That would make an amazing Omake if nothing else.
I agree, I have alot of blend plans so Buffyverse isn't completely subsumed.
Marveling at a Range of Stars (Buffy/Power Rangers/Star Wars/Marvel)
- Thread starter TheDivineDemon
- Start date
Even in normal canon it is not subtle.
(From the 96 movie but still)
But it does look badass
Yeah, those are all Rangers
It's not like SHIELD would have a mostly complete base in Sunnydale or anything that would have noticed.
(From the 96 movie but still)
But it does look badass
Yeah, those are all Rangers
It's not like SHIELD would have a mostly complete base in Sunnydale or anything that would have noticed.
What Happens Next Pt 2
MaRoS Ch 6
Bolts of power and color rolled down from the sky. The ground did not crack and the grass did not burn as the light touched down, but it did leave something behind. A blinking pair of teens and a much-too-tired librarian.
"Well, that felt weird." Buffy said, blinking off the transition faster then the others. Giles was still seeing spots from going from the brightly lit control room to the dark streets of Sunnydale. "Like an elevator on fast forward."
"Yeah, right, whatever." Cordelia said, stomping off down the street. "Good luck with all this freakiness, I'm going home."
"Cordelia!" Buffy called out to the girl's back, only to hear the yell of "Going Home!" in return.
Giles sighed at the byplay. "Buffy? Could you make sure she gets home safe?"
Her head swerved back and forth. "What about you?"
"I am well equipped." He said, showing her the cross around his neck and the stake still in his jacket pocket. "And I'm quite sure that she is not." And if she was Giles did not want to know where she hid them.
"If you're sure…" She said, obviously still unsure. He managed to wave her off by telling her to check in with her mother. That got her moving. Leaving him alone with his thoughts and little else.
He hoped.
He knew he should be walking home, making calls to Jenny and the Council over what had happened. But he didn't, he couldn't. There was something he needed to check first. Something he had to be sure of before anything else.
Walking down the streets of Sunnydale he quickly became wary of every rustle and scrape in the night. The street lights were out, all of them. Every last one for as far as he could see. No street lights. No lamps or porch lights or neon signs in storefronts. If Rupert had to make a guess there was no power in the city whatsoever.
Pushing aside a pang of building guilt he kept moving, squinting at each street sign to gain his bearing. Eventually, he found where he needed to be.
In any other city, Giles was sure, this road would have been cordoned off. The area would have been lit by a sea of flashing lights as first responders and city maintenance rushed about. Not in Sunnydale. Not until the sun was well and up.
Water pooled around torn asphalt and upended earth. Glass and brick littered the ground from smashed storefronts. Never before had he seen something like this, it was a scene straight from a war report. As if the area had been shelled or bombed.
With careful steps, he waded into the disaster. The water had, thankfully, stopped pumping into the streets. Draining into the newly formed fissure in the ground.
He tried not to look at it, tried not to take the blame for it, but it gnawed all the same. His body's actions did this. In a fight against a great evil while not in control of his body, true, but the damage was still painful to see.
Stepping over rubble and puddles he approached the least damaged of the storefronts. An innocent looking costume shop bearing an omnibus name.
Ethan's.
The banner was hanging on by a single frayed rope, flapping in the wind as he read and reread the name. It wasn't proof, not definite, but it was enough to sink his stomach.
"Lord, please don't let him be this stupid." A useless prayer, he knew, but he still hoped.
A bell jangled as he entered and he soo. Found that there were few things as disturbing as a costume shop at night. Considering he had been working over a literal portal to hell for well over a year that was saying something.
Pushing past all the clown masks and hanging skeletons Giles stepped into the back room, instantly tasting bile. This was definitely the site of a major working. A working larger and viler than he could ever imagine Ethan capable of. The man would have been more than willing to try but such power was simply out of his reach.
He gripped at his bicep, a hiss of pain slipping past gritted teeth as the greatest mistake of his youth burned. Reacting to the sheer dark magic in the room. That had never happened before, not an encouraging sign.
"What did that bloody idiot do?"
An invocation ritual given the formation of the incense. Of what god he called upon Giles had little clue. There was no effigy, no icon, no statue nor bust to go by other than the etched symbols and fragrant ashes. By his best guess, Eris seemed the most likely. What with her reputation for chaos and the Greek's reputation for transfiguring mortals.
There was a little sleeping area towards the back, close to the emergency exit. It had been hastily packed and left little behind to pick through. But there was enough for him to at least confirm his fears. Enough silk shirts, stupid knick-knacks, and the smell of bad cologne for him to be sure.
Ethan Rayne had come to Sunnydale and brought his usual mess with him. Though on a larger scale than either was used to. The ponce had likely thought he would get a rose out of his old friend. That he could stir the pot and bring the worst out in Rupert. That he could revive Ripper.
Instead, he brought something else out. Something, someone, new. A person Giles didn't know how to handle.
To distract himself from these thoughts, and the suddenly heavy silver bracelet on his wrist, Giles dug through what was left. Through leftover papers and crumpled regents, it didn't help him in any way. Revealing little, distracting barely, and helping none.
Oddly thorough for Ethan. And where was the windbag? For all that he was a coward he did love to gloat and watch his work. So, where was he? Did he run because of the battle at his doorstep or…
"No." He said, pieces connecting in his mind as he moved and looked out a window. Out and up. "No, it couldn't be."
0-0-0-0-0
Deet-Deet Deet-Deet Deet-Deet the chime went. Three sets of double beeps that got higher with every beat. It cut through the quiet bedroom and jolted Buffy upright in bed. Her groggy eyes sharpening even as it came again.
Deet-Deet Deet-Deet Deet-Deet the unfamiliar sound went. That wasn't her alarm.
"Wuzat?" She asked, voice not quite keeping up with her awakening senses. By the time the sound came again, that high pitched Deet-Deet Deet-Deet Deet-Deet, she was already looking down. At her wrist.
She hesitated. She knew what it was and still she hesitated. It was a remnant of the night before, and what a crazy night it was. Probably the craziest of her life, and considering she stopped the apocalypse not even six months ago that was saying something.
The fact she slept at all spoke to just how tired she had been. And a testament to how numb she was becoming to all things weird in her life.
That didn't mean she was eager to jump back into things first thing in the morning. But there were only a few people who could even use the things, sooo…
"Hello?" She said, pressing the sides of the communicator before it could beep again.
"Buffy!" A familiar voice came through, excited and ready to babble. "I knew I could isolate people! It's like a very long distance call! Like, the longest-in-human-history long!"
"Hey, Wills." Buffy greeted, rubbing the last scraps of sleep from her eyes. "What's with the early morning wake up?"
"Uh, DECA said it was eleven in California right now so I thought it would be okay."
Blinking Buffy picked up her alarm clock, then she blinked again. The little hand did indeed say 11. "Huh."
Sure, it was Saturday but she didn't usually sleep in too late. Well, not too-too late. She must have been more out of it than she thought.
"Guess I should be getting up. So, what's the what Will?"
"Hmm, oh! I'm just, uh, checking in? Letting you know we're still alive, and in space." She said as if she needed to remind Buffy that her best friends were floating behind the moon in a ship that shouldn't be there. "It's AMAZING up here. DECA has been showing me what everything does and how they work. I think I'm getting it but it's sooo complex-"
Buffy let the babble wash over her as she got ready for the day. It was a bit odd to hear a constant stream of words coming from her wrist but it was nice. Like a portable phone.
Though she had to frown as she looked at the growing piles of clothes building on her bed. She wasn't feeling most of them and she wasn't even trying to look all that good! She was just going to see Giles for crying out loud!
Pink halter? Nope.
Blue dress? Ugh.
The red leather pants she got on sale? No way.
She eventually settled for a yellow turtleneck with some black denim jeans. As fashionable as it was practical, the perfect balance between looking good and being able to kick someone where the sun doesn't shine. A great combo for when she didn't know what the day would bring.
"-I haven't gotten a chance to look at the engines yet, and I'm barely understanding the computers, but, again, DECA has been great." Willow went on, and on, until there was a knock at the door.
"Buffy?" Her mother called from the other side. "Do I hear voices in there?"
"Uh," Buffy paused, looking at her still jabbering wrist wondering what to say. She eventually landed on a half truth. "It's Willow mom! We picked up these cool walkie-talkies last night and we've been chatting, one sec."
Pressing the sides of the communicator Buffy interrupted her friend. "Sorry Wills, gotta go. My Mom's here."
"Oh, say hi for me!"
"Will do. Talk to you later." She rushed. "Okay Mom, you can come in now."
"You didn't have to stop." She said, entering the room and giving it a sweep of her eyes. Soon enough they landed on the pile of clothes on Buffy's bed and the outfit she was wearing. "And where are you going?"
"To school."
"It's Saturday, try again."
"No, really, I'm going to meet up with Willow and everyone there too, y'know, check on everybody after last night." A night so crazy even her Mom noticed and that was making her go full mother bear.
"And you couldn't do that with those new walkie-talkies of yours? Or with a phone call?"
"It's not like everyone has one." She defended. "And we always meet there, even on the weekends! I figured it'd be the best place to start."
Her mother chewed on the half lid, taking the words for what she believed they were. She eventually came to a decision.
"Fine," She relented, "But I'm driving you."
"You don't need to do that."
"Buffy," Her mother started with flat and stern eyes. "A street blew up and people decided to riot. You are lucky I'm letting you out of the house."
"It's not that bad, and I can take care of myself." The hum her mother gave spoke volumes of what she thought of that.
And that was how Buffy found herself being driven to school on a Saturday morning. It wasn't even that long of a drive, only a handful of minutes, it could have been two. There was a reason she usually walked.
That and to avoid what little traffic Sunnydale garnered. Having a whole street blocked off seemed to have congested the whole town. A group of black vans squeezed by them as their car pulled up to the school.
"Rude much?" Buffy muttered, getting out as the last one passed. "Later Mom."
"What? Don't you want me to walk you in?"
"Please no." She said, rushing towards the school to avoid that nightmare. Her Mom didn't drive off until she was well and in the building, and only then did Buffy let out a sigh of relief. She didn't want to explain how she was there to see an older man, even if it was only Giles.
Actually, she took that back, especially because it was Giles. But only when he looked like some sort of hobo mad scientist. Seriously, did he sleep at all last night? Even a wink?
He was still in his Halloween costume, the red ascot long gone and the sleeves of his rumpled shirt were pushed up. Bags of pure exhaustion sagged under his eyes, more than a lack of sleep could explain.
"Giles?" She said, trying to get his attention as he bustled about his book cage. But he was completely engrossed in his task with fingers stained by various ingredients and components. She tried again but, again, he ignored her. The third time, well the third time she made sure he couldn't ignore her. "Giles!"
"Gah!" He yelled, dropping a book that was likely older than California. She almost felt guilty but there were more important things to worry about.
Like what was making her Watcher go all crazy?
"You alright there Watcher-man"
"I, yes. I'm fine, just fine." He said, lying through his teeth as he rubbed at his tired eyes. Completely ignoring the book on the ground. "How can I help you, Buffy?"
She gave him a critical look that she made sure he felt despite his fugue. "Well, I did come to see if you knew anything new about last night but now I want to know what's going on with you."
"Wrong? Nothings wrong. Why ever would something be wrong?" He said, completely mishearing her and earning himself another long state. It lasted long enough for her to weasel a sigh out of him. "I'm afraid I learned an unpleasant truth. The one who cast the spell last night was, unfortunately, an old acquaintance of mine."
