Chapter 3

Sunnydale Memorial Hospital

Buffy Summers, stood out of sight in a pair of nearby shrubbery observing the ER entrance of the hospital and was feeling rather peeved.

"'Don't be late' sheesh," she muttered to herself sarcastically, imitating the voice of her Watcher – who was supposed to be with her at the moment staking out the delivery of fresh supplies of donor blood to the hospital, and making sure that it actually got there. Vamps tended to take any freebie that they could get their hands on – and stealing the hospital blood supply was not off the menu at all.

This was especially true lately; with her Slaying tally and proficiency way up there, not to mention Xander teleporting about all over the place dusting vampires about to make meals of people – the undead of Sunnydale was running scared.

She pulled out her mobile phone (a gift from Xander that he modified to be ultra thin, light and durable) and fully intended to call Giles and ask him what was going on, only to put it back in her pocket as she spotted the blood van pulling up to the ER entrance. The driver got out with his clipboard and was met by two Doctors in white coats emerging from the entrance.

"Hey, fellas."

"Hey." The Doctors greeted.

"All's well that ends with cute ER doctors, I always say." Buffy grinned to herself, watching as the Docs signed for the delivery. She watched them go to the back of the van and get out the insulated container. They started back with the driver, and he got back into the van. It was then that the whole oddness of the scene hit her. "Since when do doctors take deliveries?"

The van backed out of the ambulance slot. The doctors waved to the driver. "See ya."

The van drove off, behind it a car engine started and a pair of headlights came on. An old convertible pulled up into the light as the doctors put the container down. One of them opened the lid, took out a bag of blood and began to suck on it. The driver of the convertible got out, his face a mask of irritation as soon as he spotted the vamp disguised as a doctor doing this.

"Hey! No sampling the product!" snarled the vamp driver.

The doctor vampire hissed, his game face out, but grudgingly put the bag back down and dropped the lid closed.

Buffy spotted her opening as the vamps were now fully focused on the blood and ran to attack. In barely a few moments she covered the distance and was among them kicking the first doctor vampire down, then the second, and did a roundhouse kick to the driver's face.

The first one got up in a daze, and she kicked him again, sending him crashing into the hood of the car, denting it severely, and he staggered away and fell. A fourth vampire ran up as Buffy whirled, taking out a stake.

She stayed her hand though as she recognized this vampire.

"Angel!"

"Buffy! Look out!"

He jumped up onto the car's hood and leapt off to tackle the driver vampire coming at her from behind. Angel punched him in the face, but the vamp kept a vertical base. The second vampire ran and swung at Buffy.

She ducked the punch easily and jabbed him in the chest, causing him to reel in pain. The first vampire jumped in at this point, too, and Buffy knocked him back with a punch to the face. She punched the second one in the face, and he fell down on his back. Taking the opportunity she thrusted her stake into the first vampire as he tried to get back up – causing him to explode into ashes moments later. The second one had recovered by then and grabbed her by the shirt from behind. She swung around with the stake and nailed him in the chest.

Angel, in the mean time, roundhouse kicked the driver and sent him spinning into the car. The vampire quickly sat up in the driver's seat and floored the accelerator as Angel tried to chase him. The car raced off, leaving Angel and the blood behind.

Buffy sighed in irritation as she watched the car rapidly disappear into the night and opened the lid to check on the blood supply. "How did you know about this?" she asked Angel curiously.

"It's delivery day. Everybody knows about this," shrugged the souled vampire and glanced into the container. "They only ruined one bag."

Buffy stood up and Angel kicked the lid of the blood container closed. "Do you think you could make sure the hospital gets the rest?" She kicked herself metaphorically a moment later, only then realizing who she was asking to do this. Angel was quite sensitive about his feeding habits. Luckily, he didn't take offence and just nodded. "Thanks. I'm worried about Giles. He was supposed to meet me here," she hurried to explain.

"Maybe he's late," Angel said reasonably.

"Giles? Who counts tardiness as, like, the eighth deadly sin?" Buffy grinned in amusement.

"Right. Go," he nodded, conceding the point and picked up the blood container. Buffy gave him one last look and ran off in a blur.


Sunnydale High

The next morning Buffy hurried through the various hallways of the school which probably was the only one in the country that had an obituary in its own small newspaper. Now normally she wouldn't be caught dead in the place during a weekend, but she had a problem. And there were only one, maybe two people who could possibly assist.

She entered the computer classroom and just as she hoped, there was Jenny Calendar; Giles' girlfriend, teacher, moonlighting technopagan and latest member of the Scoobies. The fact that a woman as attractive as her would be interested in her Watcher still threw Buffy Summers for a loop whenever she contemplated it; oh well, to each his own or was it her own, in this case.

Sitting behind their own respective computers was Willow and Cordelia. Ah yes, those two were taking extra classes. Willow because she was…Willow, and Cordelia because she just sucked at computers. Xander was also there and providing a huge distracto for the two girls with his sparkly, muscly, nude bod – even Ms Calendar was giving the superhuman an occasional appreciative glance. He was standing at a computer that he had moved aside for himself and holding his hand a foot above the keyboard – and the keys seemed to be typing themselves as fast as was mechanically possible.

"Buffy? This is a surprise," Jenny grinned at her.

"You mean you didn't know…" Buffy glanced at Xander with questioning eyes.

"I don't keep a constant watch on the timeline Buffy," Xander shook his head in irritation. "I would like some mystery to remain in my daily life." He gave her a loose grin. "Though I'm sure you're not here to have remedial computer lessons…or listen to my fascinating rant on how the new Windows 98 is a veritable hive of bugs which I'm correcting at the moment…so what's up?"

"Actually I wanted to talk to you for a second," Buffy said seriously to Ms Calendar.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, worry entering her expression.

"I'm not sure...but something's up with Giles."

"He's all right, isn't he?" Willow asked, her own concern going up a notch.

"I don't know. He didn't show up last night when he was supposed to, and then I went by his place and he was acting... well, very Anti-Giles."

"You went by his place? He has a place?" Everyone turned to Willow at this remark in askance. She hurriedly backtracked. "Of course he has a... I just never think of him living anywhere outside the library. So there was weirdness?"

"He wouldn't let me in. He looked terrible. And I think he might have been... uh, I think he was drinking," Buffy explained awkwardly.

"He was home alone drinking?" Ms Calendar asked in concern.

"But... tea, right?" Willow grinned.

"It wasn't tea, Will," Buffy shook her head.

"Everyone carries the legacy of their past on their shoulders Buffy," Xander spoke with his 'Doc Manhattan' aspect. "Giles is no different. We all wear masks to hide our true faces."

"What are you saying?"

"Nothing yet everything," he grinned enigmatically.

"None of you have noticed anything different about him lately?" Buffy asked in exasperation, turning away from Mr Cryptic.

"No." "Not really."

"He was perfectly normal yesterday when I saw him talking to the police." Cordelia supplied at this moment. Everyone turned to her with astonished looks.

"And you waited until now to tell us because...?" Buffy said letting an edge into her voice.

"I didn't think it was important." She shrugged.

"Yes we understand, it wasn't about you," Xander said acerbically.

"What were the police talking to him about?" Ms Calendar asked intently.

"Something about a...homicide, yes…that's what the detective said."

"I'm calling him right now," Buffy strode resolutely out of the classroom, heading straight for the neighbouring library. It was only as she was halfway to Giles' office that she realized she had been given a mobile phone for a reason. Damnit, still have to get used to using the thing.

She had barely reached into her pocket to retrieve it when she heard a noise coming from between the stacks of the library. She looked up and heard it again…it was almost as if someone was shuffling through the books. No one legit would be here on a Saturday except for Giles and the Scoobies…so that meant…

Buffy stalked up into the stacks and cautiously flitted from shadow to shadow, aisle to aisle, scanning for the source of the intrusion. She suddenly heard the something move behind her and whirled to confront it, but nothing was there. She pinned herself against a bookcase, to prevent the intruder from blindsiding her and moved slowly along to the end of the shelves…still nothing. Slayer Instinct caused her to whirl around and stare through the rack her back was against and was startled to see the face of a man staring back at her.

