mandolin | New Blood commentary pt. 2

And the next part of the "New Blood" commentary. I think this is going to hit six parts at least.

I do intend to go all the way through this. I personally love this story, and have been continually frustrated with my inability to produce a full sequel that lives up to it. ("Slow Night" doesn't really count.)

"What happened last night?" Oz asked as his girlfriend stumbled towards the front doors of Sunnydale High, trying to balance the ten or so books in her arms. Sighing, he reached over and took a good portion of the stack from her hands, hefting it with more ease than she. "Other than the usual?"

"Oz, you don't have to carry all that!" Willow exclaimed, pouting a bit. "I can do it quite well by myself, thank you very much."

He smiled fondly at that as they reached the front door. "Yeah, but now you get to open the door for me."

I know Oz isn't quite terse enough here. Keep in mind this was my first shot at writing Buffy fanfic, and I went over it again to fix things. I do pay lip service to this a bit later.

Before she could act, the door swung open. "What took you guys so long?" Buffy asked.

"Buffy, I was going to open it," Willow pouted. "And we're not that late."

"I know." The Slayer shrugged as the two teenagers entered the building. "But I'm so used to being the one late for everything that I just wanted to say that."

I don't know where I got this one. If anyone had a reputation for showing up late or in the middle of things, it'd be Cordelia.

"Like I was asking Will, what did I miss?" Oz asked as they followed Buffy down the corridor.

"Same old, same old," Buffy answered. "Patrolled, staked a few vamps, although Giles didn't find any prophecies to worry about. Although we know that electrical storm couldn't have been natural."

Oz raised an eyebrow. "That storm shorted out the power at the Bronze for half an hour. If it wasn't natural, what caused it?"

LONG sentence for Oz, but I do note that here.

"We don't know," Willow confessed. "But then it opened up this weird gray vortex in the middle of the library and this guy fell out."

"On the Hellmouth, that can't be a coincidence," Buffy added.

Thank you, Captain Obvious!

Something occurred to Willow. "You find anything out about Mike yet?" At Oz's questioning look, she explained, "The guy who fell out of the vortex."

"Aside from the fact that he eats like Xander, not much. That's kind of what Giles called everybody down here to discuss." Buffy paused as the meaning of Oz's uncharacteristically wordy statement sunk in. "The power went out for half an hour? How long was it before the rioting started?"

See, the characters notice it too. So it's not so bad.

Oz shrugged. "Forty-three seconds. Must be a record." He stopped at the doors of the library and looked at his girlfriend expectantly. "Willow?"

Grinning, Willow pulled the door open as Buffy took some of Oz's burden. "Forty-three seconds?" Willow repeated as they walked into the library. "Wow. Either not a lot of people were drunk or they were so smashed it took a while to figure out the power was gone."

Now that I think of it, this doesn't sound like a Willow line. I think it's the "too smashed" part.

"It was after one a.m.," Oz reminded her.

"I'll take 'too smashed' for $200, Alex," Buffy quipped as Giles came out of the office. "Where do you want these?"

"Anywhere will do," Giles responded, wiping his brow. "They still haven't fixed the air conditioning system."

Oh, yeah, the broken A/C and the accompanying heat wave, a subplot I milked for everything it was worth.

"Don't remind me," Cordelia moaned melodramatically, emerging from the stacks with Xander in tow. She fanned herself with a magazine, flopping into a chair. "November never seems to go below seventy-eight. It feels so gross in here!"

From their slightly disheveled states, it wasn't just the lack of air conditioning that had raised Cordelia's temperature. Giles raised an eyebrow, and Xander looked a little embarrassed. "Well, uh, it is kind of hot in here."

Out of the corner of her eye, Buffy could see the strange expression on Willow's face. She seemed disappointed, but almost...relieved, in a way. Buffy made a mental note to ask her friend if something was wrong. Willow had gotten over Xander a while ago, as far as anyone knew.

Just a reminder that this is just before "Lover's Walk" and Xander and Willow are still fighting the attraction that popped up at the least opportune time.

