Ch. 2 – Questions and Answers

"Giles' replacement?"  A shocked Buffy asked.

"Yes that's right.  Apparently he came down with a stomach virus so I'm running the library for a few days."  Jarod held up a teapot with a goofy smile. "Would you like some tea?"

"Um no.  That's okay."

Just then Snyder walked into the library.  "Mr. Anderson is Miss Summers and her friends bothering you?"

"Oh…uh no.  No.  Everything's fine."

Buffy gave a nervous smile, "We were just leaving."

The Scoobies beat a hasty retreat after that.  Snyder watched them walk out and afterwards told Jarod, "That girl and her friends are nothing but trouble Jarod.  Trust me on this one.  Now understand that I run a tight ship here.  If those troublemakers bother you in any way just tell me."

"Oh I'm sure I can take care of things here."  Jarod replied.  Satisfied with the Pretender's response, Snyder left leaving him alone in the library.

Jarod finally had some time to himself.  He walked back to Giles' desk and pulled out the black bag he took from the man he who tried to kill him in San Diego.   Inside was an old book with the words 'SUNNYDALE H.S. LIBRARY' stamped on the inside back cover. 

"Demonic Rituals and Ceremonies."  Jarod read off the title of the book aloud.  He had read it cover to cover three times since the bombing.  It described things Jarod thought were impossible.   

At first he thought this book was some type of joke.  And yet Jarod's attacker had it on him with several other important things we would've needed that night.

He created his newest identity to investigate any connections to Dana's killer.  Nonetheless, he was shocked when he found numerous bookshelves containing tomes just like the one he brought with him.

Add to that the fact that there was a weapons locker in the library of a public high school meant that Jarod was left with more questions than when he started.  What was even stranger was that it seemed like nobody in the school acted like that strange.

This place feels more like a medieval chamber than a high school library.

But the book was the only lead to the whereabouts of his attacker.  Since he was still thinking in rational terms, the Pretender's only guess was that his attacker or someone related to him was involved in some type of satanic cult in this city. 

It wasn't much but he had been grasping at straws before. 

Jarod also really wanted to talk with Mr. Giles.  Most of the books seemed to be part of a personal collection.  He hoped the librarian could tell him more about this.

Or that maybe Giles was the man he was after.

One thing was certain, Jarod knew very little about the supernatural.  Seeing no other option at the moment, he pulled one of Giles' books from a shelf and started reading.

----

The Agency

"Where the hell is he?!?  He wouldn't just up and leave.  Somthin ain't right!  Claire you sure you haven't heard from him?"  Bobby Hobbes, Darien Fawkes partner at the Agency, had been going crazy for the last two days.  Darien had once again disappeared after going to L.A.

In the room with him was the Doctor at the Agency.  A woman named Claire or 'The Keeper' as her codename went.  "Bobby none of us have heard from Darien.  You need to calm down.  I think your phone's ringing."

Hobbes flipped his phone open and barked, "What?"

"Nice to hear you too Hobbes."  It was Darien on the other end.

"Fawkes where the hell are you?!?  Do you have any idea how much shit you're in?  The Official's havin a coronary 'cause of you!"

Darien chuckled, "I'd pay good money to see that."

"This isn't some joke!  You vanished for two days without telling us!"

----

"Yeah…well Hobbes you heard about what happened in San Diego?"
"The bombing?"

"Right.  Dana's dead.  And the bastard who killed her is still out there."

Hobbes didn't like where this was going.  "Fawkes please don't tell me you're going vigilante on me."

"Okay how's this sound:  I saw one of the cops from the accident, guy named Jarod Turner, take evidence without reporting what he found.  And now I find him with that evidence undercover as a librarian named Jarod Anderson in another town.  Guess I'm not the only vigilante here.  And trust me this guy's hiding something.  I've been following him from San Diego.  Bobby can you honestly tell me something's not wrong here?"

"Fawkes this ain't our problem.  Don't do this!"

Now Darien was getting annoyed, "Oh really?  And if someone killed one of your family members with a bomb what would you do to him?"

I'd shoot him in the kneecaps and watch him squirm for a few hours.   "I'd let the cops handle this Fawkes.  You can't stay there!  Sooner or later you're gonna need a shot of counteragent." 

