Chapter 3

In the spirit of the Saturday afternoon cliffhangers (and I'm giving away my age), a little recap...

Carl Kolchak, veteran newspaper hack and Xander wannabe, has been kidnapped by a newly returned Mayor Wilkins and given a message for Buffy and Company. Riley Finn is called from Sunnydale to Area 51 to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a scientist involved with genetic mutation and strange deaths due to "acute anemia". So with that in mind we join our plot in progress...

Riley...

"What in God's name am I doing here, when I could be snuggled up to Buffy and watching a movie?", groaned Riley Finn, special agent and member of the ultra secret organization known as the Initiative. Groaned, because the jet jock flying this F-15 had just pulled a full afterburner takeoff from Twenty-Nine Palms heading for the supersecret Area 51. Let's see, Riley mused, trying to take his mind off the 5 and a half G's of acceleration as the jet climbed through 45,000 feet. At this rate, we're gonna be out of fuel by the time we reach arc midpoint and have to coast to the landing field. This must be more critical than I thought since the 51 tower didn't even ask for authentication when we notified them of our take off, but gave us a straight in approach for the duty runway. At this rate, we should be tipping over and landing in about 15 to 20 minutes.

No sooner had this thought crossed his mind than the pilot whipped the Eagle into a corkscrew maneuver to break the climb and begin a full power descent, and in the process, leaving Riley's stomach somewhere near the edge of the stratosphere.

"Hope you like the roller coaster, Agent Finn," the pilot called. "But I have orders to get you there as quickly as possible regardless of the discomfort or potential damage to this 'bird'."

"What's so critical that these acrobatics are needed?" Riley asked as the negative G-forces pulled him away from his seat.

"You mean the up and down? I can cut almost 30 minutes off transition from Twenty-Nine Palms to touchdown this way, and I don't have to worry about dodging birds. As for why they need you, I don't have a clue. All I know is that I haven't seen the eggheads this rattled since the UFO's started showing up near the weapons testing grounds in Florida. Then they thought it was going to be a shooting war over the Miracle Strip." the pilot grunted as he fought to stabilize the plane as it screamed downward.

"Still," Riley panted, "this is rather extreme don't you think?"

"Mister, according to the gossip at the base, we've lost almost 25 STAAR men to something that they can't kill. You're supposed to be the hotshot answer man that can stop it. Whatever IT is."

Great! thought Riley. Vampires, Buffy is in California, and a shapeshifter is loose. What else is gonna happen?

Buffy...

Well, this is beautiful scenery, Buffy thought sarcastically as they toodled through the desert in the Gilesmobile. The ancient Citroen wheezed and rattled along barely making the speed limit.

Giles was pressing the car as much as he thought the ancient engine could take, and worrying that the desert heat would win the battle for survival. Buffy was staring out the window on the passenger side, Willow, Xander, and Carl Kolchak were mercifully fast asleep in the back seat.

Grateful that Willow was finally able to get some rest, Buffy was soon lost in her own thoughts. I wonder where Riley is? Forrest was even more vague than normal about him. And the rest of the Initiative was acting VERY GREEEN around the gills. Something big is worrying them. If Riley went on another secret mission without telling me, I'm SOOOOO gonna hurt him. Then, I get to 'kiss it and make it better' She thought with a grin.

Giles, on the other hand, was lost in his own thoughts. Thank God Willow and Buffy didn't pick up on our destination. Willow knows that that area is a focus point for ancient magicks. Plus, the remoteness of the meeting area should have sent warning flags up for Buffy. Wouldn't that be a nice situation? To get there and be ambushed ... And of course we know that is not going to happen. And our 'special guest Mr. Kolchak. Having Willow look up information on her abominable machine had served two purposes at least. 1- It gave her something to do, and 2- It provided some much needed background information on Mr. Kolchak. Judging from his attire, he has seen better days. From the background information it appears that he has seen almost as much action as we have. But, I'm troubled by Wilkins using him as a messenger.

Hearing a noise from the rear seat, Giles noticed Carl stirring from his sleep. "Have a nice nap?"

Opening his eyes and trying to stretch as much as possible without waking Willow, Carl replied "As much as it's possible riding in the back of a car. However, it's much better than the last nap I had."

"Oh? How so?"

"Like I said back at the house, I was knocked unconscious and woke up in the trunk of my car. My back is still stiff from it."

