Majin Gojira: There is a Buffy RPG? That's really interesting. I've never seen one in any store (then again, I rarely shop). However, I qualified my previous statement saying that Buffy's ability is underdeveloped at best. She innately has the ability to sense vampires, but I don't think she's ever really cultivated it. The quote in the first episode can be interpreted to mean that. I would think that if she trained herself, she could get it to the point where it could almost be like breathing, like Cable in X-Men keeping his techno-virus at bay. He makes a conscious (or subconscious) effort to do so, but it became natural to him.

However, since we're talking about "sensing" the Witchblade, I'll stick to that. The "generic evil" sensing doesn't exist for Buffy. However, the Witchblade is a special entity that has a volatile personality. One problem I had with pairing them up is I had no clue if they would just get along or if they would clash because of what they each possess. There is no frame of reference since no one has paired them (wink, wink Dark Horse and Top Cow). So, I made stuff up as best I could, maybe even setting a precedent for future pairings. And that's going to have an impact on how Sara relates to the other Slayers. Trust me, I think you're going to like it.

Dialogue like this keeps a writer from getting ridiculous.

Sara woke up to the sound of her alarm and quickly got out of bed. She wasn't exhausted at all. As a matter of fact, she was actually quite awake and refreshed. Ever since she started the training and meditation sessions with Giles, she had become more focused, less stressed, and a little more energetic. She was more than skeptical when Giles had started their sessions. She had quite the confidence in his abilities as a Watcher to Slayers, but the Witchblade was something that was relatively unknown. However, after a few weeks of seeing the benefits of Giles' teaching, she was hooked. She thought that if Buffy could turn into a better fighter with Giles' aid, then she could too.

Over the past year she and Buffy had gotten along, more or less. The matter of Amy had, in some sense, brought them together. Of course, it was that same matter that emotionally divided them both. They still had no clue as to why the Witchblade would ever attach itself to Amy, let alone stay with her. Sara herself had to successfully complete the Periculum, the test of worthiness given by the wielders before her, and she was sure as hell that none of them would ever have given Amy a passing grade. The frustration of just how she had passed the test boiled within her. It frustrated Buffy in particular, since they were essentially at square one for most of the year. Her aggravation with the situation had spilled over more than a few times onto Sara, causing a clash of words... and sometimes much more.

While they still had plenty of other arguments to keep themselves busy, and on more than one occasion nearly come to blows, they had come far in their understanding of each other. It didn't help that the Witchblade, deep down inside, always wanted to pick a fight with the girl. It was territorial and, while it never affected Sara a great deal, the feeling was still there. To the Witchblade, Buffy and the Slayers were competition. And the gauntlet made that fact known. Though it became benign as they all became better acquainted, they nevertheless felt its contempt for them all. It radiated its hostility toward each and every one of them. But the Slayers took it in stride as best they could, shrugging off the feeling to fight. For Sara however, it was more difficult. And since Buffy was 'head of the pack', the Witchblade felt particularly inclined to loathe her. The fact that both Sara and Buffy bashed the other's face in a year ago didn't help matters. But with Giles' help, Sara had made the desire to fight the girl much more manageable.

As she was getting ready, she thought more about the blond Slayer. Buffy had taken time off a few months after their confrontation with Amy, and for good reason. About three and a half months ago, Buffy and Sara had taken the Slayers on a routine patrol, part training and part mission. Things had been going well… until one of the newer girls had gotten injured when the vampire she faced stabbed her in the leg with her own stake. It was then something weird happened: Buffy lost it. She grabbed the vamp and let loose. She didn't stake him or anything, but pummeled him continuously. The girls were stunned at Buffy and what she was doing. Sara had been told about Angel and read about his evil counterpart in some of Giles' books. Needless to say, she felt that had Angelus been witness to what the head Slayer did next with the stake she hand in her hand, he would have taken notes. Only by Sara throwing Buffy off of the vamp and beheading it herself did everything stop. It was one of those occasions that nearly had both of them coming to blows.

