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Chapter 35
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Sinatra was crooning "The Very Thought of You" as the lovers cuddled under Spike's duster.  The candles had long since guttered.  "I remember this one from Mom's favorite albums."
 
"Mum liked Ol’ Blue Eyes, did she?"
 
"Oh, yeah, she loved all those old guys."
 
"Hey! Nothin' but a bunch of whippersnappers compared to me, missy," he laughed.  "Dru loved Frankie, but I always thought Dick Haymes had a better voice."
 
"Dick who?"
 
"Haymes.  Remind me to tape a copy of "You'll Never Know" or "The More I See You"; shoulda put 'em on the playlist.  Voice smooth as butter."
 
"You," Buffy poked him gently on his bare shoulder near his unbeating heart, "have the soul of a poet."
 
"Don't have the soul of anything, pet."
 
"Well, maybe souls are overrated," Buffy smiled, much to his open-mouthed shock.
 
"It was sweet of you to put together all those pretty songs even if we didn't dance to all of them."
 
"Didn't we?"  Spike grinned.  "Seemed like we managed quite a bit of dancin' last night."
 
Buffy blushed a pretty pink. “I hope you know I don't usually go all the way on a first date.  I'm not Easy Buffy."
 
Spike laughed aloud at that, "Buffy, you are many things, but easy is not one of them!"  He nipped at her shoulder as he continued to softly chuckle.  "Sides, if the pathetic set-up I put together last night is what you consider a date, you've been treated terribly by all the men in your life!  Promise I'll make up for it."
 
Buffy ran tender fingers over his face, "You'd have a hard time topping last night for pure romance.  No complaining here."
 
"Just glad we talked Red into holdin' off bringin' down the power grid for a while longer.  Since she hacked her way in, she's chompin' at the bit wantin' to turn out the lights!"
 
"That's our Will!  All with the power control."
 
"Speakin' of which, we'd best be gettin' back to the caves before that Watcher of yours gets his knickers in a twist and sends out a search party.  'Sides, I don't want to miss the fireworks when we knock out most of the main transport routes in So. Cal."  Spike shook his head, "Who'd have thought the most mayhem I'd be part of would be as a white hat?"
 
Buffy pouted, "Shouldn't we have at least another half hour before we have to go back?"
 
Spike rolled her onto her back and nestled between her waiting thighs, "Think we can wait at least that long, yeah."
 
*** 
 
"Hey, you're back in time for the show!"  Willow positively glowed with anticipation.  "Operation Infrastructure Goes Boom is all set for simultaneous explosive goodness the day after tomorrow. You two looked like you might be gone a while."
 
Spike looked sheepish and Buffy decided to ignore her friend’s innuendo. "Operation Infrastructure Goodness Goes Boom?  Is that an official name?"  Buffy was amused at Willow’s gung-ho enjoyment of destruction.  Both of her dear friends had taken to mayhem enthusiastically enough to give Spike a run for his money.
 
"Nope, but it pretty much covers it," Willow grinned somewhat maniacally.  There seemed to be an untapped dark side to Buffy's best friend.
 
"Most of Southern California and parts of Nevada and Arizona are set for simultaneous loss of highways, bridges and ports," Xander explained.  He showed Buffy the "war map" with Willow's patented coding in highlighter.  "It's all going to go boom at the same time."
 
"Yeah!  Let's see them transport prisoners and move troops after that," Willow snickered.   "We even got T'Mcasla's group to plant explosives at some of the military weapons centers in the desert and the naval weapons station at Seal Beach."
 
Giles pointed to a few of the military ports along the southern coast, "We managed to get a few planted here and there as well.  Enough to disrupt regular operations and possibly put the fear of God into them."
 
"How far up the coast?"  Buffy asked as she studied the map and tried to decode Willow's colorful madness.
 
"Our direct operatives have it covered from Chula Vista up through Fresno and as far east as Las Vegas.  Every major interstate will have at least a handful of areas destroyed.  Most major bridges and railways should be unusable for the foreseeable future as well."  Even Giles looked gleeful at the prospect.
 
Buffy wondered why she had never noticed this side of her little family before, but then remembered how very Ripper-like Giles had become after Angel murdered Jenny.  Funny, she'd never referred to it that way before, always saying it had been Angelus.  She'd done a lot of re-evaluating since her capture.
 
"Are we takin' down the power grid or knockin' out Hoover Dam?"  Spike asked.
 
"Not this go-round.  Number one, not enough explosives.  Have to replenish our supply and, number two, Will wants everyone to still have TV, radio and the net.  Project Radio Free World is going live right after the chaos eases," Xander explained.
 
Willow nodded, "We figured everyone has been running on fear all this time, so they'll be scrambling to find out what happened.  We can hit 'em with our own propaganda...only ours is the truth."
 
"We have the films Charles shot while undercover in the labs and some other footage from elsewhere.  Lindsey McDonald had some information he didn't need for leverage during Anya's trial that will open some eyes as well." Giles rubbed his hands in joyful anticipation.
 
