Successor (BTVS)

[X] Assure Pan that if Eris makes a move for Revel, you'll be on his side. He'll try to defuse the Scáthach situation for you, and to help you in other ways.

"So this isn't going to be a dressing up kind of party right? I don't have to wear the cape?" Buffy asked.

"No, you're fine," Anya said

"Some satyrs can be pretty stuck up, but Pan himself isn't the type to stand on ceremony, and this is his personal thing," Andrew added.

"But I like the cape," Harmony pouted a little, giving her the doe eyes.

They were recuperating in the tent they'd been assigned, if you could call it a tent. Really, it was only tent-like in its architectural aesthetics: it had multiple rooms, working plumbing, and even an incongruous pair of electrical outlets (Willow had said something about special ordering those.) She hadn't expected life to be this cushy in a dimension that was practically a nature reserve, but she was glad to be wrong.

Buffy was also glad to be saved from possibly having to cave to Harmony by the other three arriving through the front flap.

"Well that was a bust," Skip said. "And I don't just mean the smashing. Or the actual busts."

"You lost at Antique Abuse?" Buffy asked.

Skip shrugged expansively, the metal of his body making a quiet grinding noise. "I thought I deserved at least bronze, but you can't argue with the judges."

"I really hope I misheard you?" Buffy knew something had probably gone wrong, but she didn't want to believe it. Judging was supposed to be their new ace in the hole.

"Eris wasn't his biggest fan," Jonathan said. "She gave him a three."

Oh. That had the unhappy feel of something she maybe should've predicted, but it had still happened depressingly quickly. Better not to say anything that might be overheard though. "So guys, we have some time before this party we're going to, and we've got something to talk about now. Meeting?"

"Willow will be available momentarily," CyberWillow said, clasping a pair of metal clips together to close the tent flap. "I'll make sure the wiring for the Information Horizon is undisturbed."

"And I'll muffle the sound to be safe, just give me a minute," Jonathan got out his bone and started pacing.

"I'm not saying that there aren't a whole lot of people out to get you, but you guys are still pretty paranoid." Skip lazily fell into one of the many bean bag chairs scattered around as he said it. He was sort of an independent agent, but he'd worked closely enough with them in the past that she'd decided they were much better off with him listening into the meetings.

Without much delay, they got everything ready and locked down the main room of the tent. They all sat down in a circle, and the Willowbot's expression jerked oddly as Willow took back control.

"Sorry, things are a little busy on the other side," she said. "What'd I miss?"

"Busy?" Buffy worried.

"The Chumash spirits attacked the football game," she said grumpily.

"What, why didn't anyone tell me?" Buffy's eyes went wide.

"I was overruled," CyberWillow echoed from the seven radios.

"There's no way you could've got back in time to do anything, and we managed it anyway," Willow said. "Nobody died, and we even managed to sell it as the halftime show."

"So is it handled now?" Buffy asked.

"Yes," Willow said, then rethought. "Well, probably. Zoe did the Rite of Bella Morte at the museum and that seemed to deal with it all. Everyone else is still doing more research, we were kind of playing things by ear."

Buffy was worried about Zoe doing more intense magic. She could've gotten behind the Rite of Floating Pencils, maybe, but this sounded kinda big. "Are you sure-"

Willow didn't even let her finish, "It's fine, it's fine, now what happened?"

"Eris probably figured out we're working with Pan," Jonathan said.

"She gave me a three!" Skip repeated. He seemed pretty affronted.

"What did Pan give you?" Willow asked.

"A ten," Skip said. "And sure, maybe I didn't actually pull a ten. But I'd say it was a nine. Or maybe an eight, if-"

"What'd D'Hoffryn give you?" Anya cut in.

"A seven," Skip said. "But everyone knows he's a tough judge."

"I personally thought it was a solid nine," Jonathan was conciliatory. "But no matter what, it's obvious Eris knows now, and she's going to cancel out everything Pan does."

"And you were lucky enough to win another event in the one free day we had!" Andrew whined. "I'm never going to catch you now," Andrew sighed.

"Hey, I worked really hard on that proprioception stuff," Jonathan said. "I think I might've won Judge Bamboozlement even-"

"Trust me, you wouldn't have," Skip said.

