Wanted: A Werewolf and a Superman by Frau Hunter Ash

Disclaimer: The characters and show all belong to Joss Whedon, Fox, Mutant Enemy, Kuzui, and God only knows who else. The X-files characters and show all belong to Chris Carter, Fox and possibly others. No copyright infringement was intended and suing me will not make you any money! The storyline, however, is the sole property of the author. This story cannot be sold or used for profit in any way. Copies of this story may be made for private use only and must include all disclaimers and copyright notices.

Summary: It's a full moon, Willow is a werewolf and there's an earthquake.

Major Rydell watched the lab technicians and the red-head as they focused on the equipment and computers in front of them, all of them lost in their work and ignoring the Major and the chained Riley Finn.

"Damnit, that's not the frequency," one of the scientists complained and threw a small screwdriver down on the table. It was almost noon and they had started their work at 7a.m. Everyone was getting a little frustrated.

"Look, guys," Willow said, "I suggest we get food and some caffeine and continue this in about 45 minutes. There's a fast food place close by."

"Okay, just don't let Leonard drive," Jerry Slavinski grinned. "He hasn't been out of a lab in twelve years. He probably couldn't remember how to start a car."

"I'm driving!" Willow jumped in before the three government scientists could start in on each other again. In a way they reminded her a lot of Tulsa and the other computer geeks she had worked with in Los Angeles, the main difference was they had shorter hair.

Major Rydell growled to himself. He didn't like the way the techs accepted the young woman as one of their own once she showed them she knew what she was doing around computers. They had been in absolute awe when she had worked some magick in front of them to compensate for not knowing some of the scientific end of the chips they were working on. Rydell hated his assignment and wanted nothing more than to end Adam's reign of terror and be assigned somewhere else. After all the set backs suffered by the Initiative, he just wanted out of Sunnydale.

Major Rydell had a feeling that his next posting would be somewhere in extreme northern Alaska or Antarctica after everything that had gone wrong under his command. Now his techs were making friendly with HSTs.

<Vampires, werewolves, and magick,> he cursed under his breath, he hated the Slayer and her friends. <She was supposed to be killing them, damnit, not shacking up with them! Goddamn perverts! Werewolf witch perverts!>

Willow watched the scowl on Major Rydell's face deepen as he watched her working with his men and felt a stab of fear. She had flashes of memory of the Major looking down at her with such disgust that she had fought back tears. Being restrained to a gurney with only a hospital gown on didn't help her feelings of self-confidence either. She remembered him ordering some of the "tests" that the Initiative scientists had put her through. The more painful ones.

Willow had a feeling that was one part of his job that Major Rydell enjoyed. Her wolf senses had taken in the scent of his excitement as she screamed silently from the electric shocks, her body arching with every muscle in her body contracting and expanded.

Willow fought the rushing feeling that was threatening to overcome her. So far the other techs hadn't noticed her clammy skin, rapid breath and frightened eyes but Rydell had. Willow whimpered slightly in her throat when she looked up at the top of the stairs and saw his eyes narrow as he watched her. He smiled a cold and brutal smile and the witch knew that he was very aware of her fear.

Rydell almost managed to squeak as something grabbed him from behind, pinching his neck painfully and sending him to his knees, unable to move and unable to speak.

The techs, starting to head up the stairs for lunch, froze as they took in the sight of their commanding officer kneeling in front of the small blonde they called the Slayer.

"Listen up, Maple Leaf," Buffy growled in Rydell's ear. "You leave Willow and the guys down here alone. I catch you anywhere near her and I'll rip your tongue out. Or your eyes, I haven't decided which. Giles says we need you to control your men and lead the attack so I'm not going to put you in the hospital yet. If you're a good boy and don't look at or say anything to my friends, I may forget that you enjoyed hurting her. Got that?"

Rydell gritted his teeth and resisted giving in to the small girl behind him. <Damnit! She wasn't even 21 yet!> The pinch on his nerves and muscles tightened and he realized he was learning about Slayer strength firsthand. He finally nodded and dropped his eyes from the red-head.

Buffy let him go and stepped back a foot. "Go have some lunch with Giles and Wesley," she ordered the Major and pulled him to his feet roughly. She spun him around and shoved him out the doorway to the basement without a glance back.

The Slayer smiled down at her lover, "Come on, Wills, let's take your geek friends to lunch," she suggested.

