The battered school bus was approaching three miles from the epicentre of the crater, when Faith spoke up "Giles? Take a look at this."
Rupert Giles took one final look at Xander, lying stretched out on the back seat of the bus with Willow, Buffy and Dawn hovering over him, and made his way to the drivers seat. "Yes Faith. What it?" He asked.
"That." Faith said, as she took a hand off the wheel and pointed ahead through the window.
"My word!" Giles exclaimed. Just under a quarter of a mile ahead, a large roadblock manned by armed soldiers blocked off the road. Behind the road block there was a virtual tent city. Most of the tents were small tents set up in blocks that stretched out to cover a large area. However, there were larger tents nearer the roadblock, one of which had a large white cross painted on it. On spotting that particular tent, Giles drew in a breath and spoke to Faith. "They have hospital tent, and we have wounded."
Faith just nodded her head and drove onwards. As the bus drew up at the roadblock, a soldier jumped aboard. Taking a quick look at the passengers, he jumped off again and shouted "Medics! We have wounded on the bus."
During the resulting rush, as medics and stretcher bearers led or carried the survivors to the hospital tent, Giles was separated from the others and led into a small curtained off area. Looking up, from his arm, which was being bandaged by a corpsman, he saw one of the curtains being parted as a corporal entered. "Hello sir. Can I have your name please?" The corporal asked, holding up a clipboard. "It's for the survivors list." He added.
At the same moment that Giles said "Rupert Giles." He winced as the corpsman tightened the bandage. Smiling as he waved away the apologies of the corpsman, Giles missed the look of recognition on the corporal's face. Turning back he just caught the view of the corporal's back as he let down the curtain as he left. Shrugging his shoulders, he bent his head to listen to the corpsman deliver his advice on how to look after his wounds.
The survivors of the battle to close the Hellmouth were gathered in a large tented hospital ward. Spread out over the beds at one end, the new slayers, two older slayers, Giles and a witch, were quietly talking together when the strangers entered. Three men, two in uniform and one in a grey suit, approached. "Good evening, I'm undersecretary of state, Mark Stevenson." The suited man said. Pointing to the uniformed man with grey hair and a chest full of medals, he said "This is General Marcus Norton of the Marines." Pausing to turn and point to the younger man in uniform, he continued. "And this is Phillip Leinster, colonel in Army medical corps.
With a look of confusion on his face, Giles nodded to them. "Gentlemen. How can I help you?" he asked.
"Well, as you're the senior surviving member of the Watchers Council, it should be how can I help you?" Mr Stevenson asked. As the expanded Scooby gang looked at him with mouths dropped in shock, he prepared to go on, but was interrupted by a quite murmur in his ear from the colonel. Stepping back, he allowed the colonel to take centre stage.
Clearing his throat to gain their attention, the colonel began to speak. "You are aware of the effect the Hellmouth has on the general public in Sunnydale?" he asked.
"Sure, they had blinkers on. It was all wild animals or pcp gang member." Dawn answered.
Buffy nodded her head. "With the police, we thought it was the mayor who controlled them. But they still think its gang members. And it's been like ages since the mayor got blo...er died." Buffy added.
The colonel, ignoring Buffy's quick save, continued. "The effects were a great deal more encompassing than that. It also affected the memory. It blocked the fact that Vampires and werewolves are know to the general public." Continuing on, despite the shocked looks on their faces, he said. "The onset of the memory loss was quite rapid. Within an hour of entering the hellmouth's influence in fact. We are still unsure how this was achieved. Even those, like yourself, who know that these monsters exist, are affected. You become unaware of the general publics knowledge regarding vampires and weres." Shrugging his shoulders, he said. "Despite many years of research by the Watchers Council, no way to protect someone from this affect has been found. However, once you leave the influence of the Hellmouth, your memory should gradually return."
At this point Willow interrupted him to ask a question. "What about those of us born in Sunnydale? We grew up not knowing."
"Have you ever left Sunnydale before?" Colonel Leinster asked.
Willow nodded her head. "Yes, I spent some time in England with Giles." She answered.
Smiling at Willow, the colonel said. "Then that should be no problem. I'm sure it was a shock when you found out the first time. Just as I'm sure that Mr Giles helped you cope that time. When you regain your memory, you will remember what you found out that time. It shouldn't be such a shock this time."
Willow only relaxed for a moment before asking another question. "What about Xander? The only time he left Sunnydale, he got as far as Oxnard before turning back. How is Xander anyway? We asked and asked but know one would tell us anything and he took a nasty blow and his eye looked really bad and there was a lot of blood and I think I need to take a breath now." Willow babbled.
"The young man is in a stable condition. We've replaced the blood he lost but we will have to wait for the swelling to go down before we can say anything about his eye." The colonel said. Turning to Mr Stevenson, he raised an eyebrow.
Stepping forward, once again, Mark Stevenson said. "We are aware of the problem with those born in Sunnydale. We have a department that keeps track of residents who move out of Sunnydale. We provide councillors to explain matters to them."
