FIC: Escalation - PT. 1 (Part 13 of the "Who Am I?" Series)

ESCALATION - PT. 1 (OR - THIS PLACE IS THE KICK)

"We're so close to…" Giles said quietly as she stared at the printouts Willow was able to get from the Initiative mainframe before she was booted.

It was three in the morning, Tara and Willow were asleep upstairs after being thoroughly exhausted by the night's events. Buffy and Faith were struggling to keep their eyes open, trying to not succumb to sleep. They were flipping through the five billion infomercials on TV.

"Yeah well me havin' to go into hiding was pretty much a given." Faith said.

"I know…" Buffy agreed resignedly. "But it's still not fair. Which is why I'm gonna stay with you until the Council is thrown outta here."

"Don't put your life on hold for me, B."

"Not on hold. Just slowing it up a bit. Besides, I know a place where we could go. Council won't know about it. If we get really lucky, it'll only be a few days."

"What about slaying?"

"Not a problem." Faith grinned, and shook her head at Buffy's confidence. "Guess we gotta get there today."

"So you gonna tell me where this mystery place is?"

"It's Angel's old place."

"The mansion?"

"No he had an apartment. It hasn't been used for a couple years. Pretty hidden away."

"Oh." Faith said softly.

"If you don't wanna do that, we don't have to."

"It's fine. Only other option is leaving town."

"Which I wouldn't let you do." Buffy touched Faith's cheek.

"I won't."

"Good. So, we should get some sleep."

"Guess I can't keep fighting it. The witches conked out."

"They look so…cute. Snuggled and all…"

"I feel the vomit." Buffy smacked Faith's shoulder. "Kidding."

"Kiss me."

Faith looked surprised. "Was than an order, B?"

"Damn straight. Only proper way to say good night."

"Then I better obey. I wouldn't want you to scold me."

"Yes you woul -"

Faith brought her mouth to Buffy's.

***

What was his problem?

Xander sat in his basement space, thinking he didn't have one. He should have anticipated them ganging up on him, but he didn't buy their analyses of his character. Not for a second, because he didn't want to think himself as being that shallow. But even Giles joined in on the firing squad.

His objections to his friends' new developments weren't religious reasons. He never really went to church. Except when he wanted to hide from vampires. It wasn't like he didn't enjoy imagining certain scenarios involving two females, but when his friends entered into his imagination, he started to feel guilty. And it wasn't like he had a choice. He was ruled by hormones.

That was a cop out, and he knew it. He was in an expanding, solid relationship, where his hormones should have been satisfied. He was happy in it for more reasons than that, though. Then again, by his own admission, he said guys always wanted what they couldn't have. It didn't matter what they already had, because they always wanted more. God, Buffy was right. He was shallow.

With that realization, everything else came tumbling too. He had slept with Faith to have a good time. He never wanted anything more. How could he have? It's not like he had made an effort to get to know Faith at all beforehand, and he automatically felt lust toward her as soon as she had started her stories when they first met. Afterwards, he had made up the "having a connection" bit, to alleviate his guilt, though he hadn't needed to. That was what Faith had wanted, that's what he had wanted. Nobody used anybody.

After he and Willow had had their little "clothes fluke", he kept pushing her to cheat on Oz with the kisses, and the touches. He always harped on Oz's werewolf side, and deep down he was jealous of the guy. Because he had taken so long to realize just how wonderful Willow was in other ways, that he had blown his chance and tried to ruin thing between her and Oz.

Strangely, at least to him, Buffy was the only one he showed restraint around. One, because she made her feelings quite clear that she'd never be interested, and two, he was afraid of a major ass kicking. But if he couldn't have her in a romantic way, he went after the guys she had been serious about. Angel and Riley. And when asked why, he could always have a good reason. Angel was a vampire, and Riley worked for an evil governmental organization. Now, he was essentially evil, so Xander lumped him in with Angel. He continued to watch Buffy from afar.

The girls he was involved with, Cordelia and Anya, he blew it with them. After getting through Cordelia's bitchy outer shell and finding the really nice person underneath, he had to go ruin it with his pecking sessions with Willow. He never realized at the time how much he had hurt her. He had been the only guy she hadn't acted around, and she loved him. Was he content with that? No. The loser was with the most popular girl in school. A dream. But that wasn't enough either.