She jumped back and realized the entire bookcase was coming down on her; no doubt pushed by the intruder. She tumbled and rolled out of the aisle to avoid the bookcase crashing down, and saw the man running away. She easily leaped over the toppled bookcase and in two blurred strides caught up with him, snagging him by the collar in a Slayer grip; whirling him around to face her.

She noticed his age was in the same vein as Giles, he was rather skinny and had a shifty look about him. It was then that she recognized him and hot anger erupted.

"I know you, you ran that costume shop," Buffy groused.

"I'm pleased you remember," grinned Ethan shamelessly, though uncomfortably.

"You sold me that dress for Halloween, that nearly got us all killed, not to mention what you did to Xander!"

"But you looked great, and I did you all a favour, he's a superhuman now … how many vampires and demons has he helped you kill, Slayer? How many evil plots has he unmasked with his perception of time?" Buffy responded by throwing an appropriately scaled right hook into Ethan's jaw. He massaged his jaw ruefully. "So now we're even?"

"I'll let you know when we're even," Buffy shook him a bit. "I'm going to ask you once and
then I'm pretty much going straight to the pummeling: what are you doing here?"

"Snooping around," grinned Ethan unrepentantly.

"Honesty. Nice touch," Buffy was surprised.

"It's one of my virtues," Ethan said, then mockingly thought about it. "Not really."

"I got a great idea... why don't I just call the police and have you arrested for breaking
and entering and get back to my fun Saturday."

"Yes, the police. They'll have so many questions -- they'll really need Rupert to answer them all." Ethan said smugly.

"You know Giles?" she looked at him in askance.

"We go back. Way back. You wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?"


Xander led the way into the library with the others behind him. The sound of crashing glass and the meaty slap of fists and kicks meeting flesh was unmistakable. They burst through the double doors and…

"Don't let him get away!"

Xander reacted in a less than a moment. His hand coming up forming a solid barrier of gravitons into which Ethan Rayne slammed face first. Another gesture had the man responsible for his transformation slowly floating upward into one of his patented zero G traps.

There was a solid clang of metal on metal next and everyone whirled to see that Buffy had slammed the library cage door on an old man, who was clearly of the undead; judging by his sick yellow eyes, pale bloodless pallor and he was raging with way more strength against the bars than should've been possible. Xander's ESP felt sickened by what he was picking up from the corpse.

"Ah, just bloody poetic this is," grumbled Ethan, flailing in mid-air.

"Hello, Ethan Rayne," Xander grinned. "Buffy, explanation please?"

"Caught him snooping in the stacks, mentioned something about the Mark of Eyghon, spoke to Giles, he freaked out, then Mr Undead attacked," Buffy narrated, securing the cage against the snarling undead man.

"Eyghon?" Xander frowned for a moment, and then his eyes glowed noticeably brighter. "Buffy, get away from the cage…now! Everyone back off…under no circumstances come near this thing." Buffy whirled to see Xander raising his hand, and wisely got out of the way. The cage door seemed to 'wobble' and there was a snapping sound…the next moment they all regarded a cage with no door whatsoever.

"You summoned the thing, didn't you?" accused Xander, looking up at Ethan.

"We were young," shrugged the Chaos Mage uncomfortably.

"What's the what, Xander?" Buffy asked gesturing to the undead guy uselessly pummelling against the cage.

"I don't know all the specifics – but the undead in there is a dream demon called Eyghon."

"Dream…as in Freddy Kruger dream demon?" Willow asked faintly.

"No, no, relax Will," Xander held up his hands appealingly. "This sucker must be summoned and can only manifest itself by possessing the dead or the unconscious."

"Sorry, Philip, really I am," mumbled Ethan as he tumbled in mid-air with a view of the cage.

"Why on Earth would you summon this…?" Ms Calendar gestured to Eyghon with a disgusted look on her face.

The Mage looked reluctant to answer. "You better answer or I'll leave you trapped for a very long time." Xander threatened.

"What can I say, it gave us a high to be possessed by it," Ethan replied grudgingly.

Giles burst into the library at this moment. Buffy wasn't kidding…he looked like shit. He hadn't shaved, his hair was a mess and he had bags under his eyes from a lack of sleep.

"Is everyone alright?" the Watcher demanded.

"We're okay," Ms Calendar answered with a frown staring at the contained Eyghon and then Giles.

"Eyghon here interrupted our tutorial," Xander said mildly, jerking a thumb at the cage. Giles walked over to have a look at the body of Philip that was now merely snarling at them. "Not too close Giles. It's not going anywhere, and it will die soon enough when it wears out that host and has nowhere to go."

Giles nodded and backed off, then turned to Ethan.

"Hello, Ripper."

"I thought I told you to leave town," Giles said menacingly.

"You did. I didn't. Shop's lease is paid till the end of the month."

"Xander let him go."

"Very well," nodded the superhuman and abruptly Ethan fell out of the air and landed painfully.

"Owww! Ahhh!" Giles picked the Mage up by the back of his hair and looked spitting mad as he glared at Ethan.

"You should've left," said Giles. Xander was impressed at the sheer threat that was conveyed in his tone.

"Ohhhhh," Cordelia said in wonder and fright at seeing this new side of Giles.

"Giles?!" Buffy asked; she clearly totally confused at seeing her normally stiff-upper lip British Watcher losing it like this.

"You put these people in danger, the people I care about!" snarled Giles.

"If you cared so much about them, why didn't you leave town?" retorted the Mage, and pushed Giles arms away. "You've been having the dreams, I know. I have."

"That will not be necessary," Xander said. The snarling dead body of Philip suddenly seemed to convulse and abruptly collapsed to the floor of the library cage, before it dissolved into a puddle of sickly green slime that began to spread out.

"Oh, I'm gonna need counselling until I'm thirty," moaned Cordelia, looking sickened by the sight.

Xander simply gave a gesture and the slime abruptly seemed to shiver and was vaporized.

He turned around and abruptly both Giles and Ethan felt themselves seized by an invisible force and brought forward to hover a foot off the ground. Xander strode to meet them and said, "Arms, gentlemen." Both Watcher and Mage suddenly looked reluctant. "Do you want another dream demon homing in on you or not?"

Giles abruptly held out his left arm and pulled up his shirt sleeve to reveal a curvy black tattoo. Ethan ruefully did the same. Xander willed the pigment particles embedded into the base of the skin to raise out and a few moments later nothing but clear skin was on both men's arms.

"Have a good day, Ethan Rayne," Xander snapped his fingers and the Mage vanished, teleported back into his shop. He also let Giles down gently to stand on his own feet.

"Thank you," nodded Giles grimly and his eyes met that of Ms Calendar. The computer teacher looked down after a brief moment and abruptly walked out of the library. Giles looked after her retreating form sadly, knowing that she had connected the dots.

"Giles, what was all that?" Buffy asked incredulously.

"It will take some time to explain," said the Watcher, looking beyond exhausted as he collapsed into a chair.

"We have all weekend, Giles," Xander said with a friendly grin, and a cup of steaming hot Earl Grey Tea appeared in front of the Watcher. Giles took it with a weak grin of thanks and took a sip…

"I was twenty-one, studying history at Oxford. And, of course, the occult by night. I hated it. The tedious grind of study, the...overwhelming pressure of my destiny. I dropped out, I went to London... I fell in with the worst crowd that would have me. We practiced magicks. Small stuff for pleasure or gain. And Ethan and I discovered something... bigger."

"Eyghon?" Buffy asked.

"Yes. One of us would, um..." he took a sip of tea nervously, "go into a deep sleep, and the others would, uh, summon him. It was an extraordinary high!" He smiled wanly. "God, we were fools."

"You couldn't control it," Buffy deduced.

"One of us, Randall, he lost control. Eyghon took him whole. We tried to exorcise the demon from Randall, but it killed him. No. We killed him. We thought we were free of the demon after that. Thank you again, Xander…I've been trying all weekend to find a way to kill this thing. I wonder…maybe that's why Ethan came here."

"He knew I could protect him and kill Eyghon," Xander nodded. "Rather risky, I could've decided to let Eyghon have him because of his past and current profession."

"But you didn't," pointed out Giles.

