AN: I own nothing, but the plot and my oc. This is very AU and OOC.
Children of the Iron Knight
Giles sat at the table with Jenny stroking her hair as she rested her had against her hand. Buffy comes back in after a fruitless search for Ethan.
"How's your head?" Giles asked quietly. Jenny looked at him, and shook her head.
"Throbbing." She mumbled.
"I lost Ethan. Giles, what's going on?" Buffy asked in a commanding tone.
"One don't worry about Ethan. I'm sure that Xander or Lex can track him down. Two, it's complicated, Buffy, and quite frankly, it's private." The other scoobies winced when Giles said the last, but he paid them no mind.
"I don't care from private! I care from dead guys attacking us. I care from you lost weekending in your apartment." Buffy shouted at Giles, as she tried to bully him into telling her what she wanted to know.
"I wasn't...I was just trying to find a solution." Giles said sadly, with a very lost look, as he cleaned his glasses again.
"Giles, share! What is the Mark of Eyghon?" Buffy demanded.
"Hey!" Giles snapped staring Buffy down.
"This is not your battle! And as your Watcher," Giles said as he stood up, "I am telling you unequivocally to stay out of it!"
The four scoobies cannot believe what they are hearing. Buffy is left dumbfounded, along with Willow, while Xander and Lex were growling in frustration, that their Pack elder was shutting them out.
"I have to get Jenny home." Giles states as he helps her up.
"Mm. Thank you." Jenny says as she rests her head on his shoulder, the pair walk out of the library. Buffy goes over and leans on the counter near where everyone is sitting.
"We have work to do. Will, I want you to find out anything and everything you can about the Mark of Eyghon." Buffy said.
"I'll try the net, but the 'Mark of Eyghon' sounds like Giles and his books sorta deal." Willow said.
"Then we hit the books." Buffy said. Willow nodes as she heads up into the stacks.
"Xander, how do you feel about digging through some of Giles' personal files and seeing what you can find?"
"I feel pretty good about it. Does that make me a sociopath?" Xander ponders for a moment.
"Nah. I'll track Ethan down." Lex said as she headed out to track down Ethan.
"Don't try to bring him in. Just find out where he is and report back, ok Lex?" Buffy said, wondering if Lex would do as she was asked.
"Yeah. No problem." Lex said with a grin.
"Be careful, Wolf." Xander called after her.
"Have fun with the lock, Lion." they heard Lex hollered back.
"Wolf? Lion?" Buffy asked.
"Our tags from Halloween said 'Iron Wolf' and 'Iron Lion'." Xander said as if it was an afterthought and headed into the office to pick the lock on Giles personal filing cabinet.
Cordelia hops off the counter and smiles at Buffy, to which she raises a brows at her.
"What?"
"What about me? I care about Giles." This makes Buffy stop a moment to think.
"Uh, work with Xander." Buffy says finally.
"Well, when I say 'care', I, I mean..."
"Cordelia..." Buffy in a scolding tone.
"Okay, okay!" Cordelia huffs as she heads to the office. Buffy turns on her heel and heads to the stacks to help Willow.
Lex quickly picks up Ethan's sent leading to the costume shop. Quick as a cat she gets to the back of the shop and listens to see what Ethan is up to.
After what seemed like forever she heard him moving thing like he was looking for something.
"Damn, where the hell did I put that acid?" Ethan muttered to himself. Lex was confused as to why he would need acid.
Lex took off toward the library to let them know where Ethan was for the time being.
"Ah! Aha! It's not Egyptian, it's Etruscan." Willow said as she heads over to Buffy to show her what she has found.
"Mistaken for Egyptian by the design pattern, but any fool can see if predates their iconology. Look, the Mark of Eyghon, worn by his initiates." She reads "'Eyghon, also called the Sleepwalker, can only exist in this reality by possessing an unconscious host. Temporary possession imbues the host with euphoric feelings of power.'" Willow finished looking at Buffy expectantly.
"Yeah, but what about non-temporary?" Buffy asked as she popped up out of her chair to stand by willow.
"'Unless the proper rituals are observed, the possession is permanent, and Eyghon will be born from within the host.'"
"I'm guessing eww!" Cordelia said with a grossed out look on her face.
