Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Whoa! Not What I Expected!

Chapter 0

A little background on this series. Generally, I get ideas from different things. Reading, talking back and forth with people, on my drives to and from town, etc.

This series started as a what if from a story over on RT, July 2024 called Fragile. By vvc.gracee. And while it got its inspiration from it and involves the S/G that is where that ends.

I further am using a character and plot idea (with permission) from the ever-prolific Voracity. From her Thieves Paradise series: https://voracity.e-fic.com/tindex.html

A Lupin III series and crossover with Xander from Buffy. From that I am borrowing the Demere Choker which is a magical jeweled choker that will change the person wearing it into a person of the opposite sex. Description and type depending on the vision of the person who put the choker on that person. So, it varied. And only the living person’s hands who put the choker on can take it off again. Xander had been “gifted” with it during one of his adventures and generally was the one to put it himself. He had had a fallout with Buffy’s group and through things not in his control, ended up joining Jigen, then Lupin and the group. So, he used the choker as an added disguise feature.

I won’t go into plot points, but Xander ends up renaming himself and going by his middle name to further separate himself from his old persona. And had whole binders filled with identities for his different female features.

This will be posted in sections with the first being pre-NCIS canon as it will take place in that world. Starting from when Tony came online, and going up to when the God, Janus, brings Lavelle over from his old world to join Tony during his big game in college that he got tackled in.

Then the two move on through the timeline through the undercover mission to Baltimore and meeting Gibbs, and onto Tony joining him.

As I said, I get ideas from many differing sources as I go, and I’ll try to mark them as I go along in this series.

JudyBrown is/was a huge one with her own works and our late-night discussions. As is Samsas and JadeWine.

Note: Most of these are from either Tony’s or Lavelle’s POV so the series is now labeled as unreliable narrator. And once the choker comes into play, m/m f/m f/f comes into play though I generally fade to black on those as I have a hard time writing them.

But if it’s not your cup of tea, please go elsewhere.

Chapter Text

Whoa! Not What I Expected!

Part One

As long as he could remember, young Tony had only known the pain from hate and others.  The need to escape his father’s hatred and the physical pain he brought with him. He also deeply felt the emotional pain stemming from his father’s hatred and saw what it did to his mother and those around the house. Even at a young age he tried his to buffer his mother against him.

He was eight years old when he came fully online as a Guide on Mother’s Day.   As he felt his father force himself his mother and then kill her in his drunken need to dominate her.

The staff had been given the day off and Tony was in his room when he almost passed on with his mother, stopped by the nice man in the light. Who cuddled him in his grief.

It was not until he reached adulthood that his discovered his “father” had paid/bribed the local officials to look the other way and file it as an accidental death.  Having her body was cremated as fast as possible, and her ashes scattered to the winds to hide the truth.

The local Sentinel and Guide (S&G) Center of Long Island was in disarray as the area leaders had just been reassigned and no one had taken over yet. So, no one there noticed his full blown coming online.

Tony laid in his room, cuddled in the warm embrace of the Spirit Plane and the man, who called himself Strife, for as long as he could. With “Uncle Strife” muting as much of the trauma as he could.

Uncle Strife introduced him to his new protector, an animal called a Honey Badger, he called Samwise. He had just finished watching the Lord of the Rings cartoon series at school. And his new friend and uncle had giggled madly over that with Samwise just nodding his head in recognition of the name bestowed upon him.

Soon, however, it was time to leave the safety he had found and go forth on the adventures in the real world. With Samwise at his side, he could now face anything. And young Tony woke up at the housekeepers pushing to get ready to go to the new boarding school picked out for him by his mother to get him safely away from his father.

Another thing Tony didn’t find out till he was much older, was during her lucid moments and fearing for her son, knowing her husband would be the death of her, his mother had had her own people lock down her funds upon her death. Into an absolute trust fund for his expenses and education. The trust was overseen by a man who loathed Senior, having been screwed over by him earlier, in one of his “get rich” schemes. So wasn’t going to fall for Senior’s schemes again and was going to follow the trust set up to the letter.

Much to Senior’s ire at not getting what he wanted.

