It took me awhile since this chapter is over twice the size of a usual one in my stories.  I figured I would've been done with it earlier until I realized how huge this was.  (7000+ words…it took a lot of coffee).

This chapter is pretty heavy on the I-Man content so you've been warned.  Next chapter focuses more on Jarod and the Scoobies.

----

Ch. 5 - Plans in Motion (1/3) – Stirring the Pot

----

Angel could hardly believe that in fact Dr. Sydney Greene was standing there.

"Sydney?  You…I…wow you look…older." 

"You don't though.  You still look like you did I first met you.  It's been what 15 years?"

Angel nodded.  "Around that."

"I'm sorry I didn't call ahead but like I said I need your help.  My friend is here in town and his life is in danger."

 "Uh Sydney don't get me wrong it's great to see you again but this is a really bad time."

"Please!  His name is Jarod.  He arrived in town a few days ago…" Sydney wouldn't back down though. 

Darien interrupted.  "Jarod?  Tall guy?  Black hair?  Brown eyes?"

"You've found him?"  Sydney was shocked to hear that these two had already found the Pretender.  He pulled a photo of Jarod out of his pocket.  "Is this the man you're talking about?"

The Invisible Man just nodded.  "Yeah that's him."

"Angel I need to see him immediately!"

Angel had no problem with Sydney's request.  "That's fine.  We're on our way back to meet with him and a few of my friends.  I just need to grab my weapons chest."

Darien was already by the chest when Angel said that.  "Hey I'll get it."

He grunted as he tried to pick up the chest but it weighed several hundred pounds and it was obvious he couldn't do it.

Angel walked over and lifted it with no problem, giving Darien a sarcastic grin the entire time.

Angel and Sydney walked out as Darien tried to come up with an excuse.

"Yeah…well my back…it's kinda…ya know…" He gave up after he saw neither of them were listening.  "…ah screw it."

----

Location Unknown

"You know when I hired you it was because you came very recommended.  I'm beginning to wonder why."  Was all Lyle said over the phone.

"Lyle you getting upset over nothing."

"Nothing?  Look my sister is on her way to the town your in.  I'm pretty sure Sydney is already there."

"Ah yes…the infamous Miss Parker.  Quite an attractive sister you have their Lyle."

"Stiletto you better not do anything to her, understand?  Harm one hair on her head and our agreement is off!  Now you better come up with something soon because the Triumvirate won't wait forever to see results."

"Lyle, Lyle, Lyle.  Calm down.  I've already got something ready."

After Lyle heard Stiletto's plan over the next few minutes he couldn't help but laugh.  "Do you plan every little detail out?"

"It's how I've stayed alive."
"I guess so.  You really are a sadistic bastard."

"That's nothing.  You should've seen me twenty years ago."

He ended the phone conversation after that. 

Stiletto knew that if Jarod followed him here he would sooner or later have found the Slayer.  It was probably the reason he survived the trap he set in the library.

It was no big deal.  That was a half-assed attempt anyways.  Stiletto just wanted to remind Jarod he wasn't hiding.

In fact he had figured Buffy and Jarod would've started working together at some point.

He then walked over to a desk and picked up a photo of Darien.  Stiletto hadn't figured on this guy showing up.  It took him awhile to remember him from San Diego that night.

Whoever this guy was, he was the wild card in this situation. 

Stiletto found it ironic that Darien didn't even know he was being followed at the Bronze while the Invisible Man was tracking Jarod.

It doesn't matter.  I'll get you tonight Jarod and that'll be the end of it.

----

All the other Scoobies were doing research in the library when Angel, Sydney and Darien made it back. 

Nobody in the library were paying attention to them, instead focus on other things.

It wasn't until Sydney said, "Jarod?"  That the Pretender noticed who had come in with Angel and Darien.

"Sydney?"  He smiled and hugged the older man.  He couldn't believe he was actually here. 

Willow was next to Jarod, puzzled that yet enough stranger was here.  "Jarod who's your friend?"
Jarod turned toward everyone and told the group after a few seconds.  "This is Doctor Sydney Greene.  He was my protector at the Centre."

"Wait.  This guy is from that Centre you told us about?  Isn't he a bad guy?"  Xander asked.

"Not exactly.  He's been helping me ever since I escaped.  How did you find where I was?  Is Miss Parker with you?"

