"While he's doing that, maybe the rest of you could introduce yourselves, including your silent friend over there." Alexander indicated Angel, someone who's presence made him uncomfortable for some reason.

"You don't know me?" The redhead said with a hurt expression.

"Should I? I don't remember meeting you."

"I'm Willow Rosenberg, didn't we grow up together in your reality?"

"I grew up in the Corp, like all teeps before it was disbanded."

"The Corp?" Xander asked.

"Psi - Corp, after the Telepath War it was disbanded. We didn't like being controlled."

"Telepath! You're a telepath?" Willow exclaimed.

"Level eight. After the war, a number of telepaths joined Earth Force, I had a whim to chase legends, so I joined the Anla'shok and trained on Minbar."

"How many levels are there?" Xander asked curiously.

"Twelve." Alexander answered. "And you still haven't introduced your silent friend. Something about him makes me very uncomfortable. I'd like to figure out what it is."

Buffy glared at Alexander. "His name is Angel and he's a vampire, but he has a soul, so he's a good guy."

"A vampire? I've heard stories, dead body, possessed by a demon and you say he actually is one?" Alexander asked sceptically.

"He also has a soul!" Buffy insisted. "He helped protect us tonight, our whole world could have ended. The Hellmouth opened."

"What's a Hellmouth?"

"Dimensional portal to a very unpleasant place." Xander replied.

"I'm Rupert Giles and she's Buffy Summers, the Slayer." Giles said. "And this is Faith, she's also a Slayer."

"And what is a Slayer?"

"Enhanced warrior." Again Xander was the one to answer. "One dies and another activates. Buffy died, but I revived her."

"Wouldn't that mean the title had passed on? If one dies and there's only one usually, then the title belongs to the most recent. You'd be an extra, in that case." He pointed at Buffy. "I mean if he hadn't revived you, you'd just be dead. So why do you object to him helping you?"

"Because he's going to get hurt, he's being reckless."

"Buffy, it's not reckless to help someone who doesn't even realize they're in trouble." Xander told her.

"He's right." Alexander agreed. "You didn't know that creature was behind you and that device could shoot faster than you could move. It could very well have killed you a second time if he hadn't acted."

"I don't want him getting hurt because of me."

"His life, his right to choose. Unless you just want him to just stand there and watch you die because you weren't even aware of the danger."

"I don't want to die, but I don't want him to die either!"

"And yet you don't seem to object to these other people being involved in this battle."

"They all have abilities that mean they can defend themselves more easily, he doesn't." Buffy told him.

"So? Train him, he wants to be involved and he has the right to choose for himself. Everyone does, rather a touchy subject for me, given how telepaths were controlled for so long. I don't like the idea that someone is trying to deny a version of me the basic right to choose for themselves and I figured out why your silent friend over there bothers me so much. I can feel the presence of two minds in him and one of them is horrifyingly malignant."

"You can't read my mind." Angel objected. "Vampire minds can't be read by telepathy."

"Not from a distance, no. But I'm a touch telepath, which means you couldn't keep me out if I wanted in. And I only said I can sense two minds in you, not read you. I don't intend to touch you. Just the waves of malignancy coming off of you make me ill. I think my shields are shaky after experiencing whatever process brought me here. I'm going to meditate for a while. Please excuse me." Alexander made himself comfortable on the floor and began a meditative exercise, working to reinforce his mental shields while the others drew back and talked among themselves.

Buffy moved over to Angel. "What does he mean by two minds, Angel?" Buffy asked, confused. "You're just one person?"

"He means the fact that Angelus is also in there, Buffy." Giles said absently. Buffy gaped at him.

"Giles, that's not true! Angelus kicked Angel out of his body, Willow restored Angel and Angelus got kicked out."

It was Giles' turn to stare, he hadn't realized how little Buffy understood about the curse. "No, Buffy, Angel is caging Angelus. They're sharing the body. The body can't function without Angelus."

"But it was Angel's first." Buffy protested.

"And Angel died and Angelus took it over. Angel was added back in, in order to control Angelus."

"That sounds sick." Alexander commented. "Wouldn't this Angel be suffering just by being in the presence of that much malignancy?"