Willow knew that Buffy was hoping to draw her out of her panic attack and was grateful but couldn't seem to get her feet to move. The hacker closed her eyes with a whimper and grabbed the table for support as memories began flooding her brain, driving everything out except the images and feelings of terror. Willow remembered being wheeled from one room to another, watching the overhead lights with fear, always wondering what they were going to do next. Extreme cold, extreme heat, shocks, intentional pain, blaring sound and light….

"Wills," Buffy spoke softly. She had rushed down the stairs, past the shocked looks of the scientific geeks and approached Willow slowly. She could see the pain on Willow's face and knew her lover was caught in a whirlpool of a flashback.

"Easy, love," Buffy called back to her. "Flashback, a really bad one," Buffy explained softly as Tara ran down the stairs.

"Wills, open your eyes, honey," Buffy urged. "Come on, baby, you're home and you're safe."

Buffy and Tara managed to catch the red-head as her breathing sped into hyperventilation and Willow became too dizzy to stand up.

Slayer and Witch looked up at the concerned faces of the three techs as they rushed back down the stairs.

"It's okay, guys," Buffy said calmly as Tara sat down on the floor, resting Willow's head in her lap. "We were told this might happen. It's a panic attack; she'll be fine in a few minutes."

"Panic attack," Leonard repeated thoughtfully. "What set it off? Did we do anything?"

"No, Willow just has some really b-bad memories c-concerning your boss," Tara said as she stroked the hair from Willow's head.

"Memories?" Jerry said softly. "Oh my God. I'm sorry, guys. Rydell never told us that she had been taken down."

"He told us that she was a witch and a werewolf but he didn't tell us that she was once in Initiative hands," Leonard explained.

"Does it make a difference?" Buffy asked bitterly. "You probably wouldn't have even noticed her face, would you? Just another body, another demon to experiment on."

All three men blushed bright red at the Slayer's words and everyone glared at each other as Willow's breathing began to slow down in her unconscious state.

"Alright," Jerry finally nodded. "You're right. I never thought of Hostiles as humans. First step in science and demonology, forget the thing you're cutting up has feelings or a history."

"Jerry, man, that is a little harsh!" Ramon protested. "We were making great advances in the research."

"Research?" Buffy's voice almost cracked with the anger washing over her. "Have you ever gone through those tests that you put Hostiles through?" she demanded.

"So they w-were okay when the Nazis used them in the c-concentration camps because the Jews w-weren't human?" Tara demanded.

"What's so different about it?" Buffy asked wearily. "Look at her, you bastard. She's a 20 year old female college student. A computer geek like you, someone that was picked on every day in school because she was smart and not popular. A girl that was so battered by her fellow students that she still doesn't believe that she's incredibly beautiful and that anyone would want her."

"She's a werewolf, don't try and tell me that's a normal college student!" Ramon snapped.

"No, she's a werewolf because she was brave enough to take the curse from me onto herself," Buffy said, silently cursing the tears trying to overflow her eyes. "How does it make you feel to watch a beautiful young woman, not even old enough to drink yet, scream in pain as you record some numbers on a chart?"

"Fuck you," Ramon growled. "Demons, vampires and werewolves are different parts of the evolutional tree. To reach superiority, man left Cro-Magnon man behind and killed him when necessary. This is no different."

"Yeah, I've read the same arguments about Jews, Blacks, Latinos, Gays, pagans, and Muslims. Find a new line, you fucking Nazi," Buffy growled, holding Willow's hand gently.

"I'm outta here," Ramon announced. "I don't need this from you freaks. You guys coming?"

Jerry and Leonard looked at each other for a moment and glanced down at their shoes.

"I don't think things are always so black and white," Jerry said thoughtfully. "We've met a vampire with a soul, another vampire who was so pure in life that his soul refused to leave and let the demon keep control. We have two witches in front of us, and they seem to get things done according to the reports and one is also a werewolf. So what?"

"Ten minutes ago you were best friends with the girl because she was one of us, a computer geek. How were your high school years, nerd?" Jerry demanded.

"Fine, see how you like unemployment when we get back to base," Ramon threatened and stomped up the stairs.

Jerry looked over at Leonard and shrugged. "Always wanted to start my own company out of my parent's garage, how about you?"

"I always wanted to start a computer program company out of your parent's garage," Leonard repeated with a nod of his head and Buffy and Tara smiled for the first time in an hour.

"We're sorry about Ramon," Jerry said softly. "He's always been an ass. Leonard and I are going to go grab some lunch, want us to bring you back stuff?"

"Yeah, burgers and fries would be good," Buffy nodded, grateful for their understanding.

