Chapter Three: Rumors

Jacob Bean watched and waited in the hours before sunrise. His shop was one of many in this area, selling a modest variety of items that a normal man might need. However at this hour his business had nothing to with normal men or the world they saw around them.

A bell’s ring and the sound of a door opening announced he had a visitor, one he had been expecting for some time. Cautious footsteps signaled that he had company.

He barely raised an eyebrow from his seated position behind the shop counter. Overhead a single bulb flickered, feebly trying to keep him in its light. His visitors stopped a bit short, remaining in the dark even as their eyes shone with a faint golden light.

“Did you get it?”

Jacob received a growl in response. This was the drawback to using them, he reminded himself. Remorseless, killing machines they were--intelligent they were not.

“Yes. We got it but we have some problems.”

“I already told you how to handle any problems.”

“That’s one of the things we wished to discuss. Your assistance was terminated.”

He narrowed his eyes ever so slightly, “How?”

”Slayers.”

“You’re lying. No Slayer would have stood a chance against Otos.”

“It wasn’t just any of them, it was the one True Slayer. The one they call… Buffy.”

That name made things slightly more acceptable. “How?” Jacob asked.

“We don’t know.”

“Then how can you be sure she killed him?”

“She and the Witch were seen flying in the area.”

Ah, yes, the redheaded friend of Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg. Unlike the Slayer, she could complicate things, forcing his hand early. He grunted slightly as he considered the information before focusing on his guests. There was an uncomfortable silence as he and his visitors regarded one another. “I take it you weren’t seen?”

“No worries. The Slayer and Witch were too busy with him and the mess he made to notice us.”

Jacob closed his eyes at the first bit of good news he had heard in this meeting. A smile graced his face, “Excellent.”

***

Tori had known she was different all of her life. It started when she was just old enough to remember. She had been a usually quiet yet bright girl; ‘a little angel’ is what they called her. A few years later in elementary school, she took a liking for P.E. class and the library.  In middle school, she was easily one of the most popular girls thanks to her combination of brains, looks and gym skills. Then, one day in the summer before she started her senior year in high school, her life changed. One minute she was struggling to move a cinder block to recover her wristwatch. The next, the block had been hurled through the air, breaking into the wall across the room and her wristwatch was momentarily forgotten.

A strange man with a British accent had appeared on the front door of her home back in California shortly afterward. She didn’t catch his name, she only knew that one day she came home and found him in deep conversation with her parents. A few days later, some other people showed up. None were British and one of them was a nice, charming guy with one eye. She still wasn’t exactly sure how Ms. Summers and Mr. Harris (She had to consciously remind herself to call them Buffy and Xander) had talked her parents into letting her leave, especially with the whole reveal about death, demons and other things.

An early morning run was something she had done all the time back home in San Diego.  Back then all she had was her cell phone, an ipod and the sunrise. Now of course she found a way to carry a stake or three plus a knife. And Scotland’s weather was not something she personally liked; it was way too damp and too cold for her tastes. Still if the head of the whole Slayer army, another golden girl like herself, could do it, so could she.  She ran a variety of routes around the estate the Castle sat on, varying each one’s path and stops so as not to fall into a pattern.  Her path on this morning was mostly centered in the middle of the castle’s lands. Currently she was jogging through a section of road that ran overtop of some of the area’s steeper hills.     

Tori had been making fairly good time when she felt the unmistakable sensation that she was being watched. That disturbing itch between her shoulder blades had been part of the whole Slayer package. As she moved further down the path, the itch increased and she surreptitiously began to check out her surroundings in greater detail. The dawn had not yet broken so the area was still cloaked in the fold of night. However, the early morning dew had begun to form, coating the area with a scent that reminded her of rain.

Tori slowed her jogging eventually coming to a halt atop a hill overlooking one relatively shallow valley below.  From this vantage point she saw and heard nothing, just the stillness of an early Scottish morning. It was just occurring to her that maybe she should hear some birds, or frogs or even bugs when something slammed into the side of her head. Knocked off her feet, she hit the ground already trying to recover and catch sight of her attacker. Shaking her head she re-oriented herself and she saw, what had hit her.

Her attacker was fairly stout, had two large spikes emerging from his shoulders, was of a mottled grayish color and as it drew closer, she noted the presence of armor-like scales all over its body.

“Great another one,” she muttered to herself as she managed to roll out of the way of the demon’s follow-up attack and bounced to her feet.  Every instinct in her body was screaming at her to attack. On the other hand, she knew for a fact that if she did attack this demon, she’d only really hurt herself.  So the Slayer compromised, opting instead to run. She made it about five steps before it caught up to her. The Demon’s claw-like hand gripped her shoulder and spun the young Chosen around to face it. Tori wrinkled her face at catching a whiff of the thing’s awful breath. She noted that as far as its face was concerned, this one looked less like an insect and more like a bat.

Abruptly, she was shoved to the ground as demon took the opportunity to let out a howling laugh. The realization that it was indeed laughing at her had an unintended effect on the young Slayer.

“Okay now I’m mad.”

Tori rose to her feet and charged her attacker. Moving with a speed that only a Slayer could, she feinted, drew the demon off balance and attacked its exposed knees, trying to chop it down to size. Staggered, the demon roared trying to regain control of the fight but Tori wouldn’t let up and was rewarded when the thing hit the ground with a thud.

“Gotcha, you bastard.”  Smiling, she flipped open her cell phone to report in. “Yeah it’s me. I got one. It’s another Gurguiloness. No I’m fine. I need a team to help restrain him.”

In those precious few seconds, she made the one mistake a Slayer should never make and took her eyes off the Demon as it lay on the ground. Sensing something amiss, she whirled only to see the place where the Gurguiloness had lain was now empty. Tori caught something moving out of the corner of the eye and reacted on pure reflex. She ducked and rolled as something whizzed around overhead. Standing back up, she saw that demon was now armed with a heavy-bladed weapon looked more like meat cleaver then a sword.

Wielding its new found weapon with surprising skill, the Demon moved towards her, careful never to give the Slayer an opportunity to do anything but back up. Mentally Tori cursed, knowing she was being herded backwards. Vaguely she remembered that this part of the path was the furthest from the castle and help. A loose stone on the path caused her to briefly stumble. The demon sensing an opportunity dashed forward. Vainly, she tried to regain her balance while seeking a way to ward off the attack that was aimed at her head. That’s when she felt something forcefully grab her shoulder and yank her from the path. Tori managed to catch a glimpse of a dark figure before she landed on the suddenly very slippery and wet grass on the hillside. She paused, flipped her hair out of her eyes and was surprised at the scene before her.

