RED
A/N
Okay, so a lot of people were disappointed with the lack of words in the last Chapter. There is a reason for that. It was three in the morning. I'd been up for over 48 hours. I was tired. It wasn't the best chapter in the world, but I stand by it as it got a lot of stuff set up in a few words.
And I was tipsy too.
Spiteful Hope: I'm glad you're enjoying the fic! I hope that I manage to keep that pace up and keep you interested! *grins* I tried Chapter 10 on my PC and it worked fine. Perhaps if you try it again it might work.
RedPat35: I hope you like this chapter.
The Unicorn: So it was short. Gimme a break here. I'm co-writing, co-starring and co-directing a play and I'm also in charge of the rehearsals, costumes and publicity. I have a lot on my plate at the moment.
Para-chan: It was short I know, but it's got a lot of information in it if that helps any?
On with the fic! *grin*
ANOTHER A/N
Okay, this is the third time I've uploaded this chapter. The two previous times, ff.net have frelled it up, missing out lots of paragraphs. Each time, it's been a different section that has disappeared. If it does it again, I'm going to track down the people who run ff.net, get on a plane and go kick their respective arses!
That said (and explained), welcome to the fic!
YET ANOTHER A/N
Getting pissed with ff.net now. This chapter has been uploaded in a different format from the previous chapters in the hope that it'll prevent it from screwing up. Again.
Presenting the (hopefully) not screwed up fic!
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Buffy watched the X-Men's jet take off, Xander and Dawn beside her, waving frantically.
The X-Men had stayed in Sunnydale for as long as possible, but had eventually been called back to the school they ran for other mutants in Westchester, New York. Before they left however, Jean had given Buffy a telephone number she could either call if Willow got in touch or pass on to her.
As for Angel, Cordelia and Wesley, they were in the middle of a big case and had left the day after they had arrived. But Angel had promised to do his best to track Willow down.
Buffy doubted if anyone would find Willow. It had been two weeks since she had left and she still hadn't contacted them. And she could always use her powers to grow a new face or something.
But on the plus side, the media furore had died down to a quite hum. Willow's name only ranked a paragraph on page eleven every other day now.
Nope, Buffy thought as her feet turned homewards, Willow was deep underground. She'd be as far away from anything remotely resembling a newspaper as possible.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
"Weaver!" A voice bellowed. "Have you finished with page eleven?"
"Yes Mr Edwards, sir!" Willow yelled back to her editor.
"Then where the hell is it!" He demanded.
"It's in your inbox!" Willow shouted in response, turning her attention back to the article on Spiderman she was researching.
She'd managed to dig a slightly less than pathetic photograph out of the newspaper's archives, but The Daily Bugle got all the best pictures and they weren't sharing.
Vaguely, Willow noticed The Herald's top reporter, Paul Stevens, entering Mr Edwards' inner sanctum.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
"What is it Steven?" James Edwards, Editor-in-Chief of the Herald asked.
"That article the new girl's researching."
"The one about Spiderman? You want it?" Edwards frowned.
"Yeah." Paul Stevens smiled. "But with a slight difference."
"What?" Edwards asked, suspicious.
"Well, we're always running articles about Spiderman but we never have solid facts and we never have a decent picture. The Bugle has the pictures. How do they get them? Find out who takes them and you have both facts and pictures. I want to do an article on Spiderman's photographer." Stevens said, and held his breath. This was an article he'd been longing to do for a while, but it was the first time he'd ever broached the subject with Edwards.
"We'll run it as a companion piece to a regular Spiderman article." Edwards gave his approval. "How are you gonna find out who the photographer is?"
Stevens shrugged. "I figured I'd hang around the Bugle for a while."
"They know out reporters too well." Edwards told him, shaking his head. "For this you'll need someone they won't recognise to do the legwork."
"Who?"
"Weaver."
"The new girl?" Paul Stevens was incredulous. "She's only been here a week!"