"If this keeps up we'll have to buy a mansion to house everyone who helps us," Buffy smiled as Tara began to relax.

Both Witch and Slayer waited, hoping their lover wasn't too mentally distraught.

Tara grinned as she watched from the top of the cellar stairs. After a few awkward moments when the techs returned with lunch, everything had settled back into a comfortable working relationship, minus Ramon.

The blonde witch was so pleased, she knew that Willow was stronger than some people gave the red-head credit for but the panic attack had scared Tara. Buffy told her about Major Rydell's intimidation of their lover and how it triggered the panic attack. Tara had been afraid that Willow would slip back into her non-communicative shell. Instead, the hacker had apologized for the attack and the two techs had blushed and brushed it off.

As they sat down to lunch, with a protective Buffy sitting next to Willow and Tara keeping an eye on the gagged and chained Riley, the computer techs/scientist and hacker launched into a discussion of the work they were attempting and how the various chips they put in "hostiles" worked.

After a few minutes, Buffy smiled and kissed Willow's cheek and headed back upstairs, relieved that Willow was back into "research mode," the panic attack forgotten by the techs and hacker for the moment.

Tara fed Riley a hamburger, fries and coke while Willow, Jerry and Leonard discussed the chip that currently controlled the soldier.

"Is part of your mind still your own?" Tara suddenly asked and Riley's eyes brightened and he blinked once, very slowly.

"If we f-free you, will you h-help us?" Tara noticed the conversation at the work tables had stopped and noticed Willow and the techs watching and listening.

"Okay, I think you're t-telling the t-truth," Tara said softly. "I want you t-to know this…I know you h-hurt her, I know you w-were there. You get out of t-this alive, you leave town and n-never go n-near Willow or Buffy again. If not, I'll k-kill you myself. Agreed?"

"Good," and looked over to see Willow grinning at her as Jerry and Leonard turned back to the problem of over-riding the chip.

"Is being a jerk a learned process the Army teaches you or does it come naturally?" Giles demanded as Major Rydell sat back down at the kitchen table, a fresh cup of coffee in hand.

"Some of it is natural, some is surviving 17 years in the Army working for every damned secret government group you could ever think of," Rydell answered.

Buffy, grabbing a coke from the refrigerator turned with a growl and Rydell was smart enough to ignore the Slayer.

"Can you restrain yourself while working with my kids?" Giles asked wearily. "We're sending people into to die tonight; I would think that requires our attention more than your petty differences with Willow and our vampires."

"I don't consider harboring a werewolf and two vampires 'petty differences,'" Rydell countered.

"Major, I am trying to understand your point of view," she said slowly. "I learned that my daughter is a Slayer, the Slayer. I've seen vampires, demons, zombies, androids, ghosts, and possessed friends. I've also come to reluctantly trust a couple of those who we would normally consider an enemy."

"And what happens when the werewolf bites your daughter during sex or gets out and kills someone?" he demanded.

Joyce instantly sought Buffy's eyes and wasn't surprised when the Slayer turned around, not letting Major Rydell see her eyes filling with tears. Giles knew that Joyce certainly wasn't going to tell the Army officer that Willow had gotten out and killed someone.

It didn't help ease everyone's fear that the victim had been a werewolf who had just killed his girlfriend though.

"I trust my daughter to practice safer sex in all matters, Major," Joyce snapped. "I also trust her judgment in her friends."

"Mom!" Buffy squeaked and turned, her face red. "I'm gonna help… I'm gonna help somebody."

"This stupid magick thing you're trying tonight," Rydell began, changing the subject. "What is it supposed to accomplish?"

"It'll increase Buffy's strength and natural Slayer powers," Giles explained, purposefully keeping it vague though.

"We know that stun guns don't work against him, he has a built in machine gun in his arm now, the other one has a spike and regular bullets won't penetrate his skin. You expect me to believe and trust that little girl can do damage against this thing?"

"Well, I doubt anything I can say would change your mind about Buffy's skills, talents, and determination," Giles said slowly. "I also know that you won't believe that she has saved the world numerous times, facing down demons, mouths of Hell opening and Master Vampires. Just consider her your 'point man' that probably won't make it out of the anticipated battle."

"She's the best chance we've got," Giles explained, his eyes softening. "Buffy stands a better chance than any of his soldiers. If we leave Adam to his own, he'll begin manufacturing a race of demon cyborgs that could cause serious damage before being nuked into oblivion and taking the state with them."

"I just wish you weren't involved tonight, Joyce," he said softly, ignoring the military officer.

