The Summers family home, now.
"What…. What do you mean I'm the Key?" Dawn asked with worry on her face as her hands squeezed her knees while sitting on the couch, "what.. what does that mean?"
"I don't know," Willow leaning forwards while clasping her hands together said, "I just know that you are the Key. I mean the Key was put inside you. And that this Glory person is looking for you." Dawn then looked towards Joyce, who was just as worried, and then to Buffy who stared back at her while a hand reached out for and grabbed a hand that was tightly holding onto a knee.
"But Glory doesn't know Dawn is the Key," Tara reminded them, "or else she'd be here by now."
Buffy then put a small smile on her face before whispering towards Dawn, "Tara's right. And whatever the Key is? Or what it is supposed to do? You're you. You're Dawn."
"And before you say anything, Buffy" Giles spoke up just as Buffy turned to face him, and opened her mouth to let out the statement that came to the forefront of her mind, "I will not inform the Council that Dawn is the Key. They will never know, and I will also not reveal you as the source for Glory's name"
"I don't want the Council anywhere near Dawn or Willow," Buffy said narrowing her eyes at the Watcher who nodded his head. Buffy glanced at the redhead who was looking up at Tara, their hands together, and then she looked away and a small smile formed on her face. Buffy then looked back at Faith who was leaning back against the wall close to the foyer having listened to the conversation. She could see that the younger Slayer was more at ease now with her hands in her jean' pockets staring at Joyce and Dawn in concern. Their eyes caught for just a second before the later nodded her head.
"We'll keep them safe from Glory," Faith said pushing herself off the wall and walking towards Dawn who looked back up at her. Faith placed her left hand on Dawn's head and ruffled her hair.
"Heeeeeey," Dawn whined as Faith pulled her hand back with a smirk on her face.
"Okay," Jenny said while Althanea walked over to Willow and Tara, "so the first thing we do is find out what this Glory looks like."
"Agreed," Althanea said, "but we need someone who can draw her facial features."
"Like one of those pictures that cops make witnesses draw?" Dawn added shrugging her shoulders.
"Yeah," Willow grimaced, "I can't draw."
Giles, Jenny, Faith, Xander, Anya, and Tara all said that they were either not good or their art couldn't really be considered art. It was then then Joyce spoke up, saying that she could draw a picture of what Glory looked like based on Willow's vision.
"Then," Althanea said glancing at the time, and then at Joyce, "after you're done, I just want to do a quick medical examination using my magic." Althanea could see that Joyce was surprised, and the former noticed Giles and Jenny about to speak. So, Althanea put her hand up- silently asking them to hold off questions, and continued, "I'm using magic just detect abnormalities in your body, but I can't use it to heal you or repair any damage." Althanea noticed the looks of relief on Giles' face, just as Tara leaned forward towards Joyce.
"Magic is a little bit... temperamental… yea, that's the word for it… temperamental when it comes to healing any sickness or disease, or every injury," Tara explained before going on to say that magic could actually heal injuries or make them even worse.
"Either way, you're coming with me to the hospital tomorrow," Althanea said. And Joyce nodded her head while holding on tight to Buffy and Dawn.
"Now that's over," Willow said, "we need to talk about this monk I saw. He has something to do with the Key… at least that's my feeling… something to do with the Key before it was put into Dawn."
"You said you saw him while we were fighting Glory, right?" Faith asked and Willow nodded her head. Faith then continued, "you know where?"
"It was a warehouse," Willow replied narrowing her eyes as she recalled the fast moving images she had seen earlier that night, "I think it's on the outskirts of the city near the warehouse district."
"There's a lot of places that guy could hide," Faith said with a frown on her face, "we'll probably need all of us to…"
"I'll go," Tara said, followed by Xander and Anya. Joyce was about to say that she would be going too but Buffy interrupted her before she did. The blonde Slayer told her mother that she needs to be home with Dawn before turning to Althanea and asking her if she could stay. Althanea nodded her head while Giles said he and Jenny were joining them in their search for the monk.
Buffy nodded her head at Giles before turning back towards Willow, "Will, can you get up a map of the warehouse district? Once we have that, then we'll decide what the next step is gonna be."
Willow then nodded her head.
It would be about an hour later that Willow printed off a map of the warehouse district where there were twelve large warehouses as well as eleven smaller ones. She had also used her skills as a hacker to access details of each one, including the year they were built and the number of floors in each warehouse.
"Okay," Willow said as she lay the printout of the map and the other printout containing details of each warehouse, "in my vision, we were fighting Glory on the top floor. And, I caught a glimpse of what was outside one of the other windows… a crane, and the roof of one of the smaller warehouses."
"Which means the one you were in towered over the others," Giles said as Buffy and Jenny looked down at the map while Faith stared at the detailed printout. She then leaned forwards and tapped the piece of paper before saying that there were seven large warehouses that had six floors. She pushed the paper over to Buffy and Willow.
"Hey, look at the first, third, fifth, tenth, eleventh, and the fourteenth ones on the list," Faith said, "those should be the ones we check out first, I guess."
"Any idea when you guys are supposed to face Glory?" Dawn asked looking at Willow. The redhead shook her head before saying that she just knew that they would have face her, and nearly die.
Buffy nodded her head before saying, "if we're gonna go out there in the Warehouse District looking for this monk guy, then we need a way of contacting each other. We need to know who meets up with him first and we need status updates." She then glanced up at Giles, Willow, and Faith, "I don't want anyone of us coming into contact with Glory on our own." Buffy then locked eyes with Willow, "I trust your visions Will, but if they say we nearly die fighting this chick together, then I'd rather we face her together instead of one on one."
Willow nodded her head while noting Buffy's disgust at the very mention of Glory. 'That skank's trying to kill Dawnie, of course she's worried.'