What she saw was Satsu’s ‘Cyber Knight Guy’ was now fighting her attacker and doing pretty well judging by how well he was forcing the demon away from her. Determined to help, she stood up and promptly slipped on the wet grass. Down the side of the hill she went, tumbling and cursing all the way down. Fortunately for her, she managed to avoid the rocks in favor of the really, really wet grass as she arrived at the bottom. Tori managed to stand-up again and take personal stock. Her clothes were damp, her hair was a mess and she was covered in bits of leaves, grass blades, dirt and other things.

“Tori!”

Looking up at the walking path atop the hillside, she noted two things. One it was currently occupied by a group of no less than six Slayers, all heavily armed. And two, there was no sign of her attacker or Mr. Knight Guy. The Slayer in charge of the group ended her musing by asking, “Are you all right?”

After examining herself once again, Tori had only one reply, “Fabulous”.

“And you’re certain about this information?” The Slayer wearing the headset nodded in affirmation.

“Well, there’s confirmation. ‘Mr. Cyber Knight Guy’ as Satsu called him, knows where we live.”

“Thanks Leah,” Buffy said in a quiet voice. “Any word on the Demon?”

The red headed Slayer shook her head, “According to Tori, the Gurguiloness was last seen fighting with the um, Knight.”

“Great. Now there are two wild cards to deal with. It’s like being back in Sunnydale sometimes.” Buffy paused. “Where’s Xander? Wasn’t he supposed to be on shift now?”

Leah tilted her head slightly, “Last time I saw him, and he seemed to be in a real hurry. I can put out a search if you want?”

“No I’ll find him. Thanks though.”

Buffy left the control room behind and gained a shadow almost instantly.  Unconsciously she slowed her pace to allow the other person to keep up. “You don’t have to take it easy on me you know” the younger woman said.

She stopped, turned and faced Satsu as the other Slayer caught up to her. The Asian slayer was almost healed her from injury but was still walking with a slight limp. “I’m not made of glass, I won’t break.”

“I never said you would. I just was being considerate. I’m thoughtful girl sometimes.” Buffy smiled at the other girl.

“Come on, let’s go find my Xander-shaped Watcher.”

Satsu nodded and the two moved down the hallways of the castle looking for a missing Harris. After the first few places were Xander-free, Buffy began to get slightly concerned, at least until she saw Renee, his unofficial shadow.  She confidently approached the other Slayer. If someone knew where Xander was, Renee would.

“Hey Renee.” Her greeting drew the daydreaming girl back to reality. “Oh Miss Summers, hello. Hello Satsu.” The Asian slayer nodded back.

“Where is Xander?”

In answer, she nodded at the doorway that marked the entrance to his room. Thanking Renee with a nod, she approached his door and knocked. “Xander?” Not receiving an immediate answer, she knocked again, this time asking in a louder voice, “XANDER?”

Buffy was rewarded with a groan that only be picked up super slayer hearing, “XANDER? Are you all right?”

There was a pause, before his familiar voice answered hers, “Yes. Just not feeling too good.”

“Do you need to go to the infirmary?”

“No, I’m good.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“All right.”

Xander listened as Buffy’s footsteps retreated from his doorway. He could barely hear the limping walk that told him Satsu was accompanying Buffy as she left. Letting out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding, he allowed himself to fall face first into his pillow.  The attempted ambush of Tori disturbed almost as much as how he had interjected himself into the fight. Never had he run so fast in his entire life. Once he had gotten there, once again the belt and phone had made their appearance and he had used them. Then sprinting back to the castle, hiding before he could be seen, changing back, he collapsed in his room.  The whole fight with the Demon had actually been the least exciting part of the whole experience. A soft knocking interrupted his musing, someone he knew and was expecting almost.

“Xander?”

”Yes Renee?”

“Are you sure you’re all right?”

“Yes Renee, I’m fine. Just a bit tired.”

“I could bring you something to eat, if you want.”

She was nothing if not persistent. He briefly considered how appropriate or inappropriate it was for a Slayer to use the ‘Kill them with kind-ness’ approach before answering, “I could take a sandwich, ham and turkey on-“

Xander kept his single wary eye on the road ahead, hardily sparing a glance at the Slayers riding with him. They were unusually quiet for the aftermath of a battle with the supernatural. It’s not like they were rookies or anything, even Tori had seen some action and Slayers by and large tended to be very high energy after a battle. Even when they lost a friend or fellow Slayer, they let out their grief for all to hear and share in. Then again, he reflected, this particular battle had been very different, especially from his point of view. It’s not every day you do go from being average guy who’s handy with a sword to well, whatever that was.

“Mister H-, I mean Xander?” Renee’s voice brought him back to the present. “Are you all right? You seemed a bit distracted?”

“Huh? Oh just trying to figure out whom the new guy in town was. He’s all gray and scaly. I’m going to guess Eastern European. Or maybe Greek.”

He smiled as Renee let out a breath she had been holding. Apparently she had ridden with Buffy before.

 “We’ll be okay, it’s just another new demon day at the office. Buffy can handle it.”

“She can handle anything.”

Xander’s gaze flicked to Satsu’s reflection in the rearview mirror, “Buffy’s the most amazing person I’ve ever met. Her, Willow, Dawn--, they’re all really amazing people once you get to know them.”

“Really?” Renee asked.

“Without a doubt,” assured Tori. “But what about Mr. Giles?” She pressed.

“He’s the bestest Watcher I know, even before this.”

“And Mr. Ha-, I mean Xander, what about you?”

“I’m just a one-eyed former carpenter that hit the best friend jackpot with Buffy and Willow. Not only do I have a valid driver’s license to boot but I do windows.”

“Can you tell us more about Buffy?”

“Well there’s not really a whole lot more to tell then you know. She was the Chosen One, then a member of the Chosen Two, now she’s one of the Chosen Many.”

His answer wasn’t exactly satisfactorily but he was saved from explaining further by their arrival at the castle. Buffy and Willow were waiting in the courtyard to greet them. Xander now had a new set of problems, namely filling Buffy and Willow in on what happened while not triggering their ‘Xander-is-hiding-something’ senses. Waving at his oldest friends, he moved to help Tori lift Satsu out of the car while. Renee opened her door, taking great care not to bump her wrist. There was concern on the faces of Buffy and Willow as they took stock of the injured Slayers.

“What happened?” Buffy queried.

Satsu winced as she put more weight on her injured ankle, her Slayer pride hurting as much as her ankle was. “Excuse us Ms. Summers we had some trouble.” The other two Slayers nodded in agreement Renee holding her wrist while Tori lent her shoulder to her sister Chosen. Willow looked over at him with question on her face. Xander let out a sigh. “New punching buddy. He’s big, gray, built like a tank, armored better then one and apparently he hits like a bulldozer.”

“That’s it? One newbie did this?”

