Chapter Three – Jaw Dropping
"Alex?"
Olivia was stunned. It was Alex. She was standing at the door smiling like nothing had happened.
"Olivia," Alex came into the room and enveloped Olivia a hug. "It's so good to see you. You have no idea how many times I almost picked up the phone and called you."
"Alex," she hugged her friend back. "What happened? What are you doing here?"
"Like a lot of things around here, it's a long story," Alex replied. "Sit down I'll give you the highlights."
She motioned Olivia to sit down at one of chairs while she and Dawn sat down on the couch opposite her.
"How did you get here?" Olivia asked. "Hammond called Elliot and I up and told us you vanished. That all of your records had just disappeared overnight. We wanted to look for you but there was no place to start. The Feds had nothing. Everything just went poof. It's like you dropped into a black hole."
"About a month after I entered the Program, Buffy came to visit me," Alex explained. "She offered me a job. I accepted. All the reasons for Alexandra Cabot to stay dead and buried remained. So they arranged for all traces of my survival and the persona the Marshall's created for me to disappear. They set me up here with a new name, new job and new life."
"What do you do here?" Olivia said. It was a little much to take in.
"Permit me to introduce myself," Alex pulled out a business card and handed it to Olivia. "Alexandra Winters, Head of Legal Affairs for the Jenny Calendar Foundation and Legal Attaché to the ICSW."
"ICSW? Winters?"
"Officially, on the paperwork we fill out for various government bureaucracies, it's just a series of letters that don't stand for anything," Dawn answered. "Unofficially it stands for the International Council of Slayers and Watchers. I admit it lacks a punch. But after over a week of arguing about names it was a nice neutral title that we could all agree on. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff Andrew wanted to call us."
"As for Winters," Alex added. "Willow said she was in a 'seasonal mood' when she set up my new ID."
"Ok, none of that really helped," Olivia said. "Slayers, Watchers? How does a private foundation get the resources to make government records disappear?"
"And we get to reason why I was able to resist calling you," Alex said. "Explaining this place is challenging. They did it with magic."
"And some really slick hacking from Willow," Dawn added.
"Magic?" Olivia said. "You expect me to believe that."
"Magic's real Olivia," Alex said. "I had a hard time believing it myself at first. It will be easier if I show you," she looked over at Dawn. "There are classes going on right?"
"Yea," Dawn said. "Buffy's teaching since Robin is setting up the training facilities in Rio. Janie was running late. That probably means Buffy is putting on a pretty good show."
"Perfect," Alex said. "Olivia if you'll follow us, we'll take you down to the gym. Believe me, you will not believe what you are about to see."
"How is seeing a self defense class going to explain any of this?" Olivia said.
"Trust me," Dawn said. "You've never seen a 'self defense' class the way Buffy teaches one."
Olivia found herself being reluctantly led back downstairs and then outside where they walked over to the gym. When they entered the main gymnasium Dawn brought the group to a stop a few feet off to the side of the entrance. There was a large area of floor covered with mats. Buffy was standing in the center wearing workout clothes and, Olivia noticed, padded gloves and padded shoes. Five teenage girls who looked between fourteen and sixteen all wearing outfits like Buffy's surrounded her. Seated outside the mat were nine other teenage girls who were watching the events inside with rapt attention.
Olivia had to blink when one of the girls moved to attack Buffy. Olivia had never seen anyone move so fast. That is until she didn't see Buffy's counterattack. All that registered to her eyes was a blur. One second the girl was advancing on Buffy the same second she was flying through the air and then landing on the ground ten feet away. She popped up like nothing happened and charged back into the fray.
Olivia would have been hard pressed to describe anything she saw. All five girls seemed to be attacking Buffy at once. They were incredibly fast. Inhumanly fast. Except when compared to Buffy. She was just a blur. Olivia's felt her jaw drop open. She couldn't spare the brainpower to close it again.