Darien looked at the dragon tattoo on his forearm.  The red on the tattoo was about a third of the way up.  The more quicksilver he used the higher the red went.  If it completely covered the tattoo, Darien would enter a psychotic state known as Quicksilver Madness that could only be cured by an injection of counteragent.  However, the only counteragent was back at The Agency. 

"Yeah well let me worry about that.  I just called to tell you guys that I'll be back as soon as I take of this.  Take it easy Hobbes."

----

As soon as Hobbes hung up Claire asked him, "Did Darien say where he is?"

Hobbes shook his head, "Nah.  Claire we got a problem."

----

"We have a problem."  Buffy was pacing back and forth in the hallway.

Willow was trying to calm her down.  "It's not that bad."

"Not bad?  I left a lot of things I need in the weapons locker and now we can get in there.  And who is this guy Jarod anyway?"

"He seems nice enough.  Well from the two minutes we actually saw him."  Cordelia commented.

"I dunno…maybe…"

"Buffy not everybody from outside of Sunnydale has a hidden agenda."

"I don't know Cordy I gotta agree with the Buffster on this one.  I mean think about it.  All the people that came from outta town: Ampata, Ted, Ms. French." Xander shuddered at that last name.  "Track records not exactly in this guy's favor."

"Well I'm patrolling tonight while Angel watches Giles.  I could really use a few things in the library."

"Easier said than done Buff." 

----

Blue Cove, Delaware

"Daddy don't shut me out like this!  Someone tried to kill Jarod and you just say don't worry about it?"

"Enough!  Angel I've had enough your whining!  Sydney will back in a few days.  Don't push at things you don't understand.  This will all be taken care of soon."

Miss Parker didn't believe her father for a second.  If she had one redeeming quality, or fault depending on who you talked to, it was the fact that she could tell when people were lying to her and not letting it go.

----

"Miss Parker any luck?"  Broots asked as Miss Parker stormed back into her office.

The woman was smoking a cigarette at this point to calm her nerves.  "No.  My father just stonewalled me when I confronted him about Sydney.  So I guess we try Angelo."

Angelo was one of the Centre's more infamous projects.  As a boy Mr. Raines experimented him on.  It gave Angelo with the ability to empath the emotions of others after touching their possessions or watching them.  However the ability left the man's mind severely damaged, leaving him unable to do most other normal activities. 

Angelo was in the corner of the room.  Broots brought him over to a table.  "I've got the uh…knife Jarod sent Sydney and Sydney's note to you.  Maybe he can figure out where Sydney or Jarod are."

Angelo sat at the table and cautiously picked up the stiletto.   Miss Parker walked over to him and asked, "Angelo?  Angelo where is Jarod?"

Angelo suddenly became very upset.  "Jarod…Jarod angry!  So Angry!"

He then picked up Sydney's note and held it to his head. After a few seconds he mumbled, "Jarod…going into darkness…Jarod's In Darkness!  In Darkness!  JAROD DOESN'T KNOW!"  Angelo yelled out that last part and was almost crying. 

He wasn't finished either.  "Sydney…Sydney follow Jarod!  Sydney follow him…into darkness.  Looking for light.  Sydney looking for light in darkness!"

Miss Parker looked very frustrated and annoyed.  "You have got to be kidding me.  Broots this sounds like a bedtime story you'd tell Debbie.  He makes no sense!"

Broots didn't know what Angelo meant either.  "I know but whatever's going with Sydney and Jarod is really freaking Angelo out."

"Well we're not getting anywhere.  We still don't know where they went or who tried to kill Jarod."

"Lyle send Stiletto…Stiletto kill Jarod…" It was the last thing a very scared Angelo said before he tore up Sydney's note and ran to the dark corner of the room. 

----

Broots was at Miss Parker's computer for the last few hours.  He trying to find something about the 'Stiletto' Angelo mentioned. 

"Found anything yet Broots?"  Miss Parker had been getting very impatient.  Waiting wasn't something she was used to.

And with Angelo in the corner, rocking back and forth with arms around his legs muttering incoherently, her patience was running low.

"Well…maybe…look at this."  He pointed at the screen.  "This was in the message archive from a few years back.  According to this and a couple of other memos, Stiletto is the codename of a hit man.  But here's the weird thing, there's no mention of Lyle in here."

What?  Then who brought this guy in?

"It says here that Stiletto had been doing jobs for three years for Mr. Raines."

Miss Parker just shook her head.  "I should've known.  This is another one of Raines' monsters on the loose."