"Why do you need a department? Why not just leave it to the new Neighbours to explain?" <one of the new slayers> asked.
Sharing a quick look with two men in uniform, Mark Stevenson paused before answering. "Because, although the public is aware vampires and weres, they are not aware of the Hellmouth." He said. He quickly added. "We had to keep knowledge of the Hellmouth secret. Could you imagine the results if a terrorist organization tried to hold the world to ransom? By threatening to open the Hellmouth. Not to mention the problem a madman could cause." Raising a hand to prevent any comments about madmen, he added. "I know you've had problems with madmen trying to open the Hellmouth before. But there would have been a lot more of them if we hadn't kept it a secret."
Giles was cleaning his glasses by this time and replaced them as he made his own observations known. "Good grief. I can just imagine the disaster." He exclaimed. Noting that Buffy was about to voice her disagreement with any government decision regarding the Hellmouth, he added. "Think Buffy. If the general public knew about the Hellmouth. And if they know about vampires and werewolves already, what would be their reaction be?
"Oh boy! You'd have a stampede. And with that memory thingy...they'd turn into a vamp fest." Buffy said.
"That's why we kept it a secret." Mark Stevenson said. Smiling at the group, he asked "Now on to better things. Which of you is Buffy Summers?" When Buffy raised her hand, he pulled a large manila envelope from a briefcase, and approached her. "We've been holding onto your credentials for some time. They would have been given to you if you had to leave Sunnydale for any reason."
Buffy poured the contents of the envelope onto one of the beds. Picking up a passport from the pile, she looked at it with confusion. "What's this? It's got the wrong colour. It's pale blue and what's this design on the front?"
"That's a U.N diplomatic passport." Mark Stevenson explained. At the baffled looks he was getting from the group, he further explained. "You are aware that the Geneva Convention is the mechanism by which diplomats gain their immunity from prosecution and freedom of movement?" After receiving a nod from both Giles and Willow, he ignored the blank looks from the others and continued. "There is a section of the treaty that, while not publicised to the public, is included in each countries copy. It grants the Slayer diplomatic privileges, and at the discretion of the counties involved, it also grants state police documents. If you examine the other documents, you will find that you are a Federal Marshall in the United States."
Giles held up a small folder with the words Scotland Yard on it and raised an eyebrow at Mr Stevenson. Nodding his head, Mr Stevenson said. "If you travel to France you would be handed documents for the Surete by any of their embassies." Pulling a face, he added. "In Russia, they do things a little different. They try to keep such things even more secret than us. If you had to go to Russia you would receive papers identifying you as a colonel in the K.G.B. You would also have a team of Spetnaz<?> at your disposal." Pulling another envelope from his briefcase, he looked at the others and asked. "Faith Wilkins?"
After a moment going through her new papers, Faith seamed to think of something. Holding up her U.N. passport, she asked. "This means I don't go to jail, right?" At the undersecretary's nod of agreement, she continued. "Then how did I end up in jail? And how come I didn't remember about vampires and demons?"
"The Watchers Council is the simple answer." Mark Stevenson said with a sigh. "They kept so many things a secret from us. We've been asking them to share more information for ages. We simply didn't know that there were two Slayers. If we had know, we would have secured your release immediately." He finished.
At this point, General Marcus Norton stepped forward. "We in armed forces have also been asking for a more active role." He stated. "We know that that we cant operate in the front lines. This thing about balance. If the army steps in, then they can bring in bigger demons. But we could provide some sort of support." He said. Looking at Faith in sympathy, he explained. "We understand about friendly fire. We try to make it as impossible as we can, but it still happens. From the documents salvaged from the Watchers Council, that's how your problems started. We have people who could have helped you through it."
As Faith sat there with a sad look on her face, Mark Stevenson nodded his head and said. "From what we gather from the documents, they were also responsible for your lack of memory regarding the situation outside Sunnydale. They apparently had a spell cast on you that mimicked the hellmouth's affect on memory."
"You salvaged documents from the explosion?" Giles asked.
General Norton nodded his head. "From what I gather from my counterpart in the U.K, the explosion was of a concussive nature. There were a few fires, but they were quickly put out. The building itself was mostly destroyed. But a lot of the books and documents have already been dug up." He said.
"Where are the books being taken?" Giles asked eagerly.
Mark Stevenson shared a look with General Norton before saying. "As they are discovered they are being guarded by the Royal Marines. Then, once enough have been found, they are being shipped to New York."
"New York?" Giles asked with a frown.
"Yes, you see. Every county that is a signatory to the Geneva Convention knows about the Watchers Council. The destruction of the Watchers Council has caused quite a stir in the U.N. A great many meetings have been going on." Mr Stevenson said as he raised both hands in supplication. "The Slayer and the Watchers Council is seen as the predominant defence against the preta-natural. Quite frankly they're scared."
Giles began to clean his glasses as he spoke. "I see...Re-building the Watchers Council must be a priority. But you still haven't told me why the books have been shipped to New York."