He explained things about his relationship with the caster but only in the briefest of senses. Like her parents when she stumbled into something they really didn't want to talk about. She'd let it be, for now, but only because he was still explaining what had gotten him so riled up.
"The idiot isn't even on Earth anymore."
Buffy blinked, needing a moment to process what he had said and then a moment more to connect things. In the end, all she could say was, "huh?"
"I've been working on sorting spells all night, mostly to see if I was right. I may be rubbish at them but I can usually get the general area if not direction, not this time." His lips pressed thin even before he reached for the fallen book, examining the damage. "All they did was point up, some not even that."
"I mean, yeah? He's in space so he'd be up, right?"
"W-well, yes. But I'd like to know which way up, towards which constellation as it were." He dusted the book off and gently placed it back on the shelf. "I was looking into the more… exotic surfing spells when you walked in."
"But why?" She asked, the words spilling out before she could stop them because she had to know. "He caused that whole mess last night and then, apparently, spent the rest of said night hanging out with Darth Vader. I'm not big into nerd stuff but I don't think you could find much worse company than that. So, why bother?"
"Because once, a long time ago, we had been close. While he may have been, and likely still is, a pain in the arse he was still my friend." He admitted softly, surprised by his own answer. Recovering from the brief pause he amended himself. "And, that is to say, I need to figure out what he has done to that spell of his. According to the notes I found that the spell should have ended at midnight, nothing should have remained, and yet…"
And yet her friends were floating behind the moon, riding in an impossible spaceship. And yet something waited at the edge of her senses to be called to her wrist.
And yet Sunnydale felt different.
Buffy didn't know much about magic, that's what she had a Watcher for, but even she realized something was up. Which was why she took his half-assed excuse at face value, that and a heavy dose of trust. If there was some magic screwery still going on she'd believe it. He might have an ulterior motive in his search but she wasn't going to fault him for it.
"Well, if you ever do find him in the great wide nowhere, we do have a spaceship. Shouldn't be too hard to pick him up."
He laughed at her suggestion, not cruelly but with a single bark of amusement brought on by the obvious. Obvious and ridiculous.
"I suppose we do." He said, a hint of amusement still in his voice. Though it trailed off as he considered things she probably hadn't even considered.
"I believe I wasted my efforts with this." He admitted, waving off the assurances Buffy tried to give. "I should have spent more time researching the lingering aspects of the spell. Of what was left behind, how it stayed, and how it could be affecting us."
"Affecting us? You think the spell left us with more than a spaceship and fancy walkie-talkies?"
The man grimaced and looked at the books he had locked away. "Call it a gut feeling."
Buffy did not like that. Watchers didn't get gut feelings. Everything was supposed to be all book smarts and obscure knowledge with them. Logical, methodical, and stuffy. A gut feeling was the exact opposite of all that.
If he was falling back on something like that, where did that leave the rest of them?
"Now, let's talk about something a little more mundane." He said this wryly, steering them away from his last comment. "We should prepare for your patrol tonight. Traditionally the night after All Hallows' Eve, ah, Halloween is fairly more active than average. A night in seems to make some s bite more rowdy on their next outing. I am unsure if that will hold true tonight but we should still prepare."
-0-0-0-0-0-
The Bronze, in typical fashion, was open and bumping without a care to what happened the night before. There had been literal riots and hostage situations in the club but that never stopped them from opening. The place didn't even stop to fumigate.
Cordelia was nearly a hundred percent sure that the club owner was some sort of demon, setting up a consistent feeding ground for his people. Or they were a sleazeball who only cared about their bottom dollar. Same thing really.
Not that she particularly cared, not overly much anyway. She was there tomorrow exactly what that hypothetical club owner wanted. To dance, to forget, and pretend things were as close to normal as possible.
She had been pulled into far too much freakishness and she needed to get rid of the smell. And nothing did that better than dancing and free drinks, two very related events.
Her table laughed as Cordelia swayed back to their table, drink in hand and a dopey gaze behind her. He wasn't the most handsome face in the crowd but that was exactly why it worked.
That and the tight little pink number she decided to break out from the back of her closet. Not her usual color but she could make it work, she could make anything work. With just a bit of makeup paired with some gold bangles and hoop earrings, she was catching every eye she wanted.
"Did you promise him a kiss goodnight?" Harmony asked, trying to tease her and failing miserably. So much so Cordelia had to roll her eyes.
"As if." She said, "He's just excited about the prospect of the idea that I might dance with him later."
"Well? Are you?"
She looked over her shoulder, giving the older boy a brilliant smile as he rejoined his friends. His face went bright as he noticed her looking, more so when his friends noticed too.
"We'll see." They all laughed at that, easily translating her meaning. Cordelia soaked it in, the normalcy of it. The sweet drink on her tongue, the ambient music blending into her group's giggles and chuckles. Even the general mood of the club was amazing, the number of fights and creeps were almost nonexistent
It was perfect and exactly what she needed. She basked in the peace of it, until Harmony had to ruin it by opening her mouth again.
"Does anyone else have their power back yet?" The question seemed oddly well-intentioned. Which meant it wasn't, but it added an unwanted dose of reality back into Cordelia's night. And she really didn't need it.
As the others talked she pulled her purse closer to her, very aware of the unfamiliar weight within. She would have left the thing at home but some foreign instinct had her grab it at the door.
The girls chattered around her for a bit, unaware of what was going on in Cordelia's head as they revealed even the most privileged had been hit by the power outage. Harmony, in true fashion, bragged about the fancy new generator her daddy bought so they could still watch TV.
"But he won't stop watching the news. Like, some nutjobs keep talking about aliens or something."
"Oh, enough of that." She said, slipping herself back into the conversation and diverting the subject to something more enjoyable.
It was only a bit that she started to notice something was off. That as the night trickled on the nightlife trickled in.
They were dressed in styles of decades past with hair and makeup blindly set. Sure signs of the overgrown mosquitoes that infested Sunnydale. Vampires. The only way they could have been more obvious was if they had walked in all bumpy forehead-ed.
Unusually she would try to pay them as little attention as was safely possible. Thr\en, if needed, she'd guide her girl's away from the freaks but these ones were strange. They looked dazed, eyes glazed over and swaying about like an LA junkie.
Could vampires even get high? If they could then these ones were having a horrible trip. They were dead on their feet, in more ways than one. Their faces were gaunt and she could make out their bloodshot eyes from where she sat. If they could she bet they'd be sweating too.
Cordelia didn't like it, not one bit. Nor did any of the more observant people in the room. Even if they didn't recognize the weirdos as vampires anyone and everyone could see there was something wrong with them. And no one in their right mind wanted to deal with a strung out druggie.
Space rapidity formed on the dance floor as the vampires stumbled forward. The good mood died a horrible death as a few gave lackluster attempts at dancing, the others only stared.
Plucking her purse from the table Cordelia stood, "Let's go."
"What? Why? It's not even that late yet!"
"Shut up, Harmony." She quickly hissed, "Grab your bags and follow me to the door."
"What's going on?"
"Shut up." She really shouldn't have to repeat herself but they needed to leave.
As they filed out a side door Cordelia took the regrettable action of looking over her shoulder. Looking back at the idiots and space cadets who didn't have a lick of sense between them. She couldn't leave them like that.
But she wasn't Summers so…
"Fire!" She yelled, "Fire! Everyone get out! Fire!"
That got the crowd moving, most of them. The vampires still stood senseless at the edges, staring around confused as their prey streamed out around them. Giving herself a nod Cordelia followed the crowd out the door.
Her group had tried to wait for her but the crush of people had hurried them down the alley. She waved them off and away but she couldn't ignore that question in their eyes. The "what was that?" that burned at her from a distance.
And she had no answer for them, not one she liked. Nor one that was true.
Luckily she wouldn't have to answer anything. The best part about her little group is that everyone had a car. So there would be no questioning for at least another day. It would give her time to think of something.
The walk back to her car was a quick trip, she had parked close because of her heels. She had parked illegally but what was a fine in the face of a blister?
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Less so when she spied one of those strung out vampires loitering near her car. And didn't that just figure? Do something nice and get dragged into the town's weirdness, just her luck.
She didn't even have a chance to run away because of course it noticed her. Maybe it was the click of her heels, maybe it was a coincidence. In the end, it didn't matter. The vampire had noticed her and she was in heels.
"Help!" She was screaming before it had even started moving. Its face twisted from something almost human into a snarled mess of fangs and Yellow eyes. She started to pray that Summers might be creeping around. There was always a chance but if she had no other option…
She started to fumble for her bag, working at the clasp even as the vampire found its footing. It was slower than most vamps she had seen but this does not mean it was slower than her.
It tore the purse from her hands and sent Cordelia to the ground with a squawk. That was all that saved her as gnarled fangs snapped where her next used to be. She tried to scan for her lost bag, for what lay within, but she had no time. Pale hands were already reaching out for her.
Scrambling away, her back hit a literal wall. Solid brick with nowhere to go.
"Summers! If you're here it'd be nice if you showed up! Like, now!"
No one came. No Buffy. No tall, dark, and brooding Angel. She'd even take that dweeb Xander swooping in to save the day. But no one was coming.
No one but the vampire lurching towards her.
"S-stop running." They rasped, rank breath wafting to Cordelia's nose as they all but crawled up her. "I'm so, tired. Just need a top off and everything will be alright, right?"
"Back off you freak!" She tried to slap them but they had easily caught her wrist and held it with their unnatural strength. The vampire offered no more words as it leaned in to start its meal with Cordelia cringing away.
She didn't want to admit it but she whimpered. Fear gripped her even as it mingled with disbelief.
This? This was how she was going to die? To some scrawny vampire?
She had seen and survived far stranger. She had fought in space for crying out loud! She could die here. This was not how Cordelia Chase died!
"Ha!" Her bangles chimed as she swung, her fist striking with surprisingly little resistance. Almost none in fact.
There was also no biting.
Peeking an eye open she spied the vampire on the ground. Their eyes had gone sightless with their fangs spread across the concrete. They smacked their lips but did little else, not even flinching as Cordelia scampered away.
"What?" She started to ask, reaching out a hand to steady herself. *Thunk*. "Thunk?"
She looked towards the sound, towards where her hand met the wall. It was the wrong color, while she tanned beautifully she could never be that golden. She tried to flex her fingers and found that she couldn't.
Her hand was solid gold.
And that started a whole new kind of freak out.
AN:
I'm not happy. Not with the chapter nor with how long it took to get out. I had made a goal of a chapter a month to help me improve my writing output, unfortunately being a dad and having a fulltime job with odd hours kills hobby time. I'm going to stick to the goal but, well, we'll see how that goes.
Chapter edited using Hemmingway and Grammarly, if I missed anything let me know.
Bolts of power and color rolled down from the sky. The ground did not crack and the grass did not burn as the light touched down, but it did leave something behind. A blinking pair of teens and a much-too-tired librarian.
"Well, that felt weird." Buffy said, blinking off the transition faster then the others. Giles was still seeing spots from going from the brightly lit control room to the dark streets of Sunnydale. "Like an elevator on fast forward."
"Yeah, right, whatever." Cordelia said, stomping off down the street. "Good luck with all this freakiness, I'm going home."
