Successor (BTVS)

Perfectly Unobtrusive School PR thing

After the first demonstration (and Amanda's subsequent success, tossing the javelin 40 meters), the other girls were emboldened to try out as well. There were dozens of names to remember, which honestly felt like the hardest part of mayoring sometimes.

"Good toss Caroline!" She called out as the girl made a decent throw, almost as good as Amanda's. No sign of Potential energy there though. The girl gave a bright grin as she heard her name. It was those little touches that helped make a good impression, which in turn made it seem almost normal. Like this was a totally OK, planned PR stunt, or something. She had been worried, but now it looked like everything was going fine.

"Umm, Mayor Summers, could you do a throw too?" One girl asked - Samantha, she thought her name was - holding out a javelin hopefully. Buffy glanced over at the coach who was offering no support or outs. He'd been remarkably calm about her basically talking over the practice, but she guessed that was just another way the world flipped around with her as Mayor now.

Picking it up, everyone else stopped to see her actually throw it, rather than just give advice. She probably didn't need to put too much power into this, but she could still show off a little bit, right? It was Sunnydale, people were used to her being strong. Plus it would help give Amanda a hint as to what being a full Slayer meant, if that ever came about. Putting in half her strength, she tossed it up into the air, soaring over the field. And past the track circuit. And past that towards the street, where she could make out a person walking without a care, on a collision path with the arc of her weapon.
KILL
Less an urge, more a warning, a portent of what was to come. Lunging over with a smidgen of superspeed, she plucked another javelin up and tossed it, even harder than the first. Shooting out at a lower angle, it intercepted the first one, the two of them bouncing harmlessly to the sides, the pedestrian not even noticing. Some people could be so oblivious. She shook her head, before hearing a clattering behind her and turning around to see everyone gaping at her, javelins dropped from their hands.

"Ah, and that kids, is why you always have to make sure your range is clear before tossing a spear. Safety first!" Her reply did little to defuse the tension/awe.

"How did you do that?" "That was AMAZING!" "Unreal..." "I want that!" The girls exclaimed, Amanda still silent, eyes boggling.

"That throw- even the first one would have broke Olympic records, over 700 feet! And the second-"

"Ah, but see I threw that one in Metric." Buffy 'explained' quickly, then before he could work past her fast talk, beat a speedy retreat. "Thanks for letting me intrude everyone, practice hard and you'll all be great pointy stick throwers too. Bye!"


A/N: Not a big thing, but her just popping in to this school thing just made me think of what sort of fun stuff might happen, so I made a little omake for it. Hopefully the tone and voice of characters fit well enough

[X] 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.

She'd been so stupid, to trust him at all.

"Maybe there are good reasons, maybe there aren't. You're right that it isn't relevant, not anymore. But you know what? I don't even care," she ground out. If her hammer was normal metal, it would be snapping from the strength of her grip. "Two days ago, you sat in this office and you lied to my face."

"That's how the game is played," Travers said. "You've done it enough yourself to know."
KILL
No. She'd hurt him worse than that.

"Then the game's changing," she said. "CyberWillow, I want every watcher in the world reading that report by sunrise."

"Affirmative," she confirmed.

Travers' composure finally cracked, in a way it'd never come close to breaking before, and she drank in the sight. His gaze flashed around the room, as if looking for support, but of course he had none, not even from the potentials.

"You're a goddess yourself! The Council will surely see you as a-"

"The report makes no explicit mention of Mayor Summers' status," CyberWillow interrupted.

"Even without!" He said. "The common Watcher has no idea that a slayer can even become a god. With the release of this material, by you and your people no less, the connection is obvious, I won't be able to protect you from the fallout!"

"I don't need your protection," Buffy said. "Because Watchers? In my experience, they Watch. I Slay. If they have a problem with me, I think I'll be able to deal with it myself."

"And she won't have to!" Willow declared. "She's got all of us behind her, and my coven can do things that would make your heads spin. You can't threaten us into silence with your sleazy mafia act."

"It was not meant as a threat, merely-"

"That's good, because nobody here's even slightly afraid," Anya snarked.

Travers shut his mouth again, composing himself against stares from all directions. When he spoke again, it was mostly to Giles, "This is anything but the time. In the current political climate, the Council will tear itself apart, and you know what that will mean."

