Andrew Wells has come a long way since being Buffy's "guestage". He's spent the past two and a half years as Giles' apprentice. He's been Luke to his Obi-Wan, Short-Run to his Indie, Robin to his Batman, Seven of Nine to her Janeway. You get the picture. The amazing thing though, is that he's learning. A lot actually. Giles was rather pleasantly surprised to realize inside the debilitatingly nerdy boy, there lay a competent young man. At first Giles felt he received the short end of the stick. That he lost some unspoken game among the Scoobies to see who was stuck with Andrew. It was a ridiculous notion of course. The actual reasoning behind Andrew's apprenticeship with him was because it was decided, by all of the Sunnydale survivors, that Giles would be best suited to discipline the lad into becoming something even remotely resembling a grown up. After all, what else could they do with him but try to make him useful? It wasn't like you could have a person arrested for being a pathetic follower to a lunatic. Or being an unsuspecting and naive dupe of the First Evil. Actually, you could. He had committed terrible crimes under the banner of "Evil Genius", and they would have been quite justified in letting the police handle him. It was just, well he was so sad. He had no place to go, his friends and family were dead, and he really did feel remorse and guilt for all the things he's done.
"It'd be hypocritical to send him to prison!" Willow said, "It's not like we all haven't done stuff to feel bad about."
She was right. And that was that. Andrew would go with Giles to learn to not be useless, and the rest of the gang would go about their merry way. Faith, Robin, and most of the Sunnydale slayers went to Cleveland, Ohio to defend against the hellmouth that was under the public library. Xander went to Africa to study under Sam Zabuto, one of the last living experienced watchers, and together they would search for slayers on the dark continent. Willow and Kennedy went to South America to make contact with Riley's covert ops team and investigate any sightings and rumors of supposed 'amazons' that they may come across.
As for Dawn and Buffy, Buffy promised to show her little sister the world, and she did. Starting with Italy. Rome to be specific. The city was such a beautiful place, with a rich history and plenty of artifacts to tantalize Intellectual-Dawnie, that they considered setting up shop there permanently. Dawn was accepted to a prestigious roman school, and Buffy really liked the the fact that there were crosses all over the place. Soon the Summers sisters settled into a routine of parties, boys, and studies. It was a rich and deserving reward for all the hardships they had endured. Buffy started to date The oh-so-her-type Immortal, and Dawn excelled in her studies while flirting with every boy in sight. All in all, life was good.
Except Buffy wasn't actually there. You see, a few months after the gang split up, an unforeseen situation developed. The untrained, unknown slayers all across the world were starting to disappear. It wasn't like they didn't expect some to die, that was an unfortunate eventuality. What they didn't expect was for slayer's blood to become the biggest thing to hit the demon world since orpheus. The demand was so great, even relatively peaceful demons started doing their very best to get their hands (or whatever they use to grasp things) on some. Makes sense if you think about it. Why would you go after a slayer that knows how to kill you, when there was blood, just as good, in slayers that didn't.
Buffy felt responsible. Those girls would never have become targets of demon blood runners if she didn't activate all the potential slayers on earth. That needed to happen in order to stop the First. Buffy understood that fact, and all she had to do in order to deal with the guilt, was crush the slayer blood cartel into a pasty messy goo. The question was how? The new slayers were too green to handle a mission of this importance. Faith was the only other slayer experienced enough to fight a hellmouth. And there was no way Buffy could go undercover, she was too well known. A description of her was circulating the demon ranks. The description said The Slayer was a blonde woman around five feet, and 110 pounds. Oh and she was american. Vague yes, but it was enough to get the cartel to avoid girls who matched it. Unfortunately, as the Council didn't know who the girls were, they had no way to let them know to dye their hair. So Xander's plan was out. Willow and Dawn headed up the research, while Giles sent all available watchers into the field to find as many slayers as they could. Months went by and still they had no substantial clues or leads. Girls kept disappearing. Xander and the field crews searched none stop to no avail. Willow and the Devon coven just couldn't find them fast enough. Buffy and Faith couldn't find a snitch of Willie's calibre to feed them any useful information. At last, Giles called a meeting of the Scoobies.