"Not exactly."

Broots almost fell off his chair in shock.  Mr. Raines was standing in the doorway of Miss. Parker's office.

"Sending one of your goons to kill Jarod?  Subtlety never was your strong point Raines."  Miss Parker said.

Raines made his over to her and Broots.  The wheel on his oxygen tank making squeaking noises the entire time.  "I had nothing to do with this Miss Parker."

"And you expect me to believe that?"

"I severed all my ties with Stiletto years ago."  Raines' voice was wheezing.  Miss Parker arched an eyebrow as the good doctor explained who this mystery man was.  "He's a contract assassin.  I don't know what his real name is.  He only goes by his codename.  I used him at times when a Sweeper was ineffective.  Somehow he's gets the job done.  No questions asked."

"Sounds like you found a real gem their Raines.  Why let him go?"

"He's *very* arrogant.  He likes to show off and take unnecessary risks.  The last time I employed him he nearly compromised one of my projects."

"Then why is Lyle suddenly using him?"  Miss Parker asked.

"Your father and I have known for sometime that there's someone in the Triumvirate who believes Jarod is more trouble than he's worth.  He's cost the Centre millions.  Lyle found out about my past dealings with Stiletto and hired him to kill Jarod.  He's trying to impress that faction of the Triumvirate."

"My father would've never let Lyle do that!"

"Miss Parker they're watching this closely.  Your father is also being watched by them and ordered not to interfere.  There isn't much he can do.  When Sydney approached us about this he claimed to know a way to help Jarod.  That's why he left.  He didn't tell us where though."

All Miss Parker could do was laugh.  "So you, Sydney and my father are all in on this?  And you're helping monkey boy now?  Cute story."

"Jarod's been gone for over two years, a little while longer won't make much of a difference.  If Lyle succeeds, the Triumvirate will probably give him de-facto control over the Centre.  I have no doubt he'd get rid of all of us at the first possible opportunity."

Broots had just watched this discussion without interrupting but now he had a question.  "So if Sydney didn't tell you where Jarod is how do we find him?"

Angelo suddenly looked at the others and held up a small piece of cardboard.  "Miss Parker?"

Miss Parker took it from Angelo and noticed there was an address on it.  She had an idea where it might be from.

She walked to Sydney's office with the others following her.  When she got there, she dumped the contents of Sydney's trash onto the ground.  Picking up the Fed Ex envelope Jarod sent, she put the cardboard into the corner that Sydney had cut out and saw it was a perfect fit.

"Sunnydale California.  Broots have them get the jet ready."

Raines objected though, "Miss Parker!  Let Sydney deal with this."

"Raines, Sydney is involved in this.  Which means Jarod's involved.  Which means I'm involved.  You have a problem…" She smiled.  "…go talk to my father."

----

Sunnydale H.S.

School had ended over two hours ago but Jarod was still in the library with a large stack of books on Giles' desk. 

He had lost count of how many of them he had read through.  At first Jarod had read through the old books with a feeling of disbelief.

Though he had to admit to himself that all of these books were incredibly deep.  The authors had left very little to the imagination.  Knowledge about the supernatural was described in-depth.

This is impossible.  Everything that's written here *does not* exist.

Jarod only half-believed that.  In truth, he had come here to find answers.  Now Jarod didn't know what to believe.

He had tried calling Sidney but his cell phone wasn't on.  For the first time in Jarod's life since his escape two years ago, he wasn't sure what to do next.

And if that wasn't enough, Stiletto was probably planning his next move.

----

"Is he still in there?"

"Yep.  He's been doing nothing but reading Giles' books for hours.  You really think this'll work?"

"Not really..."

----

The door to the library flew open snapping Jarod out of his mental debate.  Willow cautiously made her way into the library and tried to get the Pretender's attention.

"Um…Mr. Anderson?"
Jarod ran over to the redhead who just came in.  "Please, call me Jarod.  Wait a sec…weren't you in here this morning?"

"Yeah.  Yeah that's right.  My name's Willow.  Willow Rosenberg."

"Well nice to meet you Willow.  Now what can I do for you?"

"I was…uh…looking up something on the computer for Giles.  I-I could really use some help with it."

"No problem."  Jarod sat down at the computer terminal and Willow brought up several different websites.  She also kept firing off questions, keeping Jarod occupied and looking at the screen.