"I'm more than willing to do my part, Rupert," Joyce said firmly. "Anything to help Buffy, the kids and the world."

Tara wrapped her arms around Willow and felt the young woman's tense body begin to relax.

The blonde witch looked up with an amused expression as Jerry and Leonard argued about the placement of some part in a transmitter or something. Tara leaned over and lightly nuzzled Willow's neck.

"I think we might be close," Willow said wearily. The hacker witch and techs were working frantically to find a way to break Adam's control over Riley before dusk. "How is it going with the ritual?"

"Going well, all the ingredients were at the Magic Box and they're fresh," Tara smiled as Willow leaned back in her arms. "You doing okay with the Initiative techs?"

"Yeah, we speak the same language and they forget I'm a werewolf three nights a month."

"They probably wouldn't even notice me changing into a werewolf in the same room if there's a computer in front of them," Willow smile widened.

"We've got about two hours to sundown. The Major and Giles wants everyone in place by then," Tara said.

"I think we'll have it," Willow nodded, watching the techs connecting some circuits.

"Eureka!" Leonard shouted and pointed. The two girls looked over and found Riley no longer in the upright position he had been in all night and day, now he was slumped over and shaking his head.

"Can we intercept Adam's commands so we know what he wants Riley to do?" Willow asked thoughtfully.

"Well, he's just another burned out soldier right now," Willow said slowly. "Not that it's your fault, Riley, just that you've been under a lot of stress and were a jerk to start with…"

"Sorry," Willow muttered with a blush. "My idea is to send him back to Adam, maybe beaten up a little bit or something and then during the battle we can use the new gizmo to release him from Adam's control."

Everyone turned to see Buffy at the top of the cellar stairs with a grin that didn't cheer Riley up at all.

"I get it," Jerry nodded enthusiastically. "We intercept Adam's signal and we order Riley to do whatever Adam was thinking and then when it's time, we can order Finn to turn on the demon."

"Adam won't believe that you had me and just let me go," Riley protested with a frown.

"Right," Buffy agreed as she walked down the stairs. "So we need to convince him that you got caught and have been hiding or that you escaped."

Riley blinked as his jaw muscles twitched nervously. He stood up and looked down at the Slayer and began to worry when he didn't see any sympathy in her face for her former boyfriend.

"I'd go for he got caught and ended up in jail until this afternoon," Willow suggested and Buffy nodded.

"Tara, go get Giles and Major Maple-Leaf down here," Buffy suggested and the blonde witch quickly dashed up the stairs.

In moments, all three returned as Tara explained the transmitter the techs and Willow had constructed to over-ride Adam's control of Riley.

"Sir, you're not going to let them beat me up, are you?" Riley demanded from the officer.

"Shut up, Finn," Major Rydell snapped. "You'll do whatever we need you to do. I'm not forgetting that you're the one who revealed our operation to the Slayer and brought her and her loser friends into the fold. Nor am I forgetting it was your whacked out mother that created this freak!"

"Mother?" Buffy whispered and Riley's head dropped and he wouldn't meet her eyes. "Walsh was your mother?"

"And we are so not losers!" Willow protested with a sullen expression. "I seem to remember Buffy and the others whipping Initiative ass a few times."

Major Rydell glared and then shifted his eyes when he caught Buffy's eyes narrowing and remembered her threat.

"Listen, are you sure this will work?" Giles demanded, looking at Riley like he was an interesting test subject.

Jerry grinned and punched on a small keyboard and Riley snapped to attention, his eyes blank once again. The computer tech typed another sentence and Riley lifted his left knee and held it there. Another sentence and the foot lowered to the ground once more.

"Excellent, I suggest having him tell Adam he was caught setting the bombs and spent the morning in jail," Giles said easily. "And since Buffy isn't known for her patience, some bruises are in order."

"I understand," Giles muttered and took off his glasses, beginning to clean them. "Everyone go and get ready for the battle. Willow and Tara with the spell things, the techs with their radio control thing and Buffy with the Major to join the troops."

"Don't worry; once Jerry programs Riley to tell Adam what we want, I'm going to drive Riley to the caves."

"Oh, don't worry," Giles said, lifting his eyes to his female charges and they suddenly had the feeling they weren't looking at Giles the ex-Watcher, but at Ripper, worker of questionable magick and ethics. "The bruises will be there."

"Don't worry, luv," Giles accent was a little thicker and only the women seemed to notice as Major Rydell was talking with Jerry and Leonard about the control device. He grinned from his wheelchair at the top of the stairs. "It'll be fine."