"Quite, quite. You never did explain why the Mayor chose you as his messenger."

For a few minutes Carl was lost in thought. "I guess he figured that I owed him."

Is he a dupe? thought Giles. "Owing the Mayor is an ominous situation, Mr. Kolchak. What could you possibly be in his debt for?"

"I killed his daughter several years ago in California."

"YOU WHAT?" Buffy hissed as she locked eyes with him. The sudden increase in tension started to rouse both Willow and Xander.

"I was covering a story about mysterious deaths from severe blood loss in the desert around Las Vegas. The evidence pointed to a Catherine Rawlings, and I trailed her from Las Vegas to a house in the hills overlooking Los Angeles. She found out I was on to her, and she took steps to 'discourage' me."

"So what has that to do with killing her?" Buffy asked.

"The only way that I could stop her was to burn down the house with her in it."

"Did it work?" Buffy asked.

"Apparently so. The Coroner found her charred skeleton in the wreckage and was very unsettled about the poor dentistry. He couldn't understand the fangs."

"Next time you meet one of them, Mr. K, try using a stake or just beheading them. It's a lot less messy and works much better."

Thinking that Buffy was joshing him, Carl replied, "Sounds like you have experience."

Xander muttered from his half awake state, "She does, she had to burn down the school gym to stop a pack of them."

"Xander!!" Buffy snapped.

Opening his eyes, Xander looked at her and said, "What?"

"Could you be any less giving of restricted information? What do we know about him?" Buffy said as she pointed at Carl.

"Buffy," Willow started as she sat up, "Carl has seen almost as many strange things as we have. But, one thing I don't understand. How do you keep getting messed up in these things?"

"I guess I'm just lucky."

"My friend, you have a poor definition of luck," Xander quipped.

"How about wrong place at the right time? Or how about a reporter's nose for news?"

"Is that all that it is?" Buffy asked suspiciously.

"Look, kids, I've been knocking around chasing offbeat stories for the better part of forty years. I've seen what lies around the corner where most people won't or can't look. I refuse to let it go on. Maybe if I can finally show the truth to the public something final can be done."

Looking at Carl intensely, Willow says, "Are you sure you don't watch the X-files?"

"As a matter of fact I do. How do you think I finance my traveling around looking for these stories?"

"That's something I was wondering about," Giles interrupted. "I know that free-lance journalists don't earn that much, so..."

"So where do I get my finances? Well, I've sold a couple of screenplays to the X-Files, and I get residuals."

Xander bursts out, "I knew some of those plot lines were too real not to be true."

"I can neither confirm nor deny," Carl replied with a self-satisfied smile.

"Mr. Kolchak..." Willow began.

"Please, call me Carl. I'm old enough as it is"

"Okay, uh, Carl, you DO realize that we are walking into a trap, don't you?"

"It's crossed my mind. Could someone tell me who this Mayor Wilkins is?"

"Oh, he's just your typical unstoppable-power crazy-man-thing-that-morphs-into-a-scaly-bitey-snake-thing trying to rule the world," Xander spouted.

"And, and, Buffy stopped him." Willow chimed in.

"How?"

"We blew up the school with him in it," Xander said fully awake now.

"Uh, have you kids ever had a psych eval done? If not, you might want to look into it."

"Actually, Mr. Ko ... Carl," Giles began, "We are all quite in possession of all our marbles."

"And just because those ink blots look like nubile naked young ladies with chocolate syrup..."

"Xander!!!"

"Oops, my bad. Shutting up now." Xander tries to sink further into the seat.

"Uh, yes, anyway, Buffy has quite a bit of experience in these matters."

"She can't. She's not even an adult yet." Carls says incredulously.

"Mr. Kolchak," Buffy says ominously.

"Oh, boy. G-man stop the car. She's going postal." Xander says.

Seeking to avert a disaster, Giles smoothly takes charge of the conversation. "Carl, have you ever heard of the Boca del Infierno?"

"I've heard rumors of it. But it's nothing but a myth."

"Carl, Sunnydale, specifically the high school, is built over the Hellmouth. As such, it is a focal point for demons, vampires, and various other denizens of the supernatural. Buffy is the Slayer."

"Slayers don't exist!"

As quick as a flash, Buffy reaches back, grabs Carl's hat and puts it on her own head. Her movements are so fast that no one even sees her move.