Rumors.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Xander was out of Miami, against orders but he had Wade with him.  He had a meeting and no one really wanted to talk about it with him so he had found someone who would like to talk to him.  Thankfully, the guy liked to talk as much as he and Jensen did.  He sat down with a smile.  "Thank you for agreeing to answer some questions for me, Doctor McKay."

"It's an intriguing thing, what matters you find to get into."

"Well, this time, it's not so much a matter as a set of questions a lot of people have been wondering about."

"All right."

"You know what I am, yes?" he asked quietly.

"I did get briefed when I had that sudden lack of sleep that night and unlawfully nasty dreams," he said dryly, staring at him.

Xander smirked.  "Sorry.  I was a bit backed up that day I guess."  He shrugged.  "We've been wondering if there was a mental version to something like my physical version of that problem.  The people in the society have no clue how to figure that out."

"Hmm."  He considered that.  "As I was told, the major signs that you're having problems are confusion?"

"Not only that, but the confusion can lead to severe scatterbrained behavior.  I'm told I hum and swerve the car to whatever's on the radio.  Some people can actually pick out which song I'm listening to when I'm that far gone.  Some of us get involved in things to the point of a semi-fugue state.  All of us emote horribly during those times."

McKay considered that.  "The fugue state I would say does happen."

"I know a few other, less mild mannered, geniuses casually," Xander admitted with a grin.  "Sometimes they go into those states as well.  I'm usually flittering around trying to do anything all at the same time to focus.  Though, danger can hold that down some."

He nodded.  "That is an interesting question.  How do you test your society members?"

"There's a blood test that we use to find the level we're stacked at."  He pulled out his kit to show him.  "It's not very hard."

"No, it seems easy enough to reproduce if you must," he agreed.  He made notes on that.  "I have a few people where I work I'd like to test."

Xander waved a hand.  "That's my spare kit and everyone knows when I'm backed up, but I'm sure you know that information can't get passed around to anyone," he said dryly.  "There are a few other common symptoms but one's been slightly discounted because the researcher had to lie to save his subject.  Though we're not the only ones with sensory spikes."

"I saw that mess," Rodney admitted.  "I didn't believe a word of it."

Xander shook his head.  "I know someone related to the subject."

"Oh."  He blinked a few times.  "You're certain?"

"Yeah.  A lot of his work was done on historical information from tribal sources but I've seen others that have the same traits, even if they're not exactly normal."  The poor guy looked confused so he smiled.  "You didn't realize that the funny looking people around me weren't human?" he asked dryly.  "Or like that nice detective from the DPP who keeps yelling at your coworker for messing up his portals?"

"I hadn't actually wanted to think on that subject," he admitted.

"Neither do I sometimes.  Then again, I grew up in a town full of the harmless and harmful ones."  He shrugged.  "I know that three different groups have those sort of sensory spikes.  His, which he blatantly lied about lying about.  Us, which have some at the upper levels usually.  You suddenly have a spike of one to three senses, usually taste and smell together, sometimes touch or hearing.  And some of the people that're naturally heightened, like the people who are human bloodhounds."

"Pregnant women can as well sometimes.  I know something about the last group you mentioned.  I don't know much about sensory perception, it's not exactly my field.  That is a reasonable reaction though I suppose.  Having to focus on what's helping you calm back down?"

"A lot of mine have been more like suddenly I can taste things I didn't before in the chocolate, which means I can't eat anything too dark chocolate or too sweet."  He blinked a few times.  "I know I don't drink wine usually so that doesn't seem to matter.  Every now and then... Horatio and his spouse came up with an idea called a camping kit.  That's basically a blindfold, those large ear covering headphones playing some quiet instrumental or forest sounds music, and possibly a set of soft handcuffs so you can't really fidget your way into not dropping.  That's really handy when you're so backed up you can't sleep.  Or you're so tense you can't sleep."

"I'll have to consider that idea for post-battle stress," he said, making notes on that.

"It's worked on some of mine in the past," Xander assured him with a slight grin.  "It was very handy actually after the last apocalypse.  I was much too wound to get on the plane home so they dropped me on the plane with that so I could calm down by the time I got back."

"Hmm."  He made note of that as well.  "When you say drop do you mean like a submissive would?  Or just back into your head?"

"For me it's more like a meditative state.  I've never asked others.  I'm not really submissive.  Easy going but not submissive, and most of the society can't actually play on that spectrum.  We don't bend, we break."

"That's reasonable.  When your body craves pleasure, pain would be even more intolerable."  He made another note on that.  "Building a profile of someone who was like you only on the mental spectrum....  How many do you think there are definitely in the society already?"

"I think I know of at least one.  Our main chemist."

"Mr. Sanders.  I met with him over that formula someone created.  Part of it was something that came from another place and time."

"Yeah, I heard."  He shrugged.  "Greggy used to be mine.  Greg also is genius level smart.  He's got a strange fluctuation.  He can be a six some days, and four another, but not be backed up in either state, or he can seem backed up in either state and still read low."

"So you think he may have both," McKay said.  Xander nodded.  "That may account for the different readings.  But I'm not sure if the mental pleasure would read the same since it doesn't satisfy the same way."

"We have people who know about the society who are your level of smart."

"Interesting.  Who?"

"Doctor Epps?"

"I've heard of him.  Math genius out at Cal Sci?"  Xander smiled and nodded.  "Hmm, and he does go into that math fugue state, I've seen him do it at a convention while helping someone."  He considered it.  "I don't know.  I know we can measure the physical output easier than we could the mental one, though I suspect if we took EEG's of us doing our fields in that state they would differ."

"But we're not sure how we'd test, protect, and set levels."

"Levels might not matter for us.  For us, it might be our field of choice.  Though there are times I'm more involved than others, even during an emergency."  Xander nodded.  "I'm sure you've learned how to use your offensively."

"Yes, it's a skill the higher ones can use easier than the lower."

"Which makes sense."  He considered it.  "Testing with an EEG might prove reasonably easy enough to do.  I know others who reach that same sort of blacked out state while working on ideas."  Xander nodded slowly.  "I may be able to talk him into that and at least comparing with a few others.  Does the Society really need to know?"

