FIC: Halloween Universe (4/?)

For a moment he stood at his house's doorway, his newly-beating heart thundering in his chest as he stared tentatively out into the light. What if it was all a trick? What if everything else was different but the moment he stepped outside he would combust like the rest of his brethren?

Telling himself there was only one way to find out he stepped outside and gasped. Tears sprung into his eyes as for the first time in centuries he bathed himself in the sun's warm embrace. He didn't know for how long he stood there before shaking himself, squaring his shoulders, and starting towards the high school.

"Cordelia! Cordelia! We have to talk!"

Cordelia bit back a sigh as she stepped away from her locker and turned towards the speaker with teeth-gritted patience. It was way too early to be putting up with Harmony's nonsense. "What do you want?"

"You know what we want!" Aura wailed before Harmony could speak. "We're all freaks now, and it's your fault."

Cordelia impaled Aura with her most penetrating gaze. "How do you figure?"

Aura flinched then met her eyes. "These costumes were your idea. Marvel Comics are geek chic you said, we should go as a theme, Marvel mutants you said."

Cordelia bit back a snap as she slammed her locker door shut. As much as she hated to admit it she was at the very least partially to blame, as Aura said the costumes were her idea. "Fine," she replied, there was one person she knew who might know what had happened, she looked around and nodded when she realised all of her Cordettes were there, including the recent transfer from California, Nina Ash, and the Texas twig who did all their science and maths homework, Winifred Burkle, "follow me."

"Let's see what technology designs do we have between us?" Giles queried to Gwen & Diana, both Robin and Wesley having left to search out some potential premises for their group.

"Anti-gravity, cloaking, forcefields," Gwen replied before looking towards Diana. "I think those unstable molecules mentioned by Mr. Wells could come in very handy."

"I've also got artificial intelligence, something I think young Mr. Lincoln in the guise of Henry Pym could assist with, droids," Diana replied. "Rudimentary terra-forming, teleportation, enhanced prosthetics, something in advance of a century of what they currently have, alternative energy sources, gene splicing to enhance the base human, anti-matter weaponry, plasma and sonic weaponry, portable scanners capable of taking extensive mineral, biological, and energy readings, and powered exoskeletons."

"I've got plans for a warp drive," Giles mused. "Tractor beams, holographic technology, very useful for training as well as educational and games, could make a mint out of that, advanced radar, and of course radar scrambling, weather control technology, and of course even easier better predictive weather forecasting, of course there's the universal translator, I can design one simply by reverse-engineering just how the TARDIS did it."

Gwen sighed. "It's a shame we don't have the TARDIS."

"Given the power requirements initially required to give our people the power of time, I think such things are unwise at the moment," Giles replied. The inability to time travel was an ache in both of his hearts, but he had to ignore that to concentrate on improving the present.

"Excuse me, which of you is Mr. Giles?"

Giles glanced up, surprised to see a pair of twenty-somethings entering the library, one a quite pretty girl with long ringleted hair, the other a scruffy, sharp-featured fellow. "That would be me," Giles rose and strode over to meet the pair. "How can I help you?"

It was the woman rather than the man who answered. "I'm Harriet Doyle, you can call me, Harri, this is my husband, Francis, call him Doyle. My husband and I are interested in learning all we can about demons so I suggested we move here. I'm busy working on my thesis for my demonology degree," Giles raised an eyebrow, "and because of my expertise in the field, I know who you are. And last night we went to a party in our Halloween costumes, but today, today we are our costumes, we have all their powers, their memories. And we were hoping you'd know what's happened."

"Yes," Giles nodded. "I can't help you with the why or even the how, but I can confirm that all the affected costumes came from one store, and it seems so far that the changes are permanent." Giles paused for a second. "If I may be so bold, who did you go as?"

The Doyles looked at one another. "We wanted to go as a couple, husband and wife you know," drawled Doyle. "So I'm Luke Skywalker, and the good wife is Mara Jade Skywalker."

Giles beamed. Two more Jedi Knights. Excellent. "I'd like to offer you the opportunity to join our group?"