When they had gotten back, it was decided by Sara, Giles, Willow, Kennedy, and Rona that Buffy needed some serious time off. They had all felt that after eight years of slaying and commanding, the stress had finally gotten to her. This time, Buffy agreed. Giles was secretly relieved at her compliance, since he didn't want to make an 'executive decision' and formally relieve her of command. Though Buffy was more than a little apprehensive of leaving her Slayers to possibly fight Amy alone, she knew she would be no good to them if she cracked at the slightest thing. Determining it was for the best, she left Kennedy in charge and decided on her destination: Rome, to see her sister. Unfortunately, that also meant seeing Andrew, since he was holed up in Rome with her to train as a Watcher, as well as act as somewhat of a guardian in conjunction with one of the surviving Watchers mentoring him. To hear Dawn tell it, she was acting more of a guardian to him.

They had heard from Buffy from time to time about Rome or, more specifically, her new guy in Rome: the Immortal. As Sara looked in the mirror, she started to envy Buffy meeting someone. In her line of work, and with the Witchblade along for the ride, she felt that starting a relationship with a guy would be hazardous to his health. Her thoughts drifted to Conchobar, barely remembering how that incident ended (the first time), and their subsequent reacquaintance. She sighed in frustration. Brushing aside the troublesome matter, Sara put on her gun and holster and left for work.


 7:30 am, Thursday – 11th Precinct

"Hey, Jake. How'd that date go last night?" Sara asked.

"The food was interesting. My date, however, wasn't. You'd think being an actor she would be, but she kept going on and on about her auditions and work. I just told her I had to get to the precinct early and left it at that."

"Sorry to hear about that, man," Danny replied.

"Yeah, it wasn't pleasant. Anyway, what was in the toxicology report on Charles Shue?" Jake asked.

"The ME confirmed arsenic in his bloodstream," Sara replied. "I want to head to that restaurant later on to find out how it got there, but first I want to hit Mr. Shue's workplace,"

"Let me know when you're going and I can get a bite to eat on the way. The food from my date was 'interesting', but it wasn't good."

"Pezzini, Woo, McCartey: What's the story on that poisoning at the restaurant?"

"Toxicology report confirmed arsenic poisoning, Cap," Jake replied. Captain Frank Akins was the 'new kid on the block' in the precinct, but had a distinguished career in law enforcement in Philadelphia and Chicago. After Dante's involvement with The White Bulls came to light, the higher-ups shuffled quickly to get out the old and corrupted blood. It took all of Sara's will and restraint not to pummel him, particularly after he fired her. However, Akins was suspicious of Dante's motives and carefully reviewed Sara's record. Though he was less than pleased at her penchant for unorthodoxy, he nevertheless saw potential. One thing that Sara did have going for her was Akins disgust with dishonest cops. He figured that if Dante didn't like her she must have been, at the very least, an honest one. She was welcomed back after a stern lecture by the captain on his extreme dislike of cops who couldn't take direction. Despite being a little gruff and a bit pit-bullish in the mornings, Sara liked the guy enough to respect him.

"We're heading over to his workplace right now, then hit the restaurant," Sara added. "We analyzed the surveillance tapes, but we're coming up short."

"Alright, see if any of his co-workers or associates had an unhealthy dislike of Mr. Shue. We'll see if any visited the restaurant that day."

"Got it, Captain," replied Jake.


5:54 pm, Thursday – Slayer Base HQ

The day had gone by pretty fast. Sara and Jake had interviewed the restaurateurs and a few associates of Mr. Shue. From then on, it was mostly paperwork. Sara knew that a lot of folks thought being a cop was about chasing the bad guy down an alley and cornering him. Well, okay, so she did do more than her fair share of that, but there were a lot of days just sitting around going over paperwork and such. It was the non-glamorous aspect of the job, if she could term any of it as glamorous.

She had asked Danny to cover for her tonight, telling him she'd return the favor later on. She offered some lame excuse about getting her bike looked at, but it worked. She ventured over to the Slayer headquarters as she promised Giles. No one was there except Rupert, walking around with a book in his hand. He noticed Sara and greeted her.