Sydney shook his head.  "No I came here alone.   When I found out you here I wasn't actually looking for you at first.  I was looking for Angel."

The others in the room varied their glances between Sydney and Angel.

"Angel you know about all this?"  Was all his girlfriend asked.

Sydney answered the girl before the vampire could.  "It's strange yes.  We met a long time ago."

----

New York City

May 14, 1984

9:38 p.m.

A much younger Sydney Greene had just left a psychiatrist conference at the Arden House in Columbia University. 

It was a warm spring night and he decided to walk the few miles to his hotel, which was further into Manhattan.

Sydney had spent most of his walk going over what had happened during the conference.

That being said, it took him awhile to realize that as he was walking someone was following him.

At first Sydney just walked faster hoping that his imagination was making him paranoid.

But several minutes later he looked over his shoulder and saw he still being followed.

Sydney knew he was too far away from his hotel and there didn't seem to be any cabs. 

Worse still, most of the street was deserted. He was on his own.

So the good doctor did the only thing he could think of.  He ducked into an alley and made a break for it.

He didn't seem to be fast enough though.  His stalker caught up to him and threw him against the wall of the alley.

Sydney fell on top of a large cardboard box before slamming to the ground.

"Heh I like it when they run!"  Sydney's attacker had stopped and was hovering over him.

It was then that Dr. Greene realized the man's face looked warped.  He had large canine teeth almost protuding from his mouth and what looked to be bumps on his forehead. 

He got up and tried fighting back but his attacker didn't even seem to flinch from the punches Sydney threw and tossed him back to the ground.

Both men then heard something from behind them.  Someone had been inside the cardboard box Sydney had been thrown into.

It was Angel.  He was wearing nothing but torn clothing and his long, ragged hair gave the appearance that he was just another homeless man in New York.

The vampire chasing Sydney knew better though.  "This is none of your concern.  Walk away!"

That last comment seem to infuriate Angel.  "Walk away?  This is my home!" 

And with that Angel rushed the other vampire and a brutal fight took place. 

While Angel had been one the most brutal vampires in his day.  His self-imposed exile from the rest of the world caused his considerable skills to deteriorate so that this was a more even fight than he wanted.

By the time Angel had staked his opponent a minute later, he had several deep cuts from his attacker.

Sydney watched the entire episode play out.  The doctor was more in amazement than horror.  Especially after his stalker collapsed into a pile of dust.

After the fight ended, he was still there in awe.  That surprised Angel more than anything since most people simply ran at the first opportunity.

"Get out!"  Was all Angel told him.

"Wait!"  Sydney tried getting the vampire's attention as he walked away.  He came up to him and put his hand on Angel's shoulder.

Angel responded by grabbing his arm and slamming him against the alley.  His vampiric face was still on.  "Understand that I can kill you in the blink of an eye if I wanted to.  Go Away!"

"If you wanted to kill me you already would have.  You saved my life."

Angel stopped him before he said anything else.  "Don't.  Just don't.  I'm not part of your world.  I'm nobody.  I'm a monster."
"I don't believe that.  I've seen more monsters that much worse than I think you are.  And if anything I believe every person in this world has a purpose in it.  Even you."  Decades of working next to Mr. Raines had if anything shown how a human could be just as much of a monster as whatever Angel was.

Sydney reached into his pocket and pulled out all the money he had with him.  "Here take this."

"I don't need your money."  Angel said defiantly.

"Please.  I owe you at least that much."  He also pulled out his business card with his phone number on it.  "If you ever need anything.  My name is Sydney Green.  Don't hesitate to contact me."

Angel could hardly believe it.  In almost a century, this had been the first human not to react in fear or disgust whenever he had tried to help.  This man had actually been willing to help him.  And it felt genuine, not out of personal gain.

Angel cautiously took Sydney's gift and muttered.  "Thank you."
He started to walk away but Sydney yelled.  "Wait!  I didn't even get your name."

The vampire slowly turned around and told him.  "My name is Angel."

And without saying another word, Angel disappeared around a corner.

Sydney, now alone, could only think about the irony of that name.  "Well wherever you are Angel.  Good Luck to you."

----

"I never thought I would hear from Angel again.  However, he contacted me a few months later.  We kept in touch every now and then after that.  He told about who he was.  A vampire cursed with a soul.  Over the years I tried to help him as much as I could."

