Loyalty Misplaced

Author: PaulenaK ~ toukalah@hotmail.com

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: Everything WWE belongs to Vince McMahon. Everything BTVS and ATS belongs to Joss Whedon.

Feedback: Is much appreciated.

AN: This crossover does not follow along any of the past or current

Storylines regarding the WWE, ATS and BTVS, I’m just using character names, place names etc and adapting them into my own little universe.

**

Part One

**

He was fed up with his life.

Fed up with all it entailed.

Fed up with his family members or to be more precise ‘one’ family member in particular.

It was because of that ‘one’ family member that he was out here walking down God only knew what street in God only knew what neighbourhood in the pouring rain with yep you guessed it – No jacket.

Okay so maybe the ‘no jacket’ part was his fault, he had after all torn out of his father’s office like steam from a pressure cooker ignoring the looks he got from his father’s secretary and turning a deaf ear to his father’s voice that came booming after him.

Now he loved his father. He truly did. Would do anything his father asked and had on occasion after all having a big wig for a dad in the high profile world they lived in he had a major rep to uphold. And let’s face it, everyone he had killed had had it coming big time. No one, absolutely no one threatened his family and lived to tell about it, but every family had its downside and when it came to his it was his father’s content reminder of him still being unmarried.

Yep. Trivial at most, I mean who cares if his sister was happily ignorant in her wedding bliss of three years to a mountain of a man who tried ever so hard to take his spot as the apple of his father’s eye.

Who now a day’s cares about marriage? Certainly not the women in his acquaintance, they were happy to reap the benefits befitting the occasion, whether that occasion were one night, one week or heaven forbid a day and a bit longer. ‘Short and sweet’ that was his motto.

But when it came to his father whose mind when it came to marital issues was stuck in his hey day, he wanted commitment, he wanted lasting – Yep, he wanted the whole ball and chain - At any cost. He even had the bloody bride picked out. Some spoilt daddy’s girl with a bank balance to match his.

No doubt her father’s empire would match his father’s too, which he could see was why his father had picked her in the first place. In the world he lived in money spoke volumes.

He wished for once he didn’t have the responsibilities his birth fore told, but his wish was a futile one and he well knew it because by hook or by crook his father would see him married to that spoilt trust fund in heels. At any cost remember?

The sudden sound of hurried foot steps up ahead had his hand instantly reaching back for his gun which was nestled in the waist band of his jeans, but there it halted as he spotted a girl in the distance.

She was as soaked as he was, but where his short dark hair when wet stood up in spikes, her long sleek tresses were plastered to her back and face in clumpy strands.

He stopped as she neared, her steps bringing her closer and closer and then she looked up and her steps faltered a few feet away from him.

Her eyes were huge! To him they seemed to fill her entire face and he opened his mouth to say something, what exactly he had no idea, but before he could she spun on her heel and started away from him.

Now he was a man who loved women. Blond or brunette, freckled or dimpled, witty or shy, he made it his business to discover the one thing in every woman he came into contact with that made her uniquely beautiful. Every woman who passed through his life – whether in bed or out – received a gift that would remain with her for a life time and that gift was the knowledge that for the duration of there tryst together he would be utterly and desirably hers.

And though his time with this girl had been fleeting at best, it was definitely not over. After all he mused as he set off after her, what better way to piss off his father then to shack up with a street girl. Hell he might even go one better and bring her home.

**

Xander was so gonna kill her!

How many times had he told her ‘not’ to cut through Hooker’s Alley she had no idea, she’d stopped counting once his warning had progressed into double digits though she could hear his voice easily enough in her mind chanting ‘Walk the long way and you’ll be sure to walk it tomorrow’ over and over again.

But did she listen? The fact that she was cold, wet and lost screamed a great big No!

Hooker’s Alley hadn’t been a picnic even with her trustee knife tucked up her sleeve. She’d figured she’d be okay seeing as it was still day light and all, but boy how wrong had she been?

Not more than half a kilo metre into the alley and she had dirty, sweaty, greasy, stinky men clawing at her trying to coax her into the dark and when all she did was ignore there attempts they tried by force. She had thought the women that walked by would do something – ANYTHING! But all they did was scream that she was taking there business away and that she deserved everything she got, but gee all she had been trying to do was beat the rain, not to mention the fifteen minutes or so it took off her journey by taking this damn short cut!

All the other times she’d come down here everyone male and female alike had left her alone, but then again maybe that was because Xander had been with her and though he was a definite pussy cat at heart it was the outside everyone other than her saw and on the outside it was hard for people to get passed the menacing looking eye patch covering what use to be his left eye.

Now that she was alone she was seeing the error of her choice and amid the groping hands and sleazy come one’s she ploughed her way through and took flight.

She didn’t look back and didn’t stop, even when she had left Hooker’s Alley far behind her. Yet one problem solved only presented her with another. She didn’t know where the hell she was!

It wasn’t long after that that she came across ‘The Man’.

He was just standing there in the rain and staring of all things. It scared her and yet thrilled her at the same time.

What if he were one of ‘Them’? What if he was after what everyone else who recognized her was after?

Recognition had to be why he was staring at her so intently. God she had to get away, she had to get back to Xander. He wouldn’t let ‘Them’ get her. She’d be safe with him,

Turning on her heel she blindly raced back the way she had come all the while conscious of the darkening sky looming above her and only realized she was back in the alley when numerous hands started pawing at her, claw like hands, hurtful hands.

She screamed when she felt her shirt rip, tears of despair mixing with the drops of rain that fell on her face and then the pawing stopped and it was like she had been plucked up out of the madness and placed up on a pedestal.

“Xander...”

She sighed knowing it could only be him. Her eyes closed and she laid her head on his wet shoulder and relaxed into him.

“I knew you’d come...” She whispered. “I knew it...”

“Do you think you could stay alert enough to show me how the hell we get out of here?”

Her head came up with a start. That wasn’t Xander’s voice.

Her eyes flew open. Those weren’t Xander’s eyes staring down at her or Xander’s arms carrying her weight.

She began to struggle.

“Whoa there,” He said bouncing her in his arms to secure her place there.

“You can trust me, I won’t hurt you.” He said.

“Let me go,” She said in a breathless voice. “Please...”

He didn’t. Instead he stared down at her, his eyes seeming to tell her that she had to be crazy if she thought he would.

“Why?” He asked.

“I have to go home.” She replied saying the first thing that came into her mind.

“Don’t go. Stay and talk to me.”

She took her lower lip between her teeth.

“We’re strangers. We have nothing to talk about.”

“But if we talk then we won’t be strangers for long.”

“Please, I have to go.”

“What’s your name?”

“I have-“

“Okay then,” He quickly cut in. “No names.” He smiled. “It’s a beautiful day isn’t it?”

She looked at him as if he were stark raving bonkers and with good reason he mused considering the sky was now dark and the rain was coming down in buckets.

“Tell me about your-“

“Let her go.”

The new voice was low, almost a whisper but he still heard it, so did she he realized when her head whipped around towards the voice and a smile grew on her face. A smile that quickly turned apologetic.

“I said let her go.” The voice said again.

He lowered her gently to her feet and once down she darted across to the shadows where the outline of a tall figure stood.

“Xander I’m-“

“Not now Dawn, it’s not safe.”

“But I-“

“I said not now!”

Shane felt his shackles rise at the callous tone this man ‘Xander’ directed at the girl. What was she to him?

His eyes turned sharp. Was that the flicker of steel he saw under the dim stream of the street light? His hand immediately went to his back where his fingers ran over his gun, expecting the worst.

“Two blocks up there’s a bus stop. It’ll take you back to what you’re ‘use’ to.”

His fingers relaxed. He wasn’t going to be attacked. He was being sent on his way. Out of this nightmare neighbourhood and back to ‘What you’re use to’ as he – Xander had put it.

He looked down at himself. Did his wealth show that much? Even when he resembled a drowned rat?

“I suggest you go now.”

Shane lifted his head, but the dark figure and the girl were gone.

**

Part Two

**

He had been mad.

She had known he would be. And as he had every right to be she graciously sat through his lengthy lecture – A lecture Buffy would have been so proud of – and promised from the deepest depths of her heart never to do it again – Until the next time her actions warranted a lecture of course.

She didn’t tell him that she had taken Hooker’s Alley, he no doubt would have lectured her more on her life being more important than getting wet. What he did lecture her on though was ‘The Man’ or to cut a long story short – Why she had been in his arms.

Convenient of him to not see the fact that she had had no say in the matter; how could he miss all the struggling on her part? Anyway once again she was reminded of why she shouldn’t be out on her own, why she shouldn’t talk to strangers and more importantly why she shouldn’t be without her mask.

“There are still those out there who will recognise you.” Had been his argument. “Buffy made a lot of enemies running with Giles all of whom wouldn’t think twice about stuffing you in a sack and tossing you off the nearest bridge.”

She had lowered her head at his words her hands gingerly pulling forth the scarf that for the passed couple of months had hid her face from the world.

“People have killed to get at what’s locked away in that pretty little head of yours, good people, people we both loved have died trying to keep you hidden. There’s a frigging five hundred thousand dollar bounty on your head for Pete’s sake! And they all want the same thing. That blasted number in your head!”

He got up then and started to pace in front of her.

“How you can continue to be so stupid is beyond me!”

He was right.

It had been stupid of her to go into Hooker’s Alley. It had been stupid to remove her mask and yes it had been stupid of her to draw such attention to herself. Now she thought about it anyone could’ve been in that alley, Gangsters, Bounty Hunters, hell even Billionaires!

And ‘The Man’ hadn’t been far from the mouth of Hooker’s Alley. Had the alley been his destination?

He had been dressed in jeans and a shirt nothing out of the ordinary there nearly all the men in the area including Xander dressed the same on a daily basis. The thing though that singled him out from Xander and the rest were his shoes. Why she remembered his shoes, yet had no memory of actually looking at them she had no idea. They had been Italian leather and now who in this neighbourhood could afford shoes made from Italian leather?

Zero - The only foot coverings you saw in this neighbourhood were sneakers and flip-flops.

Gangster was ruled out based solely on the fact that they rolled around in groups and he had been alone. They drove flashy cars, wore flashy suits and even flashier jewellery. Her stranger had worn none of those.

Bounty Hunter she could cross off too even though he had the ‘Alone’ part down pat because Bounty Hunters rarely got around on foot and always kept to the shadows until they were sure of there intended target, where as her stranger had been out in the open.

So that left Billionaire and judging by his shoes Billionaire was a good call, only what would a man with the means to buy the best the world had to offer be standing around in the rain?

Maybe she had interrupted a quiet interlude after all Hooker’s Alley wasn’t that far away...

“I know you hate being cooped up,” Xander’s voice broke into her thoughts. “And I’m sorry, but you are all I have left of what was my life and I won’t give you up without a fight. You need to reach your twenty-first year for that number in your head to be void. Your three months shy of that now, don’t ruin it.”

Again he was right as per usual. And again she complied by saying she was sorry and promising not to do it again.

Yet her stranger in the rain definitely had her curiosity piqued – She mentally pulled herself up then – When had she stopped referring to him as ‘The Man’ and started referring to him as ‘Her Stranger’?

“Please mean what you say this time...” Xander was saying now. “If Buffy hadn’t of left you in my care I probably would have joined them long ago.”

“Don’t say that Xander.” She cried. “I truly am sorry. Really I am. I need you too.”

And she knew it was true, she would do anything for him just like he would do anything for her. She would just have to put what happened from her mind, for at least the next three months. After that she could think on ‘Her Stranger’ all she liked.

**

The bus stop had been exactly where the voice from the shadows had said it would be and forty minutes later cold, damp and shivering he had trudged through the doors of the Hyperion Hotel - His home away from home – heedless of the looks and stares he got from staff and patron alike and didn’t stop until he had reached the shower cubicle of his penthouse suite where he stepped in still fully clothed and turned on the hot water.

How long he stayed under that hot spray he didn’t know, but when he finally had the strength to remove his clothes his body was a bright red all over colour from the heat.

Shutting off the water before he turned into a prune and a red one at that he stepped out from the cubicle into the steam filled bathroom and donned his big white fluffy robe and slippers, and with a towel in his hand rubbed furiously at his hair he left the watery mess that was his bathroom and collapsed on one of the couches in the living area.

Now he felt more like himself, more in control. All he needed was a glass of scotch, yet his body protested to move from the warm lazy lump of mush it had become and he closed his eyes.

Sleep came easy, as did the image of two very big and very mesmerising blue eyes.

He dreamed he was in a room with no door, the walls, floor and ceiling were white and a table sat smack dang in the centre of it. On the table was a body covered by a white sheet and the next thing he knew he was standing beside it his hands extended to draw the sheet back.

He could feel himself trying to hold back as if he didn’t want to know who lay beneath that sheet, could see his fists clenching where they grasped. He tried to turn his head this way and that but no matter where he turned the image of the table was there and his hands were still out stretched, fingers twisting in the ice cold material until finally he could only watch as the sheet came back.

It was her, the girl from the rain. She was all blue, her cheeks, her nose... her lips, but what caught and held his attention was the fine cut that went from the left side of her forehead all the way across to the right.

Nothing else marred her perfect complexion other then that cut and he found himself thinking who would do such a thing to such a perfect creature.

And then her eyes sprang open, those same eyes that had stared at him through the rain and her icy hand darted out to cover his.

‘Don’t do it.’ Those same eyes pleaded. ‘Please don’t do it.’

It was then he looked down at himself and saw the long white coat he wore and in his hand a scalpel.

His eyes opened with a start, his hand reaching as if feeling for the unknown and his breath came out in hurried gasps. Leaning forward his elbows coming to rest on his knees he allowed his head to fall into his hands and thought, ‘What the hell was that?’

**

Part Three

**

Three weeks.

That’s how long it had been since he’d seen ‘That Girl’. That’s how long it had been since he’d had ‘That Dream’ and yet both still continued to plague him.

To try to relieve the frustration both caused in him he aggressively threw himself into his work, which pleased his father immensely as he was the cause of deal after deal being pushed through in there favour. At this rate they’d be the most influential in not feared family of the Connecticut Underground. And it would have all been his doing, not thanks to a little muscle and a lot of push and shove, but to ‘That Dream’ and more especially ‘That Girl’.

“Mr McMahon,”

His name buzzed through the intercom.

“Yes Maria,”

“Your father wants you in his office pronto, his words not mine.”

The ghost of a smile appeared on his lips.

“Thank you Maria,” He leaned back in his chair his hand coming up to stroke his chin.

Now what could his father want? He mused in the quiet that was his office. The shipment of ‘Asian Ice’ that had arrived yesterday was at that moment being divided among various companies under McMahon thumb, where they would from there be shipped in various different methods to various different dealers and by this time tomorrow the McMahon empire would be up a cool ten mil.

Maybe it was protection his father needed. God knows there were enough men and women out there who would love to see the reign of Vincent K McMahon come to an end. Even with Big Show and Luther forever at his beck and call his father was that paranoid enough to demand his only son over see the security of a function, meeting, dinner or private liaison he had planned. And there had been a number of those private liaisons this passed year, which his mother knew about but always turned a blind eye too, you see everybody had a price - Even his mother.

Maybe it was something as simple as his father wanting someone roughed up a bit. Now that idea appealed to him. At least in that he’d be able to drown out the image of two blue ever present orbs from his mind - Until it was over of course. Once blood was shed, a bone or two broken and the victim begging for mercy on his hands and knees those blue orbs would be back, scorning him with there intenseness as he walked away wiping blood from his knuckles.

“Shane,” Maria’s voice buzzed through the intercom again.

“On my way,” He buzzed right back and flipped the intercom off as he rose to his feet and marched purposely to the door.

‘He may as well see what the old bugger wanted.’ He inwardly grumbled sending Maria one of his to die for grins as he passed by her desk.

**

“What took you so long?” His father growled as he entered.

“Don’t blame me,” Shane replied nonplussed. “Blame the elevator,”

“Our offices are on the same floor,” Vince remarked not lifting his eyes from the papers on his desk in front of him.

“Ahh... so they are father dear, in that case I have no excuse whatsoever. Send me home I’ve been a bad boy.”

“Your mother thinks you’re spending too much time away from the house.” His father continued in his own uniquely brusque manner.

