Successor (BTVS)

[X] Plan Double Down


In the waking world, Wilkins' old office was shuttered and empty; after the regrettable maze incident all the magic stuff had been moved out, but Willow had moved herself right out too. The reinforced heebie-jeebies were real no matter how many scans said nothing was there. Buffy hadn't really spent enough time in her own, smaller office space to be tempted to move; most big meetings happened in the conference room anyway.

The room she found herself in now was restored to its old glory though, and looked just like Buffy remembered it from her first frantic day or so in office, before Willow had even started to loot all the stuff in it. It was a divergence from how these city hall dreams usually worked, and it made Buffy worried. Wilkins hadn't shown up yet either, and she'd been dreading having a huge argument with him over Faith.

She went for the door, intending to leave the office and look elsewhere for answers, but Wilkins stepped in before she got there. "I really liked the way the interior here turned out when I had it redone in the '60s. I don't know how you cope squirreled away in that little cubicle you claimed."

"My office is nice," she said quietly. It was on the corner too, which meant she could get a nice little breeze in it sometimes. Her dad had always talked about his quest for a corner office when she was small, and it mattered maybe more to her than it should that she'd gotten one for herself.

"I'm not saying I don't appreciate you leaving it open for me," he explained. "But between us, I don't think I'll be back anytime soon to use it," he gave her a wink as he walked to his desk, still piled with out-of-date paperwork, and then relaxed in the chair she'd actually never been here to see him in.

Buffy knew it was probably some dumb negotiating tactic to make her bring it up first, but she couldn't manage small talk like this. Better to pull off the bandaid. "About Faith-"

"People always pop up in the strangest places, don't they?" he interrupted. "She really landed on her feet. Going from working for humble local government to a top secret federal outfit. If you don't watch yourself, Buffy, she'll steal Slayer-of-the-Year right out from under your nose." Rather than raging at the fight Buffy had almost started or trying to guilt her about Faith's circumstances, he was acting like everything was peachy. And of course that made it worse.

"You're doing this intentionally," Buffy said.

"It's a great office for it," he agreed. "I have the walls just a little bit uneven, it's great for getting people unnerved."

Buffy rolled her eyes. Reinforced heebie-jeebies. "Look, I know we're kind of working together to stop the whole merger deal. But I can't just let Faith off the hook, she hasn't even changed! Right from the start, she was all up in my grill being, well, you know."

"Well, I don't know in fact, but considering your experience with Harmony, I'd think you'd be the expert there." At her glare, he continued, "What? You've got it out in the open now, if you can't even take some ribbing about it in your dreams from me, what are you gonna do in the real world? But let's get back on point. Are you really so sure she hasn't changed?"

"Jumping ship from one boat to the next, manipulating authority figures, pissing me off as a favorite hobby…" Buffy rattled off.

"And before you even knew she was there, she was racing to the rescue of some of those brave young men. I know it can be hard to keep a sense of scale, but for a more physically normal Slayer fighting that many Mok'tagar at once is quite the risky business venture. She got herself hurt doing it too, if I'd known at the time I'd have worried myself sick."

"She always liked fighting," Buffy said. "So she bit off a little more than she could chew and looked heroic. A broken clock's still right twice a day."

"Look, I'm not saying you have to forgive her. I know what I'd say to someone asking me that. I'm not even saying you should trust the Initiative. One thing you need to learn quickly as a mayor: the Federal government is better off kept as far away from you as possible."

"What are you saying then?" Wilkins was being even more circular than usual tonight.

"Just don't be surprised when she doesn't turn out to be as much of a monster as I am," he said.

Buffy grimaced. She could remember the voice (her voice) now, whispering to her in Maggie's office. But Wilkins was right; Faith was a lot of things, but she wasn't one of the monsters. She couldn't trust her farther than Xander could throw her, but killing her right then and there, that would've been an overreaction.

