[X] Get her name (along with the names of a bunch of other kids) by pretending this is a normal mayor thing. Then approach her at home later, and talk to her and her parents together about everything. And bring Giles.
As the crowd jostled and called out around her, Buffy realized a lot of things all at once. She'd created a spectacle, and in her distraction she hadn't even been thinking about a half-baked excuse for it. She definitely couldn't just announce the real reason now, and trying to get the girl out of this mess would create an even bigger spectacle.
Come to think of it, she didn't even have a good idea why these kids were here throwing stuff, or who anybody in this crowd was. They were middle schoolers? Probably? She hadn't gone to middle school in Sunnydale, so even the teachers were totally unfamiliar. To her. Of course, she was familiar to everyone.
There was a lot of information she didn't have, which she could've gotten from say, CyberWillow, if she'd thought of it sixty seconds ago. There were a lot of lies she had to tell, which would be easier if she'd started to think of them even twenty seconds ago. But no, she had to chase the shiny new potential like a dog chasing a car. Good work self, you caught it.
She wasn't paying what those around her were saying much attention, but then the potential in front of her said something and it shocked her out of her spiral of bad thoughts. She hadn't caught it, but her eyes were wide with concern.
"Umm, did I do something wrong?" The girl maybe-repeated herself. Oh, right, Buffy was staring at her.
No more time for thinking.
"Hey everybody!" She hopped in the air to be more visible, channeling every ounce of false valley girl she could muster. "I heard you were all doing such a great job that I had to come down and see it for myself!"
The potential had been closest to her, and startled backwards at her sudden movement, but her proclamation did its job and the roar of the crowd settled down to excited whispers. People listened when she started talking these days.
"But now that I'm here, who wants to learn some more about throwing javelins?" She continued. "Can I get any volunteers for a demonstration?"
Even though most of them weren't bold enough, it was a big crowd, and plenty of them were. The girl in front of her shrank back instead of volunteering, but Buffy wasn't going to let a little thing like free will get in the way of her spontaneous rush job.
"How about you?" Buffy closed the distance between them and expertly intercepted one of her hands into a shake. It was a move she'd learned on the campaign trail, and it served her well here, with her prey caught and unable to escape. "What's your name?"
"Amanda Kentner?" The potential was so quiet that she almost didn't seem sure. Buffy would have to be sure enough for them both.
"Alright Amanda! I'm gonna walk you through your next throw, and we'll all see how much better technique does for your distance!" She started maneuvering them both through the crowd and back to where all the various throwing items had been stacked up. They eventually emerged into the open space that had been left behind as the crowd reoriented behind them.
"Is this a nightmare? This is a nightmare right?" Amanda whispered. Nobody was in front of them and the crowd was still noisy, so a normal person wouldn't have a prayer of hearing.
Buffy couldn't help herself, "Everything's a nightmare until you don't wake up." Amanda's eyes widened in terror, and Buffy quickly added. "Sorry. It's fine. Just think of it as a PR thing."
On a dime, Amanda's demeanor shifted from fear to annoyance. "But then why did you single me out like that?"
"We'll talk about that later," Buffy reassured her, then picked up a javelin and switched back to her loud cheermayor voice, "Here you go! Now to get you started, let's move back some more. This really isn't enough space for the approach."
Amanda looked like she wanted to complain more about 'later,' but after a moment of indecision let Buffy change the topic. She followed Buffy's motions and got set to throw.
"If this one throw is bad I'm going to look so stupid," she muttered.
"Just pretend you're throwing it at a monster," Buffy suggested. "It might help. And hey? Nightmare, right?"
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Amanda had a single mom, and it definitely brought back some memories.
When Buffy had told her mother she was the slayer, it hadn't gone well. She'd wanted to call the police. She'd asked if she had to be the slayer. She'd even called her insane. Sure, Giles was way better backup for this than Spike, but she still wasn't expecting a great reaction. Even as she'd been let through the door, she'd been dreading having to come back tomorrow with half the magic department to actually make anything stick. But that wasn't how it was going today at all.
It turns out that authority is a hell of a drug.
"So where do we go from here? Is there a special school? Or maybe a summer camp? I'm afraid our finances are stretched pretty thin." Martha Kentner said with concern. But it definitely wasn't the kind of concern she'd been expecting.
"You don't need to worry about money," Buffy said quickly, then she abruptly ran out of things she knew to say. This was too weird.
Giles continued for her, "There's a boarding school in Oxford, but I wouldn't recommend that in your situation."
