Giles had about a second to register what was going on before the woman wielding the mysterious gauntlet ran up toward them. Buffy made a move as well but Giles, in reflex mode, held her back and yelled, "Wait! Stop!"

"Giles, she's the one who attacked me last night!" Buffy exclaimed.

"Wrong, Blondie. You attacked me."

"Ladies, I'm sure we can find a rational explanation for everything." Giles was trying his best to be diplomatic.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "Like her being evil!" Buffy was trying to go after the older woman and Giles kept himself in front of her to keep her back.

"Buffy, please!" Giles said.

"Who are you people?" the woman asked as the glove reverted back to a simple bracelet.

"Who are we? Who are you?" Buffy challenged.

"Let me put this another way," the woman said. As she reached into her jacket, the Scoobies tensed for a moment, not knowing what to expect. Looking at it briefly, they realized it wasn't a weapon, which made them all relieved... for a split-second. What the woman did bring out was a leather holder. She flipped it up and said, "Detective Sara Pezzini, NYPD." Putting it back in her jacket she asked, "Now, who are you people?"

Needless to say, the Scoobies were shocked. "A cop? Buffy, you assaulted a cop?!" Willow asked anxiously.

"I didn't know! It wasn't like she was in the mood to talk."

"You're all under arrest," Sara said as she brought out her handcuffs.

"Detective, please," Giles said. "If you'll just hear us out, we'll show you we pose no danger."

Sara pondered this for a moment. She took note of the guy with the glasses. The Brit from the health-food store. True to stereotype, he was trying to be the rational one. The other girl, the redhead, just seemed to look flummoxed and worried. They hadn't really done any harm just yet... well, not all of them. But if they had information on who was doing this, it might have been what she needed to crack this case wide open.

"Alright," Sara said, putting her cuffs back. "You got three minutes to convince me why I shouldn't haul you in. And keep your dog on a leash."

Buffy looked at her ready to put her fist into her face and started to make a move toward the cop.

Giles, holding her back, took note of the area and said, "Perhaps we should move to a less conspicuous area of the building."

"Fine," said Sara. "But try anything funny..."

They all walked down toward the lobby and into the empty game room, where the Scoobies took seats. Sara and Giles were the only ones who decided to stand.

"I believe we're after the same thing, Detective," Giles started out.

"Enlighten me," Sara interrupted.

"The killer," Giles continued. "We're after the witch-killer." Sara had to admit she was a bit surprised, though she knew she shouldn't have been. The warehouse fight, and now, being in the same apartment building that was home to a friend of the last two victims; it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out they knew what was going on.

"We know that the killer or killers are close to finishing whatever they're planning. We also know that there's probably going to be another victim very soon."

"Which doesn't answer my last question," Sara said. "Who are you people?"

"My name is Rupert Giles. This is Willow Rosenberg." Willow smiled sheepishly at her name and nervously waved. "I believe you've already met Buffy Summers." The way Giles said it indicated that he wasn't too happy with the situation. Then again, who would be?

"We... investigate things pertaining to the occult and supernatural," Giles continued. "We were sent here to New York on a tip from some associates." Buffy had to admit the last part of that sounded like a plausible lie.

"And what associates would that be?" asked Sara, unconvinced. So much for the lie, Buffy thought.

"Um... I'm not at liberty to say," Giles said, searching for something else to talk about.

"So you're private investigators, huh? I suppose you have a license," Sara said.

Willow was getting slightly nervous. "Well, we... don't exactly have, per se... a, a license."

"Is that a fact?" Sara responded unsurprised. "Well, operating in New York without a license, interfering with a police investigation, assaulting an officer of the law. See, now's the part where I start arresting you," she said taking out her handcuffs again.

"Look, Detective, we are telling you what we can at the moment," Giles explained.

"Then I suggest you tell me a lot more than that! Your story doesn't explain why Blondie over there was packing the kind of punch she was last night, nor does it explain that weapon she was using."

It was then Buffy who chose to speak up. "What about you, huh? Why does a detective sport something like that?" she asked, pointing at Sara's deceptively simple bracelet.

Sara smiled wryly. "Badge. Cop. I don't have to explain anything." Normally, Sara hated pulling a stunt like that. But she was running high on emotion, and the fact that the blonde had beaten her last night, and she was going to play any card she could.

Buffy was livid. She hated being at the mercy of someone else, cops in particular. She always had bad run-ins with them and they never gave her even an inch.

Giles saw Buffy's expression and intervened. He decided it was time to lay it all on the table. It was either that, or spend the night in jail. "Alright Detective, we'll tell you. But it mustn't leave this room."

"Why am I not surprised?" She sighed loudly and replied, "I can't make any guarantees."