Hence the new school, with at least a small S&G clinic. Something Senior had loathed with a passion as abnormal.

A clinic that immediately found him to be coming off Guide-Shock and treated him as best as they could. And during his time at the school arranged for the tutors he needed to get the basics for his training.

The rest he got from Uncle Strife and Samwise.

It wasn’t the best, but much better than before. And he could live with that

Chapter Text

Whoa! Not What I Was Expecting!

Chapter Two

Coming to Grips

The school Tony was at was not an S&G facility, and even if it was, Tony’s was a type of Guide as rare as hen’s teeth. So, while the clinic ensured he got counseling and taught him the ins and outs of cooking for himself and a Sentinel. And his and their health needs, he was basically stuck with the few tutors the out of the way school could bring in. The local S&G office reports Senior for his abuse and getting Tony in the care of the Manager for his Trust. Who was under orders from his maternal uncle.

He took to taking care of his basic needs quickly and made sure to take track and other sports for fitness. Plus, the mandatory morning meditations, the clinic insisted on. But his energy level forced him to be more active instead, so his own meditation was generally found when running long distances instead. When he could just let his mind go free and let his body take over.

His tutors did not like that and kept trying to fit him into their mold. So, he just got up extra early and did his run, then sat sweaty to the sunrise and did the ohms for them having already reached the spirit plane on his own run.

They marked him down as non-compliant and tried harder to get him in their itty-bitty mindset mold. He called his manager and told him to stop paying the conmen and tell them to leave him alone. With restraining orders if needed.

The Northwest’s Alpha’s were not happy with his restraining order against the Center there, or Sandburg backing him up. And quietly settled out of the media’s sight. Instead, they blackmarked his file as an “Uncooperative, Childish, Brat,” who “Refused orders from his better and more knowledgeable elders.”  The Northwest Division blocking him from searches or using them for anything.

Upon reaching eighteen and suing the Northwest Center and US S&G as a whole for full disclosure on his file, he went down in the annals for winning a defamation of character lawsuit against the Alphas of the Northwest, and the US S&G as a whole as well for “The Attempted Forced Indoctrination of Their Version of ‘Their Way and ONLY Their Way’ of doing things even if it was counter intuitive to the health of the individual.”

Adding more than enough to his trust to ensure his great-grandchildren would not have to worry. And forcing all branches of S&G to look at the individuals, instead of lumping them into a whole or parts.

Though he was still listed as “difficult to work with.” Yet opening this up for his use as needed.

That mess took time out of his schooling at Ohio State which kept him from trying out for the football team that year, but not basketball later. Where he made the Jr Varsity team as a freshman. Sitting on the bench more often than not till he earned his spot but enjoying it, nonetheless.

He was also taking a full schedule of classes, with S&G studies and Criminal Justice. All due to his experiences with the law and those who tried to use it against him.  Adding a S&G Psych and Health set of classes during that summer plus trying out for football and the summer training schedule.

He spent his second year as secondary leader of the basketball Jr Varsity and helped both the football team and basketball team to their championships. Earning a lot of attention for his athleticism.

During that summer, in between training with the Varsity team, he worked on his papers for graduation and did his specialty classes. Also, the local Center were being ass’s about starting the mandatory Meet and Greets to press the flesh and get bonded to his “One Twu Wuv.’ And all that tripe. While Strife kept telling him his other would be there before he graduated. And he would be given the choice of bonding to them if he wished.

Lots to think about in his life.

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Whoa! Not What I Expected!

Part Three

Tony:

It was Tony’s second term of his third year at Ohio State, and he was playing at the championships as second quarterback. He actually was on the field now due to the first string coming in injured and had brought the team back from being tromped on by the Wolverines.

He had a buzz from the feel-good emotions coming from the stands and his team, and it was the last few minutes of play in the game. If they made it, they would win.

He took the ball and faded back mentally as well as physically, and he felt his Sentinel calling out in distress. Not just a Sentinel but *HIS* Sentinel. And he felt himself be tackled as he soothed the newly online young man and get him calmed down enough to give a description of where he was and who he was. Passing that along to the medics who had come out to the field to find out why he hadn’t moved yet. And to tell them the two of them would have to be moved to the same S&G friendly hospital as he knew already his leg was broken.