"Hey!"

"Or you could all just win your gold medals legitimately, like I did," Harmony rubbed hers affectionately. She still only had the one, but she'd been wearing it all the time, even during the other events.

"I won the other one before the Pan thing!" Jonathan said.

"In the event named 'Hide and Cheat'," Harmony rolled her eyes. "I rest my case."

"But that's the whole point of it!" Willow said. "What else was he supposed to do?"

"As much as I enjoy sitting back and watching catty fights, we should probably focus here," Anya said.

"Right," Buffy agreed, running her hand down Harmony's hair to mollify her. "So Eris is against us now. Can we do anything?"

"Not really," Anya answered. "But shouldn't it have been pretty obvious this would happen from the start of the Pan deal? Crooked judging is smack dab in the middle of her domain."

Buffy let her expression twist up, feeling chagrined. It's not like she didn't know the whole golden apple story (once she was reminded, at least), and it was probably something she should've considered.

"Do you think we should try to back out of it?" Jonathan asked.

Andrew shook his head. "If we did then Pan would hate us too. We made our megazord, might as well battle in it."

"Should I mention it to him at the party?" Buffy wondered. "You know, on the downlow."

"No, let him stew," Anya suggested. "He'll guess you're feeling annoyed, and it'll make him more likely to follow through on the rest of the deal."

"Plus the gossip engine is gonna be in overdrive there," Andrew said. "Don't say anything that you don't want all of Revel to know by tomorrow and the whole Alpha Quadrant to know three days after that."

"So you're saying we can gossip?" Harmony perked up. "I have all these great lies about Angel ready to go and some of them might even be true!"

Buffy smiled at the thought, even though it was probably bad to encourage her to be mean. "I don't think they'll even know who Angel is, Harm."

"No, they probably do," Anya said. "He really used to get around."

"You mean we could use Harmony's mouth as a force for good?" Willow acted shocked, then her eyes drifted down. "Be quiet!"

"Are you never going to-" Harmony started.

"No, it's not about you." Willow said, pointing at her open laptop. "Something crossed the Information Horizon,"

"I guess you guys really do need all this wacky security," Skip mused, shaking his head.

"What is it?" Buffy asked, her eyes scanning around. She couldn't feel any danger. Something with its own weird god powers maybe?

"It's not electronic, but it is electrical" Willow's expression pinched up in confusion. "Maybe it's something organic? Those nervous signals aren't like anything I've ever seen though."

<You need not be alarmed, I was merely testing your security.> The telepathic voice was clearly Esplin's. <As I have been assured, it exceeds any reasonable expectation.> He gave a weird little telepathic chuckle at that.

"Where are you?" She couldn't see anything. Maybe he was morphed invisible somehow? Or really small?

"Where's who?" Harmony was confused.

"Oh, it's probably just Visser Three, isn't it," Willow said, relaxing. Neither the Willowbot nor Harmony could hear the psychic communication.


<There is an old saying among my people: 'From beneath you, it devours.'> One of the seams in the bottom of the tent bulged open, a red tongue thicker than her arm shooting out and coiling up. And up. And coiling some more.

"Woah!" Harmony almost jumped to attack, and Buffy had to hold her back by the shoulder.

"Chill, Willow's right." She wasn't exactly thrilled with him inviting himself in for some drama, but figured she should try to be diplomatic.

<I acquired the Driss-Niar mostly out of curiosity; it is not an especially dangerous demon, merely one of… some cultural relevance.> Esplin lectured them as the super long tongue that he apparently was morphed into continued to coil up into a huge cone. It was super gross and Buffy hoped they could clean that part of the tent after.

<I have grown rather fond of it in spite of its deficiencies. It's a very quiet burrower, and its hearing is simply exquisite. I'd rather hoped to be able to surprise you with it, but alas.> Esplin said it as if he'd be surprising her with a tasty cake instead of a giant wormy tongue.

"So is this just a social call then?" Buffy said. "Because I'd love to host you some other night (she kinda wouldn't), but we've kinda got a commitment already."