“It wasn’t the typical run of the mill, new demon. Wills, this guy was like nothing I had ever seen before.”

“Don’t forget the other one” Renee interjected.

“Other one? Xander I thought you said this guy was a solo act?” Willow asked.

“It wasn’t the same,” Satsu broke in, “The other one was more…humanoid. Mostly black. Kind of looked like a Knight thing.”

Buffy, Willow and Xander exchanged looks. They all shared a not very good history with knights. Buffy voiced their collective concerns,

“A knight?”

“Kind of. Like a knight-robot guy. I think it was a guy.”

Xander interjected, “No chance to check the oil?”

That got him a look from the five women around him and Xander was reminded why he missed having Giles around. Hell, he’d settle for Andrew at this rate. “Well the important thing is we they stopped him/it. Unfortunately not before some people got in the way.”

Buffy looked downcast at the mention of loss of life. “It’s starting again.”

“No it’s not Buffy, we’re better then that, we’re stronger then that.”

“Especially you.” Satsu’s voice as almost whisper quiet but still audible, Buffy looked up and over at the younger girl. Then she smiled, “Thanks.”

A cough from her left drew her attention back to Xander and she raised a questioning eyebrow. “Well the other bad news is, we weren’t able to pick up any TAB. And Wills, ditto on the Herbal tea mix.” 

Buffy and Willow exchanged a look then looked at him with a particular expression on both of their faces which he was very familiar with.

“All right but I’m driving.”

A short time later, the three members of the former Scooby gang where headed off down the road. Their destination was another fairly small, quiet town amongst many that dotted the Scottish countryside. The mission was the same; acquire supplies desperately needed to keep the forces of the Slayer army functioning at their highest level. And by that, what they really meant was pick up an odd assortment of items requested by the Slayers back at the castle ranging from Buffy’s intensely guarded TAB soda to Lego’s. Xander wasn’t exactly sure why anyone outside of Andrew would want Lego’s, let alone a member of the many Chosen sisterhood now. But his prior experience in dealing with powerful, gorgeous, smart, emotional young women who could snap a tire iron over their knees if the mood struck them had taught him to keep his mouth shut and buy the damn Lego’s.

Xander’s thoughts turned from the shopping list to the trip itself. The village they were heading for was farther away from the castle. The reasons they had decided to head here were mostly had to do with both keeping tabs on the locals and some good old-fashioned Scooby bonding.

Which is why they had been riding in complete silence since leaving the castle and probably would have been until they reached the town. That had ended when they emerged from some of Scotland’s snakier roads to a sheep farm located near a fairly modest brook that had over the centuries gouged out a modest if deep ravine necessitating a bridge for the sake of modern automobile travel. The sheep farm was one of many across the country given the natives taste and affinity for all things wool and mutton.

Xander slowed down as he and the others rolled their windows down to get a closer look at the sight before them. Body parts and blood formed a decorative if macabre pattern on the grass. Most of the parts seemed to be of sheepish origin but Xander caught sight of a human leg with its corresponding boot-enclosed foot separated by some distance and stopped the car. Ignoring the tingling in the back of his head saying this was a bad idea, he exited the automobile aware that Buffy and Willow were doing likewise. From where they were, just past the bridge, they could see most if not the entire hillside was stained red with viscera and organs, in a disturbing abstract painting minus the gruesome artist.

Twin looks of disgust and revulsion crossed Buffy and Willow’s face. Buffy had seen many a dismembering, even participating in a few but… to do this to sheep and people together in such a fashion. Buffy looked to have managed to push down her lunch as her Slayer senses kicked into high gear, looking for any sign of the thing that did this. Willow apparently was having a similar yet worse reaction, attuned now to the ebb and flow of nature’s pattern as she was. To her, Xander guessed this represented a violent distortion, even tear in how life itself moved.

“Well now this is disgusting,” Xander said, expressing his gift for understatement and earning stares from the girls. He was about to add to those comments when their facial expressions changed.

 “Xander behind you!” They practically shouted.

He turned around and came face to face with the thing responsible for the impromptu butchery on the countryside, a big gray thing. Xander barely had time to register that it was the same creature from earlier before it grabbed him and hurled him like a lawn dart over the top of the hill towards a heavily wooded area. Buffy and Willow’s shock was cut short as the creature turned its attention to them.

“Oh you are so going to regret that!” Buffy hit the car trunk with her fist and it opened obediently, allowing her to retrieve a short sword. Willow had begun chanting and channeling energy into her hands. Charging with righteous fury, the Slayer rushed at the monster and let loose with a mighty swing that stopped it. Or rather the monster stopped and stared at her. Buffy glared up at the demon as she felt the reverberations of the strike up her arms and into her shoulders. She moved for a follow up swing when Willow called out, “Buffy get out of the way!”

And she did, just a fireball zoomed past her and slammed into the demon squarely. Willow stared hard into the smoke then frowned; Buffy saw why as the creature stepped forward apparently unharmed by the blast. The two girls shared a look as they re-evaluated their opponent.

Meanwhile several hundred yards away, Xander was in no small amount of pain. Despite the monster’s prodigious strength, he hadn’t been hurt when it grabbed him. Nor was he hurt that badly when he slammed into one of many presumably centuries old English oak trees. No he, Xander Harris had managed to injury himself getting to his feet, preparing to rush back to help. He had overlooked where his feet were and had managed to badly twist his ankle.  Such was the Harris family luck. The whooshing impact of Willow’s fireball shattered his reflection. His friends were in danger, they needed his help, injured or not, he was the closest person. Wincing in pain, he managed to pull himself to his feet and gingerly took a step towards them. And almost immediately he crumpled in pain as his injured ankle tried to bear his weight. Okay so the miraculous healing powers of his youth were starting to fade a bit. Still, he had to help them somehow.

Help. That was the key wasn’t it? Just help them somehow. He closed his eye trying to block out the pain while he thought of a way to help them in his injured state. As the thoughts raced thru his mind, his body experienced a strange sensation, something he couldn’t quite describe despite all the words he knew. His eye opened as he gazed down and was somehow unsurprised to see once again the belt around his waist. Xander looked more carefully at it this time, noting the gap/holder where the phone went. He then noted that the phone itself was again in his right hand. It looked more like a normal phone then his recalled. Vaguely the former Sunnydalian pondered whom to call. The authorities? Somehow he didn’t think they had a unit that could handle this. The castle would have help teleported here in minutes but every second was precious. That left him with only one real option, one he was reluctant to take. But for their sake, for Willow, for Buffy… 

The number came from a memory he was vaguely disturbed he had, 5-5-5, then he hit the ‘enter’ button. As he snapped the case shut, a voice greeted him, “Standing by.”

