Rainbow in Sunnydale

by Joe Black

Disclaimer: Red Storm and Tom Clancy own Rainbow and characters. Josh Whedon owns Buffy and characters. I make no profit off the following except having a little fun.

Chapter 1:

Andrew's AFB
Washington DC
25 Oct 2002 - 1950 hours

John Clark came out of the cockpit of the VC-20 and said to his partner Domingo Chavez, "Ding, it's official; I just finished talking with Allister and he says they just got the alert notice. He already started getting things organized and thinks he can be on the ground there in 24 to 36 Hours."

Ding sat in front of his laptop with several piles of paper around him. They had been in town attending a secret anti-terror summit and had just wrapped it up when they had been contact by Ed Foley for a Rainbow Tasking for Sunnydale, CA. They had gone immediately to Andrews and had been waiting for whoever was going to brief them since.

Ding had decided to see what he could find out about Sunnydale and had been at it for over an hour now. He had some problems at first but had been working steadily with a growing pile of paper from the printer to show for his effort. "What have you found?" Clark asked.

"Well I know I am not taking Patty or Little John to Sunnydale on a vacation." Ding replied.

Clark sat down facing Ding and leaned forward, "What do you mean?"

Ding tossed a pile of print outs over to Clark and said, " Check out the per-capita death rate for one."

Clark looked down at the sheet and started reading; Sunnydale was easy to find one Ding had highlighted it with a yellow marker, and two it was at the top of the page. John looked up and said, "This can't be right Ding, if New York had a death-rate like this we would be looking at sixty to a hundred thousand deaths a year! This has got to be a misplaced decimal or something."

"If it is then the Census Bureau, The Bureau of Vital Statistics, and the FBI are all using corrupted data," Ding replied. "Here check it out yourself," as he tossed another printout pile at him.

John caught it and scanned the first sheet, frowning he went through the next two or three pages and said "I don't see it on the list."

"Put your finger at the top of the first page and scan down till you hit the first 'S' then follow the word over," Ding explained. Clark did as Ding instructed and caught his breath as he found Sunnydale, California in the number one slot. "Spooky isn't it?" Ding asked.

"Bizarre!" John agreed.

"It took me 15 minutes to figure out to do that. That's why I highlighted it for you." Ding leaned forward and turned his laptop toward John. "Then I did a search of the AP archives to see how many stories came out of Sunnydale. Over the last ten years I found almost 2000 stories that went up on the wires, of them only 3 where picked up nationally."

"Only three?" John wondered.

"The first was 4 years ago, their high school blew up in the middle of the graduation ceremony killed 10 including the town mayor, and the principle of the school. According to the story a boiler exploded, but check this out." Ding used the mouse to explode a picture on the screen showing the wreckage left over from the explosion and fire that had destroyed the building. "Do you see it?" Ding asked.

"Yeah." John said. One thing he knew was an explosion, and the way the wreckage around the school was distributed was totally wrong for a basement blast, now a first floor one on the other hand…

"What do you figure? A demo pack?" Ding wondered.

"Or about two or three hundred pounds of AMFO" John supplied. "No investigation from the FBI on a terrorist strike?"

"According to a story I dug out of the local paper the investigation was handled by state inspection officials and they determined that it was caused by a faulty gas valve that caused a build up in one of the boilers that then detonated for unknown reasons."

"And people bought that?" John was shocked.

"Heck from reading the local paper up till 3 or 4 years ago the standard answer seemed to be gangs on PCP for anything bad that happened, no matter how gruesome."

"Define gruesome." Clark demanded reaching for a coffee cup.

"Okay how about this, the last principle, before the one that was killed in the graduation explosion, was killed by a group of his students," Ding started.

"That happens a lot Ding, it's bad but hardly gruesome," John chided.

"Yeah Mr. C, but they ate him…raw," Ding said shaking his head. "We had gangs on PCP back in the neighborhood I grew up in. They never ate anyone."

"Raw!?"

"Or cooked for that matter," Ding replied. "The other two were about the same story. About 3 years ago, the November after the school explosion everyone in town lost their voice for about 48 hours."

"So the whole town had laryngitis, hardly a national news story," Clark argued.

"Not laryngitis Mr. C, their voices where gone. There was not one person in the whole town that could manage a peep. One morning they woke up and nothing, on the third morning when everyone got up they could speak normally again."

"No indication on what caused it?" Clark asked.

"The CDC quarantined the town, and Detrick was supposed to send a team, but as far as I can tell neither did. One other thing of interest happened while no one could talk, five people where killed all the same way; their hearts were cut out."

Clark sat back in his chair and stared of into space for a few moments, he then looked at Ding and said, "I see what you mean about not going on a vacation there. Okay two things, one get Allister back and tell him to put team two on alert also. I've got a feeling that we might need them, also tell him to pack the heavy artillery."

"And the other thing?" Ding asked.

"When you got the chance, I want you to research a fairy tale that I remember as a kid that seem to be close to that story you just told." He took a drink of coffee then said, "Now what else have you found out about this place."

"Fairy tale?" Ding asked, reaching for his own cup.

"Yeah I can't remember the name right off the top of my head, but my mom told it to me when she was tucking me in at night," Clark replied.

Ding sat there for a minute trying to picture someone tucking Mr. C in at night, the image did not come easy. "Okay a fairy tale where every one in town loses their voice and someone goes around ripping peoples hearts out, got it. So how did the story end?" Ding was curious.

John sat back and thought for a moment. "I seem to remember that the princess in the village got her voice back and screamed. That killed the bad guys. I doubt that an American city has a princess living in it. Probably nothing to it anyway. What else have you got?"

Ding went back to rooting through the stuff he had acquired. "Okay how's this. The Christmas before the high school blew up it snowed there, they got 3 inches."

"So it snows lots of places on Christma… wait this is around LA isn't it?" John said.

"Yeah about sixty miles outside. As far as I can tell this is the only recorded accumulation of snow in that area since the last ice age," Ding replied, "Out of curiosity I checked out the other crime statistics for the town and I found that while murder and disappearances are off the charts, other crimes are way low. Burglaries, Rapes, and Assaults are running at about 25% of what a city this size should be, if you factor in the murder rate as an indicator for violent crimes its at about 10% of what it should be. The only other crime I found that was disproportionately high in the area is grave robbing."

"GRAVE ROBBING!?!" Clark exclaimed.

"Depending on the year I found that between 1 in 20 and 1 in 3 bodies disappear in town. Don't ask me as far as I can tell there are no medical schools in the area that could be using them, heck there isn't even a dog food factory that might explain it."

"Don't even joke about stuff like that," Clark said reprovingly.

"I wasn't joking," Ding said. "At least not about the med. school part. Patty and I got into a discussion one night and I can't remember how the it came up, but she says that back in the 19th century grave robbing was a big problem because med. schools need human bodies for anatomy classes, it was big business in towns that had medical colleges."

Clark was just about to say something else, when lights cut across the windows of the jet. "Looks like our briefer is finally here," Clark said, putting on his mission face. A few minutes later two people came through the door. The fist was a man with all-American good looks, marred only by a Bloefeild type scar reaching from his left eye down toward the corner of his mouth. He was as tall as Clark but thinner in build, blond hair cut short, and wearing a grey suit. Following him was a woman with long red hair, almost as tall and beautiful. She was also dressed in grey and she had a briefcase handcuffed to her left wrist.

"Just a moment and I will be with you both," the Blond said and stuck his head into the cockpit.

The redhead continued into the cabin area and sat down across from Clark and Chavez. "Hi I'm Samantha Finn; my husband Riley will be with us just as soon as he finishes with the pilots, then we will get started."

Up in the cockpit Riley was saying, "Colonel I have to order you and your crew to remain in the cockpit for the entire trip to California. If we receive any communications just pipe it back, please repeat what I just said."

The pilot looked a little annoyed at being treated like a raw lieutenant but repeated, "My crew and I are to remain in the cockpit for the entire flight, if you receive any communications we are just to pipe it back to you."

"Thanks Colonel, I'm sorry for the cloak and dagger stuff," Riley said.

"That's okay we get it a lot," the Colonel replied.

Riley left the cockpit as the engines started to turn over. Over the intercom the Pilots voice said, "We will be taxiing and taking off momentarily. Please strap in and enjoy the flight."

Riley sat down next to his wife and held out his hand to John and Ding. "I am Riley Finn, this is my wife Samantha. I am sorry for the delay, the briefing we gave President Ryan lasted a little longer than we thought when you were called."

"That's okay Mr. Finn," Clark said. "We put the time to productive use." He pointed at the stack of papers and such in front of Ding.

Riley nodded, "So what do you think of Sunnydale?"

"We are going to contact England and have a second team put on alert for deployment."

Riley and Sam laughed. "Looks like you are beginning to see the real Sunnydale." The plane stopped and prepared for its take off roll. "When we get in the air we will begin the briefing."

Twenty minutes latter the VC-20 had reached its cruising altitude. "Gentlemen before we begin the briefing I have something for you to watch. Please hold any questions till the end of the video."

Sam opened the case and extracted a DVD from its case. Taking a laptop also out of the case she inserted the disk in the player on the side of the machine and turned it on. Once the machine finished its boot process the disk started playing automatically.

When the video started it showed an entranceway made of concrete. Stretching out behind the entrance as far as the eye could see were grassy plains. At the bottom of the display was a date/time stamp showing that it was 05:47 on Oct. 15, 1984. In the center of the display was an irate individual pounding what Ding and Clark assumed was a door just out of sight. The individual looked to be in his early twenties, had blond hair, and was wearing jeans and a work shirt. The video also had sound so they where able to hear him yelling, "Come on Bill open up, its cold out here and the sun will be up soon!" It was also totally obvious that the man was drunk out of his gord. "Come on Bill. I know I was gone awhile, but you can let your old buddy in!" The drunk resumed pounding on the door with renewed vigor, behind him the horizon was lighting perceptibly. "Corporal William Goodwin, you open this door now and invite me in! That bastard got me drunk and tricked me into coming out here and then left!" The man screamed. "Come on Billy its me Tom Price!" Seeming to sense something behind him, the man on camera turned and said, "Well heck," as the sun crested the horizon behind him. Tom Price suddenly burst into flames, he screamed for perhaps ten seconds then collapsed into dust slowly falling out of camera view.

Clark and Ding both stared at the computer screen in shock. Neither had seen any sign of something striking the man. Plus the way he had disintegrated had been like something out of Star Trek. They looked at Riley and his wife for an explanation.

Riley looked at them and said softly, "That gentlemen was a vampire, any questions?"

*****

Chapter 2:

The White House
Washington DC
25 Oct 2002 - 2130 hours

John Patrick Ryan, President of the United States, finished up with the last of the reports he needed to look at and tossed his glasses onto his desk. He then leaned back into his chair and went over the events of the day in his head one more time.

The day had started out normally enough. He was going over some budgets concerns with Ed and Mary Pat Foley, the Director of the CIA and its Deputy Director, Operations, when Tony Bretano, the Secretary of Defense, had called and said he needed to see Jack with the whole senior cabinet and that it should be a quiet meeting. Jack had called everyone in, fortunately Robby Jackson, the Vice President, was in the building and the Foleys where also in. Dan Murray, the Director of the FBI, came in with George Winston, the Secretary of the Treasury, through the underground tunnel that connected his building with the White House. Pat Martin, the Attorney General, was scheduled later in the day so they just moved his appointment up. So when Tony Bretano arrived with Pierre Alexander, the Surgeon General, and an unknown Colonel in tow, they where ready to begin.

"Sorry for the dramatics," Tony said. "But we have a real problem." He then motioned the Colonel forward and introduced him. "This is Colonel Joshua McCloud, he is the current commanding officer of a Special Forces unit called The Initiative."

Everyone in the room frowned because the name did not ring any bells. "I don't remember that one," Robby Jackson the VP said. "I don't think that one came over my desk when I was J-3."

"Uh it did not," said Colonel McCloud. "We where handled strictly in shop by the DIA."

President Ryan looked the Colonel over. He was just over six feet tall, obviously had some Native American blood in his lineage, with straight black hair, and a long aquiline nose. "You did not know of this group Tony?"

"Not before today, I didn't," the SecDef replied. "The unit was run by Brig. General Thomas Billingsly. They were apparently covered as an intelligence group that was supposed to be keeping track of the intentions of the PRC. When they totally blew the call in the last war, I had some people take a good look at their estimates and found out that everything that came out of their shop was just retread from other sources. Some of it was from quite deep, but nothing original. So I fired the good General yesterday and got a team of auditors in there to find out where all the money went."

"And they found?" Ryan asked.

"Colonel McCloud and some really interesting files. I want everyone to look at something then we can pick up the story," Bretano said. So saying he watched as an assistant set up a video in the machine in the office and left. Once the assistant was out of the room Tony started the tape. It showed the same scene that Clark and Ding would watch some hours later. The silence in the room when it stopped playing was profound.

"People don't burn to death that way," Dr. Alexander said. "The amount of heat that would be required to do what we just saw probably could not be generated short of a nuclear blast, I think we would have noticed that."

Colonel McCloud spoke up, "That's because that was not a person, Dr. Alexander, that was a vampire."

"A what?" just about everyone in the room exclaimed. (The Secret Service agent in the corner of the room was the exception. He was watching with interest though.)

"A vampire," the Colonel replied like it was the most reasonable thing in the world to watch a vampire spontaneously combust.

"I am afraid he is serious," Tony said, "and just wait, it gets better."

Ryan set back in his chair and let his advisors hack this one out, as he thought about what the repercussions of this, if true.

"There can't be any such thing as vampires," Alexander said.

"Can't be?" Ryan asked looking at his Surgeon General.

"Alright lets assume for a minute that vampires are real," he began. "One vampire kills a person. That person rises, and becomes a vampire, and proceeds to go and start eating people, I'm sorry, drinking their blood, and so on, and so on. It's a geometric progression. According to legend these things are immortal, so even if they only have to feed a couple of times a year, eventually we would all be vampires, or at least there would be so many of them that they would not be able to hide."

"You are partially right, Sir," Colonel McCloud said. "Vampires are in fact immortal as far as we can tell. The act of making another vampire however, a process they call Siring, is a strictly voluntary act on the part of the vampire. They are the top predators in their food chain, and they don't want to over graze the food supply."

"Us," Dan Murray, the head of the FBI, said quietly, obviously quite disturbed.

"Er yes," replied the Colonel, rather uncomfortable with notion himself.

"What was your unit tasked for Colonel McCloud?" President Ryan asked.

"Sir, we where originally formed to investigate ways of neutralizing these creatures and others like them."

"There're more of them?" George Winton the SecTres asked.

"Well yes Sir, most, if not all, of the classical monsters we have found to actually exist somewhere on the planet. Most are demons of one sort or another. Most are half or quarter breeds, some are more. We found that there are well over a thousand species of 'demons' on the planet; we have not encountered that many, but research bears that number out."

"Where do they hide?" Ed Foley the DCI asked. "I can't believe that they are that good at hiding that no clue of their existence leaked out!"

"With respect Sir, it did; it's called legend and myth," the CO of the Initiative replied. "Today if someone spots a demon or something, they look the other way, they don't want to be labeled a nut. Someone who has dealings with these creatures doesn't usually take out ads about them. Finally, most demons themselves take up a live and let live attitude, so they do not go out of their way to make trouble. We humans outnumber them by a good bit, so a low profile is often called for."

"What about the vampires?" the Director of the FBI could not seem to get off that subject.

"Some are very predatory, all will kill if a target presents themselves however, most enter into an almost symbiotic relationship with humans who agree to become… donors for them."

POTUS was repulsed, "You mean that people willing let themselves be drained by these things?"

"They are hardly drained, Mr. President. A vampire need not kill its victim. If it is an attack, the victim is usually killed, but I think this is as much for the vamps amusement as a need to hush up a witness. When a person voluntarily allows a vamp to feed on them, the vamp in question takes only as much blood as it needs. I am told that it is an interesting experience."

"So is jumping off a bridge till you bounce," replied the President.

"As you say," the Colonel replied.

"Ah Jack I think we are getting a little off topic here," Tony said. "I understand, I went through a lot of this myself, but we got a real problem going on here."

"Hmm?" POTUS looked over at his SecDef.

"Billingsly has gone AWOL, and it looks like he took most of the Initiative with him," Tony said.

"What?" Jack exclaimed. "All right lets take this from the top." Looking at the Colonel, who was looking more uncomfortable by the minute, he said, "Why didn't General Billingsly come forward and explain all this himself?"

Looking like he would like to be anywhere else than where he was, Colonel Joshua McCloud did the only thing he could do, he told the truth. "Well Sir, the General was convinced with how you came to be President that you were the Anti-Christ."

*****

Chapter 3

Sir John Patrick Ryan, President of the United States, KCB, Ph.D., and holder of 2 intelligence stars almost came out of his seat. "What???" he yelled. Everyone else in the room was also making angry noises, this time including the secret service agent.

"Mr. President, please, I was not saying that I thought you were, only that General Billingsly thought so," Colonel Joshua McCloud said. "In the General's defense however, you do have to look at how you became President with a little suspicion."

"What do you mean, Colonel? I never asked for this job. Ask anyone in this room how many times I wished I could just walk away from it. This is a prison, people out there want to hurt my family just to get at me, or have you forgotten the terrorist attack against my youngest daughter right after I became President?" Ryan returned with more than a little heat.

"I understand, Sir, but consider: For the last 12 or so years you have been at exactly the right spot, at exactly the right time, over and over again. You have done stuff that is straight out of the movies. You helped steal a Russian nuclear submarine, and caused the head of the KGB to defect to our country. After that you managed to lay the ground work that has led to peace in the Middle East, and stopped a nuclear war with the Soviet Union.

"Also consider how you became President. Vice President Kealty's proclivities had been an open secret for decades around D.C.. Then just after you were back into the picture as Presidents Durling's National Security Advisor, a close personal friend of yours started a rape investigation on him."

"Hey, I did not instigate that investigation, the victims psychologist came to me, after she found out about it from the victim!" Dan Murray said.

"As you say Sir, but it was not exactly a bolt out of the blue, after all you have had a long professional relationship with her, have you not?" The Colonel replied. "And please Sir, I am just reporting what the General believed, not what I do," He attempted to forestall an argument with the head of the FBI.

"Dan, relax okay? No one here thinks you acted improperly," Jack said to his friend. "Continue," he directed the Colonel.

"Yes Sir. Then the US found itself in a shooting war with Japan where the initiating event was a car wreck. Again you and your friends were in exactly the right place, at the right time, to solve the problem. Finally President Durling offered you the Vice Presidency and no sooner were you sworn in, not only was President Durling dead, but most of the rest of the government was gone and you were suddenly in the position of not only running the government, but of actually being most of it as well. Personally at the time, Sir, I thought the General might just have a point."

Ryan had no response to that. He forced himself to look at his ascension to the presidency from the standpoint of someone that dealt with magic and demons on a daily basis and he could, almost, see Billingsly's point. He remembered the wall of fire that had come at him and his family in the tunnel under the Capitol, and how it had suddenly stopped and withdrawn. Maybe the General might not have been so wrong after all.

"Bunk!" snorted Robby Jackson, the VP, and the son of a Baptist minister. "Your good General missed something, didn't he? For Jack to be the Anti-Christ the Rapture would have had to happen, right?"

"The General thought that nuclear attack on Denver qualified as that event."

"Huh?" POTUS exclaimed. He knew some of the people who had been killed in Denver, and if they counted as the faithful then he had been going at his whole life the wrong way for awhile.

"General Billingsly believed that with the number of times that the Bible has been translated that it was not the most accurate source for prophecy. We have been trying to get a hold of The Pergramum Codex, but so far no luck. And before you ask, The Codex is the only known book of prophecy that has never been wrong. Makes Nostradamos look like Miss Cleo."

"Better not let my Pappy hear you say that about the bible," The VP growled.

"Or anyone else," said Arnie Van Damm. "Jack I didn't know about any of this."

"He didn't, Sir," Colonel McCloud agreed. "He was kept completely out of the loop."

"Why?" POTUS asked.

"Because when Elisabeth Elliott helped put the Initiative together it was felt that there should be several high-ranking members of the administration that could be used for plausible deniability. Mr. Van Damm was at the top of the list as he is someone the press contacts to both confirm stories and to see what the administrations position is on stories. It was felt that if he did not know of the Initiative and what they were fighting, he would be that much more believable."

"Liz Elliot was the founder of this Initiative?" Ryan asked.

"She was the contact in the Fowler administration, but the President okayed everything that was done. General Billingsly was her liaison with the Pentagon during her stint as National Security Advisor. This may have something to do with his antipathy toward you."

"Okay do we have any idea what he might be up to?" Ryan asked.

"We found some files in his office," the SecDef said. "There was one op that we found that was an outline only, and a broad one at that. It was called Operation Gotterdammerung."

"That's the Germanic version of Ragnarok, isn't it?" Van Damm asked.

"Yes, Arnie, it is," Tony said. "He took everything else on this op with him. He must of smelled what was coming after China and got it out."

"So you think he is going to try to end the world?" Mary Pat Foley asked. "If you can't save the world blow it up? What's he going to do, steal a nuke?"

"No, MP," Tony answered. "He is going to try to open the Gates of Hell."

*****

Chapter 4

"Oh Lord, please be speaking metaphorically," George Winston prayed.

"'Fraid not, George," Tony said grimly. "It's a real place, and from what Colonel McCloud has told me, and from the little bit I have read, it may be possible for him to do it. If he succeeds the results would be apocalyptic."

"Where is it?" Ryan asked. "Can we get people in there to defend it?"

"It's in California, Mr. President, a small town called Sunnydale," said the Colonel. "As far as being able to defend it, one of the Initiative teams apparently did not run. The CO of the team, a Riley Finn, was with the Initiative when they were deployed in Sunnydale from 1999 to 2000."

When he mentioned Sunnydale both Pierre Alexander and Dan Murray's faces lost a little focus as if they were trying to remember where they had heard that name before.

"Why didn't the General take this team along with the other teams?" Ryan wanted to know, and then realizing that he did not even know how big one of these teams were, so he asked, "Speaking of which how many people are we up against?"

"There are…or rather were, three Initiative teams operational. General Billingsly took Teams One and Two with him when he bolted. Both of those teams where made up by him of hand picked people that were completely loyal to the General. Team Three was put together by Riley Finn when he rejoined the Initiative in 2001 and was made up of people who survived Sunnydale. Each team is made up of ten people drawn from the various Special Forces Commands."

"When you say survived Sunnydale, I take it that the initial experiment did not end well?" Robby Jackson queried. "How bad was it?"

"We took 100% casualties of field personal. 60% were fatal," the Colonel said quietly to the shocked listeners. He went on, "Any questions about what went on in Sunnydale should wait until the Finns show up, they are on their way in right now and should be here soon."

"Okay we will give them a couple of minutes, then if they are not here, you can give us an overview of what went on," Ryan agreed. "What happened after Sunnydale?"

"The Initiative was shattered. Dr. Margaret Walsh who was the initiator of a lot of the control technology that was used, was killed earlier, and most of the technicians and other scientist that she had trained were killed in the last battle. So there was no one to really carry on the research. The Oversight Committee decided and President Durling agreed that the research end of the organization should not be rebuilt and that instead the Initiative should be rebuilt into a group of search and destroys units. He believed that at a later time when things had quieted down and certain researchers became available, it would be possible to restart the science end and find a non-lethal way of dealing with these creatures, but until then we needed to protect people from them."

"So you just kill them?" Pat Martin, the Attorney General, asked.

"Yes Sir." Seeing the look of shock and disgust on the Attorney Generals face he went on, "Please understand Sir, what we are fighting are not things that can be reasoned with. We were dealing, in many cases, with what amounts to a rouge bear or a mountain lion."

"Margaret Walsh, would that be Maggie Walsh?" Dr. Alexander asked.

"Yes Sir, did you know her?" Colonel McCloud said.

"Yes her death in that auto acciden…" The Surgeon General began, "I guess she didn't die in a car crash did she?"

"No, she was killed by something that she was working on," Colonel McCloud said. "Again, Agent Finn was present when she was killed, so he would probably be the best person to answer specific questions. As for what she was working on, just before her break down Sue Elliot had authorized Dr. Walsh to begin an experimental program to see if she could make a 'Super Soldier' utilizing parts from demons, technology, and human remains. She apparently succeeded, but when it woke up the first thing Adam did was kill Dr. Walsh."

Robby Jackson looked disgusted and said, "Adam huh? Kind of egotistical you think."

"That would described Maggie Walsh just about to a tee," Dr Alexander said, shaking his head. "I never liked her much, but I can forgive a lot if the person knows what they are doing." Looking at the VP the Surgeon General said, "Maggie Walsh was one of the best behavior modification people out there. She had to be, since she didn't have much by way of people skills."

"You mean if you can't do, teach?" Mary Pat asked.

"Actually her cover at the UC Sunnydale was as a psychology professor," Colonel McCloud said. "We chose UCS because it was possible to cover a large group of young/fit men as grad students and teaching assistants. Plus the campus itself gave us access to computers and labs."

"Why was Sunnydale chosen?" Ryan asked. "Did you know about the Hellmouth going in?"

"No Sir. Sunnydale was chosen because its death rate was too high to be statistically improbable. It was concluded that it would be an area rich in HSTs'," The Colonel explained.

"HSTs'?" The President wondered.

"I am sorry Sir, Hostile Sub-Terrestrials. Its what we called the various demonoids."

"One thing I don't understand," Pat Marten wondered. "What does the General hope to accomplish by opening this Hellmouth? Wouldn't that end the world?"

"I think I know the answer to that one," Robby Jackson said quietly.

"Go on Robby," POTUS directed.

"Hollywood mostly gets it wrong. They portray the Anti-Christ as this horrible monster out to destroy the world. That isn't what his job will be. The Anti-Christ first and foremost is a seducer. He will try to get as many people to follow him to damnation as possible. I think that General Billingsly has decided that the war is lost so he is going to limit the devils victory."

"Looking at Gotterdammerung's outline, I think you may be right in that assessment, Mr. Vice President," Colonel McCloud agreed.

Pat Marten was quiet, everyone was, as he or she all just sat back and absorbed what they had just learned. "Okay," President Ryan said into the quiet. "Ed, John, and Ding are in town, right?"

"Yes, they are attending the Anti-Terror Round Table they are having over at Fort Meade," the DCI replied.

"Okay, get in contact with them and have them stand by for a deployment. I know we have to go through NATO to get Rainbow, but I want them ready to go."

"Do you want them to report here?" Foley asked.

"No, have them report to Andrew's and wait there. When we finish the briefing we will send the Finns to them, and then send them on their way."

"Tony, I'm sorry, I know we have some good people in the Special Operations Command, but Billingsly has been recruiting from that pool, we don't know if he has left any moles behind, and this is too important to take the risk," Ryan apologized to SecDef.

"I understand Mr. President. Personally I was going to suggest that we either use Rainbow, or, if they weren't available, then the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team," Tony Bretano said to his CIC.

"Thanks Tony. We are going to need Scott Adler to make the request for a Rainbow activation, bad week for him to be in Mexico. I want to keep this information at the top level only, so Tony could you Tap-dance a message down to Scott and have him send the request to The Hague for Rainbow? I think one team should work, but leave the option open for the second one as well. Tell Scott that we will send the information to the NATO Security Council by courier but we need the teams immediately," the President said. "Do you have someone that we can use as a courier for this info?"

"Yeah, Joe Spano, he is bringing in the Finns right now," the SecDef replied.

"Okay, brief him in, then set him up with a briefing packet and send him to The Hague," the President ordered.

"Sure Jack," the SecDef said, as he got up and left the office.

Jack Ryan turned and said to the Secret Service Agent in the Office, "Ben, could you ask Andrea Price to join us in this meeting?"

"At once Sir," the agent replied, and then passed on the request to the command center across the street.

Ryan then pressed the intercom on his desk and said, 'Ellen could you ask Dr. Goodly to come down to my office please."

"Yes Sir," the secretary replied.

As they were waiting for the rest of attendees to arrive, President Ryan said to Colonel McCloud, while he nodded at the TV set. "Who was he?"

"The Vampire?"

"Yes."

"He was Airman Second Class Thomas Price. He disappeared during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was a perimeter guard at an Atlas missile silo near where he eventually perished. At the time and given his discipline record it was thought that he had deserted. It is still possible that he did and was turned at a later time."

"Cuba Crisis? That video was from..."

"Yes, sir. Becoming a Vampire does not enhance the brain any. If anything they become less intelligent. And alcohol still affects them normally."

"Does he have any surviving family?" Ryan wondered.

"Some distance cousins only, Sir," the Colonel responded. "His immediate family was killed in a house fire about 2 months after he went AWOL. It is just about standard operating procedure for a vampire to kill his family and friends."

"How can they kill their own families?" George Winston asked.

"When some one is turned, it is no longer the original person. From what we have learned, the Siring process prepares the body to be inhabited by a demon, this demon has the person's memories, and usually some of their personality, but it is not them. Families and friends make easy marks, it's easy for them to get an invite in," Colonel McCloud explained.

"Invite?" Dan Murray asked.

"Yes. One thing that Hollywood and Bram Stroker got right is that vampires may not enter a house unless invited. This is one of the reasons that we think they go after their loved ones. If you think about it, it makes sense, if your son or daughter, husband or wife, or even a good friend showed up at your door, would you think twice about asking them in?"

Everyone in the room shuddered when they thought about the number of times that they had done just that.

The Secret Service Agent broke the silence when he announced, "The Finns have just arrived at the back gate."

*****

Chapter 5

1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington DC
25 Oct 2002 - 1630 Hours

Bob Holtzman was an investigative reporter/columnist for the Washington Post. He was walking around the fence that surrounded the White House as he made his way to the back gate. He had received a call from one of his sources inside the White House that the President was meeting with most of his Senior Cabinet, and that the meeting had been called for by one of the cabinet.

He had hurried down to see if he might be able to catch any latecomers. Up ahead he saw a car pull in the back gate of the White House, he stopped and watched as it drove up to a back door and three people got out. One he recognized as Joe Spano, Tony Bretano's right hand man. The other two he didn't, both were tall, one a blond haired man, the other a red haired female. He raised his camera and got about ten or fifteen frames off before they disappeared inside. He took a couple more pictures after they had entered the building in case anyone was watching.

Bob stood there and thought. If the SecDef was bringing in the briefers for this meeting then they probably were military, too. So he turned and started heading down the street, he would hit the Library of Congress and check out the Service Academy yearbooks and see if he could find the two-mystery guests in them. In the back of his mind he was fairly certain he had seen the redhead before, he just could not put his finger on it. If the Library were a bust, he would try the face recognition technology they had just installed at the Post and see if it could find anything. If not then he had other sources he could draw on.

*****

Inside the Oval Office
Washington DC
25 Oct 2002 - 1635 Hours

Ben and Andrea arrived about two minutes before the Finns and were given the briefest of explanations, they were watching the Price Video as Riley and Samantha Finn were escorted into the room.

The President invited them to take a seat and introduced them to the people present, ending with, "This is Dr. Ben Goodly my National Security Advisor, and Andrea Price-O'Day, head of my Secret Service detail."

"Glad to meet you, Mr. President, Gentlemen and Ladies," Riley Finn answered. "I am Riley Finn, this is my wife Samantha." The Finns then sat down facing the President.

Looking at the President for permission, which he received, Colonel McCloud began, "Agent Finn, General Billingsly has deserted with Teams One and Two. Secretary of Defense Bretano relieved him after the recent war with China. Pending a review by competent authority, he has been relived of command and I have assumed command of the Initiative. I am here by placing Team Three on alert status." Colonel McCloud breathed a mental sigh of relief when no one contradicted his assumption of command.

"Sir our team is on a full stand down. It will take a three to five days to get the alert to everyone," Riley said.

"Sir, with your permission I will start making the calls to the people we can reach," Sam said starting to get up.

"Sit," Ryan ordered. "I want you here for the briefing. You can start calling people when it's done."

Both Riley and Sam nodded and Sam sat back into her chair. "Do you have any idea's where he has gone?" Riley wanted to know.

"Where he is now, no. But we believe that he is heading for Sunnydale," the Colonel answered.

"He's going to go after the Hellmouth?" Sam asked.

"We believe that is what he is after," McCloud replied. "You should also know that the President was not briefed in on our activities until today."

"What?" Riley exclaimed.

"Article 12," Sam said. Seeing the look of confusion in her husband's face she went on, "'If an administration is changed in a suspicious manner then it is the responsibility of the officer in charge of the Initiative to decide who should or should not be informed of the Initiative's existence or operations.' With how Mr. Ryan became President you can almost see his point. Sorry, Sir," she said apologizing to Ryan who waved it off.

"I know what Article 12 states Sam. General Billingsly told me six months ago that he had informed the President and Congress of our activities. I threatened to quit if he did not. He told me we had."

"Did you verify that Mr. Finn?" Mary Pat Foley asked.

"No, I trusted my superior officer to tell me the truth," Finn said quietly.

"The General never mentioned that conversation to me," Colonel McCloud said. "However he did order a security check done on the Finns at about that time. He said it was to check on Samantha's security clearance. They both passed with flying colors, in fact she scored higher than you did."

"Not surprising since she has never gone UA," Riley joked. Then turning serious, "What would you like to know Sir?"

"Colonel McCloud has said that we should hold our Sunnydale questions for you, Mr. Finn, as you where actually there," Ryan began. "To start with I was wondering what assets we have guarding this Hellmouth."

"We do not have anything guarding it currently," Riley replied, seemingly unconcerned.

"What?!" Dan Murray almost shouted. "There is a gateway to hell and it's left unguarded?"

"I never said it was unguarded, Mr. Murray," Riley said. "I just said that we didn't."

"Then who is guarding it?" POTUS wanted to know.

"A Vampire Slayer," Riley replied.

"Is that a title or a job description?" Ed Foley wondered.

"Both," Riley responded. Then seeing his answer did not go over well he went on, "A Vampire Slayer is a chosen warrior for the side of good. Lets see how did it go?" He paused trying to remember what Giles had told him once, " 'One Girl in all the world with the strength and speed to hunt the vampire, to stop the spread of evil.' Or something like that."

"So there is only one of these Slayers?" Ryan wanted to know. "And is she defending this place by her self?"

"Right now there are two," Riley said.

Ryan dropped the pencil he had been toying with as soon as he heard that there were two Slayers and looked Riley straight in the eye, "Mr. Finn, I am an easy man to work for, but one thing I hate, I mean really hate, is having to play twenty questions with a briefer!" Ryan growled.

"I'm sorry Sir, I'll try to be more concise," Riley apologized then going on, "She also is not alone in her defense of the Hellmouth. She has a group of people, her friends and associates, who assist her in its defense. They are a diverse and effective group. As far as there being two Slayers currently; originally there was only one Slayer. The Slayer in Sunnydale died briefly in her sophomore year. She was almost immediately revived by an associate, but it was still long enough to activate the next Slayer."

"Where is this other Slayer right now, do you know?" asked the president.

"She was killed the year after she was called. Slayers do not have a great life expectancy, another was called when that one died, but the new one went rouge and is serving time in a California prison."

"For?" Mary Pat prompted.

"Multiple murders that she committed while working for the Mayor of Sunnydale," Riley said.

"The Mayor of Sunnydale had a professional assassin working for him?" Dan Murray asked.

"Yes, he was a sorcerer and had been around since before the turn of the century. He incorporated Sunnydale to provide a feeding ground for him when he turned himself into a demon," Riley explained. "We did not know who or what he was when we first set up shop. We had been ordered by the oversight committee to stay out of Sunnydale proper; that is to limit our activities to the UCS campus and its area. One of the senior committee members had Sunnydale in his district. He was killed by Sato in the crash."

"I take it he did not succeed in his attempts to become a demon," Ryan commented.

"Yes, Sir, he did," Riley answered. "But the Slayer and her graduating class mates stopped him. He managed to transform himself, but Buffy got him to chase her back into the school that they had rigged to explode. He was destroyed in the blast."

"Is this Buffy the Slayer?" Ryan asked. Then went on, "You said she was killed in her sophomore year. Did you mean college or high school?"

"Buffy Summers is the Slayer's name, and she died in High School," Riley replied.

"My God, she was what, sixteen or seventeen at the time?" Ryan asked aghast. "How long has she been doing this?"

"She was called when she was fifteen, Sir. She is 23 now."

"How was she called?" Robby wanted to know. "And how did they know when she died to call the others?"

"I don't know, Mr. Vice President. I asked when I was with Buffy. She did not know how a Slayer is chosen. If Giles did he did not say."

"Giles?" Ryan asked.

"Rupert Giles was Buffy's Watcher. A Watcher is a mentor to the Slayer, also the representative of the Watcher Council; they are based in England right now. By the time I knew her, Buffy had quit the Council over several incidents."

"So why was this Giles still around?" asked Andrea Price.

"Buffy and Giles have a very close relationship, almost father/daughter. One of the bones of contention between the Slayer and the Council was an incident when Buffy turned eighteen. She never went into details, but the result was that the Council fired Giles. I never met the replacement but it's my understanding that he performed less than brilliantly. Buffy blames him chiefly for Faith, the other Slayer, going rouge. Or at least for the situation getting out of hand."

"Did you ever meet any of the Council, or do you know how to contact them?" Ryan asked.

"No," Riley replied.

"What is Buffy's family situation if this guy is the father figure in her life?" Arnie Van Damm asked.

"Buffy's parents are divorced, the mother is dead, and the father is living in Europe somewhere. They have not had contact in several years. She has a younger sister still in school," Riley told the Chief of Staff.

"Let me understand this," Ryan said. "She's raising a sister and in her spare time saving the world?"

"Yes, Sir."

"What does she do for a job?" Ryan wanted to know.

"When I saw her last year she was working at a fast food place."

"WHAT!!!!!!!" Ryan exploded.

"She has bills to pay, Sir." Riley explained. "With the Council cutting her off when she quit, she has to make ends meet somehow."

Ryan was clearly not happy with this state of affairs, but there were other things to be settled first. "Will the Slayer in Sunnydale help us with this problem?" Ryan asked.

Riley looked a little uncomfortable, but as he was about to answer, Sam spoke up, "I think it will be more likely that we will be helping her, Sir."

"I don't understand, are you saying that she is that capable?"

Riley looked over at Colonel McCloud and spying the brief case that the colonel had brought with him. He asked, "Did you bring a copy of training tape '018 with you, Sir?"

"Yes I did," the Colonel said as he reached for his briefcase.

"This is a video of the Slayer in a training exercise against two of the Initiative's capture teams," Riley explained. "We were in Sunnydale for almost a year before we became aware of her. We were operating mostly outside of the town itself around the UCS campus; she on the other hand had been concentrating on patrolling in the town itself, so we did not cross paths. When she started her freshman year, she moved onto campus, and we began interacting while on patrol. We did not even realize what she was, or even that the Slayer was real and not just a bogeyman invented by the HST's to scare their children, until we literally tripped over each other during a mission. She volunteered to join the Initiative and help out. Dr. Walsh wanted some kind of a benchmark of what she was capable of, so she set up this test. She was given a five-minute head start, then two of our best capture teams would attempt to capture her. Team One was made up of three soldiers that had finished in the top fifteen percent of their Ranger training, and were lead by a class mate of mine in Army Special Forces Officers School. Team Two had two SEALs, an Army Special Forces trooper, and was lead by an ex-platoon leader of Marine Recon Team Three."

Riley Finn started the video player. He had been there when this was made, so instead of watching the tape, he watched the reaction of the people in the room to the video. He started with the President, he was watching the tape with interest, Riley could tell exactly when the squad found Buffy, his eyes widened with surprise, and he leaned forward to get a better look at the screen. Next to him the VP grunted with surprise, ah the bodies must be flying now. Now! Enter Buffy swinging. Cries of shock and amazement as the small figure in a puffy jacket and bluestocking cape exploded into view and started throwing larger soldiers around like straw dummies. The fight was over quickly, lasting only several seconds. When it was over, everyone in the room let out a breath that they seem not to know that they had been holding.

"That was amazing," Andrea Price, Head of the President of the United States' protective detail, breathed.

"Yeah," Mary Pat Foley, Deputy Director, Operations, of the Central Intelligence Agency agreed. Both women looked at each other and silently agreed; to the victor go the spoils.

"Can we see that again?" Pierre Alexander wondered. "I can't quite accept what I just saw. It does not seem possible that a women that small could throw men around like that."

Receiving permission from the President, Riley rewound the tape to the start of the fight and let it play through again. When it was over Dr. Alexander turned to the Finns and said, "When she was with the Initiative was any test performed to determine what gave her that kind of strength?"

"No. Buffy was with The Initiative for only a brief time, the test you just saw was the only one that was able to be performed."

"Why did she quit?" Ben Goodly wondered.

"Dr. Walsh tried to have her killed," Riley replied matter of factly. Seeing that the group wanted to know more, he continued, "She tried to set Buffy up. She told her that she wanted her to check out a low power demon contact. In reality she sent her after a pair of very high power demons. Picture grizzly bears with toothaches that are bipedal and carry battleaxes. The weapon she had been given was faulty so once she was locked in with the demons Dr. Walsh assumed her problems were solved. She based her assumption on what she saw in the tape. She did not realize that Buffy had taken it easy on the troops because she did not want to hurt anyone. So it was more of a case of the demons being locked in with Buffy, than she being locked in with them. She killed them both."

"She was holding back when she took out those two teams?!" Andrea gasped.

"She killed a couple of grizzlies hand to hand?!" MP choked out.

"I fought that particular species, I think that the bears would be an easier kill," Riley returned. Then turning to Andrea Price-O'Day. "She was at about 2/3 speed, Ms. Price"

Both Mary Pat and Andrea looked at each other again and scowled.

"Why did Dr. Walsh decide to have Ms. Summers killed?" Dan Murray wanted to know.

"We had encountered a wizard by the name of Ethan Rayne. He had informed Giles of something he called three-one-four that had the demon community stirred up. It turned out that Adam…" He paused, but when he saw that they seemed to know what Adam was, he continued. "…. Was being put together in Room three fourteen at our complex. Dr. Walsh concluded that when Buffy started asking about three-four-one that she knew something about what she and Dr. Angleman were working on. She concluded that Buffy was a threat to Adam and so had to be removed."

"Nice person," Robby Jackson snorted. "Must have went to the Darth Vader school of Personnel Management."

"That doesn't sound like the person I knew," Pierre Alexander quietly said. "She lacked people skills, sure, but if you had asked me, I would have said it would be impossible for her to set up someone to be killed."

"I did not think it was possible either," Riley responded. "I trusted and respected her. In return she experimented on us with drugs and hormones, she also implanted a control chip in my shoulder. Buffy had tried to tell me that something was not kosher in the Initiative, but I would not listen until it was almost too late."

Pierre Alexander digested what Riley had told him. You could tell when it sunk in about Dr. Walsh experimenting on humans, as a deep scowl formed on his face.

Ryan, not wanting the discussion to be sidetracked by a medical ethics debate, asked Riley, "Have you ever seen the Hellmouth, Agent Finn?"

"Yes, Sir. I camped on top of it for two weeks when I went UA from the Initiative," Riley replied. "It doesn't look like much, just a crack in the floor."

"You went UA?" Mary Pat asked.

"Yes Ma'am, I found out that Buffy was right about what the Initiative was up to. I originally agreed to stay inside to keep an eye on things. Unfortunately one of Buffy's acquaintances, who was a werewolf, was captured, and it was decided that they were going to vivisect him."

"Wait a minute!" Pierre Alexander shouted. "I have to accept that people don't raise automatically by being bit by a vampire. But werewolves are something else. Any one bit by a werewolf becomes one, right?"

"They do, the werewolf in question, it is my understanding, was bit by his infant cousin while baby sitting."

"That makes my point. Any one bit by one of these things becomes one. Geometric progression," he said as pushed his point home.

"One problem Dr. Alexander," Sam said almost gently.

"And that is?" the Surgeon General demanded.

"How many people do you think survive a werewolf attack?"

The Surgeon General pondered that for a second and, "Point to you, Ma'am," the SG said sheepishly.

"Most werewolves lock themselves up during the full moon. There are those of course who embrace the wolf and become dangerous. The were in question had actually found a way to keep the wolf at bay, unless he experienced extreme emotions," Sam explained.

"How did you know he was a werewolf then?" Dan Murray asked.

"He found out his ex-girlfriend had a girlfriend," Riley said. "That generated some strong emotions. He changed into his were form in the middle of the day in a hallway of UCS. He was captured almost immediately. Once I found out what was going to happen, I made the decision to break him out, and then stay low. Unfortunately the CO of the base didn't trust me and had me under surveillance. Buffy ended up having to break both of us out. After that, I basically hid. Adam was able to use the chip that had been implanted in me, to summon me to him. I was able to remove it and help in the fight to get people out of the complex. I was then given the option to receive a honorable discharge in return for my silence on what happened there."

"Why did you rejoin the Initiative?" Ed Foley asked.

"I was in a relationship with Buffy. Unfortunately as much as I loved her, she did not reciprocate. I have to admit that the fact I could not compete with her on a physical level had a little something to do with it, too. In the end I was offered a chance to rejoin, I gave Buffy a chance to try to make a go of it, she did not take it," Riley explained quietly. "I met Sam down in Mexico when we were helping the Mexican Army with a Suvolte demon problem. Her Peace Corps group had been attacked, and Sam was the only survivor."

"What's a Suvolte demon?" Tony Bretano questioned.

"Have you ever seen the Saturday Night Live sketch with the Land Shark?" Sam answered.

"Sure."

"Okay cross a land shark with a Tribble, and subtract about 100 points of IQ. That's a Suvolte Demon," Sam explained.

"They reproduce that fast?" Ben Bascome, the Secret Service agent, exclaimed! Then looked sheepish as everyone in the room turned to look at him. "Sorry, Sir," he said sheepishly.

"No, no, Ben. I think that is a wonderful question. If I remember what a Tribble is from Star Trek," Ryan laughed. Then turning serious, "If you ever have something to add to this kind of briefing Agent Bascome, please feel free. You would not be in this office if you were stupid, and sometimes, the experts miss things."

"To answer the question, Sir," Riley began. "No they do not breed quite that fast. However, like Tribbles they are born pregnant and lay 12 eggs, so the rate that their population can explode is staggering. In this case, a local drug lord had obtained a Suvolte egg on the black market, and decided to plant it in a competitors area of operations. The egg hatched and then bred."

"What happened?" Arnie Van Damm wanted to know.

"They ate the competition, and a couple of local villages, then moved in, and ate his operation, too. We had been loaned to the Mexican Government and managed to kill off the infestation. We followed and killed the last of them in Sunnydale last year," Riley finished.

"Okay, thanks for the quick overview, Mr. Finn," Ryan began. "I am planning on sending you and your wife out to Sunnydale. I want you to reassemble your team and set up a guard on the Hellmouth. To assist you I am sending a top anti-terror team called Rainbow. They normally operate in Europe, but have operated elsewhere."

"The Men of Black. I think I could work with them," Riley smiled.

"You've heard of them?" Mary Pat Foley wanted to know.

"Yes, we keep an eye on all special forces/black ops teams for potential recruits," Riley answered. "They would be acceptable till I can get my team together."

"I have The CO of Rainbow and one of the team leaders standing by at Andrew's. When we are finished, you and Sam will join them there, and brief them on the way to Sunnydale," Ryan ordered.

"Yes, Sir," Riley responded. "They will probably need to be equipped. We have some night vision and anti-HST equipment with us, which are stakes, crosses, and holy water. They could probably use some shoulder arms."

"We can raid the HRT armory for basic equipment if we need to. I think the HRT's load out is about the same as Rainbow," Dan Murray offered.

"Thanks Dan," Ryan said. "Have a basic load sent along to Andrews for John and Ding."

Dan went to the back of the room and used his cell phone to put a call into the duty desk at Quantico.

"I thought that bullets didn't hurt vampires and such," Andrea Price wanted to know.

"They don't kill vampires, but knee-capping one will slow it down a lot," Sam replied.

Andrea made a mental note of that piece of trivia.

"All right Agent Finn, thank you for the overview. Now I want you to start when you were first approached by the Initiative and stop when you left for the White House today, and I would like you to make it as detailed as possible," Ryan ordered.

Riley Finn started talking, it took a while.

*****

Chapter 6

The White House
Washington D.C.
25 Oct 2002 - 2140 Hours

John Ryan came forward in his chair and tossed his reading glasses onto his desk. Glancing over at Ben Bascome, the Secret Service agent standing post in the office, "Ben, I think I am going to call it a night," he told him.

Speaking into his radio, "Swordsman moving to the Residential Wing," Bascome said.

Getting up and moving around his desk Ryan asked the agent, "What do you think of what was discussed today?"

Ben was uncomfortable with his principle asking him his opinion. Andrea had warned him that this might happen, but it was one thing to have someone tell you the President might ask your opinion about something, it was something else when it happened. He considered his answer carefully, finally he said, "Scary Sir, and not just the demons and stuff. I have a 3 year old daughter, what if she gets chosen to be this Slayer thing?"

Ryan, who had two daughters of his own, understood the agents concern perfectly. Ben went on, "You heard Agent Finn, most of them don't make twenty. Kendra lasted what six or eight months? What kind of a life is that?"

Ryan had been troubled to his core when Riley had finally explained exactly what a Slayer was, the kind of life they led, and the usually violent and bloody end they suffered. The fact that there was this long unbroken line of warriors, stretching back to before there was even language, who had fought, suffered, and died in secrecy, protecting a world that not only did not know of them, but largely that they were even fighting. Ryan considered the current Slayer, a young women who according to Riley had already saved the world 4 times by the time he knew her, and saved it twice more while he was with her, and probably had saved it a time or two since, if Riley was to be believed. She had saved countless millions of people without asking for anything in return. What was her reward for this selflessness? A short life, a bloody death, and no one would even know what she had done for them. "Not this time," he promised himself.

"So are you planning on picking up some garlic on the way home?" Ryan asked to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, I know of an all night grocery store that sells strings. They're going to think that I am making a couple of hundred pizzas' with what I'm planning on buying."

Ryan smiled. "Hold it a minute Ben, I want to leave a note for Ellen," Ryan said to the agent, as they were passing Ellen's desk in the outer office. Ryan leaned over and wrote.

''Ellen,
Could you please set up an appointment for the Secretary of the Interior and the Head of the INS for as early on Monday as can be arranged?
Jack'

They had just reached the main hallway leading to the stairs going up to the Residential Wing of the White House when they saw Andrea Price coming their way, holding a folder in her hand. "I'll tuck The Boss in Ben, you can take off." Then more formally, "You are relieved."