"No, killing Ethan will not save any lives in the future," Xander shook his head. "He doesn't want to kill, he wants Chaos and people have to be alive for that to happen." Giles nodded and turned his head towards the library doors again. "She's a woman, G-Man, and they need time alone to sort out their feelings…the odds are in your favour. Just don't pressure her."

"Hey, since when are you so…on the up… about women?" Cordelia asked in bafflement. Xander raised a glowing eyebrow in her direction with a mysterious smile.


SGC

The twentieth sublevel of the huge underground base was the closest thing to luxury that the SGC could offer alien guests and visitors. Since the Ash'rak had been stopped and Jolinar's bona fides as a Tok'ra somewhat verified by both circumstance and Xander, she had been moved to this level but always had a two man Security Force escort detail right outside her door. Xander approached VIP Quarters A12 and immediately the two SFs tensed and he could feel their amazement and fear – both were quite understandable.

General Hammond had officially given Xander free run of the SGC and signed him on the books as a 'High Clearance Civilian Consultant'. It wasn't as if the General could do much otherwise to stop Xander from going where he wanted – and with all that he had helped the SGC already, it was pretty reasonable to get something back.

Speaking of which, the President had already requested a private meeting with Xander in the near future when his schedule permitted it – obviously the man wanted something; he was a politician after all. Xander had probably stepped on quite a few egos when he made the NID go the way of the dodo, and there were probably a lot of unhappy people beating on the President's door.

Xander knocked on the door politely – sure he could just zip through it, but that was impolite…he didn't want to walk in whilst Jolinar and Captain Carter were undressing or something. Just because he had no use for clothing and no shame of body, didn't mean others shared that.

"Come in."

Captain Carter/Jolinar was seated on the large double bed in the VIP quarters, and was now dressed in a rather flattering summer dress, with a velvety cardigan wrapped around her. Strewn on the bed were numerous files, which she was examining carefully. He sensed carefully for who was in control.

"Jolinar," he greeted and closed the door behind him.

"Alexander." She stood and bowed her head slightly.

"How goes the search?" He gestured to the files.

"Slowly," she replied, her voice deep in the cadence of the symbiote speaking. "But I must admit this is a luxury that the Tok'ra has never had before; to pick and choose an ideal host. The levels of detail in these files are quite…invasive."

"It's a necessary evil of sorts, when someone reaches the levels of clearance required to know about certain things, you have to be certain there isn't something wrong with their thinking and judgement."

"I understand, somewhat, Sam has also expounded on the subject," nodded Jolinar, perusing the files. Xander eyed the ones that seemed to be prominent in her search.

"All females?"

"I prefer a female host, just like you prefer not to wear clothing," Jolinar said shortly.

"Okay, no big, just curious…how will you decide?"

"A big factor is the specific ailment that the host suffers from," the Tok'ra replied thoughtfully, browsing through a file, "a viral disease is more easily curable than a genetic one, and a physical disability can be extremely difficult to repair depending on the severity. Jumping into a new host requires a small amount of sacrifice on my part, since I need to sever neural linkages that grow to be a part of me. The longer I stay in Captain Carter, the harder it will be to leave."

"Then there's also the personality you're blending with to consider too, I suppose?" posited Xander. "You don't want to merge with a psycho or someone too whacky?"

"It is a factor, perhaps the most important one," Jolinar confirmed with a nod, and abruptly gathered some files to herself and arranged it into a pile, "I have narrowed it down to these four possibilities."

Xander gestured to the pile and the four thick manilla brown files hovered into the air and came to a stop in front of him. "Very well." He snapped his fingers and files vanished, and would reappear on General Hammond's desk to get the ball rolling on this.


Sunnydale High – Student Lounge

A perception disguised Xander (his glowing blue form would only be visible to those he wished – everyone else saw the 'ordinary' Xander, but without the baggy clothes, and instead wore rather smart jeans, loose shirt, leather jacket and Doc Martin shoes) sat next to Willow and Buffy, waiting for them to finish her Aptitude tests. He had filled it in within less than five minutes, and knew what the results would indicate…it would be necessary to get him in the AP courses, so he could build the background necessary for the future. He could use his powers to do the same, but Doc M in his head wanted to keep Xander grounded and achieve everything related to his 'ordinary affairs' the normal way. Xander was the touchstone and anchor, if he also developed the same detachment from humanity that Manhattan eventually did, it would be very bad for his friends and the human race – whose survival was by no means assured from extra-dimensional (ED) threats, not to mention ET.

The whole idea of an Aptitude test was pure stupidity anyway. There were so many better ways to determine someone's preference for a certain field, unfortunately, the technology to do so was perhaps a few decades away at Earth's current level of technical development in the cognitive sciences.

Willow must have seen the expression on his face. "Am I gonna get a bad result?" her face suddenly scrunching in concern.

"No, you won't get a bad result, that's just not in you, Wils," Xander grinned at her, the compliment causing a blush on her face, "it's just these people can't tell from one multiple-choice test what we're gonna be doing for the rest of our lives."

"I'm kinda curious to find out what sort of career I could have." Her eyebrows rose pointedly at him.

"Oh no, I'm not gonna ruin the surprise for you," Xander held up his hands wearily. "I draw the line as to my friend's personal lives; unless it involves world-endage stuff, no poking into the future. And why do you want to know? It'd suck all the spontaneity of being young."

"We're not gonna be young forever," the red-head pointed out.

"Exactly, so enjoy this time while it lasts," Xander nodded and gestured for her to continue the test. Willow sighed and put pencil back to paper. Cordelia passed at that moment, filling out her test on a clipboard looking quite serious as she did so, and he was surprised at the lack of her usual groupies. She stopped for a moment, looked at him with a raised eyebrow and a slight appreciative smile seeing his true form, and walked on.

Xander inwardly sighed, Cordelia's obvious 'attraction' to him left him with a mixed bag of feelings; horror – she was No.1 on their childhood enemies list, and still to an extent was, with her unpleasant personality and verbally insulting spars, interest and lust – hey, he was a guy, she was a hot gal with a body that made men go incoherent, attraction and dare he say it 'love' – the fact that Cordelia was reminding his Manhattan aspect somewhat of his lover, Laurie aka Silk Spectre 2 from the Watchmen-verse also further reinforced it. Then there was also what he knew thanks to his abilities – Cordelia was not what she appeared, and she seemed to be dropping more and more of her Queen Bitch persona.

"Do I like shrubs?" Buffy suddenly asked, looking up from her question paper and breaking Xander's introspection.

"Answer yes," he said frowning suddenly.

"Okay," Buffy pencilled it in, and then turned to Willow. "What did you put?"

"I came down on the side of shrubs."

"Okay!" Buffy grinned but suddenly turned frustrated, clenching her fists. "Uhhh! I shouldn't even be bothering with this. It's all mootville for me. No matter what my aptitude test says, we already know my deal."

"Your destiny does not have to stop you from going to college, Buff," Xander pointed out, with a distracted air, his 'copy' currently at the SGC had just overseen the transfer of Jolinar from Captain Carter to Major Sylvia Gilson; an Army Combat Engineer out of Ft. Carlson in Colorado Springs who had been afflicted with cancer. 'He' was currently assisting the Tok'ra symbiote in destroying the cancer cells and switching off the faulty gene responsible.

"You're kidding?" she asked with shock.

"Not at all," he grinned mysteriously. "You'll see."


SGC

Xander stood patiently looking out at the Stargate from the Conference Room and waited. It seemed that SG1 (with a recovered Captain Carter, now without a Tok'ra in her head) had on their first official mission since his makeover of the SGC and the formation of the UE, hit a bit of a snag. They had unwittingly abetted a murderer on their mission and been abruptly snatched away via transporter beam by a race called the Taldor, and incarcerated on a prison planet.

The Taldor, according to SG9 – the 'armed' diplomatic team of the SGC sent to negotiate for SG1's release – were extremely xenophobic, to the point where they never even let outsiders view their faces. And they also had an absolute zeal for draconian justice that made Doc Manhattan's fellow Watchman Rosharch look timid in comparison. Zero tolerance from the most minor crime of theft all the way up to cold blooded murder, no appeals process – all were rounded up and sent to the prison planet of Hadante.

