To say Buffy was nervous would be to say that The Killer was barely proficient in the use of a pistol. Not that she really understood the comparison but Fox insisted it was accurate so the Californian had to go with it.

The reason she was so nervous was last week Fox had managed to convince her to contact a black market gunsmith to have a demon-slaying gun made. Not that she'd be telling the guy that, black market gunsmith or not, she wasn't about to go giving people a reason to think she was insane.

Now, after a week of careful probing, investigating, and researching Buffy had found a gunsmith with the skill she needed. Knocking on the door she waited for the man to answer the door and ready, just in case he decided she looked too coplike.

Nothing happened however, the door opened to show a... well a remarkably clean looking asian man. Buffy had been expecting, despite Fox's repeated denials, that all Black Marketeers looked grungy and dirty, like pirates.

"Can I help you?" The man politely asked her with a skeptical look on his face. He clearly didn't think a preppy girl like her belonged anywhere near a black market gunsmith.

"Was prohibition a mistake?" Buffy asked back, both as a rhetorical question meaning 'Of Course' and the pass phrase she'd been given by a... slightly shady bartender.

"Then come in, make yourself at home," The gunsmith nodded in acknowledgement and taking his hand off the shotgun on the backside of the door.

Buffy nodded gratefully and stepped inside, careful not to make the gunsmith nervous and sat down on a couch inside.

The man followed her and introduced himself, "My name is Shi Ni Pekkir.*"

When Buffy couldn't contain her giggle at his name the man sighed. "Yes... My mother... she was... very vindictive. Anyway, you found me and you know the right passphrase so I assume you're here for a weapon. Now, why did you seek me out when you could have just bought a revolver or a nine on the street for about fifty bucks?"

'He's fishing for more knowledge on how thorough you are and how actually professional he'll have to make it. If you don't show him you both know what he did to do this as a living and that you know enough about guns to need his work then he'll probably just grab a gun off the shelf, maybe polish it up a little bit and slap a new sight on it and give it to you,' Fox cautioned, she'd seen many of the newbies in the Fraternity make that same pitfall. Given shoddy weapons if they didn't go to the Gunsmith and because they didn't know enough to make the guy they did go to think it was worth it to give them a quality firearm.

"Because any old revolver or nine just won't do. I need a professional job without the... paper trail that a professional gunsmith would entail. So I asked around and your name came up. Seems you lost your gunsmithing license for... what was it? Ah yes, selling a customized M60 to a minor," Buffy responded after being prompted by Fox in what to do without getting her head blown off.

Shi Ni nodded in acknowledgement of Buffy's homework on him before she'd arrived. Seemed he'd actually have to work for this paycheck. Sitting down across from her he picked up his drawing pad, expecting to have to make a sketch of some kind for style purposes. Hey, he may be black market but damn if he didn't still take serious pride in his work. So, color him surprised when Buffy handed over a sketch of an intriguing looking .45 semi-automatic pistol. "An interesting weapon... Clearly a Safari Arms 1911 clone. Large clip extension, integrated silencer, some interesting scrollwork, and I would assume a custom trigger and action job to make it flow smoothly. Correct?"

"That sounds about right, though I need 2. I would also like three ways to carry them. An easily concealable holster, a large handbag with an aluminum lined hidden compartment, and an easy way to do a lot of traveling without it being discovered," Buffy acknowledged while adding the other requirements.

Shi Ni only nodded. He wouldn't ask why she needed such ways to hide a silenced weapon. It wasn't his business and asking too many questions in the black market could get you killed. Much better to just be good at your job, keep your mouth shut, and know nothing. Keeping records was pointless when your clients would rather kill you then help you if you got caught.

"How much is this going to cost me?" Buffy asked the gunsmith, she didn't have much money... well, legal money. Fox had managed to talk her into a little white collar crime. She took all the money out of all of Angel's old accounts, he kept quite a few, and put it into a new account under the name Fox Summers. As a result... well, Angel had been good at investing and the money had been on an investment loop for the past century and a half. She was quite wealthy. So would her kids, and their kids after that, and so on.

"Twenty large. Non-negotiable." For a regular gunsmith the gun would probably come out to about fifteen large, the extra five was danger pay. It was one of the perks of being black market. You get to charge more because your clients are obviously doing something illegal.

"Ok. Give me your account information to wire it to and I'll have the wire set up when you have the gun ready," Buffy replied with a shrug. It wasn't that she wasn't still sad about Angel's death and subsequently, no longer needing his money anymore.

She was, but it was muted, whether by Fox's presence or if Fox's personality had changed her own, just a little. Still, it was enough that she could take the money and spend it like this with only a twinge of guilt. She still wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not but had no time to worry about it.

The black market gunsmith gave the brunette his information and she left. Heading back to Sunnydale, having had to go to nearby Los Angeles in a... borrowed car, the slayer couldn't help but imagine the looks on the face of Travers when it did eventually come out that the slayer was using silver-nitrate hollowpoints to kill vampires instead of Mr. Pointy, which it turned out was a rather common name of a slayer's favorite stake. It was, in the Watcher Council's eyes, a rather bizarre phenomenon.

Buffy reached Sunnydale in no-time at all and quickly returned the car to Principal Snyder's spot in the high-school parking lot. Hey, he caused all of this when he forced them to get costumes he might as well 'lend' her the car she needed.

It wasn't until she walked into the library where Giles was waiting for her that she realized her fusion with Fox had another side effect.

"Where have you been all day?" the watcher asked his charge a little worried.

"Shopping. You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find what I was looking for," the ex-blond lied smoothly and it hit her. She could actually lie! Maybe she'd be able to keep up the double-life thing after-all.

*Pronounced Shiny Pecker. Guess the reference.

A/N: Felt like uploading this today as a reward for waiting so long for last chapter. That said, my muse has been… distracted as of late with a couple Riddick crossovers. Just to clear something up, no Fox does not know this guy and none of HER contacts are valid, she does however know how to find the black market and from there how to develop contacts in it, which she can then teach Buffy. Now to address a review or two.

SeanHicks4: Yea, I know I'm playing fast and loose with the plot. I wanted certain things to happen in a different way so I manipulated it a little bit. And after further research I was misinformed about Wanted belonging to Marvel. My bad. They actually belong to Top Cow Productions. I apologize. Although, them not belonging to Marvel actually is rather beneficial for them... Punisher or someone would have gone in there to wipe out the COMIC Wanted people a long time ago seeing as they are most definitely villains in the comic.

Also, suppressors/silencers used to be limited use items but increases in technology have made them more durable and an integrated silencer isn't EXACTLY part of the frame though it's not easily removed. They're actually fairly common nowadays. And btw. You need to change your PM settings, I can't reply to your reviews.