS, an FBI agent in LA I can't touch or else I'd tell him about that law firm and the invasion..."

"Can I tell 'im?"

"I'm not sure if he'd believe you. You can try."

"I'll make it subtle." He looked at all the portals. "That's my daughter, but she's older."

Xander looked then at him. "That's her prom. I don't know why that's a portal." Danny walked over to touch it and grimaced but looked pleased. "She okay?"

"Yeah, she kicked ass better than I can."

"Girls are strong that way," Xander quipped. "Buffy sure is."

Danny looked at him. "So you're going to let others in on this big conspiracy?"

"Yeah, a few others. That'll help in a lot of places. One you'll know. You'll get to work with him."

"Why no women?"

"They're more tied to their bodies. That whole uterus thing really stops them from ascending. Which we technically aren't. That comes after death and all that." He shrugged. "Those assholes have *rules* that no one can interfere. But hey, I'm not dead yet so they can't get to me as more than nagging and the queen of nagging bitches I grew up with." He took Danny back to his body. "Fall back into it." Danny did and moaned as he woke up. "You can get back there if you want. It'll take some meditation things."

"Not sure I'd want to," Danny admitted.

"It can help when you're being tortured."

"I didn't see that."

"I'm not sure if that's you or the other guy." He grinned. "Be happy. You're a good dad and she understands that. Even if she thinks things are weird and wrong and hard. Just be chill about her. She has your temper and her mom's sense."

Danny grinned. "Yeah, I've noticed." He stared at him. "How long for you?"

"No clue," Xander admitted. "Sometime this year maybe. Maybe next year. Not real sure." He shrugged and grinned, fading out. "Thanks for the asking. Have a happy life."

"Yeah, you too, kid." He made notes on what he saw and sealed them, putting them into his gun safe with a letter for his ex-wife. He did not want his daughter anywhere near LA at any time in her life. That invasion thing might be a few years away but still, not into that stuff and his daughter should be safe.

***

Xander looked at his last guy, finally. It had been a few weeks. The guy woke up to him being yanked out of his body. "I would've appeared a few weeks back but it'll make your body pass out and I didn't think you wanted that to happen in front of the terrorists who had you hostage."

"No, not really. Who're you?"

"I'm Xander." He grinned, waving a hand around. "You're a method of saving lives later. Because stupid shit that's going to start mass screaming and ranting will get some *good* military people blown up."

"Most military people are good." He knew he was scowling but it was a common misconception at times.

"My town had a project that had to be shut down and higher ups all the way to the white house had to hide from it. They were torturing beings just to find out how they were put together and what they could do." Steve blinked, shaking his head. "Yeah. I had to get the group that you'll be helping save later to stop them. They had killed over three thousand beings by torture. Under my hometown's college. They're the reason I'm out of my body and helping grease some future problems. They gave me a brain tumor."

Steve coughed, holding his side. He looked down. "It doesn't hurt."

"Your spirit self doesn't have ribs, Steve." He grinned. "This isn't quite the astral plane. This is where you go when you meditate and get out of your body. Like if you're tortured again. Takes some meditation and willpower."

"Good to know. Why are we here?"

"Three things. Introducing you to someone else who I had to tell. To a future problem. And to the problem that will end up screwing most of the US because us taking out that problem that way meant that a later problem didn't happen, and that one would've led to a lot of destruction but a group that could've fought when LA gets invaded by another plane of people eating things." Steve blinked at him. Xander pointed. "That portal."

Steve looked and touched it, wincing at what he saw. "Damn it!"

"Yeah."

Steve looked at him. "Those were demons. I've seen a few enclave areas in hiding."

"The blonde is the current slayer. Well, a slayer, the actual last slayer called is in a coma. She got spelled and turned slightly evil." He stared at him. "I backed up Buffy in Sunnydale until that group of Rangers and scientists started. In a few years, LA's going to be invaded by a law firm's senior members and a few others. That's their way of trying to take over the world. They can't get to Hawaii very easily though. But LA won't have enough fighters."

"I can gladly go help if I know when."

"Yeah, they'll probably call. They'll be calling the military group that helped my town too. They saved the universe a few times. And one scientist blew up a solar system but it saved the earth." Steve blinked. He grinned back. "The general is really great. He stomped on those idiots in my town so hard even the president nearly committed suicide for that shit."

"Damn." He rubbed his forehead. "I've heard rumors."

"They gave me a brain tumor and a few others too. They tortured a lot of beings. Buffy and I are not against anything peaceful. She went in with the general to help him and got healers for the victims that were still alive," Xander said quietly, moving closer. "But they're going to be blown open soon after someone attacks us all. Then people are going to scream. You being you and being here means that you can go 'hey, not evil'," he said with a wave and a grin. "And help protect them. They're important."

Steve nodded. "Yeah, I can do that, kid."

"I'm Xander." He smiled. "I'll be like this for at least the rest of this year probably."

"What about if you get out of there?"

"Well, I get to ignore the soulmate thing Willow's wish created," he said dryly. He took him back to his body. "Fall back into it." Steve did and woke up with a wince, holding his side. "If I was fully ascended I could heal those but doing that would mean higher beings could try to rule me and would try to keep me from helping anyone." He waved, going to check on his body. The nurse gave him an odd look. "I was off helping problems, Nurse Patty."

"They were thinking you were dying."

Xander looked at himself then shook his head. "No. The thing in my lung is a blood clot, not another tumor." He grimaced. "If I find those army idiots are out and about I'm going to kill them all."

"We heard about how you and Mrs. Summers got hers," she said quietly, coming in there. "Her treatment didn't work on yours."

"I know. It's too advanced. I heard." He looked at himself then at her. "Willow's wish won't be enacted soon because they're arguing over the second clause of it. It'd start soulmates in the world. You can find them by the matching tattoo like marks." He grinned at her arm. "Like that one."

She looked and moaned. "Oh, hell."

"As someone said, compatible isn't the same as love."

"Yeah, I get that, kid. Hang around here more often, all right? They're moving me off this floor soon." Xander hugged her and settled in to watch tv. She went to make more private notes in his file. A few doctors had seen Xander wandering around the hospital to visit with the Summers women. They'd understand.

***

Xander looked at the healing demon who appeared in his room, smiling at him. "Hey."

"Knight," he said. "A wish demon asked that I intervene for the services you've done to us."

"Thank you. The military jackholes gave me brain cancer. The same as they did to Buffy's mom."

The healer demon winced. "Why?"

"Because they knew we'd bust them. As soon as I got out of my body and saw what was going on, I *so* went and told O'Neill."

"We wondered how he heard," the demon said quietly. "One here will have fits."

"She'll consider it a religious miracle since she's been praying over me. And spraying me with holy water."

The demon smiled. "That could be. What else called me here?"

"You saw graduation?" The demon shuddered but nodded. "I made a wish to stop a lot of his earlier spell work that stopped him opening the Deeper Well at the same time. It saved twenty-eight miles of people. And I knew I'd give up the protections that would have let me live through it, and land me here, but it saved them. Part of the price was Rosenburg's wish that brought soulmates."

The demon glared. "We do not like that."

"I thought she'd wish all the vampires off the hellmouth," he said dryly. "Or something to help Buffy. Hell, I was pretty sure she would've ignored I ever existed the way she did others who died." He gave him a pointed look. "That was her thing. Buffy prompted her to remember me and her mom."

"Oh, dear. We are vowed to stop whoever did that."

"You do that and we'll definitely lose when Black Thorn has LA invaded by people eaters in a few years."

The demon moaned. "I will tell others." He took the tumor out and healed the injuries. "Someone stabbed you in the side."

"Yeah, that was also that religious nut." Xander got up and climbed back into his body, waking it up. He blinked at the demon. "Thank you," he said quietly. The demon nodded and disappeared. Xander laid there, regaining his strength. Maybe he'd leave the area before the vampires came for him. Angel was in town and was in a hell of a problem. Though he had Cordelia with him and that was ample punishment in his mind. The nurse that liked to pray over him came in and he blinked at her. "Thank you anyway." She shrieked and ran out. He sat up, holding his side when the doctor stomped in. "Can you not let her get near me to stab me again?" he asked, pointing at his side. "I was out of my body so I was sitting here watching my tv. The news really, seriously sucks. And that brunette everyone was wondering about is my ex-girlfriend Cordelia."

The doctor stared at him. "Do you know who you are?"

"Alexander Lavelle Harris," he said bluntly. "It's the fifth of May. I've been in this bed now for a year and ten months." The doctor shivered. "Like I said, out of my body and sitting here watching my tv. It's kinda boring." He changed the channel. "That news lady on the eleven-o-clock is hideous and horribly biased against poor people." He blinked at the doctor. "Can we get me an antibiotic for the stab wound?"

"I..." He came closer to look at it. "You could use one, Mr. Harris." He stepped back. "I don't know what to do about this."

Xander grinned. "Doc, I'm almost twenty. I'm not that scary. Really. Just keep that one away from me please?"

"Nurse Patty," that nurse sneered.

"Yeah, she could see me. She was really nice and changed channels for me now and then when I got bored. It meant I got cartoon network until you got up here." She shrieked and came at him. He rolled off the bed, letting her hit it. "I don't think you should do that to a patient."

"God saved you and you're profaning him!" she shouted.

Xander stared at her. "Wow. Wrong but wow." He looked at the doctor. The guy got security to remove her. "I don't mind the nurses or anyone else. But her. Please?"

"I can see that with her recent attitude. We need to scan you."

"Okay. Please. That way I know if the brain tumor's going to come back." He looked at the doctor's hand. "Huh. That new soulmate mark." He pointed at it. "I heard someone say that they matched patterns."

The doctor rubbed it. "People have been wondering."

"Not my doing, Doc." He grinned. "I just overheard."

"That's fine I suppose. Let's get a CT tonight. It'll be the fastest done. I'll get you an antibiotic too."

"Thank you. I love all the nurses up here who have helped me. And I'm sorry if I sleep farted in front of them."

The doctor smiled. "You wouldn't have been the first, Mr. Harris." He made a note and went to order the tests and the antibiotic. The nurse was screaming and ranting into her phone. She got taken by security again. He looked at the other nurse. "He was out of his body," he said quietly.

"We noticed a few odd things. Channels would change. Some nutrient shakes would get rejected and the tube crimped."

Xander leaned out with a grin. "That red one gave me horrible heartburn. Sorry if I made you more work, Nurse Rachel."

"No, Mr. Harris, it wasn't too much more work." He grinned. "We quit trying to give those to you after a while. What was the purple one's problem that time?"

"It was rancid."

"Ah!" She smiled. "Be a good boy." He went back to bed. She smiled at the doctor. "He seems very nice."

"He apologized if he sleep farted."

She giggled. "Most good boys would." She went in to do his vitals check and went with him to the CT then brought him back. He did try very hard not to make her any extra work. It was nice of him.

***

Xander looked up as someone walked in, nodding at them. "Do I know you?"

"Mr. Harris?"

"Yes."

"Sir, we were told to bring you in for questioning about interfering with a military project."

"Jackass, that same project gave me the brain tumor I've been in a coma with for the last damn year and ten months. Fuck you." The military guy flinched and blinked at him. "Nurse Patty, I'm about to go on a swearing rant," he called. "Sorry." He got up and closed the door then faced him. "If I had been in my body I would've helped the ones that took down that project, Major. I would've bombed them back so hard even the cavemen would've wondered at their backwards natures. Bluntly, if the military in this country wants to torture people that way, they can go through me next time. Because I'll be damned and I did spy on people who build bombs. Now, do you still need a statement?"

"Sir, what torturing group?" he asked calmly. "I'm here because you appeared to Doctor Jackson."

"Yeah, that's how I told O'Neill about that torturing group that gave me the brain tumor. Is someone actually going to yell about that being solved?"

"I...I hope not. What happened then?"

"What did O'Neill tell you or report?"

"It's classified."

"Yeah. Of course it is." Xander grinned. "I found a group of Rangers and assorted science bad ideas under my town's UC branch. They were torturing beings. Had killed over three thousand of them with torture." The Major shuddered. "I'll be damned if I let that go on. So I talked to Jackson because his spike on the astral plane showed he could handle it and knew others who could help him. I pulled him up to show him. He showed his general buddy. I showed someone else to get him some help that could do the formal arrests. Then I stood there and cheered while holding some of them alive as the general and his buddies took down the base so hard it should've just fallen into dust."

The Major stared at him. "The US military..."

"Riley Finn is one I know was there. My female friend was dating him," he said dryly. "My mentor gave an enemy to them because he was having an unethical moment." The Major looked up that name and stared then let him see it. Xander took the tablet to type a passcode into it and handed it back. "We kinda all agreed the president should've committed suicide for authorizing it."

The Major licked his lips and stared at him. "Thank you for getting them help."

"I helped Summers handle the bad ones. We protect the peaceful, the weak, the helpless, and the ones being picked on. I'll be damned if they restart it in Virginia and Texas like they have. Though I hope they really like rattlesnakes in Texas," he said with a smug grin. "They have a lot of them down there around that base."

"I'll let people know when we go in to bust them." He made that note and looked at him. "You were here."

"I was out of my body. They put me into a medical coma to try to treat the brain tumor those idiots gave me. Though I wasn't the only one."

"I... Understood. So you told others."

"You bet." He smiled. "Also, you might let that general know that he's going to have a press problem after an attack in about a year but others who have been on the astral plane can step up to ease some of it."

The Major winced. "Publicity?"

"Yeah. Sorry but yeah. And hey, it'll cause screaming and things but the invasion in LA in a few years will be worse."

The Major blinked at him. "Damn."

"Yup." He grinned. "Not their job, or even their sort of being, but yeah. And solving that problem that way led to us not having enough people who could help then because it took out a later battle." He shrugged. "I mitigated."

