Phoning it in 11

"Why are we really coming here?" Dawn asked.

"It's still got the utilities turned on, has large whiteboards to write on, and basically is a good place for us to plot in private from," I explained.

"And what are we going to plot?" Dawn asked.

"Who to empower and what powers to give them," I replied.

"Can I get Supergirl's powers?" Dawn asked.

"Kryptonians are weak against magic, which Sunnydale is lousy with," I told her, "besides your natural powers lean towards making portals."

"Making portals?" she asked excitedly, as I tried the door and found it locked.

"The lowest level of your power allows you to open locks at a touch," I told her as I laid a hand on her shoulder and spent a small portion of energy so she could access it. "Place your hand on the knob and think open," I order her.

With a trembling hand, Dawn grabbed the knob and it let off an audible click. Opening the door she let off a happy squeal and bounced up and down. "I did it!"

"It's best to start off slow, so today you get the ability to lock and unlock locks, and tomorrow I'll increase it to the next level," I told her.

"What's the next level?" she asked eagerly.

"Personal travel using a specific medium," I replied, though it's more a guess than a firm answer.

"Specific medium?" she asked as we enter the building.

"Like how a mermaid can enter a pool of water and is instantly transported into the ocean," I replied.

"It's not Supergirl, but it is pretty cool," she admitted as we walked down the hall.

"And here is the lab," I said, flipping on the lights as we entered the room. It looked more like a high school science lab fitted with half-finished science fair projects than a professional lab and it had a lot more surveillance cameras of course, but considering corporate paranoia at the time it came as no surprise. I grabbed a dry eraser and wiped a whiteboard down before writing Buffy, Xander, and Willow's names with a list of the Slayer's powers below Buffy's name. "Ok, let's start with these three," I said.

"Buffy really has all those powers?" she asked in shock as she scanned the long list of powers.

"Yes she does," I agreed. "I say she needs a little mental enhancement, as the Slayer spirit has the physical well in hand."

"I don't think she needs anymore powers," Dawn grumbled.

"I mean I can enhance her ability to sense things – or her Slaydar as Xander puts it – and her clairvoyance or Slayer dreams," I said. "I think that would… Actually, maybe I could enhance her ability to learn so that it covered more than just fighting, that would really help her in the long run."

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"And… showtime," Willow said, activating the surveillance systems in the security office and clicking through until she located Merlin and Dawn.

"…Slayer spirit has the physical well in hand," came Merlin's voice from the speakers.

"I knew there was something strange about his dog," Xander muttered only to have both girls turn and look at him. "What?" he asked.

"Everyone in a five mile radius can tell there's something wrong with his dog," Buffy said, rolling her eyes.

"It's his knowledge about genies that seemed too exact to me, "Willow said. "He spoke like he knew and now we know why."

"So what do we do?" Xander asked.

"Nothing…" Buffy said with a shrug. "I mean Dawn was lucky enough to get three wishes and from what he said yesterday, people aren't allowed to interfere. I mean he even told her what wishes would be morally wrong and what all the pitfalls were."

"That was nice of him," Willow said distractedly as the pair started discussing empowering Willow.

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"Willow is going to be really powerful magically, but she's got a combination of superiority and inferiority complexes that make it all but certain she'll ignore anyone trying to teach her the wisdom needed to prevent her going dark. I figure it'll take about a dozen deaths before she actually listens to anyone," I explained.

"Any way to fix that?" Dawn asked, hopefully.

"Maybe," I replied thoughtfully. "I know that it took a great deal of forced empathy and Xander doing his thing, to prevent her from destroying the world just a few steps to the right of here. I suppose pushing her towards the Jean Grey route with mental gifts like empathy could do it."

"I hope it works, course I'm rather fond of this world," Dawn said, clearing space on a table to unpack lunch for the pair of us from her backpack.

"I'll check back occasionally to make sure," I promised her.

Dawn thought about that for a second before she asked, "Can you tell me what Ted's three wishes were and what Murphy is?"

"Ted's wishes were to continue on, fit in, and find love," I replied, as those were technically true… from a certain point of view.

"Doesn't that fall under the whole 'forced love' thing?" Dawn asked.

"Nope, because it's not guaranteed," I explained. "They could love each other or the timing or situation could be wrong, in which case Ted will find someone else who he could fall in love with."

Dawn hands me a sandwich while asking, "I had to pack juice, but we were out of ice, can you magic us up some?"

"Sure," I replied, before sifting shadow to grab a small ice chest filled with ice and soda, that I set on the table.

"Thank you," Dawn said before opening it and noticing the soda. "What's Dr. Thunder?"

"It's like a generic Dr. Pepper, but it tastes better than the original," I reply before taking a bite of the sandwich she made.

There are powers you don't know exist until there is a need for them, like the enormous strength demonstrated when a family member is in danger. I discover a new ability that very second.

"You didn't like my sandwich?" Dawn asked.

"What makes you say that?" I replied, stalling for time.

"There's a burst of smoke when you do things," she pointed out, "and there was some leaking from your mouth."

I sighed. "Peanut butter and fish do not go together, unless you are a pregnant woman. Anything you want to tell me?"

"What? No!" she exclaimed, red-faced and sputtering, neatly removing her ability to pout and guilt me into eating the perversion of nature she calls food. I quietly shove the offending foodstuff into shadow and sift a meat lover's special into my hand.

"Pizza!" Dawn exclaimed, perking up.

"Have some, I can always get more," I said.

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"You're not going to go dark, we won't let you," Xander promised, giving Willow a hug.