"Will, mom will draw your description of Glory," Buffy said as she put her hands on her hips, "once we have that drawing, we're leaving."
"We'll probably need some radios to keep in contact," Willow said.
"I still have a few that I borrowed," Xander said while he air-quoted the words 'borrowed', "from the initiative base the day we took them down." Buffy and Willow, followed by Faith and the others turned to him and stared questioningly. He then shrugged before saying, "they weren't gonna be using it anymore."
"Are they charged?" Willow said.
"Didn't have the chance to charge them?" Xander winced.
"Tara, can you use magic to keep us all in contact with each other?"
The blonde witch nodded her head, "I can use a spell to link our minds telepathically."
"Willow," Buffy said looking up at the redhead, "scout the area from the air. If you recognise the building, then contact Tara, and she'll tell us where you're gonna be."
Willow nodded her head.
"Faith, Giles, Xander, and I will wait in the car here," Buffy said pointing to the map. Her finger landed on the North side entrance of the massive area containing the warehouses, "once we get something from Willow, we'll get in and check it out. If its not the one Willow saw in her vision, then we move on to the next warehouse."
"I'll tell Mrs Summer the details about Glory and Monk for the sketch," Willow said, "and then I'll go home and get my gear."
"Nighthawk's back in action?" Dawn asked.
"Yep," Willow nodded her head before she looked over at Tara, "I'll be fine."
The Warehouse District; two hours later.
After joining the Order, the man looking over his shoulder, his senses hyper-vigilant, knew he was working to protect the world and the one single thing the Order itself was created for; to protect the Key. He hurried past the buildings with a rucksack slung on his shoulder while sticking to the shadows. He didn't sense anyone following him, but he knew that it was close. He knew that the thing the Order called the Beast was close.
In fact, it was living in this very city.
It was a few weeks ago that, following the destruction of his Order, he escaped Romania and took a flight to Sunnydale, California. Ever since arriving, he had been living in one of the seven storey warehouses on the north side of the Warehouse District, the walls and doors were warded off to prevent the Beast from finding him. At least for the foreseeable future while he searched for the Slayer. However, he needed a spell that was powerful enough to find the Key and inform its protector about its true nature. At the same time, the spell couldn't be something that was too powerful in the event that the Beast discovered his location.
The man shuddered the last time he tried this particular spell, he was about to activate it when there was a sudden feeling of dread that filled his to the core. He stood up and looked around outside the window to see the sky getting unnaturally dark – the clouds were rolling as white turned to grey and then to black. There was a chill in a air as gusts of wind tore through the warehouse and blew all his ingredients away.
While it concerned him that the ingredients for the ritual were now useless since some of the smaller urns shattered, he was more concerned about the cause of what he was seeing. He knew it wasn't the Beast, it couldn't be since its power was cut down after being imprisoned in a human vessel. So, he thought to himself as he shivered that day, there was something else in the city… something or someone powerful enough to release a massive amount of dark magic. Unknown to the Monk, this was the day that Willow nearly gave in to the darkness within her and destroyed the world.
Then just as it happened, everything turned back to normal. The Monk was surprised; he could feel the magic reaching critical mass, he sensed it was powerful enough to end the world. But it stopped. He believed it was the Slayer who saved the world once again, and he felt joy in his brothers agreeing to send the Key to this Slayer. He mentally told himself that if the Slayer was able to beat this particular threat, then she had the potential of defeating the Beast.
Shaking his head, the Monk pushed his thoughts of that day to the side as he entered a building, closed the door behind him before activated the ward, and then walked up the stairs a step at a time.
'The Beast knows the Key in in the city,' the Monk thought to himself, 'I must warn the Slayer.' He then looked out the third-floor window as he walked up the stairs. The night sky was clear with the stars and moon visible. 'I just hope there is no other world ending possibility tonight.' The Monk then sighed as he reached the fourth floor landing, and he continued upwards on the stairs.
He continued onwards until her reached a metallic sliding door. She reached for the handle, and then pulled it open. Once he did, he heard a snicker from the large room beyond the door. He stared at the six figures standing around the small table and two chairs in the far end of the room. Stepping into the room, and then closing the door behind him, he recognized one of them.
After all it was her blood that was used to transform the Key into a human child.
"You.. you are the Slayer."
"Slayers," Faith said as she pointed at Buffy and then at herself while the Monk stared in surprise as he walked towards the group. He then eyes the older man in the suit, a dark haired younger man in a jacket, followed by a dark blonde girl giving him a small smile with her hands behind her back. From her, the Monk could feel magic radiating like gentle heat. And then he eyed the grey haired woman in the black and grey toned suit. He saw the batons on both sides of her hips as well as the hilt of a combat knife that was on her lower back, and then he glanced up at the eyes covered by a pair of grey opaque glasses. He could barely make out the eye colour before he looked back at the Slayer.
And then the other Slayer.
"It took us a while to find you," the one in the grey black body suit said as she folded her arms over he chest.
"I am not aware of who you are," the Monk told the grey-haired woman before turning to Buffy, "and I was unaware of there being two Slayers." The monk then took another step, "but I have been searching for you, Buffy Summers. I have to explain…"
"About the Key?" Buffy said with a hint of surprise in her voice as she wondered how the monk knew her name. Her surprise was reflected in the look of surprise etched on the Monk's face as he wondered how she knew about the Key. "Yeah," Buffy frowned, "I want an explanation about the Key, and why you transformed it into my Sister."
"Of course," the Monk slightly owed, the surprise on his face even more pronounced while he wondered how it was that Buffy knew so much about the Key already. Mentally telling himself to ask that question later, he stood up and asked in a gentle voice, "I seek sanctuary with you, Slayers. I will tell you everything you must know about the Key. But I ask for sanctuary."
TBC.