Successor (BTVS)

[X] Plan Interdimensional Imperialism
-[X] Ask that Amy consult with Anya, Andrew, and Giles on which dimensions to push on and how hard they can push.
-[X] Ask Anya, Andrew, Giles, and Amy to draw up an intel rundown on the dimension the Owl's are from, what they have in terms of loot, if there's any groups native to that dimension we can work with in terms of setting up a puppet government. Try to set up a meeting with whoever their top pick would be.

[X][Ethan] Buffy feels like it would be too hypocritical to decide who CyberWillow can talk to, especially since it's clear she's taking precautions.
-[X] Buffy recommends CyberWillow talk to Giles about tips on managing a friendly relationship with Ethan or dealing with the fallout of a souring relationship.

"It could be an emergency! We should go faster!" Harmony argued.

"I think the SDCW mostly has it under control. Plus, if we went faster, then the ride wouldn't last as long." Playing with Harmony was a game Buffy had trouble resisting.

"We could go faster but just take a longer road?" Buffy could picture the scrunched up look that was Harmony thinking hard and managed to stifle her giggle.

CyberWillow had noticed some troubling activity at UC Sunnydale about half an hour ago, but they'd already been busy tracking down a group of flyover country fledgelings that had made a seriously unwise pilgrimage to the hellmouth. The baby vamps were all dust now, but they were going to be a little late to this other party.

If there were people in danger and she was the first one driving to the scene, she'd be pushing her Hayabusa into the red end of its speedometer, but considering the situation she thought discretion was the better part of valor. She came off the highway only speeding by thirty miles per hour or so, slowing down even further as she lazily took the turn into campus proper.

She really didn't mind getting to savor the last little bit of the ride, Harmony curled up cold and breathless to the back of her neck as the fall wind whipped back through her hair.

But all good things came to an end. When they pulled up to the Frosted Froth one of their SDCW vans was already there, with a little scuffle going on just outside it. Sam Lockett and Mark … something, one of the guys Carl got from Boston, were trying to out-wrestle what looked like a caveman.

"Pretty! Colors!" the caveman shouted, taking swings at empty air and generally failing to leverage what should've been his superior strength. Even as Buffy and Harmony were rushing over to help, Sam slapped a pair of the heavy-duty cuffs on him and Mark got a knee on his back.

"Oof. Heavy."

"We've got this guy, you should help in the bar," Sam said, checking to make sure the caveman was just subdued and not having trouble breathing.

"Those drug guns sure work wonders," Mark added, seeming at home with the task of pinning a guy down with his body weight.

Even as Buffy was turning to charge in, she saw a middle aged balding guy stumble out, being frogmarched by Rachel. He looked more terrified than she would've expected, even though the potential was pretty feisty, but that was explained by the next thing out the door being a giant scorpion. It was just barely able to fit itself through, shuffling its legs in an eerily precise fashion; Andrew had really gotten good at control.

He followed it once it made way, with his magic flute in hand and a smarmy look on his face. "This villain had the audacity to try to escape out the back when we came in for the arrest! Luckily, I'm pretty fast on the cast these days."

"Look, it was just a prank, it's gonna wear off in a day, I swear," the balding guy said, then he noticed Buffy. "Oh shit."

He definitely didn't look like a demon or anything; just some normal guy. Not too different from some teachers she'd had last year, and wasn't that a weird thought. He gulped, seeming even more afraid of her than the scorpion, and maybe assuming the worst from her second of quiet introspection.

"You're gonna get it now!" Harmony crowed.

"Explain." She said shortly, with a little more edge in her tone than she really felt over something as dumb as this. But it'd be a shame to waste a bad impression.

"Well, you probably get it right?" He slowly started slipping into bartender-mode. "These college kids, they act like they're so high and mighty, better than working folk like us-"

"You know I take classes here right?" she interrupted.

"Yeah, but you work for a living. Not like those kids taking time off to find themselves up their own asses. And it's not like I was serving any of your people, I was careful not to catch them up in it!"

"Serving them what?" CyberWillow had shared some early analysis of the situation on the way over, but she wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth.

