The Mind Reader – Part 3
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Cafeteria
Xander couldn't believe it. Someone was actually thinking about killing all the students.
He looked around and saw Buffy and Willow over in a corner table, and moved to tell them.
As he moved closer more and more thoughts assaulted his brain. Xander grabbed his head, and tried to quiet the voices. They soon became too much for him to handle, and he slumped to the floor in a boneless heap, unconscious.
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Library
The first thing that Xander was aware of, when he woke up was the thoughts.
I think he's waking up!
He's OK..
Oh thank god...
He eyes are opening...
I'm cold...
"You all right?" Giles asked.
"I told them not to move you." Cordelia said, with a hint of concern. "They probably severed your spinal cord."
"Thanks for that scenario,." Xander mumbled as he struggled to it up from the couch in the library.
"Xander I don't think...!" Giles began, but only to be taken by surprise as Xander calmly sat up.
"I'm OK..." Xander said before his face grew serious. "Listen, there's a killer in the cafeteria."
"Excuse me?" Wesley asked, a little skeptical.
"Someone was thinking it...they thought...," Xander paused as he tried to remember. "'This time tomorrow I'll kill you all...' We have to... find them..."
Xander stood with calm ease, and without difficulty. 'Thank you Brood healing.'
"Did you recognize a, a-a voice?" Giles asked.
"Nope. It hardly sounded human...," Xander answered, before continuing. "It was so full of anger and pain...could have been any guy or gal in that cafeteria." He watched as Buffy stood from her seat.
"Don't worry. We'll find this guy," She said with gusto as she left the library, Willow, Cordy and Oz in tow, Giles and Wesley stayed behind. Xander made to follow them, only for the thoughts of the students outside to hit him like a ton of bricks.
"You can't leave Xander, it's too dangerous." Giles said worriedly.
"No...I have to find them..." Xander said, trying to appear well..
"Are you sure they meant it?" Giles asked.
"Yeah, I mean, who *hasn't* just idly thought about takin' out the whole place with a semi-automatic?" Xander said, trying to lighten the mood. He looked up to see both Watchers giving him the evil eye.
"I *said* Idly." He added. Wesley sighed and left saying he had a report to write.
"Putting that aside for a moment, Xander." Giles began.. "You should call your parents to come get you out of school for the time being..."
Xander noticed that Giles seemed to be trying to keep his thoughts hidden, but to no avail. A stray seemed to jump from Giles's head, causing Xander to sit up straighter from the couch and looks at the Watcher with disbelief.
"You had *sex* with Buffy's mom?!"
Giles choked on his own words. "Um, ah..."
"Buffy is so going to kill you." Xander laughed.
"It was the bloody candy... we were teenagers...!" Giles said while trying desperately to keep his thoughts in his head.
Xander's smile increased as he looked at Giles. "On the hood of a police car?"
"I have books I need to stack," Giles lied as he bolted away from the mind reading teen. "Why don't you head to the nurse's office.
"Twice?" Xander called out after him.
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Library – After Xander leaves
"I think we have everyone that was in the cafeteria..."Willow said as she finished writing down the names of suspects. "I'll do some computer work, match it against the FBI mass-murderer profiles... see if maybe we can, rule some people out."
"Is it just me or are you guys still having trouble with that fact that one of us is just gonna gun everybody down for no reason?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah, because *that* never happens in American high schools," Cordelia said sarcastically.
"It's bordering on 'trendy' at this point." Oz added.
"Besides which, Sunnydale High? Center of EVIL and all that?" Willow added on to the conversation. "Let's get to work. We have till lunch time tomorrow. We hope."
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[Library]
Willow is standing above and behind Jonathan, giving him the third degree.
"Fantasies are fun, aren't they Jonathan?" Willow asked, trying to look intimidating. In the dimly lit room.
"I-I guess..." Jonathan stuttered.
"We all have fantasies where we're... powerful and respected, where people pay attention to us..." .Willow continued.
"Maybe..." Jonathan said with a shrug.
"But sometimes the fantasy isn't enough, is it Jonathan?" Willow pressed on. "Sometimes we have to make it so people don't ignore us... make them pay attention... you know what I'm talking about, don't you?"
"You... w-want me to pay attention?" Jonathan asked looking frightfully at Willow.
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[Basketball courts, outside]
Oz was trying to interview Hogan while he shoots free throws.
"This is for the yearbook?" Hogan asked.
"Yeah, personality profiles." Oz lied.
"Can you ask it again?" Hogan asked.
"Sure...," Oz said as he looked down at the paper Willow had given him. "Do you ever feel that you've created a false persona for yourself... the 'guy who does everything right'... and how much of a strain does it put on you to maintain it?"
"Huh...I guessss... 'moderate strain'? IS that a good answer? I wanna get this right." Hogan asked dumbly.
Oz looked at Hogan for a second before scratching Hogan's name off the list. "Yeah, that's good."
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[Sunnydale HS, classroom]
Cordelia walks in as Mr. Beach is cleaning the blackboards.
"Hi Mr. Beach. Are you planning on killing a bunch of people tomorrow?" She asked warmly.
He looks at her, dumbstruck.
"Oh, its for the yearbook.' Cordelia said, her smile never leaving her face.
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[Sunnydale HS, Newspaper office]
Oz pops into the office, looking around.
"Freddy?" He called.
The room appears empty and Oz leaves. From under the desk, Freddy Iverson pops his head out from under his desk, making sure that Oz is gone.