Buffy reluctantly led Tara and Willow upstairs with Rydell and the techs behind them.

Willow glanced over as Giles directed Joyce and Xander in finishing the preparations for the circle needed for the ritual and turned back to join in the hug between Buffy and Tara.

"Giles released Riley?" Willow questioned, her head resting on Buffy's shoulder.

"Yeah, complete with a knife wound in one shoulder and plenty of bruises," Buffy said softly and with a frown.

Tara, not quite sure what they were talking about, made a mental note to ask them later as Buffy straightened up in the hug, breaking it reluctantly.

Major Rydell barely kept the contempt for the young women off his face as he approached them.

"There's movement in the caves, scouts report that the demons, vampires and werewolves are about to exit," he said.

"Right, we take them out, during the battle I cruise inside with one of your strike teams and take out Adam," Buffy repeated the plan. "Sounds simple, lets do it."

"Don't you need weapons?" Major Rydell frowned. He truly didn't care if the Slayer lived or not but figured if she was half as good as Initiative reports indicated, then she might be able to help. <Only if she didn't get herself killed in the first five minutes, though,> he thought angrily.

Buffy grabbed Tara and kissed her for several long moments and then repeated the embrace with Willow.

"Take care of each other," she said softly and trotted away before they could reply.

"Good observation, love," Willow smiled and Tara's heart leapt to her throat. It was a smile she recognized from the old Willow. The one before Oz, before the full moon and before the Initiative.

Willow reached out for the blonde witch's hand as they trotted towards the magick circle and Xander "cut" a "doorway" for them in the already formed circle.

Adam listened to the reports from his operatives, demons who were intelligent enough to work walkie talkies and the few humans he had allowed to join his forces. After Riley had almost crawled back to the caves, Adam had been in a rage and one human and a demon had died for it.

Now Riley looked better after his wounds and bruises had been attended to and he had been fed.

Adam had listened intently as Riley told the cyborg/demon hybrid of being caught by Buffy and Xander, apparently having returned to the Summers' home for research books and fighting with Riley and overpowering him.

Riley's tale included being handcuffed and chained by the Scooby gang but eventually picking the handcuff lock and escaping while they were upstairs planning on how to fight Adam and the demons.

Adam carefully took in the abrasions and bruises around Riley's wrists and the bruises covering his face and arms and nodded, satisfied.

"So the Slayer and her friends plan against me," Adam said thoughtfully. "Programmed response, pre-emptive strike is in order. Officers, take your troops and surround the Summers' house. Destroy anything inside and level the place."

"What do you think, Riley?" Adam asked the soldier as he sat staring straight ahead. "Of course, you can't respond unless I want you to."

Adam ignored the sounds of the demons, vampires, werewolves and few humans moving through the main tunnel to the outside. Howls, cries and shouts filled the air.

"Too bad you aren't put together more efficiently. Did you know one of the first humans I met was a boy?" the creature asked the non-responsive young man sitting in front of him. "I took him apart, slowly and very carefully. I determined how he worked and it was enlightening. The human body is really quite fragile when compared to other creatures and yet because of the dexterity of the fingers and the advance brains, humans are in control."

"I intend to correct the sudden stoppage of evolution," Adam promised. "I will create a race that will be the next step in the process. The speed and durability of the demons, the mainframe of the humans and the technology of the computer age. Our brothers and sisters will rule the world."

Adam frowned as the sounds changed. The screams became higher, almost shrill and there were new sounds added. Gunfire and small explosions.

"Soldiers were waiting outside for us, ambushed us two hundred yards in the clearing," one shouted.

The first demon to turn and follow Adam's orders never saw the sword slicing through the air before his head left where shoulders would have been on a human.

"Slayer," Adam growled and Riley stood up in response, his eyes still blank. "Walsh had plans for you but you went against them."

"Sorry, even the Watcher Council learned that I'm not one to jump through hoops on command. I've never been really one to toe the line."

Another demon came up behind Buffy to join in the fight. He grabbed Buffy's arms, pinning them to her sides as the other demon snarled and reached for her throat with his claws out.

Buffy, leaning into the demon behind her, brought both feet up into the face of the demon attacking her, sending the creature back into Adam and Riley, knocking all three of them down. The Slayer snapped her head backwards and was quite pleased to hear the demon howling in pain as he released her arms.

She spun around with a backhand blow that sent him flying back into the main tunnel.

