Though his expression didn't change I saw the hesitation before he answered, "Yes."

Surprised by the admission I said, "Oh boy. That would make Robin, Tim right?" The teenager grinned at me. "Wow. And I’m guessing Cassandra is Batgirl." Under the cowl, I think she smiled too.

We walked the block back to my apartment building. Nightwing grumbled the entire way about pushy women and peroxide. He grumbled about how magic and demons were not supposed to be real and that his reality was once again turned on it's head because of me. I had to wonder about that but it could wait... maybe.

"Again?" I asked. Alright. So I was curious.

"Nothing," he mumbled.

"He likes you," Robin laughed.

"Hit him and I'll bathe that wound in peroxide when we get inside this apartment," I said when Nightwing/Dick began to raise his arm.

He grinned and winked at me. "What if I enjoy the pain?"

"Then I'll have to recategorise you as a masochistic rich boy," I said, swinging the door open. A thought occurred to me and after I shut the door I voiced it.

"Batman, ah... Bruce... I really hate to ask this of you..."

"You need your friends here?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said quietly. I don't like asking for help. Fortunately I was momentarily distracted by Nightwing removing the top half of his outfit. I had thought it was all one piece. You know, like a jumpsuit...

"I can send the private jet."

"Huh? Oh, I'm going to need to tell Giles something about why Bruce Wayne is sending his private jet for them."

"No Buffy. You can't tell them."

"You mean it's bad enough I worked it out... Fine," I sighed. "I'll make something up. He's not going to believe me though," I said, dialling the number.

Giles answered his phone. "Hey Giles. Your whatever erupted in to something massive, at least 50 demons have already been taken care of... I need you all here. These guys are doing great but... Well, they are all essentially anti-killing... Yeah I told them it was kill or be killed... Can you call Angel? It's a green light to get your bodies and books out here. Oh, and bring Spike. He'll enjoy the opportunity for mayhem and a good fight... Don't worry about that. Mr. Wayne saw me fighting the demons and I explained everything and he's going to send his plane for you all... No, he insisted Giles... Well it's a charitable cause and he has the money to spare. Just be at the airport. I'll email Willow the details as soon as I have them... Thank you Giles. See you guys soon." I hung up and looked at Bruce. "Told you he wouldn't believe me and just so you know I don't like lying or telling half-truths to Giles. How does it feel Nightwing?"

He tried to smile. "It hurts but that's normal."

I smiled at him. "I'm sorry you got hurt. The worst part is you won't heal as quickly as I do. Part of the Slayer benefits program, along with risking your life every night and no pay." To Bruce/Batman, I said, "We need to regroup and make some evaluations." I heard the instructions issued in my mind by Batman through the telepathic link.

"Is that link always open?"

"No. I reached out to J'onn and he opened it."

"Oh. Good."

Superman landed on my balcony with Green Lantern at the same time there was a knock at the door.

Batgirl opened the door and gestured for The Flash to enter. "You're getting slow J'onn."

"I was unaware it was a race," J'onn said from the balcony.

The Flash shrugged. "How's the not-so Boy Wonder?"

"It'll heal. In a couple of days he'll be fine. How did we all go?"

"The Mayor ordered everyone to their homes on my advisement as a state of emergency was declared," Superman said.

The pairings rambled off total kills and rough estimates of street roamers.

"So, around 120 killed in just over 2 and a half hours. Only one injury. My friends are on their way so we should be able to wrap this up tomorrow. Tonight I would suggest patrols in pairs lasting about two hours each. We'll use this apartment as our base of operations. Oracle can I get you on my computer once I’m internet connected?"

"Sure can. Robin?"

Robin took over the connection and logged me onto Oracle. Good thing I have a microphone and speakers.

On the screen appeared a patrol roster. "Thanks Oracle. You can all see the plan. You can stay here if you want until it's your time. I'm ordering pizza and maybe some Chinese... oh wait, they'll be closed... damn."

