Chapter Six

Mid June 2003 ad

Cleveland, Ohio Sol III

Tessa Johnson walked through the cemetery with a broken pool cue in her hand. It was the third night she had done so. She had been an ordinary fifteen year old girl until one day about a month ago. She was rough-housing with her older brother, Ray, and had thrown him against the far wall instead of just pushing him onto the couch like she meant to do. Her body felt alive with a new sense of power.

For some reason she had keep quiet about it. That night she sneaked out to the garage and got on the weight bench that Ray and his friends used. She began making test lifts and soon discovered she could bench press all the weights at one time. Something was going on and she wasn't sure what.

Then she began having the dreams. It was always monsters killing people. And young girls fighting the monsters. Then a week ago a classmate had been discovered dead in a nearby park. There was a rumor going round that the dead girl had bite marks on her neck. Images of a nearby cemetery keep flashing in her head during her dreams. She began to feel that she had this new power for a reason. So she began to sneak out of the house at night and walk through the cemetery.

Her father managed a pool hall and her brother's gang used broken pool cues as their signature weapons. She wasn't sure what she was looking for or what she was going to do with the cue, but she felt she had to do something.

She was about to head back home when a man walked out of the shadows. "Its unusual to find girls walking alone here at night," the man said. "I mostly see couples making out or people getting high. You're much better than some smelly old crackhead," he said as he punched Tessa in the face.

Tessa had never been in a real fight before. Getting punched shocked her so much so dropped the pool cue. She was bent over holding her jaw while the man gathered her in his arms and bent his head down towards her neck. All her instincts were screaming to get away, so she lifted her arms and broke his hold and he went flying through the air.

Tessa picked up the cue and began to run. Somehow the man was suddenly ahead of her. "Not getting away so easy," he said as Tessa rammed the cue into his stomach. It went in one side and came out the other and the man fell on the ground. Tessa burst into tears.

Impossibly, the man got up and punched Tessa so hard she flew through the air and landed hard against an ornate headstone. The man pulled the pool cue out of his body and began kicking Tessa as she lay on the ground. She was helpless and didn't know what to do. She was going to die.

Suddenly the kicking stopped. She looked up and saw Ray and several of his friends fighting the man. The man sent the gang members flying through the air with his punches and kicks. Tessa found new determination, picked up the pool cue and stuck it in the man's back while he was punching her brother. Tessa pulled it out and stuck it in the man again and again and again and again until the man suddenly turned to dust with a whooshing sound.

She coughed on the dust as she bent over her brother. "Are you okay, Ray?" she asked.

"Aside from seeing cartoon birds and anvils flying around my head, I think I'm alright. How about you, sis?"

"I'm okay. Boy was I glad to see you," Tess said as she helped him up. "Where'd you come from?"

"Johnny thought he saw you walking into the cemetery. He came and got me from the corner and we decided to come looking for you. There's bad stuff happens around here and you've been acting strange ever since you nearly gave me a concussion that day."

"Yeah something happened to me," Tessa said. "I got real strong and started having dreams. Weird dreams about monsters. And girls who fight the monsters."

"Speaking of monsters, what was that guy?"

"I don't know. Superstrong, hangs out in a cemetery at night, no tan, explodes into dust when I hit him in the heart with a wooden pool cue. Sounds like a vampire, although that's just crazy."

"No crazier than you turning into supergirl," said Ray. "Let's gather up the gang and get you back home."

"You gonna tell mom and pop?"

"No way-they'd freak and they already hate me running my piddly little gang. We'll deal with this ourselves. But we'll need some story to cover up that massive shiner you're going to have."

"Luckily mom will be going to work early tomorrow morning and dad will be still be asleep from his late shift at the pool hall, so we can get to school okay. But I think after school tomorrow you and I are going to have a sudden urge to join that karate academy by the grocery store. And we'll get a little over-enthusiastic about practicing our new moves on our way home."

"Sounds like a plan, Tessa."