"Cordelia!" Buffy called out to the girl's back, only to hear the yell of "Going Home!" in return.
Giles sighed at the byplay. "Buffy? Could you make sure she gets home safe?"
Her head swerved back and forth. "What about you?"
"I am well equipped." He said, showing her the cross around his neck and the stake still in his jacket pocket. "And I'm quite sure that she is not." And if she was Giles did not want to know where she hid them.
"If you're sure…" She said, obviously still unsure. He managed to wave her off by telling her to check in with her mother. That got her moving. Leaving him alone with his thoughts and little else.
He hoped.
He knew he should be walking home, making calls to Jenny and the Council over what had happened. But he didn't, he couldn't. There was something he needed to check first. Something he had to be sure of before anything else.
Walking down the streets of Sunnydale he quickly became wary of every rustle and scrape in the night. The street lights were out, all of them. Every last one for as far as he could see. No street lights. No lamps or porch lights or neon signs in storefronts. If Rupert had to make a guess there was no power in the city whatsoever.
Pushing aside a pang of building guilt he kept moving, squinting at each street sign to gain his bearing. Eventually, he found where he needed to be.
In any other city, Giles was sure, this road would have been cordoned off. The area would have been lit by a sea of flashing lights as first responders and city maintenance rushed about. Not in Sunnydale. Not until the sun was well and up.
Water pooled around torn asphalt and upended earth. Glass and brick littered the ground from smashed storefronts. Never before had he seen something like this, it was a scene straight from a war report. As if the area had been shelled or bombed.
With careful steps, he waded into the disaster. The water had, thankfully, stopped pumping into the streets. Draining into the newly formed fissure in the ground.
He tried not to look at it, tried not to take the blame for it, but it gnawed all the same. His body's actions did this. In a fight against a great evil while not in control of his body, true, but the damage was still painful to see.
Stepping over rubble and puddles he approached the least damaged of the storefronts. An innocent looking costume shop bearing an omnibus name.
Ethan's.
The banner was hanging on by a single frayed rope, flapping in the wind as he read and reread the name. It wasn't proof, not definite, but it was enough to sink his stomach.
"Lord, please don't let him be this stupid." A useless prayer, he knew, but he still hoped.
A bell jangled as he entered and he soo. Found that there were few things as disturbing as a costume shop at night. Considering he had been working over a literal portal to hell for well over a year that was saying something.
Pushing past all the clown masks and hanging skeletons Giles stepped into the back room, instantly tasting bile. This was definitely the site of a major working. A working larger and viler than he could ever imagine Ethan capable of. The man would have been more than willing to try but such power was simply out of his reach.
He gripped at his bicep, a hiss of pain slipping past gritted teeth as the greatest mistake of his youth burned. Reacting to the sheer dark magic in the room. That had never happened before, not an encouraging sign.
"What did that bloody idiot do?"
An invocation ritual given the formation of the incense. Of what god he called upon Giles had little clue. There was no effigy, no icon, no statue nor bust to go by other than the etched symbols and fragrant ashes. By his best guess, Eris seemed the most likely. What with her reputation for chaos and the Greek's reputation for transfiguring mortals.
There was a little sleeping area towards the back, close to the emergency exit. It had been hastily packed and left little behind to pick through. But there was enough for him to at least confirm his fears. Enough silk shirts, stupid knick-knacks, and the smell of bad cologne for him to be sure.
Ethan Rayne had come to Sunnydale and brought his usual mess with him. Though on a larger scale than either was used to. The ponce had likely thought he would get a rose out of his old friend. That he could stir the pot and bring the worst out in Rupert. That he could revive Ripper.
Instead, he brought something else out. Something, someone, new. A person Giles didn't know how to handle.
To distract himself from these thoughts, and the suddenly heavy silver bracelet on his wrist, Giles dug through what was left. Through leftover papers and crumpled regents, it didn't help him in any way. Revealing little, distracting barely, and helping none.
Oddly thorough for Ethan. And where was the windbag? For all that he was a coward he did love to gloat and watch his work. So, where was he? Did he run because of the battle at his doorstep or…
"No." He said, pieces connecting in his mind as he moved and looked out a window. Out and up. "No, it couldn't be."
0-0-0-0-0
Deet-Deet Deet-Deet Deet-Deet the chime went. Three sets of double beeps that got higher with every beat. It cut through the quiet bedroom and jolted Buffy upright in bed. Her groggy eyes sharpening even as it came again.
Deet-Deet Deet-Deet Deet-Deet the unfamiliar sound went. That wasn't her alarm.
"Wuzat?" She asked, voice not quite keeping up with her awakening senses. By the time the sound came again, that high pitched Deet-Deet Deet-Deet Deet-Deet, she was already looking down. At her wrist.
She hesitated. She knew what it was and still she hesitated. It was a remnant of the night before, and what a crazy night it was. Probably the craziest of her life, and considering she stopped the apocalypse not even six months ago that was saying something.
The fact she slept at all spoke to just how tired she had been. And a testament to how numb she was becoming to all things weird in her life.
That didn't mean she was eager to jump back into things first thing in the morning. But there were only a few people who could even use the things, sooo…
"Hello?" She said, pressing the sides of the communicator before it could beep again.
"Buffy!" A familiar voice came through, excited and ready to babble. "I knew I could isolate people! It's like a very long distance call! Like, the longest-in-human-history long!"
"Hey, Wills." Buffy greeted, rubbing the last scraps of sleep from her eyes. "What's with the early morning wake up?"
"Uh, DECA said it was eleven in California right now so I thought it would be okay."
Blinking Buffy picked up her alarm clock, then she blinked again. The little hand did indeed say 11. "Huh."
Sure, it was Saturday but she didn't usually sleep in too late. Well, not too-too late. She must have been more out of it than she thought.
"Guess I should be getting up. So, what's the what Will?"
"Hmm, oh! I'm just, uh, checking in? Letting you know we're still alive, and in space." She said as if she needed to remind Buffy that her best friends were floating behind the moon in a ship that shouldn't be there. "It's AMAZING up here. DECA has been showing me what everything does and how they work. I think I'm getting it but it's sooo complex-"
Buffy let the babble wash over her as she got ready for the day. It was a bit odd to hear a constant stream of words coming from her wrist but it was nice. Like a portable phone.
Though she had to frown as she looked at the growing piles of clothes building on her bed. She wasn't feeling most of them and she wasn't even trying to look all that good! She was just going to see Giles for crying out loud!
Pink halter? Nope.
Blue dress? Ugh.
The red leather pants she got on sale? No way.
She eventually settled for a yellow turtleneck with some black denim jeans. As fashionable as it was practical, the perfect balance between looking good and being able to kick someone where the sun doesn't shine. A great combo for when she didn't know what the day would bring.
"-I haven't gotten a chance to look at the engines yet, and I'm barely understanding the computers, but, again, DECA has been great." Willow went on, and on, until there was a knock at the door.
"Buffy?" Her mother called from the other side. "Do I hear voices in there?"
"Uh," Buffy paused, looking at her still jabbering wrist wondering what to say. She eventually landed on a half truth. "It's Willow mom! We picked up these cool walkie-talkies last night and we've been chatting, one sec."
Pressing the sides of the communicator Buffy interrupted her friend. "Sorry Wills, gotta go. My Mom's here."
"Oh, say hi for me!"
"Will do. Talk to you later." She rushed. "Okay Mom, you can come in now."
"You didn't have to stop." She said, entering the room and giving it a sweep of her eyes. Soon enough they landed on the pile of clothes on Buffy's bed and the outfit she was wearing. "And where are you going?"
"To school."
"It's Saturday, try again."
"No, really, I'm going to meet up with Willow and everyone there too, y'know, check on everybody after last night." A night so crazy even her Mom noticed and that was making her go full mother bear.
"And you couldn't do that with those new walkie-talkies of yours? Or with a phone call?"
"It's not like everyone has one." She defended. "And we always meet there, even on the weekends! I figured it'd be the best place to start."
Her mother chewed on the half lid, taking the words for what she believed they were. She eventually came to a decision.
"Fine," She relented, "But I'm driving you."
"You don't need to do that."
"Buffy," Her mother started with flat and stern eyes. "A street blew up and people decided to riot. You are lucky I'm letting you out of the house."
"It's not that bad, and I can take care of myself." The hum her mother gave spoke volumes of what she thought of that.
And that was how Buffy found herself being driven to school on a Saturday morning. It wasn't even that long of a drive, only a handful of minutes, it could have been two. There was a reason she usually walked.
That and to avoid what little traffic Sunnydale garnered. Having a whole street blocked off seemed to have congested the whole town. A group of black vans squeezed by them as their car pulled up to the school.
"Rude much?" Buffy muttered, getting out as the last one passed. "Later Mom."
"What? Don't you want me to walk you in?"
"Please no." She said, rushing towards the school to avoid that nightmare. Her Mom didn't drive off until she was well and in the building, and only then did Buffy let out a sigh of relief. She didn't want to explain how she was there to see an older man, even if it was only Giles.
Actually, she took that back, especially because it was Giles. But only when he looked like some sort of hobo mad scientist. Seriously, did he sleep at all last night? Even a wink?
He was still in his Halloween costume, the red ascot long gone and the sleeves of his rumpled shirt were pushed up. Bags of pure exhaustion sagged under his eyes, more than a lack of sleep could explain.
"Giles?" She said, trying to get his attention as he bustled about his book cage. But he was completely engrossed in his task with fingers stained by various ingredients and components. She tried again but, again, he ignored her. The third time, well the third time she made sure he couldn't ignore her. "Giles!"
"Gah!" He yelled, dropping a book that was likely older than California. She almost felt guilty but there were more important things to worry about.
Like what was making her Watcher go all crazy?
"You alright there Watcher-man"
"I, yes. I'm fine, just fine." He said, lying through his teeth as he rubbed at his tired eyes. Completely ignoring the book on the ground. "How can I help you, Buffy?"
She gave him a critical look that she made sure he felt despite his fugue. "Well, I did come to see if you knew anything new about last night but now I want to know what's going on with you."
"Wrong? Nothings wrong. Why ever would something be wrong?" He said, completely mishearing her and earning himself another long state. It lasted long enough for her to weasel a sigh out of him. "I'm afraid I learned an unpleasant truth. The one who cast the spell last night was, unfortunately, an old acquaintance of mine."
He explained things about his relationship with the caster but only in the briefest of senses. Like her parents when she stumbled into something they really didn't want to talk about. She'd let it be, for now, but only because he was still explaining what had gotten him so riled up.
"The idiot isn't even on Earth anymore."
Buffy blinked, needing a moment to process what he had said and then a moment more to connect things. In the end, all she could say was, "huh?"
"I've been working on sorting spells all night, mostly to see if I was right. I may be rubbish at them but I can usually get the general area if not direction, not this time." His lips pressed thin even before he reached for the fallen book, examining the damage. "All they did was point up, some not even that."
"I mean, yeah? He's in space so he'd be up, right?"
"W-well, yes. But I'd like to know which way up, towards which constellation as it were." He dusted the book off and gently placed it back on the shelf. "I was looking into the more… exotic surfing spells when you walked in."
"But why?" She asked, the words spilling out before she could stop them because she had to know. "He caused that whole mess last night and then, apparently, spent the rest of said night hanging out with Darth Vader. I'm not big into nerd stuff but I don't think you could find much worse company than that. So, why bother?"
