Sunnydale High School, Library, 9:20p.m
"And your Watcher is, i-is Sam Zabuto, you say?" Giles asked as he emerged from his office.
"Yes, sir." Kendra replied with the utmost respect and promptness.
"We've never met, but he, he's, he's very well-respected." Giles said and with that Kendra's claims of being the Slayer were pretty much confirmed.
Looking at her combat skills there was no real denying what she was. Well, unless you were Buffy, in which case that was more because of female territoriality and sheer stubbornness than any real objective reasons. In a way, it was a kind of contradiction as far as she was concerned because he knew that Buffy saw her calling as a burden and here was a perfect way of getting out of it. He didn't think it would take much to have the Council relocate Kendra to Sunnyhell. With her here, Buffy could live the life she always wanted. Yet, here is Buffy, throwing up a fuss because she was no longer unique and also had a rival for her position now. It didn't make any sense to him at all but he guessed he would just have to wait until the two of them came to some kind of understanding.
It was then that Willow walked into the library, most likely back from a bathroom break, and was almost immediately intercepted by Kendra.
"Identify yourself!" the Jamaican Slayer demanded.
"Back off, pink ranger! This is my friend." Buffy said quickly stopping her counterpart from doing anything to the shocked redhead.
"Friend?" Kendra asked as though the word was not in her vocabulary.
"Yeah. As in person you hang with? Amigo?" Buffy said explaining the concept as if the mocha girl was mentally challenged.
"I don't understand." Kendra stated, which only frustrated the blonde Slayer even more.
"You try. I'm tapped." She said to Giles before walking over to a vacant chair and sitting down.
"Uh-uh, Kendra, uh, there are a-a-a few people, uh, ci-civilians if you like, who, who know Buffy's identity. Willow is one of them, a-a-and they also, um, spend time together, uh, socially." Giles said obviously trying and stumbling to find the right way to answer the question.
"And you allow dis, sir?" Kendra asked with clear disapproval.
"Well, uh..." Giles began but was unable to come up with anything solid in rebuttal.
"But de Slayer must work in secret for security." Kendra stated in a way that made it sound more like she was repeating the words of another rather than coming up with them herself.
"Of course, uh, but, uh, with Buffy, however, it-it's, um, some flexibility is required." Giles stated trying to justify why he wasn't following what was apparently standard practice with the Watcher's Council.
"Why?" Kendra asked, not willing to let the matter end with that.
"Hi, guys. W-what's going on?" Willow asked clearly lost and looking for someone to fill in the blanks.
"Uh, it seems somehow that, uh, another Slayer has been sent to Sunnydale." Giles replied glad to have someone a little easier to handle to talk with.
"Is that even possible? I mean, two Slayers at the same time?" Willow asked actually sounding more confused than when she had come through the library doors.
"Not to my knowledge. Um, th-the new Slayer is only called after the previous Slayer has died. Uh..." Giles replied before a proverbial light bulb winked on in his mind, "Oh, good Lord! You were dead, Buffy."
"I was only gone for a minute." Buffy stated in the same way a teenager would try and downplay coming in one hour past curfew.
"Clearly it doesn't matter how long you were gone. You were physically dead! Thus causing the activation of the, the next Slayer." Giles stated voicing what his mind had come across as the solution to the whole two Chosen One's thing.
"She died?" Kendra asked with some puzzlement.
"Just a little." Buffy replied not elaborating further on a subject that was obviously touchy for her.
"She drowned, but she was revived." Giles said elaborating on what his charge would not.
"So now there really are two of them!" Willow said excitedly as though she was witnessing some historical event, which from a certain point of view she was.
"It would seem so. This is completely unprecedented! I'm quite flummoxed." Giles said finding a seat of his own to sit in while he polished his glasses as a coping method.
"What's the flum? It's a mistake, she isn't supposed to be here, she goes home!" Buffy said clearly believing that if she wanted her rival gone she'd have to do it herself, "Look, no offense, 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. 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." Kendra said refusing to bow to her predecessor's wishes.
"And what's your great plan for finding this dark power? You just gonna attack people randomly till you find a bad one?" Buffy asked getting up from her chair looking for any weak spot on her rival to attack and get her gone from Sunnydale.
"Of course not." Kendra replied with a little fire in her voice.
"Then why the hell did you attack Xander?" Buffy asked.
"I tought he was a vampire." Kendra replied with some embarrassment while glancing in his direction.
"Oh, a swing and a miss for the rookie." Buffy crowed, making it clear that she liked finding a flaw in her successor.