"What do you want? I'll get it," The Flash offered.

"From where?"

"The speed demon will go out of town for it," Green Lantern chuckled.

"I can get the pizza from Italy and the Chinese from China if you want..."

"Ooooh..." I thought about it. "What does everyone want?" I handed the Flash the notepaper and he was gone. The first patrol went out, J'onn and Plastic Man.

Dinner came back, authentic and piping hot, though how he managed to keep it hot I'm not sure. School wasn't my strong point.

I gave Dick... er... Nightwing some painkillers and he slept in the spare-since-dad-left room. From were I sat beside whoever decided to keep me company at the computer, I was able to watch him through the open door when I wasn't trying to keep up with the steady stream of information the Scooby Gang and Oracle were feeding me. Just after 4pm I went out alone on a three hour patrol, well it would have been alone except Batman managed to find me about 20 minutes after I left. I tried to make him leave but he's a stubborn old guy. We did get the opportunity for a private chat though and we came to a professional understanding when he saved me from a gouging by an antlered slime demon, then, a little while later I returned the favour and saved him from a panicked Metropolitan without killing the person. I even got invited to Gotham City whenever I wanted which I promised to take him up on. It was then decided that if she wanted to Willow could come to Gotham with me for New Years. I'd go regardless. Bruce... er... Batman promised me a place to stay at his house as we chatted in between slaying. I much prefer dusty vampires to slimey and goopy demons.

We returned to the apartment at 7 and I resumed my computer based booklearning. At 11 I took a break and asked Oracle and Giles to hold off on the cramming again for a few hours. My eyes were stinging a bit from staring at the screen for so long and all of the potentialities were starting to scare me. I needed an answer not possibilities. My feet carried me to Dicks bedside. Diana, that's Wonder Woman, told me he had woken just after I left but had gone back to sleep. I knelt beside the bed and stroked his forehead. His brow was slightly creased in what I assumed was pain. The injuries that didn't need stitches always hurt the most.

Ok so I *REALLY* like him. I figure though, that because he can take care of himself, I'm allowed to not be completely panicked by him getting injured, which I'm not. I'm feeling unnaturally calm. Now I'm worried.

He opened one eye just enough to look at me and then he smiled, all the worry gone from his face. "I was a bit worried when I didn't see you with the others, but you've been doing this for a while haven't you?"

I nodded. "Almost 5 years. I never get over the disgusting squidgyness of some of the demons but fortunately they all seem to be lesser demons. The sort that are beheadable. I just wanna know why they are all here and how they got here. What was the summoner trying to get?"

"Summoner?" Bruce/Batman asked from the open doorway.

"This many demons wouldn't have just appeared this suddenly. We would've had some sort of indication. A few disappearances, a few dead bodies completely drained of blood with strange puncture wounds over the jugular. The Hellmouth attracts them but Metropolis isn't a Hellmouth. There's no mystical gain for them here. None of them recognised me or knew about me which means they haven't been around long..."

"That's a bit egotistical isn't it?"

"Oh, I didn't mean about me by name. It meant that they didn't know about the Slayer. I have demon... well I suppose they could be loosely termed friends who tell me that I'm known as far away as Brazil and into China. It's my reputation, like yours Flash, or yours Batman. In Gotham City you are a myth. To the demon population of the world so am I. They come to Sunnydale to seek me out, to find me and battle me in the hopes of being the one to kill me, or at least walk away from the fight with a few scars and a story to tell. I'm sure that a certain number of the criminals each one of you faces comes to fight you for the same reasons.

"I don't fight for truth and justice. I fight to drive back the darkness that every night claims more human lives than it should. On an average night in Sunnydale I will dust 4 vampires and take out at least one demon. That's on a slow night. And I didn't choose this. It chose me but I do what I do because I have been given the knowledge and the ability to do it. Just like you."

"Bravo luv. Bravo."

I stood up. "Spike?"