Institute of Paranormal Research, Lowell House, Sunnydale; 1500 hours.

Cordelia was in her office as she started to slowly unpack some of the boxes she had with her. Her childhood home in Sunnydale was already auctioned off after her father had been jailed for tax evasion so the only place that she had to stay was either in one of the rooms in Lowell House, or she could get an apartment for herself somewhere in the city. With those two options in mind, the dark haired young woman looked at the four boxes; only one of which had some books that Wesley and Angel had given her, with the others being full of her clothes. Her office itself was spartan with only a couch against a wall, a large desk with all the extra's and three chairs.

'At least I have a good view' thought Cordelia to herself as she walked through the doors that led to the balcony which looked out over the front lawn, which the U. campus close by. It was a few minutes earlier that Colonel O'Neill had called to inform her that Ben was dead, and that a potential world ending situation was averted. As Cordelia leaned on the railing, she looked out and thought that her first major decision had involved killing a half human god who was ready to destroy the planet. She knew that it was a hard decision to make, but it was one that needed to be made.

She walked back into her office and sighed at the boxes again, she knew that one was destined for her office while the others were for her room.. at least until she picked one out and then she could use the Slayer strength of both Buffy and Faith to help her move them to a room. She looked at her desk, and focused on the ten plain tanned coloured folders which contained information on the first wave of Potential Slayers that they were planning on recruiting to be trained at the IPR. After the meeting with the Colonel and the others was over Giles told Cordelia that he'd hand her those files and that he'll go through them with her later in the night.

Cordelia remembered nodding her head as she walked behind her table and took a seat and looked at the folders. She told Giles that she'll get started on reading up on the Potentials while he and Daniel discussed the Stargate. Leaning back on her seat, she placed her hand on one of the files when he heard someone knocking on her door.

"Come in."

Cordelia stood up from her seat as Major Davis walked into her office with two men, one who was about her height wearing a brown shirt, BDU pants and boots; and the other one was a little bit shorter than her but wearing the same things. The Major introduced the dark haired woman to Major Daniels and told her that he was the one on charge of training the Slayers, Xander, and Anya; he then introduced her to Captain Graham who was in charge of training the new military recruits to the IPR.

"Captain Graham just joined us, Miss Chase" said Major Davis, "he used to be one of the original members of the Initiative. I believe you may have seen him at the Army base?"

"The ones that used to use this facility?" asked Cordelia as she looked at Graham, and then at Major Davis again, "does Giles and Buffy know about this?"

"Not yet" said Major Davis as he looked at the Captain, and then back at Cordelia, "we needed someone who had experience in training recruits to battle what they'll be encountering out in the field. And out of all of them, Captain Graham was the most suitable."

"Given that one tried to kidnap Willow" said Cordelia as she looked at the Captain, "and then another two tried to kidnap the two Dawn's, and tried to kill Mrs. Summers and.. what was it on the report? Oh, burn the house down."

"Yes, ma'am" said the Captain who, thanks to the alternate Willow's mental wipe of his mind, didn't realize that he was one of the masked assailants who invaded the Summers house to take the two Dawn's back to the Initiative, "I was there when Adam went rogue, and I surrendered myself peacefully to Colonel O'Neill and his team after he was put down."

"So what are you looking for, Captain?" asked Cordelia as Major Davis' phone started to ring.

Cordelia watched him pick up his phone and noticed the change in his expression as he acknowledged whoever it was on the other line.

"Miss Chase" said Major Davis after he deactivated his phone, "that was Colonel O'Neill, Dr. Jackson, and myself are needed back in Colorado."

"Trouble?" asked the young woman.

"We hope not" said the Major as he looked at the Captain who was standing to his left, and then at Cordelia again, "in regards to the Captain, we have already vetted him and despite his former allegiance to the Initiative.. he's been a model officer. From the files we've read on him, he's been involved with hunting vampires and demons, as well as training new recruits to the Initiative. He's a good fit with the IPR due to his experience in training other recruits to fight the paranormal."

Cordelia could only close her eyes and nod her head when she realized that Major Davis was right, they needed someone who had experience with training other soldiers in fighting paranormal threats. However, she also knew that Giles and Buffy would have something say about this and she was mentally readying herself for the inevitable questions from them.