Giles gave Buffy the briefest glance before turning back. "I'm afraid the decision is final, Quentin."

"Did you really think he was going to help you? Didn't you fire him over pretty much exactly this?" Anya wondered.

Travers sighed, then stood to leave. "Then I must control the inevitable damage to the cause as best I can. If you come to your senses, I of course will be available at the estate, as always."

"No need," Buffy said. "Go back to England. The Council can send someone else once it's done with its morality chapter 11."

He stopped in midstep, half through the doorway, and spoke without looking back. "I don't suppose anyone here would like to accompany me?"

Zoe was looking nervous, and shot a look at the other potential. But Rachel was confident enough to say, "We'll be staying. I'm sure that at least some of the Council will approve."

Travers gave the smallest nod, then finished walking out.

There were a couple long moments as the steps faded and the room stewed. She wanted to do anything else, and luckily, there was already a designated anything.

"So, you were talking about casting spells and doing experiments," Buffy said. "I'm game. Are you ready?"

"Yes," Zoe said quickly. "I mean, we could go outside if you want, or do it in the clean room." She sounded slightly less confident than she had a few minutes ago.

"It should be fine," Willow said, unconcerned. "We're all here, this room is cleared too, and there aren't any external effects to worry about."

"Yeah, let's get this show on the road," Anya agreed.

Buffy half-expected Giles to object, but he still had one eye on the door. He noticed her looking through, and started cleaning his glasses. "There haven't been any incidents during the field testing, have there?"

"No incidents," Zoe said. "I do get a little ragged around the edges."

"But nothing fighting to take control, right?" Willow said.

"No, more like a little advice in the back of my head," she said. "And some helpful pushing when I move. And that wind I was talking about, but that's not really real."

"You've got this Zoe, don't let that old fart shake you up," Rachel said.

"Right," she replied. "Yeah, OK." She got up, pulled a switchblade out of her pocket and pricked her finger on the edge. She was usually a quiet girl, but after taking a deep breath, she started belting out the spell. Buffy did her best to pay close attention.

"I call with my blood, beacon heard past the veil!"

In her vague othersense, Zoe's bubble seemed to spark like a thundercloud, and tons of jagged skinny streaks started shooting off of its spiky bits like they were lightning leaders. They weren't expanding in any of the three normal directions, but she still got the sense they were reaching out, searching for something.

"I call the ancestors, their shadows to my aid!"

Then the whole bubble pulsed, brightened, strained out and up and more. It was suddenly sharp and distinct and shining, she could perceive every little detail like she was seeing instead of feeling. It was made out of the same stuff as all her extra power, she knew it for sure now. Every freaky piece of it was laid out like it was one of those cutaway pictures in a bio textbook.

I call down Scáthach, on high from her mountain!"

Then one of the tiny leaders shook hard like a line with a fish, and it reeled back in and something she couldn't sense at all shot through it and into the bubble. As the other thing entered, the bubble shrank down again, compressing and fading back into the vaguer form from before. Then she was distracted by what happened to Zoe.

The transformation seemed to take a bare instant, even to her, fitting just between one moment and the next. One second, she was Zoe shouting lines and holding up a bloody knife. Then she was … slightly Zoe. Zoelike. This time, the differences were more significant than the tattered clothing and wild hair she remembered from the time one she'd seen Zoe do this last week.

Her skin was a freaky green, and not the creamy shade of the Wicked Witch, but an unhealthy blotchy mess. Besides that, it was covered with ugly scars too, including a bunch of them radiating from her left eye. Which was replaced by glass, because of course it was. There was a small demon skull strapped to her head, looking more in-place than it had any right to as an accessory. And the less said about her dental hygiene, the better.

Knowing this probably meant trouble, Buffy surged forward and up onto the conference table in a boosted motion that was probably too quick for anyone in the room to track. Slightly-Zoe responded in kind, leaping up not nearly as fast but still with an air of animalistic confidence, like a beast rising to a challenge. Everyone else in the room was either shouting or scrambling backwards, but neither she nor Buffy said anything right away, sizing each other up.

Should she snap off the splint and throw it away? Her arm already felt mostly healed, and it'd get in the way if this got serious. No, better to keep that in reserve, maybe use it as a surprise. She had her hammer choked up in her good hand for now, held so she could either make a hard jab with the head or sweep with the shaft.

