Fic: What The Hell(mouth) Happened?

Author: mkcrl120

Disclaimer: All the characters mentioned in this story belong to Joss Whedon or Mutant Enemy or some other people. I own nothing and wrote this just to get it out of my system.

Summary: I'm writing some of these, as I've come up with ideas that I honestly don't know what I'll be doing when the Ultimate series gets that far. In the meantime, these won't go away from my brain unless I do something with them. Warning: It may be a standalone it may be spoilers for something later; only time will tell.

Rating: 15 probably... mainly for language.

Setting: Season 3 - I think you'll recognise when.

What The Hell(mouth) Happened?? - Chapter 21

"No, seriously what did I miss..?" Jesse repeated, taking in the scene in front of him.

"Cordelia thinks Ms Post is evil." Willow explained, holding the axe in a more relaxed position.

"Thinks or knows..?" Jesse asked, turning to face Cordelia.

"Hey, she was evil in my reality." Cordelia replied loudly, not removing the quarter staff from where she held it in position over the Watcher's head.

"In your reality, I was dead." Jesse reminded her, refusing to look in Willow's direction when he heard the small whimpering sound. "It might not be the same."

Cordelia finally raised her eyes to look at him. "And how would all the changes here affect someone over in England..? It's on a whole different continent."

"Actually it's no... shutting up now." Willow added.

"She was evil when she turned up... we just didn't realise it." Cordelia answered. "We were too concerned with whether or not Angel was evil or not to notice."

"How evil is evil..?" Willow asked, still not confident in this decision.

"She was going to wear the glove to get the powers for herself. Apparently it can fry people." Cordelia prodded Ms Post with her staff.

"What are you doing..?" Jesse asked.

"I thought I saw her move."

"You clubbed her around the head." Jesse shook his head in disbelief. "I don't think she's going to be waking up anytime soon."

"Better to be safe than sorry."

"What exactly are you suggesting doing now..?" Willow asked. "Even if she is evil, she's still human."

"Willow's right." Jesse nodded. "We can't kill her in cold blood."

"I wasn't suggesting we do that." Cordelia commenting, making sure she didn't glance anywhere near the axe Willow was holding.

"What did you do to her in your reality..?" Willow stated, staring down at the Watcher and hoping they were doing the right thing.

"She managed to fry herself with the glove." Cordelia responded.

"Doesn't sound like that great a weapon." Jesse commented.

Cordelia thought about it, "Xander said that Buffy cut her arm off first."

"Ewww." Willow winced.

"Why..?"

"Because you can't remove it from whoever's wearing it." Cordelia answered.

"So she cut her whole arm off..?" Willow said, pulling a face.

"I think so." Cordelia answered.

Jesse looked down at the unconscious Watcher. "So that option's out." He commented, flicking his eyes over the two weapons. "And we're not cutting her head off with an axe, just in case... you know... Cordy turns out to be wrong."

"So what are you suggesting..?" Cordelia asked, lifting her own weapon in the air.

"Let's just tie her up for now and wait for the others." He replied.

"We could get Giles to check in with the Watcher's Council... find out if she's legit." Willow commented, "He's in the canteen... stealing."

"Okay... so we need rope." Cordelia agreed, glancing around the room. "Where would we get that..?"

"Weapon's cabinet." Jesse replied.

"Rope's a weapon..?" Willow asked.

"If it's not there then we won't have any in here." He continued. "I don't think it'll be included in the extreme sports section of the library."

"There's an extreme sports sectio... oh." Willow said, realisation dawning.

"So, if not here then where else..?" Cordelia asked, concentrating on the matter at hand.

"Gym." Jesse answered.

"Let's check the cabinet." Willow agreed.

A Few Minutes Later.

"Okay... so we're done here..?" Cordelia asked, looking over to where Ms Post was seated in the same chair Jesse had been sleeping in.

"Secure as I can make it." Jesse answered, tying the final rope around Ms Post's thighs and the chair seat beneath her. "I think it's done." He said, eyes looking towards the walls and ceilings. "Room has no windows. We could leave her in here. Do we know where Giles keeps his keys..?"

"Probably on him." Willow responded. "One of us needs to stay here as a guard, while the others fetch Giles."

"Best if two stay. We can sit outside the door." Jesse stated. "I'm volunteering."

"Me too." Cordelia quickly added, turning to face Jesse she explained. "You're still not sure whether she's evil or not."

"Neither am I..." Willow admitted, as she closed the door behind them. "But I'm okay to fetch Giles... let him make the decision. If I'm being honest... I don't know if I want you to be right or wrong."

"That's okay." Cordelia answered. "Now scoot... go fetch the food thief." She waved Willow off, eyes never leaving the office door as Willow passed the axe to Jesse and then left the room.

Jesse sighed, as he watched her go. Placing the axe on the table, but making sure it was in easy reach, he turned to Cordelia. "Go over the whole evil Watcher thing again."

"Why bother..? You don't believe me." She said.

"I don't know if I believe you." He replied. "But let's say for the sake of argument... me tying the Watcher up in a room... pretty much shows I might be willing to give you the benefit of the doubt."

"Okay. Okay." Cordelia conceded, perching herself on the edge of the desk next to him. "You do realise I got all this second hand off Xander, right..?" Keeping a firm grip on the quarter staff.

