So, this is the next chapter, and big stuff's happening. Tell me what you think of this chapter, and thanks for the reviews! They're much appreciated. I'll be trying to have an update every three-five days or so. I've got a really good idea for where this is headed. Enjoy.

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Chapter 12

Watchers, Slayers and Scoobies

Ahead of them was a thirty-storey building towering up into the sky. It was made of bricks and had large windows forming the wall of every room facing the outside. They pulled up to the gate that blocked the entrance of the building to everyone that was not a member of the Watchers Council. After Giles' and Willow's encounters in the motel, they had decided to come straight here, report what had happened, tell the Council about the coven and hope to figure out what was going on. Giles showed his ID card to the guard at the gate, and he allowed them through. Once onto the grounds, they drove down a ramp to a large underground car park where there were cars everywhere.

"Wow, look at all this," Cassia said.

"It is a big car park isn't it," Giles replied.

"Uh huh," Willow added as her comment. Together, they made their way towards the elevator which would take them up to the ground floor.

Once on the ground floor, Giles walked up to the reception area and calmly told that lady that he was Rupert Giles and that he needed to see Quentin Travers and the leadership of the Watchers Council.

"I'm sorry, but you don't have the clearance to do that," the woman replied to him. Giles just raised his eyebrows in reply.

"Do you know who I am?" Giles asked in a rhetorical question. "I'm the current Watcher of the Slayer Buffy Summers. I do have that clearance, and what I have to discuss with Travers is of the highest urgency," Giles explained. "So, either you can let us through, or we can get ourselves through." The woman just sat back in her chair, in shock a little.

"Um, okay. Just let me ring through," she replied while picking up a telephone. After a short while, she started speaking into it. "Yes, there's a Mr. Giles. Mr. Rupert Giles here to see Quentin Travers and the executives. Yes. Yes. Two others. Okay, I'll send him right up," The lady said into the telephone. "If you'll just head to that elevator and go up to the twentieth floor, you should be in the boardroom. If you'll just wait there, everyone should be assembled in a short while," the lady said to them while pointing around to her left. Giles, Willow and Cassia followed the lady's directions to the elevator.

"Wow, Go Giles," Willow said once the elevator doors had closed.

"Hmm. Well, yes. I needed to do something to get us in," Giles replied. The elevator doors opened and Giles, Willow and Cassia's breaths were almost taken away by the sight that they saw before them. They were facing a huge room, at least twenty metres by twenty metres. Along two walls were bookshelves filled with various volumes related to the occult. Another wall was just glass, and three huge chandeliers hung from the two storey high ceiling.

"Wow," Cassia said.

"Uh huh," Willow added again. Going around the room were benches with seats behind them, and there were enough places for at least forty to sixty people.

Fifteen minutes later, after Giles, Willow and Cassia had all taken a seat, Quentin Travers and ten other people came into the room through a doorway that no one in the room had noticed. Willow, Cassia and Giles stood as they entered the room.

"Good afternoon Rupert," Quentin Travers said as he shook Giles' hand. He turned to Willow and extended his hand. "Quentin Travers," he said as he introduced himself.

"Willow Rosenburg," she replied.

"Ah, I recognise that name. You're one of Ms. Summers' group. One of the witches," Travers said.

"Uh. Um. Yeah. I'm, the witch now, and maybe not even that," Willow replied. She saw Travers just look at her, a bit confused. She knew that he was going to press her on that, but Giles, thankfully, distracted him by gesturing towards Cassia. Travers took in the girl and shook her hand.

"Quentin Travers."

"Cassia Airedale," she said.

"Why don't we all take a seat," Travers said while gesturing for them all to sit. Travers walked over to his seat, but didn't sit down. "So, Rupert. What do we owe the pleasure of this visit?" Giles stood up to address everyone in the room.