"Seven young girls, aged thirteen to seventeen have been reported missing in the last twenty-four hours." Giles began, "All of them have demonstrated an abnormal strength, and a radical change in behavior since May. We are failing these girls, and that must stop." He polished his glasses. "I am open to suggestions."
Tentatively, Andrew raised his hand. "Mr. Giles? I think I have an idea." Giles looked at his apprentice and then polished his glasses again.
"Go ahead." He said in a 'what the heck' kind of way.
"What if Buffy made her whereabouts well known? Like, really well know? The cartel might get overconfident and make a mistake if they think Buffy Summers: Slayer of Slayers was otherwise engaged."
Giles blinked. "That's an excellent idea Andrew." He smiled, "Well done. Is there anything else you would like to add?"
Andrew blushed. "Um. Not yet."
Buffy shook her head. "No. If I do that, I'm out. That's it. I lose my chance to nail these guys."
Faith sneered. "Yeah O.K. Buffy. You putting the hurt on those bastards personally is more important than lives."
Buffy whirled in Faith's direction. "How dare you! I have worked harder to protect those girls than..."
"...The rest of us?" Faith finished.
"That's not what I meant. That's not even what I said. You said it." Buffy countered defensively.
"Sure sounded like the obvious conclusion to me Buffy." Dawn said in a hurt tone.
"No. Dawnie that's not it." she said, frustrated. Her words were being all twisted around. Sorta.
"Then what is it? Don't you trust us to handle it ourselves?"
"Of course I do! You guys are the best there is at what you do!" Andrew nodded approvingly at Buffy's choice of words. "I just need to..."
"...Be in two places at once!" Willow exclaimed.
"Huh?"
Andrew had the look of someone experiencing a great epiphany. "Of course! L.M.D.'s! How could I be so foolish!"
"We can only wonder." Faith muttered under her breath.
"What D.s?" Buffy was getting confused. She seemed to do that quite a bit around the former nerd of doom. "Xander? Splainy."
"Life Model Decoys Buff. Nick Fury uses them to make his enemies think he's somewhere else than he actually is."
Now Giles was confused. "Who?"
Andrew answered with an admiring gleam in his eyes "Nick Fury. Formerly a sergeant in our nation's great military. Elevated to the high-risk role of Head of Strategic Hazard Intervention, Espionage and Logistics Directorate or S.H.I.E.L.D for short. It's quite fascinating actually. Did you know in 1992 S.H.I.E.L.D. changed their name from ...?"
"Andrew!" GIles interrupted. "Is this Fury person real?"
"Not exactly."
"Then I don't care." The older man seemed to consider, the idea at least, of Buffy being in two places at once. "However, I do rather like your idea of misleading the cartel by having Buffy appear to be making a spectacle of herself. Someplace obvious, well known, but out of the way." Buffy started to say something but Giles cut her off. "I know Buffy. I'm not asking you to sit this out. All we have to do is set up one of the Slayers, one who bears a resemblance to you, in a place like the one I described."
Buffy caught on quick. "So she says she's me and lives it up or makes a mess or something, while I go out and reap some vengencey fun."
"Of course, you'll have to disguise yourself. Just to make sure you aren't recognized." Giles informed her.
Willow was getting into the spirit of things. "Ooh! Maybe we could, y'know, dress her up all skanky and she could get her nose pierced!"
"We can discuss the specifics later. Right now we need to focus on selecting a suitable double for Buffy." Giles went into a long and rather boring speech about how important their current work was, and how the hope of all mankind was resting in their hands. Basically, he was repeating the same speech he used to give back when they were in high school.
Buffy turned to Dawn. "You think I'd look good with a pierced nose?"
Xander overheard the question. "I'm just looking forward to seeing you dressed like a skank."
Willow smiled. "Maybe you could borrow some of Faith's outfits."
"I'm thinking my clothes are a little too big, y'know?" Faith said, comparing her chest to Buffy's. The other slayer narrowed her eyes in response.
"If Buffy doesn't want to, can I borrow them instead?" Dawn asked.
Faith smiled and said yes, Buffy glowered and said no, Willow and Xander's eyes seemed to glaze over at the idea.