Harri's nose wrinkled. "The Council's goals are laudable, but their methods…"

"I understand your reluctance," Giles pursed his lips. "Trust me when I say we no longer have any intention or reason for staying aligned to the Council."

Harri and Doyle exchanged looks. "Can we think about it?" drawled Doyle, an obvious Irishman to judge from his accent.

"Of course," Giles nodded. "Take as long as you need, but you'll find us an exciting group to work with."

"Mr. Giles we have to talk!"

Giles groaned. He'd barely finished guiding the Doyles out only to now be confronted by the hectoring Ms. Chase. He'd never get any work done this way. Cordelia Chase was many things, beautiful, vain, shrill, wilful, and demanding, but she was also very strong-willed, intelligent, and brave. A complicated girl hidden beneath a beauty queen facade. "Do you want me to deal with her, Rupert?"

"No, I'll manage," Giles forced a smile, "you and Gwen keep on working at those force field designs." Rising, he strode over to the cheerleader, his disquiet growing as he registered her clique trailing in behind her. Oh goody, she brought reinforcements. "How may I help you?"

"Don't come over all English with me, Mr. Books!" the statuesque brunette demanded. "You know all about the weird stuff that happens around here, so tell me, why are we still our costumes from last night?"

Oh bloody hell, Giles mouth opened and shut several times. There was little he could imagine as more terrifying than the Cordettes empowered. His mouth opened and shut again. He just prayed they didn't go as Kryptonians or Gallifreyans or New Gods or Eternals.

If that happened… Well the world's fashion houses were just about to have a very bad year.

"Might I ask," he cleared his throat and forced away nerves, "might I ask who you went as?"

Cordelia briefly preened herself before answering. "I went as Psylocke, a telepath and telekinetic, I'm also versed in the martial arts."

"I went as Polaris," Harmony added. "So now I have the power of magnetism."

"I went as Storm," Aura was next. "I have the power to control the weather."

"I went as Firestar so I can control microwave energy," Aphrodesia declared.

Nina Ash was next. "I went as Dazzler, so I can transform sound into light, and control it."

Next was Joy Adams, current captain of that highly American activity, the cheerleader squad. "I went as Magma, I have the powers of geokinesis and pyrokinesis."

Last to speak was the shy Winifred Burkle. "I went as Wind Dancer, I can control the wind."

Good lord, this was truly terrifying. "The truth is, I don't know just what caused these changes, however I'd like to offer you the opportunity to use your powers to help myself and a number of your classmates to battle the supernatural," Giles reluctantly replied. Somebody had to bloody watch these lasses. God only knew what sort of trouble they'd get into on their own. "Given your talents, you would be paid very, very well."

Cordelia scowled then nodded. "But don't suppose this means we'll be hanging around with your nerds outside of class!"

"Oh perish the thought," Giles murmured as the whirlwind that was Ms. Chase led her Cordettes out of the library. His eyes widened at the two as until then unnoticed females stood just inside the library door.

One he recognised as the olive-hued computer teacher, Jenny Calendar, and the other was a pretty, glacial-eyed blonde. "Ms. Calendar," Giles nodded towards his fellow Sunnydale High staffer before looking towards the mystery woman. "And you are?"

"Detective Kate Lockley."

Giles raised an eyebrow. A detective? This could get complicated. "Given the day I'm having," Giles affected a breezy tone, "I assume you're here to ask me about Halloween?"

"I went as Witchblade," Kate replied. "A mystical weapon that can only be used by females. The Witchblade can produce protective armour, stabbing weapons, hooks, chains, and wings. It can shoot energy blasts, serve as a lock pick and heal wounds. I went as her primarily because she's another cop."

After a second Jenny followed suit. "I went as Adi Galla from Star Wars, I'm a Jedi Knight."

Giles nodded. His enhanced intellect and eidetic memory combined to guide him to the realisation that Ms. Calender's occasional assistance and surprising expertise in the past, perhaps weren't as coincidental as he'd believed. That however was a matter for another less hectic day. "As you doubtless overheard, I have no idea how or what caused this enchantment. However I'd like to offer you both a position in our burgeoning organisation. Detective Lockley, if I may be blunt I'm sure you're aware of the rampant corruption within your department, perhaps you'd be better suited to helping people with our group."