"Because once, a long time ago, we had been close. While he may have been, and likely still is, a pain in the arse he was still my friend." He admitted softly, surprised by his own answer. Recovering from the brief pause he amended himself. "And, that is to say, I need to figure out what he has done to that spell of his. According to the notes I found that the spell should have ended at midnight, nothing should have remained, and yet…"
And yet her friends were floating behind the moon, riding in an impossible spaceship. And yet something waited at the edge of her senses to be called to her wrist.
And yet Sunnydale felt different.
Buffy didn't know much about magic, that's what she had a Watcher for, but even she realized something was up. Which was why she took his half-assed excuse at face value, that and a heavy dose of trust. If there was some magic screwery still going on she'd believe it. He might have an ulterior motive in his search but she wasn't going to fault him for it.
"Well, if you ever do find him in the great wide nowhere, we do have a spaceship. Shouldn't be too hard to pick him up."
He laughed at her suggestion, not cruelly but with a single bark of amusement brought on by the obvious. Obvious and ridiculous.
"I suppose we do." He said, a hint of amusement still in his voice. Though it trailed off as he considered things she probably hadn't even considered.
"I believe I wasted my efforts with this." He admitted, waving off the assurances Buffy tried to give. "I should have spent more time researching the lingering aspects of the spell. Of what was left behind, how it stayed, and how it could be affecting us."
"Affecting us? You think the spell left us with more than a spaceship and fancy walkie-talkies?"
The man grimaced and looked at the books he had locked away. "Call it a gut feeling."
Buffy did not like that. Watchers didn't get gut feelings. Everything was supposed to be all book smarts and obscure knowledge with them. Logical, methodical, and stuffy. A gut feeling was the exact opposite of all that.
If he was falling back on something like that, where did that leave the rest of them?
"Now, let's talk about something a little more mundane." He said this wryly, steering them away from his last comment. "We should prepare for your patrol tonight. Traditionally the night after All Hallows' Eve, ah, Halloween is fairly more active than average. A night in seems to make some s bite more rowdy on their next outing. I am unsure if that will hold true tonight but we should still prepare."
-0-0-0-0-0-
The Bronze, in typical fashion, was open and bumping without a care to what happened the night before. There had been literal riots and hostage situations in the club but that never stopped them from opening. The place didn't even stop to fumigate.
Cordelia was nearly a hundred percent sure that the club owner was some sort of demon, setting up a consistent feeding ground for his people. Or they were a sleazeball who only cared about their bottom dollar. Same thing really.
Not that she particularly cared, not overly much anyway. She was there tomorrow exactly what that hypothetical club owner wanted. To dance, to forget, and pretend things were as close to normal as possible.
She had been pulled into far too much freakishness and she needed to get rid of the smell. And nothing did that better than dancing and free drinks, two very related events.
Her table laughed as Cordelia swayed back to their table, drink in hand and a dopey gaze behind her. He wasn't the most handsome face in the crowd but that was exactly why it worked.
That and the tight little pink number she decided to break out from the back of her closet. Not her usual color but she could make it work, she could make anything work. With just a bit of makeup paired with some gold bangles and hoop earrings, she was catching every eye she wanted.
"Did you promise him a kiss goodnight?" Harmony asked, trying to tease her and failing miserably. So much so Cordelia had to roll her eyes.
"As if." She said, "He's just excited about the prospect of the idea that I might dance with him later."
"Well? Are you?"
She looked over her shoulder, giving the older boy a brilliant smile as he rejoined his friends. His face went bright as he noticed her looking, more so when his friends noticed too.
"We'll see." They all laughed at that, easily translating her meaning. Cordelia soaked it in, the normalcy of it. The sweet drink on her tongue, the ambient music blending into her group's giggles and chuckles. Even the general mood of the club was amazing, the number of fights and creeps were almost nonexistent
It was perfect and exactly what she needed. She basked in the peace of it, until Harmony had to ruin it by opening her mouth again.
"Does anyone else have their power back yet?" The question seemed oddly well-intentioned. Which meant it wasn't, but it added an unwanted dose of reality back into Cordelia's night. And she really didn't need it.
As the others talked she pulled her purse closer to her, very aware of the unfamiliar weight within. She would have left the thing at home but some foreign instinct had her grab it at the door.
The girls chattered around her for a bit, unaware of what was going on in Cordelia's head as they revealed even the most privileged had been hit by the power outage. Harmony, in true fashion, bragged about the fancy new generator her daddy bought so they could still watch TV.
"But he won't stop watching the news. Like, some nutjobs keep talking about aliens or something."
"Oh, enough of that." She said, slipping herself back into the conversation and diverting the subject to something more enjoyable.
It was only a bit that she started to notice something was off. That as the night trickled on the nightlife trickled in.
They were dressed in styles of decades past with hair and makeup blindly set. Sure signs of the overgrown mosquitoes that infested Sunnydale. Vampires. The only way they could have been more obvious was if they had walked in all bumpy forehead-ed.
Unusually she would try to pay them as little attention as was safely possible. Thr\en, if needed, she'd guide her girl's away from the freaks but these ones were strange. They looked dazed, eyes glazed over and swaying about like an LA junkie.
Could vampires even get high? If they could then these ones were having a horrible trip. They were dead on their feet, in more ways than one. Their faces were gaunt and she could make out their bloodshot eyes from where she sat. If they could she bet they'd be sweating too.
Cordelia didn't like it, not one bit. Nor did any of the more observant people in the room. Even if they didn't recognize the weirdos as vampires anyone and everyone could see there was something wrong with them. And no one in their right mind wanted to deal with a strung out druggie.
Space rapidity formed on the dance floor as the vampires stumbled forward. The good mood died a horrible death as a few gave lackluster attempts at dancing, the others only stared.
Plucking her purse from the table Cordelia stood, "Let's go."
"What? Why? It's not even that late yet!"
"Shut up, Harmony." She quickly hissed, "Grab your bags and follow me to the door."
"What's going on?"
"Shut up." She really shouldn't have to repeat herself but they needed to leave.
As they filed out a side door Cordelia took the regrettable action of looking over her shoulder. Looking back at the idiots and space cadets who didn't have a lick of sense between them. She couldn't leave them like that.
But she wasn't Summers so…
"Fire!" She yelled, "Fire! Everyone get out! Fire!"
That got the crowd moving, most of them. The vampires still stood senseless at the edges, staring around confused as their prey streamed out around them. Giving herself a nod Cordelia followed the crowd out the door.
Her group had tried to wait for her but the crush of people had hurried them down the alley. She waved them off and away but she couldn't ignore that question in their eyes. The "what was that?" that burned at her from a distance.
And she had no answer for them, not one she liked. Nor one that was true.
Luckily she wouldn't have to answer anything. The best part about her little group is that everyone had a car. So there would be no questioning for at least another day. It would give her time to think of something.
The walk back to her car was a quick trip, she had parked close because of her heels. She had parked illegally but what was a fine in the face of a blister?
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Less so when she spied one of those strung out vampires loitering near her car. And didn't that just figure? Do something nice and get dragged into the town's weirdness, just her luck.
She didn't even have a chance to run away because of course it noticed her. Maybe it was the click of her heels, maybe it was a coincidence. In the end, it didn't matter. The vampire had noticed her and she was in heels.
"Help!" She was screaming before it had even started moving. Its face twisted from something almost human into a snarled mess of fangs and Yellow eyes. She started to pray that Summers might be creeping around. There was always a chance but if she had no other option…
She started to fumble for her bag, working at the clasp even as the vampire found its footing. It was slower than most vamps she had seen but this does not mean it was slower than her.
It tore the purse from her hands and sent Cordelia to the ground with a squawk. That was all that saved her as gnarled fangs snapped where her next used to be. She tried to scan for her lost bag, for what lay within, but she had no time. Pale hands were already reaching out for her.
Scrambling away, her back hit a literal wall. Solid brick with nowhere to go.
"Summers! If you're here it'd be nice if you showed up! Like, now!"
No one came. No Buffy. No tall, dark, and brooding Angel. She'd even take that dweeb Xander swooping in to save the day. But no one was coming.
No one but the vampire lurching towards her.
"S-stop running." They rasped, rank breath wafting to Cordelia's nose as they all but crawled up her. "I'm so, tired. Just need a top off and everything will be alright, right?"
"Back off you freak!" She tried to slap them but they had easily caught her wrist and held it with their unnatural strength. The vampire offered no more words as it leaned in to start its meal with Cordelia cringing away.
She didn't want to admit it but she whimpered. Fear gripped her even as it mingled with disbelief.
This? This was how she was going to die? To some scrawny vampire?
She had seen and survived far stranger. She had fought in space for crying out loud! She could die here. This was not how Cordelia Chase died!
"Ha!" Her bangles chimed as she swung, her fist striking with surprisingly little resistance. Almost none in fact.
There was also no biting.
Peeking an eye open she spied the vampire on the ground. Their eyes had gone sightless with their fangs spread across the concrete. They smacked their lips but did little else, not even flinching as Cordelia scampered away.
"What?" She started to ask, reaching out a hand to steady herself. *Thunk*. "Thunk?"
She looked towards the sound, towards where her hand met the wall. It was the wrong color, while she tanned beautifully she could never be that golden. She tried to flex her fingers and found that she couldn't.
Her hand was solid gold.
And that started a whole new kind of freak out.
AN:
I'm not happy. Not with the chapter nor with how long it took to get out. I had made a goal of a chapter a month to help me improve my writing output, unfortunately being a dad and having a fulltime job with odd hours kills hobby time. I'm going to stick to the goal but, well, we'll see how that goes.
Chapter edited using Hemmingway and Grammarly, if I missed anything let me know.
- Location
- Australia
Well that's unexpected! I... got nothing. But I don't know Power Rangers so maybe it's related to that somehow. Certainly curious to find out "what's the what" as it were.I thought it was good? It well-conveyed the shock/fatigue/reactions of everyone involved and they all seemed in character, while keeping the story moving forward.
Thanks. That means alot.
It's the not so subtle hint that they kept more then their morphers.
Who Cordy dressed as using her ability:
View: https://youtu.be/eDOXnQfM-nM
Each of the chosen Rangers actually have their own power, some weaker then others. I put it in the info post but short list:
Buffy - boosted 6th sense
Willow - memories of water magic mastery
Xander - about one hands worth of telekinesis
Cordy - able to turn selected body parts into material she's touching.
Giles - Invisibility
Last edited:
I'm glad you like it. I'm also happy someone pointed out the clothes!It's a good transitional bit, moving some stuff along. My big takeaway from this chapter tho is that it's fun to watch them pick up their colors without noticing
RoboRenee
Trans of gender
- Location
- FFXIV, probably
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Between that and the vamps going through some sort of withdrawal it seems like there's some solid hints for future fun.
Those hints might also include Giles going on a hunch? Buffy made a big deal about that being weird and I'm not sure if that's a sign of desperation or of Dr. O being a very vibes-based planner.
If you don't mind a tiny/not really a spoiler to those who are used to YAHF:
It's more that he noticed his reaponse on Ethan, trying to find and possibly save him, was a bit extreme for him. A change in his attitude he was not expecting. He's not sure if it's shock from the night before or if it's something else.
a bit more than that...Andros and Karone had more than just TK...and their TK was decently strong, it's just that Andros didn't use his psychic powers very much.