Edwards shrugged. "She's got talent."
"You aren't pulling a Lois Lane and Clark Kent on me are you?" Stevens asked suspiciously.
"Now Steven, you should know that you haven't got the legs to be Lois!" Edwards told him with a grin.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Willow looked up from her computer to find Paul Stevens standing over her. He threw a file onto her desk.
"New assignment for you Weaver." He told her. "Edwards' orders."
Willow opened the folder with an apprehensive glance at Stevens.
"Do you have to hang over me?" She asked.
"Actually yes, you'll be assisting me."
Paul Stevens stifled a grin when Weaver's eyes widened and shot to the page in front of her. He had to admit that the new girl was going to be fun to work with.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Professor Xavier exited Cerebro with a heavy heart.
"Any luck?" A voice asked.
Xavier shook his head, heading for the lift. Jean placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder and Xavier covered it with his own.
"You'll find her." Jean told him gently as they entered the lift.
"I don't understand." Xavier told her. "There are times when she seems so close, as though I could reach out and touch her and then she just slides away. It's like she has a barrier up or something."
The lift doors opened and Xavier and Jean stepped out into the main part of the school.
"Well, she was a witch." Jean offered.
Xavier sighed and then his attention was caught by the approach of Elizabeth Banning.
The young mutant moved through the crowd with her head down and shoulders hunched, clutching her books. The other students kept a wide berth around her and Xavier was reminded of Rogue when she had first arrived.
But Elizabeth had been at the school for five years.
Xavier reached out and touched her mind. Instantly he was overwhelmed with thoughts and feeling and was forced to snap the link shut immediately.
The contents of Elizabeth's extraordinary mind kept coming, the slower speed of his mind backing her thoughts up in his.
Abruptly the thoughts ended and Xavier was left with a vague sense of indecision and an insatiable curiosity about the world. His well-trained mind suppressed the feelings.
"I worry about Elizabeth Banning." He told Jean. "See if you can help her."
Jean nodded.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Angel knocked on the door. A middle-aged housewife answered, her hair bound up in a scarf and a smudge of paint on her cheek.
"Can I help you?" She asked.
Angel smiled reassuringly. "I understand that you recently visited your mother." He said.
"That's right." The woman confirmed, frowning and wrapping her arms around herself. "Is anything wrong?"
"Oh no ma'am." Angel assured her. "I was just wondering if you'd like to record a singing telegram for her. It's free."
The woman smiled. "Sure. Would you like to come in?"
"Oh, we can do it right here ma'am." Angel told her, brandishing a microphone.
The woman launched into song...
... Four ear-splittingly awful verses of The Drifters later, the door finally closed.
Angel shuddered. "I'm gonna have nightmares." He said. "Please tell me it'll be worth it."
"Angel baby, nothing'll ever be worth that torture." Lorne told him from his position around the corner. "I need a drink."
"Was Willow on the bus?" Angel asked.
"She was." Lorne affirmed. "Now about that drink..."
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Willow grabbed some files and tried to look as though she was working. Gradually she worked her way over to a vacant computer terminal.
Sitting down in front of it, she quickly bypassed the security protocols and hacked into the computer's mainframe files.
Ten minutes later, she had what she needed. The name, address and telephone number of the guy who took that Spiderman pictures. One Peter Parker.
"Parker!" A voice barked.
Willow jumped and looked around.
"What have you got for me?" The voice continued in the same tone.
"Uh, I've got a couple of shots from that bank robbery last night." Another voice replied.
Willow looked at the person speaking. He wasn't much older than her! He certainly wasn't old enough to be out of college, let alone taking incredible pictures of Spiderman.
Willow knew that she was supposed to report back to Paul Stevens when she had the information that he wanted, but she also knew that he was expecting it to take her at least the rest of today. Quickly formulating a plan, Willow slipped out of the Bugle offices and waited patiently outside in the busy street for Peter Parker.