"Hello, Sara."

"Hey, Giles. So what's so urgent you had me come over here?"

Giles set down the book he was perusing and approached Sara. "How has your progress been, in terms of controlling the Witchblade?"

Sara just looked at him confusingly and answered, "It's been pretty good, especially the meditating. I've been thinking of taking a few tai chi classes to help."

"That's good," Giles replied. Taking a moment, he continued. "Well, the reason you're here is because Kennedy, Rona, myself, and a few of the more experienced Slayers are going on a mission tonight of utmost importance: acquisition of an object that Amy wants. But we haven't determined the location, since we only learned about the object a few days ago."

"Okay, so where do I come in?" Sara asked.

Grabbing a sword Giles walked with her toward the door leading to the basement and said, "Down in the basement, in the holding cell, there is a vampire we just captured early this morning. Our sources told us that this one would be our best chance at getting our information. Your job will be to interrogate him to get the information, while the others are preparing and trying to gather more information."

"Fine, no problem," she said. Just as she was about to make her way toward the steps, Giles spoke.

"Here," he said, handing the sword to Sara.

"Giles, in case you forgot, I already have a weapon," she said, slightly confused.

"This isn't for you. It's for him."

"What?"

"The vampire will be armed."

Sara was taken aback, hoping that she heard him wrong. "Care to repeat that?"

"The vampire will be armed," he said.

"Why?"

"Because I saw this as a unique opportunity to test your self-control. I have to know how you perform under intense pressure."

"I face intense pressure everyday at work! I've patrolled with the girls a few times. Giles, you know I'm fine."

"Do I? You've gone on a few patrols and training missions, yes, but even then they involved killing everything that didn't have a pulse. Here, you're going to have to acquire something and not lay waste to everything in your path. I have to know that in delicate situations you can be counted on. That's why we're doing this test. You have to extract the information from the vampire before killing him."

"Kennedy or someone must have gotten it out of him earlier. I have a hard time believing you'd sacrifice a 'mission of utmost importance' on a stunt like this," she said. Steely-eyed, she was hoping he'd flinch when she called his bluff. He didn't.

"She didn't, and I would. I told everyone he was not to be touched. Don't get me wrong, this is a very important mission. But much more important is the need to know whether or not the person next to those girls won't inadvertently put their lives in danger, so important that I'd willingly sacrifice tonight's mission. I agonized over this, Sara, and I didn't come to the decision lightly. But their safety must take precedence. You even told me yourself that you didn't notice Amy's henchmen were herding you when you went into the warehouse because you were too busy fighting."

Sara blanched. She was hurt and shocked, not only by that statement, but also by the fact that he had a look in his eye that said he wasn't above planning all of this out. For Giles, failing to notice the trap last year seemed to be reason enough warrant this 'test'.

"I know you, Giles... and I don't believe you," she said.

"Then perhaps you don't know me as well as you think."

Sara just stared at him. Either he was telling the truth, or it was the most convincing bluff she'd ever seen. "Alright, Giles," she retorted, looking determined to prove him and all the Slayers wrong. "I'll do this test... and I'll pass." Walking down the steps to the basement with him she didn't look at him the entire time. She watched as he looked through the glass window and opened the reinforced steel door. "See you in a few, Giles."

"Likewise," he replied. Hoping that she would at least look him in the eye before journeying in, she didn't even turn around to face him. With that, he shut and locked the door.

Sara looked at the vamp on the floor. He had a look of rage on his face that told her he was ready to rip her throat out. But Sara wasn't intimidated. She'd faced some pretty nasty fiends before, both fanged and non-fanged. She started to approach the vamp when he spoke.

"Love having all these tasty young girls around here, but sometimes you just need a real woman to sink your teeth into. You know, someone with… experience."

"Nice," Sara said sarcastically. "Look, don't think you're going to fool me. I know the chains are broken."

"Aw, my surprise is ruined," he quipped in mock disappointment. "So, they stick you in here to face big, bad me, huh? To see if you got what it takes to join their little club? Maybe they got a little tree house too."