"You bet-and your shiner is gonna be so much bigger than mine."

####

Mid June, 2003 ad

Los Angeles, California

Andrew sat in the warm sunlight of the Hyperion courtyard reading a book, but his thoughts were elsewhere. He couldn't get the Hellmouth out of his mind. He should have died there, just as Jonathon did. But Andrew lived. So there must be some purpose behind it. He just hoped it wasn't some evil purpose. He had tried evil and it hadn't worked out.

"Is that the new 'Enterprise' novelization?" someone asked Andrew.

"Yeah," he said pointing to the Captain Archer painting on the cover. I would so prefer a photo-cover of Scott Bakula, but what can you do?"

"I've always been a Kirk man myself, but its all good," the man said.

Andrew looked at him. He was extremely ordinary looking, but he got the feeling he had seen his picture somewhere. He noticed the label pin the man was wearing. "Is that a Psi Corps pin?" Andrew asked.

"Yeah I'm a big Babylon 5 fan too. Ivanova can really push my buttons. Hey, what's your name? I'm David Nabbit."

"I'm Andrew Wells. Aren't you that billionaire guy?"

"Yeah, but I was a sci-fi geek before I got money. Still am I guess. Look, I'm late for my meeting with Angel. Maybe I'll see you around sometime."

"Yeah that'd be cool," Andrew said. A sci-fi geek and a billionaire. And he didn't have to become an evil genius to do it. Andrew was so jealous.

####

"Seemed like a nice enough guy," David thought as he walked into the hotel. The last time he'd been here he'd felt bitter disappointment when he found out Angel wanted his business expertise, not his help with a case like David had hoped. He had put the hurt behind him and concentrated even more on his business. He'd been surprised when Angel had called about a month ago for possible help against some evil power.

All his geekboy fantasies came back to the surface as Angel and him had sketched out some brief plans. But his glee at working with a true hero was short-lived. The evil had been defeated in Sunnydale and Angel didn't need his help anymore. Then Angel had called again. This time the vampire assured David that the threat wouldn't be going away anytime soon.

David asked for Angel and one of the several young women in the lobby showed him to the office where Angel and two other young women were discussing something. One of the women was saying, "Andrew and Vi made that video today, it should really help with......" when Angel saw David at the doorway.

"David, glad you could make it. I know you're a busy man, but we would have come to you...."

"Well, I wanted to see where the real action was," David said. "Who are your friends?"

"This is Buffy Summers-the Senior Slayer," Angel said of a short blonde beauty who smiled at him. David instantly knew she was way out of his league. "And this is Anya, who'll be taking notes of our meeting, if you don't mind that."

"I don't mind at all," David said. "Pleased to meet you both." Anya was also a beauty, but in a different and exciting way.

"You have lots of money," Anya said. "I appreciate a man who can make the capitalist dream come true."

"Uh, thanks," David said.

"As you know," Angel said, "Me and my people are going to be taking over the LA branch of Wolfram and Hart soon. We're taking their offer so we can root out the heart of the evil that controls the company. It wouldn't hurt to have some high some high-powered business back-up in that struggle."

"Well, you know I'm your man when it comes to business," David said, feeling a little disappointed.

"Good. That's for the short-term, but in the long term we're putting together an army so we can do our part in the fight against the Posleen."

"Yeah. I'm starting to gear my companies up for the war effort too."

"David, I know in the past we haven't wanted to expose you to the dangers we face, but now the whole planet is threatened. We want you to be a part of our army. I know you can make a great contribution and you'll get the fight I suspect you've always wanted."

"Mr. Nabbit," Buffy said. "I don't know you, but I do know you are one of the few leaders out there who is comfortable dealing with the mystical side of things. We really could use your help."

"You've got yourself a recruit," Nabbit said as his heart brimmed over with emotion.

"Fantastic, David," Angel said. "I think you'll like the plans we've come up with so far, but we need your insight on how to make some things work......."

David couldn't have been any happier if he had been beamed up to the bridge of the Enterprise.