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Guardian Council Cleveland House
Willow appeared in the teleport room with Sarah Jane and Rose Tyler after Sarah's girls had been stationed in New Zealand this past month, they arrived appearing at council head quarters Cleveland. Willow, being limited by her magical travel abilities could only take two people at a time safely. Therefore, Lily and Beth came in ahead of Sarah and Rose.
"Wait a moment, this is Cleveland house. I thought we were headed back to England." Sarah Jane inquired.
"At the moment, Giles is very busy researching very important documents. He refuses to be disturbed. So, he put England house on autopilot giving it a rotating schedule for the girls already stationed there. Since, Buffy is the next in command she wants you and your girls here on the hell mouth for a while." Willow retorted.
"Oh well, that's alright. There isn't anything I can do there that I can't get done here. Rose, why don't you get Lily and Beth and take them down to the gym to practice their samurai sword fighting technique for the next couple of hours?" Sarah responded.
"Sure, Beth really needs it more than lily and I could use the workout. See you both later," Rose said exiting with a smile. She really loved sword play even if the practice weapons were made of bamboo.
"I'll just go and report to Buffy and let her know we've arrived." Sarah interjected.
"Alright, I'll see you later." Willow said as she headed for the meditation room. Once there, it took her twenty minutes to achieve the state of mobile consciousness she needed to center her energies and balance them with the earth. She didn't want to alarm anyone just yet; but that was getting harder and harder to do. She suspected that it was because she was a conduit to the magic of the earth and the earth was hurting. Actually, that wasn't true. The earth wasn't hurting it was just changing… again. Apparently, it happens every six thousand and forty years according to Charlie Frost's website which played on her mind making it difficult to meditate. The scale of the oncoming devastation he outlined weighed heavily on her emotions. But she was in the zone now, she could feel her energies beginning to realign themselves without much effort on her part. It was so soothing and relaxing like soaking in a warm tub surrounded by candlelight. The smell of the sandalwood incense was an after thought but she was glad she had thought of it. Something new was happening; something different then the other times; it made the experience beyond magical.
If she were to name it she'd say it was almost universal. She realized she was doing something read and later heard about from Tara and the coven. She was journeying out of her body - known as astral projecting. She felt free of her body and mind which drifted to other places on the planet. Her trip was random and out of control. Since, she didn't know the rules yet, at least, it felt that way.
But she didn't fear anything and never stopped traveling. She saw spectacular rain forests and the darkest, dangerous parts of human civilization. Then, with a subtle whoosh, she exited the planet and found herself drifting by the moon. She had been in this bliss state for ninety earth seconds before looking down at earth through the magic of her inner eye. What she observed riddled her astral from with electrifying astonishment. With astral vision, she could see the erratic glow of earth's fault lines along with the turmoil of the earth's global energy field.
After which, a loud crash sucked her back into her physical body so fast that she believed her soul suffered a disturbing whiplash. Suddenly, she snapped open her eyes to find her ex girlfriend Kennedy standing before her. Apparently, she had kicked the door open and forced her way into the meditation room.
"What have you done with my money, bitch?" She yelled.
Willow would have reprimanded her telling her she ruined her spiritual experience but she knew the arrogant ass wouldn't understand or care.
"What?" Willow asked annoyed.
"You heard me! I know you've been screwing around with my credit cards with your computer hacking skills."
"Let me get this straight; we have been broken up for over four and a half years and now you fly all the way from Las Vegas to accuse me of messing up your bank accounts?" Willow bewilderedly stated.
"You thought, I wouldn't remember your hacking skills. You thought I'd forget how sweet revenge would be after enough time passed." Kennedy accused.
"That you think I would do such a thing shows me what kind of person you really are. You expect people to react the way you would if you had the same skills. Well, I'm nothing like you!" Willow yelled.
"Ha, like I wasn't the best thing that ever happened to you; you were hurting so badly for me, that when you heard I found someone else you decided to screw with my bank accounts."
"What! Everybody knows that you've had many more girl friends since our break up. I haven't thought about you much at all since we broke up. I was relieved when you finally left. I still think of Tara a million times more than I think of you. She was the best thing that ever happened to me, not you. As a matter of fact, Oz was a better partner than you. They were better people, better partners, and better friends."
"Tara, Tara, Tara. Tara this; Tara that, Oh, and lets not forget the diseased rabid mutt-boy, your first sexual experience and it was with a dog, a freaking werewolf. You're as sick as Buffy with her necrophiliac boyfriends."
"Still any of them would be much better in bed then you ever were." Willow shot back.
Finally, Kennedy was outraged enough to attack Willow. She forced Kennedy back with her magic so hard and so fast, she hit the wall with a loud bang and was held there by force. It was then that, Buffy entered the room.
