Chapter 6

AN – short chapter, ties up a few loose ends.

(Sunnydale High Library)

Methos grumbled to himself even as he watched both Xander and Faith howl in laughter as he walked in the door – apparently, with the way Buffy and Willow were grinning, Ripper was chortling and the other boy, Wussly, as both Xander and Faith called him, they had been telling tales and now he had to get even, "Morning."

"Hey ya, ROG," Faith said as she calmed down, propping her feet up on the table in front of her and flatly ignoring the indignant looks she was getting from himself, Ripper and Wussly.

"That's Mr. Pierson to you, Faith," Wussly said somewhat snobbishly as he walked forwards, hand extended and a grin on his face. "Wesley Whyndam-Price."

"Adam Pierson," he returned with a slight growl, reaching up to adjust his tie. He looked over at Xander, who was recovering from his laughter, "Is it the job of that troll to make people want to eviscerate him?"

Xander shrugged, "Eviscerate, dismember, hell, even a few straight-up shootings, generally nothing that's easy to be saved from."

"Alexander, it is not polite to speak about the headmaster in such a way," Wussly huffed slightly even as Ripper came out of his now-shared office. "He may be a detestable individual, but he IS my employer."

Methos grinned as Xander rolled his eyes and fired back, "No, the school board is your employer, hell, the Mayor is your employer, Snyder's just a tool of theirs." The door opened behind him and Xander segued into, "Speaking of tools and the Mayor…"

"Ah, you must be Mister Pierson." Adam froze at the voice even as it and Snyder's footsteps drew closer, "I'm Richard Wilkins, Mayor of Sunnydale and it's an honor …" Methos turned around to see Richard Wilkins, again, and the words trailed off, as did the smile, "YOU!"

Methos shook with rage even as he heard the children get to their feet, "Hello, Richard – I wish I could say it was good to see you … but it isn't." Instantly, he wished he had not left his sword at the house, instead of relying on the fact that the school, supposedly, was consecrated ground due to the church it rested on top of.

"Is there a problem, Mr. Mayor?"

"Be quiet, toady," Richard snarled even as Methos felt the baleful glare doing it's best to incinerate him on the spot. "What are you doing here, Methos?"

"Thanking whatever gods and demons are smiling on me right now," snarled the ancient Immortal even as the Scoobs all took up flanking positions around him.

Richard looked at the group of children surrounding the Immortal and sneered, "Relying on children, Methos? How pathetic."

"Said the professional and master manipulator to the originator of the art," Methos snarked right back.

"What's he done to earn your ire, old man?" Xander walked up to Methos, his hand snaking up his jacket to get the dagger kept there for such emergencies.

"He sacrificed myself and my wife to a demon in order to start some half-assed ascension plan of his," Methos snarled again, stepping forwards in a manner than sent Snyder scurrying away from the impending fight. "I hope your will is updated, DICK, because I don't see you living very long now."

"You don't have the power, Methos," Richard fired back as he saw a knife enter the boy's hand. "Neither does Alexander."

"What I lack in power I make up for in ingenuity, Mr. Mayor," Alexander said calmly even as he tried to flank him. "Still, this explains a few things."

"Like?"

"Why I never remember an election n the past ten years." Alexander turned and pinned a glare at the toad, Snyder, "Your hands go any closer to that fire alarm and you lose them, Quark."

Snyder wet himself and passed out, causing Richard to want to sigh – where was all of the COMPETANT help these days? "I suppose telling you I had Kakistos destroyed wouldn't earn me any leniency?"

"Nah, we'd just make sure to keep your corpse in as few pieces as possible," Alexander said somewhat jocular voice, but one with an edge that told Richard that his time was marked.

"Thank you EVER so much," Wilkins said as Xander saw Methos surge forwards behind the Mayor.

Methos, simmering in rage, clenched his hands around Wilkins' neck and spat, in his ear, "For Illyana "

Buffy and Faith both shrank back at the sound of the Mayor's neck breaking, Willow and Wussly passed out and Giles let out a quiet, "Bugger." Xander, for his part, turned and, once he reached the Library doors, locked them, the Mayor and Snyder in.

"Let me go, please." He looked at Snyder, who looked miserable, "Please? Aren't you supposed to be one of the good guys?"

Xander leaned down and gave the troll-like man a shark's grin, "No, THEY," he pointed to Buffy and the others, "are the good guys. I'm the one who tends to clean up their messes." He grabbed Snyder by the tie and dragged him towards the Mayor's body, "But I'm not wholly without heart – let's leave it up to the jury, shall we?" He shoved Snyder on top of the Mayor's body and grinned, "What say you, jury of John Snyder's peers? What is his sentence?"