"Sure. I get that. I...we need to get you somewhere safer."

Xander stared at him. "Major, I'm usually able to protect myself. I may be a bit weak right now but not totally. Thank you though. Unless you want to give me money so I can buy a house somewhere safer?"

"Alaska," he joked weakly.

"No. After that invasion, they're going to have fire demons showing up. I don't really want to be there then. They're going to be protesting the way their lands have been mistreated." The Major winced. "Sorry but saw it on the astral plane."

"Fuck," he muttered, making that note. "All right. I'll go talk to the general for you."

"If you're talking about that other general, Landry, he had files from those assholes. They were using them on his base."

"Understood. When are you getting out?"

"Few days. Then I'll figure a few things out since I doubt I have a bank account anymore."

"Thank you, sir, and I'll be back tomorrow." He nodded and left, leaving the door open.

Xander leaned out. "I thought he wanted to talk about the idiots that I told someone about so they could break really hard," he told the staring nurse, and doctor as it turned out. "Being out of my body was really kinda handy. I saw a lot of things that are looking really nasty. Nurse Patty, maybe you should move out of LA in a few years? Please? We'd hate to miss you."

She swallowed. "I can do that. I love the midwest." He grinned and went back to his bed.

The doctor nodded. "It's not a bad idea. I could do a lot in Texas or somewhere." He made another note in the kid's chart and walked off considering things. He'd tell someone about the kid but that would bring crazy kooks out of the woodwork and his patient didn't need that. Even if he probably would need money to cover the bills.

***

Xander woke up that night, staring at the man who had snuck in. "I know who you are, Finn. I was out of my body and protected her a few times."

The man stared at him. "You're the one that told that general."

"You bet, Skippy." He sat up, staring at him. He noticed someone else in the room. "Your buddy should probably go too. You can't kill me. I'm not that easy." The other guy shot a dart at him and Xander blocked it with his pillow. "Really?" He stared at him. Then at Finn again. "Go."

"We need to talk, Harris."

"Fuck you."

"You did the same job."

"No, I helped handle things that were killing people. You didn't care if they were harmful, children, or anything. Even the Germans in the last world war would've hated what you did. So just go." The other soldier lunged at him and Xander hit him with that dart as he moved off the bed. He sighed, hitting the nurse call button. No answer. "Did you take out the nurse too?" he demanded.

"They're asleep."

"The other patients might need them."

"They'll be fine and this is the long term coma ward, kid. They don't need much," Finn said.

Xander nodded. "There's a lot of taking care of patients." He pointed. "Also, cameras." He grinned. "Say hi and wave?"

"We can block it."

"Sure, you do that." He stared at him. "It tapes." Finn glared. Xander stared back. Xander could hear someone outside sneaking. "Just go, Finn. You're not wanted here. You're not going to make me pay for telling on you. I'm not like you. You have nothing you can offer me that won't make me laugh in your face. So go." He pointed.

"Freeze," a guard said.

"They woke me up," Xander said, holding up his wrist with the ID bracelet. "That one got the dart he threw at me back." He stared at him, bending down to check him. "Sedative." He stepped back and sat on the window ledge, turning to close the window. "Are the nurses all right?"

"Knocked out, sir."

"I'm Harris." He grinned and waved. "I turned them in for being torturing fuckers."

"Were you part of their unit?"

"No. They're the ones that gave me the brain tumor." He looked at him. "Pity you were that proactive. I mean, I could've let the graduation thing stand." Finn backed up, eyes wide. He grinned. "I know, you were one of the ones who would've survived. Twenty eight miles of destruction. And you would've let it go on. So go. Now." He pointed again.

"We'll still talk, Harris."

"I'm sure you'll try." He stared at him. "I've seen worse than you. You don't impress anyone. Go." He waved a hand. "Now." Finn reached for his friend but the guard got in his way and slammed Finn into the wall. "He's a former Ranger."

"I'm still a Ranger. They won't take me out for following orders," he sneered.

"I'm sure they'll love the black eye your service would give them." Xander gave him a grim smile. "After all, you guys took film."

"The president blocked that."

Xander laughed. "And yet, I was in a coma, Finn. I didn't get that memo."

"They'll stop you. We have high level backers, Harris."

"Big whoop, Finn. They don't scare me either. I already accepted I could die from the tumor you guys gave me."

"I was more than happy to slip that into your drink," he sneered as he was led off.

"I'll tell my lawyer that," Xander said with a smile and a wave, getting a horrified look. "I'm just a guy from lower Cali. Of course I know what a lawyer is for. It's for winning the lottery." He grinned. The guard had to haul Finn off. Another few guards got the other guy. "He tried to hit me with the dart so I let it hit a pillow then I got him when he lunged at me," he said quietly. "Can you guys go get the nurses okay? Before a patient on the ward dies?" They nodded, calling in for an emergency team and nurses.

Xander settled at the desk, pointing at the board. "We have a red light," he called. "Room 2213." The nurse stared at him. He held up his ID bracelet. "I'm just helping, ma'am. I only woke up the other day. That red light's probably a problem though." She went to look and got help to adjust the air circulation machine. Xander looked at his doc. "The military showed up to nag me about turning in their fun torture experiment," he said quietly. "I can sit here and watch for red lights and answer the phone until you can get a nurse up here."

"Please. Don't look at anyone's files."

"I won't. I talked to a few of them." The doctor grimaced but nodded. Xander looked at one who was out of their body, shrugging some. "We can try again." The guy went to try to get back into his body. Xander got up to watch, pulling his IV on him and his breathing tube. A nurse yelled and came in but he stopped her and the guy woke up, coughing some. "He was out of his body like I was," he told her. "Something in his meds was keeping him out." She got free and checked him over. "He's not fully hooked in though. C'mon, Brad. Let's get up." Brad was losing consciousness again so Xander poked him on the leg stump. That woke him up. "Stay up and reconnect yourself. That wire, Brad." He pointed at it. "Or you'll go again." Brad grunted but concentrated and locked himself back in. Then he passed back out but he was going to survive without machines. Xander frowned. "He wanted to wake up a lot."

The doctor came in and pulled him back to his desk. "Next time, tell me."

"Brad's been out of the hospital for weeks, Doc. He just showed up. There's two others out of their bodies but I haven't seen them in weeks."

"Okay. We'll work on his condition. Is he back in there?"

"It looks like he's solid."

"Good. Just....let me do the medical stuff in the future, Harris. It looked like you were going to kill him."

"The only one on this floor I'd think about that with is on the other end and he's actually a former assassin. His ID says Sid but that's not his actual name. He's also not in his body but there's just a huge sucking portal there now. Not sure what that means." He frowned. "There's one down on pediatric long term that has the same thing. I heard a kid crying and went down to check on her."

"Damn it. Is she back?"

"No, she had an airway blockage," Xander said quietly. "That's why she was crying. I took her to the caf so she didn't have to see that."

The doctor nodded, patting him on the arm. "Good idea. Very nice of you as well. Who else?"

"Her name, or she said her name was Brenda. The other one is in the doorway. Which one are you?"

"Sybil. My mother named me after the book."

"She said her name's Sybil, her mom named her after the book."

"She's on another floor and we can work on that. What's stopping her?"

"Something in my meds keeps me out," she said.

"Another med thing," Xander told him. "I had that for a while when I first went down."

"I can look into that. Hang near your body please, Sybil." She nodded and floated off. Xander nodded. "The other? Brenda?" Xander took him out and pointed at a bar on the alarm board. "Her. That may be her middle name." He went to check and then on the other two patients. They had a few things in common so hopefully he could figure it out. Xander went back to manning the phone and alarm board.

***

Xander finally got released from the hospital and went to find Buffy's ex, Angel. He knew where he was. He had popped in to stare at Cordelia and nag Angel behind their backs a few times. He walked into the office, staring at his ex. She blinked a few times. "And I'm even in my body this time." He grinned. "Being out of my body was weird but helpful." He looked behind him as Angel stomped in. "Hey. Did you know that you see cobwebs on the astral plane with portals?"

Angel stared. "What? You're in a coma."

"I was out of my body." He stared at him. "I'm the one that told O'Neill so they got there." Angel glared. Xander stared back. "That way it was stopped. It took me a bit to be able to do that but I got there as soon as I could."

"So you're here looking for sanctuary?" Angel sneered.

"No. I'd never live near you, Angel. You're a jealous prick." He shrugged but grinned. "But I can and will give you information on Wolfram and Hart, who is the major bad guy in town. Especially since in three years, LA's going to have an invasion."

"What?" Angel demanded, starting to laugh. "How do you know that?"

"Astral. Plane. I was out of my body."

"No you weren't," he sneered.

Xander sighed then looked at Cordelia then at Angel again. "Dru's in Brazil. With a slime demon. She actually thought she was pregnant last week." Angel flinched back. "Spike's down there trying to get her back. Or at least his spirit is. The chip thingy knocked him down and he's living in a culvert outside of Sunnydale at the moment. He's picked up Harmony," he told Cordelia.

"She's going to drive him nuts. The chip thingy split his demon somehow. Not sure how. All I know is he tried to bite Buffy after following her and figured out that it keeps him from eating so he had to deal with the migraine and fell into the culvert system. Someone else dragged him outside of town and muttered something about a favor to his sire." He looked at Angel again. "Joyce's brain tumor came back because they missed a tiny bit that was hidden behind and below the original. She should go in sooner for a new scan. This one's aggressive. I checked on her a few hours before I finally got put back into my body by the healing demon fixing the tumor thanks to Willow's wish."

"How do you know any of this?" Cordelia demanded, standing up.

"I was out of my body, Cordelia. I got to float around and talk to people who were out of their bodies plus watch over people. By the way, Dennis is a really nice guy. Kinda sad about his mom but really happy that he's not alone. He thinks you're beautiful like an old screen goddess." She blushed, collapsing back into her chair. "Not that I disagree. You were the only one with class outside of Buffy's mom in all of Sunnydale." He looked at Angel again. "Wolfram and Hart are not only lawyers but evil lawyers. They have all sorts of plans to get their demon clients some power. Including soul buying and releasing things and some of them are forming a cult called Black Thorn so they can have LA invaded by people eaters in three years."

"Why?" he demanded.

"Demon Lords Wolf, Ram, and Hart," Xander said bluntly, staring at him. "Plus some of their cronies. They want power. Why else would they try to remove humanity? And that'll cause a lot of other problems because you can't hide a six hours invasion battle."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"So you don't lose," Xander said bluntly, staring at him. "You'll need a lot more people than you'll have handy for the invasion, Angel. Why do you think I'm telling you? I'm not going to be here. I've got to recover and retrain. It can take me years. Also I have to hide from the military guys that now know I'm the one that turned them in to a good general who stomped them like they're olives." Cordelia squeaked. He grinned at her. "I talked to O'Neill's friend. He was like me and out of his body at one time."

"They didn't say anything about demons," she said, staring at him.

"Because they've dealt with weirder. But they're good people who handle it and protect us all. Like the Scoobies but formally military and getting paid."

"That's weird," she said.

"Yeah and in a few months they're going to be blown open in the press after an attack." He grimaced. "I hope they'll be able to manage it. I've gotten some people to get them some help but I'm not sure how it'll go. Beyond screaming. A lot of screaming and some riots." The door opened and someone walked in. "Hey, Doyle."

He stared. "Xander. I saw you out wandering."

Xander grinned. "Vision or did you see me when I was wandering?"

"Vision. The Powers aren't pleased."

"They haven't liked me since I dragged someone out of his apartment while he was sulking and taking prophecies as the final word on what would happen." Xander grinned. "So fuck them. Bluntly."

Doyle grinned. "I like that idea. It might help the bad moods."

Xander shook his head. "Not even Anya's vibrating friends would help them enough. After all, they want *balance*. It keeps them in power."

Doyle nodded. "We've noticed."

"Have you guys met Lorne yet?"

"Who?" Cordelia asked.

Xander grinned. "He's a friend. Weird but a friend." He looked at Doyle again. "I came to warn about Wolfram and Hart and the future invasion in a few years."

Doyle moaned. "How do we handle that?"

Xander patted him on the arm. "I didn't see you there, Doyle." He stiffened. "Something about a bomb and a last kiss." He gave him a pointed look. "Get someone else to handle the Scourge," he said quietly. "Someone's still radiating Sunnydale and they can use her for things."

"Hey!" Cordelia complained, standing up.

Xander grinned at her. "I saw you giving birth to a demon baby. It took about a week of pregnancy." Her eyes went wide and she stared at him. He nodded. "Even I still carry some Sunnydale taint, Cordy. Out here among the normal sorts, you draw like I did in town." She flopped down again, whining. "You can ask Rosenburg."

"Have you seen her?" Angel demanded.

"No. Because I didn't want that sort of pain. I went to watch over Joyce a few times. Saw Buffy there a few times and Giles. They just kind of stared silently. Buffy cleaned some." Angel slumped. "I'm guessing she's with her girlfriend?" Angel nodded. "I love her girlfriend. She's a sweet, pure soul. We really should get them out of Sunnydale before something happens to her to pay Willow back for being on the team." He stared at Angel. "Something I recall reading in high school was an Arithax ritual...." Angel stiffened again then called Buffy. "Tell her I said hi. I'm heading out to hide from the Initiative bastards in a few. Finn tried to come intimidate me in my hospital room, if not take me out completely. But you learn things on the astral plane." He looked at Doyle again. "There's a purple flower serum. It's slightly addicting but it helps the pain. You should ask someone like Poster Harins about it."

"I know of him."

"Ask him. He knows how to make it. He might let you buy some cheaply. Not sure about that part but I know he knows how to make it and he can see those out of their bodies. He stared at me a few times but I told him I was foreseeing problems and figuring out if I could send them to talk to him. He said to try it, and he might."