"So to save this I just right click here?"

"Yeah that's right."

From behind Jarod, Willow's left arm was making a hurry up motion at the door.

The library door was quietly pushed open and Buffy and Xander, both shoeless, were tiptoeing toward the other side of the library. 

"Well this seems to be in order."  Jarod said.  "Now Willow, I have a question for you.  I've got these books I've been looking at."

Buffy and Xander were both at the desk at this point and ducked behind it.  Ironically all the books Jarod stacked on it made an obstacle big enough for both of them to hide behind.

Jarod started to get up and turn around but Willow yelled  "NO!" and pushed him back down into his chair. 

He stared straight ahead looking pretty confused why Willow would do that. 

"I-I'm sorry Jarod.  I…just wasn't finished yet."

The Pretender seemed to believe that as the redhead went back to distracting him.

Xander looked over the stack and seeing that Jarod wasn't paying attention to them, slowly opened the drawer in Giles' desk and pulled out a key ring.  He handed it to Buffy and she inserted the key into the weapons locker and unlocked it.

But when she tried to open the door, one of the hinges made a loud squeaking noise.

"Now I know I heard something!"  Jarod got up and walked over to the locker and found Willow's friends hiding there.  "What are you doing?"

He scared the two of them.  Xander lost his balance and knocked over most of the books on the desk.

The boy stood up a second later and broke into a guilty smile, "This is not my office."

He grabbed Buffy by the arm and started pulling her out of the library.

"Stop!  Okay what were the three of you doing in here?"

"Well…um…you see…"

"There's this…um…"

"I'm looking for my sneakers.  Yeah.  Yeah that's right…"

"Enough!"  Jarod yelled out.  He massaged the bridge of his nose after listening to Buffy, Willow and Xander try to worm their way out of this.  His head was beginning to hurt. "Look I want the three of you out of here.  And if I see any of you in here again I won't be happy."

The three teens, surprised they gotten out of that with only a slap on the wrist, lunged for the door.

----

"Well may I be the first to say that was an unmitigated disaster?"

"You may Buffy."  Willow said.  "Hey Xander what're you reading?"

Xander stopped walking in the hallway and flashed a newspaper article at his friends.  "I found this with the books I knocked over."

He looked back down at the article and read aloud.  "A full investigation is being launched into the bombing of an apartment complex that resulted in the deaths of five police officers.  Hey wasn't this all over the news a few days ago?"
"Yeah a bunch of cops were killed in San Diego a few days ago.  Why would Jarod have this?"  Willow wondered.

----

Jarod picked up a few of the books that Xander had knocked over.  He still wondered what was with those kids as looked back at the weapons locker then to the fallen books.

There's something about those three…

The Pretender walked out of the library looking for the Scoobies but they weren't anywhere he could see.

He stopped a jock still in the school after it closed.  "Excuse me?"

"Well hello."  The jock looked Jarod up and down as if he were a piece of meat.  With a big smile he said, "I'm Larry.  What can I do for you?" 

"I'm looking for a student here.   Willow?  Uh…yeah that's right, Willow Rosenburg."

Larry looked disappointed.  "Oh her."

"Yeah.  What can you tell about her and her friends?  Anything weird about them?"

"Well Willow's the smart one.  If you looking for weird though that's her friend Buffy.  I mean she got expelled last year when a dead body showed up in the library."

Jarod looked surprised "Really?  Was that the only thing?" 

"Nah there's a lot more.  It's seems like she's involved with all the strange things that go on here."

That's…interesting. "Do you know where I can find them?"

"Um…they usually hang out at the Bronze."

----

Later that night, Jarod was at the Bronze watching (spying) on Willow and Xander.  They were at their usual table and the Pretender was at the other side.

Jarod was watching the Scoobies. 

And unbeknownst to Jarod, Darien was watching him from the second floor of the Bronze.

Darien Fawkes was acting on a gut instinct.  He knew something was wrong with Jarod he just couldn't decide whether it was good or bad.

Since he didn't have any counteragent, the Invisible Man had to ration the use of his Quicksilver gland and stuck to just staying out of the way.

It had been tough following Jarod from San Diego without being spotted.  Luckily Darien's training as a thief came in handy and he stayed rather incognito. 

Both Jarod and Darien saw Oz go over to Xander's table and the three Scoobies quickly rushed out of the club.

Jarod noticed and followed them out of the side exit.

