Joe - You're right about all of those points. I thought about that too. However, here is my reasoning: this is a new position for Buffy. Dawn is now at the forefront of the battle, instead of behind the scenes. Therefore, she is trying to be more careful of how to approach this new element. She is very apprehensive of Dawn being on the front lines, this time with more power than she has ever wielded. In addition, Dawn is smart enough to be aware of Nottingham. However, I'm also writing in how the Witchblade, combined with Dawn's own emotions and ambitions to prove herself, are slowly warping her sense of right and wrong. Basically, I'm writing a slow transformation in Dawn that will result in a serious confrontation, but one more emotional than the previous story I wrote. Feel free to ask me these types of questions. I will try and justify any reasons for what I write.
"You ready to be shown the ropes, rookie."
"Call me a rookie again and the only ropes we'll be seeing are the ones I'll be tying you to my car," Kate joked.
Jake held up his hands in mock-surrender. "Okay, okay, I just want to show you around, let you get back in the game a bit. It's been awhile."
"Yeah, but a Staten Island post gives you a little perspective on things," she replied. "I think I'll appreciate this job a little more than I did before."
"By the way, if you don't mind me asking, what really happened back in L.A.? Way I heard, you got involved with some P.I. who roughed up a police captain?"
"Not 'involved' involved, but he was helping me with a case. Look, Jake, it's complicated. Suffice it to say that while I'm grateful to him for recommending me for this job, I'll be just as happy not to see him again."
"That's kind of harsh," Jake said somewhat taken aback.
"It's not because I hate him. It's just I know that, if he's alive at all, the minute he shows up trouble is around. My life is nice and quiet compared to back in L.A. and I'd like to keep it that way."
"Quieter than a New York Detective?", he curiously asked.
"Much quieter."
Nine hours later...
"So, what do you think?" Jake asked.
"Not really all that different from LA. Some of your procedures are a little different, but I think I can get the hang of it."
"Good. Looking forward to working you, Kate."
"So, where are we headed now?" she asked.
"Need to talk to some people about an incident," he replied as that stopped in front of the building.
"Want me to come in?" Kate asked.
"No need," said Jake. "I'll just be a few minutes." As Jake stepped out of the car and walked toward the building Kate sat, curious as to what Jake was doing.
She waited about ten minutes, her curiosity increasing as each minute dragged on. Deciding to step out of the car to stretch out, she noticed two women passing on the street, one a young auburn-haired teenager. But she didn't particularly stand out to the detective. It was the other one, the blonde, who caught Kate's eye. As the two passed, the blonde noticed Kate as well and stopped. They looked at each other, both trying to draw on the memory that they were sure had made the other familiar.
Kate thought about it, the faint memory nipping at her: Los Angeles. Small blonde. I was hauling in Angel for harboring... Faith. The blonde... she knew who he was! More importantly, she knew what he was!
"L.A.," Kate said. "You were there when I was hauling in Angel, weren't you, for harboring Faith?"
"That's where I know you from," Buffy replied. "Buffy Summers. What are you doing here?"
"I'm here with my new partner, Jake McCartey. I just got hired by the NYPD."
"Crap," Buffy replied.
"That your building?" Kate asked.
"Yeah," Buffy answered.
"My partner's in there, but he wouldn't tell me why. What's going on?"
"Look, Detective..." Buffy said, trying to remember the woman's name.
"Lockley, Kate Lockley." Kate answered.
"Lockley. Look, it's really hard to..."
"No," Kate interrupted. "I don't know who you are, but I know some of the people you know. I remember you being surprised that I knew Angel was a vampire. Does this have something to do with his partner, Sara?"
Buffy took a deep breath. "Yes, it does. Look, the short of it is that the girls here hunt vampires. They're like Faith, minus the murderous impulse."
"And Sara was helping you," Kate stated.
"Yeah, she was."
"I can't believe this," the detective remarked. "I am not getting involved with this, not one bit."
Buffy was perplexed. "Nobody's asking you to," she replied.
"Yeah, that's the way it starts out," Kate retorted. "Next thing you know you find yourself out of a job because you helped a vampire take down a crooked cop. Look, I'll try and get Jake to back off, but don't expect too much."
"Thanks, Detective,' Buffy remarked.
