The next day…

Xander, after listening to Buffy recount her story of the night before, chewed his sandwich thoughtfully. Once again he had globbed on the peanut butter too thickly and it was now threatening to choke him. He missed Anya's efficiently made sandwiches. Of course, that wasn't all he missed about his ex-fiancée, but that didn't bear thinking about right now. Must focus on disaster at hand. He swallowed. Thought s'more.

Xander pronounced his expert opinion. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say "uh-oh" 'cause, gotta tell you, Buff, not liking the sound of the virus-napping."

Buffy's face fell. "So you don't think I'm overreacting? I was kinda hoping you would."

"Hmm… late-night collusion in a darkened laboratory between two employees of a company that has been known to, on occasion, infect an entire town with a deadly virus? Not sure it would be possible to overreact. I don't even think a good old-fashioned panic would be out of the question." And Xander knew a few things about panicking. He thought he would definitely know the appropriate time for such a thing.

"Yeah, unfortunately, pretty much agreeing with you," said Buffy, ruefully. Then, throwing on her brisk Slayer voice, "Okay, first thing I have to do now is find out who the other guy was. He had sort of a Val-Kilmer-from-Top-Gun thing going on and, for some reason, he was wearing sunglasses at night."

"Man, I hate that song. Sunglasses at night can only be a harbinger of doom."

"I'll look at the employee profiles tonight at work. With my handy-dandy security clearance, it shouldn't be much of a problem. We'll see if Val shows up there."

Xander wolfed down the rest of his sandwich. He worked up an appetite toiling in the blazing California sun. Also, the threat of Sunnydale's destruction had long since stopped ruining his appetite. He figured there was some kind of evolutionary imperative at work: adapt or perish. If he had quit eating every time the town was in grave danger, he would have starved to death back in high school.

Licking jelly remnants off his fingers, he said, "Yeah, and you should check out that weird underground basement. Didn't think much of it at the time when we built it, but now that I look back, I guess it was a little Room 314-ish."

Silence. He looked at Buffy, who looked back at him in exasperated disbelief.

"Basement? There's no basement in the Alamo!" Buffy said.

"Huh?"

"Xander, I've never heard of a basement in the Umbrella facility. And you know, you really need to stop with the 'not thinking of it at the time'. Think of it at the time, 'kay? Now, spill."

Xander, confused, said, "You mean you haven't been in the basement? Aren't you a security guard or something?"

"Yes, I am, but as far as I know, there are only four floors. Are you sure about there being a basement?"

"Sure I'm sure, Buff. I helped build the durned thing. But the thing I noticed about this basement? No way in. There wasn't anything in the plans about an entrance. The stairwell doesn't go down there and neither does the elevator. The basement is completely shut off from the rest of the building. It has its own water line, power generator, 'n everything."

Buffy sat there, thinking. What reason would there be for a secret basement unless someone was doing something naughty down there? After all, bad things happen in basements. Broken water mains requiring full copper re-pipe, homicidal rage against one's friends… all kinds of things could go wrong in a basement. So how was this naughty someone getting down there? Oh, wait. Duh. Of course! The same way most of the denizens of Sunnydale got around. The sewers. Sometimes she wished Mayor Wilkins would come back from whatever politician/giant-snake hell dimension he was in just so she could slap him around for building those damned demon-friendly sewers.

Buffy stood up and looked at Xander. "Well, Xand, looks like it's that time of the year again. Of course, by 'that time', I mean time to muck around in the sewers looking for a hidden entrance to a secret lair."

Xander was less than thrilled. "Why does this time of the year always seem to come so quickly? And often?"

Buffy smiled at her friend. She understood his pain. Fortunately for Xander, he wouldn't have to accompany her this time. "We're the brave and the few, Xander. The brave and the few who are willing to get our shoes really, really filthy. But fear not, this is just gonna be a look-see type thing that I can totally handle on my own, so your shoes are safe. For now."

"You sure? 'Cause I'm willing, Buff."

"I'm positive. But thanks for offering."