"Like Hogwarts but for stabbing?" Amanda asked excitedly, not quite letting him finish. "Are you sure I can't go?"
"I've heard it's much less zany," Buffy said, feeling on more stable ground with Amanda as opposed to her mom. "Rachel and Zoe aren't raring to go back, that's for sure."
"Those are other potentials?" She asked. "Do they know all the slayer stuff already? Am I behind?"
"No!" Buffy said. "I mean, you're not behind. They're closer to my age. And I didn't even know I was an anything until I was 15, so you're two years ahead of me there."
"Both of them are in an intensive training program with the mayor and work part-time with the City Watch," Giles said. "But at Amanda's age that degree of dedication wouldn't be necessary, of course."
"Part-time work," Martha mused. "I don't suppose that pays the same as the real job?"
"Absolutely," Buffy said. That was one thing she agreed with her own mom about: you really had to pay people if you possibly could. "We pay everyone who patrols."
Martha perked up when she said that, responding quickly, "Well it sounds to me like training under the mayor of Sunnydale would look a lot better on a resume than that swing choir. Amanda, I think you should seriously consider this."
"But I like swing choir." Amanda said it quietly, as if she didn't think that would matter.
"You don't have to give up your swing choir!" Buffy said, increasingly lost in the conversation. "It doesn't have to be a big thing."
"But it could be?" Martha asked. "A big thing? With money, if she does these patrols?"
"I umm, I didn't mean she'd have to patrol right away," Buffy was a little taken aback. "It could be dangerous."
"I can do dangerous," Amanda said. "Especially if I don't have to give up swing choir."
"While your bravery is appreciated, there's an appropriate progression to be followed," Giles stepped in again, something a little tired in his voice. "Both of the potentials have spent years honing their abilities, and they're nearly of age with the rest of the Watch in any case."
"Well, that's fine then, I suppose," Martha said. "But Amanda, I still want you to take this seriously. It's a big opportunity."
"Sure mom," Amanda said, in that way kids have humored parents for generations.
"So what's our next step then?" Martha continued. "I know you said Amanda isn't behind, but if that's so there's no reason she can't be ahead."
------------------------------------------------------------------
Crawford street was a place Amanda would likely be training more often, but Giles had suggested City Hall and he seemed to have some fraction of a clue what to do, so she'd gone along with it. At least it was where the slayer-god-stuff project was already meeting later today, so it was convenient. And also didn't have Agent Finn still being held as an extralegal prisoner inside. But it maybe lacked just a little bit for pizazz.
"And this coming up is the conference room. It's where we… conference." She indicated the door as they approached. Tour-giving to parents was not a Buffy specialty.
"Lots of important diplomacy is done there," Zoe said seriously. "We get representatives from other dimensions sometimes."
Usually Andrew summoned them into circles downstairs, but that might not be the best thing to bring up just yet.
"Is there anything going on there now?" Amanda asked excitedly.
"Let's find out!" Buffy opened the door, hoping that CyberWillow would've warned her if the Rat King was lurking behind it or something.
Instead of the Rat King, they found Anya doing some paperwork and Willow typing on her laptop. Buffy led them in with some relief as Amanda scooted forward to check out the skylight.
"Oh, is this the new girl we heard about?" Anya said. "Are you sure she isn't ready to fight yet, Buffy? She's already taller than you."
Rachel snickered in the background, and Amanda herself was poleaxed.
"This is Anya Jenkins, my favorite City Counselor," Buffy said, giving her the tiniest edge of stink eye before moving on. "And Willow Rosenberg, who's in charge of the Magic Department."
"You sure do believe in youth in government, don't you?" Martha said, thrown off balance herself. "I suppose you would, but still-"
"I'm eleven hundred and thirty-nine, actually," Anya interrupted.
"I see," Martha clearly didn't see. "I'm sorry?"
"My youthful appearance is nothing to be sorry about," Anya said brightly. "Though it was inconvenient for drinking, before we were politically powerful enough to ignore those rules."
Before Martha could put too much thought into underage drinking, Giles spoke up with a useful half-truth, "You're both here early for the investigation into Buffy's new slayer abilities?" Then turning to Amanda and her mom, "It's only very recently that she developed her senses to the point of detecting potential slayers. I imagine over the past years in Sunnydale you might have come near each other countless times with neither the wiser."
"Yeah," Willow answered him. "Zoe, you're ready for the Scáthach Channel right?"
"They're almost second nature now," she confirmed.