“Well hello... twenty-nine year old male here with a life,”

“She misses you... indulge her and come to the house for dinner tonight.”

“I’ve got plans-“

“Cancel them.”

“And if I don’t?”

His father’s shoulders shook as if something had just tickled his funny bone and then for the first time since Shane had entered his office he lifted his head and met his son’s gaze.

“You will if you want to make your mother happy,” His eyes went back down to the papers on his desk. “Besides,” He then continued. “She’s ordered Flair to cook all your favourites.”

That certainly sweetened the pot as his father had known it would and he didn’t have to wait long before Shane said. “Well... I wouldn’t want to disappoint mother...”

His father grinned. “That’s what I thought. 7 o’clock.”

“I’ll be there.”

He started towards the door.

“Oh and Shane,” His father called after him.

“Yes?”

“Wear something nice.”

That statement alone should have sent warning bells a blaring inside his head, but for some reason his fathers parting comment went right over him. And it wasn’t until he had arrived at McMahon Mansion and was shown through to the dining room that he found out the real reason for this little dinner party.

“Shane my boy, there you are.” His father said getting up from his chair at the head of the McMahon table to greet him. “You remember little Stacy Keibler don’t you?”

“Of course,” He replied his shoulders stiff and straight even as he allowed his father to lead him to the table, where he dutifully kissed his mothers cheek before taking his seat across from there guest. “How are you Stacy?”

Shy, meek little Stacy Keibler with the great set of pins didn’t reply, not that Shane had expected one. She merely smiled her innocent little smile and returned her gaze to her soup.

“Stacy’s parents have gone abroad so I have invited her to stay while they are away.” His father explained joyfully and he was treated to another shy smile from the leggy blonde.

He sighed heavily his appetite suddenly gone as he stared down at the soup Flair ladled into his soup bowl. This was going to be a very, very long night.

**

“Your mother and Stacy have taken there sherry’s into the living room. Shall we join them?”

‘Oh you only wish father,’ Shane thought turning furious eyes on the older man.

“We’ve had this discussion a thousand times already. I will not be forced into marriage, especially not with ‘Eyes-on-the-ground-when-she-walks’ Keibler.” He thundered.

“Who’s forcing?” His father retorted with his all too famous ‘I-have-no-idea-what-you’re-talking-about’ expression.

“It’s no secret you want in on the Keibler millions, just like its no secret old stuffed shirt Keibler wants in on the McMahon legacy.”

His father shrugged again. “I wasn’t going to talk politics tonight, but seeing as you seem so intent on bringing it to my attention – Yes. What you’ve just said is true – All true. Keibler and I want to be aligned more than just on paper. We want to make sure what’s ‘Ours’ stays ‘Ours’.”

“It’ll still be ‘Ours’ even without a marriage,”

“Not if Stacy marries an outsider. Her being an only child well... you can see the complications that will arise. This way we’ll be protecting both out interests.”

“Why doesn’t Keibler just keep her under lock and key, it seems to have worked thus far!”

“Now Shane, keep your voice down. She will hear.”

“I don’t care if she hears! I don’t care if the whole world hears! I will not, do you hear me? Not marry her!”

His fathers control snapped then and he slammed his glass down on the table top his eyes glowing menacingly.

“You will marry her,” He said his voice rising with every word he spoke. “...Even if I have to drag you before the altar myself.”

Shane’s eyes glowed just as fiercely and he lifted his chin in defiance letting his father know that he’d have a damn big fight on his hands if he even tried it.

The two glared at each other from either side of the room and that glare didn’t waver as the door opened and his mother and the cause of there argument entered the room.

“We heard shouting...” His mother began, but that was all he was prepared to hear as he sidled up to her, pressed a kiss to her cheek in farewell and left the room without even a glance in the Keibler heir’s direction.

**

He drove mindlessly not caring where he went as long as it was not back to the McMahon Mansion where no doubt another argument with his father would ensue. And he didn’t want to go back to the penthouse either, all that would come of that was a pair of big blue eyes haunting him in his dream state, at least now being as mad as he was his anger was keeping those eyes from bothering him.

Why did his father have to want the one thing he wasn’t prepared to give?

He would and had threatened, blackmailed, murdered... you name it he had done it in the name of his father, but marriage? Damn a man had his limits!

A light sprinkling of rain drops splattered his windscreen and automatically he turned on the wipers. He could see a red light looming ahead and slowly brought his car to a crawl and then to an absolute stop at the traffic light.

His fingers drummed on the steering wheel and the only sound inside the car was the swish – swish – swish of the wipers. He leaned forward to peer through the glass passed the wipers and the rain to a street corner lit up with only one street light that seemed vaguely familiar.

That is the place, he thought his brow furrowing in concentration. That corner with the one street light is the bus stop he had been directed to after his encounter with ‘That Girl’.

He couldn’t believe he was back here again. All he could see as his gaze swept the area was that there was no one in sight, just like that night, hell it was even raining! The traffic lights above him shone green and he slowly eased his foot off the brake.

If he had any sense at all he would turn the car around and go back the way he had come and never look back. Yet as the car moved forward he knew that wouldn’t be happening any time soon.

One look, he thought to himself turning his head lights up to full beam. Just one look and then I’ll go.

**

Part Four

**

Four walls, two doors, one hundred and six ceiling tiles and two worn rugs that covered a hard wooden floor – That was her room if you didn’t count her single bed and a cardboard box that served as a bedside table on one side of the room and Xander’s mattress on the other.

That and the little wardrobe size bathroom next door were all she had seen these passed three weeks. The window provided light but the view was nothing to be desired unless you enjoyed the sight a brick wall had to offer.

Living as a hermit wasn’t that much of a hardship she mused staring at the minute hand on the Mickey Mouse clock that sat on top of the cardboard box beside her bed. And it wasn’t like she was alone all the time, Xander came and went when necessary and he always kept her up to date with the happenings on the street wether they be good or bad and considering the neighbourhood they squatted in rated a mere three on the ‘Safest Places to Live’ scale. Most of the news he brought was bad, but the good thing about this neighbourhood was that Xander new it like the back of his hand having been brought up here. His mother had been one of the working girls down Hooker’s Alley and as he tells it one night when he was twelve years old she went out and never came back.

From there he stole, begged and starved for the next two years before meeting up with Rupert Giles – Giles to everyone who knew him, an old English gentleman who looked kindly on those beneath him.

Xander was just one of the street kids Giles had taken in. There was Willow - an avid book worm who fast became Xander’s best friend, Anya - the pretty one and Xander’s secret crush or so it had always seemed to her. Then there was Oz – a geeky wannabe rapper who never went anywhere without his walkman, Cordelia – the princess, Angel – the loner, Spike – the smartass and finally her and her sister Buffy.

They were all dead now though, all but her and Xander. She liked to think where they’d be now if Giles hadn’t taken them in when he had, Buffy had been grateful to him of course and he fast became her mentor, but she wasn’t to know he had had his own agenda.

And that agenda was Dawn.

It happened the day a long convoy of shiny black cars had made there way down Hooker’s Alley. Dawn remembered it well. Giles sent them all out armed with the order to kill if any of them tried to storm there habitation. Of course they did and gun fire and blood shed ensued.

She had wanted to go with Buffy but Giles wouldn’t allow it and had kept her with him. She never saw Buffy again after that. She never saw any of them again after that other than Xander, she did however see the men who blocked there way when Giles had tried to flee with her in tow.

There was a lot of shouting and a lot of guns all aimed there way, she remembered feeling scared as she had cowered behind Giles and him pushing her away so hard that she fell to her knees on the concrete. She had been shocked and confused at his actions, but as she lifted her gaze to his she saw the apology in his eyes. An apology she realised now was for more then just his rough treatment.

“You’ll never get it,” He had shouted to the men who surrounded them.

It was then she noticed he held a torch in his hand for that’s what it looked like to her only its top end sporadically flashed red instead of the one constant stream and her eyes widened as he pointed it at her.

The flashes of red sped up and though she tried she couldn’t tear her gaze away from it. All she could see was the incessant blaze of red followed by a set of numbers that felt like they were tunnelling there was into her brain.

She remembered screaming, remembered more gun shots and then jolting awake to darkness. A hand immediately clamping down on her shoulder and then Xander’s calming voice as he slowly pushed her back down.

“Sleep...” He had said, his voice gentle but sad. “You’re safe now little one.”

And sleep she had.

When she next awoke daylight filtered through an uncurtained window in the room she now called home and she was alone.

Xander soon returned though with a few of there old belongings, her knife being one of them and over a quiet supper of bread, cheese and water he told her what had become of her sister and the others.

She had cried in his arms and he hadn’t complained about her tears and other facial fluid that soaked his shirt front, merely held her until her tears were spent and then pushed her back down to the bed to rest some more.

It was then that a small silver object fell from her shirt pocket and Xander quickly bent to retrieve it holding it up for her to see.

It had been a small key, a Post Office Box key. Dawn had no idea where it had come from or how it had gotten onto her person, but Xander just shushed her concerns and told her to rest.

And again she complied.

When again she woke Xander was standing over her an odd expression on his face. He told her that while she slept he had gone to the PO Box. She asked what he had found and he had held out an opened envelope to her.

The envelope contained two letters, both from Giles, and both written in his hand.

The first explained about the torch like object he had pointed at her. It had been a retina probe meant to insert or extract cerebral information. She remembered the tunnelling sensation and quickly relayed it to Xander. The letter then went on with a quick description of what the information was. In short a number. A number that when activated would bring two powerful and ruthless men to heel, a number that came with its own stipulations, those being an innocent mind, an innocent body and the first second of there twenty-first year.

Innocent mind – Dawn.

Innocent body – Dawn.

First second of there twenty-first year – Dawn was but months away from her twenty-first birthday.

It didn’t take a mathematician to see that this had been Giles plan all along and that Buffy and the others had died putting that plan into action.

The second letter displayed printed black and white pictures of the two men and there names – ‘McMahon’ and ‘Keibler’ with the words ‘DON’T TRUST’ written in capital letters underneath.

Though they didn’t recognise the face both Dawn and Xander recognised the first name – McMahon. It was hard not to after all he was crimes top dog who headed the Connecticut Underground. Everyone knew it, even the police, but McMahon was untouchable even by them. Keibler though was a face neither of them knew.

The date though on the pictures dated back to the seventy’s. Who knew what either of these men looked like now thirty years on or even if they were still alive?

She wanted to hate Giles then, tried to even, but she couldn’t.

His cause had always been about the underdog and this plan he had put into motion would if followed through better the lives of many. And he had sacrificed all of them because of it.

This moment lost in her memories would have presented the perfect time for tears, but none came. There were none left. She had cried enough.

The sound of hurried footsteps below her had her coming up with a start and a few moments later Xander burst through the door.

“What is it?” She asked as he went straight to his mattress yanked it up on its side to expose the lose floor board it concealed and extracted his gun, his fingers swift and alert as he loaded it and then stuffed it into the back of his jeans.

“A car I don’t recognise is in the area,”

“You don’t think...” Dawn began but Xander quickly cut her off.

“I don’t know what to think Dawn, but I’m not taking any chances. You stay here.”

And then he was gone leaving her with the door swinging on its hinges and the sound of his footsteps as he ran back down the stairs.

As the minutes after his departure wore on Dawn couldn’t squelch the feeling she got in the pit of her stomach that something was wrong, something was very, very wrong. And in the minutes that followed she had donned her jacket and mask, shoved her knife up her sleeve and ran off after Xander.

**

Xander was use to becoming one with the night. It was something he had had lots of time to evolve into a science. He stood now in a little alcove across the road from the bus stop, heedless of the hard rain that pelted him with its fierceness, ignoring its chill that would have driven any other man to seek shelter.

His eyes focused and stayed on the slowly moving car. From this distance he could make out only one figure inside and his breathing seemed to stop as the car did and then start as the car started to creep along again.

It was as the car paused at the mouth of Hooker’s Alley that it happened. A second figure emerged from the shadows right in front of the car and his eyes widened in alarm at the scene that unfolded before him.

“Dawn!” He yelled but it was too late she had already taken off in the other direction after realising her mistake, but that wasn’t what had him reaching for his gun.

What had him reaching for his gun, cocking the trigger and aiming was the fact that the figure inside the car had gotten out and was running after Dawn.

And then he fired.

**

Part Five

**

**Back tracks to Dawn rushing out of the room after Xander. Dawn’s POV**

By the time she had made it to the bottom of the stairway and out into the dark street that a waited her Xander was no where to be seen. She had no idea which direction he had taken and absolutely no idea as to which part of the neighbourhood he had seen the car.

Dawn looked left, right and then left again. If she were Xander which direction would she take? The obvious choice was up, from the roof top he could see a broader view of the neighbourhood, but at the same time his point of following the car physically would be limited.

Her eye’s came to rest on the side streets that lead to Hooker’s Alley, the least obvious choice and yet the one her mind was telling her to take. Her mind made up she threw caution to the wind and ran off towards the side street. If her ears had received a verbal bashing last time they were certain to get chewed off this time!

She wasn’t exactly ‘in’ Hooker’s Alley but she was close to it and thought she knew it looked deserted she also knew that all she would have to do was step into it for it all to come to life.

The sound of a pebble rolling across the asphalt had her head whipping around but all she was met with was darkness. She jumped as the sound came again this time from the opposite direction and again she whirled around.

Her courage fled then and she took off blindly not knowing if she were headed back the way she had come or into Hooker’s Alley itself. Not wanting the latter she turned into another smaller alley hoping it would lead to a more lighted street where she could get her bearings, but for all she knew the only thing its end might hold for her was a dead one.

When another turn came she took it and a look of relief flashed in her eyes when she saw light at its end.

Xander had taught her to slow and check for safety before she left the cover of darkness, but all his teachings were lost on her then, all she could think of was the possibility of a hand, two hands or maybe more snatching her and dragging her back into the darkness before she had a chance to reach the light. And she practically dived out of the dark alley and straight into the bright lights of a parked car.

Dazed she blinked her eyes squinting and her hands immediately coming up to shield her eyes only to see the figure inside the car was starting to get out. She couldn’t see a face but she knew by the broad shoulders and set stance that that was no woman getting out of that car.

With fear guiding her feet she turned and ran. Was that her name and the sound of gun fire she heard through the confusion that swamped her mind? She couldn’t be sure, but what she could be sure of was that she was falling and that someone else was falling with her.

**

**Back tracks to Shane bringing his car to a stop at the bus stop. Shane’s POV**

Shane brought his car to a stop next to the bus stop, in his mind he was reliving that night and in his groin he was wanting that girl to appear again.

He needed a woman, any woman to plunge into and sate his raging hormones. After all with his eyes closed he could imagine the woman beneath him had long, long hair and huge blue eyes.

His gaze went to Hooker’s Alley then he knew what went on there, but damn if he was going to go looking for satisfaction in there! He would however consider it if ‘She’ was the one offering her wares, but other then that he’d go to a respectable establishment and pay good money for someone without tracks on there arms.

Deciding it was futile to be sitting here dreaming about it, he lifted his foot off the brake chuckling at the thought of what was to come only to slam his foot back down on the brake when something flew out in front of his car and then could only sit in shock his eyes agape as it slowly registered in his mind just what that something was.

Her. It was her! She had something covering her face but it was her. He’d recognise those eyes anywhere. They were as big as ever in the light from his cars head lights.

He couldn’t let her get away this time. He had to follow her. He had to know her name. He had to touch her to know that she was real. He had to do something!

His body moved of its own accord, it was like he was watching it all happening below him in slow motion. His car door opened, he stepped out, her expression turned from startled to scared, she turned and ran, he moved his legs carrying him closer and closer… a shout, gun fire and then… he went down.

**

**Starts off from the gun fire**

Oh god! Who did he get?

He came out of the shadows gun still in his hand and ran across the road to where both body’s had fallen.

“Dawn!” He yelled hauling the first body off so he could get to his friend. “Dawn!” He yelled again.

Shit! She had blood all down her shirt front.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” He raged shoving his gun back into the waistband of his jeans and then leaned down to listen for her breathing. It was strong.

“Dawn?” He said again pulling her mask down and then giving her a little shake.

Her eyes darted open.

“Xander?”

“Oh god Dawn, you’re alive!” He pulled her to his chest his arms clamping around her like a vice.