They all looked blankly at him for a moment before Giles sighed, "Xander, DO stop hamming it up and knock the sod out. His whimpering is annoying me, greatly."

Xander gave the 'elder' Brit a wounded look but Methos beat him to the punch and jammed his fist into a pressure point on Snyder's neck, making the man go limp, "Hey! That was my job!"

Methos snarled, "Back off, boy." He then went about dragging the Mayor back to the weapon's cage and securing him there, "I'm not entirely sure he's dead right now, so if he DOES revive, we will be ready."

(Later)

After supposedly 'calming' a frantic Willow down, as she had awoken to the thought that they had committed a political assassination (Methos had told her that it hadn't been an assassination, it was out and out murder before he left for class), the Scoobs all sat in the now-closed library, excuses from their classes even while Methos was teaching. Methos' words didn't do much to calm Willow down, though Xander didn't really think they would.

Now, they all sat in the Library, dong more research into both Kakistos and the claims that the Mayor had taken him out – at any one time one of them was with the corpse of the Mayor, generally either Xander himself or Giles, as Buffy, Willow and Wesley were all of weak stomachs around dead people and Faith was dead-set on confirming if Kakistos was dust.

"Xand?" He looked from the dead, bound, gagged and rather pale corpse of the Mayor over to Buffy, who was looking a little paler herself as she looked everywhere but at the body, "It's lunchtime – you want anything?"

He shook his head, "Nah, I'm good."

Buffy's color returned a little as she quirked an eyebrow, "You're turning down food? Okay, who are you and what have you done with Xander?"

He gave her a thin smile, "Oh, I'm Xander, and believe it or not my stomach doesn't rule me." His stomach protested a little with a slight growl, but he ignored it even as Buffy smirked, "More to the point, you need to eat, so does Faith."

"Are you calling me thin?"

"No, I'm calling you skinny," he shot back, ignoring the dangerous tone in her voice. Buffy made an affronted noise and stormed out of the book/weapon's cage, leaving him to look at the corpse, "Women, can't live with them, can't kill them."

"Really, Alexander, that's not a nice thing to say." He jerked back at the voice and looked over to see Jenny Calendar, a touch more tanned, with her hair down to her back, and wearing a pair of black slacks, a matching jacket and a dark blue silk blouse, a smile on her lips as she went on, "How do you think you'll find a stable girlfriend if you say such things?"

A slow grin spread across his face as he stood up and walked over to the woman, "Why, Miss Calendar, are you offering to take that position?"

She grinned back at him, teasingly, "I do think Faith would have a problem with that, Xander." They hugged, briefly, and then parted as she looked over at the Mayor's body, "Making a bid for the Mayor's office, are we?"

He shrugged, "Taking out the competition, mostly. So, what brings you back to Sunnydale and away from your vamp-sitting duties?"

She snorted and took a seat next to him, crossing her ankles as she doffed her jacket, "I was replaced from watching Angelus by one of my cousins, who is more proficient in magic than I am." She then looked him up and down, taking in his own slacks and dress shirt, "I see your wardrobe has improved."

He rolled his eyes, "Thank Amanda when she comes back to town, she took one look at my closet and declared that we were going to LA on a 'minor' shopping expedition. Five grand later, I had a bonfire of old shirts to burn." That had been a sad day, and it had pained him to light the match and toss it onto the gasoline-soaked shirts, but the sword that Amanda had laying across the underside of his crotch made him think of not disobeying … but Jenny didn't need to know that.

Jenny nodded, "Well, they look good on you. So, who is replacing her?"

He snorted, "Adam Pierson, an acquaintance of hers and mine – he's a shameless womanizer, so be prepared." She nodded in thanks to him as Giles walked towards the cage, his eyes a mystery, "Hey, G-man."

Giles sighed, "How many …." Xander arched an eyebrow at him as he trailed off and Giles shook his head, "Never mind, it's pointless to ask you to stop."

Xander looked at Jenny and grinned, "See? He CAN be taught!"

She nodded with a slight grin, "Soon, very soon, we'll have him acting like a Colonial and our corruption of him will be complete." The look of pure horror on Giles' face made them both tip their heads back and bring forth the most malevolent-sounding cackles they could produce, and while Xander thought his was passable, Jenny's … hers was inspiring. Once they were done, she looked up at Giles, "Oh, loosen up, Rupert."

Giles gave one last shiver and then looked at them, "As I was going to say, classes have been canceled for the day, and Adam will be here to relieve us soon, though he wants you to stay, Xander." He arched an eyebrow at this and Giles shrugged, "I don't know why, but apparently he wants to teach you something."