"Is that like meditation?" Martha asked. "My sister's always trying to get me to do yoga."
Giles was making a face so Buffy decided to deflect this one. "It's a way for her to get more in touch with her heritage." The tangled history of all the Scáthaches and their possible murder sprees was maybe a little much for these two.
"Maybe Amanda could sit in on that then?" Martha asked, smiling. "We've got some Irish blood too." Buffy had apparently deflected this one right into the goal.
"I'd have to warn you that it's very advanced, in the, ah-" Giles struggled to explain why a thirteen year old probably shouldn't try slightly questionable magic.
"The progression," Buffy finished, stealing one of his terms from earlier. "There were lots of prerequisites you had to study, to get the full impact, right Zoe?"
"Yes, definitely," Zoe got the message, "There's the channeling, and the chanting, and visualization-"
"I think you're overstating it," Anya said obliviously. "Back in my day, we learned by doing."
Then the door opened behind them, and Buffy never thought in her wildest dreams she'd ever be so relieved to unexpectedly see this particular person.
"Senior Watcher Quentin Travers, very pleased to meet you," he introduced himself, first shaking Martha's hand and then Amanda's.
"Martha Kentner, and my daughter Amanda," she said. "Forgive me, are you-" She glanced back and forth between him and Buffy.
"I'm here representing the Watchers' Council. As my colleague may have informed you, we're the traditional body that locates, educates, and defends potential slayers," he explained, ignoring Giles' not-so-recent change in employment status. "While the mayor here has taken an admirably proactive role in securing the safety of this particular city, the Council is a worldwide organization."
"But if you're the worldwide part, then why are you… here?" Amanda asked.
"Amanda!" Her mom scolded.
Travers affected a chuckle (it was an unnatural sight.) "No, no, she's a sharp one. Recent events in Sunnydale have developed extremely quickly, which has necessitated my presence. But that isn't why I'm here today. You're the girl of the hour; we should be discussing the options before you."
Buffy sidled over to Willow as he brought up some specifics about the Oxford school, something he was clearly much more in favor of. She whispered, "Surprise Watcher much?"
"Sorry. CyberWillow warned us, but you were in the middle of the tour," Willow apologized quietly. "But it's not really a big deal is it? They were going to meet eventually."
The event took a predictable turn after that, as Travers inserted himself into the rest of the tour and played the disturbingly well acted part of the benevolent grandfather. Buffy considered him someone she could work with these days, but still. She could work with a lot of people. That wasn't necessarily a recommendation of their high moral character.
It was vexing though. Sure, it'd be easy enough to drag him through the mud, but airing the dirty laundry in front of the new recruit didn't seem like a great idea. Not only would it maybe scare her off entirely, but it'd ruin the uneasy cooperation they'd gotten going lately. Having the Watchers occasionally helping instead of causing trouble on the sidelines had been convenient.
And even if part of her was a little annoyed at how Travers had charged in and started laying the groundwork for seducing her potential away to shiny faraway England, she wasn't sure she should be. The Council's track record was a lot better with potentials than it was with slayers, and Sunnydale hadn't had a truly calm period in over a year. Buffy had known a lot of high schoolers that died too young, in or adjacent to this stuff, and Amanda wasn't even in high school yet.
They eventually made their way back to the front steps as the tour was wrapping up. Even if Travers had started to win over Martha though, Amanda had a different opinion.
"The school sounds really great. I mean, Oxford! But I like it here. I have friends and stuff," Amanda said.
"It could open up a lot of opportunities," her mom said enticingly.
"And being the mayor's intern could too," Amanda said. "That offer's still open right?"
"You should be careful, I might give you some actual paperwork to do," Buffy said. "But yeah, definitely. It's up to you."
The least she could do was give her the choice. Amanda nodded at her, and then the Kentners headed out. Martha had been cool as a cucumber for most of the proceedings, but Buffy did notice her giving the setting sun a nervous glance as they got into their car. It was hard not to pay attention to some things once you knew about them.
"Well then," Travers said to her. "I believe next on the agenda is your own development?"
Was he really not going to even talk about the Amanda thing? "I'm surprised you're here. You'd been Watching from a distance so far."
"To be frank, I thought it'd take you much longer to show any appreciable result," Travers said. "If I knew a little encouragement was all that was required, I'd have aired my suspicions much earlier."
"I hardly think your vague critique was the precipitating event," Giles said.
"Do learn to take a joke, Rupert," Travers replied.
Buffy wisely said nothing.