"I stand relieved," Ben responded. "Thanks Andrea, Mr. President, good night."

"Good night Ben, thank you. Have a safe trip home." Then turning to the head of his protective detail, "Shouldn't you be home with your kids, too? Pat's out of town, isn't he?" Pat O'Day was a Roving Inspector with the FBI. One of Dan Murray's chief troubleshooters, he had joined the Ryan family the day he had saved his then youngest child, Katie, from a group of terrorist who had taken over her day care center in a failed attempt to kidnap her. O'Day, who had been inside picking up his own daughter at the time, had managed to get the drop on them. Andrea and Pat had come in contact with each other while Pat was briefing the President on the investigation into the crash that had elevated him to office and things had sort of grown. She had given birth to a son recently and had just started back to work.

"Yes, Sir. He is in San Francisco. There is a serial killer out there, and the local SAC is screaming for all the help he can get."

"Andrea, I'm off duty. It's Jack," Ryan chided her. "Dan hasn't sent anything over on that yet, what's the situation?"

"The perp so far has killed two victims. What makes this one so nasty is that he kidnaps his next victim as soon as he drops off his last. He takes his time with them, too. With his first two victims he kept them alive for about a week. He's been holding his third victim now for almost three days. So the local authorities are grabbing everyone they can beg, borrow, or steal, trying to find her."

"If I forget, remind me to call Dan tomorrow, and see what else we can shake loose to help," Ryan ordered her. Then thinking about it he made a mental note to have Ed Foley call Sir Basil, the head of Britain's Intelligence Services, to find out what he knew about the Watcher Council.

"Yes…Jack," she replied.

"Do the victims have any similarities?" Jack wanted to know.

"So far one was a fortune teller, one ran a new age store, and the current one is a high priestess of a store front church. Given what we learned today it might be smart to brief Pat so that he may be looking for something weirder than your normal serial killer."

"Not a bad idea," Ryan agreed. "Why are you still here? You must have a really understanding sitter."

"Very understanding, Jack," Andrea smiled. "It's Megan's Grandparents on her mother's side. Thankfully they have adopted Don as their own, and they don't mind if I have to work late," she told her President.

The two began climbing the stairs that led to the residential floor of the White House. Andrea began explaining what kept her here so late, "I was thinking about what we discussed in the Oval Office today, Sir. I'm thinking that we're going to need some new security protocols. I am hoping to get out to Sunnydale sometime next week, and talk to some of the people out there."

"I would make plans to head out there sooner, if I were you. If you want to recruit anyone, anyway," Ryan told her. "I've seen that expression on MP's face before, usually when she has spotted a promising recruit."

"I wish her luck with Buffy, Jack," Andrea said deadpan.

"You wouldn't want to have a Slayer in the detail?" Ryan questioned, clearly surprised.

"Didn't say that, Sir. But I was thinking, that even if Buffy was interested in joining up, I believe that she would probably have to stay around the Hellmouth and protect that. Even if that wasn't a problem, she would probably end up being called away to deal with paranormal problems."

"I see what you mean. Someone nice to have around, if she was around," Ryan responded.

"I haven't given up on Slayers though Jack," she said, handing over the folder.

Glancing at the name on the other folder Jack looked up in surprise. "The other Slayer?" he asked incredulously. "Andrea she is a confessed murderess!"

"Yes, Sir," stepping back into the persona of the head of his Protective Detail. "And she is still in prison."

"Shouldn't she be? She killed three to five people Andrea."

"Jack, if she is half as capable as Riley suggested Slayers are, then she is in there because she wants to be. That suggests two possibilities. One: That she is hiding from something or someone, and is using the California Penal System to provide security. That's unlikely as she surrendered herself under her own name, and has made no attempt to hide her presence. Prison being what it is, anyone that wanted to could probably arrange an accident."

"That's more of a Hollywood cliché than a real threat Andrea," Ryan said reprovingly.

"Normally I would agree, Mr. President, but given the circles she traveled in, there may well be any number of people who might want her dead. Riley said that the Council of Watchers was interested in her, they at least would have a reason to kill her, if only to generate another Slayer that they would be able to control."

Ryan clearly unconvinced said, "Okay, I'll grant you that one for arguments sake right now. What's the other option?"

"That she is offering up an act of contrition," Andrea said in all seriousness. "If that is the case then I think we can provide her with a more useful form of redemption."

"There is a third possibility," Ryan countered.

"That is Sir?" Andrea questioned.

"That she doesn't trust herself outside of prison. If that's the case then I don't think I want her on my detail," Ryan told Andrea.

"I agree, Sir, which is why I want to send a psychologist out to talk with her. I was planning, if I got a positive report, to then go out and talk to her myself," Andrea explained.

"Do you have anyone in mind for the initial contact?" Ryan wanted to know.

"I was thinking of using the one that Dan Murray uses," Andrea said.

"You mean the woman who is responsible for me being here?" Ryan joked.

"Yes Jack, her," Andrea smiled. "I thought she might have used up her quota of coincidence for the century."

"Alright, I approve of her going out and talking to Faith, but no promises are to be made to the woman, in fact it would probably be better not to mention who she is representing in the first meetings. I want to read Dr. Golden's report when she puts it out. If she gives a positive report then you can go out and talk to her. If you think that there is anything there that we can use, we will look into what we can do to help each other," Ryan instructed Andrea.

Stopping at the top of the stairs, Ryan turned to Andrea and asked, "So if you aren't looking to recruit a Slayer then why do you want to go to Sunnydale?" Ryan was actually curious.

"I am hoping to recruit Tara Maclay. She is apparently estranged from the 'Scoobies right now, so I would not be disrupting group dynamics, if she accepted. If she is not interested in signing on permanently, then I am hoping that she will at least come and look the White House over to see what might have to be done to make it more secure from magic. God I can't believe that I just said that," Andrea said rubbing her eyes. "Anyway if nothing else, I thought that I could talk to Willow Rosenberg. Hopefully she can point me at a credible witch, or warlock, who could act as magical security for your party when you travel."

Ryan nodded. "All right. I approve your trip to Sunnydale. But for the love of God be careful out there, I cannot afford to loose you. Pat and your kids would never forgive me."

"Yes, Sir. Hope to be out of town by sundown. If not, then I will stay with Mr. Clark and Ding. I promise, no wandering the town at night," Andrea assured her President.

"Okay, and Andrea?"

"Yes Sir?"

"When you get a witch or wizard on staff, I want them to check out the events leading up to my inauguration."

"You don't think that Billingsly is right, do you?" Andrea asked incredulously.

"About me being the Anti-Christ? No, or if I am, no one has bothered to tell me anything. But I have to know that there is nothing moving in the background that I don't know about. I have to know," he finished quietly.

"I'll get someone on it as soon as I can," she promised.

Ryan nodded, "Andrea I meant what I said about Faith. I approve in writing before you move onto the next step, and I will want to have an interview with her myself, before I make the final decision," Ryan ordered.

"Understood Mr. President," Andrea said formally, then in a more relaxed tone. "Good night, Jack."

"Good night, Andrea, be careful going home. I meant what I said about not being able to replace you." Turning from the head of his security detail, Jack turned and started down the hallway that led to his bedroom. Even here though Jack was not alone for a number of secret service agents lined the hallways protecting him and his family from potential intruders. Jack wished that they did not have to be there, he knew that his family found it claustrophobic, but grim experience had taught them that they were needed.

Jack decided that after today he was going to spend some time with his kids before he turned in. He found Sally and Jack Jr. awake and doing homework, so he helped them with what he could. One of the things Jack hated most about being President was the amount of time it took away from his kids. Tonight was an exception; as he had called it a night at an extremely early hour. After spending half an hour with his two oldest kids, he looked in on the other two, four year old Katie and six month old Kyle were both asleep. Looking at Katie, Jack remembered Ben Bascome words, 'What kind of a life is that?' Jack needed to find out if either of his daughters had a chance of becoming this Slayer thing. He would call Sir Basil himself tomorrow and find out what he knew. Finally he came to his bedroom door; he stepped through and quietly closed it. As soon as it was closed he leaned back against it, rested his head back against it, and let out a loud sigh. "Have I ever mentioned how much I hate this job?" he asked his wife.

Cathy Ryan was sitting up in bed wearing a comfortable nightgown. An ophthalmic surgeon, the empty wineglass on the nightstand indicated that she had no procedures tomorrow. She looked up and said, "I believe that you may have mentioned it a time or two honey." She said as she was glancing up. Catching sight of her husband leaning against the door she quickly started putting the files away.

"Bad day huh," she asked her husband as she moved across the bed and motioned for him to come over so she could give him a neck rub.

"Made the top ten, maybe the top five," Ryan responded as he gratefully removed his coat and tie. He sat on the edge of the bed and leaned back into his wife's breasts as she started rubbing his neck.

Cathy Ryan was shocked, considering some of the days they have had, the day that Jack had become president, the attack on Katie's daycare center, the day they had realized that someone had hit the US with a biological attack, or the day that Washington almost got nuked. "What happened?" she wanted to know.

"I found out today that we have been lying to our kids, that our parents lied to us, and probably theirs lied to them," Jack responded despondently.

"About what?" Cathy was perplexed. She had never seen Jack like this before.

"Monsters are real, babe," Jack said quietly.

"I don't think that you would have a problem convincing our kids that they were," Cathy replied, thinking of the time that Sally was almost killed when terrorists had ambushed her and Sally. So long ago, really at the beginning of journey that ended here in this building.

"Not human monsters Cathy." Jack continued quietly, "Real ones, vampires, werewolves, and demons."

Cathy looked at her husband in alarm, had the pressure of the job finally made him crack?

Jack saw the look and smiled a lopsided smile at his wife. "I only wish I was cracking up honey." He then went on to explain about all he had learned, about things that went bump in the night, about the Initiative and its fight against the more malign aspects of the supernatural. By the time he had finished Cathy had climbed down off of the bed, and Jack was holding her hands in his.

"Are you sure of this?" Cathy asked dazed.

"Yes, I sent John and Ding out there. Rainbow is going to help set up defenses for the Hellmouth."

"Will it be enough?" Cathy wondered.

"It should be. You see I received one piece of good news in this mess," Jack said, a tired smile coming to his face.

"And that is?" Cathy asked.

"Superheroes are real, too," Ryan finished.

*****

LAX
Los Angeles, California
25 Oct 02 - 2135 Hours

Riley, Ding, and Mr. Clark stood outside of a private hanger and watch as the VC-20 that had brought them there, and was carrying Sam Finn taxied out into the dark.

"We managed to contact Graham, and he will be able to get in contact with most of the my team, Sam will be able to get the rest, but it looks like my three to five day estimate till I can get them here was accurate," Riley said. He then proceeded to lead Mr. Clark and Ding over to the suburban that had been brought for their use.

Reaching the set of cases that had been left next to the SUV he pointed at the two new cases in the mix. "Those are for you. Loaners from the FBI, I did not know what you preferred so I asked them to send you over some MPK's. I thought that it would be better to have something that could be hidden under street clothes," Riley explained.

"I thought that bullets didn't hurt these things," Ding said as he reached for a case and lifted it onto the tailgate of the suburban.

"Bullets won't kill a lot of the creatures that are running around in Sunnydale, but it will hurt or slow down the majority of them. If we run into vampires, remember to shoot low. Chopping their legs out from under them is always a good way of slowing them down," Riley told him. Then reaching for another battered case, he clicked it open, and passed a stake, something that looked like a steel squirt gun, and a cross small enough to fit easily into a jacket pocket. "The squirt gun is loaded with holy water, it acts as acid to a vamp. Be careful with the cross, they don't like it, it will burn them if it touches bare skin, but they can bat it away, and vampires have incredible reflexes."

Riley then opened another case and pulled out a shoulder rig. Ding looked over and recognized a Desert Eagle pistol. "That's a lot of gun," Ding said, nodding at the pistol.

Riley slipped it out of the holster and put it down on the tailgate so he could get the holster on properly. Then Ding saw the size of the opening on the barrel of the gun. "Is that the .50 version?" He asked looking at the 9mm opening on the SMG he was slipping under his coat.

"Some things need a lot of stopping power out there," Riley explained. "This won't be enough for some of them."

Ding looked over at Mr. Clark. John Clark said to Ding, "Once we are on the way, get in touch with Allister and make sure that he brings ours."

Once on the road to Sunnydale, Riley gave the two Rainbow troopers an overview of what Sunnydale was like, what help they could expect from the locals, favorite hotspots for the local HSTs, and the area around the Hellmouth and answered any questions they had on the town.

When they reached the halfway point Mr. Clark finally said to Riley, "Tell us what you know about this Slayer person that we are supposed to meet up with."

Riley, who clearly had been putting of talking about Buffy till the last minute, began, "The first thing you should not do with Buffy is underestimate her. Dr. Walsh made that mistake, and it cost her. She has been at this for almost a decade, so don't let her youth and sex lead you to underestimate her. She has a real problem with authority, especially if she doesn't respect it. The easiest way to get her respect is to give her some. She'll generally try to work with you, until she thinks you are patronizing her, at that point she will let you get eaten."

"So we can expected to be tested by her when we get there?" Ding wanted to know.

"To an extent, but she isn't much for mind games. She will give you her advice on a situation, she won't really care if you take it or not. But if it blows up in your face because you ignored her she is not above saying 'I told you so' a couple of times," Riley told him.

"We'll have to play it by ear then," Mr. Clark said. "Okay Riley, I want you to tell us what you know about Ms. Summers, and be detailed."

For the rest of the trip to Sunnydale Riley regaled Ding and Mr. Clark with the adventures that he and Buffy had had when he was in Sunnydale. This took them up to the Sunnydale city limits. Once there Riley started driving past the various cemeteries in town.

"Shouldn't we make contact with Ms. Summers?" Clark asked after the second stop.

"That's what we are doing," Riley replied. "This time of night she is usually out patrolling, we are more likely to make contact in one of the cemeteries than at her house."

Pulling into one of the larger cemeteries, Riley stopped the SUV, got out several pairs of night vision goggles, and passed them out. Scanning the surrounding area, he suddenly said, "There we go."

Ding looked in the direction that Riley indicated and saw a slight figure fighting with four larger people. He immediately started toward the fight only to be pulled to a stop when Riley grabbed his shoulder.

"Where are you going?" Riley wanted to know.

"Where I come from four against one is not a fair fight," Ding replied.

"Yeah," Riley told him, "They should have done a lot more recruiting!"

Ding was non-pulsed; he looked again at the slim figure that had just finished slamming one of the people…vampires that she was fighting against the side of a crypt. "That's the Slayer!?!" Ding demanded.

"Yeah, what were you expecting?" Riley said smiling slightly.

"Someone nine feet tall and green," Ding admitted. "Not someone that tiny."

"I warned you not to underestimate her," Riley said as he started walking toward the fight.

Ding and Mr. C followed, neither taking their eyes off of the fight. Ding had to admit that the slim figure of the Slayer had to be one of the most formidable, if not the most formidable, hand-to-hand fighter he had ever seen. She kept complete control of the fight except for once when two of the vampires managed to get a hold of her arms and slammed her against the same crypt that she had bounced one of their own off of. She just bounced off the stonewall and did a spinning kick on one of the vamps. Finally she had everyone were she wanted them. She dropped the two in front of her with a double leg sweep, and then came over the top with a stake in each hand, and then there was an explosion of dust from behind the tombstones that were between the walkers and the fight. The third vampire came in from behind hoping to take advantage of the Slayer being on the ground. She simply braced herself and kicked backward. The sneaker clad foot struck the vampire in the solar plexus and he flew ten feet to strike a broken tree limb that stuck out six feet above the ground. The last vampire looking at odds that had suddenly gone from four to one, to mano a chica, and decided to call it a night. He got as far as the first line of headstones before a thrown stake turned a high-hurdle jump into a pile of dust landing on the other side.

Buffy looked over at the approaching men, leaned forward, and grabbed a backpack that had been on the ground. Approaching the group, that had stopped, taken off the night vision equipment, and waited for her to come to them, she got into easy talking distance, stopped and said, "Hi Riley, don't tell me, we have to talk." She did not look really happy.

*****

Chapter 7

"Hi Buffy," Riley said. "Yeah, we have to talk."

Buffy nodded her head, more to herself, as if confirming something for herself. "Where's Sam, and who are your friends?" she inquired.

"This is Brigadier General John Clark, and Major Domingo Chavez," Riley performed the introductions. "Gentlemen, this is Buffy Summers, The Vampire Slayer." Then to Buffy he said, "Sam is getting the rest of the team together; she should be here by the end of the week."

"Ma'am," John Clark said.

"Nice to meet you, please just call me Ding," Chavez said.

"Hi," Buffy returned. "General. That's bigger than Colonel, isn't it?"

"Yes it is," Riley said.

"Wow. Sunnydale got promoted. So what's the Initiative sending a General here for?"

John Clark studied the small figure that stood in front of him. Up close she was even more petite than she looked when she was fighting the vampires. She was wearing black leather pants, and jacket, a white blouse, and sneakers. Her long blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail. That made sense; the hair didn't get in the way that way. It did give the bad guys a convenient handle though. Then again, yanking on that hank of hair would probably be the last mistake something ever made. What brought him up short, though, were her eyes. Green, losing the last vestiges of the adrenal high she must have been sailing on. They were old eyes, eyes like he saw looking out of the mirror when he shaved in the morning; part of him grieved that someone this young could have eyes like that. It was then that John realized that even though she had just had a knockdown, drag-out fight with four people, well vampires, she wasn't even sweating. Hell she wasn't even breathing hard! Maybe there was something to this superhero stuff.

Buffy was also studying the two newcomers. She wasn't getting the same vibes off of them that she got off the other Initiative soldiers that she had been around. They had been excited by what was going on around them. Riley still had a little of that same feel, that he was playing a game, still in it for the thrill and the rush. Not these two; they had a feel of been there, done that. They wanted to do the job and go home to the family. It was a nice change. The Slayer also noticed that they did not act like soldiers. Well the younger guy did a little, but it was as if he was falling back on old reflexes, rather than using fresh training. She also would bet that these two had been partners for a while because one of them was always scanning the area; when one stopped the other one picked up without missing a beat, and they did it instinctually, with no signal between them. They also seemed to be comfortable, well as much as one could be in a cemetery, in Sunnydale CA. Soldiers, she had discovered from her brief enlistment in the Initiative, were pack hunters; they were only comfortable while in a group. These two, however, were nervous with the situation, but not that they were involved in it. There was something else here, something she would find out from Riley when she could get him alone.

"General Clark is not with the Initiative. He is head of a group called Rainbow," Riley told Buffy. "They're a counter-terrorism unit."

"Someone is going to try to hijack the Hellmouth?" Buffy wondered, sounding slightly amazed.

"Not someone. The Initiative. Well, the rest of it anyway. From what we've found looking through papers that have been left behind, we believe that General Billingsly, the old head of the Initiative, is going to try to open the Hellmouth," Riley explained.

"Sounds like a long story," Buffy sighed. "There's a vamp near here that will be rising tonight, and as chasing him across the graveyard is not on my top ten things to do tonight, I need to be there when he wakes up. His grave is right over there. Let's take a walk while you explain things to me," Buffy said as she started walking up toward the top of the hill.

Clark and Ding looked at Riley who shrugged, and started following Buffy up the hill.

"Why is the General trying to open the Hellmouth? Not enough business and he's worrying about budget cuts?" Buffy questioned Riley.

"No, he thinks that the President is the Anti-Christ and wants to beat him to it," Riley told her.

Buffy stopped dead, turned to Riley with a look of total confusion on her face and said, "Huh?!"

"General Billingsly seems to think that the Devil has won the battle of Good vs. Evil and is trying to spare as many souls as possible by killing them before they can fall," Riley explained. "Kind of asinine when you think about it."

"Much?" Buffy agreed. She walked a little way farther and stopped in front of a fresh grave. Turning to John and Ding she said, "This one will rise tonight. I have to talk to Riley, but we will just be over there." She nodded to another gravestone just out of earshot. Then sounding a lot friendlier said, "Wait here please, and if the dirt starts being disturbed just call and I'll be right with you." Buffy turned and started to walk away when she stopped. "Oh, here," she said. She rooted around in her pack for a couple of seconds, then handed Mr. Clark a small bottle that said 'Holy Water' on it, and a cross. To Ding she handed a stake. She then grabbed Riley by the upper arm and started to lead him away. "Come on. Let's talk," she said.

John Clark watched as she led Riley away. It was obvious by the tight look on Riley's face that she was using more than a little Slayer strength in the grip. He then looked down at the small bottle, and cross in his hands, then at the stake in Ding's and said, "I think I have just been insulted."

Buffy led Riley to the tombstone she had indicated. She leaned up against it, crossed her arms, looked at Riley, and began, "So what's the story?"

"The Initiative was covered in the Pentagon as an Intelligence unit monitoring China. It was covered that way because when it was originally put together, it was believed that China was the major country that we were least likely to go to war with. But it was still large enough to justify a good-sized budget. When war broke out there last year, they were caught flat-footed. The info that was passed up the chain was less than stellar. The Secretary of Defense investigated and discovered that the Intel that he was being given was just retread from other sources."

"Didn't the Secretary know what you were really doing?" Buffy was perplexed.

"No, General Billingsly thought that with the incredible series of coincidences that happened for Jack Ryan to become President, that there must be some outside force, either magical or demonic, behind it," Riley went on and explained. "A Japanese fanatic crashed a 747 into the Capitol right after President Ryan became Vice-President."

"I know that, Riley. I may have been up to my ears in Glory when that happened, but I still noticed when the government got wiped out at the end of a war!" Buffy said exasperatedly.

"Sorry, I didn't know how much you had followed," Riley apologized. "The Initiative was set up so that if the CO was suspicious of the President, or of how he had come to power, then he had the option of withholding its existence from the administration. General Billingsly decided that, as he was the senior surviving officer, that the administration should not be informed. He also believed that the way that the war in China started was also highly improbable, and from what he left behind, he felt that it was a way to get rid of him without arousing suspicion."

"This General thought that starting a war was a good way to get rid of him quietly?" Buffy questioned, checking to see if she had heard right.

"It didn't make much sense to me either," Riley admitted, looking around. "So what's been going on around here?"

Buffy hesitated as if deciding where to start, deciding she began, "Did I ever mention The First to you?"

"Yeah, he tried to get Angel to kill you, right? I thought you got rid of it," Riley said.

"I convinced it to leave. It can't be killed," Buffy responded. "It's back, and we aren't sure what it's after. So now isn't a good time to have a bunch of newbies running around Sunnydale, especially since I would have to baby-sit them. Thanks for the warning, but I think that I can handle myself. You just might want to get the General and the Major out of town before they get eaten like the last group."

Riley shook his head. "This won't be like last time Buffy. I think that you'll really need some help."

"Why? I handled The Initiative all right," Buffy argued.

"Last time they had no idea what to expect, and we were generally trying to capture things, we only went lethal if we had no choice. It won't be that way this time. This time their intentions will be to neutralize you. That could mean capturing you, but more likely it will mean either killing you, or capturing someone close to you, to force you to sit it out. We've also worked out some anti-Slayer tactics. None of which include going hand-to-hand with you," Riley explained gently.

Buffy gazed at Riley, with a look of extreme betrayal in her eyes. Before she could say anything, he put a finger to her lips. "It wasn't personal Buffy, it's business. You told me yourself when I was trying to get you to date me that you had come from a long list of people that didn't live past 25. We knew that we would be dealing with other Slayers, and that we might eventually come to cross-purposes. And if Faith ever decides to break out of prison, we would be who would have to go after her.

Buffy looked away, not trusting herself to speak. "Now what's really going on?" Riley asked.

"What do you mean? I told you what's going on," Buffy protested.

Riley smiled and shook his head. "I know you, Buffy. If nothing was going on what you would have said to the General and me, would have been, 'Welcome to Sunnydale, stay out of my way, and try not to get eaten.' What, you have Spike tied up in your basement, and you don't want the Initiative to know?"

Buffy resigned herself to telling Riley the truth, "No I have Andrew Wells tied up in my living room."

"Andrew Wells?" Thinking where he had heard that name before, "Isn't he one of the Nerd Herd?" Riley asked, not quite believing it. "Jeez Buffy, are you still having problems with those guys? Adam didn't take this long to finish off." Looking at the expression that started to form on Buffy's face, Riley realized that he had seriously put his foot in his mouth. He glanced down and read the name inscribed on the tombstone to give Buffy a couple of seconds to get her emotions under control. He started to look up when the name on the tombstone registered. He looked down to make sure he had read it right. Unfortunately he had.

Tara Maclay
1981-2002

"My God," Riley said quietly, reverently, going down on one knee in front of the monument. He reached out and traced the engravings with a finger.

Buffy turned when Riley knelt and read the name on the tombstone herself, then jumped away as if it had suddenly turned red-hot. Riley looked up at her face and asked, "How?" in a voice barely above a whisper.

"She was shot last May," Buffy said quietly, emotion in her voice. "It was Warren. We had been having problems with him and the nerds all through the year." She stopped for a few seconds to collect herself then went on in a dead monotone, "Tara had just gotten back together with Willow the day before. That night I stopped Warren from robbing an amusement park. Xander had found out about Spike and me, and he took it bad. We had a fight. It was bad, he was upset, his mouth I don't think was attached to his brain, and he said some things that hurt a lot. The next day Xander came back and apologized, and we started talking it through. Warren came out of nowhere with a gun. He shot me, shot at Xander, and when he was running away he must have shot over his shoulder. Willow said that Tara was in the window watching Xander and me in the yard. She had turned back to Willow and the bullet hit her in the back." Buffy stopped and looked down, tears leaking down her face. "You where out of communication. We didn't want to leave the news as an e-mail, or a message on your answering machine."

Riley stood up and gathered Buffy against his chest. She leaned her head against his shoulder and said, "God Riley, I am just so sick of people around me dying."

"Thanks, it would have been harder finding out like that. I understand about losing people. How's Willow?" he asked, blinking his own tears away.

"She's better. It was bad right after it happened. Giles took her to England over the summer and she got some help," Buffy told him.

"Warren?" Riley probed.

"He's been dealt with," Buffy said in a voice that was a whisper.

"One less thing to do," Riley said grimily.

*****

Ding watched as Buffy lead Riley away with him. "So Mr. C, what do you think of her?"

"Impressive," he said, as he slipped the bottle of Holy Water into his pocket next to the squirt gun that Riley had handed him back at the airport. "I think I need to raise her estimation of me though," taking a close look at the cross she had given him.

"Do you think she might consider moving to England?" Ding asked.

"Trying to beat MP?" Clark asked with a smile, nervously eyeing the mound of dirt in front of him, wondering vaguely what he should be watching for.

"How long do you think it will be till she is out here?" Ding asked him.

Looking up at his partner John said, "Depends on how impatient Ed is, I would think. I wouldn't do any heavy recruiting just yet though."

"Why?" Ding demanded.

"From what Riley has said Ms. Summers has had some real unfortunate encounters with officialdom. We might not be the enemy, but we aren't friends yet either," Clark explained.

Ding just grunted. Sudden movement over by Riley and Buffy caught his eye. Riley had gone down on one knee before the tombstone. When he reached out and touched it, then looked up at Buffy, Ding said, "Ah damn, I think we lost someone." Both men were silent as they remembered their own dead. They were both looking as Riley took The Slayer into his arms, to comfort her. They ended up missing the first couple of disturbances to the dirt of the grave as if something was pushing up through the layers of dirt in the grave.

Ding glanced down to give Riley and Buffy some privacy when he noticed the dirt moving. "Ms. Summers!" he shouted.

Buffy pushed off Riley and had just started toward the two Rainbow troopers, when the vampire exploded out of the grave, dirt flying everywhere! He charged right toward Mr. Clark, fangs bared!

*****

Chapter 8

John Clark tried to bring the cross up between him and the vampire. Hell, it worked in the horror movies. He underestimated the speed of the vampire though, so his fist plowed into the vamps upper lip. The vamp was already starting to recoil from the cross, so when the cross itself slammed into it's forehead and started burning, the vampire reared back. Ding was there then and threw an arm around the vampire's throat and rammed a knee into the small of it's back. Ding could feel the strength of the thing and realized that he could only hold it for a short time. He punched into the vamps back, hard and fast, with the stake, praying he remembered were the heart was.

He did.

The vampire exploded into dust. This robbed Ding of the support keeping him up, and he started to fall backward. He compounded the problem when he sucked in a deep breath, and got a lung full of vampire. Coughing uncontrollably he slammed into the ground. Fortunately he missed the tombstone behind him and just landed on grass. He rolled over still hacking, trying to get the dust out of his nose and throat.

Mr. Clark dropped the cross and grabbed his bleeding hand. He saw Ding on the ground and started toward him. Buffy got there first and started slapping him hard on the back, to help him clear his airway.

"N..n…nnot so hard John," Ding gasped.

"Sorry," Buffy replied.

Ding glanced sideways and saw Buffy's smiling face a couple of inches from him, tears still on her cheeks. "That was well done," she told him.

"Thanks. My first," he hacked.

"Really? You must be a natural," she said.

"You're just saying that so I don't feel like a total loser right?" Ding wheezed.

"No, I'm serious. You should of seen my first. I tripped and fell on him," Buffy reassured him.

Buffy turned and looked at Riley and Mr. Clark. Riley was shining a flashlight on John Clark's right hand. Buffy could see the blood from where she was. "Are you alright? I want to check on your bosses hand," she asked Ding.

Ding shot a look at Clark, and when he saw the blood started to struggle to his feet. "I'll take that as a yes," Buffy said, watching Ding head over to Clark.

"Do I have anything to worry about?" Clark questioned Riley, real concern in his voice.

"No, you don't," Buffy answered for Finn. "In order for you to turn, the vamp has to suck your blood, then you have to suck his. It's a whole big suckey thing." Buffy, after considering for a couple of seconds went on, " I wouldn't do that to a werewolf though."

John Clark's face visibly relaxed. "I'll remember that," he told her. He looked her over again. She had taken down four of those things at once? Mr. Clark decided that there was something to this superhero stuff.

"Come on I have a first-aid kit at the house, this needs to be seen to. Just because you won't get vampirism from it, a vampire's mouth isn't the cleanest thing on Earth either," Buffy said.

"Ah, Buffy you were telling me about Andrew before I noticed Tara's tombstone," Riley asked gently.

"Tara?" John Clark asked. "That would be Tara Maclay?"

"Yes," Buffy said softly. "She was killed last May."

"You have my condolences," John told her.

"I'm sorry," Ding said an instant later.

"Thanks," Buffy replied. She explained about the Nerd Herd so John and Ding would have some idea what she was talking about, she didn't go into much detail though.

"Andrew and Jonathan were caught at the amusement park. Jonathan gave himself up, Andrew knocked himself out when he tried to fly off with his rocket-pack," Buffy explained as they began walking back toward Riley's SUV.

"Rocket pack?!" Ding exclaimed. "You mean like James Bond?"

"Yeah, but James Bond usually checks to make sure that there isn't a roof over his head. Cuts down on the cool factor a lot when you bounce off and knock yourself out," Buffy replied, not sharing Ding's excitement.

"Okay," Riley stepped into the breach. "How does he end up in your living room."

"When Tara was killed, Willow lost it," Buffy said, staring at the ground three feet in front of her feet, and returning to the monotone that she had started to tell the story in at the tombstone. "After she dealt with Warren, she went after Andrew and Jonathan"

John Clark had a good idea how Warren was 'dealt' with; well he wasn't one to throw stones, now was he?

"We couldn't let her do it. So we broke them out of jail. Well… Technically I guess that Willow broke the jail, we just made sure that the dubious duo didn't get fried."

"God," Riley said. "You didn't have to..."

"No!" Buffy was quick to reassure him. "It got tight for awhile, but Xander was able to talk her down. She went with Giles over the summer. She came home about a month ago. She's been good since she's been back." They arrived at the SUV Buffy helped Mr. Clark into the front seat of the suburban, and then she climbed into the back seat with Ding.

"I can put you up tonight at my house," Buffy explained. "It will be a little cramped with Anya sleeping over, but we have plenty of floor space."

"Anya? Why is she staying at your house? Did she and Xander have a fight?" Riley wanted to know.

"Kind of," Buffy said evasively.

"Give!" Riley ordered.

"Xander left Anya at the alter," Buffy said quietly. "A former victim of Anya's showed up and pretended to be a future Xander, when he heard what life after the wedding would be like, he spooked."

"What did Anya do?" Riley wondered.

"Er… went back to her old job," Buffy supplied. Seeing Riley's shocked reaction she quickly went on, "But she quit again last week. So her old boss is kind of ticked with her, so she's staying over for protection."

"I appreciate the offer of floor space Ms. Summers," Clark began, getting annoyed at being talked around, "But we can just get a room at a local motel. In the morning we will be able to get quarters at the local army base."

"Bad idea, Mr. Clark," Buffy said. "You don't know what's been invited into a motel room, or the visitor quarters on the base. If you insist on moving into a rented room at least have Willow do a revocation."

"Willow is doing magic again?" Riley wanted to know, and from the tone in his voice, he did not consider it a good idea.

"She doesn't have a lot of choice," Buffy said, "When she lost it last year she sucked in so much magic it's a part of her now."

Riley didn't say anything to that; he simply started the SUV and put it into gear. He pulled out into the street and headed for Buffy's house on Revello Drive.

"So how did this Andrew end up in your house?" Ding asked.

"Willow went down to the Butcher shop to get some blood for a friend. While she was there she bumped into Andrew, buying blood for a ritual. She sort of grabbed him and brought him back to the house."

Clark groaned, "Let me get this straight. You are not only harboring a federal fugitive, but you kidnapped him to boot?"

"Why was she buying blood for a friend?" Ding found that much more interesting.

Buffy ignored Ding; "We needed to know why he was back in town. A lot of weird things had been going on, we were expecting a new big bad to showing up, and all we had to go on was the expression, 'From beneath you it devours.' I had been having Slayer dreams of young girls all over the world being killed by guy's in robes. When Willow found Andrew she thought that it was interesting that he was back, so she grabbed him. She got him home and we questioned him. We found out that he and Jonathan had come up from Mexico, with the idea to close the Hellmouth. Well that was Jonathan's idea anyway, apparently the First had gotten to Andrew and tricked him into killing Jonathan trying to open a portal under the high school," Buffy explained, not sounding too contrite.

"Jonathan Levenson is dead too?" Riley wanted to know.

"Jonathan Levenson," Ding said. "Why is that name familiar?"

"You don't want to go there, Ding," Riley told him. "Trust me on this one."

Ding had a momentary mental picture of an autographed picture, and a calendar of a stocky guy on the wall of his cubical, and decided that Riley might have a point.

"Andrew said he stabbed him. But the body wasn't there when we went back to bury the disk again," Buffy continued.

"You can maneuver under the school then?" Mr. Clark asked Buffy.

"Sure, it's like a maze but I am starting to learn it."

"Okay, tomorrow would it be possible for you to show Ding around so he can start planning to set up defenses for the Hellmouth itself?"

"Sure. I have to tell you though, Principle Wood will be real upset if you booby trap his office."

"Principle Wood?" Clark asked turning around so he could look at Buffy, "We were told that you had destroyed the building, we saw the photo's!"

"It was, we did, they rebuilt it," Buffy returned.

"What?!?!?!?!?" All three of the other people in the car exclaimed.

"I don't understand," Ding, said. "How could you let them do that?"

Buffy shrugged, "I'm not on the school board. On the plus side I work at the school now so I can get in anytime I need to."

"What are you doing?" Riley asked.

"Student Councilor," Buffy replied, some pride in her voice.

Riley almost snorted; he managed to turn it into a very convincing cough. Ignoring Buffy's glare in the rear-view mirror, he turned onto Revello Drive and pulled up in front of Buffy's house at 1630.

Everyone jumped out of the suburban and started up toward the house. Riley, John, and Ding saw that the front window of the house was gone. Someone had nailed up plywood over it. As they started up the steps, a voice over by the window suddenly said, "Hey Buffy,"

The three men jerked and turned toward the sound. Hands dived under coats and grabbed gun buts. Buffy reached out and grabbed Ding's hand to prevent him from drawing, and said, "Hi Xander."

A dark haired young man stepped out of the shadows. He was wearing a tool belt and holding a battleaxe. Seeing who was with Buffy, and not perceiving a threat from the others, he rested the axe back on his shoulder, and stepped further out into the light. "Nice to see you Riley," he said. "Your timing is great, we can really use the help."

"Xander," Riley said, rather coldly. Indicating the two other people with them. "This is General John Clark, and Major Domingo Chevez. Gentlemen, this is Alexander Harris."

"Mr. Harris," John said to him formally, Ding just nodded to him.

"I see my fame has proceeded me," Xander said somewhat bitterly. "Buffy, I got the window fixed, it should hold till the morning. I think that I can get some more glass cheap."

"Thanks Xander," Buffy said. "Come in, we have more problems."

So saying she went up the steps and entered the house. "I'm home!" she called out. "We have guests!"

Dawn charged out of dinning room and squealed, "Riley!" Ignoring the other people as she threw her arms around Riley and gave him a big hug.

"Hi Dawnie," Riley said, obviously pleased to see the girl.

"Who are they?" she asked looking at the two strangers.

"They are here to help," Riley said. "This is General Clark, and Major Chavez."

"Hello," Dawn said to the two men, then looking around, and realizing that Samantha wasn't here, she exclaimed, "Where's Sam? Nothings happened to her has it?"

"No Dawn, Sam is fine, she is just getting the rest of our team. I'm afraid that we have some real problems coming," Riley reassured the teenager.

"Come on," Buffy said impatiently, "The others are in the dining room."

At this point the Anya poked her head out from around the corner to see what the excitement was. "Hello Anya, " Riley said. "How are you doing? I'm sorry to hear about the wedding," he said, somewhat awkwardly.

"To late to help me out with a wish," Anya sighed, then going on in a normal tone, "Glad to see you, I hope that you won't run off this time though."

Riley flinched at the mention of when he rejoined the Initiative and left Buffy.

Willow came in then and said, "Hey Riley, how have you been?"

"Willow, I'm sorry for your loss. I'll miss Tara," he said kindly.

Willow misted up, "Thanks Riley, she would have appreciated that." Then, "Who are your fiends?"

"They're General John Clark, and Major 'Just-Call-Me-Ding Chavez," Buffy supplied. "They work for a group called Rainbow."

"You work for Rainbow?" Willow asked, very excited, "It must be great working with Jesse Jackson, and everyone. It must be very rewarding working toward affirmative actio….," Willow wound down as she saw the expressions on Ding and Mr. Clark's faces, "And I am guessing that you work for a different Rainbow," she finished quietly.

"Yes we do," Clark supplied. "We are a multinational, anti-terrorist unit. No affiliation with the other one."

"Oh," Willow said in a small voice. "Sorry."

Xander had come in behind everyone else and quietly had closed the door. He watched the by-play between his friends and the new comers. What drew his attention though was Anya, his former fiancée; she was staring at the new comers with a look of awe on her face. The last time that he could remember that look on her was when she had counted the till from last years Halloween sale. Suddenly she raised her finger and pointed it directly at Mr. Clark. "You're John Kelly!" she exclaimed.

John Clark visibly started, "Who?" Looking at the former vengeance demon and trying to figure out how she knew his real name.

"I can't believe that after all this time we finally get to meet!" Anya gushed, then turning to Willow she said, "Willow, you and John Kelly have a lot in common! You both hunted down and slaughtered the killer of your lover!"

*****

Chapter 9

Everyone held their breath and looked at the ex-vengeance demon. Xander finally said, "An, it's generally considered impolite to introduce your friends to strangers that have a good chance of being federal law-enforcement agents as a person who have slaughtered someone."

Anya glared at Xander, "But John Kelly isn't in law-enforcement, he's a CIA agent."

"CIA!!!!!" Three voices exclaimed almost as one. The first was Dawn, she sounded excited. The next was Willow, she sounded outraged, the last was Buffy, hers came out low and menacing. Then she continued, "I thought your name was Clark?"

John Clark silently thanked the media for the misinterpretation of what the CIA was and did. Looking at the Scoobies he said, "I was born John Kelly. I had to change my name because as Ms. Emerson said, I took the law into my own hands when a gang of drug pushers who used prostitutes as their mules, kidnapped and killed my lover. I killed as many of them as I could get, too. During this time I was asked to join the CIA because I had been a Navy SEAL and knew an area of Vietnam that it was believed that the North Vietnamese where holding American Flyers that they were not planning on giving back. My boss at the CIA found out about my extracurricular activities. He could have turned me in but decided that I was too useful of an asset so they arranged for my disappearance and gave me a new life. I worked for the CIA for thirty years or so, Ding has been my partner for the last five. However we do not work for the CIA now, Rainbow is not part of it."

"Riley?" Buffy was not convinced.

"Rainbow isn't part of the US Government at all Buffy. It's part of the NATO chain of command."

"Ms. Summers," Ding said. "If we were still in the CIA we could not be here. The CIA is forbidden by law to operate in the US. In this case the Justice Department, specifically the FBI, is paying for Rainbow's expenses. The President is a real stickler for the law."

"Stickler for the law? He helped invade Columbia!" Willow argued.

"There were about 40 of us," Ding said. "That doesn't count as an invasion."

"You were there?" Xander asked.

"Yes that's where I met Mr. Clark. Mr. Ryan," they all heard the respect in his voice, "wasn't part of the planning of the operation, but he sure pulled us out of a bad situation."

"I'm going to have to think about this, Riley must of told you what has happened in the past when I got involved with the government. Going up against The First, I can't be looking over my shoulder wondering if I can trust who's behind me," Buffy said.

"I understand Ms. Summers," Clark said. "We are not here to take over your job. Our orders are to protect the Hellmouth from General Billingsly and the Initiative. I believe that President Ryan would want us to render whatever assistance to you we can in this situation, but if you want us to back off, we'll do it. We will be patrolling the town regardless though, so any help we can give you, just let us know."

"Thanks," Buffy said, relaxing slightly.

"Can I ask a question?" Ding wondered.

"I might not answer, but go ahead," Buffy replied.

"What is this 'First' you keep mentioning, you sort of glossed over it in the car coming over here." Ding asked.

"Now there is the sixty-four dollar question," Willow said. "We found almost nothing on it Buffy."

Buffy sighed, "Giles hasn't called back has he?"

"No," Willow answered.

Buffy waved everyone into the dinning room, turning to Dawn she said, "Dawn could you run upstairs and get the first aid kit? Mr. Clark banged his hand up."

"Sure," Dawn said, running up the steps to get the kit.

"What happened?" Xander asked.

"Got jumped by a Vamp and Mr. Clark punched it in the mouth," Buffy explained.

"Ouch," Xander said.

"I was trying to get the cross between me and it," Clark told him. "It was faster than I expected."

"It looked impressive though," Buffy, said. "Especially when the cross slapped into it's forehead and started burning."

"That must of looked cool," Xander agreed as Dawn came down from upstairs with a good size first aid kit.

"Here Buffy," she said handing it to Buffy.

"Lets, see the hand Mr. Clark," she said as she opened the case.

"I'll get some hot water," Xander volunteered as he headed for the kitchen.

"Thanks Xand," Buffy said as she started examining the wound.

Waiting for Xander to return with the water she said to Ding, "The First is what evil things are scared of. Its proper name is The First Evil. I fought it about four years ago when it tried to get a friend of mine to either kill me, or commit suicide it would have got away with it too. Except that The Powers intervened and stopped him."

"Who?" Ding asked.

"The Powers That Be," Buffy said as Xander came back in with a bowl of water. "Thanks Xander," she said. "And yes, they are exactly who you think they are."

Ding and Mr. Clark tried to digest what that implied. "What did they do?" Ding finally asked.

"My friend was a vampire, he was waiting for sunrise, it started snowing, so the sun didn't shine," Buffy said beginning to wash the wound.

"That was Christmas in '98?" Ding asked.

Buffy sat back and thought, "Yeah I think that was it. Last time it snowed here anyway."

"How did you beat it then?"

"The First isn't a physical being, you can't fight it like a vampire or a demon. Fortunately that also means that it can't physical attack you either," nodding to Andrew still slumped in his chair she continued, "That doesn't stop it from getting stooges to do it's dirty work for it."

"It does have these priests called Bringers. We got attacked by a bunch of them tonight, we thought they were after Andrew but it turned out they wanted Spike. They got him too."

"Spike's been dusted?" Riley asked, clearly not too uncomfortable with the notion.

"They took him, but I think he is still alive," Buffy said, choosing to ignore Riley's tone. "I was hoping to grab something on patrol to beat some info out of, but the vamps tonight were out-of-towners. I don't think that they even knew I was the Slayer till after they jumped me."

Buffy went on, "The first is held in this plane by the Bringers, they hang out underground. You can find them because everything dies directly over where they are. Tomorrow I'm going to check out where they were last time. I think there were some passages branching out from the main cave and I want to scout them out." Buffy finished washing Clarks wound out and looked it over, "I think you lucked out, it didn't get down to the tendons." She then reached for the antiseptic and said, "This will sting a bit."

Clark winced as she applied it to the wound to finish cleaning it out, "I would see a doctor about getting a prescription for antibiotics in the morning, but you should be fine." So saying she took some butterfly bandages and gently closed the wound with two of them.

Clark looked down at the job she did; it was very professionally done. She probably got a lot of practice he decided. "Are you going down there to try and rescue your friend or will you just be scouting around?" John asked.

"If I find him, I'll try for a rescue, but mostly just for scouting," Buffy told him as she started putting the first-aid supplies away."

"Don't you have the underground mapped?" Clark asked.

Xander laughed, "The underground of Sunnydale has like ten thousand miles of tunnels."

Buffy nodded, "That's an exaggeration, but it is like a maze down there. Sometimes I think that the tunnels even change around from time to time."

"How deep is the cave that you will be checking out tomorrow?" John continued.

Thinking back to her first encounter with The First, "About twenty or thirty feet. Why?" Buffy asked, perplexed.

'Time to start earning our keep,' Clark thought to himself. "We can get you a map of the underground, The top thirty or thirty-five feet anyway," Clark said, then went on to explain, "We can have a KH-12 do a couple of passes over Sunnydale. We can have them send the results here."

"KH-12?" Buffy asked.

"It's a spy satellite," Xander supplied.

"Specifically it's a radar recon bird," Clark amplified.

"Okay so you can do a radar sweep, how does that help me?" Buffy wanted to know.

"It helps because it can see about 40 feet into the ground too. It was originally designed to find hidden missile silos," John told her. "We can have them do the runs tonight and should be able to get the results sometime tomorrow morning."

Buffy thought about it, "If you can do that it would be great. But if we don't get it by noon I am going in."

"Fair enough," Clark said reaching for his cell phone. Selecting a number Clark put the phone to his ear. Waiting as the two secure units negotiated with each other, he then heard the other end pick up.

"NRO duty desk, Robert Conrad speaking, this is a secure line, how may I help you?" the voice on the other end of the line said.

"This is General John Clark, authorization code Alpha Tango Michael One Four Five Eight Seven Six," Clark said into the phone.

There was a delay of several seconds from the NRO then, "Authenticate Echo Lima Alpha," Conrad said.

Taking a laminated card similar in size to a credit card from his wallet Clark scanned down the card then said, "Papa Charlie X-ray."

"Identity confirmed what can I do for you General?" Conrad said.

"I need a ground penetrating map of Sunnydale California, how soon can you get it done?"

Robert Conrad blinked; he had had some odd requests during his tour of duty. For a while there had been a General over in the Pentagon that had tried to get him to put his house under surveillance from one of his KH-11 birds. He thought his wife was having an affair with their pool boy. This was however the first time anyone had asked him to map the sewer system of a small American city. Oh well, the notation in his file said that the General had carte blanche, so what the General wanted, the General got. Checking the position of the new KH-12 satellite he typed some queries into his computer then read the answers into the mouth piece of his headset, "We need to slightly reposition the bird Sir, we should be able to start getting information in three orbits. It will take two more orbits to finish the map, call it seven hours, Sir."

"Very well. Send the information to FBI headquarters, they will know what to do with it," Clark instructed him.

"As you wish, Sir. Have a good evening," Conrad said.

"You too," Clark said as he disconnected. "When it's a little later in Washington, I will call our contact in the FBI and have them send the photo's to the local office, they can bring it here."

Buffy was impressed in spite of herself. She hoped this wasn't just a ruse to get on her good side.

John Clark pointed at Andrew's slumped form; he noted that they had him tied into a director's chair, "Would you like for Ding or I to have a chat with Andrew when he wakes up?" he asked.

"We already did," Buffy said. "Xander and Anya played 'Good-Cop, Bad-Cop' with him."

"How did he get hurt?" Riley asked, then looking at the two blood spots on the bandage on Andrews's neck he continued, "Those look like vamp bites."

"Spike did them," Xander told him. "Came right through the wall."

"Why?" Riley asked, then thinking about it, "How? His chip should of dropped him in his tracks."

"We think that The First has brainwashed him," Buffy said. "Or at least that's what Xander thinks."

"So he can ignore the chip?" Riley asked now genuinely concerned.

"He did when he made the dozen or so vampires that Buffy had to dust," Xander supplied.

"He's been killing again?" Riley said, then accusingly, "And you let him run around loose?"

"We haven't let him run around anywhere, once we found out what was going on, I locked him up here."

"With Dawn in the house?" Riley was starting to get worked up.

"He's changed Riley," Buffy said quietly, starting to withdraw a little.

"Changed? He sounds like the same old, tried and true, back to the basics, Spike to me!"

"He has his soul back Riley," Buffy said, starting to fight back a little. "The First has him programmed, we have to help him," Buffy pleaded.

Ding sat back and watched the by-play between the two people. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Xander Harris jerk back almost like someone had slapped him. It was a quick and angry movement. He did it when Buffy began defending Spike.

"The First wants him for something, whatever it is, we have to stop it," Buffy said, more firmly in command.

"We can stop The First from using him by dusting him," Xander pointed out with some heat. "We have Riley and the Feds back in the picture, it's not like we need him anymore!"

"Xander, I am not killing Spike, unless he becomes a general threat," Buffy said.

"I don't recall your being this reserved when it came to killing Anya," Xander snarled. " But then you never slept with her." He got up and stormed out of the front door.

