The Circle of Scooby Chapter 11

STORY TITLE:  The Circle of Scooby

PART: 11 of ??

AUTHOR: Red Jacobson (red.jacobson@gmail.com)

DISTRIBUTION: FanFiction.net, Archive of Our Own, Twisting the Hellmouth

DISCLAIMER:None of the Characters You Recognize belong to me, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel Characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy (Grrr! Argh!), and the Boondock characters belong to the Estate of Robert A Heinlein and his publishers.

SUMMARY:  The activation of the world's slayers has caused massive destruction throughout the multiverse, and the Circle of Ouroborus is determined to prevent that from happening and recruit three natives of the critical timeline to save the multiverse!

FEEDBACK:Of course! It Makes Me Write Faster

RELATIONSHIPS:Xander/Cordelia/Tara

RATING: PG-13

WORD COUNT: <4,008>

SPOILERS:   A Crossover with RAH's Lazarus Long Books.  I'm afraid that, while I'm going to do my best to explain things, at least a passing familiarity with Time Enough For Love, The Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset would help you understand who these characters are. None, but if you don't know how the Buffy the Vampire Slayer story goes by now, why are you reading this story?

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DEPARTMENT: I'm borrowing a bit of Cordy's childhood background from my buddy IronBear's stories, specifically Rio Blanco on the Mouth of Hell, and the Hell-er-nator Stories.   If you want some amazing Xander/Cordelia stories, do yourself a favor and check him out!

AUTHORS NOTES: I'm going to try something unusual for this story, no lemons.  Frankly, they've gotten to be a bore to write, and I imagine they've become boring to read as well.   Hope this goes well.

SPECIAL THANKS TO PAX HUMANA:  For Beta and Typo-busting services.

HEY BUD, IT'S BEEN A WHILE: Sorry for disappearing like that, but it was the depression grabbing me by the sac and squeezing, keeping me from focusing enough to write a coherent sentence.  At least I'm feeling better now, hope it lasts for a while.

1630 Revello Drive

Sunday, November 2nd, 1997

11:00 am

Joyce yawned as she pulled her jeep into the garage, using the remote to close the overhead door. Shutting the engine off, she stepped out, stretching to relieve the stiffness of driving for so long.   She looked at the covered paintings in the cargo area and decided they could wait for an hour or so, she really needed a shower, and maybe a glass of wine?

Unlocking the door to the kitchen, she quietly walked in and closed the door behind her.   Looking around the house, it was actually fairly neat, considering a teenager lived there, and Buffy's jacket was hanging on the coat rack, which let Joyce release a breath she didn't know she was holding.  If the jacket was there, Buffy was home and safe.

She was heading out of the kitchen when she saw the two bowls sitting in the sink, both of them showing evidence of an ice cream binge.  But who was the other ice cream fiend?  The Chocolate Chocolate Chip was Buffy, the girl could no more pass up chocolate than her ex could pass up a new secretary in the office.  No! Not thinking about that bastard, he's history, and I'm more curious about the other bowl.

Taking a closer look, she saw the tiny chips of chocolate in the vanilla ice cream and a chunk of cherry.  The only one of Buffy's friends who liked Cherry Vanilla was Willow, and Joyce was a lot more comfortable with the idea of Willow being alone with Buffy, if it were Xander, she might be worried that things could get out of hand.  Buffy was on the pill, but still, she didn't need to deal with getting a reputation at school.

Hearing the sound of a TV going upstairs, and smiled, she was going to have to tease Buffy about losing the whole day by sleeping.  Sliding her shoes off, she climbed the stairs and saw Buffy's door standing open, and she stuck her head in, and froze because she wasn't expecting to see Buffy and Willow, both of them naked as jaybirds and kissing while their hands were busy with each other.

She knew she should back away, the two of them would be embarrassed enough, even though she knew that Buffy was attracted to girls, and it seems that Willow was too.  Joyce started backing away, but her foot hit the squeaky board at the top of the stairs and the two girls broke apart as if they'd been scalded.   When they saw her in the doorway, Buffy just glared at her, she could understand that, she didn't like it when her mother walked in on her and Kate during college.  But Willow was turning bright red, and trying to hide under the sheet.