“Of course I’m alive you ninny,” She squeaked and then started to struggle. “But I may not be if you don’t let up on the sumo hug.”

He let go immediately his eyes going to her blood soaked shirt. Her eyes followed his.

“Not mine…” She whispered her gaze then going to the man lying at her feet.

“Good, let’s go.” Xander said getting to his feet and pulling her up with him.

“No Xander, we can’t leave him,” She protested.

“Yes we can Dawn,” He said his head whipping around as he surveyed the area.. “We have to get out of the light.”

She squatted down beside the fallen man and heard him groan his eyes opened and she felt his hand clasped hers.

“Don’t leave me,” He whispered.

“I won’t” She replied heedless of Xander’s warnings. “Help me Xander, whoever shot at us may still be out there.”

“Whoever- Dawn, it was me!” Xander exclaimed.

She stood then her hands on her hips.

“You?” She cried and reached out to slap his arm. “You could have killed me!”

Holding his hand up in an attempt to shush her he then closed his eyes to listen.

Someone’s coming,” He said after a few moments.

“Help me get him out of the light,” Dawn said squatting back down and placing her hands under the man’s shoulders.

“I don’t like this Dawn,”

“You don’t have to like it Xander, just help me. Please.”

He sighed and moved to where she was crouched and took her place.

“You get his feet,” Was as he said and together they dragged the still groaning man into the shadows just as a second car turned the corner and started to cruise slowly towards them.

Dawn held her breath as the car crept passed and only exhaled once Xander had moved to check the cars progress. He waited a few beats and then his eyes fixed on her his expression hard.

“Leave him Dawn. Wait for me back at the room.”

And then he was gone no doubt to make sure that the occupant of the second car wasn’t looking for more then just a whore for the night.

**

Xander was REALLY going to kill her this time.

Not only had she not left her stranger where Xander had dropped him, but she had single handedly pulled, dragged, jerked, lugged and towed his fine ass back to there room.

The stairway had proved to be a bit of a strain for her little form and halfway up she had to wonder if she were doing more damage to him then anything else, especially since his head had connected with more then one step by her actions. But she had gotten him this far she constantly reminded herself and by golly she would get him the rest of the way. And, she couldn’t help but add, she’d worry about the bruises her Good Samaritan act caused to them both later.

His shirt front and back were soaked with blood and he was as pale as pale can be.

“Oh god...” She whispered starting to regret her decision of moving him. “I really need to stop listening to my gut and listen more to what my head is telling me.”

He groaned then and that groan actually gave her some hope. She secured her hold under his arms and pulled.

“Come on,” She whispered. “...Just a few more steps...”

His head lolled to the side.

“No, don’t die, please don’t die...”

And with a few more almighty pull’s she had him up the last step and through the door into the little set of rooms she and Xander called home.

Her face showed how much of a strain getting him this far was having on her. Her fingers ached and she had broken all but one of her nails, her arms felt heavy and stretched and her nose and mouth couldn’t seem to swallow enough air to satisfy her lungs, but she pushed her own worries aside to haul him the rest of the way to her bed, where she broke her last remaining finger nail getting him up on it.

Once there though she deftly set about finding the source of all that blood. She used her knife to cut away his shirt and then went to the sink in the bathroom returning later with a small basin of water and a towel, and after cleaning much of the blood away she saw two tiny holes in his side, one in the front and one in the back proving that the bullet had gone straight through and she sighed thankful that she wouldn’t have to go digging for it.

“It’s a good thing Xander’s aim is shoddy,” She remarked as she grabbed one of her clean shirts and started tearing it up to dress his wound, which had thankfully stopped bleeding or maybe she thought taking in his pasty cheeks, neck and hands, maybe he just didn’t have any more blood to bleed.

When she was done she left everything where it was and settled down on the floor next to the bed to await Xander’s return and of course his inevitable anger.

**

Xander followed the car from a distance. First down one street and then another. His eyes well used to seeing in the dark could make out the figures of two people inside. When they stopped he stopped, when they moved he moved.

They were halfway down the second street when the car pulled up to the curb and another two figures emerged from the shadows.

“Queen’s...” He surmised figuring the men inside the car were probably too embarrassed to pick the other two up in a lighted street.

He continued to watch as the passenger inside the car got out, helped one of the ‘Queen’s’ into the passenger seat he had just vacated and then gropingly followed the second one into the back.

The car started moving again and he stood and watched until the car’s lights had faded. Then and only then did he turn and go back the way he had came.

**

Part Six

**

“What the hell is he doing here?” A curt voice broke through the haze that was his mind.

“Now calm down,” A gentler voice replied. “I couldn’t not bring him back he was hurt. I had to help him.”

“It’s not safe,” The curt voice again. “We don’t know who he is, where he’s come from or why he’s here?”

“There’s his car,” Came the gentler voice again. Her voice. He knew it had to be her voice. “There has to be something in his car that may tell us something.”

“Providing it’s still there,” The curt voice replied. He wished that voice would just shut up.

He tried to open his eyes but they proved to be heavier then he could manage so he let them be and instead focused on the sounds around him.

“Do you think he’s one of ‘Them’?”

“Until we know otherwise – Yes.” The curt voice answered.

Who were the ‘Them’ they referred too?

“I’ll go and check out his car. It’s our only way of knowing who this guy is, hopefully it’s still there. Thieves in this part of town are fast workers.”

All was quiet after that and he could feel himself drifting towards sleep again. Through the haze he thought he heard the sound of a door closing and then the touch of something cold on his forehead. It felt nice and gave him the strength to open his eyes, if only a little and he saw Her – Dawn. He watched her move across the room where she lay down on a mattress.

His eyes drifted shut again and he slept.

When he next awoke it was to see light streaming through the one window the room had. His throat was dry and he tried to lever himself up in a bid to search for something to quench his thirst and at once felt a hand at his back and something being pressed to his mouth.

His lips parted hungrily as he gulped down what was offered and when the water wasn’t going down fast enough by his standards both his hands came up to clutch the cup tipping it up, it’s contents spilling over the side to run down his cheeks and chin. The hand who’s his held along with the cup having to pry it out of his fingers and a calming voice broke through the craziness his thirst had evoked.

“Take it easy, you’ve been out for a long time.”

The hand at his back is then removed and he had little strength to protest as he was lowered back to the bed. His side hurt. His eyes open and he meets the blue ones of his dreams.

“Hi,” She says. And then he’s unconscious again.

This time when he awoke it was to the sound of two people talking. Talking about him.

One wants him gone while the other is arguing that fact saying he’s wounded.

‘Wounded?’ He thinks and then tries to move and feels the pain in his side, which he notices has lessened from a burning throb to a dull ache and if the word ‘wounded’ hadn’t of gotten his attention he doubted wether he would have noticed it at all.

His mind told him to wake, to stand, to face these two people, but his body told him something different and he lapsed into sleep again to the sound of there voices.

**

“’Him’ being here is inviting danger to our door.”

“’My’ being here is doing that,”

“Will you listen to me?” Xander exclaimed in low but harsh tones. “One: He has no identification on him so we don’t know who he is or where he comes from. Two: He was packing a loaded gun and Three: One look at you and he was bolting from his car to chase you.”

Dawn had no reply when he put it like that and decided to go the ‘wounded’ route, although why she was so intent on keeping this fella around she had no idea and rather then ponder over that thought she quickly pushed it aside and went on with what was at hand.

“Xander, while he’s laid up like this he’s no danger to me... and you have his gun.”

Xander was still unconvinced though.

“Everything in me is telling me this is wrong,” He said using a tone Dawn knew so well. He was going to let her have her way.

“Did you find anything in his car?”

Xander shook his head. “It was gone already, probably being stripped as we speak.”

Dawn sighed knowing he was right, desperate people would steal just about anything, anywhere and anytime in this neighbourhood.

“So...” She said her eyes going back to the man on the bed. “Can he stay?”

Xander nodded.

“Your invalid can stay,”

She smiled and immediately set about her nurse duties by changing the wet cloth that lay across the wounded man’s forehead.

Xander moved to the door and she heard it open.

“But as soon as that guy is up on his feet, I’m personally kicking his arse out.”

And then the door closed.

**

“Where is he?”

Barked the deep burly voice and within seconds the tall straight figure of her employer’s father barged through the doors that lead into the offices of Shane McMahon.

“Ah... Mr McMahon sir... good afternoon-“

“Spare me the ass kissing,” He raged walking straight passed the secretary’s little desk to the door he knew to be his son’s personal office. He opened the door, looked, looked again and then closed it moving to repeat the process with the conference room, the stationary room, the coat room and the small kitchenette before returning back to the startled secretary.

“Well?” He demanded as if it had been her fault he had just wasted his time going to every room in search of his son.

“He hasn’t come in yet sir,” Maria replied rather hurriedly.

“Hasn’t come in? But it’s near three in the afternoon. How can he not come in yet?”

And then he stormed out again in much the same manner as he had arrived.

**

“Has he left yet?”

“Yeah, he’s making his way towards the alley now.”

“Bout time,” A third voice chimed in. “Feel’s like we’ve been waiting for bloody ever.”

“We may as well have been,” The first voice confirmed.

“Alright, alright,” The second voice broke into there bickering. “That girlie will be all alone in there, an easy target if ever there was one. You two get whatever’s worth taking,”

“And what are you gonna do?” The third voice asked as he followed his two friends across the street to the building they had been casing for little more than an hour.

The second voice had a slight leer to it as it replied, “Me? Well I’ll be looking after that little filly.”

**

After checking on her patient Dawn had just laid down on the mattress when she heard foot steps on the wooden planks of the stairway. Had Xander forgotten something? If he had that’d be a first, he was always so on the ball, but it wasn’t Xander as she soon found out.

She had been in the process of getting back to her feet to cross the room her hand reaching for the door handle when it burst open hitting her full in the face.

“She’s out,” A strange yet familiar voice said and she felt the brush of feet as one, two, three people stepped over her.

A groan came from one of them.

“I said ‘knock on the door’ not ‘knock the door down’.” He was saying. Dawn recognised his voice too so she didn’t have to guess at who’d the third person would be.

“Who’s he?”

Yep. She was right she thought recognising that voice as well. By ‘he’ they must be referring to her patient lying on the bed.

“Who cares,” The first voice replied. “Just look for something to steal, I’m starting to get the shakes.”

Dawn watched the men through her lashes. Frigging bums she thought.

Psychosis, Super Crazy and Juice, a Mexican trio that roamed Hooker’s Alley, they liked to say that they protected the working girls from over indulging customers, but everyone knew they lay in wait ready to pounce, beat up and rob those unsuspecting first timers to support there drug habits.

So they must really be hard done by to be robbing them, she mused, to risk Xander’s wrath when all this was over.

Her eyes went to her patient. He wasn’t moving, which was a good sign she inwardly told herself. Better to be surrounded by three misfits then four. She could almost laugh at them silly buggers, what were they hoping to steal – Her Mickey Mouse clock? Her brows furrowed as an idea came to her, Xander never ventured far from there building when he was in look out mode, he may even be on the roof... and that made her smile because what kind of a look out would he be seeing as they were in the process of being robbed? She tucked her chin to her chest to hide her traitorous smile.

All she had to do was get to that Mickey Mouse clock and hurl it at the window. It was heavy enough to shatter the glass and would alert Xander if he was indeed near... but what if he wasn’t? She squashed that thought. She’d worry about that when it happened.

Psychosis, and Super Crazy had there backs to her and were pulling the stuffing out from Xander’s mattress, they had already discovered the loose floor board underneath, but Xander had already removed the gun thank god, that’s all she’d need – Three scums from the slums she could handle, but she would have had to think twice at three scums from the slums with a gun.

The bathroom door was open and she could hear someone pottering around in there, had to be Juice, god he’d been in there a while. She hated to think what he was doing seeing as today had been washing day and her bra’s and undies were hanging off anything hang-off-able. That was another thought she pushed from her mind and quite happy to at that. If she were to do what her head was telling her to she’d need to keep her upchuck reflexes in check.

She kept her eyes trained on them as she carefully got to her knees, then up on one foot and then the other... gee what kinda thieves were these? She could skip over to the clock singing the American anthem and she’d probably still go unnoticed by them for all the attention they were showing her. They obviously didn’t see her as a threat, well, that would be there downfall-

“Hey!”

Yep. She spoke to soon. She had totally forgotten about the other on in the bathroom. Juice made a dash for her as the other two turned, but with one almighty lunge towards her bed and the man still lying on it she plucked up the clock, spun around in mid air and hurled it out the window. The glass shattered immediately the clock travelling across the space between there building and the next to smash as it connected with the brick wall and then fell to the alley below.

She felt a hand in her hair then, twisting and pulling and she screamed at the pain it caused before she felt her body being rammed up face first into the wall. Her arm hurt from where it was hiked up behind her back and all she could hear through the ringing in her ears was the sound of a scuffle behind her.

Raised voices followed by howls of pain and then she was free. She slipped down the wall nursing her arm and looked up expecting to see Xander, but it wasn’t Xander who was standing over the fallen bodies of the Mexican trio, it was ‘Him’. And he had her knife in his hand, both covered in blood.

She sat stunned for a moment before movement at the door broke the lock he had on her gaze and she turned to see Xander standing in the doorway staring at them both.

**

**Back tracks for Shane’s POV**

The first thing he noticed when he started to rouse from his slumber was ‘The’ voices. There were too many of them. Voices he didn’t recognise or care to recognise.

Why couldn’t he hear ‘Her’ voice in amongst the others? Where was she?

He fought to open his eyes and through slightly parted lids he saw three men. One was going through a bag of clothes, one disappeared through a doorway and the other had his head buried under a mattress – The very mattress he had seen ‘Her’ lay down on, he was sure of that.

Then where was she? Or for that matter where was her shadow?

The man who had his head buried under the mattress gave a yelp of pleasure and Shane could only assume he had found something of value under there but then the man flipped the mattress over and swore rather crassly. Guess what he found wasn’t that valuable after all.

The sound of items being tossed about carelessly in the other room and the fact that the two men he could see weren’t worried about the stuff they threw about the place told him that something wasn’t right here. And that thought was confirmed when he saw ‘Her’.

She had a nasty bruise on her temple which no doubt would blacken her eye, but it was the way in which she got to her feet that he focused on - Carefully... sneakily.

Surely she couldn’t be...

“Hey!”

A shout from across the room and then everyone but him was moving.

Three guys now, the third had come back to join his buddies, it was he who had cried out and they were all rushing at ‘Her’. And she, she was flying across the room and like something out of the Matrix she did this fancy mid air turn and hurled something at the window, the sound of glass smashing filled his ears as he watched her land on her side.

How he managed to get to his feet he had no idea, it was like someone else was controlling his actions, he didn’t even know how he came to see the knife sticking out from under the bed he’d been lying on, only knew that he did and in that split second that knife was in his hand and he was already plunging it deep into the man who was closest to him, his fingers tightening on the handle as he twisted it this way and that, the blade delving deeper and deeper until he saw the man’s eyes roll to the top of his head before he pulled it out and advanced onto the next man and then the next until huffing profoundly from his exertions his gaze met hers and then seemingly as one they both turned to see her shadow standing in the doorway as always his face hidden by darkness, but her shadow it was.

**

They moved in silence.

Xander leading the way while Dawn and her invalid followed a short distance behind. They had left everything, not that they had had much but wherever Xander was leading them to it wouldn’t be too hard to scavenge the bare necessities they’d need to survive, which was something Dawn had learnt real quick. It had been hard at first, but she learnt again through Xander’s teaching to emancipate herself from want and worldly desires, and through that she found she didn’t really need all that much to survive in this world.

The grate of a metal roller door being pushed up had her sighing with relief. She was worried about the man next to her. He hadn’t said a thing since, well since ever it felt like. She hoped he was okay and that his wound hadn’t opened. They stepped under the roller door and the grate of the door being pulled closed followed them.

“We’ll be okay till morning,” Xander told her as she helped her charge over to the window, the moonlight from outside the only light that filtered through to them, but it was all she needed to check his wound.

He made no protest as she unbound the make shift bandage from around his middle and again she sighed in relief when she saw that throughout all he had been through his wound had stayed closed. The only sign that showed of his ordeal was the sheen of sweat across his brow and his still pasty colour. He was awake though, that much she knew by his constant mutterings of blue eyes.