"We have some urgent matters that need to be attended, and we need information," Giles said. He didn't allow anyone to ask him any questions or react in any way before he continued on. "The Coven of Witches in the Exmoor Forrest are being influenced by something. Something is bending the will of Samantha and Montague, the High Priestess and High Priest. The wellbeing of others and the world is not in their best interests," Giles started.

"What exactly are you saying Mr. Giles?" One of the executives sitting around the table interrupted.

"I am saying that the Coven is under the influence of something that is very dark. The coven, or more specifically Samantha and Montague, need more power. They were willing to try to drain the young Ms. Rosenburg here of all of her power and use it for themselves," Giles started while looking at Willow.

"How exactly did this come about? Why were you and Ms. Rosenburg in the company of the coven in the first place?" another executive asked. Giles looked to Willow, and then replied,

"We came to the coven in order to further Will-Ms. Rosenburg's magickal abilities," Giles lied, although on a basic level, he was telling the truth. Cassia stood up next to Willow.

"C-can I speak?" She asked everyone in general.

"Sure, go ahead, Ms…. Airedale," Travers said. Giles and Willow could tell that something came over Cassia as she stood up to speak, and she was no longer nervous or afraid.

"I have been a member of the Coven that Giles has been speaking about for most of my life. I believed that we were there to study magick and further our magickal abilities and that we all lived with one another with no ill intentions. But about half a year ago, I noticed that Samantha and Montague's practices and attitudes changed. They became darker, and began doing things by themselves without telling the rest of the coven… I think they cast some sort of spell to influence the other members, and to get them to do what they wanted them to do. For some reason, if this is true, I wasn't influenced by the spell, and I noticed the other members changing right in front of me, and I started to distance myself from the coven, and started spending a lot of time by myself," Cassia explained. There was a short pause as she collected her thoughts and caught her breath. "I don't think that everyone was influenced by whatever happened. There are some, like Clifford and some others, who I believe haven't been influenced by whatever happened, like myself… The coven is working towards something, something big. I don't know what it is, but I know that it is in the best interests of the human race," Cassia said. She had finished and everyone met her with blank stares. "That's all I have to say," she said to everyone before sitting down. Giles continued on after Cassia's speech.

"The coven in dangerous. They trapped myself, Ms. Airedale and Ms. Rosenburg inside a room by the use of magick. It was only because of Ms. Rosenburg that we were able to escape. And even then, they threatened us with crossbows on our escape. Again, it was only because of Ms. Rosenburg that we were able to get away and come here," Giles said.

"So, you came here to advise us about a Coven of Witches?" one of the executives asked Giles. "I'm sorry, but we have more pressing issues at hand," the executive said. She was a woman with short black hair tied back and dressed in a tweed suit. Giles just looked at the woman straight in the eye,

"This coven of witches happens to be one of the most powerful in the world," Giles said. "Perhaps even the most powerful," Giles said. Just then, his face lighted up as he remembered something. "They also gave us some information. They know that something large is coming, and it is on a worldwide scale," Giles said, leaving out the bit where Willow was supposedly apart of it somehow. "We believe that Samantha and Montague know what is coming, and that they are working for him, her, or it." Giles said, finished. There was a long silence as everyone took in what Giles said. He was surprised to see Willow stand up next to him.

"On our way here, Myself and Giles had an encounter with some Ghosts," Willow started. "I know what a ghost haunting is like, and I know what a ghost feels like, I've been one," Willow started, referring to the Halloween night that the Scooby Gang were turned into their costumes, Willow's being a ghost. "This was not a typical ghost haunting however. I had the sense that it was evil, pure evil. I believe that it has something to do with what Samantha and Montague told us about something coming. I don't know what it has to do with it though," Willow started. She wasn't going to tell any of them about her encounter in any detail, as she didn't want the Council to know about what had happened to her after Tara's death, and she didn't even want to tell them that Tara was dead at all. "It felt big, and very powerful, and it wasn't a typical ghost," Willow said. She just looked around at everyone in the room; at the executives; at Giles and Cassia; and at Quentin Travers.