"I can ask," Doyle agreed. "Thanks."

"Welcome. A few people from Sunnydale have the latent seer genes." He looked at Cordelia, who squeaked. "They suck."

"I've seen some of Doyle's."

"They're worse in humans."

She slumped. "Worse?"

"Yeah." He looked at Doyle again. "I'm a carrier myself. Which is why I was trying to find a solution." He looked at Angel then at Doyle. "Wolfram and Hart, with very few part time exceptions, are all evil. They have ways to negate the soul spell. They have all sorts of bad ideas. Including bringing permanent night to LA. And, oh, this is great. They have some sort of crypt that can bring Darla back because I saw your son," he said with a grin for Angel. "He was kick ass when he got back from being kidnaped to a demon realm." Angel growled, going to game face. "Holder, Holdin, something like that took him from Wes." He leaned around Doyle, grinning and waving. "Did you know there's portals on the astral plane?"

"Yes, I've seen it due to a very bad fever once," Wesley said dryly, coming in. He was wearing motorcycle leathers and had a crossbow in hand. "You're in a coma."

"Was. A healing demon took the tumor out. Joyce's is regrowing. She needs to go be scanned tonight."

"I'll let her know," Doyle promised. He looked. "I've seen you in a few visions."

Xander grinned. "He was there our senior year." He looked at Angel. "The crypt's in storage but will be in the basement in a few months. They're missing a few pieces and have to reassemble it."

"I know of that thing. It's for resurrections," Wesley said.

"Yeah, they'll get Darla and somehow two vamps have a baby." Xander grimaced. "He's kinda kick ass. I totally respected Conor's level of badass."

Wesley blinked. "You were on the astral plane most of the time?"

"On and off. I wasn't fully ascended so I got to give some warnings. Including to a certain general."

Wesley smiled. "I had heard you had something to do with that."

Xander nodded with a grin. "As soon as I could. Took me a bit to figure out how to find someone who could and would help. It was an extra month but I couldn't get it sooner. I know some blame me for that. Tell them I tried," he told Doyle.

"I can do that."

"Thanks." He looked at Wesley. "Did you hear the wish?"

"Wish?" Wesley said stiffly. "Willow's?"

"Yeah. Part of the wish was that I have a protective soulmate sort." Wesley stiffened. Xander looked at the mark on his arm. Then at Doyle's matching one. He grinned. "Congrats." He walked over to hug Cordelia. "I'll send you my address so you can write." He winked and left before the two demon hunters got over their shock and horror or Angel got over his.

***

Xander led the ones hunting for him to DC. He slipped into NCIS by pretending he was there as a witness to something. He went up to the agent's floor and stared at the guy who was giving him a horrified look. "They finally took the tumor out." He looked at Gibbs. "They're mad at me. Really mad at me."

"Who?" he demanded.

"The ones I helped lead you to stop. I've seen Finn a few times."

"He's in jail."

"He was in the parking lot." Xander went to look and pointed. "There. That's their present chase car." It was driving off as fast as it could. He looked at Gibbs. "I can take them out but that would probably make someone really mad. Do I want to do that?"

"No," Gibbs said. "You don't. They'll all hunt you down and kill you."

Xander nodded. "I heard that." He sighed as someone came off the elevator. "Look, it's Mr. Pounces Badly." The guy glared at him. He glared at Gibbs too. Gibbs glared back. "He couldn't dart me right or pounce me while I was in my hospital bed, Gibbs. I really don't want to have to kill them but..." He waved a hand. "What can I do about them?"

"I can do a lot about them," Gibbs said. "DiNozzo, call the SecNav." He was already doing that and held up the phone. "Sir, Gibbs. You remember that project I helped stop with O'Neill? We have some of their soldiers here hunting the information source who is now awake." He listened. "Yes, one actually followed him up to our floor at the office." The guy held up a paper. He snatched it to read. "He's got a court order for an official statement being taken by a secret judge. Yes, sir, here. Thank you." He hung up. "Harris, sit." He pointed. "They can come here and question you."

Xander nodded. "That's fine." He sat down and grinned at McGee. "I'm not quite as bouncy as I was when I was out of my body. No caffeine on the astral plane."

"I bet there's not."

"I did get to steal a few twinkies but I had to concentrate really hard and it didn't work at all on chocolate for some reason." McGee smiled, getting back to his typing. The guy tried to grab him so Xander shoved him into a filing cabinet. "You don't get to do that yet." The man pulled out cuffs. He looked at Gibbs. "I surrender myself to your custody, Gibbs."

"That's fine. We can handle that, Harris. Stand down, corporal. He's in NCIS custody until the SecNav figures things out."

"Sir, that warrant is for JAG."

"I don't care," Gibbs said. "We can call over there." He called to JAG. "I need to speak to Judge Marks. Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS." He waited. "He's missing. That's interesting since a corporal is here with a warrant to depose a witness to the corporal's failure as a soldier." He listened. "Yes, that one. Who? Please do." He got transferred. "Judge, Special Agent Gibbs. Yes, that one. Yes, he is here. You sent a corporal and Harris came to put himself into our custody. We've already alerted the SecNav that we'll have a conflict here and you are more than welcome to come depose him here.

"No, we are not going to comply with the warrant. He's in our custody and you can come depose him here. Anything you needed to legally depose him can be found here in our offices. And if you're going to retaliate against him for stopping that unethical, very wrong program you're going to have a lot more trouble than him." The judge was yelling, they could hear it. "I don't care. If you want to depose him, come here." He hung up and looked at the kid. The corporal looked smug. "DiNozzo, he should still be in jail?"

"Yes, Boss, but there's a note that he was released back to a special group out of the UN to handle bigger problems of the same nature." He looked up. "Apparently they think it's a good idea."

"I'm shocked the community hasn't killed them since justice failed them," Xander said quietly. "I really am." He looked at the hidden demon, blinking at it. "Hi." It appeared and lunged at him but he managed to get out of the way and stomp on the demon until it became visible to everyone. "So why did you show up today?"

"You go to them," he spat.

"I'm the one that got O'Neill and Gibbs there, dear." He stared down at him. "Frankly, if I had been there and not just floating around, I would've shot them my own damn self." The demon whined. "Who were you here for?" The demon pointed at the soldier. Xander got off him. "Then you shouldn't have attacked me."

"You are not a knight any longer."

Xander snorted, looking amused. "Not like I quit. If I have to I'll still handle a problem. I just need a few more weeks to get back into shape." He stared at the demon. "Any other questions?"

"The Red One's wish." He sat up.

"Not my doing. I just gifted her with one." He shrugged. "I expected her to wish all the vampy vamps out of Sunnydale. Not like she actually cared that I was sick. She proved that really well."

The demon slumped. "You will not go back to them?"

"No. They didn't even visit. Trust me, I would've seen it. Or hey, when I announced I was sick, Willow tried to blame it on you guys. Even after they found out about the slayer's mother's version." The demon slumped. "I'm not going backwards at the moment. If it happens around me, I'll handle it. If not, that's why she was gifted. Right?" The demon nodded, standing up. "Now, you've failed for today so you should go before more of that sort show up. There's too many normals and innocents here."

"I will get them later."

Xander nodded. "I'm surprised it took you guys this long."

The demon slumped, shaking his head. "There's much debate but they're in jail."

"No, not all of them," Xander said, patting him on the arm. "The Army rescued some. I've seen Finn more than a few times." The demon stared at him. Xander grinned. "Really. I'm about to break him into pieces myself since he admitted to giving me the stuff that gave me the cancer." The demon shivered. "By the way, can you let it be known that I'm calling in my poker debts since I have to start over? It'd make it just a bit easier."

"You will not go hunt with the Champion?"

"Hell no, not unless I get to hunt Angel finally. I might spare Cordelia and Doyle, and Wes if he's there. Angel...." He snorted. "Fuck no." The demon shivered, shrinking down into himself. "Not with all that went down before. Though I find it nice he was horrified that some day soon Wolfram and Hart is going to give him a son." The demon moaned. "Exactly. Go, shoo. Before they try to capture you again." It fled, going invisible as it rounded a corner. The corporal was sneering. Xander hit him as best as he could, making him hit the ground a few feet away. "And that's for Joyce's cancer, asshole. I'll get you for mine later. When there's no witnesses."

"Stand down," DiNozzo ordered.

Xander stared at him. "Why?" He smiled. "He deserves it. I'm saving the hit demons some work."

"Sit down anyway, kid. You're in custody." Gibbs stared at him. "You're awfully bitter."

"Fuck you too, Gibbs. I have a right to be a bit bitter about what they caused in my life. Not like I asked for a brain tumor." Gibbs flinched at that reminder. "Or the year and ten months in a coma being out of my body. Do you know how many people died that I could've saved during that time?" He stared at him. "You should be lucky I haven't tortured or stabbed that one yet."

"Fine. Sit down anyway. We get him first." Xander sighed but sat down.

"Most guys like that get paid back in prison," Tony said. "Is there one that has a lot of demons?"

"I don't know. Never asked," Xander admitted. "Huh." He watched as three more thugs from that project and the 'judge' showed up. "Wow, you've surrounded yourself by fleeing felons. That's great you managed to capture them," he said dryly, staring at one. That one backed away slowly. He looked at Gibbs. "Can judges be surrounded by people who escaped from jail legally?"

"No," he said. "They shouldn't be in uniform since they're supposedly in jail." He stared at the other two guards. "DiNozzo, recapture the fleeing felons."

"Gladly, Boss." He got up to do that. One of them tried to fight back but Kate's gun was in his face within seconds. "Thanks, Kate." He cuffed that one then the other one. They patted them down for weapons, handing them to Gibbs then Tony got the corporal who was moaning on the floor. "You must really liked to be frisked with the way you're moaning in pleasure, corporal. I'm sure you can find someone to roleplay that with you sometime soon." He handed over that guy's weapons too. He stared at Xander. "We should probably disarm you too, kid."

Xander handed over his knife with a grin. "I knew not to bring a gun into a federal building."

"Good. Very smart, Xander." He looked at the judge. "We can escort you down to an interrogation room, Your Honor."

"He is in my custody."

"He's in NCIS custody," Gibbs corrected. "You are not NCIS." Someone else came off the elevator. "Sir," he said, saluting him. He was his boss.

The Secretary of the Navy looked at the group then at the boy. "See what you started?"

"If you wanted sentient beings tortured that much, fuck you too," Xander said bluntly. "And I hope they kill you the same way they were taken out." He stared at him. "I've stared at worse than you, sir. You're not going to scare me."

"I can throw you in prison."

Xander shrugged. "I can get back out of my body and go traveling again. I got into a lot more interesting places when I did that. Hell, I can lead the revenge teams all the way to those who were guilty of it. You're all marked by that by the way." The people flinched back. Xander stood up and walked over. "It's sad that you don't know how wrong what they did was. I thought America wasn't like that. Proved my school wrong," he said bluntly. "And I hope you pay for what you did in as many horrible ways as they can do to all of you.

"Really, you should've committed suicide when you had the chance. Since one of my poker debts has all the information we got from the Initiative and is going to release it. That was his debt payment to me." He smiled slightly. "Let's see how you like it when more people know that you've failed and dirtied your uniform." The man took a swing at him and Xander's knife came back to him so he could fight the guy off. "I may still be retraining but oh well I guess," he quipped. He kicked the guy and got shoved but he tripped him and got the guy in the stomach with his knife. "Well, look at that. Good does win over evil again," he quipped. Tony hauled him off and put him back into his seat.

Gibbs looked at him. "You need a whole lot of retraining, kid."

"No one taught me the first time, Gibbs. I had to learn it on my own. And yeah, I'm still a bit weaker than I was. A year and ten months on your back does that to you. I've only been awake for three weeks."

"Point. Maybe you can do that soon?"

"Probably have to. I've been working on it most days."

"Good. What if the victims come after you?"

"Why would they?" Xander asked. "As soon as I could get off the astral plane I went to find you and O'Neill. It took me a month and I'm sad that it took me so long to be able to get free of the astral plane, but as soon as I could I came for you guys. We tried to tell your official sorts about that group before then. There were three calls to the Pentagon tip line. Nothing happened. We wrote a few senators. Nothing. You guys could've stopped it years sooner but you didn't." He stared at him. "We bluntly made a few deals with some of the vamps there in town to take them down and out when they could. They lost over a hundred people to that in a few months." Gibbs shuddered. "We were working on stopping it. If the victims of that get mad, it won't be at us."

"I get that. How many were involved? Could they take ones that weren't involved?"

Xander nodded. "They could. Some of them were so injured they went crazy. Totally lost in the haze and the only way to fix it is to kill them. The healers said it wasn't something they can do. My former group only took out harmful ones. We would stop them if they went after someone innocent. My ex did when one tried to take out part of the LA City Council for helping that group. She pointed out the three they had hostage weren't fully involved and he let those ones go after they confessed on video. The ones really behind it got hit by cars later that night. Not sure who was behind that."

Gibbs swallowed. "Justice has to take place."

"Yeah, only it's failed," Xander said, staring him down. "Otherwise those ones would still be in a prison uniform instead of dirtying their original ones." He stood up. "If they were taking out your people, what would you be doing, Gibbs?"

"I'd be leading a guerilla movement to get them out," Tony said. "Mostly by exposing them."

"Yeah but exposing demons causes problems," Xander quipped. He looked at him. Then at Gibbs. "I'm not leading anything but I'm not going to save their asses either. This is karma. They're getting what they deserved since justice failed. If you want them to suffer doing life in prison, then make justice blink and take off the blindfold."

"There's people in the way who will protect them."

Xander nodded. "I realize that." He grinned since the judge was smirking. "They can be handled if you know who to ask." The judge spluttered. "That one that tried to attack me would be one of them. Want me to call him back?"