There wasn’t time for debate or regrets as he slid the phone into the holder designed for it on the belt and said a simple word he had only heard once before in his own voice, “Henshin”.

“Complete”.

*****

They had watched in silence as Buffy, Willow had left to complete their interrupted errand with Xander behind the wheel. After the car had vanished out of sight, Satsu drew a deep breath before getting the attention of the other two, “Follow me”.

Renee and Tori looked at each other and did as she asked. However once they entered the castle it became apparent Satsu was not headed for her room or the infirmary Renee spoke up, “Um where are we going?”

“To the library, to look that bastard up.”

“What?”

Satsu didn’t answer Tori’s question as they entered the room containing the books and other reference materials that Buffy and her group of Slayers, Witches and Watchers had managed to gather. Walking with a limp and a grimace she grabbed the top book off a precariously stacked column and sat down to read. Renee and Tori did likewise in silence around her. After a few minutes of awkward page turning, Satsu looked over at the least experienced member of the crew, “We’re doing this for them.”

“Them? How is this going to help Xander, Buffy and Willow?”

“Because next time, we won’t fail and we’ll be able to stop that bastard. For good.”

That seemed to suffice and the Slayers commenced to reading upon the demon.

*****

Buffy Summers had a lot of experience with being frustration. First there was the whole ‘High school frustration’ when the principal was trollish, the teachers were nasty and the mayor was totally evil. College had turned out to be a lot like high school only with added roommate frustration. Being the guardian to her younger sister/mystical artifact made flesh and blood had added the frustration type of ‘Don’t you dare think of wearing that outside this house young lady’ to her portfolio. Finally being one of the only Chosen Slayers in existence had taught her very different forms of frustration. The first being that Slaying in general tended to get her wound up and ready to go (Faith had another way of putting it but Buffy wasn’t going there). The second being that because she was the Slayer, the ability to sustain any sort of meaningful personal life was next to nil.

However at present she was dealing with another common type of frustration directly related to being a Slayer: weapon ineffectiveness. Wielding her sword like the experienced Champion she was, Buffy had scored what would have nearly a dozen different, serious if not fatal wounds on the monster. And yet, thanks to the very thick armor plating of the creature, all she had really accomplished was severely nicking up her sword and pissing her off.

“INCIDERE”

Another potent fireball blasted forth striking home on the demon but had the same effect as its predecessors, none at all. Willow was also frustrated, lacking access to her spell components and materials she was forced to go with spells that were great for dusting vampires, but not so great at dealing with opponents like the one she and Buffy currently faced. She was already considering more drastic measures when idea struck her. Rather then continue to target the monster ineffectively she gathered up more of her mystical strength and laid her hands on the ground.  A line of green line erupted from where her hands and ran directly between the creatures legs before spreading out and fading. As soon as the light disappeared, the ground changed from solid rock to a thick muddy slop that she hoped would hinder the demon’s movements. And indeed it did, allowing Buffy enough time to back off so they could re-group.

“Nice move, but do have you got any idea on how to actually finish this guy off?” Buffy asked.

Willow shook her head as she answered, “Nope, short of dropping the car into him or encasing him in stone I’ve got nothing.”

“Well the car’s out but why not the teleport trick?”

“I don’t have the powdered shale I need to make it work.”

“Great so maybe we should make with the running then?”

“But what about Xander?”

Buffy’s reply was interrupted as a flicker of motion caught her and Willow’s attention. Something had just slammed into their attacker sending it flying and inadvertently freeing it from its muddy hold. It took Buffy a few seconds to process the newcomer’s appearance before she remembered Satsu’s earlier remarks about a ‘cyber-knight’.

“It’s him, that guy Satsu mentioned.”

Willow flashed back to their earlier conversation and nodded her head in agreement. The two watched as Satsu’s ‘cyber knight guy’ squared off with the demon in what looked like a bare-knuckle street fight. Neither figure had the grace, or skill of a Slayer in Buffy’s mind. The demon let out a might roar, charged and swung a massive over-handed swipe intended to decapitate its newest challenger. The Cyber-Knight-Guy (as Satsu had called him) had wisely ducked and retaliated with a series of punches that the thing actually appeared to feel. He then ended the mini combination with a straightforward kick that sent the larger monster sprawling. Enraged, the demon regained it’s footing and bellowed as it rushed him intent on ending the contest once and for all. Unfortunately that’s what newcomer had been waiting on. With a practiced air, he grabbed one of the things outstretched arms and flipped it’s owner over his back, slamming it hard into the ground, creating a nice monster shaped crater in the process.

Mr. CKG took the opportunity to remove something from his back, which to Buffy’s gaze appeared to be a foot long metallic tube. He knelt down and attached it to a rather hefty looking anklet on his right leg. His next action was something else she couldn’t quite see. At this point however, the demon had staggered to its feet, apparently not quite ready to give up just yet. As soon as it made it to it’s feet, the mysterious warrior type made his move and jumped straight up into the air.

Make that a good twenty or thirty feet straight up in the air, higher then anyone Buffy had ever seen without wings. At the apex of his jump a burst of red light erupted from the cylinder attached to his right leg and struck the creature. As soon as it hit, the light changed into what looked a large funnel, pulsating with red light. Mr. CKG for his part had altered his form while airborne and was now doing a flying kick aimed at the aforementioned funnel. Within a few seconds he contacted the funnel, entered it, then he and it seemed to vanish into the creature.

“Okay that was weird…”

Willow didn’t pay attention to the rest of Buffy’s statement because the creature began roaring and gesturing. She initially thought it was celebrating but then blue flames began appearing all over its body and it occurred to her, that the thing was in pain. The cry of victory was actually a howl of agony. Abruptly the creature stopped moving as Mr. CKG flickered back into existence landing as though his jump hadn’t been interrupted at all. Seconds after he had landed, there was a flash of blue light and the seemingly invulnerable demon’s body, shattered into pieces. Each piece then began crumbling into dust until only the head remained. The thing’s head at first seemed like it was going to survive the destruction of its body but then it split into two halves right down the middle and following the same path of self-dusting.

When it was over, Buffy and Willow looked from where the rapidly vanishing remains to the mysterious newcomer. It turned to face them, which led to an awkward silent staring contest. Buffy forced herself to calm down, put a smile on her face and tried to approach their savior. “Hi, I’m Buffy.”

The figure’s response was to run and jump into the ravine located next to the scene of slaughter. And in doing so, it left behind a very confused Slayer and Witch, “Huh. You know Willow, guys usually don’t run away from me until after they get to know me.”

Willow walked up to her best friend, “You think that was a guy?”

“Could have been a girl. Could have been a robot. What do you suppose he, it was doing here?”

“I don’t know Buffy, I guess he didn’t like Scaly anymore then we did.”