Buffy slumped in her chair. Riley and the two Rainbows officers looked around the table for some explanation to what they had just seen.

Buffy said, "Excuse me," and followed Xander out of the door.

Willow seeing the looks on Riley and the Rainbows' realized that someone needed to explain. So she took a deep breath and began, "Excuse me Anya, this may hurt."

Anya just waved it off, "That's okay I knew when Buffy found out about the fraternity she would come after me."

Willow nodded, then thinking said, "Maybe you should tell the first part."

Anya shrugged and reached over to pour herself a glass of soda, "When Xander ran off at the wedding D'Hoffryn offered me my old job back. I took him up on the offer. I figured I could punish Xander for what he did to me." Looking a little sheepish, she continued, " I kind of forgot that I could not grant my own wishes. I couldn't get anyone to help me out either," she said, glaring at Willow and Dawn.

"Hey I told you, I was off the W word after what happened at Buffy's Birthday Party," Dawn said defensively.

'Another question to ask Riley when he got the chance,' Clark thought to himself. The list was starting to get extensive.

"My heart wasn't really in the job anymore though. My work was suffering, but I found I just couldn't inflict the type of havoc I used to. I wasn't enjoying it anymore either," she said, looking slightly haunted. "Finally there was a freshman who made a wish when a fraternity played a joke on her. One of them pretended to fall for her. He strung her along for a couple of weeks, and then broke up with her in front of his fraternity. She made a wish and I granted it, the results where a little bloody."

"A little bloody?!" Willow exclaimed. "I found them Anya. The girl wished they would know what it feels like to have their hearts ripped out and you obliged her!"

Anya shrugged, "I reversed it. And it cost me my only demon friend, sometimes I think she was my only friend." Tears start to well in her eyes.

Dawn went over and put her arms around Anya's shoulders, "Not your only friend, after all I got you stuck when I made that wish, didn't I?"

Anya smiled, "I was in the house Dawn, that's all that was required."

"Yeah but you WERE there," Dawn reassured her.

Willow picked up the story; "Buffy felt that Anya had become a threat, so she decided that she had to…" She paused trying to find a polite turn of phrase for Anya's benefit.

"Kill me," Anya supplied.

"Er, yes," Willow agreed, "Xander tried to talk Buffy into not killing Anya, and he used some of the same argument that Buffy just used to defend Spike."

"Ah," Clark said, finally seeing what was going on. He hoped that this wasn't a fatal rift. He had a feeling that Buffy was going to need all the help she could get before this was over.

*****

Buffy came out of the front door of her house and saw Xander putting the keys into the door of his SUV. "Xander wait," she called. For a moment it looked like Xander was just going to get into his vehicle and drive away, but he stopped and looked at Buffy.

Buffy hurried down the steps and then over to Xander. "I'm sorry," she said, but before she could continue Xander interrupted.

"Do you know what hurts?" Xander began. "When you hear your own words, that got shot down, repeated back at you by the person who shot them down."

"I know," Buffy, said. "I'm sorry, I was wrong about Anya. But it's not the same situation at all Xander."

"No? How is it different?" Xander demanded.

"Anya chose what she was Xander," Buffy explained turning slightly from him staring at her reflection in the paint of his SUV. She felt as distorted as it looked. "Spike didn't choose what he is now, The First did it to him. When Anya offered herself to D'Hoffryn to make right what had happened, I realized that I had misread her. You where right, I was wrong, and I'm sorry."

Xander stared at Buffy; rarely if ever did she admit that she had made a mistake. He took a deep breath, "Okay, what can I do to help?"

"Come back inside?" she requested.

Offering her his arm he said, "Lets go."

*****

Chapter 10

There was a silence when Willow finished her explanation. During this silence John Clark looked Anya over. He knew he knew her from somewhere. He had a good memory for faces; it was required for intelligence work. He could not pin down where he knew her from though. "Excuse me, Ms. Emerson, how do you know my past history?" he asked her.

"I was there for most of it," Anya replied. "Those pimps where so bad that I just couldn't ignore what those girls where going through."

"Anya was kind of the patron demon of scorned women," Willow explained.

"Those pimps had those poor women so beat down that they did not even think nasty thoughts about them, let alone make a wish for harm to come to them. When Pat started to rebel I thought she might make a wish, but she just ran. Then they caught her and did those things to her." Anya closed her eyes then continued, "When you found out what happened to her I felt your rage all the way in England. Normally I only dealt with women but for you I would have made an exception."

A face suddenly appeared in Clark's mind, "You were that chatty nurse in the hospital!"

"Yes, I wanted to get you to make a wish, but you wouldn't oblige," Anya replied, pleased that he remembered her.

"How is that possible?" Ding asked, "You can't be older than 25."

"I've been around for a little longer than that," Anya replied.

"Anya is over a thousand years old," Willow supplied.

"A thousand?" Ding asked in a strangled tone, thinking of the history that she must have witnessed.

"A lady doesn't tell her age," Anya said.

"It turned out that you didn't need my help. By the time you where done though, I think that any vengeance demon that didn't have a case was watching what happened with interest."

John Clark definitely didn't like the thought that he had been being followed around by a group of demons when he had been fighting that gang.

Riley who had been quiet through most of the explanations, asked his own question, "Willow how did Spike get his soul back? Did you have anything to do with it?"

"I did not!" Willow, glaring at Riley, said somewhat indignantly, "I have to say that I am getting a little sick and tired of how whenever anything magical happens around here, I'm the first one that people point a finger at. Buffy's invisible. What did you do Willow? We can't get out of the house. How did this happen Willow? There's a singing demon Willow. What did you do?"

"We didn't blame you for Sweet," Dawn pointed out.

Willow ignored Dawn. She just went on without stopping, "I know I killed Warren, drained Rack, and tried to end the world, but there are other magic users out there you know!" She then stood up and started out of the room, "If you will excuse me, I'm not feeling well, I think I'm going to bed." She then exited the dinning room and went up stairs.

A couple of moments after Willow went up stairs the front door opened. Buffy and Xander came into the dining room. "Where's Willow?" Buffy asked.

"Riley asked if Willow had anything to do with Spike getting his soul back. Then she kind of blew up, and then said she didn't feel well," Anya supplied helpfully.

"I'm sorry," Riley said. "I didn't realize that it was a tender subject."

"Point of interest?" Clark asked, looking very interested, "Was she being figurative or literal when she said about trying to end the world?"

"Figurative…Literal," Buffy and Anya said simultaneously. Buffy glared at Anya.

"What?" Anya asked. "I don't understand; you humans always want people to tell the truth. Your national hero is George Washington, the man who could not tell a lie. Why does everyone get upset when I tell the truth?"

"An," Xander said patiently, "We tell kids not to lie because they do it to cover their butt. It's not the same when you are covering someone else's."

Anya threw up her hands, and for a moment looked like she was going to storm out, too. Then it seemed to register that she was crashing on Buffy's couch, plus the living room lacked a door to slam, so that if she wanted to slam a door, she would have to head out the front door. Right into the arms of whatever D'Hoffryn had waiting for her. She settled back into her seat. A few moments later though she suddenly stood up and headed for the stairs. Everyone looked at her expectantly. "What?" she asked. "I drank to much soda, and I have to go pee."

After Anya walked upstairs, Riley turned to Buffy and asked, "What happened?"

Buffy sighed and sat down, Xander also returned to his seat.

"I told you. When Tara was killed Wills lost it. She went down to the Magic Box and drained the magic out of a bunch of spell books. I had been shot and was undergoing surgery when Willow broke into the hospital, and healed me," Buffy said.

Riley frowned, "Healing by magic is dangerous, Buff."

"I don't think she cared," Buffy said. "She had so much power that she could do pretty much what she wanted. She had a lock on him, or so she thought, but it turned out to be a decoy. We didn't know at the time that Tara was dead, so we just thought she was pissed about what Warren had done to me. We weren't too worried till we found Tara's body."

"I found Tara's body," Dawn said quietly, "You found me, with her."

Buffy leaned over and took Dawn's hand, "Okay when we found you both."

Dawn choked back a sob, remembering the lonely vigil she had kept with Tara that afternoon. Buffy went on, "We managed with Anya's help to find Willow, but we were too late to stop her from killing Warren. She wasn't satisfied with just that though, or rather the magic driving her wasn't. She told us that she was going to go after Jonathan and Andrew. I knew that if she killed those two she would never be able to turn back from the dark. I sent Anya ahead to try to get Andrew and Jonathan out of the jail before Willow got there, but she wasn't able too. Willow attacked the jail, and in the confusion we were able to get them out before she could get to them. Between Warren and the jail she used up most of the power she had drained from the books, so she went after Rack."

"And he was?" Clark asked.

"He was a magical pusher. He would take a witch, supercharge her magic, and then feed on her energy. The effect on the witch is similar to certain drugs. It's very addictive, and, Willow got hooked. Great friend that I was I never noticed what was going on till it was too late. She almost killed Dawn in an accident. That finally made her see what was happening, she promised to quit cold turkey. She was doing it, too; till Tara got killed."

Clark had little sympathy for pushers, magical or other wise. He had no sympathy for Rack. 'Being killed by one of his victims was justice,' Clark thought.

"We were holed up in the Magic Box, and we were trying to figure some way to control Willow. She tracked us down before we had come up with anything though and so we were fighting. Giles showed up then, a coven of witches in England had detected what was happening in Sunnydale, and they lent Giles their power and sent him to Sunnydale."

"Sent?" Clark questioned.

"Teleported," Buffy replied.

'Well damn,' Clark thought. 'That would have made my life so much easier to be able to do that.'

"He was able to contain her for a little while, but she was just too powerful, so she got loose. But she was out of energy again, so, she drained Giles." Riley looked up in concern. "No, she didn't kill him, but it was close for a while. She managed to trap Dawn and me in a grave in one of the cemeteries. Then she headed out of town to try to summon an apocalypse demon. Xander got to her and managed to talk her out of it. Giles took her to England over the summer to get help. The coven that lent him their power worked with her, taught her to control her magic, and she has been good since she got back." Looking at Mr. Clark, she said emphatically, "She isn't a threat anymore!"

"I'll have to take your word for it Ms. Summers," Clark said. Yes, that will be a long list he was going to talk over with Riley.

After she finished everyone took a couple seconds to get their thoughts in order. Finally Mr. Clark asked, "What are your plans for tomorrow, Ms. Summers?"

Buffy thought for a moment, then said, "Dawn and I are going to do some running when we get up."

"Aaaww," Dawn whined.

"Live with it Dawn, I told you when I agreed to let you come on patrol that you needed to work on your wind. So we run every other day when you aren't in school, and every third day when you are."

"I don't remember you doing a lot of road work when you first started," Dawn complained.

"You weren't there for what Merrick originally put me through, plus you also don't have a Slayer's stamina. If you want to patrol, then you run," Buffy finished firmly.

"Okay, but if I'm running tomorrow, then I'm going to bed, too," Dawn said, then to everyone, "Good night."

Everyone wished her goodnight as the teenager headed up stairs.

"After the run, if your maps have shown up, I am going to scout those tunnels. Otherwise tomorrow afternoon I will go in."

Mr. Clark nodded, indicating he understood, "The rest of Ding's team will be showing up tomorrow afternoon, I was wondering if you could point us at a local realtor so we can find some place to set up in. I don't think your house would be big enough for a dozen of us," Clark continued.

"How big a place are you looking for?" Xander asked.

"That would really be up to Riley, I think," Clark said. "I would bet that even after we deal with General Billingsly and his troops, President Ryan will want to have forces guarding the Hellmouth." Seeing Buffy frowning he went on, "It's not that you aren't doing a good job, Ms. Summers, it's that Jack Ryan takes his obligations seriously. He will view setting up permanent defenses for the Hellmouth as something that must be done to protect the country, and the world. I'm sure he will attempt to cooperate with you as much as possible."

"We'll see," was all Buffy would say, clearly not convinced.

"I know a couple of realtors," Xander said. "I can get a list of what's available."

"Thank you Mr. Harris. Could you take Riley around to some of these sites and see if any can be used?" Clark requested.

"Sure, be glad to," Xander replied. "I even know some people who can fix it up if what ever Riley wants has some damage."

"Excellent," Clark told him.

"Okay," Buffy announced standing up. "If we have tomorrows itinerary worked out then I am going to finish the patrol I started, hopefully I can pick up some info on Spike."

"You're going out alone?" Ding asked.

"I usually do," was Buffy's reply, as she headed for the front door.

"Want some company?" He asked.

"Thanks, but you had a tough night already. Why don't you get some sleep," Buffy told him.

"What kind of watch rotation are you running?" Clark asked.

"Watch rotation?" Buffy asked perplexed, "I think we have some extra alarm clocks around if you need them."

"Err, no," Mr. Clark replied. "Guard watches, who's standing what watches?"

"We aren't," Buffy said, shrugging. "Vampires can't get into the house, and most of the other things have figured out that it's not a good idea to break into the Slayer's house."

"The First seems to be a slow learner," Clark pointed out, indicating the boarded up front window, and the other damage still visible.

"The First has got what it wanted tonight, it won't be back," was Buffy's answer, as she reached for her jacket.

"Would you mind if we stood some?" Clark queried, not as sure as she was.

"Knock yourselves out," Buffy said as she threw her jacket over her shoulder and headed out the front door.

After Buffy left, Anya came back down and looking around and asked, "Who ticked Buffy off that she left?"

Xander exasperated said, "No one, An, she just went back on patrol. I have to get going, too. What time do you want to meet up tomorrow Riley?"

"0900?" Riley supplied.

"9 am it is then, good night all," Xander said as he headed out.

"Okay," Clark said to the other two commandos', "Riley, you take the first 2 hour watch, I'll take the mid three, then Ding; you'll have the watch till people are up."

"Why don't we just split it into 2 hour shifts?" Ding asked. "You don't have to take the mid either; why not let one of us take it?"

"If we have fighting tomorrow then it will be you two that will be doing it. If I get tired I can always catch up on the couch."

Clearly not happy about it Ding agreed, "Riley how bout covering me so I can go out and get our stuff out of the car?"

"It's not quite that bad in Sunnydale, Ding," Riley said. "You can probably get the stuff out of the car without getting attacked."

"Humor me. I already got attacked once tonight," Ding replied.

Riley shook his head and motioned Ding out the front door, as he followed the Latino Major he unbuttoned his jacket so he could get easy access to his pistol.

"Do you need blankets or anything?" Anya asked.

"We have sleeping bags in the truck, but some pillows would be nice," Clark replied.

"Sure, I have to go and change, I'll bring them down when I come back down."

Anya headed back upstairs, and Ding and Riley came back in a couple of minutes later carrying their sleeping gear, plus their gun cases. "See Ding, all the way down the driveway and not attacked once," Riley teased.

"Sorry, just a little jumpy, I'm not sure of the rules of this game yet," Ding said, not embarrassed in the least for taking the extra precautions.

"I'll go over some of the stuff I learned with the Initiative tomorrow," Riley promised. "Buffy can be helpful, too. You have watch with her though, sometimes she forgets that not everyone can do what she does, and if you try to do what she suggests, you can end up in traction."

"Thanks," Ding told the other commando.

Anya came back down then, dressed in a nightgown, and carrying several pillows. "Here you go," she said, handing each of the men a pillow. "I'll be on the couch, you can stretch out anywhere on the floor that you want to."

"What about him?" Clark asked, nodding toward Andrew.

"He looks comfortable where he is," Anya replied.

Clark looked at the slumped figure in the director's chair. Andrews's head was hanging forward and a string of drool was running down the front of his shirt. Clark went over and checked his pulse. It seemed to be okay, maybe a little thready, but steady.

"John, are you sure you want the midwatch? I don't mind taking it," Ding tried one more time.

"Thanks Ding. But these old creaky bones still have a little life in them. I want to call Dan around five anyway. Which will be about the time you take over for me."

"Okay. G'night, see you around five then."

As Clark closed his eyes Anya spoke up, "Mr. Clark?"

"Umm," he answered noncommittally.

"I just want to tell you, I thought that what you did with James Cutter was just beautiful, it was a work of art."

"Are you people STILL following me around?" John asked, shocked at the concept.

"Only when you get mad," Anya replied.

Clark let his head slump back onto the pillow, "One thing I don't understand, if this D'Hoffryn is so interested in me that he is still following me around, how come he's never tried to recruit me himself?"

"He can't, it's against the rules," Anya explained.

"Huh?" John asked, looking back in the direction of the ex-vengeance demon.

"If you had used magic, it would not have been a problem, he could have just walked up to you, that's how he recruited me. I had a boyfriend that was always cheating on me, so I turned him into a troll. Anyway, if you had asked either the higher or lower powers for help, he would have had an in. But because you did it the hard way, all he could do is follow you around and hope that you put in a prayer. Why?" Pushing herself up, getting very interested, "Would you be interested in becoming a vengeance demon? If you where we could say that I talked you into it, that would get me off D'Hoffryn's someone to kill list," Anya finished, getting excited.

"I'm sorry Anya, but I don't think my wife would appreciate a change of career's at this late date," Clark told her, then thinking about it, "Do you mean that this demon lord still wants me to work for him?"

"Oh yes," Anya said, "I think the only person he wants more is Willow." A sound started coming from the direction of Ding's sleeping bag.

Clark glared in the direction the sound was coming from. "You better be coughing over there Ding," he growled.

"Oh yeah, allergies John, you know how I have them," Ding said, laughter in his voice.

"So you are still married John?" Anya queried.

"Yes. Quite happily, too," Clark replied.

"Darn," Anya said with real feeling, "How bout Ding?"

The sound from the direction of Ding's sleeping bag abruptly choked off.

"He's my son-in-law," Clark told her.

"I'm going to die an old maid," moaned Anya as she slumped back onto the couch.

Riley finished his first tour of the house and settled down on a chair next to the front door where he could look out the windows on the side of the door. Making himself comfortable he settled in for his watch. Peace descended on the Summers' home; it was the last time that would happen for a long period of time.

*****

Chapter 11

"General Clark?" the voice said. John Clark jerked awake and looked around, not immediately recognizing where he was. When he saw Riley standing just out of reach he grunted, "I'm up."

"Fifteen minutes till your watch, General," Riley informed Clark as he crawled out of his sleeping bag.

"Thanks." He headed up the stairs to use the bathroom and splash some water on his face. Once he was finished, he came back down the stairs and found Riley in the kitchen pouring a mug of coffee for him.

"Buffy got back in about 0200. She said that she hadn't run into anything else on patrol," Riley told him as he handed over the mug. "She got the coffee stuff out before she went off to bed."

"I'm really starting to like that girl," Clark said as he took the mug and tasted the brew. Turning to Riley he asked, "Got a couple of minutes?"

"Sure," Riley responded.

"I have a couple of questions on what went down tonight that I thought you might be able to answer."

"I'll try," Riley said as he poured himself a mug and added milk to it.

"Willow," Clark began.

"When Sam and I pursued the Suvolte Demon here, she had said that she had picked up a magic addiction and had quit cold turkey. You have to understand how impressive that is. We had two shamans down in Mexico that had gotten addicted and neither was able to overcome it; the addiction killed them," Riley explained. "When Tara was killed, Willow must of gone nuts and supercharged herself. Normally, no one should be able to hit that kind of power level. Rituals by groups of magic users are usually required to manipulate that sort of power."

"We need to consider some contingencies if she becomes dangerous," Clark said.

"Contingencies?" Riley asked. "If you want to deal with her, then on watch tonight, go into her room, stand at the foot of her bed, and put a bullet through her brain. She was upset tonight. She may not have placed any wards on her room."

Clark stared at him for a second; then he was right in Riley's face, his eyes almost glowing. "I don't know what you may have heard about me, Captain Finn," he growled. "But I don't murder young women in their beds."

Riley took a step back. "You asked for a contingency, General Clark," he growled right back. "If Willow has half the power that I think she has, by the time we realize we have a problem, Willow will be playing in a whole different league. If you want to do anything about her, tonight's the night."

Clark put his mug down. "Let me rephrase that then. Do you think we NEED to do anything about her?"

Riley didn't hesitate. "If Willow was a threat then Buffy would have taken care of it. You heard them tonight; Buffy was perfectly willing to kill Anya when Buffy perceived that she had become a threat. Buffy takes her duty as Slayer seriously."

"What are the chances that she has cast a spell on them so that they don't view her as a threat?" Clark asked.

Riley considered that for a couple of seconds, "Doubtful. If she were charming people, I have to believe she would have done us, too, especially after the outburst that she did at the table tonight. I don't think that there is a threat, but I could be wrong. I have seen Buffy and Xander under someone's thrall, they are not acting like that now."

"How would they be acting if they where?" Clark asked.

"Much more ubiquitous to Willow than they are," Riley answered.

"Alright, we will assume that we are operating with free will," Clark said. "The person who has to make this call is a little over my pay grade anyway." Taking another drink from the mug, he calmed himself down a little more, and then asked, "Spike?"

Riley took a breath too, and then began, "I'm not the one to ask about Spike. I'm not an objective observer."

"I don't have anyone else I can ask. I'll remember that it might be tainted," Clark informed him.

Nodding Riley began, "The Initiative caught Spike just before Thanksgiving in 2000. He had been in town that year once before, but we weren't able to catch him. We had him in detention, and Dr. Walsh implanted a behavior modification chip in his brain. With it in Spike should be unable to harm humans, the chip will cause crippling pain if he tries."

"This is the chip you mentioned when the subject came up tonight?" Clark asked.

"Yes," Riley confirmed. Going on, "He managed to escape after three or four days in captivity. Somehow he connected with Buffy and the Scoobies. I became aware of his being with them right after I found out something rotten was going on with the Initiative. This did not do good things for my peace of mind."

Clark nodded, understanding.

"Spike was actually on the other side during most of the conflict with Adam. Adam apparently had offered to remove his chip. When Spike finally figured out that Adam was going to kill him too, he came over and helped us in the last battle at the lab. Over that summer he didn't hang around much. If he got bored he would go on patrol with Buffy, so he could beat something up; the chip allowed him to attack other demons. Other than that, he barely budged out of his crypt," Riley took a long pull off his mug, finishing it. He put the mug in the sink and gathered himself a little. He then unbuttoned his shirt and rolled up his sleeve.

When he held out his arm Clark saw a series of scars on his forearm. "Right before I left Sunnydale I started offering myself as a donor to the local vamps, I'm not sure why, maybe to experience a little of what Buffy had gone through," he said quietly shaking his head. "At first anyway, after a little while the rush was addictive. Buffy found out. I think Spike told her but I can't prove it. She took the nest apart. It was one of the final straws in our relationship."

Clark was shocked; Riley let himself be fed upon? "Is this still going to be a problem?" he asked.

"No, once I stopped I never felt the urge to do it again," Riley assured him. "When Sam and I followed the Suvolte demon here Sam found that someone had raided the nest and stolen the eggs. We knew that there was a black market operator in the area called 'The Doctor'. Buffy said she would hit her sources. I had some that were still in the area. I went and found out what they knew. Through them I found out that 'The Doctor' was Spike. When I broke into his crypt with every intention of dusting him; I found him and Buffy in bed together," he stopped there again for a second. Then went on, "Buffy didn't want to believe at first that Spike was who we were looking for, but a trip to his basement proved that he was. Unfortunately Spike didn't know how to keep Suvolte eggs safely and they hatched on us. Buffy and I darn near got killed stopping them. We ended up having to kill them all off which made General Billingsly and the oversight committee unhappy because they wanted a sample."

"I thought that the science end of the Initiative had been shut down," Clark asked.

"Suvolte eggs keep indefinitely if kept refrigerated," Riley explained. "We had hoped to be able to restart the science section within a year."

"Would Spike having a soul make that much difference? I've know plenty of people that reputably have a soul that where absolute monsters," Clark said.

Riley shrugged, "As far as I know there is only one other vampire with a soul. I met him once. If that was him with a soul I would truly hate to run into him without one."

"Which side is this souled vampire on?" Clark questioned.

"Supposedly ours," Riley returned somewhat taciturnly.

"Let me guess, another Buffy former flame?" Clark asked Riley, a small smile at the corners of his lips.

"All right, yes," Riley supplied reluctantly. "The vampire was Buffy's boyfriend for her first year here, most of the second, and her third," Riley supplied.

"What happened in the second year to break them up?" Clark asked.

"He lost his soul," Riley said.

Clark raised an eyebrow as an invitation for Riley to go on.

"Buffy and Angel, that's the vamp's name, had sex. It seems the curse that gave him his soul had a rider. If he was ever truly happy, poof, no more soul."

Clark frowned, "How is having a soul a course?"

"Imagine doing the most horrible things imaginable, enjoying the hell out of doing them, then suddenly feeling the guilt associated with the act," Riley shrugged. "Sounds like a curse to me," he opinioned.

"Okay, we'll hold off on Spike for a while," Clark said. "Xander?"

"One thing about Spike before we move on. Buffy, if she can find him, will try for a rescue. I think we need to support her. If necessary we can always dust Spike at a later date."

"You'd do this to get on Buffy's good side?" Clark asked.

"I would do it to keep her from getting killed again. Once is enough as far as I'm concerned," Riley responded." Going on, "Xander is hard to describe. He comes across as a goof or a clown, but he is someone that's worth having at your back in a fight."

"I didn't have too much of a doubt of that," Clark told him. "The timing on his diversion on the porch was perfect, if we had guns on Buffy, she would have been able to take us down while we were distracted. His timing, so that our eyes had been blinded by the porch light, was just icing."

Riley was relived that Clark had spotted that; he had been concerned that he would have to convince the General that Xander was worth keeping around.

"He put himself at risk, too. He could have been shot before Buffy could do anything," Clark continued. "What I am concerned about though, is his commitment. Will he stick? Or will he duck out on us the way he ducked out on Anya?"

"Xander will stay the course. If anything, we will have to keep up with him," Riley assured him. "I never had any doubt about his dedication. I know that he has had woman trouble in the past, so his troubles with Anya seem to be a continuation of that pattern. When it comes to fighting he will be there."

"Okay Riley. Thanks for answering my questions, get some sleep," Clark ordered the younger man. "I have a feeling that tomorrow will be a busy day."

"Yes Sir," Riley headed out of the room. At the doorway he hesitated as if he was going to add something, but shock his head and went into the living room.

Clark went through the house, learning its layout, and picking up its noises. Once he was sure he would know if something changed in the house, he went back to the kitchen and poured out the rest of the coffee that Riley had made. 'The Army just doesn't know how to make coffee,' he thought to himself. Searching Buffy's cabinets, he quickly discovered that neither did the Slayer.

Sighing, he contented himself with making a strong batch of coffee. As it was brewing, he went back upstairs to the window he had picked out as his main lookout. He didn't want to stay in the same place that Riley had used. When he thought the coffee was done, he went downstairs, and poured himself a mug. Taking a sip, he let the hot liquid pour down his throat. It wasn't black gang coffee, but it was strong, which is what he was looking for.

Nothing happened for the first hour of his watch. As he walked past the living room around three, a voice came out of the darkness, "Excuse me? I need to go the bathroom, and I am very thirsty."

Clark peered into the room and saw that Andrew had regained conciseness. Entering the room, he walked over to the figure tied to the chair. "Will I have any trouble from you?" he asked.

"Ah…er…No," the boy in the chair said, looking up at the large man scowling down at him. "I just need to relieve myself."

Clark just grunted. He reached down and undid the knots that held one of Andrews's arms to the chair. "You can get yourself loose the rest of the way," he instructed him, bringing the MPK around to cover Andrew.

Andrew awkwardly got his other arm untied, and then undid his ankles. Andrew had no clue who this large person was; he had a cool submachine gun though. "Can I get up now?" he asked, trying to appear as cooperative as possible.

Motioning with the gun, Clark instructed him to get up and precede him up the stairs. Andrew did as he was instructed, "I'm Andrew Wells by the way, and you are?"

"The man with the gun who is letting you use the head," Clark responded.

"I don't know what they told you about me, but I think I should tell you that it is mostly not true. They don't like me, you see," Andrew told Clark.

"Tell me your side then," Clark ordered him.

"Okay most of the stuff up till they broke us out of jail was true," Andrew began. Reaching the bathroom door Andrew went to close it, only to be stopped by Clark's foot. "You're going to make me leave the door open?" Andrew asked.

"Unless you want me to tie you to the toilet seat," Clark replied.

"That's okay," Andrew hastily assured him.

"So anyway," Andrew continued, as he sat down on the toilet. "We were down in Mexico, when we got these joint dreams about how to close the Hellmouth. We thought that if we could do this maybe Buffy wouldn't be so hot to hurt us anymore. When we got here though we were attacked by demons. Jonathan and I were doing pretty good fighting, back to back. I turned around to tell him that when I saw this huge demon behind me! So I stabbed it. But it was a trick; The First had put glamour on Jonathan to make him look like a demon. I had killed my best friend, so I ran." Andrew finished his story the same time that he finished his business. Stopping by the sink, he drank several glasses of water.

Clark let him finish, then asked, "If you were running, why were you in a butcher shop buying blood?"

"Ah…" Andrew began.

"I'd make an effort to have a better story, kid. Cheer up though, you may be one of the few people that can actually use the 'Devil made me do it' defense," Clark told him. He then took a step back and motioned for Andrew to precede him back down the stairs.

Once they got back into the living room Clark looked at the flimsy director's chair that Andrew had been tied to and sighed. Turning to the young man he asked, "Andrew, how would you like to spend the rest of the night laying down?"

Andrew looked the ruggedly handsome John Clark over and said, "Well, sure, that would be great."

"Okay," Clark said trying to remember where he had seen that coil of rope. Motioning for Andrew to go first, he found the rope hanging on the basement door. Returning to the living room Clark had Andrew turn around. Clark threw two loops around Andrew's upper arms, tied a set of rope handcuffs around Andrews wrists, he helped him lay down, finally he tied Andrew's ankles and knees.

Clark then went up stairs, found Buffy's linen closet, and retrieved a blanket and pillow. He went down stairs, made sure that Andrew was covered, and then returned to his patrol.

After he assured himself that nothing had snuck in while he was dealing with Andrew, Mr. Clark poured himself another mug of coffee and went back to his chair in the upstairs hallway. He sat there sipping from his mug and watching the street. Nothing of interest was happening, so he leaned back into the chair and let his ears be his first line of defense. Looking at the doors that led off the hallway, he thought of the young redhead that was sleeping behind one of them. He wondered what kind of dreams she was having? Laying there, feeling the weight of almost having the blood of the world on her hands. Almost involuntarily John Clarks thoughts went to a man named Ibrahim Ghosn; he ruthlessly pushed them back down.

A door half way down the hallway opened and a blond head stuck out into the hall. "Do you want to talk?" Buffy asked him.

"Always," John responded. "Shouldn't you be getting sleep though? It sounded like you have a major day planned tomorrow, plus you had that fight tonight."

"I only need about half the sleep that other people need, and tonight wasn't much of a work out," Buffy responded as she came down the hall.

"What do you want to talk about?" Clark asked, getting the ball rolling.

"I thought that since we are the leaders, it might be a good idea to set up some ground rules," Buffy said.

"Not a bad idea," Clark replied.

"What exactly are you planning to do?" Buffy asked, as she leaned against the wall near where Clark was sitting.

"My orders are to defend the Hellmouth. That just got a lot harder since there is a school on top of it. Plus since Billingsly is planning on ending the word, I don't think that having a school there will slow him down at all. Once we get the defenses set up, then I would like to help you out, anyway we can," Clark told her.

"How soon do you think he will make his move?" Buffy wondered.

"I don't know, how hard is it to open the Hellmouth?" Clark responded.

"Depends on how he is planning to do it," Buffy replied. "I haven't seen anyone use the same method twice, so there are a lot of different ways it can be done. We can do some research to find out what way is easiest for them. I never went into the study end that much, that was Giles and the Scoobies department."

"Union rules?" Clark joked.

"Yep, they find out what it is, and I take it apart," Buffy smiled at him.

"I guess we have to wait for the brain trust to wake up then," Clark smiled back. Then continued, "As for when they will try? I would think a week would be the earliest they could. So I want all my people to be here by Tuesday at the latest. So we can get them up to speed," Clark explained. Buffy nodded.

"Andrew woke up about 30 minutes ago," Clark told her. "He had to use the head, and I let him get a drink. I tied him up again, but I tied him so he could lay down."

"Thanks," Buffy said.

"What are you planning to do with him?" Clark asked.

"I don't know. We can't just let him go," she answered.

"Why not just turn him over to the local police? He is a fugitive," Clark wanted to know.

"We would have to explain how we got him. Last I heard it's illegal to harbor a fugitive, let alone kidnap one. Plus I don't trust the local cops; I've had a couple run in with them. I'm also afraid that The First will find some way to get someone to kill him. Same thing if we just let him go; it would be like throwing a baby duck into a pool filled with piranha," Buffy told Clark.

"Pike," Clark corrected.

"Pardon?" Buffy looked at him, confused.

"Northern Pike. It's a fish that's nastier than piranha," Clark explained.

"I'll take your word for it," Buffy replied.

"I will be talking to my FBI contact as soon as Ding relives me. How about I ask him to send someone up from Los Angeles to take Andrew off of your hands?" Clark asked Buffy.

"It would be nice to get him out of the house. If your contact would do that, it would be great," Buffy told him. Suddenly Buffy got a nervous expression on her face, "Uh, if you could forget mentioning the whole kidnapping thing to the FBI that would be even better."

"No problem, I'll just tell him that you apprehended Andrew. Dan Murray is a pretty good guy though, I think he would understand," Clark informed her.

"Who's he?" Buffy questioned.

"He's the director of the FBI," Clark told Buffy, enjoying her expression.

"Yeah that would be a real good idea, not telling him how long we have had Andrew in the house," Buffy readily agreed.

"You're working two jobs to make ends meet?" Clark asked Buffy, changing the subject.

Buffy slightly confused with the switch responded, "Yeah, I work at the Double Meat Palace, and I go in part time as a councilor at the high school. Why?"

"I'd like to hire you to help train my men in what to expect in the area. My team is so small I can't afford to lose someone to the local wildlife," Clark explained.

"It will be tight," Buffy said. Thinking of her packed schedule, "How much are you willing to pay?"

"Two hundred, if that's all right," Clark responded. He could afford that out of unit funds.

"That would be alright. I can always use the cash. If you want the training to go on much more than a week though I would like more," Buffy informed him.

"Ms. Summers, I think you misunderstand. I meant two hundred an hour," Clark told her. Buffy slid down the wall, landing on her but.

"You want to pay me two hundred dollars an HOUR to train your people?" Buffy asked, convinced that she had not heard right.

"Don't you think it's a fair amount?" Clark asked.

Buffy hurriedly reassured him, "Oh no! That's perfectly acceptable. How much training do you want them to have?" Buffy asked.

"Initially I thought if you can find Spike tomorrow, we could use his rescue as a training mission for the team. If not, then maybe we can do a sweep of the high schools basement. After that, I'd like them to be trained at least 2 hours a day. Get them used to what they may be called on to fight."

"Okay, that should be fine. Do you think that this job might still be open once you stop Billingme?" Buffy said.

Clark was confused, "Billing you? What would we be billing you for?"

Buffy blushed, "Sorry I butcher names a lot, this other General I mean."

"It should be," Clark told her.

"Okay, I'm going to put my two weeks in at DMP tomorrow. I will be earning as much in an hour as I would in a week there," Buffy said. "Thanks."

"Don't thank me, Ms. Summers. What I am offering you is what I can afford," Clark told her. "I always believe in getting the best, you certainly qualify.

Buffy blushed, "Could you do me a favor and call me Buffy? Every time you say Ms. Summers I turn around looking for my mom," Buffy requested a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Buffy," Clark agreed.

Buffy got up off the floor, "I think that I am going back to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night, Buffy," Clark said to her.

Clark went back downstairs, finished up the last of the coffee he had made, and then made a fresh pot that did not so much resemble paint remover. He then did one final tour of the house, returned to his upstairs station, and waited till it was time to wake Ding to relive him.

Fifteen minutes before he was to take over the watch Clark went downstairs, entered the living room, and whispered, "Ding."

Ding's eyes instantly snapped open and he looked around the room. Orienting himself he raised himself in the sleeping bag. "Good morning, John," he told his father-in-law as he crawled out of the bag.

"Everything is quiet," Clark told him. Ding nodded and started up the stairs Clark followed him.

"Buffy got in about 0200, nothing new to report," Clark briefed the younger man as he went into the head. "Andrew woke up about an hour ago, I let him use the head, and got him a drink. I tied him up on the floor so he could lay down."

"Also I assume to make it a little more difficult for him to escape?" Ding asked as he rinsed his mouth out.

"Yeah, I'm going to see if Dan can send someone not local to take Mr. Wells off our hands," Clark told his son-in-law.

"Okay, I'll keep an eye on him," Ding said. Then turning to Clark, "You stand relieved."

"Okay, I want to check in with Dan before I go back to bed," Clark said.

Going down to the kitchen, Clark hung his MPK on the back of a chair and pulled out his cell phone. Pressing one of the speed dial buttons he only had to wait one ring. "Murray," the voice on the other side of the line said.

"Dan, its John Clark," John said into the phone.

The voice on the other end sounded surprised, "What are you doing up? I thought chiefs didn't have to stand watch.

"When the chief in question only has two Indians, adjustments must be made," Clark told Dan.

"Didn't find the Slayer, huh?" Dan asked.

"No we found her. I'm calling from her kitchen," Clark said as he took another sip of coffee.

"Standing joint watches?" Dan inquired.

"Nope, Buffy doesn't believe in them," Clark told him. "Standing watches allows us to sleep a little better though."

"Whatever works," Dan said. "John, I have some bad news. There has been a terrorist strike in London. Someone blew up one of their social clubs. Early indication is that the death toll will be over a hundred. It's my understanding that the place is just a hole in the ground. The British Government has requested that we hold the second Rainbow team in England on the chance that this is the opening move of a terrorist group. Jack was forced to do it.

"It's not total gloom and doom though. Tony's people went through Billingsly's personal records. He seems to have had a real problem with joint operations. The Initiative that he put together after Sunnydale was a pure Army operation. If you need support before Team One can get over, it looks like we can pull a SEAL Team Two out of San Diego."

"That would be great Dan. I'll let you know if we need them. Could you find out what their ETA would be if we needed them in a hurry, please," Clark said.

"Okay, no problem. Now please brief me on what went on tonight there," Murray ordered him.

Clark started with LAX and worked him through getting to Sunnydale. Murray requested that they skip what was discussed in the car, telling him that Riley had probably covered that in his briefing earlier in the day. He did request that John include as much as he could remember in his report though, in case Riley had mentioned something he had skipped briefing the President. When Clark got to finding Buffy in the graveyard, Murray wanted details. He was impressed by Buffy's prowess, and glad that neither Clark nor Ding was seriously hurt in the subsequent fight. Clark finished his briefing by telling Dan what had been talked about once they got back to Buffy's place. He did not mention that Willow had tried to end the world last May. He planned to call Jack later that day and discuss the situation directly with him.

"Okay let me get this straight, you have Lucifer wandering around out there?" Murray asked Clark, after he had explained about The First.

"If what I understand correctly this isn't him. It's either what gave Lucifer the idea to rebel, or the idea itself. I'm not sure which. All it claims is that it is the first evil that ever was," Clark corrected him.

"Great we have things lining up to end the world," Murray grossed.

"From what I've been told by the locals it's pretty common for that to happen. Billingsly might be in for a bit of a shock, especially if this First thing doesn't like to share. I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't play well with others either," Clark said into the phone.

Murray chuckled, "I hope your right. It would be nice if they took each other out."

"Doubt that'll happen. I would settle for one trashing the other," Clark said. "I put Ms. Summers on the payroll tonight," he told the man with the checkbook.

"How much will she cost us?" Murray returned.

"I got her for training the troops when they get here for two hundred dollars an hour. I'd like to put her on retainer too," Clark told him.

"She only wants two hundred an hour?" Murray asked somewhat shocked, he wished that some of the other independent contractors he was forced to use were as reasonable.

"She thought that I meant two hundred, period," Clark explained, "She is after all working for minimum wage, you should have seen her face when she realized I was serious."

"How much of a retainer do you want to have for her?" Murray asked.

"I'd like a thousand a week. If I go higher, I'm afraid she might think we're trying to bribe her. When it comes time to renegotiate she will probably request more," Clark explained.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," Murray told him.

"One other thing. Buffy has a house guest currently," Clark started.

"Okay, what does that have to do with me?" Murray wanted to know.

"They caught him when he came back to town. He's a fugitive; he was working for The First when they caught him, now I'm not too sure. His name is Andrew Wells," Clark told the director of the FBI.

"Let me check," Murray said into the phone. The sound of computer keys could be heard in the background. "Here we go, Andrew Wells, escaped from custody last May. Wanted for attempted robbery of an amusement park. Believed to be traveling with one Jonathan Levenson. Why is that name familiar?" Murray finished, puzzlement evident in his voice.

"Riley says it's better not to go there," Clark responded. The name was familiar to him, too.

"Okay," Murray agreed, "Any sign of the other one?" It would be a feather in the cap of the FBI if they could nab a couple of escaped prisoners.

"He's dead," Clark, informed him, "Apparently The First talked Andrew into killing him."

"Add Murder One to the rap sheet," Dan made a note. "Why don't they just turn him over to the locals?"

"Buffy has had some bad experiences with them. Plus she's afraid that The First would be able to influence someone into killing him," Clark explained.

"Okay, Pat O'Day is in San Francisco right now working a serial killer case. They're going nowhere right now, so why don't I have him come down there, and transport the prisoner for you?" Murray offered. "I have a request though. While Pat is in town I would like him to check out the local office. I went through their reports and they seem to have completely missed the more unusual aspects of the town. I need to know if this is just because they are incompetent or if they are dirty. I would appreciate if you and Ding could backstop him in case they are dirty."

"Sure," Clark replied. "Happy to help."

"Okay then, I'll let you get back to sleep. Unless there is something else?" Murray said.

"One more thing. Willow tonight indicated that she had killed two people last year. I got the impression that those might not be the only crime that they have committed," Clark informed Murray.

"Circumstances?" Murray questioned.

"One of the deceased had killed Willow's lover, Tara Maclay. Willow apparently hunted him down and killed him. The other was a pusher named Rack. Willow killed him by draining him of his magic when she ran low. Buffy seems to think, and Riley concurs, that this was a case of temporary insanity, a combination of Ms. Maclay's demise and absorbing a large amount of magical energy. Buffy informed us that Ms. Rosenberg traveled to England over the summer and was taught by some witches there to control her magic."

"Damn," Dan said with feeling. "I'm going to have to go to Jack with this one, John. How dangerous do you think she is?"

"Riley said that if she were a threat Buffy would have dealt with it," Clark reassured him. "He probably has a point. One of her group reverted back to being a vengeance demon. When there started to be a body count Buffy tried to kill her."

"Body count?" Murray asked alarmed.

"She fixed it. Her ex-boss is trying to kill her though. She is currently camped out on Buffy's sofa," Clark finished.

"Okay. What's a vengeance demon?" Murray asked.

"I don't want to talk about them," Clark replied.

"Okay then, goodnight," Dan said, wondering what had Clark worked up on that subject.

"And a good morning to you, too, Dan," Clark replied. "Goodbye."

Clark put his cell away, then went to the sink and rinsed his mug. Walking back toward the living room and some more sleep, he found Ding sitting in a chair in the dinning room. He was situated so that anyone coming through the front door would have it between Ding and them. Ding had placed his MPK on the dinning room table and had a mug of coffee in hand. "Good night John," he said. "Any time you want to be up?"

"Nine, if I'm not up by then," Clark said. Then going on, "Dan Murray is sending Pat down to take care of Andrew. He's going to be transporting him to LA." Ding just nodded.

Clark returned to his sleeping bag and crawled in. Despite the coffee he had drunken on his watch he fell asleep almost instantly. An indeterminate time later he was awakened by a combination of the throbbing in his hand and the smell of food coming from the kitchen.

Crawling out of the sleeping bag Clark saw that, with the exception of Andrew, he was the last person up. He started toward the kitchen where those wonderful smells were coming from. His nose told him that it involved eggs, sausage, and something he thought might be salsa. As he headed toward the kitchen, he noticed Ding sitting at the dinning room table mopping his plate with a piece of toast. "Try this Mr. C," he said, "Willow is a wicked cook."

Clark nodded as he continued toward the kitchen. Anya was coming down stairs still in her night gown. "I'll go out and get the paper," she yawned.

Clark nodded his greeting as she went past him. He got to the kitchen and found Buffy and Riley sitting at the table talking quietly while they ate. Willow was at the stove, her back to him. He was about to greet everyone when he was interrupted by Anya's scream of terror from the front porch!

*****

Chapter 12

1630 Revello Dr.
Sunnydale Ca
26Oct2002 - 0740 Hours

Ding Chavez exploded out of his chair, grabbing his MPK as he went. John Clark was starting to turn to get his gun when he noticed that Willow was still making food, Buffy calmly put another fork of her breakfast into her mouth, and Riley was taking a sip of coffee. He cocked an eyebrow at them in question.

Buffy smiled, "There is only one thing in the world that Anya is that scared of that would be in my front yard at this time of the morning."

"What?" Clark asked. He could not imagine what could scare an ex-vengeance demon that much, yet not be a threat.

*****

Ding dived out of the front door. It was stupid, and he knew it; if someone were waiting in ambush he would be easy meat. So he kept low, and rolled so he was below the banister and bushes in front of the house. Anya was shimming up a column; she looked like she was trying to get on to the roof. Movement out on the lawn caught his eye as several tiny brown forms went ripping around the hedge. "Shoot them!" Anya was screaming, "Turn them into hasenpfeffer!"

"The rabbits?" Ding asked.

"Yes! The Rabbits!!" Anya screamed.

"Those were demon bunnies?" Ding asked very confused. Anya looked at him like he had grown a second head.

*****

"Bunnies?" Clark asked, not believing it.

"Yep," Buffy confirmed.

"Do you know why?" Clark wondered.

"There are things that man was not meant to know," was all Buffy would say.

*****

As Ding helped Anya down off the porch railing neither noticed that across the street a slim black-gloved hand pushed a curtain aside. "What is it?" a voice asked in Egyptian.

"Nothing. Something frightened the vengeance demon. Our target seems to have picked up armed retainers though," a female voice answered in the same tongue.

"Will this change our plans?" the first voice asked, concerned.

"No. We will go on as planned, return to your work," The females voice ordered. Once she was alone again, she said, "Soon my love, soon." The hand was removed, and the curtain fell back into place.

*****

Back in the Summers' house. "Could you keep it down? Some of us are still trying to sleep," a tired voice said from upstairs.

"Yeah," another voice agreed from the living room.

"You be quiet," Buffy told Andrew. "And it's time that you are up anyway, Dawn. Remember, we are running today," Buffy then told her sister.

"Ugh!" Dawn grunted with feeling," I was trying to forget."

Ding was helping Anya back into the house as this exchange was going on. He helped her into a chair and took a proffered glass of orange juice from Willow to give to Anya.

"I'll go and get my PT gear on, too," he said heading for his stuff. As he was leaving the kitchen he said quietly to himself, "Rabbits, who would of thought?"

John set down at the table too. Willow put a plate of eggs and a couple of pieces of toast down in front of him. "You want some too Anya?" she asked the ex-vengeance demon.

"Please," Anya said shakily. Then to the others she said, "You can laugh, but you don't know bunnies the way I do."

The others for their part concentrated on eating. Once they were mostly done Clark said to Buffy, "I talked to my contact last night about your salary."

"He wanted you to cut it down, didn't he?" Buffy asked. She knew that had been too good to be true.

"No, he had no problem with it," he said. Buffy just blinked. "In fact he authorized me to put you on retainer."

"Isn't that what you did last night?" Buffy questioned.

"No, I hired you for a job last night. Retainer means that we have first call on your services, if we need you," Clark explained.

"How much will this retainer be?" Buffy asked.

"One thousand dollars a week," Clark told her. Buffy just blinked at him again. "Buffy?" Clark asked, concerned.

"You want to pay me a thousand a week, just to be available?" Really not believing what she was being told.

"See?" Anya told Buffy. "I told you that you should charge for your services. But does anyone ever listen to me?"

"Buffy," Riley said after Anya finished, "Lawyers and such often get huge retainers just so they are available, if someone needs them."

"I'm not a lawyer," Buffy protested.

"But you provide a unique service," Clark told her.

"What would I have to do to get this money?" Buffy asked him.

"Just be available if we need you," Clark told her.

"I can't guarantee that I'll be able to drop everything and come," Buffy told Clark.

"I understand, but since we will both be operating around the Hellmouth for the foreseeable future, I think that we would already be involved with any problem big enough for that."

"Okay, so I'll get a thousand a week for helping train your guys," Buffy agreed.

"Uh, no Buffy," Riley corrected her. "You will still get paid your normal hourly rate when ever you actually do anything."

Buffy looked nonplused, Anya only looked smug.

For the next couple of minutes the group ate. While they were eating, they exchange what part of their life stories they felt comfortable in sharing. Willow eventually sitting down and enjoying her own breakfast after putting a plate down in front of Anya.

Clark finished up his eggs and said to Willow, "That was a great breakfast."

Willow blushed, "Thanks."

"When Willow screws up she apologizes with food," Buffy explained. "It used to be just baked goods but Willow has expanded her repertoire."

Clark nodded. Privately he hoped that Willow would stick her foot in her mouth a couple of more times before they had to leave.

Dawn came bouncing into the kitchen. She was dressed in a Sunnydale High School gym outfit in maroon and gold. "What's for breakfast?" she asked.

"Eggs, salsa, and sausage," Willow told the teenager as she got up.

"Great!" Dawn replied sitting down.

Ding came down wearing a pair of olive drab gym shorts, a green T-shirt that said 'US Army' on it, and a pair of sneakers. He leaned against the door jam of the kitchen and watched Dawn demolish her eggs with the gusto of a teenager that hadn't eaten in a couple of hours.

Once Dawn was done Buffy got up and Ding saw that she was already dressed, wearing a white tank top, blue shorts, and sneakers. "Okay, we'll give Dawn a couple of minutes to digest what she just inhaled, then we'll go."

Ding nodded, "Would it be possible to take a run by the High School? I'd like to take a look at it."

Buffy agreed, "Sure. It's a little farther than I usually run with Dawn, but the extra distance will do her some good."

Dawn just muttered something about sadists.

They were just heading for the door when the bell rang. Buffy, being closest opened the door and found an Indian on the front porch in a Forest Ranger uniform.