"If there are, and they do have things like we do, there's a list of things like our allergies and things that can actually raise us and make us backlog and not realize it."

"Hmm.  I'm not sure if it would be that standard."

"Half of them are herbal and about a quarter only work on certain people."  He handed over that list.

He looked it over.  "I haven't tested many of these but I do have a very sensitive allergy to citrus and peanuts."

"That's gotta suck," Xander said.  "You can't eat seafood usually, or some of the greatest desserts in the world."

He smiled.  "You learn how to find other pleasures."

"I guess, but that'd really suck to me."

"Yes, but dying...."  He stared.  "Speaking of, someone let slip something about that interesting subject of death."

"It's very rare."

"Is it hormonal based?"

"No."

"Is it practical to test?"

Xander glanced around then at him.  "We're all orphans, sterile, and have to die a violent death first before it's felt usually," he said very quietly.

"Hmm.  How would one of you tell the other?"

"We can feel each other."

"Interesting.  I have someone I'd like to know that about."

Xander shrugged.  "No idea.  If they have it'd be obvious.  If they haven't yet, I don't know how you'd tell."

"Huh."  He nodded.  "But you're not all society members?"

"No.  There's less than one percent of us in the society.  The others often feel sorry for us for being in both groups."

"Interesting."  He made himself a note in French that time.  Then he smirked at him.  "You do have interesting questions that will probably keep me from sleeping some more."

Xander grinned.  "As long as you don't try to bring me home with you."

"I'd never do that.  Even though we heard about a battle recently?"

"Oh, yes.  Again."  He shrugged.  "They happen about every spring out there."  Rodney gaped.  "I grew up there."

"That is insane."

"Yup, but that's just the way things were."  The waiter came in and he looked.  "Um, no.  He said he had a citrus allergy."  The waiter looked at the two glasses.  "I could hurt him having that.  Did I order it with lemon?"

"No, sir, it's fairly standard here unless you order it without."

Rodney glared.  "My allergy is such that if something I eat touched that first, or a countertop that had touched, they'd be taking me out of here in an ambulance."  The waiter nodded, taking the glasses off to tell the chef that.  "They came highly rated."

Xander smiled.  "They did.  A lot of higher places don't consider things like allergies.  I know this one you probably wouldn't be able to eat anything fried."

"I did not know that.  I asked and they said they used a vegetable oil."

"Huh.  The online menu said peanut oil."  He shrugged.  "I'll buy you a burger later?" he offered with a smile.

"I may take you up on that."  He went over the information Xander had gathered on the various issues that a GHS could have when backed up.  Some of it did sound dreadfully familiar.  "I can definitely see if this is standard.  If so, perhaps some of the stuff you use to weed your backed up hormones out might work on us."

"Some of those are pretty risky.  You can only use them every few months.  I lost a ton of weight in two weeks on one because I didn't know.  That was before our chemist upped the list."

"Knocked you into lethargy and not eating?" McKay guessed.  The boy nodded with a slight smile.  "Some herbs can do that to you.  The ones I know someone uses for headaches do the same to them.  Do you remember which ones they were?"  Xander looked at the list and pointed at a few.  "Hmm.  Two of those are in his headache powder."

"I use one I found off-realm," Xander said, digging into his bag and coming up with an envelope.  Rodney looked at it.  "I don't think it has citrus.  It smells like lemongrass though."

"That's a whole different issue."  He carefully took it to look at.  He wasn't reacting.  The ingredients were on there in a strange language.  He thought they were the ingredients anyway.  "Can you translate that?"

"I can only read half that one.  If we were in Miami, my ex could.  If you're going to LA you can stop in and see Wesley.  He's a former Watcher on the defense team out there.  I think he can read that.  If not, he'd know someone who could locally."

"Huh."  He put that into his own bag, into the inner pocket so it wouldn't get hurt.  He put in the other things.  "I'll see if I can figure out if there are mental GHS among us, Mr. Harris.  It is an odd, yet slightly exciting thing.  It may actually help some geniuses who are stuck in their heads get some help so they can get back to doing less stupid things."

Xander snickered.  "Sometimes we all do stupid things.  It's because we're human."

He nodded.  "True, but the world could use less stupidity."

"Yeah but then we'd have to get rid of all the politicians, past and future, and a lot of other people.  I know some people who'd like to do that but that's not really considered polite."

Rodney gaped then burst out cackling a moment later.  "That is true, yes.  Thank you."  He smiled.

"Can I buy you that burger?"

"No, I'll eat on base.  I have a few people I now want to stick on machines and hand math problems."  Xander smiled and shook his hand before leaving.  Rodney paid their small tab, since they hadn't eaten anything, and left as well.  This might just help some supposedly insane researchers get back on their feet, or get some of the saner ones unstuck so they could work on problems again.  Though he would be testing himself as well.  Some of that information had sounded fairly familiar for some reason.  Not since college, but if danger kept it down....  Working on Atlantis was probably a cure for him.

***

McKay made it back to base in time to find Major Davis pacing and his coworker and former dream girl, until he had worked with her, Colonel Carter waiting on him.  "Sorry I'm late.  The gate was backed up due to the press conference someone's holding about how strong the military is."  He put down his bag.  "Thank you for setting up that meeting, Major.  It may actually prove to be something very...interesting."

"He is very interesting," the major said with a smile.  "I was told to treat him like I would General O'Neill, because when he's normal they're scarily alike sometimes."

"Yes, he did remind me of Jack a bit," he agreed.  Sam growled.  He stared at her.  "What?"

"What were those things you brought back?" she demanded.

"Sonic bombs."  She gaped.  "Someone was gathering them to protect others and they needed to be disarmed.  I'm told the original designers are mostly dead, if the Chinese have killed theirs."

"Excuse me?" she demanded.

He nodded.  "You saw the news report about the island in the Pacific?" Major Davis asked her calmly.  She shook her head.  "Oh."  He found it online and let her watch it.  She gaped.  "One of those did that.  There's actually three different designs, probably in three strengths."

"He did say that the Chinese version would leave more debris," McKay said.

