Chapter Two: Building a Mystery

Chapter Two: Building a Mystery.

Xander kept his single wary eye on the road ahead, hardily sparing a glance at the Slayers riding with him. They were unusually quiet for the aftermath of a battle with the supernatural. It's not like they were rookies or anything, even Tori had seen some action and Slayers by and large tended to be very high energy after a battle. Even when they lost a friend or fellow Slayer, they let out their grief for all to hear and share in. Then again, he reflected, this particular battle had been very different, especially from his point of view. It's not every day you do go from being average guy who's handy with a sword to well, whatever that was.

"Mister H-, I mean Xander?" Renee's voice brought him back to the present. "Are you all right? You seemed a bit distracted?"

"Huh? Oh just trying to figure out whom the new guy in town was. He's all gray and scaly. I'm going to guess Eastern European. Or maybe Greek."

He smiled as Renee let out a breath she had been holding. Apparently she had ridden with Buffy before.

"We'll be okay, it's just another new demon day at the office. Buffy can handle it."

"She can handle anything."

Xander's gaze flicked to Satsu's reflection in the rearview mirror, "Buffy's the most amazing person I've ever met. Her, Willow, Dawn--, they're all really amazing people once you get to know them."

"Really?" Renee asked.

"Without a doubt," assured Tori. "But what about Mr. Giles?" She pressed.

"He's the bestest Watcher I know, even before this."

"And Mr. Ha-, I mean Xander, what about you?"

"I'm just a one-eyed former carpenter that hit the best friend jackpot with Buffy and Willow. Not only do I have a valid driver's license to boot but I do windows."

"Can you tell us more about Buffy?"

"Well there's not really a whole lot more to tell then you know. She was the Chosen One, then a member of the Chosen Two, now she's one of the Chosen Many."

His answer wasn't exactly satisfactorily but he was saved from explaining further by their arrival at the castle. Buffy and Willow were waiting in the courtyard to greet them. Xander now had a new set of problems, namely filling Buffy and Willow in on what happened while not triggering their 'Xander-is-hiding-something' senses. Waving at his oldest friends, he moved to help Tori lift Satsu out of the car while. Renee opened her door, taking great care not to bump her wrist. There was concern on the faces of Buffy and Willow as they took stock of the injured Slayers.

"What happened?" Buffy queried.

Satsu winced as she put more weight on her injured ankle, her Slayer pride hurting as much as her ankle was. "Excuse us Ms. Summers we had some trouble." The other two Slayers nodded in agreement Renee holding her wrist while Tori lent her shoulder to her sister Chosen. Willow looked over at him with question on her face. Xander let out a sigh. "New punching buddy. He's big, gray, built like a tank, armored better then one and apparently he hits like a bulldozer."

"That's it? One newbie did this?"

"It wasn't the typical run of the mill, new demon. Wills, this guy was like nothing I had ever seen before."

"Don't forget the other one" Renee interjected.

"Other one? Xander I thought you said this guy was a solo act?" Willow asked.

"It wasn't the same," Satsu broke in, "The other one was more…humanoid. Mostly black. Kind of looked like a Knight thing."

Buffy, Willow and Xander exchanged looks. They all shared a not very good history with knights. Buffy voiced their collective concerns,

"A knight?"

"Kind of. Like a knight-robot guy. I think it was a guy."

Xander interjected, "No chance to check the oil?"

That got him a look from the five women around him and Xander was reminded why he missed having Giles around. Hell, he'd settle for Andrew at this rate. "Well the important thing is we they stopped him/it. Unfortunately not before some people got in the way."

Buffy looked downcast at the mention of loss of life. "It's starting again."

"No it's not Buffy, we're better then that, we're stronger then that."

"Especially you." Satsu's voice as almost whisper quiet but still audible, Buffy looked up and over at the younger girl. Then she smiled, "Thanks."

A cough from her left drew her attention back to Xander and she raised a questioning eyebrow. "Well the other bad news is, we weren't able to pick up any TAB. And Wills, ditto on the Herbal tea mix."

Buffy and Willow exchanged a look then looked at him with a particular expression on both of their faces which he was very familiar with.

"All right but I'm driving."

