Title: A Sarcophagus in Sunnydale (Chapter 5)
Author: thecrystalkey
Summary: A newspaper article has sent Jack and Daniel to Sunnydale. What will they find? Primarily from the POV of Jack O'Neill but focuses on the Buffy characters.
Spoilers: Season 2 Buffy up to 'What's my line?', no real spoilers for SG-1 (early seasons).

Disclaimer: All characters copyright MGM or Joss Whedon/Twentieth Century Fox/Mutant Enemy. Only the plot is mine. This is a non-profit fan story not intended to infringe the rights of MGM, Showtime, Gekko or Double Secret productions. Nor those of Joss Whedon, Twentieth Century Fox, or Mutant Enemy. Besides I have no money, sueing me would be a waste of time. :)

Harris was trying to pull Willow away from her computer to help with his math homework.

It was nearly eight o'clock at night and she was assuring them repeatedly that she was almost done.

All four members of the group had asked if they were sure they didn't want to just go and pick up a copy tomorrow sometime.

Daniel was still drooling over Giles' books and Jack didn't really want to leave him alone with these people until he knew more about them.

All conversation stopped when Buffy walked, or rather limped, into the library. Her expression was stormy as she walked across the room and threw herself down on the stairs, left leg stretched out in front of her.

One look at her and Xander was moving. By the time she'd sat down he was offering an ice pack wrapped in a towel. She took it with a smile of thanks and put it on her knee.

She frowned down at her knee until Giles emerged from the office offering two aspirin and a cup of water. She took them gratefully and swallowed them. He and the young man waited patiently, without saying a word.

"Four of them snuck on me in the park," she said grumpily. "I can't believe I let them sneak up on me!"

"They're not- They didn't follow you or anything?" Giles asked, looking towards the door.

"Please," she said. "I dusted 'em. But how am I supposed to sneak back into my house now?" she asked plaintively.

"I can boost you to the roof," Xander offered.

"I might need to take you up on that," she said wryly.

"You said there were four?" Giles asked. "Any more elsewhere?"

"A couple," she said. "Is there something special about tonight? Because otherwise, you know what this means."

She sounded much more mature than she had before. She also sounded tired and irritated.

"Nest," Xander sighed. "And we have a math test tomorrow."

"Probably we can deal with it at lunch," Buffy offered. "Best time for it anyway."

"I'm done!" Willow suddenly exclaimed from the computer.

Daniel got up to take a look at what she'd done. The other three had turned towards her and offered congratulations but stayed where they were.

They'd kept their conversation quiet but Jack had deliberately put himself in a position to overhear. When the girl had come in injured, he'd decided enough was enough.

"So how long have you been doing this?" Jack asked.

Everyone in the room turned to look at him with expressions ranging from horrified to irritated. But none of the four answered.

"This vigilante thing," Jack clarified. "How long has it been going on?"

"Vigilante?" Xander asked. "What's a vigilante?"

"We're an archaeology club," Willow protested weakly.

"You might be that as well," Jack said pleasantly. "But that's not all you are. I'm right, aren't I? This is some kind of secret take-back-the-night thing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against the idea."

"Then why do you sound so angry about it?" Giles asked coolly.

"Because you're sending kids out there, alone, to do the work," Jack accused. Giles paled and he knew he'd hit a weak spot. Maybe now he'd get to the truth.

Buffy stood and stepped between him and Giles.

"How dare you?" she said, outraged. "How dare you judge him like that when you know nothing about the situation!"

Summers and Harris were now standing between Jack and Giles, in combat-ready stances like they'd been at the Museum. Rosenberg hadn't moved from the computer but she was standing and also seemed ready to defend the librarian.

A sudden loud noise had Daniel ducking and Jack reaching for a non-existent gun.

The Sunnydalers scattered: Giles went for his office, Willow for the bookcage, Xander turned to face the main doors. Buffy stayed facing the noise, which had come from the stacks.

Jack heard a whistling, like someone calling a dog.

"Here, Slayer," a male voice called softly from the behind the bookshelves. "Here Slayer, Slayer, Slayer. Here, girl."

Giles came out of his office and began tossing some objects to the blond girl. They looked like sharpened pieces of wood, which she caught and concealed on her person.

