Xander shrugged when he tried to get the jumpsuit to fit better as he looked at himself in the mirror and tried not to laugh at the sight. Shit stompin' boots, a gray jumpsuit and a dirty yellow trench coat his dad had left for him made Xander smirk at the semi-intimidating figure he made.

At first he had balked at the jumpsuit before his mom had explained that it was fire proof, shock proof and thermally sealed against both heat and cold. The only thing it didn't help defend against seemed to be bullets, or as Eric explained 'Homo-Sapiens and their guns.'

Xander shook his head at Eric's anger at the human race before he thought back to the tattoo's on the inside of his arm and sighed.

/He just doesn't realize that even though it was humans that put him there it was also the humans that bled and died to get him out./ Xander thought before looking up at a knock on his door, sending his thoughts out he felt a familiar warm feeling sliding around outside the reach of his powers before smiling. "Come in Mom." He yelled as he put a few remaining odds and ends into the inside pockets of his coat.

As Mystique stepped in, she raised a single eyebrow at her son while he moved about getting the items he thought would be handy for a trip to Columbia. "How did you know it was me? Very few Psychics can actually get around my mental blocks." She said as Xander looked up and smiled.

"I couldn't get into your mind, but as you evaded me your mind is like mercury on a plate every time I try to get a grip on it it just sort of breaks up into these little pellets while everything else goes skittering away, When Eric has his helmet on I can't get a grip of any sort on him and Remy… he's weird, when I try to get into his head it just sort of loops around into nothing." Xander said before shrugging off the mystery of the Cajun thief before looking back at his mom. "What did you need?"

Shaking her head at her sons ability to catalog the mental defenses of those around him in such crude terms she finally took a breath "Alexander, when we get to Columbia I want you to stay near Peter as much as possible, no needless heroics or cowboy stunts, every single person in there is likely to be an enemy and I don't want you hurt." She said and almost growled when she saw him slump in defeat.

Reaching over she gripped his chin and forced him to look at her. "We will train you to help, but please stay back on this one." She begged and smiled when he finally nodded. "We won't keep you out of the fight, if that is what you truly want, we just want to make sure you have the training to keep yourself safe."

Nodding again Xander smiled at his mom as she promised to let him help. "Alright, but I don't have to like it." He grumbled before looking up as the large Russian poked his head in the door.

"It's time." Piotr said before heading back towards the hanger.

--

Buffy walked into the library and ducked as one of Giles more expensive books flew over her head and slammed into the swinging doors before falling to the floor with a thud. Looking at the book for a second in shock Buffy finally managed to look up as her watcher threw another book while growling again.

"Damnable Archamedies and his Gaelic-Latin slang, how the bloody hell am I supposed to make any sense of him if I can't decipher what he's saying after the second century." Giles growled as he picked up a third book, leafed through it and slammed it down again.

Taking a breath, Buffy was prepared to announce her arrival when Giles finally let loose a frustrated scream and walking over to the weapons cage picked up a rather heavy bat and proceeded to beat the training mannequin into a shape that vaguely resembled a pretzel.

Swallowing at the stuffy Englishmen's rage, Buffy carefully stepped over the fallen book and exited the library.

Listening to the heavy impacts Buffy jumped when a hand touched her shoulder, Spinning around she stared at the redhead for a moment before putting a smile onto her face. "Willow, what're you doing here?" Buffy asked as she tried to keep herself between the Witch in training and the library.

Willow watched her friend act odd before shrugging it off, this was Buffy after all, odd was normal. "I came to help Giles research, you know for the upcoming 'Oh god we're all going to DIE' graduation." Willow said before she frowned "Why are you standing out here?"

"Ooh, I was just… waiting for you to tell you that Giles had to go out of town, something about some old tombs in LA or something." Buffy said as she spun her friend around and quickly walked away from the Library. "Let's go see if we have anything at the Myers Crypt tonight, you know how the vamps love to use that one as a lair."

--

Victor Creed grinned as he worked before stepping back and admiring the fruits of long hours of labor.

The night before a Chaos demon had dropped off a sealed box and after a collection of garbled squeals and half formed words had demanded the bounty from Creed.

After peeking in the box Victor had been more then glad to pay the disgusting blob of slime and horns his fee and let it be on its way.

And now he had his entertainment all set up. Stepping foreword Victor let a savage right cross wake the vampire from its unconscious state (And nearly sent it back into unconsciousness.)

"Wakey wakey, little Spikey." Victor growled as William the Bloody finally woke up.

Looking around with a snarl the vampire finally grasped the situation he was in. Lying spread eagle on a metal table he was restrained by heavy steel clamps at all his joints. Looking back at the smiling form in front of him Spike swallowed heavily as he tried to think back on everyone that he owed money to. /Von-Meers? no paid him off in the seventies. Dracula? No the bloody ponce still owes me ten pounds for that bet we made in eighty-two. Capone? Paid him off by faking his death and relocating him out of Chicago./ Finally frowning at the large form, he tested the restraints and tried to ignore the rising fear inside him. "So mate, if you're this desperate for a shag I could've set you up right, but I gotta let you know that even though I may do sub every now and then I don't really swing your way." He said and lost the grin as the huge being picked up a power drill and slowly slid a small bit into the power tool.

Ignoring the Vampire's attempts to anger him, Victor tightened the bolt down on the drill bit and squeezed the trigger as he listened for any kind of catch in the workings of the tool.

Hearing none, he turned towards the undead and smiled. "I've always wondered, Spike, what do you think would happen if you where to suck out the marrow in a vampires bones and replace it with holy water?" he asked casually as he set the drill down and checked the suction on a small vacuum he had stolen from the local dentist's practice. "Personally I think they would survive it but there is this little part of me that wonders if it may just dust from the pain."

Looking at the figure before him Spike felt the slow buildup of terror as it seemed to sap the very strength from his muscles. "You're not serious mate?" He asked and swallowed at the near demonic grin the large man directed towards him. "W-what did I ever do to you?" he said as he looked around desperately for anything he could use to get away from this situation.

Finally finished checking everything over Creed looked at the vampire as he thrashed on the table. "To me? Nothing." He said simply as he knelt down so he was just a few inches from the undead's head. "But my wife got to deal with the last piece of shit that laid a hand on Alexander and I just want to keep the score even."

Blinking in shock, Spike thought back to the only Alexander he had anything to do with recently. "Y-you mean the slayer's little tag-along friend? H-his dad's a drunken arse." He said desperately as he tried to think up an explanation or excuse he could use to escape.

Shaking his head slowly Creed grinned again. "His adoptive father WAS a drunken ass." He said putting as much emphasis on the past tense as he could "His biological father is a seven foot two inch monster that's forgotten more knowledge on causing pain than you could ever imagine."

Ignoring the rest of the vampire's words, he picked up the drill and vacuum and turned back. "So what do you say 'Spike,' wanna play?"

Below them, the beaten and bloody ex-principle of Sunnydale High cowered in a corner of his cell as the screams began.