"Jack?" Allie said. "Why are you calling me from Maryland?"

"That," Jack Carter said, "is a long story, and one you wouldn't believe even with everything we've gone through." He said in an aside to Giles, "The line's not secure, is it?"

"Actually, it is," he said. "Willow spent a great deal of time both magically and electronically assuring it was so. I doubt even the NSA could force their way in."

"And Allie carries a Global phone. Probably no one who isn't the Scarlet Witch could hack into it. So I think we're good." Giles started very slightly when Jack said "Scarlet Witch." Why –

Son of a bitch.

Willow Rosenberg was the Scarlet Witch. Jack shook his finger at a surprised Giles for a few seconds angrily before returning to his call with Allie. He still wanted to help Buffy and Dawn Summers, regardless.

"Jack?" Allie said.

"Sorry about that. Just figuring something out. They swear the line's secure, so . . ." he gave her a thirty-second summary, minus the magic, and ended up with, "and am I crazy, or does that sound like the way Beverly controlled you?"

"It does," she confirmed. "A little more primitive, maybe, if these girls are able to retain their autonomy and memories, but it's certainly related. Good thinking."

Despite his mood, he smiled. Hearing praise from Allie for his intelligence always made him happy. "Thanks. So, you probably know what I'm going to ask next."

"I've already booked the flight," she said. "It gets in around 7:30 at BWI. And Jack? I'll handle Beverly." She said the last part fiercely.

"You'll probably have better luck. Okay. See you in a few hours."

The he hung up and turned to Giles. "Two things. One, that was Dr. Allison Blake. She was the victim of something similar about a year back; Beverly essentially remote controlled Allie to try to steal as much information as possible about GD projects, and after we finally got rid of her Dr. Blake and the whole medical team studied them to make sure no one could use them on us again. She can fix them."

"Thank you," he said. "And one implies two."

"What? Right. About a week ago, someone really good started breaking into Global Dynamics files, looking mostly at the medical records. Then a few days later a red-headed witch pulls some strings with the Army and gets herself and her friend jobs with GD, and within days we're all dropping everything to go chasing after Beverly."

"Who is someone I believe you wanted to catch anyway," Giles said.

"That's not the point!" Jack said.

"And what is the point?" Giles asked calmly.

"Willow Rosenberg is the Scarlet Witch. The Scarlet Witch hacked into GD computers. Which is a crime against national security, at the very least."

The temperature in the hallway dropped about twenty degrees; at least, that's how it felt. "Are you making a threat, Sheriff?" He'd already figured Rupert Giles for more dangerous than he looked; he wouldn't be in charge of a group of women who could pound him into paste unless he had a lot going for him. Now, Jack got the impression that if Giles didn't like Jack's answer, that being a bloody smear on the floor would be the least of his worries.

Still. Jack hadn't made it through five years in Eureka by being easily cowed; he'd faced death and dismemberment on a weekly basis, pretty much ever since he showed up. "No; a threat sounds like, ' Back off and quit trying to bully me, or else.' I realize that, maybe apart from that kid Andrew, I may be the weakest person in the building. But you know what? I've spent the last five years of my life in a town where the average five-year old is smarter than I am, and I've managed to survive pretty well. So if you think any of you are going to intimidate me, you picked the wrong damn person to try it on."

Jack took a breath and continued, "And to repeat myself: No, that wasn't a threat. I get that you guys are the good guys. But I'm kind of obligated, now that I've figured it out, to tell, at the very least, the head of GD. Who's one of the people in on your secret. And it's up to him what we're going to do about it. But you know what? All of this could have been avoided. Very easily."

"Oh. How?" Giles said shortly.

"You could have just asked us! It's what we do, in Eureka. You didn't need to go through all this corporate espionage mumbo-jumbo."

"And had you said no?"

Jack knew better. "We wouldn't have."

"It was not a risk we could take."

"Well, maybe it's one you should have," Jack said. "My advice right now? Stick Beverly in a cell somewhere and wait for Dr. Blake to fly in. Her flight's due in at 7:30. Then we can take care of the immediate problem and worry about what's going or not going to happen to Willow, later. Okay?"

Giles clearly wasn't happy, but Jack had read him right. "Very well. We will send a car -"

"And if Allie doesn't see me, she's going to be very suspicious, and then we're all back at square one, except Willow and Vi are on the west coast and I'm here in the land of crabcakes." When Giles didn't say anything, Jack said, "Do you think I'm going to try to sneak off now?"

"Very well. Faith and Xander will be ready to drive you at 6:30. Our dining room is down the hall and to the right. Word of warning: Do not try some of the more exotic cuisines. Our cook is solid on the staples but his enthusiasm for experimental cooking is matched only by his lack of skill at it."

"Thanks," Jack said. "I'm a burgers and fries guy, anyway."

XxXxX

The next couple of hours were not the most pleasant of Jack's life. The burger and fries were fine. Everything else made Jack feel like he was a mouse being stalked by a couple of dozen barely restrained cats. He could distinguish the Slayers from the non-Slayers, though; the Slayers were like amped-up versions of Jo getting ready for a fight.