“Get some rest,” She heard Xander say from the shadows. “I’ll go check this place out, see if we’re not the only ones seeking shelter here.” And then he was gone. How she knew he had gone and not still standing there waiting for a reply was lost on her, she just knew he had. She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes.

“Why are you running?”

Her eyes flew open her head jerking to the side to the man next to her. His eyes were hooded but open, his mouth slightly open and she could hear him breathe in and then out again.

“Who were those men? Why were they-“

His words halted as a fit of coughing assailed him and he leaned forward a bit his hand going to his mouth. Immediately he felt her hand at his back, her small palm slapping the wind back into him.

“I wish I had some water to give you,” She said when his coughing eased and he leaned back against the wall again.

“Who... who...” He began again but she shushed him with a finger to his lips.

“They were druggies looking for something to steal to pay for there next fix.”

He seemed relieved by her words his shoulders relaxing.

“Then society won’t miss them,” He remarked.

That comment had her brow rising, but again she had to admit he was right. Hooker’s Alley certainly wouldn’t miss then, hell if this neighbourhood had been anything but seedy and its occupants anything but lowlifes they may have been missed, but Hooker’s Alley being as it was and its occupants being as they were the reality was drug users, dealers, thieves, rapist, murderers you name it, all of the above were a dime a dozen in the Alley – And nobody gave a shit.

“This happens a lot?”

“Well this is the Alley,” She replied as if that explained everything.

“Why don’t you move?”

“We did,”

Geesh! He was full of questions.

“No, I mean get out of here,”

She shrugged. “I’m safer here then I am out there.”

God why had she told him that?

“Safer how?”

Now, she inwardly told herself. Now is a good time to stop talking. Yet somehow she got the feeling that he wasn’t going to let that happen.

And she was right.

“What are you afraid of?”

She turned her head away from him.

“’Who’ are you afraid of?” he continued.

Still she didn’t answer.

“Dawn...”

It was the first time he had said her name.

“...Who are you running from?”

She looked at him then his eyes were intent willing her to trust him.

“Who are you running from?” He asked again his voice barely above a whisper.

“Who everyone else in this neighbourhood runs from,”

Well, that told him a lot, he mused taking the time to view there surroundings – Not that he could see that much in the dark.

“Where’s your shadow?” He asked out of the blue.

He thought he saw her smile but he could have been mistaken, it was dark after all.

“He’s close,” She said in reply.

“Is he your protector?”

She shook her head, he saw that.

“No, he’s my friend.” Was what followed.

“Dawn,” He paused wanting to choose his words carefully.

“Yes?”

“Dawn, I don’t expect you to understand this but... I can protect you... as long as I am with you no harm will come to you... I promise...”

He couldn’t see her expression so he had no idea of her reaction.

“Thank you,” He continued after a moment’s silence. “...For not leaving me to die,”

“You’re welcome,”

“When I find out who shot me-”

“You found him,” Came a voice from the shadows. Shane started to his feet but Dawn stilled him by laying a hand on his arm.

“It’s only Xander,”

“Your shadow shot me?”

She ignored his words and instead addressed her... she chuckled... ‘Shadow’. “Did you find anything or... anyone?”

“No, we’ll wait the night out here.”

And then everything was silent.

“Is... is he still here?” Shane asked after a while.

“Probably not,” She replied. “He thought you were one of ‘Them’.”

“’Them’ meaning the ones you’re running from?”

“Yes,”

Well now his wound was explained. He didn’t hate the man for shooting him although he should and once better repay the favour, at least that’s what the ‘Old’ Shane would do... what a weird thought he mused - The ‘Old’ Shane. When had he become the ‘New’ one? All the other man had been trying to do was protect ‘Her’. Something he had just promised to do himself.

“Who are ‘Them’ Dawn?” He asked. “Who are you running from?”

Two names flowed through her lips, but he only heard the first one - McMahon.

**

Part Seven

**

“McMahon.”

It was barely a croak, his throat seeming to tighten around the name as it forced its way up his wind pipe and his expression must have shown his ill ease at repeating the name, but she misread it he soon realised when she started reaching towards him with concern etched on her brow.

“What is it?” She asked. “Are you in pain?”

He thought to shake his head ‘No’ but nodded instead and immediately she set about undressing his wound to check it.

“It’s not bleeding,” She said after a few minutes and he had to wonder how she could tell, it was that dark in there, but the time it bought allowed him to wrap his head around what she had told him enough for him to tilt his head just a tad to peer down at his wound. He couldn’t see it of course, but she wasn’t to know that.

“It doesn’t look too bad,” He said more for her benefit then his, he had been shot before so the pain, the queasiness and all that came with a gun shot wound he was no stranger too and there again she wasn’t to know that either, he doubted she would have seen the evidence seeing as the scar from a previous gun shot wound was located on his inner right thigh.

“…Considering…” He continued. “I was shot last night.

“Last night?”

Her exclamation had his gaze lifting to search out hers.

“You didn’t get shot last night,” She went on to explain. “You got shot three days ago.”

‘Three days!’ He thought. ‘Bloody hell!’

He needed to get to a phone and pronto. He was tempted to ask her if there was one near, he assumed she knew the area after all but he wisely let go of that ‘telling’ temptation and consoled himself by telling himself she had her reasons for wanting to stay hidden and he wouldn’t, couldn’t compromise that. He’d simply wait until she was asleep, he continued to tell himself. That sounded like a better plan. Once she was asleep he could slip out find a pay phone and then slip back in hopefully all without her finding out.

He had to get word to his father before the old coot had the whole

Connecticut Underground out looking for him. Hopefully and that was a major ‘Hope’ on his part, but hopefully his father would think that he had just needed to get away, to cool off so to speak in the wake of there latest argument.

“What’s your name?”

The sound of her voice reminded him that for now she was still well awake, as was he.

“You know my name but I don’t know yours.”

She smiled and he couldn’t help but to reply in kind.

“Shane Mc-“

He stopped suddenly realising what he had been about to say. His real name wouldn’t do, no not at all. Not if he still wanted her to look at him with those big blue eyes of hers and so continued on with “Mc… Fee.” His Adams apple bobbed as he swallowed. “My name is Shane McFee.”

She stuck out her hand.

“Please to meet you Shane McFee,”

“Like wise,”

Her hand felt tiny in his, but nice.

“Guess you must come to Hooker’s Alley often hey?” She asked her eyes piercing his in the darkness.

“Hooker’s Alley?”

Shane could tell she was grinning even though he couldn’t see it when she continued with,

“Now don’t be shy, many a distinguished gentleman have sought the services of-“

“What?” He exclaimed. “No… No!” Shane denied adamantly her meaning sinking in. “Both times I have been… there have been as a result of a falling out with my father-“

“Oh… right…”

Her tone suggested that she didn’t believe a word he was saying and he actually grew anxious in his want… No… ‘Need’ for her to believe him.

“Its true Dawn I promise…”

She looked at him then, he still couldn’t see her expression but by her words he knew she wasn’t teasing anymore.

“Do you and your father argue a lot?”

He shrugged.

“About as much as any father and son would,”

“You don’t get along?”

“No, we get along fine… it’s just… he wants me to get married.”

Why are you telling her this? He asked himself. You sound like a spoilt brat being denied his favourite toy.

“Oh… well… that’s a good reason for coming to the Alley… I guess,”

The sarcastic tone was back in her voice.

Again he surprised himself with the need he felt to make her believe he wasn’t there looking for… easy sex… he was there for more, much, much more and he was only realising now what that ‘More’ meant. He wanted her. Not just in his bed as was his first inkling but in his life. Yep that he did. He wanted this young and beautiful and innocent big blue eyed girl in his life.

“The first time I found myself here I saw you,” He said his eyes on his hands which lay in his lap. “And if the truth be told when I found myself here again I only stuck around in the hopes of seeing you again…”

His words were clipped and shaky. Was he nervous? She asked herself.

“I haven’t forgotten that night… your eyes they… they haunt me… ‘You’ haunt me…” He became agitated and took her by the shoulders turning her to face him. “Listen to me…” He continued on scaring her a little with the urgency in his voice. “I have not told anyone this before,”

She nodded and waited for him to go on. He didn’t at first, instead his hand came up to fist at his chin before returning to his lap only to come up again as he crossed both his arms at his chest.

“I love you…”

His words startled her. How could they not? But they didn’t seem at all strange to her either.

“…And only you…” He continued stiffly. “I can’t think of anything or anyone but you, ever since I saw you everything has changed…”

He remembered who he was then and quickly brushed that thought aside.

“…I have changed. I don’t know what to do or what I am going to do only that…”

He tore his gaze away from hers.

“…Only that if I didn’t tell you I may very well have lost my mind.”

There he had said it. His words as much of a shock to him as they were to her, but he had said them and he had meant every word. He was most fearful though of her reaction to them and his gaze remained lowered.

He waited for her to say something… mere seconds he knew but they seemed like hours to him. He moved to stand but her hand reaching up to clasp his halted his progress.

“I love you too,” She began. She leaned forward and peered up at him through her lashes and he actually wanted to pinch himself. Was this really happening?

“Only you,” She continued her voice a seductive whisper. “I can’t think of anything or anyone but you. Ever since I saw you everything has changed. I have changed. I don’t know what to do or what I’m going to do and if I didn’t tell you I may very well have lost my mind.”

His look was full of confusion his brows becoming one as he stared at her.

“That’s exactly what I said,”

“Yes…”

The smile was back in her voice.

“…But I said it without all the stiffness.”

If not for her hand still resting on his he would have thought she was mocking him and when she didn’t readily move it away he knew for sure that she wasn’t.

It was a wondrous feeling.

**

It took her forever to go to sleep and all the while as he waited he expected her shadow to appear to give him his marching orders now that he was awake and semi mobile.

He found himself wondering what her shadow would look like, up to now he had only heard a voice or glimpsed the form of a man shrouded by darkness and even in the wake of what happened back at that other building he had only seen the vague outline of the other man’s face. He was tall though, that he knew and he exuded authority and power in his tone of voice. He probably had battle scars – A lot of them he was thinking. Portrayed as ugly to those around him but to the one who mattered – Namely Dawn – He would be construed as… as what? A friend? Brother? Gentle giant? Whatever!

His mouth set in a grim hard line and his expression stayed like that for a good few minutes as his thoughts continued to plague his mind, but he doubt that he was glad she had someone looking out for her, protecting her… and now he would look out for her and protect her too, everything would work out, he told himself. All he had to do was make sure she didn’t find out that he was a McMahon.

God! How the hell was he going to accomplish that? Everyone knew him! That is everyone connected with the Underground. And if they didn’t know him then they certainly knew his father. The latter he reckoned would be the main problem seeing as he had never even stepped foot in this neighbourhood until that night he had first seen Dawn, but that didn’t suffice it to say that the people in this neighbourhood didn’t know about his family or more to the point – Him.

Dawn obviously didn’t know who he was nor did her Shadow, but he knew it wouldn’t take much for them to find out. Just a glance from someone who recognised him and a whisper and he’d be done for – In more ways then one.

No. She couldn’t find out that he was a McMahon. Not yet. First he planned to find out why she feared his family and then he planned to put it right whatever it was – Whatever it took. Till then though he would become like her Shadow. Viewed by her only and her alone. It was the only way.

Her head fell to the side then hitting his shoulder as she slept and bringing him out of his thoughts. He reached across to gently brush her hair back from her face before moving her to a much more comfortable position.

He must have tweaked his side in the process because it started to throb slightly as he stared down at her.

“I promise no harm will come to you while I’m at your side,” He leaned forward then and his lips touched her forehead before he gingerly got to his feet. “I’ll be back,” He continued and crept in what he hoped was the direction of the roller door. It was and he slowly eased it up just enough for him to slide under ever careful of his side which had started to throb more.

Once he had passed under he rose to his feet his head turning this way and that as he got his bearings. A public phone box stood at the end of the street. He breathed in deeply and then exhaled looking once more down one end of the street before walking down the other towards the phone box.

Head down, shoulders hunched, arms crossed he remained oblivious to the man who watched him.

**

Xander’s expression showed nothing as he watched the other man walk briskly to the end of the street and continued to watch him as he stopped at the public pay phone.

His finger itched to pull the trigger of the gun he had aimed at the man’s head, just one little release he thought to himself and you and that connection to whomever it is you are calling is history, but a sound came from the shadows below him and Xander’s first thought was of Dawn whom they had both left sleeping inside. His first duty was to her. Pocketing his gun he turned and disappeared.

**

Shane hurried to the phone booth and wanted to kick it when he found no dial tone.

“Of all the rotten-“

He began pressing down angrily on the end call button a few times to relieve his frustration before replacing the receiver.

“Shit!”

He looked back down the street to the building he had left Dawn sleeping in. He couldn’t go back yet he had to make sure his father wouldn’t send any goons out looking for him. Turning back to the phone he took a deep breath and picked up the receiver again.

“Yes!” He cried hearing the drill incessant bleating come through the line. He punched in a random assortment of numbers and waited for the voice of the operator.

He didn’t have to wait long.

“This is an operator pre-recorded message. Your call could not be connected. Please check the number and try again or press 1 followed by the hash key to speak to an operator.”

He did the latter.

“This is the operator. How may I help you?”

“I’d like to make a reverse charge call to three-five-five-five-one-eight.”

“Area code,”

“Two,”

“One moment please,”

He waited and a few moments later he heard the call being put through and then someone answer on the other end.

“McMahon residence,”

He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. Instead he heard Dawn’s voice repeating his family name over and over.

McMahon... McMahon... McMahon...

“Who is it Flair?”

He heard his father’s voice through the receiver and quickly ended the call.

He leaned forward and rested his head against the glass wall of the booth and exhaled in one long stream before picking up the receiver again. He repeated his previous steps till he again heard the operator’s voice. He gave her another number and waited rather impatiently to be put through.

“Shane McMahon’s office. Opening hours are 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday. Please call back then or leave your name and number after the beep.”

*BEEP*

“Maria, its Shane. I’ve decided to take an indefinite holiday. Hold the fort and if my father asks tell him not to worry and that I’ll be back soon.”

And there he ended the call. Short and sweet, just the way he liked it.

The walk back to the building where Dawn slept was just as brisk as when he had left it, maybe even brisker. Hopefully his father would accept what his message had stated and that’d be the end of it.

His mind now was full of ways he could begin to help Dawn.

First thing he’d do was get her out of this God forsaken neighbourhood. Set her up somewhere nice where she wouldn’t have to worry about anything or anyone, he would look after her, he would see to her every need and everything would be fine. Hell her Shadow could even come of he wanted too, he wouldn’t care just as long as she came. Yeah, that sounded like a plan.

Next would be this business with her and the McMahon name. He knew his father well, knew all the seedy and illegal things his father would do in honour of the McMahon name, shit he had even helped, yet for the life of him he didn’t know of any dealings past or present that had to do with the name Summers. At least not yet. Once he was back at his office he could find out though, find out what the connection was between Dawn Summers and the McMahon’s.

And he knew that once he understood that would he be able to tell Dawn who he really was. And maybe, just maybe she’ll still want him in her life.

Nearing the building he could see the roller door partially open just as he’d left it and sliding under it he didn’t feel the throbbing in his side as he had the first time. He righted himself and crept back to the window where he had left her.

“Dawn,” He whispered his brow furrowing as he lowered himself to his knees.

“Dawn?” He said again a little louder this time but the morning sky was just starting to make its appearance and the light it provided was just enough for him to see that Dawn wasn’t there.

**

Part Eight

**

Gone!

Shit!

Not believing what his eyes were telling him he crouched down his hands running over the spot where she had lay.

“Dawn!” He called out in a frenzied panic.

On his hands and knees he crawled around the room feeling with his hands in the dark where the light from the window didn’t reach.

“Dawn!” He called again even though his mind was telling him his efforts were in vain. She was gone.

Still on his hands and knees he pushed himself into a sitting position and leaned back until his back was against the wall. His side throbbed something vicious now and his hand automatically went to his wound.

“Damn,” He muttered when his hand came away with a warm stickiness on his fingers. He didn’t need any light to show him what was happening. His wound had opened up again.

**

“You saw him Xander, you actually saw him?”