"So wait a sec.  Angel you had a psychiatrist?"  Xander interrupted Sydney's back-story.

Everyone else laughed, especially Darien.

Angel sighed.  He probably thought it would've been funny too if it weren't him.

"Hey just because I'm two hundred forty years old that doesn't mean I can't have a mid-life crisis.  Can we get back to the story please?"

Sydney chuckled to himself.  "A couple of years ago I had stopped hearing from him.   Then about four years ago I received a letter from him.  I still have it actually."

He pulled out an old piece of paper and handed it to Buffy.  She curiously unfolded it and read it aloud.

Sydney,

It's been a long time since we last talked.  I just wanted to tell you I'm still alive, or as close as I could be to that.

When we first met you told me that you felt that everyone had his or her purpose or place in this world.  I didn't believe you.  For years I thought it was nothing but a crock.  But a few days ago I found a guy in the city looking for me.  He said a lot of the same things you did that night.  So I started thinking maybe you were both right.

There's this place in Southern California called Sunnydale.  A lot of my kind are there and they've been killing hundreds of people in that town.  Supposedly there's some girl called a Slayer who's about to arrive here who can fight them all.  I guess I'm here to help, whatever that could be.

You know for eighty years I wandered around the world and you were the only person who didn't shun me when I tried to help them.  I don't know if I'll ever be able to contact you against but I felt you deserved to know how much you helped me and I wanted to say thank you.

Angel

Buffy looked at Angel after reading the letter.  "A guy found you?  Whistler?"

The vampire just nodded.  "Yep."

"I had hoped that whatever Angel was doing he had found some peace in his existence.  So I can assume the girl you were meant to help was this young woman?"  Sydney asked.

"Yeah that's right.  So this whole time you weren't looking for Jarod you were looking for me."

"Well when Jarod called me after the bombing.  I got here as fast I could and went looking for you.  I didn't know if he was still here or not but it was my hope that I could find you and he would be able to help Jarod and myself against this assassin.  Of course I should've expected you and Jarod would be together already."

Sydney then looked at Jarod.  "I should've counted on you finding Angel without me.  You probably don't need me here."

Jarod didn't believe it.  "Sydney don't ever say that.  You being here makes this much easier."

"Uh guys?"  Darien got involved in the conversation at this point.  "Now I know I'm new here and all but what's a Slayer?  And for that matter what's with this town?"

Jarod agreed.  "Yeah.  I have to agree with Darien this place is very strange and I don't know why."

Giles decided to field that question.  Being the resident historian on all things about Sunnydale he explained to the two men the truth about this place.

"Ah yes.  Well you see Jarod and Darien:  this town was built on top of a dimensional portal known as a Hellmouth.  It's a gateway into a demon dimension whose remnants were banished from Earth eons ago.  The energies given off by it attract all sorts of vampires and demonic creatures to here.  Not only that but the energies have been known to change the people living here.  Uh Darien that girl Marcie Ross that we thought you were.  She was a loner, always being ignored by those around her for some reason or other, because of that she was turned permanently invisible.  Around two years ago she tried to kill several of us and mutilate Cordelia's face."

Cordelia shut her eyes, trying to not to relive that hellish time from her past as Giles told these outsiders about Marcie.

Needless to say Darien interest was peaked.  "So what happened to her?"
Buffy told them.  "I dunno.  I stopped her and then these two F.B.I. agents took her away.   They said they would 'rehabilitate' her.  Kinda gave you the idea this had happened before."

"And she was stuck that way?  I mean she couldn't change back?"
"Yeah Darien.  I mean you could, she couldn't.  We don't know why."

I'll bet I do.  The Official and I are going to have a long talk when I get back.  It's too bad she ended up just like Arnaud.  I guess there could be worse things than having this gland in my head.   Was all Darien thought.  "So Buffy what are you in all this?"

Giles walked over to her and stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders.  "Buffy is the Slayer.  Records say that in every generation a young girl is chosen to fight those creatures.  When one Slayer dies another is found to take her place.  I'm her Watcher, it's my job to guide her on this quest as the chosen one."

Even though Sydney had known to some degree about what was going on here, he along with Jarod and Darien were speechless.

----

At the other end of town.  Hobbes and Claire were wondering all over the streets of Sunnydale looking for their friend. 