General Hammond himself had gone through the Stargate on his first trip ever off of Earth to try and pressure SG1's release from the Taldor. The only help that had been, was to reveal that not even the Taldor knew of a way to extract prisoners from Hadante – since the Dailing device was gone from the planet and there had never been a need, and that the prison itself was a subterranean complex with no access possible from space. Not that the Taldor would reveal the gate address of Hadante – so even sending a starship from New Sparta was out of the question. He hadn't quite yet planned to reveal its existence, but SG1 was an integral part of the future.

The Stargate abruptly started spinning and the PA resounded; 'Unscheduled Offworld Activation!"

"Is this them?" General Hammond asked, walking over to the window.

"Yes," Xander nodded, giving a glance into the near future. "They're quite resourceful."

"That they are," Hammond agreed as the unstable vortex of energy settled into a rippling pool in the maw of the Stargate. The General hurried down the staircase that led down into the Control room and after a few moments appeared in the Gateroom as the announcement of SG3's remote code was received.

SG1, only clad in the black conforming undersuits of their armour, and looking rather worse for wear, walked out of the event horizon, followed by an old woman with a stoic expression on her wrinkled face, and carried herself with a strange form of confidence – despite wearing shabby robes.

"Where in the name of heaven did you come from?" Hammond asked curiously.

"Prison actually. We just broke out." Colonel O'Neill was nonchalant in his answer- as if they did this sort of thing every day.

"Well how? Your remote transmitters, armour and weapons have been returned to us. SG9 and I have spent the last two days trying to negotiate your release. With no luck, I might add."

"Well actually we returned via P2A-509." Daniel supplied with a grin.

"Daniel remembered that SG3 would be there sir. Major Warren found us and was good enough to let us borrow a transmitter to let us open the Gate defences." Sam explained.

"And if I may ask?" Hammond pointed to the old woman.

"Oh, I'm sorry. General Hammond, This is Linea." Jack introduced her.

"We wouldn't have gotten out without her sir." Sam explained as Linea nodded in greeting to the General.

"I've never seen such a place. It seems so alien." Linea stared looking around.

"So it was with me, but over time it has become – home." Teal'C said with a nod to her.

"General Hammond, sir, with your permission I'd like to offer Linea quarters here at the base." Sam asked politely but seriously. Hammond glanced at Jack to see his take on the situation; who in turn looked unsure. "There is a great deal she has to teach us. In fact I brought back samples of a root that with Linea's activators can generate…"

"I'll take that into consideration, Captain. In the meantime, I'd like you all to report to the infirmary, including your guest." Hammond interrupted. Daniel and Teal'C walked off at that and then Hammond turned to Linea. "Begging your pardon, ma'am, it's merely precautionary."

"I would do the same," Linea declared.

"We'll debrief after you've all had a chance to rest."

"Yes, sir," nodded Jack, and took Linea's hand, "Thank you." The woman only smiled and nodded, and strode off with dignity after Captain Carter. Xander watched her go, considering what needed to be done about this.


General Hammond sat in his chair at the conference table, wearily rubbing the bridge of his nose as he could feel the first stages of a headache approaching. He listened to the former prisoner of Hadante, named Simian, who had hitched a ride on the outgoing wormhole unbeknownst to SG1, and was caught lurking around SG3's offworld camp.

The picture he had just painted of who Linea really was horrifying. She was the Destroyer of Worlds; a woman who used diabolical science to exterminate life, wherever she went, for reasons only known to Linea herself. He inwardly cursed the legendary bad luck of SG1. Hammond looked to O'Neill and then to Xander.

"Linea is gone," Xander said next. "I knew what and who she was, saw what she was going to do. The sheer amount of life that she has extinguished is enough to make Hitler look amateurish. So on her first night here, I snuck into her quarters unseen and 'reset' her."

"Reset?" O'Neill asked in confusion.

"I essentially formatted her long term memories, those that made her into the Destroyer," Xander explained. "She is now Kira, a scientist who believes she was wrongfully imprisoned when a lab accident caused the release of a plague. She helped SG1 and herself to escape and agreed to work for us, since she has no home."

Hammond felt the headache finally blossom at hearing that. "You're assuming we even want to have her around knowing how she achieved her brilliant levels of science."

"That's hypocritical," Xander snapped. "By that reasoning, Doc Frasier must stop using more than half of her medical knowledge, since it was attained from less than desirable events and experiments in our history."

"So ends justify the means?"

"Heck no," retorted Xander. "But how many people will die in the future, because we, in our moral self-righteousness, decided that the scientific knowledge in Kira's head was sullied, dirty. She has a biochemistry skill that is light years beyond us, how many cures to the diseases on the planet are in her head? Hmmm? And if I hadn't done what I did, Linea would've escaped somehow, she's a genius…she could pull it off with all that Captain Carter had given her access to perfect the Cold Fusion. We would've been responsible for unleashing Linea onto an entire Galaxy full of worlds."

"You've made your point, Xander," Hammond sighed, holding up his hands to halt the superhuman. "I'll need to think carefully about this. And if I decide to integrate 'Kira' into this command, we'll need to be very cautious about it. The other scientists will not want to work with her if it gets out who she was."


Sunnydale High

Xander sat in the corner seat of the Science Lab, and stared at the others who had seemingly been evaluated to consider scientific careers. Jonathan Levinson, a quite short, skinny, rather average looking guy, with messy hair. He vividly recalled saving the short stuff from the demon mummy girl Ampata, when she had just been about to kill him with a 'kiss of death' that would have literally drained the life right out of him. Warren Mears sat a few stools away; he was almost a clone of Jonathan, except the former was taller and had possessed rather smoother features and had a look of perpetual boredom on his face.

Both had been rather surprised at Xander's presence.

"What are you doing here Harris?" Warren had asked.

"Same thing you are," Xander had replied shortly.

"You're kidding?" Jonathan blinked in astonishment.

"Nope, apparently the test revealed that I'm a budding atomic physicist."

Both nerds of Sunnydale High had looked at each other for a moment. "But…but…you're…"

"The underachieving class clown?" Xander responded with a raised eyebrow for emphasis.

"No offense…but yeah," Jonathan looked on in amazement.

"Let's just say I have my reasons for that behavior and leave it at that."

And that had been the extent of their conversation during the whole twenty minutes of waiting for their Career Representative to show up. Finally an unfamiliar man in his fifties with a leather briefcase entered, wearing a suit in a rather casual fashion, with no tie and loose shirt. His graying hair gave him a rather distinguished look, instead of making him look old.

"Greetings,' the man said with a nod, putting down his briefcase and opening it. "I'm Professor Woodrow from UC Sunnydale's Physics and Chemistry Department. I'm here to enlighten you on what fields of science are currently and will enjoy prominence in the near future. With hard work, brains, and a bit of luck, you could find yourself a successful career as an Organic Chemist (one of the hardest fields there is) or a Structural Engineer even." He walked around and handed out a rather thick brochure to each of them.

"Now UC Sunnydale can't accommodate study in every scientific field out there, listed in this brochure you will find what we do offer. With that in mind there is also a list of which Universities offer courses that we don't. Science can be a very lucrative field as well, depending on how you approach it. If you go straight into the private sector, you will probably have a larger salary and royalties from any patent. Government sector work on the other hand traditionally pays less, however, you will work with the cutting edge in technology that's out there in terms of military R&D…"

Woodrow continued for a good hour, explaining the ins and outs of Science. Xander listened to it all with only half an ear, while the rest of his mind was pondering the moral situation with Kira, and yet another part of him was laughing at the face that Buffy had pulled when told she had been evaluated as a Law Enforcement Professional…Willow had been mysteriously 'unevaluated' but after some careful checking by one of his copies; it turned out that a Microsoft Rep had gotten a hold of her…seems her computer 'hacking' skills had finally paid dividends. Cordelia on the other had been rated as a 'Personal Shopper' and 'Motivational Speaker'; both were rather fitting…Queen C knew instantly what was 'hot' and not, and had an innate sense for style, the latter career was also a understandable; her acid tongue and the high social intelligence factor could certainly be turned to 'Light side of the Force'.