"Glad to see you have a nose I can break," she quipped and turned to find Adam and Riley gone and the other demon a puddle of ash.

Buffy frowned and picked up her sword, following down the only other tunnel entrance in the room.

Willow and Tara closed their eyes and began breathing deeply. Xander quickly grabbed Tara and Joyce's hands on either side of him and followed. Giles nodded at his fiancé and both grabbed hands as well, completing the circle.

Having already formed the circle, most of the footwork had been done before the battle had even started and Willow was grateful. Having to form a circle with the screams, shouts, and shots going off all around them would have been difficult. Doing the main body of the spell would be hard enough without the distractions.

Everyone in the circle trusted the skills and dedication of Angel, Wesley, Cordelia, Anya, Carson and Brad Santiago patrolling around them, protecting those in the circle. They began to focus on the task at hand.

Willow began chanting. "The power of the Slayer and all who yield it. Last to ancient first, we invoke thee. Grant us thy domain and primal strength. Accept us in the power we possess. Make us mind and heart and spirit joy. Let the hand encompass us. Do thy will."

"Goddesses and Gods of Justice and Light, heed our prayers and grant us our wishes," Tara intoned.

"Beings of Light and Power, hear our prayers and lend us your righteousness," Giles said firmly.

"Elements of Air, Water, Fire, Earth and Spirit, combine your powers to us," Xander said.

Willow, dropping her hands from Tara and Giles, reached down to the cards in front of her and handed one to Xander as the others released hands.

"Animus, the Heart, the Spirit is our brother," she said softly as he accepted the card.

Buffy ducked as a demon tried to ambush her with a vicious swipe of his claws and rammed her fists into his ribs and felt some of her own bones break. As she fought against the pain and blocked another swipe from him, she frowned. She normally didn't get broken bones from hitting something. The Slayer was known for her strength and toughness.

"Stakes definitely wouldn't work on you, would they?" she muttered as her sword barely cut through a few layers of the demon's skin across his chest. He angrily shook off the minor cut and backhanded her into a stone wall.

The demon grabbed her and flipped her over onto her back onto the stone floor. Before he could grab her again, Buffy flipped up onto her feet and snatched the sword up. With one swipe she cut through several cords leading from a box on the wall and the place went dark.

"We enjoin that we may inhabit the vessel - the hand, daughter of Sineya…first of one, the first of many…" Willow chanted as everyone held hands again.

Joyce cried out at the sudden charge of electricity surrounding them and opened her eyes. She felt Xander and Giles tighten their grip on her hands and resisted pulling away as she took in the sight of the glow that filled the inside of the circle.

The Slayer's mother could feel the energy they were harnessing and containing and realized with a touch of fear of what kind of power Willow and Tara were capable of.

Buffy ran into a larger room in the tunnel complex and was jumped by four demons instantly. One of the demons, a cyborg, threw the Slayer onto a table and the others began struggling with Buffy, trying to get restraints around her hands and feet.

The Slayer looked up and saw Adam grinning at her and an emotionless Riley, their faces looking strangely eerie in the emergency lighting.

Buffy smacked one in the nose and pressed a button on what appeared to be a pager.

"Is this all you have, Slayer?" Adam asked as the demons continued to struggle with Buffy.

Adam turned, surprise on his face, as Riley rammed a knife deep into his stomach and then rushed past Adam and quickly hit two of the demons, knocking one out. As he began to fight with the other one, Buffy quickly snapped a leg and arm out and shook the other two off her and rolled off the table.

"Damn this place, doesn't it ever end?" Buffy complained. "I need to go after him."

"Go, I'm fine now, that way leads out," Riley growled, grabbing up an axe from the floor and put himself between the Slayer and the demons. Buffy watched as the soldier lashed out and a demon arm went flying.

The Slayer ran down the tunnel after the cyborg hybrid while howls of pain and rage filled the room behind her.

When Buffy emerged into the clean night air, she was horrified at the scene that awaited her. It was like something out of Dante's Hell only with modern weapons. Men and demons were everywhere, mostly dead or dying. Buffy's eyebrows furrowed as she watched a werewolf slowly ripping a soldier's chest open with his claws. The young woman realized the soldier had been part of Riley's strike team and she couldn't remember his name. Buffy shook her head and wondered if all the violence was getting to her, if she was becoming immune.

The place was well lit with spotlights and flares and the clearing looked like something out of a bad sci-fi movie with overdone lighting. The blood seemed too red and the bodies were too many to be real. One soldier was sitting on the chest of a huge red demon and was repeatedly ramming a knife into the chest and head of the creature as green blood covered the young man. His eyes had gone manic and he kept screaming every time he drove the knife in.