They checked his room at Motel 6, but while it was clear he hadn't checked out, he wasn't there.

It was too late at night to get help from the local authorities.  Besides the Agency's cover was that it was a small branch of the U.S. Fish and Game Agency.  And while it ensured a constant, albeit minor, trickle of funding the mock Fish and Game badges all agents carried didn't exactly strike fear into most people.

So the two resigned themselves to trying a sweep around the town.  Hobbes had his infrared goggles on; trying to avoid all the weird stares people gave him. 

Claire was with him trying to help as best as she could.

"This can't be right."

"Bobby what is it?"  The Keeper asked him.

"I know this is gonna sound strange but some of these guys ain't showin up on thermal."

"Huh?  Bobby that's impossible!  Are you sure your goggles aren't broken?"

"Nah I checked already."  He pulled off his thermal goggles.  Though Darien could become invisible to the naked eye, he still had a body heat signature just like everyone else and thus could be seen using infrared tracking.

"I mean see those guys at the other end of the street?" Hobbes handed the goggles to Claire. 

"Yeah I see them."

"Well look at 'em with the goggles on.  Most people give off a bright color like red or orange when you look through there.  Those guys show the darkest color.  It's like they don't have any body heat."

Claire looked through the goggles and sure enough Hobbes was right.  That still didn't mean she believed it.  "It has to be a problem with your goggles.  I mean what you just said it's scientifically impossible!"

"Hey Keep I'm not disagreein.  You gotta admit it's weird though."

Hobbes didn't get a chance to continue because his cell phone starting ringing.  He groaned, already knowing who it was.  "What do you want now?"

It was Eberts on the other end.  "Robert you were ordered to give an update every three hours.  Have you found Darien?"

Hobbes hated being called by his full first name. 

He argued with Eberts for some time. 

Claire just was trying to ignore them.  She heard something falling just behind her.  When she turned around, she saw a large green monster not even five feet from her.

It was the Kiash Demon that Buffy had fought several nights ago.  And it looked like it thought it had found an easy kill.

The Keeper tried to scream but nothing came out.  She staggered backwards in horror.

Hobbes had no idea what was going on.  He was too engrossed in his phone conversation.  The man told Eberts, stringing out every word to make his point.  "Look When I Find Fawkes I Will Call."

Claire bumped into Hobbes.  "Claire what's your prob…" He turned around, saw the demon, and freaked out.  A million thoughts ran through his mind but all that got out of his mouth was, "…Holy Shit!"

The Kiash demon grabbed Claire.  She tried struggling to no avail. 

"Get your hands off her ugly!"  Hobbes yelled.

He threw a left jab only to feel the bones in his hands crack as he punched its tough green hide.

The Kiash Demon threw Claire into an alley as Hobbes shook his hand in pain.

That didn't stop Bobby though.  He tried another punch but the demon grabbed his hand in mid swing and twisted his wrist, which almost broke it.

It then threw Hobbes into a pile of garbage bags in the alley. 

Claire was backing away in horror while Hobbes struggled to get up, all the while muttering "What the hell?" and "Oh God!"

The demon was feeling pretty full of himself.  "Grrrraahhhh!"  It let out a massive roar to try and scare it's two opponents.

It didn't scare Hobbes, well at least not more than he already was. 

Hobbes just looked back at it and yelled.  "Brrrraaaahhhh!"  He scratched his hands on his sides like a gorilla for emphasis but it looked more corny than scary.

But unlike the demon, he had a 9mm handgun, which he quickly pulled out of his holster and fired after his King Kong impression.

The Kiash demon was hit three times at point blank range and crumpled to the ground in a growing puddle of green blood.

Bobby was wide eyed in shock as he let that encounter sink in.

"Jesus…you know it woulda been nice of Fawkes to tell us he was in Wonderland."

"Bobby are you alright?"  Claire asked him as she got up and over to him.

"Yeah I think…" Hobbes tried to get back up but when he used his left hand to push himself back up off the garbage a wave of pain shot through that arm.  "…Ahhhhh!"

Claire quickly checked out his arm.  She lightly tapped his wrist, Bobby grunted in pain.  "Does that hurt?"
"What do you think?"  He growled.