Mike emerged from the shelves on the other end of the library, where the few non-occult references were housed. He was flipping through the 1997 Almanac and looked thoroughly perplexed. "This doesn't make sense," he muttered. Giles cleared his throat, and Mike looked up, dazed. "Oh."

"Sorry," Buffy apologized. "Thought you'd like to know people were staring." As Willow cleared her throat, she added. "Oh, yeah. Mike, meet Oz. Oz, this is Mike, uh--"

"Corbett," Mike repeated for the third time that day. "How many people know about this?"

"Historically, the Slayer and her Watcher worked in secret," Giles started. "But from time to time, others have found out. It actually has been rather helpful."

Oz smiled ever so slightly. "Giles can't get rid of us."

Not that he's really trying to. For all his early exasperation with the burgeoning Scooby Gang, Giles wouldn't have changed things if he could.

Mike chuckled and turned his attention back to the almanac, looking somewhat perplexed. "What do you mean, it doesn't make sense?" Willow asked, bringing them back to the subject at hand.

Sighing, Mike ran a hand through his hair, setting the almanac down on the table. "It's not that I don't understand what I'm reading, it's just that a lot of things here didn't happen in 1997. Not for me, anyway."

Here I begin to establish that yes, Mike is from an alternate universe.

Before anyone could react to that, another voice interrupted. "New blood?"

But first, here's Faith, bringing the title with her.

Everyone but Cordelia, who was still fanning herself, turned.

Leaning casually against the doorframe, the speaker smiled lazily. Mike managed to keep himself from staring, but he couldn't help giving her an appraising look. The girl standing there reminded him somehow of Maya, but any reason why she would completely escaped him - aside from the fact that she was gorgeous.

As he caught himself, he didn't notice that she was sizing him up as well, nor did he notice the appreciative look she shot Buffy. The blonde rolled her eyes.

Note - I never intended Mike and Faith to get together, but the attraction was definite; they'd sure as hell try, but any such relationship would end in disaster. Faith, in this timeline, is still going bad. The Mike/Maya pairing I considered initially now makes me cringe because a re-watching of the series made Maya seem even more of an airhead than I thought. And yes, I share Faith's opinion of the boy. The only male on Lost Galaxy I was initially interested in fell to his apparent death in the pilot, which pissed me off to no end. Good thing it was only temporary.

"Nice of you to join us, Faith," Giles greeted calmly, without a trace of sarcasm.

"Could have used you last night," Buffy added as Faith strode over to join them.

The casual smile faded from Faith's face at that. "I - kind of had some personal stuff." At the concerned looks on Buffy and Giles' faces, she added hastily, "Couple of drunks in room 8 decided to come party with the girl next door."

"Didn't get very far?" Xander asked.

Faith snorted derisively. "I'm not their idea of the 'girl next door.'" Even Willow managed a small smile at that. "Like I said, who's this?"

Willow is not firmly in the 'I Hate Faith' club yet, so she could smile at Faith's joke.

Buffy sighed, pointing at people in turn. "Okay. Faith, Mike Corbett. Mike, Faith." She folded her arms. "Introductions done."

Unsatisfied, Faith turned to stare at Giles.

"Well, ah, Mike just seemed to drop in on us during the storm last night," Giles explained. "In a manner of speaking."

Cordelia translated. "Vortex opened up, he dropped out." Faith nodded, seeming unsurprised.

She can cram complex issues into a nutshell, can't she?

Mike shook his head. "Nothing surprises you people, does it?"

Willow, Xander, and Buffy answered in unison. "No."

Faith leaned against the table, almost sitting on top of it. "So what's the sitch, B?" she asked. "We gotta stop some demon from taking over the world?"

"The same thing we do every night, Pinky," Xander put in. Then he paused at the lack of reaction. "That joke doesn't work as well backwards, does it?"

"Not unless you're dyslexic," Cordelia shot back. "Oh, wait a minute..."

I wasn't sure this joke would work that way. Xander's comment and Cordelia's reply helped clear it up a bit.