"Yes?" she asked him.

"I'm looking for Buffy Summers," he returned.

"You found her," Buffy replied. "Can I help you?"

"You can if you really are the Slayer," was the answer.

*****

Rick's Sports Bar
Annapolis, MA
26Oct2002 - 1105 Hours

Bob Holtzman walked into the bar and spotted whom he was meeting with immediately. The man was large, both in height and girth. He had thinning sandy hair, and had not shaved that morning. He was sitting at the bar with a halve empty mug of beer and an empty shot glass in front of him. Also in font of him was a plate with a large bacon cheeseburger, dripping with mayo, ketchup, and mustard. Next to the burger plate was a saucer with a halve dozen pickled eggs. A plate of buffalo wings and another of french fries covered with gravy completed the gastronomic feast. Holtzman's cholesterol went up just from being in proximity of the food.

The seat next to the man was open and Holtzman sat down on it. The man looked over and a smile came to his face, "Hey Mr. H, good to see yah. Can you stay for the game? The Academy is playing today."

"'Fraid not Pete," Holtzman told him. "Have some stuff I still need to do at the paper."

"You should get a better union," Pete said, shaking his head.

"I'll see what I can do that way," Bob assured him. "What do you have for me?"

The Bartender came over then and Holtzman ordered a ginger ale.

"I was at work last night and I spotted two of the guy's you wanted me to look out for," Pete told him. Pete Cruvell worked at Andrews AFB as a baggage handler. He was a disgusting and disagreeable person. He did have one talent though, you could show him a photo and he would be able to spot that person every time. Holtzman used him to keep track of who was using Andrews.

"Which ones?" Holtzman asked.

The bartender returned with Holtzman's drink and placed it down in front of him.

"The big one with the spic partner," was the reply as he finished the beer and waved to the bartender for another.

Holtzman didn't bother to correct the slur, as far he knew there wasn't an ethnic group that Pete did like. "Where where they heading?"

"California. They were in a VC-20. They sat on the tarmac for something like two hours waiting though," he told the reporter.

"What were they waiting for?" Holtzman questioned.

"Two people, a blond guy and a red-headed woman," Cruvell said as he picked up a wing and stripped the flesh off of it with one slurp.

Bob Holtzman, never a big believer in coincidence, opened up his briefcase, and took out a copy of the picture that he had snapped the day before. "Is this them?" he asked.

Pete wiped off his hand and took the picture, "Yeah, that could be him, but it's definitely her. Oh yeah there was something delivered to them while they were waiting. I went over to help but the delivery person said they didn't need any. The car had a Quantico sticker on it. They were putting silver suitcases into the hold of the plane."

"Good job, Pete," Holtzman told him. He opened his wallet, pulled four fifty-dollar bills out of it, and put them on the bar next to Pete. Motioning to the bartender he took a fifth fifty out and waving over Pete's feast he laid that on the bar too. The barkeep nodded that he understood and came over and picked up the bill.

"Sure you don't want to watch the game Mr. H? Going to be a good one."

"Thanks Pete, but I got to get going," he told the informant.

"Okay Mr. H, pleasure doing business with you," Cruvell said, already turning back to the TV, hand reaching for a pickled egg.

Holtzman left the bar and returned to his car. As he waited for the car to warm up he pulled the picture out and looked at it, "All right Mr. Finn, lets find out who your lovely companion is."

Holtzman had found the blond easily enough. Riley Finn was in the West Point '96 yearbook, where 2nd Lieutenant Riley Finn had graduated number 4 in his class. He had then gone on to Ranger School, then to Special Forces School. Both of which he had graduated at the top of his class. Riley Finn had then disappeared off the face of the Earth. Which told Holtzman that Lieutenant Finn had been gobbled up by one of the various black-ops units that existed inside the US Military.

He had been unable to place the redhead at all, though. Fortunately the Post had recently installed some face recognition technology. He hoped that when he scanned in the picture he had that he would get a name to go with the face.

He pulled into the Post's parking garage a little over an hour later and parked in his space. Being a featured columnist had its perks. He rode the elevator up to the floor his office was on. He picked up his mail and headed for it. Sitting down he logged onto his computer and warmed up the scanner. He scanned the picture he had snapped into the computer, cropped the mystery woman out of the photo, and fed it into the face recognition software.

He decided to check out what was new with the London bombing, so he headed down to the duty desk. It was manned twenty-four hours a day and the person who sat there's sole job was to check the wire services.

"Anything new on the London bombing?" he asked the intern at the desk.

"Not much, Mr. Holtzman. They finally got the fires out, and they are starting to look for bodies. I did some research on the club though. Exclusive isn't the word for it. As far as I can tell the only way to join is to be born into a member's family. It was old, too. Founded back in the 1690's."

Holtzman considered a moment the death of something that was older than the US. "Anything interesting about the club itself? Like why someone would want to blow it up?"

"Interesting that you should mention that. I did a net search and got a couple hits on a site check it out," so saying he hit a couple of keys on his computer and displayed a page.

Holtzman read the page as it opened, 'Bernie's Truth, What they wished you didn't know'.

"A conspiracy page?" Holtzman asked. "Please tell me you don't take that crap seriously."

"Ordinarily no. In this case I would consider it. This guy called it right a bunch of times. A couple of those stories he had out before Drudge," the intern replied.

"Okay," Holtzman replied, "But it better be worth my time."

"It will be, read this."

Holtzman took the proffered page and began to read. According to this source the club actually was a front for an Illuminati organization called 'The Watchers Council'. While no one was quite sure what they did, it was agreed they were some kind of hidden organization. The last posting was one that claimed that one of the authors contacts worked at LAX and spotted several of the senior Council members going through the airport just weeks before Sato crashed his 747 into the capitol. To the author's mind this proved that The Council was behind Jack Ryan's rise to the presidency, making him their guy.

Holtzman snorted. He knew Jack Ryan; he doubted that anyone could control him like that. Then he noticed a post authored by one lttleredWtch that was titled 'You have got to be kidding me!!!!' Holtzman opened the post and read it.

'If you think that those clowns on the Council could have come up with this kind of Machiavellian plot, you guys are bigger losers than they are. They would be lucky to be able to plot their way out of a one room building that had an exit sign!'

Holtzman smiled; he just might like this person. It also occurred to him that it sounded like Ms. Red might actually know these Watchers. "Can I have that web address?" he asked the intern.

"Sure," the intern said, giving it to him.

Holtzman thanked him and headed up to the IT department.

"Bob!" The long hair type that ran the department for the Post greeted Holtzman as he came in the door.

"Hi Tom, I'd like to ask Matilda something," Holtzman told Tom Messinger, the IT guy.

"Well Matilda isn't currently doing anything so I'm sure that she would be delighted to help," Messinger replied cheerfully. Matilda was a homegrown search engine that Messinger had written in his spare time. Last Holtzman had heard Yahoo was up to 25 Mill for the rights to it but Tom wasn't interested in selling.

Bob showed him the web page and asked him to find out what he could about llltlredWtch. Tom readily agreed and feed in the parameters. "I'll bring anything I get up to you as soon as I get it."

"Thanks, owe you one," Holtzman told him.

"Pizza, large, feta cheese and we are even," Tom told Bob.

"Done," Holtzman replied as he walked out of the door.

Holtzman went back to his office. The FRS had gotten a hit. It was only rated at 75% but he decided to check it out. Opening the file he saw the resemblance, but this women had brown hair, not red. Holtzman printed out the picture and looked at it. The headline that went with the photo said, 'One survivor of attack on village', the story went on to describe how Samantha Weber had survived an attack by the local drug gang on the village that her Peace Corp group had been helping. Ms. Weber had been on the edge of the village when the attack started and had been able to flee into the jungle and hide. There was another picture that showed the same woman being wheeled into a hospital on a gurney. He couldn't tell if this was Finn's red-haired companion or not. So he printed out the cropped photo that he had fed into the FRS and blew it up. It wasn't the clearest picture but except for the hair color it could be the same woman.

Holtzman saw that the FRS was still chewing through the Post's picture archive, so he decided he would piss his editor off and do a Nexus/Lexus search on Samantha Weber and see what he got.

He ended up getting a spate of hits around her rescue. Then nothing for 4 months or so, then there was a single notice of her getting married. Holtzman got excited when he saw that the name of her husband was Riley Finn. Reading further, he found that Riley Finn had been on leave from the Army in Mexico and had agreed to escort Ms. Weber back to the states.

"Gotcha!" Holtzman gloated.

Holtzman sat back and thought. There was something missing. He stared at the list of headlines in front of him and thought. It hit him suddenly that there were few mentions of any entertainment contracts. Normally in a situation like this screenwriters would be all over someone like Samantha Weber to secure the screen rights to the story. In this case there were two, both reporting that a screenwriter had been shot down.

Holtzman reached over and grabbed his Rolodex, thumbing through he found the card he wanted and dialed the number.

*****

Chapter 13

1630 Revello Drive
Sunnydale, Ca
26Oct2003 - 0810 hours

Buffy looked the tall ranger on her porch over; he was taller than Clark, and proportionately wider. He was wearing a forest rangers uniform complete with smoky the bear hat. She couldn't see his eye color because he was wearing sunglasses. He must have had his hair cut short or shaved off because she could not see any of it from under his hat. Finally he was wearing one of those cop gun belts with an absolutely huge pistol in its holster. She asked him, "If I was The Slayer what would you need one for?"

"I have a family treed outside of town. My normal crew is fighting a forest fire down toward LA, and O'Connell and his troops are off investigating something."

Not knowing who those people were Buffy decided to leave who they were for a minute, "Okay, I still don't understand why you would need a Slayer to deal with a bear or something."

"What ever has this family treed is invisible," the Ranger told her.

"I does kind of sound like something up your alley, Buffy," Dawn commented.

Buffy glared at her sister for giving information away to a stranger, but she stepped out of the doorway to let the ranger enter. The rangers seem to recognize a non-invitation invite and entered the house. He saw about what he had been told to expect. The Slayer, her sister, the redhead that was coming in from the kitchen must be the witch, the older guy, and the younger guy; who was a little older than he was expecting. And who was the kid tied up on the couch?

"Do you have any ID?" the older guy asked.

'Wasn't he supposed to be English?' the ranger thought. He carefully took out his ID wallet and handed it to him.

"Thanks," Clark said as he took the wallet and started toward the kitchen.

"Hey!" the ranger called, starting after him.

"Relax," the younger guy said, stopping him from following Clark by putting a hand on his chest. "Here I'll trade you till he gets back," Ding said as he took a leather wallet that was hanging around his neck on a chain and handed it to him.

The ranger took the wallet and opened it. The ID card inside said, 'Chavez, Domingo', and indicated that he was a Major in the US Army, and was stationed at some place called Hemstead, in England. "Army?" he asked.

"Yep, now how bout you introduce yourself."

*****

Clark went right through the kitchen; he ignored Riley who was up against the cellar door with his desert eagle out. He stopped at the back door and checked around to see if anyone was hiding out in the back yard. Seeing no one he carefully went out onto the back porch. Once there he took out his cell phone and hit Murray's number.

"Murray," came the answer after the first ring.

"Dan, it's John. I need you to run an ID for me NOW," Clark quickly told the head of the FBI, emphasizing the last word.

"Okay, shoot," Murray, told him as he reached for a tablet.

Clark opened the wallet and looked at the Forestry ID that he held. "Forest Service, Robert Broadman," he began. "According to this he is stationed in the Central California District."

"Okay, wait one," Murray told Clark. "Maria? Get a hold of personal over at Interior. I need to verify one of their people stat." He then gave her the info to check out.

Then returning to the phone, "Okay John I have Maria working on it. It's good thing you called. Have you checked in with the local Army base yet?"

"No I thought I'd do that on Monday, after we are settled in," John told him.

"Don't," Dan told him firmly. "Tony was going over some stuff and it looks like that the whole senior cadre of that base was hand picked by Billingsly."

"Damn there went some backup," John said with feeling.

"Right into the other camp," Dan agreed.

"What's the story on the SEALs'? It looks like we may need them," Clark asked Murray.

"We're cutting orders for them to go on standby right now. We can have them headed your way tomorrow if we had too," Dan assured him. "We are looking at another possibility though, I'll let you know if we finalize it."

Clark wasn't real happy about being left in the dark but didn't say anything.

"One other thing John," Dan said.

"Yes?"

"Jack has decided that, after defending the Hellmouth, your top priority is to gain Buffy and her people's trust. Do whatever it takes; he trusts your judgment. Also he told me that if Ms. Summers requests a raise, give it too her, don't dicker."

"Okay," Clark told Murray. Like he would have.

*****

Back in the front hallway Buffy asked, "So Ranger Broadman, exactly how do you know who I am?"

Broadman shrugged, "O'Connell told me. I had some vamp problems about six months ago and he couldn't help. He gave me your name in case I ran into something I couldn't handle, but I managed on my own."

"Who?" Buffy asked getting annoyed.

"Lt. Jonathan O'Connell? The head of the SPD's night shift?" the Ranger told the Slayer. Realization hit him, "He never talked to you, did he?"

Buffy just shook her head; she had an 'I am not happy' expression on her face.

"Do me one favor, when you talk to him, please don't tell him you got this info from me," the Ranger requested.

*****

Maria handed Murray a print out that included Robert Broadman's vital statistics. Murray repeated them to Clark.

"Sounds like him. Did they give you his pager number?" he said to Murray.

"Yeah, here it is," the head of the FBI gave him the number.

Clark came back inside, ignoring Riley, who was still up against the door. Clark went to Buffy's phone and dialed Broadman's pager number. A minute later he heard the pager go off.

He returned to the front hall. "It seems that he is who he says he is," as he handed him back his ID.

The ranger regarded the older man with interest. It took a lot of clout to come up with that number that quick. He sighed; he would probably be getting a call from his boss over this.

As he returned Ding's ID, he asked, "Do I even want to know what is going on?"

"Nope," Willow said and returned to the kitchen.

Riley came into the hallway; he had put his gun away.

"What's the situation?" Buffy asked.

"I have a single mother with two kids up a tree in the Mesa Alto Park. I was down with my crew around LA when I got the call. Apparently last night some guy ran into their campsite and got them up the trees. He almost made it, too, but something took him off the tree that he had started to climb. Dr. Sanchez, the mother, said that there was nothing there but it carried him away."

"Okay, I'll go get changed," Buffy said.

"I'll get ready, too," Riley said turning toward where his stuff was.

"You're not going anywhere, Riley," Clark ordered.

"With respect, Sir, I think that Buffy could use some backup," Riley said, the tone was not quite disrespectful.

"We're up against something that is a master of misdirection and psyche-warfare. I'm not letting my only expert on this town go wondering off into a trap," Clark told the younger man.

"Are you going to order me not to go too?" Buffy asked her temper starting to rise.

"If you were part of my chain of command, I would. But since you aren't, all I can do is to suggest that you consider what you are doing. This could be a trap, or it could just be that The First wants you out of town for a couple of hours."

"Or it could be exactly what the ranger says it is," Buffy told the General. "I'm probably the only chance that family has. I have to go." She then started up the stairs.

"I'll go," Ding said. "Buffy needs someone at her back that she trusts."

Buffy turned on the stairs and looked at Ding, "Since when do I trust you?"

Ding shrugged, "I was in your house all last night and didn't murder you in your sleep. That's got to count for something."

Buffy didn't say anything, just gave him a look. She then continued up the stairs.

Ding went and started getting his things together. "Did you hear what I said about this maybe being a trap?" Clark asked his son-in-law.

"Yep," Ding said as he got his camo's and headed up behind Buffy. "Doesn't change the fact that she should have backup and I agree with why it can't be Riley. Cuts down on who we can send, doesn't it?"

"Be careful, if anything happens to you Patty will have my hide," Clark told him quietly.

Ding just nodded.

Willow came back in with her laptop; "Ranger Broadman, could you to tell Dawn and Anya anything that you can remember from you conversations with Dr. Sanchez. General Clark, do you read any foreign languages?"

"Russian," Clark said.

"Oh good!" Willow said happily. "We haven't had anybody who could read Russian since Giles left. General Clark, Riley I need your help down in the basement for a sec."

As Willow led the two men away, Dawn led the ranger into the dinning room.

"I'd like to help," Andrew said.

"You can help by sitting there and being quiet," Anya told him. She went into living room and gave him the remote to the TV.

Downstairs Willow led Clark and Riley over to a large trunk that had a large hammer shaped object on top of it. "This trunk has some of the research tomes we use. Buffy leaves the troll hammer on top as an anti-tamper device," she explained.

"Okay, what do you need us for?" Clark asked.

"It's kind of heavy. I could move it by magic, but I am trying to cut down," Willow explained.

"Yeah good idea Wills," Riley told her.

Clark and Riley took opposite sides of the hammer and started to lift carefully. "Lord you weren't kidding," Clark panted. Pushing themselves they were able to lift the hammer and dropped it beside the trunk. It landed with a thump that shook the house. "Buffy uses that thing in combat?" Clark asked, holding his back.

"She used it against Glory and really whumped her with it, Xander helped with the wrecking ball of course," Willow told them as she sorted books in the trunk. She handed four of them to Clark, "These are Russian, you should be able to read them."

Clark examined them, "What are they on?" He asked.

"Demons and things. We need to figure out what Buffy will be taking on," Willow told him.

She then headed back up stairs with the two men in tow. "Don't you want to put the hammer back?" Riley asked.

"Let Buffy do it when she gets back," Willow told him, "That's what we usually do."

"Thank you Lord," Clark said to himself, quietly.

When they got upstairs, Ding and Buffy were back down and were getting ready to go. Buffy had her crossbow and Ding was picking up the case containing his MPK. Broadman looked at the case and asked, "What do you have in there."

"An MPK," Ding told him as he started out the door.

"Do you have anything bigger?" The Ranger asked.

"No, why?" Ding responded.

"Those are 9mm, right?" Broadman asked.

"Yeah," Ding said turning to the ranger.

"A little light, I would plan on taking something that could deal with a bear if you had too," The Ranger explained.

"What are you using?" Ding questioned.

"M-14," the ranger told him.

"Got anything else?" the commando asked him.

"Sure back at the ranger station, which is forty minutes in the wrong direction. We'll have to stop at Gerry's on the way out of town."

"Gerry's?" Ding asked.

"A hunting supply store on the edge of town. He loans guns in emergencies. He'll have something you can use," Broadman said as he headed for his car. Buffy was already waiting for them, looking impatient.

Once they had pulled away the remaining people sat down at the table and started going through the various tomes that where piled on the table. After a while Dawn glanced up at Clark as he read through the first book. "General Clark?" she asked.

"Yes?" he asked looking at the younger girl.

"Welcome to the Scoobies," she said.

*****

The Washington Post
1150 15th Street N.W.
Washington DC
26Oct2002 - 1245 hours

Bob Holtzman's call was answered on the second ring. "Conrad Raynes," the rich cultured voice said.

"Conrad, Bob Holtzman," the reporter informed the man.

"Robert! How good to hear from you!" came the reply. "To what do I owe this call? Finally have a screenplay to sell?" Conrad asked. Conrad Raynes was one of the most successful screenwriters in Hollywood today. He had won 4 Academy Awards in the last fifteen years. After the last one he entered into semi-retirement. Producers used him if their project was having script problems. He also acted as den mother to aspiring screenwriters that seemed to show promise.

Couple this with an eidetic memory for names and stories and an insatiable appetite for gossip and he was the best Hollywood source that Holtzman had.

"Have a question about something that happened a couple of years back," Holtzman asked.

"Is there the possibility of a script in it?" Conrad asked.

"Everything else that this guy has been involved with would make a good one, I don't see why this should be any different." Holtzman replied.

"Well then I would be delighted to help. Providing you don't forget me when you farm out the script," was the taciturn reply.

"Conrad, have I ever forgotten you?" Bob admonished.

"I just want to make sure that there isn't a first time," the screenwriter told him. "Who are looking for?"

"What do you remember about Samantha Weber?" Holtzman asked.

"She got married to a handsome soldier, her name is Finn now," Conrad told him, sniffing.

"You're following that story?" Holtzman asked surprised.

"One of my friends wanted to do a docu-drama on the event so I have seen a lot of the background information," was the reply.

"Would he speak to me?" Holtzman asked getting excited.

"If you can find him I would think that he would be more than happy to speak to you. Unfortunately he vanished about a year ago," Conrad said sadly.

"He was a friend?" Holtzman asked sympathetically.

"Yes, it was Eric Shallots," Conrad told him.

"Wasn't he going to be the next Michele Moore?" Holtzman queried, remembering the name.

"That is him."

Holtzman had wondered why he hadn't heard anything from him in a while. "Was he working on the Weber story when he vanished?"

"Yes, he went down to Mexico to check out the story. Ms. Weber had hired Doubios&Straton as agents and had placed a rider on signing the rights to the story away that she could withdraw those rights at anytime if she felt that the story was taking too much dramatic license with what happened. If the story was going to be told she wanted it to be as close to what happened as possible. At about the same time she put this rider up the bio-attack took place. When it was over blood thirsty drug lords were out, blood thirsty terrorists were in, and everyone lost interest in her."

"What made Eric go after it then?" Holtzman asked.

"Alas he admired her spunk, and that she was prepared to stand up for her rights, no matter what. Eric respected that. He also took it as a challenge. To do a story that she would approve of," the writer explained.

"Did he disappear in Mexico when he was checking out the story?" Holtzman asked, beginning to take notes.

"No, he had no problems in Mexico," Raynes replied, "He did find some very interesting things down there though."

"Like?"

"Are you at your desk?" Raynes asked.

"Yes," Holtzman said.

"I'll send you an email," Raynes replied.

They exchanged other news while they waited for the email to arrive. When it did Holtzman opened it and found three pictures. Or rather one picture with two blow-ups of the upper left hand corner of it. Holtzman examined the pictures. It was obviously the picture that had appeared in papers of Ms. Weber being wheeled into the hospital. Only the picture that had made it into print had been cropped. In the full photo there where three men standing in the upper left of the picture. All were wearing camouflage uniforms. Holtzman wasn't sure, but he thought that it was the uniform of the Mexican Army Special Forces. One of the figures was much taller than his two companions; he also had blond hair. While tall blondes where not unknown in Mexico, they were vanishing rare. Looking at the blow-ups though showed that the blond was Riley Finn.

"Okay I got them," Holtzman said into the receiver. "I have to say that the blow ups are interesting."

"Indeed. You know who that is, don't you?" Conrad asked.

"Yeah," Holtzman assured him.

"Eric also went out to the site of the village," Raynes continued.

"The Mexican Government let him?" Holtzman asked surprised.

"They advised him that the area still might be dangerous, but they did not block him. He did have problems getting a guide though. They all told him the area was infested with monsters. He finally got one to lead him out to the village site. When he got there he found that the government had gone through the area with a fine toothcomb. All of the rubble was in neat piles, sorted by type. He said that they had even dug out the cellar holes of all of the buildings that had them," Conrad talked on.

"Where they looking for something? Or where they covering up?" Holtzman asked.

"Eric didn't know. He was beginning to suspect that maybe that the local drug lords weren't as crazy as they were portrayed in the stories. He was starting to believe that maybe there had been a spy in that village that they took out."

"Samantha Finn?" Holtzman asked.

"It could explain how she got out when everyone else was killed. Perhaps I should mention also that Eric had a hard time getting in contact with Mrs. Finn. Almost like she was out of the country a lot," Conrad stated.

"If Eric didn't disappear in Mexico then where did he vanish?" Holtzman asked.

"Eric was entertaining a friend," Conrad said, perhaps a hint of jealousy in his voice. "He was showing him what he had done on the film when the friend identified the blond in the photo as Riley Finn. He said that Finn had been a teaching assistant at the University of California at Sunnydale. So he went down to Sunnydale to see if he could find anyone who could confirm this. I didn't want him to go. Sunnydale has a nasty rep. But he went. He promised me that he would call every night. He called me when he got there and told me he was going to hit the college hot spots. I never heard from him again. I called the police in Sunnydale and he had the nerve to sing at me! They called back the next day and told me that he had checked into a local motel but that they had not seen him since he left around six the previous evening. No one has seen him since," Conrad finished sadly.

"I'm checking this story out, Conrad, if I find anything I'll let you know," he promises his friend.

"Please don't go to Sunnydale, Robert, please. If something happened to you, I don't know if I could live with myself. There is something hungry in that town; hungry and evil."

"I'll be careful Conrad, I promise," he reassured the other man.

"God go with you then, Robert," Conrad finished resignedly.

"You too Conrad. Thanks for the info," Holtzman finished.

They exchanged good-byes and hung up.

Holtzman sat and thought. It almost sounded like Columbia again. Ryan wouldn't be the first politician that got caught in the 'Okay the last guy really FUBARed this idea, but I can make it work!' trap. On the other hand the timing was seriously wrong for this to have been Ryan's op. The planning for this would have had to happen during the Durling administration. Still Ryan was Durling's National Security Advisor. It had been that office that the Columbia op had come from. Maybe this was history repeating itself. His wife had some good contacts in the Mexican government. Maybe she could find someone who would be willing to say what happened.

While he was working the problem in his mind, Tom Messinger, the IT guy, knocked on Holtzman's office door, "Matilda spit something out," he said handing the printout over.

Holtzman took it and read. "Doogie Howzer fan fiction?" he asked surprised.

Tom shrugged. "You do not question the offerings of Matilda," he intoned solemnly. He then shrugged, "I moved the process over to a secondary system, she's chunking her way through bulletin boards now. It'll take awhile, but I think we'll get something. By the way I'm hungry, you owe me a pizza." So saying he turned and walked away. Holtzman chuckled to himself and called the local pizza joint and put in an order for two pies. After hanging up he looked the paper that Tom had dropped off and laughed. He was about to circular file it when something caught his eye. The email address for llltlredWtch was 'wrosenberg@UCSunnydale.edu'. Now that was a little too much coincidence for his peace of mind. UCS was a school that before today he had never even heard of. Now two seemingly independent stories led there.

Well only one way to find out, turning to his computer he fired off an email to wrosenberg explaining who he was and asking if she were the same llltlredWtch that had posted the message about the Watchers Council on Bernie's site.

Since he was already on line he decided he would do a Nexus search on Sunnydale just to see what was there. He typed in the search perimeters and waited while the computer ran it's search routine. When results started showing up he began scanning headlines. Before he was half finished he said, "What the hell is going on in that town!"

*****

Chapter 14

Gerry's Hunting Supply
RD 3 Route 46
Sunnydale CA
26Oct2002 - 0832 hours

Gerry Johnson was sitting behind the counter in his shop. A soft glow of contentment suffused his body. This had been the best week in the history of his store. He had sold 4 Barrett Light 50's, with 3 more on order. He had sold both of his BMG .50 cal bolt-action rifles. His paramilitary selection was down to a couple of M-1's both Garands, and carbines. All told he had probably cleared close to eighty grand that week. The bell on the front door rang and Gerry glanced up and smiled as Robert Broadman came in followed by a Hispanic dressed in US Army camouflage, and a short cute blond girl dressed in jeans and dark blue pull over shirt. The two men came up to the counter but the girl seemed to be interested in his crossbow section.

"Hey Robert how goes. You won't believe the week I've had," he said by way of greeting.

Buffy listened to the men exchange greetings. Frankly guns held zero interest for her. She had never been very fond of them, and getting shot last May did nothing to improve her opinion. She realized that Ding needed something so she wouldn't begrudge the stop. But that family situation had to be getting desperate and she wanted to get up there.

Buffy stopped and stared at the crossbow. Its stock and pistol grip of the crossbow were of black metal, the arms were fiberglass, and the main body was made of brass. The sign above the crossbow said that it had 175 lbs. arms. That was an improvement over her current bow. Buffy also saw that there was a 250-lbs. set of arms available too. Buffy turned the price tag over and winced. Well once she got her bills paid off she would be able to afford this. Maybe the owner would be willing to put it on lay-away?

"Bad or Good?" the ranger asked.

"Excellent!" the owner of the shop enthused. "A couple more weeks like that and I might be able to retire!"

"Happy for you," the ranger told him. " I'd be less happy if your shop closed, though."

"You obviously miss the purpose of retiring," Gerry kidded him. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Domingo Chavez," Broadman introduced the other man. "He's going to be helping me out. I have a family of three treed up in the Mesa Alto. He doesn't have a rifle and I was wondering if it would be possible to borrow one?"

"Since it's you, sure," he said. He looked Ding over and decided that Ding might know what he was doing, so he asked, "What's your pleasure?"

Ding looked the shop over and saw a lot of empty slots in the gun racks, "What do you have paramilitary?" Ding finally asked.

Gerry shook his head, "You picked the wrong week for that my friend. About the only things I have left are some old M-1's. They're in good shape though, cleaned and serviced them myself," he told the other man.

"I never used stripper clips before, and I don't want to try to figure them out in the middle of a fight. What else do you have?" Ding asked.

"Where'd all your stuff go?" Broadman asked. "I mean who's holding the war?"

"Haven't you heard?" Gerry asked, clearly shocked that Broadman was that far out of the loop.

"What?" the Ranger asked.

"Something big and nasty has come to town. So everyone is stocking up. Word on the street is that it's gunning for the Slayer. Mendy was in this morning for O'Connell, he picked up my last Barrett, and he grabbed a couple of FN-FAL's that I had. He said that whatever it was hit the Slayer's place last night."

Buffy heard what the storekeeper had told the two men so she wandered over to the conversation. She came up behind Ding and asked the shopkeeper, "What else is being said on the street?"

Gerry looked the small blond over. "I don't know you," he said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, how rude of me," Buffy told him. "I'm Buffy… the Vampire Slayer," she said in a tone that one usually used for a four year old.

"Er…uh…oh…" Gerry said, giving Broadman a look that said, 'you could of told me!'

Broadman for his part shrugged, 'you didn't ask!'

"I'm sorry Ms…Err Buffy," he finished as realized that he didn't know Buffy's last name. "I don't really know much more than that."

"There's nothing about who this big bad is?" Buffy interrogated.

"The only thing I know is what Willy the bartender says," he looked at Buffy, but continued when she indicated she new who he was talking about. "He said that the last time business was this bad was when The First was in town."

"Fancy that," Buffy said to herself.

"Look," Broadman said, "You can interrogate Gerry when we get back, Dr. Sanchez and her kids need help."

Buffy didn't like it but agreed.

Ding scanned the shop, and then said to Gerry, "If I can't get anything with a high capacity mag, then I'll have to go for stopping power."

"Fair enough," Gerry said going down to the far end of the rack form the paramilitary stuff. Reaching up he took a large bolt-action rifle off the wall, "This is a Weatherby Mk. V .460 Mag. With this gun you can hunt the biggest game on Earth. Elephants, Rhino's, Light Armored Vehicles."

Ding smiled, "But it's bolt action, I'd like something with a little faster rate of fire."

"Okay," Gerry said, apparently unperturbed. He put the Weatherby back and took a gun down that was a couple of slots down from it. This gun appeared to the uninitiated to be a small bore double barrel shot gun. "This is and H&H double rifle in .375 Mag. It's rate-of-fire is as fast as you can pull the triggers. I also have some partition points in .375 if you want them"

Ding shook his head again, "Only two shots."

Buffy sighed to herself, obviously Ding had never heard of 'beggars can't be choosers'. She didn't begrudge him though. In fact she was grateful that Gerry seemed to like showing off his stock. She knew how important the correct weapon for a given situation was.

Gerry then said, "Well that kind of limits the choice to one." Buffy watched as Gerry took down a gun that to her looked like a cowboy rifle on steroids, "This is a Marlin .444, it can take down anything on this continent. It has a five shot tubular magazine, and is lever action. This gun also has a clip on the lever so your rate of fire is as fast as you can work the action."

"Works for me," Ding agreed.

"Okay when you bring it back just drop it off. Don't bother to clean it, I'll do that," Gerry instructed Ding, as he set the rifle down on the counter top, and produced two boxes of shells.

"That won't be necessary," Ding replied as he produced his wallet and removed an American Express card. "I'll take the rifle, and four boxes of shells. Also put the Weatherby away I'll pick that up when we come back down the mountain. I'll take 4 boxes of cartridges for that one too. Buffy? Grab that Crossbow you were admiring."

"Ding I can't let you get that for me, it's almost five hundred dollars," Buffy said.

"Don't worry, I'll get paid back for it," Ding assured her.

Buffy, not needing to be told twice, went over and grabbed the crossbow and the heavier arms.

Ding watched as Buffy got her new toy and turned and looked at Gerry. "Can you get anymore Barretts in soon?" he asked.

"I have a couple on order, I can probably get two to three more in by Thursday," Gerry told the commando.

"Okay order two then," Ding told him. "Put what ever deposit you need on this tab."

"How much ammo will you need for them?" Gerry asked as he wrote down the order.

"Ammo won't be a problem, I just want the weapons, and 3 extra clips for each," Ding told him.

"Right," Gerry said.

Buffy put the crossbow on the counter so Gerry could ring it up. Ding took the Marlin and looked it over. "Is there anywhere that I can put a couple of rounds through this so I can see how it's zeroed?" he asked the owner of the shop.

"Sure out back I have a range. I'll get the arms replaced on Buffy's crossbow and get the paper work started for everything. You can sign it when you get back to town. Robert could you show him how to get to the shooting range?" Gerry requested.

Robert Broadman just grunted and waved for Ding to follow him.

Gerry took the crossbow from Buffy and unstrung the bow. Taking an allen wrench he loosened the screw that held the arms of the crossbow in place and removed the old arms. Buffy watched him with interest as he took the heavy arms and mounted them into the body of the bow. He then took the mounting string and partially bent the arms of the bow back so he could get the main bowstring on. Once he was done he handed the bow back to Buffy.

Buffy took it and sighted down the body of the bow. It was lighter than her old one, but the arms where about 4 times stronger. She smiled, the vamps where in for a surprise with this one.

"If you would hand it back I'll show you how to cock it," Gerry said.

Buffy just raised an eyebrow at him and reaching forward she hooked two fingers of her right hand around the bowstring and pulled. "Like this?" she asked sweetly, enjoying the surprise on his face.

Any doubt that Gerry had that this was in fact the Slayer, disappeared. "Well that's one way, yeah," he agreed. "But if you get hurt or one of your friends has to use it there's an easier way to do it."

"Okay, show me," Buffy said smiling.

Gerry took the bow and coming out from behind the counter he broke the crossbow across his knee pushing down on both ends till the arms on the side of the body of the bow caught the string and pulled it back to full cock.

Buffy looking on with interest just said, "Neat!"

Ding and Broadman came back then. "Thanks for your help, Gerry," Broadman said, as they passed through the shop. Buffy collected the bow, released the string and started for the door, too.

"Sure," Gerry said. "Just don't forget to stop and do the paperwork when you are through!" Oh yeah, this had been a very good week.

*****

1630 Revello Drive
Sunnydale CA
26Oct2002 - 0850 hours

Mr. Clark had already found two invisible 'demons'. Neither had paned out though. The first had been a mischief sprite. Clark was going to dismiss it out of hand when he read that it was only about six inches tall, but Willow told him that size wasn't a true indicator of power. But then they noticed that this critter had wings so they passed on it. The next thing he ran across Clark certainly thought would qualify, but on further reading he decided that it would have just knocked the tree down and eaten the family. "Are all these things in these books real?" he asked the table.

"We're not sure," Willow said. "But we have encountered enough of them to guess yes."

Clark shook his head and went back to reading. The front door opened and Xander came in. "Morning all," he called as he came in. Seeing everyone around the table he said, "What's up?"

"We had a visitor this morning, a forest ranger had a family treed and asked Buffy for help," Dawn explained not looking up from her book.

"Boy you guys didn't waste anytime getting her integrated into the system did you," he asked Clark.

"What?" Clark asked confused.

"Having the Rangers coming to her for help," Xander said a little heatedly.

"The only person I talked to since I met you guys was Dan Murray, and he knew before I did," Clark returned.

"The Ranger found out about Buffy from the local cops," Willow told Xander.

"Huh?" Xander asked. "The same cops that we have been protecting for the last seven years because they wouldn't believe us about the what goes on and would only get killed?"

"Yep, them," Willow said.

"I am not happy," Xander said.

"Neither was Buffy. I hope we get to watch when she has talks with them," Willow passed on.

"What's out there?" Xander said as he sat down and grabbed a book.

"Maybe it's invisible velociraptors?" Andrew suggested from the living room.

"Andrew," Willow said, "If you can't be quiet like Anya told you to, I can help you be."

Andrew suddenly found that the TV was very interesting.

"I think I got it!" Anya said excitedly.

"What?" Willow asked.

"They're called Shadow Hounds," Anya said. "Wizards use them to find and kill people. The power of the wizard decides how many hounds they get. The big problem with them is if the hounds loose the 'scent' then they instantly go feral and hunt whatever crosses their path. They aren't invisible though, they are just really good chameleons."

"Where would they have come from though?" Dawn asked, "How many wizards are there around here?"

"Maybe Willow summoned them last May when she was after Jonathan and me?" Andrew offered.

"Excuse me," Anya said. She got up from the table grabbed a roll of duck tape and stuck a piece of it over Andrews mouth.

"I hate to agree with Andrew," Clark said, "but what's the chance of that's what happened?"

Unseen in the living room Andrew took on a vindicated expression.

"You better hope that's not what happened," Anya said returning to the table.

"Why?" Clark asked.

"Because," she said as she took her seat, "then there would be about 30 of them out there."

*****

The Situation Briefing Room
The White House
Washington DC
26Oct2002 - 1210 hours

Jack was meeting with Tony Bretano, his Secretary of Defense, and General Mickey Moore, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Tony was going over what forces were available to help in the situation in Sunnydale. "So do the SEALs still look good?" Jack asked.

"So far," The SecDef said. "I'd like a chance to dig a little deeper before we give the okay for them to go in, though."

"Do we have any other choice? If Billingsly is controlling that Army base then he has the better part of a company of troops at his disposal. Even with both Rainbow Teams and Riley's people there that's a little lopsided." Jack told him.

"Agreed, but when Mickey and I were knocking around ideas we realized that Billingsly has limited his recruiting to Special Forces Command," Tony told him.

"Yeah so?" Jack asked.

"Well it means that we can never be completely certain of any of those troops, but it also means that regular army units are in the clear," he continued.

"Go on," Jack said, not really seeing where this was going.

"Fort Irwin is within two hours of Sunnydale," Tony said. "The OpFor are the best troops that we have. We doubt that Billingsly could have co-opted the whole Sunnydale base. We think that if we remove the senior cadre and replace it with loyal people then we can turn a threat into an asset. To act as a hedge we would give the person we put in charge a platoon of the 11 ACR for security. We would send them all in together to effect the change of command," Tony explained.

"Do you have anyone in mind as this commander?" Jack asked.

"Major Sheila Decker," the JCS said. "She is on my staff as an assistant ops officer. She was one of the original candidates chosen when we started to allow women to command combat units. She missed both Gulf Wars, but she has been through the NTC twice, once as a platoon leader, then as a company commander. She had commendations both times. I think she is the best person for the job," the General finished.

"Okay set it up," Jack ordered the two men. "We'll wait until Initiative Team Three and Rainbow are spun up in Sunnydale before we implement anything though."

"Sure Jack," Bretano said as he and the General stood and left.

"Mr. President, this is the half hour break you requested," his secretary told him.

"Thank you Ellen," Jack told her. "Could you get me an outside line please?"

"Of course Sir," she said.

Jack opened a drawer and pulled out his personal phone book. Looking up a number he entered it and waited for an answer.

The voice that that came over the receiver was formal and British. "Yes, Cheltenham," it said.

"This is Jack Ryan, is Sir Basil home?" He asked.

"Yes Sir, he is, one moment please," the voice responded.

About forty seconds later Sir Basil's voice came on the line, "Mr. President, what may Her Majesty's Government help you with?"

"Actually Sir Basil it's a personal question," Jack told his friend on the other side of the Atlantic.

"Well then Sir John, how may I help you?" Basil responded.

"What can you tell me about the Watchers Council?" Jack asked.

"They're dead," replied the Englishman.

*****

Chapter 15

Situation Room
The White House
Washington DC
26Oct2002 - 1220 hours

"Say again?" Jack said into the phone.

"The explosion in London was the Watchers' Headquarter," Sir Basil explained. "So far there have been no survivors found. I'm surprised that Goodly didn't tell you it was Watchers HQ when he briefed you. Or haven't you briefed him in?"

"Basil I just got briefed in yesterday myself. That's why I was calling you, I had hoped that you could set up a meeting between the Watchers and myself," Jack explained.

"I don't understand. I know that President Durling didn't brief you in when you were the NSA. He felt that your plate was full enough and that you didn't need your worldview turned upside down in the middle of a crisis. But you should have been briefed in as soon as you became President?" Basil said sounding a little perplexed.

"It's like this Basil," Jack began, and then went on to explain the events of yesterday.

"Good lord," Basil said when he heard the story. "That's why you wanted Rainbow then?"

"Yeah, I have Rainbow Six, his Team Two leader and the Initiative team leader that didn't bolt out in Sunnydale making contact with the locals," Jack explained.

"Who is the Initiative team leader?" Basil requested.

"Riley Finn," Jack replied.

"Good man," was the response.

"You know him?'' Jack was surprised.

"By reputation only," Basil said. "We had a joint operation in Tibet last June for a brief time. Our team leader had good things to say about him and his team."

Moving on Jack asked, "Do you have any idea whose bomb it was?"

"No. We know that the Council has been having a covert conflict with someone. We think that the attacks have been going on for sometime. We offered to help, but Quentin Travers, the leader of the Council told us that it was an internal problem and that they would deal with it themselves."

"Did a bang up job, it looks like," Jack commented dryly.

"I met Quentin Travers on several occasions, he never impressed me. We think that the Watchers were having some kind of meeting when the explosion took place," Basil told Jack.

"Sounds like an inside job then," Jack said.

"We are working on that hypothesis ourselves," Basil replied. "Just a minute Jack, I just got an update." Basil read quietly for a minute or so, and then said, "I just received word that there may be a Watcher left alive after all."

"Who?" Jack asked.

"According to records we got from Heathrow, a Rupert Giles, accompanied by three young ladies was on a plane for Kennedy about three hours after the explosion."

"Giles, that's the Sunnydale Slayer's Watcher, isn't it?" Jack asked remembering the name from his briefings.

"Yes, but I seem to recall that he had an out with the Council a couple of years ago," Basil replied.

"You're thinking he might be the inside man?" Jack questioned.

"He seems to be the only Watcher who wasn't there," was the response.

"Did he arrive here yet?" Jack wanted to know.

"Yes he arrived at Kennedy before we realized his significance. He and his traveling companions were supposed to be booked clear through to Buenos Aries but they seem to have vanished in New York," Basil replied.

"I'll let our people know to look out for them. Do you have names for the girls traveling with him?"

Jack could hear Sir Basil going over the paper. "Yes, here it is," he said, "Annabelle Green, Molly Lincoln, and Kennedy Loxley."

Jack copied down the names, "I'll get these out to law-enforcement agencies and see if we can find them."

"Her Majesty's Government thanks you."

"No problem," Jack told him. "I don't suppose you know how a Slayer is chosen?"

"Worried about Sally and Katie?" Basil asked.

"Wouldn't you be?" Jack demanded.

"Indeed. Unfortunately how a girl becomes a candidate for being a Slayer is something that Travers wouldn't tell me. Or even how they go about finding them. But he did say that there are under 500 potential Slayers on the planet at any given time, so the odds that either of your girls are 'potential Slayers' is astronomical."

"Basil," Jack said quietly. "What were the odds that I would be President? I have a rogue General trying to end the world because of those."

Sir Basil had nothing to say to that. The two men exchanged a couple of minutes of pleasantries, and then said their good byes. Before he hung up Sir Basil promised to get the other Rainbow team on its way as soon as possible.

Once Jack had hung up he debated calling Clark with the news immediately. Instead he thought there were a couple of other calls he needed to make first.

*****

1630 Revello Drive
Sunnydale CA
26Oct2002 - 0855 hours

Anya finished pulling herself back to the table. She looked across the table and saw the expression on Willows face. "Willow, I didn't mean that I thought you had summoned them," she assured the red-headed witch, "From what this says," holding up the book. "If you had summoned them, they would have cleaned out the forest of food long ago, and we would have been getting reports of missing pets, bums, and small children." Willow looked only slightly relieved.

"Okay, Anya, why don't you call Buffy and let her know what we think it is," Willow, instructed the ex-demon.

"Okay," Anya said as she pulled out her cell phone. She dialed Buffy's number and waited for her to pick up. As Anya filled Buffy in, Willow got up, and went into the kitchen. Riley and Xander got up and. saying their good-byes. headed out to look for something that they could use as a base.

John Clark sat back and looked into the living room and saw Andrew sitting on the couch watching TV; tape still over his mouth. Clark realized that no one had fed him yet this morning. Standing up he went into the living room and asked, "Would you like some breakfast?"

Andrew nodded. Clark reached down and pulled the tape off of his mouth, "Ouch!" Andrew said.

Anya said her good-byes to Buffy and turned to Dawn, "Buffy says not to forget that you are supposed to run this morning."

Dawn rolled her eyes, "Like I could with everyone here to remind me." Dawn got up and went into the kitchen also.

Clark head for the kitchen, "I'm getting Andrew some breakfast," he told Anya as he went by.

"Why not let the FBI guy feed him?" Anya asked.

"Because I don't know when Pat will get here, and generally speaking the better you treat your prisoners, the better behaved they are," Clark explained as he went through the door into the kitchen.

Dawn was leaning against the sink, a glass of water in her hand. "Where do you keep the lunch meat?" he asked her.

"Refrigerator, in the meat drawer, mayo and mustard is on the door," reaching around she grabbed a loaf of bread and tossed it to Clark.

Clark shook his head trying to figure out how he became chief warden to the prisoner. Clark piled up three or four pieces of ham on a slice of bread. "Mayo or mustard, Andrew?" he called into the living room.

"Mayo please," Andrew responded.

Clark reached out and grabbed the mayo jar and tried to unscrew the lid. He couldn't budge it. "What the heck," he muttered as he tried to get it to turn.

Dawn saw him struggling and smiled, "Buffy must have forgotten the last time she made a sandwich," she said as she reached into a drawer and pulled out a strap-wrench. "It used to drive us nuts before we knew that Buffy was the Slayer, mom and I could never get the lids off." She proceeded to open the lid with the wrench with an ease that spoke of a lot of practice. Tossing the wrench back into the drawer Dawn headed for the front door and called, "I'm going running. I'll be back in a little bit," closing the door as she went.

Clark finished making the sandwich and took it and a handful of chips he found in a cupboard to the prisoner. He undid the ropes keeping his upper arms pinned to his body so he could eat.

Anya had come in and taken a seat in one of the chairs. "If you want to go do something I'll watch him for you," she told Clark.

"Thanks," Clark told her though he noticed that Andrew didn't look too happy with the prospect. Clark went back out into the kitchen and made himself another pot of coffee. When it was done he poured himself a mug and went out onto the back porch. He noticed that Willow was already there.

She was sitting in a chair, her feet up against the railing holding a mug of something resting her arms on her knees. She glanced his way but went back to staring at a spot about halfway across the yard. Clark searched the area with his eyes but didn't see anything unusual. Either she was deep in thought, or it was something you needed to be a witch to see. He shrugged to himself and drank his coffee in silence.

Willow just sat and stared for a minute or two then said without turning to him, "Do you feel any remorse for those men you killed?"

Clark's first thought to the question was, 'Which ones?' But he decided that it wasn't necessary to go there yet so instead he said, "The drug dealers?"

Willow just nodded her head.

"No."

"I do," Willow said, still staring at the spot in the yard.

"You're a better person than me then, Willow Rosenberg," Clark told her.

Willow snapped her head around at Clark, "How can you say that? You know what I almost did! I laid awake at night for months thinking about it. You have no Idea what it feels like to almost have the blood of the world on your hands." She returned to staring at the yard; she took a drink from her mug.

"You might be surprised how much I know about what that feels like, Ms. Rosenberg," Clark said quietly.

Willow turned back and looked at him, eyes questioning.

"A couple of years ago Ding and I were assigned as Security and Protections Officers to Jack Ryan when he was the Deputy Director of Intelligence at the CIA. We were in Israel meeting with some high-level members of the Israeli Government. The meeting was being held at an open-air café in Jerusalem. Ding and I noticed an Arab male with a bag seeming to pay an awful lot of attention to the area around the table where Jack was having his meeting. We were closest so we rousted him." Seeing Willows look of shock he went on quickly, "We didn't hurt him, Ding just bumped into him and made him spill his bag. It was filled with books, books on nuclear physics." Clark could see that Willow didn't see what this had to do with anything, so he explained, "The man was Ibrahim Ghosn." Willow still shook her head. The name rang no bells. "He was one of the primary architects of the Denver bomb," Clark finished.

Willows eyes opened in recognition. Growing up for Willow had been hard. Her parents were for most of her life near absentees. Her mother and father always had this cause or that cause to rush of to. They never abused Willow or anything, (well unless you count the time that her mom had tried to burn her and Buffy at the stake, but that wasn't her fault she had been under a spell.) but they had never really been there either. The one-day of the year that Willow could count on doing something with her mom had been Superbowl Sunday. Ira Rosenberg watched the game every year. He had two friends from high school that he would get together with and they would eat, drink, and watch it. Sheila Rosenberg would spend the day with her daughter. They would go to zoo, or a museum, then get to go some place good to eat, then finish the day with videos and popcorn at home. That year Carl Williams had gotten a hold of two tickets for the game. Bill Coon and her dad had cut cards for the other one. Ira had lost. Willow could still remember him coming into the room in the middle of 'Mary Poppins' and saying that the cable had gone out. He checked the cable on the living room set but that had been out too. He called the Cable Company; kind of mad because it had been a good game, but they told him the problem was with the satellites. Willow remembered her dad's face when it was announced that someone had set of a nuclear bomb at the Superbowl. His face had sort of crumpled and a sound that she had never heard him make before, and thankfully has never heard anyone else make again came out of him. He just sort of stood there with tears leaking down his face. Her mom had gone pale as she realized how close she had come to losing her husband. There had been a brief moment when the family had hugged each other but that had ended all too soon. Some people, if this happened to them, would see it as a sign that there was work left for them to do, but something died in Ira Rosenberg with his two friends, he was never the same afterward. Willow herself still could not watch 'Mary Poppins'.