Gonna be honest, the only times I remember him using it is to prank Bulk and playing with Karone.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Xander is still a comic nerd at heart, maybe have him use his TK the same as Superboy's version?
Maybe not a full "Touchdown" but he could probably fuck the inside of machines up pretty good. Maybe not flight but double jump/air steps are likely. And he can probably punch twice as hard as before.
It would take practice but he has a Spaceship with a Danger Room to help train.
What Happens Next Pt3
MaRS ch 7
A vampire shivered in the Californian night. Teeth clattering with wide pinprick eyes as they limped into an alleyway.
Alone and desperate for a meal they salivated at the sight of a tiny blonde. She was walking towards them as if she didn't have a care in the world. She had come around the corner the same instant as the vampire and made herself an inviting target. Too inviting of a target. Any other time that would have been a red flag, a great big warning waving in front of their face.
Now it was something they ignored as they lunged forward. Their face twisting into an ugly mix of yellow eyes and gnarled fangs. Then they were gone.
One moment they were a deadly predator pouncing upon their prey, the next they were ash in the wind.
"Huh, Giles was right." Buffy mused, brushing some errant ash from her turtleneck. "The vampires are really out and about tonight."
It was honestly like shooting fish in a barrel with how many she had run into. She couldn't even turn a corner without sniffing one out, not that they were making it hard. What with their stumbling and general stank, never mind their usual horrid fashion sense.
She had to have staked twenty vampires in as many minutes. She wasn't even bothering to stow her stake anymore. It seemed that as soon as she did another one would show up and she would have to take it out again. It was getting annoying.
Buffy had to wonder if it was that bad everywhere or if Sunnydale was just the unluckiest city in the world.
Still, it passed the time and distracted her with a dose of normalcy. Well, her version of it at least. And nothing said a return to a normal teenage lifestyle like some smoochies. All she needed was her tall, dark, and handsome boyfriend to make some headway on that.
A completely justifiable reason to go off route, Giles would forgive her. Eventually.
It wasn't like changing up her patrol would really change anything. Vampires were still dying by the truckload and she'd get a nice little reward for all her hard work. Honestly, it was a win-win for everyone.
It certainly put a pep in Buffy's step
A pep that would die a quick and unceremonious death as a shiver crawled up her spine. Something was watching her, something wrong. Unnatural and stomach turning. She spun around to find a shadowed figure staring right at her.
"Buffy." The figure said and for all of a second, she felt relief wash over her. She had that heart fluttering thought of "Oh, it's Angel". And for those few heartbeats she knew everything was going to be alright.
Then her stomach dropped, twisted, and lurched. She didn't puke but it was a near thing.
He was wrong, utterly and completely wrong. She looked into those deep brown eyes, so sad and soulful, and saw something lurking. Something dark and horrid. Something she didn't hesitate to call and label evil.
"Buffy?" He asked, stepping closer and sending her stomach into another tumble. "Are you okay?"
"I-" She started, bile bubbling at the back of her throat. She took a step back, eyeing him while there was still space.
He looked off, tired. And nothing the usual broody "I've looked into the abyss" way but actually tired. Like he woke up from the world's worst night of sleep. His shoulders were slumped, his steps lacking his usual smooth stride, and there were even bags under his eyes. Kinda. They were doing a weird skin sag thing.
The point was that he looked rough.
Enough so that, despite the goosebumps running up her arms, she found herself worried. "Are YOU okay?" She asked, the words spilling out despite every misgiving.
"Better than most I think." He wiped at his forehead as if there was sweat. "I was actually on my way to see you, and Giles. Something is going on with all the vampires in town. Mostly the fledglings but even the older ones are feeling it."
"Uh-huh."
"I think it has something to do with last night, things got weird." He was almost next to her and she had to fight off a wave of revulsion. A rancid hiccup rolled up from her gut, sneaking up on her in the most unpleasant of ways
Angel gave her a confused puppy dog of a look that in any other circumstance would have been adorable. Not then. Not when she felt, not when she felt… a lot like Maya did actually.
Like she was looking at something angry and vile and hateful, then having it glare back at her. Like the searing heat of a sizzling coal barely contained by a soap bubble. What was that? What was she feeling? Why was she feeling it?
"Buffy? Is something wrong?" He asked, his hand raised as if to take hers.
She dodged it, feigning that she was brushing back her hair. "Yeah, sorry, I'm fine." A lot happened last night and I'm still processing."
"Care to fill me in?"
"Sure, if you don't mind walking and talking. Got to finish up my patrol, y'know?"
He smiled at her that she did her best to return.
They walked the graveyard at an almost leisurely pace as she filled him in. She couldn't blame him when he didn't believe a word she said.
"A spaceship? Really?"
"Yep." She popped the o, trying to sound as peppy as possible. "Willow and Xander are still up there playing ship-sitter while we figure out what to do next "
"Wow." That's all he could say, his eyes lost in the stars above him.
It made it easy for her to guide them across the graveyard and back into her proper route. Avoiding all their usual quiet spots and looping her back home for her mid patrol break. A perfect excuse to break away and call Giles because something wasn't just right with Angel.
He was supposed to make her feel warm and fuzzy, not sick and pukey.
Still, she pretended everything was fine. Playing at being tired and out of sorts to avoid their usual romance. A shame because she really needed a good dose of it but there was no helping it.
Angel didn't even notice the change until the familiar red door was in sight. "Oh, that was fast."
"Yeah, I wasn't planning on staying out too late tonight." She lied, "I'm still pretty wiped from, y'know, everything. Wanted to keep things light and not overdo things."
"Of course." He said, smiling. "I understand. Call me if you need anything."
He leaned in for a kiss, she gave him her forehead. Fooling him into a long hug that was heatedly accepted. One he reluctantly released as she backed away.
"I'll see you soon." He promised, hands trailing along her shoulders as he moved away. She waved as he faded into the shadow and night.
Once she was sure he was gone, once she could no longer feel that ill hidden ball of hate, she let out a long breath
"Definitely need to call Giles." She muttered, walking the last few steps to her home and only just noticing a familiar red car parked haphazardly out front. She didn't even need to see the iconic 'Queen C' license plate to know whose it was. "What is she doing here?"
Her question was quickly answered as she opened the door and that call to Giles became all the more urgent.
-0-0-0-0-0-
There was something about working with his hands that Xander always enjoyed. Putting pieces together and shaping things to how they should be. Getting his hands deep into something and making it work. That sort of thing always appealed to him, he'd even go so far as to say he had a talent for it.
With all that said and out in the open he was comfortable admitting that he never dreamed he'd touch a spaceship, much less help repair one. He always figured he'd tap out at repairing some fancy sports car that had no choice but to pull into whatever dingy garage he ended up working at. Yet there he was, elbows deep in a starship that would make the Millennium Falcon jealous.
Not that he had half a clue what he was doing. But that was what the super advanced AI was for.
"Now I put the cartridge within the cleared slot to complete the circuit," DECA said, guiding him step by step with what he knew to be dumbed down instructions. Which was very helpful and appreciated.
"Okay, done. Now what?"
"Once the analogy switch is flipped this section will be complete."
So he did just that. Lights flickered then smoothed out as a whirling hum took over the room. He could practically hear a sigh of relief come from the red eyes security camera.
"Thank you, Xander. The Healing Matrix can now begin in this section."
Looking out a nearby window he could make out blankets of black energy settling over a grid of green. He had seen this a few times before. He'd watch time and time again how the black-on-green energy would fade away at the edges and shrink down. Leaving only pristine blue metal remained.
"Cool." He said in double meaning. "Is there anything else you need me to do?"
"Not at this moment." The AI answered, "Though, I would recommend taking a break while you can. We are likely to be busy very soon."
Xander grimaced at the suggestion but knew she was right. Earth was calling, literally.
Ever since they parked the Megaship on the dark side of the Moon they had been getting pinged by Earth. DECA had responded each time with a prepackaged message of "We come in peace and mean no harm". Something Xander felt was redundant after last night's battle. But that wasn't enough for the governments of Earth aa
They broadcasted their questions and demanded answers on every possible frequency. Insistent that fighting for them and an automated message weren't good enough. They wanted to talk to a person, and if no one was going to pick up the phone then they'd have someone knock on the Megaship's door.
"How long do we got?"
"Approximately, 5 hours and 39 minutes given the craft's current pace and our current position."
That didn't seem all that long in the scheme of things but it still felt like an agonizingly slow pace. Not that he wanted that fighter to get any closer.
Those things were trigger happy! They had shot Vader's Tie Fighter to hell and back as soon as they got the chance!
Now, Xander understood why they did it, he really did. They had lost four of their friends to that ship. So turning it into a fireball made sense. But Xander saw something else when saw that fireball
"I wonder who he was."
Someone else from Sunnydale for sure. Someone else who got caught up in the weirdness of the spell. Someone who was now dead because they wore the wrong costume.
And since when could anything from Earth dream of destroying a Tie Fighter? Or damaging a Star Destroyer?
Xander wasn't all the into Star wars, outside the movies, but he knew enough to know that nukes meant diddly against Empire ships.
Yet chunks of sci-fi metal vanished under Earth's barrage and the planet's starfighters could keep up with Vader of all people! What type of secret government crap was that?
So with all that added up Xander thought it was very reasonable not to want that fighter anywhere near them. Not that he had any real say in the matter, nor did the pilot seem to care.
But that was the government for you. There wasn't much else they could do besides wait and hope the repairs were done before they arrived.
Until then he'd take DECA's advice and take a nice long break. He even knew how to spend it, he just needed to make a quick stop first.
Making his way up an elevator and down the grey halls of the Megaship Xander strolled into the ship's rec room. It honestly reminded him of a school cafeteria back on Earth, if he ignored a few select things. There were benched tables, color coded lockers, and even a map of the solar system. All very familiar things that helped sell the illusion. All he had to do to complete said illusion was ignore the minute ways the planets moved along the map. Or how the far wall was dominated by color coded jump tubes.
But no school or cafeteria on Earth, that he knew of, had Synthetrons. Microwave like machines that could synthesize any food you could imagine. If you knew the buttons to press. He was still working on the code for Twinkies but he had strawberry milkshakes down pat.
Andros made them all the time for Ashley. And now Xander was making them for Willow.
That thought, that foreign sense of deja vu, left him frozen in the hallway with two milkshakes in hand. It has been happening a lot.
The more he explored, the more he got to know the books and crannies of that amazing ship, the more something niggled and wiggled in his brain. A something that made him think he had been there before, lived there before.
But he hadn't. And, technically, neither had Andros. The ship wasn't the original Megaship but the Megaship MK2, an update to the Ranger's old home. But that was close enough.
Every other corner Xander explored seemed to squeeze some sort of memory out of whatever bits of Andros that were left in his noggin. And they felt so natural too, as if they were his own.
If it weren't for how wrong the faces were he'd have thought them real. And they couldn't be real because Power Rangers weren't real, right?
As with every other time, Xander pushed those memories aside with a shake of the head and moved in. It was, as far as he was concerned, just another weird thing to add to the pile. They'd sort it out later.
Swinging into the flight deck he found Willow right where he expected her to be. Nose deep at the console screen, completely oblivious to the world around her. She didn't even notice him come in.
He'd be remiss in his best friend duties if he didn't take advantage
The "Eep" she let out as the chilled milkshake cup met her neck echoed down the halls. It also earned him a harder than usual slap to the arm.
