Dugan called Fury to give his report on Sunnydale. He had a lot to say.
"This town is damn weird, Nick. It's a fricken paradise for families, but there's not enough kids here. The numbers just don't add up. And the police explain everything away as gang activity or gas leaks and/or explosions and people just believe it. Well most of them do. There's a teen club here in town and I figured if kids are being targeted by the gangs, than it's a good place to try to get answers."
"Did you get any answers?"
"Not the kind I was expecting. A werewolf crashed through the skylight of the nightclub. Thing is, most of the kids there honestly believe it's a wild animal."
"Most? But not all?"
"No, three teenagers and an older man captured the werewolf. They knew exactly what it was and had a tranq gun and chains. I heard them talking. They're going to cage it for the night and see who it is in the morning and see if they can help him or her."
"So they knew it was werewolf, they were prepared to capture, not kill it and want to try to help whoever it is."
"Yeah, and there's more. I heard them talking, at least one of them may be a mutant, the others may be as well. Apparently she was trying to help by herself and the others became aware of that fact and are now trying to help as well."
"Great, teenage mutant heros. But help people with what, is the question. Because I doubt there are a lot of werewolves in that town, they're pretty rare. Any idea what the issue is?"
"No, just a whole lot of questions, but not a lot of answers. It's clear something is going on in this town and it's equally clear the authorities are actively covering it up and the population seems kinda of blind really to whatever is going on here."
"Head on back. Without more information, there really isn't a lot we can do. But if more information comes up, than maybe we can do something. But I'm going to be monitoring Sunnydale from now on. Sooner or later, we'll find out what is going on."
"I'll be on the first plane back." Dugan agreed and hung up.
Back at the library Xander and Buffy secured the werewolf in the book cage and Giles headed into the stacks.
"We have class tomorrow." Xander said. "As a Slayer you need less sleep than the rest of us. Why don't you go home and get a couple of hours and I'll stay and help watch Wolfie. I can help Giles with research too."
"Alright, I'll come back around midnight to relieve you. That's the right word, right?"
"Yes, it is." Xander nodded and pulled out a seat the library table. "See you in a few hours, Buffy." Giles dropped a couple of books in front of him and sat down across from him as Buffy headed home to get some sleep.
"How have you been doing on your own, Xander?" Giles asked.
"My Uncle Rory asked me that not long ago. I got my car from him. He lives out in Ojai and works as some sort of investigator, travels all over the world. Which means I could probably talk to him about Sunnydale and he'd know what I was talking about. But to answer your question, pretty good. Aside from an occasional nightmare and that's par for the course around here, being on my own has been going pretty good. Having the Willow cat there has been helpful too. She's helped me work out some bugs in the prototypes I'm working on. So far she's following the rules I laid out. It's weird, she's got a human brain but is definitely acting like a cat. All she needs is a patch of sunlight and she sleeps the day away."
"She's adjusting well than, that's good. Xander, I wish to thank you for what you said to that Cain person."
"About you being like a father to us? The Watchers Council might have issues with you caring about Buffy, but none of us a problem with you caring about any of us. Especially me. Thanks for looking out for me."
"You are welcome, my boy. Ah, I believe I've found something. Werewolves change three nights a month, the day before, the day of and the day after a full moon. The moon is close to full on the bookend days, so whatever it is about the moon that causes them to transform, there is enough of it to effect them on those days as well."
"Which means our guest will transform again tomorrow."
"We may need to make a permanent arrangement if they're willing to let us help him or her."
"Him, Giles, it's a him."
"You're certain?"
"He's not wearing any clothes, Giles and i carried him out of the Bronze and into the school. It was unmistakable."
Giles chuckled. "Touche', I fear I wasn't paying attention. Buffy may well have been correct, the two of us may not have been able to capture him. I would have been fearful of missing with the tranq gun and harming a human. You know what you're doing with it and didn't hesitate."
"Yeah, but it wasn't enough to put him down, at least not fast enough. I tried to be as careful as I could when I hit him. As far as we know, he doesn't intend to hurt anyone."
"He may well be a newly made werewolf. In the first few months they often don't know, just wake up in odd places and try to figure what's going on. But it's also inherited, so even if he is new, any children he father's will also be werewolves."
"I wonder, if he lets us help him, does this mean we have a new member of our group?"
"We'll have to see come morning." Giles agreed.