"No. I want justice to work without that."

"Yeah and it won't," Xander said. "It's nice you're hopeful like I should be at my age, Gibbs." He turned and looked at the judge. "You know they won't stop at you. They're probably going to take out your spouse too." The man was choking now. "Because they'd figure you told her about it and she didn't try to stop you." The man lunged at him. Xander hit him and they went back to brawling. Xander got stabbed in the thigh and yelped but the judge went flying into the windows a few feet away. "Wow, I forgot I could do that." He looked at his hands then shrugged and pressed on his thigh. "Can I get a bandage, Gibbs?"

"Our ME can look at it, Harris."

"No need. I just need a bandage. I can stitch it myself." Gibbs was gaping in horror. Xander stared back. "I learned. It was necessary a few times in my life." One of the responding agents was calling for some medical help. "I just really need a bandage. It's not a deep one. Thank you." He sneered at the judge. "I can show you how it would've been if you want." He summoned Halfrek. She showed up with a wince. "Two things, Halfrek. Can he see what I diverted?" She nodded. "And is the community going to handle it?"

"Yes. They're already doing that. They're not touching the ones in jail right now but the ones that got released? They're mostly fair game. They think you'd want Finn."

Xander nodded. "Oh, if he's the one that hot shotted me, I *so* want Finn."

She shivered but nodded. "Good. That earns respect, Harris."

Xander grinned. "It's good I'm regaining my old reputation. Even with those two trying to interfere."

"Don't get me started on the slayer, Xander. The healers checked her to see what they did to her."

"Have someone scry high school," Xander said dryly.

"Some of us saw." She stared at him. "You sure you want them to know?"

"I don't think some of them will care about all the others but it might fix a few ideas in the making." He touched her hand, staring into her eyes. "Did she take Joyce back?"

"She did. Cordelia warned her when Angel didn't. He's really a bitter loser." She got free and walked over, showing Gibbs, Tony, and that judge what would have happened. All the way to the LA invasion. Tony came out and ran to get sick. Gibbs was dry heaving. The judge was whimpering. "Don't worry, the demon community will come after you for what you did," she told him. "They have the right of revenge." She disappeared.

Gibbs looked at Harris. "Thank you," he said quietly. Xander shrugged. "You..."

"I know. I knew then when I asked." He stared at him.

"Who was she?" Gibbs asked.

"The vengeance demon over lost childhoods. There were a lot there."

"I... I can see why. And if we can get justice to work instead I'd hope they would let it?"

Xander nodded. "I won't say someone won't torment them but if they're in jail they're actually being punished for what they did. Instead of the ones that got freed to go hunt demons for the UN."

"That's wrong on all levels," Tony said as he came back. The judge was shellshocked against the windows making tiny whimpering sounds. The SecNav was staring in horror at them. He had seen but wasn't letting himself react in public. "Is he done, Gibbs?"

"Yeah, he's free to go. Go be safe, kid."

Xander looked at him. "If they're going to keep threatening me I'm going to have to handle it, Gibbs."

"Call and we'll see if we can get them rearrested."

"Fine." Xander stood up and looked at the SecNav. "Plenty of us almost bet that you and the other higher ups involved would've committed some sort of suicide to get away from all this. I guess we were optimistic about how much you'd hate being known for that." He walked around him and left the building. His clunker car he had won off a vampire would get him to Baltimore. There was a demon council there who could help him. They had a justice council. They'd probably like to help the community get back at those sorts.

He finally found it and parked, getting out and walking inside. The guards gave him hard stares. He stared at one. "Yay." He knocked on the door then walked into the meeting room. He stood at parade rest in front of the table until they were all staring at him. "We've found out some of the Initiative sort got let out to go hunting demons for the UN. And to close up loose ends."

"You were one," a demon sneered.

"No, I'm a Xander. I'm the guy that was out of his body." They all stared at him harder, a few looked mad. "Before I went down with the brain tumor they caused me to grow, we tried to turn them in. Also, I talked to some of the vamps to eat some of those soldiers." He grinned slightly. "The officials weren't listening."

"You waited when you could have saved more," one said, standing up.

Xander stared at him. "It took me a month to get off the astral plane. Not like I had any teaching in how to do that. I had to learn it the hard way. I spent three weeks and twelve hours trying to get off the astral plane. Then it took me another four days to find who I could trust to end them for you. Verify it with a truth spell."

One of the guards stepped up to do that. He nodded. "He doesn't lie."

"Ascended can't interfere," the head of the council said.

"I wasn't fully ascended. I was out of my body. An ascended one tried to nag me pretty hard a few times but I wasn't under their authority. As I told the one that changed it so the town and everyone around it wasn't destroyed during graduation, I'd be a messenger. One of my poker debts has tapes of the calls we made to their own people and other information. Including the name lists."

She tipped her head. "So why come to us?"

"Many of them are wandering around causing more problems and trying to cover up their deeds. Frankly, when I see Finn again I'm going to ask your permission to beat his ass in the justice ring."

"You've killed other demons, Knight," the woman said.

"Yes, harmful ones. Ones eating people. Sunnydale was already going down. We were trying to save lives. If I ever touched a peaceful one that wasn't causing harm I'm sorry. Though you can probably say that about me threatening Willie to get information."

They stared at each other and the guard with the truth spell. "As far as he knows, that is the truth," the guard said. "I made it so he had to speak the truth."

Xander looked at him, grinning some. "Make sure I don't have that on me when I'm trying to get a date? I'll never get laid again."

"I'm not sure if that would be good for people or not," the guard said. "You did warp Anyanka."

"All I did was take her to the prom and give in when she demanded sex. How is that my fault she's warped?"

"Point. That could be the witch's fault."

"Buffy was telling Anya about Cosmo and other girlish necessities of reading," Xander said dryly but he was smiling. "I'm pretty sure it's probably her fault." The guard shuddered. "Then again, Anya used to tell me in graphic detail how she tortured someone and then demanded sex no matter where we were. She was a bit warped before Buffy got her."

The female lead of the council stared at him. "You did not go home."

"No, I didn't. They tried to blame the brain tumor on the hunting and me being normal. They didn't even have the courtesy to visit. Some friends," he snapped back. "I warned Angel of what I had seen on the astral plane. Cordelia and Doyle were there too. Once I'm back in fighting shape I'll be stepping into things that need my help but not because of them."

"They were not near you and were involved in the slayer's mother's cancer," she said.

"I was upstairs from Joyce's room," he said bluntly. "Not one visit in almost two years. Made fun of me before then. Hell no. Sorry but I'm not actually a masochist no matter what the rumors state." He stared at her.

"Her wish was to heal you."

"To give me a protective soulmate sort who would take care of me and keep me safe," he sneered. "That way I was safely away and being normal again. If either of them actually gave a damn about their friend they would've visited at least once. I was in the hospital for two weeks before they put me into that coma. Buffy got hugely offended that I couldn't make patrol a few times because I had a treatment that day because it meant she had to do more work while telling me it wasn't my job. If she had been a real friend it might be different. If they hear that maybe they'll have someone look and see what they did." He shrugged. "Not why I'm here. I'm here to suggest that the justice rings can be used against those sort."

She nodded. "It would let many get their revenge and soul's ease from what happened." She looked at the others. "We can talk to those who have areas set up for such things." He nodded, stepping back. "Would you be asking to use one? You're not even tainted by us."

The guard sniffed. "He is," he said. "He carries hellmouth taint."

Xander grinned at him. "It loved me more than my family. And I do carry mermaid taint as well." He grinned at the council. "The swim coach." They all moaned. "But yeah, if he's here, I want a piece of him. Badly." A few shivered but they all nodded he had that right. "Thank you. Is he here?"

"Followed you here," one said. "With another two."

Xander looked at himself then went to the ring's armory. He picked out a few things he could use and got handed an axe by one of the armory guards. "I'm still a bit weak but I can handle that for a while. Thank you for the forethought." The three soldiers were brought in and Xander walked into the ring. "I call for justice," he said out loud but quietly. "On them for the wrongs they committed in my life and the lives of others, too numerous to mention." The ring's bells went off and he stepped forward. "Let me be judged as they are." The axe felt really heavy but he could handle that. Two of the soldiers couldn't even move they were so weighed down by the effects of the spells on the ring - they judged how guilty you were and slowed you down by that amount.

Riley was on his feet. Xander was still weak but he could handle him. The rings would compensate for a just cause. Xander tucked the weapons around and faced off with Riley with his axe. "So. How are you today?" The man glared and tried to rush him but Xander took him on. It felt good to get back at him. Riley fell to an axe cut to his chest. Xander tested the blade, pretty dull. He looked at the guards then at Finn. "I'm not sure if I should kill you for all the harm you caused or if that's someone else's fun."

"The spells say others want those three, Knight," one of the armory guards said as he joined them. "You have the right to kill him if you wish but others would want that right."

Xander grimaced. Then he used the sword he had to stab Riley in the dick. "So the weaker ones can get you back too," he said. "I'm going to curse you to go through what I did," he said with a smirk. "You have fun with that." Riley moaned, holding himself. Xander handed back the weapons. "Thank you. I hope Justice will be done."

"The ring has judged them all as faulty and evil."

"They were Initiative people. That one was actually dating the slayer." He pointed at Riley again. "He warped her too." He looked at the guard then he walked off. "Thank you."

"Welcome, Knight. It was just."

Xander looked back at him. "If they start to follow me again I'll bring more of them here. I have to talk to a few locals so I'll be around here for the next week or so." He left, going to find a motel to stay at.

The guard went to tell the council he had warned them he was going to be local for a few extra days. They agreed it was fine. They were taking the hint to look at what he had done. What they saw was amusing in some ways and horrifying in others. O'Neill would get their support. The rest, they could talk to that poker debt who had the information the Knight had let out. Others should know. Maybe the slayer would quit nagging people again.

***

Xander answered his cheap little prepaid phone. "Hey."

//It took me two weeks to get your phone number.//

"If you had looked online and done a google search I have a locked journal page and the passcode's 'ascension'." He smiled. "How are you, Steve?"

//Was that a probable thing or a possible one?//

"The thing with the other SEALs? Possible."

//Okay, that's good.// He sighed. //You disarmed that bomb?//

"Yeah. I wasn't going to let them blow you up. You've got to cause chaos for years to come by saving others."

//How would that cause chaos?//

"Just by you doing you things, Steve. You saw a few of them."

//Yeah, I did.// He coughed. //Who was that guy? The loud one?//

"You've got a few years before you meet him, Steve. You'll meet him after something hugely bad in your life," Xander said quietly. "Give it time. Don't rush that one. Though I did go talk to him too."

//That's handy. I wasn't injured.//

"Not that sort of bad thing, Steve. Personally but not to you."

//Damn. Okay. I wondered why I didn't see my father.// He cleared his throat. //Are you all right?//

"Not fully. The guys who we had to bring down on that one project are presently stalking me to try to cover me up. Of course, if they take me out, I'm going to have all sorts of information come into the open about them. They didn't realize how much I can do. It's like they're teenage girls." Steve laughed. "Seriously. I should show you the two I was with for a few years. Though one was dating one of those guys. Are they giving you hell about me having disarmed that bomb?"

//I was unconscious. Someone said something and I had to admit I had passed out from the pain and blood loss. They knocked me to Intelligence instead.//

"Sucks sometimes but it is safer."

//Point. Are you safe?//

"No, probably not." He looked up and sniffed. "Especially since the motel's on fire." He got up and packed things then walked out and hit the smoke alarm in the hallway. Nothing. "Gotta go. They rigged the fire alarm." He called 911. "I'm in the Ramala Motel by the highway and there's a ton of smoke but someone tampered with the smoke alarm. No, it won't go off. I have no idea how many others are in here, ma'am. I'm going to start knocking on doors. Okay, I can go tell the manager." He hung up and jogged to do that. "There's a ton of smoke by my room and the alarm's not working."

"We don't know why but I sent people to wake the other guests up," he said. "You should evacuate, sir."

"I can help. There wasn't anyone knocking on doors by my room." The manager blinked. "I called 911." He went back to knock on doors, getting a lot of angry people. "People, fire," he called. "We've gotta go now." They gathered things and mostly left. "Leave the doors open so the fire team knows it's empty," he called. A few nodded and they did that as they left. The back part of the other branch of the motel was on fire. It was spreading to their wing now. The fire department pulled up. "I woke up everyone I could. I had them leave doors open," he reported. "The alarm was tampered with, it wouldn't go off when I tried it." They nodded and he went to wait with the others. He heard a gunshot and blinked. He stared around. Everyone was staring at him. He looked at himself, plucking the bullet that barely got through his skin out. He put it down beside him. "I don't know," he told them. "Let me move though." They got out of his way. An officer was rushing over. "I left the bullet. Apparently they were too far away."

"Do you need medical help, sir?" the officer demanded.

Xander looked down his t-shirt then lifted it slightly. "No, it barely got me. It popped out like a zit." He looked at the officer, letting his shirt go. "I have no idea."

"Which room were you in?"

"334." He pointed. "I tried to pull the alarm when I smelled the smoke but it didn't work. I called 911. They told me to tell management. He said he sent people to wake them up but no one was in my hallway." The officer stared. "I don't know, dude. I really don't."

"Okay. I need you to wait by the cruisers, sir." Xander nodded, going to sit against the side of one of them. The officer pulled over the fire chief to tell him that. The guy agreed, the sprinkler system had been tampered with. The manager couldn't find a few of his people. It did look like they had set fire to the laundry room to smoke people into the open. The attempted shooting was very weird. They'd talk to the guy later. That officer kept watch on Xander's position. He didn't even try to move. This was weird all over.

Xander looked up when an officer came over to him. "Hey," he said with a grin. "So you're pretending to be an officer?"