"Bound to change some minds," Willow nodded.
 
"So my bestest friend's gonna be a TV star?" 
 
"Not so much," Willow shook her head.  "Lorne suggested we put Andrew in front of the camera.  Said his destiny was pretty much media-oriented and it gives him a place to help like he says he wants to, one where we can watch him closely."
 
"Andrew...who?"  Buffy still felt a bit out of the loop.
 
"Tucker Wells' brother.  He was in Warren Mears’ youth group but got sick of what was actually going on.  He tried to warn Anya that the Box was bugged.  He's kind of tofu according to Lorne--could go either way depending on who he's around--but he's not actually full-out evil."
 
Xander added, "He was really broken up that his warning didn't come in time. Guy's got a surprising amount of compassion when he taps into it."
 
"Yeah, that was what made us decide to let him join like he's been asking to.  He went after Warren when Anya was arrested and actually stood up to him.  Threatened to let everyone know something’s not too macho in Mears' past if he did anything more to hurt Anya."  Willow looked pretty amazed at the memory.  "Rev. Cal saw it all and kept Warren from pummeling Andrew...he's not exactly a fighter."
 
"Yeah, that's when Lorne suggested we take him in somehow," Xander nodded.  "I think the Jolly Green Giant has a kind of a thing for Andy personally."
 
"So Andrew's going to be our Tokyo Rose, only without the ‘working against the good guys’ part or the ‘secretly being forced to do it’ or, well, maybe not such a good comparison," Willow babbled.
 
Buffy chuckled as Willow blushed, "And now in English, Will?"
 
Spike scoffed, "You're a fine one to talk, love."
 
Giles nodded in solidarity, "Indeed.  It took me years to finally translate enough to actually communicate properly." The two Englishmen laughed.
 
Buffy huffed, not actually irritated but joining in the spirit of teasing.  "Watch out, blood-breath, or there'll be no more exploring for hideouts."
 
Spike shut up instantly. "Not another word!"
 
So we've got film and stuff.  What about the McDonald stuff...won't that take away his advantage protecting Anya?"
 
"McDonald swears the things he gave us are just the tip of the iceberg.  He has all he needs to keep the trial honest, or so he says.  He also says there is a treasure trove of info at an old W & H archive site.  Might be worth sending someone to retrieve it all."  Xander had considered going himself but didn't want to abandon Anya with her trial starting.  In fact, the arraignment was tomorrow.
 
*** 
 
Lindsey had been in more courtrooms than he could remember, but he'd never seen anything like what was the promised Trial of the Ages.  Since the Global Human Initiative was made up of many nations and this trial was officially being presented as a war crimes trial, it didn't follow any familiar pattern.  Good thing he liked a challenge!
 
The officials had finally decided on a forum that cobbled together a military-style tribunal with a standard American trial by jury.  In “fairness” to the wounded parties, there were three judges representing the Global Human Initiative's diversity and three more that came from the military and NATO.  That made for a judiciary panel of six in total.  Lindsey had dirt on at least four of them, so that was not a problem.
 
The jury was comprised of twelve randomly selected citizens, human of course and mainly from North America for convenience sake.  Juries were always the wild card.  Luckily, McDonald was well versed in how to woo a decent jury.  He'd been very careful in his selections and objections when they were impaneled, so he was also feeling pretty good about that part of the equation.
 
Lindsey turned and gave a reassuring smile to Xander and Father Quinn, who were seated directly behind the defense table.  The young construction worker looked grim, but the Priest was doing his best to be a strong support for him. Xander's family had renounced both he and Anya as soon as they had learned of her past as a vengeance demon, and their mutual friends were not able to surface to offer the support Xander and Anya were going to need as the trial moved forward.
 
Anya was led in from the side door.  As Lindsey had advised, she appeared subdued in a stylish but conservative pencil skirt with a jacket over a plain white blouse.  She looked every bit the fully human small business owner that she actually had been for the last few years.  Just the image Lindsey wanted burned into the jury's mind.
 
She smiled demurely at Xander and felt her handcuffed hands being grasped into a warm squeeze by the burly Priest as he leaned in to kiss her forehead as if she were a cherished grandchild.  Xander pulled her into a hug before they all had to take their seats, awaiting the judges’ appearance.  Lindsey noted that the jury looked approving that the defendant seemed to have the friendship, even affection, of a man of the cloth.  Not what they expected for a demon, or former demon.  Good!
 
They all rose for the highly ceremonial procession and seating of the judges in their various regalia. Lindsey had never seen so many seals, insignias and emblems as there were on a few of the non-American panel!  They were pompous asses to this country boy.  He thought the wig on the British member was a bit much for the American jury to swallow--good, another possible point in their favor.  Americans liked their "betters" to be film stars and rock singers, not representatives of power.  He'd have to play that up during the trial.
 
The prosecutor, a different one than the joker Lindsey had treated to his so helpful file, rose to begin the reading of the charges.  Judging by this one's behavior, though, he too had gotten the memo. He had already begun speaking as Lindsey had been doing his assessment.
 