Xander nodded, "Cool. Well, then, I'm going to grab a snack – Giles, protect Jenny from Wuss, Jenny, try to take some of the starch out of his collar, Mr. Mayor … stay dead." The two adults in the room snorted at this as he left, though where with Giles it was a snort of slight annoyance (Xander's specialty, if he said so himself), while with Jenny it was a snort of amusement, and went on his way to find Methos.

Out in the halls, it was organized chaos – the students, not knowing why they had been let out early, and, honestly, not caring, milled about even as Snyder tried to enforce his will, but as Xander approached, the Principal paled and, while he didn't exactly run away, he moved a pace that was quicker than his normal stride. Xander grinned slightly as he continued on his way towards Methos' room, and once there he saw the old Immortal with his feet propped up on his desk, the remnants of a cigarette between his fingers, "What's up, Adam?"

Methos looked over and grinned, slightly, "I guess it's all starting to sink in now, Alexander – if Wilkins truly IS dead, then his deputy Mayor will be taking office soon, and I think I want to make sure he's … malleable to the situations that will arise."

Xander shut the door behind him and sat on one of the desktops, "Okay, so you want to influence local power – isn't that a bit … bold?"

Methos shook his head and crushed out the cigarette, "No, not really, I'll just have to ensure that Mr. Finch, if I remember correctly, understands how I work and what will happen to him if my demands aren't met." The older man looked over and grinned, "So, ready to show me City Hall? I think delivering the Mayor's corpse will prove sufficiently … unnerving."

Xander, normally, would have been a little put off by the idea, but he knew a few things about wanting revenge, so he carefully worded his next question, "Methos … are you sure you want to do this?" The old man looked up at him and he went on, "I completely understand that you hated this guy … but what is it that you really have planned? What good is delivering him to City Hall going to do? The cops will be all over you."

"I don't think you see the scope of things, Alexander," Methos said quietly. "The Mayor is a head of this particular snake, somewhat important and a driving force, but not the only one; if he's been in power for the past eighty years that I know of, that means he's seeded people he has chosen, personally, into positions of power in the city – the school board, the hospitals, the police department, and such. Snyder is proof it."

Xander nodded at this, seeing where it was going, "So, if we show up and deliver the body, in a way we're claiming that they should consider … what, leaving?"

Methos shrugged, "More along the lines of leaving us alone, but also showing them that if they don't play by the rules of society, they end up dead."

"I won't kill people, Methos." Xander felt his stomach clench as memories of the men he'd killed came to his mind, "I've killed too many already."

"It's who we are, Alex," Methos pointed out somewhat kindly. "We're killers, pure and simple, and right now we need to get across to certain people that such behavior as the former Mayor's will not be warranted or tolerated." He stood up and grabbed his jacket, "I'll bring my car, you get the Mayor and your sword – we have a delivery to make to City Hall."

Xander had a sinking feeling in his gut, "Why do I get the feeling we're about to do something very over the top and potentially dangerous?"

Methos gave him an edged grin, "Because you've hung around Amanda as long as you have and know who you're dealing with, with me."

Xander sighed, "That's what I thought." Was this what Giles felt like when the Briton had to deal with him?

(Later – City Hall)

"I'm telling you that this is a bad idea!" John Snyder's voice carried above all others in the small chamber, the tone in it silencing all talk of 'removing' the threat that had killed the Mayor.

Frank Stein snorted, "I can arrest him for Murdering the Mayor, John, and make him have an 'accident' in the jail."

Snyder snarled, "The Mayor already KILLED him once, Frank – what makes you think he won't just kill you too?"

Dr. Janice Mallory, head of the Sunnydale Memorial Hospital (which had been tentatively picked to be renamed after Mayor Wilkins, fairly soon), shook her head, "It's not medically possible for a dead body to come back to life without … outside forces at work, John."

Snyder sighed, "Jan, I know we're divorced, but will you PLEASE listen to me for a second? THINK about where we are, what is under the school and what roams the streets of this God forsaken town at night!" This made his ex-wife jerk back and allowed him to continue, "This new teacher, Pierson, and Harris are both FAR too dangerous for us to attempt to deal with in the normal means."

Marge Daily, the Mayor's secretary and a despicable woman, snorted in an un-ladylike fashion, "Grow a spine, Snyder."

"In case you've forgotten on just who Harris is, Marge, maybe you'll remember the incident that KILLED Flutie? Harris LEAD that pack of reprobates, albeit temporarily, and after reading the ritual you should know what that means – the animal possession made him the leader because he fit all the criteria, which means that the front he put on all those years was just that, a front." John sat down in his chair and looked at Allen Finch, the temporary Mayor, "Well, Allen? You're the Mayor, time to make a few decisions."

