Chapter Text
Chapter 1
Xavier took a big gulp from his cold coffee and sighed. He needed a shower, a Denny’s grand slam, and at least a week of sleep. The watch on his arm unforgivingly read 5:37 AM. They had pulled another all nighter after their usual eight hour shifts. Thank god it was Saturday.
The sound of papers being shuffled around and pens taping the tabletop filled the air of Black Badge’s office as stood for the first time in hours and looked around the room. Jeremy was practically sprawled out on the middle of the table hunched over a map of Purgatory with Madonna seeping through his headphones, and a brand new Optimus Prime mug glued to his hand. On the other side of the room, Waverly was sitting on the couch searching the web for any mention of Bulshar. Officer Haught with her head resting in Waverly’s lap was sorting through police reports that had been flagged for possible Revenant activity.
In the month since Wynonna had sent baby Alice to be with Gus, Xavier had been desperately searching through old Black Badge contacts for anything that could bring the child home. A lack of Revenant activity since the death of the Stone Witch had pulled the team apart.
Wynonna and Doc had retreated to the homestead to grieve for their daughter. Doc had been spending his time renovating and repairing the old barn. The oldest Earp had been seeking comfort in the bottom of a bottle leaving her in a constant drunken stupor. Poor Waverly had been ignoring Wynonna for weeks after learning she had known where their mother had been the whole time. Officer Haught had been trying to help the sisters mend their relationship to no avail. Jeremy was dedicating his time to Revenant tracking and had been noticeably saddened since Alice’s departure. The baby’s absence had left a hole in the dysfunctional family.
Xavier turned his attention back to his research or rather lack of actual leads on their new foe. The hundreds of tips and leads they’d received in the last month had all been dead ends except one. A former agent had been using their clearance codes to procure research and reports with any mention of Wynonna and the Earp curse from agencies, departments, and universities across the world for two years.
Reed, Langston
He reluctantly entered the name into the many surveillance programs at Black Badge’s disposal. The programs scanned traffic cameras, atm cameras, credit card transactions, airport terminals, and various secret satellites commissioned to keep tabs on Black Badge agents to find a location on desired targets.
He typed in the target’s name and felt the room start spinning. The name of woman that had broken his heart. The same woman he had almost married after his first tour in Afghanistan. All at once his chest felt like it was going to burst, and his mouth like he had tried to eat a handful of cotton balls. How could this happen to him? Perhaps the only chance at helping the woman he cared about meant talking to the only woman he’d ever loved.
Xavier shot of his chair feeling as if he were watching his own body from afar. The force of his action sent his chair clammering to the floor startling his unsuspecting team.
“Holy shit balls Dolls! What the hell is wrong with you? You’re going to give me a heart attack!” Waverly yelled as her reaction nearly tossed her girlfriend into the floor. The officer barely managed to steady herself with one foot stomping the tiles to support her weight.
Jeremy on the other hand remained unfazed and kept his focus on his work. The realization that he was being watched snapped Dolls out of his state of shock and sent him straight into an embarrassed panic. Nicole slowly sat upright with her eyes glued to her boss as if he were a lizard human hybrid. Oh shit thats right he was a lizard human hybrid.
“I didn’t mean to disturb anyone. I just got a little carried away I guess. None of my sources or leads are panning out. With Black Badge underground, operatives and agents are trying to lay low and responding to bulletins doesn’t exactly help.” Xavier replies. The words seem to calm the ladies down enough for them to return their attention to their work. He takes a deep breath hoping it will help him get his bearings.
It almost works too until Jeremy clumsily slides off the table pulling the map of Purgatory and his Revenant finding algorithm notes with him.
“I hate this! There have been no credible leads since the showdown with the witches. Wynonna hasn’t even touched Peacemaker in like three weeks. We can’t break this curse without her so why are we even trying to track down more Revenants.” Jeremy cries as he kicks a nearby file cabinet. The scientist had been working by Dolls’ side since Alice had been gone and had been his usual cheery self the whole time. The outburst had been a long time coming but none the less it still surprised Dolls to see the smaller man so worked up.
Then again Dolls thought, the last couple of months had been hell on earth. Everyone was having a hard time coping with the recent events on top of working themselves to death for answers on Bulshar. The entire town could be in trouble if Bulshar, no when Bulshar came a knocking.
“We all feel helpless Jeremy but there’s not a lot to do without knowing what the Cult of Bulsar is and if it’s a credible threat. Wynonna needs time to deal Jeremy but we’ll be back kicking Revenant ass in no time. We need to keep working so we can dive right in when Wynonna and Doc get back. I’ll make us a fresh pot of coffee and we’ll get you feeling better in no time.” Dolls replied making a swift move for the small kitchen.
Dolls was lying to the only people he trusted with his life. Yes he had been and still was hunting for leads on Bulsar and anything to keep Alice safe in Purgatory. The supernatural had to have some kind of spell, ritual, or voodoo that would protect a baby until the Revenants were gone right? The thing was Xavier had gotten some information that could help but he wasn’t ready to dig into the disaster it would create.
He fumbled with the coffee filters, grounds, and water as he tried to distract himself with the menial task.
Two weeks ago he got a lead from his former Special Ops buddy Reggie from his time in Afghanistan who happened to be a computer genius. Someone was still active on former Black Badge servers. Whoever it was on the secret programs had been looking for information on the Earp heir. They had also been searching for more information in the Black Badge circle about Xavier himself. Finally Reggie had been able to hack into the culprits computer and get a name. It was Langston Reed all along.
Xavier’s head was rattling off a mile a minute as he absentmindedly waited for the coffee pot to stop brewing. The life he had before the heir and Purgatory felt foreign to him. The life the military and Black Badge had helped him escape. He was a different man now.