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A fully fuming Buffy strode briskly through the cemetery, next to her was a cross-legged Xander, speeding alongside her in mid-air with a relaxed expression on his face, carefully surveying the area.

"Buffy! Xander! Slow down, please." The subject of Buffy's current ire was practically running to keep up.

"Giles, we have work to do, remember? Get with the program." Buffy snipped.

They stopped at the mausoleum that Buffy had confronted a pair of thieving vampires the previous night. She had managed to dust one, but the other had escaped with something. When told, Giles had admonished Buffy; that she should've been more observing leading to her current state of mind.

"You're behaving remarkably im-immaturely." Giles leaned on his knees getting his breath back.

"You know why? I am immature. I'm a teen. I have yet to mature."

"I was (pant) simply offering some (pant) constructive criticism."

"No! You were harsh! God, you act like I picked this gig. But remember, I'm the picked."

"What you have (pant) is more than (pant) a gig. (pant) It's a sacred duty. (pant) Which (pant) shouldn't prevent you from e-e-eventually procuring some (pant) more (pant) gainful f-f-form of employment. Uh-uh-uh, such as I did."

"Uh, Giles, it's one thing to be a Watcher and a librarian. They go together like chicken and...Xander some help?"

"Use bread and butter," the superhuman grinned.

"Thanks…like bread and butter. The point is, no one blinks an eye if you want to spend all your days with books. What am I supposed to do? Carve stakes for a nursery?"

They entered the dark mausoleum and scanned around, Xander flared his blue body brighter to provide illumination.

"Um, point taken. I must, however, admit, I-I've never really...Well, now there's a thought, have you ever considered law enforcement?" Buffy just gave him a flat look of disbelief, as if her Watcher had grown a second head. She just pointed to a depressed section of the wall in the mausoleum which had been broken open. "Oh, yes…well, it's a reliquary. Used to house items of religious significance. Most commonly a finger or some other body part from a saint."

"Freaky doesn't even begin to describe that tradition," Xander's face twisted in distaste. Giles in the blue light spotted the name above the reliquary.

"Du Lac. Oh dear, oh dear."

"I hate when you say that." Buffy grumbled.

"Josephus du Lac was buried here. He belonged to a religious sect that was excommunicated by the Vatican at the turn of the century."

"Excommunicated and sent to Sunnydale. There's a guy big with the sinning."

"You remember the book that was stolen from the library by a vampire a few weeks ago?" Giles suddenly asked. Xander remembered that happening during the Billy Fordham situation…when the now dead ex-flame of Buffy had pretended to stake a vamp…giving it a free run for some thievery on the library.

"Yeah."

"It was written by Du Lac. Damn it! I let it slip my mind with all the excitement."

"I'm guessing it wasn't a 'Taste of the Vatican' cookbook." Buffy's tone was dripping with the sarcasm.

"No, the, uh, book was said to contain rituals and spells that reap unspeakable evil. However, it was written in archaic Latin so that nobody but the sect members could understand it."

"So, everything's cool then."

"It's not. First the book was taken from the library, and now the vampires have stolen something from Du Lac's tomb."

"You think they figured out how to read the book?"

"Yes, they have," Xander suddenly said with a faraway look. "They took the Du Lac Cross, which Giles will explain to us in thirty two minutes," He flicked his fingers and all three of them vanished from the mausoleum.


Sunnydale High School Library

A rather disgruntled Giles emerged from the stacks of the library carrying a thick National Geographic magazine, which had a picture of an ornate golden cross on its front cover. Despite himself he looked at his watch and sighed, thirty two minutes indeed, he thought. Xander stood waiting next to a seated Buffy and Willow, all patiently waiting with expectant expressions.

He cleared his throat. "Uh, yes well, Du Lac…was both a, a... a theologian and a mathematician. This article describes an invention of his, which he called 'The Du Lac Cross'. The cross was more than a mere symbol," he handed the open magazine to Willow for her perusal, "it was used to understand certain mystical texts, to, uh, decipher hidden meanings and so forth."

"So you're saying these vampires went to all this hassle for your basic decoder ring?"

"Uh, actually, yes, I, I suppose I am." Giles was rather startled at the blunt metaphor from Buffy.

"According to this, Du Lac destroyed every cross except the one buried with him." Willow explained after briefly scanning the article.

"Why destroy your own work?" Buffy shrugged.

"Perhaps he feared what might happen if it fell into the wrong hands." Giles was worriedly pacing.

"What could happen if it did fall in the wrong hands?" Willow asked worriedly.

Xander emerged from gazing at the various quantum realities and said, "Within the next few days Drusilla will return to full strength."

"Are you sure Xander?" Giles said intently.

"Yes, ninety three percent of realities ahead of us results in that outcome."

"And the Du Lac cross and book are the instruments used?"

"Yes," Xander nodded.

"So it's Spike behind the vamp that slipped out of my grasp," Buffy frowned in irritation.

"We must discover the exact method used, which means learning what's in the book before they do. Which means we can expect to be here later tonight."

"Goody! Research party!" Willow grinned clapping her hands.

"Will, you need a life outside of all this." Xander shook his head in bemusement at her enthusiasm.

"Speaking of," Buffy got up, "I really have to bail, but I promise I'll be back bright and early tomorrow and ready to slay."

"This is a matter of some urgency, Buffy." Giles said grimly.

"I realize that. Well, you have to admit, I kinda lack in the book area. I mean, you guys are the brains, I'd only be here for moral support anyway."

"You do have brains, Buff," Xander countered. "It's merely a different kind of brains…a visual and bodily intelligence."

"My point exactly, kicking demon butt doesn't really go with kicking book," Buffy looked at Willow intently at this point.

"She should go. Y-y'know, gather her strength." Willow was uncertain and now looking pointedly at Xander and shaking her head.

"Perhaps you're right. There may be fierce battles ahead." Giles was oblivious to the byplay going on, staring into a book. Buffy wasted no time, giving a knowing Xander a pleading look, before making tracks out of the library.

Xander sighed watching her go for her ice skating rendezvous with Angel. That probability line was still going strong it seemed. Hopefully he could balance what had to happen with a lot of good.

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Xander emerged from the library cage a few hours later with a First Aid kit and handed it over to Willow who was tending to a wincing Buffy, who had hurt her knee falling on the ice. The reason for her fall was nothing as innocuous as slipping on her skates.

"This guy was hard-core, Giles. And Angel was power-freaked by that ring."

The guy in question was according to Buffy's description, supernaturally strong, only had one eye, and looked like a stereotypical biker – who was thankfully very dead after Buffy blindsided him with Slayer powered kick to the throat, still wearing her skates.

Giles, who was examining said Ring that had belonged to the biker guy said, "I'm afraid he was not overreacting. This ring is worn only by members of the Order of Taraka. It's a society of deadly assassins dating back to King Solomon." He sat heavily with a troubled look on his face.

"They are here at the behest of Spike, to distract us in dealing with assassination attempts," Xander explained.

"Blast, this is just what we do not need at the moment," Giles gave a thoughtful glance at Xander, then looked at Buffy. "I think the best thing we can do is to find a secure location. Somewhere out of the way you can go until we decide on the best course of action. And Xander can keep an invisible copy of himself with you at all times."

"Okay, now you and Angel have both said to head for the hills. Are you saying I can't handle this, that I'm not strong enough to fight these people?"

"You cannot fight a bullet travelling at supersonic velocity, Buffy, only I can," Xander was earnest.

"They use guns?" Buffy asked in shock.

"They use anything available," Giles nodded. "They're a breed apart, Buffy. U-unlike vampires they have no earthly desires, they find a target, and, uh... they eliminate it. You can kill as many of them as you like, it won't make any difference. Where there's one, there will be another, and another. They won't stop coming until the job is done. Each one of them works alone. His own way. Some are human, some... a-are not. Y-you won't know who they are until they strike."

"Do you know who or what they are Xander?" Buffy asked uncertainly.

"Yes," he nodded. "I could take them out right now, but it still doesn't solve the cause of the problem. The Order will just send more and more dangerous assassins after you. Spike has to cancel the contract, it's that or he has to die."