Lavelle

Alexander Lavelle Harris, the last standing member of the Lupin Gang and the Scoobies, and most of his world. He was born in 1981 in his realm and passed away during the final war in 2076.

It was in the future from when he had actually been born, and the Greek Gods, Janus and Strife, had been using him for the natural chaos he put out to feed off and to fulfill their needs. Enough that Strife didn’t fight Janus when that God de-aged his God proclaimed acolyte to fulfill his needs generally, for an offspring or two from him. And while Xander/Lavelle wasn’t always happy about it, they did save his bacon, and the lives of his loved ones. And made accommodations for his loved one’s afterlife to be comfortable.

Doing so via a magical sex changing choker that fully changed the sex and looks of the one that was put in it.  Fortunately, very few knew the quirk of the choker so, he was safe from others using it against him. But that hadn’t always been the case in the beginning. Which had led to some hardship for him, and massive blackmail.

Not that he didn’t enjoy his Demere Choker as it made life interesting, and Sci-fi/Fantasy and Anime/Comic Cons fun. Even if it did mess up his own identity of self on occasion.

This last time had put him younger than his great-grandchildren from the batch of children of the Lupin group.

His choker and necklace going with him each time to ensure he fulfilled his duty when de-aged.

The necklace changes the appearance of the person wearing it. It also hid his scars well. Which were given to him by a Fallen Angel and magically embedded so his gods could only hide them and not get rid of them.

Between his necklace and choker, he was the ultimate chameleon. Able to take on any form or sex he wanted. Which was a definite plus when running with a thief, gunman, and assassin group, and being wanted across the western world in his own right.

And the reason for that was that he had been betrayed by his first team he had put so much trust in. And sold to a Hell Prince in return to avoid a prophesized battle. It had even been good enough to leave a viewing portal so his old team could enjoy what it did to try to break him to be its own.

Thankfully neither Faith, nor Dawn would put up with that and came to his rescue as soon as they could.

And he escaped his former “friends” monologues and attempts to kill him because “He’s evil now!” As it was, he now had permanent scars from the torture and his hair was also so white it would never take any dye.

Made for a great Inuyasha though.

Dawn had joined him for a bit before Buffy had problems and Dawn had to take over the care of her nephews (Buffy’s kids). She went up in a glorious ball of protection to protect what was left of her family when WWIII broke out, as she released the power she held as the Key.

Faith and those with her were now ash in the wind as London was one of the first to go. And his own family’s island stood as long as it could, but also fell against the bombs.

He, himself, had been brought out of the holocaust with his things in a pod and he was given a download by Strife and told “no more games little one, time to go to one who will love you for being you.”

The Meet

Lavelle barely got the new memories of the life he was supposed to have had in this new world, when he appeared – fully clothed this time thankfully – and his brain and senses went ape-shit. Mentally he was screaming for it to just stop, when a soothing voice came and laid over everything as a block. Explaining he had just come online as what was called a Sentinel. A person who had their senses jumped up to the max like those who worked in perfume factories and such. The Sentinels were considered the physical protectors while their counterparts, the Guides, were the metaphysical. Sentinels keep the Guides grounded to the physical world, and Guides kept Sentinels grounded from zoning on their senses both in a symbiotic relationship.

His name was Tony, and needed to know where Lavelle was so he could get help to him, and his name.

Lavelle cracked his eyes and looked around, giving the information needed to Tony, and listened to him as Tony told him help was on the way and to just stick with him. A few minutes later an ambulance with a strange symbol with the letters S&G in the middle comes up and two people get out. Tony assures Lavelle that they would take care of him and get him to the same hospital as he was going to as he had just been injured too.

His… Tony…. Injured…. He now knew how Gomen felt when his family was injured as… He felt a tiny pin prick and then nothing.

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Whoa! Not What I Expected!