"In my reality Ms Post turned up while Faith and Buffy were out patrolling. I know I said they weren't as close as they are here, but they still patrol together... guess it's a Slayer thing. Well, as far as I can remember from what the others told me she introduced herself as Faith's new watcher..." Cordelia proceeded to inform him of everything she could remember.

The Canteen.

"MMmmmmm..." Giles mumbled, savouring the taste.

"Enjoying that, hon..?" Jenny grinned back. Watching amused as her partner's stiff upbringing faded, as it always did, when he was biting into a large sandwich.

"MMm mmm." Was the only reply as he attempted to swallow most of the contents in his mouth.

"You know Rip, you're really quite working class..." She commented, smiling as he tried to chew faster in order to retort. "You'd have made a great greengrocer..." She finished with a smile.

"Skew you." He replied with a smirk, through a half eaten sandwich.

"Maybe later... there are students in the building."

"Odd Emm."

"If I thought for one second that you were serious about that statement." She started, leaning in to whisper in his ear. "I'd push you back on the counter behind you, unzip your fly and then..."

"Giles!!!" Willow came bursting into the room.

Jenny turned her head at the interruption. Then turned back and kissed Giles on the cheek. "Back to work eh... no rest for the wicked..." then lowering her voice to a quite whisper she added, "and if Willow had been about ten minutes later, she might have seen exactly how wicked we could be."

Giles made a few coughing sounds and turned his full attention to Willow, trying to ignore Jenny's confident smirk, knowing how much she enjoyed making him squirm. "What seems to be the problem..?" He asked, glancing at his watch. "I thought we had at least another twenty five minutes before we were all due to meet back up."

"Just enough time." Jenny commented from where she was tidying up the mess they had made.

Giles shook his head to clear it, knowing he might need to be focused for Willow's comment.

"Enough time for what..?" She thought aloud, "No matter. Giles, it's Ms Post... I don't know how to say this so I may as well just come out and say it."

"Please do." He commented.

"Cordelia thinks Ms Post is evil."

"Pretty sure Faith thinks the same." Jenny added from where she was watching this discussion.

"Well yes. But, no. Differently evil." Willow tried. "Cordelia seems adamant that the Ms Post in her dimension was evil... which might mean that the one here is too."

"I see." Giles added, thinking about it. "Who else knows Cordelia's thoughts on the subject..?"

"Me, you two, Jesse and..." Willow drifted off.

"Cordelia..?" Jenny added with a smile.

"And..?" Giles asked.

"I think Ms Post will when she regains consciousness."

"When she..." Giles took his glasses off and began to polish them. "Oh dear."

Giles' Office.

Ms Post awoke to find herself tied to a chair. Looking around she began to retrace her final steps. 'Cordelia told me about Oz. Went to question Jesse about Oz. Heard the door open behind me... and then nothing.' She finished, trying to imagine what could have attacked her.

She took a quick glance around the room to discover there was no sign of Jesse, unsure whether that was a relief or not.

She noticed a solitary book lying at her feet. Spotting that some of the pages seemed to be turned over she tried to maneuver herself so that she could open it. Managing to pry it open, her eyes widened when she saw the picture on the page. 'Unless I'm mistaken that's the Glove Of Mhynegon.' She realised, wondering why the boy hadn't informed her that he'd found something.

She was about to call out for help when she realised she could hear voices from the other room. Concentrating, she attempted to make out what they were saying.

"... Angel had managed to create the glove-destroying fire thingie ..." She overheard Cordelia say.

'The Glove can be destroyed..?' She thought, glancing down at the book, silently wishing it were possible to read the text from her position on the chair.

"... knocked out Angel after he told her where he'd stashed the glove ..."

'So someone called Angel has the glove... and someone else knocked him out to obtain it... is Angel the ex-boyfriend that Cordelia was trying to hide... why would she want to hide it from me..?' She considered calling out again, but realised she was in fact finding out more tied to this chair than she had done since her arrival in Sunnydale.

"... Buffy and Faith both fighting, one trying to kill Angel the other trying to make sure he lives ..."

'The Slayers were in on this too... I've seen nothing in Giles reports to explain such an event.'

"... put on the glove ... started trying to fry everyone with electrical blasts ..."

'Of course the power from the sky...' Ms Post thought, grinning despite her predicament.

"... Faith distracts her ... and Buffy chops off the hand wearing the glove ..."

'They did this then hid it from their Watchers..? How dare they..?'

"... then the glove strikes out and fries Ms Post where she stands..."

'Me... it's me they're talking about...' Ms Post thinks, confused. 'None of that happened. What is this girl babbling about..?'

Then she heard a deeper voice respond. "And Xan told you all that..? So she's evil... is she a Watcher..?"

"Giles did some checking... turned out she was, but she got discharged from the Council due to practising black magics."

'They know about me.' She suddenly realised, struggling against her bonds, eyes scanning the room for any escape. 'No windows.' Her eyes were drawn to the book again. 'If I had the glove this wouldn't be able to hold me... if I had the glove I'd take great pleasure in burning that cheerleading bitch to ashes.'

She started looking at all items around her. 'Lots of books. Desk. Pens. Telephone. Lamp. Filing cabinet. Umbrella.' She said, rolling her eyes at why anyone would have an umbrella in a town called Sunnydale. 'Typical Watcher... needs to get the stick out of his arse.'

Turning she continued to identify the contents of the room, looking for anything which might help get her out of these bonds. She spotted another cabinet, then her eyes fell to the item leaning against it. And the corners of her lips raised to form a smile.

End chapter twenty one