"Because of the Security Council. They want it to be part of the U.N. this time. They want the Watchers Council to have more members from other countries. It was mostly British before. As the senior surviving member of the Watchers Council, you'd still be in charge. But the Security Council would feel a lot safer knowing that secrets wouldn't be kept just for the sake of it. After reading a lot of the documents, that seems to be the case for a lot of things the Watchers Council did." Mark Stevenson said nervously.
The undersecretary relaxed as Giles nodded his head and said. "Yes, yes. Quite understandable. And with the new situation with the Slayers, we would need a lot more help."
Mark Stevenson's nervous expression returned. "New situation? What new Situation?" He asked.
"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know." Giles said. He waved his hand at all the girls. "With the exception of Willow, they're all Slayers."
The three men blinked in surprise. "All...all of them?" Mr Stevenson stammered.
"Yes, you see it was necessary. We needed them to be called. Closing the Hellmouth while fighter an army of demons would have been impossible otherwise." Giles explained.
"I see..." Mark Stevenson said in amazement.
The Generals cough brought the undersecretary out of his daze. "Yes, yes. Plans to be made. Decisions to ponder." Mark Stevenson said. "That brings me to General Norton's presence here. We would like to offer you secure accommodations for a while." He continued. Notting the alarmed look on some of the faces, he hurriedly explained. "Just till your memories return. It would make things easier if you had all your memories before making further plans. Also the General feels that you need a place you can relax."
"To bloody right!" General Norton exclaimed. "How many years have you been operating without a break?" He asked. Waving a hand, he continued. "Never mind, just saying years is enough." Looking at Giles he asked. "There were ex-military in the Watchers?" At Giles's nod of acknowledgement, The General shook his head. "Bloody bastards. I'd gut them if they were still alive." As the others looked on with shock, and Buffy and Faith's grinned at the General's idea of gutting Watchers, he continued his rant. "They would have known about battle fatigue." Pointing a finger at Giles he said. "The bastards should have trained you to look out for that. Mistakes can happen without a break from the fighting." Shaking his head, he added. "Even a few days off now and then could have helped. Anyway, time for some R and R for you lot. And the marines guarding the base we're thinking of know about Sunnydale and Slayers." Notting the looks exchanged between some of the group, he explained. "Oh, they know about Sunnydale and Slayer because their rules of engagement prohibited them from entering Sunnydale. They're a unit designated to handle preta-natural monsters hired by terrorists to cause problems in the states. They've only seen action three times, but they know your situation and will guard your back while you have some well deserved R and R."
As Buffy and a few of the girls began to grin at the thought of R and R, Giles asked. "Where is this base?"
"Just outside of St. Louis. It's got the best defences we have, plus a few extras." General Norton said.
"Extras?" Giles asked.
General Norton grinned as he answered. "Good deeds are there own reward. The lads saved a witch in their last fight. The next week the witch turned up with a few friends. The base has got some of the strongest wards in the country now."
"I'm not going anywhere without Xander!" Willow exclaimed.
As everyone in the group nodded their agreement with Willow, General Norton turned to the Colonel. "He safe to move?" He asked.
"By air?" Colonel Leinster asked. At the Generals nod, he added. "He's stable enough. As I said before, it'll be some time until the swelling has gone down enough for us to look at his eye."
Mark Stevenson broke in at this point to ask. "Is the base hospital equipped to handle such a case?"
"Why do you think I was assigned to this mission?" The colonel asked. "I was the one who wrote up the requirements for the hospital. The base hospital is well able to handle such a case." He answered.
Buffy looked at the others. "Looks like we're going to St. Louis." She said.
A little while later, as Colonel Leinster was making his rounds, he entered a curtained off area. Seeing the puzzled look on the face of a man wearing a F.E.S.A<?> jacket, he quickly ran his eyes over the monitoring equipment. Seeing nothing amiss, he turned to the man in the jacket. "Anything wrong?" He asked.
The man looked at him for a moment before answering. "I don't understand. He should be healing by now." He said.
"He is healing. It'll take some time but he's on the road to recovery." The colonel said in a puzzled voice.
The man, once again, looked at him a moment before speaking. "You don't understand. He's a were. He should be healing a helluva a lot faster than this." He said.
Colonel Leinster took in a deep breath. "If he is a were, then your right. He should be healing faster in that case." He said. Turning from Xander's bandaged and immobile form, he faced the man and asked. "How do you know he's a were?"
"I'm a were myself. A were hyena." The man answered. Pointing at Xander, he added. "And so is he." Scratching his chin he continued in a soft voice. "I've seen sat here trying to contact his beast. If he changed he could heal practically in a moment. Only thing is I can't. I can't get through to his beast." Sighing softly he said. "I've been thinking of calling my Orlonga to come see him." Noticing the colonel's puzzled look, he explained. "Hyenas are matriarchal and that's the title of the leader. She'd know what to do."
"Well, if you can get her here within a half hour, be my guest." The colonel said. When the man looked at him with questioning look, he continued. "He's leaving for St. Louis in half an hour."
The man grinned at the colonels back as he turned to adjust one of the monitoring displays. "No need. Looks like the mountain is going to Mohammed." He whispered.