A short time later, the three members of the former Scooby gang where headed off down the road. Their destination was another fairly small, quiet town amongst many that dotted the Scottish countryside. The mission was the same; acquire supplies desperately needed to keep the forces of the Slayer army functioning at their highest level. And by that, what they really meant was pick up an odd assortment of items requested by the Slayers back at the castle ranging from Buffy's intensely guarded TAB soda to Lego's. Xander wasn't exactly sure why anyone outside of Andrew would want Lego's, let alone a member of the many Chosen sisterhood now. But his prior experience in dealing with powerful, gorgeous, smart, emotional young women who could snap a tire iron over their knees if the mood struck them had taught him to keep his mouth shut and buy the damn Lego's.

Xander's thoughts turned from the shopping list to the trip itself. The village they were heading for was farther away from the castle. The reasons they had decided to head here were mostly had to do with both keeping tabs on the locals and some good old-fashioned Scooby bonding.

Which is why they had been riding in complete silence since leaving the castle and probably would have been until they reached the town. That had ended when they emerged from some of Scotland's snakier roads to a sheep farm located near a fairly modest brook that had over the centuries gouged out a modest if deep ravine necessitating a bridge for the sake of modern automobile travel. The sheep farm was one of many across the country given the natives taste and affinity for all things wool and mutton.

Xander slowed down as he and the others rolled their windows down to get a closer look at the sight before them. Body parts and blood formed a decorative if macabre pattern on the grass. Most of the parts seemed to be of sheepish origin but Xander caught sight of a human leg with its corresponding boot-enclosed foot separated by some distance and stopped the car. Ignoring the tingling in the back of his head saying this was a bad idea, he exited the automobile aware that Buffy and Willow were doing likewise. From where they were, just past the bridge, they could see most if not the entire hillside was stained red with viscera and organs, in a disturbing abstract painting minus the gruesome artist.

Twin looks of disgust and revulsion crossed Buffy and Willow's face. Buffy had seen many a dismembering, even participating in a few but… to do this to sheep and people together in such a fashion. Buffy looked to have managed to push down her lunch as her Slayer senses kicked into high gear, looking for any sign of the thing that did this. Willow apparently was having a similar yet worse reaction, attuned now to the ebb and flow of nature's pattern as she was. To her, Xander guessed this represented a violent distortion, even tear in how life itself moved.

"Well now this is disgusting," Xander said, expressing his gift for understatement and earning stares from the girls. He was about to add to those comments when their facial expressions changed.

"Xander behind you!" They practically shouted.

He turned around and came face to face with the thing responsible for the impromptu butchery on the countryside, a big gray thing. Xander barely had time to register that it was the same creature from earlier before it grabbed him and hurled him like a lawn dart over the top of the hill towards a heavily wooded area. Buffy and Willow's shock was cut short as the creature turned its attention to them.

"Oh you are so going to regret that!" Buffy hit the car trunk with her fist and it opened obediently, allowing her to retrieve a short sword. Willow had begun chanting and channeling energy into her hands. Charging with righteous fury, the Slayer rushed at the monster and let loose with a mighty swing that stopped it. Or rather the monster stopped and stared at her. Buffy glared up at the demon as she felt the reverberations of the strike up her arms and into her shoulders. She moved for a follow up swing when Willow called out, "Buffy get out of the way!"

And she did, just a fireball zoomed past her and slammed into the demon squarely. Willow stared hard into the smoke then frowned; Buffy saw why as the creature stepped forward apparently unharmed by the blast. The two girls shared a look as they re-evaluated their opponent.

Meanwhile several hundred yards away, Xander was in no small amount of pain. Despite the monster's prodigious strength, he hadn't been hurt when it grabbed him. Nor was he hurt that badly when he slammed into one of many presumably centuries old English oak trees. No he, Xander Harris had managed to injury himself getting to his feet, preparing to rush back to help. He had overlooked where his feet were and had managed to badly twist his ankle. Such was the Harris family luck. The whooshing impact of Willow's fireball shattered his reflection. His friends were in danger, they needed his help, injured or not, he was the closest person. Wincing in pain, he managed to pull himself to his feet and gingerly took a step towards them. And almost immediately he crumpled in pain as his injured ankle tried to bear his weight. Okay so the miraculous healing powers of his youth were starting to fade a bit. Still, he had to help them somehow.