Dawn had been more then a little out of sorts when she awoke to find herself not in the same room she had closed her eyes in and that Shane was nowhere to be seen.

“Yes Dawn. I saw him.” Xander replied. “For all we know he could have been calling in for the reward on your head.”

“But are you sure? It could have been anyone?”

“It was him,” Xander insisted. “Why are you so intent on not believing me?”

She blanched at his words.

“Of course I believe you,” She began. “It’s just he said... he... he said some things...”

“What things?”

Oh the usual things she inwardly told herself. You know that he loves me, that he can’t live without me... her lip curled up in a sneer that would have given Billy Idol a run for his money and she turned her head away.

“Nothing,” She grumbled aloud more to herself then to him. “Just a lot of stupid nothings,”

Silence prevailed and Dawn took the time to examine there surrounding. It was beautiful and so not what she’d expected to find in Hooker’s Alley. The walls and ceiling were made of glass, the ceiling itself rose high on an angle and she could tell they were high up by the spread of rooftops the view displayed. Shrubs and vines grew n forgotten abundance that bore a mysterious flair and also had her wondering at what creepy crawlies may also inhabit the area. She drew her knees up her eyes darting to every nook and cranny within eye view.

“I’m sorry,” She said after a while not able to let the silence go on any longer.

“It’s okay,” He replied. “You weren’t to know,”

More silence prevailed.

“Where are we?” She spoke again opting for a change of topic.

“Only a couple blocks from the last building,” Xander replied. “The man who owned this building died a couple of years back, it’s swamped with squatters now but no one ever comes up here.”

“How come you’ve never brought me here before?”

“Because there’s never been a need to bring you here, we were safe enough at the other place before-“

“Before Shane McFee?” She finished for him, but he shook his head and opened his mouth to say more only to close it and cock his head to the side.

“That’s his name?” He asked. “McFee?”

“That’s the name he gave me,” She replied.

Xander sighed, paced a little and then got back to there original topic.

“I was going to say before Psychosis and his crew got desperate.”

“Oh...” She said lowering her head. “I don’t get that...” She remarked her brows drawn. “He saved me-“

“Did he?” Xander’s brow quirked, “Or was it the five hundred thousand dollar reward that he was saving?”

Dawn’s gaze went to the ground again and her shoulder’s slumped. She didn’t want to believe that of Shane but everything seemed to be pointing in that direction. Had he just being seeing dollar signs when he confessed his life changing love for her?

“The sun will be up sooner than later,” Xander said breaking into her thoughts. He removed his coat and draped it over a weed of weeds and vines and then motioned for her to lie on it. “I’ll be back soon.”

“Where are you going?” She asked not sure she wanted to be left here in what could be ‘Spiderland’.

He paused at the open arch entrance but didn’t turn around.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be back.”

Was all he said and then he left her. He may not have answered her question but in those few minutes Dawn had noted his stiff shoulders, his clenched fists and his determined expression and she knew, she knew exactly where he was going.

He was going to kill Shane.

She lay down on Xander’s coat and for the first time wished that Xander would fail.

**

He had to think, he told himself. He had to clear his head and think. She wouldn’t just up and go would she? Not after there mutual declarations. Maybe she woke and finding him gone had set out to search for him. She may still be in the building somewhere... yes she may... but then why did he get the sinking feeling in the pit of his belly telling him she wasn’t.

No. She wouldn’t have gone. She wouldn’t have he continued to rant. And the fact that she had told him that she had either been forced or had been carried away in her sleep and since there was no sign of a struggle he bet his inheritance on it being the latter.

“Damn...” He whispered his brows coming together.

Her shadow must have seen him leave... seen him use the pay phone...

“Damn...” He said again for forcibly.

He knew Xander wouldn’t have cared who he’d been calling, he could have been calling for a pizza and it wouldn’t have mattered. Xander was all about Dawn’s safety and after watching him sneak out to use the phone he would have immediately drawn the conclusion that he had been up to no good.

They can’t have gone far he surmised, but given his current state and the fact that his wound had started to bleed again he’d be lucky if he even made it to the next block.

“Damn...” His tone was back to a whisper.

He couldn’t stay here, he’d bleed to death and now that he had found Dawn he wanted to stay very much alive.

He’d go back to the phone booth, that’s what he’d do. He’d go back, get Maria on the line and order her to come pick him up. Yep. That was a terrific plan. He pulled himself to his feet.

See, he inwardly scoffed knowing Maria would ask how high if he asked her to jump. Being the only son of a filthy Billionaire did have its advantages.

**

He entered the building through the fire escape. His footfalls silent on the metal beams that streamed across the high ceiling, his eyes scanning the expanse below for a sign of the Dawn’s invalid, but in the pre dawn light all below him was void of human life and without another thought he turned on his heel and left the way he had come.

It was while he was leaving that he saw the other man, his body leaning heavily against the concrete wall of a deserted porn shop. His arms pulled up as if to ward off the early morning chill.

Xander’s hand ran over the butt of the gun at his back and he drew it forward aimed...

A car horn sounded loudly from the opposite direction and immediately he took a step back. The car slowed to a crawl and then to a complete stop as it neared Shane. A woman hopped out her concerned voice carrying to him as she ran to the other man’s side. It was more then obvious that the two knew each other.

He did naught but watch as the woman helped the other man into her car her heels clicking on the pavement as she ran around to the driver’s side and jumped in. His eyes staying on the car until it had driven out of sight.

His hand fingered the gun at his back again. It would come, he told himself. His time to kill Shane McFee would come.

**

Despite Maria’s efforts to change his mind Shane walked into McMahon Towers three days later.

His wound now well on the mend after a quick stop at a twenty-four hour clinic much to Maria’s chagrin. She had wanted to take him straight to the emergency ward at City General Hospital, but that wouldn’t do, his father sat on the board of directors and it wouldn’t take long for Vince McMahon to find out that his son had been there for treatment on a wound caused by a gun shot. That wouldn’t work into his plans at all and he’d rather not lie to his father. The easy out was to swear Maria to secrecy and not tell his father a thing.

Walking with a purpose he replied the necessary ‘Good mornings’ and

‘Hello’s’ to those who offered them as he passed, walked right passed

Maria’s desk and into his office where he then promptly kicked the door shut.

It didn’t stay shut for long though. He knew it wouldn’t have. Maria had been his secretary for nearly five years so how could he not know her routine.

“Your father’s called a special meeting apparently something happened while you were recovering from you’re...” She paused to add emphasis to her words, “...’indefinite holiday’...” and then continued with. “...it starts in five minutes. Here are all your other messages, nothing that can’t wait until after the meeting.” She stopped to breathe and nodded as if satisfied that she hadn’t left anything out. “And how are you this morning?”

“Fine thanks,” He replied his fingers tapping against the top of his desk as he waited for his computer to boot up.

“Umm... Shane...”

“Hmm?”

Her brows rose.

“Meeting?”

Shane rolled his eyes and got to his feet.

“Okay, okay I’m going...” He said though he seemed reluctant to leave and with good reason too he thought. In the three days that had passed he had tried without success to find the link between Dawn Summers and his family. He’d sifted through file after file of past and current business and no so business like deals, sifted through file after file of past and current financial transactions and sifted through file after file of past and current enemies to see if her name came up – But nothing. To the McMahon’s she was nothing. Then why was she running from them?

Keibler had been the second name Dawn had spoken but he had no way of getting inside Keibler’s mainframe and although hacking in was an option – Time wasn’t. But then again... there was always Stacy...

“Shane!” Maria called from outside his office now. When had she left?

Chuckling he got to his feet.

“I’m going mom,” He said cheekily as he passed her desk.

**

“Ah... the prodigal son returns,”

All eyes turned his way as soon as he passed over the threshold. His eyes found and locked with the eyes of the man who had spoken.

“Coming from the ‘Wannabe son’ that’s quite a compliment,” He said a smug smile turning the corners of his mouth up.

His brother in law’s lip curled in a sneer but he said no more as Vince himself power walked into the room and took his place at the head of the long conference table.

“Shane, glad you could make it,” He said without even a glance in his son’s direction.

Shane sighed and sat down in the first vacant seat he saw and chuckled at the sight of his brother in law Hunter Hurst Helmsley quickening his steps to get the chair closest to Vince.

Something’s just never change, he thought knowing that if his father wanted his arse kissed Hunter would be first in line chap stick uncapped.

“There’s been a breach in building 531 stationed four blocks from the Lower Eastside.” His father began. “How these people got in I don’t know and have yet to hear a sufficient enough excuse from security on how this could have happened.” He continued.

Shane followed his father’s stony gaze to the dark, bald and beady eyed looking cretin who sat at the far end of the long table.

“Mr McMahon sir... I assure you I have every available man I got looking into it,”

“I’m sure you have Mr Long...”

Shane’s eyes went back to his father.

“...But your lack of answers is trying my patience.”

“Please McMahon... I... I just need a little more time-“

“Time I don’t have,” His father cut in and then turned to look straight at him. “Shane will be taking over from this point on.”

Shane’s brows furrowed but he said nothing as his father continued.

“Surveillance tapes showed that there were two intruders, but that doesn’t mean that there weren’t more lurking around. It just means only two were caught and killed. We don’t know what information they got out beforehand if any got out at all, but I’m not willing to take any chances.”

His eyes roved from man to man before settling back on his son.

“Lower Eastside brings in a hefty profit every six months. The area itself is poverty personified but the out take is huge because most who live there would rather feed there habit then there kids when pension day comes round and as the old saying goes – There loss is my gain.”

Lower Eastside... Lower Eastside... He had no idea where Lower Eastside was? And did he even want to? After all he already had a mission and that mission was Dawn. Right now he didn’t want or need any other distraction but her.

“Can’t do it,” He said surprising everyone seated around the table by talking over his father.

“I’ll do...“

Hunter began but was silenced by a raised hand from his father in law.

“Thank you Hunter,” The older man began meeting Shane’s gaze. “...But Shane will be doing it. If anything got out about what’s been going on inside building three-five-one or more importantly the names of those who stand to profit from the venture then its you I want to see take care of it because I know you won’t hesitate. I stand to lose a lot if this shipment is impounded and even with certain members of the police department in my back pocket it would still take up to six months to get everything up and running again.”

Shane sat back his gaze going out the window, yet another mess of his fathers that he would have to clean up. Why didn’t he just send Hunter and leave him be, at least Hunter actually wanted to go, but no, no one but his only son and heir would do. Maybe he’d just show up, shoot a few people and then get the hell out of there. He cocked a brow. No. That wouldn’t do, he was a changed man remember? But anyway... he mused idly swinging from side to side in his chair something he hadn’t done since he was a child on those many occasions when his father had brought him into the office to show him what the ‘Big’ men did and how the ‘Big’ men solved there ‘Big’ problems.

He smiled.

And now he was one of those ‘Big’ men... His thoughts switched to Dawn. And he had a ‘Big’ problem.

Damn it he wanted so bad not to be here. His eyes went to the window. He wanted to be out there. He wanted to be back in...

“...Hooker’s Alley.”

He sat up with a start. Brows together, eyes intent and started right at his father.

“What did you say?”

“Hooker’s Alley,” His father repeated. “Haven’t you been listening boy? Hooker’s Alley is Lower Eastside.”

His father rose to his feet then and walked the few steps to a board that displayed a detailed outline of the city.

“This,” He said his finger marking a section on the map. “This is Hooker’s Alley.”

Shane’s eyes zeroed in on the map.

“And this...” His father continued pointing to another section of the map not far from the first. “...is building 351.”

**

Part Nine

**

They moved three more times after ‘Spider Land’ and in as many days, squatting in buildings just on the out skirts of Hooker’s Alley rather then leave it altogether. The building they were at now had running water and though it was freezing and a rusty brown colour from being in the pipes so long Dawn used it to wash her hair and her body. Xander even swiped some clothes off a balcony railing that someone had left there to dry, they were a little on the big side and she more or less felt like a five year old playing dress up in her mommy’s clothes but she was clean and warm and that’s all that mattered, besides it wasn’t like she was going to wear these clothes for the rest of her life, she had washed her own clothes and they were now hanging nicely over the ladder to the fire escape and as soon as they were dry she would change.

Xander had called to her from down in the alley of there latest dwelling and after climbing out the window and down the fire escape to the ground below she now sat on a dumpster opposite him about to partake in a meal of pancakes, bacon, fries and coke.

“Where’d you get this?” She asked her mouth watering at the smell of the bacon.

“Diner two blocks over,”

“But we don’t have any money,”

She bit into a piece of bacon. Heaven.

“I washed a few dishes,” Xander replied sitting back while she ate.

Now Dawn knew that wasn’t true. Xander rarely approached other people let alone talked to them and though the image she got of him standing at a sink full of dirty dishes with an apron around his waist was probable it was also highly unlikely, not to mention just too damn funny for words.

Her stomach grumbled and she took that as a sign to stop thinking about how Xander got the food and just be grateful he got it.

She reached for a pancake.

“You not eating?” She asked.

Xander’s mouth opened but he didn’t get a chance to reply as the sound of gun fire pelted out around them.

Dawn forgot all about her hunger spitting out the mouthful she had been chewing in the rush, not that she would have been able to swallow anyway being squished as she was between the pavement and Xander.

“Down here!” A man’s voice yelled.

Dawn lifted her head only to have Xander push it back down to the pavement, but she had seen enough to know that a man and a woman were running towards them as if there lives depended on it and apparently it did as more gun fire followed.

“We have to get out of here,” He said getting to his feet and pulling her with him. “The last thing we need is to get caught in someone else’s war.”

“Wait Xander… my scarf,” She said reaching for the item that still had to be on the dumpster. It wasn’t and she tossed her head about to see where it had fallen. It was only a few feet away but bullets started flying again only in there direction as soon the ones pursuing knew that they were there and Dawn’s scarf was forgotten.

The man being pursued arched his back his face one of pain before staggering forward to fall flat on his face. The woman that had been running at his side screamed and fell to her knees only to get up and start running again when a bullet hit the ground beside her.

Xander pulled Dawn up again and she got a good look at the woman running there way. The look on her face was one Dawn would never forget. Pained, scared, panicked, lost… The look of a woman who knew she was going to die.

“Xander,” She whispered her eyes locked with those of the other woman.

“No Dawn,” He replied his tone curt recognising the urgent plea to help in her voice. “There’s nothing we can do,”

Half carrying, half dragging Xander pulled her after him away from the woman who was on her knees beside the dumpster and Dawn was shocked to see that the woman had her scarf clasped between her fingers. She saw in the chaos the woman’s back straightening her wide eyed look still locked with Dawn’s before she fell forward.

Her eyes blinded with that image she moved after Xander his grip on her arm like a vice and a good thing it was too because without him she knew she would be dead too merely for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but… they should have done something.

When they finally stopped her expression said it all and Xander gathered her into his arms.

“It was her or us Dawn, you know that right?”

She nodded her response into his chest, yet acknowledging his words didn’t make it anymore right in her mind.

**

Twenty minutes later Shane was in a car and on his way to Lower Eastside, Hooker’s Alley Building three-five-one.

Who’d a thought? He kept telling himself. Definitely not him, especially since he had been quick smart in declining this latest clean up mission only to surprise not only everyone seated at that table but his father too with his actions after hearing just where Building three-five-one was.

He still couldn’t believe it himself. Hell thinking about it now had him inwardly chuckling. He ought to seek a career in action movies. He’d be good at it.

After it had registered what not to mention ‘Where’ his father was offering him he couldn’t get up out of his chair fast enough. He had dived. Yep. Dived across the table, reaching with one hand to swipe the file his father held in his hands while using his other hand to tear at the map pinned to a board before walking out of the door without a backward glance.

Foot steps followed him though and he didn’t need to be a mathematician to figure whose they were.

“You smug son of a bitch,”

Shane’s eyes went heavenward.

“Your father was on the verge of giving that job to me and you know it.”

“Awww… don’t worry Hunter, kiss my father’s arse long enough and you’ll be playing with us big boys… eventually.”

The look that crossed his brother in laws face told him his words had hit there mark.

“You know I’m going to make a prediction right now. One day maybe not soon but one day you’re going to slip up.”

Shane’s brow rose again.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Hunter continued. “One day you’re not going to be the apple of your father’s eye and I’m going to be there to see it.”

