Greeting and Salutations. Sorry about the time it's been taking lately. I just got a new job recently and its taking up a lot of time I used to have for writing. Hopefully I can get back into a rhythm soon. Just be patient. Please?
Okay, just to clarify. The Adam mentioned is not Adam Pierson, aka Methos. This is Adam Kane of Mutant X, in no way connected to the Horsemen. He has been alive for approximently one thougsand years (give or take) and ran into Amanda about twenty years ago. Does that clear some confusion?
MacLeod's Antiques.
New York.
"MacLeod's Antiques," Connor MacLeod answered the phone, slightly annoyed. He had been trying to price an urn that had just arrived, one that had him thoroughly stumped. It looked like a Ming, but it was sealed with, if he understood correctly, very power charms. It was also far older than it looked.
"Hello, Connor."
"Duncan," Connor's face lit with a smile at the call from his student and clan brother, "How can I help you?"
"Ever heard of the Vampire Slayer, Connor?" The older MacLeod's face fell, the smile disappearing.
"Some," he said, remembering the twenty two Slayers he had known personally, "Any particular reason.
"Amanda arrived about a week ago," Duncan explained, "She has two girls, one eleven, one ten. Both marked as Potentials, both a exhibiting the powers of a full Slayer," Connor nodded slowly.
"Duncan, I want you to bring Amanda and the girls to New York," Connor said, "This is something best explained in person."
Two weeks later.
"Duncan," Connor said as he embraced the younger MacLeod, "How are you?"
"Trying to keep up with Amanda," Duncan said dryly. Connor chuckled.
"Surely she's not that difficult."
"That's what I keep saying," Amanda said from behind him, "He disagrees. Nice piece," in her hands was the 'Ming' urn he had been trying to figure out.
"I thought so, until I tried to price it," Connor said dryly, "It has me stumped."
"It had one of its previous owners stumped to," Amanda said.
"And how do you know that?" Connor asked.
"I… relieved him of the pressure," she said evenly. Connor chuckled.
"Duncan, if anything goes missing, you're paying for it," Connor said.
"Thanks," Duncan said dryly.
"So where are your mystery girls?" Connor asked.
"Yeah?" Buffy said, walking out of Connor's sanctum, holding a Musketeer sword, "This is nice by the way. Where'd you get it?"
"How did you get in there?" He demanded. Buff shrugged.
"I broke in while you staring at the vase Amanda's holding, about…" she thought a moment, "two hours ago. The fake book? Way obvious."
"So you got the easy stuff?" Faith said, coming down from the loft, "That bites. I actually had a safe to crack up here."
"You broke into my safe?" Connor exploded. Again, Faith's eyes went wide with fear.
"Hey!" Buffy yelled, "Don't yell at her. She was practicing, like Amanda likes us to."
"And why was she upstairs?" Amanda asked. Faith answered, her voice shaking.
"We staked the place out earlier and saw the safe upstairs," she answered, "I'm the better safe cracker so I took that…"
"While I went looking for the sanctum you mentioned," Buffy finished, standing behind her friend, "What'd you find, Faith?" The girl held out a folder, a pile of money, and a large, ornate knife, "Oo, shiny," Buffy reached for the knife.
"Elizabeth," Amanda warned. Buffy groaned.
"I swear, Amanda, if you keep calling me that, I'm going to start calling you 'mom'," Amanda glared at the girl.
"We're not keeping anything," she said, "This is practice, remember?"
"I know, I know, but he has two of these," Buffy said, holding up the Musketeer sword. Duncan raised an eyebrow.
"I think one may have been mine," he said. Amanda looked at him.
"You were a Musketeer?" She asked, "You really are a boy scout."
"Connor, what was so important that you had to tell us in person?" Duncan said, getting to the reason they were there. Connor shot a look at the girls.
"Elizabeth, Faith, can you two keep yourselves occupied while we talk?" Amanda asked. Buffy grinned.
"Easily," she said, dragging Faith towards Connor's sanctum, "He has heaps of cool stuff to look at."
"Don't break anything," Connor warned.
"Got it, C," Faith said, slipping back to her 'normal' self.
"C?"
"Faith has a tendency to shorten names as much as possible," Amanda said, "Now, what's so important?" Connor reached for the folders Faith had dumped on the table. The knife, he realised, was gone.
"Tell your girls I want that knife back," he said, handing the folder to her.
"What's that?" Duncan asked.
"The numbers, addresses and identities of all the active Slayers I know of," Connor said with a tight smile, "The knife is proof if I ever need to contact them. The Watchers aren't the only ones that guard the Slayers. I like to think we do a better job."
"'We'?" Amanda asked. What the hell was this?
"Perhaps I should explain," Connor said, "I am a founding member of an organisation that, like the Council of Watchers, are charged with guiding and guarding the Slayers.