-
Pleased with Andrew's progress, Giles eventually sent him on field missions. Such as recovering the psychologically deranged slayer Dana from the hands of Angel and Wolfram and Hart. Andrew's success in that endeavor proved to Giles that the young man could be trusted to handle even more delicate matters. He was placed in charge of coming up with a cover story for Buffy's double. At last he was in his element: Fiction. He did all the research he could on Rome, the place he decided would be best suited to place her. It was perfect. Too holy for demons, but too powerful for them to ignore. It was when he started looking into the cities most famous resident (No, not the Pope) that he came up with the greatest idea ever. Buffy would date The Immortal. He was the demon equivalent of a celebrity. Except that no-one really knew what he looked like. He has never been photographed, he doesn't grant personal interviews, and he has respectfully declined the guest of honor position at the annual International Evil Demons for World Domination and Terror convention 57 years in a row. If The Slayer were to start dating him, the whole entire underworld would stand up and gossip.
Buffy and the Scoobies left immediately to arrange everything. First of all, they had to get rid of The Immortal and set up a double. It was surprisingly easy despite his name and reputation. Once that was done, the Not-Buffy came in and drove the underworld to a frenzy with her Paris Hilton like antics. The real Buffy left to go under cover, Xander went back to Africa to finish his field training, Willow went back to meet with Riley and Kennedy, and Faith went back to the hellmouth. Dawn and Andrew stayed in Rome to put the finishing touches on their little facade. Dawn trained Not-Buffy in all things Buffy, and Andrew made sure everything continued to run smoothly.
His first real test came when Angel and Spike showed up in Rome looking for Buffy. He was able to get Not-Buffy out of the apartment and Dawn cast a little glamor to fool the vampire noses into thinking Buffy really lived there. Then she ran out of the apartment before she could laugh in their faces and blow her and Andrew's cover. That left the nervous little nerd to handle two lovesick idiots who just happen to be vampires. He did beautifully. The titanic two-o left in a bitter and hilarious huff, and Andrew was given an autographed Boba Fett statue from Gentile Giant Collectables. Life was good.
Fast forward one year. Buffy's undercover investigations turned up some promising leads in L.A. Unfortunately she wasn't in a position to follow them up. Xander, who was recovering from tragic events in Africa, volunteered to go in her stead. Buffy agreed, and called Angel to make sure it was all right if Xander could stay with him. Willow, not wanting to leave her best friend alone to deal with stuff, came along too. Which leads us to how Willow got hurt by a God King in denial, and Xander was asked to help investigate the kidnapping of the father of a potential champion.
-
By the time Spike made it to Gunn's hospital room, the party had already begun. Veronica was in mid exposition. Willow was half conked due to the drugs she was given for her broken nose, and Angel had already gone into a full fledged brood. The rest of the gang, Xander, Gunn, and that Wallace kid, were listening with rapt attention. Except in Wallace's case, it was more like deep seething anger. Spike supposed it was because his best friend's dad just got himself nabbed by some big bad beasties. 'Definitely have to keep an eye on that one.' the vampire thought to himself, 'He looks just like Harris before he does something stupid.' He then focused his attention on Veronica, who has finished her side of the story, and was now demanding to know why DEMONS would be kidnapping her dad.
It was Angel who answered her. He was leaning against the far wall with his arms folded across his chest. "You and your friend Wallace are potential champions."
"What the hell does that mean?" Wallace demanded. Veronica remained silent.
"Just like it sounds. The two of you have the potential to do great things to champion the cause for humanity in the fight against the forces of darkness."
Wallace seemed to take it all in stride. "Forces of darkness huh?' Sounds cool. When do we get our secret decoder rings?" Maybe not. "Are all of you are crazy!"
Willow giggled and said, "Decoder." Then she fell asleep.
"Yeah O.K." Xander carefully adjusted Willow so she wouldn't fall out of her chair. Then he stood up and walked up to Wallace. The young man glared at him, while Veronica looked on. An expression of deep thought on her face.
"What do you want Captain Jack? You got something to say?"
"Yep. Two things. First? Xander. Not Jack. Second..." Xander took off his eye-patch and looked Wallace dead in the eye. "You have to earn your decoder rings. We can't just hand them to you. It would cheapen it for the rest of us." Veronica and Wallace just stared at the scarred empty socket. After a few moments, Xander put the patch back on. "I trust I have your attention?" The teens nodded. Xander smiled. "Good. Back to you Angel."