"Hi guys," she said. "I came in to tell you guys you should close the door if you want to argue because the whole house can hear every word coming out of your mouths. However I can see that closing the door isn't an option seeing that it's broken in fifty pieces."
"Buffy, Willows gone dark again. We need to put a beat down on her!" Kennedy shouted.
"Trust me, she is no where near dark yet; it would be a cold day in hell before an irritating little shit like you was able to get her anywhere near that level of bad-assness. Oh, and don't think I didn't hear the part about my necrophiliac boyfriends."
Willow saw one of the other slayers at the door. She spoke, "Jenny can you bring me a laptop from the computer room please."
Jenny ran down the hall and came back quickly. She had a computer in hand. Willow opened it and powered it up.
"What's your password? So, I can find out who been accessing your account."
"I already know it was you. I'm going to sue you and the whole damn Council if I have to then the F.B.I. will be on to your computer hacking from that point."
"The F.B.I. already knows about me. They have been watching my online activities for some time now." Willow lied. "And I'm fine with you taking me to court because the F.B.I. will be the ones backing me up. They have the records to prove that I haven't been anywhere near your accounts. So, when we counter sue you; we'll, make sure to get a nice chuck of change out of you and your family. Now, what's your password, so, we can clear up this mess before it gets to that point?"
A look of hatred shot from Kennedy's eye. She was determined to stay quiet. Willow had been looking at Kennedy with pity in her eyes over the woman's bone headed stubbornness. Willow then turned to the other person in the room.
"Hey Buffy, I've been wondering how a slayer would fair in the space program?"
Buffy never batted an eye nor asked what she meant. Buffy went along with whatever Willow was thinking. "That is a good question. Let's find out."
Kennedy was pulled from the wall to the center of the room by Willows magic. Kennedy began to spin like a drill bit.
"You might leave here a little dizzy Kennedy; I refuse to let you leave thinking I had anything to do with your account problems."
"You bitch; you know I get motion sickness."
"I have a need to prove to you that I had nothing to do with it and you're not going to stop till I do."
"Forget it!" She yelled.
Willow made a gesture while Kennedy was spinning and was now upside down. It was as if she was held by her thin ankles. She twirled and twirled like a ceiling fan with no off switch.. It didn't take long for her to get really sick.
"I promise you. If you vomit you'll ware it." Willow said as if she were talking about something as trivial as the weather.
Kennedy didn't like the sound of that and finally broke. "Alright stop this, I'll tell you just hurry because I don't think I can hold it much longer."
Willow stopped her, let her down and gave her a waste basket to vomit into should she need it.
"Wells street LA 143 - all one word," Kennedy said giving up her password.
"This is the place you told me you had the most fun growing up. That was smart using an old address you never actually lived at as a password." Willow complemented as she typed the information into her laptop. When she found the right screen, she studied it for a moment before saying. "Well, here's your problem. Your father seems to be funneling in massive amounts of money into some special project. He has been taking money from any and all of the family accounts the business ones as well. I can not tell what the project is and I really could care less about it but there is the proof. I had nothing to do with your account being tampered with, I advise you to talk to your father and change your password so, I can't get into it again."
"Don't worry, I plan on it."
"Well, Kennedy, now that you got the information you came here for I can say you've worn out your welcome. So go run home to daddy and complain to him. We don't want to hear it any more." Buffy said.
"Are you kicking me out of the Council?"
"No, just out of this house; you've done enough damage here for one day and from the sound of it you can not even pay for it."
Kennedy stared daggers at Buffy before she snorted and walked out of the room eventually exiting the building. She stood at the corner trying to get a hold of her anger before she took out her cell phone. She hated what she was about to do, calling her father was a real drag. She held little respect for him although she'd never admit it; they were just too much alike. But in order to keep riding the cash cow she had to pretend to be daddies little girl. After getting his secretary and waiting a couple of minutes he finally got on the line.
"Daddy, I just tried using my credit card but it was giving me problems." She said.
"I'm sorry honey that was my fault. I needed to draw money from the family accounts for… well, something big. But it's a good thing you called; I need to talk to you in person right away. How quick can you get here?"
Kennedy silently cursed. All she wanted was access to her money but it looked like her father wanted her to put in an appearance to get it. What she really hated was that she had been putting some of her own hard earned wedges into that account. Wedges she earned as a security guard at one of the more popular casinos. Now, without realizing it her father took her hard earned money as well in his grab for the family funds. She couldn't let him know this, the Council didn't even know she took a job but that was because she was pretty much using her slayer strengths to be top dog in that particular field. Her father however, thought of his daughter as a fun loving little girl that has been traveling the United States with her friends and having an all American adventure. His daughter didn't have a work ethic. She was supposed to be brainless, useless, and obedient to his will.
"But, I'm going to need money to get there from Cleveland."
