In the aftermath of Grandma's death and funeral, it was a quiet group that met at the Magic Box a week after the attack on Cordelia to discuss it. They would mourn for Grandma for a long time, they knew that. They also knew, Grandma would be the first who would tell them, 'you don't stop fighting just because you're tired or hurting or afraid, you pick up and you keep going.' They had a mystery to solve, one that was about to add a new element to it.
"Have you seen the paper this morning?" Willow asked, once they were all gathered. "The Psych ward is overwhelmed with patients. They're calling it an outbreak of insanity. No one has any clue what's causing it. People seem fine one minute and then completely crazy the next."
"Actually, a guy at work mentioned that his neighbor had been out for a walk and then was found on the other side of town, he'd wandered over there, and wasn't making any sense when they found him." Xander answered. "He said his neighbor's wife mentioned that their doctor said that there were others, but they can't seem to find a common denominator."
"We've been researching the snake demon that attacked you, as well, Cordelia, but while there are a number of snake type demons, none match the description of this one. We even considered the possibility that it was an infant version of one of the others, but that doesn't add up, either. I'm afraid for now, we are at a loss to explain it or why it attacked. Or why it would want your child. I'm sorry." Giles said.
"It's not your fault Giles. Hopefully there aren't any more of them." Cordelia answered.
"Aside from that we also have no information on the strange glowing globe Kyle and the others found, either. There's nothing that matches it's description, I'm afraid. Until we get more information or something else happens, I don't think there's anything else we can do. We'll just have to keep an eye out."
With nothing else to go over, the group left to go about their day. Tara and Willow stayed to help out and everyone else headed home. Later that evening while Xander and Faith, along with Tor and Heidi were patrolling, a call came in on the walkies from the Magic Box. Tara had been working on a spell and accidentally unleashed a troll trapped in a crystal. Said troll was currently roaring toward the Bronze and demanding mead to drink and babies to eat. It wasn't a good week for babies in Sunnydale. It also wasn't a good time to piss off a Protector, who just the week before had been afraid of losing his unborn child to a snake demon.
Xander led the charge to the Bronze, Faith and the others behind him. They could hear the thing roaring for someone to bring him a baby to eat. 'What was it with things wanting to eat babies around here lately'? Xander wondered as they arrived and charged in.
"Hey, big and ugly, haven't you heard? Babies are permanently off the menu." Xander taunted the troll.
"Minescule one, do you dare to taunt, Olaf the troll god?"
"You're claiming to be a god?! I've seen mold that's godlier then you. You picked a real bad time to decide you want to make a meal out of a baby, cause it was just going to piss me off hearing that."
Turns out, Olaf couldn't handled one Protector, let alone three, plus a Slayer. Xander, Tor, Heidi and Faith made quick work of him. Xander picked up the hammer that Olaf had been waving around and headed over to the Magic Box to report, one very dead troll! And to give them something else to research, a hammer that kinda reminded him of Thor's hammer from the comics he used to read as a kid.
It turned out it was also not a good week for things that like to eat babies.