"Who gave them to us?" she demanded.  "Are they under arrest?"

"That same guy that found those people who make the portals for you found them and was taking them into custody to hand over," Major Davis told her.  "They knew that down there and were waiting when the newest terrorist came to him to talk about them."  She gaped, shaking her head slowly.  He nodded.

"He did have that one version of the zat as well, correct?" Rodney asked.

"Yes.  That was made by someone off-realm.  Since they aren't classified at the moment we agreed he could keep them since they wouldn't dissolve a body.  The police officers who look over his shoulder were worried about that."

"They let him keep weapons?" she asked dryly.

Rodney took the computer to find another report, handing it over.  "That's him as well."  She watched and went pale slowly.  He stared at her until it was done and she shuddered.  "From what I understand he's dating a few officers.  They have direct oversight.  Did we find out how many more may be on the market, Major?"

"I worked with his assistant, who said there's rumors of two being on the market from the Chinese design.  He said there's an upcoming one that may prove to be as dangerous but he's not sure they can get their hands on it.  That sort of person wouldn't play with his boss."

"Hmm.  Pity.  Have we passed that information on?"

"I have no idea who to tell."

"The society has agents who are involved.  Surely they know about his collection."

"Huh, I'll have to see which ones are," he decided.  "That's not a bad idea."

"Well, I am a genius," McKay said dryly.

Carter looked at him, nearly glaring again.  "I want to see the plans for these."

"They should be in the crates.  He had a being steal the plans for two of them.  The snukes I believe his assistant had stolen from their widows."

"Why does someone on our side need an assistant like that?"

"It keeps people from snatching him," Davis said dryly.  "Are they both in town?"

"I would assume so since he's not in Miami.  I definitely wouldn't let him travel alone."

He shrugged.  "Where are they staying?"

"The Marriot I believe."

"I'll go see if he knows who we can tell about those."  He left the two huffy scientists alone.  McKay wouldn't get killed now that Carter had calmed down.

McKay looked at her.  "It was a good thing we had the plans so I could disarm them.  I'm looking forward to dropping one on the wraith."

She shuddered.  "That's just evil, Rodney."

"Yes, but they do deserve it for trying to kill my brilliant ass so many times," he said dryly.  She stomped off.  He went to look them over.  Someone had gotten into one but it was still disarmed as far as he could tell.  He restripped it and made sure the core was gone.  That was much too dangerous to be left to chance.  His second-in-command on Atlantis showed up from his leave to stare over his shoulder. "Plans are over there," he said with a point when it got annoying.

Radek Zelenka went to look them over.  "I know him."

Rodney looked at him.  "If it's not the Chinese ones, they're supposedly dead because they were selling them on the open market."

"It figures," he sighed, going back to it.  The plans were very nice to have.  The last set made him pause.  "Is one of ours," he said quietly.

"What?"  Rodney looked up from his field stripping.

Radek brought the plans over, pointing at the name.  "Was one of ours."

"Shit, he was.  He was at Area 51 too.  Tell the general."  He nodded, taking them to do that.  Rodney checked the other bombs.  Nothing was going wrong.  He was just a tad bit paranoid having this many high powered things inside a mountain that could fall on them.  He got into the last box, finding the core missing.  He checked, it wasn't implanted.  He got Carter down there.  "The core's missing on this one."

She stared.  "All right, let's find it."  They went to search the labs.  When that didn't work, the base went into lockdown and everywhere got searched until they found it.  It wasn't on the base.  "Are you sure it was in there?"

"I'm the one who field stripped them to make sure they were disarmed.  They each had a core."  Landry was giving them worried looks.  "Radek, ask that contact of yours at Area 51?"  He called, babbling at him for a few moments before nodding and saying something quietly so he could hang up.  "They do?"

"Yes.  She said was handed over by someone in physics."

"Hell no I did not authorize that," Sam said, storming off to shout.  "McKay, I need your bitching talent," she said as she stomped.

"Of course you do.  No one can chew on the minions as well as I can," he said dryly.  He followed.

Radek looked at the general.  "May have to replace some."

"I'd better have to replace at least one," he agreed.  "Are you sure they were ours, Doctor Zelenka?"

"Yes.  I worked with him at Outpost."

The general got into those files and groaned.  "Oh, crap."  He called Davis to warn him, then O'Neill.  Who wanted to know what they were talking about.  So Radek explained sonic bombs to him.  O'Neill was not happy to hear someone had done that.  General Landry looked at Radek.  "How many are still out there?"

"Major Davis said two," Rodney said as he leaned in.  "He's talking to Mr. Harris about them to see which agents he can talk to safely without outing some hidden things.  We need three sets of cuffs and one for treason.  Someone sold some naqquadah."  The general got up and followed him down to physics.  That was a very bad thing.

Radek sat down and made some calls to some other friends he had worked with so he could keep track of who was working on what.  He had a good, mundane field of choice to cover his own work.  He got some notes on some other ideas when he noted he was working with someone who was working on laser based weapon applications.  That might be very handy to know so they could keep watch on them.

***

Xander looked up from his reading in the hotel room when someone knocked.  "Who is it?" he called.

"Major Davis."  Wade let him in.  "Thank you.  Wade, can I ask you a few questions?"

"Sure.  I can probably even answer.  What did you need to know, Major?"

"How many more are out there?  Just those two?"

"Depends," Xander said.  "How strong are we talking down to?"

"Anything like those ones you handed over."

"Two of those that I've heard about and one new project that's getting edgy and twitchy, so they might blow themselves up," Wade said.  "They're pretty heavily into drugs and it's affecting their work."

"Could them blowing themselves up cause a problem?"

"It'll definitely cause a crater in downtown LA," he offered.

Xander stared at him.  "I have that one friend Jesse in LA.  He knows most of the other designers.  They have some sort of meeting to bitch about their ideas."

"Jesse?" Wade asked.  "Like your friend who died?"

"Same name," he admitted with a smile.  "He's the one who retired from the poker circuit."

"Oh, the guy who made the machine.  Cool.  What is he doing now?"

"Toys and robots."  He smiled.  "If they're that twitchy, tell Epps.  He's the agent in LA that knows about us and knows about Sunnydale stuff.  He helped with the invasion too."