“Oh! I'm sorry Buffy, I didn't mean to interrupt anything, it's just that I finished going through the estate sales yesterday afternoon and got an early start this morning.”  Walking into the room, she sat on the edge of the bed, and softly said, “Willow, you don't have to be embarrassed, Buffy knows that I'm aware that she likes girls, and so do I sometimes, so I'm not angry about the two of you.  But it's almost afternoon, so the two of you should think about cleaning up and getting dressed, I'll start some breakfast, okay?”

Getting up, she headed out and down the stairs, and heard Willow saying that her mother would have had a questionnaire for one of her magazine articles, about how we realized the attraction, and who made the first move, and then she would want to know every detail of what we did.  I'm not her daughter, I'm a convenient test subject for whatever theory she wants to test!”

Joyce shook her head, she had picked up that Sheila and Ira weren't the most attentive parents, but it sounded like it was worse than she expected.  The least she could do would be to let Willow know she is always welcome here, any time her parents leave her at home.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Buffy sat back with a satisfied grin, “That was great Mom, thanks.”

“Yes, thank you Mrs Summers, I mean, um um yeah!”

Joyce just smiled gently at the blushing redhead,   “Willow, you don't have to worry about me yelling or throwing you out or anything like that.  The only thing that I would have gotten annoyed about is if you used my bed and didn't change the sheets afterward.”

Willow let out a giggle, before clapping her hands over her mouth in mortification, but Buffy let out a laugh, before she said, “There is something I need to talk to you about, Willow already knows almost all of it, but it has to do with what happened at Hemery, and the fire in the gymnasium, plus everything that's happened since we moved here.   It all started, for me, when an older gentlemen, very distinguished looking, introduced himself to me after school one afternoon, he said his name was Merrick...”

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Norman Manley International Airport

Kingston, Jamaica

Late Sunday Afternoon

With a final nod at Mister Zabuto's instructions, Kendra walked into the Terminal, doing her best to hide her nervousness.  This was the first time she had been on an airplane, and Mister Zabuto trusted her enough to give her this mission and let her handle it on her own.  She felt more than a little naked without her stakes or her knife, but they would be hard to explain if security found them in her backpack.

Smiling slightly at the feeling of the air conditioning, she looked for the sign to check in and baggage check and was glad that the lines were fairly short.  A couple of minutes later she was handing her plane ticket and passport to the smiling woman at the counter and taking them back, along with her boarding pass, she walked through the security scanner and found the seating area for her flight.

Kendra was relieved that the waiting area wasn't crowded and took a seat against the wall.  She amused herself by imagining what each person waiting for the flight was doing in Jamaica.  The couple that was trying to appear married was probably the MI-6 Station Chief and his secretary/lover, being recalled to London for some reason.   She snorted, she'd been reading too many of Mister Zabuto's James Bond novels.

The other passengers were very boring, so Kendra paid even closer attention, it was the boring people that often hid dark secrets.  The middle-aged man with the priest's collar and the kindly expression was actually an assassin, and the disguise was just enough to get close to his target.

By the time her flight started boarding Kendra had assigned more and more ludicrous backgrounds to all of her fellow passengers, it kept her mind occupied and the nerves at bay, because her mission was extremely important Mister Zabuto said.  She would do her best, but at least she had the name of the Watcher that was stationed on the Hellmouth, but she wondered why she was just being called to California now when Buffy Summers died several months ago.

She did her best to relax, knowing she had several hours of travel ahead of her, not to mention transferring to a different plane in Florida, so it was going to be a very long day.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Rupert Giles Apartment

Sunnydale, California

Sunday, November 2nd, 1997

3:50 pm

Hanging up the phone, Giles sat back in his seat with a smile toward his guest, although he wanted to do much more than just smile at her, Jenny, or Janna, was sitting across from him, wearing one of his shirts, unbuttoned enough to show she wasn't wearing anything underneath.  She knew that he was looking at her, he didn't even bother trying to hide it, and she seemed to delight in teasing him, well he wasn't distracted any longer.

