As he thinks in his heart, so he is.

Jewish Proverb

Twice Lucky

The scarlet Witch

Chapter 2: In Kingdom Come

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"Well, we know that EDTA works against vampire blood." Willow cast Angel a glance. The Vampire smirked, still remembering the shattered vials. "What I need, is a way to weaponise it."

Giles nodded.

"We can weaponise garlic easy enough; I can apply it to stakes and can create, like, a pepper spray that the police use."

"Fascinating, how soon can you produce these?"

"As soon as you can get me the goods." Giles nodded. "What I really want is a wizard or spell-caster to help teach me magic. Then that way, I can start having some real fun." Willow flashed a smile.

Since Xander had brought the red-headed witch into the little club, she'd come along in leaps and bounds. Still, Xander had taken Giles aside and the two had talked, at length, about Willow and the Dark Phoenix saga that she'd gone through in the previous timeline.

The last thing they needed was Darth Willow stomping around Sunnydale. Giles had put into motion a series of plans that would be kick–started, should the opportunity ever arise. He hoped it wouldn't be necessary, but, as Xander had pointed out, better to err on the side of caution.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"I don't get why, when people are attacked, they just go back to normal as if nothing happened." Willow couldn't forget the first time the trio got jumped; the female vampire that had raked her ghastly eyes over them and licked her lips. She had nightmares for a week after that. And then, there was finding out the truth about what really was going on with Xander and the movements around him.

Xander sighed as the three of them relaxed in his bed, Faith and Willow both lying on his arms, the hyena spirit more than satisfied at this point. Faith had, for the last hour, happily bounced on him, grunting and groaning. Willow had been a bit more self-conscious, but when Xander did things to her, she couldn't help but enjoy it.

"It's what we, in the alternate timeline, called," Faith chuckled, "Delirium."

The brunette nodded in agreement. "I've seen it," she shivered slightly. "People who've just seen a slaughter simply blink and go back to their lives, as if nothing happened."

"Interesting, that would explain a lot in Sunnydale; why no one's ever cottoned on to what's going on around here." Xander scratched her back.

"True," he agreed, "But I think there's more to it than that. I think the Mayor is responsible for a lot of the covering up."

"The dude that's trying to ascend and become a big, nasty snake?"

Xander nodded at Faith. "Yeah, he's a nasty piece of work. Don't get drawn into him, his promises always hold a high price."

She smiled. "Don't worry, Xan, I have no plan of joining the bad guys. At least not yet."

She chuckled, but didn't miss the dark look that crossed his eyes.

"I've come up with a few ideas that I think will help," Willow said changing the subject. "We should be able to create silver stakes soon as I learn how, and the uniforms that you took from the military are almost ready."

"What about Ted?"

The machine that had tried to frame Buffy in the previous timeline hadn't stood a chance in this one - Xander had seen to that, remembering where its basement was hidden. He'd gone there and decapitated it, then presented it as a gift to Willow. Instead of cringing away, she'd immediately turned it over and had started poking and prodding at its wires. Grinning, he'd left her alone and brought food and drinks when she required it.

"I'm close to cracking it. I've managed to wire his brain into my laptop and have seen some pretty awful things." Xander couldn't only imagine; the robot had been taking women down to the basement for decades. "I still have no idea who created him, he's got no information."

Xander could hazard a guess as to Ted's creator, either one of Warren's relatives or – perhaps - the Mayor, as he was the only other clean-freak Xander knew of. "Okay, keep at it, let's see if we can crack the coding, perhaps you could build another model?"

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

There was a blue flash of light and, suddenly, two figures popped out. Illyria stood in the middle of the large, white room and held - in her strong, blue grip - a man who was roughly about Giles' size and swearing in English.

The man looked up at the blue-skinned demon indignantly and stopped when he saw the small, humourless grin of Ripper.

"Crap…"

Ripper's grin widened. "You could put it like that."

The evil little glint in Giles eyes returned full fury; a little smile that said, 'Oh yes, I'm going to do something rather naughty now,' had appeared.

"Giles."

Ethan's eyes widened as a youth who was sitting on the couch, snapped at the tweed, tree-hugging Watcher. He couldn't help but notice how Giles stopped and listened like a puppy on a leash. "My, my," Ethan sneered. "How the Mighty have fallen, taking commands from a school boy now, Giles?"

He was hoping to bait him, and almost wished he hadn't, as several pairs of eyes - the brunette with the large cleavage, the little red-headed girl and the blue-skinned demon - all rounded on him. He was suddenly trapped by the group and had no way out.

"Listen, bub," the brunette said with a sneer to match his own. "Giles is our friend and Watcher." She pulled out a wicked-looking blade. "Mess with him and you mess with me."

Ethan saw, out of the corner of his eye, the youth stand up and walk lazily over. He slid a hand on to the brunette's shoulder and pulled her to him, their various body parts grinding together. "Is she a Slayer?"

Giles shook his head. "No, Faith is a Potential."

So, if Faith was the Potential, then who the hell was the Slayer? Ethan decided, at that point, he really didn't want to know.

"Ripper, old boy, what am I doing here?"

"You've been brought here to help train Willow." The redhead in the jeans and blue jumper chirped happily. "In the way of magic. It's against my better judgement, but I've been assured that you will be kept under control."

Ethan couldn't help but notice the way the demon's eyes narrowed on him, rather like the scope of a hunting rifle. Ethan gulped and ran his hand through his blonde hair.

"Why should I help you?"

"Other than the fact that Illyria here wants to rip you heart out?" The demon said nothing, but he was certain he could see her hand twitch. "Well, we have an opportunity to A: make life difficult for the bad guys and, at the same time, do some good; and B: we can make rather a lot of cash."

Ethan's eyes widened and greed got in the way of his current predicament – i.e. fear. "How?"

"We know of your plans to come here and open up a costume shop and to create a spell that would turn everyone into their costumes." Ethan went slack-jawed.

"Bloody hell, Ripper, how'd you know that?"

It was a plan he'd only really just finalised, to bring a little bit of chaos into people's lives, giving a little excitement to their otherwise mundane lives. Okay, admittedly, it was something he'd cooked up while he was drinking a cappuccino and reading a brochure, but who was going to know?

"I have my sources." He took back what he thought about Giles. If the man had sources that knew of some of his plans, then Giles had gone up in the world.

"Well…"

Ripper smiled and straightened his waistcoat - oh, how Ethan hated those. "We would like you to continue with the spell."

"What?"

"The spell will give us a unique advantage that no one, in their right mind, could consider. You will perform the spell and, at sunrise, the spell will finish." Ethan nodded with keen interest; all the while, he discreetly watched the younger male, who was looking directly into his own eyes.

"First, though, we would like to introduce you to the group." Giles waved a hand towards the seating area and they all sat down; the blonde and redhead, notably, sitting next to the kid. "This is Xander Harris…"