Wade nodded, smiling at the Major.  "He was pretty calm and he's got a genius brother."

"Interesting.  That's a lot of what I needed to know.  Military wise?  Gibbs?  Since I know about DiNozzo and Sanders?"  Xander nodded with a smile.  "Anyone else?"

"Texas has a team of agents and officers who handle things and retrieval.  New York has two agents who know and handle situations plus a retrieval team," Xander said.  "Fornell knows.  When Max started to play with the lab, Horatio went to Fornell because he has known and we trust him.  He's just a bastard but we know he'd never turn."

Major Davis smiled.  "So there's basically at least one agent who knows something in each major office?"

"Wherever we congregate," Xander agreed.  "Atlanta is about dead for that skill though.  The PD ran the two who used to live there out of the state."

"That sucks," Wade agreed.  "Were they bad?"

"No.  Both lesser levels.  Both gay though."

"Ah."  He nodded.  "Some departments aren't that tolerant."  He looked at the Major.  "Did you need to hear what's out there that's very interesting on that scale?"

"Yes.  Please.  I know your boss likes to protect the US and the world now and then.  We'd like to do the same thing."

Wade got into his phone to look.  "Here, that's the heavier list of things that're out there.  I tracked it to bring anything unusual and nice to Max's attention.  Now we make sure a lot of them can't get to Miami."

"Or if they do they show up mysteriously in an inventory so we can give them to Horatio," Xander quipped.  "I also gave Gibbs some stuff that was current military issue during the last inventory."

"Anything of ours?"

"They know he likes personal sized weapons instead of vehicle or crew mounted," Wade said with a small shrug.  "It's handy to get the more useful for the underground stuff out of the way."

"Though someone did give me a light scud system that once," Xander said with a grin.  "Poker debt."

Wade shook his head.  "Did Horatio get them?"

"Yup.  Well, Sonny got them so they got his body but the rest of his stash Horatio got.  He didn't pay him fast enough."

"Good!"  Wade looked at the major, who was shaking his head.  "Yeah, it's like that sometimes."  He took his phone back.  "If I hear of stuff that dangerous, I can easily slip word somewhere.  It's no fun to rule the world if you destroy it."

Xander smirked at him.  "If I do end up ruling the world, you have to make sure Don can't spank me, or Horatio or Mac."

"Sure, I can do that, kid.  I can even be your figurehead leader," Wade quipped.  "That way the paperwork gets done."  Xander beamed at him for that.

"You two are insane," Major Davis complained.

"It's lacking sleep.  I hate sleeping alone," Xander said.  "Since I couldn't bring the ferrets or Hubert, it sucked last night and I can't go cuddle Wade.  Anya would get very mad."

"She said if I had to so you were saved from hormoning everyone she'd understand," Wade said dryly.

"Awww, that's nice of her."

The Major shook his head again.  "Let me talk to Epps in LA about those?"

"Sure," Wade agreed.  He let him out.  He looked at his boss, who waited then cackled.  "He did look like he could use the mental vacation, yeah.  They must run him ragged."  He sat down again, getting comfortable.  "How long are we hiding here?"

"Until Don quits bitching or I find a really nice prezzie.  Are we going back home through Denver?"

"Yup.  You sure you want to move there after Miami?"

"It'll be calm, have snow, the horses will like it.  Land prices are low.  They have a team there who can do what Horatio does for us.  Almost no immies."

"Huh.  Not a bad plan.  Are we buying land?"

"Scouting the area.  Making sure I can stand the city."

"That's fine.  You can do some minor present shopping so no one can guess by the box what they're getting."  Xander grinned at that.  "Did we bring money?"

"Yeah, I brought two of the poker bags.  They're in the car."

"I didn't see them.  I didn't remember bringing them off the plane either."

"I tucked them in.  You got my stuff since I have clothes."

"Ah.  I wondered what you had hidden," he said dryly.  Xander grinned.  "Why not use the other bags?"

"Because if they rip it's all gone."

"True, but it'd still be easier."

"I do usually but sneaking out means that Don counts those first."

"I would too, yeah."  He checked in with the family at home to make sure they knew Xander was still fine.  Don was probably still ranting about them sneaking off for this meeting.

***

Major Davis and Doctor McKay walked into the FBI building together.  "Is Agent Epps in?" the Major asked.  "We have an appointment."

"He is, he's upstairs.  Let me tell him you're here, Major."  She signed them in, got them visitors passes, and let them go while she called.

They got off the elevator a few minutes later and found an agent waiting.  "Major, Doctor.  We're in the conference room," the tall, blue eyed, sandy haired agent said, walking them that way.  Once they were in he shut the door.  "I'm Agent Colby Granger, this is Agent Epps and Doctor Epps, his brother, since you wanted him in attendance."  He sat down.

"Thank you for meeting with us, gentlemen," the Major said with a smile.  "Is has come to our attention through some people you know that some very high powered weapons are in LA at the moment being offered for sale."  He pulled out the information and handed it over.  "We're very worried about them."

Epps looked them over.  "Are they ours?"

"No, Chinese," McKay said.  "There were a few versions out there.  We managed to get our hands on most of them thanks to someone you know."

Don looked at him.  "Xander?" he asked dryly.  "Because that sounds just like the kid."

"Oh, yes."  McKay smirked.  "He's quite an interesting young man.  It's a shame that he didn't get to train to do more military related things instead."

"He does plenty of things that make my hair fall out," Epps said, handing them down to Colby.  "Do we know where?"

"According to his assistant Wade, they're being sold at a high priced arms auction tomorrow," the Major said, handing over the email he had gotten on that.  He sat down.  "We would like to see those particular ones out of everyone's hands.  They're much too powerful."

"Any idea what else they're selling?  I mean that's bad and we'd go in for that but if they have easily used artillery we have to make plans in case they use them against us," Epps said.

"I believe he had Xander send it to an email address that Doctor Epps has.  As well as the request for a meeting between him and Doctor McKay over another matter."

Rodney smirked at him.  "I do have plans so they can be disarmed.  I disarmed the others.  They're safely being destroyed in a way that means it cannot hurt the earth."

