Like most I'd hoped that, unlike canon, Kendra would stick around for longer. She really got the short end of the stick when it can to both screen time and characterization. She had the misfortune of not being able to stay alive for enough time to get more than a basic bland "personality". When are you going to write more? This story is effectively the only reason I really come here anymore.

I'm in the middle of finals, so I'm reduced to what I can do between projects (which is mostly light tinkering on God-King). School lets out on 5/15, though. :)

Interesting new chapters, thanks for continuing to build this story line.

Cheers~!

Thanks. I'm still working on this, slowly but surely. :)

Wow. This was an incredible improvement on last version. You're right, it's very different. Because last time, Sarah was a morally ambivalent character, as was Laura. I mean, they were better than Stryker, sure, but that's not saying much. But here, by adding a few lines of thought and plan, you turn it around, and make them still morally ambivalent, but more firmly on the side of good.

I loved Sarah's first thought on seeing the photos. I wonder how much she knows Sheila, and for that matter, how much Sheila remembers her? It may turn out that Willow's family is yet worse than Cordelia's.

The description of Laura's birth was both amusing and accurate, and I'm glad you emphasized Sarah's role as mother. She's not just a disciplinarian, even if she lets her daughters display some behavior which would usually be disciplined - she's their mother and she really does it because she cares for them and wants them to be better than that. In that sense, those last few lines perfect, because they really make this point strong - how even in these dire moments, when she's planning to escape with her daughters, she's still worried about their moral development and their actions and is willing to give lectures on them. Laura's comments were pure gold, though, and totally worth it. Can't wait for the actual meeting... it promises to go differently, at least if Laura is told what her mother plans...

The real question is how much Sarah can trust Laura to behave normally. Does she get the sense that Laura is ready and willing to leave with her? Otherwise, she needs to keep Laura - and the others - in the dark as long as possible lest they compromise things by tipping off the Initiative's personnel.

Also, given that Sarah carried Laura to term and then Laura has aged naturally, that puts Sarah in the program before the point of Sheila's exit. Barely so, but they did cross paths and Sheila was pregnant at that point. Actually, if you think about it? Willow could inadvertently be the reason Laura - and all of XS - exists. The pregnancy could have been where Sarah got the idea to do what she did...

This is a much more likeable Sarah and with two extra daughters, and some introspection it does make for a much more believable defection. I also love the reveal about her daughters theoretical internet habits. That is going to go and bite Willow on the bum, but good to see!

I'm definitely looking forward to the splash their arrival will make.

Something else that might bite Willow on the bum?

...Laura.

As always, a very good chapter.

I feel even worse for Stryker this time than last time. Three Kinney kids?

its always amusing seeing evil old bastards pushing their blood pressure into the red from encountering mundane and amusing in their own right situations.

well done sir.

*takes a bow*

Oh, I suspect somebody won't like the recruitment pitch.

Question is... who's going to end up recruiting who?

Great chapter. Keep up the good work.

Thanks. :)

Great new chapter, keep up the excellent work. :)

Thanks.

3:00 in the morning for me when I saw this in my inbox. Awesome. Who needs sleep?

Nice twist with Laura being Logan's daughter instead of a gender-bent clone. I also like what we've seen of her personality so far.

Actually, I can't take full credit for the former. I stuck fairly closely to the information presented in her origin miniseries, and if you look at Laura next to Sarah? There seems to have been a concerted effort to create a resemblance between them. I think once he got past Evo, Chris Yost realized that he'd done some hideously bad science and tried to correct it but fan (and fellow writer) minds were set on the overly simplistic "girl clone" thing.

As for her personality... I think it kinda fits to have her sexualized in a way. In the books, we see her seducing and killing targets, and then going into prostitution (BDSM prostitution at that) for money when she could have just as easily become a thief or somesuch. Well, assuming she didn't want to work a simple hourly wage job, that is. While the former can be written off as her following mission parameters, the latter points to an ongoing and persistent mindset that few authors have dared to touch on since. Considering I don't have to worry about monthly sales numbers, and it dovetails nicely with Willow? I figured why not?

Great chapter. Keep up the good work.