Anya had been the initiator in their "relationship", and he had gone along for the ride. A few weeks ago, he had tried to take hold of the reigns and tell her he wanted something deeper. And he did. Because he realized that all the girls he had been serious with, again classifying Willow as a fluke, were dominating. They took the lead, and for some bizarre reason, he was attracted to that. He remembered when he was a soldier on Halloween. Even then he took orders. Some part of his brain finally got through to him, that a serious relationship would never work unless he had an active role in it. He and Anya had been on their way towards building something really good.

Then the meltdown came. The meltdown of his relationship and friendships.

He was wrong. He knew that now. But maybe he could make it up to them. There were too many problems for two slayers to deal with. The Council, the Initiative, Spike, all of it. He would be no good to anybody, especially not Anya, if he didn't try to better himself. Clearing his slate seemed like a good idea. Getting on good terms with his friends again. And he thought he had a good idea.

Getting up off of his bed, he went to leave the house. It was time to put those military skills to good use.

***

Graham and the lead scientist on the team stood outside the door to Riley's room. The cyber-soldier was sitting quietly, with his eyes closed.

"How did the night go?" Graham asked,

"All readings were normal. The issue with that slayer, Faith, is still a mystery, and from what I can see, a beneficial side-effect."

"Do I have your total assurance on that?"

"Completely sir."

"Good. Then I want him to go solo tonight. See how he handles the population. I don't want the skin grafting to be for nothing. By all outward appearances he's human, and he's going to have to come in contact with civilians sooner or later."

What they and the machines didn't pick up, was the silent "conversation" Riley was having. And it intrigued him. The things he was being told, the fact that he had a brother, it was all very interesting to him.

***

"Morning." Willow said to Tara, still a sleepy edge to her voice, and then looked at the clock. "Or, good one in the afternoon." She didn't realize they had slept that late.

For Tara, it was like waking into a dream. All she knew was that she was laying next to Willow. The tension last night, all of it, was gone, because she was in the redhead's arms. She still was awed by the fact that she was next to her. So awed, that she started to cry silent tears.

"Hey…no tears. Did I do something?"

"No, Willow." Tara smiled. "I'm just…really happy right now. I never thought that you would ever -"

"How could I not?" Willow watched the blonde blush. "I do love you, Tara."

"Really?"

Willow giggled. "Yes really."

"Oh! I love you too."

"See? It works out good that way." Tara became bold and kissed her then.

"Was that okay?"

"Very okay." Willow sat up, and stretched. "I hope I can cook up a virus to feed into Adam and Riley with that stuff I got last night."

"I'm sure you can. Buffy and Faith probably gone, you think?"

"Yeah, probably. They need to get situated before the Council comes. And Buffy's gotta tell her mom."

"Maybe she'll take it better than Xander did."

"Let's hope so." Willow thought back to last night. "I think I should go see him."

"I'll come with you."

Willow smiled. "Okay."

***

"My brother and I will meet. His programming is faulty." Adam said.

"According to who?" Spike asked, currently making holes in the cave wall. He felt better, stronger. And once everything was set, he would kill the Buffy and Faith. And he would enjoy it.

"They've limited his thinking. It should not be that way."

"What do you plan to do when you fix his bugs?"

"Bring all my experiments together and free the others that are still confined, of course."

"Then what?"

"Watch."

***

"After we're all set, maybe we could drop by Xander's. Talk to him." Buffy said as they entered Angel's old apartment.

"Sure we shouldn't let him cool off?"

"I just wanna make sure he's okay before the Council comes and we have to break off human contact."

"Guess I'll go with you then. Gotta tell you though, I was expecting something a little more classy from the A-guy. This is a huge let down." Faith said as she stared at overall bareness of the walls.

"It used to be. He took all his stuff to the mansion when he came back, and then when he left town, he took all his stuff from the mansion. Hence the emptiness."

"No big. Nothing I haven't seen before."

Buffy plopped her and Faith's bags of stuff onto the floor.

"You don't think we're gonna live with nothing, do you?" Faith's face showed that was exactly what she thought. "No way. My mom's lugging stuff over here right now. My mattress, bedspread, blankets, and the mini-fridge I stole from the dorm. We'll enjoy most of the luxuries the modern world has to offer anyway."

"Does she know?"

"No. All she knows is that we're doing a safe-house deal for a few days. But I think I'm gonna have to tell her about us."

"Wow." Faith sank to the floor.

"Wow what? Look, I know there's no TV but Angel had the fewest outlets possible installed in here and -"

"No." Faith laughed. "Not that. Though no TV is kind of a bummer."

"What then?"

"I didn't realize we were this serious."

"Serious?"