"Good!" Don agreed.  He looked at his brother then at him.  "You need him to do some math stuff for your project, Doctor?"

"No, something else entirely.  Some questions were raised that we wanted to figure out, which would mean some research."  He looked at Epps.  "We can talk after this."

"Of course.  I do like new projects.  That's why I help out here.  It stretches me in ways I didn't have to use before."  He took the folder to look over.  "This is very bad.  Who made this?"

"That one, Chinese scientists.  The others were all Indian," Rodney said.  "I'm told the others with comparable and stronger systems are all dead."

"That's good to know," Epps agreed.  "How?"

"Wade said he got a few of them," Rodney said dryly.  "The other set were gotten by their own government from what they heard.  The Chinese ones are still designing horrible weapons."

"Huh."  He took the folder back.  "Any idea where the sale will be?"

"Wade said he'd send it to you when he got notified.  He said he could bring Xander there to buy something," the Major offered.  "If you wanted.  They're in Colorado Springs today."

"Why?" Colby asked.  "I thought he hardly left Miami outside of conventions."

"To talk to us about these."

"He transported them?" Epps demanded.

"No.  We went to Miami to gather them.  He came to talk to us about these and that research issue," McKay told him.  "He called the Major, who called upon my genius to disarm them."

"Wonderful," Epps agreed.  "You're a physicist?"

"No, I'm an engineer in multiple fields," he said smugly.

"He's got plane and space shuttle sort of engineering on top of weapons and other things," Charlie Epps said quietly.  "That buy list a few years back had him and his usual work partners but it was noted they were military protected."

"Yes they are," Davis agreed.  "Is there still one?"

"There's always one," McKay said dryly.  "That's why I had my whole team tagged again when we came back to Colorado Springs."  He looked at Epps.  "What help can we give you to stop them?"

"I want you on hand to disarm them," he said.  "Other than that, we can set up something.  I don't want them in LA at all.  We have enough problems without this."

McKay nodded.  "That's very doable.  I can be downtown easily enough.  We have rooms in the Excelsior.  Xander recommended them."

"They were pretty decent during the convention," Colby agreed.  "Freaked out a bit at first but the convention went really well and they were very nice to his pet dragon."

"Dragon?" Rodney demanded.  He looked at the Major.  "He has a pet dragon?"

"Plus four ferrets."

"Have we seen this supposed dragon?"

"I took pictures of it.  It made a few of the biologists on staff drool."  He smiled.  "You can ask to see his baby dragon Hubert."

Rodney moaned, shaking his head.  "Hubert is very nice and he has a hair fixation with mine," Charlie said with a smile.  He found a picture in his wallet and showed him.  "That's me and Hubert when he was out for the invasion and convention."

McKay looked.  "It is a dragon."  He handed it back.  "Did you get to scan it?"

"Biology nearly had fits of joy and dancing, but couldn't figure out what he was," Charlie said.  "They all did the forehead-slap maneuver when I said his parent called him a dragon."  He put the picture back and put his wallet back in his pocket.  "He's very smart.  He grumbles to answer simple yes/no questions.  He'll give you funny looks.  He likes to ferret wrangle.  He played with them and kept them quiet during the convention."

"I think I have a headache," Rodney said, shaking his head again.  "Only him."

"Yeah, we see a lot of that with that group," Don Epps said dryly.  "But Xander's very unique even among them.  It's from being born and raised in Sunnydale as far as we can tell."

"I got briefed on that recently so I could beat someone who wanted onto the project I'm affiliated with," Major Davis said dryly.  "It did not make me have a happy lunch or dinner for the next week.  I almost thought I had morning sickness with the way it kept going."  Charlie cackled at that.  "So, what else can we do to help, Agent Epps?"

"Not a whole lot.  We can start surveillance.  Do we know where they are now?"

"Not at the moment.  I'd say they were probably in transit since the sale's tomorrow night.  Getting it here too early would probably be dangerous."

"We can watch and find them," Don said.  "Thank you for telling us."

"Have any of them been tested?"

"In limited scope, yes," McKay said, showing him the video of them.  "This is the Chinese version that we're confiscating.  We blatantly hacked to get the testing tape."  They watched it.  Charlie shuddered.  "There's worse.  Theirs was the medium class one."

"That's bad," he decided.  "The other?"

"Safely in our hands," Major Davis assured him.  "All stripped and without cores."  Don sighed in pleasure at that information.

"I know some people who worked with two of the people on this project," McKay told them.  "They didn't used to be evil and they got recalled home when it was discovered that they had ideas.  I know one had a wife and son before."  He closed his laptop.  "I'm fairly certain that neither of them wanted to create that sort of weapon."

"No, researchers hardly ever set out to create the really bad things, they often are working on something else and tinker to make it stronger," Charlie agreed.  "It's sad.  We lose a lot of engineers who end up doing that.  Your field must be devastated by all the losses."

"Sometimes, but now and then that sort of planning becomes useful as well," Rodney said dryly.  "I'm living proof of that."  Charlie smiled at him.  "They did panic a bit when I built a nuclear device for a school science project at ten."  Don whimpered.  McKay smiled.  "Don't worry, I'm Canadian.  Your country's shoddy and failing educational practices mean it's almost impossible for that to be replicated that young."

"True, the last one I heard who did that did it as a teenager," Charlie agreed.  Don got up and walked out shaking his head.  Colby and the Major left.  "So what is this research opportunity?"

McKay closed the door and looked at him.  "This came about because of me meeting Mr. Harris and the society wondering some things."

"They're wondering if there's a mental version, have for years," he admitted.  "They have no way of telling."

"I think simple EEG's should prove if they're going into that sort of state or not."

"Hmm.  It wouldn't be hormonal based like theirs but it might be interesting to find out if there is some sort of 'backed up' state we have."

"I can assure you there is.  It's those days we stare at the chalkboard like the numbers are right *there* but they won't come out."  Rodney sat down to look at him.  "Since you're one that's often mentioned with that fugue work state, I thought I would take the opportunity to see if we could do some readings while watching you in that state and teaching or working on regular problems."