"C'mon.  Let's get you to a hospital.  We should get that checked out."  Claire helped him up and out of the alley.  Since he was in so much pain he didn't even notice his cell phone had fallen out was lying on top of the garbage pile.

----

"So this guy was hired by the Centre to kill me.  From everything I've seen he's been used guerilla tactics the two times he's attempted.  It's almost as if he's not willing to try a direct confrontation.  I still don't know who he is."

Jarod was getting as in depth as he could on Stiletto.  He had been lucky two times and wasn't willing to test his luck again.

He was going over this a second time to fill in any holes he left out after Darien made his crashing entrance and to tell Sydney what he had found out.

The Watcher added his own points.  "Well Jarod I think between all of us, the list of people we think that could do this is too long to mention."

That was an understatement.  Just every person here had an opinion on who the assassin could be.

Jarod and the Scoobies had been looking through some of Giles' books to try to find something or anything to help them out.

Finally Willow seemed to have something that may be of use.

"Hey look at this!"  She pointed toward a passage in a book she was looking through as the other gathered around.  "It's a spell.  Every time somebody uses a spell it's like a fingerprint.  Everyone has their own signature.  This is a locator spell, it can find whoever put that enchantment on the weapons cabinet."

Darien stopped her at that point.  "Hold on Willow.  Magic?  That doesn't exist."

"Yes it does!  H-How do you explain what happened this morning?"

"I've got my guesses."

Buffy told the Invisible Man.  "She's right Darien.  Magic does exist.  All of us in Sunnydale have seen it."

He still had his doubts.  "Hey I think I know how that might've happened this morning.  Uh…I just need to make a call."

Darien walked out of the library to verify his guess.

"Um…Doctor Greene?"  Willow asked. 

"Please its just Sydney.  What is it?"
"I was just thinking.  How did you find Angel if you didn't hear from him in four years."

That was a good question.  Sydney replied.  "Well I didn't know where to look exactly.  I was told there was a man here named Willy who knew about everything in this town."

"Maybe he knows something about Stiletto."  Buffy added.

Angel was in that line of thought too.  "It's worth a shot.  Buffy and me can head down there.  Sydney maybe you should come too since you talked to him last."

"Yes Jarod and I will accompany you.  Mr. Giles would you come too?  There are some things I wish to discuss with you."

"Uh…well yes.  Yes that's no problem." 

As the five of them got really to leave, Willow asked Buffy.  "You gonna be alright?  I-I mean you don't need us."

The Slayer just shook her head.  "This is probably just a dead end.  Honestly I think your spell has a much better chance of working than this.  We'll be fine, we should be back in half an hour."

Jarod wrote down his cell phone number and passed it to Willow.  "Willow, if you guys find anything call us.  I'll leave my phone on."

They left through the main entrance of the school.  The Invisible Man didn't even know they were gone since he left through the side entrance.

----

As for Darien he was in the parking lot of the High School.  Everyone had their own guesses on Stiletto and so did he. 

Before he went to the others with his assumptions he figured he might want to find something substantial to back it up with.

He pulled out his cell phone and called the Agency.  A tired voice answered.

"Hobbes I don't have time for this."

"Eberts?"

"Darien?  Oh my god!  Where are you?  Is Hobbes with you?"  Eberts suddenly felt very awake.  Thanks to Darien's surprise call a surge of adrenaline went through him.
"Whoa slow down!  I'm still here by myself what are you talking about?"
"Darien, Hobbes is in Sunnydale looking for you!  I just got off the phone with him!"

The Invisible Man wondered how the Agency knew he was here.  Then it came to him.  "You've been tracking me haven't you?  Christ Eberts don't you guys have anything better to do than play 'Where In The World Is Darien Fawkes?'"

Eberts got defensive at this point.  "That wasn't my choice I was under orders from the Official!  If I recall you were the one who went AWOL and started this fiasco.  Anyways that man you're following named Jarod, we've found out quite a few things about him."

"Old news."  Darien decided not to get stressed over The Agency.  He had enough things to worry about.  "Listen do me a favor.  I know it's a long shot but bear with me.  Does the Agency have any records on a contract assassin named Stiletto?"

After thinking for a minute Eberts started remembering something.  "Um…yeah I think…hold on."  He brought the phone over to a filing cabinet and pulled out a manila folder.  "Yes here it is.  Let's see here.  Well according to this report he's the primary suspect in over two dozen different murders over the last few years.   He's been all over the world.  New York, London and…oh god…they think he was involved some particularly gruesome hits in Prague from a few years back.  Darien what's going on down there?"