Kinneys are next. ^_^

That would be "THE Morigan" thank you very much. Flashy, scary, quoting Poe because its fun? I really would have expected a bit more of a Gaelic bent but then again I suppose she's been changing with the times. I do like her choices on who to let live and who not to. I'm a little surprised but not terribly so that the super hero didn't want to tangle with her over casual murder/justice as most might even seek to stop the punisher if they are in time and many would consider bringing him in due to their own particular ethics. I don't know the spider clan so well though so I'm not sure if it was ambivolance, being too late, etc that leads to her action or lack thereof.

Edit.

Yes I know the only reference without a "the" was in the author note. However as I was basically responding directly to that I felt it was fair play to imply catching you out. Also as I said I'm not that surprised she didn't try to stop The Morigan, though I wasn't aware she already knew they were cop killers. As for self defense... that argument loses a bit of credibility when dealing with entities such as this. Afterall for it to be self defense, doesn't there have to be a credible threat of harm? After witnessing that I somehow suspect that there wasn't really a credible threat there. Ah well I enjoy the teasing of authors as much as reading their writing. I suppose I should be getting used to the omnipresence of death, I mean, vampires...

Astrid is a sixteen-year-old girl who's freshly into her powers and just watched a woman form out of ravens, dodge bullets - a skill she's yet to master - and then brutally eliminate two cop killers in a matter of seconds. There's a fine line between bravery and stupidity. Attacking someone who could chew her up and spit her out, all over two guys who opened fire on her, making the Mórrígan's actions self-defense from a legal standpoint? That would be stupidity.

That, and the team as a whole has a soft spot regarding the cops considering one of their own is the daughter of a police captain...

EDIT: Also, in the story...
"Most these days know me as the Mórrígan."
The only reference without 'the' is the quick author's note I wrote up between classes.

EDIT 2: What I meant regarding self-defense is more a salve of conscience for Astrid - a reason for her inaction - than a mindset for the Mórrígan. Of course the Mórrígan knows they can't hurt her. But it gives Astrid a reason to NOT go picking a fight with someone who is stronger, faster, older, armed, and doesn't blink at brutally putting down two criminals at a whim. "She was practicing self-defense. I'm a crimefighter. What she was doing was totally legal and therefore not my problem."

So, combined review for 33 and this... the travails of Passover. Not only do you have to prepare for it, you also have to spend far too much time with your relatives...

Cordelia makes a good point on how generally you kind of need to be callous in Sunnydale. There is a difference, I suppose, in that they knew Kendra, and sort-of befriended her... but I suppose those are the dangers of being jaded.

Santana is quite amusing.

I really liked all the little social interactions in this chapter - Santana's comments, Michelle having been distracted by Cordy in the past, Willow pointing out how easy it would be for her to take over Cordy's computer - all very amusing, the normal stuff teenagers would get up to. The shirts were great fun as well. It's a touch of normality in the jaded atmosphere we just touched upon.

And that goes straight out the window with the Morrigan appearing. It was awesome, and I loved her quoting The Raven. Chelicera's utter shock was a nice way to wrap up that brief appearance, and I hope we see more of her soon. Hopefully I'll also get to the new fic soon as well. 'Till then.

Actually, if you think about it... did the non-Giles Scoobies ever even mourn Jenny? I mean yeah, they referenced her death and stuff, but apart from Giles... did any of them seem to care about it? I don't remember that. It was just business as usual for them.

I actually own Willow's shirt, and the reference to the argument is something from my childhood. Granted back in those days, it was the original Power Rangers and TigerRanger was the male ranger that became Trini, but the timeline conveniently lined up so that Time Force and its transgendered Yellow Ranger would have been airing back when they were in first grade.

Mórrígan is going to be fun. Given her portrayals in the Ulster Cycle, there's a reason that she's shown flirting with a pair of valkyries in the art Lexi did...

Well, that ain't something you see everyday... Keep it coming, Joe!

Just call her Stabitha.

This chapter confuses me, but it's cool.

It means that out of all the pantheons that were worshipped by the ancient civilizations of the world, there's more than just Janus who remains interested in Earth. The Mórrígan is a figure out of Celtic mythology - the Ulster Cycle in particular (roughly the time of Christ) - and is a war goddess associated with battle, strife, and sovereignty/the land.