Still, if Rupert Giles hadn't intimidated him, he wasn't going to let these young women do it, either. And they stayed away from him until the one who'd been watching him when he woke from his coma grabbed him and threw him against the wall when he was looking for a place to watch ESPN for a few minutes.

"Can I help you?" he gasped.

"Let Willow go or I'll break your legs."

Well, she didn't bother with subtlety. "I can't exactly let anyone go."

"I'm not in the mood for jokes," she snarled.

"Yeah," Jack said. "This is how I like to do my comedy routines. Listen. Are you going to trust a promise I make now when you're threatening to beat me up?"

"You know what we can do."

"And you don't know what we can do," Jack said. "You break my legs, you'll probably start a war. I'd really kind of like to avoid that."

"Kennedy!" he heard a voice say sharply. "What are you doing?" He heard footsteps, running towards them.

"Protecting Willow."

"By beating up a cop?"

"Whatever I have to to keep Willow safe."

The man who'd spoken came into view. He was bald, black, and was about a foot taller than Kennedy. "Do you really think this is going to keep Willow safe? Put him down."

"Not until –"

"Now."

With extremely bad grace, Kennedy let Jack go and stormed off down the hall. "Thanks," he said.

"You're welcome," the man said. "Robin Wood." He and Jack shook hands. "I can't exactly say it's nice to meet you, but this is a touchy enough situation without making things worse. Kennedy's more demonstrative than most of us are going to be – but then, Willow's not our girlfriend. Still, you get why we're concerned."

Girlfriend? That did explain the anger; if someone was making noises about what might happen to Allie after she'd done something like what Willow had, Jack wouldn't exactly be at his most rational. And certainly Allie would do what Willow had done, and more, if it meant protecting someone she loved.

But she would have gone through channels first. Jack knew the virtue of not taking no for an answer. Still, to get to that point, you had to actually ask the question first. These people hadn't bothered.

He thanked the man again, asked him if there was a place he could catch ESPN, and headed for that TV.

XxXxX

The ride to BWI was mostly made in silence, although Xander did say, "What do we need to do to make sure Willow's not going to get in trouble?"

Were they going from stick to carrot? If so, Jack wasn't really up for bribery any more than he was extortion. Jack said as much.

"We ain't trying to bribe you," Faith said. "We're trying to negotiate."

"Okay. Then I'm the wrong person to negotiate with. You're going to have to talk to Fargo, and yes, I have to tell him. I'll certainly say that I think you did what you did for what you did for the right reasons, but honestly, you guys need to work on your diplomacy." After a second he added, "If you think I'm going to spill your secrets, I didn't get this national security clearance because I blab. Remember, I only look like a small-town sheriff."

"Okay," Xander said. "I get that."

"Good," Jack said with a sense of relief.

Picking up Allie, at least, went well. She was on a call when they got there, saying, "Okay. Thanks. I'll let them know," and hung up when Jack got there.
She waited until they were back in the SUV before she asked, "I'm still not sure how you got to Baltimore so quickly."

"I didn't run here, I didn't fly here, I didn't burrow, and I wasn't carried by a big giant."

She was no fool. "Teleportation?" Jack nodded. "But that's not allowed."

"It is, the way these people do it," Jack said. "Trust me."

"I do," she said. "Now – Xander – Faith – right?" When they confirmed that she'd gotten their names right, she said, "Good. Now tell me what you know about what happened."

They gave Allie a much more detailed summary than he had; it took them most of the way back to the nursing home – ah. It was called the Unbroken Academy. Good to remember just in case.

Giles was waiting for them at the door. "Dr. Blake? Rupert Giles. Good to meet you, and thank you for your assistance."

"You're welcome. So, where are the Summers sisters?"

"Right this way." Within a couple of minutes, they were at the sisters' room. "Buffy, Dawn: This is Dr. Allison Blake. She believes she can fix the problem."

"Thank God," they said at the same time. "No offense. None taken," the last said sarcastically. "But you're probably glad I can't read your mind right now. I don't read short stories. Oh, ha ha."

"Is it always like this?" Allie asked.

"No; occasionally they get into real arguments," Giles answered.

"I meant the condition."

Buffy and Dawn said simultaneously, "It didn't start out with us being each other freaky puppet-masters, but it's been like that for a while. It doesn't stop. I jump, she jumps; I turn my head – "

"I think I understand," Allie said. "And if it's anything like mine, I know how to fix it. Do you have a lab where I can work?"

"We have a staff doctor; you can use his office," Giles said. "I'm afraid we may not have the equipment you're used to."

"I was afraid of that. We really would be better off back in Eureka – but that can't happen." As Jack was about to ask why she would think it couldn't, she smiled. "Fortunately, I always come prepared. Jack, could you go get my luggage?"

"What do you have in there?"

"Maybe not everything I need, but enough," she said. "Also, I'm going to need to talk to Beverly to see what the differences are. This is clearly a prototype of the one used on me."

"She won't help," Faith said. "Here're the keys, Jackie boy," she said as she tossed them to him.

"Yes. She will," Allie said.

"Why?"

"Because she owes me."