The two pondered the situation for a few minutes before their eyes met and widened as each thought of the exact same thing at the same time.

“XANDER!!!”

Thankfully Buffy remembered the direction Xander had been launched in. Willow, energized by the need to find him, flew them in that direction. They found him lying facedown on the ground near the edge of the forest in front of a fairly impressive tree. They landed right beside him, holding their breath until they saw him draw his. With the greatest care, they managed to roll him over and gently shook him awake.

“Xander, Xander are you all right?”

A groan of the ‘Ow make the world stop’ variety escaped past his lips as his eye blinked open. He seemed out of sorts then focused on the faces of the two most important women in his life. “Buffy, Willow… What’s going on?”

“Tell you in a minute. Are you all right?” Buffy was concerned

 “Do you remember what happened?” Willow added.

“I remember bits and pieces of sheep, then a big gray blob grabbed me, then the scenery got blurry really fast, and just now you two.” He winced “What I miss?”

They told him in brief fashion noting the dark look that came over his face.  Xander slumped down and shook his head from side to side, “You know its days like this that I seriously consider giving up on this whole Watcher business.” Not paying attention the to brief looks of shock that appeared on their faces, he continued, “Before I would get hurt with injuries of the bump, bruise and occasional limb-breaking variety. Now I get the funny concussions and miss out on all the important monster killing stuff. I’m turning into Giles.”

Buffy had to smile at that part, “Giles got better eventually. You’ll just have to ask him how he coped with it.”

Xander glanced at her with a disturbed look on his face, “And if he says it’s the tweed that saved him? Do you have any idea how tweed would look on me? It’s not a pretty sight.” Xander shuddered in a mock horror.

Buffy laughed. Willow smiled. “Well maybe we could start you out with something easy like polyester.”

 This time there was nothing fake about the shudder of disgust and fear from Xander. Laughing, the two women helped him to his feet and guided him back to their car, which had miraculously escaped damage during the battle. 

After much arguing, Buffy managed to put Xander in the backseat and got behind the wheel. White-knuckled and sweating profusely Xander strapped himself in. In the passenger seat, Willow buckled herself as well before turning around to look at him with a bemused expression on her face. “Relax Xander, the scary part is over with.”

“Says the lady who wasn’t with Buffy the last time she drove.”

“Hey! I’ll have you know that was a one-time thing. I’m a thousand times better now,” saying this Buffy took the car out of park, put it reverse, hit the gas and promptly mashed the rear bumper of their vehicle into the concrete bridge. Luckily the force wasn’t great to trigger the air bags to deploy. Instead there was simply silence inside the car as Buffy looked embarrassed and Willow gulped and glanced back at Xander. For his part Xander simply sighed in resignation

“I warned you. But does anybody listens to the one-eyed Watcher? No sir”

In the end, Willow replaced Buffy behind the wheel for the remainder of their trip not only to the village but and on the way home. As they pulled into the castle courtyard, Willow parked in a spot near the entrance, which was crowed with Slayers and Dawn. Some of the Slayers saw looked down at the state of the bumper then at Willow as she exited the car. Dawn smirked at them as they caught out. “Buffy talk you into letting her drive again? What did she say this time, Xander?”

Her smirk disappeared as she watched Buffy and Willow help him out of the car and onto his feet. Nodding he leaned against the car as they opened the trunk and began having the other Slayers ferry the supplies into the castle. “Xander? Are you all right what happened? Did you guys get into an accident?”

“No, no accident, I’m pretty sure this guy did it on purpose.”

“What guy?”

Buffy answered her sister, “A big gray demon, the same one Xander and the others encountered earlier.”

“A Gurguiloness” came Satsu’s voice from the doorway where she stood with Tori and Renee. The latter watched Xander intently. The Asian slayer held up a hefty tome. “At least that’s what I think it is going by the entry Tori found in this book.”

Willow frowned, “I’ve heard that name before.”  Satsu nodded, “We think they’re the inspiration behind Gargoyles. They said to be mostly gray, heavily armored and travel in packs. We won’t know for certain until we get a better look at this guy.”

”Well a bit too late for that, your other buddy, Mr. Cyber Knight Guy took care of him.”

Satsu’s facial expression instantly changed. “What? Cyber Knight Guy?”

“Yeah the thing you said came and drove the Gurguiloness off. Well it showed up again and this time it dusted Mr.Gray and butt ugly, literally.”

“So another new player in the game, huh?” Dawn interjected. “That’s all we need.”

“We’ll worry about that later Dawn but here’s something I know you needed.” Xander reached inside a bag, removed something and showed it to the younger Summers sibling. Buffy took a second to read the title first to herself then aloud, “Hanah Montana?” She looked up at her younger sister with a question mark on her face.

Dawn ignored her, “What can I say? It reminds me of home.”

Exposure

By Adrian Tepes

Rating: PG-13 to R.

Summary:  The actions of Champions bring changes across the world and to one man in particular. This is his story.

Disclaimer: All properties, characters, etc… are copyright of their respective owners. I make no profit off this and am writing for my own amusement and enjoyment.

Takes place during the S8 comics and follows/replaces/adds on to the series canon from there.

Author’s Note: Special thanks to everyone who helped me with this story. You know who you are. I couldn’t have done it without you. You may archive just tell me where ie, shoot me a link.

Timeline: Takes place during S8 comics Issue #6, “No Future for you Part I”

Chapter One: Sending out an SOS.

Scotland was a nice place to visit and for the most part, it was even nicer to live there. Especially when you could see the whole countryside in its native beauty from own your personal castle. Except, Xander thought to himself, when you’d seen all the countryside you want to see, whether it was crawling in undead intent on a brutal killing spree or just brushing up on their ballroom dancing.  Currently he wasn’t looking at trees in a forest but rather, he was in one of the small towns that surrounded their Scottish castle home.

He was in said town replenishing the rather considerable amount of crucial supplies that had been expended in defense of their home. And so the Slayers that had accompanied him could shop to their hearts (and his wallet’s) relative content. A glance confirmed the girls, Renee, Satsu, and Tori were still busy looking through the bookracks. He had known the first two a bit longer then Tori but only by a few months. Still in an army of hundreds of Slayers, they had no trouble standing out in his mind.

They were accompanying him in lieu of his normal shopping partners, all of who were busy back at the castle. Obviously Dawn in her current state couldn’t be seen outside in the daylight hours let alone go shopping. Otherwise she would be browsing through the various shelves of old books, forever searching for something to read. Xander once again wondered what had happened that resulted in the younger Summers sister being giant-sized. Buffy was doing the big sister thing and trying to spend more time with her, which was a good idea as far as he was concerned.