"I had good reason to tink he was a vampire. Did I not see both of you working with a vampire?" Kendra asked putting forth her strongest piece of evidence.
"Buffy would never do that!" Willow exclaimed rising to her female friend's defense, "Oh… Except for that sometimes you do that… But only with Angel… Right?"
Ya gotta love her when she gets a full head of steam only to fall into a pothole of confusion. He thought with bemusement that he thankfully kept in his head and not on his lips.
"Yes! Right." Buffy replied not wanting her argument to lose any steam, "Look, you saw me and Xander 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 stated still not satisfied with the explanation she was being given for why he and Buffy had been working with Angel.
"No, no, no, he's, he's good now." Giles said quickly in order to put a stop to a particularly tense situation.
"Really!" Willow stated to add her support to the idea.
Yeah! Good at playing the mysterious stranger routine and seducing a girl that's practically a child compared to him. He thought bitterly not liking the fact that the others were throwing their support behind Deadboy.
While he no longer really entertained any notions of him and Buffy getting together romantically, most of the time anyway, since they were family now, he still didn't like the fact that she was dating a vampire. Who cared if he had a soul? He was still an immortal bloodsucking vampire that would outlive her by decades, if not centuries, most of which would be spent in darkness. Why couldn't she see that a relationship with him would end only in pain and misery? The answer came to him almost immediately: young love is blind. When you're young, you often mistake lust for love or something else for love and don't realize your mistake until after all the yelling matches. He'd figured that out once he was old enough to try and figure out how Tony and Jessica had ever gotten married. It was the only thing that made sense: they fell in lust with one another, mistook it for love, married, had him, and then fell into the booze when the lust died. He just hoped that Buffy clued in before she fell into a similar trap with Deadboy, or else it would be too painful for words to watch.
"He has a gypsy curse." Buffy said as though that explained everything.
"He has a what?" Kendra asked clearly of the opinion that that didn't explain everything.
"Y'know what, just trust me on this one, okay? He's on the home team now." Buffy said, apparently unwilling to go any further with trying to convince her successor.
"Yes, and now that we have that established, can we return now to the problem that is the two remaining Terakan assassins looking to kill us all?" he asked casually as though asking what the weather was like out side.
"Y-yes, quite. So did you three have any luck in stirring up the demon community?" Giles asked looking for grateful for something a little less volatile to talk about.
"We hit all the usual places plus a few we never tried before like Shark's place down by the docks. None of them knew where Spike's former gang was even with the pressure we put on them." Xander replied since it looked like Buffy would take a little longer to calm down and report things rationally.
"Are you talkin' 'bout de assassins? I read of dem in de writings of Dramius." Kendra said apparently deciding to table the dispute over the title of Slayer for the time being.
"Oh, really? W-w-which volume?" Giles asked looking seriously surprised that there existed a Slayer who actually studied the same books as him.
Not surprising since to Buffy, books were the equivalent of liver and lima beans in the sense that they were good for you but were the bane of teenagers everywhere.
"I believe it was six, sir." Kendra replied seeming to chipper up at the new topic of discussion as well since it was probably preferable to dealing with a miffed blonde Slayer.
"Um, how do you know all this?" Buffy asked unable to understand how someone her age would be as book experienced as Giles.
"From me studies." Kendra replied in a matter of fact tone of voice.
"So, obviously you have a lot of free time." Buffy says now understanding why her successor was such a stick in the mud and ignorant about popular culture and teenage slang.
"I study because it is required." Kendra stated firmly, "The Slayer handbook insists on it."
"There's a Slayer handbook?" Willow asked with some interest since the possibility of a book specifically meant to instruct the Slayer was bound to be an interesting read.
"Wait. Handbook? What handbook? How come I don't have a handbook?" Buffy asked clearly not liking the idea of her successor having something over on her.
"Is there a T-shirt, too?" Willow asked before getting a look from the blonde Slayer, "Cause that would be cool... "
Nice to know that Willow knows how to use the brakes on that babble engine of hers. Xander thought since he figured that the redhead wasn't winning any points with her blonde haired friend with her current line of thought.
"After meeting you, Buffy, I realized that, uh, the handbook would be of no use in your case." Giles replied clearly knowing that his honest reply would NOT go over well with his charge.
"Well, what do you mean it would be of no use in my case? What's wrong with my case?" asked Buffy who was clearly offended at the idea that there was some quality about her that took her off the Watcher's Council book club list.