"I am an officer," he sneered.

"Yeah, I've seen your uniform." He stood up. "Shoo. Go. Hurting civilians and innocents doesn't really speak well of you."

"Who do you think I am, sir?" He smirked a tiny bit.

"I think you're Riley Finn's second-in-command and best buddy." The man glared. "And I think I'm pretty sure he's in a justice ring." The man attacked him and Xander let him hit the car. He didn't fight back too hard. It'd look bad if he did. Another few officers came over to grab him and slammed him into the car. "I didn't start that. And he's not an officer."

"We know who he is, sir," one of them said.

Xander looked then mentally groaned. "Aww, it's a torture squad. So sucks to be you." The first officer stomped over to talk to them. "They're not officers," he called. "They're military. Supposedly in jail for torture." One of them clubbed him in the head with a gun butt and shot at the officer. Too bad they weren't in a nice part of town. There were a few other guns in the groups. Including with the other officers on scene. They tried to evacuate themselves and Xander but had to drop Xander and flee. Xander blinked at the blurry looking guy above him. "I helped turn in a military group that was certifiably more nasty than the Nazis. That was some of them," he moaned. "Talk to Gibbs or DiNozzo." He passed back out.

The officer looked at the others. "Do we know them?"

"DiNozzo used to be a detective in homicide," one of them said. "Nice enough guy. He's a Fed now."

"Okay. Let's get him to an ER. Grab his bag so we can look through it." They did that and took the kid to an ambulance. One of them went with them just in case. Another was calling the on-call detective in homicide to see if he knew where DiNozzo was. Or who Gibbs was. He was a pretty new detective but he said he'd ask one who had been there nearly forever. Within an hour they had a contact number for DiNozzo and who Gibbs was.

***

Xander blinked awake, staring at the nurse. He moved his body just in case then blinked at her. "Why am I here?"

"You got knocked in the head and have a concussion. Do you know who you are?"

"Xander Harris. Someone set the motel I was in on fire and someone tried to shoot me."

"That's pretty bad, sir. Are you a local?"

"Cali. I'm a Cali boy." He sat up, looking around the very blank room then at her. She stared back. "What hospital am I in?"

"You're in the jail ward. They didn't say you were under arrest."

"Can you ask?"

"I can do that." She left, going to tell the detective he was awake.

Xander looked up as the detective walked in. "Why am I on the jail ward for a concussion and being there when my motel was set on fire?"

"We're still trying to figure out what happened. Some officers tried to arrest you and you fought back pretty hard."

"They weren't officers."

The detective blinked. "They were in uniform."

Xander shook his head. "I helped turn in a military project that was torturing people. It was some of theirs. I thought I got them trying to cover me up earlier."

"Apparently you were wrong."

"Yeah, apparently." He rubbed his forehead. "Not so bad. I'm fine." He blinked then looked at him again. "So, now what?"

"Now, we're waiting on some statements. Tell me what happened tonight?" Xander told him the whole thing. "Who was the one you were talking to before you called 911?"

"I was talking to a military friend of mine. He wasn't involved in that mess."

"That's good to know." He stared at him. "So far everything seems to add up wrong and we're going to keep you here."

"Can you get my prepaid weekly rent back from the motel?"

"Fine. I can try." He left, going to talk to the others over the fire. He laid down the tape of the statement, letting them run it so they could all listen.

DiNozzo nodded. "That is Xander and yeah, by the pictures a few were from that group. Two weren't and we have no idea why they were helping them. We're looking into it even though it was Army. CID is livid. I have never seen that sort of fit being thrown by them or Gibbs. Even when we were arresting that group, Gibbs only threw up at the horrors they caused."

"We'd like to get them for the fire and the attempted murders," the fire chief said.

"So would we for what they had done but the Army got them out of jail," Tony told him. "If you can hold them, more power to you." The guy smirked at him. "Seriously."

"How bad was it?" another detective asked.

"Harris found out that a military group in his town was torturing and killing a lot of people. We found out earlier that he did try to turn them in the normal ways but higher ups prevented it. So instead he ended up telling us and a general who was honest. We stomped that base so hard we brought down the campus over top of most of it." He stared at the detective he used to work with. "They had presidential oversight and a lot of higher ups should've committed suicide instead of trying to cover it up. A few earlier decided to retire quietly instead." He grinned slightly. "It was so nasty Gibbs didn't even run over the local FBI office when they showed up to help. Until a few of them tried to cover it up to keep that town out of view and we got to arrest them too. The director at the DC FBI branch was so livid and sick he ended up in the ER for dehydration from all the vomiting."

"Damn," he said. "So the kid turned it in. Now they want to cover him up?"

Tony nodded. "I'm happy that bullet was too far away."

"It wasn't," the detective said. "Labs said that it was in range. Somehow it lost speed."

"Huh. Great." Tony shrugged. "No clue, guys."

"Some of us are aware of the green folk down by the airport," the detective told him, staring him down.

"So was that military project. That's who they were they killing." The detective winced. "The kid would protect any innocent or peaceful being." Tony sat up, grinning slightly at him. "They also tried to take him out by giving him a brain tumor. And others."

"Fuck," that detective muttered in Greek. "Are those sort going to act?" Tony nodded. "Double fuck."

"We're working on it but we've got our own blocks."

"So the kid, can we put him into protective custody?"

"No clue," Tony admitted. "He'd probably allow it. He's still working his way back to normal levels for him. I can see if someone will."

"Please. They were willing to kill dozens of people to get to him," the fire chief said.

Tony looked at the fire chief. "They killed thousands. A few more...."

"Point. See if you can."

"I can do that. Where is he?"

"We have him on the jail ward at the hospital," the first detective said. "Just in case."

"It's probably safer," Tony agreed. "Let me call someone. Or maybe talk to the kid."

"He's not that young," the detective said.

"He's just about twenty-two. Yes he is. He didn't grow up easy either. Not gang hard but bad parents hard." The detective winced. "He's very much one to do what's necessary."

"Well, he's got a concussion right now," the detective told him.

"Great. Just what he needs after getting out of the hospital after a brain tumor, which they gave him." The detective slumped. Tony nodded. "Before the kid even knew about them because he might ruin their plans." He grinned. "They're so screwed in many forms." He walked off calling home. "Gibbs, me. No, Xander's got a concussion. They were mostly their group but two unknowns. I took pictures and sent them to Abby, Boss. Yeah, that's what we were thinking. Thanks." He hung up. "He'll be up in a few hours. Let our people run it through the military databases." He sat down again. "So now what do we do?"

"He can stay in there tonight," the detective said. "They wanted him for observation anyway."

"I can go talk to him in a bit," Tony agreed. "Maybe stay with him until we can figure things out."

"Thanks. Some of the cons up there have been sneaking out of their cells." Tony shook his head with a sigh. "You remember how it was."

"Very much," he agreed. "That went to hell when they moved Prevector, even though they needed to fire him for all the shit he did."

"You do remember," the detective quipped. "Go sit with the kid."

"Fine. Let me know, guys." He put his card onto the table and left to go guard the kid.

"At least he didn't go FBI," the detective told the others. "They're bigger assholes."

"I remember the guy who recruited him. Talk about an ass."

Tony got to the hospital and went up to sign into the ward. "Visiting hours are over with," the guard said, sounding tired.

"That's great since I'm here to guard someone," he said, holding up his ID. The guard stared. He smiled. "Let me in please."

"You'll have to leave your sidearm, sir." Tony got it into the lockbox and took the key with him. He noted that on the forms.

Tony smiled at the nurse. "Harris." She pointed. He looked. "No, guy with the concussion."

"Other ward, sir." She led him that way. The lockbox got brought with them. "He's here for concussion guy."

Tony held up his ID. "I'm guarding him." They took the lockbox from him and let him in there. He smiled. "Thank you, nurse." He went into Xander's room, sitting down. "Out again?"

"No," he said, eyes still closed. "Room spins."

"Did you tell them about the cancer?"

"They didn't ask or about any other concussions."

Tony leaned over to wave at the nurse, who came in looking disgusted. "He's not under arrest, we're guarding him from some fake officers earlier who set fire to a motel."

"I saw that on the news. Is there a problem, sir?" Tony held up his ID. "Agent DiNozzo then."

"He's under six months out of the hospital for a brain tumor."

"Had four other concussions," Xander said, waving a hand. "Have the room spins right now too."

She stared at him then at the kid on the bed. "Why aren't you wearing a medic alert bracelet?" she demanded.

Xander barely opened his eyes. "Since when do they make one for former tumors?" She glared. "I'll look into it. I didn't even know it was an option. Sorry." He shrugged and winced. "That sucks. I sprained my neck again." She checked and went to get a doctor to look at it. "I was at Sinai in LA if it helps," he called.

"It does." She looked them up and called out there for his records. They got faxed over. She read them over, handing them to the doctor when he showed up being huffy. "He's not under arrest either."

He frowned as he read them. "I saw a paper on a set of brain tumors that were...." He went in there. "Mr. Harris." He blinked slightly at him. "Dizzy?"

"Room spins." He made himself sit up with a wince and a groan of pain. "I can hear papers so you got my records?"

"I read the paper your doctor wrote on the tumors."

Xander nodded. "Mine managed to shrink some while I was in the coma." He blinked slightly again, wobbling some until Tony made him lay down. "I'm fine."

"Shut up." He looked at the doctor. "He's in protective custody and also this isn't his first concussion."

"I can see that. His original hospital has a list of notes."

Xander snorted. "Sunnydale General kills more patients than it cures and I didn't go there unless I absolutely had to. Which would be when my appendix burst and when I needed a cast for a broken arm. And I could've done that if I had to. So someone added into my files. Probably a hacker I know." He blinked at him. "Can we just stop the spins?"

"We can try." He looked them over again. "Can we do a CT?"

"You already did."

"Nurse, where's the CT report?" he called.

"On the way up, Doctor. I called to nudge them."

"Thank you." He went back over the file, shaking his head. "All right. Let me see what the CT said."

"Gun butt to the head," Xander told him. "By fake officers."

"Wonderful." He went to get that report even if he had to walk down there. They sent it up after he called. It read the concussion. It read a small crack in his skull from an earlier treatment. It read the small lesions he had and warned about them. He walked back in there. "You're right about the concussion and you have a small fracture in your temporal lobe area due to a past treatment."

"They said they weren't going to drill into my head, I should complain," Xander quipped, eyes closed again. "Hopefully that's while I was in the coma."

"Hopefully," he agreed. "It also reads you still have lesions."

"Yeah. They read those before. We're keeping a watch on them because the other patient who lived after being given this serum crap had hers return with a second, faster growing tumor." He sipped some water Tony handed him. "Just please do something about the spins?"

"Are you nauseous as well?"

Xander shrugged slightly and winced. "Not really. The pain's making it more a moot point. Didn't eat dinner anyway, Doc."

"Okay. What's wrong with your shoulder?"

"Neck. I pulled or sprained a muscle," he said, pointing as much as he could. "There."

The doctor moved to check, nodding. "Probably just pulled. We can get you an ice pack."

"Heat please. Works better on mine."

"Okay. We can do that. I'll order you some medicine to help with the dizziness." He looked at DiNozzo. "I'll make sure he gets a few days worth in case he has to be evacuated."

"Thank you," Tony said. "We're trying to figure that out."

"Fine. If you have to suddenly evacuate they'll be in his file. Grab it on your way out in case he needs another hospital." Tony and Xander both nodded. The doctor went to write those orders and she printed out the ones for later on and put the file in their on his hospital bed table. They could let Tony handle it. The guard brought Tony his lockbox with his gun too. He put it back on and they settled in for now. Only one person tried to get in and Tony put him down until the guard got there. Morning nurse shift change brought someone that Tony had seen on pictures. He packed the file and looked at Xander, who was napping. "Hey," he said quietly.

Xander blinked at him then looked out there. Then at Tony again. "I'll try not to puke on you."

"That'll help." Tony got him and Xander unhooked his IV while Tony got him some bandages. He could handle that. The nurse went to check on others and would probably hit them in the center to avoid suspicion. Tony got Xander out of the ward and past the guards, who had been left orders. Though one of them tried to stop him. Tony flashed his ID. "Mine. Sorry." They got out of the way and Tony got him down to his rental car, which was in valet parking. It was often faster. Xander curled up and went back to sleep.

Tony drove them off before the nurse and that guard could stop him. One tried to fire on his car but the hospital had police officers on site. Tony called in. "Boss, me. Having to evacuate Harris." He hung up. "Just rest, Xander." He got a grunt. That was fine he guessed. Most of the way back to DC he got a message saying not to come to the office or go home yet. "Great. So where are we going?" he muttered.

Xander blinked at him, shifting some to look at him better. "I can camp."

"So can they. That's a skill the army teaches." He decided on a place. "There's a motel we use a lot for hiding witnesses."

"Will their higher ups know?" Xander asked. "We can go to the Holiday Inn for all I care as long as it won't get others hurt."

"You know, you missed a song by that name," Tony joked.

"Really? Huh."

"Rap song."

"Not totally my genre but it had a dance beat I would've heard it in a club. I need to catch up. All my quips are out of date." He closed his eyes again. "I'll call Paulo to release that stuff."

"It might not be enough, Xander."

"Yes it will be. I have full staff lists."

"Crap."

"And memos. I asked a hacker nicely."

"Oh, dear. Okay." He found an out-of-the-way motel and got them a room, taking Xander to sleep off the headache. He took a picture of the key and sent it to Ducky's assistant then erased the photo. They should be safe here at least for a day. It'd give time for Xander to recover a bit more.