"I know that we've had our differences in the past," Giles started. "And that you don't approve of our methods, or in fact, anything that we do. But I believe that we need your help, and you need our help. As with Willow, I have the distinct feeling that whatever is going to happen is going to be huge, and that we need all the help that we can get," Giles said. Both he and Willow sat down in their chairs and waited for someone to say something. There was a very long and tense silence before Quentin Travers stood up and started to speak.

"We will tell you this," he started. "Worldwide, our resources are under attack. We believe that a number of our Headquarters in various countries have either been wiped out, or overtaken, and that the resources under their control are now in the control of the enemy, whoever that may be. We don't know as of yet…" he explained. Willow and Giles's faces had an astounded look on them. "The potential slayers and their watchers are being killed off all over the world, and we have instructed the small number that are still alive to travel to Sunnydale and seek out your charge, Buffy Summers for protection and training," Travers said while looking at Giles. "We believe that she and your group, will be able to guide them and protect them better than we could, considering your track record. We have overlooked the fact that her – I mean, all – of your methods are unorthodox, but they manage to get the job done."

"You're not serious are you?" Giles asked Travers.

"Yes. I am deadly serious," Travers replied. We now believe that your group in Sunnydale is extremely efficient, and I admit, that we have been wrong about you all for quite some time. Now is not the time to let reputations and pride get in the way of trying to stop this," Travers replied. He was amused to see the looks of absolute shock on Giles and Willow's faces. "We also know, that for some reason, a large number of vampires are congregating on the area of Los Angeles, and rumour has it that a vampire army is being formed, but we are uncertain of the validity of that information," Travers said. "As for your encounter with ghosts, we believe you when you say that they weren't normal ghosts. We have had reports from many others of ghosts. From every report we have had in, the ghosts are someone who is special to the person being haunted, and the ghosts know everything that that person would know, and then more. We don't know the reason behind this phenomena, but we have people studying it around the clock," Travers explained.

"I don't think we're up to this," Giles said to Quentin Travers.

"We believe that you are," Travers said. "Together, your group has defeated The Master, has taken on Druscilla, Spike and Angelus together, and remained alive, defeated The Mayor and Faith working together, defeated the government's demon/human/computer hybrid, and defeated Glory, a Hell God, along with many others," Travers said. There was a long silence. "You also have the young Ms. Rosenburg here. If what you say is true, she was the main reason you have escaped from the Coven, which I am told is one of the most powerful in the world," Travers said while looking at Giles with an arrogant smirk. "And, she has successfully brought Buffy Summers back from the dead, without too many consequences from that. Most magick users who try something like that end up slip off the deep end and lose themselves in dark magick, and Ms Rosenburg here looks to have not suffered ill effects," Quentin Travers said. Willow saw Cassia looking at her with wide eyes, unaware that The Watchers Council didn't know what had happened to her over the last few months.

"You're not looking hard enough," Willow muttered under her breath.

"We believe that you are fully equipped for this task… Of course, you aren't alone. The Potential Slayers will be a great ally to your group. Most of them can fight reasonably well, and display a lot of initiative. The Watchers Council will help in any way it can, and I am sure, that anyone else who can sense the coming evil will be on your side too across the globe," Travers said.

Meanwhile, seven storeys below, unaware that Giles and Willow were in the building, Faith was lying down on a hard mattress looking up into the ceiling in her cell. The woman had said that she had to remain there until they had evaluated her case and determined if she was a threat or not. Faith knew that she had to get out of her cell to achieve her plan on taking the Council down, or go down trying to. She couldn't let them go on any further, and she was sick of getting treated like an object. She knew that she'd be doing the Slayers of the future a favour by doing this and starting a new Council. Although, she wasn't the one who was going to start up a new Watchers Council. She was sure that there would be people out there who knew of the Slayers and would put themselves up for the job, and Faith was going to make sure that they knew how to treat a Slayer.

"Hey darl', what's up?" A voice said to her. Faith sprung up out of her bed to find herself standing before the image of Whistler.

"You," Faith said.