"Nothing so immediate." Giles answered the question, ignoring the two teenagers. "We're mainly trying to discover how, exactly, Mike ended up in Sunnydale. The storm that preceded his arrival had a somewhat familiar configuration."

Faith eyed the pile of books on the table with more than a touch of disdain before straightening up. "Sounds like a blast, but I've got stuff to do."

And Faith saves me from writing Giles' explanation again.

Giles was removing his glasses as he spoke. "Now - now, Faith, I honestly don't think--"

She didn't slow her pace a bit, calling out to Buffy as she walked out. "Patrol tonight?"

Buffy smiled. "Major slayage as always."

Faith strode to the door, opened it, and then paused, turning to Mike. "See you around, Corbett." With that, she was gone.

"All right," Mike began. "What, exactly, was that?"

"That was Faith," Buffy answered. "Slayer number two."

Beside her, Xander seemed to be in a trance. Cordelia nudged him, and he jumped in surprise. "You know, I think I might just try the stake-to-the-throat idea," the May Queen mused.

He grinned playfully. "Promise?"

Giles cleared his throat. "At this rate, I'm ready to start swinging about a battleax. Can we please return to the topic at hand here?" In the resulting silence, he nodded. "Good. Now about that almanac--" He stopped, recalling their conversation at breakfast. "What was the date before you landed here, so to speak?"

"November 21," Mike answered. "2006." Even Oz seemed mildly surprised at that, albeit only momentarily.

A few seconds passed before Xander broke the silence. "Sooo...that's eight years from now." He glanced over at Willow, half expecting her to correct him.

Yes, Xander can do basic math, despite what he may think.

"Guess that explains the outfit," Buffy commented.

"I'm sorry," Cordelia interrupted. "But I do not want to live in a future with that absolute lack of fashion sense."

"So you're from the future," Oz repeated.

"Not from this future," Mike corrected. "Half the stuff that I know happened in 1998 either didn't happen or turned out completely different."

"It - it could just be inaccurate editions," Willow offered. "You know, when they make mistakes like spelling the Prime Minister's name wrong and flipping pictures around and, uh, that sort of thing."

Mike shook his head. "I doubt it. This is too far off." At the blank looks he got, he added, "According to my history: the Unabomber was some religious nut named Bill Gates, Monica Lewinsky had an affair with Newt Gingrich, Saddam Hussein aimed missiles at the '95 World Teen Summit and managed to blow himself up instead." He paused before finishing. "...and a bunch of aliens tried to nuke my hometown in '98. Same old, same old."

"I'm going to go out on a limb here," Xander guessed, "and say we're not dealing with typos."

I had so much fun making up all that stuff. I decided that considering the universe Mike came from, the alternate history could stand to be more than a bit absurd.

"From what you're telling us, it sounds as though you're describing an alternate timeline of sorts," Giles proposed, starting to pace.

Willow pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Alternate timeline? Like alternate dimensions on Star Trek?"

Since the "world without shrimp" explanation had yet to come up, I had to fall back on Willow's knowledge of sci-fi to coast me through the explanation.

"Possibly," Giles answered. "There are a few vague records of attempts to create temporal or spacial folds that result in - ah - interdimensional travel, I suppose. But that can only be achieved by either a supernatural force or someone with experience in complex magical arts."

"I fell into a crevice on an unknown planet," Mike put in, repeating himself from the previous night. "I don't know a thing about magic, and I'm still not completely buying what you told me at breakfast."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Xander interrupted. Cordelia elbowed him.

Mike continued, ignoring the jibe. "But everything that happened was so bizarre--" He trailed off helplessly, staring at the tabletop.

"What were you doing on some unknown planet anyway?" Buffy asked.

Mike's gaze remained fixated on the table. "We followed a girl through a portal on the moon."

"Ooookay," Cordelia added skeptically, "so what were you doing on the moon?"

At that, Mike closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "Looking for Jimmy Hoffa," he replied sarcastically before shaking his head. "It was a final training exercise, all right?"

It was Giles who broke the long silence that followed, putting a reassuring hand on the younger man's shoulder. "Perhaps you should start from the beginning."