Xander got handed his phone when he grunted and held up a hand. Xander called someone. "Paulo, Xander. Yeah, I know. They tried to jump me after setting my motel on fire. No, DiNozzo has me. Thanks, man. Are they there?" He grinned. "Did you already let it go? I can do that. Thanks." He looked at his phone, sending a text message. They sent Paulo help and one of them was a hacker so he could release that information and all the other stuff he had hidden. Pity.

Tony was paying attention to the local news when suddenly he got a text message and turned the tv to the national news station. That was a huge bit of shit. Xander just grinned, eyes still closed. He called in. "Boss, news. Now." He hung up and put up his feet, watching the army having to admit they were assholes. And others being forced to admit that they knew about it because their memos were in the open. Emails. Whole servers full of information. All the way up to the president.

Someone at the Pentagon made a statement that they hadn't seen any of that but the information had a few of the trial transcripts and a reporter told him that. He asked to see it and she pulled it up for him. The general read it over, frowning then looking sickened. His statement of 'if they did that they don't deserve the uniform and I hope they're in jail'.

Then one smart reporter asked if they were behind the fire in Baltimore. That a police source had said it was a paramilitary group. The general blinked before admitting he hadn't heard anything and to give hm an hour. Because if they were out of jail he'd be fixing that. He stomped off to talk to higher ups. Then they got to see him storming out with a lot of MP's. Reporters followed as much as they could, finding him meeting up with other military higher officers. They found where some of them were and went to find them with the MP's there to arrest them again.

Tony texted one of the general's assistants, they had to work with him on a case about a year earlier, and told him where to look for the full trial transcripts. Including that the judge was dirty and trying to shut up a witness to it. A reporter caught that general looking at his phone's text message. Then he told the others to see it. They decided they could help fix that too. The head Judge Advocate General showed up, the guy who put military people on trial. He got the full information packet mailed to him and they were not amused either.

Yeah, they could be a self-repairing system this time. As long as Xander was safe.

***

Tony brought Xander in finally, after the mess was cleaned up. It had taken five days. There was now a meeting of those who had fixed it. Tony stepped into the room first. "Gentlemen." He let Xander in, helping him into a chair.

"I'm okay," Xander said, grinning at him. "Thanks, Tony."

"Welcome, Xander." He sat down too. "They gave him a concussion in Baltimore. He's still a bit dizzy."

"Room spins suck," Xander agreed. He stared at the people staring at him. "Hi."

One of the generals coughed. "Mr. Harris, how did you find General O'Neill?"

"I was out of my body. One of his friends was in a similar state earlier in his life so I could find him. I showed him and he showed the general."

"I see. We got his report on that." He frowned. "It's highly blacked out."

Xander leaned on the table. "Thanks to being on the astral plane for over a year I got a head's up on when his project's going to come into the open and cause screaming."

"Like we're having?" that general demanded.

"No. The general and his people have been protecting everyone. That's why I went to him. I looked around to see who could handle it and deal with the horrifying things they were doing. His duty is why I went to O'Neill and Gibbs."

"I see. What does O'Neill do?" he asked.

"I can't tell you that," Xander said. "It's classified as far as I know." He grinned. "Ask him. He's in the Pentagon somewhere unless they sent him back to his team."

"All right," the JAG said patiently. "We can talk to O'Neill later. I've put in a request to talk to him."

"Did you send it around Landry?" Xander asked. "He had some of their files."

The JAG stared at him. "I know that name. Yes, Mr. Harris, some of his people ended up on my desk too for that information." Xander relaxed and nodded. "You know what he does."

"Yeah. I spent nearly two years out of my body, I watched him a few times after he solved that and gave him a few hints when he needed one. I also found a few others I could respect and helped one of them who was unconscious by disarming the bomb the assholes who had him hostage were going to use after they tried to get information from him." The JAG looked confused. "He's a SEAL. He does stuff like I'd like to go back to doing once I'm back in shape."

The new Secretary of the Navy stared at him. "I heard about that. That was you?"

"Yeah. I found him there and would've pulled him out of his body to help him but it might've killed his body with the condition he was in. So I disarmed the bomb and spooked the assholes until the other SEALs got there."

"That explains a lot," he said smugly. "People have wondered."

"I told him I would've pulled him then but it really could've caused his heart to stop."

"He pulled me out of my body to show me a problem and I was in a coma-like state, sir," Tony told him.

"Wonderful to know, DiNozzo." He looked at Xander. "You had the information?" Xander nodded. "Why did you release it then?"

"Because they burned down a motel with people trapped inside it and had tampered with the sprinkler and alarm system to get just me out of there," Xander said bluntly. "And I think it's wrong they're out of jail. Be damned if I want them to start it again in Texas and Virginia. By the way, the Texas base has a *ton* of rattlesnakes." He grinned. "I made sure of it."

"That could be very helpful to stop them," the SecNav agreed. "What else did you do?"

"When I first found out, when we were trying to let the system fix its own mistake, I talked to a few of the beings in my town about getting them out of harm's way." He stared at him.

"I heard about your town and what they were doing, Mr. Harris. We are all now aware of that. Also how they were experimenting on their people and how they gave a young woman's mother a brain tumor."

"And him," Tony said. "He got his first. Over a year sooner." They all gave him worried looks. "Xander got healed thanks to someone wishing he be healed and they started that soulmate problem that's starting."

"The bitches I used to help and hunt beside," Xander said dryly. "Think I'm really normal. They didn't even visit me in the hospital and they were supposedly my best friends."

The SecNav winced. "That sucks."

"Yeah, that's why I'm not there." He stared at him. "I did ask a few vampires to please help thin out their people to help protect the community. That was after I called the Pentagon tip line twice. Sent letters to the governor, all my state senators, the president himself...." He stared at him. "We tried to let you guys solve it."

"I saw those notes. The only time it got given to someone who was outside that conspiracy they got a sudden bout of food poisoning and nearly got killed in the hospital," the JAG told him. Xander winced. "You did try very hard. Now what are you planning?"

"I'm hoping I don't have to keep hiding from them," he said bluntly. "About a week after I woke up I had Riley Goddamn Finn in my room with another guy who had a dart he tried to take me out with. They had knocked out everyone in the staff on that ward. Thankfully the long term care ward doesn't take a lot of work most of the time."

"I got that report from the hospital," Gibbs said, handing it down. "You said then he told you he dosed you."

"Yes he said he did. Which is why when he kept tracking me the day I went to Baltimore I asked the local demon council up there if I could use their ring of justice. It reads your intentions, your reasons, and your guilt. If it's a just fight, you're hindered by how guilty you are of it. Finn showed up with a few helpers. They were unable to move and Finn barely managed to fight me. I left him living but any other being hurt by him has the right to call him out in there as well."

"That's better than a semi-invisible assassin showing up in our office," Tony said. Xander nodded. "You left him living?"

"There were others who had their family killed," Xander told him. "They had more cause than I did and I knew that while I could claim that right, they deserved to make that decision more."

"That's real brutal of you, kid," Gibbs said.

"Yeah. But I doubt that forgiveness for torturing them or their families is going to solve anything."

"No, it won't. It won't help the victims or keep the ones who did it from doing it again," the JAG said more quietly. "Damn."

Xander shrugged. "There's only eighteen rings in the US, Canada, and Mexico. They can only be used if the person is local to it. They're not going to take anyone in jail out to do that."

"Because they're already being punished," the SecNav agreed. "That's actually good to know. How many are still out?"

"As of when I called the Baltimore council to ask, twelve or so. They think there's a hidden group that was in training but wasn't on the base at that time. I've heard up to twenty-five but some of those may have been higher ups."

"How do you know how to deal with their sort?" the general asked.

"My friend is someone that has a mystical calling to deal with the bad ones among the demon communities. Which is about fifteen percent and almost all vampires. Some don't kill their victims. When I found out, and had a best friend taken and turned, I jumped in to help her. Up until I had to go into the hospital for good."

"We found some film of things out there," the JAG said, tapping papers together. "Like your graduation."

Xander nodded. "You're welcome for still being alive. Though it's nice that all those soldiers were going to let him take over the US at the very least."

"You showed someone something about that," Gibbs said.

"Yup. That was what might have been if I hadn't made my own wish not to let him cast those earlier spells that would've destroyed twenty-eight miles around Sunnydale." A few snorted. "Guys, I would've survived that thanks to some sort of protection on me. A few others would've survived. The demon worm would've survived. Nothing else, down to dirt, survived that problem. The same vengeance demon that showed the guy what had happened until I removed my protections and made that wish, also did the wish for me. She's over Lost Childhoods."

"Nothing over justice could've helped?" Gibbs demanded.

"Justice demons do exist but that wasn't in their area. They weren't unjustly killed, just killed. They would have come if they were killed in error, instead of the one who was supposed to be taken out, by a criminal. Not because someone had a huge idea about hogging power and glory. Justice demons could only go after the ones that unjustly killed them. What he turned into was an ancient demon lord's form and they couldn't take him out. He would be too powerful for them to kill. That's why I called on who I did, Gibbs. She could do something, she could change things that caused all that destruction. She had a lot more leeway and power to do what had to be done."

"Justice demons would have to be talked to by the victim or their family," Tony realized. "You could call on behalf of the ones who died." Xander nodded. "That makes more sense."

Gibbs huffed but nodded. "I can agree with that. How did you do that?"

"I made a wish on their behalf," Xander said. "To lose the protection that saved me for some reason, which would stop the spells he had cast earlier on. Six months earlier in the most destruction's case. So that only people there for the battle had the chance to lose their lives."

"That battle, who planned it?" Gibbs asked. Xander waved a hand, grimacing at the same time. "Why?"

"Because Giles' plans didn't include the spectators."

"You're not trained," Tony said.

"Slightly. There was an incident in tenth grade where I ended up possessed by the spirit of an Army PFC. That and learning strategy through games. I wasn't the best choice but I was the only choice. Not like those soldiers stepped up to handle it. They were there for over twenty years. Apparently they didn't realize the guy didn't age and didn't change lives. He was the only mayor from when the town got started. He was over ninety and looked like he was in his forties.

"For that matter, no one among you guys said a thing about our high death rate, the lack of education, the fact none of the students could pass the state graduation test, the fact that the local hospital had a forty percent patient death rate but made a whole lot selling things somehow." He stared at them. "A whole lot of people ignored things to keep it out in Sunnydale. They let our people go to hell. They made one tiny teenage girl handle the problems for them. They hated it when she got help to handle them.

"The Watchers Council still has a price on my head for helping her for four years. If you didn't step in to do it, who did you expect to do it, Gibbs?" He stared at him. "The reserve base we had never let anyone off it. The three or four people who lived there full time never even went to the grocery store. The extra four hundred people supposedly living on the base was what tipped people off to the long term plan going on."

"They would have handled it," the JAG said.

Xander shook his head. "No they didn't. Three of them were at graduation to watch it. I caught them on the film the ATF confiscated and hid to keep it all inside Sunnydale. They didn't help the battle, they didn't help evacuate people, they didn't do anything. One cheered the demon on, but otherwise nothing. Absolutely nothing. Kinda blows your theory that the proper sorts would do it out of the water." He stared at him. "Those of us who didn't ignore what was going on knew we'd have to handle it because no one else would. We weren't aware of the military until right before the battle but they still did nothing." He shrugged. "We did the best we could and you guys ignored it. That's why agents showed up to shut O'Neill up about handling that issue."

"We arrested them," Tony said. "The whole town ignored everything. Even when that part of the base collapsed, bringing part of the college campus down with it, they all called it a pipe collapse and went on with things after a few hours."

"Yeah, Sunnydale is like that. Your kid could die, you could bury them, and then welcome them home that night like nothing had happened. There's some debate about why that happened. It's still broken by wanting to see things."

"They could've protected the people from those beings," the general sneered.

"Yeah, from the peaceful, harmless beings that do nothing but work and play and live," Xander shot back. "The child ones they took I'm sure were *especially* dangerous with what they did to them. Especially the ones they tortured sexually as well." The general gagged. "The way they tested street drugs on them and then laughed and placed bets on them going insane and killing other harmless beings they were tired of torturing. Yeah, I'm sure they were really dangerous.

"There were eight beings on the base at that time that were dangerous enough to need to be taken out. Two could not be killed, they were immortal and had been there for over eight years." Most of the room gagged at that. "The other one they had just caught someone summoning to help get their child back and took both of them. They showed that one her dead kid, made her hug it then set them both on fire." The JAG shuddered, shrinking away from him. "I'm pretty sure that they were *so* interested in protecting the people in town from anything. If you want to do that, move there. The team can probably use the help." The general was handed a trash can by Gibbs.

"I've seen tortured bodies in the past from cases and even they weren't as bad as some of those were," Gibbs said. "Calm down, kid."

Xander stared at him. "I am calm." He looked at the higher ups again. "If they had wanted to help the town, I'm pretty sure they ran into vampires within a few weeks of coming to Sunnydale. They're about twenty percent of the population in town and they're not shy. They attack anyone and anything that moves. They feed in all the town's bars and the two clubs. Most of the town has at least been nibbled on once. Hell, no one said anything when the former mayor took all the kids out of the nursery to sacrifice one night. It even made the local news and that says something in our town."

"Do you think the townspeople would mind them coming back?" that general asked.

"Yeah, we would. Those of us they experimented on would mind a whole fucking lot, General. You'd damn lucky I haven't filed a lawsuit to cover my medical bills from the brain tumor they gave me. It wasn't just Joyce, no," he said when the general flinched away from him. "You should feel damn lucky that the PFC that possessed me pointed out how much shit a lawsuit would bring. Mostly of them trying to cover me up again. Though the doctor did write up the brain tumors to possibly help later victims."

"Cancer treatments are very expensive," the SecNav said, looking at his coworker.

"I spent a year and ten months in a medical coma and about a month and a half otherwise in that hospital," Xander told him. "My medical bills equal one of those non-working pentagon projects right now."