And killing Kathy later, well, that had been hasty, even if it wasn't wrong. She didn't exactly… regret anything she'd done this summer, even in light of the spooky voice (which she could remember doing its creepy whisper way too many times now), but it was concerning. Scary.

She doubted she'd get a straight answer, but she had to try. Maybe concern for Faith would even make him spill a little more than usual. "You said that the Successor thing wasn't going to puppet me. Doesn't feel like that with Faith. If you don't want me to treat her like a monster, maybe it should stop telling me she is one."

He sighed. "I didn't lie. It isn't puppeting you. After all, you didn't kill her! If you had, well golly, this would be a different conversation we'd be having now, wouldn't it?"

Buffy's flat glare didn't let him get out of it that easy, and he kept talking, "It's complicated. Your powers don't want anything, the parts of them, even the parts of Sineya, that actually wanted things are gone. It probably felt like you were being influenced to kill Faith because deep down you wanted to kill her.

"Your powers don't have will, but they have instincts. A form. Hammers don't want to hit things, but people holding them still start treating problems like nails. Not to be heavy handed with my metaphor or anything." Buffy's eyes flicked down to her hands, leaning on her hammer as it conspicuously avoided digging its spike into the floor. Maybe having her hammer available whenever she wanted it was more double-sided than she'd thought.

"The unfortunate Ms. Newman, for example," he continued. "She was a problem, and you had your answer right to hand. So you solved it."

"I wouldn't exactly call the problem solved," Buffy said.

"Maybe not all the way," he agreed. "But persistent problems can be opportunities too, to see some of the greater world in this case! How are you feeling about that?"

The 'solution' she and her friends had finally come up with for the Mok'tagar wasn't something she should reasonably be excited about, but she couldn't stop a little grin from appearing on her face. Treating your problems like nails had a certain appeal, even if manicures could be a little expensive at times.


"For the record, I still think this is kind of crazy," Skip said, leaning back in one of the City Hall conference room's more reinforced and durable chairs. "If it was just me putting this together, I'd have never even tried."

"Should I be flattered or insulted?" Buffy asked.

"Maybe both? As long as that doesn't get a spike shoved through my eye, at least. Not that I'm judging. We all get a little angry sometimes." Skip's jovial attitude was at odds with his fearsomely metallic appearance, as usual.

"It'll be fine," Anya said. "You should've seen the size of the Haxil she killed a few months ago. The thing was twenty feet if it was an inch."

"I know, I know, Buffy's real tough. I got some bruises of my own to prove it." Skip said. "But fighting a big Haxil is one thing, and facing down a whole army is another."

The political situation Kathy's death had put them in had seemed unsolvable. Either they could just wait for Tapparich to figure out she killed his daughter, and then inevitably attack Sunnydale with his army of hundreds of Mok'tagar, or they could try to cover it up somehow and risk an interdimensional incident along with the attack if they were ever found out.

Giles hadn't actually been serious when he commented that they might as well just launch an attack themselves and get it over with, but Buffy took a shine to the idea immediately. It kept the fighting out of Sunnydale and their reputation out of the gutter at the same time. There were just the details of dealing with a big army, a fortified castle, and an inhospitable dimension to work out.

Anya had known enough about Mog'tog'og to know it wasn't unified, but instead broken up into a dozen or so City States, only one of which they had a problem with. Moreover, the nature of the society was Feudal, with only an upper class sprinkling of Mok'tagar instead of an entire city's worth of them. Even with that in mind though, Tapparich's forces likely numbered in the hundreds, so they'd have to play it smart.

"Again, fighting the whole army, so not the plan," Buffy said. "You've worked on the movie with Jonathan all this time, you should practically trust him more than I do by now!" The solution to the army was stealth. If Jonathan's illusion magic could sneak them in, she could take the fight directly to Tapparich, and deal with him before they all drowned in his regenerating demon minions.