"Yep, me," Whistler replied. "It's time to go Faith."

"Are you sure about this? I mean, how can I take the Council down?" Faith asked. "I've been thinking about it. How do I do it?"

"Upstairs, on the twentieth floor are all the leaders of the Council. Just arm yourself. There is an armory in the basement, and then just go up there and finish them off," Whistler replied. "It's for the best Faith. They're up themselves, and they don't deserve the position of running the Watchers Council…" the image of Whistler started.

"I don't want to kill anyone," Faith replied. Whistler just sighed and moved near Faith and sat down on the bed.

"Come, sit," he said. Faith hesitantly moved to the bed and sat beside the image of Whistler. "Do you know what they're doing right now?" Whistler asked.

"No I-," Faith replied.

"You're not meant to answer that kiddo. It's a rhetorical question," Whistler said.

"Huh. I wasn't good at the school thing," Faith said. Whistler just smirked.

"Well, anyway. What they're doing upstairs. They're going over what you wrote down, and what you told the woman out there. They don't believe it Faith. They suspect that you have ill intentions towards them, which you do," Whistler said. There was a long silence as the image of Whistler looked at Faith, and Faith looked back. "They're gonna kill you Faith."

"What! Those Bastards!-," Faith started while she sprang up and started pacing, but Whistler cut off her outburst.

"Faith. It's either them or you. You can stop this kind of thing from ever happening again," Whistler said. "The next meal that you have if you don't do anything will be laced with poison which will kill you in your sleep." Faith just said nothing and kept silent while she paced the room. After about five minutes, she finally broke the silence.

"Okay. I'll do it," Faith said. "These mothas are going down." The image of Whistler just smiled right before it disappeared.

His job was boring. There was no other way to put it. Standing around, looking at the wall was all he had to do most days, especially now. Just standing there, nothing else. On some of his jobs, he got a chair, but not today. He looked down at his watch and saw that there was still two hours to go before his shift ended. Being a guard sucked.

"Hey you," he heard. He turned and saw that the prisoner he was holding was speaking to him through the small window in the door. "You want to come in for a little action?" the prisoner said.

"No, sorry, no can do," he said back to her.

"Come on. It's been too long since I've had a good ride in the sack," the prisoner replied. "I'll make it worth your while," she said to him before he saw that she had taken her top off. He looked at her and noticed that she was very attractive. Long dark hair, with dark eyes, a bit short and a lean figure. "What can it hurt. She can't be dangerous," he thought.

"Now that I think about it.." he started while unlocking the door. He opened the door and made sure that it was shut behind him. He looked at the young woman backing away slowly and seductively towards the bed.

"Come 'ere," she beckoned. In an instant, before he knew what was happening, the girl had closed the distance between them and had punched him between the legs. "So I'm a bit kinky," she said to him. The last thing he saw before he fell into unconsciousness was her foot coming towards his head.

Faith picked up her top and put it back on before grabbing the knife and keys from the guard that she had knocked out. She considered grabbing his gun, but didn't as she hated the things and the first time it went off, the whole building would be after her. She unlocked the door and peaked her head outside into the corridor. There was no one around, and Faith dashed down the corridor only a short way to the elevator. She prayed to whatever was out there that she would make it through this and wouldn't get killed in the process.

Luckily, no one had needed to get on the elevator on the way to the basement, and Faith was surprised at how abandoned the basement seemed. She had crept out of the doors of the elevator and found the first cover she could find, and she immediately noticed the armory. It was a mesh cage the size of a room with various weapons hanging off of the walls and it was in the dead centre of the basement level of the Council's building. She could only see two people that were in the basement; one inside the armory and another walking around the basement doing something else, Faith couldn't tell. She decided to take out the one in the armory first, as the other one didn't have access to a huge range of weapons. She crept up to the armory, and was lucky that the entrance to it was on her side of the large metal cage, and that it was open. She snuck inside the door to the armory as quietly as she could and was lucky that the man inside had his back to her. In the middle of the room was a large table with assorted knives and swords layed out on it, while on the walls were guns. Faith snuck up to the man from behind and went to grab a knife off of the table when she bumped another one onto the floor. The man spun around and Faith put her knife back down on the table as fast as she could. Luckily, the knife that she had stolen from the guard was underneath her clothing and he wouldn't be able to see it.