"Xander! Stop doing that!"
"Only when you stop making it funny." He said, placing one of the cups next to her. "Soooo, whatcha up to?"
The little pout on her face melted away allowing for the full force of a good Willow-babble to flow. "Everything on this ship is amazing! I can barely wrap my head around it but DECA has been a great teacher, kinda redundant to say after calling the ship amazing since she's, y'know, basically the ship but she is!"
He smiled and sipped at his milkshake as the familiar ramble washed over him. A bit of normalcy mixed in with the extraordinary of their day.
"-owing me how to work the communication stuff. It's really complex but I'm starting to get it. I think. I can pick up, like, every radio station on Earth! I want to see how far I can push that." On and on she went, talking about trying to intercept signals from the Mars rovers. Who knows how long she could and would have gone on if their wrist hadn't started to chime.
Deet-Deet Deet-Deet Deet-Deet
Willow's brow scrunched in momentary confusion but Xander instinctively knew the sound.
Quickly raising his wrist to his face he answered. "Xander, go."
"We need you guys down here, now."
"Buffy? What's up?"
"We're having a bit of… a disaster down here. I don't know if you can hear it." He couldn't, the only sound coming from his communicator was her voice. "But Cordelia is having a meltdown. Giles wanted us all tested, like now."
"Halloween stuff?"
"Halloween stuff."
-0-0-0-0-0-
Giles played with the warm silver band around his wrist, tracing the onyx gemstone as he pondered. And he has a lot to ponder.
For now, for the sake of a shaking young woman, he focuses his thoughts on the now. Ignoring every personal implication as best he could.
Someone said something to him. He completely missed it. "Hmm?
"Did you think of something?" Jenny asked, dark eyes twinkling as if on the cusp of a joke at his expense. But her smile died as quickly as it arrived. Their usual banter falling flat in the face of circumstance.
"Not outside what we've already planned, no." Part of that was true at least. He could think of no better course of action. Any more scans or scries would only create similar results. Unless they were to try a deeper dive but that would take time they simply did not have.
Not with a panicking teen in the other room and Joyce Summers breathing down their necks.
The woman has been spending the better part of the night glaring at him and hovering near her phone. She had not taken her eyes off him since he arrived. Refusing to let him out of her sight or leave him alone with either her daughter or Cordelia Chase.
If Jenny had not been there to defuse things, with some very liberal help from Buffy, he doubted they would have gotten anything down. There was little stopping her from calling the police and all their talk of magic was doing very little for the woman's patience or attitude.
He had heard the muttered question of "cult" far too much that night.
"Alright," Buffy said, coming in from the other room, her voice cutting through the tension. "Willow and Xander are on their way. They should be here any second. Literally."
"Excellent. Their presence should make this easier."
"Make what easier?" Joyce demanded, her voice snipping and mocking. "Another magic ritual that will solve all their problems?"
"Mom…"
"What Buffy? He is talking nonsense, utter garbage. He's -" Here she paused, an outraged finger raised as her nostrils flared but all the same she hesitated. Her eyes flickered between Buffy and himself as she fought to find the right words. When she found them she whirled on Giles. "You are taking advantage of her! Feeding her this, this, bullshit! About magic, and rituals, and destiny. None of that is real! You found a vulnerable little girl and started to shovel this garbage at her. Reinforcing her delusions and pulling her into God knows what!"
Giles found himself on his back foot as the enraged mother stabbed his chest again and again with a well manicured finger. His ears ringing from her rising voice.
No amount of Watcher training prepared him to deal with an irate parent. Well, how to deal with one and keep a cordial relationship.
"I, that is to say." He floundered as he tried to fall back onto something, anything, that could help him defuse the situation.
What he found was far from helpful, just the nightmares of a fictional man dreading a similar situation. But Doctor Oliver never had to deal with the enraged parents of one of his Rangers. Not ones that weren't corrupted dinosaur men at least
Luckily he did not need to rely on those ill advised experiences and training.
"Mrs. Summers." Jenny started, reaching for the woman's offending arm.
Joyce ripped it back.
"Don't, touch, me."
Jenny raised both her hands, speaking softly as she tried to placate the woman yet again. "Okay, no touching, understood. But please understand that this is very real. Magic IS real. You saw Cordelia's hand."
Joyce stole a glance back towards her living room, back towards the tear-stained and impatient young woman. Towards the perfectly normal hands cradling something in a tight grip. Hands that had been golden when they slammed at her door.
"I don't know what you did to that poor girl but I know I don't want you in my home!"
"Mom, please." Buffy reached for her mother, gently gripping her arm. "It's not like that. Please listen."
Giles noted how tears glistened unshed in his Slayer's eyes and how her mother could barely meet them.
"This is, this is crazy Buffy. You have to see that. Please tell me you see that."
Buffy's words were swallowed by the sound of a golden fist smashing through what had been a rather nice coffee table.
"Can my life not be about your freaky drama for once?" Cordelia asked, ignoring the splinters that now littered her dress. "Cause I have enough of my own right now without you dragging me into yours."
In the silence that followed, in that beat of time where Joyce Summers stared at the remains of her table, Buffy gathered herself. Giles could see it, how she built up strength and reinforced her figurative walls.
"Mom, I know this is a lot to take in, like, it's a lot. This isn't how I wanted you to find out but this is all real. What they are saying is real, what I told you was real." She looked deep into her mother's eyes, implying far more than just that moment. "And, because of that, I know where Cordelia is coming from right now, what she's feeling. How alone and lost. And if I can help her feel a little less alone then I'll do that. We'll do that."
The sound of thunder punctuated her words, filling the room with flashes of Red and Blue. Out of a faux habit, Giles has looked away in time. Shielding his eyes enough to see Xander and Willow forming from the light to stand behind their friend.
They wore strange outfits that niggled at Giles's implanted memories. They were almost militaristic in design, with shiny black boots paired with a uniform gray pants and jacket. The only difference between the two's clothes were the colors of their undershirts. Red for Xander and Blue for Willow.
The pair smiled as the light faded, Willow's face in particular was alight with excitement. Then they looked around, at the smashed table, at Joyce's shocked face.
"Uh, did we come at a bad time?"
"Just in time, in fact," Giles said, gathering strength from his Slayer's display. "We are nearly ready for the ritual and only need a few last minute touches. If there are no more objections we can start near immediately."
He looked towards the Summers women as he said this, into each of their eyes. From the shell shocked to the steely. The latter gave him a nod while the former struggled to collect herself.
"Wait, so, Buffy's mom knows now?"
"I think she just found out."
"Ooooh."
Ignoring the new arrivals Giles took a chalk slate from Jenny, double checking their etchings as the woman prepped new incense to burn. Adjustments would need to be made to the runes and glyphs but nothing too laberous. With a few swipes of a rag and a careful hand a new string of symbols emerges. One that would account for their increased number.
A red haired head peeled around his shoulder. "What's that?"
"It's, ah, a portable ritual tablet." He explained. "One of Jenny's, that is, Ms. Calendar's new age ideas. A rather good one, I think, for cases such as these."
However, he was almost certain that many cultures had used similar methods throughout history. It made for a rather enjoyable debate but it never hurt to credit a beautiful woman in front of their students.
"We have been using them as a sort of, ah, dosing rod. A god was involved last night and we are trying to uncover which one. We haven't had much luck so far but, hopefully, with all five of us here, as affected individuals, we can narrow it down some by effectively amplifying the spell."
"Cool." Said the girl in Blue, her eyes completely engrossed. "How does it work?"
"Well-"
Jenny interrupted them before he could get a word in. "While I'm sure Rupert would love to give you a long and stuffy lecture on things we do need to set up. C'mon, I'll give you the cliff notes."
Like a duckling Willow followed, ever eager to absorb a new lesson. Giles would have laughed if not for their situation.
"Ah, Buffy, stand here please. Xander? Here. Willow, over there please." He instructed, arranging the teens in such a way that Cordelia and he would complete the points of a star.
With the pentagram complete Jenny slid the various slates and lit their incense. The rest was up to him.
And the whims of an unknown god.
Before that worry could settle he started to chant. The long dead prose of a Latin variant rolled from his tongue. The vibrations swayed the incense smoke as if to guide them to the center of their formation.
Which was far more than they had achieved with their previous attempts.
Then the incense flames blazed as magic pulled the smoke from their wicks. It pooled in a gray mass between them, kneading itself into shape as a baker would dough.
At that point in the ritual a symbol or a likeness of the god should have appeared. A vestige of the god invoked that lingered in the magic that has changed them all. When they had tried the ritual before with various combinations of Buffy, Cordelia, and himself they had ended up with, well, just smoke.
Now the smoke screamed.
Lips formed only to scream, tongues wagging as words failed the deity. Sets of teeth gnashed as they fought to speak. Pictures fell and glass shattered as the walls shook around them. Even the expensive incense sputtered out as the faces screamed.
Faces.
Two faces.
Through squinted eyes and clamped ears he could make that out. He could make out no finer details, not with how the smoke was rapidly dissipating and leaving through hastily thrown open windows.
"Was that supposed to happen?" Buffy asked, waving the errant smoke out of her face
"Not quite but yes." He said with his ears still ringing, so he may have spoken a little louder than intended. "We were hoping for some impression left behind last night's magic or a sign of the god invoked. And I'd say we got it, if a bit on the dramatic side."
"Did you get what you needed to fix me? Cordelia demanded, interrupting them with the possibility she cared about
He wishes he had better news for herm
"Ah, not quite." He said, repeating himself as he explained. "We have at least gained the god's attention and a clue to their identity. It is not an answer or a solution but it is a good step for both."
"Then what good is it!" She yelled, hands thrown up into the air. "I let you do all that weird mumbo jumbo to me and this is all you can tell me? This is all I get?"
She scoffed.
"I don't want a "good first step" I want to be fixed! I want to be normal!"
Buffy reached out, placing a hand on the other girl's shoulder. "It's not always that easy Cordelia."
"What do you know?" She asked, slapping the offending hand away. "You Think you know everything but you don't. I can tell you one thing you can be sure of."
She slammed something into Buffy's chest.
"I'm done. Like, done done. Don't come near me unless you find a way to fix me."
As she stood out the house Buffy looked down to the device that Cordelia shoved at her. It was smooth and back with three blocky letters written across its face. SPD
"Her Morpher?" Buffy wondered as Willow summed up the situation.
"Well, that was dramatic."
An:
Aka the chapter where Cordelia turned in her fun and badge.
Anyway, those first two sections have been done for months but the third was a pain and a half for me to get out. While it's done I'm still not happy with it nor am I happy with how long it took to get out. I really need to get more disciplined and better at time management.
Sidenote- shout out to all my working parents who still find hobby time. You guys are machines.
A vampire shivered in the Californian night. Teeth clattering with wide pinprick eyes as they limped into an alleyway.
Alone and desperate for a meal they salivated at the sight of a tiny blonde. She was walking towards them as if she didn't have a care in the world. She had come around the corner the same instant as the vampire and made herself an inviting target. Too inviting of a target. Any other time that would have been a red flag, a great big warning waving in front of their face.
Now it was something they ignored as they lunged forward. Their face twisting into an ugly mix of yellow eyes and gnarled fangs. Then they were gone.
One moment they were a deadly predator pouncing upon their prey, the next they were ash in the wind.
"Huh, Giles was right." Buffy mused, brushing some errant ash from her turtleneck. "The vampires are really out and about tonight."