Willow was also absent, ostensibly talking with Buffy and examining Dawn’s condition. His best friend had made it in time to defend the castle from Amy’s assault and had almost fallen victim of her and Warren’s revenge. How Warren had survived being flayed alive by then ‘Evil’ Willow was something that still confused him. Buffy and Satsu’s rescue mission only had been a partial success. Willow was back and healthy but the news of being at war with the human race was somewhat of a downer. Willow was the world’s most powerful witch and Buffy had three separate identities to keep her safe but both had been left feeling somewhat powerless and decidedly not safe.

Buffy, he thought, looked like she was taking the General’s last words a bit harder then she initially had told them. The strain of leading and looking after hundreds of newly empowered slayers, of trying to coordinate the remnants of the Old Watcher’s Council, of simply being a good big sister and friend to the people in her life, and then the bombshell news gleaned during the mission to rescue Willow, had taken a lot out of her. Buffy; needed her friends now more then before, but try as she might, she hadn’t been able to fix all of the broken bridges that crashed into the crater of their hometown.  Before Xander could go on an internal rant about Giles disappearing from his Slayer’s side he was interrupted.

“I hate this.”

“Dawn you know we’re doing the best we can.”

Dawn Summers frowned as she lowered her gaze to look at her older sibling. One of them had been brought back from the dead twice while fighting demons and vampires and now led an army of mystically empowered women that spanned the globe. The other was actually an ancient artifact that predated almost everything made human, only recently made into the size of the Jolly Green Giant. Yet despite these differences, they were sisters still. They were there for each other, through the good and the bad.

Dawn’s frown deepened as she spoke, “Yeah I can tell you’re really concerned”.

“Well maybe if you told me a little more about how this happened, we could speed up the research a bit” Buffy’s answer held equal parts sarcasm and sweetness, an indication that they had had this conversation before.

“Give it a rest you two.” Willow’s voice halted the conversation. The redhead witch emerged in the courtyard where Dawn was currently resting. Quietly she walked around Dawn looking the massive eighteen-year-old over for any marks, symbols or tattoos that perhaps had been missed, anything at all that would provide a clue towards how to help her. The precious few moments of silence ended as Buffy greeted her, “Any luck in the library?”

“Nope. There’s nothing in there that resembles Dawn’s condition.”

“Rats,” Dawn responded.

Remembering Amy’s attack, Willow said, “I think being a rat would be a lot worse Dawn”.

“Hmph.” Dawn pouted as she faced out over the castle wall.

Buffy tried again, “Dawn, it’s just that if we knew more about what had happened, we might be able to help you faster.”

Dawn glanced down at the pair, “What difference would it make? We’re all doomed in love anyways.”

“That’s not true.”

“Says you. At least my first time didn’t kill anyone.”

That struck a nerve and Buffy deflated ever so slightly. “Dawn... I didn’t know…” She stopped as she felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder as Willow intervened, “Dawn. That was mean.”

The younger girl slumped down, her gaze coming down to her feet, “It’s just hard you know, going from that to this. I thought it would be different.”

“We all did Dawn” Buffy had found her voice. “I thought maybe I could get something with Ang--, him. I didn’t really think much beyond that.”

There was another period of awkward silence as the three young women pondered each other’s words. A slightly devious idea crept into Dawn’s mind, “Say, Willow.”

The witch heard her name and looked up at the younger Summers sister, “Yes?”

“What was your first time like?”

“What!” Willow felt her cheeks flush red at the question. “Well, you know, you want me to share something that’s private and we already know Buffy’s. Seems only fair you share.”  Willow turned and found Buffy was also gazing at her with a questioning look on her face.  Knowing there wasn’t any way out of this, she gave up.

“All right. My first time was… sweet.”

“Sweet?” The sisters spoke simulatenously.

“Uh huh. Sweet and light and soft. I hadn’t felt so exposed and safe at the same time.”

“So it was Xander” Dawn surmised.

Willow shook her head no “Oz.”

“Oz?” Dawn seemed a bit surprised but then her and Willow’s gaze were drawn to her sister who was now grinning ear to ear.

“A-ha. I knew it!”

“Knew what?” Willow had a bad feeling about this.

“I knew it, before graduation. You and Oz were late and he had this grin on his face… You had the ‘world-ending sex’ with Oz!” Buffy was hopping and dancing as she spoke.

Willow opened her mouth to say something but could only squeak as her face became as red as her hair. Dawn meanwhile had a horrified look on her face. “Oz? He used to give me a ride in that van sometimes. Willow… you didn’t do it in the van did you?  Willow?”

Willow couldn’t answer as Buffy slowed down from her celebrations. Not getting a response, Dawn assumed the worst. “Oh my god you did,… I SAT IN WILLOW JUICE!”

That snapped both older girls from their respective states, turning as one they shouted “DAWN!”

****

A few minutes ago Xander Harris and his trio of accompanying Slayers had been merrily shopping away in the town when they were interrupted. The interruption took the form of the back wall of the shop blasting inward showering the contents and costumers alike with bits of stucco, brick and wood. Reflexes honed in his now destroyed hometown had led Xander to duck down behind a sturdy wooden bookcase. Shielded from the debris, he focused his attention on the source of the blast, the back wall. Or rather what had been the back wall, now stood what he guessed was the responsible party.

The responsible party was a massive, stone gray thing, covered in a sort of armor or reptile-like scales. Paying no mind to the people cowering around it, the creature stomped forward smashing any merchandise that had survived its entrance.

 “Xander!”

He turned and saw that the girls had weathered the blast with no sign of injury or damage. The Sunnydale survivor saw that their eyes had already locked onto the creature headed their way and it didn’t take a Watcher to figure out what was on their minds. And while he wasn’t about to stop them from slaying, there were other priorities.

“Listen, get Mr. Concrete out of here before you get your slay on. There’s a lot of hurt civilians around here and a full-scale fight here would be bad news for them.”

He watched them charge the beast head on, wondering if they heard him at all. Satsu led the way with a flying sidekick aimed squarely at the thing’s body. She hit it solidly, bounced off and came up holding her ankle. Renee followed up, throwing flurry of kicks and punches that connected but left her as the one wincing. Satsu’s voice reached Tori before she could mount her attack. “Stop! You’ll only hurt yourself”.

The third Slayer turned and regarded her fellow Chosen with a surprised look that changed to one of understanding as she saw them holding various bruised and rapidly swelling body parts. “Feels like I punched cement only with no give at all.” Renee held her right hand in her left, trying to massage it as the Slayer healing did its thing.

Xander for his part was only half watching the Slayer trio as he worked his way around the store trying to remain out of sight. So far he had successfully managed to find some of the store’s other customers. Two, he had helped escape the battle. But, the third unfortunately would need, a body bag. Watching the girls’ ineffective attempts to harm the creature, he once again cursed not bringing a weapon or two with himself. Even his beat up axe right now would help in the hands of a Slayer or someone else who knew how to use it.