<Worry not, I have little time for something so droll.> The giant gross red worm had finally gotten all the way out of the ground and was starting an even grosser demorph back to Andalite. <I am here for both business and pleasure. I assume your security measures are still in place?>

"I still have the sound muffle up," Jonathan said, and then there was an awkward pause.

"Willow, is the Horizon still working?" Anya remembered she couldn't hear.

Willow's eyes had been fixed on the super icky tongueworm display too but she dragged them back to her screen. "Yeah, we're still operational, and no new disturbances. What's happening?"

"Business and pleasure, apparently," Skip said, totally deadpan.

<And just to be certain, your subordinates here are all either completely trustworthy or expendable, yes?>

Buffy bit back a nasty comment. It was just Esplin being Esplin.

"If I broke a contract it'd kill my bottom line," Skip said.

"And everyone else here is in her inner circle," Anya finished.

<Excellent.> Esplin's host body was now fully Andalite. <While the indifferent masses here have been putting their full attention on the events, I have not been so idle! I have crafted a brilliant plan that will both destroy my greatest enemy and enrich you beyond your wildest dreams.>

Oh no. And Buffy already had a secret agreement with Elfangor, one she'd feel bad about breaking. She had to hear this out though, if only because she really didn't want Esplin knowing. Hopefully nobody here showed their cards accidentally,

"This plan won't be so brilliant if it pisses off D'Hoffryn," Anya said, bringing up a more practical objection.

<Anyanka, Anyanka, surely my reputation for cunning is better than that,> Esplin chided her. <There will be no invasions during the Olympics, and no violence on the grounds of Revel at all. You know D'Hoffryn respects nothing if not the letter of his law, so he will take no issue with any actions I propose. Now listen, and be amazed!> He whipped his tail excitedly behind him, causing the frailer members of her team to take a step back.

The Visser either didn't care or didn't notice, continuing, <As you've no doubt observed since your arrival, many of the participants arrived in their personal dimensional cruisers.>

"Yours is pretty cool," Andrew said.

<Of course, as is only fitting,> Esplin agreed. <But of much more relevance now is that one of those cruisers is Elfangor's Third Heart. He will no doubt be leaving Revel on it when these Olympics are over. I believe that we can waylay it from its destination when he does, and then eliminate or capture him in an ambush.>

"Waylay it?" Buffy was confused. "How do you even do that, are you gonna set up a roadblock in the middle of the portal or something?"

<Haha! What a joker you are, Mayor Summers. No, no, I will redirect it myself, from the main controls.>

"It'll resonate with his personal psychic signature," Skip said knowledgeably. "You of all people should know how Andalite treeships work, you'll never fool one, especially not one like his, not even if you sneak right onto the bridge."

<I admit that it would be beyond my abilities alone. However, your illusionist has made quite the display of these Olympics so far. I believe that his talents are quite wide in scope, are they not?> Esplin gestured dramatically at Jonathan.

And Jonathan responded like a deer in the headlights, "Umm." He was staring at Buffy in panic, obviously with no idea what to say or do.

"Can someone like, do the relaying thing? This is boring." Harmony said, luckily taking Jonathan off the spot.

"I have to admit, I'm kinda irked," Willow said.

"I concur," CyberWillow echoed.

The others gave a quick summary as Buffy thought fast. Whatever they decided they were going to do, it would help to at least know Esplin's whole plan first. She wanted to signal to Jonathan to play along, but hopefully he wouldn't say anything definite.

When Harmony and the Willows were caught up, Buffy asked Jonathan, "Is this practical? Like, what exactly would you have to do?" She gave the slightest nod of her head, encouraging him.

"A lot, I think," Jonathan answered. "Assuming Visser Three wanted to make the treeship think he was Esplin, and that psychic signatures are involved, there are a ton of little components that go into that, especially since Elfangor has a mantle. I don't think it'd be practical."

<Ah, but what if you only had to do some of it? I am not without my own skills.> Esplin drew the attention back to himself and now that she was looking at him, she noticed subtle changes happening. Was he maybe morphing again? It was usually a lot more of a show.

"You have an Elfangor morph," CyberWillow figured it out, without even hearing his hint. "This could substantially reduce the difficulties in such a plan."