Zoe and Rachel had stayed in the conference room with Anya and Willow to prepare, and the three of them made their way back up there to reconvene. They arrived to find them looking at a large projection of Gaelic text and Celtic runes on one of the walls. Willow and Zoe were in center stage, using their fingers to write notes and drag text like it was some kind of futuristic whiteboard.
"Are you sure this is going to look like slayer-stuff?" Zoe asked. "Like, it's using that as a pattern, but the energy's just normal magic coming in from the Shadow Realm, right?"
"It has to fill it up the same way though," Willow said. "The normal slayer mantle only has inactive lachryma, as far as I can tell, so the behavior should be similar. No Domain stuff. Back me up here, CyberWillow."
"It's a fair hypothesis, but the differences in energy density may still change the primary eigenstates," the AI responded, echoing throughout the room. "We will simply have to learn by experiment."
"Yes, more casting, less talking!" Anya said. "I'm not getting any healthier, whiling my days away completely mortal."
"Are you ready to look at me?" Zoe asked Buffy, then blinked. "That came out wrong."
"A little," Rachel agreed.
"Before we begin," CyberWillow interjected. "There is a matter of some importance I believe should be raised, especially considering that all relevant parties are present."
It wasn't like her to get off-topic in the middle of magic, so this could be important. Or terrible. Or both. "Lay it on us then," Buffy said, marshaling her dread.
She began, "As you all know, two days ago, Mr. Giles and I began a thorough review of the Watchers' Council records on the past ascended slayers, most of them from long before the modern era, as well as the use of the Tento di Cruciamentum to prevent their arising during comparatively recent times. As the originals remain in the Council vault across the Atlantic, we made use of photographs provided by fax."
"And boy were they ever provided by fax," Willow commented. "The security we put on that transfer was ten layers deep."
CyberWillow continued, "On the surface level, examination of the records seems to bear out the overarching explanation provided by Senior Watcher Travers. There is a consistent pattern: In an experienced slayer, there is a sudden increase in power, and that increase is always accompanied by a similar increase in sociopathic tendencies and megalomaniacal behavior. While there are obvious differences compared to Mayor Summers' situation, I agree with the supposition that these are divine ascension events.
"These events have occurred 14 times over the course of the past five thousand years: they had been gradually becoming more common until the Cruciamentum came into use in 769. This was likely due to the very slow destabilization of our dimension which continues into the present day, but that is a topic for another research report. In short though, my model predicts that if the matter was not addressed, we would've expected 7.8 plus or minus 4.3 ascended slayers over the time between 769 and now."
"That- how could you possibly?" Giles stopped himself and sighed. "I wasn't aware you were taking such a statistical approach. Despite it being my project."
"While you were invaluable in interpreting the context of the records used to produce my results, I surmised that dimensional physics and mathematical modeling were not the best use of your time," she said.
Without pausing further, she launched back into the report, "Instead of the predicted number, with the Cruciamentum trial in place, there has been only one ascended slayer since 769 who is not with us in this room: Revi Tripta in 1757, whose watcher fabricated the Cruciamentum entirely. From this it would appear that the Cruciamentum has effectively prevented what it was created to prevent."
"Right then," Travers said. "Very good work. The Council would of course appreciate a written copy for filing in Oxford."
"Thank you for your consideration, but my report is not yet finished," CyberWillow said. "Now we turn to the matter of the Cruciamentum itself. It is commonly known amongst Watchers that 43% of slayers who are tested with the Cruciamentum survive, and the records you provided us bear that out. Unfortunately, those records are forgeries."
"What?" Buffy said, jolted out of the complacency all the technobabble had been sliding her into.
"Ridiculous," Travers snapped.
"Oh wow, this is gonna be good," Anya smiled.
"I don't know whether I'm less surprised that the Council lied for hundreds of years or that CyberWillow didn't tell me critical information while we were supposedly working together," Giles said tiredly.
"I apologize for not sharing my guesses with you earlier, Mr. Giles, but due to their incendiary nature I kept them to myself until I became certain, less than an hour ago. Much of my original suspicions were based upon inconsistencies in the handwriting of the records-"
"Well of course the original watcher wouldn't write the record of death by cruciamentum," Travers said. "A human with any sense would realize they were distraught."
"That would not explain my findings," CyberWillow said sharply (for her anyway,) showing just a hint of annoyance. "Records of events centuries apart, records purported to be originals, have identical handwriting." On the projection that was being used for spellwork before, handwriting comparisons suddenly appeared, letters being measured and then superimposed over other letters.