He filled his mug quickly before stuffing a handful of sugar packets into his pocket and grabbing the whole pot. The caffeine would help them stay awake but he knew thoughts of Wynonna would hinder their focus. The solid door had be kicked open with a steel-toed boot as Dolls’ made it back into the his headquarters with full hands.
The sight of Waverly staring at his open laptop almost sent him and the coffee spiraling into the floor thanks to a nervous misstep. “Earp what ya doing? I thought we talked about the whole personal space and clearance issues. My files and laptop are off limits.” Xavier spit out frantically as he set the pot down and snapped the computer closed. All eyes in the room turned to him with furrowed brows as the youngest Earp got up from the table.
“I was trying to find a book with that fancy government issue media scanner thing so I wouldn’t have to request books from Butler County. Who’s Langston Reed? Does he have anything to do with Bulsar or the curse?” Waverly rambles excited at the possibility of actual leads.
Fuck this is exactly what he wanted to avoid.
“Agent Reed is on a short list of people I’m tracking down. She’s a leading expert of mythology, folklore, and ancient cultures, with degrees in Biology, Psychology, and Behavioral Analytics. Reed was flagged a couple of years ago for medical leave and has been off the grid since. It’s possible she doesn’t know anything we don’t at this point.” Xavier said softly, attempting to hide his discomfort. He wasn’t exactly lying to his team. He just wasn’t telling them the whole story.
Waverly nodded and turned her attention to the coffee. The fresh pot ushered silence around the room as the group passed it around to each other.
“I’m coming up empty with these reports. Nedley gave the okay to run background checks on the creepy firemen. We won’t have anything on them for at least a week.” Nicole says, filling the silence in the room.
This coffee ain’t doing shit for their energy at this point. They’re all in yesterday’s clothes. No one has eaten anything but vending machine provisions since yesterday’s lunch break at Shorty’s. A break is damn sure long overdue.
“Let’s call it a day. We won’t be any good to Wynonna if we die of exhaustion. Take the weekend and we’ll get back to it Monday. That’s an order Earp.” Xavier adds with a smile for Waverly. The tiny brunette blushed at the mention of her new nickname. It meant more to her than she’d let on to be apart of the fight to end the curse even if she wasn’t the heir.
Wynonna may be the heir but Waverly is the foundation of their team. Dolls knows they couldn’t handle the chaos of Purgatory without her big brain and bigger heart. That heart of hers was focused on her niece, her sister, Doc, and mending itself from Wynonna’s mother betrayal. He knew she’d be the one most hesitant to take a breather.
Without protest the group gathered their jackets and headed for the door. Waverly and Nicole piled into her old death trap Jeep while Jeremy joined Dolls in his SUV. Both cars ended up at the homestead, a ritual that had begun the day Alice had been sent to Gus. Family needed to be together after all and no one wanted to be far from Wynonna‘s side.
Without a word they stumbled through the stick snow piled outside the porch and pushed through the withering doorway. The doorway was cluttered with snow boots and scarves in no time as the heat from the fireplace welcomed their cold bodies. Lucky for them Wynonna had been conscious enough to keep a pretty decent fire going.
The grumbling of empty stomachs echoed through the quiet house as the occupants quietly went their separate ways. Jeremy settled into his usual spot on the couch wrapped in his favorite Xena blanket. Nicole added firewood to the flames in the attempt to keep the warmth going while everyone passes out for the rest of the day. Xavier stands in the middle of the room and watches his friends disperse quietly.
Wynonna had moved her room downstairs next to the living room to avoid the stairs when she was drunk undoubtedly. Since he had unofficially moved in, he had been sleeping on an old camping air mattress of Ward’s at the foot of the heir’s bed. No one had given his choice a second thought seeing it as purely a tactical decision on the former soldiers part. Dolls would obviously be the best choice to stop a possible intruder but he couldn’t stand to be away from Wynonna. He knew it was because he couldn’t stand to be any further from the woman.
The Deputy smiled as he caught a glimpse of a sleeping Wynonna under the mound of blankets on her bed. He could sleep knowing she was only feet away and safe. Removing his side arm from the holster, he slipped the weapon under his pillow before finally settling in. Sleep took over in no time.
Vancouver, BC, Canada Five years ago:
Xavier was standing in doorway watching Langston pack her withered Army green duffel. The bag was worn out from the many trips she’d taken since enlisting. This trip was different. She wasn’t coming back. The rings he’d given her the night he asked her to be his wife felt like boulders in his hand as he watched her helplessly.
“Laney don’t do this. I’ll go to therapy, I’ll stop drinking, and we can take that vacation time you wanted. Please don’t do this to me, to us.” Xavier said softly fighting back tears.
Their loft suddenly felt the size of a shoebox as the blonde removed every trace of herself from the bedroom. Her chest heaved erratically as her sobs racked her smaller frame. The burning in her side no doubt from a ripped stitch in her abdominal wound was nothing compared to the feeling of the heart breaking inside her chest.
“I can’t do this anymore Xavier. I look at you and all I see is what we could have had. We both know you blame me and the worst part is I agree with you. I love you but I can’t be reminded of that day, of what I did for the rest of my life by you. I hate myself enough for the both of us I promise.” She’s crying again and soon the front of her shirt is stained with her blood.
On instinct, he reaches for her only to have her pull away. The movement sends Dolls stumbling back obviously hurt. For a moment, neither of them move as the pain in the room soaks their awkward silence. Langston tosses her house key onto the bed then turns and steps around him. The sound of the front door closing breaks him and he collapses into the floor unable to conceal his grief.