“Be there to take my place more like,” Shane scoffed barely noticing that they had moved out of doors and were now standing at his car. He quickly unlocked the door and opened it.

“Yeah well… that too,” Hunter’s laugh was cut short as Shane lowered himself into the drivers seat and shut the door.

His power hungry brother in law could wait he had a somewhere to be. Turning the ignition he put his car into gear and sped out of the parking lot.

Didn’t take him long to reach his destination, not with the map in hand although he recognised no distinguishing landmarks, no trashy women standing on street corners, no abandoned buildings and no familiar bus stop. But then what was he expecting? To arrive and have Dawn standing there waiting for him with open arms? Well… maybe… His father had said two intruders were seen – His face soured – and killed, his mind was so helpful in pointing out.

He pulled up next to the curb across the road from what the map showed as Building three-five-one and got out of his car.

“Please god,” He whispered having to force his legs to move as he crossed the street. “Please don’t let the intruders be them.”

**

“Can’t you zoom in or something?”

“It’s already enhanced to the max,” Was the reply.

Shane didn’t like that reply and it showed as he threw his hands up in frustration before bringing his thumb and forefinger down to pinch the bridge of his nose. The only thing these damn video surveillance tapes showed him was blurry image of two people running away, the picture so out of focus that he couldn’t even make out wether they were male or female or what he dreaded – A combination of both.

“Where are the bodies?” He asked lowering his band to stare at the man sitting at his desk.

“Are you kidding me?” The man craned his neck to peer back at Shane.

Shane’s raised brow told him he wasn’t and the other man sighed and sat up straighter in his chair as if suddenly just remembering who he was talking too.

“An order came soon after it happened for one of the bodies to be taken to this address,” He said rifling through the papers on his desk till he found what he wanted. He handed it to Shane. “The other is floating its way out to sea as we speak.”

Shane looked down at the paper in his hand. He didn’t recognise the address, but he did recognise the area. Well he should considering he grew up in it.

Shouldn’t be too hard to find then, he mused pocketing the slip of paper the other man had handed him.

“Why was only one of the bodies kept? Procedure is to destroy all evidence.”

“Like I said,” The other man replied with a shrug. “I got an order to ship the female and dump the male.”

Oh he hadn’t just said that…

“Female?” Shane questioned needing to hear it again.

“Yes.” The other man handed Shane an open file this time. “It’s all there in black and white. One male to be deposed – One female to be shipped.”

That was all the confirmation Shane needed.

“Thanks,” He said and hurried out of the room.

**

The address turned out to be a lot covered with tall trees and over hanging branches, gorse, thicket and it that wasn’t enough to put anyone off exploring further the seven foot steel chain fence that surrounded the lot did. But he wasn’t just any curious passer by though was he.

He got out of his car and walked alongside the fence a few metres before turning to walk back towards the car. He craned his neck his eyes fixing in where the fence ended and then turned again his brows coming together when the fence ended on the other side with no entrance gate in between.

Something was wrong with this picture, he surmised.

On either side if the lot was nothing but empty space. Dirt and dry dirt at that. Nothing grew on it. Not one teeny weeny weed poked up out of the earth though the fence continued on only stopping to wrap itself around the thicket keeping it in while keeping everything else out – Or so it seemed to him – Before it carried on sectioning off the whole block.

Why had he never seen this place before?

The house he grew up in was only a short distance from here… he had to have come by this place at some time in his life surely… But he hadn’t. No matter how hard he tried to rack his brain for a memory regarding this fenced off area he couldn’t, it just wasn’t there.

Curiosity and something else had his hands gripping the steel wire and hauling himself up and over the fence, his feet landing without so much as a sound as they hit the grassy bottom. And with all the courage of a little boy about to embark on his biggest adventure yet he made his way into the thicket.

It didn’t take him long to realise that the more he walked the more the shrubbery around him grew more dense and in some places he had to climb over branches and prickles where there proved to be no way through it. He almost felt like all the plant life around him was actually trying to keep him out silly thought that that was, but it was there just the same.

And then he saw it. A building that barely looked big enough to fit a car in yet easily three times as high as it was wide. It looked impenetrable. Just one big hunk of stone. But impenetrable it was not he found a short while after when on circling the chunk of stone he came across a ladder that stretched to the top and disappeared over the side.

Now if that didn’t scream ‘Climb Me!’ he’d be one of those paupers living in Hooker’s Alley.

He climbed.

At the top the ladder continued on to the centre of the building and then stopped, therefore he did too, where he found a latch connected to a trap door, which opened easily when he pulled on it.

He looked around his eyes squinting as he tried to see his car through the thicket and found that he couldn’t even see the road or the steel fence.

He harrumphed.

“Weird.”

And then dropped inside the opening and once his feet touched the floor he felt like he had been transported back into his dream. No… this wasn’t his dream… this was real which meant… his dream was real!

A white room, no doors, no windows just a table covered by a white sheet. But unlike in his dream this table had nobody on it and unlike in his dream the sheet that covered the table was stained with blood.

He moved closer the sight drawing him nearer even as his mind was screaming ‘No!’ And then he saw it, sticking out like a dark beacon amongst all this white. A scrap of material that lay under the sheet, he recognised it immediately yet as if not wanting to believe what his eyes were telling him he reached for it and pulled it out. His fists clenching the material between his fingers before he fell to his knees and let forth a pained almost feral cry before burying his head in the scarf he remembered belonging to Dawn.

**

Part Ten

**

A sneer.

A scowl.

A dark look.

That’s what ‘He’ wore nowadays.

How could he go from the fun, joke loving, easy going boss she was use to, to this callous, moody, ‘cross me and die’ man that he was now she could only wonder at. Actually the whole office was wondering that.

He stopped greeting them as he’d use too when he arrived at work. He stopped having coffee with the office employees as he’d use too. There was no more flirty banter when she presented him with messages at various times throughout the day and no playful teasing of the ‘wicked in law’ as she liked to call his sister’s husband. In fact he now spent most of his time with said ‘wicked in law’… so much so that she feared Mr Helmsley’s crude, domineering and just plain evil personality was rubbing off on him… maybe that was the problem… She quickly shook her head. No. There was a definite mean streak in her boss Maria mused as the man in question walked passed… and it had only manifested in the days, weeks and then months that followed her picking him up that god awful street corner.

There was no doubt about it. On an employer/employee level Shane McMahon was a changed man.

**

Shane walked straight into his father’s office and dropped a manila envelope onto his desk.

“Heyman won’t be bothering you anymore,” He said and then turned to leave.

“Wait,” His father said picking up the envelope and opening it. “Have a seat,” He added pulling out its contents.

Shane complied.

Vince spread the snapshots out in front of him looking at each one intently before raising his eyes to his son. Shane had often brought proof back when he accomplished a task, but over the last few months his son’s tactics had taken a turn to the gruesome.

The photo’s showed a man in obvious distress his eyes packed with fear and his face contorted in pain. Each photo he looked at would be worst then the previous one until finally the last photo showed the man dead.

“Like them?”

Vince sighed. “Son, what’s wrong?”

“Son?” Shane scoffed. “That’s something I haven’t heard in a long time.”

He motioned with his hand to the photographs on the desk.

“Don’t you like my handy work anymore? You use to so enjoy these little update sessions.”

“Your updates never use to be so…” His brows drew together as if he were searching for the right word. “…detailed.” He finished.

“I got the job done didn’t I?”

“Yes… yes you did,”

“Then why question my methods now?”

“I’m worried about you-“

“Are you? Are you really?”

“Yes of course I am, you doubt that?”

‘No’ He thought lowering his eyes to hide the pain he felt whenever his mind took him down this trail. ‘At least I didn’t before finding that room from my dream and that bloodied scarf. ‘Dawn’s’ bloodied scarf.

“I doubt a lot of things no ‘Father’,” He said aloud spitting out the last word as if it were packed with thorns. “…even my own sanity.”

“Talk to me Shane,”

He scoffed at the plea in his father’s voice.

Yeah right, he inwardly told himself. If I was to tell you what was on my mind you’d only deny it.

Rising to his feet he turned and started toward the door. Heard his father calling him back and ignored it.

He couldn’t stomach his father right now but he needed both him and Keibler on side if he wanted to learn the truth.

Keibler himself was an old fart who unlike his father chose to join in on the physical aspects of his business dealings rather then send someone else to do it for him granted no one ever fought back while a half a dozen of the old man’s body guards looked on and if they did well that just proved how dumb they were.

Shane had never been too fond of Keibler and the feeling which neither chose to hide was mutual. Why the other man would offer his only daughter up on a plate to someone he despised only proved how much his business came before his family.

Well Keibler should like what I’ve been doing of late Shane thought, both Keibler and his father should like it very much.

He passed Maria’s desk opened the door to his own office and forced a smile to appear as his eyes met the woman who waited there.

**

Watching those two strangers die was just the start of what she and Xander saw after that. Residents of the Alley were being gunned down left right and centre and not just normal everyday killings either, these were the innocents of the Alley, the ones that just tried to survive each day with the lot they had been granted, innocent people who had gotten caught in the crossfire of someone else’s battle.

It had been going on for months now and the locals of the Alley had started looking for a leader and had found that leader in Xander. He was the logical choice in her mind after all, the Alley knew him and its residents feared him.

He took on the role reluctantly at first with Dawn’s safety being uppermost in his mind but after a while even he couldn’t doubt that these people needed him because for reason’s none of them knew someone had declared war on the Alley. Xander had his suspicions though as did she, but neither had voiced them, only thought them. Like now - The McMahon’s. Well… not the entire McMahon family as such, but one McMahon in particular – The son.

They were a family she didn’t know, yet a family she despised with all that was in her.

She and Xander were back in the building with the glass house on the roof, which she had claimed spiders and all and what empty rooms that were below were now occupied with families, young couples and other innocents who just wanted to survive this war.

In the first few weeks Xander had chosen a few of the men to be guards and set them up at different look out points around the building, all had already known how to use a gun so no or little training had been needed, Xander even upgraded her little knife to a small dainty pistol that fitted easily in her grasp and with practice she became an excellent shot.

There weapons were meagre at most, old but usable and being the Alley they were in abundant supply. The women trained the children in what to do if there building was attacked, the older ones were to gather the little ones and lead them down to the basement where a pipe big enough for them to crawl down would take them to the sewer where two guards were always posted. Those guards then would know what to do.

Everyone had a job and everything had its place. United was what they were, enemy joined enemy in a mutual truce not only to fight for there livelihood but to claim back the Alley itself.

**

“Usual table McMahon?”

“Yes, thank you Regal,”

With a hand resting on the hip of his companion they followed the attendant to a table that over looked the city. Darkness was just starting to fall and he knew that in this light the city would be at its finest and smiled when his companion gave a gasp of pleasure at the view.

“It’s magnificent,” She gushed wide eyed.

“You’re magnificent,” He whispered his mouth close to her ear as he pulled her chair back for her.

Stacy blushed prettily as he knew she would and quickly turned to thank the attendant as he handed her a menu.

Shane took his time to take in her appearance. Immaculate as always – White cotton in pants and jacket suit with an aqua shirt underneath he mused and cocked his head to the side and added – If the librarian look got your motor running. He had to wonder if she owned any more daring clothing other then the usual cotton pants and jacket ensemble. His brow rose. Since his mind was taking him down this path he had to wonder still if she owned any sexy underwear… they always say it’s the quiet ones. His gaze moved up to be met by the menu as she held it up in front of her face. Not that he’d be finding out what sort of underwear she wore. She like everything else in his life was just a means to an end.

The hardness in his eyes disappeared as she lowered her menu and smiled at him.

“I can’t choose,” She exclaimed. “Will you order for me?”

“Of course,”

He perused the menu for a moment and then called the waiter over who was trying not to be obvious as he hovered a few feet away from there table.

“The lady will start with the shrimp followed by the veal with steamed vegies no rice and I’ll have the biggest steak you can find in the kitchen.”

“Very good sir,” The waiter confirmed and then hurried off to the kitchen.

Shane’s eyes went back to his companion and there they stayed. The corner of his mouth curled up just a tad, not too much though, he had perfected that exact look to resemble amusement rather then the sneer that it was.

He’d lost count of how many times he had wished it was someone else sitting across the table from him, someone of smaller frame and darker hair. Someone who thanks to the father of his companion and his own he would never see again.

He sat up straighter in his chair and again fixed his gaze on the woman with him. He would find the blanks needed to fill the hole Dawn had left and to hell with anyone who dared to stand in his way. Nothing else in his life mattered but that and there was nothing he wouldn’t do to see it through – Hence this whole ‘wooing’ of Stacy Keibler.

With that thought in mind he reached into his jacket pocket and drew forth a velvet box which he placed on the table between them.

Her hand went to her breast, her eyes switching from his to the box and then back again.

“Open it,” Was all he said and with shaky fingers she complied.

Inside was a diamond the size of a walnut. She opened her mouth to say something but found she couldn’t think of a thing to say.

“Let me,” He said taking the box from her fingers and pulling out the ring before slipping it onto the third finger of her left hand.

She looked at him then and his eyes held hers.

“Marry me,”

Her eyes showed confusion and then surprise but he knew better. She knew of the alliance his father wanted with hers so there was really no surprise in that but what she didn’t know was that his proposal was just a stepping stone to what he really wanted – Retribution.

**

Part Eleven

**

“Shane-”

“Stacy-”

There names were said in unison from there fathers who were seated around the hearth in Vince’s study letting the heat from the fire warm there legs while the brandy in the glasses they held warmed there belly’s.

Stacy somewhat giddy in her exuberance raced across the room to plant a kiss on her father’s cheek and then turned and did the same to Vince – A first Shane would imagine and not just the kiss. He had never seen Stacy move so fast or show that much affection towards ‘her own’ father let alone his. It was like she was a totally different person, a carefree and happy person. And it was at that moment that he began to have regrets about what he was about to do.

Then Dawn’s image came to him, images of the short time he had spent in her company and with those images all his feelings for Dawn came with them followed closely behind by the images of what he’d found in that white room and all those feelings of regret he’d just had disappeared.

This wasn’t about him anymore or even Dawn for that matter. This was about what they’d lost.

“Shane,”

His father’s voice brought him back to the present and Shane was surprised to find his father now standing in front of him. Stacy stood with her father her hand extended as she showed off her engagement ring.

“Congratulations son… you make an old man happy.”

“Make that two old men,” Keibler said coming forward to join them, his hand reaching forward to clasp Shane’s shoulder. “Let me be the first to welcome you into the family.”

Shane merely nodded once in response and then moved to the bar where he poured himself a brandy before raising a questioning brow towards his wife to be who in reply shook her head at his obvious offer to pour her one.

“This calls for a celebration…” His father began but Shane was quick to cut him off only to pull himself up when not only his father and Keibler sent him a confused look but Stacy as well.

He saved face by saying, “We can’t celebrate without everyone here,” And it was apparent by Stacy’s grin that he had succeeded in easing at least ‘her’ confusion.

“Of course we can’t celebrate without mom or Linda here and Stephanie and Hunter. I’ve always wanted a sister!”

Yeah well you may re-think that with Stephanie, Shane mused chuckling to himself, but all it took was Stacy’s next line to wipe all the amusement from his face.

“We’re going to be one big happy family!”

A knock sounded at the door.

“What is it Flair?” His father said bidding the old man to enter.

“Phone call Sir, for Master Shane,”

“I’ll take it in the hall Flair thank you,” Shane replied turning to face Stacy. “I prey you will excuse me,” He continued and without another word followed the old servant out of the room.

“McMahon here,” Shane spoke into the receiver.

“We’ve found Heyman’s partner Paul Bearer. He’s holed up with a group of homeless people in an abandoned building in Hooker’s Alley.”

Hooker’s Alley, Shane thought. Everything always seemed to come back to that Alley – Except Dawn. She’d been taken away from it and from him. He hardened his heart to stop the ache thoughts of Dawn always started.

“Sir?” The voice came through the ear piece bringing him out of his thoughts.

“Take him out,” He said with little hesitation.

“We can’t get a clear shot,” The voice on the other end replied. “He’s clever. Inside or out he surrounds himself with children. They follow him like he bleedin’ Pied Piper himself.”

“Then take them out too,”

There was a brief pause on the other end.