"This in and of itself would be suspicious, but not grounds for my claim alone. However, in investigating the timelines of these slayers purported to have survived, I found a large statistical aberration in their times of death." The projection switched to a graph which spiked near the left side before falling down to a small tail as it went off to the right.
"More than four fifths of such slayers are reported to have died within six months of their Cruciamentum, despite emerging from it uninjured and fully recovering their powers. I believe that even those who are naive in matters of statistics can understand the issues there."
KILL
Buffy could understand it alright. Fudge a few dates, turn guilt into innocence. She should've never let Travers sweet-talk her.
CyberWillow continued, "When we revise downward our expected survival rate to 8.2%, suddenly our earlier data takes a different light. Applying this filter to all 18 year old slayers in our data, we would then expect with 45% probability no ascended slayers at all between 769 and now. The Cruciamentum does not work by filtering away undesirable traits, but simply by filtering away almost all slayers who ever become old enough to ascend."
"Even if this was true, and that has yet to be determined, surely you understand the devastation we must weigh the Cruciamentum against," Travers said. "Even a single mistake could cost thousands of lives."
"Just like having a less experienced slayer during an apocalypse could cost millions?" Rachel argued, suddenly showing Travers zero of the usual deference as Zoe looked on in horror.
"Try billions, these days," Willow added.
"Regardless of knock-on effects, even the average character of ascended Slayers may be misrepresented," CyberWillow continued. "While the Council records present a certain uncompromising picture, my examination of independent sources put the case of Revi Tripta in a different light.
"Her actions in 1757 were indeed quite bloody, but the large majority of her violence seems to have been directed against the British East India Company, which was then in the process of solidifying its effective control over her homeland. Indeed, her assassination by the Watchers' Council during the battle of Plassey marked the end of effective resistance and ushered in two centuries of British rule."
KILL
"You killed her for politics?" Buffy glared at Travers. She could almost have understood, if it had just been the Council doing terrible stuff and lying about it because they thought it was their only choice. But that would really be beyond the pale.
"One could call the mass murder of innocent merchants and sailors politics, but somehow I think that escapes the point," Travers snarked.
"The ambiguous circumstances surrounding Ms. Tripta cast doubt on the characterization of the other ascended slayers as well," CyberWillow went on undisturbed. "While the case of Adosinda of Navarre in 768 seems much more straightforwardly evil, records on the others are virtually nonexistent outside Council control."
"The point is you're a big fat liar," Willow said. "You faked data! That's like, the worst crime you can commit!"
"I never even faked data, not in eleven hundread years of vengeance," Anya said speculatively. "Maybe I should've tried it once, just to see what I could've gotten done."
Travers sighed, visibly frustrated. "Revi Tripta flagrantly and repeatedly used her supernatural powers against helpless humans who knew nothing of the supernatural world. The Council could no more let it continue from her than from a powerful demon invading Earth."
"But it was you guys that were invading!" Willow said.
"Do you truly believe we had full control of the actions of the British East India Company? Or perhaps the Empire as a whole?" He answered. "Our purpose is not to police every distasteful thing humans do to each other. I had thought this was something you all understood."
"And what about the Cruciamentum then?" Buffy asked angrily. "That's a 'distasteful' thing your Council has been doing all on its own."
"Distasteful but necessary," he maintained.
"Enough," Giles cut in, "Are you or aren't you denying the forgeries and the lies?"
"Does it matter?" Travers said. "As long as Buffy lives, she will be well capable of keeping things in line herself. We will have no need for the Cruciamentum, even should another slayer reach the appropriate age."
"It matters," Buffy practically spat at him. "Spill."
"Fine then." Travers threw up his hands. "The true rate of survival is classified to the highest levels of the Council, because if it were known our watchers in the field would be unable to do their jobs. The test had to be what it is, or as your thinking machine so brightly surmised we would have been drowning in half-insane slayer goddesses before this continent was even discovered."
Vote: What does Buffy decide to do about these shocking revelations?
[] Cut off the Watchers' Council entirely. She'll keep her potentials, but no more watchers will be allowed in Sunnydale, no more reports for them, no more cooperation across the pond.
[] Banish Travers back to England and send CyberWillow's report to every watcher on the planet. Once they replace their leadership they can send another representative.
[] The Watchers' Council is clearly rotten to the core. Send Giles to England to clean it up by any means necessary, demanding that they cede to him the full authority to do so. If they refuse, Willow and CyberWillow can do a lot of damage without actually hurting anyone.