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Sunnydale Streets - Midday
Xander walks through the streets, ignoring the looks that he receives from the people in the streets. As he walks by them, more and more of their thoughts shoot through his skull.
I should have just quit...
look at him smiling... like he thinks I don't know about her?
I cant wait to tell him we're gonna have a baby!
I'm so happy...
she doesn't know a thing...
I cant believe I'm getting married...
One more drink...that'll do it
Xander closes his eyes tightly, trying desperately to keep the voices out. As hard as he tries it does him no good.
Twenty years...
It's just a little drink...
Wait till the next time he comes home smelling...
Sometimes it's hard to keep going...
Xander ran down an alley, hands over his ears, feeling the voices lessen as he gets farther. He slumps up against a nearby wall. He looks around and realizes he in the abandoned part of Sunnydale. It was filled with old, rundown houses that had been deserted by the living and, according to Buffy, a great hangout for assorted vamps and demons.
As Xander begins to walk away from the abandoned houses a familiar, husky voice said, "Hey, boy-toy. Nice hair."
He turned to see a boot smash into his face. The last thing he hears before he slips into unconsciousness is a stray thought that could have only come from one person.
Please forgive me for this Xan.
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[Library]
Giles and Wesley are in full research mode, Giles poring over a thick tome, and Wesley is grinding something with a pestle and mortar.
"Well, it seems to be coming along all right." Wesley said.
"Yes. Xander's being driven mad, we have no proof that this is going to work, and we *still* need the heart of the second demon, which we have *no* idea how to get because the only one who knows where it could have gone is Xander..
"Negative thinking doesn't solve problems." Wesley said, with a hint of superiority in his voice.
"Who is going to get the demon heart?? " Giles asked exasperated.
Wesley ignored him and went into the office.
"Berk." Giles growled.
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[Playground, Night]
All is quiet in the playground. That is, until the demon that got away from Xander goes flying through the air, smashing into a picnic table.
A vamped-out Angel follows it as it rolls off the remains of the bench. The Demon jumps up and punches Angel once, but Angel blocks his next swing. Angel then throws a punch, connecting with the demon's head, but his next is blocked. The demon swings, but misses and Angel tosses him up onto another picnic table.
Jumping onto the table, Angel hits the Demon with an uppercut which causes the demon to do a 270 degree backwards somersault, its head smashing into the table. Angel jumps down, but the demon recovers and punches Angel in the face, then tackles him.
Pivoting, Angel grabs the demon and slams him into a set of monkeybars. Recovering again, the demon punches Angel hard enough to make Angel do a few body rotations of his own. The demon gets the hint and takes off running.
He doesn't get far before Angel catches up to it and snaps it's neck. Calmly Angel brought out a short sword he had in the back of his duster and sliced it to smaller chunks.
Having no idea that this is the demon that could help to keep Xander sane, Angel buries it in a hole dug by his bare hands, never noticing that he destroyed the heart in the process of chopping it up.
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Abandoned House
Xander slowly begins to open his eyes and realizes he's in one of the abandoned buildings. To be more precise, he was chained to a wall in one of the houses and was not wearing a shirt.
"Well, someone's been eating their Wheaties." A voice said from behind him, and Faith stepped into view, "I had to knock you out three more times before I got you here." Her eyes traveled to his hair and then to his eyes. "Damn X, what the fuck did you do to yourself. You look like a snow cone."
Xander noticed that she wasn't alone. Behind her stood ten vamps, and three very ugly demons. Each topped Xander's height by a two feet, and had a pale blue skin. Each was heavily muscled and had spike all over their chest. They had a rhino shaped head, including the deadly horn. Their fiery red eyes stared at Xander with no remorse.
"I'm guessing this isn't a get together of friends, huh." Xander quipped. While trying to think of what genes to use to get the hell out of her. He answered her next question by with a lie. "As for my hair, it was dyed by Cordy, and this is my natural eye color."
"Nice.." Faith said with a smirk. And damn sexy too.
Xander's eyes widened. And a plan began to form in his head.
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Sunnydale HS, classroom – Next Day
Willow is interviewing Nancy.
"Do I often imagine classmates are spying on me? Or otherwise acting suspiciously?" Nancy asked, repeating the question that Willow had just asked.
"Right." Willow answered.
"Not till just now." She replied.
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[Sunnydale HS, Newspaper office]
Oz comes up to the closed door of the office and knocks.
"Freddy?"
Getting no response, Oz walks off. Again we see Freddy coming from behind a corner, still hiding from Oz.
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[Library]1
"He's the only one we couldn't find?" Willow asked Oz as the group gathered from their search.
"Yeah, Freddy Iverson." Oz answered his girlfriend.
"The newspaper guy? But we can't figure out it's him without the worksheet, right?
"Well, we *do* have this guys." Buffy added as she began reading. "Today's editorial, titled "Big game draws mindless, brain-dead mob."
"Does he mention the cheerleaders? Because we were on!" Cordelia asked.
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[Sunnydale HS, Courtyard]
The gang walks through the courtyard, looking for Freddy Iverson. Buffy points in a new direction and they move off continuing on the search.
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[Sunnydale HS, Clocktower]
Jonathan is up in the clocktower. He looks down at something at his feet, his face is pale and sweaty. As he bends down, a metallic case is seen. Jonathan opens the case to reveal an unassembled, high-powered hunting rifle.
TBC
R&R