The Warehouse District.
Buffy nodded her head at the Monk's request for sanctuary before Faith nodded her head as well, but not before asking about the Key. The monk sighed before taking a seat on the chair and placing his bag on the cement grey coloured floor while Willow looked around; the latter seeing all the places where both Buffy and Faith were injured before she turned her focus back on the Monk who was rubbing the back of his head. Before the man could start, Willow spoke up first.
"We need to get out of here," Willow said, her voice muffled by the balaclava she was wearing as she channelled Niko's tactical training, "this place is too closed in. If she's on her way…"
"I thought you said that she's not coming tonight?" Xander said, careful not to reveal Willow's name in front of the Monk.
Willow turned her head towards her oldest friend and clarified, "I said I had a vision she'd be here at night. And you're right, she's not supposed to be coming tonight because Buffy hasn't retried that glowing ball thing from the security guard in my vision. But better not tempt fate, you know." Willow then turned to the monk who looked back at her in confusion with his eyebrows furrowed together, "I'm guessing you know this glowy thing? Yellow, a little large than a Christmas Tree ornament?"
"Who are you?" the Monk asked in an accented voice that told Willow and the others he was from an Eastern European country.
"Nighthawk," Willow shrugged as the Monk frowned before looking at Buffy and Faith, the redhead could see that he was still surprised at the fact that there were two Slayers standing before him. Willow then turned to Buffy, and then to Giles, "in case this Glory person comes here tonight, we don't have space to manoeuvre. We're boxed in
"We can take him to the Magic Box," Giles said, "but we need a way to hide his presence from Glory."
At hearing the name, Willow saw the Monk opened his eyes wide at Giles, who was talking to Tara. He then turned his head towards Xander who was speaking to Faith, before turning his head towards Buffy who had her arms crossed over her chest while glaring at the Monk. Willow wondered what was going on in Buffy's head, 'I mean, I can't imagine what it must be like to hear that my sister is some kind of a Key. I'd be asking what kind of a Key? What does she open? Or what does she keep closed? There are so many questions.."
"How do you know the name of the Beast?" the Monk asked, fear etched in his voice as he asked Buffy.
"Nighthawk's a Claire… Claire…" Buffy then turned to Willow, "clairvoyant, right?"
Willow couldn't help but chuckle before a small smile appeared on her face and she turned to the surprised Monk, "she knew where you were because she saw you in a vision." Buffy stepped forward, "she saw Glory kicking our asses, and she saw some guy handing me a glowing Christmas ornament."
"There's a few other things we've seen but.. yes…" Tara said after talking with Giles about hiding the monk's presence; her mind going back to the image of the older Dawn she had seen the day Dark Willow was stopped and she got her Willow back.
"I will give what answers I can," the Monk said as he slowly stood up while reaching down to grab his bag. He then stared at Nighthawk, his face reflecting off the dark tinted goggles before tuning his head back to Buffy and then to Faith, and back to Buffy, "but I must know; is she safe? Is Dawn Summers safe?"
"As safe as she can be," Buffy said before nodding towards the door, "let's get out of here." Buffy then turned her head towards Willow who said that she'll be their 'eye in the sky'. Buffy nodded her head before Willow turned and headed for the window.
Reaching the open window, Willow looked back at Tara and tapped her own head, signalling to the blonde witch that they needed to be connected through her magic once again. Tara nodded her head; silently connected them all telepathically. Once it was done, Willow placed one foot on the window's edge and pushed off high straight up into the sky. She flew higher and higher before slowly coming to a stop and looking back down as she hung in the air. She scanned the area around the warehouse with her eyes, completely confident in her black and grey costume allowing her to go unnoticed with the surrounding night sky behind her.
It would be several moments later that Willow saw the small group led by Buffy up front and Faith at the rear walking out of the warehouse. They were heading towards Giles' and Xander's cars that were parked outside the chain-link fence to the southern side.
Willow leaned forward and then used her telekinesis to propel herself towards the south, floating just ahead of the group on the surface, her eyes scanning for any threats, while telepathically telling Buffy and Faith that they were clear.