Darien explained.  "I'm almost positive this guy was the bomber in San Diego.  And he's here in Sunnydale."

"You're serious?"

"Yup.  And here's the kicker, I think he's Arnaud…"

Darien explained what had transpired in the library that morning.  He still did not believe any other explanation other then the idea that Arnaud was in the library and he was the one who was attacking Jarod and Buffy with from the weapons cabinet.

"…so I think it makes sense.  Either that or Simon Cole is still using my body to take another trip across the universe.  You did get that psycho outta my head, right?" 

That last part was more of a demand than a question.  Simon Cole was a C.I.A. agent who had been originally chosen to be the Invisible Man.  However after the gland was implanted in him he went insane and died.

The gland was taken out and later implanted into Darien.  But shreds of Cole's RNA still resided in the gland which manifested itself into an alternate personality based on Cole's memories while Darien was asleep.  Several people were nearly killed before Claire managed to get rid of the junk data in the gland.

Eberts tried to reassure Darien on the Cole issue.  "Darien I can guarantee we removed any traces of Simon Cole.  Now about Stiletto.  If this is really him well he's on the F.B.I. and Interpol's most wanted list.  I can convince the Official to send a team since this is such a dangerous situation.  They'll be there in twelve hours and'll bring this guy into custody."

But Darien wanted no part of that line of thought.  "Eberts on the list of things I'm gonna do to this guy when I find him, bringing him in maybe gets an honorable mention at the bottom."

"Darien listen to me!  Do you know how much clout the Agency can get if we apprehend this guy?"

"Sorry.  Ain't gonna happen."

"Darien!"

"Eberts!"  Darien mimicked him right down to the mocking tone.

"You're going to make this difficult aren't you?"

"Yup.  Hey one more thing.  See if there's anything on a Marcie Ross."

"Why?"

"I'll get back to you on that.  Just call it a hunch.  I'm guessing I know how Kevin came up with the idea for the gland."

Darien hung up and rolled his left sleeve up.  He looked at the dragon tattoo that acted as the meter for when he hit Quicksilver Madness.  Six of the seven scales on the tattoo were red, which meant Darien was fairly close to going insane.  He had been forced to go invisible in City Hall to escape the Mayor and to sneak into the library earlier.

The Invisible Man had a choice.  Either take the chance and hope he wouldn't go psycho or find Hobbes and get a shot of counteragent.

He punched in Hobbes' number and prayed it was on.

----

In the alley where the Kiash Demon had nearly killed Hobbes and Claire, Hobbes cell phone just kept ringing on top of the pile of garbage.

----

"C'mon Bobby pick up your damn phone!"

Darien let it ring a few more times before giving up.  He made a mental note of trying again later.

One thing was for sure, there was no way he could afford to use any more Quicksilver for the time being.

This lawyer, Gerry Spence, once said in a book. "I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief."

Of course this schmuck never set foot in Sunnydale.  With all the crap I've been through in this town lemme tell ya:  Ignorance is Bliss.

See if you had said three days ago that I'd chase a guy who plays make believe for a living into a town full of vampires, whose sworn enemy was a hundred pound high school girl, I'd probably advise you to buy some more of that batch you're smoking 'cause it's really good.  Of course this is coming from a guy who can turn invisible on a whim so who am I to throw stones?  I guess reality is stranger that fiction…

Darien walked back into the library and saw half of the people who were in the library when he walked out were gone.  "Where is everyone?"

Xander, Oz, Cordelia and Willow were still here though.

"They're checking out a lead."   Was all Cordelia told him.  She didn't even look up from her book as if everything was fine.

"Hey I might've wanted to go too!"

She shrugged.  "Trust me it's no big deal.  You've seen one demon you've seen em all."

"Darn!"  From across the room Willow tossed an empty bottle on the table.

Oz asked.  "Willow what's wrong?"

"One of the things I need for this spell; we don't have any left!"

Darien reacted in disbelief.  He was desperately trying to keep an open mind about this town but magic was not something he was willing to believe without some type of tangible evidence.  And that meant something more than a few books that to him seemed older than Gutenberg's Bible. "Not this again."