Help. That was the key wasn't it? Just help them somehow. He closed his eye trying to block out the pain while he thought of a way to help them in his injured state. As the thoughts raced thru his mind, his body experienced a strange sensation, something he couldn't quite describe despite all the words he knew. His eye opened as he gazed down and was somehow unsurprised to see once again the belt around his waist. Xander looked more carefully at it this time, noting the gap/holder where the phone went. He then noted that the phone itself was again in his right hand. It looked more like a normal phone then his recalled. Vaguely the former Sunnydalian pondered whom to call. The authorities? Somehow he didn't think they had a unit that could handle this. The castle would have help teleported here in minutes but every second was precious. That left him with only one real option, one he was reluctant to take. But for their sake, for Willow, for Buffy…

The number came from a memory he was vaguely disturbed he had, 5-5-5, then he hit the 'enter' button. As he snapped the case shut, a voice greeted him, "Standing by."

There wasn't time for debate or regrets as he slid the phone into the holder designed for it on the belt and said a simple word he had only heard once before in his own voice, "Henshin".

"Complete".

They had watched in silence as Buffy, Willow had left to complete their interrupted errand with Xander behind the wheel. After the car had vanished out of sight, Satsu drew a deep breath before getting the attention of the other two, "Follow me".

Renee and Tori looked at each other and did as she asked. However once they entered the castle it became apparent Satsu was not headed for her room or the infirmary Renee spoke up, "Um where are we going?"

"To the library, to look that bastard up."

"What?"

Satsu didn't answer Tori's question as they entered the room containing the books and other reference materials that Buffy and her group of Slayers, Witches and Watchers had managed to gather. Walking with a limp and a grimace she grabbed the top book off a precariously stacked column and sat down to read. Renee and Tori did likewise in silence around her. After a few minutes of awkward page turning, Satsu looked over at the least experienced member of the crew, "We're doing this for them."

"Them? How is this going to help Xander, Buffy and Willow?"

"Because next time, we won't fail and we'll be able to stop that bastard. For good."

That seemed to suffice and the Slayers commenced to reading upon the demon.

Buffy Summers had a lot of experience with being frustration. First there was the whole 'High school frustration' when the principal was trollish, the teachers were nasty and the mayor was totally evil. College had turned out to be a lot like high school only with added roommate frustration. Being the guardian to her younger sister/mystical artifact made flesh and blood had added the frustration type of 'Don't you dare think of wearing that outside this house young lady' to her portfolio. Finally being one of the only Chosen Slayers in existence had taught her very different forms of frustration. The first being that Slaying in general tended to get her wound up and ready to go (Faith had another way of putting it but Buffy wasn't going there). The second being that because she was the Slayer, the ability to sustain any sort of meaningful personal life was next to nil.

However at present she was dealing with another common type of frustration directly related to being a Slayer: weapon ineffectiveness. Wielding her sword like the experienced Champion she was, Buffy had scored what would have nearly a dozen different, serious if not fatal wounds on the monster. And yet, thanks to the very thick armor plating of the creature, all she had really accomplished was severely nicking up her sword and pissing her off.

"INCIDERE"

Another potent fireball blasted forth striking home on the demon but had the same effect as its predecessors, none at all. Willow was also frustrated, lacking access to her spell components and materials she was forced to go with spells that were great for dusting vampires, but not so great at dealing with opponents like the one she and Buffy currently faced. She was already considering more drastic measures when idea struck her. Rather then continue to target the monster ineffectively she gathered up more of her mystical strength and laid her hands on the ground. A line of green line erupted from where her hands and ran directly between the creatures legs before spreading out and fading. As soon as the light disappeared, the ground changed from solid rock to a thick muddy slop that she hoped would hinder the demon's movements. And indeed it did, allowing Buffy enough time to back off so they could re-group.

"Nice move, but do have you got any idea on how to actually finish this guy off?" Buffy asked.

Willow shook her head as she answered, "Nope, short of dropping the car into him or encasing him in stone I've got nothing."