"My brother-in-law showed me how to do it, he called it a regression elixir. I mixed some into the brew, just enough to, you know-"

"Turn them into marauding cave-people?" She said dryly. "CyberWillow, what are we looking at here? Injuries, damages, munitions?"

Her answer was an echo from all the radios present. "Neither of the two other SDCW squads involved have suffered more than minor bruising. However, police officer Gerald Brady was one of the first on the scene, and sustained a broken arm. Expenditure of city controlled monetary resources including his insurance copayment is expected to be no less than seven hundred and forty dollars. There are additional damages to the UC Sunnydale campus which I estimate to be at least nine thousand three hundred dollars."

"You heard it there," she wagged her finger scoldingly. But before she could finish, CyberWillow continued.

"More urgently, I must inform you of the approach of Initiative assets. This likely is related to the identities of several of the victims."

"How many of them drank the kool-aid again?" Buffy asked. It was just like those amateurs to fall for a silly plot like this. It had been another part of CyberWillow's briefing as they drove here, but she wanted to be sure.

"They comprise four of the eight victims. One is Graham Miller, who you've apprehended here. The other teams have the rest in custody."

It made sense that this would bring them out of their hole if anything would. She supposed it'd be easier to just give them back their soldiers and crack a few jokes, but…
KILL
"Faith's one of these approaching assets, isn't she?" she stated.

"Yes. She appears to be leading the team," CyberWillow confirmed.

She knew it wasn't her better nature telling her to do this, but it was going to be too fun to resist. "Let's make them come to us."


It was getting pretty late into the night at the police station, but Buffy was having a great time waiting up. Some of the SDCW members involved in the great caveman caper had already gone home, and police presence here during the graveyard shift was a little thin, but there were still plenty of people here with both groups together. Enough for her to feel like a queen in her court, just waiting to lord it over some foreign interlopers.

She'd initially been just a little concerned about appropriating the cops' space for her confrontation, but there really wasn't anywhere more practical to store eight temporary cave people than the drunk tank. Her worries had been totally unfounded though; the guys on shift had been enthusiastic when she told them the point was to make the Initiative come to them hats in hand. The secret project soldiers were close enough to being Feds that most of the force had disliked them from the start.

Officer Bernie was almost treating the event like a sleepover, regaling the younger SDCW crowd with stories, "So there I was, knew for sure there was somethin' terrible in that house, and my partner Garrett did too, green as grass as he was. We had the place taped off as a crime scene, and we had to stand around lookin' pretty, but you couldn't ha' paid us five hundred each to poke our noses in there. Then this black Chevy rolls up and these two FBI pop out, jotting around Sunnydale confident as anything like it was just a stroll in the park.

"They come up to us and flash their badges all slick-like, saying 'We'll take it from here.' Now, you can't call me mean, because I said, 'You're sure about that?' They were sure. Then Garrett tried to save 'em, he said, 'Maybe you shouldn't go in.' But they just rolled their eyes at us like we were a pair of clueless hicks and shoved right by. Didn't hear anything from 'em after the door shut behind, nobody did, not even a scream. In the end we ended up impounding the Chevy for parking violations and nobody ever claimed it. Was a nice Christmas bonus that year."

"Was this that four-story on Marston?" Xander asked.

"Nah, nah, this one was on Storrow," Bernie clarified. "We just left it alone after that, dunno if anyone else ever went in. It burned down in '84 either way, it's a 7-11 now."

"I always thought the twinkies there were a little suspicious," Xander said, nodding as he bit into a Twinkie.

"Could be, could be," he agreed.

CyberWillow spoke up with the story's close. "Faith Lehane and her squad appear to finally be making their approach. I expect them to arrive in five minutes and twenty seconds."

Without being told, the cops dispersed back to their desks, digging around in papers and generally finding ways to look busy. The SDCW largely copied them, taking positions in otherwise empty places and filling out the radial arrangement centered on the entry door.

Bernie went to take over the front desk, grabbing a riot shotgun and artfully posing it on display. She noticed he was palming a Myco gun under the desk at the same time; the bulk of them had gone to the SDCW, but she'd given the police three of the fifteen, for security and emergencies.