"Hey m-magic is real!"  Willow was trying to be as convincing as the shy girl could.

He sarcastically replied, "Sure it is Willow."

"Hey you know vampires are real why not magic?" 

Darien had to admit the redhead did have a point.  "Well for one thing I've actually seen one…well two if you count Angel."

Oz then spoke up in defense of his girlfriend.  "Ya know Darien why don't you come with Willow and me to get the stuff we need for this spell?  Then you can see for yourself."

Darien thought it over for a minute.  Figuring he wasn't doing anything productive in the library he said, "Sure.  Beats doing nothing here."

Xander got up from the table and joined into the conversation. "Don't leave me outta this I wanna come too!  This gonna take awhile?" 

"We should be there and back.  The others won't even know we're gone."  Was all Oz said as the four of them walked out of the library a moment later.

Afterwards Cordelia looked up from her book and realized she was alone. 

"Hey wait for me!"

----

Buffy, Angel, Giles, Jarod and Sydney were on their way to Willy's.  It was a shot in the dark but they really didn't have much of an alternative.

Jarod and Angel were comparing things about Sydney with Buffy adding her own thoughts every now and then.

Giles and Sydney were ten feet behind them.  The two older men were in their own conversation.

"Well you see Giles I've had this nagging feeling something about Angel isn't right.  I could tell as much I saw him at his apartment.  Like he was hiding he was ashamed about.  Did something happen to him here?"

Giles took off his glasses and rubbed them off.  This was a very touchy subject for all of them.  It didn't help that there hadn't much of a sense of closure after Acathala.

With a deep breath and a very serious tone in his voice Giles said.  "Angel's curse had been broken last year.  Apparently if he ever had a moment of true happiness his soul would be taken away from him and he would turn back into Angelus.  Angelus was a particularly brutal vampire, the fabled 'Scourge of Europe'.  He killed several of our friends and tortured us physically and emotionally for months.  It was…like a game to him."

"My God.  But what happened?  Angel doesn't seem anything like that now."
"We discovered a way to re-apply the curse to him.  But by then Angelus had tried to open a portal to hell to destroy the world.  Buffy was forced to send him to hell to close it.  It devastated her.  Her entire life had fallen apart during that final encounter and she ran away for months before coming to terms with what had happened."

Sydney shook his head, realizing how much his friend and those Angel cared about had suffered because of that.

----

Ten minutes later after the Scoobies and Darien had left the library, Willow had everything she needed from the magic store and they were heading back there to see if they locate Stiletto's location.

Willow and Oz were making small talk ahead of the others.

Darien, wanting to know more about these kids, started up his own conversation with Xander.

"Xander."

"Darien?  What's up?"

"I was just wondering.  How the hell long have you guys been doing this?"

"Doing what?  You mean fighting all the bad guys Sunnyhell has to offer?"

"Pretty much."
"Bout three years.  Nothing but fighting vampires, demons and the occasional apocalypse."

Darien whistled in admiration.  "Hey I heard you laughing after I left with Angel a few hours ago.  You do know that wisecrack I made wasn't *that* funny, right?"

Xander couldn't help but laugh.  "Nah see I've been calling Deadboy that since we first met him.  He really hates it."

The older man arched an eyebrow.  "Really?  Heh great minds think alike.  I should call him that a lot more."

They both snorted a laugh.  The Invisible Man seemed to think he and Xander had a lot in common.  Both of them had sarcastic streaks a mile wide and it seemed like the young man, much like himself, didn't react too well to people telling him what he could or couldn't do.

That and the fact that both of them seemed to hate Angel.

Darien almost wondered that if he never gotten into the stealing business, he might've ended up like Xander Harris minus all the 'fighting vampires' stuff.

"Xander can I trust you with something?"

"Shoot."

Darien rolled up his sleeve revealing his dragon tattoo.

Xander was just in awe.  "Whoa.  That's so cool."

"It's more than just a tattoo.  See how the red goes up most of it?  Well that was the down side of this gland I've got that I mentioned earlier.  If the red goes all the way up, I have a psychotic episode."

"That can't be good."

The Invisible man nodded.  "Exactly.  I need an injection of something called Counteragent to make it go back down.  Problem is I don't have any."

Darien was being serious.  Xander could tell as much. 

The young man was beginning to get the feeling Darien was starting to trust him. 