"Miss Chase" said Major Davis as he nodded his head, "I'll be on my way. If you need anything…"

"I have your number" smiled Cordelia as Major Davis shook her hand before he walked out the door, leaving her alone with the two officers.

"Captain" said Cordelia as she looked at Graham, "I want weekly reports on how the recruits are taking to the training."

"Yes, ma'am" said Graham,

"Will you be taking them out?" asked Cordelia as she nodded at the window, "I mean outside.. you know.. to stake vampires?"

"Yes, ma'am" said Graham, "the first outing is scheduled in two weeks."

"Good" said Cordelia, "I've read a summary of what the Initiative did while on the way here, you do realize that we've not going to be conducting any experimentation on vampires and demons? Depending on the situation, it'll be shoot to kill. I want allies out there, and informants out there… and if they decide not to help us.. if they intend to destroy Sunnydale, or the world… then we kill."

"Yes, ma'am" said Graham as he nodded his head.

"Major" said Cordelia as she turned to Major Daniels, "how's Buffy, Faith, Xander and Anya's training going?"

"Buffy and Faith are on another category, ma'am" said Major Daniels, "they've blown the requirements for Basic Training out of the water; which is hardly surprising given their gifts. So Mr. Giles and I have developed more advanced training sessions for them. Faith's already fully recovered from her coma but she needs guidance, a lot of guidance."

"I see" said Cordelia.

"I'm not saying that she's a bad seed, ma'am" said Major Daniels, "just that I've read her file and due to what she experienced in her life, she needs more support and guidance than Miss Summers."

"She'll be getting that now thanks to her getting adopted by Mrs. Summers" said Cordelia as Major Daniels nodded his head.

"Technically speaking" said the Major, "the both of them know what they're doing, but they can still lash out at times without thinking about the best tactic needed to take down an enemy. On that, Faith is learning faster than Miss Summers."

"Given that Faith's going to be the sole Slayer in a few months" said Cordelia, "I guess that's a good thing. Maybe once Buffy gets into the Academy, she'll realize the seriousness of what she's going to be doing. I think that's what'll take for her to improve drastically on her tactics and.. you know…"

"Yes, ma'am" said Major Daniels.

"Xander and Anya?"

"Given Mr. Harris' 'experience'" said the Major in referring to Xander's memories of being a soldier during Halloween, "he's been improving week after week. As has been Miss Jenkins."

"Good" said Cordelia as there was another knock on the door. Cordelia asked whoever it was to come in. The door soon opened to reveal Giles who, upon seeing that Cordelia was occupied told her that he'll be back later on, "Giles, it's fine… there's someone I'd like for you to meet."

"Of course" said Giles as he walked back into the office before closing the door behind him. He then walked up to Cordelia and saw Major Daniels standing alongside someone he hadn't seen before. Giles nodded at the both of them before he looked at Cordelia in shock after he introduced Graham as a former member of the Initiative who was in charge of training the military recruits to the IPR, "Cordelia, I don't know about this.. I mean we've read about the Initiative and…"

"I've read the summary, Giles" said Cordelia, "and I don't like what they tried to do to our Willow, and the two Dawns but Major Davis has already assured me that Captain Graham's been vetted and he had nothing to do with the project that created Adam, or with the team that tried to take both of the Dawn's."

"But…" said Giles as he looked at Cordelia who put a hand on the older man's arm.

"He's got the skills needed to train the recruits on what they'll be facing, Giles" said Cordelia as Giles sighed, "he's faced vampires and demons before.. and I know what you're gonna say; that Buffy and Faith have faced vampires and demons and that they should be training the soldiers. I agree that they've got a lot of experience… but I doubt that these recruits will want to take orders from two civilian girls when they could take orders from one of their own who's already faced these things. It won't be long before the new recruits are brought up to speed and they'll be training alongside Faith and the others."

"I agree" said Giles as he look of his glasses, after which Cordelia told the two officers to get back to their duties before reminding Major Daniels that she needed a report of the training progress for both Slayers, Xander, and Anya. Once the two officers had left, it was only Cordelia and Giles who were left alone in the formers office. The older man took a seat across from Cordelia as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"You know it's the right thing, Giles" said Cordelia as Giles looked up at Cordelia who sat down behind her desk, "we need someone like him to train the recruits."

