I still do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any mythology.

I'd also like to take a moment to thank Tammin for all his hard work, and Dusel for his contribution.

Legacy

City Hall, Mayor's Office

"You know, Allan, I don't think Val's people are going to make another attempt in time to make a difference," Mayor Wilkins III noted sadly. His people had found out that the Watcher was the fourth Aesir, a fact he'd promptly passed along but the reception had been tepid.

"Could it be they've gotten cautious, sir?"

"Hmmm, no, I got another impression. It's almost as if their priorities have changed, as if the hunt for the Aesir isn't Loki's top concern anymore. Which, of course, begs the question what is? Not that there's any way to find out, my only contact with that world is Val and he's being even more tight lipped than normal."

"And with Buffy Summers return our window of opportunity is gone too," Finch pointed out.

"Ah," Wilkins raised a finger. "But it was never much of an opportunity anyway. My father always warned me about poking hornet's nests. Kill them all or leave them alone, anything else just nets you a bunch of angry hornets. A smart man," he reminisced.

Pulling himself away from his memories, Richard focused on the current problem. "But leaving them alone this close to the grand finale means they'll be around to spoil my big day. And we can't have that. Unfortunately, my best plan would make a terribly big mess and that would be a shame. So, we need to come up with a more neat solution and try that first."

He tapped the desk with his fingers as he looked out the window. The biggest problem was keeping things contained, ordered.

"Sir, what if we let it be known, discretely, amongst the, uh, demon community that they could earn a certain... appreciation if they dealt with the problem," the Deputy-Mayor proposed looking as uncomfortable as he sounded.

Richard dismissed his idea with a wave of his hand. "That would just produce the chaos I'm trying to avoid. The entire West Coast would learn about our Aesir-problem in a day and I can do without all the attention that would garner. No, that's..."

His gaze sharpened as he got an idea. "There is something else we can leak, though. We still have to clear up a few of the darker magical objects and having third parties do that would keep us out of the spotlight." His smile got a little wider. "And if they feel the need to test their new toys on the local heroes, why, that's really only natural."

He directed a beaming smile to Allan Finch. "It's good to see you're starting to participate, Allan. I was beginning to think your heart wasn't in it!"

His assistant's answering smile still looked uncomfortable, but it was a start.

Wolfram & Hart, LA branch

"Ah, Carolyn, you said there was something urgent you needed to talk about?" Holland Manners pried as the junior lawyer came into his office.

Carolyn Shelley bobbed her head. "I do, sir. I'm not sure if I should report to you or someone else, but since I'm on your team right now and the file isn't really clear..."

The blond stopped when Holland held up a hand. "Hold it right there. Why don't you tell me what this is about and we'll go from there."

The young lawyer shot him a grateful smile and started over. "It's this legacy project I got a year ago. It concerns the Excalibur project, there's been a development, and I don't know who I should report it too. There was a contact list in the file but that's at least 20 years out of date."

"Excalibur project, the name sounds familiar. Excalibur, Excal- Of course that was one of Bob's projects. I didn't know you got it after he moved on, congratulations."

"Uh, thank you. So, does this mean you know what I should do."

"Ah, no. Bob only mentioned it once and all I recall about it is that he inherited the case too. Why don't you refresh my memory."

She hesitated for a moment before thinking better. "The project's goal is to acquire a Dvergar artifact called Fragarach. The original team couldn't breach the ward protecting it so they left a seal to lock access to the cave and monitor the artifact and the guard they placed."

"Dvergar artifact," Manners mused as he once again felt a term niggle at his memory. "Are we talking about an Aesir weapon?" Carolyn had to consult her file, but then she nodded and a stunned Manners leaned back in his chair.

A moment later he straightened out again and fixed the junior lawyer with a piercing look. "What happened?"

"The Asagu is dead and so is the seal. But according to Records it logged someone taking the artifact right before that," Carolyn rattled off.

'An Asagu? I didn't even know the firm employed one of those, and then to lose it right along with the object we invested so much in...' Manners hissed as he considered how bad this news was and Carolyn flinched as she mistook the display for anger at her.

"Calm down, I'm just dismayed at the loss for the firm," he said soothingly. Then he got up. "Richard needs to know this right away. I'll come with you, we'll have to do some strategizing on finding whoever snatched it up from right under our noses anyway."