“Sir… they’re children…”

“Those are my orders,” He barked. “Follow them through or it’s you who’ll be the next target.”

He placed the receiver back onto its cradle feeling no remorse for the children he had just ordered killed.

**

Kids.

Yucky, smelly, snot nosed kids!

He hated them all with a vengeance, yet he needed them just as desperately as well. They provided the perfect cover in the event of gun fire so to keep them around him he could put up with them using his belly as a trampoline, pulling on his nose hair and them using his rear end as a target. He smiled through it all and never forgot to reassure there parents that he didn’t mind ‘looking’ after them at all. They thought he kept them safe when in reality it was them who kept him safe.

“Hey! Mr Porker!”

He cringed at the nick name they had dubbed him but forced a smile onto his face as he turned to the little boy who had called.

“Wanna play maypole?”

As long as I don’t have to play an active part, he thought, but aloud said, “Maypole? I don’t think I know that game.”

“That’s okay, we can teach you,” Another little kid answered.

“Heathens,” Bearer muttered but he got to his feet and obediently followed the small group of now giggling children.

He had a feeling he was going to regret this just like all the other times they had included him in there play, but when weighed up against his life he surmised it was a small price to pay.

So when they tied long strips of cloth to clumps of his hair and made him stand there while they skipped around him weaving in and out and laughing all the while he said not a word.

He stiffened when the first shot sounded and turned frantically to try to determine the nearest place of shelter to run and hide and then a second shot came and then a third, a forth and then… nothing.

**

Dawn’s head came up with a start.

Was that gun fire?

She ran to the entrance of the glass house and looked out cautiously before continuing on to look over the edge of the roof. Xander had been adamant about her spending all her time when not in his presence in her little glass house because of the five hundred thousand dollar bounty still on her head. He had agreed to help these people but that didn’t mean that he trusted them. She was still number one in his mind so on the roof was where she stayed when he was elsewhere.

He was elsewhere now and since she didn’t know where she desperately hoped that he hadn’t been in the firing line of that gun fire she just heard.

The shots hadn’t lasted long, less then a minute if that, but when she looked over the side she couldn’t believe what her gaze fell upon.

The fat creepy man who kept the children entertained was lying face up his body still and around him lay three tiny bodies as still as his own.

She sucked in a breath. Kids… Innocent little kids… who would…

Someone was pulling her away from the ledge and back into the glass house where the shrubs and plant life offered protection.

“Xander…” She whispered the shock of seeing such an outcome plain in her expression. “Those…” Her voice broke then and she buried her head in her hands.

Xander stood over her not knowing what to say. In all his years he’d never seen gun fire break out on a group of kids playing. Never. But he had a good idea at who had the balls enough to order such a hit – The McMahon heir himself.

“He has to die,” He said more to himself then to dawn.

“Who?” She asked.

“The man who’s responsible for this,” He replied coolly.

“The McMahon heir?”

He gave neither a confirmation nor a denial, just turned to leave now that he knew she was safe, but as if fighting a battle within himself he paused by the glass house entrance to look back at her.

“Yes,” He finally said in reply. “The McMahon heir.” And then he turned to leave. “Killing Shane McFee would just have to come second.” He continued, but those words didn’t come until he was way out of Dawn’s hearing distance.

**

McMahon Towers.

It was an impressive building as far as buildings went. And Xander had seen his fair share of building, well buildings that inhabited species of the four legged kind as well as the two legged. But a building was still a building, everyone had a back door and a roof and judging by the two sentries posted outside the front entrance he’d be entering through one of them.

He was dressed in a suit and he had to chuckle at that seeing as he had never thought to ever wear one – Ever. But he had to he knew if he ever hoped to blend in with these people. He wasn’t so much worried about his eye patch as more then a few people he noticed come and go from the building sported there own battle wounds. The thing that worried him though was they moved in packs, he never once saw a man or a woman for that matter enter or leave on there own. And that may attract unwanted attention of it wasn’t an everyday occurrence.

No weapon had he brought purely because he knew may never get inside if he carried one. Vince McMahon being who he was wouldn’t dare skimp on security, there were just too many people who wanted him dead – He being one of them, but today he was only here for the son. And today he would kill the son with only his bare hands.

With ease he dropped down from the roof top he had been scanning McMahon Towers from and landed with both feet firmly planted on the fire escape where he slid down one steel ladder and then the next until he reached the bottom before smoothing down his suit jacket and walking out into the busy street.

He blended in with the crowd easily enough and once in front of the long steps that led to the entrance doors of McMahon Towers did he stop. He propped his foot up on the forth step and checked his shoe lace.

Through lowered lids he could see two more guards just inside the entrance as well as a sectioned off area where people wanting entrance were asked to empty there pockets before being ushered through a metal detector.

There would definitely be no going in the front way for him, he thought righting himself only to lift his other leg to check the lace on his other shoe. He’d just have to find another way in. And that ‘other way’ came a few moments later when a long black limo pulled up to the curb and a big ape of a man with shoulder length blond hair and cool blue eyes which he quickly covered up with dark glasses stepped out onto the curb.

“What are you waiting for?” He barked.

Xander looked around and then raised a brow.

“There’s two boxes in the truck and another in the back seat. Get them and follow me up to my office.”

With that the man started to make his way up the steps.

“Better hurry,” He heard the chauffeur say beside him. “He’s in a right mood today.”

So Xander hurried. He had obviously been mistaken for someone else and he knew he had to seize this moment before the real lackey showed up.

The chauffeur handed him the two boxes from the trunk and then the third box from the back seat.

“Good luck buddy,” He called as Xander started up the steps. “I certainly don’t envy you having to be at ‘that’ one’s beck and call all day.”

Xander started to worry as he neared the huge double doors. Yeah he carried no weapon but maybe he would need to show identification. But as he passed under the doors he found his worries were all for naught because the guards merely waved him through after a few choice words from the man who had barked at him and probably at the chauffeur too not to long ago.

He followed the man to the elevator and as he silently waited behind the man he wondered how long it would take him to find the McMahon heir.

**

The offices Xander was lead to were on the thirty-first floor, they were big, luxurious and finely furnished. A young woman greeted them or to be more precise greeted the one he followed with a cherry yet seductive smile, but Xander saw no change in the man’s broad back, tilt of head or tone of voice to say that he had responded in kind. He merely barked out an order as he had down to everyone he had come into contact with.

“Just put those boxes down through there,” He motioned to an open doorway with a nod of his head. “…and go back to the mail room or wherever the hell you came from.”

Xander bristled but did as he was told and left the room.

He headed straight to the elevator where he had seen a map of the buildings interior with names written on of whose offices were on what floor. He found McMahon’s office easily enough and saw that the offices he had just left belonged to Helmsley, McMahon’s son in law. The offices of McMahon junior however were though on the same floor were on the other side of the building.

Strange, he thought. He would have reckoned the son’s offices would be next to the father’s, not the in laws.

Aw well, he continued to muse. Who knew what went on in the minds of the rich and powerful, he wasn’t here to judge, he was here to kill. And with that in mind he looked to the left, to the right and then started out in the direction the map had shown S. McMahon’s offices to be.

**

Part Twelve

**

He hadn’t even made it half way to his destination when he saw him.

Now why didn’t it surprise him one bit that ‘He’ would be here? Nothing about that guy added up before but seeing him now in this very building sure filled in a lot of the blanks.

He was only looking at the back of the man’s head, but as sure as it was day light outside that definitely was Shane Mc-

“Mr McMahon, the files you requested are on your desk.”

Mr McMahon? Did that man just call Shane McFee… Mr McMahon?

“Thank you Kurt, be sure and have my helicopter gassed up and ready to go in twenty minutes.”

“Sure thing Mr McMahon,”

No fucking way!

“Hey you!”

“There he is!”

Shane turned just as Xander did but a glimpse of the other man’s back as he dashed headlong through the closest door was all he saw before the gun fire started.

**

“I’m sorry Sir, security breach,”

“So I see,”

The men seeing the bosses son was there hovered around him but from what Shane could see the lone man all that gunfire seemed to be trained on was no where to be seen.

“Well what are you waiting for? Get after him.”

Shane shook his head as he watched the men disperse. In the time they had wasted shielding him whomever that man had been would be long gone by now.

He let his gaze wonder over the area where the man had been standing and a bout of recognition came over him in that split second that he had had the man in his view, but no matter how hard he tried to picture the other man in his man all he could conjure was the back of the other man’s head as he had made a run for it.

It couldn’t be who his mind was telling him it was anyway, for that man was dead.

**

The sound of women screaming and frantic calls for security meant naught to him as he pushed his way through cubicle after cubicle. His first thought in this kind of situation would have been to make it to a window for freedom would only be a jump away but that avenue was blocked to because as he saw the vast drop that awaited him once he reached a glass panel that wasn’t a window at all, but a wall.

“Thirty-first floor,” He grumbled to himself. “You’re on the thirty-first floor.”

He looked around him at the surprised looks on the faces of the people that surrounded him, but only took a moment for him to snap out of it as the sound of running feet came through the thin walls. There had to be a way out of here.

A mail cart stood by the water cooler and the words of Helmsley came back to him. ‘Go back to the mail room or wherever the hell you came from.’

Mail room. That was it! He chuckled at that man Helmsley being his way inside McMahon Towers and now his escape as well.

A woman walked through a doorway then obviously oblivious to what was going on inside and Xander’s hand quickly snaked out his fingers wrapping themselves around her neck and pulling her to him. Her scream short lived as his fingers tightened.

“Mail chute,” He whispered his voice low and harsh beside her ear.

Her fingers were clenched around his arm trying to get him to relieve the pressure at her neck.

“Where!” He hissed not even caring that she was beginning to grow slack from his actions.

She managed though to lift her hand and then he saw it between the door marked photocopier and a huge leafy potted plant. Guards appeared then filling the room even more with all there weapons trained on him.

“There’s nowhere to go,” One guard said.

Xander grinned knowing the other man was wrong, he moved back until his back met the wall and then slid along it all the while keeping his hostage in front of him until he was beside the potted plant, he then moved forward stepping around it to the chute on the other side.

“It’s been fun,” He whispered into the ear of the woman he held before thrusting her forward causing the distraction he wanted to allow him those few seconds needed to dive down the chute, but not before a round of bullets were lot loose.

“Damn,” The guard who had spoken before, obviously the one in charge swore when the gun fire settled and all they had been left with was the swinging flap to the chute.

“Mail room. Now!” He ordered and ran to the door his followers filing out after him.

“Someone get a doctor, she’s hurt,” Another was saying, but the woman who had been Xander’s hostage spoke up.

“No,” She croaked her throat still tender. “I’m okay,”

“But you’re bleeding,” The other protested.

She shook her head.

“No, it’s not my blood,” She said. “It’s his.”

**

“No one knows who he was?”

“No Sir.”

“And the security camera’s…”

“None gave a good visual. He entered through the front entrance and was waved through under Mr Helmsley’s order-“

“Now why doesn’t that surprise me,” Shane muttered darkly after all having him killed off would be Hunter’s dream come true.

“-and as you can see,” the other man continued not even aware that Shane had spoken. Shane allowed his gaze to linger on the screen the other man was pointing too.

“In this shot his face is obscured by the boxes he’s carrying, in this one,” He touched a button and a different picture came up on the screen. “His head is turned away from the camera and here it’s his hostage who hides him from our view.”

“And news from the mail room?”

“He was gone by the time security got there.”

“What about the workers?”

“No one saw a thing.”

Shane looked again at the blurred image on the screen. He wanted so much to believe that that was Dawn’s shadow he was looking at, but how could that be? He was dead. Dawn was dead. He had seen her bloodied scarf with his own eyes.

“What are your orders?” the other man said breaking Shane from his thoughts.

“Nothing.” Shane replied his eyes still on the screen. “Do nothing.”

**

The sun was just disappearing over the horizon when the first calls of alarm came from below.

Dawn couldn’t imagine what the fuss could be, from her spot on the roof she hadn’t seen nor heard any signs of an attack, but from the chaos coming from below, something was definitely up.

She tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for Xander to come and assure her everything was alright as he was the norm and as the minutes ticked on and Xander didn’t show that tapping turned to pacing until finally she couldn’t stand it any longer.

Pulling the hood of her jumper up over her head she ran to the door that would lead her to the rooms below.

A crowd of people, some she knew and others she didn’t was what awaited her when she arrived and not one word was said as she moved through the group which parted willingly, the people she knew averting there gaze as she neared its centre. And then she saw why.

“Xander?”

Two men had been carrying him, but upon seeing her they set him down and stepped back. No one stopped her as she knelt down by there leader and placed his head in her lap. His pale complexion, shallow breathing and the blood soaking the side of his shirt told her that he wouldn’t be getting up from this wound.

“Xander,” She whispered again.

Xander’s eyes opened a fraction and she leaned down when his mouth opened and a gurgled sound came out.

“Xander… don’t die…”

Her tears fell on his cheeks.

“Stay alive,” Was what he said. “Stay alive for two more weeks…”

That’s right, she thought. It was two more weeks till her twenty-first birthday, two more weeks until she’d have the means of bringing Vincent K McMahon to his knees.

“Was it McMahon?” She asked.

He nodded and seemed to be trying to say more but she put her finger to his mouth her eyes pleading with him to rest in a show of strength he reached up to clasp her arm, his fingers curling almost painfully around her wrist, his eyes boring right into hers, but only one word passed though his lips before he closed his eyes for good.

“Shane…”

**

Part Thirteen

**

A week.

One single, solitary week.

That’s how long she had been Mrs Shane McMahon.

She should be sublimely happy she knew, she should be glowing with newly married bliss and absorbed in no one but her husband and vice versa.

Yet was she?

No.

For soon after they had exchanged there wedding vows Shane had left her in the company of his mother and sister. And she hadn’t seen him since.

No one seemed all that aware of Shane’s absence from her side and when she tried to confide in Stephanie, the sister she had so long wanted replied ‘You’ll get use to it, in this family business comes first – Wives second.”

Stacy couldn’t believe it at first but as the days dragged on and still no sign of Shane she had had no choice but to admit to herself that she had merely traded her lonely existence inside her father’s household for another one inside her husbands.

**

A week before…

“Where to Sir?”

“Anywhere Luther. Just drive.”

“Very good Sir.”

Shane spared not one glance back at the church steps where amidst curious glances and hushed whispers he had left his new bride.

Pulling his lap top from his briefcase that sat on the seat next to him and while he waited for it to boot up he skimmed through some of the files Keibler had given him to familiarise himself with now that he was a major part of Keibler Enterprises.

He noted the usual things, names of contacts - friendly and not. Important dates, transactions pending, in progress and there worth, all nothing he hadn’t seen before so he wasted no time in tossing them aside.

Keibler had told him his name had been encrypted into the mainframe of Keibler Enterprises and that all he would need to access information regarding the business would be at his disposal. Keibler had however also mentioned that there were things he would be not privy too and that only a certified few had access, but Shane already had a way around that thanks to Stacy.

Did her old man really think his daughter wouldn’t tell her then fiancé the loophole she had discovered by accident while mucking around on her father’s computer when she was sixteen. She had actually been trying to surf the net to find a nice chat room and hopefully someone decent to talk too to make the lonely hours of being home alone not so lonely, when instead what she’d discovered was a ‘way in’ to her fathers secret files by a series of random key strokes.

She had gone on to tell of her many visits to those secret files but since her interest in finding a cure for her loneliness overrode whatever business ventures her father was involved in she didn’t take that much notice. She merely went there because she could, not because of what she would find. In some weird way it made her feel like she was getting back at her father for the life he had given her.

Shane had known just what to give her then – Comfort. And in return Stacy had told him what keys to push to activate the loophole.

With his lap top resting on his lap he tapped those keys now.

A box popped up on the screen letting him know that he had been given clearance to go further. He clicked enter and waited for the next page to load up.

The word FILES floated onto the screen and Shane ran his cursor over it and hit enter again.

A name box appeared now and without missing a beat he typed in ‘Hookers Alley’.

His screen came alive then, the white screen it had been moments before now giving way to a series of red, yellow and blue lines, lines that formed roads with street names marked in black. He ran his cursor over the map and watched as the street names lit up. He clicked on one and immediately every building on that particular street came up on the screen and when again his cursor flew over the screen a list of names popped up with every building it passed.