"You pay?" Kate queried. "Pay people to hunt demons?"

"Oh yes," Giles smiled. "And a lot more than a humble detective would earn. Probably around eighteen thousand dollars a month." Giles' smile widened. "Just don't ask for an advance."

Giles rubbed his forehead and yawned. As much as he hated to admit it, the last day had taken quite a toll. He imagined it would take quite some time to get used to the physiological and mental changes Halloween had wrought on him. All the changes were good, he had more energy than he'd ever had before, felt more alert, and more aware of the universe around him. But as good as all the changes were, they were still more than a little unsettling.

But the potential, the opportunities. Giles couldn't help but grin as he looked down at his plans for a computer. He'd always been a man of learning, but his study areas had always been history, anthropology, and mythology, he'd had little interest in the physical and life sciences. But now, the knowledge of a Time Lord who'd seen and experienced four lifetimes, who'd fought Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen, Judoons, Silurians, and Ice Warriors, who'd traversed the cosmos for centuries and helped civilisations on a thousand planets, raced through him, supplying him with idea upon idea, design upon design that would help not only his group, but perhaps the world itself.

And that was without taking into account the vast knowledge and experiences held by several of his companions. Oh the potential.

Giles turned, eyes narrowing as he peered into the stacks. "I can hear you there you know."

A tall, slender pale-faced man stalked out of the shadows. "I can hear you too, two hearts how is that possible?"

A thrill ran through Giles as his now perfect recall matched the strikingly handsome man to a number of drawings in 18th and 19th century Watcher texts. "And how is it possible that the infamous Angelus has a heartbeat?"

The vampire rocked back on his feet. "I'm not Angelus, at least I haven't been for a century. I was cursed by gypsies-."

"Ah," Giles nodded, Ms. Calendar's appearance made a lot more sense now, "of course." He nodded at the vampire. "Sorry, please go on."

"With a soul close to a hundred years ago, I came here to help-."

"And yet until you needed help you remained in the shadows?" Giles countered.

"It's not easy approaching a Slayer and convincing them you're the good vampire," the vampire replied. "But last night somebody delivered a costume to my apartment and I figured I should wear so I fit in when I went out, so I did. And today it appears I'm human."

Given his now Time Lord physiology, it wasn't a huge leap to assume that any demon who'd had the misfortune to wear a human costume would now be human. "And just who did you go as?"

Angel grimaced before replying. "Wolverine from the X-Men," Angel shrugged. "I've always felt a certain kinship, he's done foul things in the past and is trying to somehow make up for them, but he has to fight the anger, the demon inside." Angel shrugged again. "At least I guess I did."

"I haven't had time to catch up with Marvel comics just yet," Giles admitted. "Purchasing the encyclopaedias to Marvel, DC, Star Wars, and Doctor Who is a priority but I haven't got around to it. So humour me?"

"I'm pretty fast for a human, but not as fast as I was as a vampire, I'm about as strong as I was, I heal even better than I did as a vampire, my senses are even sharper, and it seems like I'm extensively trained in the martial arts and know even more languages than I did before," Angel replied.

"And I assume you want to help us?" Giles queried.

"Now that I'm here, sure," Angel nodded.

"I'll introduce you to the rest after the school day," Giles replied. "Until then I'll inform you of our current plans. They're rather ambitious."

The room was deserted but for the four of them, perfect opportunity for them to talk about what had happened.

"We shouldn't have done it." His best friend shook his head. "If we'd just gone to the same costume shop as everybody else-."

"But we didn't," his other friend interrupted. "And we've gotta deal with this."

"We can't stay here," he finally spoke. "You know what'll happen for sure any length of time."

"Yeah, somebody notices the changes," the quartet's lone female spoke, "and at best we'll be lab rats for the rest of our lives, if not dissected outta hand."

"What we gonna do then?" the first of his friends demanded.

"You've heard the rumours about the dude at Sunnydale High?" he replied, forcing his expression to remain calm even as his heart thundered.

"We can't tell him!"

He shook his head at the female's cry. "We have to ask someone, we have to trust somebody."

"And if he's the wrong person?"

That question he left hanging in the air.