Willow plonked herself down next to Buffy, where she'd taken a desk near the back of the crowd. "I can't wait for this. We're really gonna rake her over the coals! If it was anyone but Faith, I'd feel kinda bad about it."

"Maybe we don't have to be maximally difficult," Xander said, seeming a little leery. "It's not like the Initiative are the bad guys, exactly. They're just inexperienced."

"They're close enough to bad guys," Harmony disagreed. "Faith staked Annie, and that girl was way better at turning tricks than sucking blood. You were even there for that!"

Xander pursed his lips but didn't continue the argument. She didn't blame him for his hesitance, it was understandable that his history with Faith made things a little more complicated. But the rest of them had history too, and Harmony was right; Faith was still making a habit of crossing the line.
KILL
Faith entered the station with an angry look on her face, and the group of soldiers with her didn't look like they were in good moods either. Except for one doctor-looking type in the back, they were all wearing their military fatigues, not even trying to be subtle.


Forrest Gates took that to extremes. One look at the mass of crosses nailed to the front desk and the fledgeling was vamping out, clearly barely in control. Whatever Faith and Maggie thought of his allegiances, she had her eye on him. Harmony was a special case.

Faith took in the front desk and the fortified atmosphere radiating backwards from it. "Somehow I'm not feeling very welcomed."

"Thought there was supposed to be separation of Church and State in this country," Forrest added, keeping his distance by edging along the outer wall.

"Care to state your business?" Bernie asked, staying chill. Overall, the cops didn't seem too nervous, despite the tenseness and possible danger of the encounter. This was their home turf.

"Yeah. We want our guys back, plus the jackass who was running the bar. His gear too," she demanded. It was bolder than she expected, but from Faith, that wasn't a surprise.

"I'm afraid nobody we've taken in tonight has requested visitors," Bernie replied.

"The hell they haven't," Faith practically spat.

"As for the rest," he continued, not even acknowledging her outburst, "He's been charged with a 347, and all his junk is evidence. Can't release any of it." They'd gotten all the questionable beer casks out just before Faith had arrived at the bar earlier, and the police had hit his home and grabbed his equipment soon after.

Faith looked past Bernie and locked eyes with her. "Is this your style now B? Like to sit back and watch while your minions do all the talking?"

"Only you would come to a police station and not expect to talk to any police, Faith," she snarked.

"As far as I can see, she isn't," Forrest said, still in vamp face. "That's just a blue puppet with your hand up his ass."

There was a susurrus of angry mutters from the scattered police at that, quieted when Bernie started speaking again.

"A Mayor has an interest in seeing the law is enforced. Police in this country would be better off if more like her were on guard, 'stead of hiding out and drinkin' wine up on some hill. Or maybe some types are even drinkin' somethin' else." He gave Forrest a significant look.

"Not just a puppet, but a racist puppet," Forrest chuckled. "And a big gut too. Police stereotypes, three for three."

Meanwhile, Faith was ignoring their byplay and walking forward on her own, weaving back and forth between the dense police desks to reach Buffy's position. As she'd told them to earlier, their occupants kept their eyes on Faith but let her come.

As she got closer, Buffy noticed that in contrast to her usual skintight style, her fatigues were pretty loosely fitted, especially around the legs. She allowed her grin to get a little wider, because she was pretty sure she knew why.

Faith stopped right in front of her desk, heedless of the scattered crowd at her back. "I know you must be having a real blast, living it up with all your new piggy pals while you throw shit out at everyone else. But this ain't gonna fly. The Professor's been treating you with kid gloves, hoping you'd come around eventually, just to make things clean and easy. She doesn't know you like I do.

"Doesn't know that she's a lying, murdering, ho-bag?" Willow wondered, a glint in her eyes. "Oh wait, no, that's you."

Faith took a sidestep in her direction. "Might wanna stay quiet while the big girls talk, Red. Remember what happened last time you ran your mouth."