"Ms. Rosenberg?" Clark asked concerned. She had gone kind of glassy eyed when he had mentioned Denver.

"Sorry General Clark," Willow said. "My father lost two close friends that day.

"I'm sorry for him," Clark said awkwardly.

"Thank you. But you can't blame yourself for what happened, General! How could you have known?'' Willow said. "And not to put too fine a point on it, while all of those people dying was bad, I don't think that's quite into the end of the world league."

"The world came a lot closer to ending that night than most people appreciate, Ms. Rosenberg," Clark said. 'You better have been serious about me using my judgment Jack,' Clark thought.

"I know that there was some fighting that night, but didn't the terrorist start them?" Willow asked.

"The fighting in Germany, yeah," Clark confirmed. "But the stuff that happened in the Med happened because the brass in the Pentagon didn't think the Rules of Engagement through."

"Okay, that was bad but it got settled down quickly. Still not seeing any end-of-the-world stuff," she continued feeling vaguely stupid sitting here arguing about whether Clark had almost ended the world or not.

"There was a lot more going on than that, Ms. Rosenberg," Clark began, but Willow held up her hand.

"My name is Willow, if we are going to discuss philosophy and stuff then I think we should be on a first name basis."

"Willow then, I'm John," Clark agreed. "Okay then, Willow, we had an agent in Russia. He was high up in the Russian Government. He was also an ambitious bastard. He decided that Russia would be much better off if he was running it. Unfortunately we, the US, happened to like President Narmonov. So he started to alter his reports. Making it look like Narmonov was losing control, that hard-liners were maneuvering to oust Narmonov and dial the cold war back in. A couple of weeks before the attack he reported that the Russian Military were missing a couple of tactical nukes."

Willow gasped. Clark just nodded. "When the bomb detonated President Fowler lost his two main foreign policy people. Add to that the fact that, if wasn't for some last minute problems, he would have been at the game, it sure looked like an attempt at a decapitation strike. President Fowler came close to losing it. Fortunately Jack had managed to put together what had happened, unfortunately he and Fowler had fought, so Fowler wasn't listening to him anymore."

"Goddess," Willow said, while she was used to stopping apocalypses that no one knew about, this was the first one that she had missed. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. "How far did it go?" she asked.

"If it had gone any farther, keys would have been turned," Clark said grimly.

Willow paled noticeably, Xander had dragged her to enough of those guys pics that she knew what that meant. "Who stopped it?" she asked Clark.

"Jack Ryan knew President Narmonov," Clark began, he saw Willow's head come up with interest but he shook his head 'no', that isn't a story your getting. "He managed to get up on the hot line and convinced Narmonov to back his forces down. Which the Russians did, and it defused the situation."

"Okay, I can see where you might feel guilty but how could you have known what… Ghosn was up too? It wasn't you who did it," she finished firmly.

"But was it you?" Clark asked.

"I'm pretty sure it was me," Willow said slightly sarcastically. "I was there, you know, when I tried to end the world."

"Willow I know what my head was like the first forty-eight hours or so after I found out about Pat. If I hadn't been under observation in a hospital I don't know what I would have done, but I probably would not be here. You were in tremendous pain. You tried to commit suicide, but a person doesn't decide to commit suicide when they put the barrel of the gun into their mouths, Willow. They decide as they are taking the slack off the trigger. You stopped."

"No," Willow corrected quietly. "Xander stopped me." Clark snorted. "Hello, I think we established that I was the one who was there," Willow said crossly.

"Willow I have to admit that my opinion of Xander Harris has skyrocketed since I was introduced to him as a person who left his fiancée at the alter, but I don't think that he could talk his way out of a parking ticket. I doubt that he would be able to convince someone who had truly decided to kill themselves, let alone someone who had decided to do it by ending the world. Don't misunderstand me, I think that he probably did reach that part of you that was you, and gave it the nudge that it needed. But in the end Willow Rosenberg stopped Willow Rosenberg."

Willow looked at him, confusion in her eyes. "Think about it anyway Willow," Clark finished. He looked into his cup and saw that it was empty, "Pat O'Day should be here soon. I need to go and get ready." He turned and went back into the house. Willow set back in her chair and began thinking about what he had told her.

*****

Chapter 16

Route 46
Outside of Sunnydale CA
26Oct2002 - 0900 hours

Buffy disconnected from her cell phone and turned to the other two men in the car. Ding had allowed her to ride in the shotgun seat, so she needed to do that so she could see both of them. "That was Anya. They think that what's out there is called a Shadow Hound. The good news is that they are vulnerable to normal weapons. There is further good news that they are not really invisible, they are chameleons. The bad news is that they were summoned by someone, and depending on that persons power level we may be dealing with a large pack of them," Buffy explained.

"Are there any powerful magic users out this way?" Ding asked.

"None that I know of," Buffy replied.

"Andre' de Vries place is supposed to be out this way somewhere," Broadman supplied.

"Andre' de Vries?" Buffy asked.

"Head of the school board?" Broadman said. "He's usually considered top of the dark magic food chain around here since Mayor Wilkens went off to his just rewards. Though according to Stew, there was a black witch that was around for a couple of days last May that would have knocked him right off that pedestal."

"Damn," Ding said with feeling. "If he is the one who summoned these things then there will be quite a few of them and you only have that single shot crossbow." Turning to the Ranger he asked, "Ranger Broadman, would you loan Buffy your pistol?"

"Sure," the ranger said. "Not a problem."

"Thanks for the offer, ranger, but I don't do well with guns. Do you have something hand-to-hand in the truck though? I should have brought my sword, or an axe," Buffy said.

"I thought you were good with all weapons?" Ding asked her.

"I don't just pick it up and know how to use it Ding," Buffy explained. "I have to practice with it. I pick up how to use it quick though."

"Never had anyone to teach you how to use a gun then?" Ding probed.

"Never had the inclination," Buffy responded. "Most of the things that I fight are either not impressed by bullets, or bullets just bounce off of them. There are other weapons that have a much better success rate that I spend my limited time practicing with."

"General Billingsly and about twenty commandos are heading this way. You might think about making some time. Even if you don't end up adding firearms to your basic kit, it will help you work out tactics to use against someone with one," Ding replied.

"I'll consider it," Buffy said noncommittally.

"I have a machete in the back of the truck, I think I have some entrenching tools too," the ranger told Buffy.

"The machete will do fine," Buffy told the ranger.

"The parking lot for the campground is up around the next bend, I want to check something out before we head up," Broadman explained as he pulled his Jeep onto a pole road. Just in from the road there was a dirty pickup truck parked. Some camo netting was thrown over it, but not doing much to hide it. Broadman got out of the truck and lifted the netting. He read the license number and grunted, then walked back to the pick up and leaned against it.

Buffy leaned out of an open window and asked, "Friends of yours?"

"Not hardly. They were poachers by the name of Lloyd Crispen and his Brother-in-Law Don Shewer. I have been after them for two years now, but they were very careful, Looks like I don't get to arrest them after all. It was probably Lloyd who saved the family. Don would have run through the center of their camp and yelled 'bon appitite' over his shoulder at whatever was chasing him."

Buffy shook her head; she had met several of that type over the years. Most of them were supposedly human, too.

Broadman took out his cell phone and dialed a number, "Dr. Sanchez? We are almost at the bottom of the trail and should be starting up soon. I want you to turn off your phone again and wait forty-five minutes then turn it back on and wait. I'll call you when we get into position," he listened to the phone for a moment and then said, "It won't be long now Doctor. We're almost there."

He hung up the phone and climbed back into the jeep. Pulling back onto the highway, the parking area that they were going to start from was only about three minutes down the road. There was a maroon pathfinder parked in it.

The three rescuers disembarked from the Ranger's jeep. He went to the back and opened up the tailgate and handed Ding his rifle. Buffy took out the crossbow and a quiver of quarrels that had a shoulder strap attached. She put the strap over her head and seated the quiver next to her left hip. She turned to the ranger who was taking his rifle out of its holder and said, "You mentioned a machete?"

"Right here," he said taking out the long, thick knife and handing it and it's scabbard and belt to Buffy.

"Thanks," Buffy said as she strapped it on.

"You mentioned entrenching tools," Ding asked the ranger.

"You want folding or straight?" the Native American responded.

"Straight," was the answer.

Buffy looked on with interest, she had no clue what an entrenching tool was, and was vaguely disappointed when it turned out to be a small shovel. Taking a step back though and looking at it from a Slayer point of view she could see that the shovel would make an effective weapon. Plus you could dig holes with it!

"Alright," Ding started. "I'll take point, Buffy you in the center, and ranger Broadman if you don't mind, please bring up the rear."

Broadman nodded, but Buffy said indignantly, "Why do you go first? And why do I get stuck in the middle? You aren't trying to protect me because I'm a girl, are you?" her inflection indicating that that would be a very bad idea if that was the reason.

"I want you in the center for two reason Buffy. One, you have a single shot weapon. If multiple opponents jump you then you would have a limited ability to engage them at range. And two, I have more experience at walking point, so I am the logical one to do it," Ding explained calmly.

"How much experience do you have dealing with invisible or near invisible opponents? Have you ever been invisible?" Buffy countered. "Plus my senses are better than yours."

"How much better can they be Buffy?" Ding demanded.

"Behind me there is a tree, about twenty feet off of the ground and ten feet off of the trunk there is a squirrel eating a pine nut," Buffy said deadpan.

Ding looked where Buffy had indicated and initially didn't see anything. Then the squirrel twitched and Ding saw it. He took Buffy's word for what it was eating. Ding sighed, "Okay, new marching order, Buffy goes first, I'm in the middle."

Buffy smiled at him sweetly and headed off into the woods.

Ding watched her go with a bemused look on her face. Broadman also watching said something in language that he didn't understand. "What did you say?" Ding asked the Indian.

"Something in Arapaho," he responded. "Roughly translated it says, 'and lo though she walks through the valley of death, she will fear no evil. Because she is the baddest mother in the valley'."

"Are you two coming?" Buffy called impatiently from the woods.

*****

1630 Revello Drive
Sunnydale, CA
26Oct2002 - 0930 hours

John Clark rinsed his mug out and placed it on the counter. He headed into the living room and saw that a commercial was on TV. "Andrew, can I have the remote?" he asked.

Andrew handed it up to him, the expression on his face said, 'Like I could stop you from taking it, even if I wasn't tied up?'

Clark turned on Headline News hoping to get some more information on the London bombing. They were just starting the story. "The British authorities are stating that the death toll from yesterdays bombing stands at forty-five, this number is expected to go much higher as it is reported that over one hundred people are still missing."

The anchor in New York asked the reporter on the scene, "Has anyone claimed responsibility yet?"

"No Joy, but I am told that in these cases many times they don't," the reporter said.

"Do we know anything about this club that seems to be the target? Or at least some reason it was the target?" Joy asked.

"The club has been around apparently since the 1700's, but I haven't been able to find anyone who knew anything about what went on there. So far the authorities don't seem to be able to come up with a motive either."

Clarks cell phone rang; he glanced at the screen and saw that it was the NRO calling. He tossed the remote back into Andrew's lap and headed for the front door. "Clark," he said as he answered the call.

"Please authenticate, Papa Papa Richard," The voice on the line said.

"Richard Papa Echo," Clark responded.

"Thank you General. I'm Ross Martin, the dayshift supervisor at the NRO," the voice introduced himself.

"What can I do for you Mr. Martin?" Clark asked.

"I'm calling to let you know that we finished the run that you requested. I don't think that I have every seen that intricate of an underground system ever. I noticed that several of the cave systems exited the area that we mapped. I was wondering do you want us to track them to their conclusion, or are do you just want the main city area?" Martin asked.

"Since the satellite is already in the proper orbit if you could give me a complete map that would be best," Clark said.

"Yes, Sir, I'll send the new stuff over to the FBI as soon as we have it processed." Martin said.

"Thank you," Clark told the man at the NRO.

"Anytime, General. Have a good day," he said.

"You too," Clark said as he disconnected.

Clark had just started back into the house when the phone rang again. Looking at the screen again he saw that it was the White House. "Yes Sir," he said as he answered the phone.

"John it's Jack, I have some news about London," Jack began.

"I have some news, too, Jack," John told him.

"Can it wait?" Jack asked.

"Sure," Clark responded.

"Okay, the building bombed in London was the HQ of the Watchers Council, according to Basil, British Intelligence says that they have been in some kind of fight with an unknown group for a couple of months at least," Jack began.

"Looks like they lost then," John replied.

"Yeah," Jack agreed, "Is Ms. Summers around? I'd like to break the news to her myself."

"No, she's out on a rescue mission with Ding and a forest ranger. Something has a family treed in a park," Clark told POTUS.

"She seems to have as full a schedule as I do," Jack commented.

"She does seem to keep her self busy," John said.

"Okay, then let her know that Rupert Giles seems to have survived the bombing. Someone was using his name on a flight out of Heathrow about three hours after the bombing, traveling with three young women. The Brits are little suspicious of his surviving and would like to talk with him. They lost track of him at Kennedy though. So if he shows up there let me know okay?" the President said.

"Sure, the locals might not be too happy with it though," Clark warned.

"We'll have to take that chance. It would be a lot more dangerous if it turned out he had been doubled and we let him run loose," Ryan told him.

"Agreed," Clark said.

"What did you want to talk about?" Ryan asked.

Clark began, "I learned some stuff about Willow Rosenberg last night that I did not include in my briefing with Dan. I felt that this should be for your ears only." Clark then went on to lay out what he had learned about Willow trying to end the world, Riley's opinion of it, and his own conversations with Willow this morning.

"Damn," Ryan said. "What is your estimation of her threat level?"

"I think that she is very remorseful for what she has done. She seems to be handling the magic in her well. At least she doesn't seem to be using it at all. I haven't seen her cast a single spell. I think that as long as she can keep control of her emotions she should be alright."

"Do we have any options if she looses it?" Ryan asked.

"Riley believes that if that is case, Buffy will do her duty, and end the threat," Clark said quietly. "Riley's only other option is to murder Ms. Rosenberg in her sleep."

"I don't think that's an option," Ryan said with finality.

Clark closed his eyes and said a silent prayer of thanks. "Could you give me the names of Giles' traveling companions in case anyone here knows them?" Clark requested.

"Sure, they're Annabelle Green, Molly Lincoln, Kennedy Loxley."

"Thanks, Jack. I'll see what I can find out," Clark told him.

"Okay then, keep an eye on things, and let me know if the situation changes," Ryan directed. "Now how 'bout telling me what went on in that graveyard last night."

As John was finishing up the blow by blow for Jack, Dawn came down the block, returning from her run. As she ran up the front porch she heard Clark saying, "Okay Jack, I'll let you know if anything changes," and hanging up his phone.

Dawn stopped with the door halfway open "That was the President?" she asked excited.

Clark nodded, "He had some stuff he needed to pass on."

"So he just called you?" Dawn asked shocked.

"Jack Ryan is the President of the United States, I would hope that he can dial a phone," Clark teased her, as he went through the door she was holding open. Shaking herself she followed him in.

"Willow!" Clark called as he came in.

"Here," came the response from the kitchen quickly followed by the redheaded witch.

"Andrew put Headline News back on," it was not a request. To Willow he said, "I just got off the phone with the President. He told me that," nodding at the scene on the TV of the devastation in London, "was the Watchers HQ," he told her Grimly.

"Oh Goddess!" Willow gasped, along with everyone else in the room. "Giles!" she said a moment later.

Clark quickly reassured her, "We think that Giles is okay. Someone using his name left Heathrow a couple of hours after the bombing with three young ladies. Whoever it was pulled a disappearing stunt at Kennedy in New York, so we don't know if it's him or where he is going."

Willow took her hands down from her mouth. Was it Clark's imagination or did her eyes become a lighter green? "He's heading here. We have to call Buffy and let her know what happened." She continued heading for the phone.

"I wouldn't," Clark stated.

Willow turned, "Why? She needs to know."

Clark moved closer to her, "I agree that she needs to know, but there is nothing that she can do about it now, and it would only serve as a distraction from what she is doing. Dealing with things that are for all practical purposes invisible, I'm thinking that the last thing she needs to be is distracted."

Willow nodded, clearly not happy, but agreeing with what Clark said. "Well I can try to find Giles anyway," she said firmly, heading for her laptop. "Do you have the names of the people with him?" Willow asked.

Clark nodded and gave them too her. Then he went back into the living room and recovered the remote from Andrew and began going over all the news stations seeing if anyone had anything new.

Willow after five minutes said, "Okay I found them. Now lets see if I can figure out where they went."

Clark handed the remote to Anya who smirked at their captive and started surfing. Clark went up behind Willow and looked on over her shoulder as she went through the various passenger lists for the airlines at Kennedy. She was staring at the three names intently and then smiled. She began typing furiously.

"What did you see?" Clark asked perplexed.

"Green, Lincoln, and Loxley," Willow smiled.

"I don't get it," Clark said.

"Well how about Lincoln, Green, Loxley," Willow replied.

Clark almost slapped his head, "Robin Hood! But that's not how his last name is spelled," he stated.

"But it sounds the same," Willow said.

Dawn came down stairs. She had changed into a T-shirt and jeans, and was combing her hair out after a shower. "What's up?"

"We're trying to find out where Giles is. He's traveling with a couple of girls and I think I figured out who they are traveling as," Willow told Dawn.

Two minutes later she said, "And wa la." Looking at the screen she frowned, "Well three of them anyway. Maybe they split up?"

Clark looked the list over and realized that he was looking at a boarding list for Delta at Newark International. "Did you hack in here?" he asked the redhead.

"If I say yes, am I in trouble?" she returned, scanning the plane to see if she had missed the third girl.

Dawn came around the table and looked at the highlighted names, "Frances Tuck, Annabelle Dale, and Joan Little?"

"Giles seems to be using a Robin Hood motif for naming people," Willow told her.

"Here is the third girl," Clark said pointing at the screen.

"Marion de Havilland? That's not how her name was spelled," Willow protested.

"Yeah, but it sounds the same, well almost. Plus Olivia de Havilland played Maid Marian in Errol Flynn's version."

"Score one for the old guy," Dawn said enthusiastically. Then seeing the look that Clark gave her she appended quickly, "I meant old in a good way, like lots of experience an stuff. Willow, bail me out!"

Willow just shook her head and smiled. "You can get your own feet out of your mouth, Dawnie," she told the teenager.

Clark smiled at her to show no hard feelings. Turning back to Willow he asked, "Where are they bound, and when do they arrive? I'm afraid that there are some people who want to talk to Mr. Giles."

Dawn was shocked; "You can't arrest Giles! He couldn't have done what you think he did! Err, what do you think he did?" she finished.

"Someone blew up the Watchers Council, Dawn. Mr. Giles looks like the only one who made it out. That looks suspicious enough that the British Government wants to question him."

"Oh, sure, like coincidences like that never happen, Mr. I work for a guy who got his job when some Japanese guy crashed his plane into the Capitol," Willow said hotly. "I'm not going to help you, if it means that Giles is going to end up in jail somewhere."

"I doubt that it will come to that. You may need to consider though that he has gone over to the other side," Clark said conciliatory.

"If Giles was going evil, trust me when I tell you, I would have felt it over the summer," Willow assured him.

"Willow, if it's and conciliation, I trust you. I doubt that the guy is evil either, just by the amount of loyalty you all show him. It doesn't change the fact that people want to talk to him. If something is chasing him, being around other people might be the safest place for him," Clark explained.

Willow just nodded and went back to her laptop, "They arrived at San Francisco International about a hour ago. I don't see any rentals under the names they used on the plane."

"Let me see," Clark said. Scanning the list it took him a minute to spot it. "There, Regina Lione."

Willow looked up at him, "Okay now I don't get it."

"Regina Lione, is close enough to 'Regina Lion', or 'Queen Lion'," he explained.

"King Richard," Willow agreed.

"It's a cute dodge, but he overdid it," Clark said as he straightened up. "He just got lucky that know one else tweaked onto the Robin Hood angle. Tell me, Willow, have you ever thought about a career in Intelligence?" he asked.

"What do you think I do now, General Clark? Oh wait, a career implies that you are paid for what you do," Willow said, a slight smile on her face.

"If you ever have the urge to lose your amateur status, let me know. I have a couple of people who I know would just love to talk to you."

Willow nodded as she decided to check her e-mails. Going down the list she frowned and opened one. She scanned the contents then looked over toward Clark who was heading back to the living room and the news. "General Clark? You live in the DC area right?"

"I lived there, I'm stationed in England right now. Why?"

"Do you know who Bob Holtzman is? He sent me an e-mail," she responded.

*****

Chapter 17

Campsite 22
Mesa Alto National Park
Outside Sunnydale, CA
26Oct2002 - 0915 hours

Dr. Sandra Sanchez was a thirty-seven year old woman with long black hair, and a pleasing face. She was a widow with two children. All three of them were currently stuck up a tree by some things that she wasn't sure were real, or rather by things that she didn't WANT to believe were real.

A drunk driver had killed her husband Pete four years ago. She had been halfway through her internship when this happened and between the trauma of Pete's death and trying to raise Thomas and Brieanna she had almost washed out of the program. Thankfully her advisor had been very understanding and had managed to shepherd her through to completion. She had received her M.D. only six months late.

She had been practicing in LA when she had learned of an opening on the nightshift at Sunnydale General for a trauma surgeon. Sandra had investigated and found that real estate prices in Sunnydale were more than reasonable and the local schools had a good rating. She put in for the job. She was shocked when she was hired after a single interview. She had quickly found a four-bedroom house that she could afford and had just finished moving in on Friday. Sunday would be her first night at work, while Monday would be the first day of school for Thomas and Bri.

Money had been tight after Pete's death. He had some insurance but it wasn't enough to cover everything, and the drunk had been a drifter with no insurance or assets. So she and the kids had started going camping in the local state and national parks. It was a cheap way to get out of the apartment on weekends that she wasn't on call.

Sandra had decided that since they had largely unpacked that this weekend they would go out and check out what the camping was like at one of the local parks. It had been a while since money had been an issue, but the three of them still enjoyed going somewhere where there wasn't a building in sight.

They had hiked up to this campground from the highway and found a campsite. Once Thomas and Sandra had pitched their tents, Sandra had sent the kids out to explore the local area while she set up for dinner. She had laid out the rocks for the fire they were going to have later in the evening and placed the cooler and cooking utensils next to it. Thomas had offered to help but she sent him to watch over his sister.

It had only taken about a half-hour to set everything up and then the three of them had gone out and done some real exploring. Brieanna had a rather extensive collection of the plants from around the LA area from their many trips; she had managed to add a couple new ones. Thomas had collected rocks. He had also found a number of different specimens. Brieanna had sniffed, "I would rather carry my flowers back down than your rocks."

"That's cause you're a girl," Thomas had returned, rubbing a hand through his sisters black hair.

They had gotten back to camp and Sandra had started the fire. Once it had been hot enough they had a weenie roast. After dinner with marshmallows roasting they had started talking. It had become traditional that on these trips, after dinner, they would talk about what had happened since the last fire. Even if they had talked the subject through at home, they would go over it again in more detail.

Sandra had told the kids about the hospital and the staff that she had met. Thomas had mostly talked about a guidance councilor that he had met at the orientation he had attended that day. Sandra had been a little disturbed at the apparent youth of this councilor. She had wondered what qualifications or certifications someone that young could have. She had concluded that she would call, or go over and see, this woman and decide for herself.

That was assuming that she and her kids got out of this current mess. That thought brought her back to present. She looked up at the top of the hill were the large boulder that whatever these things where congregated at. When Bri had done her business just after dawn Sandra had got her first good look at these things. Well that was a bit of stretch but they had come close enough for her to get a good 'look' at. They were either transparent, or they were chameleons. She thought the latter because she could see no internal organs. It had sniffed around where her daughter's refuse had landed then returned to the rock.

When the man had run into the campsite last night and screamed that she and her kids needed to get up in tree's she had assumed that a bear of mountain lion was after him. The look in his face though convinced her to listen to him. She had grabbed Bri and screamed for Thomas to climb. The man had rushed to Thomas and had almost thrown him up into the lower branches of a tree. He had then started climbing himself but had not gotten half way up when something had grabbed him around an ankle. Sandra had been looking right at him when it happened but had seen nothing. The man had simply yanked off of the tree and to the ground. Something that she still hadn't been able to see had then picked him up and shaken him like a terrier would a rat. She could still hear his neck breaking.

"Mom," Thomas called. "What are these things?"

"I don't know honey," she told her oldest. "You're the predator expert."

"I've never read about or seen anything like this before," he told her mother.

Sandra thought about the implications of these things and she started to sweat. These could not be natural creatures. They had to be some kind of genetic experiment. She started to wonder if 'Ranger Broadman' was coming up here to save her family, or make sure that they never told anyone what they had seen. She had been panicked when she first called in. She couldn't remember exactly what she had said, but she was pretty sure she had mentioned invisible wolves or something similar. When Ranger Broadman had gotten in contact with her she could detect no evasion, nothing to indicate he was humoring a mad woman. She had contemplated calling her family, but if these were people who were willing to make her immediate family disappear, she doubted that they would have any qualms about adding her extended family to the list of missing people. She had thought about it a while, now with the ranger at the bottom of the trail and heading this way, she would have to act, if she were to have any bargaining chips, if she needed them. Coming to a decision, she pulled out her cell phone, and noted that, thanks to the rangers suggestion that she only turn the phone on from 'ten to' till 'ten after' the hour, she still had three bars showing power left. She entered a number and waited. After a bit she said, "Yes operator, could I have the number for the Sunnydale Press please?"

*****

1630 Revello Drive
Sunnydale, CA
26Oct2003 - 0953 hours

"What does he want?" Clark asked.

"He seems to have found some old posts I did about the Watchers Council. Here see for yourself," Willow said as she turned the laptop around.

Clark scanned the message it said:

'Dear Ms. Rosenberg,

My name is Bob Holtzman. I am a reporter for the Washington Post newspaper in Washington, DC. I am doing a story on the bombing in London that seems to involve a group called The Watcher's Council. I found a couple of posts that you did on the subject and are the only person that I have so far found that seems to personally know anyone on the Council. I was wondering if you would be willing to give me an interview either in person or over the phone. Please let me know one way or the other. I can be reached either at this email address, or at (202) 555-5012 {Ext.106.}

Thank you,
Bob Holtzman.'

"Damn," Clark said with feeling.

"That about sums it up," Willow agreed.

"What did you write?" Clark asked.

Willow thought for a moment, "I don't think I wrote that much the couple of times I posted. We had just finished having Travers and his stooges put us through the wringer. We had been trying to get some info out of them about Glory. I was looking for some dirt to use on them if we ever had to do business with them again when I came across this site that made the Watchers Council sound like the second coming of Machiavelli, and, well, I got a little cranky," Willow finished.

"What exactly did you write?" Clark wanted to know.

"I don't remember exactly, but it was along the lines of 'you guys are jerks and don't have a clue what you are talking about'," Willow replied.

"Is there anything else out there with this pen name?"

"Yeah a couple other things, but I haven't used it in a year or so," Willow said.

"Okay you just can't mail him back and say he got the wrong girl," Clark replied thinking.

"Maybe I could email and tell him I don't want to talk to him," Willow offered.

"Wouldn't work; that would ring the dinner bell for him. Holtzman would be out here so fast that he would suck half of the Washington Press Corps with him," Clark said.

"You sound like you know him," Will said.

"Something like that," Clark agreed. "He has a reputation around DC."

"What do I do then? I'm a lousy liar!" Willow exclaimed getting panicky.

"Relax Willow," Clark told her. The others who where ambulatory started to come in to see what had Willow worked up. "Send him back a response and say that you would be happy to talk to him, but insist that it be a face-to-face. I doubt that his editor will front the money for airfare on such flimsy evidence as a post on a web site. Unless there is some other reason for him to come out you might get a few more emails, just keep insisting on a face-to-face. Give it a week or two and this will blow over."

"Okay, I'll get a reply off to him now," Willow told the ex-spy.

A knocking came at the door then. Anya being closest answered it. Out side she found a big rugged looking individual with a Zapata mustache. "Yes?" she asked, measuring the man on the porch.

The man produced a wallet and opened it. Inside were his picture and a badge. "I'm Inspector Pat O'Day of the FBI, I was told that I supposed to meet General Clark here."

"John," Anya called. "The FBI guy is here."

"Thanks Anya," Clark said, as he went to great the newcomer.

Pat for his part looked a little relieved when Clark came into the foyer. "John, good to see you." He still waited to be invited in.

"Come in, Pat," John said.

Pat looked at the blonde who had got the door strangely and came in. "Dan said that you would give me a full briefing when I got here; how about we go out on the porch and discuss it?" Pat suggested at seeing how crowded the house was.

"Sure," Clark agreed, following the other man out of the house.

Clark got out on the porch and shut the door. O'Day was about to say something when Clark put his finger to his lips in a shushing motion. He opened the door quickly again and was looking down into a pair of big blue eyes. "You know Dawn, it's generally considered impolite to listen on other people's conversations."

"Dawn!" Willow called from the dining room. "Come away from the door!" Dawn went grumbling.

"That's okay Dawn," Anya said. "It was a good try."

Clark closed the door and turned to Pat with a smile on his face. Pat for his part cocked an eyebrow at Rainbow Six and said, "Okay what's going on? Dan called me at 5:15 this morning and told me to hurry down here for a prisoner pickup. Add to that the strange conversation I had with my wife last night, a conversation that I think, if we both had access to a secure phone link, would have been bizarre, and I have to wonder what's going on back in Washington!"

"Well Pat, it's like this," Clark began. Fifteen minutes later he had finished and Pat was measuring him for a white coat. In the briefing he left out any mention of anything that Willow had done in the spring, concentrating instead on Buffy and what had happened in the graveyard last night.

"Okay, I just want to make sure I got this. You are in town because this General, who ran this top secret organization and is convinced that Jack is THE Anti-Christ, is on his way here to open a gateway to Hell that is under the local high school. Ding is off with a superhero who is a guidance councilor at this same high school, and the First Evil that ever was is running around town kidnapping vampire friends of something called a Vampire Slayer?" Pat asked incredulously.

"Yeah that about sums it up," Clark agreed, enjoying the expression on Pat's face. "You going to need proof?" Clark asked, waving his bandaged hand in front of him.

"No. Well not yet anyway. I would like to actually see something supernatural before I completely believe though," Pat said.

"Well you are in the right place. I understand that this place is Disneyland to the demonic."

"Okay," Pat said moving on. "I'm supposed to check out the local office for Dan while I am here. He suggested that I take Ding and you as backup. Should we wait for him?"

"I don't know how long they will be. Last I heard they should just be heading up to the family now. It will probably be two or three hours before they can get back. I have an idea where we can find some more backup though. Come on in and I'll introduce you to everyone."

Clark and Pat reentered the house. Pointing out people he introduced O'Day to everyone, leaving Andrew for last. Pat pulled a card out of his wallet and began to Mirandize Andrew. Clark meanwhile went into the dining room where Willow was just finishing up her email to Holtzman.

"Willow, got a minute?" he asked.

"Sure," she said as she hit the send button.

"Pat and I are going down to check out the local FBI office. I was expecting to take Ding along to help in case backup is needed. I was wondering if you could go?" he asked her.

"Not doing the magic much anymore," she began. "But if I can help, sure. Just let me go up and get into something more buisnessy," she said as she got up.

O'Day meanwhile had decided that Andrew was secure enough with the rope; he didn't need to handcuff him yet. "John, can we at least drop Wells off with the local cops till we are done?"

"NO!!!!" Came out of Anya's, Dawn's, and Willow's mouths.

"They're that dirty?" O'Day asked, thinking that maybe they needed to do a clean sweep of the town.

"We don't know Pat," Clark said. "But Buffy is afraid that this First thing would get to someone and he," nodding at Andrew, "would end up dead."

"Okay then, what do we do with him while we check out the local office?" Pat demanded.

"We could keep watching him," Anya volunteered. "Oh wait, are you going downtown?"

"Yeah," Clark said.

"Could I ride with you? I have an insurance adjuster coming in to look at the store. Hopefully I can convince him to pay for the damages."

"What happened?" Clark asked.

"When Willow went wonky, she and Buffy had a fight in the store. The previous owner didn't insure against earthquakes and that was what the cops called what Willow did to the jail. So since it happened the same night, the insurance company claimed it was earthquake related and refused to pay."

Clark could see Pat about to ask what had Willow done to the local jail and just shook his head. Pat saw the move and didn't ask the question. "Okay, why do you need to ride with us?" Clark still didn't understand.

"Well, you know, my ex-boss?" Anya said, nodding at Pat.

"Oh yeah, him," John agreed. "What good would being with me do though?" holding up his hand.

"Well, I don't think he would want to alienate you. You know, in case he ever gets a chance to ask you to work for him?" Anya said matter of factly.

Pat was getting more confused by the second; everyone else seemed to understand what was going on, and it was a little frustrating being the only outsider. Clark just looked at him with a I will explain later expression. Pat returned a yes you will look. "Okay, I still need somewhere secure to stash Wells then," he said.

"We can stash him at the Magic Box. There are a couple of cubby holes that he could fit into," Anya said. "I'm sure he wouldn't make any noise and ruin any chance I have of getting insurance money, right Andrew?" Anya said sweetly, with a hard glint in her eye.

"Ah, noo," he said quickly. "I would be quiet as a mouse."

Clearly not liking it Pat agreed. Willow came back down in business attire. Mid length blue skirt, a blue jacket with a light blue blouse, and low heel shoes. "Anytime you are ready, General Clark," she said.

Pat looked at Clark, "This is your backup?"

"There's more to her than meets the eye. Plus with what goes on in this town, she might be more use than Ding would be."

"How so?" Pat asked.

"She's a witch," Clark said, straight faced.

"I don't wiggle my nose though," Willow said mischievously at Pat's stunned look.

"Since everyone is going downtown, I would like to come, too," Dawn requested.

"Okay," Willow agreed. "You probably shouldn't be left alone."

"Okay I'll just go and get my things," Dawn said as she headed up stairs.

O'Day untied Andrew, cuffed his hands behind his back, and led him to the door. When Dawn came charging down the stairs, Willow opened the door, and headed out with everyone following her. "So John," Willow said with a small smile. "How much are you paying Buffy when she helps you out?"

*****

Chapter 18

Below Campsite 22
Mesa Alto National Park
Near Sunnydale, CA
26Oct2003 - 0940 hours

Buffy stalked carefully through the woods. About ten yards behind her Ding came, and ten more behind Ding, Ranger Broadman. Buffy scanned the woods in a one hundred and eighty-degree arc in front of them, Ding covered the sides, and Broadman was responsible for the rear. Between everyone they managed to keep the area around them covered as they moved. Ding had been surprised initially at how skilled Buffy was in the woods. Though he ruefully admitted to himself that he was still letting some of his chauvinism color his thinking. He was going to have to beat that out of his system, before Buffy did it for him. He took a moment to watch Buffy move. Ordinarily Buffy moved like a big cat, smooth and powerful. Now moving through the woods it was much more pronounced; she stalked rather than walked. Her crossbow tracked where she looked, he noticed that she had the safety off and her finger rested not on the trigger, but rather on the trigger guard.

Buffy suddenly stopped, the other two closed up on her. In front of them was a pair of small hills with a gap between them. Buffy motioned to the hills and whispered, "They are on the other side of the hills." She then turned and started to go around the right hill. Ding was about to ask why go that way, when he realized that they where walking down wind of whatever was over there. He wondered if Buffy had consciously chosen that way?

When they got halfway around the hill Buffy started to climb. Ding and Broadman followed her. He was amazed at the kind of brush she could move through silently with the crossbow in front of her. She just seemed to flow through it. He and Broadman were nowhere near as successful. After glaring at them and the noise of their confrontation with the first set of bushes she altered her climb so that the brush wasn't as thick.

When they reached the top, she went down on her stomach, and peered over the crest of the hill. A couple of moments later Ding and Broadman also reached the top. "There they are," Buffy said softly, "by the big rock."

Ding looked and didn't see anything. "I'm not seeing them," he whispered back.

"Look at how the leaves and stuff are moving, it's not the wind," Buffy replied in a low tone.

Ding looked again, and then noticed what she was talking about. Above each of these disturbances was something that looked like a heat shimmer. "Okay now I got them. Can you take the shot?" he asked.

Buffy shook her head once. "I could get one definitely; maybe two, but the other two would scatter. They might try and follow us and I would be able to get them then, but they could just melt back into the forest and still be a threat," she whispered.

Broadman grunted that he had them too, so they then worked their way back down the hill quietly. Once at the bottom of the hill they gathered in a circle. "How do you want to do this?" Broadman asked.

"How bout a skirmish line?" Ding suggested. "We form a line across the gully at the base of the hills and let them come to us."

Buffy thought about it for a second and said, "Okay that works for me." Broadman nodded.

Ding went on, "I think Robert should move into the center with the '14, Buffy you are in first so you would have the right, I would be in last and have the left."

Buffy and Broadman nodded. Broadman pulled out his cell phone and said, "I'll call the Doc, and let her know we are here."

Buffy and Ding waited as Broadman did that, then all three moved to the mouth of the gully. They quickly stepped through with Buffy leading. As they made their way between the hills a loud growl from around the bolder area indicated that they had been spotted. Ding stared up the hill and spotted a ripple that he hoped was a hound coming straight at him. Broadman began squeezing off shots immediately, 'Must be nice to have a thirty-round clip', he thought. He put his own rifle to his shoulder and tracked the ripple. At fifty-yards he squeezed the trigger for the first time. The floor of the forest erupted behind the ripple, 'Too high', he thought to himself. Ding worked the action of the Marlin and fired again when the ripple crossed forty-yards. This time the ground in front of the ripple exploded. The ripple reared up in surprise, giving Ding his first clear target. He aimed at the center of mass, worked the action, and squeezed the trigger a third time. Red exploded and the big slug blew the hound backward. Ding swung around to see if he could help either of his companions. He got around just in time to see the head of Broadman's hound explode in a spray of gray and pink. Ding then tried to pick up anything else when he realized that two of the hounds must be heading for Buffy, but he couldn't pick them out of the clutter!

Dr. Sanchez found herself becoming more, not less, tense when Ranger Broadman had called her. She waited for the shot that would end her or one of her kids' lives. She was mildly surprised when three people came quickly into the campsite area forming a line at the bottom of the hill, facing uphill. One of the figures she saw was a young woman. She seemed to be armed with a crossbow instead of a rifle. As the men started shooting she just stood there, aiming up the hill. Probably because she had been tracking whatever these things were, she could pick out the two that picked the slight figure as a target. Still the blond just stood there. She wanted to scream at her, to shoot, or duck, or do something, but found herself mute in terror.

Buffy for her part was perfectly calm. Neither the CRACK, CRACK, CRACK, of Broadman's rifle, or the deeper BOOM of Ding's made any impact on her. She stood there watching both hounds coming at her. Their tactics were plain, the lead hound would knock her over, and then the second one would savage her. Why they had choose her, as a target didn't matter, whether it was because she was the smallest, or they somehow perceived her as the most dangerous was immaterial. She knew which one she would shoot, when she would shoot, and what she would shoot, and what she would do after she shot, so all she had to do was wait. When the lead hound crossed the twenty-yard mark she stroked the trigger of the crossbow. The lever that held back the string went forward and the arms snapped forward carrying the string with them. The string struck the back of the quarrel and started propelling it forward. The bolt had barely cleared the front of the bow when Buffy dropped it. She then started shifting to her left; the hound left the ground with the intent to knock the Slayer over. Buffy shifted her hip and wasn't in the path of the hound anymore. As it sailed past her, its angry growl changed to one of confusion. Buffy's hand streaked out and grabbed one of the hound's fore legs and she pulled down hard causing the hound to flip through the air. The shadow hound came down back first across a boulder, there was a loud crack as its spine broke, and its yelp of surprise became a shriek of agony. Buffy leaped after the hound and landed next to it. It's rear half was already losing its transparent appearance. She gripped the lower jaw of the animal with her left hand and cupped the back of its head with her right. A sharp wrench and another cracking sound and the whimpering stopped.

Ding carefully approached the hound he had shot. He noticed that it was still barely alive, but with the wound in its chest he doubted that it would live for long. So he took his gun and shot it once in the head to put it out of its misery. As soon as it died it lost the transparent appearance and it's fur took on a splotched gray appearance. There was no doubt that Broadman's hound was dead so he went over to Buffy's first victim. He found it laying there on its back, already splotchy gray, a neat hole in the center of its chest, with an exit wound in the center of its backside. He glanced down the hill where Buffy was already up and scanning the woods with the machete in her hand. "Anything?" he called.

Buffy did one further circuit but then put the knife away and said, "We're clear."

*****

Chapter 19

814 Front Street
Sunnydale, California
26Oct2002 - 1012 hours

"This is the place I really wanted you to see," Xander Harris told Riley Finn as he unlocked the door to the building. "My boss picked this place up six months ago for a steal. He wanted to make it into a mini-mall but he couldn't get anyone else to put any money into it."

"Isn't this where Buffy first ran into Glory?" Riley asked.

"Yeah. They found a couple of Glory's victims around here so the place got the reputation of being cursed," Xander told the commando.

"Okay, I'm seeing a good deal of structural damage here," Riley said, pointing out the various craters in the concrete walls, and the crack in the floor that lead to a support pillar that had collapsed.

"Most of the damage is purely cosmetic," Xander argued. "The crack in the floor can be fixed; I have a bunch of people that I trust that can set this place right in a week. Come this way I'll show you the basement and a couple other features that this place has.

Xander led Riley downstairs into the basement. They walked down a set of double wide concrete stairs. Once in the basement Riley let out a low whistle. It ran the full length of the warehouse and was completely empty. Two freight elevators were along one wall, along the opposite wall were a compressor and an air conditioner, plus an emergency generator. Steel pillars dotted the room, holding up the floor of the work area above. There was one very noticeable crack in the ceiling. "I figure that you could either use this area for storage, or with a little work you could put in a shooting range," Xander said. "There isn't another basement like this in Sunnydale."

"Plus we could set up a physical fitness area or a sparring area," Riley agreed, starting to be swayed.

"Training area?" Xander questioned. "Come with me."

Riley followed Xander up out of the basement. Xander crossed the room to a set of double doors with windows that were set into the middle of the opposite wall. They went through the doors and Riley found himself in a short passage that ended in another set of double doors. Once through the doors Riley found himself in a gymnasium. There was a short set of bleachers to his right. To his left was a set of doors marked 'Men', and 'Women'. Across from him he could see three more sets of doors. The first led into what looked like a weight room, the second looked like it might be a sauna, and the last looked like a door. Above him a suspended track circled the gym to allow people to run in inclement weather. Finally in one corner of the gym suspended from the track hung a heavy bag, and a speed bag. While there was layer of dust on everything, they seemed to be in perfect condition.

"The original owner was a physical fitness nut. He believed that a fit employee was a happy employee, and that a happy employee was a productive one. So he put this all in for the workers. I think that he wanted to be able to write off a health spa as a business expense," Xander explained.

"Does it have a pool?" Riley asked, amazed.

"He got the hole for it dug, it's downstairs through that door there," he said pointing at the door that Riley couldn't identify on the other side of the gym. "But he was killed before they could finish it."

"Vampire got him?" Riley asked.

"Nope," Xander responded. "Was struck by lighting while he was out fishing in the middle of a lake. He left behind twenty-six heirs, and three wills."

Riley shook his head, "What happened? Or was your boss one of the heirs?"

"No, this is Sunnydale. Within three years there was one heir left. Buffy was just too late to save him. The second to last heir did die of 'neck rupture'," Xander said with a smile. "I think the guy was either dancing on the grave of his last opponent, or was pissing on it, when the vampire dug himself out. The judge that was handling the case was sick of it, so when my boss showed up with cash in hand he authorized the sale to him. I know he is looking to offload it."

"Okay, looks good," Riley told the other man. "A couple of things I want to know though."

"Shoot," Xander replied.

"Buffy and Spike, are they still an item?" Riley asked.

Xander turned and started heading back to the warehouse proper. "No they broke up just after you and Sam showed up last time."

Riley followed him out, "Okay, then why all the tension last night when the topic came up?"

"Spike left town last spring, personally I had hoped that we had seen the last of him. Buffy found him hiding in the basement of the school when she started there. She has been mother hening him ever since. He hasn't been quite right since he got his soul back."

"He pissed some gypsy tribe off and got cursed?" Riley wanted to know.

"He apparently did it to himself," Xander replied.

"Huh? He volunteered to get his soul back?"

"You'll have to ask him," Xander replied shortly.

"Okay, sorry," Riley told him. "How did they get together anyway? When I left for Mexico, he was sniffing around, but she couldn't stand him."

"He did some good things against Glory," Xander told Riley grudgingly, and then went on without thinking. "Then, when Buffy got back, I guess she could open up with him easier than she could with us."

"Back?" Riley asked perplexed. "Where did she go?"

Xander realized what he had just said and tried to change the subject, "Wow, would you look at the time! Buffy should be back soon! Why don't we head back and meet up with them."

Riley stopped Xander by putting his arm in front of him, "Where… did… she… go?" He didn't change the tone of the question at all but somehow managed to portray a whole lot of menace anyway.

Xander looked at the other man and realized that he was all alone with a trained commando and that there was no one around that would likely be able to interfere if things got… unpleasant. "It's not my story to tell Riley," he tried.

"I don't exactly have anyone else to ask Xander," Riley said. "I need to know this stuff, to see how it will affect the mission."

Xander shrugged in defeat, "She died Riley, Buffy sacrificed herself to close Glory's portal and save everyone."

Riley winced, "That was the May after I left?"

"I don't think you being there would have made a difference," Xander told him. "I doubt that you would have been able to stop the portal from opening."

"We'll never know, will we?" Riley said bitterly. "Did someone perform CPR again?"

"She was dead for four months, Riley," Xander said flatly.

"Four months? Ho….Willow," Riley said realizing what must of happened.

"That was really the start of her magic addiction. She talked Tara, Anya, and me into helping her. We brought Buffy back the September after she died."

"So that's what she meant," Riley said to himself.

"Pardon?" Xander asked confused.

"When we were going after the Suvolte Demon I told her I had some stories to tell her. She asked If I had died, when I said I hadn't she said, 'I'll win', I never got a chance to ask her what she had meant."

"There's more," Xander said quietly. "You might as well hear it from me rather than someone else."

"What?" Riley asked.

"Willow was hot on bringing Buffy back because she had convinced herself that Buffy was in a hell dimension somewhere and that she was rescuing her. Because Buffy was killed by mystical means we could bring her back."

Riley nodded that he understood.

"The only thing Willow got wrong was where Buffy was," Xander said flatly.

That didn't penetrate immediately. Riley turned this statement around in his mind a couple of times till it finally started making sense. Xander watched the process play across Riley's face for several seconds, he saw when Riley was starting to get what Xander had told him, for the first time Xander was actually a little scared to be in the commando's presence.

"Willow didn't bother to check?" Riley asked quietly.

"What?" Xander asked, taking a step back.

"You would think that a witch that is strong enough to raise the dead could talk to them!" Riley said through clenched teeth.

"I don't think so," was all Xander could say.

Riley felt an awesome rage building; it blew through anything he tried to place in its way. He couldn't believe that these people could be so…so… STUPID about something like this. "Xander, I think it would be a good idea for you to wait for me in the car," Riley told the other man.

Looking at how pale Riley's face had become Xander decided that it would be a very good idea to do just that. "Right, car, gotcha, I'll come back and turn the lights out later," he said as he backed away from Riley.

Once Riley was alone, he didn't even try to keep it in, he all but howled. How could someone who claimed to be a friend do something like that to you? Deep in his heart he knew what had happened, Willow couldn't take being the big gun, she needed Buffy back. So she didn't let anything that would put a crimp in her plan intrude into it. So she never bothered to check with Buffy to find out if she wanted to come back. The more he thought about it the more his rage climbed, until finally it reached a point were he cocked back an arm, and was about launch a fist at an unoffending I-beam. That was when the cultured and urbane voice behind him asked, "Pardon me, but could I be of assistance?"

Riley didn't hesitate, he threw himself to the left rolling over and coming up on one knee with his Desert Eagle in hand. As he settled on his target he said to himself, "Damn, I'm going to need a bigger gun."

*****

Sunnydale FBI Office
451 Main Street
Sunnydale CA
26Oct2002 - 1020 hours

Pat walked through the doors to the FBI office followed by Clark, then Willow. The office matched the outside of the building. It was a narrow three-story structure; the waiting area had room for a desk and an aisle that allowed people to get past the desk. Seated behind the desk was a receptionist, she was a forty something woman, with blond hair pulled into a bun that had a couple of streaks of gray hair. The receptionist looked up and smiled at them. The nameplate on the desk identified her as Carol Picket. "Can I help you?" she asked.

Showing her his ID, Pat said, "Inspector Patrick O'Day, I'd like to speak to Agent Murphy, or Connors."

"Agents Murphy and Connors are in a meeting. Is it an emergency or can you wait for them to finish?" Carol told them.

Pat was about to ask how sensitive the meeting was when voices came from the back of the office. "I think they are done," Carol told them.

Three people came down the stairs; all were dressed in suits of one type or another. The first was a tall rangy person; he was just over six feet tall, with black hair and gray eyes. Following him was another man, in his sixties, with gray hair and brown eyes. Last in line was a short stocky woman, with blond hair and hazel eyes. "Mr. Murphy?" Carol Picket said. "This is Inspector O'Day, he would like to speak with you."

Murphy looked the people his receptionist had introduced over and then he held out his hand and said, "Frayne Murphy, I'm the SAC of the Sunnydale Office." Turning to the others, he said, "This is Marciro Estoba, he is the postal inspector for this area." Pointing to the blond he went on, "And this is Susan Conners, she is the ASAC, also the only other agent assigned to the office."

Pat shook his hand, he was mildly surprised that Murphy didn't try for the old 'crush the other guy's hand' trick, Pointing out his companions he said, "This is General John Clark, and Willow Rosenberg." Pat noticed that Susan Conners became a little paler when he mentioned Willow's name, 'Interesting, she knows of her.'

"What can I do for you Inspector O'Day?" Frayne asked pleasantly. Pat noticed that he had no unusual reaction to Willows name.

"It would be better if we could talk privately," Pat replied.

"I need to get going anyway Fray," the postal inspector said. "I'll get into contact with you during the week to see if you have turned anything up."