"I wouldn't mind.  It's something I wondered about myself for years."  He gave him a sheepish smile.  "I know I get lost sometimes in the numbers."

"As have I more than once.  I used to do that a lot in college.  Nearly missed defending one of my dissertations because of it."

Charlie grinned.  "I missed giving a final last month because of one.  You think a simple EEG?"

"I think that would be the place to start.  I'm told the group's chemist is possibly on both lists so we could compare against his and mine.  I've already done some scanning of others I work with routinely so we can compare them against normal and more theoretical geniuses.  At the very least it might make identifying people with the gifts to be us sooner."

"It could, and I have been working on a neuro mapping project mathematically."  He nodded.  "I could spare an afternoon for that.  The students wouldn't mind too much, we've done experiments before during class time and I have a few students I could talk into it as well.  I've noticed them having that same drift of attention and I was never sure if it was ADHD with them or not."

"That would be excellent.  I'm in town for the next week.  That way we can make sure those devices are destroyed properly."

"Wonderful."  He smiled and shook his hand.  "Come see me at my office in a few hours?"

"I can do that once I find some lunch."

"We have an excellent cafeteria on campus," he offered.

"I have food allergies."

"Ah!"  He nodded.  "Which ones?"

"Peanut and citrus."

"I'll make sure Larry doesn't have on his usual cologne then.  It's got a heavy citrus base."  He smiled and left to talk to the others into it.

McKay smiled and left, going to a place that he knew had safe food.  He ate there whenever he was in LA.  Hopefully by the time they went back to Pegasus he'd have an answer.  Then he could test the good Colonel for being GHS or not and immortal or not.  The bastard had to be one or the other with his luck.

***

Xander got back to Miami to find Methos fuming.  "What?" he demanded once they were alone in the car since Methos had been waiting.

"You asked someone?"

"Who had the same problems.  I noticed him drifting during the disarming of the snukes."

"Oh, dear Lord," he muttered in Latin.  He glared at Xander.  "How did he know?"

"Actually he did know, Davis told him first," Wade said with a small shrug.  "Probably to explain why he had dirty dreams or wanted to kidnap Xander since he hormoned that bit of hair in payment for the plans to the Chinese ones."  He started the engine and drove them off.  "Did we remember the poker bags?"

"Yup, I loaded them.  So as long as you got my stuff."

"I did."  He looked at Adam again, who was still huffy.  "He already knew."

"Fine."

"I did point out the allergy list in case it was common since he went and talked to Charlie Epps," Xander said.  "Plus I know he talked to Greg since he said they talked about that formula."

"Why didn't I hear about that?"

"I did what I was supposed to and handed it to Greg.  Then Greg's supposed to test it, tell everyone, and make us all shudder.  Right?  Isn't that how the research panel goes?"

"Quite," Methos agreed, finding some humor in that.  "That is a bit strange however."

Xander nodded.  "Not like I wanted to shout about it.   We have all the samples but two and the formula."

"How did we get that?" Methos asked.

"I heard a rumor, so I told Xander," Wade said.  "He got a demon contact to snatch it and hand it to him so he could pop up to Greg's."

"That's handy."  He looked at Xander.  "Stealing now?"

"I had the same contact get the plans for the Chinese version of those bombs so I could hand them to the guy disarming them for everyone."

"That is handy then."  He huffed.  "Fine.  That was the way you were supposed to do things."

"I think, since he admitted he had a lot of the same problems before, that he's going to be figuring that out.  Plus if there's a way to tell levels, if there's anything to help the backed up nature, and all that.  They're even smarter than Greg is and it's their lives."

"I understand that.  I was hoping you hadn't went outside the ones who knew."

"I'm pretty sure the Major told him."  Xander looked around.  "What's buzzing?"

"One of your hairpins has a bug detector," Wade said, pulling the car over and taking that pin to run around.  "Huh."  He held up the bug, looking at it.  "ATF issue."  He put it into his pocket.  The pin was still buzzing so they got to Xander's without further talking so he could search the whole car.  It was his after all.  It was his job.  He took them to Horatio, who went to talk to the ATF for them.

***

Horatio walked in and went to the assistant director's office.  "May I have a moment?" he asked quietly from the doorway.

"I have a headache, Caine.  Is it really important?"

"Yes."  He walked in and closed the door.  He held up the devices.

"Those are our sort.  Where did you find them?  We can hand over what we have on whatever crime scene."

"Inside the car that belongs to Mr. Harris' assistant."

"Shit," he muttered, getting into his system so he could look up who had signed them out.  "They weren't the local office."  He found out who it was.  "Damn it."  He took them.  "I'll talk to them, make sure they know Wade isn't really an arms dealer and Xander's not either."  He smiled.

Horatio smiled back.  "Thank you.  He has been a bit sneaky about things, preferring to inform me during inventories, but he still won't let me know about the hidden things."

"Since he took some to Sunnydale last time, and no one else but him can find them, I'll let that slide," he decided.

"He did say someone more gifted than he was may be able to but they're rare here and only a few might try.  One of them being Rosenburg."

"I'll paddle her myself," he promised.

"Thank you.  I know we got an anonymous tip recently that he had some.  We traced it back to them."  He put on his sunglasses.  "Which let Ryan go talk to them about how they should still be in jail, and will be if they don't continue to do their job out there."  He left it in his hands.

The assistant director smiled.  "That's almost headache clearing.  Maybe we can fix that since she's said to be slightly dangerous."  He got the file he kept and made reservations to go talk to that team.  They were right to worry but once they knew more about him, they'd probably lay off the kid.

***

In Denver the next morning, the assistant Director for Miami's ATF walked into their assistant director's office.  "Good morning."

"A crossover case?"

"Oh, yes, but instigated by some of yours."  He smiled.  "They ran into someone who keeps a protected stash."

"I heard about that person.  Why do we allow someone that unstable to hold weapons?"

"He's not unstable."

"He has to be."

"He's not.  I know Harris personally."

"Harris?"

"Oh, they were tracking Wade.  Wade has a better minion position now."  He smirked.  "I can help explain that so they can worry less.  His current employer would kill him, repeatedly, if he went over."

