Once Alex and Cordelia met up with the others he explained tbe assignment from Cordelia's father to them,
"He wants us to help the police find a lead, someone they can investigate, by searching the school for the smell of death or chemicals."
"The chem labs already have chemicals in them, but they're occupied by teachers and students." Willow pointed out, she'd just met up with Buffy when Alex and Cordelia had gone looking for Buffy. "But there are unused buildings on campus, ones that used to be classrooms, any of them could be used for the set up you'd need for something like this. The police really think someone is trying to Frankenstein someone? How crazy would someone have to be to actually do something like that?"
"Well," Giles told them. "Victor Frankenstein, the character in the story who created the legendary Frankenstein's monster, did so to push the boundaries of science. From a moral and religious standpoint, what he did was horrifying, but he wasn't insane. But, I agree, anyone trying to do it for real would not be sane."
"Why are there entire unused buildings with classrooms in them?" Buffy asked.
"Because the high death rate in Sunnydale, thanks to Mayor Wilkins making this a safe haven for vampires and demons, means kids and teenagers have the highest death rate in Sunnydale." Alex answered. "We die in greater than the adults and even with a constant influx of new people, the population can't keep up. Thus unused classrooms."
A small silence met that sobering statistic. "I'm sorry I asked." Buffy said softly. "God, no wonder you guys are fighting so hard to charge things, to make it safe around here. Someone has to or people are just going to keep dying and the public's too afraid to accept what's going on."
"Giles was right," Jesse told them, "on some level, sooner or later the public does figure out what's going on in Sunnydale, but monsters are for stories, so they can't accept that monsters are killing their kids. So they live in denial. We can fight the monsters and we can try to make things safer for people, but monsters are still going to be a fact of life in Sunnydale. Well worldwide, since vampires have been around as long as humans have. But Sunnydale has more of them thanks to Mayor Wilkins."
"And that denial, that fear, leads to people like Catherine Madison and the zookeeper seeking power, but being corrupted by it." Giles looked thoughtful. "However by doing this, creating their own version of a Frankenstein, they may be doing it to defy death. Death can be a monster too, the ultimate monster that takes our loved ones from us."
"That could be what they're doing." Willow agreed. "Trying to find a way to fight death, if they can bring life to a lifeless corpse, they might be able to bring someone back from death."
"Magic can do that, in a variety of way." Giles told them. "But they're always flawed and damaged in some way, science would probably be the same."
"So let's start with the unused classrooms." Alex decided. "Willow, could you print out copies of the campus maps and mark the unused buildings on them? All we have to do is get a whiff of death, that should be enough for the police to follow up. Anything dead being found being reason to call the police. Then they can take whoever is doing this into custody and see about getting them the help they need. Because you need serious mental help if you go around digging up bodies so you can make your own Frankenstein, regardless of your reasons for doing it."
"I think that's what I was smelling earlier." Cordelia realized. "A whiff of death. It would cling to whoever is doing this even after they'd cleaned up. Or the smell is drifting enough for me to catch it, all it takes is a shift in the wind and open windows."
"If it's clinging to someone, that would imply whoever is responsible was in the hall at the same time we were. Someone signing up for the Science Fair maybe." Alex looked grim. "I didn't catch a whiff myself, Cordelia's got a better sense of smell, she'd catch even a faint whiff before I would."
"How many copies, Alex?" Willow asked, moving to the computer.
"Three, one for Cor and me, one for Jesse and Aura and one for Buffy and you, if you want. Neither of you can smell like we can, but you could identify most of what would be needed for a set up like this and Buffy can keep you safe while you search."
"I'm willing." Willow agreed, printing out the copies and beginning to mark the unused buildings on each of them. "I always feel safe with Buffy and I want to help."
"That's nice to know and so do I." Buffy grinned at her friend.
"Anyone finds anything, find the others and than head for the Library." Alex instructed. "No need to keep searching if someone does find something and the Library has a phone, Cordy and I each have our own, but the rest of you don't, the Library does. Probably be a good idea if we all get phones if we're going to have to keep doing investigations and it could come in handy for you, Buffy, if you get caught out somewhere while patrolling."
"That is a good idea." Buffy agreed. "What haven't you thought of it, Giles?"
"Modern technology scares him." Willow answered for him. "You should have seen how he acted regarding the computer the school installed in the Library. It was funny."
"Explains why you have a dictaphone and that thing you call a car." Buffy teased while Giles grumbled at the good natured teasing, which was an improvement over the constant dressing downs he'd been receiving.
"Alright," Alex examined the map. "Cor and I'll take these buildings." He indicated them on the map. "Jesse and Aura can take these and Buffy and Willow these. Be careful, we have no idea how far gone this person or persons might be and they could be dangerous. If it's at all possible, don't confront anyone, just get a sense of if there's something for the police to investigate and get out. But defend yourselves if you have to."
With murmurs of agreement, the others took their copies and the group divided into pairs and headed out to find a clue as to who was digging up bodies and possibly Frankensteining a monster of their own.