"Wait. Hey, listen. 'Once called, Eyghon can also take possession of the dead, but its demonic energy soon disintegrates the host, and it must jump to the nearest dead or unconscious person to continue living.'" Willow finished looking thoughtful.
"I still don't get what this has to do with Giles." Buffy said looking confused and worried.
"I don't know about Giles, but ancient sects used to induce possession for bacchanals and, and orgies." Willow said looking embarrassed.
"Okay! Giles and orgies in the same sentence. I coulda lived without that one." Xander said looking slightly green. Cordelia gave Xander a look that said she could've lived without comment.
"So where did your female shadow go anyway?" Cordelia asked looking around.
"To track the slimy Brit that got away." Lex said as she came in through the stacks. "He is at the costume shop. What'd I miss?"
"Eyghon needs a dead or unconscious person to be here in our world and he enjoys bacchanals and orgies." Xander summed up with a goofy grin, Lex gave him a raised eye brow before snorting in disgust.
"Uh, wait a minute. The dead guy's all puddly now." Buffy said excitedly.
"So the demon's gone. There was no one dead to jump into. I mean, we're all not dead, right?" Cordelia said looking at everyone.
"No, no one dead." Buffy said slowly.
"But someone unconscious." Xander said as Willow and Lex gasp in horror.
"Thank you, operator." Buffy says as she hangs up the phone. "There's no answer at Mr. Calendar's, and Giles' phone is out of order. I'm gonna go over there." She said marching out the door.
"Alright everyone let's get back at it." Lex said, turning back to the book before her.
Buffy kicks open the door to Giles apartment and kicks Eyghon hard in the jaw, sending the demon back over the couch and onto the floor. Surprised the Demon gets up and walks around the couch, eyeing Buffy.
"Back off!" Buffy yells at her, causing Eyghon to pause and laugh.
"Three down, two to go. Be seeing ya." She then dives through a window. Buffy then crouches down beside Giles.
"Are you alright?" Buffy asked checking for any major injuries.
"Oh, Jenny! Oh, God!"
"Giles, how do we stop this?" Buffy demanded.
"Oh, God, what have I done?" Giles said in shock.
"Talk to me! Giles, you're scaring me." Buffy said shaking his shoulder.
"I'm sorry." Giles mumbles.
"Don't be sorry, be Giles. C'mon, we fight monsters. This is what we do. They show up, they scare us, I beat 'em up and they go away. This isn't any different!" Buffy said in a steely tone.
"It is different." Giles said sadly.
"Because you don't know how to stop it?" Buffy asked.
"Because I created it!" Giles stated, Buffy gaped at him in shock.
Xander comes out of Giles' office, holding several files.
"Did you find anything?" Willow asked looking hopeful.
"Yeah you find his stash of British porn or what?" Lex snarked with a smirk.
"No, he must keep that at home. But, I found the most meticulous banking and phone records you've ever seen. And, um, this." Xander said handing a picture to Willow. I was a picture of a very young Giles in a leather jacket playing an electric bass. Seeing the picture Willow giggled.
"That's Giles?" Willow asks in disbelief.
"Damn, who know under all that tweed was a rocker." Lex said as she looked at the picture.
Buffy got Giles up off the floor and seated in a chair, she sat and waited expectantly for him to share.
"I was twenty-one, studying history at Oxford. And, of course, the occult by night. I hated it. The tedious grind of study, the...overwhelming pressure of my destiny. I dropped out, I went to London..." Giles said exhaling before continuing his tale. "I fell in with the worst crowd that would have me. We practiced magicks. Small stuff for pleasure or gain. And Ethan and I discovered something...bigger."
"Eyghon." Buffy said with a sigh.
"Yes. One of us would, um..." Giles nervously pours himself a drink. "go into a deep sleep, and the others would, uh, summon him. It was an extraordinary high!" Giles said with a nervous smile. "God, we were fools."
"You couldn't control it." Buffy prompted gently
"One of us, Randall, he lost control. Eyghon took him whole. We tried to exorcise the demon from Randall, but it killed him. No. We killed him. We thought we were free of the demon after that. But now he's back. And one by one, he will kill us all." Giles said with a resigned sigh.