"What are you gonna do, attack us right in the middle of the station?" Harmony snickered. "Your whole gang put together couldn't even beat Buffy alone."

"But that's just it," Faith was talking directly to Buffy, not even looking at the others anymore, "We're not a gang, we're the USA. Washington DC. Congress, the Pentagon, the fucking works. If there's a war, you're not just fighting me and mine right here, you're fighting the whole country. And what are you? Just some jumped up mayor that's been on the cover of Teen magazine for the past three months."

Buffy didn't bat an eye. "Surprising that with all that backup you can't even afford clothes that fit."

"Fashion, really?" Faith tried to look dismissive, but Buffy could tell she was covering, "You really do still think you're playing pom-poms and prom queens, don't you?"

"More like cops and robbers," Buffy said, intentionally raising her voice. "And it's not too hard to tell which is which, with that little accessory you've got on your ankle."

Everyone had been told about it beforehand, of course. But that didn't stop the snickers rising from all around the room, as the various guys in Faith's little band of soldiers either went stonefaced quiet or just looked confused.

CyberWillow had detected the signal from the GPS-enabled ankle bracelet days ago, and some rudimentary investigation had determined the source.

"Still wanna make threats to shut me up, Faith? Even if you put me in traction I could have the FBI thinking you've gone south of the border," Willow had wanted to mess with her right away, but Buffy had told her to wait for something like this. It'd be better to wait for her to be vulnerable, exposed.

"And you all call me the liar," Faith snarled, turning on Willow. "But you set me up as some kinda spy? That murdered my own Watcher? I should wipe that fucking ugly smirk-"
KILL
In an instant, Buffy was up from her seat and standing between Faith and Willow's desk. "Time for round two?" She really hoped Faith would take the shot.

"I'm game if you are," Forrest offered from the back. The grunts around him didn't look nearly so enthusiastic about the idea.

Faith looked indecisive, torn, but before she decided, the doctor shouted, aggrieved. "Please. Can we cease with this meaningless posturing? Several soldiers have been affected by biochemical hazards, and I have no way of knowing what internal damage could be happening to them without collecting more data. Data which I can't get without examinations!"

Willow stood up from the desk so she could talk past Faith and Buffy more easily. "You think we didn't check that first? The energy field of the neanderthal transformation is conservative, they'll snapback to just how they started when it wears off."

"And what about those squirt guns we've been hearing about, did you use them too?" he argued. "Did you even consider the dangers of an unexpected drug interaction, or are you trusting in your extensive knowledge of what, hacking and voodoo? Very relevant."

Willow rolled her eyes. "Oh stop your worrying, I'm sure they'll be fine. Xander's been turned into so many different things I can't even remember them all, and nothing bad ever happened to him."

"Thanks? I think," Xander said quietly.

"You gonna take responsibility if it does?" Then Faith shook her head, interrupting herself. "Nevermind, you never take responsibility for anything you do, so I shouldn't have bothered to ask."

"At least I was responsible enough to make it to graduation," Willow said.

Faith narrowed her eyes but didn't answer her, instead focusing back on Buffy. "You've had your fun, got to march me in here and have all your sycophants laugh it up at Faith the secret communist. That doesn't change reality. You're gonna hand over our guys and everything we need to make sure they change back, or this truce is getting its doors blown off."

Vote: Does Buffy give them anything? If so, how much? Note that the influence of Buffy's KILL is directly fighting against any effort to make peace with Faith; the more conciliatory she is now, the more frustrated it will make her. Votes higher up will produce less or no frustration, and as you go down in the order they will produce more and more. You may wish to keep aware of the vote direction and use approval voting as necessary.

[] "You really wanna try me? I'll even give you a free shot to get you started." Buffy was just looking for an excuse for a fight.

[] "You'll get your people back in the morning when they can form complete sentences again." Buffy gives them nothing.

[] She didn't want to take chances with people's lives, even small ones. "Your doctor can check them out, but nobody and nothing leaves the station."

[] If the shoe was on the other foot, she wouldn't rest until she got hers back. "Bring out their people." They'd better be content with that much.

Further levels of concessions will require write-ins and may have extreme results.