"Okay Marc, I'll talk to you during the week," Frayne told him. Then turning to the receptionist, he said, "Carol, why don't you take off? You'll still be paid till noon."

"Thank you," Carol said as she started getting ready to go. "I think I shall enjoy the sunshine."

"Enjoy yourself," the SAC told her as she headed for the door.

Once the door closed behind her, Frayne locked the door, and put a closed sign on it. Turning back to the others he said, "Maybe we should go up to my office."

Pat nodded and followed the SAC up the stairs. Clark made like he was being polite and waved Conners up the stairs in front of him. He noted that the FBI agent made sure that Willow was in front of her. He also noticed that one of her hands stayed awfully close to the waistband of her skirt.

When the group reached the second floor, Frayne led them down a short hallway with three doors, one straight ahead the other two on opposite walls. The hallway was basic government; the walls were flat white paint with well-worn medium gray carpeting. To a certain extent Murphy's office was also basic government, with an old gray metal desk, gray filling cabinets, and gray bookshelves. The office did have some non-standard features though; around the circumference of the room were a series of shelves that were covered with an incredible assortment of knick-knacks. Willow found a number of items of interest because they had a definite magical aura about them. The centerpiece of the collection though was a stuffed gray fox that seemed to be covered with soft green fuzz. Willow noticed that John and Pat were also staring at the fox. Frayne also noticed that his visitors were staring at the stuffed animal. He smiled at them and said, "Like my Fox Molding?"

*****

Chapter 20

Frayne Murphy went on as if he hadn't just made a funny and said, "I tried to convince Sue to dye her hair red, but she wouldn't go for it."

"Frayne!" Susan Conners hissed.

"By that joke I take it that you are aware then of the more unusual aspects of Sunnydale?" Pat O'Day asked.

"I would think that he does," Willow said. "The knick-knacks in the corners of the room, and the ones that are in the center of the shelves radiate a magical aura."

"For what I paid for them, they'd better." Frayne said matter of factly.

"What do they do?" Clark asked.

"The corner ones are a set, they prevent anyone from scrying into my office. The center ones gives me an idea of the direction that someone is trying to scry from. Since that stuff is coming out of my pocket and they ain't cheap, I haven't been able to afford enough of them to be able to triangulate on a scryer," Frayne finished.

"If you are aware of what goes on around here, why didn't you include any of it in your reports?" O'Day asked, pressing a little harder.

"I was ordered not too," Murphy said matter of factly.

"By who?" O'Day asked, slightly accusingly.

"Director Shaw," Frayne said, obviously enjoying the twenty questions.

Pat was starting to get annoyed. He didn't let it show though, "Why didn't you get confirmation that the order was still in force when Director Shaw was killed? You should have confirmed it with Director Murray."

"We were visited by a member of the Initiative before the fires were out in the Capitol and were told that everything was to continue as it had been."

Clark broke in, "What association do you have with the Initiative?"

"As little as humanly possible," Frayne said dryly. "They think that they are God's gift to the planet, and they never let you forget it."

"Maybe it would be better if we started from the beginning," Pat instructed.

Frayne Murphy shrugged, "Okay. How much do you know about how Sue and I ended up here?"

"Assume we know nothing," was the rather short reply.

Frayne leaned back in his chair. "Once upon a time," Sue just covered her eyes with her hands and groaned. "There was a small town mayor who got killed in a boiler explosion of his town's high school, right in the middle of a graduation ceremony."

Willow cringed; she could SEE the quote marks around 'boiler explosion'.

"Do you think this is a joke Agent Murphy?" Pat asked tightly.

Frayne rocked his chair back and put his feet back on the floor, "Not at all Inspector O'Day. I haven't thought that there is anything remotely funny about this town. Sue and I have been effectively exiled here for the last three years. Now you just saunter in with the Army and her," he said nodding at Willow, "and you expect me to just offer up answers that you should already know? I want some kind of explanation for what the two of us have been through before I say squat. I'm not the one who has to defend my actions."

"You are aware of who Willow is?" Clark asked surprised. He was going to have to check Webster's definition of 'Secret Identity'; obviously the one he had been using was incorrect.

"When Ms. Summers was joining the Initiative, Dr. Walsh, the director, asked me to do a standard security background check on Ms. Summers. I became aware of Ms. Rosenberg as part of that process. I have kept track to a limited degree since then."

Willow appeared very uncomfortable with the idea that 'officialdom' had been keeping track of her and Buffy.

"How about you give us the background, then we'll brief you in if it checks out," O'Day offered.

"Fair enough," Murphy agreed somewhat mollified. "Okay, when Mayor Wilkins died whatever protection he had been giving to his cronies in town died with him. As an offshoot of the investigation into the explosion that killed him all sorts of corruption was discovered. The whole city council, half the police force, a third of the rest of the departments where indicted on a host of corruption and racketeering charges, including the whole FBI office here in town. The only group in Sunnydale's government that didn't get nailed was the school board. I don't think they were clean, just that they were a little more clever at hiding what they had been up too. Of the FBI office here, one agent disappeared, two were convicted and are serving long prison terms in Leavenworth, the other two committed suicide, though I believe that one was murdered."

"Why?" O'Day asked.

"I came across some of his old psyc-evals, he had a crippling fear of being strangled, yet when it came time to commit suicide he hung himself despite having several firearms in the house. I was stationed in Baltimore, Sue was in San Francisco. Our initial orders were to basically baby-sit the office until a full size staff could be assigned, that was three years ago. When we first came to town we didn't know that this was demon central. We found the local law enforcement largely in disarray from losing its senior staff. They also didn't like the government for some reason. Originally I believed it was just small town paranoia but I found out it was because of you guys," he said nodding at Clark.

Clark didn't bother to correct him.

"We found about what goes on here after dark by accident," he said.

Sue Conners took over the story, "When I can't sleep I go for a run."

Willow winced at the idea of an innocent running along in the middle of the night in Sunnydale; you might as well ring the dinner bell.

"One night I couldn't sleep I went out at about 0230 for a run. I had gotten halfway through my route when I was jumped. I managed to get out of his grip and identified myself as a federal officer, I also pulled my service weapon. My attacker laughed at me. When he lunged at me I shot him four times in the chest. He jerked back and said, I quote, 'That hurt', he grabbed me then and started biting me in the neck. I had noticed that there was something wrong with his face at that point but the pain in my neck was my primary concern. I couldn't fight him, he was too strong." She was getting a little upset at this point, breathing a little heaver, Willow reached over and put a hand on her shoulder, Sue started from the contact. Willow smiled at her and tilted her head so Sue could see the bite marks on her neck. Sue smiled back.

Taking a deep breath Sue continued, "Suddenly he wasn't there anymore, there was just a cloud of dust, standing behind where he had been was a local holding a stick. She asked me if I was all right, and when I indicated that I was she took off. She suggested that I don't wander around late at night anymore."

"Let me guess," Clark said. She was a little better than five feet tall, and blond?" Clark asked with a smile.

"Yes Sir," Sue confirmed.

"Sue came over to my place immediately and reported what had happened. I probably would not have believed her except for the neck wounds. I had noticed the death rate in this town, but could find nothing to indicate what was the cause. Sue and I took a late night tour of the local coroners office and perused his files. You would be shocked at the number of cases of 'neck rupture', that there are in this town. With this information Sue and I grabbed the first plane for Washington. We asked for and got a meeting with Director Shaw. We explained what we had found out. Shaw nodded and said that he had expected it to be something like this. He ushered in a man who was introduced as Agent Smith. Agent Smith explained broadly about the Initiative and it's mission. He explained that they were aware of the situation in Sunnydale and were taking steps to remedy it. He told us to return to Sunnydale and be FBI agents. To ignore what was going on, not to report to Headquarters things of supernatural nature, and finally if we did come across anything we should get in contact with them at a contact number and just pass the information along."

"Didn't you try to get some info back to the home office anyway?" Pat asked, tone still accusatory.

"Sure, I waited four months and then tried to back door a report of what had been going on. I had a visit from 'Agent Smith' the next day. It was not a pleasant get together. I think that only the fact that they would have to break in another new guy that kept me here."

Pat shook his head. He glanced over at John Clark and silently asked what he thought. Clark nodded.

"Okay Agents Murphy and Conners, it's like this," O'Day then went on to explain what was going on. Where he stumbled Clark took over.

When he was done Murphy just shook his head. "Things are going to get interesting around here. What can we do to help?" he asked the other three.

"Right now you can let us use your secure fax," Clark said as he took out his phone and started dialing.

*****

814 Front Street
Sunnydale, CA
26Oct2002 - 1046 hours

"Lord D'Hoffryn," Riley greeted the Lord of the Vengeance Demons.

"Captain Riley, I apologize for startling you, but I thought that it would be easier to have a conversation if you were not nursing a broken hand."

Riley didn't lower the pistol, though he doubted it would do more than annoy the demon lord. D'Hoffryn for his part completely ignored the fact that the person he was talking to was holding a weapon on him. "What do you want to talk about?" Riley asked.

"I had hoped that we could exchange favors," D'Hoffryn explained. "Your rage attracted me. I don't blame you for being angry, Xander left out the best part when he told the story, they didn't dig her up first," D'Hoffryn smirked. "Buffy came back to herself six feet down and had to dig herself out. It was a while before the Slayer could sort herself out."

Riley clamped down on his emotions. If he gave into them while dealing with this demon, he probably wouldn't live to regret it. "Thanks for the information," he managed.

"Please, Captain Finn. I mean you no harm, I just want to do some business with you."

"What business?" Riley asked warily.

"I would like you to give this amulet to Thibault," the demon lord explained.

"Who?" Riley asked.

"I'm sorry," D'Hoffryn apologized, "You know him as John Clark. In reality he is Thibault, he who avenges those wronged by people in authority over them. I have missed having him in the stable. Though Thibault has done quite well on his own, I would like to allow him to expand his operational base. In return I will grant you a no backlash wish for you to do whatever you want to Mr. Harris."

"I don't need your help to mangle Xander, if I would want him mangled," Riley said coldly. Then shaking his head, "I can't just hand that to General Clark. I will tell him that you would like to talk to him; if he says yes then I can pass it along. That's the best I will do for you."

"Yes, I see that you are serious. Well that would not count as a favor, rather a consideration," D'Hoffryn said, rubbing his chin, "Very well, I dislike being in debt for something this trifling, so I'll pay it back now. Some other information that Xander Harris failed to pass on to you in his explanation of Spike and Ms. Summers relationship last year. The reason that Spike decided to leave town last year is because he tried to rape Ms. Summers." D'Hoffryn had a small smile on his lips as he faded.

Riley contemplated this for a second, and then turning on his heels he stormed toward the door, and Xander Harris beyond.

*****

Campsite 22
Mesa Alta National Park
Outside Sunnydale, CA
26Oct2002 - 1005 hours

Ranger Broadman went to the tree that Dr. Sandra Sanchez and her daughter were in and looking up said with a smile, "Dr. Sanchez, happy to meet you face to face."

Looking back at the ranger Sandra felt some of the unease leaching out of her body. "Not half as happy as I am," she returned. "I'm going to need some help getting me and Brieanna out of this tree. My legs are numb, I don't think they'll support me."

"Mom?" the boy in the other tree asked, concern evident in his voice.

"Its just having to hold your sister in my lap for so long Thomas, don't worry. You can come out of the tree now."

"Ding could you give me a hand here?" Broadman asked Chavez.

"Sure, no problem," Ding said as he came over, he leaned his rifle up against a nearby tree after making sure the safety was on and then started climbing the tree with the doc. Broadman came to the bottom of the tree and waited for Ding to get ready. When Ding reached the stranded doctor and her daughter he smiled confidently and said, "Hi, I'm Ding Chavez. I think the best way to do this is to hand your daughter down then see about you."

Sandra smiled back and nodded, "Brieanna, Mr. Chavez will help you down."

"Hi!" Ding said to the eight-year old. "Ready to get out of this tree?"

Brieanna just nodded, staring at this stranger that had killed the bad invisible dogs.

Buffy meanwhile had collected her crossbow. Clucking to herself over the scratches it had received when she had dropped it she started to cock it her normal way. Stopping she decided that she didn't need Dr. Sanchez asking awkward questions so she cocked it the way that Gerry had showed her. She fit a quarrel in it and started scanning when Dr. Sanchez's son got down out of the tree.

He ran over to where Ding was helping Broadman get his sister out of the tree. The tall ranger was just able to reach the girl as Ding handed her all the way down. Thomas took his sister from the ranger and hugged her tight; he never took his eyes off of his mother though.

Ding tried to get Sandra out of the tree but he realized that she was too heavy for him to extend the way he did with her daughter. Looking around he spotted Buffy and said, "Buffy! I'm going to need some extra height to get the Doc down, give a hand?"

Buffy taking one last scan around nodded and headed over to Ranger Broadman. She removed the quarrel from the bow and de-cocked it then turning to the ranger she asked, "How do you want to do this?"

"How 'bout you get up on Robert's shoulder, then I'll be able to hand the Doc down," Ding suggested,

"Ranger Broadman?" Buffy asked the Indian Ranger.

"Okay," the ranger replied. "But do me a favor and don't snap my neck with your legs."

"Do my best not to," Buffy reassured him as she climbed up his back and settled around his neck.

Dr. Sanchez looked at this dubiously, she doubted that Buffy would have enough strength to make that much of a difference. Still if the young woman could steady her then the ranger could get a grip on her. Sandra decided that she didn't have a lot of choice so…

"Okay Doc," Ding began, "I'm going to hand you off to Buffy who will in return hand you off to Ranger Broadman."

Sandra nodded that she understood and braced herself to be dropped. She was shocked when she felt the girls, Buffy? Take her waist in her hands and start lowering her. When the ranger took over his grip wasn't as tight, he mostly just guided her down, the girl on his shoulder was supplying the muscle!

Once Sandra got her legs up off the tree limb her circulation started returning to her legs. It started as 'pins-and-needles' but she was soon gasping from the pain. Thomas came over bringing his sister. "Are you sure you're alright?" he asked with great concern. Brieanna just looked on, eyes wide.

"Hey!" Sandra said through the pain, as she leaned up against Broadman's chest, using her arms to hold herself up, "Who's the doctor here? I'll be fine Thomas, just as soon as I get the circulation back into my legs."

"Did I hurt you Mommy?" Brieanna asked, almost crying.

Sandra managed to lean over and pulled her youngest into a tight embrace with her free arm, "No, baby! You didn't hurt me, it's just that you are so big and you had to sit on my lap for so long, I'm fine, really." Brieanna didn't looked convinced, but she also no longer looked on the verge of tears either.

As Buffy climbed down off of Broadman's shoulders Thomas Sanchez got his first good look at her. "Hey Mom! This is the guidance councilor I told you about."

Dr. Sanchez looked at the young woman with surprise. Thomas had said that she was young, but this was ridiculous. This girl looked barely old enough to have an Associates Degree, how did she land a job as a school councilor? She had other questions about the petite blond also. Like how had she leaped the twenty feet to land at the hound she had flipped so she could break it's neck. And what about the strength that she had exhibited to get her out of the tree? The fear that had been starting to ebb with how she and her family were being treated returned full force.

"Dr. Sanchez?" Ranger Broadman asked. "I'm going to have an ambulance waiting for your family at the bottom of the hill. We can start down as soon as you feel you're able."

"Thank you," she replied. "Thomas, why don't you get our stuff together, even if we can't take it down, at least it will be easy to pick up."

Her son just nodded and started to strike tents. "We'll have to come up and recover the remains of the man who ran into your camp, Dr. Sanchez; we'll pick your stuff up then," the Ranger assured her.

"Thank you," she returned sincerely. "Do you have any idea who he was?"

"I think I may; if I'm right his name was Lloyd Crispen," Broadman told her.

"Was he a friend of yours?" she asked, sympathy in her voice.

"No. He and his brother-in-law were poachers, I was trying to arrest them."

"He died a hero ranger, he saved my family."

"I know, I'll ignore what I think he and his brother-in-law were doing out here," the ranger assured her.

Thomas went over and started striking the tents, Brieanna for her part didn't move from her mother's side. Buffy taking one more look around could detect nothing supernatural so she went and started helping the teenager pack.

Thomas looked over at her and asked, "Was that Ti-Chi?"

Buffy glanced at him confused and said, "What?"

"What you used on… whatever those things were, you know, when you flipped it," he asked, eyes glowing. "I took a couple of years of Aikido, mom wouldn't let me take any of the harder arts."

"Uh no, at least I don't think so," Buffy told the youth. "I tend to mix and match stuff, I'm never really sure where they originally came from."

"Wow you must practice a lot of martial arts. Do you think I could join your dojo?" he asked.

"I don't think so," Buffy said, softening her tone to let the kid down easy. "It's sort of private."

"Dang," Thomas said. "If an opening comes up, could you put my name in?"

"I doubt one will, but if it does, sure," Buffy said. 'Thankfully you are the wrong sex, kid'" she thought.

They quickly finished getting everything together and looked at the pile. "I think that this will be to much to carry if there are more of those things out there," Buffy said.

Thomas nodded his head, "Yeah if I have to run up another tree, I don't want to be weighted down by this stuff." Turning to his sister he said, "Brie, if you want you can take your backpack, otherwise I think we should just leave this stuff."

Sandra was proud of her son, most teens would have insisted on bringing their stuff, she had already decided to leave it. If someone stole it before the rangers could get back up here, so be it, she could always replace the tents and utensils. "Good plan, Thomas," she said, smiling at her son.

"Are you taking yours?" Brie asked.

"Nope, just what's on my body," he told his sister.

"Okay, I can find those kind of flowers again, I'll just take me, too," Brieanna said, totally serious.

"Good, baby," Sandra said as she kissed her youngest on the top of the head.

Sandra looked over at Buffy and asked, "Does the guidance councilors usually come out on rescue missions?"

Buffy shrugged, "I do this kind of thing when it comes up. Ranger Broadman asked for help, so I helped."

"Somehow I can't imagine the guidance councilors that I had in high school volunteering for a rescue mission. Sunnydale High must be a full service school," Dr. Sanchez said, half joking,

Buffy winced, "I didn't know your son was up here, I just came to help."

"Thank you. Anything I can do for you in the future, just ask. That goes for you, Mr. Chavez, or you, Ranger Broadman, too."

"You don't owe me anything, Dr. Sanchez," Buffy told her with the other two nodding in agreement.

"I say that I do," the Hispanic Doctor replied, closing the subject.

Buffy turned to the other two members of the rescue party and silently between them they decided to drop the subject for now. Dr. Sanchez rubbed her legs a last time and said, "I think with a little help I can start down the trail now."

Ranger Broadman nodded and pulled out his cell phone, he hit a speed dial number, and said into the phone, "This is Broadman, I need two ambulances at the bottom of trail 35 of the Mesa Alto national park. I have three for transport, non-serious, exposure and dehydration. We'll be down in forty-five minutes to an hour." He listened to the response, and turned to Ding and Buffy, "How do you want to do this?"

Ding glanced at Buffy, but she nodded that she was willing to listen to what he suggested, "Okay this is what we'll do. I'll help the Doc along, the kids stay with us, Buffy you take point again, and Ranger, you have the rear."

Buffy and Broadman nodded that this was acceptable, so Ding offered his shoulder to the Doctor, which she took.

It took them most of the hour to get down the hill. By the time they were almost at the clearing Dr. Sanchez no longer needed to lean on Dings shoulder. Just as the parking lot was almost in sight Buffy came back up the trail, "There is two ambulances in the lot, plus some guy I don't know," she told the Ding and the ranger.

"That's probably the reporter from the Sunnydale Press," Dr. Sanchez told the rescue party.

"You called a reporter?" Buffy asked incredulously.

"I was afraid with what those things were, that they were some kind of government experiment that had escaped. I thought that maybe you people were coming up there to kill my kids and me; I figured that if there was a reporter around you might not. After what you have risked for my family and me, I'm sorry that I doubted you," she finished sincerely.

Buffy kind of shrugged, she could see her point, "What are we going to do? I don't want to get my picture in the paper."

"Do you think you could find Crispen's pickup again?" Broadman asked.

"Sure," was the response.

"Okay, head out that way. I'll pick you up there," the ranger offered.

"I'm sorry," Dr. Sanchez told Buffy.

"Don't worry about it. If I was in your situation I probably would of done the same thing," Buffy reassured her as she started toward the pickup.

Somehow Sandra Sanchez doubted that.

When they emerged into the parking lot, the EMT's from the ambulances were all over the Sanchez family. They quickly checked vitals and got them up on gurneys for the trip to Sunnydale General. Sandra thought about protesting, but decided to just sit back and enjoy the ride. The reporter introduced himself as Jurgis Ewell, and asked what had happened up there.

Ding breathed a sigh of relive when Dr. Sanchez gave a very edited account of what happened, blaming wild dogs for the attack on her family. She refused to let the reporter interview either of her children, and after about 10 minutes the reporter took off, looking somewhat aggravated.

As she was being loaded into the ambulance, Brieanna was riding with her, while Thomas had the other one to himself; Sandra waved at her rescuers and called, "Thank you!" one last time.

Ding and Broadman waited for a couple of minutes to make sure that the reporter had actually left then climbed into the rangers jeep and started back toward where Buffy was waiting for them. Ding turned to the ranger and asked, "That saying you quoted before we headed up the trail, was that really an Arapaho saying?"

"Well," the big ranger said, "they may have borrowed it from someone,"

Ding laughed, "Pleasure doing business with you Ranger Broadman."

"Same here, Major Chavez, same here."

*****

Chapter 21

Ranger Robert Broadman pulled his truck into the fire road where the poacher's pickup was and saw Buffy waiting patiently besides the truck. She picked up her crossbow and walked toward them as he stopped the truck. Broadman got out and opened the tailgate of his truck so Buffy could load her equipment into it. They then both got back into the truck and Broadman started toward Sunnydale. After about five minutes of riding in relative silence Buffy asked, "The vampire problem you had, how did you solve it?"

"What?" the ranger asked.

"When we first met, you said that you found out who I was from a local cop when you had a vampire problem that he couldn't help you with," Buffy replied. "How did you get rid or them, or did they just leave?"

"No we got rid of them," The ranger said. "They weren't actually preying on the reservation, just lairing in a small shack on the edge of it. They were eight of them, a small group of wanna-be Pagans that got turned. I went up there one bright and sunny afternoon and told them to clear out. They laughed at me, so I went back and got our fire pumper. There is a priest on the reservation that doesn't ask many questions so when I asked him to bless the water in the tank he just did it. Then my men and me waited for sunset and went up and called the gang out. We all stood there holding shotguns and axes and waited for them to come out and laugh again, when they did Bill, who was on the water cannon let them have it. Nice thing about vamps is there isn't much of a clean up afterward."

Ding just stared, Buffy couldn't help herself, she giggled, and asked, "You used a holy water cannon?" Giles has to hear about this one!

Ding finally said, "Man I'm glad you're on our side."

"And I always will be Ding, I always will be," the ranger returned.

*****

The group laughed all the way back to town. They were having such a good time that no one noticed the dark gray neon that was parked off the road. In the car Jurgis Ewell sat and watched the ranger's explorer disappear around the corner of Route 46. He reached under the driver's side seat and pulled out a pre-paid cell phone. He dialed a number, waited a couple of seconds and punched in some more then lifted the receiver to his mouth and said, "Cadmus, Atlanta seems to have joined up with the local forest service. There was an unknown subject with the ranger. He is Hispanic, 5'8, 165, black and brown. He gave his name as Juan Gonzales, but I heard him addressed as Ding. Any information you can send back would be appreciated. I'll check drop 2."

When he was finished he got out of the car and walked a short distance into the woods. Finding a convenient rock he slammed the cell phone against it, shattering the phone. Hunting through the wreckage of the phone he found the memory chip, placing it against the rock he took a smaller rock and crushed the chip between the two rocks. Dusting himself off he headed back to his car; he needed to get back to town if he wanted to get this story done before deadline.

*****

FBI Office
451 Front Street
Sunnydale, California
26Oct2002 - 1054 hours

Clark finished dialing Dan's number and waited for him to pick up. "Murray," came the voice over the phone.

"You can send the photo files anytime," he said.

"They check out?" Murray asked.

"I'm in the office with them now. Agent Murphy states that he was ordered by the Initiative to report supernatural events to them rather than you," Clark explained.

"Let me talk to him then," Murray ordered.

Clark handed the phone over to Murphy and said, "Director Murray wants to talk to you."

Murphy took the phone and said, "Yes, Mr. Director."

"Agent Murphy, I am now countering any previous orders that you had. You new orders are as follows. You are to render any assistance possible to General Clark and the forces under his command. He is operating under invitation from the Justice Department; as such you will be his liaison, and local contact person. He is in complete control of the operation however, so while you can act in an advisory position, that is all you are to do. Do you understand my orders?"

Frayne Murphy refrained from making any snide comments, much to Sue Conners relief. He simply said, "I understand, Sir."

"Do you have files on what you have observed during your stay in Sunnydale?" Murray then asked.

"Yes Sir," Frayne told his superior.

"Very well, copy them. I want a copy, make sure that General Clark has one too," Murray ordered.

"Yes Sir," Murphy replied.

"Thank you, Agent Murphy, please let me speak to General Clark again."

"You're welcome, Sir. It's pleasant to know that Sue and I haven't been abandoned," Frayne said before he handed back the phone.

"John, did you get anything on Mr. Giles from the locals?" Murray asked.

"I believe they are heading this way, they should be here in the next couple of hours," Clark responded. At Clark's words Willow suddenly looked very concerned. Clark shook his head at her to relax.

"How did you manage to get that information?" Murray asked perplexed.

"Well," Clark replied, a twinkle in his eye. "Willow is a witch."

"Magic, huh? I wonder if, when all this is over, Willow would be willing to sit down for some experiments to see how we can use magic in law enforcement?"

"I doubt that Pat Martin would go for it," Clark replied. "I think that defense attorney's would have a ball with it I think."

"Your probably right. It's something to dream about though," Dan said. Turning serious, "I think I'll have Pat O'Day stick around though, he can take two people as easily as one."

"I doubt that, Dan," Clark said seriously.

"You don't think that Pat could handle him?"

"Him, maybe, but I doubt that he could handle any of the other Scoobies that would be defending Mr. Giles. Well, he could probably take Dawn, but since Buffy has been working with her, I make no guarantees about it," Clark said seriously.

"The President promised we would pick this guy up for the Brits, they really, and I mean really, want to talk to him," Dan replied.

"Look, if he is coming here, he's coming to Buffy. He must know that the Council is gone, so he is coming here to go to ground. Just have the Brits send someone to Sunnydale to talk to him. If he doesn't have anything to hide then we aren't losing the time it would take to ship him back to London. That could be what The First wants us to do," Clark said. Willow watched him, and his aura. She realized that he wasn't playing a game to get her to relax, he was trying to keep Giles from being shipped somewhere.

"Okay, I'll contact the Brits and see if they are okay with this, if they are we'll do it your way. Okay, we're going to start sending you your photos, check the headings they will have the row number, and the placing in the row. This is going to take a little while there are a lot of them," Murray finished.

*****

814 Front Street
Sunnydale, CA
26Oct2002 - 1052 hours

Xander watched Riley carefully as he came out of the building; that he was still very angry was very plain in the length and speed of his strides. Xander toyed with the idea of running, but he could take care of himself, plus he wasn't totally convinced that he didn't deserve to get the crap beaten out of him for what he had helped to do to Buffy.

Riley climbed into the SUV and said, coldly and correctly, "Okay, we'll take this. Do you know where the FBI office is in Sunnydale?"

"Yeah, why?"

"General Clark will have to okay the release of funds, might as well make sure we have his okay before we talk to a realtor," Riley explained.

"Okay, we're off to the FBI office," Xander agreed as he reached for the ignition keys.

Just then Riley, without warning, punched Xander in the side of the head. Xander's head bounced of the driver's side window and rocked back. Xander shook his head and was mildly surprised that the glass hadn't cracked. "Okay, I guess I deserved that," he said.

"That wasn't for helping to drag Buffy out of Heaven, that was for not digging her up first," Riley said hotly. "And just when was someone planning on letting me know that Spike tried to rape Buffy last year?" Riley said, his voice if possible.

"How…" Xander asked, to confused to even think about denying anything.

"D'Hoffryn paid me a visit in there," Riley explained, nodding at the warehouse.

"And you believe what a demon lord tells you?" Xander asked shocked.

"In this case, yes. He wants something from me," Riley said. Then nodding at the road he said, "Come on we need to see the General if we are going to get this place before Rainbow gets here. I definitely don't want to spend the night at Buffy's with a dozen or so people there."

Xander nodded, still rubbing his head where Riley had punched him, "What did he want anyway?"

"Just wanted me to give something to Thibault," was the response.

Xander asked, "Who?" As he put the SUV into gear and pulled it out of the lot onto the road and headed for the FBI Office. Not waiting for Riley to answer he went on, "If you hadn't gotten so hot in there, not that you didn't have a reason to, I would of told you about Spike next. Heck even if the raising Buffy from the dead thing hadn't come up I probably would have mentioned it before we got back."

Riley nodded, "Thibault is what D'Hoffryn call's General Clark. He wants to talk to him."

*****

Quick'n Mini-Mart
Corner of Estaban and Wilkens
Sunnydale, CA
26Oct2002 - 1105 Hours

Carol Picket carefully looked around to make sure she wasn't being followed. She went to the pay phone on the side of the store, reached into he purse, and pulled a plastic Ziploc bag filled with quarters out of it. She fished two of them out of the bag and dropped them into the phone; she dialed a number and waited. When the call connected she waited three seconds then entered a five-digit extension number. "Aries," an electronically filtered voice said.

"Cassandra," she replied. "I think that Washington may be reacting quicker than we anticipated. Inspector Pat O'Day showed up in the office to day with a General John Clark, and Circe. I was given the rest of the day off so I am not able to confirm what was discussed. I will try to find out what was said at the meeting. Please let me know what else I have to do."

As Picket said that she became aware of someone walking behind her and entering the store. As she walked past she glanced in as if she was checking what was on sale to get a look at who it had been. She almost missed a step when she saw that it had been Dawn Summers. Briefly she went over what she had been saying as Dawn walked behind her. Nothing incriminating per se, still maybe she should do something make sure Dawn couldn't report anything. She started walking, 'No, even if she had heard the entire conversation, the amount of mayhem that the Slayer would reek trying to find out who had killed her sister would be worse. She would report the problem to Aries and let him decide. If he decided that Dawn needed to go then the carnage would be on his head, not hers.' Carol Picket, having made the decision, headed off down the street wondering if the ham salad was fresh at Miller's.

*****

1630 Revello Drive
Sunnydale, CA
26Oct2002 - 1200 hours

Buffy came in through the front door calling, "Anyone else here?" When she didn't get an answer, she shrugged, put her crossbows on the table in the dinning room, and headed for the kitchen. "Want anything to drink Ding?" she called to him as he came in.

"Yeah, Gatorade if you got any, or water if you don't," he told her. Buffy came back in holding a Diet Coke and glass of water which she handed to Ding. "Thanks," he told her as he took the glass and drained it.

"Want the shower first?" Buffy offered.

Ding shook his head, "No, go ahead."

"Thanks," Buffy said as she headed upstairs. When she got into her room she noticed that there was a post-it note stuck to the mirror. Taking it down she saw that it was from Willow, it said, 'Buffy call me as soon as you get in, it's important!'. 'Important' was underlined three times. Buffy frowned and pulled out her cell phone. She was about to start dialing when she heard the front open and a second later a very familiar British voice ask, "Hello, who are you?" Buffy headed for the stairs, she recognized that tone, Ripper was about to come out to play.

*****

Chapter 22

Buffy rushed down the hall, just before she would have been seen from the first floor, she slowed, and walked to the top of the stairs. Downstairs she saw Giles standing in the doorway in his trademark tweed staring daggers at Ding, who was just coming out of the living room with a clean set of clothes in one hand and his bath stuff in the other. Ding adopted a defensive stance and waited for the stranger that had barged into Buffy's house to do something.

"Wow, feel the testosterone in the air," Buffy said, a smile in her voice.

Giles glanced up at her on the steps and gave her a tired smile in return. "Buffy," he said simply, more than a little relief in his voice. "Who's this?" he asked nodding at Ding.

"Giles, meet Major Domingo Chavez, Ding, this is Rupert Giles, my Watcher."

"Just call me Ding," Chavez said. He transferred his bath supplies to his other hand and walked over to Giles with his hand out.

"Rupert Giles," the Watcher said politely. "Initiative?" he then asked.

Buffy finished coming down the steps and approached Giles, "No. He and his boss are here to fight them." Buffy went over to hug Giles and welcome him back, but she was cut off when a line of three teenage girls filed into the house.

"Hello," the first one, one of two black haired girls, said in an English accent.

"Pleased to meet you," the second, a brunette said, also with an English accent.

"The Slayer lives here?" the other black haired one said, clearly unpleasantly surprised.

Buffy stared after the girls, then turned questioning to Giles.

"They are Potential Slayers, Buffy," he began. "The Watchers Council has been destroyed, and their Watchers were killed in the blast."

"What?" Buffy asked. "I just talked to Quentin Travers a couple of days ago!"

"The First's agents had been attacking the Council so Travers had called a meeting of the Council; during the meeting a bomb detonated, I believe they were all killed. I was checking on a Watcher and his charge that we couldn't get in contact with when it happened. I immediately collected them," he said nodding at the potentials, "and got on the first plane for New York. Now what's this about Major Chavez being here to fight the Initiate?"

Buffy explained what Riley had told her, Ding interrupted a couple of times to expand on what Buffy had said. When Buffy got to the President being suspected of being the Anti-Christ Giles nodded and said, "The Council suspected the same thing when it happened; Travers contacted Wesley and I and asked if we thought it would be a good idea to get Faith out of prison in case he was, since you were fully involved with Glory."

"You never told ME!" Buffy said indignity.

"I didn't think you needed to be distracted, besides, Wesley contacted me, and we both told Travers the same thing, that given Faith's history, it would be foolish to send her after a charismatic enemy. Since they never moved against President Ryan, I assume that they were satisfied that he was in fact not the Anti-Christ."

Buffy nodded, personally the longer Faith was in jail, and far away from her loved ones, the happier she was.

"You two look like you need to catch up on some things, how bout I go and take my shower?" Ding offered.

"Thanks, Ding," Buffy said.

"I'll try not to use all the hot water," Ding said as he started up the stairs.

Giles watched him go and when he heard the water start, he turned to Buffy, and asked, "Can we trust him?"

Buffy waved everyone into the living room and shrugged, "He was in the house all last night and didn't murder anyone in their sleep."

As the girls found chairs, Giles turned to Buffy, and said, "I hardly think this is a joking matter. The First is a master of misdirection; we must be very careful of who we trust, especially people who are just coming into our circle."

Buffy sat down on the armrest of the couch, "I wasn't joking, He was in the house all last night. He, Riley, and his boss, General John Clark, stood watch all last night."

"Riley's here?" Giles asked surprised.

"They showed up last night. Riley's group was the only one that didn't run off with this Billingme. He's out right now with Xander looking for someplace that they can turn into a base."

"Good," Giles said. "The First is apparently trying to end the line of the Slayer. Its agents have been killing every potential Slayer that they can reach, once they kill all the potentials I believe they will move on Faith, and then…"

"Me," Buffy finished grimly.

"Yes," Giles agreed.

"I have put the word out, to all potentials everywhere, instructing them to come here," Giles said.

"Uh Giles," Buffy said. "The First is already here in Sunnydale, we were attacked by Bringers last night," she told her Watcher, nodding at the plywood over the windows. "They took Spike."

"I thought it would be, but with you here to provide training and protection, I felt it was the best chance they have."

"You know I only have one bathroom right?" Buffy sighed. All three of the potentials looked at each other and grimaced.

"We'll have to make do," Giles said. Buffy and the three potentials winced. The water switched off upstairs so Giles switched back to safer subjects, "So how is everyone?"

"Anya isn't a vengeance demon anymore, she's crashing on the couch because D'Hoffryn is after her, Xander is on-again/off-again trying to get into her good graces. They rebuilt the high school and I had to send Dawn there, on the plus side I'm a guidance councilor there, so I have access to the school all the time."

"How's Willow?" he asked.

Buffy slapped herself in the forehead. "Willow! She wanted me to call her!" she grabbed the phone and dialed Willow.

The phone rang a couple of times when Willow came on with, "Hello?"

"Willow?" Buffy replied.

"Billy?" Willow asked.

"Billy? Willow, are you all right?" Buffy asked concerned.

"Oh, I'm fine, thanks for asking, just let me find someplace private so we can talk," Willow said in an unconcerned tone of voice.

A minute or so later she came back on, in a lower voice and urgently, "Buffy listen, someone blew up the Watchers Council, and Giles is coming here," she told the Slayer.

"Yeah with three potential slayers in tow," Buffy told her friend.

"How did you know that?" Willow asked confused. "You have a Slayer dream?"

"No. Giles is standing here with them," Buffy replied deadpan.

"Buffy!" Willow said. "You have to hide him! The FBI is looking for him for the English who think he blew up the Council and want to take him back to England to question him. General Clark is trying to get the English to send someone here but we haven't heard anything from them yet. Giles needs to hide till we know."

Just then a voice came over the phone, "Willow when you are done talking to Buffy could I speak to Rupert Giles?" It was the General.

*****

Sunnydale FBI Office
451 Front Street
Sunnydale, CA
26OCT2002 - 1222 hours

Willow looked at General Clark with an affronted expression on her face. "You listened in on a private conversation!" she accused.

"You were attempting to warn Buffy to hide Mr. Giles," he replied reasonably. "I'd say we were even."

"General Clark wants to talk to Giles," Willow told Buffy, then handed the phone over.

"You can't have him," Buffy told him flatly.

"Buffy, I don't want him; I especially don't want to take on you or any of his friends. I have a good health plan but they get cranky with the kind of expenses that would entail. You have to understand, the whole law-enforcement community of the US is looking for him and his traveling companions. He won't be able to function in any capacity, except as a fugitive. Dan Murray, the head of the FBI, is working right now to get the Brits to send someone over to talk to Rupert Giles rather than shipping him back. If they don't honor that request, I'll call Jack and ask him to contact them and call in a favor, they owe him a few."

"Will he go for that?" Buffy wanted to know.

"I think so, but I can't absolutely promise anything. Now can I speak to him?" Clark finished.

A few seconds later a voice with an English accent came on and said, "Hello?"

"Mr. Giles, my name is John Clark. You are aware of the fact that you are wanted by the British Government in relation to the bombing of the Watchers Council?"

"Yes, I have been informed of that," Giles replied. "I assure you that I had nothing to do with it. I was checking on a colleague that we could not get in touch with when the explosion occurred."

"Would it be possible for you to come down to the local FBI office?" Clark requested.

"I'm afraid I have too many things to do to spend time in a cell waiting for the US and British Governments to workout what they are planning to do with me," he told the General.

"Mr. Giles, I give you my word that you will be free to leave once we finish our discussion. I will tell you right now that the head of the FBI is pushing his contacts with Scotland Yard to send an Investigator here, rather than ship you back."

Giles sighed into the phone, "What happens if I am at the FBI office and the order comes down to put me in custody? No I'm sorry, Mr. Clark. I think I shall lay low until such a time it is agreed upon what will happen. Good day," he said and started to hand the phone back to Buffy.

"Wait!" Clark called into the phone.

"Yes?" Giles returned.

"Look Rupert," Clark tried. "You go to ground and we will have no choice but to chase you. We will have to stake out Buffy and the rest of the Scoobies, it could put a fatal strain on any chance we have of working together. You won't be able to travel freely like you will need to, and will run a risk every time you run through customs. Add that to the resources that The First could bring to bear and how long do you think it will before you get dimed out and might get accidentally shot will resisting arrest in some backwater? Please reconsider, if nothing else, I promise you a half hour head start if the order comes down while you are here."

Giles considered it for a moment and then said, "Very well General Clark, I and my charges will be down in twenty minutes."

"Thank you, Mr. Giles," Clark told him.

They both disconnected.

Clark turned to Willow and said, "I appreciate someone who tries to protect their friends Willow, but next time consider that I'm on your side, I want to tap Rupert Giles about his knowledge of the Hellmouth and how it may be opened. They are going to ship him to England only after I'm sitting in a jail cell right next to him. I need him, he's staying." Clark handed back her phone and started back toward Frayne's office.

"That, plus you were in the CIA before you became a counter-terrorist; You'll see right through when I try to pull the wool over your eyes," Willow finished.

"That too," Clark agreed from the hallway.

*****

Outside the FBI Office
Sunnydale, CA
26OCT2002 - 1225 hours

Xander found a parking place almost in front of the FBI office, got out, and waited for Riley to climb out of the SUV. Riley for his part was already sorry he had slugged Xander; he had told himself that he needed to control his emotions when dealing with D'Hoffryn, so naturally what did he do? Let them get away from him! Sighing he climbed out of the vehicle and went to Xander who was standing at the front of it. "Xander I'm…" he began when Xander belted him and knocked him to the ground.

"That," Xander said angrily, "was for deserting us in the middle of the Glory mess. If you weren't so hot to go back and play soldier boy because you couldn't deal with Buffy not being able to be Lois Lane for you, maybe she wouldn't have to have dived off that tower. I know I said it probably wouldn't have made a difference if you had been there or not, but you know what, I lied, it just might of made all the difference in the world."

Xander turned and started stalking off toward the front door of the FBI office when he turned and said, "Oh, one other thing, don't ever hit me again."

Riley laid there on the sidewalk, he glanced around to see if anyone had witness Xander's attack but there was no one on the street. He ran his tongue around his jaw to see if the punch had loosened any teeth, but they all seemed okay.

"You coming? Or are you just going to lay there?" Xander said from the door.

Riley shook his head; he had deserved that, so no use crying over it. He climbed to his feet and joined Xander as he rang the bell.

A short blond came down a minute or so later, opened the door, and asked, "Can I help you Agent Finn?"

Riley nodded, "Agent Conners, nice to see you again, I need to speak to General Clark."

Xander noticed that the FBI agent was not all that happy to see Riley either. She also looked at the bruise that was darkening on the side of his head, and the vivid red mark that bespoke of an awesome bruise that was going to be forming on Riley's jaw. "He's in with Willow right now, but come in," she said as she stepped aside and allowed the two men to enter. She then led them upstairs and caught up with Clark as he left an office.

He turned to the two men and was about to say something when he narrowed his eyes at the evidence of the trading of blows. "What happened to you two?" he asked.

"Walked into a door," they said almost simultaneously.

Clark snorted, "How did the search for lodging go? Buffy has a couple more house guests."

"Who?" Xander asked. Thinking that he hoped Dead Boy and company weren't up from LA.

"Rupert Giles and a couple of young ladies; someone blew up The Watchers Council in England, and he came here."

"I found a good one, Xander says the owner will let it go for a little over a mil, I'd like to get the funds released."

"It's in good shape?" Clark asked.

"Needs a little work, Xander says he can get it done. We can move in immediately, might have to keep some of the gear out of sight till the work is done, but I think it's manageable."

"Okay," reaching into his wallet he extracted a card, had Riley write down the account number, and told him the password. "Try to talk him down, but we need this signed this afternoon. Anything else?"

"Yes, but I think it should be in private," Riley told him.

Willow had just exited the office she had used so Clark waved Riley into it. "Shoot," he said.

"I ran into D'Hoffryn at the warehouse," Riley began, and then told Clark about the conversation with the demon lord.

Clark shook his head, "Thibault huh? I'll have to think about this, and kick it upstairs, maybe I don't want to talk to this guy, doesn't mean someone else doesn't."

Riley shook his head in agreement.

"One thing I want to know though," Clark continued. "Who threw the first punch, you our Xander?" The tone was kept conversational, just like Clark had asked Riley what the temperature was like outside.

Riley though almost snapped to attention, "I did, Sir."

Clark sat down in the chair behind the desk and closed his eyes; he was getting to old for this crap. "Captain Finn, did you or did you not understand what I told you this morning about not being able to spare you?"

"I did, Sir," Riley replied.

"You realize that if Mr. Harris had decided to press charges rather than dealing with the matter himself I would have no choice but to uphold the charges?" Clark continued tightly.

"Yes, Sir," Riley repeated.

"Will there be anymore trouble between you and Mr. Harris, or any of the other Scoobies?" Clark asked.

"No, Sir," Riley replied.

"Good. Because if there is, you will be on the first transport back to Washington and Colonel McCloud can make what ever use he wants of you," Clark finished.

Riley just stood there. "Is there something else?" Clark asked.

"Yes, Sir. I should not be directly involved with any rescue mission that goes after Spike," Riley said.

"You supported the mission this morning, Captain," Clark reminded him.

"I still support it, Sir. I just don't think that I should be on one of the teams," Riley told him.

"And that is because?" Clark requested.

"I found out today why Spike left Sunnydale last year, Sir," Riley said evasively.

"And that is why?" Clark continued.

"He attempted to rape Buffy last year," Riley replied.

"What?" Clark almost shouted. "Why in the world would she want to rescue him then?"

"She feels responsible for the shape he is in, I think. Xander thinks he got his soul back to act as a check for his behavior around Buffy," Riley theorized.

"I thought he had a chip that took care of that," Clark asked.

"I don't think it works on Buffy," he said.

"Because she's the Slayer?" Clark wondered.

"I don't think so," Riley said, "I think because she died a year and half ago and she was somehow different when Willow brought her back."

"What do you mean Willow brought her back?" Clark asked.

"Willow resurrected Buffy Summers a year ago," Riley said quietly.

"Resurec…. as in from the grave?" Clark asked, still not quite grasping the concept.

"She was dead for four months, Sir. When they cast the spell they didn't dig her up first, so she came back to herself in the coffin and had to dig herself out," Riley reported grimly.

"My God," Clark said quietly, slumping back into the chair, looking up at Riley.

"The worst part about it is, Sir, they didn't bother to check if Buffy wanted to come back, they just yanked her back."

Clark closed his eyes, and said a silent prayer for the Slayer. Riley remained standing where he was, Clark eventually looked up and asked, "And if Willow could raise the dead, why didn't she bring Ms. Maclay back when she was killed?"

"In order for you to be able to perform a resurrection, the person must have been killed by mystical means. Buffy, to my understanding, died when she jumped into a magical portal to close it. Tara was shot, this would constitute natural causes to the supernatural, so she would not have been eligible for a resurrection," Riley explained. "And that's about all I know about the subject."

"Okay Captain, head out with Xander, if you think you can coexist with him, and get that warehouse. I have a feeling we are going to need it," he ordered Riley who turned and started to leave.

"Oh, and Captain?" Clark said.

"Yes Sir?" Riley replied, turning to look at Clark.

"That is the only chance you are going to get; screw up again and you will be out of here so fast you'll leave a vacuum," Clark told him.

"I understand, Sir," Riley replied and left.

*****

Chapter 23

John Clark sat at the desk in the office for several minutes after Riley had left. He placed his hands flat on the desk and pushed to keep them from shaking. Up until know magic hadn't been real. Oh yeah, the vampire last night had been there; just the throbbing of his hand was proof enough of that. But that had been over so quick, it really hadn't sunk in; just another bad guy to take down. The conversation at Buffy's last night, the discussion about Willow, it hadn't penetrated. Willow able to end the world? Come on, she's 120 lbs soaking wet; able to end the world? Subconsciously he supposed he had treated it like a kid holding her breath till she turned blue. But he had talked to Buffy in the graveyard, and last night in the hall. She had been dead for 4 months? For the first time magic was real, it was out there, and John Clark had no clue how it worked, or what to do about it. For the first time in a long time he was involved in a situation that he wasn't sure what was next. He sat back and breathed deeply, and calmed himself. Ruefully he decided that he would be adding a witch to the payroll, if she were interested of course.

That decided he got up and went to see what was going on with everyone else. He needed to talk about D'Hoffryn with Willow to see if she could offer any insights to what he might be after. He also went over in his head what he would be talking to Giles about.

*****

Wilkens Memorial Park
Sunnydale, CA
26Oct2002 - 1230 hours

Dawn walked into the park scanning for Kit and Carlos; she saw them leaning up against a wall over by the lake watching the younger kids playing around the shoreline. Kit was seated on a low wall wearing her trademark black, while Carlos was leaning up against it wearing jeans and a Nine-Inch Nails t-shirt, smoking a cigarette. They both saw Dawn at the same time and nodded to her by way of greeting as she walked up to them.

"Those will kill you," she told Carlos, nodding at the cigarette. Dawn had unsuccessfully been trying to get Carlos to quit since she had met him and Kit in the basement of Sunnydale High school on the first day of class there.

"Dawn, we live in Sunnydale, I'm sure something will take care of that long before I get lung cancer," Carlos assured her.

"Well, you don't have to help them yourself," she retorted.

Carlos shook his head, but dropped the but and ground it out with his foot.

"So did you find out anything else about what was in your house the other night?" Kit asked. She had been talking to Dawn on the phone when all sort of weirdness had started happening at the Summer's house. Dawn had told her the next day that something had come into the house and had pretended to be her mother, trying to drive a wedge between her and Buffy.

"Yeah, it's bad news too, did I ever tell you about The First?" Dawn asked.

"First what?" Carlos returned, looking confused.

"The First Evil," Dawn told him.

Kit and Carlos shook their heads, so Dawn gave them a condensed version of what it was. "So if you run into someone you know is dead it's probably this thing, so don't pay attention to it. They attacked our house last night and kidnapped Spike," Dawn continued.

"That whacked out vamp that your sister found in the school basement?" Carlos wanted to know. "What did they want him for?"

"Don't know, Buffy couldn't find anything out last night; and be nice, Spike's a friend, he's just going through some hard times is all," Dawn told Carlos, slightly angrily.

Carlos held up his hands, he'd seen Dawn fight; he'd take her against anyone her side of Rocky. Accepting his apology she handed him her Coke Slushy. He took hit a off of it and went to hand it back to Dawn but she motioned him to give it to Kit. She took a sip and handed it back to Dawn. "I have to head back to the Magic Box and get picked up," Dawn said. "Either of you want a lift home?"

"Is your sister driving?" Carlos asked.

"Nah she's doing something; it'll probably be Willow," Dawn assured him.

Kit jumped down off of the wall and she and Carlos started following Dawn out of the park. "Oh yeah," Dawn began. "If you see any new clean-cut army types hanging around town let me know would you?"

"Why?" Carlos asked. "Or would you have to kill us if you told us?"

"Maybe," Dawn replied without looking.