"Three down, two to go?" Buffy asked. Giles nodded.
"Then it's going after Ethan." Buffy said getting up. "I better beat it there." Giles goes to get up, but is visibly unsteady.
"We'd better." Giles said stubbornly.
"I'd better. Giles, you're barely mobile, and speed is of a serious essence here." Giles slowly sits back down.
"I don't know how to stop it without killing Jenny."
"I've got the guys working on it. I'll, um, try to contain it until we figure something." Buffy says as she starts to head out.
"Buffy?" Giles said sadly, making her pause. "I'm sorry."
"I know." Buffy says and walks out.
Willow, Xander, Lex and Cordelia were sitting at the tables with books all over the table top in front of them.
"We have to figure out how to kill this thing, and we need to do it fast." Willow said as she took a sip of her tea. Lex and Xander shared a small grin, thinking that Willow was having a major Giles moment.
"Uh, "hot lava." Xander said reading from the book in front of him.
"That's for a heretic." Willow said with a sigh
"Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, okay. Uh, ooo, ooo! 'Bury a potato!' No, that's for warts. Who writes this stuff?" Xander said looking at the cover of the book with a frown.
"How about 'burned at the stake'?" Lex said hopefully.
"That's for witches." Willow said absently.
"I've got the solution right here. 'To kill a demon cut off its head.'" Cordelia said looking very pleased with her-self.
"Oh, yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah! We'll, uh, find Ms. Calendar, and then we'll decapitate her. Hey! She'll be the first headless computer teacher in school. You think anybody'll notice?" Xander said sarcastically.
"Do you know what you need, Xander, besides a year's supply of acne cream? A brain." Cordelia shot back at Xander.
"That's it!" Xander roared, getting up from his seat, "Twelve years of your mouth Frail and I have had enough! I don't care if you're a girl or not, I'm gonna beat your ass." Xander snarled at her, his eye turned gold and his hands curled into loose fists. Cordelia, not knowing the danger she was in, walked right up to Xander.
"I've seen you fight. And don't think I can't take you!" Cordelia said her eye narrowing in anger.
"Pull it back Lion." Lex hissed at him quietly. Willow shot up out of her chair, having seen more than she could take with her frazzled nerves.
"HEY! We don't have time for this! Our friends are in trouble! Now, we have to put our heads together and, and get them out of it! And if you three aren't with me a hundred and ten percent, then get the hell out of my library!" She scolded them, pointing to the doors.
"We're sorry." Cordelia said meekly.
"We'll be good." Xander said with a deep rumble. Willow nods in acceptance of their apologies, and sits once again. Willow sits for a few moments her brow furrowed in concentration.
"Okay. Now, we've done the research. We just have to figure out how to use it."
"Oh, hey! Why don't we find another dead body for the demon to jump into?" Xander said excitedly.
"Yes! At the cemetery." Cordelia added.
"Morgue would be better. Fresher bodies." Lex said flatly.
"Well, that won't kill the demon. It'll only give it a change of scenery." Willow said still pondering the problem, when you could all but see the light bulb go off.
"Oh. Oh! Oh, I've got it!" Willow babbles excitedly, as she ran to the phone. "I've got it!"
Xander and Lex look at each other than at Willow.
"She's good!" They said as they follow Willow.
Cordelia smiles and also follows Willow.
Angel was leading the pack, followed by Xander, Lex, Willow and Cordelia; all were headed toward the costume shop. As they got closer, they heard faintly from within the shop Giles muffled yell.
"Eyghon! Take me." followed by.
"Buffy, get out of here!" the next thing they hear is Buffy.
"NO! No!" This is followed by a crash, as Angel, Xander and Lex pour on the speed to get to the shop faster.
Angel runs through the doors first and grabs Eyghon. He bangs her head into a nearby crate, when that does not work he starts to choke her. Xander quickly gets Buffy up and on her feet, while Lex and Willow restrain Giles.
"He's killing her!" Giles says as he struggles to get free of the two girls.
"No! Trust me! This is gonna work!" Willow tells Giles as they watch the fight.
Angel finally gets the demon to the point where it has to jump bodies. He jerks back when the demon slams into him and drops Jenny to the floor. Willow and Lex let go of Giles, and he quickly gets on his hands and knees by her side.