Guy's got a lot to learn about shadowing people.   Darien thought to himself as he walked out of the main entrance a minute later.

----

Jarod walked out of the Bronze to something he didn't expect.

Buffy, Willow, Xander and Oz were all there fighting three rather large men.

The thing was while the two men and the redhead were struggling against one of them, much to Jarod's surprise Buffy was holding her own against the other two.

Jarod had no idea that Buffy was the Slayer.  He only saw a bunch of kids getting mugged.

And being a protector of the weak and abused, he rushed to help them.

He grabbed one of the vampires attacking Buffy, pushed him against the wall and delivered a stunning right cross to the vampire. 

The vampire didn't fall over like Jarod expected.  He caught Jarod's forearm as he was throwing another punch and twisted around to his back.  It was the same arm that Stiletto sliced two days ago and Jarod grunted in pain.

Buffy hadn't been idle after Jarod waded into the fight.  The slayer took full advantage of Jarod's help and quickly staked her remaining opponent.  She then threw the stake at the vampire fighting Jarod and hit it dead center in the chest.

The vampire turned to dust right in front of Jarod.  It scared the hell out of him, being probably the last thing he expected.

Buffy then threw the other vampire her friends were dealing it to the ground and checked on the other Scoobies.

"You guys alright?"

"Yeah we're fine.  This time wasn't actually as bad as others."  Xander told her.

Jarod couldn't believe this.  "Wait a sec?  *This time*?  You mean this has happened before?  And who are these guys?"

"It's um…complicated."  Buffy said.

As they were talking, they didn't noticed the third vampire get back up.  He punched Buffy in the lower back and she collapsed into Jarod's arms.  After fighting off Oz and Xander, he pinned Willow to the ground and went for the kill.

Jarod, at this point not thinking about events, grabbed the stake on the ground Buffy had thrown a second ago.

He pulled the vampire off of Willow and at this point the training he learned during his pretends in the armed forces kicked in.  Jarod went into a combat stance and started an impressive fighting routine that did a number on his opponent.

The vampire wasn't finished yet.  He rushed at Jarod to try and knock him to the ground.  Jarod mimicked Buffy and held the wooden stake and the vampire impaled himself on it before he could stop.

The vampire crumbled into dust in front of Jarod and the Pretender suddenly realized what he had done.

I killed a man…oh god no… Jarod looked like he was about to lose it.

Willow's friends were helping her up and making sure she was okay. 

"I'm fine!  Really.  Jarod are you okay?"

Jarod quickly regained his composure.  "Uh…yeah.  Yeah I'm fine."

Buffy then told Willow.  "We should get you home Will."  As the Scoobies made their way out of the alley, Buffy looked at Jarod and said, "Thank you."

With almost no feeling Jarod replied.  "Yeah no problem." Then he wandered back into the Bronze.

----

Darien had just witnessed the entire scene from the entrance to the alley.

You know Albert Einstein once said:  "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."  Now, I just had one reality after another shattered over the last year or so with the Agency but I was havin a hard time believing what I had just seen. 

"He turned to dust?  What the hell happened to that guy?"

Before Darien got an answer to his questions, someone hit him in the back of the head with a crowbar.

He fell to the ground unconscious.  Two men picked him up, threw him into the back seat of a nearby car and drove off.

----

The Next Day

"Mind telling me what was going on last night?"

Jarod wasted no time that morning finding Buffy at school and trying to get an explanation from her.  He spent the entire night wrestling with his conscious over what happened and now he wanted answers.

"Like I said it's…it's complicated Jarod."  Buffy told him.

"Well one thing's for sure you're not exactly a normal teenager, are you?"

"The way you fought last night, you're not exactly a normal librarian."

Touché.   "That still doesn't my question."

Buffy looked like she was about to argue more then just gave up.  You know what?  The hell with secret identity.  He saved Willow, I owe him this much.   "Can we go someplace private?"

They walked over to the library.  Buffy walked over to Giles desk and saw a note on it.  She held it up at Jarod, "You write this?"

Jarod was just as confused as her.  He took the paper and saw that the only words written on it were 'Goodbye Jarod'.

"Buffy get out of here."

"Jarod what's wrong?"

"Just go!"

A second later the door to the weapons cabinet flew open on its own and the weapons inside starting flinging themselves toward Jarod and Buffy.

----

TBC