"Well the car's out but why not the teleport trick?"

"I don't have the powdered shale I need to make it work."

"Great so maybe we should make with the running then?"

"But what about Xander?"

Buffy's reply was interrupted as a flicker of motion caught her and Willow's attention. Something had just slammed into their attacker sending it flying and inadvertently freeing it from its muddy hold. It took Buffy a few seconds to process the newcomer's appearance before she remembered Satsu's earlier remarks about a 'cyber-knight'.

"It's him, that guy Satsu mentioned."

Willow flashed back to their earlier conversation and nodded her head in agreement. The two watched as Satsu's 'cyber knight guy' squared off with the demon in what looked like a bare-knuckle street fight. Neither figure had the grace, or skill of a Slayer in Buffy's mind. The demon let out a might roar, charged and swung a massive over-handed swipe intended to decapitate its newest challenger. The Cyber-Knight-Guy (as Satsu had called him) had wisely ducked and retaliated with a series of punches that the thing actually appeared to feel. He then ended the mini combination with a straightforward kick that sent the larger monster sprawling. Enraged, the demon regained it's footing and bellowed as it rushed him intent on ending the contest once and for all. Unfortunately that's what newcomer had been waiting on. With a practiced air, he grabbed one of the things outstretched arms and flipped it's owner over his back, slamming it hard into the ground, creating a nice monster shaped crater in the process.

Mr. CKG took the opportunity to remove something from his back, which to Buffy's gaze appeared to be a foot long metallic tube. He knelt down and attached it to a rather hefty looking anklet on his right leg. His next action was something else she couldn't quite see. At this point however, the demon had staggered to its feet, apparently not quite ready to give up just yet. As soon as it made it to it's feet, the mysterious warrior type made his move and jumped straight up into the air.

Make that a good twenty or thirty feet straight up in the air, higher then anyone Buffy had ever seen without wings. At the apex of his jump a burst of red light erupted from the cylinder attached to his right leg and struck the creature. As soon as it hit, the light changed into what looked a large funnel, pulsating with red light. Mr. CKG for his part had altered his form while airborne and was now doing a flying kick aimed at the aforementioned funnel. Within a few seconds he contacted the funnel, entered it, then he and it seemed to vanish into the creature.

"Okay that was weird…"

Willow didn't pay attention to the rest of Buffy's statement because the creature began roaring and gesturing. She initially thought it was celebrating but then blue flames began appearing all over its body and it occurred to her, that the thing was in pain. The cry of victory was actually a howl of agony. Abruptly the creature stopped moving as Mr. CKG flickered back into existence landing as though his jump hadn't been interrupted at all. Seconds after he had landed, there was a flash of blue light and the seemingly invulnerable demon's body, shattered into pieces. Each piece then began crumbling into dust until only the head remained. The thing's head at first seemed like it was going to survive the destruction of its body but then it split into two halves right down the middle and following the same path of self-dusting.

When it was over, Buffy and Willow looked from where the rapidly vanishing remains to the mysterious newcomer. It turned to face them, which led to an awkward silent staring contest. Buffy forced herself to calm down, put a smile on her face and tried to approach their savior. "Hi, I'm Buffy."

The figure's response was to run and jump into the ravine located next to the scene of slaughter. And in doing so, it left behind a very confused Slayer and Witch, "Huh. You know Willow, guys usually don't run away from me until after they get to know me."

Willow walked up to her best friend, "You think that was a guy?"

"Could have been a girl. Could have been a robot. What do you suppose he, it was doing here?"

"I don't know Buffy, I guess he didn't like Scaly anymore then we did."

The two pondered the situation for a few minutes before their eyes met and widened as each thought of the exact same thing at the same time.

"XANDER!!"

Thankfully Buffy remembered the direction Xander had been launched in. Willow, energized by the need to find him, flew them in that direction. They found him lying facedown on the ground near the edge of the forest in front of a fairly impressive tree. They landed right beside him, holding their breath until they saw him draw his. With the greatest care, they managed to roll him over and gently shook him awake.

"Xander, Xander are you all right?"