She had to get a better sense of what was going on. "Speaking as the local elected fashion executive, I'm really not liking that look."

"You seek knowledge," she didn't sound like Zoe; her voice was a throaty, accented whisper.

"I do," Buffy agreed in an artificially cheery voice. "Let's maybe start with some knowledge about you and what you did with Zoe."

"You watched, learned, but you did not bleed. Did not call. She did," she drifted towards her, almost floating on her feet. "She pays for your bargain with Scáthach."

"No," Buffy said. "Not chill. Reverse the charges." Was that what had changed here? Had trying to use the spell as an experiment made it do something different?

She merely snorted in response, the sound more like something that might come out of a boar than a person. But she didn't move to attack or run either. She was waiting.

"Zoe offered the blood, nothing else, if that wasn't enough to pay then you shouldn't have come at all!" Willow said.

"It's a symbolic payment," Anya said. "The recipient has a lot of latitude for it to mean what they want it to mean.

"The spell didn't say anything about that!" Rachel had her tomahawk out.

"You aren't the god she called," Giles said, ignoring the others. "Who are you to usurp her deal?"

"I am not Scáthach," she answered mischievously, "But I am Scáthach."

"She is the witch, not the god," CyberWillow's electronic echo stood in stark contrast to Scáthach's dark whisper. "The Scáthach who razed Roanoke in 1590. Her distinctive skin tone is mentioned in the historical record, as is her glass eye."

"Spoilt clockwork girl, ruin my fun," Scáthach said, snorting again.

"Oh, I get it, it's because they both have the same name," Anya said. "Isn't that sneaky."

"That's totally not fair!" Willow complained. "You can't just double up on variable assignments like that!"

Scáthach tossed her head, shaking Zoe's ratty-ified hair. "It matters not. I am Scáthach, and Scáthach is my master. I speak for her now. Debts must be paid. Or else:" She gestured at herself and grinned, showing rotten teeth.
KILL
Buffy was about to start some more aggressive negotiations, but Giles preempted her, "What sort of payment?"

"Soul," she said.

"No way," Buffy said.

She shrugged back at her. "Heart." She pointed to the skull on her head, and Buffy figured she didn't mean the kind of hearts you got at the butcher's.

"A demon's heart?" Buffy asked.

"One blooded, and strong. Your city has more than enough," she said.

"I can't exactly get one on demand," Buffy said. "Can I? There isn't some big demon running around making trouble right now, is there?"

"Not in particular, though there are several extant who may possibly be guilty of past offenses in expectation," CyberWillow said.

Buffy hesitated. It was one thing to clear out vampires, but going after more borderline cases just on suspicion felt like it might be crossing a line.

"Tch. Too soft for even that?" Scáthach said dismissively, "Then Mind."

"You're not getting anyone's brain either," Buffy said.

"No," she shook her head. "Not brain. Mind. Something I'll teach, something very special. Someone who will learn it, properly." Her eyes scanned the room. "One of you three," she indicated Willow, Giles, and Buffy herself."

"Hey, what am I, chopped liver?" Anya said.

"You know enough already," Scáthach said.

"That doesn't sound that bad," Willow said. "Learning things has to be good, right? Unless this is some shady deal where it'll take a thousand years!"

"Just one night," Scáthach said enticingly, focusing on Willow now.

"It's less grisly than the other options, but we should be cautious," Giles said. "There are some things best left unknown."

"I'm guessing you aren't telling us what this 'very special' thing is?" Buffy asked.

"Learn and find out," Scáthach answered in a lilting voice.

"It's gotta be a trap," Rachel said. "She's trying to make you agree to it, the other options both suck."

"Choose!" Scáthach demanded. "Soul? Heart? Mind?"

Vote: Does Buffy try to pay off Scáthach, or will she get her back out of Zoe some other way?

[] Have CyberWillow find you a possibly guilty demon to kill, then pay Scáthach with its heart.

[] Agree to have someone learn whatever special thing Scáthach wants to teach.
-[] Buffy
-[] Willow
-[] Giles

[] Or maybe there is a soul you have kicking around after all that you could sell? Stunt whose.

[] These options all sound terrible, and this Scáthach is definitely super evil. Capture her and have the magic department try to exorcise her from Zoe instead.