Allen stood, ready to speak (though he looked like he was sweating buckets), but the door being forced open stopped him – a body sailed through the air, a headless one, and turned to dust as it did, which meant that the vampires guarding the door were no more. Through the door stepped two people, both of them armed with swords, but the second one dragging a basket from the mail room that had a large bundle in it and spoke, "Sorry we're late – traffic was a nightmare."

Methos sneered at the five people in the small chamber as he calmly wiped the blade of his sword off with his hand, "Yes, indeed it was. Greetings, I am Adam Pierson." Snyder looked ready to wet himself, again, while the others were all in various stages of outburst, so he went on, holding up a hand, "Please, don't get up – we're just dropping off a package."

Stein stood and drew his revolver, "Don't move or I'll shoot!"

Methos gave the man a look of pure contempt as he heard Alexander struggling with the Mayor's body, "Shut up, you ignorant civil servant. The big boys are speaking now, so go play in your little sandbox … or piss in it."

Stein's response was to empty his .38 Special into Methos' chest, staggering the Immortal as the bullets blew through, but his triumphant smirk faded, as did his color, as Methos righted himself and snarled. After a few seconds, Stein was able to stammer out, "What are you?"

Xander threw the Mayor's body onto the table with a grunt before answering, "We're something that give the vampires chills, Stein, so shut the fuck up." Methos grinned at the boy, who then pointed his weapon at the woman with … pointed teeth? "Move again and you join Wilkins in death, honey."

The woman hissed and her tongue forked out, "I'll suck the marrow from your bones, boy."

"With an overbite like that, it'll be the only thing you suck on, fangy," Xander snarked, which made Methos repress the urge to snicker. He'd have to reward the boy, later, for that.

Methos turned his attention back to the others, glaring coldly at Snyder, "I do believe you know what I'm about to say, Snyder, so sit down and be quiet." The troll complied and Methos went on, "Now, as you may or may not have guessed, I'm the one who killed Mayor Richard Wilkins, the First, Second and Third, but given that he sacrificed myself and my then-wife to a demon over a century ago, I thought it only fitting. Now, I'm not here to kill any of you, though believe me, I'm tempted," he added with a glare to Stein, "but instead I leave you with information and a warning. I was out and about during the day, so I am not a vampire, nor am I a demon – what I am is one of four who inspired a book in the Bible, the Book of Revelations, and trust me when I say that, even though I've been atoning for my sins for over two thousand years, Death still resides within me."

He let that hang in the air for several seconds and liked the reactions he saw – Finch passed out, the doctor looked ready to join him, Stein was a pale as a fresh-milk-faced Irish lass should have been and the woman, who had been snarling at Xander, now looked intrigued, "My warning is that I do not play games – attempt anything against myself or my student, and you shall be dealt with in a fashion that will be quite unpleasant. Neither myself nor Alexander are against killing, nor do we really want to run this town – when Finch wakes up, tell him to run it well, or else he'll be replaced."

Before any more was said, the woman who had threatened Xander lunged at him and, with a cold proficiency, Xander dodged her strike and beheaded her – where she landed, the body dissolved into a rather soupy mess and the head dissolved to leave nothing but the skull, teeth and all. From the interior of the skull, a snake slithered out and Xander made short work of it with removing its head.

Stein took that point to rush Methos, but apparently he forgot that Methos was armed as he found himself impaled on Methos' leveled sword, right through the heart. He looked up at Methos, who indeed looked like Death as his world went black, and slid off of the sword as his knees buckled.

Methos looked down at Stein's body and then looked over at both Snyder and the Doctor, "Well? Are we going to make this a mass murder instead of a double?"

Snyder shook his head, "No, we won't." Snyder looked over at Harris, who was idly poking at the Mayor's body, "What happened to you, kid? I know Tony was tough …"

Harris gave him a chilled look, "LIFE happened to me, Snyder, life and everything that I've been fighting in this goddamned town for almost three years now. They say that you don't change the Devil, that he changes you – think of who and what I am as proof of that statement while you tell Finch to straighten up and fly right." Harris looked down at the Mayor's covered body and, after a moment, raised his sword and decapitated the body, taking the head by the hair, "Funny thing is, is that even if there had been an election I wouldn't have voted for him."

"I know," Methos chimed in. "Politicians are a slimy lot to begin with, but him more-so than most." He put away his sword into his jacket and looked at both remaining people, "Good night, you two, and find a way to dispose of these bodies – I'm sure you can come up with something fitting for Stein, like a drawer in the morgue." With that, he and Alexander walked out of the chamber, the Mayor's head not even dripping blood as the skin appeared to be crackling and drying.