Ha! And I use this opportunity to cut away from the boring explanation! Go, me and my avoidance techniques!

* * *

The Mayor did not look up as his next meeting entered his office. The curtains were appropriately drawn, plunging the room into darkness. "3:32 p.m. You're late."

Closing the door behind him, his visitor finally removed the long hooded coat and gloves, tossing them on the chair. "Evening meetings are more my style."

"If there's one thing that bothers me," Wilkins answered casually as he finished sorting papers, "it's a lack of cleanliness. But tardiness is right below that on the scale."

Trick chuckled. As bizarre as the Mayor of Sunnydale was, he liked the man's style too much to be put off by him. "It's not easy to cross town in a winter coat and gloves and still be...inconspicuous." He inclined his head at the air conditioner, which was blaring full blast. "I'm guessing this is important, enough to risk my life going out in broad daylight."

"Touche." Wilkins began to pace. "Under normal circumstances, my friend, I would have waited til sunset. But something rather last-minute has come up, and I'd like some of your men to look into it tonight."

The vampire did not sit down, but sought out a dark corner of the room, shadowed enough so that he could take cover if someone accidentally threw the curtains open. "I'm listening. What?"

"That brief electrical interference last night, to be exact," the Mayor explained. "The last time I saw a storm of that configuration, it usually accompanied a summoning, or a demon escaping its prison. Now I don't know about a summoning, but I don't have any sacrifices scheduled until a week from now. Besides, I've just been informed that a very important guest is coming into town. Anything more just throws off my entire itinerary."

Ah, Mayor Wilkins; deliciously evil and incredibly anal about his schedule.

Trick raised an eyebrow. "So somebody on your list got a little impatient."

"Maybe." Wilkins folded his arms. "And if that's true, I want it dealt with."

"I thought you always kept your campaign promises."

"Of course I do," Wilkins declared as he crossed the room and pulled the bottle of Scotch out of the cupboard. "But only if my clients keep theirs. Really, a man can't adequately govern without some form of organization. And since the eye of the storm was almost directly above the Hellmouth..."

Grinning, Trick shifted into his game face, his eyes like pinpricks of yellow light. "Then I'd better go renew my library card."

Not much to say about this scene aside from the fact that it flowed really well. I think I got the Mayor and Trick down pat.

* * *

As Faith slammed the vampire's head into the concrete, she heard a familiar grunt and the faint hiss of the undead becoming dust. "Kind of late, aren't you, B?"

Buffy spun to block the next vampire's punch as Faith finally ceased her pounding and drove a stake through the half-conscious vampire in her grasp. "You missed a really good story."

For once, Faith didn't waste any time in dusting the next vampire that came at her. "Uh-huh. When Giles pulls out the books, it's time to go slay."

Turning, Buffy punched and staked the last one, leaving just the two of them in the alley. "Kind of. But I don't think they're going to find anything in Giles' books. They'd do better in the sci-fi section."

"Sci-fi?" Faith tried and failed to hide her interest. "Okay, B, you got me curious. Spill."

Buffy stopped and looked at her oddly. "Why are you so interested?"

"He's kind of hot, and I'm bored."

Buffy could only stare at her. "What?"

"Come on, B," Faith added. "He's got a nice ass, you've got to admit."

Only Faith would have made these observations so casually.

"I didn't really stop to check," Buffy answered, laughing in disbelief. "You're kidding."

"Look at the menu again," Faith pointed out. "You got Angel, sure, but the Hellmouth is the only thing this town's got going for it."

"That's not exactly how I'd put it." Buffy would have said more had not someone stepped from the shadows behind Faith. "Took you long enough."

She was speaking elsewhere, and Faith turned, turning serious she saw who it was. "Speak of the devil. Um, figuratively."

Note the slight post-"Revelations" awkwardness here. I didn't stress it very much, because too much would slow down the plot.

Still focusing on Buffy, Angel didn't take offense. "Sorry," he apologized quietly. "I had a few things to take care of."