As they drove out of the large compound, Willow was in the air above them looking out for anything unusual. And so far, there was nothing. Breathing a sigh of relief, she continued on watching the car below as they made their way towards the Magic Box.
The Magic Box.
It wold be several minutes later that Willow landed on the street in front of the Magic Box while the car driven by Giles turned a corner and then made its way to the parking spot in front of the large window that looked into the shop. Willow, still in her uniform, nodded her head at Giles after he exited the car before taking off into the sky and then banking left. It was all for a show for the benefit of the monk who exited the rear of the car after Xander.
While the monk was being brought into the shop, Giles asked Anya if she discovered a concealment spell that would hide the monk, "we need to prevent this Glory demon from detecting…" But before Giles could finish what he wanted to say, the monk mumbled a sentence that had everyone in the shop freeze before all of them stared back at him.
"The… the beast… the one you know as Glory, is not a demon," the monk said as Willow, who was flying above, circled around and then made her way to the rear of the Magic Box before she lowered herself down in front of the rear entrance that led into the back training room. As Willow opened the door and walked in, back in the shop, the monk continued on to say that Glory was a god.
"Huh?" Buffy and Faith both had their mouths hanging open while Xander and Anya narrowed their eyes at the monk and Giles took of his glasses with a look of disbelief on his face.
'Did he just say that Glory is a god? No, that can't be right,' Giles thought before he stepped forward while about to say if the monk was absolutely sure, 'the man has to be mistaken. There have been instances where demons are so powerful that they call themselves gods and…'
"This is a joke, right?" Faith said, interrupting Giles, "a god? Come on."
While Willow, now in her normal attire of a fuzzy orange sweater and blue jeans, opened the door that led to the interior of the shop, caught the tail end of the conversation between the Scoobies and the monk.
"Glory can't be some god," Buffy said as Willow closed the door behind her and walked up to the Slayer, "if she was, then wouldn't she be able to… I don't know…" Buffy sarcastically said, herself thinking that the monk simply could not be telling the truth, "kill us all with fire and lightning… or something?"
"Glory's a god?" Willow said in disbelief. At her presence, the monk slinked back slightly, his body became tense at the arrival of the newcomer. However, he eased up slightly after Xander, Tara, and Giles gently told the monk that Willow was their friend and a part of their group. Gulping, the monk nodded at Willow before looking over at Buffy and then at Faith. In the meantime, Tara walked over to Willow and whispered that the monk believed Glory was a god while the aforementioned monk asked about Dawn once again. He wanted to know if she really was protected.
"She is," Giles said before Anya looked up from the book she was reading and said that the concealment spell she was researching was able to hide the monk's presence from demons, but she wasn't sure how effective it would be against a god. Giles nodded his head before looking over at Tara and Willow once again. "Tara, Willow, I would like for the both of you to help Anya find anything that would help us hide…" Giles then turned towards the monk who was eying the books to his left and then towards the various powders and liquids along the shelf behind the counter, "I'm afraid we do not know what to call you."
"Oh," the Monk looked back at him before continuing, "Kristoff… you can call me Kristoff."
Giles nodded his head before tuning back to Tara and Willow, and then towards Anya who was standing behind the counter, "we' need to find something that could help us hide Kristoff from Glory… something that is very powerful."
"I do have a spell," Kristoff said before he lay his bag on the floor of the shop, "I just need to collect some of the ingredients."
"If you have a list… or better yet," Tara waved her hand towards the counter, "how about you help us search for the ingredients and then we can prepare the spell." Kristoff nodded his head before he started walking towards the counter where Anya was picking up books off the floor behind the counter and placing them on the glass surface. While Tara and Kristoff were at the counter, Willow walked up to Giles, Faith, and Giles.
"Does the Circle have any kind of spell that could conceal someone from something as powerful as a god?" Buffy asked Willow who had her hands in her pockets. The redhead shook her head before saying that the only memories she had of Nico battling something as powerful as a god was the Megamind… but that being was trapped in a pocket dimension through the entire Circle, including her mentor Ariel, combining their powers to put it to sleep and then trap it away.