John fell into his seat, his hands trembling even as he heard his ex rush to the trash can and throw up; he thought he had known just what it was to be a hard person … but with Pierson and Harris, the term 'Hard' had just taken a new meaning, "Janice, call the morgue and have them take Stein's body. Tell them … tell them he accidentally fell on a kitchen knife." He looked over at Allen, who was just waking up, and snarled, "Wake up, you simpleton! We have murders to cover up."

(Sunnydale Library – later)

Xander strode into the room, Methos having said that he had something else to go check up on, and was greeted by the sight of the room's occupants being divide in two – Jenny faced off against Buffy, against Giles and the worst sign appeared to be that Faith was being the referee for both fights, "What the fuck is going on here?"

Buffy snarled, "Jenny's turned traitor!"

Willow, at the same time, pitched in, "She's working against us again!"

Giles put in his two cents as well, "Buffy and Willow want Angel back on the Hellmouth and don't seem to understand that it is not their call to make and blame Jenny for it."

Faith chimed in as well, "They're all losin' their minds, Xand!"

He looked at Jenny, who was stonily silent, "Well?"

Jenny sighed, "Buffy asked how Angelus was fairing in Los Angeles, I told her the truth, she wanted his location and I refused to give it to her. Somehow that makes me a traitor, Xander, and Willow has taken Buffy's side, as always, in making someone else the guilty party in any travesty."

Xander blinked and then sighed, reaching into his pocket and removing the now-cleaned skull that had once belonged to Richard Wilkins, "Alas, poor Richard, we are surrounded by children."

Buffy, Willow, Jenny and Giles all shouted, "Hey!" or, in Giles' instance, "Oi!" as he put the skull down on the table and looked at Faith, "I'm surprised you let them live this long."

Faith just shrugged, "Figured you'd be mad if I took out Miss C, given she's hot and all."

He smirked a little even as both Willow and Buffy growled at Jenny's little smirk, "Not even going there, Faith." He turned the skull on the table to face the door and sat down into a chair, his lap almost instantly being filled by Faith's bottom, "So, Buffy's not getting what she wants and is raising a stink about it?"

Faith wiggled in his lap, "Pretty much."

He groaned, and not just in disgust at Buffy's reaction, "Perfect."

Jenny, it appeared, wanted to change the subject even as Buffy looked ready to explode, "What did you and Mr. Pierson do?"

His hands on Faith's waist, he pulled her close and grinned, "Met with the 'Inner Council' of the Mayor and … convinced them to see things from our point of view. I think that Allen Finch will be good for the city, though we need a new Chief Detective." They all gave him a look and he shrugged, "From what I understand, he fell on a kitchen knife, tragically died and all, and now Snyder and his apparent ex-wife are covering up like they do everything else."

Buffy flared, "You killed him?"

"No, Adam did … sort of." He yawned and pet Faith, who purred slightly, "Of course, Stein shot Adam six times, so it could be considered justifiable homicide. Mayor's secretary was also taken out, but I think she was a demon of some kind – had a snake in her head." The rest blinked at him, even Faith stopped purring for a second, but then she resumed and he went on, "Either way, I think things will be getting better after a while, at least on the whole 'total incompetence' thing with the PD."

Giles was the first to speak, the others apparently digesting the information somewhat slower, "And … where is Adam now?"

Xander shrugged, enjoying the feeling of Faith in his lap, "Said he had something to take care of in town, and to now follow him. I figure that I like my head where it is, so I'm listening."

(Sunnydale Morgue)

Methos sat outside of the morgue drawer that held the body of Francis Nathaniel Stein, his sword in hand, and idly wondered just how it was that all of the medical personnel had gone home before dark and the body had been put up, not to mention that the drawers had internal lock-release mechanisms. "Probably better to release vampires with," he muttered as he heard a muffled gasp and struggling from within the drawer. He opened it and pulled out the rack, revealing the now-living, now-Immortal form of Frank Stein, "Hello, Detective."

Frank just looked at him, looking shocked, "What happened? Where am I? What are you doing?"

Methos shrugged and raised his sword, "In order - I killed, you, the morgue, and I'm about to kill you again. There can be only one."

Moments later, lightning blew out the lights in the hallway and the room itself, and a moment later Methos walked out of the cooling room, shivering as he brushed off ice crystals from his shoulders, "Nasty business, the Quickening – morgues lose more coolant rooms that way …"

AN: Quick chapter, I know, but it ties up a few loose ends and sets up the next part of the story. What do you think? I hope to end the story soon, but with the way things go with my stories, I'll believe it when I see it – reviews, please.