"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 Teraka. Really, I-I, I seem to have never been able to get through that book. It was a bit stodgy." Giles said ever eager to change the subject as he began walking towards the stacks where he kept the mentioned volumes.
"It was difficult. All dose footnotes." Kendra said with a smile as she followed him.
With that the two of them gave off a duet of laughter that had just about everyone else in the room looking at them like they were pod people.
"Hello, and welcome to planet pocket protector." Buffy said in disbelief at the increase of geekness in the library.
"They're not that bad Buffy. Besides depending on what job you get at tomorrows school job fair you might have to read just as many books as her to get it." Willow said trying to show her friend the other side of the proverbial coin.
"Buffy's a student here?" Kendra asked as she and Giles came back from the stacks with an armload each of books.
"Yes." Giles said probably thinking that the less he said the better.
"Riiight, of course. And I imagine she's a cheerleader as well." Kendra said with obvious disapproval that sounded oddly like Buffy when the Jamaican Slayer proved to be more knowledgeable than her.
"Oh, no, well, a-a-actually she had to give up her cheerleading." Giles stated looking like he thought a bit of humor might improve things, "Uh, it was quite an amusing story, actually."
Sadly a look from both Slayers pretty much stopped him from going any further than that and the Xan-man was most glad for that since it would likely have become unpleasant if the Watcher had continued.
"Well I can see things are going to be oh so cheerful here so I'll go get snacks and drinks so we can pull an all nighter on this." He said deciding he wanted to get out of the room before things got any worse, "Any requests?"
"Some M&Ms would be nice." Buffy replied momentarily distracted from her rivalry with Kendra to make her selection, "Bottle of Pepsi too."
"Dill pickle chips for me Xander." Willow said placing her order.
"Giles?" Xander asked after a few moments passed without a word from the Watcher.
"Huh? O-oh! Nothing for the moment Xander." Replied the G-Man glancing up from one of the books he'd brought down from the stacks, "Besides I have my own thermos of tea in my office."
"Kendra?" he asked since the Jamaican Slayer had also not placed an order after a few minutes.
"N-not'ing fer me. T'ank you." She said oddly unable to look him in the eye and looking oddly shy.
But why would she be shy? She was perfectly normal when we met, aside from the whole trying to kill me part, and she was fine up until a minute ago. He thought as he turned towards the library doors to get the snacks for tonight.
The only answer to that mystery he could come up with was the same that most guys had: Women are weird.
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The Next Day, Sunnydale High, Early Afternoon, Student Lounge
What a weird time that was! He thought to himself as he left the booth set up for the military, Though I get the feeling that that guy didn't want to be there anymore than I did.
Then again, it looked like Colonel Ryback might actually have been feeling better by the end of the meeting with him. The Xan-man had tried to put in a few funnies during the explanation of the Special Forces area of the military and what it took to be in it. The guy had even snuck in a few trick questions, probably too see how smart the newest member of the Summers family was, but the majority of them were easy to answer if you took some time to think about them. This pleased the man and by the end of the talk, while still not happy about having to man the booth for the rest of the day, Ryback looked like he would at least have something positive to remember this day by.
With the little 'meet the job' thing over with he figured he'd head over to the library to see if anything new had been dug up on the Order of Teraka as well as who they might have sent to Sunnydale. That or walk in on the middle of a catfight between Buffy and Kendra. Both would be of the good in his opinion.
"Xander Summers, please report to the school gymnasium. Xander Summers, please report to the school gymnasium." Came the voice of Snyder's overworked and underpaid secretary.
I wonder what they want me there for. He thought before shrugging and heading towards the gym.
He figured that maybe it was some sort of surprise that Colonel Ryback had set up and was only planning on using if the newest member of the Summers family passed his trick question session. Maybe it was some kind of obstacle course or maybe just your standard gym exercises like climbing up the rope to the ceiling of the gym. Whichever it turned out to be he knew he'd be able to do it because between the exercise he'd gained helping Buffy and his knowledge of how to use ki to increase his physical abilities he'd be able to do both easily. In fact, aside from that fight with the Spartan earlier, it had been awhile since any opponent really pushed him to his limits as a swordsman. Kendra had been a good warm up but he knew that if he had gone all out on her it would have been over in moments with a single battou-jutsu or Ryūtsuisen. So if going one on one with a Slayer was barely enough to consider a warm up then he doubted that any simple gym exercises would be enough to make him sweat even a little.