The Slayers in question were preparing for another attack when an older man, who Xander presumed to be the owner of the shop re-emerged armed with what looked to be a working shotgun. Xander’s suspicions were confirmed when the man aimed and fired at the offending beast. The creature, if it felt or was hurt by the blast didn’t show it. Instead it raised its arms and to Xander’s surprise, a long spike-like appendage shot out and through the mid-section of the man who dropped his gun and slumped down.

”Oh crap.”

While Xander was debating on how to reach the shopkeeper while avoiding the monster, both of them were distracted. The distraction took the form of a surprising steadily shower of concrete bits; wood and even trashed store merchandise pelting the creature. Turning his head, he breathed a sigh of relief. Satsu, Renee and Tori, still nursing their injuries, were busy throwing anything they could get their hands on. Annoyed, the monster focused its attention on the Slayers and started moving towards them. Their objective met, the Slayers began to retreat, luring the monster farther away from the injured civilians and Xander. Satsu paused before joining her comrades and he used the opportunity to reassure her, “Go, I’ll call Buffy and get help”. A shadow of a smile crossed her face before she fled, the creature right on her heels.

Abandoning all pretense of hiding, Xander ran to where the fallen shopkeeper lay. First he checked for a pulse and was relieved to find one. Gently he examined the wounded man, determining that the spike had passed through the body cleanly. Quickly and efficiently, he bandaged the man’s wound, slowing the loss of blood and without further injuring the man.

As he did so, his words to Satsu repeated over and over in his head, ‘call for help’. It wasn’t until he physically looked down at his right hand that he realized what he was doing.

“GAH!”

With a start, Xander dropped his cell-phone. Except it wasn’t his cell phone. It looked nothing like the sleek, blue and black Motorola he carried. Glancing down at himself he realized that not only was his phone missing but also now he was wearing a harness of some sort. Or rather, he was wearing a belt with big empty slot in the middle where the belt buckle would be.

He took one step back and realized that there was more to this belt. Reaching around his back he pulled something off a hook and brought it up to his face. It was a long tube with an obvious opening at one end. It looked like a flashlight but he’d never seen a design like this one. Xander glanced down at the floor where he had dropped what he thought was his phone.  Kneeling he picked it up and examined it in his hands, absent-mindedly replacing the flashlight on the belt. The phone looked like an older model, silver trimmed in black. One section boasted a circle of red and yellow with a strip of green attached. Growing more curious, he flipped it open. Where the exterior led one to believe the phone was several years old, the display led him to believe the opposite. It looked nothing like nothing less than a miniature computer screen. Something like they had back at the castle. Now Xander really had questions. Starting with his sanity at the moment.

‘Call for help’.

Xander became a voyeur in his body, as he watched himself enter a three -digit number into the phone. He didn’t know where he got the number or where he got the idea to enter it into the keypad came from. All he knew was that he did both, flipped the phone closed and was rewarded with a somewhat loud yet smooth voice that said “Standing by” as though it were waiting for something. Vaguely he made the connection between the empty slot on the belt and how the phone seemed to fit. Before he realized it, he was sliding the phone into the slot and that’s when a word he never heard before slipped past his lips.

“Henshin.”

“Complete.”

Xander’s world erupted into crimson light.

“Hey there.

Buffy turned her head ever slightly as Willow took a seat beside her. At some time in the past, the castle’s previous owners had installed some wooden benches on the battlements and that’s where they were now. Watching the day pass slowly by, Buffy reflected on the conversation with Dawn.

“Give her time” Willow seemed to sense what Buffy was thinking about. “She’s still growing up you know.”

“I know, I just w--… I hoped she wouldn’t have done it so fast.”

“You mean like me, Xander and, you did.”

Buffy didn’t answer her right away, “Yeah. Like I did. If Mom was still here…”

“She would be proud Buffy. She always was, even when you weren’t around. She was always saying how proud she was of being of your mother. I think she would be very happy with the job you’ve done caring for Dawn.”

“That’s about the only thing I’ve done right since …she passed away. I couldn’t stay in school. Couldn’t keep the house up. I couldn’t even keep a normal boyfriend.”

Willow ‘s voice broke in, “Buffy you can’t keep dwelling on the back then. You have to live in the now present. You don’t have to worry about studying for midterms, earning a steady paycheck. You’ll find someone, I know you will.”

“Ya think?”

“Of course, the whole world is out there waiting to get to know who Buffy Summers really is. Your horizons have been so broadened that I’m so not making a dent in what you’re really worried about, huh?”

“Does it ever stop? You know, the hurting from… them.”

Willow looked down, her small hands held within them great power, but now they were shaking as hard as she was. “I don’t think so. I still think about Tara and dream about her.”

Buffy noted that she hadn’t said anything about Oz but maybe she had reason not to. He was as far as everyone knew, alive albeit dropped off the radar map by choice. Her own memories of Angel warred with those of Spike. Twice she had dared to love an almost impossible love and paid dearly for it.  Then again, as she studied Willow’s face, at least Angel was still alive. Maybe Spike was as well though she dared not hope for that.

The pair lapsed into silence, both girls trying to figure out if either had been better off in the romance department and why. Each alternating thinking the other was better off than they were.

Outside, the slayer’s struggle with their as yet unknown opponent was not going well. Not well at all, Satsu groused. The demon was definitely the strongest she had encountered thus far as in her career as a slayer. The same type of armor that largely encompassed its body covered the monster’s face. Armor-like plating was also present around its hands and feet, rendering them nearly as well protected. She flashed briefly back to her first meeting with Buffy, then with Xander telling the group, that everything had eyes, heart and head. ‘When in doubt’, he said, ‘ignore everything else and go for those weak spots’. The dull ache in her ankle snapped her attention back to the present.

“Shit”.

Ignoring the pain she circled the beast aware that Renee and Tori were doing likewise. Even 100% healthy and armed to the teeth, taking this guy down would have been a tall order for Satsu. In Renee’s and her injured states, she didn’t have the slightest idea about how to handle this even with Tori’s help.

So her reaction to seeing something strike and stagger the rampaging monster was one of complete surprise. Going by the reactions of her fellow slayers, they were equally surprised. The new arrival blocked a retaliatory strike by the fiend than sent it sprawling with a boot to the midsection. Satsu focused all of her attention on the newcomer as it turned to regard them. The figure was masculine and was roughly the same size as the demon but that’s all they had in common. He was mostly black save for the red and silver armor on its torso and shoulders. Silver bands were also present at the wrists and elbows of its arms. A rather imposing belt also silver in color was wrapped around its waist with various items hanging off of it. But it was the head that drew most of her attention. A helmet dominated with two huge yellow ‘eyes’.