Buffy moved and danced around her five attackers with seeming ease. Her movements were incredibly complex and yet graceful. At one point Olivia swore she saw Buffy do a standing back flip that that went at least seven feet into the air. She landed behind two of the girls who promptly did some involuntary flying themselves.
Olivia looked over at Dawn and Alex. Dawn smiled at her. "This is nothing. You see it when they're doing weapons training. Besides these are the newbies. Buffy's holding back. Maybe we'll arrange a sparing match between her and Faith. Those are fun to watch. Everybody with even a little free time shows up."
Olivia turned her eyes back to the mat. She saw two more girls go flying away from Buffy. That was 'holding back?'
After what seemed like an eternity but was in reality only about five minutes Buffy brought the sparing session to a close. She wasn't even breathing hard. Buffy bowed to the girls then looked over at the group standing just inside the door. She smiled at them.
"Alright girls," Buffy said. "I want you to spread out and work on your Katas for the rest of class."
Olivia heard groans from a couple of the girls.
"Enough of that," Buffy snapped. "Strength and speed don't mean anything without control. Power is useless if you don't know how to wield it. The Kata will help you focus. Help you learn how to control your power. Remember it's not about getting through the movements quickly. It's about getting through them precisely. About training your mind, body and spirit to work together. I want you all to focus inward. Focus on the source of your of power. Not just the Slayer. But your soul. Feel how your body moves. Feel how the power flows through it," she nodded. "Alright class, form up."
The girls all quickly spread out on the mat and began going through their Katas. Buffy watched them for a while walking among the girls and occasionally pointing out errors in their form. Making some of the girls who had started to accelerate into blurs of motion slow down. After a couple of minutes Buffy seemed satisfied that all the girls were doing things correctly. She turned her attention back to the group at the door.
She walked over, smiled and held out her hand. "Detective Benson. Nice to see you again."
Olivia had finally managed to shift enough attention to her mouth to get her jaw closed again. She stared at Buffy for a second.
"What the hell are you?" Olivia said.
Buffy smirked, "You two brought her in here completely cold. That's mean."
"Giles is still tied up downtown and won't be back until dinner," Dawn said. "He explains it much better than I do. He's also got that whole British thing going for him. He actually makes it sound plausible. Olivia wasn't buying the 'magic real' speech. Seeing you in action makes it a lot easier to explain."
"Explain what?" Olivia asked. Way to many shocks were hitting her today. "I've never seen anything like that. Nobody can move like that."
"Just call me Ms Nobody," Buffy smiled. "I'm sorry. Somebody was supposed to give you at least the cliff notes version before you saw something like this. I'm a Slayer."
"Alex, do you have anything that makes more sense than that?" Olivia turned to her friend.
"Go ahead Alex, you've heard the spiel enough by now," Dawn said.
Alex shrugged her shoulders. "A Slayer is a mystical warrior gifted with enhanced strength, speed and senses. She has the power to fight the Vampires and the Demons."
Olivia looked at the three of them. They certainly looked serious. Vampires? Mystical warriors? But she could not think of anything else that explained what she saw Buffy and those other girls do.
"You actually expect me to believe this?" Olivia said. "Magic's real. Buffy fights vampires. Do have any idea how insane that sounds?"
"Believe me," Buffy said. "I know exactly how insane it sounds. Shannon!"
A young woman popped her head through the door. "Yea Buffy."
"Watch the class for me," Buffy said. "They're doing Kata practice for the rest of the period."
"No problem," Shannon replied. She promptly jogged over the class and began wandering between the girls pointing out flaws in their form.
Buffy turned her attention back to Olivia. Olivia took a step back. She was feeling something from Buffy. She remembered feeling something similar from the last time they met. But that time it had been directed at Alan Cummings. This time it was directed at her. It was power. Buffy's eyes had changed. She looked like a predator. A warrior. The feeling vanished. Olivia had to shake her head again.
"That was the Slayer," Buffy said.