Part Four

Get Together

Tony had missed his next term in person but did get permission to work on his papers for his graduation and turn those in at the end of the term. And he took the summer term off, showing up with Alex on his elbow during fall term for his last year. Strife and Janus had made sure Xander was all set in this new world with everything he needed, and his things had come with him in his POD. Which was now located at a storage unit and waiting for him.

During the time he was off, they worked together to get the once known Xander to Lavelle and now Alex under control of his abilities and working with Tony. With the two of them slowly getting to know each other.

Alex, contrary to his thought, didn’t have a hyena for a Spirit Animal, but a Wolf. Which, when he thought about it, was appropriate as he was more about protecting the pack. And Pack Lands. And together with his mate who didn’t give a damn, till backed into a corner then would take out a bear to protect him and his. They were one hell of a combination to get trained by stubborn trainers who insisted on telescopes to see through instead of binoculars.

Or as Tony put it, they did art in black and white, while he and his partner were using technicolor. And both sides were being driven up the wall by the other with Blair Sandburg having to play ref more often than not.

All sides were more than happy to see the backsides of the other by August and the new duo going back to school.  They were both listed as Ascendant Primes but had no territory at the moment. Just the university and surrounding areas. Though, suddenly the S&G Centers were being very accommodating to Tony.

Alex needed the quiet of a Sentinel friendly house and not a frat friendly place, so while Tony kept his friends and membership, he and Alex moved to their own place off campus. Where, between Tony’s doctors and Alex, he was kept on an even keel physically and mentally.

While Tony was in classes, Xander was working/fighting the backwards computer technologies and networking systems due to the time periods he had been from and the systems he was used vs now, to slowly get start a new security system and company going.

Going on walkabouts around campus as he thought things through. Sometimes in his main form, and sometimes in one of his other identities. Either male or female. Coming across some “very” interesting things as he did so. And when campus police did nothing in several cases, he took care of it instead, by putting the fear of the “boogieman” in the perps to the point that the problem people removed themselves from the equation to another city. Or found themselves as being used to pay an old demon debt Alex owed in the case of the serial rapist and the jocks who liked to attack young males and females at night “for fun” and “profit”.  Alex having used some of his interdimensional good will to get trade goods going for his use, and, yes, a hunt for Senior was put out since the man obviously wanted playthings, let him be one. As far as Alex was concerned.

In the late fall early winter, in between the holidays, the two had managed to save two siblings from a house fire during a walk/patrol, which had given Tony the push he needed to talk to Alex about pursuing a career in police work. Police because of the hunting side factor to catch the crazy that killed the kids’ parents and set the fire to hide it.

Since Alex had worked both the vigilante side and the wrong side of police work as it was. And had worked with and against Interpol as well in his last life. Adding acting/drama and “clothes make the person, along with make-up” to Tony’s skills.

And then Alex upped that by introducing him to a copy of his choker and made him do it all over again as a female.

Alex had treated Tony to a minor hint of the supernatural and magic already with getting rid of the rapist when no one else could, but it took a bit to get him used to the whole choker thing.

Though after he did, it sure did up the fun in their sex lives.

Then for fun’s sake doing patrol on the bad parts of town as an alchie or druggie, or prostitute in either form. Or pimp. Explaining that cute newbies on any force, as he was, always got tossed at vice first. No matter what, he should be ready for it. Before turning it to the various classes of male and female and jobs. Along with faking or figuring out their weaknesses/addictions.

Young men, soldiers, nineteen fourteen
Marching through countries they'd never seen
Virgins with rifles, a game of charades
All for a children's crusade

Tony’s mind juxtaposed between the walks and life on the streets and listening to the history professor about a time gone by.

Pawns in the game are not victims of chance
Strewn on the fields of Belgium and France
Poppies for young men, death's bitter trade
All of these young lives betrayed

Slides on the board of bodies strewn on barbed wire flash by and in his mind’s eye he sees the dead faces of those he knows. Just as much held in death’s bitter hand.

The children of England would never be slaves
They're trapped on the wire and dying in waves
The flower of England face down in the mud
And stained in the blood of a whole generation

The children’s deaths, another one of a generation lost.