Entering the gym he was a bit surprised to find it completely empty of anyone or anything. Students had been given the entire afternoon off to attend the job fair (much to Snyder's displeasure) but he had figured that some of the jocks from the basketball team might be playing a few games by themselves. It was this missing element that instantly put him on his guard because he knew that when things went against the established norm it usually meant that something Hellmouthy was abou to happen. He was not disappointed because all of a sudden all the lights in the gym went out and aside from the light shining in from the windows there was nothing but darkness. Deciding to be prepared just in case he slipped his backpack off of his shoulders and popped the top of the cardboard tube he kept his swords in. He did not remove them just in case he was just being paranoid but at least with the top off he might be able to draw his katana before the threat reached him.
Then like some kind of scene from a move a single light clicked on casting a spotlight of light down to the floor to illuminate a dark garbed man that was most likely responsible for the unusual summons and the sudden darkness. Dressed all in black from his shoes to his pants to his duster jacket he practically screamed bad guy or at least someone who shopped at the same place as Deadboy. Both possibilities being reason enough for him not to like the guy and be on his guard in case the stranger decided to cause trouble. What really put the final nail in the coffin as far as bad guy status went was the fact that his eyes were completely black pools of oil. There was not a speck of white between the eyelids and not a speck of light was reflected off the liquid surfaces making one think they were looking into two deep black pits instead of eyes. It made for a most intimidating effect even though the Xan-man had seen scarier since he started fighting the good fight with Buffy.
"So you are the one they are calling the second coming of Hitokiri Battousai?" the man asked with a sarcastic British accent, "I'm afraid I am somewhat disappointed. I thought you'd look a little more impressive."
"Yeah well you know what they say about appearances being deceiving." He said now understanding what Buffy must feel when vamps or allies comment on her height, "So I take it you're one of the Terakan assassins?"
"Indeed I am and I have decided I will deal with you first and then your little Slayer friend." The assassin replied in a bored tone of voice, "After all I'll need a good warm up before I move onto my primary target and I suppose the reincarnation of the Battousai will suffice."
"You'll never get past me." He stated firmly as he removed both his katana and his wakizashi from the cardboard tube, "Buffy might be pretty good with a sword but compared to me, she is a novice."
He spoke nothing but the truth in that statement. While the Slayer powers gave Buffy an instinctive knowledge about weapons, the blonde girl's conscious mind only knew what Giles had been able to teach her. Given that she only studied when she had to and only paid the bare minimum attention to Giles during their training sessions, he very much doubted she knew more than the basics of swordsmanship. In terms of repertoire and actual skill, he considered himself to be close to the level of a competent swordsman well on the way to becoming a master one day. He knew that there were some techniques he did not know, that some part of his past as Kenshin had not come back to him yet, but he knew it would only be a matter of time. What skills he had would be more than enough to finish off this guy so that they'd only have to worry about the final assassin before getting a break before the next three were sent.
Assuming Spike's old crew can cough up the green to pay the Order to send more. He thought as he slipped his swords beneath the belt around his waist.
"So do you want to start this little fight off or should I?" he asked as though he was impatient to get this over with.
"Since I am a guest in this forsaken town I believe it is my right to go first." The assassin replied somehow managing to pull a longsword out from beneath his duster even though when fully revealed it looked to be almost as tall as the man himself.
With those words, the man charged forward in a blur of movement that definitely made it clear he was not human at all. The killer was three quarters of the way to his target before Xander was able to unsheathe his katana and bring it up into a guard position. When the two blades clashed he was almost unable to keep his sword from being pushed all the way to his head. The strength this guy had was phenomenal and as he learned when the man brought his blade back for an instant before executing a thrust, the killer for hire had speed as well. Deciding to keep himself on the go he did his best to move with the side slashes and sidestep the overhead attacks as well as the thrusts. Trying to match the man strength for strength would not be a good idea both because he would tire quicker and he wasn't sure if his katana would be able to take the punishment. These swords were an unknown variable for him since he didn't know who had made them, what they were made of or how much punishment they could take before shattering.
This is getting me nowhere fast! He thought before he parried another slash by the assassin, I need to go on the offensive and finish this guy before I slip up somehow.
"Hiten Mitsurugi style: Ryūsōsen!" he declared before delivering a series of lightning fast slashes to the assassin from every direction he could manage.
