This is well-portrayed. While I am uncertain that Xander (at this point in time) would have shot the Captain (Tony more likely), he would make some serious retaliation efforts. Also, if he didn't want to get the SWC into trouble, he could also have had a portal whisk him away to another part of the world and
'be seen' elsewhere as well. Nice work, but is there a prequel to this story?

Glad you enjoyed the story, despite how depressing that world must be.

And I also consider Xander's actions and attitude in BtVS's Season Two episode, "When She Was bad" to be the best depiction of his character throughout the series. That was when, after the other Scoobies had been kidnapped by the Master's surviving minions, he turned to Buffy and told her, in a calm, emotionless voice, "If they hurt Willow, I'll kill you."

not sure about reestablishing parity but it sounds more like the return volley in a war that Fury's started.

Yep, Fury started this, but Xander is determined that he's going to be the one to finish it.

And he's just demonstrated, in a manner that can't be misunderstood in any way, that he's willing to match the stakes.

Do you think that Fury is going to want to risk seeing how much Xander might decide to *up* the stakes, if given the incentive?

And now the hunt for Xander begins.

Meanwhile, aliens invade and take over the earth because the Advengers are too weak without Stark and Cap.

Would love to see the final confrontation. I can't think of two more determined people in fiction than Fury and Xander.

Thanks for the story.

Tom A.

Glad you enjoyed the story.

If it weren't for the forces he can marshal, I really don't see Fury as being as nearly as implacable and/or determined an enemy as Xander is. Of course, that's my personal opinion.

And I also see, if it ever does come down to a final confrontation, Fury going down in flames, since I can very easily see Xander being willing to condemn himself to Hell if it will ensure that the person he's looking to take down end up there for the rest of eternity.

Dark and interesting however I can't see Xander being willing to kill them even with the loss of his favorite slayers. At least not as long as they were innocent of doing the job and I'm not sure either of them would be willing to let Fury pull their strings to that extent. If Xander were using magical bullets that put them in a suspended sleep that only Willow or the Council can counteract that I could see it happening or even a bullet that disabled the super soldier serum. Still a very interesting idea though.

We obviously have differing views of the Xander Harris character.

I always consider Xander's depiction in Season Two's 'When She Was Bad' to be the definitive portrayal of Xander Harris. In that episode, Xander looked at Buffy and promised her that "If they hurt Willow, I'll kill you.", and he was completely convincing when he said it. Of course, that occurred before Marti (and Joss) decided to destroy the characterizations they'd established of all of the other Scoobies, in order to make vampiric rapists seem heroic

And Stark and Rogers both pretty much danced to whatever tune Fury sang, even if they might quibble about the exact wording of the song he chose, so they're completely responsible for their own actions. Buffy's and Faith's deaths might have been accidental, and not intended to happen, as far as Fury's purposes were concerned, but as far as Xander is concerned, if Fury hadn't issued the orders which led to his girls' deaths, and Stark and Rogers hadn't obeyed those same orders, Buffy and Faith would still be alive.

Therefore, if things are ever going to be balanced again, Fury, Stark and Rogers all need to pay for their actions, and Xander is making sure that they do.

The fact that he's also ensuring that the New Council and the still surviving people he cares about will remain free from any future scheming by Fury is yet another benefit of his actions.

I can easily see Xander as a veng... er justice demon....lol

I can very easily envision him as the Angel of Vengeance, as opposed to a vengeance demon.

Same general parameters, but without the maliciousness.

Very sad concept, but fabulous story.

Thanks. As I noted in the author's notes, this story ended up being *quite* different from what I was originally intending to write. ;-(

Could you make a reactionary one-shot that shows the aftermath?

That's entirely up to my muse, and right now, I don't think it'll be showing up any time soon, since it's a very disturbing story.

Very nice. Although it occurs to me that if things do escalate there are two potential allies for Xander waiting in the wings that would give Fury even worse ulcers. D'hoffryn is obviously the first. He would LOVE this Xander in so many ways. The other would be a way to potentially counter Thor at the least, namely Loki. Loki is the type to hold a grudge and he has no love for Nicky. If he got wind of Xander at a point after he is supposed to be mostly "redeemed" at the end of Thor 2 then he will be free to travel to Midgard. I could easily see him offering himself as Xander's patron god just for the chaos Xander's actions will kick up.