Buffy and Faith glanced at each other while Giles rubbed his chin, the latter was deep in thought, as Willow continued, "and it wasn't any pocket dimension, it was a dimension that Megamind could not break out of without someone from the outside working to release him." Willow then shrugged before saying, "and I doubt very much that a pocket dimension like that exists… I mean if Glory's a god, then won't she find Kristoff?"
"There's something else that's got me thinking," Faith said shrugging her shoulders, "why hasn't Glary come after the guy yet?" Faith looked over at Giles before nodding in Kristoff's direction. She could see that he was deep in thought before she turned towards Buffy, and then Willow, and then back to Giles, "I mean, if she is a god, then she should have found the guy when he first arrived in Sunnydale or… hell, if she was a god then she would have found him before he left his country to come here."
Giles nodded his head, silently agreeing with Faith while Willow frowned. The redhead knew that Faith was right – that a god would be able to discover a target's location easily, in addition to having a multitude of other powers.
Willow supposed there were two reasons for Glory not being able to find the monk, 'either she's not a god, or if she is, then her powers are somehow locked away?' While Willow was more inclined to believe the first part, that Glory really wasn't a god, the second part was a possibility… which meant that there was a way to save Dawn and protect Buffy and Faith, 'you too, Tara. I don't want to see anything happen to you.'
"Kristoff," Willow asked turning around, away from Giles, Buffy, and Faith, "is Glory really a god?"
"Yes," was the reply as he looked up while taking out some objects out of his bag while Tara was being handed a book by Anya.
Willow nodded her head before asking, "then if she's a god, then why didn't she come after you before you reached the States? I mean as a god she should be able to sense you, or something, right?"
Kristoff agreed by nodding his head, "ordinarily, yes."
"Ordinarily?" Giles asked, surprise evident in his voice. The man mentally thought to himself that the word 'ordinarily' implied that Glory may not be at full strength, 'which could explain why she hasn't come down on him yet. Maybe there is something that is holding her back?'
Giles got his answer a few seconds later as Kristoff explained Glory's origin – about how she was overthrown in her own hell dimension by her fellow gods who believed she was taking away their worshippers. The Scoobies listened intently as Kristoff explained that Glory was imprisoned into the body of a human baby, thus severely curtailing her powers. However, before anyone could ask if he knew who the baby was, Kristoff said that the Monks had no idea as to the identity of Glory's human prison.
"However, since she comes from another dimension, she requires sustenance to keep her sane," the monk said before his eyes shifted away and towards the counter in front of him, "she… she steals mental energy from her victims and…"
"Steals mental energy?" Buffy said, her eyes narrowed, "you mean…."
"She sucks brains?" Tara whispered, her eyebrows arched upwards, "she's a brain sucker?"
"Which means there should be an increase in people who are insane?" Willow asked as she stared at the monk who nodded his head. She frowned before looking back at Giles, "I'll hack into the Sunnydale Mercy records and check for any increase on the number of people admitted in the mental ward." Giles nodded his head before Willow made her way towards the counter. She walked around it and then past Tara, whose hand she brushed; Kristoff, and Anya. Walking through the doorway leading to the back office, she sat down at the computer and began typing.
It would be several minutes later that Willow leaned back on her chair, a look of disbelief on her face as she stared at the screen in front of her. While the others were gathering ingredients for a concealment spell Kristoff was going to use to protect himself from Glory, Willow confirmed Glory's presence in Sunnydale.
'Ten people with no history of mental illness were admitted into Sunnydale Mercy over the last two days,' she read the classified hospital report, 'the number of sudden mental deterioration is an outlier.' Willow frowned at the report before she recalled the young man she saved from the demonic 'Hobbit-like' creatures several nights ago when she was patrolling as Nighthawk, 'so they were taking him to Glory… he, or rather his mental energy, was going to be food.' Willow shuddered slightly as she wondered how it was that Glory fed, 'maybe it's better not to know.'
Frowning as she leaned forward once again, Willow covered her digital tracks once again before closing the connection. She then got up and walked out of the back office where Tara was pounding some herbs in a pestle while Anya and Kristoff were going through a book.
"Guys," Willow said, "we have a little problem."
TBC.