Looking behind him Jack saw Willow tossing the same objects to Xander, who was also concealing them on himself. Then the little redhead pulled out a reloading crossbow and began to arm it.

What the hell is going on? Jack thought. Because the fact was that none of the four seemed particularly surprised.

"I don't know that a guy that calls himself Spike has any right to be calling me like I'm a dog," Buffy said.

"Because a name like Buffy isn't a dog's name at all," a sarcastic British voice answered.

A man suddenly appeared from behind one of the bookcases.

"Hello, pet," he said. His hair was bleached blond, he wore a red silk shirt, black leather pants and a black leather duster.

"Spike," Buffy acknowledged.

"Listen, love, your mother isn't here is she?" the man, Spike, asked, looking around warily.

"No, she's not here," the girl said softly. She was smiling. "It's just you and me."

"Well, you and me and your little friends," the man corrected. "Good thing I brought some friends of my own."

As if that had been a signal, more people came out from behind the bookshelves and a few came in the through the main doors.

Spike hopped the railing and attacked the girl. While he was jumping his face changed becoming what Jack might have believed was a fright mask if he hadn't seen the guy's face change.

Then Jack and Daniel were both busy fighting for their lives. Jack managed to get the…creature that had attacked down on the floor, but then had no idea what to do with it.

He looked up, searching for a weapon. Harris tossed him one of the bits of wood yelling, "Aim for the heart!"

Jack caught it reflexively and plunged it into the thing's heart before he thought about it. The creature exploded into dust in front of his eyes. After allowing himself a moment's amazement, Jack O'Neill scrambled to his feet and went to help Daniel Jackson.

The next time he had a moment to look around, he noticed that Giles and Willow seemed to have a system with the older man holding one of the creatures in place while the girl staked it.

Buffy was still fighting the talkative one, they'd moved back up the stairs and were fighting it out with faster than human punches and kicks. Xander was picking himself up off the floor where he had apparently been thrown into a wall. He shook his head and went for a flying tackle on one of the creatures that was trying to get in behind Buffy.

The thing got in a pretty good hit to the side of the kid's face but the boy managed to get the creature in the heart at about that time. Then Jack was tackled from behind and had no more time for observations.

The next time he got the chance to look around was when the fight paused at the sound of sirens approaching.

The blond guy threw Buffy into a wall.

"And that's my cue to leave," he said. "We'll continue this some other time."

And he ran back behind the bookshelves. The creatures that were still left followed him.

The locals all looked at each other.

"Bugger it," Giles said, looking around at the damage. "Snyder is going to have a field day with this."

"He can't blame you," Buffy pointed out. "We weren't here, remember?"

"You did move your car?" Xander asked.

"Well, yes," the librarian said. "That doesn't mean he isn't going to blame me. It is my library."

"On the bright side, no nest," Xander said.

"Yeah, it was just Spike trying to kill me again," the blond girl said dryly.

"If we weren't here," Willow said. "Shouldn't we not be here when the police come in?"

"They're already here," Daniel pointed out.

"There's a way out behind the stacks," Giles said as the teenagers grabbed their things.

Willow re-armed the crossbow and handed it to Xander, who already had his backpack on. She locked up the book cage and threw the keys to Giles.

Buffy flipped the lights off and all four Sunnydalers pulled out flashlights and flicked them on.

This was obviously not the first time they'd done this either.

"I thought you said this kind of thing is for the police to deal with?" Jack whispered to Giles as they made their way out of the building.

"This is exactly the kind of the thing the police aren't equipped to deal with," Buffy said. "They'd only come with guns."

As they walked quickly away from the school Xander took point, holding the crossbow at the ready. Willow was walking just behind him, nervously fingering a sharpened piece of wood.

"What do you mean: they'd only come with guns?" Daniel asked seriously.

"Oh, come on," the blond said. "If you haven't figured it out by now I'm not sure I should tell you."

"Buffy," Giles said from behind them.

"Explanations can wait until we're somewhere less public and more secure, Giles," the girl said with authority.

She no longer sounded much like a teenager.

"Where are we going?" Jack asked.

"Willow's house," the three teenagers chorused.

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