It was honestly like shooting fish in a barrel with how many she had run into. She couldn't even turn a corner without sniffing one out, not that they were making it hard. What with their stumbling and general stank, never mind their usual horrid fashion sense.
She had to have staked twenty vampires in as many minutes. She wasn't even bothering to stow her stake anymore. It seemed that as soon as she did another one would show up and she would have to take it out again. It was getting annoying.
Buffy had to wonder if it was that bad everywhere or if Sunnydale was just the unluckiest city in the world.
Still, it passed the time and distracted her with a dose of normalcy. Well, her version of it at least. And nothing said a return to a normal teenage lifestyle like some smoochies. All she needed was her tall, dark, and handsome boyfriend to make some headway on that.
A completely justifiable reason to go off route, Giles would forgive her. Eventually.
It wasn't like changing up her patrol would really change anything. Vampires were still dying by the truckload and she'd get a nice little reward for all her hard work. Honestly, it was a win-win for everyone.
It certainly put a pep in Buffy's step
A pep that would die a quick and unceremonious death as a shiver crawled up her spine. Something was watching her, something wrong. Unnatural and stomach turning. She spun around to find a shadowed figure staring right at her.
"Buffy." The figure said and for all of a second, she felt relief wash over her. She had that heart fluttering thought of "Oh, it's Angel". And for those few heartbeats she knew everything was going to be alright.
Then her stomach dropped, twisted, and lurched. She didn't puke but it was a near thing.
He was wrong, utterly and completely wrong. She looked into those deep brown eyes, so sad and soulful, and saw something lurking. Something dark and horrid. Something she didn't hesitate to call and label evil.
"Buffy?" He asked, stepping closer and sending her stomach into another tumble. "Are you okay?"
"I-" She started, bile bubbling at the back of her throat. She took a step back, eyeing him while there was still space.
He looked off, tired. And nothing the usual broody "I've looked into the abyss" way but actually tired. Like he woke up from the world's worst night of sleep. His shoulders were slumped, his steps lacking his usual smooth stride, and there were even bags under his eyes. Kinda. They were doing a weird skin sag thing.
The point was that he looked rough.
Enough so that, despite the goosebumps running up her arms, she found herself worried. "Are YOU okay?" She asked, the words spilling out despite every misgiving.
"Better than most I think." He wiped at his forehead as if there was sweat. "I was actually on my way to see you, and Giles. Something is going on with all the vampires in town. Mostly the fledglings but even the older ones are feeling it."
"Uh-huh."
"I think it has something to do with last night, things got weird." He was almost next to her and she had to fight off a wave of revulsion. A rancid hiccup rolled up from her gut, sneaking up on her in the most unpleasant of ways
Angel gave her a confused puppy dog of a look that in any other circumstance would have been adorable. Not then. Not when she felt, not when she felt… a lot like Maya did actually.
Like she was looking at something angry and vile and hateful, then having it glare back at her. Like the searing heat of a sizzling coal barely contained by a soap bubble. What was that? What was she feeling? Why was she feeling it?
"Buffy? Is something wrong?" He asked, his hand raised as if to take hers.
She dodged it, feigning that she was brushing back her hair. "Yeah, sorry, I'm fine." A lot happened last night and I'm still processing."
"Care to fill me in?"
"Sure, if you don't mind walking and talking. Got to finish up my patrol, y'know?"
He smiled at her that she did her best to return.
They walked the graveyard at an almost leisurely pace as she filled him in. She couldn't blame him when he didn't believe a word she said.
"A spaceship? Really?"
"Yep." She popped the o, trying to sound as peppy as possible. "Willow and Xander are still up there playing ship-sitter while we figure out what to do next "
"Wow." That's all he could say, his eyes lost in the stars above him.
It made it easy for her to guide them across the graveyard and back into her proper route. Avoiding all their usual quiet spots and looping her back home for her mid patrol break. A perfect excuse to break away and call Giles because something wasn't just right with Angel.
He was supposed to make her feel warm and fuzzy, not sick and pukey.
Still, she pretended everything was fine. Playing at being tired and out of sorts to avoid their usual romance. A shame because she really needed a good dose of it but there was no helping it.
Angel didn't even notice the change until the familiar red door was in sight. "Oh, that was fast."
"Yeah, I wasn't planning on staying out too late tonight." She lied, "I'm still pretty wiped from, y'know, everything. Wanted to keep things light and not overdo things."
"Of course." He said, smiling. "I understand. Call me if you need anything."
He leaned in for a kiss, she gave him her forehead. Fooling him into a long hug that was heatedly accepted. One he reluctantly released as she backed away.
"I'll see you soon." He promised, hands trailing along her shoulders as he moved away. She waved as he faded into the shadow and night.
Once she was sure he was gone, once she could no longer feel that ill hidden ball of hate, she let out a long breath
"Definitely need to call Giles." She muttered, walking the last few steps to her home and only just noticing a familiar red car parked haphazardly out front. She didn't even need to see the iconic 'Queen C' license plate to know whose it was. "What is she doing here?"
Her question was quickly answered as she opened the door and that call to Giles became all the more urgent.
-0-0-0-0-0-
There was something about working with his hands that Xander always enjoyed. Putting pieces together and shaping things to how they should be. Getting his hands deep into something and making it work. That sort of thing always appealed to him, he'd even go so far as to say he had a talent for it.
With all that said and out in the open he was comfortable admitting that he never dreamed he'd touch a spaceship, much less help repair one. He always figured he'd tap out at repairing some fancy sports car that had no choice but to pull into whatever dingy garage he ended up working at. Yet there he was, elbows deep in a starship that would make the Millennium Falcon jealous.
Not that he had half a clue what he was doing. But that was what the super advanced AI was for.
"Now I put the cartridge within the cleared slot to complete the circuit," DECA said, guiding him step by step with what he knew to be dumbed down instructions. Which was very helpful and appreciated.
"Okay, done. Now what?"
"Once the analogy switch is flipped this section will be complete."
So he did just that. Lights flickered then smoothed out as a whirling hum took over the room. He could practically hear a sigh of relief come from the red eyes security camera.
"Thank you, Xander. The Healing Matrix can now begin in this section."
Looking out a nearby window he could make out blankets of black energy settling over a grid of green. He had seen this a few times before. He'd watch time and time again how the black-on-green energy would fade away at the edges and shrink down. Leaving only pristine blue metal remained.
"Cool." He said in double meaning. "Is there anything else you need me to do?"
"Not at this moment." The AI answered, "Though, I would recommend taking a break while you can. We are likely to be busy very soon."
Xander grimaced at the suggestion but knew she was right. Earth was calling, literally.
Ever since they parked the Megaship on the dark side of the Moon they had been getting pinged by Earth. DECA had responded each time with a prepackaged message of "We come in peace and mean no harm". Something Xander felt was redundant after last night's battle. But that wasn't enough for the governments of Earth aa
They broadcasted their questions and demanded answers on every possible frequency. Insistent that fighting for them and an automated message weren't good enough. They wanted to talk to a person, and if no one was going to pick up the phone then they'd have someone knock on the Megaship's door.
"How long do we got?"
"Approximately, 5 hours and 39 minutes given the craft's current pace and our current position."
That didn't seem all that long in the scheme of things but it still felt like an agonizingly slow pace. Not that he wanted that fighter to get any closer.
Those things were trigger happy! They had shot Vader's Tie Fighter to hell and back as soon as they got the chance!
Now, Xander understood why they did it, he really did. They had lost four of their friends to that ship. So turning it into a fireball made sense. But Xander saw something else when saw that fireball
"I wonder who he was."
Someone else from Sunnydale for sure. Someone else who got caught up in the weirdness of the spell. Someone who was now dead because they wore the wrong costume.
And since when could anything from Earth dream of destroying a Tie Fighter? Or damaging a Star Destroyer?
Xander wasn't all the into Star wars, outside the movies, but he knew enough to know that nukes meant diddly against Empire ships.
Yet chunks of sci-fi metal vanished under Earth's barrage and the planet's starfighters could keep up with Vader of all people! What type of secret government crap was that?
So with all that added up Xander thought it was very reasonable not to want that fighter anywhere near them. Not that he had any real say in the matter, nor did the pilot seem to care.
But that was the government for you. There wasn't much else they could do besides wait and hope the repairs were done before they arrived.
Until then he'd take DECA's advice and take a nice long break. He even knew how to spend it, he just needed to make a quick stop first.
Making his way up an elevator and down the grey halls of the Megaship Xander strolled into the ship's rec room. It honestly reminded him of a school cafeteria back on Earth, if he ignored a few select things. There were benched tables, color coded lockers, and even a map of the solar system. All very familiar things that helped sell the illusion. All he had to do to complete said illusion was ignore the minute ways the planets moved along the map. Or how the far wall was dominated by color coded jump tubes.
But no school or cafeteria on Earth, that he knew of, had Synthetrons. Microwave like machines that could synthesize any food you could imagine. If you knew the buttons to press. He was still working on the code for Twinkies but he had strawberry milkshakes down pat.
Andros made them all the time for Ashley. And now Xander was making them for Willow.
That thought, that foreign sense of deja vu, left him frozen in the hallway with two milkshakes in hand. It has been happening a lot.
The more he explored, the more he got to know the books and crannies of that amazing ship, the more something niggled and wiggled in his brain. A something that made him think he had been there before, lived there before.
But he hadn't. And, technically, neither had Andros. The ship wasn't the original Megaship but the Megaship MK2, an update to the Ranger's old home. But that was close enough.
Every other corner Xander explored seemed to squeeze some sort of memory out of whatever bits of Andros that were left in his noggin. And they felt so natural too, as if they were his own.
If it weren't for how wrong the faces were he'd have thought them real. And they couldn't be real because Power Rangers weren't real, right?
As with every other time, Xander pushed those memories aside with a shake of the head and moved in. It was, as far as he was concerned, just another weird thing to add to the pile. They'd sort it out later.
Swinging into the flight deck he found Willow right where he expected her to be. Nose deep at the console screen, completely oblivious to the world around her. She didn't even notice him come in.
He'd be remiss in his best friend duties if he didn't take advantage
The "Eep" she let out as the chilled milkshake cup met her neck echoed down the halls. It also earned him a harder than usual slap to the arm.
"Xander! Stop doing that!"
"Only when you stop making it funny." He said, placing one of the cups next to her. "Soooo, whatcha up to?"
The little pout on her face melted away allowing for the full force of a good Willow-babble to flow. "Everything on this ship is amazing! I can barely wrap my head around it but DECA has been a great teacher, kinda redundant to say after calling the ship amazing since she's, y'know, basically the ship but she is!"
He smiled and sipped at his milkshake as the familiar ramble washed over him. A bit of normalcy mixed in with the extraordinary of their day.
"-owing me how to work the communication stuff. It's really complex but I'm starting to get it. I think. I can pick up, like, every radio station on Earth! I want to see how far I can push that." On and on she went, talking about trying to intercept signals from the Mars rovers. Who knows how long she could and would have gone on if their wrist hadn't started to chime.
Deet-Deet Deet-Deet Deet-Deet
Willow's brow scrunched in momentary confusion but Xander instinctively knew the sound.
Quickly raising his wrist to his face he answered. "Xander, go."
"We need you guys down here, now."
"Buffy? What's up?"