The fact that he was being this way with only Xander made the young man feel like he was doing something to help out.  "So how do we find some of this Counteragent?"
"You can't just make the stuff.  Believe me I wish I could Xander.  My partner from the Agency is somewhere in town with some.  Short, bald guy named Hobbes.  Problem is I can't find the guy and he's not answering his cell."

He wanted to tell Xander more about the gland but the five of them suddenly stopped when they saw somebody in front of them.

"Darien."

There was a black guy wearing a suit in that suddenly appeared in front of the group.  Two more vampires were behind the young people cutting off any escape in the other direction.

All of the Scoobies got very nervous.  Darien just looked confused.

"Huh?  Whose this?"

Willow nervously told him without taking her gaze off the black man in front of her.  "His name is Mr. Trick.  He works for the Mayor."

It took the Invisible Man a second to put two and two together but when he did he didn't like the outcome.

"Ah crap."

----

Willy's bar was a haven for most vampires and other demonic creatures.  Needless to say when the Slayer walked through the door several vampires instantly got up and headed out the back entrance.

Willy just sighed, figuring he'd just lost a good chunk of business for the rest of the night.  Then tried to put his best face on.

"It's the Slayer!  What'cha doin around this neck of the woods?"

Buffy grabbed him by the hair before saying anything.  "What can you tell us about Stiletto."

The snitch immediately got defensive.  "Hey hold up!  You in a bad mood?"

"I got suspended and no I'm not feeling great today.  So either tell us what we want to know or I'm going to take out some of my anger on you and this craphole."

"Buffy!  Enough!  Let me handle this."  Was all Jarod told her.

She reluctantly let go of the snitch as Jarod tried another way to get the information they needed.

"Willy, right?  I was just wondering do you have a liquor license for this establishment?"

Willy's face went white.  "It's in the mail!"

"Mmmhhhmmm…One more thing.  Just by looking around I can see at least fourteen different codes violations.  I'm betting there'd be more in a thorough investigation.  You're probably looking at close to…oh I don't know…two thousand dollars in penalties."  Jarod's face had a big shit eating grin the entire time he was talking.

Willy hadn't been expecting this.  He could deal with the occasional physical violence.  Getting beaten up by a gorgeous seventeen year old at least provided for some strange fantasies he could think about later on. 

But this guy Jarod was just being cruel. 

"You wouldn't!"

"Watch me Willy."

Willy's shoulders slumped down in defeat.

"Okay!  Okay!  He's a hitman!  Rumor has it he's in town for some hit on a new guy in Sunnydale." 

The Pretender still had questions though, "Where is he?"

"That's all I know I swear!"

"Jarod I think we're done here."  Was all Giles said.  "He doesn't know anything we already did."

"I kinda figured.  So I guess Willow's our best bet now.  We should head back."

Sydney had an incredulous look at Angel then back at Buffy.

"You mean to tell me I just paid him fifty dollars for Angel's whereabouts when all I had to do was threaten him?"

Buffy just smiled in response.

----

"This is it Jarod.  You're a dead man this time."

Stiletto was on the roof across the street from Willy's bar.  He had staked out the library waiting for the Pretender to leave all night. 

He picked up a scoped hunting rifle and got in position. 

This was perfect.  As soon as Jarod walked out of Willy's he would be in clear view.

Even if you survive this you won't make it through the night.

----

As Sydney walked out of the bar behind the others, he was really starting to feel old.  It seemed like the people he knew where suffering and he couldn't do anything to stop it.

He was Jarod's protector and he was Angel's friend.  He watched as the both of them dealt with the guilt and grief of an untold number of deaths that neither of them committed but they both felt at fault for.

Worse still, he had seen the horrors displayed by monsters from two different worlds:  Sunnydale and the Centre.

He stayed behind everyone else as he pondered these events. 

By chance Sydney looked up and thought saw something shimmering off the top of the building.  He thought it was nothing until saw it two more times.  And after hearing Jarod talk about Stiletto, he had a fairly good idea what it was.

"Jarod look out!"

Sydney rushed toward Jarod and shoved him out of the way just before a shot rang out.  He felt something rip into his abdomen and Sydney fell to his knees then to the ground.

Jarod just witnessed what had happened in fear and shock.  "Oh God No!  SYDNEY!"

----

TBC