Corpulent generals safe behind lines
History's lessons drowned in red wine
Poppies for young men, death's bitter trade
All of those young lives betrayed
All for a children's crusade

The detectives and cops talking about parties to go to. Not even going to try.

The children of England would never be slaves
They're trapped on the wire and dying in waves
The flower of England face down in the mud
And stained in the blood of a whole generation

He let Alex sooth him each night when they get home after another is found. Either self-inflicted, or gang related, it hits him hard. They save a precious few, to lose them later.

Midnight in Soho nineteen eighty-four
Fixing in doorways, opium slaves
Poppies for young men, such bitter trade
All of those young lives betrayed
All for a children's crusade

Alex hates for his Guide to have to see this, but if he is to survive his trade, he must see and understand the children’s crusade.

Chapter Text

Whoa! Not What I Expected!

Part Five

Get Together

 In his last life, Alex had trained under Jigen, the assassin and shooter in Lupin’s group. And that was his main skill in the beginning besides what he had brought to the table as a hunter of demons and vamps. He eventually got cross trained by the entire group, but he ended up as their ballistics and gun specialist, he ended up as their ballistics and gun specialist.  This was the same path he chose to pursue during the time between Tony’s graduation in the spring of ’92 to his entrance to the police academy in the fall.

When they weren’t working with weapons of any kind, they worked on theory. And when not working on that, they worked on laws. And at night, they still did their patrols.

With all that work, Tony had offers from all over the East Coast for entry level SWAT. That is till they found out he was a Guide. Then only office jobs or vice.

He and Alex talked it over and took the least offensive one in Peoria, while both signed up for classes in Information and Analysis, while Tony was at work – doing desk work for now. He was either doing mild patrols to get out of the house they had bought with Tony’s Trust Fund, working on the house, working on Alex’s skills, working to get his network up, or reading military history.

Since Tony only worked desk duty instead of patrol, he actually had Thanksgiving weekend off and they were heading into Chicago for the British Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention there during it. It was the 30^th Anniversary of Dr Who and many of the old timers from the show were going to be there, that they could get and were still alive. With Tony’s mom being a Paddington, he was brought up on the show by his mom on PBS every time his father was out of town.

They were going to use the necklace and choker for Alex as the 7^th Dr and Tony as Ace but mix the roles as though they touched a wrong button, and each character got a sex change. With Ace being a bit uptight over it. The fact that Silvester McCoy and Sofie Aldred were going to be there was going to be icing on that cake.

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They met Adrianna Macaluso at the con, in the merchant’s room browsing the fan books and the three hit it off right away. Palling around the rest of the con together. Sometimes arm in arm. To her security’s consternation.

While the feddies knew both he and Alex were a bonded pair, the fact that they had gotten close to Mike Macaluso’s daughter at the con had them both hijacked for an undercover in Philly and Tony automatically transferred to that office.

Whether he wanted to be or not.

As far as the local office figured out so far was that the two of them had a cross-dressing kink. Either that or were trans due to the fact that Adrianna knew the two of them as Alexi and Toni.

But, hey, whatever worked. And they didn’t care as they were not only in, but in deep. With both of them invited over to Mikes place all the time. Including going to important dinners enough to drop wires for recording purposes, then pick them up again afterwards.

They stayed undercover for over a year before being “called home” and leaving their dear friend, Addie. And being debriefed for three months afterwards.

Then allowed time off to get their minds clear enough to move on. Their undercover personas were still in play. Even as Mike’s empire was systematically being taken down. Which was good, because both had used the time in-between having to be “on” to fill out their cover as internet security people and fill out their networks further and make them international.

Tony worked at the actual law angle, while Alex worked at the weapons and security angle of the small internet company they had put together. Calling it A & T Security. 

They had both cleansed themselves with an off-trail hike through the mountains to continue working on their senses.

Both were Ascended, which meant each had a little of each other’s senses, and they always tried to spend some time alone working on that as well as their main ones.

The feddies had already arranged for Tony to be bumped up to Detective third class and over to Baltimore’s Vice section. Joking he should be used to it. So, to get used to the area, they both spent a bit of the time off undercover themselves to get a feel for the area before he had to report. Finding out immediately that there was a hunter on the streets that the cops were ignoring…. Hard.