"Interesting to know.  Can we all talk about this?"

"Of course."   The team got called up and he smiled.  "Boys, I think these were checked out by your team.  It's nice they didn't destroy them.  That family group has a bad habit of that."  He handed the bugs back and laid out the folder he had.  "We were researching Wade?"  The team leader nodded slowly.  "We know who he used to be."  He handed over that dossier.  "Some things you might not have known."

The team leader read it over.  "Why is he still free?"

"Well, he was dead," he admitted dryly.  "Then something Sunnydale happened."  One of that team shuddered.  "Fortunately the one they sent him at is much nicer, mostly more legal boss who can control his urges."  He handed over that file.  "Which is who you heard him talking to."

"We heard about a society?" one asked dryly.

"Yes, that's not a secret but any information getting out about members and they'll be taken by someone," the AD for Miami said.  He handed over that packet.  "Ignore the name.  It's truth in advertising but blunt."  He looked at the team leader.

"I have heard the briefing on this subject," one said.  "They briefed us and Team Seven about their sort."  He handed it to his team leader.  "Why one of them?"

"That's his dossier."

"Why was he out here talking to some physicist about weapons?" the team leader asked.

"Mr. Harris had found some very heavy, very dangerous weapons that he handed over to the Major, who set up the meeting with the physicist to talk about another matter relevant to the society."

"How does someone like him get to keep weapons since he's clearly not sane either?" the team leader asked dryly.

"He's very sane."

"Not from what I understand of their little group."

"They are quite sane and quite nice people.  I've talked with Harris in the past and a few of the others in Miami.  It's not their fault their hormones got out of hand."

"There's treatments," he shot back.

"No, there's not.  There's temporary relief that can kill them," his team member said.  "There's no treatment to kill hormones.  Not even if you put them on the shot like they do sex offenders they'd still have them."

The AD of Miami nodded.  "They would.  They're mostly very nice, slightly paranoid people.  Mr. Harris has weapons because of his past.  Which leads back to Sunnydale."  That same team member shuddered.  "How do you know about it?"

"I had a cousin who lived there," he said dryly.  "Right up until he got eaten, though they said it was supposedly a wild animal attack in the middle of the night in his house."

"Harris used to work on the defense team back there.  Now he's on for Miami's defense with a few people, including his detective boyfriend."

The team leader snorted.  "Another good reason to have him arrested," he said dryly.

AD Travis, the local one, glared at him.  "I didn't know you were such a bigot, Blanchart."  The agent blanched at his very cold tone of voice.  He looked at his counterpart.  "Do we have oversight?"

"I have indirect oversight.  The head of the felony crime lab has direct oversight with his boyfriend.  He used to be bomb squad," he said at the opening mouth.  The team leader shut up again.  "He lets them borrow whatever they need, does a monthly inventory for him, and actually takes some in as poker debts.  It's weeded a lot of guns and artillery out of Miami's underground.  They all know he's the sort of guy to pet and coo over the weapons.  It's what lets him into the underground.  Which has directly and indirectly helped his boy's job more than once."

"That's dangerous," the member who knew about Sunnydale said.

"Somewhat but they're very protective of him.  They like him.  Half of them are scared stupid of him.  He tends to win a lot so if they try to not pay him or try to hurt him to get out of paying, the lab hears.  He stopped an impending gang war by going to beat the crap out of the guys starting it.  Then he promised to hormone them all, and all of Miami, if they didn't quit.  The gangs down there had a nice summit agreeing that they could be less active so his boyfriend got home more often without overtime."  He smirked.  "It was appreciated."

"That guy with the hair scares gang kids?" the team leader complained.  "Why?  I wouldn't be."

"He was the same one in the thing in LA," Travis said.  The one from Miami nodded with a smirk.  "The recent one?"

"He was there.  So was Miami's retrieval team and his assistant Wade.  He apparently didn't tell them so they followed when they heard it was going to be bad.  He handles a lot of stuff so we don't have to.  We never realize it until later on."

"So he's good, but he's a bit scary because he's got weapons and he's gay," the team leader said.  "Figures."

His second-in-command glared at him.  "Shut the fuck up, Todd.  You're bigoted ass needs to go to rehab again.  Before my gay ass kicks yours again."  His team leader gaped in horror at him.  He smirked.  "Sir, can we make sure he can't turn over any of that information?"

"Only if we put him in jail," Travis said dryly.  "In solitary."

"That would be safer since he's an agent," another of the team members quipped.  "Though he might want to talk to his present girlfriend since she's a post-op."  Todd got up and stomped out.  "Sir, permission to shoot him?"

"Denied.  That's my fun."  He paged someone to find him and straighten him out, one way or another.  Then see if he was needing rehab.  "Drugs or alcohol?"

"Both," the new team leader said dryly.  "Though he's obviously high.  He's never that bigoted unless he's high."

Travis added that and that he was not to tell anyone about that special group membership he had heard about.   He put down his phone and smiled.  "I had Team Seven go talk to him."

The new team leader smirked.  "I adore Larabee for talking to people to straighten them out, AD Travis.   Hell, I told him about a few of them."

"If you run into a problem because of your relationship, I want to hear first."

"No, sir, Buck took care of him when he heard him trying to start shit in the locker room."  He grinned.  "It was very heroic of him.  I had my husband make him muffins and cookies for it."

"I'm sure he appreciated them a lot."  He looked at his counterpart.  "Is Harris good?"

"Definitely.  Classic white knight personality.  It goes well with Caine's white knight personality," he said dryly.  "Caine's like the kid's favorite uncle."

"Wonderful.  This Wade?"

"He's calmed down a lot.  His new girlfriend likes to share her own past.  She keeps him busy whenever Harris doesn't by getting into trouble.  That's why he was at St. Louis."

"I saw that," Travis said with a shudder.

"Former CIA guy from what we heard.  There's a few more of them retired to Miami that he can get along with.  Miami's in balance and we like it that way.  It's been much more quiet."

"I bet.  Any idea if he's going to stay down there until he's gone?" Travis asked.