For a few seconds the assassin did try to block the attacks being sent his way but after a fifth cut appeared on his left shoulder drawing blood he backed off obviously to rethink his strategy. A good thing since it also allowed him to try and come up with one as well since he didn't have one and figured he'd need one if he was going to take this guy down. This was no newbie vamp or cocky demon he was facing but an actual bonafide swordsman- and a good one at that. Every attack he had made with his long sword had been precise and calculated with the intent to do serious damage. Only having an edge in the speed department had allowed him to block the slashes and thrusts in time. All in all it would come down to who was the more skillful swordsman and he had to think of something quick in order to make sure it was him rather than the assassin.
Deciding that it was time for him to be the aggressor this time he charged forward and when he was within range he executed the Ryūtsuishōsen technique. Up into the air he moved before bringing down a two handed slash then once on the ground pushing up and forward into a horizontal slash at the assassin's neck. While the killer did show signs of strain neither bow made contact with his body instead being blocked by his longsword with two loud clangs. The second part of the Ryūtsuishōsen successfully sent the hired goon up into the air and back a few feet thanks to the power behind the blow but the black eyed man managed to land on his feet with a bit of grace before standing up. There was a look on the monster's face that was devoid of the earlier mocking expression and instead displayed wariness as well as determination.
"It looks like you were right Battousai. Appearances can be deceiving." Said the assassin before a cruel smile appeared on his face, "I think now is the time to show you why the same can be said for me as well."
With a slash of the longsword, a tear opened in mid air and inside that tear was blackness distinctly similar to what existed in the killer's eyes. Before he could try and figure out what the significance of the tear was the assassin leapt into the tear before it sealed up as though it had never been there in the first place. That was all that he had time to think about though before a lancing pain shot through his upper back causing him to stumble forward in pain for a moment before he recovered and rolled forward to dodge any follow up attacks. Turning around he saw the assassin standing there with bloody longsword in hand and a smile on his face that all warriors have when they believe they have an invulnerable advantage.
"As you can see, manslayer, it is within my power to open little tears in space and time allowing me to disappear from one side of a room and reappear in another." The assassin explained as though he had all the time in the world, "All it takes us a single slash of my sword and I can appear anywhere on the battlefield I want. It is one of the reasons I am so successful an assassin for the Order. Shall we see if you are the one to defeat my power?"
With not another word spoken the killer for hire opened another tear and disappeared through it in the blink of an eye. Tensing and using every sense he had he tried to look for any sign of where the murderer would show up next so he could prepare an appropriate reception. Harder than ever before he sought to capture all his senses offer him and use that knowledge to ensure that there was nothing in the environment surrounding him that could be missed.
There! He thought as he sensed a momentary shift in what he had labeled the 'normal feeling' of the gym.
Lashing out with his katana he hoped to be able to deliver a disabling blow on the assassin, perhaps one severe enough to put a stop to the tear jumping, but all he got for his efforts was a slash across his right arm. Laughter echoed throughout the gym and when he turned around he found that it was the assassin that was having a good chuckle at his expense.
"A good try Himura! You succeeded in perceiving the moment in which my 'exit tear' formed but lacked the speed necessary to catch me as I left it." The Killer complimented falsely as he watched the blood drip off of his longsword, "Do wish to try again?"
Damn it! He thought as he watched the asshole open another tear and disappear into it, How can I kill him if I can't catch him?
The answer came to him in an instant once the scenario was all laid out for him in his mind. It was such a simple solution that he wondered why he had never conceived of it beforehand. Knowing he would not have much time before the assassin reappeared he shoved the why aside. He needed to get into position and fast! Sliding his katana back into its sheathe, he removed it from beneath his belt and settled down into the position needed to perform the technique that he hoped would bring an end to this fight. Once there, he closed his eyes and attained that sense of awareness that he had used to perceive the exit tear as he had before.
This time, he would not leap towards it but merely turn towards it. For a time it felt like minutes had passed but in fact only a second or two had gone by. Waiting for the same sensation that had tipped him off earlier, he kept his right hand near the hilt of his katana, with fingers just twitching to grab it. However, no matter what he kept the feelings and thoughts that would distract him from his enemy suppressed leaving only a cool calm focus in his mind.