"I'll take option number two," Buffy practically growled in anger.

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An invisible and insubstantial Xander trailed in Buffy's wake the next day during school, shadowing her every move. He'd been especially vigilant when she had gone home, because of the assassin moving in next door by killing Mrs Kalish, Buffy's neighbour. But luckily the guy made entirely of mealworms had merely bided his time and made no moves as yet, he was clearly still in recon mode. Xander had also made sure to keep a constant look out into the future, but limited it to three minutes so he had ample warning whilst causing the least possible deviation due to the Observer effect.

Buffy was clearly wigged out and skittish as she walked down one of the school hallways filled with students going to and fro. She occasionally rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably, clearly she sensed him to some extent, but even though she knew he was there, it didn't stop her from getting the 'hair rising on the back of the neck' feeling. She startled violently when a boy barged through the doors in the hall in front of her. He could see her worriedly looking at every person who just happened to face her way, and her paranoia was turning those faces into the considering stares of potential assassins.

"Buffy a locker is about to bang behind you, it's not a gun," he whispered into her ear.

She nodded and turned around…sure enough, a red headed guy slammed his locker closed abruptly and charged off to his next class, an intent look on his face. Xander was himself startled as he recognized him from the future…it was Oz.

It was a decidedly dull day and work being a bodyguard, especially when Xander Prime shared classes with Buffy. Having two copies of himself experiencing the same class seemed like a waste, but since he was being Bodyguard Xander, he made sure not to lose focus and slip up, just in case that insane Police Recruiter barged into the class guns blazing.

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School had ended for the day and Buffy was heading home. Just as she was about to turn onto Revello Drive, she stopped abruptly and changed her mind. She turned around and walked away, Bodyguard Xander trailing behind sighed – she clearly didn't want to risk an attack on her home. When her revised destination became apparent he sighed again, he truly wished he could intervene in this probability line, but he truly didn't want to have to tangle with the so-called Powers-That-Be and their preparations for their precious vampire Champion.

It honestly surprised him that those lofty pricks hadn't sent that Balance Demon of theirs to play mind games with him. But then again, he was hardly an Extra-Dimensional being, he was an extremely evolved human and his abilities had no basis in 'magic' or Extra-Dimensional energies, so he fell only under the purview of God Herself, like all other relatively normal humans.

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Library, Sunnydale High

"I wish there was more we could do," Willow complained, whilst sitting at the library counter and going through a volume.

"We're doing all that we can." Giles said patiently, putting on his glasses after a thorough cleaning. "We must try and find out what was in that stolen book, Xander is keeping an eye on her, literally at all times."

"I've never seen Buffy like that. She just took off." Willow looked extremely worried.

"Wills, Giles is right, Bodyguard Xander is with her every step of the way," Xander Prime said kindly, putting a warm, tingly blue hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

"Where is she at the moment?" Giles asked.

"Not at home, the assassins already have it covered, all I'll say is she's at a safe place."

"Xander…"

"Giles we could also be under remote surveillance, which I would not be able to sense, so I will keep her location to myself in an unsecured area."

"Ah…well good thinking." Giles looked abashed at himself for not being more cautious.

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The next morning Xander stood over Buffy's sleeping form in Angel's apartment and surveyed the place the vampire with a soul called home. It was sparsely furnished. A modern desk strewn with papers was against the far wall with a dozen old pictures hanging on the wall around it. The floor was bare concrete, and the only things that gave the place a bit of a break from the monotony was an ivory statue enclosed in a glass display case, and an elegant antique armoire.

Buffy was ensconced in the comfy looking bedsheets and looking very peaceful. It was such a shame that it was about to be shattered. He nudged her on the shoulder, she stirred and woke up…just in time to dodge the very sharp hatchet by rolling to the far side of the bed as it struck the pillow where her head had been.

The hatchet was retrieved by Buffy's would be killer, and Xander gazed sadly at the beautiful girl wielding it. She had a light brown complexion and long braided hair pulled away from her face, which hinted at an African ancestry, but he knew she was from the Caribbean. She was dressed very attractively, midriff baring black top, tight trousers that hugged her legs, and she was distinctly not petite in body tone.

The Caribbean girl swung again and hit the mattress when Buffy sidestepped the blow. Buffy did a very impressive flip over her attacker's back and onto the floor behind her, ready to fight.

"You must be number two!" snapped Buffy in determination.

Xander sighed, while he wanted to see how the two of them measured up, he didn't want a fight to the death, especially over what was nothing more than a misunderstanding.

Before the Caribbean girl could swing the hatchet again, Xander grabbed both her and Buffy in telekinetic grips and hovered them in the air away from each other.

"Hey! Xander, what the deal?!" griped Buffy flailing uselessly in mid-air.

The other girl took being manhandled in her stride and threw the hatchet at Buffy. Xander admired her improvisation, but stopped the weapon with a thought, and sent it soaring away to peg into the wall and out of reach.

He dropped his invisibility when they were a good two meters apart from each other and he was standing between them.

The other girl gasped at the sight of Xander, and it stunned her into stopping her flailing. Buffy was by now folding her arms in mid-air and giving him her best glare.

"Now, while I would like to see you two lovely ladies duke it out," Xander grinned. "There's no mud and I'm afraid the fact that you're both aiming to kill each other is unacceptable."

"Xander, what's going on, she attacked me, she's another assassin…"

"No, she's not," countered Xander and turned to the other girl with a kind smile on his face. "Please Miss, introduce yourself."

"Ye'll get no answer from me, demon!"

"Now don't be rude, Miss, I'm not a demon," Xander grinned. "We have a case of mistaken identity here and I have no wish to kill you. Please, your name and full title."

The Caribbean girl tried to get free, but she had no purchase on thin air, she was consequently helpless and let out an explosive sigh. "Fine, I am Kendra! De Vampire Slayer!"

Buffy could only stare in disbelief at the other girl. "Okay, one more time. You're the who?!"

"I'm de Slayer."

"Nice cover story. But here's a tip: you might wanna try it on someone who's not the real Slayer."

"Ya can't stop me! Even if ya or yer pet demon kill me, anodder Slayer will be sent to take me place."

"Could you stop with the Slayer thing? I'm the damn Slayer! And Xander is not a demon!"

"Nonsense! Dere is but one, and I am she. And how could he not be one, with such power…"

"Ladies, ladies, play nice," Xander looked from one to the other. "Kendra, you were sent here by who?"

"By my Watcher."

"To do what?" He asked.

"To do my duty. I am here to kill vampires."

"So you are both Vampire Slayers," he concluded. "Yes, yes, I know there can be only one…but I think we should take this to Buffy's Watcher. This conversation needs to happen in front of him."

Xander snapped his fingers, and he, Buffy, and Kendra vanished from the apartment with a flash of blue light.

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Library, Sunnydale High

Kendra was standing at attention in front of Giles, as the Watcher paced back and forth. She would occasionally send a furtive and amazed look at the two glowing nude Xanders standing next to each other, and would also sport a blush on occasion, which was rigidly suppressed and she focused her gaze back on the Watcher like a soldier who was in an inspection line. It was only when Giles had confirmed that Xander was indeed not a demon but merely a whole flight of rungs up the human ladder of evolution, so to speak, that she had believed it.

"And your Watcher is, i-is Sam Zabuto, you say?" Giles asked intently.

"Yes, sir." Kendra confirmed.

"We've never met, but he, he's, he's very well-respected."

"What, so he's a real guy? As in non-fictional?" Buffy asked in amazement, leaning on a chair with her left hand and had her right hand on her hip.

"And you are called...?"

"I am de Vampire Slayer."

"You Watcher's did a real number on her personality," Xander Prime looked distinctly irritated. "He means your name, little Miss."

"Oh. Dey call me Kendra. I have no last name, sir."

"Can you say 'stuck in the 80's'?" Buffy said haughtily.

"Buffy, please. Uh, there's obviously some, some misunderstanding here."

Willow entered the library at the moment with a smile on her face and practically bouncing. Kendra abruptly marched around Buffy to intercept the red head.

"Hey!" the witch greeted.