He continued on in just this fashion until he came across the two names familiar to him outside of business – Xander and Dawn.

There names appeared among a group of others when his cursor hovered over the name Rupert Giles. He clicked on that name and Rupert Giles appeared on his screen. Middle forties, bookish and he noted on Keibler’s payroll from 2002 to 2004 as a Records Keeper.

And it seemed he stumbled upon something he wasn’t supposed too, something he himself tried to put a stop too which ultimately turned Keibler Enterprises against him and then inevitably those with him – Namely Dawn.

Giles now though was written off as deceased in 2005, but had managed to stay alive as long as he had because when he left Keibler Enterprises, he left with a micro-chip which he inserted into a device of his making known only as C.I.E.

A picture was shown and Shane took his time to take it in. It looked like a torch with a red light instead of a white one and Star Wars freak that he was Shane couldn’t help but wonder of a beam of light would stream out of it on command.

It seemed Keibler kept an eye on Giles even though he was no longer on his payroll as he continued to read about the man’s life, the activities and rescues he organised and homeless teens that he took in. It seemed to Shane that the man had been trying to make amends for all his wrong doings whilst under Keibler’s thumb.

Well that explained Giles connection to dawn and Xander but still left him in the dark as to there connection to his father. He had seen utter hatred in Dawn’s eyes as she had spoken the McMahon name, there simply had to be more to it.

And there was.

Dawn had had a sister.

A sister who died along with everyone else she knew, not in the name of Keibler as he would think seeing as he was reading all this via the mainframe of Keibler Enterprises, but in the very name Dawn despised – McMahon.

Her sister he knew would have been the start of her hatred. Added with that the hardships and god knows what else she would have witnessed living in the one place he now knew his father and Keibler alike used as there own personal play ground.

Shane sat back and sighed closing his eyes as his brain absorbed all he had read so far. Poor Dawn, he thought. No wonder she hated the McMahon’s so. Realising though that there were still more blanks to fill in he resigned himself to read on.

The file went on to document all dealings between Giles and Keibler including the five hundred thousand dollar bounty on Dawn’s head. Not all pretty dealings yet as Shane continued to read he couldn’t help but feel that he was getting away from what he was really after so he back tracked, clicking on the image of Giles invention the C.I.E.

C.I.E he found stood for ‘Cerebral Insert Extract’ and after a brief description he found what he was looking for. Images of the night Dawn’s sister died as well as images of Giles using the C.I.E on Dawn.

“The micro-chip,” He whispered back tracking still to the list of items Giles took when he left and clicked on it.

His eyes widened at what he read there and when he was done he sat back again and closed the screen to his lap top.

So that’s why Dawn hated his family, that’s why she his and that’s why Xander protected her so. What she held in her mind would topple both his father and Keibler. And according to what he had just read that knowledge would have been made known to Dawn on her twenty-first birthday – Had she made it that far.

But she didn’t.

His brow cocked then as Dawn’s birth date flashed on the screen and his brow cocked more meeting in the middle as he realised her birthday had been just over a week away.

“Luther?” He spoke into the limo’s intercom.

“Yes Sir,” Luther’s voice came back at him a moment later.

“Take me to McMahon Towers.”

**

Why he had come here he had no idea, all he knew was he didn’t want to go back to the mansion where he’d have to play happy families with a family he was so undecidedly unhappy with.

He felt guilt. It was strange he had felt nothing for the many victims when killing for the sake of his father over the years had warranted it, but here and now he felt guilt for what his family had done to Dawn. Guilt and then shame.

It was during his little guilt trip that he heard someone shuffling around in the room next door.

That’s strange, he thought knowing everyone had been given the day off in lieu of the McMahon – Keibler ‘joining’ - He refused to acknowledge it as a wedding – so to his way of thinking the only ones who should be there were himself and Luther who he had left below with the limo.

Very carefully he rose to his feet and quietly moved towards the slightly ajar door.

Hunter stood by Maria’s file cabinet, his fingers skimming over each file in haste until he had what he wanted. Folding the file in half he stuffed it under his jacket and was about to leave Shane was sure when the other man’s mobile started to ring.

“Helmsley here,” His brother in law spoke into the hand set in harsh clipped tones. “Where,”

A pause.

“Give me the address. I want to be there to make sure nothing goes wrong this time.”

Another pause.

“72a Madden Drive Hookers Alley got it.”

And then he ended the call rather abruptly and left the office.

Shane waited until he heard the other man’s foot steps fade before he opened the door more and stepped into the room Hunter had just vacated.

The fact that Hunter had just gone through and taken one of his files was forgotten on Shane the only thing in his mind was the address ‘72a Madden Drive Hookers Alley’.

**

“You may go Luther I won’t need you any more tonight.”

“Yes Sir. Good evening Sir.”

“Good evening.”

Shane watched the other man go until Luther’s big form had disappeared from his sight. He saw his Porsche was still parked in the car park and he went to it straight away knowing the keys would be inside as they always were.

Shane drove away from McMahon Towers with one destination in mine – Hookers Alley. Where he planned to wait at the address he had over heard Hunter mention until the other man and whoever he was meeting showed up.

**

Part Fourteen

**

The two days that followed Xander’s death were a pitiful sight to behold indeed. The residents of Hookers Alley were lost without there leader and Dawn herself was lost without her shadow.

Xander’s body had been taken inside, the residents not wanting to leave his body for the police to find and discard as a ‘John Smith’ like most of the male bodies found dead in the Alley. Care had been taken to clean him before he was wrapped in a sheet and laid upon a bed to a wait the night where a small party would take him through the sewers to the crematorium.

And when darkness fell Dawn with a map of the underground pathways clasped firmly in her hand lead the way.

**

It took them little over thirty minutes to reach the crematorium and another hour after that before they were retracing there steps and this time it was an urn that Dawn had clasped between her fingers.

“This Alley was his home,” Dawn told everyone once they were back at there building. “It’s only right that he stay here.”

With everyone behind her made her way up to the roof and crossed the area to the edge. No one said a word as she emptied the contents of the urn over the side, the breeze catching up Xander’s ashes and carrying them off into the night.

“Well, that’s that then,”

Dawn heard one person comment behind her.

“The Alley is lost to us now,”

Added another.

Dawn rounded on the crowd, determination in her eyes.

The Alley is not lost. We may not have Xander but we still have voices, arms and legs. We still have weapons.” She took a few steps forward and started to pivot in place looking at all who faced her in turn. “We have each other and while my body still breathes we will still have this Alley.”

“She’s right,” The man who had first spoken stepped forward. “The Alley is our home, for many of us it has been for all of our lives. This is ‘our’ Alley.”

“Our Alley!”

Another shouted. And as the others joined in it was a chorus of chants that followed Dawn as she lead them all back inside.

**

Shane’s waiting came to an end two days later. Short cap naps, quick trips to a corner seven eleven for coffee and to use the ‘John’ were all that went on in his world throughout those two days. He had ditched his Porsche a good six blocks back and changed into an extra pair of jeans, jacket and sneakers that he always kept in the trunk of his car and now sat at the opening of an alley on a stack of new papers hoping that anyone who saw him would just think he was any other bum that roamed this area. And after two days of wearing the same clothes he was definitely starting too. His gun he kept tucked in the back of his pants with extra shell cartridges lining the pockets of his jacket.

And now finally his wait was over he thought as two long, dark limo’s cruised slowly down the street straight towards him.

They weren’t McMahon limo’s he noticed that straight away so they had to be who Hunter had arranged to meet. The limo’s came to a stop at the next block and Shane counted down the minutes until he sighted another three limos all as long and dark as the first two, but unlike the first two these limos bore the McMahon crest on there hood. They came in the opposite direction and stopped parallel to the first two limos and as if one side of the street was a mirror image of the other side – Two limo doors opened.

**

“There are five in total, two on one side and three on the other.”

They watched as the doors of two of the five limos opened.

“Is everyone in place?” Dawn asked her gaze still trained on the scene happening out in the street.

“Armed and ready,” Was the reply.

“Okay then. Let’s go show these suits that we mean business.”

**

Hunter emerged from the back of his limo, his ever present sneer creeping into place as his eyes met the man exiting the limo across from his. Steely blue eyes clapped onto his from beneath the one thousand dollar Stetson the other man wore. Hunter moved forward as did the other man, but neither of them made it more than a few feet before gunfire sounded all around them.

**

“Layfield,” Shane whispered recognising the man as soon as he stepped out of his limo. He knew John Bradshaw Layfield’s reputation very well, granted he had never done business with the man but that was by choice not by association. Layfield dealt in the human slave market, a barbaric way to earn his keep and one that Shane refused to be a part of even if his father and brother in law didn’t.

Content as he was to just watch for now all that changed when as the two men started to cross the street to meet the other when gunfire erupted.

“Fuck!” Shane exclaimed reaching for his own gun and practically falling out of the car door in his haste to aid his dick head of a brother in law. He may hate the bastard to no end, but the stupid fuck had obviously just walked into a trap and traps were what Layfield was famously renowned for.

Shane walked into the gunfire as if he were bullet proof, his own gun firing off a round of bullets that all hit there mark, yet it seemed they were surrounded, movement was everywhere, colours moved here and there and human cries rose above the sound of gunfire. Emptying his gun he reloaded and set off another round.

“What the hell are you doing here!” Hunter cried when Shane was close enough.

“Fixing your mess!” He yelled back his eyes and aim going anywhere but at his brother in law.

“Fuck you!”

Shane ignored that.

“You should know better than to deal with Layfield. That man wouldn’t know how to participate in an honest deal if it walked right up to him and kicked him in the arse.”

“What the fuck are you on about?”

“You, Layfield, gunfire… ring any bells?”

Hunter stopped then and leaned back against the side of his limo to reload his gun.

“Haven’t you noticed yet that it’s not Layfield who’s firing at us?”

Shane peered up over the limo and focused on the two vehicles across the street. Sure enough Layfield and his men were indeed huddled where they could find cover, there own weapons trained not on them as he had first thought, but were turned up and firing at the buildings that surrounded them.

And that’s when he saw her.

Dawn.

It was her, there was no mistake about it and she was walking straight towards him. Her expression dumbfounded.

And then he saw Layfield’s big solid form appear behind her, his face contorted in a sneer, his arm raised as he pointed his gun right in her direction.

“No!” Shane cried his own arm coming up automatically. He fired then and as Dawn kept walking towards him he watched as Layfield’s image behind her crumpled to the ground.

“Dawn…” He whispered his body unable to move as she stopped a few metres away from him and fell to her knees.

**

Dawn had been watching the scene below when she saw him walking through the gunfire as if willing the bullets to embed themselves into his flesh. None did though, not that she could see.

But it was him. She knew it was. It was her Shane.

“Dawn! Where are you going?” She thought she heard someone ask, but she didn’t respond. She just carried on moving until she found herself outside on the open street amidst the gunfire.

Shane… her Shane… Her mind kept repeating over and over again.

He saw her then and instead of him rising to meet her as she had expected she saw his arm lift instead and with that arm she saw him aim his gun right at her.

She didn’t hear it fire, but she saw the wisp of smoke that trailed up as the bullet was released and then a few moments later a burning sensation in her shoulder.

No… She thought. He wouldn’t shoot her. He loved her. Hadn’t he told her so himself?

Her head turned away from him then her mind finally opening to allow everything else that was happening around her in.

Limo’s. Men in suits. Bodies. Lot’s of still bodies. Blood… And Shane.

Her mind now registered the burning sensation in her shoulder and she realised that Shane… ‘Her’ Shane had just shot her.

She fell to her knees then, in a flash everything blurred before her eyes and all she saw was memories good and bad race through her mind.

Buffy dying, life with Xander, the rainy night she first saw Shane, her dragging Shane up a flight of stairs, Xander’s disapproval, Shane professing his love for her, she and Xander sitting on a dumpster, the glass house and Xander’s head in her lap as he breathed his last breath. A breath that carried one name - Shane.

And then she knew. He wasn’t her Shane at all. He was Shane McMahon.

**

Part Fifteen

**

“Dawn…”

He barely registered his movements as his legs carried him to where Dawn now kneeled on the asphalt. He dropping down a few feet in front of her and just stared.

“Dawn…” He said again his arm reaching tentatively as if needing to feel what his eyes were telling him only to pull back at the last minute.

It was her eyes. Big, bold and brilliant in there colouring, but iced over with a hatred he didn’t want to believe could be directed at him.

“It’s me Dawn,” He said brokenly. “It’s me… your Shane…”

Her eyes hardened still, her mind oblivious to everything that was happening around them, oblivious to the pain in her shoulder.

“My Shane?” She repeated as if the words were an abomination. “You are not my Shane,” She continued with a shake of her head. “My Shane saves lives, saves my life. He didn’t destroy them. My Shane is Shane McFee and you are not him.”

“Dawn… Listen to me please-“

He reached for her again and the wedding ring he wore sparkled in the sun’s rays and she couldn’t stop her action as she slapped his hands away, the sting of there contact sending pangs of electricity up her arm to frizzle out as her hatred overrode the sparks his touch had once ignited.

“You are Shane McMahon,” She hissed rage and hatred backing her words. “McMahon!”

He broke then his body slumping forward in submission.

“I waited…” She said through her own tears. “Xander said I’d be wasting my time, but I waited. Hoping, praying that you would come back to me.” Her gaze fell to the wedding band he wore on his left hand. His eyes followed. “Now I know why you didn’t. And now I know why Xander’s last word as he lay soaked in his own blood was your name.”

“Forgive me, forgive me…” He cried into his chest, his shoulders heaving with the weight of his sobs. He heard the gun being cocked and as if resigned to his fate he lifted his tortured gaze to meet her identical one.

“I love you.” Was all he said.

She pointed the gun at his head.

“And I loved you.”

She fired.

**

The first second of the first hour of the first day of Dawn’s twenty-first birthday arrived and with it the first steps to the downfall of the McMahon-Keibler Empire.

And Dawn was ready.

She was standing across the road from McMahon-Keibler Incorporated as

McMahon Towers was now known, which had been closed for the passed week due to the demise of the McMahon heir.

In the week that had followed Shane’s McMahon’s death she had hardened herself to everything she remembered as Shane McFee and consoled herself instead with the gratifying feeling retribution for Xander’s death gave her.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth and a life for a life.

Now the residents of the Alley had there home back. And she having fulfilled Xander’s promise to these people had nothing. She was totally and utterly alone in the world. Nothing to live for. Nothing worthy of her living for. Which made the final step in Giles plan all the more perfect.

A limo pulled up, but it wasn’t the limo she was waiting for so she lay in wait with her thoughts.

Giles had been a crafty bugger when alive. He had played everyone, using them all for his own means and though he wasn’t alive now to see his plan come full circle he died with the knowledge of knowing it would.

The only part of the plan that Giles hadn’t counted on was Xander dying. And then Shane. Neither of them she knew now was supposed to go before her.

Well, that couldn’t be helped now. And neither could she. Yet somehow she felt that Giles wasn’t alone in his plan. She couldn’t shake the feeling that someone else higher up then Giles had been pulling the strings.

Her eyes hardened as the long, sleek, dark limo she had been waiting for pulled to a stop in front of McMahon-Keibler Incorporated and as the chauffeur got out, opened the door and the two men inside climbed out she glanced at her watch and moved out of her hiding spot.

She moved not of her own accord, but of what had been programmed into her brain via the micro-chip nestled there.

The first man who had barrel like shoulders and a thick grey mane brushed away from his face froze immediately upon seeing her.

Dawn watched as he whispered something to the second man before his gaze in turn fell on her.

Fear dripped off the first man so bad she could practically taste it.

There was nothing but the limo separating them now and as the second man began to reach inside his coat she merely laughed.

“That’s not going to help you… now.” She held up her arm and pointed to the watch that was fastened at her wrist and continued with, “Three… two… one.”

**

Hunter watched the scene below from his office window, he’d been waiting for this day to come and now that it had he was loathed to leave this spot in case the last step in ‘His’ plan didn’t reach fruition.

His eyes bore into the young woman who started to cross the street towards the limo and when in the seconds that followed a loud explosion erupted below he knew it was all over.

Everything.

He smiled then. A cunningly evil smile.

At last the McMahon Empire and now Keibler’s as well was his.

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