"Doesn't everybody?" Buffy murmured.

Faith cleared her throat. "Earth to Buffy. Either give me details or we go find something to stake."

"What? Oh, yeah, Mike." Turning to Angel, she explained, "We got a really weird story out of the guy from last night, and I don't think Giles' books will cover it."

Angel frowned. "That's a first."

"Giles thinks he's from an alternate timeline," Buffy began as the three crossed the street, heading towards one of the many cemeteries in Sunnydale's city limits. "Last he checked, it was 2006, and a lot of stuff that happened for us didn't happen for him."

"So?" Faith asked.

Buffy sighed. "Three words: Monica and Newt Gingrich."

"That's four words," Angel corrected, smiling slightly.

Faith made a face. "That was an image I didn't need."

"Anyway, it's kind of a long, weird story why, but he was on this space station, ended up on some other planet, fell into a pit, and landed here." She paused for only a beat before adding, "Where are they already?"

It took the other two a second to realize what she was talking about. "I don't know," Angel answered. "You'd think we would have been attacked by now."

"It's been a slow night," Faith added. "Like I said, I'm bored. Patrol's been quiet."

Angel turned to meet Buffy's gaze. "Too quiet."

It didn't take a psychic for her to know what he was thinking. "Oh, God," Buffy cried, "not again!"

Shades of "Becoming," Batman! Yep, library attack. Again.

* * *

Here I explain - sort of - what happened to the Magna Defender for the benefit of PR fans. He didn't necessarily get left behind in the chasm. Of course not.

Something had gone wrong. Something had gone terribly wrong.

This was not his world. It was not his resting place. And he remained in energy form, as insubstantial as the mist. He clenched a fist - what passed for a fist - in frustration. Where was this place, and how had he come here, instead of transferring his life force? He should have been free and at full strength again, not a specter in some unknown place.

But the power was still with him. He simply lacked the substance to complement it. Which meant that something must have interfered in his attempt to escape from his prison. Casting about, he suddenly sensed what he was looking for.

It was not far away, a mile at the most, and it emanated great power. Dark power, a wellspring of it, taking in power and letting it sift through the cracks at the same time. Its energy was muffled, like a portal that had been temporarily shut but ready to burst open at any moment. But as evil as it felt, and as muffled as it was, its influence had been great enough to interfere with the transfer and pull him here.

Actually, the Hellmouth alone wasn't the sole catalyst. Like I said, revising the reason.

But not just him. He was growing more and more aware by the minute, and he suddenly knew. The host he had chosen was also nearby. If not for the faint connection he had established, he would not have known.

Awake, his chosen would probably not agree to it so readily. But there was no other way. The mergence of life forces had already begun, and he would see it finished.

He had waited too long, and come too close, to let it go now. Right and wrong be damned; his enemies had to pay. No matter what it took.

It's actually refreshing to have a character from Power Rangers who's not technically a villain with that attitude.

With that, the Defender faded from sight.

Thus confirming to those who'd seen Lost Galaxy that yes, this was the Magna Defender. In case they hadn't figured it out already.

* * *

"Next up...middle name?"

"You really need to know that?" Mike asked. At Willow's nod, he sighed. "Oh, hell, I'll forget a fake one anyway. Edgar." Xander started chuckling.

Sitting across from the laptop that Willow was working at, Cordelia asked loudly, "What are you laughing at, Xander LaVelle Harris?"

Another thing that Xander and Mike have in common: dislike of their middle names. Mike got off easy here. I was building things up slightly so that Xander would sort of remind Mike of his younger brother Leo. (Without the tendency to whine I saw in most of season one.)

It was Mike's turn to snicker as Xander wandered over to peer over Willow's free shoulder. "That's it, mock my parents' cruelty. What're you up to?"

"Making some fake IDs," Willow answered. "If Mike's going to be here for a while, he's going to need identification, medical records, that kind of stuff. Oz knows someone who can do the IDs," she added, anticipating Xander's next question. "I'm just filling in the records."