"Why didn't you get to O'Neill sooner?" the general demanded.

"Because I had to learn how to get off the astral plane first. Took me about a month." He stared at him. "As soon as I could, I did go find his buddy so I could get to O'Neill, and Gibb's friend so I could get him. They have spikes so I could find them and let them lead me to the ones I needed."

"The astral plane looks like you're standing on a huge cobweb in a navy blue room with a few twinkling things on the wall and ceiling, but there's little mirror like puddles of things you can look at that connect back to you from a few months ahead," Tony said. "He had to show me something up there so he pulled me out of my body."

"I did that in reverse to help some people get back to theirs," Xander told him. "One had lost hope and went back under because everyone had abandoned him. The other three are all right. Including the kid I had to help back into hers."

"That something you can still do, kid?" the SecNav asked. Xander nodded. "DiNozzo, take him to visit the one in specialist care."

"Gibbs asked me to visit General Borkins. He's not near his body, he's out traveling. I think I saw him when I was getting O'Neill but I can't be sure in hindsight. I'm pretty sure I saw him screaming at a colonel for relying on a scientist of all people to help handle an emergency. That and how dare Air Force guys do things that Marines should be doing. Apparently he thought they weren't as good."

"They're just as good at many things," the JAG said. "That project does have Marines as well. Borkin was always opinionated about how the Air Force should just fly planes and be bigger thinking brains."

"Would him climbing back into his body cure the underlying problems he has?" Xander asked them. They all stared at him. "My brain tumor wasn't cured by me being back in my body, people. It was cured by a demon with a healing talent thanks to a wish, which also started the soulmate stuff."

Tony looked up a report and handed it down. "She thought he was normal and needed protecting." Most of them groaned. Tony took his phone back with a grin. "That's what those new marks are. Though we're thinking that even if you're marked as someone's mate that it may not be fully compatible."

"And they can appear with more than one mark," Xander said. "I saw one that was in Africa and only one of his wives marked and the other mark he had was to a young woman in another village. Not sure what he'd do about that mark."

"I've heard people saying things about those," Gibbs said. "It's going to cause a lot of religious screaming."

"Especially since they don't take gender into account," Tony quipped.

"We'll have to look at that," the SecNav said. "That could cause some problems within the service branches." He looked at Xander, who was blinking hard. "Mr. Harris?"

"Head just started to throb again," he admitted. "I'm out of tylenol time." Tony handed over the bottle. "Thanks." Gibbs handed him water. He gulped a few. "Thank you both." He handed the bottles back to their owners. "Sorry, concussion is a few days old."

"We heard," Gibbs told him. He looked at the others. "What about the ones who haven't been captured?"

"We need to see if they're in those rings," the JAG said.

"The local demon council is by Arlington," Xander told him. "Not the cemetery, the town." They all relaxed at that. "You guys realize that there's full and half demons serving honorably in the military, right?" They all stared at him again. "Yeah. Two of the half demons in my graduating year are both in the service. One's probably doing admin stuff, she always was in the businessy classes. The other no idea. He used to play football."

"Would either of them be illegal immigrants?" Gibbs asked. "That could get them in trouble."

"I think both of them were born in Cali somewhere. One's parent might've been but the other one I think was further back. Then again there's no legal immigration from other realms or dimensions."

"Good point. How many would you say?" the JAG asked.

Xander shrugged and winced, holding his neck. "No real clue. I know there are some, they're probably very honorable because they wouldn't want attention drawn to them. They probably joined to be able to make a difference in humanity for the positive."

"DNA would tell," Gibbs said.

"It'd catch me too since my high school swim coach dosed the whole team with mermaid essence to make it easier on us to win," Xander said dryly, smirking at him. "I read just off enough that it does show up."

Gibbs considered it. "Mermaids are real?"

Xander took Tony's phone and looked up something, letting him see it. "Members of my former swim team."

"Damn," Gibbs said, handing that on. "Is that a site you can look up various species on?"

"Sometimes. There's a few others. I'm not computer guy, that was Willow's job and she hated it whenever anyone got near her thing. They all take passwords."

"Thanks, kid," Gibbs said. He made a note of the address. "Abby could probably sign up."

"We should probably ask her what she already knows," Tony said.

"You could ask the stuffy guy. He wasn't even shocked at any of the demons you were releasing. Plenty of geeks run into demons by gaming."

"We can ask him later," Gibbs said.

"Thanks," Tony said with a grin. "It means he can study that instead of me. I'm good but thousands of species will take me forever." Xander stared at him. "If we have one that has to be arrested, we'd need to know certain things. Like allergies to metals or sunlight."

"Anyone with that sort of weakness probably wouldn't be in the military," Xander pointed out. "It'd be a hardship on their duty."

"True," Gibbs said. He considered it. "They'd probably tell us as we were arresting them. Immigration might need someone who knows that in case they run into a problem area."

"How would someone like immigration get them home?" Xander asked. Gibbs blinked, staring at him with his mouth slightly open. Xander grinned. "They get here thanks to portal makers, Gibbs, and a lot are fleeing horrible conditions. Not too many show up just to travel. A few left because they needed things they couldn't find but mostly they're fleeing wars, droughts, racial divides that created hell in their lives. I doubt they could get the portal makers to retune them to send people off. And two planes are no longer available thanks to a few wars that destroyed everything." Gibbs grimaced, slumping down. "Then again, there's been demons here before humans were walking on all fours. Like the Native Americans, we're all trespassing."

"Where did they come from?" Tony asked.

"Many prior dimensions that were destroyed by their mega wars. There were huge courts and countries full of them. They had wars though. Then humans raised up since they were being used as fun toys. There's still remnants of them today. What Wilkins changed into was one of their types."

"Is that well known?" Tony asked.

"To certain types who have kept histories since back before writing," Xander said. "They're called the International Council of Watchers. They're over people like Buffy. They mistreat them horribly too."

"Mistreat?" Gibbs demanded.

"To them, the slayers are weapons. They're taken from their families, sometimes with the family's permission. They're raised by their watcher to be a future slayer. The one we met, she had *one* outfit, wasn't allowed to be emotional about things, and he had kept her isolated. They tried to get Buffy from her mom but Joyce put her into a mental hospital instead due to her having to take out a gym full of vampires."

Gibbs blinked. "So probably the girls are being raised as little weapons," Tony said. Xander nodded. "You know two?"

"Three. One's in a coma thanks to a spell that let her go dark side too far. She and Buffy got into it before grad. She should be waking up in a few months. Faith was a street kid. Her watcher got her off the streets, then got killed in front of her."

"Fuck," Gibbs said.

"And we were teenagers and didn't realize," Xander sighed. "Yeah. I wandered over to talk to her a few times. She's still really mad at all of us and I can see that. But if the Council finds her they'll kill her because killing Buffy won't call another. Killing Faith does."

"Which would give them back their little weapon," Tony said. Xander nodded. "Why is that side so screwed up?"

"Because what we do is in the shadows and the dark," Xander told him. "And yeah, some of the slayers have been kill them all. Buffy wasn't. I'm not sure about now but she hadn't been. I wasn't when I was backing her up. We took out the harmful ones that were doing bad things. And vampires when we ran into them."

"How many times a month did you go out?" Gibbs asked. "Two, three times?"

"Daily patrols, Gibbs. Vampires ate people every day. We got ones raising up every day." Gibbs gaped at him, shaking his head. "Yeah. Now and then we had a night off but we went hunting at the local club most of those. Or did homework."

"So you had four years of combat zone fighting," Tony said. Xander nodded. "With periodic bigger battles than patrols." Xander nodded again. "Was graduation the worst?"

"Until LA gets invaded in a few years."

"Excuse me?" Gibbs demanded.

"I warned the LA team. There a group called Black Thorn. They're part of a law firm and part foreign nationals. Bringing the people eaters here is their plan to take over the city and then the world."

"How bad?" the SecNav asked.

"Open portal, spew biters. For six hours. In the land of selfies." He grinned. "I'll be jumping in then too."

"Good," Tony said. "Shooting?"

"Beheading," Xander said. "Fire maybe. But we'll have some of the local demon community coming in to help take the biters out."

"Good to know," Tony said. "Wow." He looked at Gibbs.

"If he can warn us, we can be there to help however we can," Gibbs agreed. He looked at the military people. "We can probably depend on agents helping in LA."

"Nearest base is about an hour away," the general said. "We could probably get them. Six hours of battle gives us plenty of time and we'd show up about when the front line would get tired." Xander shook his head. "You would be, Harris."

"Yeah, we would be, but it won't matter. Graduation was almost thirty minutes and we had to keep fighting through it."

"Point," the general agreed. "We'd also be able to bring medics to help." He looked at his two higher ups.

"If we hear in time we'll gladly send help."

"Send O'Neill," Tony said. "Will his project be outed by then, Xander?"

"Yeah. He's due to be outted by an attack that they have to handle within fifteen months."

"Can they stop that?" Gibbs demanded.

"He'd probably adore that," Xander said, grinning at him. "Because his project is something that's going to bring screaming, riots, all that stuff. Every religion's going to heave, Gibbs. We'd all like that to be eased. Which is why I had to pull Tony up to tell him about a few bad things. Because then he can point out others have done that and they're not evil."

"How evil?" the SecNav asked.

"Ask the president. They're eyes only," Xander told him. "Or the demon underground because they watch them to make sure their stuff doesn't come down here to destroy humanity."

"What are they dealing with, aliens?" Gibbs demanded. Xander just stared at him. Gibbs stared back. "Damn it!"

"Yeah, that's going to be one of those where you wish you were," Xander said with a nod.

The SecNav pulled out his phone and called someone. "Sir, it's Terry. Harris said he went to get O'Neill to help end that project because of what he does, which is going to be outted in about fifteen months thanks to them being attacked." He listened to the swearing. "Yes, sir, that's why I'm asking." He smirked at Gibbs then at Tony. "Actually, Harris proactively helped by pulling a few others out of their bodies like he was so they could handle a few future problems. Yes, sir, he mentioned screaming and ranting, especially by religions." He handed down the phone.

"Yes, sir?" Xander asked. He listened to him ask who was attacking by name. "The same sort that will be screaming and look like they could use moisturizers. They're going to sneak down and pop up after a lot of illnesses and a few other problems. Unfortunately the illness is going to be covered by the news. One of them will be catching them when they appear and say that they can heal the sick. Yes, them, sir. Well, about six months after that you'll have the mystical city back," he quipped.

"Exactly, sir. And about four months after that we have an attack in LA by demons. No sir, six hours of battle that time with people eating things." He listened. "Actually, I did pull a few people out so they could handle a few problems. That way when the screaming happens because one of those screaming sorts have hackers who out that program, they can step up and say 'I did that same thing and it was okay'. Yup, them.

"Exactly. Thank you, sir. I have no idea. Right now I'm more worried I'll have to keep hiding from the assholes, sir. Yes, them. No, sir, I'm the one that got O'Neill. Sir, I'm not eligible to be conscripted. I'm only about four months from a coma due to brain cancer." The man spluttered. He handed the phone back. "He wanted to put me under O'Neill."

"You'd never make it in the military," Gibbs told him. "You don't work the way we work." Xander nodded he agreed. "They're probably trying to quiet you down again."

"Probably," Xander agreed. "Which means I should make noise about the hospital bills since I didn't have cancer before Riley Goddamn Finn." They all looked at him. "Had a checkup with bloodwork not six months earlier, people. It was my yearly physical to make sure I wasn't being tainted by something I got splashed with. I asked my doc specifically after they found the tumor thanks to a lot of headaches." He leaned back in his chair. "I went from very healthy, only a broken arm and an appendix bursting to a huge medical problem that's going to affect me for the rest of my life. We were told Joyce and I weren't the only ones he got, the rest just died." He gave the JAG a pointed look. He winced. "Twelve hundred the days I was awake, each, to the days of treatments that went up to almost twelve thousand. Those number in the mid-sixties out of the almost two years."

"You not being able to pay will count on your credit report and they check those for jobs and apartments," Tony said. Xander nodded. "Hell."

"Yup." He shrugged. "If I can't get a job I'll have to start winning weapons from kitten poker and then selling it. Someday soon I'd like to have a real job again and make my own way. Preferably sooner instead of later in my life."

"You sell weapons and you'll never have to worry about rent," Gibbs said. "Prison's nice that way."

"There's all sorts of off-world war finders, Gibbs. I can sell to them safely because they won't be coming back down here." Gibbs spluttered. "Not like they fight their wars with swords. They have weapons that can kill things that we can only behead."

"Would anyone have information on how many weapons go that way, kid?" the SecNav asked.

"There's two places I know have their version of the CIA. They used to follow the group around like we were entertaining." He grinned. "If I run into one I'll tell them you wanted to know, sir."

"Please."

Tony looked around. "I almost expected one to show up to talk about it with the way things usually happen around you, Xander."

Xander grinned. "They're probably not following me anymore. I'm not as amusing." His phone rang with a text message. He looked at it. "Oh, I am amusing but the guy who would know is off plane negotiating a peace treaty." He looked up. "He'll be back next week so they'll ask him to come talk to you then."

"Thank you, Mr. Harris."

"Welcome." He sent back a message that he had told him. Then he put his phone back. He looked at Tony. "I have stuff still in Sunnydale I'd like to go pick up. My comic collection and a few other things. Think it's safe?"

"Only if you sneak. Those girls of yours are being rabidly protective of their town."

"I agree they should but they don't really like me anyway."

"True but that could get you attacked by the community or them."

"Point." He sighed. "I can probably sneak in and move stuff. At the very least my old crossbow and things. Even if Willow got into one of my storage spaces she didn't get into the others. She didn't know I have them. Thankfully I prepaid them for three years before I went into the hospital." Tony patted him on the arm with a grin. "Sometimes you gotta think on those things."