Throwing the sword into the vampire's hands Sara merely said, "Just shut up and fight."

Shrugging, the vampire simply said, "Okay."

Before Sara could react, the vampire leapt up and propelled himself toward her, his sword bearing down on her. Luckily, she unsheathed her blade to block it. The vampire came at her aggressively, cutting and slashing as best he could. But Sara was able to block and parry. It seemed to be going her way... until he punched her right in the jaw. Stumbling back, she regained herself as the vampire advanced. Blocking, she slipped in close to the vampire, face to face, their blades in-between them. They struggled, each one trying to over power the other. Sara finally elbowed him with her right, kneed him in the groin, and then elbowed him again in the nose, breaking it. The vampire fell to the ground, his nose bleeding. She held her sword to his throat, the Witchblade urging her to finish him. Its desire coursed through her body, through the recesses of her very mind, telling her to eradicate her prey. It was like fire, burning through her blood. She pushed back her urges, grabbed him and set him up against the wall, producing her short blade and holding it to his neck.

"You're going to tell me where that meeting place is for Amy's new toy. Someone's delivering something for her and we want the location."

"Alright, alright," he said. "I'll tell you."

Sara relaxed for a split-second. But a split-second was all it took. The vampire grabbed her and headbutted her. She stumbled back and tried to steady herself.

"Right after I drain you."

The vampire approached again, ready to kill his prey. In her stupor, the vampire sunk his teeth into her neck and started to drink. Sara yelled loudly in pain. But that yell of pain soon turned into one full of rage. She stuck her blade in his gut with all her might. Her fury unabated, she withdrew the blade and swiped at his neck. All that was left in the room was a slightly beaten woman, some chains, and a pile of dust.

As Sara regained her composure, she realized what she had done. In shock and disappointment, she just looked down at her hands, ashamed of what they had accomplished. They had just made the evening's mission a total wash. A few seconds later the door opened, Giles standing over the threshold.

"I guess I failed, huh? Disappointed that all that training was for nothing?" she asked in a self-flagellating manner, not even wanting to look at him.

"I am disappointed," he replied. To Sara, the comment pricked her heart.

"Not with you," he amended, "but with our progress. We still have much work to do in getting you to control the Witchblade's impulses and we may need to think of some new approaches."

Sara was at least partially relieved because of Giles' words. To know that he didn't think of her as a failure made the situation a little better. "I guess the mission's a bust," she said.

"Quite the contrary, Willow extracted the information a few days ago on a mission with Kennedy and Rona. The vampire had no memory at all that she did it."

Sara was surprised. She had plenty of people in interrogation rooms try to bluff their way out of jail time. She knew how to spot a bluff and call it. The fact that Giles got one past her made her wonder just what he did back in the day to get so good at it.

"Just in case, huh?" she asked.

"Just in case." Giles replied. "Just don't be mad with them. I convinced them to do this and they all were quite reluctant."

"I'm not mad," she replied. "Just frustrated."

"Well, we'd best get ready for tonight," said Giles, sensing the awkwardness in the air.

"If it's alright, Giles, I'm going to stay down here and work on those meditation techniques for awhile; clear my head."

"Of course," he said understandingly. "Come up when you're done."

"I will."

As soon as Giles shut the door to the basement, Sara put her hands over her face and slowly wept. She tried for so long to get control of the thing on her wrist, but when it really counted, she lost it. She began to wonder whether her life would be relegated to the dichotomy of the Witchblade: bearing and wielding it like a master, but exercising its desires too many times like a servant. In some ways, though, the side of servitude seemed to be winning out. It already dictated how she related to people. She was distant with her colleagues and always felt somewhat removed from what few friends she did have. It had stolen so much of her life and was still taking even more. She had hoped that with Giles' help, things would get better. There's that word again, she thought. Hope. Seems to be in short supply these days. Composing herself and wiping the tears from her eyes, she sat down Indian-style and closed her eyes. She was determined that even if she could never fully control the Witchblade, she would at least give it her best shot. She slowly started her breathing techniques, quickly letting herself get lost in their rhythm.