"Thanks?" Jonathan said. As a critical part of the plan, he was attending the meeting too, but he'd been characteristically quiet.

"Not that I don't trust you or anything," Buffy reassured him. "LA went great."

"It's not that!" Jonathan explained quickly. "I'm just, maybe not 100% sure that I'm up to it? There are a lot of unknown variables."

"Variables that you're about to make known, right Skip?" Buffy said. Intelligence on the Mok'tagar dimension of Mog'tog'og and Tapparich's base had been sketchy up until now, but Anya was sure Skip was the demon for the job. Knowing the ins and outs of a strike like this was how mercenaries like him made their living.

"Sure," he said dubiously. "Well, first of all, the bad news you were expecting. This high technology stuff you've got going on here on Earth doesn't work so well in Mog'tog'og."

"No guns?" Anya asked. "Xander's going to be very annoyed if all his careful gun acquisitions are impotent."

"No guns," Skip confirmed. "It's something wrong with how stuff burns in confined spaces. Also, get this: no electronics."

That took Willow out of the picture too. As much as her powers had grown by leaps and bounds over the summer, she was still a novice without any computers to use or abuse.

"OK, but it's at least survivable for humans right?" Buffy asked hopefully. "I'm pretty sure Kathy talked about some humans living there already."

Skip titled his armored claw back and forth. "Survivable, yes. Healthy, no. Especially if you aren't well acclimated. They tried to bring some new ones in a few decades ago and half of them died inside a month. You guys are pretty frail."

"I know, it sucks," Anya grumbled.

"If it's a kind of poison, or radiation, then maybe-" Jonathan started.

"Way ahead of ya, smart guy," Skip said. "I already shared the details on the problem with Nezumi, he thinks the Rat King can make something happen, and he'll be in town with his consort tomorrow."

"Consort?" Buffy asked with trepidation. The Rat King was pretty friendly, as far as eldritch forces from other dimensions went, but he was also a giant swarm of rats. Amy Madison had been acting a little chummy with him after the translation spell she cast, maybe even flirty, but surely-

"That mousy witch of yours, I forget her name." Skip answered. Buffy's eyes widened.

"It never wore off?" she asked in a small voice.

"You shouldn't worry about it," Anya said. "These kinds of things happen more often than you'd think."

"That doesn't sound very reassuring," Jonathan said. "For lots of reasons."

"Look, I know it might've not been intended exactly," Anya said, "but Xander and I saw her a couple weeks ago. She was in a great mood. Very chipper,"

"Why didn't I hear about this?" Buffy asked. "It's the kind of thing I don't not want to hear about, when it happens."

"You've been busy, and it's not like it's an ongoing disaster or anything," Anya said. "It's fine. Romantic even. She's dating above her station, really."

"There's a joke about glass houses and vampires in here somewhere," Skip said.

"I, well, that's different?" Buffy tried. The room didn't respond. "I'm not trying to be judgey girl! I'm just worried."

"You'll see for yourself tomorrow." Anya was confident. "She even has this glow. I wish I glowed like that."

"Sure," Buffy said, temporarily defeated. As bad as Amy had been, she was still leery of essentially sentencing her to brain scrambling and rat marriage, but it was true she only had about half a leg to stand on in the normal romance department. "So, poison gas is managed. What else?"

Skip relaxed a little more now, and spread his arms out over the table. "So I know I've been a downer this whole time, but I wanted to save the good news for last. I found us an uncle."

"An uncle?" Buffy said, confused.

"An uncle! That's great! Our problems are solved!" Anya said.

"A major problem with assassinations like this is you usually get the next in line popping up to seek revenge within a few months," Skip explained. "It's even worse with these Mok'tagar city states we're dealing with, since the Great One mantles usually end up getting inherited. You'd be dealing with Tapparich's heir invading with all of his army and most of his old powers, the whole plan would be useless."

"But if Skip found an uncle to usurp his titles, we can just install him as the new leader after you murder the old leader," Anya said.