"You do. I've had to sneak away from a few girlfriends and come back later to get my stuff."

"About the same thing," Xander agreed. "Only I'll need to avoid more people."

"Only if you take someone with you in case you get attacked, kid," Gibbs said. Xander stared at him. "Things have changed and the town's worse. People are saying that gang kids are trying to run them all out."

Xander shook his head with a sigh. "The old mayor used to blame all the vampire deaths on gangs of kids on PCP." Everyone moaned and shook their heads. "Hell, we had people who supposedly died by barbeque fork to the neck, people. Six months and it'll go away again."

"Still. You're either taking DiNozzo or someone who can protect you," the SecNav said. "We might need your expertise later on how to kill harmful things."

"Usually, there's a few standard things. Cutting off the head works on many things."

"Have you seen any indication that there's going to be more like your mayor turned into?" the SecNav said.

Xander nodded. "I haven't seen one in the US but I didn't specifically go looking either. There's five ways of doing it as we found out. Wilkins went for the largest version and took ninety years." Someone kicked in the door and Xander scooped up what they threw and hurled it back then moved Tony out of the way. The ones that didn't get taken down by the grenade blast tried to fire on them but Gibbs got them.

"Clear," Gibbs said after looking. He looked at Tony and Xander. "He good?" he demanded.

"Growling," Tony said, patting Xander on the neck. "A lot. The hyena possession is about to come out and he'll go bite some people." He looked down. "Thank you for protecting me." Xander looked up. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." He stepped away from them, unconsciously moving his hand to make sure it was fine. "Were they them or others?" He went to look. "Others. Two of them are ones that the local community said were in training but off-site. That one I saw in Texas while I was tracking them." He looked at Gibbs when he grabbed him. "They're dead, Gibbs. They won't be getting up."

"What's wrong with your hand?"

Xander frowned, looking at it. Then he shrugged. "Bit scalded apparently. I had worse working in a kitchen a few times. I'll go rinse it in a minute."

"DiNozzo, he's got a burn," he said, handing him over. "Treat it here if you can." Tony nodded, walking Xander off. "Tell me who the others who know are so we can protect them, kid."

Xander nodded. "I'll tell Tony."

"Thank you." He checked the bodies then went back inside. "He identified some of them. We should give him their budgets to pay off his medical bills so no one else can reuse it for something else we'll hate."

The SecNav nodded, phone to his ear. "Yeah, we should." He listened. "No, I'm fine, sir. We're all good. The grenade got tossed back and then Gibbs shot them. No, not Harris shooting them. Harris guarded DiNozzo and threw the grenade back." He rolled his eyes. "I don't think you have to worry about Harris unless you're an evil demon doing bad things, sir. Yes, that was one point of the talk today. Well, he was in a care ward for almost two years, Mr. President. Some of those days were as much as twelve thousand dollars a day." The president moaned. "Exactly! We have no idea. Yes, sir, we're going to break up soon anyway." He hung up. "The president is not happy."

"I'm pissed off," Gibbs said. "He can get in line." The SecNav laughed but nodded. The boys came back. "Get him back to a motel, DiNozzo."

"I can't afford many more nights in one," Xander told him.

Tony looked at him. "We paid most of them." Xander looked in his wallet, showing him. "I have no idea. We can make sure it's not magical." Xander nodded, handing him the wallet. He tossed it to Gibbs. "Have Abby check, boss?"

"Gladly. Who else so we can guard them?"

"One NYPD guy, detective. One detective from the Jersey Shore sort of area." He grinned. "And one SEAL."

"I figured that's who he was talking about," the SecNav said. "He's going to take over guarding Harris once he's out of Sunnydale and in LA for now."

"Yes, sir," Xander sighed. "It's really expensive there. I'd have to do something that you guys would object to. Not that I want to sell my swords but I'll have to. Or possibly... well, never mind." He looked at Tony, who was staring at him. "What?"

"You were talking about your bazooka friend the night you ran that fever."

"Which was witchly caused," Xander quipped. "I drew anti magic marks on me to stop it." He picked up a marker and drew on his wallet. The bills that had been fading out quit doing that but didn't reappear. Xander showed it to Tony. "How do I figure out who did that?"

"I don't know. Who do you think it was?"

"I have a few ideas. I might be wrong though." He walked off. Someone stomped up the hall and tried to grab him so he kicked him around. "No thanks. You're not my type. No groping please." He stomped off, going to ask one of the local demons. He found them and walked in. "So," he said with a grin. "We just took down more of them. Including one that was in Texas." A few demons smiled at him. "The higher ups are really mad. Especially since they tried to shoot the higher ups. Can someone tell me who was taking from my wallet?" He held it up. "I could really use my money back since I can't work right now."

One of the guards tested it. "Your prom date."

He frowned. "What right did she have to claim anything of mine?"

"She said she was your heir when you nearly died," he said.

"Hell no. She wasn't that good in bed and we were only having sex since she said dating wasted her time for orgasms. She wouldn't go out on a date with me. Can I file charges against her? And did she get into my things?" A few nodded. "All of them?" They shook their heads. "Good! I need to sell some of it to get enough so I can start to pay off the hospital bills so my credit isn't tanked so I can get an apartment and a job."

"There's the demon court but they won't listen to humans," one of the audience said.

"Then again, I was all but ascended," Xander shot back. "And I was on the astral plane for about half of that time I was out of my body." The audience member stood up to stare at him. He grinned and waved. "Hi."

"Harris." Xander nodded. "Um...there was a judge who said she was your heir."

"My will said that she wasn't. Nor were Willow and Buffy. Maybe Joyce but not them. I did a second, more updated, will before I went into the coma." He grinned. "So they violated law."

"You can't call them out," the guard said.

Xander stared at him. "The fuck I can't." The guard flinched. "I may not be in the same shape I was but yeah, I could. Won't be the best solution this time though." The guard slumped. "Okay. Let me go find a lawyer. Thank you, people. Don't let them know I'm going to get my stuff. I'd hate to slap the living fuck out of them."

"Why?" one of them asked. "You were friends."

"They didn't even visit," Xander sneered. "At all. Ever. Joyce was downstairs by two floors and they didn't even pop in when I was awake. That's not friends or near family. And then I let Willow have a sacred wish and she uses it to decide I'm still weak and need a protector! Thereby screwing up humanity again." A few groaned. "Yeah, that was her wish. I really expected her to wish away a problem. But no. I'm happy she had me healed. I'm not happy apparently I needed an owner." The judge winced. "Yeah! I gave up my protection so Wilkins couldn't destroy things. And this is the thanks I get. Frankly, this is the last time I'm going to Sunnydale unless the world will end."

"We want to read your memory," the judge said. Xander shrugged and stepped closer, letting him do that. The judge let another demon show it to the council room. A few of them looked like they wanted to bang their heads on something hard. Xander came out of the trance and they all groaned. "They are so screwed."

"It might help their bad moods," Xander said sarcastically. "But yeah, I can hope they do find someone good."

The judge looked at him. "I will talk to the one that helped your sexual aid." He walked off calling him. "You have caused a great problem by not following the law. Harris has a will. No, he's alive. He's awake and alive and mad since she's stealing his money. No, they were not dating. She would not let them go on dates. We just read his memories. Here in DC." He walked back in there. "Harris, stay for a moment." He nodded and sat down, letting a guard get him some water. The judge showed up and had that same demon read his memories of Anyanka.

"Um, very smutty," Xander noted. "If you're underaged, don't watch."

The judge nodded. "Probably a good idea." He let them be shown and sighed at the end. "That is not what hers showed. She only had half of that."

Xander looked at him. "She could hide it because of her former job?"

"Yes. Quite probably. Or she took something to block it." He took some charmed paper from the notary of this council. He reversed his decision and added in an order for her to return the money. He signed it and sent it off, handing back the special quill. He looked at the boy. "Do be safe."

"I'm going to be trying to. I want to go back to work and all that."

"It would be better if you not stay anywhere near that center of evil," the judge told him. "They're mad you're not gracious and happy."

Xander looked at him. "They didn't visit. At all. They think I need a leash holder. No. I don't want to live there anyway. And it's cheaper to live in the midwest, plus safer with some of the stuff I saw happening soon in LA."

The judge winced. "I've heard some rumors."

Xander grinned. "Two years and a few months. Blown *totally* open. Six hour battle. I warned Angel."

"He has not said anything." He walked off shaking his head so he could go back to his home realm.

Xander looked at the council, who all smiled. "Let me go find a motel. Thank you all." He got up and left. One person was waiting to jump him but he knocked her out and walked over her. "There's a potential on the floor," he called.

"Thank you, Knight," one of the guards called, going to check on the future slayer. If Kennedy lived. The guard got a healer for her and let him handle her before they dropped her at a human ER. She was freaking out about the demons helping her. The guard stared at her. "Most of us aren't evil, Potential Kennedy. We just exist. We don't like the bad ones any more than you do." He walked off, going to get car keys.

***

Xander heard the rumors and sighed. He had gathered almost all his stuff when someone spotted him. He waved but finished packing the stuff into his junker of a car. He turned to look at Buffy. "I'm just getting my shit so I can go find a job and an apartment."

"You...."

He stared at her. "That's why I found that file so your mom could get treated, Buffy. I knew it wouldn't help me. There's higher powers who hate me for helping you." He moved closer. "Your mom get the second one handled?"

"They're iffy but we hope so," she said quietly, swallowing hard. "Are you back?"

"No. It's going to be at least two more months before I'm able to swing a sword for more than five minutes. I'll jump in for huge things. Like the invasion coming in about two years."

"Angel said that was bull."

"Angel's an idiot," he said. "A jealous, vain idiot. He's the only vampire I know that worries about his hair." Buffy slumped. "For that matter, he's a woose."

"He came for me."

"Because I dragged him there at crosspoint," Xander said patiently. She blinked, her mouth opening. He nodded. "He decided visions and prophecies were absolute. Are they?"

"No," she said, staring at him. "So why are you here?"

"My shit." He pointed at the car. "I need more than two pairs of clothes. I needed my crossbow for a bit because there's still a few of those military weenies who are trying to annoy me for getting you help." He shrugged but shifted his stance and looked over his shoulder. "Oh, hey, Anya. I heard about you pretending to be my heir. I have a will on file. Have since before I went down into that coma. You weren't my heir and girlfriend would mean we went on dates, not just had sex. Big difference there." He looked at Buffy again, who was looking amused. "She tried to claim my things. She was stealing money from my wallet. You should be really lucky I didn't ask one of those pink things to come lap her until she gave up."

"That's gross. They drool. It's stinky drool, Xander. She'd never stand for that." He grinned. "That's not a bad idea. I'll have to remember that."

He kissed her on the forehead. "Be safe. I don't want to come talk to your headstone and next time I might not be there to do CPR. Find Willow someone to stay with. I heard about Tara and I adored Tara. I helped by making sure she made it to her safe eternal spot." He stared at her. "Find someone to make you happy," he said quietly. "You've more than earned that, Buffy. Just don't date Anya. I doubt you'd like oral sex that often." She swatted him. He grinned. "I'm going to go steal some stuff I found years ago and hid." He walked off, going back to his car.

"Willow would be upset because stealing's wrong."

"It was Wilkins'. I figure he owes us for making us take him out." He drove off, going to the hidden areas. Half of it was gone but the other ones were in a tiny little set of holes that most demons couldn't get into. It meant he only had a few grand but oh well. It was a good start and he could get something else that would be more helpful. He waved at the demons as he walked past them and grabbed his favorite axe and a few other things, carrying them out. "Thank you for shining my axe for me."

"I won that!" one of them complained. Xander stared at him. "You're too weak to beat me." Xander attacked and backed him against the wall until he begged for mercy. "Fine! Asshole!"

"Yup. One that has to go somewhere safer than this. The weenies are still hunting for me. So I need it more than you. Someone call Peter and tell him I'm showing up in an hour for what he owes me please." He grinned at them. "It'll come in handy." They moaned. "Have fun and don't sink the town without me, people." He drove off, heading off before Willow could catch him magically. She tried to set his car on fire but it didn't work very well thanks to the stuff he had drawn on it.

"Figures that's what happened to my car in Oxnard. I wonder if she knew I had to strip there." He heard a shriek and then the magic ended. "Thanks." He waved the hand outside the window as he drove over the barrier to town. "Oh, hey, radiation sickness. I remember this feeling," he sighed. "Charming!" He drove to the poker hall outside of LA, getting out and being stopped by a bouncer. "I'm just here to pick up poker winnings, guys."

"Red Witch is looking for you," one grunted.

"Yeah, she tried to set me on fire because I didn't take her seriously about having an owner. That's why humans are starting to have soulmates now."

Someone stomped out to stare at him. "Rosenburg started that?" he demanded.

"She made a wish for me to be healed and have a protective soulmate sort." Xander stared at him, grinning some. "I really expected her to use that wish to remove a whole lot of problems from Sunnydale. Or to stop an apocalypse battle." The demon slumped so Xander grinned more happily. "Can I pick up my poker winnings? Please?"

"I guess," he complained. "Are you staying in LA?"

"Hell no. I'd stake the vain, dick-thinking vampire. Are any other vamps so concerned about their hair?"

"Maybe Spike but he just dyes his," the bouncer said. He walked Xander in to get his poker winnings and Xander paid someone a kitten that was paid to him for a spell to hide the car's contents from all magic and humans that weren't him or in need. The sorcerer did that and they all ignored him. Xander drove off with a honk, going to find his other poker debts. By the time he was done, his car was full of stuff and he knew where he could go hide. He just had to transfer that hiding spell before someone like Tony visited. He didn't want to know what Tony's reaction to his poker winnings would be.

***