Kit and Carlos looked at each other; you could never tell when Dawn was joking.

*****

Washington Post Building
1150 15th Street N.W.
Washington DC
26Oct2002 - 1535 hours

Tanner Gaudrue, Bob Holtzman's editor, stuck his head in his door and said, "Oh, good you're here. Grab your bag, you need to be on Air Force One; it's leaving from Andrew's in ninety minutes."

Holtzman looked up from his computer where he was trying to run down some more information on Sunnydale and Willow Rosenberg. "Where am I going?" he asked his editor. Mid-term elections were less than two weeks away and Ryan would be out stumping for candidates that he hoped to help get elected. Holtzman hadn't heard anything that would need a senior reporter to report on though.

"I just got this over the fax," Tanner said, handing over a print out. "It looks like Ryan is declaring war on Senator Richard Kincaid."

Holtzman read over the fax and whistled, "He is accusing him of everything but sacrificing his first born to get political office. I've never seen a sitting president go after someone like this."

"Which is why I want you to on Air Force One. Find out what's going on," Tanner ordered.

"Aye, Aye, Sir!" Bob Holtzman said gathering up the files and notes that he had been keeping and placing them into a filing cabinet that he locked.

Watching Holtzman gather up the pile of papers, Tanner asked, "What are you working on here?"

"Background only, I'm not prepared to discuss it yet," Holtzman said tersely as he headed out the door.

Tanner sighed. Holtzman had been burned right after Ryan had become President. He had been working on a story that probably would have made Ryan look pretty good and possibly won him a Pulitzer, but someone had taken the research and attacked Ryan with it. Holtzman since then had sat on stories till he was ready to publish. It was annoying, but Bob was good enough that it was worth the inconvenience.

Remembering the name on one of the folders he said to himself, "Who would name a town Sunnydale?"

*****

Sunnydale FBI Office
451 Front Street
Sunnydale, CA
26Oct2002 - 1250 hrs

John Clark looked up from where he had printouts spread out in front of him on the table when the doorbell rang downstairs. "I got it," Susan Conners said, as she headed for door. Clark returned to the photos. The problem was that the photos were in a slightly different scale than the maps that Frayne Murphy had. They had managed to find the high school but no one was sure where the tree lot had been. Murphy and Conners both had artificial trees and Willow was a Wiccan and had never helped Buffy get a tree.

Murphy had remarked that the Sunnydale High's basement looked like the Minotaur's Labyrinth, with passages leading off from it in all directions.

"Xander helped build this, right?" Clark asked Willow.

"I guess. I was in England when it happened though," Willow told the General.

Susan returned then with Buffy, Ding, an older man, and three younger girls in tow.

Buffy made the intros, "General John Clark, this Rupert Giles, my Watcher." The ‘my' was proprietary. "This is," she thought a moment, "Molly, Annabelle, and Kennedy." She nodded to each of the girls in turn.

"Ladies," he said to the Potentials. "Mr. Giles pleased to meet you," he said holding out his hand.

Giles took the hand and shook it, "I wish I could say the same General, but I think you can understand why I am a little bit concerned."

"Hopefully I can change you mind," Clark said. Turning to Ding he asked, "How'd it go out in the woods?"

"Good, there were only four of the hounds, and we got the Doc and her family into some ambulances and headed for the hospital," Ding replied.

"Okay, I'll get a full report later."

Clark turned to Buffy and said, "We need your help, no one is sure where that tree lot was."

Buffy nodded as she, Giles, and the three potentials went up to the conference table, and stared down at the maps and printouts.

"What's this?" Giles asked curious.

"General Clark had access to a satellite that could take pictures of the underside of Sunnydale," Buffy explained looking at where they were putting the montage of the high school together.

"That would have been useful on several occasions," Giles commented.

"Trade you one KH-12 for your teleportation trick," Clark offered.

"Pardon?" Giles looked up at Clark questioning.

"Last year, when you teleported here from England to help with Willow," Clark elaborated.

Giles looked at Buffy with an ‘exactly what have you told them?' look. Turning to the General, he said, "I'm sorry, I can't do that myself; a coven in England sent me. I doubt they would be interested in a satellite."

"Thought that would be too easy," Clark lamented.

"Well yes," Giles said, giving one of his shrugging smiles.

"I have a question," Ding said. "You asked me if I had ever been invisible, like it was a possibility. What made you think that?" Looking at Buffy.

"Well, I figured when you government guy's grabbed Marcie Ross that you knew all about that stuff," Buffy explained.

"Marcie Ross?" Ding asked.

"Yeah, you know invisible psycho girl?" Buffy asked.

"Why would we know anything about that," Clark asked.

"Well, she was grabbed by some government types, they said they were FBI agents, but I always figured they were either CIA, or, once I found out about it, Initiative."

"Buffy trust me, if we had any invisible people working at Langley I would have know about it, I would have probably helped train them," Clark told her.

Frayne Murphy who had been hanging back during this conversation asked, "Could you describe these FBI agents?"

Buffy shrugged, "One was kind of average and balding. The other one was a little chunky and had a mustache."

Murphy frowned at Sue and went to a file cabinet, he pulled out a folder and pulled two pictures out and showed them to Buffy, "Are these the men?" he asked.

Buffy took the pictures and looked at them, "They could be, but this was like six years ago and a lot has happened since."

Turning to Pat O'Day he said, "These are the two agents who died."

Pat took the photos and looked at them, "Let me see what you have on the one you think was murdered, looks like both could have been killed to shut them up."

Buffy looked confused, "You think someone killed these guys?" Frayne nodded and told what he suspected. "Nice folks, who ever they are," Buffy commented and headed over to the table to see if they had lined up the underside of the tree lot yet.

Pat took the folders from Frayne and sat down and started to go through them.

Clarks cell phone went off. "Hello," he said into it.

"John, it's Allister. We are about one hour out from Sunnydale. What do you want us to do when we get there?"

"I'll have Ding meet you at the airport; we are working on some permanent living quarters right now, but we might have to spend the night in a motel. There are some special circumstances that I need to go over face-to-face though so that may change." Clark was conscious of all of the Sunnydale residents frowning at his last statement, then not wanting to be left out the three potentials started frowning his way too.

"Understood," Allister said. "See you in a couple of hours then," he finished and signed off.

Buffy was the first to speak, "I thought we had this out last night why motel rooms aren't a real good idea?"

"I know Buffy, but you have 8 people in your house as it is. There are eleven more coming in with Allister, I think twenty-two people under your roof would be a little cramped." Turning to Willow he asked, "A revocation was mentioned, would it be possible to do one of those on six or seven motel rooms quickly?"

"I could do it, there isn't a lot to it. But I think the local motel is going to be upset by us nailing crosses to the walls by the doors and windows," Willow replied.

"Let me worry about that," Clark assured her. Turning to Ding, "Why don't you head out to the Airport and collect Allister and Team One. Hit Avis and get a couple of vehicles too." Ding nodded and started heading for the door. "Willow would you go with Ding and do whatever you need to do to those rooms to make them vampire resistant? You will still be on the clock."

Willow looked at Buffy, who nodded and said, "If you think you are up for it."

Willow smiled and head over to Ding who held the door open for her.

Clark looked over at Murphy, "With your permission I would like to use your office as our base camp tonight."

Murphy shrugged, "I was ordered to give you full cooperation, so, mi casa es su casa.

"Thank you," Clark said sincerely.

Once Ding and Willow had taken off, Pat O'Day stood up and said, "If we are using this place as a base then I'll go grab Wells and bring him here." He headed out as well.

Buffy, Sue, and Giles had finally managed to locate the old tree lot and were lining up the appropriate photos. Clark came up beside them and said, "Mr. Giles if you don't mind I would like to talk to you about the Hellmouth."

*****

Chapter 24

The Magic Box
512 Market St.
Sunnydale, CA
26Oct2002

Ding pulled up outside the Magic Box and saw Anya, Dawn, and two kids he didn't know sitting on the curb. Dawn was talking to the other two kids while Anya was sitting glumly with her head in her hands.

"At a guess, she got shot down by the insurance guy," Willow commented from the front seat.

"Who are those two with Dawn?" Ding asked.

"That's Kit and Carlos, they're friends of Dawn, sort of junior Scoobies," Willow explained.

Dawn waved as Ding pulled up. Anya got dejectedly to her feet. Kit and Carlos looked at Ding dubiously. Carlos turned to Dawn and asked, "I guess this isn't one of the clean-cut soldier types you asked us to look out for, huh?"

Ding looked at Dawn and shook his head, "Get in kids, we need to talk."

Dawn looked a little uncomfortable as she climbed in with Kit and Carlos. "What are we going to do with Andrew?" she asked.

"We're waiting for Pat right now, he's on his way," Ding explained. "Where is Andrew?"

"He's still inside," Anya explained. "I didn't think it was a good idea to go into there without anyone else."

"This D'Hoffryn has you seriously spooked," Ding commented.

"He wants me dead," Anya said practically. "He usually gets what he wants."

Ding nodded as Pat O'Day pulled up behind them.

Pat got out of his car and walked up to the group. "Is Andrew still in where we left him?" he asked.

Anya nodded as she climbed into Ding's Suburban.

Pat went into the store and was just opening up the grate where Andrew was stashed when he heard a thump behind him. He turned and jumped back in shock at the huge figure behind him; it was at least nine feet tall and resembled nothing as much as a bipedal rhino.

"Anyanka," it intoned in a thunderous, gravelly voice. "D'Hoffryn has sent me for you. Your time has come!"

"Shit!" Pat exclaimed jumping back and pulling out his gun. He tracked it over the huge…whatever it was, trying to figure out where he could shoot it that it would at least notice.

The rhino squinted at him past the huge horn at the tip of it nose and said in a more normal baritone, "Oh, I beg your pardon. I was expecting someone else." He took a deep sniff and continued, "I smell that Ms. Rosenberg is outside, so I think I will just take my leave. Nice meeting you," he finished and vanished.

Pat grabbed Andrew and dragged him outside still covering the back of the store with his pistol.

Ding was talking to the kids in the backseat when he saw Pat, dragging Andrew out of the Magic Box with his gun out. He jumped out of the SUV and got his own pistol out. Willow seeing Pat also got of vehicle.

"There was a…a…a… something in there looking for someone called Anyanka," he got out.

"What did it look like?" Anya asked casually, leaning out of the window.

Pat looked at her, "It was big and kind of like a two legged rhino."

"Crudge," Anya said.

"You know him?" Ding asked.

"Yeah, he's fun to party with, lots of great stories; he has this one were he was in ancient Mesopotamia and these priests thought they were summoning a fertility sprite and …,"

"Anya!" Willow said, nodding at the kids in the back seat with her. Carlos looked disappointed that the story was interrupted. "Is he still in there, Inspector O'Day?" Willow asked.

"I don't think so. He smelled you and took off, well he vanished anyway," Pat finished.

"Okay Anya," Ding said. "You obviously know this D'Hoffryn pretty well. Will this Crudge follow you back to the Summers' house?"

"I doubt it, unless D'Hoffryn is paying him a lot. He wouldn't want to tick off the Slayer by breaking up her house."

"That?" Pointing into the store. "Is scared of the little blond?" Pat asked incredulously.

Anya nodded. "Between Crudge and Buffy, bet on Buffy," she told him.

Pat just shook his head, finding it difficult to believe, "Are you sure he wouldn't pay him enough to do that?"

"Naw, among other things D'Hoffryn is cheap," Anya supplied. "I don't think he wants me bad enough to pay for gold service."

Pat shook his head again. "Okay, now I believe," he said staring into the store.

"You didn't before?" Willow asked surprised since he had agreed to her being his back up.

Pat shook his head again, "Clark told me what was going on, but I just couldn't believe it. I said that I would want to see something supernatural before I gave in."

"You want to watch saying stuff like that around here," Willow told the FBI agent. "There are things out there that just wait for statements like that."

"I take it I should avoid the wish word around here too," Pat joked.

Dawn leaned out, over Anya and out of the SUV's window, and said emphatically, "Never use the ‘W' word, ever."

Pat picked Andrew up and started him back toward his vehicle, turned at that and looked over his shoulder at Dawn, "Personal experience?"

"Yes," Dawn replied. "I made a wish once and we all ended up trapped in our house for two days." She then leaned back into the SUV where Anya glared at her. Once Dawn had settled back Anya leaned back and closed her eyes.

Pat said his good byes to every one and loaded Andrew into the Explorer.

Ding and Willow climbed back into his Suburban and headed pulled out. "I need to pick some stuff up from the house," she told Ding, who obediently headed for Revello Drive.

Once they got to Buffy's house everyone headed inside. Willow went upstairs to get the stuff for the revocation ritual so Ding turned to the kids one last time. "I'm serious about this kids, the people who are coming are serious people. If they think you are a threat to them or their mission, they will kill you or anyone else they feel they need to, so you will not only be putting yourselves in danger, but you could be putting your family and friends there, too. If you see someone suspicious I don't want you to try to follow them, or listen in on conversations, or even look at them twice. If you do happen to spot someone then I want you to call Buffy, if you can't get a hold of her, then you call Dawn. Dawn if they call you and you can't get a hold of Buffy then you call me. Under no circumstances are you to attempt anything on your own, this isn't a Disney Movie, they won't tie you up in some basement so you can be rescued, they WILL put a bullet into your skull and bury you in a shallow grave. Am I understood?" Ding finally asked.

All three kids nodded quickly.

"I didn't hear you!" Ding said sharply.

"We understand," they said in three-part harmony.

"Good," Ding said seriously.

Willow came down the steps then carrying a small plastic toolbox and a larger cardboard box. "Ready," she said. "Dawn, everyone, behave and listen to Anya," Willow said as she head out the door followed by Ding.

Once they were heading for the airport Willow asked Ding, "Do you really think they will listen to you?"

"Nah, they're teenagers. So I'm going to have a couple of the guys coming in with Allister wander around town a little and hopefully put the fear of God into them."

On the way out to the airport Ding and Willow exchanged information. Ding asked about magic, what it could do, how hard it was to use, and how many magic users she knew. Willow answered as truthfully as she could. She emphasized that magic always came at a cost. She skipped bringing Buffy back, but she told him about Jonathan Levenson and the demon that came along with the spell that elevated him. Ding nodded as he remembered the couple of weeks that Jonathan Levenson was every ones hero. "But that changed the whole world!" Ding exclaimed. "How powerful was the Levenson guy."

"For certain spells power level of the caster doesn't really matter. The power for that spell came from the demon that came along with it," Willow explained. "I never went up against Jonathan one on one, you probably want to talk to Andrew about what Jonathan was capable of, he would probably be able to give you a clearer idea."

Willow questioned Ding mostly about President Ryan; she wanted to get a feel for him. She was impressed by how much Ding respected him. Ding didn't give up any secrets but he told her that Dr. Ryan had saved his life and the lives of the men with him in Colombia. He also let her know a little about Jack's family and his relationship with them.

By the time they got to the airport, got through security, and found the hanger that had been rented for their stay in Sunnydale, a plane was approaching the hanger. It looked like a commercial airliner, smaller than a 727, but larger than the Lears that dotted the apron.

"I kinda thought you would use a military jet," she commented to Ding.

"We normally fly commercial going on a mission, British Airways, or some other commercial air carrier. Our basic kit doesn't include anything that needs special transporting capability, so we can sneak in and be set up before the bad guys know we are around," Ding explained. "In this case it was especially important to come in quietly because we think that the Sunnydale base is on the other side. This way they won't know another military unit is on scene."

Willow nodded understanding.

Ding opened the door to the hanger when the jet's engines shut off. By the time Ding and Willow came in two men dressed in slacks and sport coats where climbing down the steps that had been rolled up to the jets door. The lead person was the older of the two. Both were taller than Willow, something she had long ago become use too. The older of the two had black hair and brown eyes, the younger man's were both brown. The older man was in good shape, much like General Clark, the other one reminded her of Ding.

"Hi Colonel, Pete," Ding said to the two men. "This is Willow Rosenberg; she's one of the locals that will be helping us. Willow this is Colonel Allister Stanley, the 2IC of Rainbow, and Major Peter Covington, the Team One Commander."

"Pleasure to meet you, Ma'am," Colonel Stanley said.

"Ma'am," Covington said.

Willow smiled, more English, at least Giles wouldn't get home sick.

Other men started coming down the stairs of the plane, all where supremely fit. They reminded Willow of the Initiative troopers, but older, she hoped they listened better.

"What's the plan Ding," Stanley asked. "John told me you would fill me in."

"Pete and a couple of his men should pick up some vehicles from Avis and meet up with John at the local FBI office. One of our contacts is supposed to do a recon of a situation. If that pans out then we will have a mission tonight. Ms. Rosenberg, you and I will be seeing about arranging some local lodging for the group."

Colonel Stanley nodded and turns to Pete, "Major, take a couple of men and see what you can rent. Try to get stuff with four wheel drive, pick up one regular car though in case we have to do some unobtrusive recon."

"Very well, Colonel," Covington replied. "Sgt Maj Benton, select a couple of Americans, or men with an international drivers licenses and fall in over by the door."

Willow watched as the tall soldier called out a couple of soldiers' names and motioned them over to the door. The man didn't quite fit Willow's stereotype of what a British sergeant major should look like. He had a pleasant face, and looked easy going, never raising his voice, just calling out names, and pointing at the door. She noticed that he got instant obedience though.

"Okay let's get going," Colonel Allister Stanley said.

*****

In Air Force One
On the tarmac of Andrews AFB
Washington DC
26Oct2002 - 1707hrs

Bob Holtzman had barely made the flight. He had boarded just ahead of the security shutdown as President Ryan and his party came in on Marine One, the modified HS-53 that they used to move him around in. The press area of AF One was only half full; apparently most of the Washington Press Corp had been caught flatfooted. Bob Holtzman was going over some of the facts he had downloaded about Sunnydale again when a familiar voice said, "Arnie looked pissed."

Holtzman looked up, standing there was John Plumber.

John had been the evening anchor on one of the major networks when Ryan had been so explosively elevated to the office of the Presidency. He and his partner had managed to get a two on one interview with Ryan. The interview had gone off without a hitch. Tom Donner, his partner, had then come into some information on Ryan. Donner had decided to lie and say that the original tape had been damaged and they needed to do the interview again. On live TV the two of them had grilled the President on several stories, including the defection of a Russian sub and the head of the KGB, plus the invasion of Columbia by a group of US soldiers. Ryan had not denied any of the stories; he had refused to answer them on security grounds. The interview had really made Ryan look bad, which had been the intent of Edward Kealty, the former VP who's job Ryan had taken when Kealty had been forced to resign after a rape allegation.

After young Katie Ryan's day-care center had been attacked in an attempt to kidnap her, Holtzman had managed to convince Plumber that Ryan was a decent man who Plumber and
Donner had wronged, and worse, they had allowed themselves to be manipulated into being a weapon against Ryan. Plumber had agreed to do a joint story with Holtzman, and Plumber had gone on national TV and exposed what they had done. Soon after, the effect of the first biological attack on the US had begun manifesting itself with cases of Ebola popping up all over the country. Plumber had gone from someone who had stabbed his friends and colleagues in the back, to the most trusted anchor on a major newscast. The honeymoon had not lasted, of course, and Plumber had not been overly surprised when five months later it had been announced that his contract would not be renewed. He had been clued in the week before and had seriously had been contemplating retirement.

It had been rumored in the industry that the press conference that announced the network's intent to release him had not even finished when Plumber's phone had rung with a call from the President of the ‘Fair and Balanced' network with a job offer. While it hadn't actually been that quick, the call had come in before the close of business that day. Plumber's first instinct had been to turn them down, but the man on the phone had been very persuasive. He hadn't been offering Plumber an anchor job; rather he had wanted to use Plumber's rep as the most honest reporter in America to his network's advantage.

For the show he wanted Plumber to search out stories and report on them, the only catch was Plumber had to be sure of his facts before the show saw air. Plumber had told him that he wasn't interested in doing a show that sugarcoated what the right did while hammering the left; he had learned his lesson. The President of FOX had replied that neither was he. He had told Plumber that his value was that people believed him to be above the petty partisanship that was so much a part of the news today. Instead what he wanted was for Plumber to choose his own stories, research them carefully so what made air was the truth of the situation, rather than the opinion of those involved.

Plumber had been intrigued by the notion and when his contract ran out had signed with FOX. He wasn't required to have stories out in any certain time frame so he could take his time with them. He had so far done six; they had all been well received with one in the running for an Emmy.

"I would bet he was," Holtzman replied. "My sources said that Ryan originally wanted to go after Kincaid but Arnie talked him out of it. Looks like he went around his back."

Plumber leaned over his seat and said quietly, "One of my stringers saw you hanging around the White House yesterday snapping pictures, get anything interesting?"

Holtzman cursed silently to himself, "Just some background on a story I'm thinking of doing."

Plumber nodded knowingly, "I got some information on your buddy, the player, if you're interested," he told the other reporter.

"Which one?" Holtzman replied.

"The Koga one," Plumber said. "Wanna trade?"

Bob Holtzman sighed, "You first."

Plumber nodded, "You know what he has been up to the last two years right?" Holtzman nodded. "He was in town for the last week or so, they were having a conference on whether to expand his group or not. His group got put on alert after that London Club got bombed and the word over there was that he was heading home. But something else came up and he and one team headed somewhere else." Plumber looked at Holtzman expectantly.

"How good is your source?" Holtzman asked.

"Senior law enforcement," Plumber replied. "I've gotten some good stuff from him before."

"I got a call from a source I have in the White House, one of the senior cabinet called an emergency meeting. I think I got a picture of the briefers as they were being escorted in. If they were the briefers with Joe Spano bringing them in, that probably means that Tony Brentano called the meeting," Holtzman explained.

"Who were the briefers?" Plumber asked.

"Never saw them before," was the reply.

Plumber smiled, "I got the call from my source because he was irate with some of things the US Government had done. Originally the Brits managed to hold onto some of your buddy's men, I'm not sure how big these teams are, or how many of them they have, but someone high in our government prevailed on the British Government to send the rest along. Then to make matters worse the Brits manage to identify a survivor from the club who had skipped out a couple of hours after the explosion and managed to get to the US, where he promptly disappeared. They asked if we could keep an eye out for him and apparently got assurances from the highest levels that we would. About a half-hour before he called me, he had been told that we knew where this guy is but are refusing to give him up, instead we want the Brits to send someone here to talk to the guy."

"Do you have a name for this guy?" Holtzman asked.

Plumber just smiled, the ball is back in your court.

Holtzman composed his thoughts for a second, then said, "The briefers were a man and woman. I found the guy in a West Point yearbook, his name is Riley Finn, he graduated with honors from a couple of the Army's toughest schools then drop out of sight."

"Any idea which black-ops group he got sucked up by?" Plumber asked.

Holtzman shook his head and went on, "The woman was his wife Samantha, and you might remember her as Samantha Weber."

Plumber thought for a second, but shook his head; the name meant nothing to him.

"She was the only survivor of a village in Mexico that was attacked by bandits when she was in the Peace Corps." Plumber then nodded that he remembered the story. "They supposedly met when he escorted her home." Holtzman then looked expectantly at the other journalist.

Plumber nodded and pulled out his notebook, "His name is Rupert Giles, his family was in this club for generations. He was formally an assistant curator of the British Museum specializing in myths and legends. He speaks numerous languages and is considered a world-class expert in his area of expertise. His early life seems pretty ordinary until about eight years ago when he suddenly quit his job and moved to Sunnydale, CA, where he became their high school librarian."

Holtzman looked up and said, "Wait, this guy was an assistant curator of one of the most prestigious museums in the world and he quit that and moved half way around the world to become a high school librarian?" The name of the high school suddenly sunk in, "Did you say Sunnydale?"

"Yeah, it's a town on the edge of Edwards Air Force Base, north of San Bernardino. I had to look it up, it's odd because I must have driven past it a couple of dozen times." Then seeing the look in Holtzman eyes he asked, "What about it?"

Bob sighed. He had his laptop case on the seat next to him as a sign he wanted a little space. He picked it up and slid it under the seat and motioned Plumber to have a seat, they had another collaboration to negotiate out.

*****

On Board Air Force One
Over Virginia
26Oct2002 - 1722 hours

Andrea Price made sure that the door to the conference room was closed and locked before she nodded at Jack. Jack looked at his Chief-of-Staff and said, "I know you're pissed Arnie but there is reasons for what I did."

Arnie Van Damm shook his head, "Jack, I am beyond pissed. We talked about this and I laid out why I thought that going after Kincaid wasn't a bright move politically. What's got me ticked is that you said you agreed with me about helping Bursten rather than attacking Kincaid, and then you go around my back like this.

"I don't try and tell you how to handle national security or intelligence issues. When I disagree with you on something, I tell you why I do and explain the ramifications if we take your actions, but if you say that we have to do it, then I don't second guess you or go around behind your back to get what I want. Call me old fashion but I expect the same courtesy. If you really wanted to go after Kincaid you could have just told me, I would of set it in motion. I don't like the guy; in fact he is beginning to scare me a little. But when you are at this level you cannot let likes or dislikes motivate what you do."

Jack made a mental note to ask him why Kincaid was becoming a concern a little later and said, "Arnie I understand, but you were busy setting up the St. Louis stop when this came up and I didn't want to disturb you. Andrea?" he said to the head of his Secret Service detail, inviting her to speak.

Arnie looked over at Andrea wondering what she would have to do with it.

"Last night I informed the President that I would be seeking a witch or wizard to add to his detail to counter what we learned yesterday."

Arnie winced, "Andrea we have John Plumber, Bob Holtzman, and a bunch of the Washington Press Corp within a hundred feet of us. Please don't say stuff like that in proximity to them. The last thing we need is for the public to think that Jack is channeling the ghosts of past Presidents."

Andrea looked at Arnie as if asking permission to continue, "He ordered me that once I did, the first thing he wanted them to do was investigate the crash that lead to him being President."

Arnie looked at Jack in shock, "You don't think Billingsly is right, do you?"

Jack shook his head and gestured back at Andrea who was taking the interruptions in stride.

"It occurred to me last night as I was tucking the kids in that maybe, if Sato's crash was engineered by magic, then Jack wasn't who was supposed to be helped; maybe he was supposed to die that night, too. So when I came in this morning I started looking into the other people who were elevated that night. I, of course, started with the Secretary of the Interior because he would have become President if Jack had been killed. He however had done nothing overly suspicious immediately following the event. I then looked at the Sec of Transportation, the only other cabinet secretary to survive, but since he resigned when the President declared Martial Law upon discovering the Ebola outbreak he didn't look like a likely candidate either. I checked the logs around where the Sec of the Interior was just in case to see if there were any unusual events but nothing was reported.

I then looked at the surviving members of Congress. When I looked at Senator Kincaid some of his activities at first glance looked suspicious. I don't think he had anything to do with Sato's crash, but once we started putting the Senate back together he started campaigning hard to get on the Senate Appropriations committee, a seat on which he has been trying to get since he became a Senator 11 years ago. He burned a lot of political and personal favors for the first week and a half to get it, he probably would of gotten on, maybe even the chairmanship the way it was going when suddenly he hung a ninety-degree turn and started to try for the Chairmanship of the Senate Intelligence Committee. He had burned too much capital, plus I think he pissed a lot of the people who said they would support him in Appropriations so he didn't even get on the committee, instead he ended up on the Armed Services Committee. I talked to the Hill security; Senator Kincaid has been reprimanded twice for attempting to gain access to classified data that he is not eligible to receive. Data on Black Operations."

Arnie Van Damm shook his head, "Okay that may seem suspicious, and I know the guy is a pain-in-the-butt, so it might seem that it's a good excuse to go after him, but this kind of attack could boomerang, It could just make his position stronger."

"If that's all we had, I never would have done it," Jack told his chief political advisor. "Andrea?"

"I looked into Senator Kincaid's history, his best friend in Congress was Rep. Charles Bellows who was killed in the crash."

Arnie nodded, "Bellows district included Sunnydale, he was the Congressional rep on the Initiative right?"

"Yes he was," Andrea agreed. "We don't think that Kincaid was clued in on that. We think that he was an alternate incase something did happen. It must have taken Billingsly a week to get a hold of him and convince him to get on the Intelligence Committee to monitor what the President was up to. He started his anti-Ryan stance at the same time. He has been the Presidents most vocal opponent ever since."

"I don't get it," Arnie said finally. "I can see why you want this guy gone, but why give him almost a full day to get ready for you? I could of gotten with Callie Weston and really did him for you."

"I wanted him to be warned," Ryan replied. "I had Callie dig out a speech that I had her do when I first brought the idea up to go after him. She didn't have to change it much."

Van Damm thought about it for a minute or so, then said, "You want him to call in the cavalry don't you."

Jack smiled at the analogy, "Or at least circle the wagons. I have Dan Murray's counterespionage people keeping track of the Senator, hopefully he will contact some people and we will be able to get a better handle on Billingsly's organization, or at least tell a little better how far the rot has spread.

I'm sorry Arnie, you were on the phone setting things up for this trip I didn't think that it was a good idea to disturb you with this. Now why does Kincaid scare you?"

"I said he was beginning to, not that he does," Arnie retorted. "I'm not the only one, either. I got a call earlier in the week from an old friend, someone who belongs to the 'I hate Jack Ryan Club.' He was at a party last week and Kincaid was one of the guests of honor. He heard him telling some of his supporters that God saved him from Sato to oppose you. The scary thing is my contact thinks that Kincaid believed every word he was saying."

Jack snorted, "Wasn't he at the Watergate with a hooker that night?"

Andrea nodded, "Every week; that night is his 'exercise' night. He never misses it, he wasn't going to let a little thing about a Vice-Presidential swearing in break the tradition."

Ryan shook his head, "Okay Arnie, are you good with this?"

Arnie nodded his head, "In the future Boss, please give me a heads up, this job is high stress enough, I don't need things to add to it."

Jack nodded seriously, "One more thing before we start bring in the others and start the meeting, Andrea we are going to be staying in San Bernardino tomorrow, right?"

Andrea nodded thinking about what was around San Bernardino that Jack might be interested in; suddenly she froze. "No!" she said forcefully. "You are not going into Sunnydale at night, at least not until I figure out what security would be needed."

Jack smiled, "Relax Andrea, I would like to go there sometime in the future, but I am not stupid. I would like to see if Buffy Summers and any of her people would be willing to meet with me after the hustings Sunday. I figure that we can sneak them in while I'm doing the Meet and Greet after the press conference when everyone's interest will be inside."

Andrea nodded, "I'll see if they are willing to meet." Andrea left the meeting and ushered the rest of the staff in for the planning session, and began to think of how she was going to protect POTUS if the Slayer took him up on his offer and then for whatever reason decided to attack him.

*****

Route 46
Outside Sunnydale, CA
26Oct2002 - 1320 hrs

Alistair Stanley listened as Ding explained what was going on. He had a look of disbelief on his face for most of the explanation. "You are serious about this, right?" he had finally asked.
"Have you seen any proof of the supernatural?" not wanting to believe.

"Alistair, I killed a vampire last night, it exploded into dust all over me," Ding told the Colonel. Alistair sat back in the seat to absorb that.

Finally he said, "All right then, I think we have our work cut out for us then. Are there any locals we can get some training from?"

"Willow here is part of a group that have been fighting the local night life for the last seven years or so. John has arranged with their combat person to give us some training, she'll start tomorrow."

"She?" Alistair asked surprised.

"Buffy has some special qualifications," Willow replied.

Stanley looked at her for her to continue.

Ding answered instead, "You have to see Buffy in action to believe it Colonel. I saw her take out four vampires last night without working up a sweat. Her senses are at a different order of magnitude than ours. Early today she and I went on a rescue mission up to one of the local parks. A family of three had been treed by what the mother called 'invisible wolves'. We found out these things were actually chameleons, there was four of them, I got one, Ranger Robert Broadman, who brought us in, got another, the last two were taken out by Buffy. She shot one dead center with a crossbow and flipped its companion, breaking its back; she then did the same to its neck. Hand to Hand, I would bet Buffy could take both teams at the same time."

"What is she, Wonder Woman?" Alistair asked.

"No, she's a Vampire Slayer," Willow told him.

"Vampire Slayer?"

"One girl in all the world with the strength and speed to hunt the vampire," Willow quoted. "Except now there are two of them."

"This is a lot to accept," Alistair said slowly.

"Make up your mind quick, Colonel," Willow told him grimly, "The last group of soldiers in Sunnydale didn't work it out and that got a lot of them killed."

"Okay," Alistair said thoughtfully, "What exactly am I doing here, John mentioned about getting some alternate places to stay tonight?"

"Riley Finn, the Initiative team leader, John, and I spent last night at Buffy's, but they already have four people living there, and they just got four more house guests so we need to find an alternate place to crash tonight. So we are going to check out one of the local motels. The problem is that vampires probably have access to the rooms so Willow, who is a witch, will perform a ceremony that will bar at least vampires from them." Ding explained.

Colonel Stanley raised an eyebrow at the 'She's a witch' line, "What does this 'ceremony' entail?"

Willow responded, "It's not very demanding, most people could perform it. The problem with it is that I have to nail crosses into the wall of the room by the doors and windows, so we need someone to run interference with the motel manager."

Seeing a sign for El Nino' Lumber Stanley asked, "Do the crosses have to be nailed to the wall?"

"When the ceremony was written that was the only way they could be attached," Willow said. "Why?"

"Pull in there," Alistair replied, indicating the home improvement store. "Just be a minute," he told the pair in the car. He was gone about ten and came out of the store carrying a medium size plastic bag. Climbing back into the SUV he pulled what he bought out of the bag.

"This isn't the same stuff I use but it should work as well," he said, showing them what he had purchased. It looked like some kind of blue putty. "My wife loves to decorate, it got to the point that I was having to paint the walls about every three months or so because she had put up pictures then moved them, or put up things with different size frames. I got this stuff for her and had her use this till she figured out the permanent placement for whatever she was hanging. It won't hold up pounds, but unless the crosses you are going to be using are large it should keep them up, and it will be silent, and we can just pull them down when we are done, and no one will be the wiser."

Willow was impressed, "I can see why they made you a Colonel."

Alistair spent the rest of the trip to the motel quizzing Willow about what she had done in her fight against the local demons, and how she had become a witch. Willow answered as truthfully as she could, just staying away from tender subjects.

When they pulled into the parking lot of the Route 46 Inn, Ding, for one, was under impressed. He stayed in some worse dives in his career as a CIA agent, but they had all been in third-world countries. It needed painting badly; the front parking lot was in need of repaving with weeds growing out of the numerous cracks that covered the lot. Ding noticed through a breezeway that the back lot wasn't paved at all. None of the windows of the rooms seemed to be cracked surprisingly; but the curtains all seemed to be faded. "This is the best in town?" he asked.

"The better motels are over by the UCS. This is the only one that is close to downtown," Willow replied. "Sunnydale is close enough to San Bernardino and LA that most people just keep going rather than staying."

Alistair shrugged, "It's only for a couple of days. I hope."

Ding and Willow waited by the SUV as Alistair went into the office. The man behind the desk set of alarm bells in Alistair but he couldn't figure out why. He was clean enough, with a bit of a paunch, he was wearing a plaid shirt with blue jeans, and his hair was a little ragged. As he stood up and moved to the desk Alistair heard a bunch of keys jangling.

"Can I help you?" the man, whose nametag said that he was Mike, the manager of the motel, asked.

"I hope so," Allister said. "I'm the front man for a group of consultants that are coming to Sunnydale for a meeting and though I didn't reserve rooms I was wondering if it would be possible to rent eight for at least three days?"

"Let me check my register," Mike said, thumbing through a book on his desk. "Looks like you're in luck mister, I can let you have eight through next Friday if you need it."

"Hopefully we won't need them that long," Stanley provided, saying a prayer to himself that it was indeed true.

"Just let me make sure the rooms are ready," Mike said as he picked up a walky-talky on the desk and said, "Rosita?"

"Si Senior Mike?" the accented young sounding voice said back.

"Are 210 through 217 ready?"

"Si Senior Mike," was the reply.

"Okay, anytime your group is ready they can check in," Mike told Allister.

"The rest of them will be along later tonight. I thought that I would take a look through now though."

"Fine, I just need you to fill out these forms then I can give you keys. Will that be cash or charge?" Mike finished.

"Credit," Allister said fishing out his wallet and handing over a credit card.

*****

About twenty minutes later Allister came out with a handful of keys and waved Ding and Willow to follow him. Once they got up to the second floor the rooms started right off of the breezeway so they started with 210. The rooms where shabby, the TV's where only 17", not that they would have time to watch it. The blankets on the bed where faded from too many washings, the head boards where chipped and had burn marks where cigarettes had been left to burn down. The chairs in the room fabric covers where frayed in several places and the table wasn't all that sturdy either when Ding pushed against it. The bathroom was in about the same shape with several of the small tiles in the floor missing and the mirror had a corner cracked. The room was clean though, the towels where white, there was no soap scum around the tub and the linen smelled fresh.

"Well at least it's clean," Ding said philosophically.

Willow meanwhile had opened up the toolbox and had taken a small book and a candle out. She sat on the bed and pulled her legs up into a lotus position, "I'm going to need to center myself for a couple of minutes, if you two need to talk can you take it outside?" Willow requested.

Neither Ding nor Allister left, instead they both watched with interest as Willow regulated her breathing to the point where she set up a rhythm. After about two minutes Willow opened her eyes and said, "Okay lets get started."

About ninety minutes later Willow had finished all eight rooms. Allister and Ding where both disappointed as there was no visual reaction from the spell, Willow would go into a room, go to the window and say something in Latin that neither the Major or the Colonel understood and put up a cross, the stick-it compound was working fine. Then move onto the door and repeat what she had done to the window. Once all the rooms where done the three of them returned to the car and loaded Willow's stuff and started back to downtown Sunnydale.

They hadn't gotten very far when Alistair's phone rang, it was Peter Covington. "Colonel, I've looked over the FBI office and don't think that it is a good defensive position. Captain Finn just called and they got the warehouse that we will be using for a base. General Clark agrees with my assessment of the FBI and wants us to set up at the warehouse. The address is 814 Front Street. Riley and a local contact will meet you there, we'll be over too just as soon as a local group gets back from a recon.

"Very well, meet you there," Allister clicked off.

*****

An open field
1245 Main Street
Sunnydale, CA
26Oct2002 - 1420 hrs

Giles and Clark had talked for almost an hour when Buffy said that she had what she needed for the recon of the cave where she originally fought The First's Bringers. Giles had found that Clark was intelligent and experienced. He asked good questions, listened to the answers, then asked follow up questions that indicated that he understood much of what Giles was telling him. After dealing with Maggie Walsh and the Initiative he found it refreshing; it also worried him more than a little.

Getting down to the cars Buffy asked Giles if he wanted to drive because he was always nervous when she drove. Giles cringed and said, "You had best drive, Buffy. I let my international drivers licenses lapse since I didn't think I would need it."

Buffy nodded and climbed into her SUV. On the way to the lot Buffy and Giles discussed what had happened since the last time they had been together. They had to park about three blocks from the old tree lot and started walking.

"You know it's funny," Buffy said. "The last time The First showed up it was Christmas time, too."

Giles looked confused. "Buffy it's October," he pointed out.

Buffy nodded toward a store window that had a couple of merrily blinking Christmas tree's in it. Sharing the window was some gaily-wrapped presents sitting on some cotton bunting doing duty as snow. A sign on the window said, "Only 59 more shopping days till Christmas!"

"Americans," Giles said, mildly disgusted.

"So are you going to come in any time but impending Apocalypses?" Buffy asked her Watcher.

"I promise Buffy, that if we survive this then I will make time to come in for a vacation."

The Slayer and her Watcher walked about a block in comfortable silence, enjoying each other's company. Giles finally broke the mood by asking, "These Rainbow people, what do you think about them?"

"They're competent enough, but so were the Initiative people. I get a different vibe off of the General and Ding though."

"What do you mean?" Giles asked.

"That they are doing a job. It isn't about the adventure. They have a job to do, and they are going to do it."

Giles nodded, he got some of the same feelings from his meeting with Clark. "We must be careful Buffy."

"What do you mean?" she asked, stopping and turning and looking up at Giles.

"The First is a master of manipulation, it could be in control of whoever dispatched them to Sunnydale."

"Why?" Buffy asked, a skeptical look on her face.

"Perhaps to monitor us, to find out when all of the potentials arrive so they know when to strike."

Buffy thought about that for about a half a second. "Giles, I've never really been strategy girl but if The First is invisible and you can't touch it," she pointed at the ground five feet from her as she went on, "It could be standing right there, right now, and we would never know. If it had control of the government, why not just wait for us to gather all the potentials that are left, and then get its friends in the government to drop a nuke on us? That would get rid of the line of the Slayers pretty quick and we would never see it coming."

Giles nodded that he saw what Buffy was saying, but then said, "We must be careful, Buffy; with what's at stake, we can't afford mistakes."

"We also can't afford to second guess ourselves into inactivity because we are scared that we are doing what The First wants us to do. We are going to have to do what we think is right, then put our heads down and do it," she told her mentor.

The conversation brought them to the edge of a vacant lot. "Darn," Buffy said. "I hoped that the shack would be here at least. Now we'll have to find the entrance the hard way."

So saying Buffy and Giles began pacing the lot. They started in the area that Buffy thought the entranceway to The First's old lair was. After going through the area Buffy and Giles stood facing each other. Buffy put her fists on her hips and said, "I don't understand! I could of sworn it was around here somewheeerrrreeee!" she yelled as the ground gave way beneath her.

Giles, alarmed, rushed to the lip of the hole, staying slightly back so he didn't come down on top of Buffy, and called down, "Buffy! Buffy! Are you hurt?"

"Just my pride," the reply came out of the dark. "I don't see an easy way up though from here."

"All right. I'll see if I can find some rope to help you get out," he called down the hole.

"Thanks, I think I'll do what I came for though and look around," she called back up.

"Be careful," Giles cautioned. "Try to find and alternate route to the surface though."

"Get me more maps," Buffy called up. "I'll be able to find it."

"I'll be right back Buffy," Giles said.

"'Kay," Buffy replied, already looking the cave over. It was mostly as she had left it last time. The artifacts that the Bringers had been using to hold The First lay as scattered as they had been when Buffy had fought them four Christmases ago. The map she had studied had indicated that there was only one exit from this cavern besides the one that she came down. She did a quick look around to make sure that Clark's KH-12 had got it right. Buffy was still a little amazed that you could now look through solid rock. When she had finished checking the rest of the room, she turned back toward the exit of the room, and saw him looking at her.

It was a vampire of some sort, obviously. It stood in the entrance way with its hands behind its back, obviously waiting for Buffy to notice it. It was well over six feet tall, maybe even approaching seven feet. Its head and face bore a marked resemblance to a classic Nosferatu. It had the tawny eyes that all vamps seem to have, though in this creature they looked almost golden. It looked very muscular, with wide shoulders and a narrow waist. It smiled at her, removing any doubt to what it was; its teeth were long and canine. Around its neck it wore some kind of metal color. For clothing it wore an outfit very similar to what The Master use to wear, all black leather.

Once it was sure that Buffy had seen it, the vampire placed one of its hands on its chest, and bowed from the waist, never taking its eyes off of Buffy. "Trifurcates," it said.

Buffy, not to be out done in politeness by a vampire, put her own hand on her chest, similarly bowed from the waist without taking her eyes off of her opponent, and said, "Buffy Summers."

Trifurcates shook his head and smiled, a truly hideous sight. "Occisor," it said.

*****

Chapter 26

Buffy and Trifurcates moved simultaneously, both rushing forward. When they met it was in a series of punches and kicks that were too fast to follow. After the initial flurry both took a step back and regarded the other. Trifurcates said nothing, just smiled. Buffy was shocked. The vampire was faster than Angel and stronger than Luke. He had blocked everything that she had thrown, and she hadn't even got close to landing anything that counted, and the only way she would be able to get a head shot is if she did a leaping kick and with its speed she doubted that was a good idea.

Trifurcates lunged forward again and they traded another series of blows with Buffy backing up to get some maneuvering room. He was starting to land blows, too, while her stuff was still being blocked. Thankfully Slayers were impact resistant or she would have been down quickly with the force the vampire was putting behind his blows. He was just using his fists, too, none of the kicks and other stuff that vamps usually did. After a blow that opened a cut over her right eye Buffy realized that the vampire was using all European stuff, no Asian martial arts at all, with that realization she switched to some of the Eastern martial arts, she immediately connected with a kick to the vamps knee that knocked his right leg out from under him. As he went down on his other knee she launched a spinning kick that connected with his jaw, his head snapped around and she drew a stake that she had in the waistband of her jeans and plowed it into the center of his chest.

She watched with horror as it hit something and shattered. Trifurcates brought his head back around and smiled at her shock. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the throat. He stood up and brought her with him, tightening the hold on her throat and cutting off her air supply. "Nunc tempus mori," it hissed in her face, its breath putrid.

Buffy's vision was going dark around the edges, with her feet off the ground she couldn't get any leverage, but since he was kind enough to hang her in the right general area she brought her sneaker clad foot up between Trifurcates legs with as much strength as she could muster. The force of the blow lifted Trifurcates six inches off the floor, his eyes crossed as the shock hit his brain and he let loose of Buffy as he went down on his knees with his hands between his legs rocking and whimpering. Buffy taking advantage of the situation jumped onto his shoulders and used the vampire as a springboard to reach the lip of the hole. If she had a sword or something she might have tried for a decapitation, but till she figured out why he seemed to be stake proof she was going to obey Slayer rule #1.

Buffy managed to hook onto a root that was partially exposed and screamed, "Giles!"

She had just managed to start pulling herself up when a clawed hand grabbed her by the ankle and started pulling her back into the hole. Buffy got her other hand around the root and started to pull her and the vampire up out of the hole. "You really need to go on a diet," she hissed through clenched teeth as she finally managed to pull the hand that had a hold of her ankle out into the sunlight. It immediately started to smoke and small flames appeared around the fingers. The vampire screamed and let go of her ankle, falling back into the protecting darkness. Buffy crawled several more feet away from the hole and collapsed. She lay there on her back getting her wind back.

Giles heard her scream and came running from the direction of the road. He got to her and sighed in relief when he saw she was just catching her breath, but winced when he saw the nature of the beating she had taken. She had a cut over one eye that was bleeding, numerous bruises on other parts of her face, and a handprint was starting to darken on her throat. He went down on one knee and got a hand around her back and helped her sit up.

"I'm not crippled," she said irritably, getting the rest of the way back to her feet herself.

"I never thought you were," Giles said gently. "What did you run into down there?"

"It was a vampire, but bigger, stronger, and faster than any I fought before," Buffy told him as they started walking back to the car. "Plus it called me an Incisor! It said its' name was Tulip-Cactus."

"Did it have any other distinguishing features?" Giles asked rolling the two names over in his mind; he was well use to how Buffy butchered words.

"It was big," she repeated, "Close to seven feet, it wore black leather, had some kind of metal collar around its' neck and the stake I tried to stab it with shattered against its' chest like it was wearing armor or something."

Giles stopped and went pale. Buffy saw this and looked up concerned, "What? I hate it when you get that look on your face."

"Buffy, was the name it called itself Trifurcates?" Giles asked quietly.

"That's it!" Buffy confirmed excitedly. "You know him?"

"It's the first," Giles said wearily, slumping slightly.

"Wait!" Buffy said with puzzlement, indicating her face, "The First can't hit people."

Giles looked up at her from the mental argument he was having with himself and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean the First Evil, I meant the first vampire."

"Why wasn't I told that the first vampire was still running around?" Buffy wanted to know.

"Because he hasn't been running around since around 4 A.D.," Giles told her. "The then Slayer pinned him to an East facing wall with a boar spear and waited for the sunrise. I'm afraid we now know what The First wanted Spike for."

*****

Sunnydale FBI Office
451 Front Street
Sunnydale, California
26Oct2002 - 1515 hrs

Sue Conner looked up and said, "General, could you hand me Row 35, photos 21, 22, and 23?"

Clark looked up with interest from where he was studying the underground around the tree lot, "What have you got?

"Take a look at this," Sue indicated; waving at the area around the high school as Clark went to the appropriate folder and fished the requested photos out of it. "It looks like this passage is heading almost straight at the tree lot, I was hoping we'd get lucky."

Clark brought the photos over and the two of them placed them end-to-end. Clark whistled, "Ain't that pretty."

Sue nodded, "That's almost a straight shot to tree lot. Looks like we won't have to do a frontal assault after all."

"I always liked the back door myself," Clark agreed.

"We're heading out now," a voice at his elbow, said.

Clark turned and saw the black haired American potential standing there, "Pardon?"

"We need to pick toothpaste and stuff up, plus we need some more clothes, we just have what we are wearing right now," Kennedy explained.

"Shouldn't you wait for Giles to get back?" Clark asked.

"He said we could go," Kennedy told him, "You know, when you and him were discussing the Hellmouth?"

Clark could barely remember that, Kennedy had come up and asked about getting toothpaste, tooth brushes, and deodorant while the Watcher had been explaining that it wouldn't be enough simply to seize the high school by Eminent Domain and then turn it into a large concrete block, as the physical blockage wouldn't stop someone from opening the Hellmouth, and what was on the other side would not be overly inconvenienced by a couple of yards of reinforced concrete. Clark wondered if Giles even heard the question when he nodded his consent.

"Why don't you wait for Giles and Buffy to get back?" he asked Kennedy. "I'm sure he would be more than happy to let you get your stuff. Plus Buffy looks like someone who likes to shop."

"Because when they get back you all are going to be set up in the conference room discussing tonight's raid and by the time you are done with that you'll be leaving. If we do this now then we won't have to worry."

"All right I see your point, but right now I don't have anyone to send with you, there are things after the three of you, I'd hate to see you get killed," Clark said reasonably.

"We'll be careful, keep to public areas, stay out of dark alleys, and promise not to talk to strangers," Kennedy told Clark, her voice sounding something like a five-year olds.

Clark sighed, here was a young lady who was used to getting her own way.

"I'll take them," Sue Connor said.

"We don't need a babysitter," Kennedy said coldly.

"Good," Sue replied. "You couldn't afford what I charge to baby-sit. You'll find my fees for body guarding are quite reasonable though."

Turning to Clark she continued, "There is a CVS about five blocks from here. It has a second hand shop right around the corner."

"Second Hand?" Kennedy muttered, aghast.