"Jenny!" Giles cries as he tries to wake and shield her from the demon.
They all watched as Angel's face twisted into the two demon face fighting within him. The struggling forces throw him in to some crates and he hits his head. His face goes through more contortions when Eyghon suddenly appears as if he has gained the upper hand in the fight, when Angle's face starts to alternate between his normal face and Eyghon. They all hold their breath as Angel is once again flung back against the wall. A few more moments of struggle, the demon inside Angel throws Eyghon out, where he quickly crumbles into ash, leaving Angel gasping, as he collapses to the floor. Everyone but Giles runs over to help Angel to his feet. Giles reaches out to Jenny to see if she is alright, when she shifts to look at him.
"Jenny!" Giles chokes out
"Rupert..."
Ethan seeing that no one was paying attention to him gets up and runs from the shop.
"You knew that if the demon was in trouble it was gonna jump into the dearest dead person." Buffy said looking amazed at Willow and Angel.
"I put it in danger." Angel said with a shrug.
"And it jumped." Willow said getting back to her feet.
"I've had a demon inside of me for a couple hundred years..." Angel said as he stood up and exhaled "Just waitin' for a good fight.
"Winner and still champion." Buffy said with a smile.
"Uh, I think that Ethan guy disappeared again." Xander said with a growl, while Lex simply snorted disgust at this.
"Darn. I really wanted to hit him till he bled." Buffy pouted.
"Well, at least it's over." Cordelia said with much relief.
They all looked over at Jenny and Giles as they walked out of the shop.
"She is going to need a lot of therapy for this." Lex said sadly.
The following morning the scoobies were walking across the quad. Talking about their encounter with Eyghon.
"You know what the worst thing is? I was saving up for some very important shoes, and now I have to blow my entire allowance to get this stupid tattoo removed. Let's just hope my mom doesn't see it first." Buffy said despondently.
"Puttin' that demon into Angel was pretty brill, Will." Xander said with loads of pride in his tone.
"I wasn't sure it was gonna work."
"But it did." Buffy pointed out.
"Like a charm." Xander said with a smirk.
"You don't give yourself enough credit Wills." Lex said throwing an arm over her shoulder in a one armed hug.
"Hay! Maybe you should consider a career as a Watcher." Buffy said encouragingly.
"Oh, no, I don't think I could handle the stress." Willow said quickly, with a look of fright on her face.
"And the dental plan is crap." Xander said
"Let's not talk about the vision plan either." Lex said.
"I don't see how Giles does it." Willow said thoughtfully. They all spot him walking into the building.
"I don't think he has a choice."
"Hey, Willow would you be willing to help us with looking up some protection symbols? Like one to keep from getting possessed and one to keep telepaths out?" Lex asked as they headed to class. Willow looked at Xander and Lex with concern.
"Why would want something like that?" Willow asked.
"Well, we are kinda tired of being the ones possessed. Also from our copied memories there are mutants out there that can freely wonder through your mind, and there would be nothing you could do about it. So we want to stop that from happening." Xander said pulling his finger gloves down some more. He had started to wear the odd gloves and telling everyone that he has a skin condition on his hands.
"Well Wills what do you say?" Lex asked.
"Ok, but it may take some time." Willow said cautiously.
"That's fine it's not like we're not gonna help." Lex said with a grin.
"Fine meet me in the library after school." Willow said.
"Like we'd be anywhere else." Xander said with a smirk.
Nick was not looking forward to this morning, the incident in the town at Halloween and the incident involving the Librarian and his past had sped up this moment. Nick wished he knew of a better person to do this, but, he didn't trust anyone to do this right. He sighed when his intercom buzzed.
"Sir, Mr. Stark is here for his appointment."
"Send him in, and reschedule my other appointments for the day."
Tony walked in looking like his usual happy-go-lucky self, the only thing that told Fury that he was on his guard was a slight tightness around his eyes.
"So Nick what can I do for you today?" Tony said sitting in one of the chairs in front of Nick's desk.
"I have some information that concerns you. Just after Halloween we picked up a D.M.V. hit on a license plate registered to you." Nick paused giving Tony time to ask any questions. When he did not see any forth coming he continued.
