Part 2

"Come on, Willow do it again."

Willow wiped the sweat off her forehead and glared at Sam. She was very tempted to send an energy blast at Sam but magick or any demonic advantages were forbidden in the hand-to-hand training sessions.

Samantha Finn just smiled at Willow. Their friendship had started tentatively in Sunnydale and had blossomed with Willow's training.

"Right." Willow mumbled and prepared to attack Sam. This was just another area that she wished Giles had trained her in. But to be fair she hadn't been all that interested in weapons training or hand to hand fighting when she could use her magick.

Willow leaned in to kick and Sam easily avoided it. Willow blocked Sam's punch and twisted her body to flip.

Sam smiled up at Willow from the ground. "Knew you could do it."

Willow smiled back, "Yeah after about twenty tries."

"Record is still thirty tries so you did good. You'll be moving on to covert operations tomorrow. Small field tests."

"We'll still train in combat?"

"We can still spar. Do you think I'd give up the chance to keep kicking your ass?"

Willow smiled down at her, "Who's on the floor today, missy?"

Sam swept her foot around knocking Willow to the ground, "I'd say we both were. Never let your guard down with an opponent."

"Is that the last lesson oh wise one?"

"For today anyway."

They stood, both retrieved their towels and made for the showers.

"You've done really well, Willow. With all of your training."

Willow smiled remembering her first days as a raw recruit. It hadn't been pretty and she had been on the verge of telling Riley and his superiors to forget it. But one morning she'd mastered a particularly difficult for her move and then a spell went right. It had made her determined to not fail in this. That and the fact she wanted to show Giles, Xander and Buffy that she could still fight the good fight but also use her magick.

~~~~

Willow thought back to the day that Riley recruited her as she waited nervously for her covert ops instructor. She had promised to listen with an open mind and she was glad she did. She had been suspicious at first especially when Agent Williamson came in to talk to her. She hadn't trusted that he was telling her everything. She remembered the lessons learned from Maggie Walsh and Adam too well.

She wouldn't be military though she would work with the military through this agency. They operated under the full knowledge of the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This was no secret government agency that experimented on demons. In fact they worked with demons. They took Willow to see their training facility where humans and demons were working together. She was allowed to wander on her own without escort and she had all access to their computers as well. She hacked into the floor plans and was relieved to see there were no secret rooms.

Willow had found a Talaka demon in the hallway and had asked her questions about the fair treatment of demons. When she was satisfied that there were no secret experiments or an army of chipped vampires and that the demons here were fighting because they wanted to not because they had to she agreed to see Agent Williamson's superior.

Agent Menendez told Willow their mission. They were a wide based operations that worked all over the world not just at hotspots like Hellmouths. In their intelligence gathering they learned that the demons were more organized than they had originally thought. They had a chain of command like any community with a few 'big bads' at the top.

What Willow learned was that even the Master and the Mayor were small fish in the large pond of the demon community. They were going after the few 'big bads' and infiltrating from the inside. The demon and humans were working together to keep the balance between the light and dark. It was no longer the Vampire Slayer alone fighting the forces of darkness. There was a whole agency out there fighting the fight and taking it the next level. Using magick, using demons, using military covert operations, using technology to infiltrate and destroy the 'big bads'. Willow had been impressed and the offer to join was accepted with the stipulation that she could leave anytime she felt uncomfortable there.

A sound behind her brought her out of her thoughts. She saw her covert ops instructor closing the door as he entered the room.

"You ready, Rosenberg?"

Willow nodded and narrowed her eyes. She kept trying to place him. He looked familiar but she couldn't remember his name.

He cocked his head waiting for an answer and Willow's memory clicked into place. She had a name with the face, "Graham?"

Graham lips twitched, "I bet you never thought we'd be on the same team."

"I can honestly say that never crossed my mind."

"Well then let's go, recruit."

Great, just great she was going to have Graham as her covert instructor. Who would have thought a few years ago that she would be recruited by Riley and working with Graham as a deep undercover agent for the Government in a sting operation that involved the demon community. She just hoped she would be able to pull this off.

She had never been very good at lieing until she hid her magick use from her friends. Then she got good at telling them what they wanted to hear.

Whistler had told her the trick to a successful covert ops career was to stick as close to the truth as possible. She had hoped he would be her instructor but he'd been given an assignment a few days ago.

Willow followed Graham down the hall and to another room. There were clothes laid out for both of them.

"Can I just say, huh?"

"We're going clubbing."

"Oh well, okay then. That explains everything. Not."

"There's a new demon club that's opened up. You're first field assignment is to see how well you blend in to the demon community and mine is to see what intel I can gather."

That seemed easy enough. Willow picked up her clothes and smiled. "Did someone watch the movie 'The Craft' before going wardrobe shopping?"

Willow held up a black lace dress. It screamed goth-chick wicca wannabe.

Graham looked over his shoulder and grimaced. "Marci's idea of a joke, I think. She's the one that got the clothes for you."

Willow sighed and went into the changing room. As she opened the door she saw her real outfit suspended in midair and heard Marci giggling.

"Well at least it wasn't my vampire outfit of leather corset and pants."

"That CAN be arranged, recruit."

"That's okay. This is just fine." Willow took the outfit and began to change. God she hoped she wasn't the new recruit for long. She'd been teased by Whistler, Sam, Riley and now Marci.

"Rosenberg, you ready yet?"

"As I'll ever be." She mumbled before opening the door.

Graham looked into the room which appeared empty but he knew Marci was still in there. "Does she have her wire in place?"

"Yep, just have the boys check it for sound before you get in the club and right as you enter. Just to make sure of the volume with the club noise."

"Okay and thanks, Marci." Graham waved goodbye before leading Willow down the hallway.

"The first few exercises you'll wear a wire so we can monitor you and be there in case you need back up. When you feel comfortable enough to go solo you'll wear it one last time without a partner and if that's successful you'll be ready for your first true solo operation."

Willow just nodded.

Graham smiled over at her. He remembered his first time going solo in Sunnydale. He was scared but excited at the same time.

"You'll probably pass this part quickly and easily with all your experience with Buffy."

"Not much call for covert operations on the Hellmouth. We see, we research, Buffy kills, we go home. And have I mentioned I get stage fright?"

Graham asked himself again what he'd done to deserve this assignment. He thought he was past the training of raw recruits. Nothing against Willow but he wanted to be in the field again. He'd complained to his CO but it did no good. The compromise was this club opening. Graham could be in the field and Willow would have her first experience in covert operations.