A groan of the 'Ow make the world stop' variety escaped past his lips as his eye blinked open. He seemed out of sorts then focused on the faces of the two most important women in his life. "Buffy, Willow… What's going on?"

"Tell you in a minute. Are you all right?" Buffy was concerned

"Do you remember what happened?" Willow added.

"I remember bits and pieces of sheep, then a big gray blob grabbed me, then the scenery got blurry really fast, and just now you two." He winced "What I miss?"

They told him in brief fashion noting the dark look that came over his face. Xander slumped down and shook his head from side to side, "You know its days like this that I seriously consider giving up on this whole Watcher business." Not paying attention the to brief looks of shock that appeared on their faces, he continued, "Before I would get hurt with injuries of the bump, bruise and occasional limb-breaking variety. Now I get the funny concussions and miss out on all the important monster killing stuff. I'm turning into Giles."

Buffy had to smile at that part, "Giles got better eventually. You'll just have to ask him how he coped with it."

Xander glanced at her with a disturbed look on his face, "And if he says it's the tweed that saved him? Do you have any idea how tweed would look on me? It's not a pretty sight." Xander shuddered in a mock horror.

Buffy laughed. Willow smiled. "Well maybe we could start you out with something easy like polyester."

This time there was nothing fake about the shudder of disgust and fear from Xander. Laughing, the two women helped him to his feet and guided him back to their car, which had miraculously escaped damage during the battle.

After much arguing, Buffy managed to put Xander in the backseat and got behind the wheel. White-knuckled and sweating profusely Xander strapped himself in. In the passenger seat, Willow buckled herself as well before turning around to look at him with a bemused expression on her face. "Relax Xander, the scary part is over with."

"Says the lady who wasn't with Buffy the last time she drove."

"Hey! I'll have you know that was a one-time thing. I'm a thousand times better now," saying this Buffy took the car out of park, put it reverse, hit the gas and promptly mashed the rear bumper of their vehicle into the concrete bridge. Luckily the force wasn't great to trigger the air bags to deploy. Instead there was simply silence inside the car as Buffy looked embarrassed and Willow gulped and glanced back at Xander. For his part Xander simply sighed in resignation

"I warned you. But does anybody listens to the one-eyed Watcher? No sir"

In the end, Willow replaced Buffy behind the wheel for the remainder of their trip not only to the village but and on the way home. As they pulled into the castle courtyard, Willow parked in a spot near the entrance, which was crowed with Slayers and Dawn. Some of the Slayers saw looked down at the state of the bumper then at Willow as she exited the car. Dawn smirked at them as they caught out. "Buffy talk you into letting her drive again? What did she say this time, Xander?"

Her smirk disappeared as she watched Buffy and Willow help him out of the car and onto his feet. Nodding he leaned against the car as they opened the trunk and began having the other Slayers ferry the supplies into the castle. "Xander? Are you all right what happened? Did you guys get into an accident?"

"No, no accident, I'm pretty sure this guy did it on purpose."

"What guy?"

Buffy answered her sister, "A big gray demon, the same one Xander and the others encountered earlier."

"A Gurguiloness" came Satsu's voice from the doorway where she stood with Tori and Renee. The latter watched Xander intently. The Asian slayer held up a hefty tome. "At least that's what I think it is going by the entry Tori found in this book."

Willow frowned, "I've heard that name before." Satsu nodded, "We think they're the inspiration behind Gargoyles. They said to be mostly gray, heavily armored and travel in packs. We won't know for certain until we get a better look at this guy."

"Well a bit too late for that, your other buddy, Mr. Cyber Knight Guy took care of him."

Satsu's facial expression instantly changed. "What? Cyber Knight Guy?"

"Yeah the thing you said came and drove the Gurguiloness off. Well it showed up again and this time it dusted Mr.Gray and butt ugly, literally."

"So another new player in the game, huh?" Dawn interjected. "That's all we need."

"We'll worry about that later Dawn but here's something I know you needed." Xander reached inside a bag, removed something and showed it to the younger Summers sibling. Buffy took a second to read the title first to herself then aloud, "Hanah Montana?" She looked up at her younger sister with a question mark on her face.

Dawn ignored her, "What can I say? It reminds me of home."