Satsu had never seen anything like it in her life, pre or post slayer. She watched as it turned to confront the monster with calmness in its step. The beast had scrambled to its feet and charged, intent on pounding the newcomer into the ground. The unknown silver-clad figure swiftly sidestepped the charge, deflected the otherwise wild swing and connected with a right cross to where the demon’s jaw would have been, effectively stunning it. He then followed with a flurry of punches aimed at the monster’s chest and head, staggering it further and forcing it back off. Without missing a beat, the new arrival grabbed something from around his waist, and aimed a steady stream of yellow energy at the creature.

Staggering and smoking, the creature studied the figure that had harmed it so greatly in such a short amount of time and then took off running.

The newcomer seemed content to watch it flee before returning its attention to the trio of slayers that had witnessed its debut. Silently the three exchanged looks, Tori’s feet were already shifting to confront their erstwhile savior as she turned around and saw nothing. She quickly scanned the whole area, mindful that the others were doing so as well. Both the monster and the mysterious figure in black had disappeared. Her confusion gave way to annoyance rapidly at not being able detect any sign from either of them.

“Oh my god, Xander!”

Renee’s voice broke through Tori’s focus as she remembered the fourth member of their party.

Quickly she moved to help Satsu as they followed Renee back to the remains of the store. Inside they found Xander standing by himself, in control of this battlefield as he was at their Scottish home.

He regarded the girls’ physical state, taking into account the injuries to two of them. “Any luck?”

“Nope, got away.” Satsu’s voice was laced with frustration and the smallest traces of a Slayer in pain.

“Well nothing more we can do. Emergency people are on their way so I think we should disappear before we have to answer some uncomfortable questions.”

The slayers nodded Xander tossed the keys to Tori as he moved to help Satsu with her injury and instructed Tori to retrieve their car.

End Chapter One.

While you're getting all worked up about blaming the Bush Administration for the Stimulus payment plan flop as evidenced by your '8 years' crack.

You MIGHT want to actually READ The Text of the bill itself, found HERE:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-5140

Of note, the Date is '3rd of January, 2008". That's earlier THIS Year, NOT the previous 8, THIS YEAR.

And of note, the bill's sponsor is...

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA).

Now you see I made that text, BOLD and LARGER then normal just so you could read...

That a HOUSE DEMOCRAT, no the SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE, who is a DEMOCRAT, has been since the Democrats took back the house in 2006, is the one the who Sponsored THIS bill, which was signed into law by the President.

In other words, Lizbeth, once again the party YOU support, the one YOU are voting for, is the one that screwed YOU. Not the Republicans. Not the President of the United States, George Bush. But the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.

In fact here's a voting breakdown of how Congress voted:

House: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2008-25

Senate:  http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=s2008-10

In the house a Whopping 10, Yes TEN Democrats voted against this bill compared to 25 Republicans who voted no. In the Senate, No Democrats voted against this bill.

Now while you're busy raging against the machine over there, Please in mind:
-The Machine restricts your freedoms or takes them away entirely.
-The Machine is taking away your money by going into your wallet.
-The Machine is planning on doing more of the above in the future.
-You unfailingly and without flinching support the machine in all of it's moves.

Thanks for playing.

I figured I might as well share a little more information about myself.

I made this live journal account to as I said before have access to certain LJ only resources and options. This will not be like my Myspace page which I also have to update at some point. And to that end I am going to avoid and ban all political talk/posts on this account and refrain from doing so on other people's LJ in the future.  

Not because I'm afraid of being made an ass of. I fuck up all the time in my life, my job and other things as well. Screwing up online is just another fuck-up for me.

So this will be my first, my last and my remotely post on this account. Those of you seeking any further posts will have to search for my myspace account.

My thoughts politically reflect my current status in life. 

I presently work as a truck driver, which pays little, offers decent benefits and little opportunity or encouragement to advance further in its ranks. I have worked this job for several years now, currently while suffering a severely strained back that required physical therapy so that when I sneezed I wasn't hit with pain the likes of which I have rarely experienced. As you can tell, I work this job not for it's obvious features but so I can pursue my academic studies where I hope to major and degrees in writing, history and perhaps even science should it strike me.

Yet while I presently work in a field that is strongly Democratic in voting (that of low income) and will hopefully work in a field that is decidedly slanted towards Modern Liberalism, I am decidedly a big time or major conservative as a voter and in political thought. I think smaller government is the answer, not bigger. I don't think national health care will solve any problems and indeed may create even more massive ones, for example. 

I look not to to the political dogmas of my party for reason to think this way but to the real world examples and failures. Such as Europe and Canada which do have national health-care yet have solved nothing. Indeed in many cases, the sick can't get to a doctor for questionable reasons and in the former's case, it's simply too expense or the quality of their national health care stinks (as evidenced by France where more then 70% of the population has both public and private health care).

I look to the educational system in this country which has failed on an epic scale and whose shortcomings will not ever be truly seen or measured. A system that has increased steadily in its existence in funding, scope and size, yet the answer to all of it's problems seems to be, "Give them more money, increase the funding, teachers should be paid more"..

And I don't understand why anyone would give them money to spend.

I think Gays and Lesbians should have equal right to all but at the cost of normal heterosexual people and their rights. I don't understand how a person can say with a straight face they will be beloved by all when human nature alone tells us that will never happen.

Right now though, I'm afraid. I fear for others beyond my immediate life and surroundings. I especially fear for those who curse my existence and who have cursed me on this or any other day. Not because I'm a cowardly person whose nature is to flee in the face of any kind of danger. But because even now, as confused and perhaps suspect in both intelligence to the point of being ignorant and in wisdom to where I am quite capable of forgetting directions to some place I have been hundreds of times,  I fear that I am right. And that a day will come when those otherwise antagonistic or perhaps people in opposition to me, my beliefs and others like me, those people will lose all that is precious to them. Not through action or inaction of me or those who share my thoughts or way of reasoning. But because they will essentially invited in their killers, shown them their wealth, shared with them their knowledge and then be surprised when their eventually murders plunge their knives (metaphorical or otherwise) into their hearts with a smile on their face and a song on their lips.


I've sat and thought what makes me, me. I analyze and over-analyze everything from my interests in sports, to my favorite TV shows and games. Yet for the life of me, not only do I loathe mathematics, I actually dread the mere mention of it as a subject. I find people in all their variety interesting to study but I'm not at all what one would call a 'people person'. On my best days, I write essays detailing otherwise obscure subjects but I have little chance or ability to make hamburger helper without burning my kitchen down.

Though I am confused, frequently wrong, often idiotic, I remain firm in what I believe in and in myself. Perhaps though the latter will never eclipse the former or even come close.

Maybe, it is enough for me.