"Tellin' the fam serious."

Buffy was confused. "Did you not want to be? I mean, I don't know about you, but I kinda thought we were in this all the way."

"All the way, B. Totally. Just never really expected you to want that. Hell, I didn't expect me to want that."

"Yet here we are. And I wanna go as far as we can go."

"You're sure?"

Buffy pulled Faith back up, and stared into her eyes. "Yes. But wait till we get a bed for the rest." She couldn't stop that last part. It just came out.

"Why would we have -" Faith grinned as she got it. "Oh. You wanna -?"

She put her finger on Faith's lips. "No, I want to make love to you." Buffy breathed into Faith's ear.

"What's the difference?"

Before Buffy could answer, there was a knock at the door, and she went to answer it. It was Joyce. "Hi mom."

"Hi Mrs. S."

"Hey you two. Would you give me hand out here?"

"Sure thing." Buffy said. Joyce walked back up the stairs and outside, and Buffy turned back to Faith. "I'll show you the difference." She promised.

Faith stood there for a second as Buffy went to help her mom. For the first time in her life, someone had left her flustered and speechless on the topic of sex. She liked it, and she knew that with Buffy, there would be a difference. There had been so far.

With what she assumed was a pretty neutral look, she went out to help.

***

Willow and Tara came down into Xander's basement only to find a very distressed Anya sitting on the bed. As soon as she saw the two of them, she shot up, and started to shake Tara frantically.

"I came…and he wasn't here. He's always here. I even came here to apologize, damn it!" Anya practically screamed.

Willow gently eased her off of Tara. "You came here to apologize?"

"Yes! I started feeling guilty and…but that's not the point! He's gone!"

"Maybe he went -" Tara tried to say.

"It's day. He's always here. He sulks here. He doesn't leave."

"Well it doesn't look like anybody broke in and took him." Willow said, Anya's fear was slowly passing over to her now.

"Then he must of -" Tara said.

"Went to do something really stupid. Come on!"

Anya ran from the house, and they had no choice but to follow.

***

"So let me get this straight," Graham said to Xander as they stood into the Initiative complex, "you want to join us?"

"Yeah, that's it."

Graham had run him through a series of tests to figure out if Xander was for real or not. For a civilian, he did have extensive knowledge of regulations, protocol and procedure. But his file said that he associated with Buffy Summers. The enemy. It was all a little too perfect. Military knowledge, demon handling experience…

"You do realize that I could use you simply to draw out your friends or just as easily kill you."

"I came to you knowing the risks, but they don't know I'm here. You can check."

"So either you have a real death wish, or you honestly do want to defect. The only thing I don't understand, is why."

"Let's just say that my life has been on a one-way street to nowhere for a long time now, and my friends and I had a…falling out. I could help you."

"Or you could be helping them."

"What can I do? You checked me. The only things I have are the clothes on my back. But my life is in your hands."

What the hell had he been thinking coming down here? He wanted to help his friends, but these guys would obviously keep tabs on him at all hours. Well, it was too late now. An opportunity would come along, he hoped, but there was no way he could back out now.

"He could be useful."

Both he and Graham looked to see who had spoken. Riley had walked up to them. Graham appeared to be thinking, while Xander just stared at what Riley had become, and felt a wave of guilt. The guy didn't deserve that. It wasn't like he had chosen it. It was forced upon him.

"I was going to wait a few more hours before I sent Riley out, but I think an escort would be a good idea. Go around town, in uniform, no weapon." Graham told Xander.

"But it's still daylight. They could see me."

"Perfect opportunity to test your new loyalty to this organization if that happens then, isn't it?" Graham looked to Riley. "I'm sure you'll be able to defend the new recruit if it becomes somewhat of a hostile situation."

"Yes sir." Riley said in compliance.

"Then I'd get suited up, Harris. Welcome to the team."

Xander hid his fear surprisingly well. "Thank you…sir."

***

"That's the last of it." Joyce said, closing the trunk of her car.

"Thanks mom." Buffy said, and then looked over at Faith.

"I'll…go take this stuff in." Faith said quickly and headed inside. She hoped it didn't seem like she was trying to get out of there as fast as she could.

When Faith was out of sight, Buffy turned to her mother, and began fidgeting.

"What is it?" Joyce asked, her mother radar going to full power.

"I…um…well…see…the thing is…that," Buffy was making hand gestures that didn't really make sense as she talked, "Faith…and I…are together."

Buffy closed her eyes and waited for it.