"He did say he was giving you empathy to avoid it and was going to be checking back," Buffy reminded her, joining the hug.

"Promise?" Willow begged.

"Promise," they both swore.

"They're talking again," Buffy pointed out.

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"Why did you write 'brute' beneath Xander and Willow's names?" Dawn asked.

I swallowed the bite of pizza I'd just taken before replying, "Brute is shorthand for enhanced strength and toughness. Not sure where I picked up the term, but I plan on giving a low level brute package, possibly with some speed and regeneration, to everyone on your list."

"I thought they had to have a certain potential or something, since I can't be Supergirl," Dawn replied.

"I am simply enhancing what they already have, not giving them a whole new packet of powers," I explained. "I'll have to ramp it up slowly, so they can adjust, and because enhancing people is draining."

"I thought you were all powerful," Dawn teased.

"I am still leaning and gaining power," I replied. "All powerful is a ways off."

"How old are you?" she asked curiously.

"This is my actual self," I replied. "I got a few centuries of memories given to me to help out, but what you see is what you get… unless I use my shapeshifting abilities."

"I caught a kid genie," Dawn said with a groan.

I shrugged. "Did you think genies started off as adults?"

"I never really thought of it, to be honest," Dawn admitted.

"Most things have a starting point and in this case it just means you didn't have to deal with a disillusioned burnout who has seen the worst humanity has to offer, instead you get to deal with me, an idealist who believes that sometimes the best in people shines through," I cheerfully told her.

"Really?" she asked.

"Without a doubt," I assured her. "So far everyone has listened and asked for good wishes, no death, no resurrection, no enslavement. Heck, you haven't even asked to seduce Xander."

"I… seduce Xander?" she asked intently.

"Yeah, you could have wished for the ability to inspire lust, or know all the steps needed to seduce someone, neither of those take away free will or enslave someone. All your wishes have been pretty unselfish," I assured her, hiding my snicker over the expression on her face.

"I wished for money and power," she pointed out, "not exactly selfless there."

"You wished for money while thinking of your entire family, not just yourself, ditto powers," I pointed out. "Sharing is caring and being completely selfless when it helps no one is just stupid."

"Ok, now I feel better," Dawn said. "What do you think my third wish should be?"

"Save it for a rainy day," I replied. "I'll be here for a while and I'll be checking back regularly, so why not save it for an emergency?"

"That's a load off my mind," Dawn said relieved. "I'm tempted with the seduce Xander wish, I gotta admit."

"You have a good shot at that after you graduate high school, if you're still interested, with no magic needed," I reminded her. "Have patience and just fantasize in the meantime, like the rest of humanity, it's less stressful and complicated."

"Fair enough," Dawn agreed. "So what is Murphy?"

"No idea," I admitted, unconcerned. "He likes to pretend to be a dog."

"Weird, but funny," Dawn said before turning back to the board. "How come you have pyrokinesis under Xander's name and not Willow's if you're giving her the Jean Grey treatment?"

"Jean Grey didn't have pyrokinesis – that was the Phoenix – and Xander has the potential for it, or at least I think he does," I replied. "Plus I think he'd really enjoy being able to set vampires on fire with his mind."

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"How flammable is hair gel?" a dark-haired teen asked.

"No! Bad Xander!" Buffy scolded him.

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"Can you increase my powers now?" Dawn asked hopefully.

"Ok, but I'll have to put off buffing your mom," I replied.

Hey, no boffing my mom!" Dawn complained.

"Buffing, not boffing," I corrected her. "Remember, I plan on giving all of you extra strength and healing, slowly ramping things up so everyone can adjust without breaking stuff."

"Oh, sorry," she apologized. "But still… no sexing up my mom."

"I'm eleven or something like that, even with all my extra memories I'm not feeling like sexing up anyone," I promised.

"Good," Dawn said with a visible amount of satisfaction. "Did I ask about the gold yet? Cause my basement is treasure deprived."

"I was going to wait until just before I left, so one would connect our earlier discussion with it, but if we are going to work on your powers first… I suppose we can give you a personal shadow to store it all in," I told her as I considered it.

"What's personal shadow?" Dawn asked.

"A version of the world you can open portals to, which you can lock against outsiders," I explained only to get a blank look in return. "Too much?" I asked.

"Too confusing," she replied. "Say it again with more and smaller words."

"Ok," I agreed, getting another Dr. Thunder and cracking it open. "There are an infinite number of alternate worlds, which I like to use the word shadows to describe for complicated reasons I won't go into at this time."

"Ok, I've read comic books, that's like… worlds where Hitler won, right?" she asked.

"Or worlds that resemble your favorite fantasy novel," I explained to her, "and everything in between. Now, your power to create portals could be… tuned to one in particular and we could… lock it off, so only you can access it, your own private world."

"What would it be like?" Dawn asked excitedly.

"Could be anything, but I'm thinking a duplicate of Sunnydale, but with no people or animals," I suggested. "Gives you plenty of room to store stuff or retreat to when pressed."

"There's a copy of Sunnydale with no people?" she asked. "I get alternate timelines, but who built it if there's no people?"

"That is a five hour lecture but with some interesting slides," I recalled aloud, "otherwise I'd just leave it at… because magic."

"Seriously, five hours?" Dawn asked in disbelief.

"Seriously," I cheerfully assured her.

"So, because magic," Dawn agreed cheerfully.

"Exactly, because magic it's a complete Sunnydale with no people or animals, but all their stuff lying around." Good thing she didn't call my bluff, as I have no idea why beyond 'because I willed it' just like any other Amberite.

Typing by Jarreas