"Fall back to the tree line!" Rydell was shouting as he fired a shotgun in the face of a werewolf. "Protect the flank!"

Buffy spotted Adam standing at the edge of the tree-line, watching the horror in front of him. He glanced back and smiled at the small female.

"Good, I'm about to give you a lot of it," Buffy growled and charged him, shaking off her stupor over the scene in front of her.

Adam snapped the demon spike out of his forearm and parried Buffy's sword strike. With his other hand he grabbed her wrist and snapped it over, forcing the Slayer to drop the sword. He shot out his hand and punched her hard in the face, sending her flying backwards.

Buffy, rolling with the blow, jumped to her feet and landed a good solid kick in his chest but barely moved him. Moving in for another strike, Buffy found herself at a disadvantage with his height and longer reach as he grabbed her wrist again and flung her into the cliff side.

The Slayer, reacting on instinct more than skill, grabbed his skewer as he tried to impale her. Buffy pulled the large creature closer to her, using his own momentum and snapped the skewer over her knee and elbowed him in the face.

Buffy's eyes widened at the sight of a small firearm of some kind emerging from his other arm.

"We implore thee, admit us, bring us to the vessel, take us now!" Willow cried out.

"No one can match the power in the love of a mother, the love of friends, the love of family, the love of a lover," Joyce shouted.

Buffy cringed behind the boulder where she was being shielded from the steady stream of bullets pinging all around her. One ricocheted off the stone wall and Buffy cried out as it tore into her shoulder.

The Slayer quickly dived out from behind the boulder as the bullets stopped, just in time to avoid Adam landing on top of her. She wasn't quick enough to stop him from kicking her in the ribs, however and she landed hard, clutching her side.

Another kick to her jaw had Buffy seeing stars and spitting blood. The Slayer was down and barely moving.

"You can't last much longer," Adam taunted as he started to bend over to crush the Slayer.

The cyborg/demon/human stopped, a puzzled look on his face, as the Slayer's body jerked and straightened out.

Buffy opened her eyes and Adam frowned at the sight of very orange eyes that held a renewed strength and purpose, the wounds vanished.

"Interesting," Adam commented as the Slayer began speaking in ancient Sumerian. He pointed his gun at the small female in front of him but the bullets fell to the ground a foot away from the Slayer, as if hitting a force field. "Very interesting."

The cyborg hybrid continued to fire and the bullets continued to fall as Buffy held up her hand in a simple shielding gesture.

Adam growled and another device emerged from his arm and a rocket tore out of it, heading for Buffy but at a gesture from her hand, it turned into three birds that flew off into the night. Another gesture and the rocket launcher retreated back into the cyborg, despite his attempts at releasing it again.

Adam howled in rage and charged the Slayer but, instead of finding a wounded and exhausted girl, he found every punch blocked and a kick in the stomach that knocked him to the ground.

"You cannot begin to grasp the source of our power," Buffy and the magick group said together.

As the cyborg regained his feet the small female hit him with an uppercut that sent him flying to the ground again. Buffy grabbed the creature and threw him against the rock face, holding him against the cold surface.

With a determined look in her glowing eyes, Buffy thrust her hand into the cyborg hybrid's stomach as he struggled, her other arm at his throat. The Slayer growled and twisted something inside the creature and then pulled.

"Your power is right here in my hands," Buffy said calmly as the cyborg collapsed.

The Slayer stared at the uranium power pack in her hands. She didn't seem to notice Riley running out of the tunnels and approaching her slowly as the power pack began to levitate out of her hand.

Riley knew it was Buffy's voice speaking some kind of ancient language but he knew it wasn't just Buffy causing the orange eyes and ancient chanting. Suddenly, the power pack disappeared.

Willow fell over against Tara, Xander fell over backwards, Joyce fell forward onto her hands and Giles grabbed his head as the backlash and abrupt flow of energy stopped.

"I believe it did, let me open the circle before we all…" Giles fell back unconscious.

Willow pulled herself upright and grabbed the athame in the center of the circle.

"We thank all those who have helped us in our rite and wish you peace and harmony. Go in peace and with our thanks. Gods and Goddesses, beings of light and elements all, we thank you and dismiss you," she muttered, thrusting the knife into the ground and fell over.

Angel, seeing the glow dissipating at Willow's last words, rushed forward into the circle and quickly checked his friends.