"Don't worry sweetie, I'll wire you some cash. You just hurry home."
"Okay Daddy, see you soon." She said and hung up grumbling that she had to do this.
/Scene Break/
Back inside the Council house.
"What did you see in her?" Buffy asked.
"It was a heat of the moment type thing Buffy. Believe me I'd like to pound my head against the wall every time I think about it. I didn't see it then but it was all about the power with her. She latched on to me because she thought I was next in whatever command structure she thought we had, since I was the one with any visible power. I think she thought with you out of the way during that whole mutiny thing back in Sunnydale that I would take charge. She seemed kind of pissed when Faith was voted to take over instead. I think she thought I would die defending while she took charge of the potentials and probably ran off. When I activated the potentials, she got the power she wanted. It was right after that she started to draw away from me more and more. She would get upset when I'd try to reach out to her. Then, the arguments started and well, you know the rest."
"I'm sorry if it makes you feel any better; we don't have to put her on the list of the people to save."
"That won't matter. I know what her father was doing with the money he took from the accounts. He took out about one billion euros, that's the same amount Charlie Frost said was needed to board the ships A.K.A. arks." Willow explained. Then she realized what Buffy said.
"Wait a minute! Did you say there's a list?"
"I thought you guys were putting one together."
"No, but maybe we should start thinking about it. I just don't know if I can just decide the fate of so many of our friends. What we had to do to Mindy and Kathy really upsets me. Maybe, we can do a lottery type thing. That way it's more out of our hands and decided by fate."
"I don't know well have to discus it when the rest of the scoobies check in for next weeks meeting. Just make sure you pencil in that we want to discuss this."
"Pencil, Heck, I'll use indelible marker, that should be one of the main topics of several of our future meeting."
"Well, yeah of course, you're right. I'll be making some notes on some ideas I have about it. You should do the same,"
"I will later, right now Giles is busy at the library; I told him I'd take care of the Slayer moving into the apartment in Cardiff."
"Are you sure you're not using too much magic with all this traveling and closing the hell mouth?"
"I really don't think anybody has to worry about that anymore. The truth is that with the earth hurting as it is, it's getting harder and harder to access the magic from it. The earth is usually the most abundant source of magic but with it going through a change like this; it's taking more time for me to gather the mojo to perform the spells. So, the idea of me going dark isn't going to happen anytime soon."
"I'm so sorry Willow."
"Actually, you're probably more relieved. I know how you guys just wait to see if I'm going to turn all dark hair, white skin and veins no matter how many times I've told you that since the slayer's spell was of the light, the darkness can't hold. I would have to want it to become evil for that to happen. Last time it took a couple of hours to become the thing that I was. To do that again would take days and I'd need to put several spells into motion to become like that. I could have changed my mind by the time the spells were ready."
"Do you really think I feel that way?" Buffy asked.
"More so on Giles part, but I can sense it from all of you. You guys telling everyone coming in contact with me doesn't help. I feel like everyone is tip toeing around me so as not to get on my nerves and that's really getting on my nerves."
"I don't tell people…" Buffy began but Willow interrupted.
"No, but the first thing Giles did was warn Hermione and Harry that I could snap at any moment and turn them inside out. I mean jeez, I can't have any new friends that don't know about my darkest hour because they're warned before I even meet them. I'm sure Giles wouldn't want me telling new acquaintances that he raised a demon in rebellion to becoming a watcher."
"Probably not, but maybe you should. It seems only fair. He needs to lay off, I'll have a talk with him."
Just then the chimes of a clock were heard coming from one of the offices.
"Oh crap! Is it that time? I've got to get going. We'll talk later."
"Alright, see you and be careful."
With that Willow left.
/Scene Break/
Cardiff two hours later.
Gwen Cooper parked her car in a lot down the block away from her friends' place of business. They were private investigators that sometimes gave Gwen leads on cases. Since, last weeks black out she had heard several strange stories from this part of Cardiff. News papers were running all kinds of weird tails. She was hoping that maybe her friends Kathy and Sally had found something out no one else had. That night had bothered her. Not only on top of the black out, but also because of her own personal blackout. There was a gap in her memory that had been irritating her and had only gotten worse as time passed. She was sure she didn't faint or become unconscious. She wasn't hit on the head or drugged. But there was a gap in her memory of about forty-five minutes she couldn't account for, this disturbed her greatly. What happened in that time? She picked up three cups of coffee at a local shop across the street. Gwen headed out of the place she saw her friends talking to a red head in front of their office. Gwen halted just outside the doorway of the coffee shop. She didn't know why she stopped but that red headed woman made the cop in her stand up. She looked familiar. She wondered if she was wanted for something. Maybe, it was something more innocent like remembering her from the grocery store check out. She continued to watch them interact until the red head waved goodbye and left. Gwen crossed the street just after her friends went inside; she walked in practically right behind them.