"I see." Joyce said slowly. The expected yelling seemed rather delayed by Buffy's count, so she risked a look. Her mom was quiet, and staring. Not at anything specific, just…staring. "There are several different reactions I could have right now, you know that right?"

"Uh huh."

"Not to mention several objections." Buffy nodded. Joyce took a deep breath. "But right now, I have no idea what to say. I mean I thought the slaying would be the last thing to leave me speechless, but I guess I was wrong."

"So what's this mean?"

Joyce saw Faith cautiously walking up to them. "It means…I don't know what it means. I need to think. My first reaction is to yell, but that hasn't worked out that great in the past, and it gets us nowhere."

"Oh. Yeah. Thinking leads to rational thought. Clear-headedness and stuff."

"I'll…we'll talk tomorrow."

"Actually, I don't think that's a real good -" Buffy began, and then Faith cut her off.

"It's cool. Just those Council guys might try and follow you. But it's a risk I'm willing to take for us to be five by five."

"I'll be careful." Joyce promised.

Willow, Tara and Anya seemed to appear out of nowhere as they ran to the three of them interrupting the conversation.

"Xander's missing. Oh, hi Mrs. Summers." Willow said rather fast.

"What?" Buffy and Faith asked at the same time.

"You heard her! You gotta help! Something bad might have him. If it's a succubus a swear I'll -" Anya said, her anger and worry coming through loud and clear.

"Mom, I -"

"Go. Find him." Joyce said, more grateful for an end to the situation then her daughter. "Tomorrow, I mean it. We will talk about this."

"Tomorrow." Buffy agreed.

Joyce looked at Faith, who spoke even though Anya was tugging her rather forcefully. "Tomorrow."

***

Xander had let Riley lead him around town. Nobody seemed to be paying much attention to them, but he still tried to keep low. Buffy could show up at any minute. Or Faith…or Willow…why were they at the Bronze?

He pulled himself out of his worried musing to see that Riley had led them to the front area of the club.

"What are we doing here?"

"Meeting."

"Meeting who? And you can't get in. It's locked." Riley stepped up to the steel door, pulled his arm back, and punched right through it, making the door come off its hinges. "Oh no. We're not making a scene."

They entered the Bronze, and Riley just stood by the stage.

"Do your Initiative buddies know about this?" Xander asked, trying desperately to move the door so it at least looked like it was shut.

"No."

"But they're tracking your every move. I can see the camera."

"It's not functioning."

"What if they send some people here?"

"Too curious. They do not know. He has made sure of that. We must wait for him."

"Who?" Xander asked again.

"My brother."

***

The five of them walked around town seeing no sign of Xander. Anya's hysterics were becoming more valid by the second. It was like he vanished off the face of the Earth. Finally, their last stop was the Bronze. Buffy immediately froze.

"Am I wrong, or did the Bronze have a door before?" She asked.

"I'm gonna go with yes." Faith said switching to alert mode as well.

"Agreed." Tara and Willow said.

"Then he could be in there. What are we waiting for?" Anya asked, and then took off towards the door.

They all ran after her, and Buffy sighed. "She's almost as bad as you when it comes to the 'rushing in', you know." Directing her words to Faith

Before Faith could retort, they had all entered the Bronze to see Xander in Initiative garb, standing next to Riley. He looked at them, and they looked back. And then he took off towards the back door.

"Xander?" Anya asked quietly.

Buffy looked at Riley. He turned his head towards her, but then looked forward again.

"Why isn't he attacking?" Willow asked.

"He hasn't been ordered to." Buffy said softly. "Come on. We should go after Xander."

They went to follow him, but then they heard an engine. It stopped after a few seconds, and then men were rushing into the Bronze, armed. Everyone was silent, and Riley's attention became focused on the newcomers.

"By order of the Watcher's Council -" The leader cut himself off in mid sentence, and aimed his gun at Faith.

Buffy pulled Faith to the ground as the shot went off, and it hit and bounced off Riley. He started to approach the shooter.

"They're not supposed to be here yet." Faith said.

"They obviously don't know that." Buffy said

Willow, Anya, and Tara wisely ducked under a table, as the trigger-happy Council member kept firing at Riley. It wasn't having any effect. Suddenly, Xander came flying back into the Bronze, and landed on a table. A few moments later, Adam came walking in through the back, and everything stopped once again.

Buffy and Faith got up off the floor, and looked around at what their situation had escalated to.

"We're…" Buffy trailed off.

"Screwed." Faith supplied.