"I've heard they were making plans to move in about a decade, possibly out this way.  I heard they came back through Denver to look at things in advance.  Oh, they have horses so they'd probably be doing the farm option."

"I can assign Team Seven to watch over them if they come here."

"Please do."  He shook his hand.  "Thank you for being reasonable."

"Not a problem.  As long as they don't cause problems."

The one from Miami snickered.  "Then Caine would get him very fast."

"I've met Horatio.  He would make him very sorry."  They shared an evil smirk.  "It's nice when the locals save you work."

"Definitely.  None of my people's cases are ever in Miami unless Caine specifically asks us.  He handles it and tells us later on.  Even does the reports so we can copy them."

"We need him out here," one of the other team members complained.  "Our local lab isn't that good."

"Miami's felony lab is one of the top in the country, boys, and it's got a good reason," Travis assured them with a smile.  "Horatio Caine runs a tight, uptight ship that gets him the top interns, grants out the ass, and all the techno toys he could want.  His co-working departments live up to his standards.  Or else."  The Miami AD grinned and nodded.  "He doesn't play well with agents because we tend to try to take the lead, but he gets things done very fast."

"He's very strict but he's also a mentor.  The gang kids all know him because of Harris and they let him handle things too.  They don't like him but if something happens and they're sure it's something bad, they can go to him."

"Huh.  Yeah, we need him," that team member said.  He stood up.  "We can close out that case, sir.  Who is his girlfriend?"

"Interestingly enough, Anya at one point in time used to date Harris.  Way back when but now she's dating Wade and keeping him happy."

"Huh."  They left, going to close out that file.  The gossip had their team leader being beaten half to death in the parking garage by Tanner and Larabee, who then escorted him to the local rehab center.  They had taken his badge and gun once there.  He had tested positive and checked himself in before they finished him off.  The nurses and other teams were all amused.

Travis called up his favorite team to tell them about this possible new member of Denver society some year soon.  They all groaned but looking it over with the guy from Miami got them happier with them possibly moving that way some decade.  Hopefully after their team retired but you never knew.

***

Wade walked into the AD's office in Miami a few days later.  "You told them I was nice?" he demanded dryly.

"No, I said Anya takes most of it out of you and Xander tires you out," he said, looking at him.  "Why?"

"That's at least mostly true.  I don't want to lose my scary rep."

"You haven't.  They just think you've got a saner boss who won't let you kill people.  Everyone who knows about Harris thinks he's a step up from Max."

"He is.  He's much more sane."

"Clearly."  He smirked.  "By the way, his companies?  I heard you were taking them down.  Anything for us?"

"Gibbs asked first."

"That's fine, I can ask him to share."  He smiled.  "Let me know if you need our help."

"Nah, I can talk someone into hacking for me.  Maybe bribe them with Xander getting stolen again since he's so bored."  He walked out looking happier.

"As long as they stop it before he gets out of Miami," he called after him.  "And he agrees."

"Whatever."

The AD huffed but shook his head, making a note on that.  Wade was clearly demented thanks to Xander.  It was a pity.

***

Wade looked at Jensen since they were both watching over Xander at the city-wide meeting.  "Should I ask your niece to hack something for me?" he asked dryly.

"Please don't.  She might try.  She got into Xander's accounts on him."  He smirked at him, pulling out something to hand over.  "I kept enough for her school fund in payment for finding the other three off-shore accounts."

"That's fine."  He looked them over.  "I thought I raided one of those."

"Only partially.  The rest was to go to the other minions and most of them died."

"Huh."  He shrugged.  "Whatever."  He put them into his pocket.  "Thank you."

"Welcome."

"He's bored."

"Yeah, I know."

"I'm about to let someone accidentally take him for a few days.  Nothing too harmful but it'll get him back into huffy Xander mode."

"Please don't.  Clay will kick your ass."

"Uh-huh.  Did Roque come back from Sunnydale yet?"

"You know, I'm not real sure."   He looked at Clay.  "Did Roque come back?"

"Last week.  He said it was a good leave and he might visit again.  He gets a lot of staking in."  He shrugged.  "I told him to move there.  He just walked off smugly like he was the man again."

Xander looked over at him.  "As long as he doesn't bring her to Miami."

"He'd never do that.  He knows you'd take her out, Xander," Clay assured him.  "If Horatio didn't have them arrested first."

"Ryan went to talk to them."

"Good!  I guess that's why he was happy when he came in yesterday."  The others laughed.  "His former spoiled bitches of friends."  They nodded they had heard about them.  They got back to chatting.

"Ha!  Now you're mine!" the demon shouted as he appeared, reaching for Cougar.  Who shook his head and shot him.  "Hey!  You're not supposed to do that."

Xander banished him and shook his head.  "Don't know why, Cougar.  I'll go beat his ass in a few minutes.  And Wade, grounded, because I heard that."

"Damn.  I can help."

Xander looked at him.  "Like I need the help?" he asked dryly.  He looked at them and grinned.  He dialed his phone too.  "Wade was joking I was so bored he was going to let someone take me."  They all groaned.  "So he's grounded."  He hung up.  Anya had heard too.  They others all laughed because they knew Xander had been grounded a few times when he was too backed up.

***

Anya was wearing real clothes when Wade got home that night.  "No nightie?" Wade asked.

"No, Xander said you're grounded because you nearly got him taken again."  She stared at him.  "It's bad to get the Xander stolen.  Then he has to destroy people and more want him.  Which then pisses off Horatio, who has to go arrest them.  We don't like it when everyone's upset so you're grounded from pussy for a week."  She walked off.  "Dinner's in the fridge."

He gave her an odd look.  "Are you on the rag?" he asked her.

"Yes but it doesn't matter.  You're still grounded for a week."  He growled.  She stared at him then cast a petrification spell on him.  "I can have Xander zap you and then put on a cock ring spell," she offered with a smug look.  He moaned and a part of him got stiffer.  She walked off looking as hot as she could.  She loved to taunt her man.  It made him growl and pounce harder when she was ready for him.  She let him go so he could eat dinner then tucked him into his own bed and went to hers.  She hardly ever slept there but he was grounded and she knew what that meant.  It meant she had to use her toys on herself.

The End.

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