"We intend to prove that the defendant," he pointed to Anya, “did, while still operating as a vengeance demon, cause through callous abuse of her powers the deaths of millions and that only from two granted wishes.  There is no way to fully know the actual number of human deaths the defendant may be responsible for initiating."
 
Anya squirmed in her seat and Lindsey placed a calming hand on her leg.  It wouldn't do for her to appear even remotely guilty.  Appearances were everything, especially at this stage.
 
"Two wishes?"  One judge in a frilly red and white get-up inquired.  "Are you saying these deaths were wished for?"
 
"Not precisely, your honor, your worships.  We can and will prove that the defendant, with reckless depravity, did grant two vengeance wishes that led to those deaths."
 
"Proceed," another judge with a bored expression declared.
 
"The first wish was made by Catherine of Aragon, late Queen of England and consort of King Henry VIII."
 
"I say," interrupted the British judge in the wig who also knew McDonald could ruin him in a flash if he so chose.  "That's rather going back a bit far in history, isn't it?"
 
"No statute of limitations on murder, my lord, and I assure you murder most foul was committed due to this wish."
 
"What on earth was the wish then? To my knowledge, Henry died from health-related reasons, all quite natural for his time."
 
"Henry was not the victim of the results of Catherine's wish, my lord.  The wish was that the longed for male heir that Catherine had failed to produce would never come to be, or, if one did so, that he would die before siring another."
 
The non-British judges looked more puzzled than anything.  "And this led to deaths how?"
 
"Well, your honor, this led to the ascension of Henry's daughter, Mary, to the throne after the early demise of the male heir, Edward.  Mary re-instituted the Catholic faith by purging the Protestants, often violently, earning her the name Bloody Mary.  Hundreds died.  Likewise, when her sister took the throne and put the Protestant church back in supremacy, further deaths occurred.  We can even show a correlation of these events with the bloody war between Spain and England that followed Elizabeth's taking the throne.  None of these religious-based deaths would have happened had Edward lived or produced a male heir himself and that could not happen due to the defendant's granted wish.
 
"Further, Elizabeth died with no heir at all, leading to the coronation of James of Scotland.  His son, Charles, fathered another James and further religious tainted wars and death took place as that later James was prevented from being his father's heir because of his Catholicism.  Those so-called Jacobite uprisings also trace to the curse placed upon Henry's line by that wish!  We plan to concentrate on those deaths under Mary and Elizabeth, however, as we will show the direct correspondence is clear."
 
The room was silent as the jury members looked speculatively at Anya.  Lindsey could see them wondering how such a dainty, pleasant and human-looking woman could have sparked such events.
 
The prosecutor continued, "The second deadly wish we are charging the defendant with involves the Russian revolution and its resultant carnage."
 
"Do go on," the only female judge urged.  Clearly she was buying into this nonsense.  Lindsey decided to do some research on her for preventive measures.
 
"Anya Jenkins, then known as the Vengeance Demon Anyanka…."
 
Anya nudged Lindsey and whispered indignantly, "I was known as the Patron of Scorned Women!" 
 
Lindsey shushed her and wrote on his legal pad. "I know.  We'll have our turn.  Relax and try to look like a sitcom mom from the 50s."
 
"...in 1913 did grant the wish of Praskovia Fedorovna Dubrovina, wife of Gregori Rasputin, then a trusted adviser of Czar Nicholas II of Russia.  Mrs. Rasputin was unhappy at having been left behind in Pokrovskoye with their three children while her husband enjoyed the life at court as a personal physician, spiritual adviser and friend to the Romanov family.
 
"He was also allegedly involved with other women, many women, one of whom was rumored to be the Czarina herself, although that was never proven.  Rasputin's wife wanted him home with his family and away from the temptations of the flesh that kept him from home.
 
"That wish, that his advice to the Czar would prove to be flawed, did not lead to his return home. But it did lead to Nicholas Romanov taking full charge of his armies during WWI, an utterly disastrous course of action that led to tremendous hardships within Russia.  This advice was in direct opposition to Rasputin's earlier words of wisdom that, and I quote, "If the Czar goes to war against Germany it will be the end of the monarchy, of the Romanovs and of Russian institutions."  What, other than the defendant's granted wish, could cause such an opinion to change so thoroughly?
 
"The hardships at home during the war directly led the Bolshevik armies of Lenin to gain power and the revolution to begin.  That revolution alone saw the deaths of over nine million  Russians!
 
"We also contend that the success of the revolution led to Joseph Stalin then taking power.  His campaign of purges and enslavement has been estimated to have cost the lives, conservatively, of twenty million individuals.  Think, your honors!  That’s twenty-nine million humans dying because of the defendant granting one peasant woman's wish!"
 
 
Anya felt her alarm rise but covered nicely.  Lindsey McDonald still looked far too confident for her peace of mind.  Something was up there and she wanted to know just what.  She wasn't sure just how far she should trust her life and well-being to a man who had worked for the most famous demon law firm in any dimension.