"Given that we've got a vampire with a chip in his brain" said Giles, "I suppose we could be worse off. I can tell you that Buffy won't be happy about this, and I'd wager that neither will Faith."

"Probably" said Cordelia, "but then again, this is something that we need. I'll talk to the both of them when they come in tomorrow. Give them a break after what they just had to do, I know it couldn't have been easy."

"Joyce gave me a call after Colonel O'Neill left" said Giles, "she wanted you to know that the both of them came back safe and sound, but Ben mentioned something about Glory having minions that will still be searching for the key."

"Ok" said Cordelia, "how much of a threat you think they'll be?"

"Given that they don't know who the Key is?" said Giles as Cordelia looked at him, "plus, I can guess that without Glory to guide them that they could be aimless in their search for the Key. All in all, I'd say that they're not much of a threat, but if we do come across them…."

"Do you think that they know Ben and Glory are the same?" asked Cordelia as Giles nodded his head. That led to Cordelia leaning forward and telling Giles to take Major Daniels back to the hospital on official business. She told him to get Ben's body out of the morgue tomorrow morning once the news was out that Ben's dead, "take the body, and then…. Major Davis just gave me some details on those Zat things, apparently three shots can disintegrate a body. So I want you to handle that.. you know… getting rid of the body."

"Of course" said Giles as he nodded his head when a smile came over his face which Cordelia noticed before asking what he was thinking.

"We could just leave the notification in the paper asking for any well wishers to come to one of the many funeral homes" said Giles as he shrugged his shoulders, "And then, they'll be coming to try and take him away to wherever Glory's lair is supposed to be. We can pick them off then and there after disintegrating the body. IN the meantime, I'm perfectly sure that Glory's minions will be wondering why he, or she, hasn't come back yet. I'm sure that they'll be on the lookout for him. I'm proposing having Buffy and Faith out tonight in case we see any strange… well… creatures."

"Have Xander and Anya go instead" said Cordelia as she looked at Giles, "just a check around town. Talk to Major Daniels and come up with a plan. See if you and the others can find out anything about these minions and what they look like."

"I've got some contacts" said Giles, "I'll have Major Daniels, Xander and Anya check in with Willie at his bar. They can check up with him about these minions."

"Alright then" said Cordelia with a smile as she was ready to get up, however her smile vanished when she noticed the look on Giles' face, "there's something else, isn't there?"

"Ben also mentioned something called the Knights of Byzantium" said Giles, "I just heard about it from Colonel O'Neill after he called me."

"Dangerous?" asked Cordelia.

"I am not sure" said Giles, "I'll be checking my books, and I'll contact the Council to check up on these Knights. All I know is that they're after the Key as well, but who they are and why they're after the Key…. Well, I'll be finding that out and I'll inform you."

"Thanks" said Cordelia as she looked around her office and then at Giles, "you know, I never thought I'd be back in Sunnydale."

"You leaving the city was a surprise to us" said Giles as the young woman stood up and stretched her hands over her head.

"I wasn't much for goodbyes" said Cordelia with a shrug off her shoulder as she went to open a box while Giles stood up. Cordelia then stopped and turned around to face Giles. She told him that maybe she shouldn't wait until tomorrow to talk to Buffy and Faith, that perhaps it was better to just go visit them now and talk to them, "I also need to remind them that we need mission reports from the both of them."

"Buffy will be so excited" said Giles sarcastically as Cordelia smirked, "as will Faith. Alas, I think I'll remain here and talk to Major Daniels, before trying to find information on the Knights of Byzantium."

"Yeah" said Cordelia with her eyebrow raised and her hands folded over her chest, "you just don't wanna be there when Buffy pouts and asks you to finish her report for her."

"I don't know what you mean" said Giles as he smiled and walked away out of Cordelia's office while waving with her.

"Uh huh" said the dark haired young woman as she followed Giles out of her office, and closed the door behind her. Cordelia had just dealt with one emergency, and another two had popped up. She was going to talk to Buffy and Faith about it once she reached the Summers house, as well as telling them about Graham, along with the plans for Glory's minions and the Knights of Byzantium, 'I think I'm going to love this job.'

TBC.