Shelley didn't get right up, however. "Richard? You mean Richard Felton, the head of Special Projects?" she asked with a stunned expression.

Impatiently, Holland nodded. "The Senior Partners take any dealings with the Aesir very serious. The possibility we have one here in California will have them up in arms. Tentacles too. So Richard will want to show he's on top of things, which means he needs to know now. So, come along."

This time, Carolyn did get up but she still looked frightened. Holland Manners sighed mentally. It looked like Carolyn didn't have what it took at Wolfram & Hart after all. Such a shame, she was a hard worker. Just not ambitious enough to make the sacrifices this job required.

Letting go of the matter, he started to consider how to find a being their seers and psychics couldn't see, and their mages couldn't track.

Sunnydale, Sunnydale High

"Good Lord, you defeated an Asagu?" Giles interrupted.

Buffy just shrugged, slumped in her chair. "That's what Mjöllnir called it. But what's the big deal? Yeah, he was though. Even Mjöllnir only scratched it, but it was slow and dumb too. I gotta tell you, if that was supposed to be one of the great and terrible Old Ones than I am officially unimpressed."

Giles could only stare. Asagus were a rare breed, true, and in most climates their weakness to water left them vulnerable. But that is why they usually sought out a dry environment where wasting water like that could be a death-sentence even if the Asagu lost. Of the few Slayers that had the misfortune of encountering that type of demon, only one had managed to escape.

But he decided not to tell her that. No need to feed her ego anymore than he'd already had. "Ah, it's just that they're extremely rare."

"So what? Did I violate some Protected Wildlife law for demons?"

"Ah, no, I'm just surprised there was an Asagu in California. Uhm, if you couldn't penetrate the armor with Mjöllnir how did you defeat it?"

For some odd reason, Buffy blushed at the question and looked away. "I used my shirt to block those tubes it uses to breath," she mumbled.

His eyebrows lifted as he imagined that scene, then his own cheeks flushed as he realized in just what a state that course of action would have left his charge. "Ingenious," was all he said. "I hope you won't mind me putting that in my report. Having that alternate strategy available could be life-saving to some future Slayer."

And then winched as he realized his words could easily be construed as a reference to Kendra. So he went on trying to distract Buffy. "I'll say you used some rags that were lying around or some such to, ah, protect your, uhm, well, your modesty."

"Thanks, I'd appreciate that," Buffy told him wryly.

"Yes, well, there is another matter concerning my reports you should know. If the Council should ask, you destroyed Acathla this summer."

"I destroyed what now?"

"Acathla," Giles repeated. "A demon that tried to suck the world into hell several centuries ago. They found him underneath the construction site where you fought the Children a few weeks ago."

Hearing that, Buffy straightened up. "You fought some powerful demon while I was gone? Giles, that's important. Did anybody get hurt?"

Giles hastily moved to put Buffy at ease. "No, no, nothing like that. It was rather embarrassingly easy, as a matter of fact. You see, the demon was defeated by a virtuous knight right before he could take that world-ending breath and that turned him to stone."

"Oh." Buffy's expression grew puzzled. "So... you slayed a statue?"

"That's the short of it," the Watcher admitted. "It really was just a matter of running it through with Gungnir. I told the Council there was a prophecy on the protective stone covering that the demon was in about the person who could permanently kill the demon and that you fitted the bill. I won't bore you with the details..."

"Since I'll just forget them and shorten it to: Me, demon statue, sledgehammer," Buffy finished with a grin.

"Sword," Giles corrected, "But yes, something like that. You, ah, hammered the sword deeper into the stone and that killed it. According to my report."

"Got it," she chimed in not losing her bright smile. But then her expression grew solemn. "Uhm, Giles. I was wondering if you could tell me... If you could tell me who the Slayer before me was. I've been wondering what kind of person she was."

The request startled Giles, but not the motivation behind it. Knowing Kendra was gone and a new Slayer had replaced her must have made Buffy wonder who she had replaced herself. Really, he should have anticipated this. But he hadn't and now he had precious little to tell her. "Uh, if I recall correctly she was an American as well, however, she was in Japan when she was called. I believe her name was India Cohen, but I couldn't tell you more. I have her Watcher's diary, I could get it if you'd like to read it?"

The blond thought it over. "Yeah, I think I do."

"I'll get it then."

TO BE CONTINUED