Not on their watch.

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While Tony already knew the art of malicious non-compliance, Alex took things to whole new levels. Such as, it was mandatory that all Sentinels and Guides, and especially bonded pairs, let as well high levels, let the area Alphas and Primes know they were there. There was nothing in the books or customs on how this was done. Minor tradition stated in-person, but that wasn’t set in stone, as there was precedent for it to be done over the phone when extant needs took over. Like duty to law enforcement.

As such, with this in mind, and the new email systems in place at the Centers, Alex sent a calmly worded short, ‘Hi, we’re here,” email to the Center to pass onto the Primes when they were back from their sabbatical in Jamaica.

Copied that email to their own emails and made sure to have both tagged to show when they were opened, and where to his own system. While cussing out having gone back to the stone age of computers all the while, to Tony’s amusement. Then they saved the whole mess once the received and opened email came to their own server overseas.

Tony, meanwhile, was having the same fun redoing the paperwork the feddies had filled out for him. ‘Bless their little Hooverite hearts’. He, by recent international and S&G law, didn’t have to put down who or what sex his partner was. Just that he was married. And his spouse would not need spousal support or insurance.

However, the feddies had already done their damage, as the first night of work, he was given a sleek little female number and told since he liked it so much, he’d be going under wearing that.

He not only took the, slightly there, skirt and mini top, but literally changed on the way there with no back up. And made the vice squad look bad by catching three heavy drug deals going down right in front of him. On camera. With full facial features on each of the players.

And on top of that, found the human trafficker and cannibal that everyone had been ignoring as beneath them to pay attention too. In the act. With a twelve-year-old kidnap victim, not run-away.

He was quietly moved to transportation, and then to homicide, after making many old timers marking time look bad there.

Governor’s Law Enforcement Meritorious Medal for the year and all. And a raise in rank to Detective Class Two.

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Whoa! Not What I Expected!

Part Six

Danny and Gibbs

While Alex settled in to run his budding empire, Tony was settling in as a probie in homicide while taking classes at the local university to finish out his degree in Intelligence and Analysis.

He had risen to Detective Second Grade with his many arrests in Vice and Transportation, and easily handled the hazing of a known Guide in homicide, plus his coming up through Vice. Often going undercover to catch the bad guys. Which over time garnered him grudging respect from his fellow members of the blue line.

He and Alex became well known on the convention circuit, going on as many fun ones as possible as well as the working ones. Both for Tony’s job and for Alex’s.

Part way through his second year, Tony was teamed up with veteran Danny Price who was a Dormant Sentinel. And kept triggering Alex’s protective instincts to the point he did a deep dive background check on the man in both worlds. Even hacking the S&G sites to get the information he needed.

Danny had become Dormant when trying to use his abilities for a crime lord. And that said everything that needed to be said about him. And that was why Alex’s next trip was to bring down the crime syndicate Danny was part of now as it endangered his Guide by its very existence. Even if he had to play Serpico to do it and bring down the whole department.

And bringing down the whole department like Serpico did, he found as he dug deeper was what he would have to do too. But not till his Guide was safely elsewhere, and that was why the idiot fed of a marine, named Gibbs came at the right moment.

He showed up and Alex began to push Tony to go fed, either with Gibbs, or with the BAU that kept trying to recruit him as well after he got his degrees.

While Tony played tag with Danny and Gibbs, Alex started to line up his shots at taking out the bad guys. Slowly leaking information here and there. Taking out someone who was minor but could lead to bigger things there.

Calling on his old memories and skills as a professional assassin to do the jobs needed to protect his Guide and Tribe and Territory.

By the time of Gibbs and Tony arresting their own perp and the official finding of Danny and the Captain being dirty, the FBI had moved in for arrests throughout the department.

Alex had already called up his network to have a place for them in DC ready for them to move into and their things put into a POD for moving as Tony headed off to training at GLYNCO.

He just needed now to do a deeper dive of his mate’s new workmates to see that they were all on the up and up now.

It should be interesting.