Just a few seconds later, he felt the itch that had alerted him to the assassin's reappearance before coming from his right and immediately turned in that direction. This time he actually was able to see the longsword wielding murderer exit his tear whereas before he had appeared out of nowhere. Fortunately it was being able to see him that pretty much sealed the deal and with all the speed he could muster he launched the best battou-jutsu he could manage. Appearing to be nothing more than a flicker of light as the sunshine coming through the gym windows reflected off of it, he drew his blade directly from its sheathe and into a horizontal slash attack. It was then that the reason he chose this technique became apparent since the assassin's attack was so swift and because of his departure from his tear the murderer had no time to evade the attack or even bring his sword up to block it. So it was in between the ticks of a clock that the katana sliced through the torso of the assassin in a move so swift that it took a couple of steps on the part of the murderer before the blood began to pour out and the two halves fell apart. A look of unrestrained shock on the killer's face was a testament to the surprise he had felt just before dying.
Is it over? He thought as he looked about the gymnasium for any other signs of trouble or attackers.
Looking about the room carefully he saw nothing out of the ordinary but knew better than to take anything he saw at face value. Several moments passed and when no further threat surfaced he flicked what blood he could off of his katana and then used a piece of the assassin's duster to wipe off the rest. Sliding the blade back into its sheath it was only then that full awareness, unfettered by the stresses of battle, returned to him and he realized the situation he was in at the moment. For one thing he was in a public school, with students in the building, standing next to someone who had been sliced in half holding a sword that fit the bill as a murder weapon. While he knew that Sunnydale blindness would take care of the dead body issue, if anyone saw him next to the body or even in the gym he'd be in trouble. In fact, he was puzzled why no one had come running once the clanging of swords started, knowing that someone would have heard him and the killer fighting.
Whether anybody heard anything or not I need to get out of here before I get pegged as suspect numero uno in this guy's death. He thought running over to his backpack and the cardboard tube that stood next to it.
Slipping both weapons back into the tube he put the lid back on but when he tried to lift it and his backpack, the wounds he'd received in the fight made themselves known. He cringed with pain as he forced himself to stand back up with backpack and tube in hand but did his best to block the sensation out. He had to get out of here and sneak into the library in order to have Giles tend to his wounds. While he had a feeling that they weren't serious enough to warrant a hospital visit, they would need to be cleaned and bandaged up as soon as possible.
Heading towards the side doors to the gym, he quietly slipped outside and once he was sure that no one was looking in his direction he began to skirt from shadow to shadow using his surroundings to conceal his movements as he headed to the library. All along the way his wounds protested the quick and jerking movements, anything that forced those areas of the body to move caused him to cringe, but eventually he managed to reach the back entrance to the library that Deadboy often used.
"Well gang, we can subtract one assassin from our list of problems as of now." He said trying to sound like all he had done was talk the guy into going home.
"Xander! What happened!?" Willow exclaimed obviously spotting the bleeding cut on his arm.
"Well, when I got called to the gym a little while ago, it turns out assassin number two was behind it. We 'talked' and I convinced him not to follow through on the contract." He replied purposefully avoiding telling his bestest bud the entire truth.
"H-how is that possible? Assassins belonging to the Order of Teraka are notorious for never failing to carry out a contract once it had been accepted. How did you persuade him to leave?" Giles asked without taking into account the metaphorical quotation marks he'd put around 'talked'.
"Let's just say I explained how wrong it was to kill people for money and by the time I was done he didn't have a leg to stand on from his side of the argument." He replied mixing a little bit of the truth with a little rewording.
"Xander? You didn't--?" Buffy began to ask before an ear splitting scream echoed through out the school.
"Guess they found the guy. Whoever found him must be tossing their cookies right about now." He said imagining how it probably looked to those now in the know about what went on in Sunnydale after dark.
"You mean… when you said he didn't have a leg to stand on you meant… good Lord!" Giles exclaimed as his mind finally connected the dots in order to come up with the truth of the situation.
"I didn't have much of a choice G-Man and don't worry- the guy was far from human." He said trying to defuse any fear his friends might be having that he had taken a human life, "The guy had darkness for eyes and was able to cut tears into the air so he could appear anywhere in the gym he wanted. Not exactly what you'd expect from a human being."
This seemed to calm the others and a nod from Kendra made it clear that she believed that he had done the right thing.
"Yes, well, with two of the three assassins defeated, the danger to us increases. It will force the remaining assassin to fight even harder in order to preserve the guild's reputation for always terminating their target." Giles said taking a moment to clean his glasses a bit, "Still, with only one threat to worry about and three able bodied warriors to confront him or her, it shouldn't be too difficult to defeat the assassin. Nevertheless, we should keep our guard up just in case as we do not know the abilities or the modes operandi of the last assassin."
"Gotcha Giles! Now do you think you can help patch me up before I wind up bleeding all over your library?" he asked looking down at the growing pool of blood at his feet.
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