Chapter 4

1 ½ Years Later

General Wallace watched the girl pummel the demon, quite pleased with what he saw. It had taken some intensive work—that fool, Kessler, had allowed the girl to question him on his orders, had made sure she learned to think for herself, a trait he was not interested in—but she was now all he hoped for: obedient, fast, silent, and deadly. He wondered if it would be possible to create an army comprised of more clones—that would be excellent. His eyes shone at the thought of a Slayer army.

She was his now; she listened to no one else but him. That was another thing he had required of her. And her name—his face twitched. The name of a child, a high-schooler. He had changed that to a more suiting name for such a deadly weapon. A louder groan than usual brought him back to the matter at hand.

"Cease."

The girl instantly stepped back, her eyes on Wallace as she waited for the next command. Wallace nudged the demon with his toe, admiring her work, then said, "If you do not give me the information I require, you will die."

The demon spat out some blood and looked up. "I'm telling you, I don't know where he is. He vanishes, shows up somewhere years later, and vanishes again. It's impossible to track him."

Wallace looked at him in disgust. "You are sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," the demon growled.

Wallace nodded and turned, walking back to the truck as he tossed over his shoulder, "Kill him."

The sound of a neck snapping made him smile. He opened the door to the car and looked at the girl. "Slayer, get in the car."

Rhian, the Slayer, obeyed silently, her blue eyes void of emotion as she watched the scenery pass.

******

"Buffy."

Buffy turned and smiled at the red-haired 12 year old walking up to her. "Hi Keely. What's up?"

"Willow said she had something to show you," Keely, Willow's adopted daughter, said.

"What is it?"

Keely shrugged. "Dunno, she didn't say. Something about a spell she was reading, although why the most powerful witch in the world can't just make her own up..."

Buffy shrugged and followed the girl. She had been a victim of a vampire nest here in New York. Her family had been killed, and she had been kidnapped for some reason. Spike had mentioned when they raided the nest and found her that some vampires kept pets, a fact that had made Buffy become irritated. But Keely seemed to be doing all right, and she had taken to Willow almost immediately. Maybe it was the red hair thing, maybe something else, but Willow had taken to her as well, so Keely had stayed with them as Willow's unofficially adopted daughter.

They entered house. "Willow?"

No answer. Buffy raised an eyebrow at Keely, who said, "She must've moved to the back."

"Right," Buffy said skeptically, but she made her way to the kitchen.

"Surprise!"

Buffy looked at her friends, bemused for a minute before she realized. "Guys! What happened to no more birthday parties for Buffy? Remember what happens every time?"

"Not since we left Sunnydale," Dawn said comfortably. "Come on, blow out the candles, I'm ready for cake."

Buffy just smiled and shook her head as she blew out the candles and cut the first slice.

"Look what the cat dragged in," Faith said from behind Buffy, a bleach haired vampire behind her. Buffy glanced at him, amused. "Cat's losing its touch. Hi Spike."

"Slayer," Spike greeted her. "I came—is that cake?"

Robin and his and Faith's ten year old son Andy came in, Andy heading straight for Megan and Keely, all three waiting eagerly for their cake.

"Scoobies," Spike said in greeting, his eyes torn away from the cake. "And Rupert—what are you doing here?"

Giles looked at the vampire and said dryly, "Well, I do occasionally visit, Spike. It's a thing I do."

"I think we're rubbing off on him," Xander whispered to Willow, who whispered back, "You think?"

"C'mon Aunt Buffy, cake," Megan begged. "Please?"

"It's Scoobies: The Next Generation," Spike said, locating the kids. "You lot need to settle down. Buffy, do they really need more sugar?"

"Probably not," Buffy agreed. "But they're going to get it."

"I think I'm going to go ahead and get out of the line of fire," Spike muttered. "Just package me a piece of cake to go."

"Did you want something?" Buffy asked as she sliced him a piece of cake.

"Just to say hi and happy birthday and Angel's going to be by in a few days," Spike said. He grabbed the cake, waved, and got out of firing range as the kids got their pieces.

******

Wallace looked at the large building set in the middle of nowhere with grim satisfaction from a mountain road. He had finally found an informant who knew where the target would be. Now it was time to get rid of said target.

He looked at the Slayer, who was studying the building and the surrounding forest with a calculating eye. "Slayer."

She looked up. "Sir."

"You know what to do."

She nodded once and vaulted the fence, sliding down the mountain. Yes, she knew what to do. Locate target and take it out.

She reached the building and silently peered inside a window. She knew what the target looked like, though she had no picture. Supposedly he would be unmistakable.

In the window she could see several females sparring. A group of people walked through a door a few minutes later and she tensed. There he was. Her eyes narrowed as she regarded him. It was time to go to work.

