"Xander, are you alright?" Cordelia asked, as the three girls got out of the car and watched him drop his supplies and weapons in the trunk of his car.

"I'm feeling much better, Cordy." He assured her. "Sometimes violence, when done right and aimed in the right direction, can be a release valve. I didn't enjoy it exactly, but it was satisfying. I promise it won't become a habit. I also promise if someone hurts one of you guys and you can't do something about it yourself, I'll make a mess on your behalf too."

Faith peeked through the door and the haze of clearing smoke. "Willy said there were like ten vamps and a huge, ugly demon in there. I'm seeing a huge, ugly demon with no head and no vampires at all. I take it you have something to do with this situation?" She glanced back at him with a grin.

"Oh, yeah. 10 guage slugs with a shotgun made the vamp's chests explode. A small homemade explosive in the demon's mouth after emptying a clip of 45 hollow points into its body. And the element of surprise and reduced visibility for them with homemade smoke bombs. Took more time for me to make everything and to gear up then to deal with them all."

"We were only about 30 minutes behind you." Buffy frowned confused. "You made all that in that amount of time?"

"No, I had the smoke bombs premade and the ingredients for the small explosive on hand and the guns and ammo in the trunk of my car. Legally, I'm 25, remember? Isn't hard to get a license or buy guns, even in California. And while vampires can't get into the Mansion thanks to the Ward, demons can. It pays to be prepared."

Buffy peeked through the door too and stared at the massive, blobby, bloody demon in a tank. "So that's Balthazar. Or was. Wow. Maybe I need to rethink my 'guns are never useful' philosophy. Wesley seems to like them a lot too."

"I'm going to the Mansion to get cleaned up, I need a blood bag, I'll meet you guys back at the hospital."

"Xander," Cordelia's said gently. "we had an idea, in case Willow does have brain damage from the swelling."

"The nanites. I thought of that too, when I remembered I could read minds because of them. It depends on the amount and severity of the damage and how much she could recover on her own. But I'm willing to do it if it's needed. She's all I have left of Jesse, I can't loose her too. No matter how selfish that feeling might be."

"We don't want to lose her either." Buffy told him. "So if you're selfish, than so are we. At least now we know how to get her through it more easily. She won't suffer like you did."

Xander nodded. "See you guys in a bit." He got in his car and headed for the Mansion.

"He'll be okay." Cordelia decided. "Something like this really will only happen as revenge, not because he enjoys it. I'm convinced of that."

"Same here." Faith agreed. "And damn, X is definitely good at alternative ways of dealing with vamps. Well, let's head back, the others are probably worried." The three girls climbed back into Cordelia's car and headed back to the hospital to continue waiting for Willow to wake up.

In Mayor Wilkins office the not so honorable mayor was shredding paper in a paper shredder.

"It's not working." He complained to Mr. Trick.

"Looks like it's working to me, isn't it supposed to shred paper?"

"No, it's supposed to make me feel better, it's fun. But between finding out Allen missed the Dedication Ceremony because he was being tortured and dumped on the front porch of my house last night and now finding out Allen's left a paper trail of all our deals is seriously depressing me. You don't think he was planning to betray me, do you? And now he's dead and I can't scold him."

"Did you want me to send a committee to deal with Balthazar? I find a little carnage to be a mood elevator."

"That's a good idea. Just burn him out or something, nothing fancy."

"I'll take care of it after sunset. So, which of the Slayer's group are we going to play with first?"

"The one who took care of old Heinrich's rude attempt to open my Hellmouth. There's plenty of ways to distract her. You know, I think my mood is definitely improving. The countdown to my Ascension has begun and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it." The crazy human who wanted to be a demon god smiled cheerfully. "Yep, definitely feeling better. You're right, Mr. Trick, a little carnage can be a mood elevator."

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A/N Some dialog between Mayor Wilkins' and Mr. Truck taken from forever dreaming dot com. Consequences episode.