"Hello ladies."
"Gwen! Sally! It's Gwen, and she's brought coffee. Didn't I say the universe would provide?"
"Yes, but I hoped it would provide a case where we can earn some money, so we can pay the rent on this small utilitarian office space."
"So, I take it; I did some good bringing coffee." Gwen commented.
"Yes'" Kathy said taking the offered beverages and passing one to Sally. "It would go great with the cookies our new neighbors brought us."
"Umm. Isn't that supposed to be the other way around? Aren't you supposed to bring a dish to the new neighbors welcoming them to the neighborhood?"
"Yes, well, Willow likes to bake apparently." Sally explained.
"Would that be the red headed woman I saw you two talking with just before I came in."
"Yes, that's her." Kathy replied.
"What can you tell me about her?"
"Well, she said she was a teacher and she works for that really posh international school, the Guardian Council." Sally relayed.
"And they have set up a few of their girls here in Cardiff for a real world experience. Four girls and a guardian will be living in the flat down the road that the Council has set up. They'll have jobs for each of them, but they'll have to do their school work as well." Kathy continued
"Then, they'll be rotated out at the end of the month with four new girls." Sally finished.
"She and the girls seem to be okay." Kathy vouched.
"Why did you want to know anyway?" Sally asked.
"I don't know. It's just a feeling. I think I know her from some where. but can't place her. It bugs me because I don't know what side of the law she's on."
"Kathy and Sally just gave her strange looks before Sally continued, "I really think you're off the mark on that one. They seemed alright to us. Besides, the posh school she works for is supposed to have very intense security checks on all potential employees, even the janitors."
Just then Gwen's cell phone give a tone telling her she has a text message. She looked at the display and said.
"It's work. Looks like some kind of domestic thing; I'll have to cut our visit short. I'll see you next week."
"Sure. See you later," Kathy said
"Good bye," Sally said waving.
"Stay safe ladies," Gwen said as she shut the door on her way out. She cursed as she realized she didn't get to ask about the blackout last week.
Back inside the office Kathy and Sally watched as Gwen disappeared into the crowed streets. She headed for the parking lot.
"This is bad." Kathy said.
"It'll be fine". Sally said calming her friend."
"She's asking about Willow. What should we do?"
"If it makes you feel any better; we'll call her and tell her that Gwen was asking questions."
"But Gwen's our friend too."
"And we get most of our jobs from the Guardian Council; they kept us in business and made us popular."
"But Gwen's a cop, and we lied to her."
"What are you talking about? Nothing we told her was a lie? We just held back a few facts that she probably wouldn't believe anyway. As a mater of fact had we told her she would have called a truck to hall us away to the home for the mentally insane."
"We told her the girls would have jobs."
"And they do, through the Council, they slay demons. Now, that the hell hole has become a hell mouth; I feel safer that they're here rather than calling them each time to take care of a supernatural problem. They give us an air tight cover story to give to the police about what's happened. They do the work and we get the credit."
"The way you put it, it sounds like we don't do anything. We do the leg work following cheating husbands and finding dead beat dads."
"I'm not saying we don't pull our own weight. I'm just saying that the Guardian Council gives us the extra popularity to get more of those jobs.
This whole private investigation thing was your idea and it was a great one but we would have gone under by now without their support had our third case not crossed into the supernatural and those vampire slayers."
"I know that, but I just hate keeping things from Gwen like that. She was the first one in law enforcement to encourage us in our endeavors as private investigators."
"True, she is a good friend but you have to admit that at times she seems to try and glean some of our hard earned information. We're friends one minute and informants the next. God forbid she thinks we were withholding anything back because I swear she'd hall us into the station for interrogation."
"You really think that of Gwen?"
"There are definitely two sides to Gwen Cooper. Please Kathy, just watch yourself around her."
Just then the phone rang.
"Fine, I'll make the call to Willow you take the incoming call." Kathy agreed.
Sally answered the ringing phone and gave the company greeting. "Sparrow & Nightingale investigations. Sally Sparrow speaking.
Kathy Nightingale didn't like thinking ill of he friends. She liked to think that one day all her companions could get along and work together. But she guessed it would take a natural disaster for this to happen.
ooooooooo
A.N. Doctor Who and Gallifrey don't exist, neither do the Daleks or their home planet Skaro. Therefore, the weeping angels never came to earth after being displaced from their home because of the time war between the Time lords and Daleks, as it never happened. (I'm not even sure if the weeping angels exist in this universe.) So, Kathy Nightingale was never thrown back in time to nineteen twenty. As far as Kennedy is concerned I didn't like her in the beginning but then she grew on me. I don't hate the character but for this story I need her to be hated.
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