"Are they okay?" Wesley demanded, firing another round of shotgun blasts at a demon getting too close to the circle.

"Yes, energy drain, they didn't have time to ground," Angel said, keeping an eye out for other demons, werewolves, vampires and cyborgs as well.

"Angel, there's Buffy!" Cordelia called and Angel looked where she was pointing and was relieved to see the Slayer rushing towards them with Riley a few steps behind her.

"They'll be fine, they need food and sleep," he explained. "Or they'll wake up in a minute and be so filled with a backlash of energy that they won't come down all night. I don't know which to expect."

"We'll protect them until it's over or they wake up," Angel promised. "You got him?"

"Yeah, we got him," Buffy said as she looked down at her friends, knowing how much they had risked for her. She turned to Riley.

"I'm not forgetting that you were a willing part of this, including kidnapping and tormenting Willow," Buffy growled. "I'd like to take your balls off with my fingernails but right now, I need your help. Organize the soldiers into a strike force, I'll take point."

"Agents Mulder and Scully," a man in a suit began, motioning for the FBI agents to sit down in two chairs placed in front of the long conference table where 15 men in suits and military uniforms sat on one side. Each had a stack of folders in front of them. The lighting was designed to place each face in shadows.

"You have been asked here today because it has come to the attention of this committee that you are aware of a top secret government project," the man continued. "We wish to update you on the disposition of said government project."

"The Initiative," the man said calmly, ignoring Mulder's jab. "It was an experiment. The Initiative represented the government's interests in not only controlling the other worldly menace but harnessing its powers for our own military purposes. The considered opinion of this council is that this experiment has failed."

"When did you reach that conclusion?" Mulder demanded. "Only when one of your experiments broke control?"

"Once the prototype took control of the complex, our soldiers suffered a casualty rate of 60 percent. It was only through the actions of a group of civilian insurrectionists that our losses weren't total. I trust the irony of that is not lost on any of us. Professor Maggie Walsh's vision was brilliant but ultimately unsupportable," the chairman continued.

"The demons cannot be harnessed nor controlled," the chairman said calmly. "It is therefore the recommendation that this project be terminated and all records concerning it expunged. Our soldiers will be debriefed and assigned to strike teams. From now on, they will concentrate only on eliminating threats from the demons, no attempts at study, experimentation or containment will be sanctioned by this Council. Those soldiers unable or unwilling to continue will be debriefed and given the standard confidentiality clause. We will monitor the civilians and the usual measures prepared should they try to go public. I don't believe they will. Will they, Agent Mulder?"

"Come now," the chairman snapped. "You've danced before. What do you and the civilians want?"

"How about I play the music and see if you like the tune?" the chairman taunted. "All records of Sunnydale, the Adam experiment, and those records pertaining to Willow Rosenberg, Elizabeth and Joyce Summers, Tara Maclay, Brad Santiago, Rupert Giles, Alexander Harris and Anya Smyth will be destroyed. We will also offer a contract that no Initiative member will ever move against Willow Rosenberg or Tara Maclay even though Ms. Rosenberg is both a witch and a werewolf and Ms. Maclay a powerful witch. Sunnydale will be off limits to Initiative actions and we'll leave it to your civilians. Can you dance to that tune?"

"You mean when you sabotaged the Initiative computers?" the chairman asked. "No, there's always a file somewhere, another backup, another computer not connected to the main net. In exchange for their silence and yours, the government will only lightly monitor them for awhile until we're satisfied they won't go public and aren't considered a threat."

"And if we try and go public?" Scully asked. "Those experiments were cruel, inhumane, and torturous. I don't care if they were demons or not."

"I understand that you have become friends with one of the hostiles that was experimented on," the chairman said, his tone dismissing her anger. "If you try and go public, well, there are a lot of holes in the desert, I'm told."

"Agent Mulder, you know we could make the entire town of Sunnydale disappear," one of the shadows spoke and Mulder recognized the voice of the Smoking Man.

Special Agent Fox Mulder glanced over at his partner, Special Agent Dana Scully before turning back to the Council.

"Good, consider this matter closed," the chairman announced. "Thank you for coming, Agents."

GrayFox to Redwitch7: the Initiative is dead. Strike teams to fight evil demons only, no captures. You and others are erased from their reports and Sunnydale is off limits. They know that you pulled their chestnuts out of the fire by taking care of their runaway experiment. They promise not to harass you again. Silence on both sides ensures everyone's safety. Take care, Fox.

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Wanted: A Werewolf and a Superman

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