If Willow can hack into the Pentagon, she can falsify some records. I had to set things up so Mike could stay for a little while in Sunnydale, and get a job.

Xander turned to Oz hopefully, but the musician was already shaking his head.

Yes, Oz saw that one coming a mile away.

Willow glanced up from the computer. "Date of birth?"

"March 15..." Mike broke off, realizing something. "Wait, I'd have to push it back eight years. March 15, 1973."

The Ides of March. Why not?

Cordelia perked up. "'73? Maybe you should make the food runs for us." She glanced over at Xander as she added, "You could get us more than just donuts."

"You wound me, Cordy," Xander answered, turning back to Willow. "And you make him legal? Doesn't our long-time bond of friendship mean anything to you, Will?"

"Give her a break," Mike told him. "She's not making me anything. I'm twenty-five." To Willow, he added, "You're sure you can get away with this."

Note: I guessed on Mike's age. The main characters on Power Rangers are almost always teenagers, but in this case... sorry, you can't have become second-in-command of a space station crew and only be 16 or 17. And it was pretty apparent that the Rangers in that series were all well past high school.

It was Giles who provided an answer. "I don't see why not," the Watcher said as he emerged from the book cage. "The police in Sunnydale regularly seem to ignore the implications of the high murder rate here. I doubt they'd bother much with background checks."

"Well, I'm going to be thorough," Willow declared. "Okay, place of birth."

Mike thought about it for a minute. Angel Grove was nowhere on the map, so he couldn't put down an honest answer. "Ummm...Northridge. We lived there a few years."

"Parents' names?"

"Mike and Catherine Corbett."

"Mother's maiden name?"

"You've got to be kidding."

"Nope."

"O'Donnell," Mike answered as the doors to the library were violently kicked open. "Oh, shit."

I'd just watched "The Mummy" while writing this scene. Guess where I cribbed that last name from?

Giles looked up to see half a dozen vampires swarming into the library. "Not again," the Watcher murmured as he snatched up the nearest cross he could find. Cordelia shrieked and dived beneath the table as the vampires attacked.

Yes, Cordy, they won't see you if you're under the table.

Mike turned in time to see a fist headed straight for his face. He didn't have time to dodge, and the vampire caught him in the shoulder, sending him flying into the railing. Dazed, he stumbled to his feet as someone grabbed him by the shirt, lifting him into the air.

Had to remind myself here that vampires had the advantage over normal humans in terms of strength.

He looked up to see a twisted parody of a female face, now shriveled and warped with glowing yellow eyes. "New in town?" she purred, opening her mouth to reveal gleaming fangs.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what she was up to. "None of your business," Mike gasped, slamming a knee into her stomach. Surprised, she lost her grip on him and stumbled back a step, lunged for him again, and promptly exploded into nothingness.

But vampires don't necessarily always have the advantage of intelligence.

Cordelia was standing there, having staked her with a pencil. She scowled at the pile of dust on the floor. "Slut."

Not very characteristic of Cordelia? Maybe, maybe not; "Homecoming" proved she can and will stand up for herself, that vampire left her back so wide open that Cordy could have taken a second to aim and get lucky, and... I just like the accompanying line. And vampires can be staked with pencils.

Xander was grappling with another vampire, who hadn't noticed that the teenager already had a stake on him. With a grunt, he managed to twist around in time to drive the stake through his attacker's heart. The vampire's fangs were just about to sink into his flesh when they - and their owner - turned to dust.

Note to Trick: Enlist smarter minions. Although these guys were mainly cannon fodder to begin with, since they did serve their purpose.

"Stake through the heart," Mike muttered as he ducked another punch, delivering a roundhouse kick to his assailant's gut. "Got it." He made a mental note to thank his parents for letting him and his brother take martial arts in the first place, if he ever saw them again.

Remember, Mike's from the Power Rangers universe, where everyone and their brother seems to know martial arts. ;)

Clutching the laptop to her chest, Willow suddenly found herself backed into a corner by another vampire. Before he could pounce, though, Oz smashed a chair over the vampire's head. It barely fazed the vampire, but it distracted him enough for Willow to snatch up the splintered chair leg and stake the vampire with it.