"Identify yourself!" Kendra demanded, nearly getting in Willow's face.

Willow was clearly taken aback at the sudden hostility and her smile turned to a frown.

"Back off, pink ranger! This is my friend." Buffy said and pulled Kendra back.

"Friend?" Kendra looked confused at this.

"Yeah. As in person you hang with? Amigo?"

"I don't understand."

In exasperation Buffy turned to Giles, "You try. I'm tapped." And promptly sat down with a huff.

"Uh-uh, Kendra, uh, there are a-a-a few people, uh, like Xander, who, who know Buffy's identity. Willow is another one of them, a-a-and they also, um, spend time together, uh, socially."

"And you allow dis, sir?" Kendra was clearly still confused.

"Well, uh..."

"But de Slayer must work in secret for security."

"Slaying on the hellmouth…" Xander Prime said.

"…is not a one person job, Kendra," Bodyguard Xander finished. "If not for me, and Buffy's other friends, she would be dead a few times over. However, Buffy did die once, but I revived her with CPR, hence, why you were activated as a Slayer. Therefore, where there was one Slayer, now there are two."

"Oh, good Lord!" Giles exclaimed in astonishment. "Clearly it didn't matter how long you were gone Buffy."

"She died?" Kendra asked, looking slightly weirded out.

"Just a little." Buffy confirmed weakly, clearly not enjoying remembering her fateful trip into the Master's lair.

"This is completely unprecedented! I'm quite flummoxed." Giles looked like someone had knocked his intellectual world askew suddenly, and sat.

"What's the flum? It's a mistake, she isn't supposed to be here, she goes home!" Buffy groused and turned to Kendra. "Look, no offence, I really don't mean this personally, but I'm not dead, and frankly having you around creeps me out just a little bit."

"I cannot just leave." Kendra was indignant. "I was sent here for a reason. Mr. Zabuto said all de signs indicate dat a very dark power is about to rise in Sunnydale."

"And what's your great plan for finding this dark power? You just gonna attack people randomly till you find a bad one?" Buffy's tone dripped with sarcasm.

"Of course not." Kendra retorted.

"Then why the hell did you attack me?"

"I tought you were a vampire." Kendra closed her eyes for a moment; clearly her own ire was also up behind her stoic exterior.

"Oh, a swing and a miss for the rookie."

"I had good reason to tink you were. Did I not see you kissing a vampire?"

Willow immediately stood up in defence of her friend. "Buffy would never do that!" But then realized the whole Angel boyfriend thing. "Except for that sometimes you do that." She turned to Kendra. "But only with Angel." Back to Buffy "Right?" And sat again.

"Yes! Right. Look, you saw me with Angel, and he is a vampire, but he's good."

"Angel? You mean Angelus? I've read about him. He is a monster." Kendra said flatly.

"No, no, no, he's, he's good now." Giles was still rather rattled from the whole two Slayers deal.

"Oh for cryin' out loud," sighed Xander Prime. "Kendra, Angelus was cursed by Gypsies; he now has a human soul and is fighting evil alongside us on the hellmouth. He is an ally."

"I cannot believe you. He looked to me just like anodder animal when I..."

"When you what? What did you do to him?" Buffy was bristling with anger and now was directly in Kendra's face.

"I..."

"What did you do?!"

Kendra spilled the beans and Bodyguard Xander didn't hesitate for a moment and teleported them out of the Library.


Willy's Bar, was an establishment that catered to every species of demon on the hellmouth during the night, and every kind of human lowlife during the day. Hence, its appearance was distinctly 'worn', from fights, gunshots, and blood stains from various demons and vampires the bar served. It wasn't apparent to the naked eye, but Xander saw way beyond the traditional visual spectrum.

So he clearly didn't relish being in the place at all.

"Angel?!" called Buffy, but no answer. In fact, there was no one at all in the bar, since it was too early in the morning for the typical human clientele to arrive.

Kendra walked briskly into a back room where a there was a cage where all the various sundry supplies for the bar was kept. It was currently in full daylight from the eastern exposure windows. Kendra had gone for a rather drawn out form of death for Angel.

"No ashes." She declared after looking into the open cage.

"What?" Buffy asked.

"When a vampire combusts, he leaves ashes."

"Yeah, I know the drill." Buffy declared in irritation.

"Then I did not kill him."

"And I don't need to kill you."

From another door the proprietor of the seedy establishment emerged. He was a balding dark haired skinny guy, with a look of perpetual 'shiftyness' about him. This was Willy. A guy you went to if you had cash and needed dirty info. He was also deep into the human criminal underworld as well; gun running, extortion, racketeering, luckily he was never party to murder – so Xander had felt no need to go Rosharch on the guy and left him undisturbed.

"Whoa, there's a lot of tension in this room…ah shit!"

Xander had him mid-air in rather snug telekinetic grip in a trice.

"Nice to finally meet you, Willy."

"Crap, it's the Desnudo Muerte!" shrieked Willy.

"This is what I get for letting that Mexican vamp get away," Xander sighed in irritation, he had only let the thing go for some psychological warfare on the demon community, the result being he was saddled with that ridiculous nickname. Oh, it was inevitable that the demon community would get wind of him sooner or later, so he did on his terms. He was after all a walking WMD to vampires and evil demons. It was already ingrained in the demons that if you saw blue light suddenly appear when attempting to kill or feed on a human…you were dead.

Buffy rather failed to hide her amusement. Kendra was all business.

"Dis one is dirty! I can feel it!"

"That's really good for you, Percepto Girl," Buffy jibed to Kendra. "Where's Angel, Willy?"

"My buddy Angel? You think I'd let him fry? I saved him in the nick! He was about five minutes away from being a crispy critter." Xander sensed it was truth.

"Where'd he go?" demanded Buffy.

"Uh, he said he was gonna stay underground. You know, recuperate. Argghl…"

"You're lying, Willy," Xander said idly, pulling a slight Darth Vader 'Force Strangle' and letting go.

"I swear on my mother's grave! Should something fatal happen to her, God forbid."

"Blood moved to the creative part of your brain as you answered, hence, you're full of shit, Willy, try again!" Xander tightened his telekinetic grip around Willy's chest.

"Arggh, I can't…I'll be killed…" whined Willy.

"I don't need your cooperation, Willy," Xander stepped closer to within arms reach. "I can read your mind with but a touch…if whoever threatened you comes calling…just blame me."

"And then you'll kill 'em?"

"If it's a vamp or demon, then yes."

"Okay, okay, I'll talk…its Spike; he put out a feeler to everyone to keep an eye out for Angel, and would pay big bucks for it. Angel came calling for word on the Order of Teraka and why they were in town, but he was ambushed by this chick and stuck in the cage." He indicated Kendra. "I took the opportunity to make a quick buck."

"So you saved Angel from sunlight, only to give him to Spike instead." Buffy remarked angrily.

"Yeah, but he only paid half of what he promised, dumped the rest in sewer water," groused Willy surly, but then brightened. "Luckily money dries quickly enough."

Xander let go and Willy promptly fell to the ground in a heap, and awkwardly got up.

"Let's go," Xander turned around and walked away, the two Slayers following in his wake.

"I, I have to ask." Willy asked quickly "Have you three considered modelling? I have a friend with a camera? Strictly high-class nude work. You know, art photographs. But naked. It should be no problem for you, Blue."

Xander, being male, was momentarily stunned at the mental image of appearing as such between two such lovely ladies. But then the momentary male fantasy was dispelled, and since one was his best friend…and the other someone who he would come to respect in the future…he gave a deceptively gentle gesture and promptly Willy was flung away to crash rather painfully with his own bar.

The two Slayers smiled to him in thanks, and with a blue flash of light the three vanished.

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Sunnydale High Library

"I can't believe this!" Buffy shouted to both Xanders angrily.

"I'm afraid Xander has made his point abundantly clear, Buffy, and I happen to agree with it." Giles shook his head sadly and took off his glasses.

"How can you do this to Buffy, Xander?" Willow asked in a disappointed fashion.

Both Xander Prime and Bodyguard folded their arms, a dark expression entering their features and their solid blue eyes regarded both his friends with anger.