A/N
Okay, so a lot of people were disappointed with the lack of words in the last Chapter. There is a reason for that. It was three in the morning. I'd been up for over 48 hours. I was tired. It wasn't the best chapter in the world, but I stand by it as it got a lot of stuff set up in a few words.
And I was tipsy too.
Spiteful Hope: I'm glad you're enjoying the fic! I hope that I manage to keep that pace up and keep you interested! *grins* I tried Chapter 10 on my PC and it worked fine. Perhaps if you try it again it might work.
RedPat35: I hope you like this chapter.
The Unicorn: So it was short. Gimme a break here. I'm co-writing, co-starring and co-directing a play and I'm also in charge of the rehearsals, costumes and publicity. I have a lot on my plate at the moment.
Para-chan: It was short I know, but it's got a lot of information in it if that helps any?
On with the fic! *grin*
ANOTHER A/N
Okay, this is the third time I've uploaded this chapter. The two previous times, ff.net have frelled it up, missing out lots of paragraphs. Each time, it's been a different section that has disappeared. If it does it again, I'm going to track down the people who run ff.net, get on a plane and go kick their respective arses!
That said (and explained), welcome to the fic!
YET ANOTHER A/N
Getting pissed with ff.net now. This chapter has been uploaded in a different format from the previous chapters in the hope that it'll prevent it from screwing up. Again.
Presenting the (hopefully) not screwed up fic!
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Buffy watched the X-Men's jet take off, Xander and Dawn beside her, waving frantically.
The X-Men had stayed in Sunnydale for as long as possible, but had eventually been called back to the school they ran for other mutants in Westchester, New York. Before they left however, Jean had given Buffy a telephone number she could either call if Willow got in touch or pass on to her.
As for Angel, Cordelia and Wesley, they were in the middle of a big case and had left the day after they had arrived. But Angel had promised to do his best to track Willow down.
Buffy doubted if anyone would find Willow. It had been two weeks since she had left and she still hadn't contacted them. And she could always use her powers to grow a new face or something.
But on the plus side, the media furore had died down to a quite hum. Willow's name only ranked a paragraph on page eleven every other day now.
Nope, Buffy thought as her feet turned homewards, Willow was deep underground. She'd be as far away from anything remotely resembling a newspaper as possible.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
"Weaver!" A voice bellowed. "Have you finished with page eleven?"
"Yes Mr Edwards, sir!" Willow yelled back to her editor.
"Then where the hell is it!" He demanded.
"It's in your inbox!" Willow shouted in response, turning her attention back to the article on Spiderman she was researching.
She'd managed to dig a slightly less than pathetic photograph out of the newspaper's archives, but The Daily Bugle got all the best pictures and they weren't sharing.
Vaguely, Willow noticed The Herald's top reporter, Paul Stevens, entering Mr Edwards' inner sanctum.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
"What is it Steven?" James Edwards, Editor-in-Chief of the Herald asked.
"That article the new girl's researching."
"The one about Spiderman? You want it?" Edwards frowned.
"Yeah." Paul Stevens smiled. "But with a slight difference."
"What?" Edwards asked, suspicious.
"Well, we're always running articles about Spiderman but we never have solid facts and we never have a decent picture. The Bugle has the pictures. How do they get them? Find out who takes them and you have both facts and pictures. I want to do an article on Spiderman's photographer." Stevens said, and held his breath. This was an article he'd been longing to do for a while, but it was the first time he'd ever broached the subject with Edwards.
"We'll run it as a companion piece to a regular Spiderman article." Edwards gave his approval. "How are you gonna find out who the photographer is?"
Stevens shrugged. "I figured I'd hang around the Bugle for a while."
"They know out reporters too well." Edwards told him, shaking his head. "For this you'll need someone they won't recognise to do the legwork."
"Who?"
"Weaver."
"The new girl?" Paul Stevens was incredulous. "She's only been here a week!"