*********

The people in the room all looked up at the sound of a window crash and saw a black and gold streak shot in through the open window and head directly for the group of people who had just entered.

Buffy shoved Willow, Dawn, and Giles back, moving into a fighting stance. Angel lunged for the assailant as it reached them, his fist connecting solidly with bone.

The girl didn't make a sound, rounding on him with a cold expression on her face and aiming a roundhouse kick at his chin. He blocked it and punched her again.

Buffy jumped in, catching the girl a hard blow to her back. She did not hardly seem to feel it, doing a spinning kick and hitting Buffy upside the head before returning her attention to Angel with a quick series of punches and kicks that pushed him back against a wall.

Willow recovered from being shoved out of the way and said, "Kali, Hera, Kronos, Tonic. Air like nectar, thick as onyx. Cassiel by your second star, hold mine victim as in tar."

The girl was halted by the spell, and she looked at Willow, a glimmer of surprise and—was that approval?—in her eyes. Buffy ignored that, glaring at the girl. "Who are you?"

The girl remained silent.

Buffy glared at her.

Xander stared as the girl managed to straighten into a standing position. "Uh, Buffy?"

Willow saw the same thing and said, "Oh my God—Buffy, she looks exactly like you."

"What?"

Buffy gave the girl another look and her mouth dropped. "Oh my—how—Giles?"

Giles adjusted his glasses, peering at the girl. "Extraordinary," he murmured. "She is a copy of you at—how old does she look—sixteen? Seventeen?"

Angel looked at Buffy. "What do you want to do?"

"Let's get her downstairs before we try to talk to her," Buffy said, her arms folded. "I'd like to know why she was trying to kill you."

Willow cast a binding spell that she had learned a few years ago and released the other, allowing Angel to get the girl downstairs. He locked her in a set of manacles and stepped back. Willow released the spell as Faith, Buffy, Dawn, Xander, and Giles stared at her.

"This is really weird," Faith said to no one in particular.

"And the Stating-the-Obvious Award goes to," Xander murmured, but it was half-hearted. He was too busy getting his mind around the fact that there were two Buffys in the world.

"Who sent you?" Buffy asked quietly.

The girl just looked at her, shaking her hair out of her face.

Buffy quickly lost patience. "Who sent you?"

Still no answer. Buffy slammed her hand onto the wall beside the girl's head, bringing her face inches from the other girl's, and repeated in a low, dangerous voice, "Who sent you."

The girl just looked at her coolly for a moment before lashing out with her foot and catching Buffy around the legs. Buffy was brought down, and she leapt to her feet with a curse.

Faith stepped forward, ignoring Buffy's order of, "Faith, get back," and said, "Hey, chica, who do you work for?"

The girl remained silent.

"Boy, you're a pile of fun," Faith said conversationally. The girl just looked at her. Faith could have sworn she rolled her eyes.

~*~

They continued to question her for a while before giving up for the moment and going back upstairs. Robin met them at the door to the basement. "What's up?"

"It's like talking to a rock," Faith said. "But I think we'd've gotten more out of the rock."

"She's not talking?"

"No."

Buffy looked at Willow. "Is there a spell to make her talk?"

"I—I don't know," Willow said, startled by the question. "I don't remember ever reading about one—I could try to come up with one."

"You do that."

A few hours later, Willow studied the paper in her hand and said, "I think I've got one that will work."

"Want to try it out first?" Buffy asked.

Willow glanced up at her. "It's a variation of a compulsion spell—if it doesn't work, it won't hurt her and I'll go back to the drawing board. But it should work."

"Okay, let's go."

The Scoobies trooped down to the basement again with Angel and Faith in tow and Willow cast her spell. Buffy, her arms crossed, said, "What's your name?"

The girl glared at them as she replied, "I am called Slayer."

"Slayer?" Xander muttered. "That's original."

"Is that really your name?" Dawn asked.

The girl hesitated then said, "Before, I was called Rhian."

"I like Rhian better," Dawn said thoughtfully.

"Who sent you?" Buffy asked, ignoring her sister.

"It was General Wallace who told me to take out the target."

"General? A military person?" Xander asked.

"Yes."

"Why?"

The girl looked at Buffy, her eyes blank. "It is not for me to question."

"Okay, that's definitely not you," Faith said with a snort. Buffy glared at her then turned back to Rhian. "So you don't know why you were supposed to kill Angel."

"Angel?"

At this point the girl looked confused. "Who is Angel?"

Buffy jerked her head towards the souled vampire. "Angel. The one you tried to kill."

The girl's face cleared. "The vampire was of no concern to me—he was only in my way."

This response startled everyone. Willow ventured, "So—who were you sent after?"

Rhian looked at the group. "The Watcher, Rupert Giles."

There was a split second of silence then, "What?"

A/N: So whatcha think? Didja expect it?