<Your boxed intelligence is correct,> Esplin said. <I believe that between my own peerless morphing skill, the similarity of the two mantles in question, and this Levinson's masterful illusions, the Third Heart will be fooled.>

"You'll still have to get on the bridge," Anya protested. "With Elfangor there! And he'll probably be fighting you for control."

<Details,> Esplin dismissed. <Levinson is also a master of stealth, is he not? And I possess a great many morphs for such an occasion myself. Besides that, I have all of Alloran's knowledge of Andalite treeships, and evading its usual security measures will be child's play with our other advantages.>

"But once you're actually on the bridge?" Skip asked. "Maybe he's running a skeleton crew for this, but it'd still be at least seven against two after you revealed yourselves."

<Fighting tail-to-tail, Elfangor will be no match for me,> Esplin said confidently. <As for the rest of his rabble, we will not need to hold them off for long. Once I direct the Third Heart to portal to the ambush site, it will be trapped there until it recovers its strength, and all the rest of our combined forces will fall upon it. If Mayor Summers leads that assault herself, I have no doubt she will reach the bridge quickly and help finish the affair.>

<There will be no escape for Elfangor this time, and our victory will be assured.>

"Let's say we iron everything out and this all works," Andrew said. "Maybe it could, maybe it couldn't. But either way, it's a big risk, especially for Jonathan."

"Yes. Very big," Jonathan agreed hastily.

"So what do we get out of it?" Andrew finished.

"Yeah, what do we- wait, what?" Jonathan hadn't expected things to go in that direction.

<The bounty the Council of Thirteen has on Elfangor's head is fourteen times what Sub-visser Thirty-seven paid you. Double if he's captured. A mere pittance for me, you could take it all.>

That'd be well over a million dollars in gold. Or two.

He wasn't done. <Also, despite our best efforts, it's likely the Andalites will at least win some level of recognition here. You may have any of their lesser rewards. As for the Quor'toth key, if they win it, or indeed if I do myself, we can make the expedition to the dimension together. Truly, I am concerned with little there but finding new morphs to play with. You could take the fyarl's share of any treasures we came across.>

Anya and Giles both thought there would be Lachrymal Artifacts there. If Esplin was good to his word, he might be giving up some things a lot of demons would pay way more than a million dollars for.

<And last but not least, the Third Heart itself would be your prize. I am aware it will not function very well in your dimension, but if we capture Elfangor, I will ensure the Yeerk controlling him spends time to assist you in necessary retrofits. Seerow managed similar and more before; it is well within that mantle's capability.>

It wouldn't be nice to stab Elfangor in the back here, especially because Buffy was pretty sure he was the good guy in this feud. But she had to give credit where it was due: Esplin knew how to make a tempting offer.


Next Time, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: We're halfway through Pan's Olympics, and Visser Three just laid his cards on the table. Buffy's response to his offer will be the big thing deciding what happens in part two. But what will it be?

[] Buffy rejects Visser Three's offer, saying she'd rather not get directly involved in the war between the Yeerks and the Andalites. He'll probably be pretty angry, but what's he really going to be able to do? She won't tell Elfangor about this, and she'll still have a non aggression pact with the Yeerks.

[] Buffy accepts Visser Three's offer and follows the basics of his plan to trap and defeat Elfangor; you'll have a chance to iron out more of the details when the time comes. She won't tell him about her secret meeting with Elfangor or about Loren though.

[] Buffy betrays Elfangor completely, telling Visser Three about Loren and about Elfangor's plan to rescue her. You can probably figure out a much less risky plan to take down Elfangor when he's on Earth following your lead. It's possible that the Third Heart and the possible Olympic rewards won't be present for looting, but Visser Three will no doubt still be extremely grateful.

[] Buffy pretends to accept Visser Three's offer, but goes behind his back and warns Elfangor, backstabbing Visser Three and traitorously breaking her non aggression pact with the Yeerks. She might be able to keep her perfidy a secret, but then again if things go the wrong way it could be hard to hide. You'll work out a counter-plan with Elfangor to kill Visser Three and maybe even free Alloran.