"I already walk a fine line," Xander Prime argued. "I thought you understood this, you especially Willow."

"The Powers That Be do not bother me because I 'see' what they plan with regards to Extra-Dimensional Threats on Earth, and agree with the long term goal they have in mind, and my powers have nothing to with magic." Bodyguard Xander spoke next. "Revealing Spike's hideout to you now, will cause a Butterfly effect that I and they do not want."

"If I help Good too much, then it will give Evil a blank cheque," Xander Prime was quite grim as he said this, "and if that's one thing I see in the future, is that we don't want that to happen…ever!"

"But this is Angel…!"

"I can't play favourites, Buffy! When the time is right, you will know, that I promise, Angel will not die!"

Xander Prime's tone was final and he vanished with a flash, leaving Bodyguard Xander behind. Buffy just moped darkly.

"Now, that we've sorted out this, Kendra, I-I've, uh, conferred with your Watcher, Mr. Zabuto, and, uh, we both agree that, uh, until this matter with Spike and Drusilla has been resolved that you two should work together.

"Oh, that'll be a treat." Buffy griped still glaring at an unfazed Xander.

"So, you believe dat Spike is attempting to revive dis Drusilla to health?" Kendra asked eagerly.

"Yes, well, I-I-I-I think that's the, uh, the dark power that your, your Watcher re-referred to. You see, uh, you see Drusilla's not only evil, she's, uh, well, she's also quite mad, and-and-and-and if she's restored to her full health, then, uh, well, there's no, absolutely no telling what she might do."

"Den we will stop Spike." She said simply.

"Ooo, good plan, let's go, charge!" Buffy mocked.

"Buffy..." Giles sighed.

"It's a little more complicated than that, John Wayne."

"Yes, I'm, I'm afraid it is. You see, Spike has also called out the Order of Taraka to keep Buffy out of the way."

"De assassins? I read of dem in de writings of Dramius." Kendra said knowledgably.

"Oh, really? W-w-which volume?" Giles looked pleasantly delighted.

"I believe it was six, sir."

"Um, how do you know all this?" Buffy asked despite her dark mood.

"From me studies."

"So, obviously you have a lot of free time."

"I study because it is required." Giles smiled at Kendra. "The Slayer handbook insists on it."

"There's a Slayer handbook?" Willow asked in astonishment and curiosity combined.

"Wait. Handbook? What handbook? How come I don't have a handbook?" Buffy was indignant.

"Is there a T-shirt, too?" Willow got a pointed look from Buffy, that said 'Not helping'. "Cause that would be cool..."

"After meeting you, Buffy, I realized that, uh, the handbook would be of no use in your case." Giles answered delicately.

"Well, what do you mean it would be of no use in my case? Wha-what's wrong with my case?"

"Uh, Kendra, um, perhaps you'd like to show me the, the part in, uh, Dramius Six where, uh, uh, where it refers to the Order of Taraka. Really, I-I, I seem to have never been able to get through that book. It was a bit stodgy."

Giles guided the newer Slayer away from the group and into the stacks.

"It was difficult. All dose footnotes." Giles and Kendra laughed out loud and vanished into the stacks.

Buffy, now feeling double disgruntled, walked out of the library with Willow and Bodyguard Xander in tow, the latter becoming invisible to everyone else but his two friends.

"Hello, and welcome to planet pocket protector." Buffy mocked.

"The Slayer Handbook is incredibly dull, Buffy, even the Doc Manhattan part of me would fall asleep reading it." Xander explained.

"That bad, huh?" Willow glanced back to the trailing Xander.

"Yup. That's why Giles gives you the cliffnotes version when you train with him."

"Oh, well, that reminds me Buffy, Principal Snyder was snooping round after you earlier." Willow informed her.

"Eee. Career fair." Buffy winced. "Better show the flag and all that."

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Near the students lounge and branching out along the various hallways, were specific stands each devoted to a particular career. Buffy and Willow idly walked past each slowly with interest in the various jobs on offer. Xander was shadowing them at a few feet away; he wanted to give the girls some space after being so short with them.

"My tests say that I should look into law enforcement," Buffy rolled her eyes in exasperation, "and environmental design."

"Environmental design. That's landscaping, right?" Willow queried.

"I checked the 'shrub' box. But landscaping was yesterday, so law

enforcement it is."

They stopped near the steps to the couches in the student's lounge. Buffy's rather paranoid manner spotted someone looking at them. The Slayer grinned and elbowed her friend. "Hey, Will, don't look, okay, but..." And naturally Willow looked. "No, don't look! That guy over there is totally checking you

out."

Xander glanced in the direction and noticed that Oz was there. The red haired, monosyllabic, all around cool guy, and werewolf (though he didn't know it yet), was surveying Willow with a nonchalant, assessing stare. Xander thought he was a generally decent guy, a good match for Willow, and considered that perhaps he should nip the werewolf issues in the bud when Werewolf Oz crossed path with the Scoobies, by giving Oz the meditation training to suppress the wolf when the time came.

"Oh, that's Oz. He's expressing computer nerd solidarity." Willow shrugged it off nervously.

Oz for his part noticed that he was spotted and came over.

"Really? Then why is he on his way over here right now?" Buffy smiled with a wink. Willow was quite surprised at this turn of events. "Told you!" Buffy made a discreet exit and Xander trailed after her. It would be good to have Oz in the group soon.

Buffy walked to the centre of the lounge where the Law Enforcement Booth was. She signed her name and joined the group of fifteen or so students who had also rated similar careers.

Xander saw the events of the next few minutes and judged carefully where to stand, a good line of sight on both Buffy and the rather pale overweight Policewoman with the nametag 'Patrice' on her chest, acting as a recruiting officer. Xander carefully scanned and catalogued every weapon she had on her, which was a fair number…he rather wished he could wipe the mental image of her small hold out dagger encased in plastic tube, which had been stored in her…well, let's just say no one would look there.

Patrice, the recruitment officer, undercover Tarakan assassin, picked up the clipboard and looked it over.

"Alright, listen up, and answer when I call your name. Buffy Summers."

Buffy raised her hand in reflex.

Patrice calmly put down the clipboard and in a flash had drawn her Glock service pistol and aimed it at Buffy. Xander gave a sharp two fingered gesture, and the pistol promptly got a mind of its own, breaking the grip of the surprised assassin, and soaring into the air where it disassembled into its component pieces. Xander let go, letting the pieces rain onto the floor.

The entire lounge could only gape at the seemingly impossible, but Patrice showed her training when in a moment, she drew her backup gun, a revolver, and aimed again. The weapon also flew out of her grip, but Xander didn't disassemble this one.

The revolver, under his complete control, twirled to point directly at Patrice, the hammer pulled back…

Patrice dove to the side as Xander triggered the weapon; the bullet winged the assassin in the arm, leaving a bloody trail, as it dug into the tiled floor of the lounge. Students screamed and began to flee in every direction.

Patrice moved quite quickly for someone her size, leading Xander to suspect there was more to her than met the eye, probably enhanced with magic in some way. He adjusted the gun's aim, but Patrice decided to up the stakes, by drawing a small holdout revolver from her ankle and grabbing a random fleeing student. Of all people, it was Jonathan Levinson.

"Reveal yourself, Mage!" snarled Patrice. "Or this boy gets a bullet…" Xander sighed and with a thought transmuted the small revolver.

The assassin stopped and gaped at the thing now in her hand…instead of holding a lethal weapon to Jonathan's head, she was now holding a flapping trout. She dropped the fish in disgust and pulled a knife from her back, which had been hidden under her shirt. Before she could even bring it to bear on Jonathan's throat...the blade simply disintegrated into powder.

Xander snapped his fingers and abruptly Jonathan was pulled from her grasp, sliding along the smooth floor. Simultaneously, he gave a come hither gesture with his left hand and Patrice flew into the air, towards him and he clasped his hand over her face just as she came into range…with her physically connected to him, he explored her past and future…

Xander's expression turned to disgust and anger… and with affirmation of her past and those she would kill… he had no qualms about his next act. The Tarakan assassin was airborne again and screamed horribly before simply exploding with a muted blue flash in a shower of gore and blood.

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