Edwards shrugged. "She's got talent."
"You aren't pulling a Lois Lane and Clark Kent on me are you?" Stevens asked suspiciously.
"Now Steven, you should know that you haven't got the legs to be Lois!" Edwards told him with a grin.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Willow looked up from her computer to find Paul Stevens standing over her. He threw a file onto her desk.
"New assignment for you Weaver." He told her. "Edwards' orders."
Willow opened the folder with an apprehensive glance at Stevens.
"Do you have to hang over me?" She asked.
"Actually yes, you'll be assisting me."
Paul Stevens stifled a grin when Weaver's eyes widened and shot to the page in front of her. He had to admit that the new girl was going to be fun to work with.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Professor Xavier exited Cerebro with a heavy heart.
"Any luck?" A voice asked.
Xavier shook his head, heading for the lift. Jean placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder and Xavier covered it with his own.
"You'll find her." Jean told him gently as they entered the lift.
"I don't understand." Xavier told her. "There are times when she seems so close, as though I could reach out and touch her and then she just slides away. It's like she has a barrier up or something."
The lift doors opened and Xavier and Jean stepped out into the main part of the school.
"Well, she was a witch." Jean offered.
Xavier sighed and then his attention was caught by the approach of Elizabeth Banning.
The young mutant moved through the crowd with her head down and shoulders hunched, clutching her books. The other students kept a wide berth around her and Xavier was reminded of Rogue when she had first arrived.
But Elizabeth had been at the school for five years.
Xavier reached out and touched her mind. Instantly he was overwhelmed with thoughts and feeling and was forced to snap the link shut immediately.
The contents of Elizabeth's extraordinary mind kept coming, the slower speed of his mind backing her thoughts up in his.
Abruptly the thoughts ended and Xavier was left with a vague sense of indecision and an insatiable curiosity about the world. His well-trained mind suppressed the feelings.
"I worry about Elizabeth Banning." He told Jean. "See if you can help her."
Jean nodded.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Angel knocked on the door. A middle-aged housewife answered, her hair bound up in a scarf and a smudge of paint on her cheek.
"Can I help you?" She asked.
Angel smiled reassuringly. "I understand that you recently visited your mother." He said.
"That's right." The woman confirmed, frowning and wrapping her arms around herself. "Is anything wrong?"
"Oh no ma'am." Angel assured her. "I was just wondering if you'd like to record a singing telegram for her. It's free."
The woman smiled. "Sure. Would you like to come in?"
"Oh, we can do it right here ma'am." Angel told her, brandishing a microphone.
The woman launched into song...
... Four ear-splittingly awful verses of The Drifters later, the door finally closed.
Angel shuddered. "I'm gonna have nightmares." He said. "Please tell me it'll be worth it."
"Angel baby, nothing'll ever be worth that torture." Lorne told him from his position around the corner. "I need a drink."
"Was Willow on the bus?" Angel asked.
"She was." Lorne affirmed. "Now about that drink..."
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Willow grabbed some files and tried to look as though she was working. Gradually she worked her way over to a vacant computer terminal.
Sitting down in front of it, she quickly bypassed the security protocols and hacked into the computer's mainframe files.
Ten minutes later, she had what she needed. The name, address and telephone number of the guy who took that Spiderman pictures. One Peter Parker.
"Parker!" A voice barked.
Willow jumped and looked around.
"What have you got for me?" The voice continued in the same tone.
"Uh, I've got a couple of shots from that bank robbery last night." Another voice replied.
Willow looked at the person speaking. He wasn't much older than her! He certainly wasn't old enough to be out of college, let alone taking incredible pictures of Spiderman.
Willow knew that she was supposed to report back to Paul Stevens when she had the information that he wanted, but she also knew that he was expecting it to take her at least the rest of today. Quickly formulating a plan, Willow slipped out of the Bugle offices and waited patiently outside in the busy street for Peter Parker.