"I'm not doing it for you, Buffy. I'm doing it for my partner. I'm trying to spare him from looking too deep. He doesn't need to make that mistake."
Jake soon stepped out the building and noticed Kate and Buffy. He walked over to them, a somewhat playful look on his face. "Ms. Summers."
"Detective McCartey. You here for some more harassing, or you just here to ask me out?"
"Just letting you know I'm still around and I'm still watching," he replied.
"Oh, I don't doubt that, Detective," Buffy remarked.
Jake smirked. He didn't like her. He knew something was off about her and knew this Buffy was involved with Sara ending up in her coma. He just needed to prove it. He was hoping she would eventually slip up and hang herself on her own mistakes. To date, though, she was being much too careful.
"Let's go, Kate." They got into the car and drove off. As soon as they were a bit away, Jake spoke up.
"You two seemed to be getting acquainted," Jake remarked.
"I... kinda know her," Kate replied.
"Wait, you know her? How?"
"Not personally, I just know someone she knew. The private investigator out in LA that I got in trouble with? She knew him, and I think they were more than just friends."
"Good," Jake said. "Then you can help me figure out what's up with her and what it has to do with my partner."
Kate breathed in sharply. "No," she replied.
"What do you mean 'no'?" he asked pointedly.
"Jake, I'm going to tell you this for your own good: back off."
"For my own good?" Jake repeated. "What, you think I might get hurt or something?"
"Not in the way you think," she replied. "Jake, I'm telling you, you keep digging and you're not going to like what you find. I don't know the details, but I do know that if you keep going after this you'll wish you hadn't."
"And just what exactly is that supposed to mean?" he asked, irritated that she was being so vague.
"It means that when I got involved with Angel, that private investigator, I found out things that go way beyond my job description. So, I'm telling you, Jake, for your own good: back off."
Jake and Kate sat in silence for a moment, looking at each other. Jake's face bore a combined look of anger, curiosity, and frustration. She didn't want to start her new job off like this. But she knew what Jake would be stepping into, and that she wouldn't feel like a friend if she didn't at least try to warn him, even if that warning was so obscure and vague to be almost pointless.
"I'll decide when it's time to back off," he remarked, breaking the silence.
"Fine then," Kate replied. "Just be careful, okay?"
"I could be more careful if you'd let me in on what's going on with Buffy."
"I don't know everything, Jake," Kate said. "To be honest, I don't even know how this all started."
"But you know something. How can I trust you as a partner if you don't help me out with this?"
"How can I trust you as a partner if you won't listen to a friend trying to protect you?"
They stared at each other again, the moments passing like hours. Kate could see the anger and frustration on his face. Her first day back as a detective was already turning out to be like one of those training videos on what not to do in the workplace. But she knew she would never forgive herself if she thrust Buffy's world on him without asking if he truly wanted to know. She wasn't going to do that to him, like it was done to her, albeit accidentally.
"Fine, then," Jake said as he broke the silence. "Have it that way. But I'm going to get to the bottom of this one way or another."
She sighed. She knew where this was going to go and she could not stop it. Jake was a nice guy and all, but soon as someone got him going he was like a pit bull. "Jake, I really want you to back off but I know you. You won't let up. So I'm just going to say this again... be careful. And if you find out, I'll be around to listen, because you're going to need someone you can talk to."
Jake gave her a curious and puzzled look. "Thanks... I think".
"A training session..." Dawn remarked. "You're starting to sound like my sister."
"Would your sister send you on a training mission to destroy a vampire nest by yourself?" Nottingham asked.
"What?" Dawn replied, hardly believing what she had just heard.
"Let's get something straight, Dawn: I am not and never will be your sister. Keeping you cooped up is a waste of the Witchblade's time and ability. And it is a waste of mine."
"Understood."
"Good," Nottingham continued. "I've just acquired some old industrial land in the Bronx and plan to construct a manufacturing facility. But the problem is the nest, located nearby. I can't have the contractors..."
"Whoa, wait," Dawn interrupted, holding her hand up. "You're clearing out a vampire nest to make way for a factory?"
"Yes."
"But..."
"Somehow my actions are less noble upon learning this endeavor will make money?" he asked pointedly.
'It's just..."