"Unlike the Watchers, however, we believe it is the girls choice as to whether to enter the war against darkness or not. We do not lie to them, we accept them for themselves and, should they tell us 'no', we continue to watch over them.
"The legend you know, that there is but one Slayer, is a lie. At any one time there are, at least, one thousand Slayers that we know of. Less than half of those are under our protection. The rest, the ones we don't find… well, you can guess where they are."
"A thousand…?" Amanda said quietly, "Why would they lie like that?"
"Who knows?" Connor said sadly, "We help those we can, freeing the ones we find from the Council's lies, but in the end, it is not enough. You're girls are two of the ones both organisations missed."
"Someone didn't," Amanda muttered, "Buffy's a pre-Immie. I'm not sure about Faith yet, but…"
"Pre-Immortal?" Connor asked, shocked, "A pre-Immortal Slayer? This is unheard of, never even considered. This is…" he looked at Amanda earnestly, "Our resources are yours, as they are those who even know a Slayer. If there is even a hint of a prophecy concerning your girls, the Council will be searching."
"They won't find them," Amanda said, "I'm hiding them away somewhere where not even God could find them," she looked n the direction Buffy and Faith had disappeared in. Good thing I kept Adam's number, she thought.
Sanctuary.
"Adam!" Buffy threw herself into the arms of the man she would always think of as her father.
"Elizabeth," Adam wrapped her in his arms. It had been so long since he'd seen her, "You've gotten so tall."
"Why'd you leave?" Buffy asked quietly.
"I crossed the wrong people, girl," Adam said, "Nothing more, nothing less. I knew you and Amanda would be safer if I wasn't there. How have you been?"
"Good," Buffy said, pulling back. She then handed Adam his wallet. The Immortal scientist chuckled.
"You've gotten good," he said. He looked over at the raven-haired girl who was eyeing suspiciously, "Who's this?"
"This is Faith," Buffy said, dragging her friend in front of Adam, "Faith, this is Adam," the girl looked him up and down.
"Trading one A for another," Faith said offhandedly. Adam looked passed the girls, his eyes meeting with Amanda and Duncan.
"I'll look after them, Amanda," he said.
"You'd better," Duncan said, "Or Amanda will be the least of your worries," he smiled slightly, "I have a message from Connor MacLeod."
"Connor?" Adam hadn't seen the Highlander in… centuries, if not more, "What's he got to do with this?"
"The girls are under his protection," Duncan said, "He adopted them into the Clan," Adam stared at Amanda, who nodded, "That places them under my protection as well."
"Yes, I suppose it does," Adam said lamely, still slightly shocked. Connor and Duncan MacLeod? All I need now is Methos to show at my doorstep and threaten me with decapitation, he thought.
"Ah, cut it out, Duncan," Buffy said, "Adam'll look after us. I just hope we don't get too bored," she looked around the large garage, "I get the feeling we won't be leaving anytime soon."
"How're we supposed to keep in practice?" Faith muttered. Adam chuckled
"I'm sure we can find something," Adam said. Faith made a face, then handed Duncan his wallet.
"Thanks for not keeping it," he said dryly.
"No prob, D," Faith said with a smile. Buffy squinted at her friend, then elbowed her in the side, "What?"
"Give it back."
"But…"
"We don't keep it unless the former owner's slime, remember?" Buffy reminded her, "Give it back," Faith sighed, reached into her pocket and pulled out Duncan's credit card and gave it to him.
Six months later.
"I have to go out," Adam said.
"Another New Mutant?" Buffy asked. Adam nodded.
"This one's already in danger," Adam said, "But it's not the GSA. It's the Watchers. They think she's a Slayer," Buffy and Faith stiffened visibly. They both knew what they were, in the Slayer sense at least, and who the Watcher's were.
"Can we…" Faith began.
"No," Adam said forcibly, "You aren't coming. It's too dangerous."
"But you usually let us out," Buffy whined.
"That's just against the GSA," Adam said, "This is the Watcher's Council. These people want you two in the worst way. I'm not putting you in that danger."
"Adam," Buffy said calmly, "We can handle ourselves. We've proven that. Just let us go this once."
"No," Adam said, "I'm not taking you. All they want are weapons. I won't let my girls live like that."
"Oh, Adam," Buffy dove at the Immortal, wrapping her arms around his waist, Faith close behind her.
"Thanks, A," Faith whispered. Adam wrapped his arms around them. He knew about Faith's… turbulent past. He tried to give her, and Buffy, a stable environment, but with the GSA after him, and the Council after them, it wasn't easy.
"You know I love you both like my own daughters," he said, "I'd never let anything happen to you. That's why I need you to stay here. Just this once, alright?" Faith nodded hesitantly. She didn't want to make him mad, he'd send her away and she didn't want to leave.
"Alright, we'll hang here," Buffy said, "But if you don't come back, we're calling Amanda."
"That's a given," Adam said with a grin.
Stay tuned.
Doc.