"We're having a bit of… a disaster down here. I don't know if you can hear it." He couldn't, the only sound coming from his communicator was her voice. "But Cordelia is having a meltdown. Giles wanted us all tested, like now."
"Halloween stuff?"
"Halloween stuff."
-0-0-0-0-0-
Giles played with the warm silver band around his wrist, tracing the onyx gemstone as he pondered. And he has a lot to ponder.
For now, for the sake of a shaking young woman, he focuses his thoughts on the now. Ignoring every personal implication as best he could.
Someone said something to him. He completely missed it. "Hmm?
"Did you think of something?" Jenny asked, dark eyes twinkling as if on the cusp of a joke at his expense. But her smile died as quickly as it arrived. Their usual banter falling flat in the face of circumstance.
"Not outside what we've already planned, no." Part of that was true at least. He could think of no better course of action. Any more scans or scries would only create similar results. Unless they were to try a deeper dive but that would take time they simply did not have.
Not with a panicking teen in the other room and Joyce Summers breathing down their necks.
The woman has been spending the better part of the night glaring at him and hovering near her phone. She had not taken her eyes off him since he arrived. Refusing to let him out of her sight or leave him alone with either her daughter or Cordelia Chase.
If Jenny had not been there to defuse things, with some very liberal help from Buffy, he doubted they would have gotten anything down. There was little stopping her from calling the police and all their talk of magic was doing very little for the woman's patience or attitude.
He had heard the muttered question of "cult" far too much that night.
"Alright," Buffy said, coming in from the other room, her voice cutting through the tension. "Willow and Xander are on their way. They should be here any second. Literally."
"Excellent. Their presence should make this easier."
"Make what easier?" Joyce demanded, her voice snipping and mocking. "Another magic ritual that will solve all their problems?"
"Mom…"
"What Buffy? He is talking nonsense, utter garbage. He's -" Here she paused, an outraged finger raised as her nostrils flared but all the same she hesitated. Her eyes flickered between Buffy and himself as she fought to find the right words. When she found them she whirled on Giles. "You are taking advantage of her! Feeding her this, this, bullshit! About magic, and rituals, and destiny. None of that is real! You found a vulnerable little girl and started to shovel this garbage at her. Reinforcing her delusions and pulling her into God knows what!"
Giles found himself on his back foot as the enraged mother stabbed his chest again and again with a well manicured finger. His ears ringing from her rising voice.
No amount of Watcher training prepared him to deal with an irate parent. Well, how to deal with one and keep a cordial relationship.
"I, that is to say." He floundered as he tried to fall back onto something, anything, that could help him defuse the situation.
What he found was far from helpful, just the nightmares of a fictional man dreading a similar situation. But Doctor Oliver never had to deal with the enraged parents of one of his Rangers. Not ones that weren't corrupted dinosaur men at least
Luckily he did not need to rely on those ill advised experiences and training.
"Mrs. Summers." Jenny started, reaching for the woman's offending arm.
Joyce ripped it back.
"Don't, touch, me."
Jenny raised both her hands, speaking softly as she tried to placate the woman yet again. "Okay, no touching, understood. But please understand that this is very real. Magic IS real. You saw Cordelia's hand."
Joyce stole a glance back towards her living room, back towards the tear-stained and impatient young woman. Towards the perfectly normal hands cradling something in a tight grip. Hands that had been golden when they slammed at her door.
"I don't know what you did to that poor girl but I know I don't want you in my home!"
"Mom, please." Buffy reached for her mother, gently gripping her arm. "It's not like that. Please listen."
Giles noted how tears glistened unshed in his Slayer's eyes and how her mother could barely meet them.
"This is, this is crazy Buffy. You have to see that. Please tell me you see that."
Buffy's words were swallowed by the sound of a golden fist smashing through what had been a rather nice coffee table.
"Can my life not be about your freaky drama for once?" Cordelia asked, ignoring the splinters that now littered her dress. "Cause I have enough of my own right now without you dragging me into yours."
In the silence that followed, in that beat of time where Joyce Summers stared at the remains of her table, Buffy gathered herself. Giles could see it, how she built up strength and reinforced her figurative walls.
"Mom, I know this is a lot to take in, like, it's a lot. This isn't how I wanted you to find out but this is all real. What they are saying is real, what I told you was real." She looked deep into her mother's eyes, implying far more than just that moment. "And, because of that, I know where Cordelia is coming from right now, what she's feeling. How alone and lost. And if I can help her feel a little less alone then I'll do that. We'll do that."
The sound of thunder punctuated her words, filling the room with flashes of Red and Blue. Out of a faux habit, Giles has looked away in time. Shielding his eyes enough to see Xander and Willow forming from the light to stand behind their friend.
They wore strange outfits that niggled at Giles's implanted memories. They were almost militaristic in design, with shiny black boots paired with a uniform gray pants and jacket. The only difference between the two's clothes were the colors of their undershirts. Red for Xander and Blue for Willow.
The pair smiled as the light faded, Willow's face in particular was alight with excitement. Then they looked around, at the smashed table, at Joyce's shocked face.
"Uh, did we come at a bad time?"
"Just in time, in fact," Giles said, gathering strength from his Slayer's display. "We are nearly ready for the ritual and only need a few last minute touches. If there are no more objections we can start near immediately."
He looked towards the Summers women as he said this, into each of their eyes. From the shell shocked to the steely. The latter gave him a nod while the former struggled to collect herself.
"Wait, so, Buffy's mom knows now?"
"I think she just found out."
"Ooooh."
Ignoring the new arrivals Giles took a chalk slate from Jenny, double checking their etchings as the woman prepped new incense to burn. Adjustments would need to be made to the runes and glyphs but nothing too laberous. With a few swipes of a rag and a careful hand a new string of symbols emerges. One that would account for their increased number.
A red haired head peeled around his shoulder. "What's that?"
"It's, ah, a portable ritual tablet." He explained. "One of Jenny's, that is, Ms. Calendar's new age ideas. A rather good one, I think, for cases such as these."
However, he was almost certain that many cultures had used similar methods throughout history. It made for a rather enjoyable debate but it never hurt to credit a beautiful woman in front of their students.
"We have been using them as a sort of, ah, dosing rod. A god was involved last night and we are trying to uncover which one. We haven't had much luck so far but, hopefully, with all five of us here, as affected individuals, we can narrow it down some by effectively amplifying the spell."
"Cool." Said the girl in Blue, her eyes completely engrossed. "How does it work?"
"Well-"
Jenny interrupted them before he could get a word in. "While I'm sure Rupert would love to give you a long and stuffy lecture on things we do need to set up. C'mon, I'll give you the cliff notes."
Like a duckling Willow followed, ever eager to absorb a new lesson. Giles would have laughed if not for their situation.
"Ah, Buffy, stand here please. Xander? Here. Willow, over there please." He instructed, arranging the teens in such a way that Cordelia and he would complete the points of a star.
With the pentagram complete Jenny slid the various slates and lit their incense. The rest was up to him.
And the whims of an unknown god.
Before that worry could settle he started to chant. The long dead prose of a Latin variant rolled from his tongue. The vibrations swayed the incense smoke as if to guide them to the center of their formation.
Which was far more than they had achieved with their previous attempts.
Then the incense flames blazed as magic pulled the smoke from their wicks. It pooled in a gray mass between them, kneading itself into shape as a baker would dough.
At that point in the ritual a symbol or a likeness of the god should have appeared. A vestige of the god invoked that lingered in the magic that has changed them all. When they had tried the ritual before with various combinations of Buffy, Cordelia, and himself they had ended up with, well, just smoke.
Now the smoke screamed.
Lips formed only to scream, tongues wagging as words failed the deity. Sets of teeth gnashed as they fought to speak. Pictures fell and glass shattered as the walls shook around them. Even the expensive incense sputtered out as the faces screamed.
Faces.
Two faces.
Through squinted eyes and clamped ears he could make that out. He could make out no finer details, not with how the smoke was rapidly dissipating and leaving through hastily thrown open windows.
"Was that supposed to happen?" Buffy asked, waving the errant smoke out of her face
"Not quite but yes." He said with his ears still ringing, so he may have spoken a little louder than intended. "We were hoping for some impression left behind last night's magic or a sign of the god invoked. And I'd say we got it, if a bit on the dramatic side."
"Did you get what you needed to fix me? Cordelia demanded, interrupting them with the possibility she cared about
He wishes he had better news for herm
"Ah, not quite." He said, repeating himself as he explained. "We have at least gained the god's attention and a clue to their identity. It is not an answer or a solution but it is a good step for both."
"Then what good is it!" She yelled, hands thrown up into the air. "I let you do all that weird mumbo jumbo to me and this is all you can tell me? This is all I get?"
She scoffed.
"I don't want a "good first step" I want to be fixed! I want to be normal!"
Buffy reached out, placing a hand on the other girl's shoulder. "It's not always that easy Cordelia."
"What do you know?" She asked, slapping the offending hand away. "You Think you know everything but you don't. I can tell you one thing you can be sure of."
She slammed something into Buffy's chest.
"I'm done. Like, done done. Don't come near me unless you find a way to fix me."
As she stood out the house Buffy looked down to the device that Cordelia shoved at her. It was smooth and back with three blocky letters written across its face. SPD
"Her Morpher?" Buffy wondered as Willow summed up the situation.
"Well, that was dramatic."
An:
Aka the chapter where Cordelia turned in her fun and badge.
Anyway, those first two sections have been done for months but the third was a pain and a half for me to get out. While it's done I'm still not happy with it nor am I happy with how long it took to get out. I really need to get more disciplined and better at time management.
Sidenote- shout out to all my working parents who still find hobby time. You guys are machines.
RoboRenee
Trans of gender
- Location
- FFXIV, probably
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Glad to see this continue! Cordy's Going Through It but between her own better nature and Syd's leftovers I wonder how long "I want to be normal" will hold up before she finds herself decking some monster with the shiny metal fist of justice.
I'm also wondering what's up with the vampires. Buffy's obviously picking up Angelus and how Angel is basically held on with twine but the other stuff is a mystery.
I'm also wondering what's up with the vampires. Buffy's obviously picking up Angelus and how Angel is basically held on with twine but the other stuff is a mystery.
Thank you for reading.
I feel like I should go back and retire it a bit so it's less "I want to be normal " and more "I don't want to be a freak". Well, same results and I can expand on the differences between the two view points soon.
Sidenote, since this is a Marvel cross there are 3 metals I'm really looking forward to her punching people with.
Also, sorry for late response. Holidays.
You forgot the all important Uru, the metal of Thor's Hammer.
I can't believe I started this fic almost 2 years ago and only have 7 chapters to show for it... where does the time go?
Anyway, I'm going to be going over/editing this while going over my notes to get back into the feel of the story. Was there anything janky or unclear you guys remember or care to comment on from when you read?
Anyway, I'm going to be going over/editing this while going over my notes to get back into the feel of the story. Was there anything janky or unclear you guys remember or care to comment on from when you read?
Thanks! I'm on vacation for a good bit and thought "Yay! I can do my stories again!".
Remember, always love your kids, no matter what they do.
View: https://imgur.com/a/Xx26tmD
Sidenote, may be some delay now. Well, more of one.
View: https://imgur.com/a/Xx26tmD
Sidenote, may be some delay now. Well, more of one.
RoboRenee
Trans of gender
- Location
- FFXIV, probably
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It's for a good cause