Giles was suddenly beside Mike, fending off a vampire with a wooden cross. "This is ludicrous," the Watcher muttered as he shoved a stake and a bottle into Mike's hand. "We're eventually going to run out of chairs if this keeps up." Having said that, he turned to face a new attacker.

Mike caught a glimpse of the bottle's label. Holy water. It figured.

Something grabbed him from behind, and the stake slipped from his grasp. Still holding on to the bottle, Mike elbowed his attacker in the gut, breaking free and turning to face the vampire. The stake was out of his reach, so he dashed the bottle in the vampire's face.

With a howl of pain, the vampire staggered back, covering his face with his hands. Mike dropped to the ground, sweeping the vampire's legs out from under him. As his attacker crashed to the floor, Mike snatched up the stake and jumped to his feet, driving it through the vampire's chest. For a split second, he feared he'd missed the heart, but was relieved as the vampire collapsed into dust.

The next thing he knew, someone grabbed him by the shoulders and promptly threw him over the railing. Mike crashed into a bookshelf and crumpled to the floor with a groan.

It was a moment before he managed to lift his head and check to see how bad of a bump he'd gotten. It wasn't bleeding, but it felt tender. Mike cursed under his breath, then noticed that for the moment, he was being ignored.

Mike gets so many head injuries in this story he's almost up there with Giles in that respect.

He staggered to his feet, leaning against the railing for support. One of the vampires noticed him and charged. Mike silently prayed to whatever deity was listening, and somehow managed a wobbly tornado kick. By sheer luck it landed on target, sending the vampire flying backwards. But Mike was knocked off balance as well, and spun around, barely catching himself on the railing before he could flip over it again.

The sight that greeted him was not what he expected at all.

And the Defender makes his first appearance, so to speak.

Over the central table, a patch of air was rippling, shimmering and distorting like an invisible wave of heat. The distortion seemed to take on a vaguely humanoid shape, standing right in the middle of the table - right above the Hellmouth. A few wisps of ghostly light shimmered at its edges, intensifying to outline the figure as it turned, surveying the room.

All activity in the library ceased as everyone, human and vampire alike, spotted the apparition. While the figure remained indistinct and faceless, Mike knew the moment its eyes locked on him. An icy chill went through him, and it felt as though its gaze had him bolted to the floor, unable to move. The specter lifted a hand to point at him, and then flickered and blurred away, gone as swiftly as it had come.

The entire performance had only lasted seven seconds.

Thus providing an effective distraction long enough for the humans to get the upper hand and let the Slayers get there.

"What the f--" one of the vampires began, briefly forgetting he was supposed to be attacking Giles. His epithet was cut short as the Watcher shoved a stake through his chest from behind.

Ripoff from "Dopplegangland." I know, I know. :)

The simple gesture automatically snapped Mike back into reality. But as he spun to face his opponent again, he was saved the trouble as Faith punched and staked the vampire. "Thanks," he managed, catching himself on the railing.

"No prob," she answered before turning to deck another attacker.

Down by the office, Buffy was doing a similar favor for Giles, while Angel gave Willow time to hide the laptop.

A logical move, considering that the last time a cadre of vampires attempted this, they were looking for information. And since Mike's appearance is the most recent oddity that they know of...

Faith vaulted over the railing, landing almost on top of a vampire. She backhanded the startled vampire in the face, then grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket and slammed his head into the table before staking him. The remaining vampires took one look at the piles of dust and took off running. It was all over in a few minutes.

Stumbling to his feet, Giles literally dusted himself off. "Is everyone all right?"

"We're fine," Oz answered, sinking into a chair beside Willow.

"Oh yeah," Xander groaned, sitting up. "It's not like I need my spleen for anything, right?" Cordelia sighed and knelt down beside him.

Still leaning against the railing, Mike swallowed, trying to get his bearings. "Buffy?"

The Slayer blinked. "What?"

"Now I'm buying it."

Yeah, that demonstration would convince just about anyone.