Yeah, both of those guys would love to 'help out' if given a chance.

Actually, I could see Loki studiously learning more about Xander, after Stark's and Rogers' deaths (if only to learn who would do something so outrageously chaotic, and the reasons for such an action) and deciding that such home-grown potential for chaos should be encouraged - for the yuks, if nothing else. And if, by chance, such chaos also happened to incidentally cause problems for S.H.I.E.L.D. and his adopted brother's group of associates, well, then that would just be a bonus.

Of course, Loki would have to be *very* careful to make sure that nothing negative resulted against any of the SWC, and that any powers, abilities and/or weapons he might have made available to Xander couldn't be used against himself.

And, of course, if such things ever did happen, then D'Hoffryn would probably also be waiting in the wings to offer the SWC 'assistance' in rectifying the situation. ;-(

I admit I know next to nothing about the Marvel Universe, S.H.I.E.L.D., or Nick Fury, but I gather that it is some evil government organization similar to the NID from Stargate. I can't see how this is NOT going to result in escalation and backfiring on the SWC. The government will simply spin this as a terrorist organization killing heroes and that they need to be brought under control.
Even claiming that Xander has gone rogue won't be enough as they'll say they need to bring SWC under supervision and take steps to ensure nobody else goes rogue like that.

Legitimacy and perceived authority of government can do a lot to assist evil organizations like that in covering their questionable deeds. The spin will be that what they did is irrelevant, if a crime had been committed, they should have gone to the authorities, not take matters into their own hands and commit murder like that.

Sorry, I'm pressed for time and didn't get to organize my thoughts on this very well, I have to hit send because I'm going to have to leave the computer in a minute and wanted to get this out before I lose my train of thought entirely.

S.H.I.E.L.D. is ostensibly an international law-enforcement organization, and is not overseen by any single government. There are implications that is it is similar to Interpol or various United Nations agencies, but there is no specific declarations of such being true.

Given the general distrust most people most people have for governments, any declarations by any government that an internationally recognized, privately held and well-respected organization which defends the entire world from demons and supernatural evil (remember, I specifically noted that Buffy and Faith were publicly known and extremely popular with the general public) and one which does not receive any sort of government funding is a terrorist organization is going to be received, at best, with a fair amount of skepticism by the average person.

Any implications/statements that the Slayers and Watchers Council are responsible for Stark's and Rogers' deaths will end up with generating a great deal of investigation into Buffy's and Faith's deaths, with a great deal of it being performed by people not employed by S.H.I.E.L.D. or any related organization. The most likely conclusion that would result would be a finding that Stark's and Rogers' deaths were a result of their having murdered or, at best, were responsible for Buffy's and Faith's deaths, through indifference, stupidity or just plain incompetence. And this is something that Fury and the S.H.I.E.L.D. over-Council cannot afford to allow to happen.

Remember, there is always going to be someone involved in that sort of investigation who is NOT rooting for S.H.I.E.L.D. and is not looking to whitewash their mistakes, and who will be willing to publish everything the investigation discovers. And in this case, that is going to be that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s people fucked up and that Buffy and Faith died as a result of of their actions.

And if Xander goes public with his and the SWC's side of the story quickly enough, then it cuts the feet out from any possible excuse that they might make.

Regardless, public opinion won't allow the SWC to be branded a terrorist organization, because if that happens and everyone involved with the SWC ends up in jail awaiting trial, who's going to step in and do the job that they've been doing?

No court and no person in the world is going to be able to force the SWC's people to go out Slaying and make them perform at anything approaching their optimum methods or efficiency, so Fury is just going to have swallow that stomach acid his ulcer's spewing out, bite the bullet and leave the SWC alone to do their thing, just the way they've asking/telling him to do so prior to this whole mess.

I like it. Very dark, but an enjoyable tale :)

Yes, it was *very* dark. Not a nice 'verse, at all.

And thanks for reviewing. ;-)

Dug it... but if anything. I think the Scoobies just ordered their extinction.

The Avenger Council were willing to nuke New York. With every avenger active still in that city, also? Lets not forget to mention that the very same people that were about to nuke a city did not actually like Tony Stark to begin with and though they will not mourn his death, they will spend a fortune using the dead men as Martyrs.

