Dear old Dad…

"What the bloody hell is going on?" Giles made his way into the dark room that served as the hub for the rebuilt Watchers Council computer network, "You can hear the alarms going off everywhere in the building!"

"Someone's trying to hack the system." Andrew was sat at one terminal, typing away furiously, "The firewall is holding, for now, but it's only a matter of time before it falls."

"Is Willow online?"

"Yes, and in a very bad mood: I have the impression that we caught her and Kennedy at a bad time."

"Part of the job. Have you activated the defensive spells?"

"Yes, but they're only of limited use: whoever it is has a lot of computer power to throw at us. I don't think they're going to hold."

"Options?"

"At the moment, two: we let them in and hope they don't do anything destructive, or we shut he entire network down."

"What would that do?"

"Put a dent in our communications network, cut us off from some of the more remote Watchers. We can still run the phones, as they're on another network, but the email and online database will be down until further notice."

"Any idea who's doing this?"

"Best I can give you is the area: New York City."

"S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"It's a possibility: they have the know-how, and Willow may have been spotted when she was in their system."

"Shut down the system."

"What?"

"Shut down the system: we can't risk them breaching our security and finding out why Faith is doing over there. Shut it all down."

"Ok, you're the boss." Andrew nodded, be for muttering under his breath, "I should have stayed in Rome…"

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"I'm sorry General, they've shut themselves down." The chief technician looked up from his computer, "We weren't able to break their encryption in time."

"Any idea who they are?" Fury asked.

"No, but whoever they are, they have encryption that I've never seen before: it was like every command code was written in another language. Whoever wrote it is either crazy, or certified guineas."

"Well than it wasn't Faith: she smart, but not as smart as her father. Keep on it: I want you ready to go when they bring themselves back online. I'll have S.T.R.I.K.E. look into who owns the building they operate out of."

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"Hey G-man, good to hear from you again!" Xander stood in the middle of the African savannah next to his beat up Land Rover, "But considering how expensive these satellite phones are, I take it this isn't a social call."

"I'm afraid you're right. How soon can you get to New York?"

"You're joking right? It took me two weeks to get out here, and that was with as much as possible arranged before hand. It's a two-day drive to the nearest dirt-strip. Then I have to find a pilot who's willing to fly me to the nearest airport that'll have flight connecting to something approaching an international hub. We're talking days, minimum."

"Find out where the nearest solid runway is, and I'll have a Council jet meet you there."

"Those things are expensive!" What the hell is going on in New York?"

"You must have heard by now that we've found out who Faith's father is?"

"Yeah, Tony Starke. About time she caught a break."

"Well, she flew there from Cleveland to confront him, and things have gotten a little out of hand."

"Why am I not surprised? What happened?"

"She's been offered a probationary job with The Ultimates. The only thing is S.H.I.E.L.D. are looking into her past, and have already tried to hack into our computers. Andrew had to take the entire system offline while Willow re-writes the encryption software."

"She's not going to be happy." Xander looked at his watch, "Ok, we've got a few more hours of sunlight left."

"Let me know once you know where the jet can meet you."

"Will do." Xander put the phone down, then turned to the tall Maasai warrior who was trying to observe a pride with a large pair of binoculars, "Hey, Kosa, I need to go back to the U.S. for a while. Think you can hold things down over here?"

"Shouldn't be a problem." Kosa had a strangly english accsent, a legacy of his time at a missionery school, "You've trained the girls well, and we've not had any major demon attacks in the area. And if anything happens, I'll call London for help."

"Yeah, well, just be cairfull." Xander climebed back into the 4x4, "I have a feeling that it's going to be a while before I can come back."

TBC