"We traced it to the Sunnydale Police Department. From there we found that it lead to the Sunnydale High School Library computer." Again Nick paused to see if Tony was following what he was telling him. Tony was frowning at him waiting to see where this went.
"We ran a check on the student body to see if we could determine if it was a teen hacker, or something more." Again Nick paused to see if Tony was following. Tony was now looking at Nick with suspicion.
"And what did you find Nick?"
"We found two teens with last name of Stark. You are officially listed on one of the birth certificates; the other teen was adopted by his mother's husband."
"So another paternity suit? A simple DNA test will prove the claim false." Tony said with his usual cockiness.
"Tony, that is as far as this went. We checked with the local attorneys, they had never seen these kids. I think they were just checking out information that was passed to them. Also you have to see these two before you dismiss this." Nick said handing Tony a manila folder with Xander and Lex's photos. Tony took the file with a cocky smile on his face, till he opened the folder. Nick could literally see the blood drain from Tony's face. He watched as the new father wrestled with his pocket to get out his cell phone.
'Come on Pepper pick up.' Tony muttered into his phone. "What the hell are their names anyway?"
"The boy is Alexander Lavelle Harris/Stark; he just changed his name back. The girl is Alexia Maria Stark; you're listed on her birth certificate."
'Tony, what's wrong?' Pepper demanded once she was able to reach her phone.
'Where are you?'
'I was speaking with some of the SHIELD agents why?'
'Can you please come to Nick's office?'
'I'll be right there.' Pepper said as she hung up.
"So it's Alex and Allie?"
"No, funny thing about the two they have everyone calling them 'Xander' and 'Lex', even school records only show legal names on registration, everything else shows their nicknames."
"Xander? Lex I can see but, Xander. It's kinda creative." Tony said quietly. Both men looked toward the door as Pepper came in.
"Alright what did he do now?" Pepper demanded of the one eye man. When Nick did not answer, she hissed at Tony "What did you do?"
"Pepper you may want to sit down for this one." Tony said with a wince. Pepper looked between both men with narrowed eyes, wondering what bombshell they would hit her with now.
"Pepper, first I am really sorry this is going to be a giant headache. Two, I may have a couple of kids I didn't know about." Tony said the last so fast it was almost slurred. Pepper blinked at him owlishly, before turning to Fury.
"What proof do you have that they are his kids?" Pepper asked calmly. Tony handed her the folder with the pictures in it. Pepper took the folder from Tony and glanced in side. She turned so pale her freckles stood out on her face clearly.
"Oh my God, Tony they look like your parents!"
"Well, Cap what do ya think?" Logan asked chopping on his cigar. Steve Rogers better known as Captain America gave Logan a very searching look.
"I can see why you brought it to the Avengers. But, how did you find out about this place?" Logan sighed, shaking his head.
"Let's just say a friend told me about the place." Logan said with a smirk. Steve narrowed his eyes at Logan before he replied
"You care about this friend?" Logan looked sharply at Steve.
"Yeah, why?"
"Get them and any family they have out of this town. I can't put my finger on but, it just doesn't feel right." Steve said scratching the back of his neck.
"Yeah, me too." Logan said with a heavy sigh. He was still trying to figure out a way to convince Lex to leave the town with him.
"So should we go see Fury now?" Logan asked.
"Yeah. Let's go." Steve said picking up the file.
"There is something else you should know about them." Nick said with a sigh, both noticed that Fury seemed to age about twenty years at the thought of what he had to tell them.
"Okay, what is it?" Tony said mentally bracing himself. Nick sighed and brought up on a screen on the wall, evidence pictures of both Xander and Lex.
"Oh God. Is it me or do most of those scars line up?" Tony asked, as he balled his hands into such tight fists that you could hear his joints creaking from the strain. Pepper sat in shock, with tears running down her cheeks.
"Yes." Nick said flatly. "What do you want to do?" It took Tony several moments to realize what Nick was asking him.
An:Well another ch., I will be following the rest of the second season, through the summer. now I love surprise relatives, so who should have a super or mutant relative and who is the relative? also should Buffy or Willow be mutants or super powered in another way? R&R I live for reviews. ^,,^