Giles reluctantly settled with that. "This may be hard to explain. Um, Buffy here is a Slayer, chosen to fight the forces of darkness: vampires, demons, and such. With that comes the strength and skill to do so. We came to New York because she had a dream of something ominous in the city. You can check with the airport; we only arrived two days ago."

"Plenty of time to kill the last three victims," Sara mentioned.

"But not to kill Ms. Valakesh. Besides, we arrived at around 9:00 am on Monday. Ms. Devereaux had been discovered by then, correct?"

Sara had to admit she was just grasping at straws. She just wanted something, anything, to get a hold of. "Yeah, around 5:45 am."

"You don't seem to be shocked that I mentioned vampires and demons," Giles said.

"Let's just say I've met some 'colorful' people in this town."

"Fair enough. Detective, we can help in this situation," Giles said. "We've had much experience, and we'll make sure to stay clear out of your way. As a matter of fact, we'll share all of the information we have. But we must be involved."

Sara was contemplating the offer. She could have just threatened to haul them to jail in return for the info. If they ran, an APB would make it tough for them to operate. But she also knew that these people were probably telling the truth. A super-powered girl who fought evil? She couldn't even make that one up... and she did that for a living. Sara finally decided it was better to have these people working with her, so she could keep an eye on them, instead of out there and possibly messing up her investigation.

"Fine," she said. "But if you screw up in any way, shape, or form, or try to put one past me, the only thing you'll be looking into is the peeling paint on a jail cell, got it?"

"We understand perfectly, Detective," replied Giles. "And as a show of good faith, I'll share this with you: the killer is looking for a fifth heart. We talked to Ms. Carlson and she mentioned the murdered twins had told her about a 'power of five' that was bringing evil to New York. We believe that five hearts are necessary for what the killer wants, meaning the next victim will be the last one."

"Got any idea who it is?" Sara asked.

"No, not yet," Willow said. "But I'll be working on a locator spell to find the potential targets." Sara looked at her, confused. "I'm a witch," Willow replied, seeing Sara's puzzled stare.

"You sure you want to be New York right now?" Sara asked. "Might not be safe for you."

"Don't worry. I've got a Slayer and a Watcher looking out for me. I'll be fine," Willow said proudly.

"Watcher?"

Giles just brushed it off saying, "Long story."

"They train Slayers," Willow answered.

"Apparently not that long," he responded. He had hoped his job description required a little more, well, description.

"You train Slayers, huh? I'm thinking Blondie over there needs a little more work." Sara was deliberately trying to bait Buffy. And the bad part was that it was working.

Buffy finally stood up from her chair and said sternly, "The name's Buffy. Not Blondie, not Bunny, not Buddy. Buffy."

"Whatever," said Sara. "Here's my card, Mr. Giles. Call me when you have more information. I'm also going to need a way to contact you if I have questions."

"Of course, Detective." Taking out a slip of paper, Giles wrote down his cell phone number and the address of the building they were in. "We're also staying at this location, if you need to stop by."

"I probably will," said Sara as she pocketed the info.

As Sara started up the stairs to interview Dana, Buffy took note and interrupted her stride. "Hey, we already talked to Dana."

"I know," said Sara. "Hence the reason I'm going to interview her myself. I'm a cop. God knows what you rookies might have missed." Sara then continued on her way.

As Sara left, Buffy took the 'rookie' comment as best she could and confronted Giles on what he had just done. To say she was incensed was putting it lightly. "Giles, please explain to me why you just showed all of our cards, including our location and contact info, to a possibly evil cop with a more-than-evil trinket."

"Buffy, we had no choice in the matter. It was either tell her about what we're doing here or go to jail. Or worse. I don't like negotiating from a position of weakness either, but New York is very different territory for us. More than likely people aren't going to turn a blind eye to what's going on, especially the police. I also gave her our contact information to disarm her, since she already has some suspicions about us. Being up front about things might make her think twice about our involvement, especially since she seems to have dealt with situations somewhat similar to our own."

"He's got a point, Buffy." Willow had to agree this was the best option. Having the cops on them wasn't going to make finding this guy any easier. And if Sara wasn't evil, she might be useful against anything they encountered.

"Fine, but before our next little 'soirée', I at least want to know more about that glove," Buffy said.

"Gauntlet," Giles corrected.

"Whatever."

Sara walked up the apartment, taking a moment before knocking the door. She was more than shocked at what she'd just done. She'd just given a group of civilians, possibly dangerous and unstable ones at that, almost carte blanche to participate in a police matter. If they screwed up or got hurt or, worse yet, hurt somebody else, Sara's head would be on a platter. Her career in law enforcement would have been reduced to school bus stops, if that. I sure hope you know what you're doing, Pezzini, she thought. Pushing aside that thought, she knocked on the door.