The vampire took in the kids shocked faces. "Nice." He said sarcastically.
The watcher just shrugged. "Worked didn't it?"
Angel sighed and continued his explanation. "The truth is, I don't really know why they took your dad. All I have right now are theories."
Now this is what Veronica was waiting for. "What kind of theories?"
Gunn spoke up. "It's safe to assume this all started the night of my assault. My assailants used a spell called 'Champions Bane' on me." Gunn went on the explain the effects of the spell on it's target, and how it confused Veronica causing her to misread her map.
"Spells?" Wallace was incredulous. "Monsters and demons are one thing. Now you expect us to believe in magic too?"
Veronica put her hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "Wait till they're finished O.K.?" He nodded.
Gunn told them how they used the thermometer to determine Veronica and Wallace were potential champions.
"I knew that thing was shady. You owe me a Diet Coke." Veronica told her friend smugly. Despite the situation, Wallace rolled his eyes in amusement.
Gunn then told them how the person who sold the thermometer also sold them out to Wolfram and Hart. Angel repeated what Morgan Walker said to him. That the law offices had no further interest in the pair.
Xander looked surprised. "You don't actually believe them do you?"
Gunn answered first. "It's not inconceivable that Walker would be telling the truth."
"You did work there for a year right?" Spike asked.
"Yeah. And because I did, I know that sometimes the head doesn't always know what the body's doing." Gunn gave an example. "Like the time the surveillance team took it upon themselves to kill the subject they were surveilling. They were bribed by an opposing law firm." He gave a great sigh. "We didn't even know what happened until four days later."
Veronica processed this new information. "You're saying that this Morgan lady may have no interest in us, but her subordinates might?" Gunn and Angel nodded. "But that's just one theory. What else you got?"
Xander looked at the kids. Because they were still kids in his mind. He did not want to tell them this, but they deserved honesty. "Demons have their own everything. Tentacle porn, karaoke bars, restaurants, black market, and drugs. There's a drug out there called 'Innocents'. This drug is distilled from stolen souls of kids."
Veronica looked horrified. Wallace looked like he wanted to throw up. "But we aren't kids." He told them when he recovered.
"But you are would-be champs." Spike reminded them. "Drugs made from that kind of soul would make the seller very rich." Veronica wanted to know how you could take a soul from a living person. "Magic. It's not all wands and words children. It's deadly and dangerous. In the wrong hands, it's worse then any ten weapons of mass destruction."
"I can't handle this." Wallace said. "This is too much."
"Oh God!" Veronica suddenly exclaimed. "Wallace and me are both potential champions, right?" Angel nodded. "And they took my dad to get to me, right?"
"In theory." He replied.
"Then what's stopping them from taking his mom too?"
-
Alicia Fennel walked into the front door of her house. Darrel in one hand, a bag of groceries in the other. "Come on Baby," she said to her youngest, "let's get you something yummy to eat, all right?"
Sounded good to him. "All right."
-
Wallace ran out of the room, Veronica right after him.
-
"Let's see what we have here." She started to put her groceries away. "We have, ooh we have apples. Mmmm. Can you spell apple sweetie?"
-
The door to Wallace's room slammed open as he headed straight for his bag.
-
"I can spell it Momma." he told her proudly. "A-P-P-L-E." Alicia cheered for her son's accomplishment.
"Good job Darrel!"
-
Frantically, Wallace tore through it looking for his cell phone. He pulled it out.
-
"Momma?"
"Yes honey?" She was preparing the apple.
"Did you hear a noise?" Alicia stopped cutting.
-
Because of his cast, he was having trouble getting it to work. Veronica pulled out her cell phone, but it had no power left.
-
"You know, I think I did." Alicia set her knife on down on the counter, "Stay there O.K. baby?" She walked out into the living room to check things out.
-
Wallace finally turned it on, and he started dialing. "Come on. Come on!"
-
Alicia gave a start when her phone started to ring.
-
"Pick up the phone Mom, please." He whispered.
-
On the way to answer it, she noticed her son wasn't in his chair.
"Darrel? Baby?" She walked back to the kitchen.
-
"Dammit Mom! PICK UP!"
-
In the living room, the phone continued to ring.
And ring.
And ring.