"Our guy's name is Banthasnap, he was Tapparich's father's younger brother," Skip said. "Standard envious relative package."

"Banthansnap, really?" Jonathan was bemused. "Like a Bantha in Star Wars?"

"He smelled like one when I found him, that's for sure," Skip said. "But he'll clean up well enough. He remembers most of the layout, and can probably manage a half-decent portal to get us to the door."

Buffy made a considering expression. "I won't say it doesn't sound useful, but can we trust this guy? If he decides on a family reunion instead our whole surprise attack idea could be unfortunately surprising for us instead."

Skip shrugged. "That's another reason why it's risky, but he doesn't have much reason to switch sides. Plus, if he did, he'd have to worry about you killing him immediately in revenge."

"So keep the stinky uncle close by, check," Buffy said. "Is that everything?"

"We're still going to need to finalize the strike team," Skip said. "When did you want to do this thing?"

Every day they delayed more things could go wrong, especially considering the time dilation speeding Mog'tog'og along at ten to their one. She'd be getting everyone ready and organized for the mission tomorrow, plus dealing with her first day of her Economics class, but the day after would probably work. "I was thinking Friday, but-"

A distinctive chime from her radio interrupted her, and she narrowed her eyes. Cynthia knew this was a pretty important meeting. Therefore, it was probably an even worse distraction. "What's up Cynthia?"

"We have unexpected envoys in the city," she said.

Could Tapparich have figured them out already? This time disadvantage majorly sucked. "Envoys from who?"

Despite her words, the tone of Cynthia's voice was as calm and collected as ever. "The Watcher's Council is here."

The lobby was already crowded not only with Watchers, but with some of her own people too; word in the building had spread fast, and from some of the stony expressions Buffy saw on their faces they'd taken secondhand stories about Watcher excesses to heart. Skip had opted out of the encounter for obvious reasons, but Anya and Jonathan had followed her down. None of the administrative assistants they joined were exactly what Buffy would call front line, but the extra numbers would be useful psychologically. The Watchers had definitely brought enough of their own.

Predictably, Quentin Travers was standing at the front of a party of six Britly-suited individuals, complete with his annoying frown of dour neutrality. The two middle aged guys and one of the women accompanying him fit the Watcher profile pretty well, but the other two girls they'd brought with them were pretty fresh faced; it almost seemed like they were her age.


"Ah, Ms. Summers, how kind of you to join us. I suppose I should congratulate you on your electoral victory, though that says as much about the Colonials who elected a teenager as it does anything else." Well, when he put it that way, she just felt great.

Well, Buffy certainly didn't have to take his shit anymore. "I could say the same about the Watchers. After all, they elected you, didn't they?"

"Please, can we at least try to be civil with each other?" The lady Watcher stepped forward, gave Travers an exasperated glare, and then turned back to her and held out a hand. "Let's try this again. I'm Mary, Senior Watcher and co-leader of this expeditionary delegation. It's my pleasure to meet you."


Buffy tried to keep her reserve, but Mary's smile was surprisingly genuine. She shook, and she didn't even squeeze. "Well, welcome to the Hellmouth, then. And are you implying that the stuffy lord of all things grim here isn't actually in charge?"

"After much deliberation by the Council it was decided that a balanced response was required," Travers answered, sounding even more unhappy than usual.

"It could hardly do worse than the comedy of errors you managed to direct last year," Mary snarked. "But before this pointless posturing goes any further, I should also introduce our colleagues: Watchers Phillip and Nigel, as well as two of our brightest Potentials, Rachel and Zoe." The tall blonde girl tried to put on a serious expression as the reedy redhead shyly waved.

"Potentials?" Buffy asked.

"Potential Slayers," she clarified. "Girls who've been identified as possible future Slayers beforehand and given appropriate training and instruction to prepare them for the possibility. I know we weren't able to reach you in time, but I thought that bringing them along might show you some of the good our organization does."