"Yeah, um. They want you up at admin," Faith said while looking at the man. "They said something about a pay rise or something, I didn't hear them properly."

"Oh, okay," The man replied. He started to leave the room, and as he walked past Faith, she grabbed a knife off of the table and hit the man over the head with the handle of the knife. She looked at the knife, and almost dropped it. It was almost identical to the one that she had received from the mayor years ago. She put that knife back down on the table and grabbed another one the same size, but a different shape. She also grabbed a sword, which luckily had a sheath with it so she was able to carry it with her. She put the sheath on and then sheathed the sword. She saw out of the cage that the other person was in the basement still and hadn't heard anything. It was a large basement.

Faith crept out of the armory and positioned herself so she was behind the other person in the basement, which she could now see was a female. She did the same thing that she had done to the man in the armory. She crept up as silently as she could behind her, but this time she had her knife drawn. In an instant, she grabbed the woman's left hand and twisted it behind her back and Faith the knife at her throat.

"You will not scream. Scream, and I cut your throat. Make any sudden movements, and I cut your throat. You understand me," Faith said into the woman's ear.

"Yes," the woman choked back obviously very shocked.

"Is there any rope around here?" Faith asked her.

"Over by that bench ahead of us," the woman replied. Faith pushed the woman over to the bench and she saw the rope.

"I'm going to release you for a little bit. Don't try anything. Don't try to scream, and don't try to fight. You won't win. I'm a Slayer and I won't hesitate to kill you," Faith said into the woman's ears. She slowly released the woman's wrist and then circled around so that she was facing the woman with the knife still at her throat. Faith took her eyes off of the woman for a few seconds to find the rope, and once she had seen it, she felt her wrist get wrenched to the side and the knife drop out of her hand. Faith immediately pulled her wrist towards herself, bringing the woman with her as the woman still hadn't let go of her wrist. Faith extended her leg and moved to the side effectively tripping the woman. The woman tried to get up, but Faith put her foot on the woman's back, forcing her down on to the ground. Faith could easily reach the rope from here, and she grabbed it while keeping the woman down. She grabbed the woman's arms and pulled them behind her back and then tied them together. Faith then grabbed the woman by the back of her shirt and hauled her onto her feet and shoved her violently towards the armory. "I told you not to fight," Faith said. She grabbed her knife off of the ground and grabbed the woman by her tied up wrists behind her back. She guided her into the armory, where she saw the woman look at the man on the ground, still unconscious. Faith grabbed the rope, and roughly tied it around the woman's head in line with her mouth, making a gag. She then pushed the woman onto the ground and tied her legs together. She tied the other man up in the same fashion and then locked them inside the armory. She marched towards the elevator and put her knife in the waistband of her pants and put her shirt over the top of it. She moved the sheathed sword around to the back of her so if anyone wanted to enter the elevator, they wouldn't see it. She entered the elevator and pressed the button for the twentieth floor.

Giles, Willow and Cassia had concluded their business with the Watchers Council, better than Giles or Willow had expected. They had been advised by the Council to return to Sunnydale as the Council thought that Buffy and the rest of the Scooby Gang needed them more than ever. The Watchers Council had agreed to send a couple of Watchers, ones that were to be hand chosen by Giles, with them to aid with the Potential Slayers and research. The Council agreed to keep them informed of any developments that they uncovered towards the ghosts that had tormented them. Willow was pleased that they hadn't told them anything about what she had done with magick though, she was sure that the Council would detain her or something if they learned that fact.

"Well, Rupert, Ms. Rosenburg, Ms. Airedale, I'll see you in Sunnydale," Quentin Travers said.