"Such a shame your sister taught you to think so narrowly. You are the Bladewielder, Dawn. You have to think beyond the mission. Does your sister ever think about the lives of the people she saves after she saves them?"
"I... well, they usually don't stay around. And the ones that don't run screaming tend to hug her... a lot. We don't usually keep track afterward."
"Well, I have to think bigger. The facility will create over a thousand new jobs, Dawn. So not only will you be saving lives, you'll be helping people forge new ones. People will be able to earn money to live and feed their families. But if you think such endeavors are beneath you..."
"No," Dawn quickly replied. "No, I just... never thought about it that way."
"Then it's time to grow up," Nottingham remarked somewhat pointedly. Dawn stood uncomfortably, bristling at the comment. Her sister had been too overprotective at times, but she was realizing this guy wasn't like Buffy at all. Whereas Buffy and the rest of the Scooby Gang gave out free second chances like they were Tic-Tacs, Dawn felt that Nottingham wasn't the type who left a lot of room for second chances. He wanted results.
"Point taken," she replied. "So, what's the plan?"
Forty-five minutes later...
"I can't believe this is the plan," Dawn remarked as she ventured into the night, sparsely lit by lamps adorning the streets. She approached the old, abandoned lot where the new building would be and could sense that she was close to her targets. That didn't make her any less nervous.
"What are you doing here, Dawn?" she asked herself. "Oh, I know. You're walking right into a vampire nest, at the request of some hunky-yet-somewhat-creepy guy you hardly know on the off-chance you can prove to yourself and everyone else that you can be the Bladewielder. Yeah, that sounds about right." Her heart began thumping harder and faster, her blood coursing throughout her body at a speed that only happened when the world was near ending. Her breathing was steady yet hesitant. She could feel its rhythm in her lungs, trying as best she could from turning that rhythm into a staccato.
As she moved along the broken pavement, she felt the presence of something close. More so, she began to hear it. Coming to a stop she turned around and saw three vampires, two male and one female.
"Wow," one of the male vampires said, "did you walk into the wrong place tonight."
"She's kinda cute," the other male said. "Maybe we can turn her. It'll liven up the place a bit."
"Come on," the female said. "One cute walking meal and you're ready to turn her. I want to eat. We've been feeding on nothing but old bums and drunks for the last few months."
"Besides", the first male said, "we've got enough fangs down there to have a convention." He then looked at Dawn. "Looks like you get to be dinner."
Dawn then held her hand up, ready to make the vampires into debris. That is, if the Witchblade ever kicked in.
Which didn't happen.
Dawn eyes went wide open. She shook her wrist to the fiends, hoping the Witchblade would turn on soon. One of the male vampires looked at her, confused.
"Huh. Not sure what to make of that. Guess crazy is on the menu tonight."
Dawn nervously chuckled and said, "You know, I think I 'll pass on, you know, being dinner." Then she took off in the other direction as fast as she could. She knew she had little chance of outrunning them, especially on their turf, but she was going to try. She was not going to be a meal without trying.
But her efforts proved to be futile. In just a few short seconds they caught up with her, one of the males getting in front while the other two stood behind. She looked at him as he bared his teeth and smiled. "Now now, no need to sweat up my dinner." As he was bringing his teeth toward Dawn's neck, he was stopped in his tracks, seemingly choking on something.
Three tendrils from the Witchblade found themselves sticking out at the top of his head, entering from under his chin. Another tendril wrapped itself around his neck and then quickly retracted, digging into the flesh and bone and taking its head off, turning the vampire into dust. The other two vampires looked in shock at what happened to their companion. Dawn turned around to look at the two remaining vampires. Her eyes were glowing red and then went back to their original color. She held up her now metal-covered right hand and let loose a stream of fire that turned them into ash.
"When are Dahlia, Frank, and Ralph getting back with their share?" asked, Becky, one of the more senior vampires in the nest asked.
"Should be gettin' back soon," Tommy replied.
"Well, they better get here soon or otherwise they'll be missing out on the next feast. Besides, I need something sweet when I watch the movie I got when I ate that street vendor."
They soon heard a huge thud, followed by another. All of the vampires there, seventeen in all, looked at the steel door and as soon as they did it broke open. There stood Dawn at the threshold, both arms sporting menacing claws. She smiled as she took in the sight.
In just under five minutes, Nottingham's problem had been solved.