Sue heard though and turned to the younger girl, "You three are on the run and in hiding." Sue looked the obviously expensive clothing that Kennedy was wearing and continued, "You want to look the least like yourself as you can. We can't do anything about Annabelle's or Molly's accents but not wearing brand new expensive clothing is a way for you to blend in a little better. I would also suggest that one of you die you hair blond in case the bad guys have people out looking for you."

Clark nodded grateful to the FBI agent, "That's the deal girls, take it or leave it."

Kennedy looked the General over and said, "Or what, you'll lock us in a cell?"

"We don't have a cell in this building," Frayne Murphy told the potential, "You would have to settle on being handcuffed to a desk."

Kennedy looked the adults over crossly; she was about to say something when Molly cleared her throat behind her. Kennedy glanced her way and Molly nodded her head. "Okay we'll take it. But when we get sometime, I want to get some decent stuff."

"Okay just let me get my bag and we'll leave," Sue said, heading for her office.

*****

Sunnydale General Hospital
1340 Ross St.
Sunnydale, CA
26Oct2002 - 1525 hrs

Dr. Russell Davis led Dr. Sandra Sanchez into his office. Russell was the head of the night shift at the hospital, and the person who had interviewed and hired her. He went over to a cabinet and opened it up. "You drink Irish Whiskey, right?" he asked her, and she nodded wearily.

The ride into the hospital had thankfully been uneventful. The adrenalin that she and Bri had been running on had started to wear off, and Bri had been asleep in her arms before they had reached the Sunnydale city limits. Sandra herself was too keyed up to sleep. She needed to talk to someone about what she had seen, but didn't want to come off like some kind of a kook.

Once they were at the hospital the staff was friendly and professional at first. When they found out that she was going to be joining the staff the next night professional became family. The kids were checked over quickly and it was determined except for some dehydration they were okay. The two were giving a semi-private room and were asleep without drugs two minutes after their heads hit the pillows. Sandra was getting ready for a night in a chair in the room when Dr. Davis showed up and offered her a chance to talk in his office.

She noticed that Dr. Davis had pushed aside the bottle of Jameson's that he had offered her a drink from after the interview and pulled out a bottle of 10 year-old Bushmills. He took a water glass and poured four fingers of the amber liquid into it. He handed her the drink and poured himself a much more modest one and went and sat behind his desk.

The first drink she took was deep, draining about half the glass. She enjoyed the oaky taste as the liquid went over her tongue and down her throat and into her stomach where it started a pleasant, warm glow.

Dr. Davis let her take a couple more sips then asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Sandra looked up at her boss. She had liked him from the moment she met him, but could she trust him with this?

"You don't have to worry about sounding crazy," Davis said. "Working the night shift I have seen more than my share of weirdness."

"This would push the limit I think," Sandra told him.

"After twelve years in Sunnydale I doubt it," he assured her.

Sandra found that she needed to talk so she started with the fire and Lloyd Crispen running into the camp and went through the events till she got here. After she was done she waited for Dr. Davis to leave and get the mental health professionals. Instead he asked, "The blonde, was her name Buffy Summers?"

"How did you know?" Sandra asked. She had refrained from naming her, since Buffy seemed to want her privacy.

"Let me show you something," Davis, said getting up. He went over to a filing cabinet and unlocked and opened a drawer in the bottom of the cabinet. He pulled a patient file out and took several x-rays out of it. He stuck them up on the light board and turned it on, "Tell me what you think."

Sandra put her glass down on the Doctor's desk and looked the x-rays over. "Fairly typical greenstick fracture of the ulna, a couple of days old from the look of it." Looking at the next x-ray she went on, "This is the same arm, about six to eight weeks later, the last is about four to six months I would say."

Dr. Davis smiled, "The first picture was taken about forty-five minutes after the event, the second twelve hours after the first, the last about forty-eight hours after the second, right before Ms. Summers was do to be released."

Sandra Sanchez was shocked, "She healed a broken bone in seventy-two hours?"

Dr. Davis nodded, "Nor is that the only unusual thing about her. Her mother came down with a brain tumor two years ago; she died of complications from the surgery. Buffy donated some blood for the operation and not all of it was used. I managed to get a unit and have some blood work done, here take a look."

Sandra looked the numbers over, it wasn't her specialty, but she had a working knowledge of what to look for. "Look at those adrenal and endorphin levels!" She looked at Davis, "Is she phobic about needles?"

"She's phobic about hospitals yes, when she was in with the broken arm we had a nasty version of the flu going around and she had caught it. She had a 103-degree temperature

and it was all we could do to keep her in bed. But I knew this before she gave blood so I convinced her to let us hook her up to a heart monitor to make sure that she was alright, look at this," he said handing over the read out.

Sandra looked at it and blinked, "Are you sure this is the right sheet? I've seen people who are unconscious that have had higher readings."

"I stood there when they did it, it's the right sheet alright."

"Is this common to this area?" Sandra asked.

"I know of only one other case were something like this happened," he replied, fishing out another file and handing it to Dr. Sanchez. "Start at the beginning and let me know what you think."

Obediently Sandra sat down and started reading the file that was labeled "Faith Wilkins."

About ten minutes later she looked up and said, "Just looking at the file the Doctor who did the originally treatment did a beautiful job, but with the brain damage it was wasted effort, she's got to be in a vegative state."

"She woke up six months later, attacked an orderly, and escaped from the hospital. She was wanted for questioning in several deaths. I found out later that she ran to LA were she turned herself in and confessed to the crimes; I found out when the penitentiary that she's in requested her medical records. I kept a copy," he said indicating the file.

Sandra frowned, "The knife wound was bad, but a person could recover from it. I can't see that happening with the brain." Seeing that there was a brain scan she got up and put it up on the light board. As she suspected it indicated massive damage to Faith's brain, truthfully she was surprised that Faith lived to get to the hospital; she could clearly see where a portion of her skull had penetrated the brain itself.

"Here take a look at this one," Dr. Davis said, putting a second brain scan up on the board.

Sandra looked and couldn't believe that it was the same skull. While there still was some damage evident the fast majority of it had healed. "How long after the first was this one taken?"

"About four months, I had another scheduled for the week after she escaped."

"Brains don't regenerate," Sandra said, stating a medical fact.

"Hers did, and I can't think of anything else to call what Ms. Summers arm did," Davis said practically.

"Do you have any theory as to why?" Sandra asked, going over to the desk and taking another sip of the whiskey.

"Not directly, I had a nephew that graduated with her from high school. I asked him about her, he wasn't overly forthcoming, but told me that their class voted her ‘The Class Protector'. I think that she does that for the town, too. So when she comes in, we patch her or her friends up and don't ask questions. We hope that one day they will trust us enough to take us into their confidence, but till that happens we will just have to pretend that we don't notice anything."

Dr. Sandra Sanchez finished her whiskey and shook her head, "I'm not put together that way, Buffy and the others saved me and mine today, I owe her, so whether she wants it or not she's going to get some help."

*****

Chapter 27

FBI Office
524 Front St.
Sunnydale, CA
26Oct2002 - 1522 hrs

SAC Frayne Murphy called, "I got it!" when the front door bell rung again. Going down he found 11 very fit men waiting out side on the sidewalk.

"Can I help you?" he asked the one that seem to be in charge.

"I'm Peter Covington," the man said. "I'm supposed to meet General John Clark here."

Stepping out of the way he let the men file past him. "Follow me," he said after the last one had entered and he had closed and relocked the door.

The crowd followed him upstairs to where Clark was going over the route between the high school and the tree lot, plotting out places that might be good for ambushes. Covington went up to Clark and looked at what he was working on.

"Hi Pete!" Clark said cheerfully, "Welcome to Sunnydale."

"Thanks. Are you going to tell me what this all about now?" Peter replied. "What's this?"

"It might be tonight's mission," Clark said.

Major Covington looked at the map with interest, "Good lord, I don't think that the catacombs beneath Rome are that extensive."

Clark nodded, "Fortunately if we go it's relatively a straight shot."

"Do we get briefed in on the mission?" Covington asked again.

"Get your men together, Ding is probably briefing Alistair right now. I get to tell the group."

"Tell us what?" Covington asked as he got WO1 Benton's attention and motioned for him to get the men together. Frayne Murphy lead everyone to a downstairs conference room then left, returning a couple of minutes later pushing a TV with a VCR/DVD player attached to it.

Clark came in and stood at the front of the room and looked the men over. Most were from NATO countries; the exceptions were David Peled, Rainbow's electronic expert who was Israeli, and Lt. Kenshin Hiedoki, on loan from the Japanese Self Defense Force. The rest of the team was made up of Paul Bellows, who was the Rainbow's psychologist, and the shooters. There were three Americans, three Brits, a Russian, a German, and a Canadian.

The first American was Staff Sergeant Ciquala Thompson, a Lakota Sioux. His name meant ‘little', obviously a joke on someone's part, as he was over six and a half feet tall. He was a marine scout/sniper. Team Two's Dieter Weber was still the champ long-range marksman; but under 400 yards Ciquala ruled. The next American was Sgt. Frank Miller, from Minneapolis; He was the team machine gunner. The last of the Americans on the team was Sgt. Cory Unger, originally from Charlestown, West Virginia; he was a member of the assault team.

The British troopers were all seconded from the SAS; WO1 Benton had brought them with him when he joined up. All of them where members of the assault team; those who actually went into the building after the terrorists, besides WO1 Benton there was Keefe Johnson, and Buford Summers both were staff sergeants with more than three years in the SAS.

The Canadian was Sgt. Ardal Sherwood, he was Peter Covington's other long-riflemen. The German and Russian were the final members of Team One's Assault team. They were Feldwebel Trauguti Blatter, and Senior Sergeant Evgeny Anisimich Lushilov.

The men had arranged themselves around the table with the first seat on either side of the table being left for Major Covington and WO1 Benton respectively. Clark noted that Cory Unger and Frank Miller settling themselves as far from the front as they could. 'Probably did the same thing in school,' he mused.

"Okay men, listen up, this is going to be a weird one. About forty-eight hours ago a US General went AWOL with his Black-Ops unit. It was called the Initiative and they were tasked with some really bizarre stuff. We believe that he is coming here to Sunnydale to take control of a local asset that he will then use to try to end the world." Clark noticed that everyone's eyes suddenly got a lot more interested.

"Do the Americans have a missile silo tucked away around here?" Covington asked.

"If only it was that easy, Major," Clark told him. "What I am about to say is going to sound crazy," he said while holding up his hand so they could all see the bandage, "I got this last night when I punched a vampire in the mouth."

They all stared at him. Finally Paul Bellows asked, "Excuse me General, did you say vampire?"

"Yes, I was right on top of its' grave when it dug itself out. I tried to get a cross I had been given between it and me but it was too fast so I ended up punching it, Ding dispatched it. I know this is a little hard to except so I've got a video that I want you to watch; it's of some of the local night life."

Clark took a disk out of his pocket and put it into the DVD player and started it. He wished that Riley had showed this tape to Ding and him before they had met with Ms. Summers but Riley had wanted their initial meeting to be untainted.

The video started, it was obviously taken with a helmet-cam as the first view was of the back of two helmets in front of whoever had the camera on. The time stamp was running up and stated that 40:23 had gone by since the timer had been started. The lead member of the team suddenly stopped and held up his hand. He pointed to a large patch of bushes at the teams twelve o'clock position, he motioned to his right and the helmet turned to look in that direction and took in a second team with four men in it. Turning back to the first team leader who was motioning for the other team to go around the right of the bush, while this team would go around the left he then indicated for them to go. All eight men went around the bush almost simultaneously, it was actually a very good example of team work and coordination, it did them zero good however; as the second the team disappeared around the bush the first person was already flying. There were gasps of shock at the elevation the person achieved before he slammed back into the ground and laid there. The fight suddenly explode out from behind the bush and everyone stared in shock as the little female figure beat the crap out of soldiers that in many cases had over a foot of height on her. Everyone but one, Kenshin Hiedoki said to himself, "<Slayer>," in Japanese.

The counter read 42:30 when the lights came on and showed that this was just a training exercise. "I want to apologize, that was a test that the Initiative ran when it deployed to this area in 2001. You will meet the subject when she gets back from the recon she is doing of a local spot that we might be hitting tonight. Her name is Buffy Summers and I need you to understand that there was nothing staged about what you just saw, Buffy was given a 5 minute head start then two of the Initiative's best capture teams were sent after her, they took 42 minutes to run her down, she took 28 seconds to take out eight special forces operatives that had been hopped on drugs and hormones."

"How was she able to do that?" Benton asked. Interestingly he seemed not all that shocked about what he had just witnessed, he seemed to have sympathy for the troopers.

"Ms. Summers is what is called a Vampire Slayer," Clark explained. "From what I have been told there is supposed to be one of these in all the world, right now there are two, but one is out of commission, so Ms. Summers is it. I have negotiated with her to give us some tips on fighting what lives in this area, and to give you some experience in fighting things that are stronger and faster than you are. One thing I need to warn you about, don't think because we have state of the art weapons that we have nothing to be concerned about. When the Initiative deployed here in 2000-2001 they had that attitude and they ended up taking 60 percent fatalities, if it weren't for Ms. Summers and her friends it would have been one hundred percent. Lets hold questions till Ms. Summers gets back and she can take them directly. We will be setting up in the FBI offices as a home base tonight but we are working on getting us some permanent lodging. Later in the week we are expecting to get some reinforcements from an Initiative team that didn't desert, their team leader is out right now securing us a base. Lets get our gear in and then start getting set up for a mission."

Peter Covington's mind was in turmoil. This was a lot to have dropped on you. So he went back to old training and checked out the FBI office. What he found didn't thrill him. Ducking outside he discovered that the FBI office was not a single building. It had a hard wall on one side, but the other was just drywall where it had been built out of a larger building. He hunted up Frayne and asked if they had modified the wall between their office and the mailing center next door. Frayne responded that they had simply built the secure storage against the block wall and then had reinforced that. Defending the office from a serious attack had never really been considered when they had built the place. Covington went looking for General Clark to find out if there was somewhere else they could set up.

He found him talking to someone on his cell phone, "That's great Riley, have Xander get his crew in there as soon as he can to repair what needs to be repaired."

"Excuse me General?" Covington asked politely when Clark disconnected.

"Yeah Pete?" Clark responded.

"Sir, I don't think that this is a good place to set up camp in. We don't get a good view of the surrounding area from the front, and it would be possible for someone to come at us through the sidewalls. If there is anywhere else that we base out of, I think it would be preferable."

"I just got off the phone with Riley Finn, he's the OIC of the Initiative team that is going to be back stopping us. He and a local just secured our base for us, so get a hold of Alistair, and tell him to meet us there, the address is 814 Front Street, then get the crew together, as soon as Buffy gets back we'll head over there."

"Very good sir," Covington confirmed.

*****

814 Front Street
Sunnydale, CA
26Oct2002 - 1536 hrs

Alistair Stanley looked over the first floor of the warehouse that he was going to have to turn into a base. At first glance it looked pretty good. The lower walls appeared to be reinforced concrete though it turned into corrugated metal about eight feet off the floor. What bothered him though were two craters in the walls, and a crack in the floor that lead directly to one of the main support beams. "What did they do, have demolition derbies with the fork lifts?" He asked pointing at the craters.

Riley and Ding shook their heads, indicating that they didn't know, but Willow answered, "Buffy did them, this is where she first fought Glory."

Alistair was nonplussed, "Are you saying that she threw someone against a concrete wall hard enough to do that?" He moved to the closest crater and examined it. He found that it was as it looked from a distance to be, a ten-centimeter deep depression in the concrete.

"No, Buffy was the throwee, not the thrower," Willow told the Colonel who turned and stared at her in shock.

"She walked away from this?" He asked quietly.

"No… she ran. Glory was a god, though we didn't know it at the time," Willow told him, her face showing a little sympathy for the Colonel as he tried to digest this.

*****

FBI Office
524 Front Street
26Oct2002 -1541 hrs

The Rainbow Troopers were upstairs relaxing and discussing what they had learned a few minutes ago. Benton sat and listened with half an ear to see if anyone was freaking out, but everyone seemed to be taking it in stride.

Covington, Frayne Murphy, and Clark where standing around the table where they had laid out the map that had been pieced together studying it to learn the area they would be operating in. The doorbell rang and Frayne just headed down to answer it. Clark turned to Covington and said, "I don't think we should use the tricorders tonight." Tricorder was the name for a piece of equipment that allowed the Rainbow Troopers to pick up the heartbeats of terrorists, even through walls.

"Why?" Covington asked. He didn't want to lose what was one of his most useful tools.

"We don't know if it would pick up Bringers, I know that it will not pick up vampires. Paying attention to it might get someone killed when they get jumped out of ‘nowhere' because they believed the thing."

Covington nodded, not happy but agreeing with the point. He and the other troopers were going to have to unlearn a bunch of stuff when dealing with the situation they found themselves in. Pete was actually kind of looking forward to when Billingsly and his merry band showed up, at least then they would be fighting people.

Frayne came hurrying back up, concerned look on his face, "Who's your medical person?"

"Paul Bellows is probably the closest we come. Why?" Clark responded.

"Something beat the crap out of Buffy, and I think she should be looked at by someone." Frayne went around his desk and opened a drawer and pulled out a professional looking first aid kit as he headed back downstairs. Clark was a step in front of him calling for Paul Bellows.

Down stairs Buffy was fuming in the chair that Frayne had plopped her in after he had gotten a look at her bruised and cut continence. She looked up at Giles who was sitting on Carol Pickets desk and watching his Slayer, a slight smile on his face.

"It's not funny," Buffy fumed. "You know I hate it when people fuss over me."

"You hate medical exams," Giles corrected. "In this case I would just sit back and allow them to examine you. It will satisfy their fears that you are fragile, and make them less cautious with you in the future."

"Yeah, I bet. You watch, General Clark will give me the ‘You must be more careful speech', number 45."

"I was not that predictable when I cautioned you," Giles protested.

"Yes you were," Buffy corrected.

Frayne came down the stairs carrying the first aid case. Behind him came Clark with a concerned look on his face with an unknown blond haired man following him.

"Are you all right?" Clark asked Buffy.

"A little worse for wear, but I'll be fine," Buffy assured him as he reached her.

"General, I'm not much above first aid, from the look of some of those injuries she should probably go to the hospital to get some x-rays," the Blond said.

"Buffy, this is Paul Bellows, he is Rainbow's Profiler. He has some medical training and I would like him to take a look at you."

Buffy sighed, "Okay, but I'm fine. Look," She said as she stood up and lifted her shirt enough for them to see her abdomen and the ugly, puckered scar on it. "I got this when a vamp managed to get my stake away from me, I didn't go to the hospital for this and it healed fine."

The men looked at the scar and winced. "How deep did that go?" Clark finally asked.

Buffy shrugged, "About three inches."

Paul looked at the placement, "That should have hit the large intestine, how did you avoid infection?"

Buffy shrugged again, "I don't get infections like that, it comes with being the Slayer."

Paul turned to Frayne, "Do you have a flashlight? I want to make sure she doesn't have a concussion, if not then if she feels fine I'd say she knows what she's talking about." Frayne handed him a flashlight and he shined it into her eyes, "Okay her pupils are equal and responsive so I think she's okay, but I am not a doctor."

Buffy smiled that she had got through the poke and prod as easily as she had and head back up stairs. Everyone followed her.

When they got up to the second floor Giles looked around and asked concerned, "Where are the potentials?

"They went shopping," Clark replied.

Giles turned to Clark, anger showing on his face, "You let them go shopping? In the future I would ask you not to usurp my authority!"

Clark replied coldly, "I didn't usurp anything, you gave them permission to go yourself, I just made sure that they had a bodyguard when they did." Giles opened his mouth to deny that he had done any such thing when Clark anticipated him, "When you were telling me that concrete would not make an effective counter to the Hellmouth Kennedy asked if they could get some hygiene supplies?"

Giles closed his mouth, now that Clark mentioned it he remembered the incident, he had meant that they would go to the store tomorrow to get their stuff but he hadn't been specific at the time. He should have known better, he could still remember some of the thing that went on with Buffy. "Who did you provide for body guarding them?" he finally asked.

"Agent Conners volunteered. She knew of a nearby drug store and second hand store so they could pick up a change of clothes too."

"Thank you," Giles said, somewhat embarrassed by his earlier outburst.

Frayne watching the byplay between the two men offered, "I could contact Sue and make sure that everything is okay."

Giles smiled, "I would appreciate it."

Clark seeing that the confrontation was over went over to the table with the map that Buffy was studying and began pointing some of the stuff that had been discovered since she left.

Frayne pulled out his cell phone and activating the walkie-talkie function dialed Sue.

"Yeah," she responded.

"How's it going?" he asked.

"Not bad, Kennedy is turning an interesting shade of purple as she looking for something to wear though."

"See anything suspicious?"

"Been quiet, want to talk to one?" Sue asked.

Giles was impressed; she had realized what the call was about. He nodded.

"Please," Frayne passed on the request.

A few seconds later Kennedy came on the line, "What?"

"Just checking making sure everything is all right," Frayne told her.

"Oh yeah it's great," Kennedy snarled, "I've never seen a selection this good."

Sue came on a couple of seconds later and said, "I told you she was in a good mood. By the way, if I have to do this again with her, my bodyguard pay has gone up. Out."

Giles smiled at the FBI agent and said, "Thank you."

Covington came in and said, "If you and Ms. Summers are ready then we can head over to warehouse."

Frayne got on the phone again and called, "Sue?"

"Yeah?"

"How long are you going to be?" he asked.

"The way things are going? At least another forty-five minutes," was the reply.

Frayne looked up at the others and said, "We can always have her meet us over at warehouse; it's just three blocks from here."

Giles thought about it for a second and nodded.

"Sue, we are moving to 814 front street, meet us there when you are done," he ordered.

"Okay. Anything else?" she queried.

"No, that's it," Frayne replied and disconnected.

Pat came went up to Clark and said, "Thanks for the back up, but I think that I will be heading out with Tucker now."

"Pat why don't you hold off on leaving for a couple of hours," Clark requested.

"Why?"

"This First thing might still be interested in him, why don't you head out of town when we go down into the tunnels, it might be distracted and make your trip a little easier," Clark explained.

"I want to call San Fran to make sure that they don't need me back sooner than that but otherwise okay." Pat went off to make the call.

Clark turned to Covington, "Okay Pete, get them moving."

Covington nodded and went to get his people loaded up. It took them about twenty minutes to get moved to the warehouse. Covington was much happier with the lay out of this building. It was bigger than the FBI office, but it was of much sturdier construction and had wide-open spaces around all four sides. In short, it was much more defensible. Covington had his men start unpacking the cars and had Benton find a securable room that they could turn into a temporary armory. He noticed that Kenshin was bringing in a compound bow and his Katana. "Coming prepared Kenshin?" he nodded at the archaic weapons.

"Not really Major Covington, I have no wooden arrows for the bow, I was hoping to borrow some," he said in precise English.

"I'll see what we can get you," Pete replied. He looked around and spotted Ding, Clark, Buffy, Giles, and the dark haired youth with an odd name talking while looking at the maps that where spread out over a table they had brought from the FBI office.

Walking over to them he got there just in time to hear Clark say, "Buffy, we need you to go with the school group, you are the only one that can get us into the school if we get caught in there without permission. It would just be an inconvenience, but it could alert the bad guys that we are in the area, something I would like to put off as long as possible."

Xander looked up at the others, "It might be easier for me to take you through. My company is still doing some finishing work so I can just say who ever is with me is just part of my crew."

Ding looked Xander over. He knew that the youth had been helping Buffy for years, but he wasn't sure about integrating him into one of his teams. "Do you have any military experience?" he asked.

"Kind of," Xander replied.

Ding frowned, "I'm not talking about what you have been doing with Buffy, I'm talking about real military training."

"So am I," Xander replied. "Look, five years ago this wizard came and opened a costume shop for Halloween, people became their costumes and I was a soldier that year. A lot of it stuck when the spell was broken."

"Do you have any idea of what your level of expertise is?" Covington asked.

Turning to the other major Xander said, "Not really, never really talked about it with anyone."

"Well we can find out," Covington said looking around the warehouse till he spotted Benton helping to secure the last of their equipment in a lockable room. "Warrant Officer Benton!" he called.

Benton turned and answered, "Sir?"

Covington waved him over, and he came at a trot. When he got there Major Covington said, "Benton, this is Xander Harris, he had an experience a couple of years ago were he picked up some military training, I would like an idea as to how extensive it was."

"Yes sir," Benton replied. "This way Mr. Harris?" he requested, waving at the doors to the gym.

"So you're in the British Army?"

"Yes sir," Benton replied as they reached the door.

"Which branch?" Xander asked as they got to the second set.

"SAS, before I transferred to Rainbow," was the reply.

"What did you do?" Xander questioned.

"I was their chief instructor for three years," Benton replied looking the young man over critically.

The part of his mind that Xander Harris had come to associate with ‘The Soldier' was suddenly screaming at him to run, very far, very fast.

*****

Colonel Alistair Stanley was going over their new base carefully, noting dead spots, checking fields of fire, and checking out what needed to be repaired. He was passing the front of the building when Clark called to him, "Alistair, Sue Conners just pulled up with the Potentials, you want to let her in?" Alistair nodded that he understood and went and opened the front door.

Outside the four people were walking toward him, three carrying bags. The lead person was a dark-haired teenager that didn't look happy, behind her came two more teenagers happily talking to each other, finally came an older blond carefully scanning the area.

One of the two that were talking caught Alistair's attention; she was the spitting image of his sister at that age. A sister who had died in a traffic accident with her three-year old daughter in the car, a daughter whose body had never been found, a daughter who would be just about that age, a daughter whose name was… "Excuse me, miss?" he asked the black-haired member of the duo.

"Yes?" she answered with a British accent.

"What's your name?" he requested quietly.

"Molly…" she replied, looking at him for the first time, he was familiar in a distant sort of way. She suddenly noticed he had gone very pale, his eyes hard, it was the hardness that clicked something in her mind, "Unca?"

Alistair whirled around, his eyes scanning. He spotted his target and started toward him deliberately, he didn't want any sudden movements to warn that he was coming. Reaching him he pushed past Ding and grabbing Giles he pushed him up against the wall and grabbing his shirt front with both hands he asked in a fury filled voice, "I'm curious, did your people actually push Linda's car into that river, or did you just stand there and let her drown?"

*****

Chapter 28

Colonel Alistair Stanley was forced to let go of Giles when a small hand slapped his wrists; the same hand then forced him to stand back as Buffy Summers placed herself between him and her watcher.

"Uncle Alistair, NO!" Molly screamed as she caught up with him and grabbed him around the arms.

"What is going on?" Clark barked angrily.

"Ask him," Stanley snarled, "Ask him where they recruited Molly from!" The Colonel settled down a little, not wanting to hurt his niece.

Clark turned to Giles, noticing the confused look on his face, "Well?"

Giles looked uncomfortable, "Molly's parents were killed when she was a child, and since she had no other close relatives the council ‘adopted' her. It's not unheard of."

"No close relatives?" Alistair growled. She had my whole family! Two grandparents, another aunt, and me!"

Giles paled, "That's not what I was told," he finished, somewhat lamely.

Buffy turned around and glared at Giles, "Are you saying that the Council kidnapped potentials?"

"In the past yes, but they haven't for years…." Giles trailed off as Buffy turned and headed for the gym.

Giles watched as Buffy slammed through the doors and hung his head. Not even looking at the others he walked away. Molly was talking quietly with her Uncle, calming him down. Annabelle was hanging around listening to them when Kennedy grabbed her by the arm and led her away.

Frayne, Pete, Ding, and Clark stood and stared at each other for a minute or so till Ding turned to Clark and asked, "Do you want me to go and talk to her?"

"Only if you want to," Clark replied. "If she doesn't want to talk then don't push."

"Do I look like I want to spend time in intensive care?" Ding asked as he followed Buffy toward the gym.

Clark turned to the others and said, "Why don't you see if we are missing something here," motioning to the maps, "I'll go talk to Giles."

Ding checked the doors to the gym out before he followed Buffy. Both sets of hinges were sprung, and one of the doors actually had a handprint imbedded into the wood. On the other side both of the doors had hit the walls hard enough to drive the wall protector back through the dry wall in neat circular holes. Ding cautiously opened the door into the gym privately hoping that Benton or Xander had the sense to clear out of the gymnasium when Buffy stormed in. Apparently they had, as Buffy was alone in the gym.

She was doing a kata with a staff made from a broom or mop handle that she had broken off. Ding was surprised that she wasn't using the heavy bag to work through some of the anger till he glanced over and saw it shattered with a pile of sand under it.

Ding slid into the gym and went over and sat in the bleachers and watched Buffy work out. For the first time he was able to watch Buffy in action with nothing to distract him. He quickly came to realize that he had never seen Buffy at full speed before. Not even when she had taken on those four vampires last night. She was working through her routines with a staff quickly. She covered the gym back and forth as she pushed herself hard, every so often pushing the tip of the staff past the speed of sound with a sharp crack. She didn't just stay on the ground either; much of what she was doing was accompanied by jumps, leaps, and tumbles. When she jumped he bet that she got over ten feet in the air, when it was a leap she had a hang time that would have made Michael Jordan weep, and her tumbles would have gotten her Olympic Gold from any judge. Finally she went from a leap to a tumble and when she came up she did a stop block that broke the improvised staff off at the level of her hands. She stared at the broken piece in her hand for a second then threw it to join the other piece.

Ding fought down the urge to clap at the presentation he had just seen. Buffy hadn't done it to impress him or put on a show, Ding could understand that kind of anger; thankfully he had rarely experienced it himself.

Buffy walked over to where Ding was sitting, a light layer of sweat adding a sheen to her skin, her breathing slightly elevated. She sat down besides Ding and began, "I keep saying to myself that Travers and the Council were assholes, but they wouldn't kill someone just to lay hands on a potential. But a little voice in the back of my head keeps saying, ‘you know they would.'"

"Did the Council have people to do wet work for them?" Ding asked.

"Wet Work?" Buffy asked, not understanding.

"Kill people," Ding clarified.

"Oh yeah," Buffy said.

Ding knew personal experience when he heard it, "They send them after you when you quit?"

Buffy shook her head, "They actually took that pretty well, and I think they might have been scared of me a little. No it was a case of mistaken identity."

"Mistaken Identity? Who did they think you were?" Ding asked perplexed.

"Faith," Buffy told him.

"You look that much alike?" Ding asked. That was something that Riley had failed to mention.

"At the time I was in Faith's body," Buffy told him, smiling slightly at the expression on his face. Taking pity on him she began, "How much did Riley tell you about Faith?"

"She was a Slayer that was called after you died back in high school. She went bad and you fought, she ended up in a coma. She woke up a couple of months later and took off. She ended up in LA and turned her self in and is in prison right now," Ding told her. "We really weren't interested in her that much."

"Okay, it was a little more involved than that. Faith hooked up with Mayor, they had an odd relationship. I think that Mayor Wilkins felt that Faith was the daughter that he had never had. He was also a very careful person. He didn't think he was going to loose but he set up something up for her if he did. He left behind a talisman that allowed her to switch bodies with me. Probably thought it was a great revenge. Faith gets away scot-free and I end up paying for what she did. The Council must of have had someone watching Faith in the hospital and dispatched a team to collect her. They busted me out of the ambulance that they were taking me in with and hid out in a warehouse. They didn't believe me when I told them they had the wrong girl, and when they discovered that there was no way that they would be able to get me out of the country they decided to have a nice fair execution right there.

I managed to escape and get to Giles and convince him who I was. Tara had realized when she met my body that whoever was in there was not me and Willow and her had come up with a talisman of their own to change us back. Faith and I fought again and we switched back. In the shock after the change she got away. I followed her to LA thinking that she was going after Angel. I found Angel trying to help her and the Council still after her. It turned out I disliked the Council more than Faith so I help her out. She turned herself in soon after to save Angel. She's still in prison, as far as I have heard they never tried anything while she has been in there.

"Do they keep her restrained?"

"Locked up? It's a maximum security prison so I guess they do," Buffy replied.

"No, I mean either drugged or chained to something," Ding corrected.

Buffy looked shocked at the suggestion, "I don't think so, Angel never seems to have a problem talking to her anyway. I haven't had any contact with her since LA."

"Why is she still in jail then?"

"She killed a couple of people?" Buffy asked perplexed.

"She has the same abilities that I just saw you use?" Ding leaned closer.

"Sure. She's a little more brute force approach than I am, but yeah. Why?"

Ding leaned back onto the bench behind him supporting himself on his elbows, "From what I saw you do, if she wanted to leave prison they wouldn't even slow her down. She could jump over the fences and be gone before they could do anything. Heck how fast can you run?"

Buffy shrugged, "Twenty-five or thirty miles-an-hour."

"She would be outside their search areas the first night."

"Okay, she's staying there because she wants to be. So?" Buffy demanded.

"Nothing, just trying to get a handle on her. Do you think that if Billingsly would break her out would she go over to his side?"

"I… doubt it," Buffy said, uncertain.

"Guess or knowledge?" Ding pushed.

Guess, knowledge, a little of both," Buffy began. "When we were fighting in the church me in her body and she in mine I saw a side of her, how she saw herself. It wasn't pretty. If that continued then I know she won't go over, if it didn't then I don't think she will but then I never saw Faith going to work for the Mayor either."

Ding nodded, 'Have to pass this up the chain, maybe get Faith moved to a more secure location.' "Are you still good for the mission tonight?" he asked.

Buffy nodded getting up. She headed back toward the main part of the warehouse and said, "Wouldn't miss it, I really need to work out some frustrations."

Ding just stared after her; shocked that she could so causally consider mayhem.

*****

Clark headed for the staircase that Giles had headed up a minute or so before. At the bottom of the stairs he pulled his pistol out of it's holster and slipped it into his coat pocket. He got to the top of the steps and looked both ways. He spotted the Watcher sitting on a railing absently polishing his glasses staring down into his lap. Clark approached Giles and stopped about 10 feet from him.

Giles looked up when he heard someone approach and slipped his glasses back on. Seeing Clark he stood up and leaned against the railing and said tiredly, "Have you ever worked for an organization your whole life, then wake up one morning and realize that you don't recognize it anymore?"

Clark snorted, "I worked for the CIA for thirty-years," he told Giles.

Giles gave Clark a half–smile and shrugged his shoulders; "Well…yes you would have a good idea then.

"When I was ten my father announced to me that I would be a Watcher. I wanted to be a greengrocer or a fighter pilot but he was insistent. During my mid and late teens I'm afraid I rebelled. I did some things that I am not proud of, some things that still occasional put us in danger.

"My father also initiated a set of reforms designed to liberalize how we treated the Slayer. The Council tended to look at her as an instrument rather than a person, a disposable instrument at that. He managed to convince the majority of the Council though and the reforms were instituted. For the next two Slayers they seemed to work. We had one Slayer last four years and the next lasted five. We then lost five Slayers and three Watchers in a year. Bernard Travers, Quentin Travers father managed to regain control of the Council. Bernard was a staunch traditionalist; he insisted that we go back to the very old ways.

"So you are saying that they probably did kill Alistair's sister?" Clark accused.

"I don't know. Certainly Travers would have felt that Molly belonged to the Council; I can't imagine that unless he had some definite information that Molly was destined to become a Slayer that he would have taken so extreme a step though.

"You said it has been years since the last potential had been kidnapped. How many years?" Clark demanded.

"I don't know exactly, it was sometime in the 1870's though," Giles supplied.

"That's a little more than a couple of years," Clark protested.

It was Giles turn to snort, "Americans. To you ‘years' means the Kennedy Administration. The Council has been around long enough that we count time a little differently."

"Were you in a position to know if they were going after Molly?"

"No, I was considered damaged goods because of my father. I doubt I would have gotten Buffy except that after Merrick's death, and with the fact she seemed to be moving to a Hellmouth nobody else wanted the job."

"REMFs," Clark stated.

"Quite," Giles agreed. "General, I promise you that as soon as I am able I will get to the bottom of how Molly ended up in the Council's care. It won't be easy since the majority of our records were destroyed in the blast, but I will do my best."

"If we are to work together that is the minimum that I expect. Tomorrow I also want to know Annabelle's and Kennedy's stories, too," Clark stated, leaning back against the railing on the opposite side of the catwalk.

"Very well, they are much less dramatic though."

"One last thing, is there going to be any trouble between you and Alistair?"

"Not unless he starts it. I dare say I would not have reacted as calmly as he did if I believed someone had killed my sister and kidnapped my niece, but I won't stand there and be used for a punching bag either. If we find out that she was indeed murdered and the people responsible are still alive then I will do everything in my power to assist them being brought to justice."

Clark nodded and stood up straight, motioning Giles in front of him he said, "Okay, lets go and get this mission set up for tonight."

As they went down the stairs Giles looked across the room to where the doors to the gym were hanging askew. "Perhaps I should go and talk to Buffy, try to calm her down," he said quietly, more to himself than to Clark.

Clark answered anyway, "Ding is in there now, maybe let her calm down a bit more," he, too, took a good look at the doors.

They got back with Covington and Frayne and began talking. About five minutes later Molly and Alistair separated with her heading upstairs to an office that over looked the warehouse floor and Alistair joining the conference.

"Colonel Stanley," Giles began, "I'm sorry for the loss of your sister. I will do everything in my power to get to the bottom of what happened that day."

"I want you to understand the pain that this caused my family," Stanley said. "Not just loosing Linda, but even though the Coroner declared the death an accident everyone believed that she had committed suicide with Molly in the car. Linda had a history of depression and when Tom was killed in Northern Ireland she took it hard. We thought she was coming around but then…"

Giles nodded. He decided that it was not an opportune moment to bring up the fact that Molly was probably safer with him and Buffy than being with him. He didn't look forward to that conversation at all.

Willow, Xander, and WO1 Benton came in the front door. Willow and Benton looked chipper, Xander less so. Still he looked better than Covington expected him to look. The two younger people went over to a water fountain that still worked and Xander, after taking a drink, laid across a bench and Willow began giving him a massage. Benton joined the group and went up to Major Covington. "Well Benton?" the Major asked.

"I would say he has knowledge and experience is commensurate with a senior lieutenant. He has a good knowledge of standard US Army weapons less with some of our more exotic stuff. I had him field strip a M-16, Berretta, and MP-10. He should be able to do the M-16 and Berretta blindfolded, he was confident with the MP-10 but I doubt he would be able to strip that blindfolded. Tactically it was an odd mix, he seemed to have the theory pretty pat, but his practical knowledge was more geared toward squad level, rather than platoon. Physically he can do the basic calisthenics in the recommended numbers and time, but I think his wind needs work. I didn't try to test to destruction, I thought he might be needed tonight."

"Would you issue him a weapon?" Covington asked.

"Not without getting him out on a firing range," he replied.

"Is he special forces materials?" Ding asked.

"I would say he is ready for Ranger School now, I would like to work with him a bit before I moved him into either Special Forces or the SAS." Benton replied.

"Thank you Benton," Covington dismissed the Warrant Officer.

"Very good," Benton replied as he turned and left.

"Okay we need to set up the teams for tonight and decide what the basic load outs will be. Some one find Riley and ask him to join us, please," Clark ordered.

"I think he is downstairs checking out the emergency generator," Frayne Murphy said. "I'll go get him."

*****

As everyone was gathering in the gym Lt. Hiedoki approached Maj. Covington and said, "Major, there is something I think you should know."

Pete glanced at his TDA trooper and asked, "Yes?"

"Sir, I have some knowledge of what we will be fighting tonight, just before the turn of the century one of my ancestors was a Slayer. My family still maintains some contacts."

"Do you have any practical experience fighting these things?"

"Hie, I have fought vampires before. The JSDF has a unit trained specifically for that. I served with them for a year before being tapped for this assignment."

"Thank you Kenshin, I'll pass this along. Tonight, if you notice me miss something don't hesitate to point it out."

"Understood sir," Kenshin replied.

Peter Covington felt a little more at ease. Now they had their own person to check with to make sure that they were getting the straight scoop. Looking around he spotted the General and the rest of the senior cadre finalizing tonight's mission he went over to tell them the news.

Everyone had gathered in gym and found seats in bleachers. A table had been set up in front of them and some weapons had been laid out on the table. John Clark approached the table and said, "Okay listen up, we will be splitting into three teams tonight. Team One will be going in through the tree lot. It will consist of Maj. Chavez, Feldwebel Blatter, and Senior Sergeant Lushilov. Buffy Summers will be going with this group," he said nodding at the Slayer who was standing behind him.

The men got a good look at her for the first time. Physically she did not look impressive at all. She looked less than impressive with the bruises that covered the visible portion of her.

"Team Two will be Maj. Covington, Warrant Officer Benton, Lt Hiedoki, Sgt. Unger, SSgt's Johnson and Summers. You will be going in through a passage that we found that leads from the school to the area around the tree lot. You will be going in covered as a work group with Xander Harris," he said nodding at the black haired young man. "His company did most of the construction on the school and he has been assisting Ms. Summers for the last seven years. I would take his lead if you meet anything down in the tunnels tonight.

"Finally Team Three will remain behind at the warehouse acting as either a reserve if it is needed or as a defensive group for our base. It will consist of myself, Colonel Stanley, Captain Finn, SSgt Thompson, Sgt.'s Miller and Sherwood. The local FBI SAC and his assistant will be remaining here to give us a hand as well as Rupert Giles who is Buffy's Watcher." The men looked Giles over, they had all heard that the Colonel had attacked him, something about one of the girls that had arrived with him being his niece; they would all watch him very closely.

"Weapon load outs tonight will be non-standard. Team 1 will both be loaded out with Remington 870 shotguns loaded with slugs. Benton, Unger, and Keefe will also be carrying them. Summers and Unger as your main weapon you will be carrying this," he said as he lifted up a super-soaker.

Both men exploded, "You have got to be kidding!"

Clark took the outburst in stride, he had expected it, "A lot of what runs around down in these tunnels are bullet proof, and even a 12 Gauge slug won't do much more than knock them back. These squirt guns are loaded with holy water, on vampires especially it acts like acid so I am not sending you down there unarmed. For a secondary weapon you will be carrying an MPK. Each of you will be also carrying 3 flash-bang grenades, three stakes, and some holy water."

"The mission tonight is mostly a recon, we want to find out what's down there and how easy would it be to reach the school through these tunnels. There is a secondary mission, if in the course of our sweep you come across this man," he said as Ding passed out pictures to the troops. They looked at them; it showed a blond haired man with a scar on one temple scowling at the camera. "He is to be retrieved. If you find him and he appears to be dead don't be too surprised if he wakes up on you since he is a vampire, if you find a body it means he is unconscious, vampires crumble to dust when they die.

"We are expecting to run into two possible threats down there tonight. The first are vampires, pretty much what you learned watching Hammer Films growing up apply. Bullets won't kill them; the only way to do that is a stake through the heart, beheading, fire, or direct sunlight. I've been told that you can incapacitate one by kneecapping it. I don't want any of you taking on a vamp one-on-one tonight. Ding and I had a run in with one just out of it's grave and it was a handful. They are stronger and faster than you so keep your distance.

"The second major threat that is down there is called Bringers. You'll know them when you see them, they wear robes, use knifes, and have no eyes. They aren't blind though and they are fast and if not as damage absorbent as vampires they take a little more than a human to put down. On the plus side they are not bullet proof though, so you can take them down with your firearms.

"Finally there is something else wandering around down there. Buffy tells me it calls itself the First Evil. This thing is nasty, but it is immaterial so it can't directly effect you, however it can appear as dead people so one of us shows up and you haven't seen them for awhile make sure you shake hands or touch them. Also be sure of your targets, this thing could pop up between a couple of you and get you shooting each other. Question?"

Sgt Unger raised his hand, "Will the squirt guns work on the bringers?"

Clark turned to Buffy, "I don't know," she said. "I've only run into twice, and I didn't have any holy water handy either time."

Clark thanked her, "Okay, then assume that they won't until you we learn otherwise. Any more questions? Okay, get set up, we'll be heading out in thirty minutes."

Buffy grabbed Willow and headed over to were Pat O'Day was holding Andrew Wells. When she got there she said, "Willow, why don't you go with Pat to LA? I don't think we'll need you tonight down in the tunnels and he might need some help on the way there."

O'Day looked at the tiny red-head and said, "I thought the idea was that you would distract this thing and I would get away free and clear?"

"Well you know what they say about plans," Buffy replied.

O'Day looked at Willow and asked, "If you want to come. It would make the trip a little shorter." Not to mention raise the level of conversation beyond Star Wars.

Willow thought about it and asked, "How would I get back tomorrow?"

"I'd drop you off on my way back to San Francisco," O'Day replied.

"Okay, just let me get my things," Willow replied.

Preparations around the warehouse began. Those that were staying spit up and began finding places they could set up defensive positions. Ciquala appropriated the Weatherby that Ding had gotten while Ardel broke out the Barret Light 50 that the unit had, Frank Miller set up his M-60 so not only could he cover two sides of the of the exterior of the building but so that he could turn it around and cover the doors. The potentials and Giles were showed up to the office that overlooked the warehouse floor and settled in. A food order was discussed and it was decided to get everyone fed before they left.

As they were waiting for the food Cory Unger and Keefe Johnson were sitting at the bottom of the stairs that lead up to the office, "Gees I can't belive that they expect us to go into combat with squirt guns!" Unseen to either of the men Annabelle was on the steps on her way to the bathroom, she stopped when she heard the voices. "I mean what are we supposed to do with this stuff!" Unger went on with Keefe grunting in agreement. "You saw what that thing did to that Slayer girl. Lord if something could do that to her with her capabilities what can we hope to do with this?" he said holding up the soaker. "And if you think I'm going hand-to-hand with a bit of pointed wood then think again!" Annabelle turned around and headed back up stairs, a distressed look on her face.

"We need to think this through. Fire kills them right? A normal flamethrower is no good, even if we could get a hold of one we can't use it in tunnels because it would eat up all the oxygen, but maybe a smaller version, yeah something that threw less napalm, just enough to light them off."

"How bout a 12 gauge to the head," Keefe offered. "Less manufacturing."

"Sure, but that's a little closer than I want to get. Have to think on this some more."

*****

Underground near the tree lot
Sunnydale, CA
26OCT2002 - 1945 hrs

Spike bounced against the wall, propelled by a great force. He bounced back and only the chains that kept him manacled to the wall kept him from slamming face first into the floor of the cave he was in. The impact of him being drawn up short wrenched his shoulders almost out of their sockets though. Trifurcates grabbed a handful of Spikes hair and bent his neck back almost to the breaking point. "<I can smell the soul in you. Disgusting. You did it for her, didn't you? Pathetic,>" he hissed in Latin, bouncing Spikes forehead off of the floor. "<I think that I will improve the bloodline and remove you from it,>" he said as he moved his other hand to cup Spikes chin and began applying pressure,

"<Don't kill him!>" a female voice said from behind him, a voice he recognized.

Snarling Trifurcates released Spike and stood up, dropping into a defensive crouch. Getting a good look at the speaker he realized that it wasn't the Slayer, even with how fast they heal the beating he had given her would have taken longer to heal than that. That made this his ‘host'. "<Why do you do that? Pretending to be others.>"

"<It amuses me, when you have been around as long as I have you have to enjoy the simple pleasures,>" the Buffy look alike said.

Trifurcates knelt down besides Spike again grabbing him by the hair he tilted back his head and looking up at the other he asked, "<Why should I spare this?>"

"<His use is not finished yet. I never get rid of useful things.>"

"<He is useful to no one, not even himself,>" he said as he shook Spikes head harshly.

"<You don't decide the usefulness of things around here, Trifurcates,>" Buffy said firmly.

Trifurcates looked up angrily, "<Beware dog, I am Trifurcates, the First Vampire. I am not one of those curs that follow you. I am my own, you brought me back so I owe you a debt but that will only allow so much.>"

Buffy looked unimpressed, "<I brought you back because I thought you would be useful to me. Your usefulness will be limited if you can't follow simple orders. Now are you going to be useful to me the way I had originally planned or are you going to be useful in other ways?>"

The figure of the Slayer suddenly flowed into another form, this one Trifurcates realized was one of his children, dark haired and powerful, "<That way could be fun though,>" she said in a dreamy voice. "<It's your choice.>"

Trifurcates could feel the power gathering around the other figure so he bounced Spikes head off the floor once more for good measure then got up and headed out, "<I'm going out to feed, if that's alright with you,>" he snarled as he left.

"Bon appetite," his host said, already dismissing him.

Trifurcates fumed as he stalked down the tunnel to the surface. He then stopped and smiled to himself. His host had made a mistake showing him this creature; she would make a fitting queen. Now he just had to find her.

Back in the cave Drusilla was slowly walking in front of Spike as he hung in his chains. "Poor Spikey, my poor boy," she murmured in sympathy. "All beat up for that Slayer tart. All you have to do is join me, I'll even let you keep her when it's all done with."

Spike wearily shook his head, "Won't hurt the girl."

"Do you really think she is coming?" Spike just hung there saying nothing.

Leaning down she whispered into his ear, "Your hope dieing is delicious to watch." Suddenly standing up she looked out as if seeing through the cave walls, "They're taking my Andrew away!" she said fretfully. Suddenly the dark-haired vampiress was gone. In her place stood a stocky dark-haired man wearing a loud shirt. "Nobody takes one of my game pieces off of the board without my say-so!" With that the figure vanished in a flash of light and was gone.

Spike seeing that he was alone for the first time struggled to his knees to try to break out of the chains. Besides the bruises he received from Trifurcates, his chest was covered with bloody symbols that had been carved there. He grabbed a chain between both his hands and pulled with all of his might. He was too spent though and after a short time he had to stop as he ran out of energy. He slumped back down as far as the chains let him, and a short time later he was unconscious again.

*****

Chapter 29

Highway 35
Outside San Bernardino
26Oct2002 - 2035 hrs

Willow Rosenberg sat in the front seat of Pat O'Day's car. Andrew was in the back seat handcuffed and seat belted in. The first fifteen minutes of the ride had been spent in silence. Then Andrew had gotten bored and suggested a driving game. Pat had immediately asked Willow if she would mind answering some questions on magic. Willow not wanting to have to listen to Andrew for the next hour-and-a half said, "Sure. "

Pat asked some basic questions on magic for the next ten minutes or so then said, "I'm working a case in San Francisco were so far all of the victims have been either part of the New Age culture, or were self proclaimed witches."

"This would be the Witch Finder?" When Pat nodded she went on, "Are any of them real witches? I know from experience that most of t