"You'll see us in Sunnydale? You're coming to Sunnydale?" Giles asked.

"Yes, we'll only be there for a short tim-," he started, but stopped short. Willow saw him looking towards the elevator, and she heard a sound of metal rubbing on metal, and she sensed danger. Immediately, she turned around towards the elevator and saw a figure coming out of it holding a sword in one hand and a dagger in the other.

"Faith!" Willow shouted in surprise. She saw Faith stop and turn towards them.

"Red? Giles?" Faith said in pure shock. In an instant, Willow, Cassia and Giles stood up and Willow grabbed hands with Cassia.

"Standard holding spell," she just said to Cassia. Willow started to say something in another language, she could tell that Cassia barely recognised what she was saying, but she joined in. She could feel Cassia's energy, and it reminded her a lot of Tara, and she could feel strength from that. She held her hand out towards Faith, and the air shimmered around her and Faith was trapped in a sphere of invisible energy.

"What?" Faith said as she ran into it. She hit out against it and her fist hit an invisible barrier.

"Faith, what are you doing here?" Giles said, alarm in his voice over the weapons in her hands.

"They're gonna kill me-," Faith replied, but she was cut short as everyone in the room heard two sickening gurgling sounds. One of the watchers was holding a large dagger in each hand, and both of the Watchers next to him were dead. Everyone watched in pure shock and disbelief as the appearance of the man shimmered and his height grew taller and he changed into a large figure in a dark hooded cloak. On the other side of the room, the same thing was happening to another one of the watchers. Everyone just stood still, stunned and they didn't move until the large black hooded figures started cutting through everyone in the room. Willow just at one of the things and a feeling of pure terror came over her and she was frightened of the creatures. All of the executives in the room had scattered, and Willow saw one of them trying to fight the hooded figures, but was killed instantly.

"Let me go!" Faith said. "I can fight these things," Faith said in pure desperation as one of them was headed her way. "Red!" she shouted to Willow, hoping to snap her out of it. "Willow! Let me go! I don't care about what I've done to you! I'm not going to hurt you! I'm just going to fight these things!" Faith shouted to her, her ideas of destroying the council had instantly vanished and she just wanted to save her own life, and maybe some others as well. Willow just looked at Faith, and thought that it was their best shot at the moment. She released the barrier of the spell with a few words and by releasing a bit of her own energy. She could feel the darkness of the creatures and feel the pure evil of them, and she knew that it was the same type of evil that she had sensed in the motel room with the apparent ghost of Tara. She felt hands guiding her towards the elevator and realised that it must have been Giles, as she could see Cassia. Willow saw Faith charge up to one of the large hooded figures and swing her sword at it. It blocked Faith's blow with one of the large daggers in its hand and while Faith's arm was raised, came down with it's dagger, cutting Faith deeply in the chest, near where the collarbone was.

"Faith! Come on," Willow yelled at her, knowing that their best chances were if they had a Slayer with them, even if it was Faith. She knew that there was no hope of beating the figures that were killing everyone in the room. She couldn't use magick around these things, she knew that their mere presence was enough to make her go out of control. The vibe they gave off would influence her in greater ways than she wanted to imagine. Willow saw Faith come over to the elevator, holding the gash in her arm while blood poured out of it. She had dropped all of her weapons. Faith collapsed into the elevator, and Giles immediately pushed the button for the ground floor. Everyone in the elevator, Giles, Willow, Cassia and two watchers were looking at Faith as she pulled herself up to a sitting position on the wall of the elevator, still holding her wound with blood pouring out everywhere.

"What were those things. I couldn't even lay a hand on them," Faith said.

"We have to warn them to evacuate the building," one of the Watchers said. The doors opened to the ground floor and both of the watchers that were with them ran up to the reception desk and started shouting at the woman behind it to sound to evacuate the building. Willow couldn't get the last image she saw before the elevator doors shut out of her mind; that of Quentin Travers being impaled on a knife against the wall by one of the hooded figures.