Buffy knew Kendra had been sort of voluntarily kidnapped before her Slayerization, but neither of these girls looked like the type that owned just a single shirt. They looked happy enough for now (well, the blonde was trying not to), but Buffy resolved to find out more later.

"Buffy, are you going to introduce us?" Anya said only slightly quietly.

"Right. This is Anya, one of my city councilors, and Jonathan's a senior officer on the City Watch. And Cynthia's our office manager here at City Hall, she was a big help during the transition." If these Watchers got into their heads Cynthia was just a secretary she'd probably end up getting bullied into all sorts of dumb jobs, and Buffy wasn't having that.

"You may also know me as Anyanka, Patron Saint of the Women Scorned, former Vengeance Demon," she elaborated, earning some weird looks. "But don't get any ideas that you can do anything about it! I'm on her team."

"Perish the thought," Travers said dryly.

"I'm not going to hold anyone's past against them as long as we're on the same side now," Mary said firmly, and she shook Anya's hand with another smile.

"I don't have a backstory or anything, but it's nice to meet you," Jonathan said clumsily.

"I do wonder if any of her associates are between thirty and three hundred," Nigel commented.

"Jonathan is not only one of my most level-headed people, he's also a great Illusionist," Buffy said irritably. "If you're so hyped about being over thirty what do you have to show for it?"

"Two doctorates, and a sixth level certification from the Old English Covenry."

"Let's remember that we're all on a diplomatic mission today, Nigel," Mary said with some false cheer.

Buffy twirled her hammer idly. "So, we've had our niceties and our not-so-niceties, why exactly are all of you here in my town?"

"The number and velocity of new developments in Sunnydale this summer has been highly unusual," Travers said. "Without an agent here we have been forced to rely on various secondary sources, and we must now address the issue with a proper investigation to help the Council decide on a path forward."

"Which is not to say that we are here to take over, or anything like that," Mary stepped in. "On the contrary, we want to help more. The Council's been stingy with resources here for far too long, and what we're most interested in is how we can help you with anything you need to be a better Slayer."

"Perhaps we should take this opportunity to adjourn to somewhere more appropriate," Phillip said.

"Sure," Buffy said. "Cynthia will show you to the conference room. We can have refreshments available, right?" She nodded. Cynthia was handy. "While you recover from your long trip all the way from your territory to mine, I'll get everyone together for us to have a nice, frank discussion about what's happened this summer."


Vote: The Watchers are here looking for information, among other things. How free is Buffy going to be with it? She'll be able to brief her side on the plan before the meeting.

[] Stonewall the Watcher's Council. Buffy tries to avoid revealing any information she doesn't have to, including even moderately sensitive subjects like the Initiative, Faith, Harmony, and the Mok'tagar. It's likely that they'll eventually find out most of it eventually if they poke around long enough, but there's no point in making it any easier for them. In particular, Buffy doesn't want them messing with the attack on Mog'tog'og in two days.

[] Mostly cooperate. Buffy tells them stuff about the summer's events that the average person in her organization would already know, and fills in context where appropriate. Most relevantly, Buffy briefs them on the Mok'tagar situation and her plans for resolving it, hoping they might actually be able to help somehow. However, any mention of Buffy's status as a Successor to an Old One and anything tangentially related to it is avoided, including the Wilkins dreams, the Lachrymal Artifact still unfound beneath City Hall, and the worrying indications of an upcoming dimensional merger.

[] Tell them everything. Buffy fills the Watcher's Council in on all relevant topics, not just looking for help with the Mok'tagar but also with finding the Lachrymal Artifact, understanding her new powers, and dealing with the thinning dimensional boundaries. While they've had their differences, they're all mostly on the same side, and Mary's presence could indicate that they're willing to give some ground. In this option all the very most sensitive information will only be shared initially with Travers and Mary unless stunted otherwise.