"The curse has already been cast." Jenny told them. "It's Mayor Wilkins' curse and he's dead, unless he trusted someone else to do the casting for him and I don't think so. He was a Magic user and would have no need to have someone else cast it for him. And given that everything we heard says it's set to go off, that implies a catalyst is being used. Some object that is anchoring the curse and will release unless shut down in time. Without knowing what that catalyst is or where to find it, we may not be able to stop it from going off."

"This has the feeling of another test." Xander said, annoyed. "These Powers give just enough information to tease, but not enough to actually help. And now we spend the next two days running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to find something when we still have no idea what it looks like or where we can find it. This so-called vision gave us exactly two pieces of new information. It's a curse and it's aimed at the leader of the group responsible for stopping the Mayor's Ascension. And what is an Ascension anyway?"

"Question for another time." Giles decided. "With a curse, it doesn't matter where you are physically. You could be on the other side of the world and it'll still effect you."

"Leaving isn't an option anyway, Giles." Xander answered. "If something that could be considered a nightmare comes to life and shows up anywhere, it'll go after anyone in its path. The curse part is on me, the form will come from my mind. What it does after that, is based on how it would normally act. All of those horror shows have something in common, people die, painfully and in terror."

"You're undoubtedly correct." Giles agreed. "And if this vision is correct, than the reason we haven't found anything is that this catalyst has been dormant and will now become active."

"Amy and I will continue to do scans." Jenny told them. "Any new found Magic will immediately be investigated. Although we're also going to have to reinvestigate any known Magic users if we detect them using Magic over the next couple of days as well. Just because it's most likely that a catalyst set by Mayor Wilkins is being used doesn't mean he couldn't, at the very least, have a back up in place if the primary fails."

"I would." Xander agreed. "It's standard practice when mounting a campaign, multiple lines of attack and back up if at all possible."

"And what about me?" Doyle asked. "What are you going to do about me? Are you going to kill me too, like you did Whistler?"

"Whistler was knowingly complicit in the Powers plan and therefore was just as guilty of those deaths as the Powers are." Xander told him. "As a demon with power, the human justice system couldn't have dealt with him. Granted my reasons for killing him had more to do with being pissed at his bosses and their actions, which resulted in a lot of deaths, including some my people. You, on the other hand, seemed to have been duped and may be being used by these Powers. There's something I can do to confirm or deny your complicity."

"Some kind of Magic? And if you decide I am complicit?"

"Not Magic, no and if it proves your complicity than you die. What I can do, is scan your mind, your memories. Will you give permission for me to do so? If you are willing to let me do it, it will help show you're good intentions."

"I guess, okay, go ahead. If it keeps me from being killed."

"It shouldn't hurt." Xander told him. "But I'm not sure, when I do this with humans, it doesn't hurt. When I did it on a full demon and a vampire, it hurt me both times, but didn't hurt either of them."

"Thanks for the heads up. Go ahead."

Xander steadied himself and lowered his barriers and laying his hand on Doyle's shoulder, reached into his mind and shifted though what he found there. After a while, he withdrew and sighed. "You saw it too, didn't you?"

"Yeah, man." Doyle said sadly. "I did really think I was being given a chance to help. There's things I want to make up for."

"You still can, your ability is genuine and so is your wish to help." He looked at the others. "There's an unnatural energy in his mind, I think our theory that his ability is being hijacked is correct. Maybe you could scan him with Magic and see if you can remove it."

"I'll do my best." Jenny promised. "But wouldn't it be an advantage to leave it in place and see what future messages from the Powers might be?"

"The energy is causing damage." Xander answered. "The vision he had was painful and that's not normal. The damage could add up."

"My grandmother never had any pain with her visions."

"Nor do the Seers I'm familiar with." Giles agreed. "I take it you didn't agree to have this energy implanted in your mind?"

"No, it was never mentioned. All Whistler told me was they wanted a messenger, it never even occured to me to ask if that involved visions, let alone painful ones and he never offered information."

"He's not lying." Xander confirmed. "We need Jenny searching for this catalyst, but once this crisis is taken care of, we'll help find a way to get that energy out of your head."

"Thanks, I appreciate that. I guess I'll have to find another way to make for the things I regret."

"You want a purpose in your life, something worth believing in." Xander said thoughtfully. "We may be able to help you with that. You're non hostile toward humans as a species and I saw in you mind, as an individual. How would you feel about being the official Seer for a bunch of vampire hunters? Once we free you from the Powers."

"That sounds like a better idea, you haven't lied to me or tried to force anything on me. Let me think about it."

"In meantime, we have to try to find that catalyst."

A/N Canonical reference, Wolfram and Hart employs Seers and psychics, which we're given to believe are totally human. That's clearly seen on the show and none of them experience pain or claim their visions come from anywhere. We also see an energy leave Doyle and go into Cordelia. Later Skip tells Angel's group that they've all been been manipulated for years just so Jasmine could be born. If Skip's not lying and he doesn't seem to be, then Angel was never a Champion and Cordelia was a natural born Seer who's ability was coopted for Jasmine's purposes. And the same for Doyle. Which also means "You're Welcome" was another manipulation and Angel fell for it, again. And before you mention the Shanshu, one prophecy had already been proven to be part of Jasmine's plot, the one that resulted in Connor being kidnapped, what's to say another was also false. Angel did feel 'drawn' to the scroll. In hindsight, it all screams set up.