So yeah. The Scoobies? "Not so much with the good choicy-ness"

Well, you also have to keep in mind that the S.H.I.E.L.D. Council has no real idea of exactly what the Slayers and Watchers Council is capable of, specifically because the SWC wouldn't roll over and do what Fury wanted them to do.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Council was perfectly willing to nuke New York because they weren't any where near the city, and something like like could be justified as being needed to save humanity in general, and was a regrettable, collateral consequence of the invasion. A general war against the SWC can't be justified in any such manner, and even a covert war needs to be funded, and the S.H.I.E.L.D. Council can't justify that sort of thing to the governments funding them without offering exactly the kind of information they don't want to get out - i.e., that Buffy and Faith died because Stark and Rogers and their team fucked up, badly, when S.H.I.E.L.D. tried to strong-arm them. The PR from something like that getting out would crucify everyone involved.

Once the idiots running the S.H.I.E.L.D. Council realize that the SWC people are not looking to wage a war on the streets, but that they're far more inclined to go for a war of shadows, by targeting the so-called brains behind whichever group the SWC is looking to take down, then they're a lot more likely to back off and wait, while S.H.I.E.L.D.'s people try to gather information.

Who exactly, aside from the public faces for the SWC they've seen, do they go after? Where are the SWC's main bases? Are they certain they know about all of them, and who all of the Slayers are? You can't wage any sort of war, covert or overt, without that kind of information, and they just don't have nearly enough reliable information to be certain.

Meanwhile, the SWC declares that it's horrified that anyone would do such a horrible thing, and begins inciting the general public to look more deeply into Buffy's and Faith's deaths, since they're now loudly and publicly wondering if the two incidents might be connected, because of the people involved. Once public interest gets large enough, sooner or later, the truth about what really happened will be revealed, and the top people in the governments involved in overseeing S.H.I.E.L.D. will be looking into how the S.H.I.E.L.D. Council allowed things to deteriorate so badly. After all, those same governments are going to need scapegoats for the public to vent on. At that point in time, the people in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Council will be too concerned in covering their asses to be looking to cause more problems for the Slayers.

And *that's* what Xander was looking to ensure.

Is the Helicarrier sealed tight enough to go into space? what about all that glass, would it handle the depressurization?

Very good questions.

I somehow don't think that 'Design for use in zero gravity and total vacuum' was one the list of specifications given to the contractors. ;-)

Ok I can see Xander taking out Iron Man and Captain Amercia but there is no way he could do the same to Thor or the Hulk. One is a god and the other a force of nature. Either one could decimate the Council. Thor could deflect any magic thrown at him by Willow or other witches with his mighty hammer and the Hulk would just crush all the slayers without even breaking a sweat.

I never indicated that Xander was trying to take out either of the two.

And Thor has never been able to simply ignore magic cast at him, either in the comics or in the film.

And yes, the Hulk is essentially a force of nature.

interesting, i see this escelating quite quickly, those who fury reports to will probably make some rash decisions at the first sign now of someone not only not dancing to their tune, but going completely the opposite.

somehow i see the next attack being a small magic 'emp bomb' of sorts shorting out the heli carrier and causing it to fall out of the sky. . . .or heck, even some spell to temporarily double or triple it's weight would work just as well.

looks really interesting, hope you have a little more to add to this story, i could see this both being a depressing world and possibly being something that with a bit of work makes a turn for the better.

Actually, making the Helli-Carrier a lot lighter very quickly would screw things up just as effectively, especially if you can make the weight change fluctuate irregularly. ;-)

Hmmm, you know what?

Now I'm just wondering how The Avenger's Villains will react to the news about this sudden turn of events. >:)

Or heck, anyone who had dealings with Fury (heros and/or villains) will be looking over their shoulders in fear.

Even that group of people that pulls Fury's strings should be doing that as well.

Keep up the good work.

Yeah, this entire mess isn't something that's going to be swept under the carpet, ever.

And it shouldn't be. Fury is a dick, and the people he reports to are just as bad.

The only upside (as far as Xander and company are concerned) is that, from this point on, everyone will be thinking *very* carefully about messing with the Council.