“That was the last of us, except for Ethan of course.  All of them are eager to get rid of the mark, and promised to put the word out to any of their remaining contacts in the mystical underground about the Ritual of Disavowal so we can stop living in fear of going to sleep,”

Setting his notepad down, he took a sip from his cup and said, “Now that the serious business is taken care of, I want you to take off my shirt and lay across my lap, it's time for a brat like you to learn the penalty for teasing.”

Jenny stood up, smiling widely, “Spanking?  Kinky, English, very Kinky, I didn't know you had it in you.”   Slipping his shirt off, she struck a pose, giving him a very good view of her naked body, including the corkscrew dangling from her left nipple, before she draped herself over his lap, pushing her arse up in the air, eager for his hand.   It had been a long time, but he was sure he remembered what to do.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Sunnydale High School Library

Monday, November 3rd, 1997

7:45 pm

Buffy took a deep breath and with Willow beside her, pushed the library door open, and walked through, seeing Giles at the counter, which was normal, but what was Ms Calendar doing here?  And as close as she was standing, I guess Will and I weren't the only ones getting lucky this weekend.  But that's not important now.

“Giles, I got your message from Angel, and I'm glad to hear it, but it's going to be a while before we're even close to trusting you again, understood?”   Before he could say anything, she continued, “Angel told me something interesting the other day, it seems that Drusilla was dusted Friday night, from what Angel heard...”

Her Watcher seemed surprised, "That's not how I would have expected her to meet her end, for all her insanity, she was also extremely cunning, and she would know enough to stay out of the road.  However it happened, it's good news.  Although Spike will be screaming for vengeance, he and Drusilla had a very unusual relationship, but Spike will blame all of your group for her destruction, and he's already killed two slayers, so don't take him lightly.  From what the archives show, he is capable of long-term planning, although he's been known to discard the plans just as often.  So, all I can say is be very careful and don't expect him to be just like any other vampire you've fought, he is easily on Lothos' level, and don't expect him to be trapped in a burning gymnasium."

"Thanks for the info, and I'll make sure Xander and the others are aware, although Xander might already know."   Buffy turned away before she paused and said, "We'll be back this afternoon, can you dig up what information you have on Spike?  That should help us figure out how he may attack us.

The morning bell rang, and she and Willow had to hurry to get to their first-period Chemistry.   Xander and Cordy were already seated, so they took a pair of desks right behind the couple.  As they pulled their book out, Buffy reached over and squeezed Willow's hand, making her girlfriend smile.

The morning classes went smoothly enough, although Miss Calendar smirked at her and Willow when she saw them holding hands.  Buffy just smirked back, and if the rest of the students were coming in, she would have kissed Willow right in front of the woman.

It was as they were sitting down to lunch with Xander and Cordy that Buffy spotted Billy Fordham entering the cafeteria.  He must have felt her eyes on him, because he looked over and smiled when he saw her, before getting on line for today's mystery meat and cold vegetables.  She shifted over, making a spot for Ford when he brought his tray over.

After the introductions she watched and listened to what Ford was saying, and saw that Xander had been right, there was something very wrong here.  The tremors in his hands that he tried to hide, and the twinges of pain in his eyes were ringing alarm bells loudly, but she hoped that Xander would be able to help him.  No matter how off Ford was acting, he was still a friend from before all the madness fell into her life, and she didn't want to lose him.  She'd lost too many friends already.

They finished choking down their meals and Ford left to find his next class, but the four of them had a free and headed outside to enjoy the sunshine.   When they were all sitting on the bench, Buffy said, “Just so the two of you know, and you can tell Tara, but Willow and I are a couple now.  After the bombshells from Saturday, the two of us hit the Haagen Dazs pretty heavy, and I had a breakdown because it hit me that until you gave me CPR in the Master's cavern, I was dead!  I'm 16 years old, I don't want to die.”

Xander reached out and took her hand, the most serious expression she'd ever seen on his face, and he said, “And you won't Buff, that's one of things that I'm going to do, is keep all of you alive.  Speaking of that, Cordy and I, and Tara as well, are going to be joining in your training.  The soldier version of me was disgusted at the flab, and I'm going to work it off, and I know that Tara wants to get fitter, but the Queen is perfect the way she is,” he finished with a grin.  Buffy smiled back, reassured, and amused by the way Cordy was blushing under Xander's approving gaze.

“Another thing, my Mom knows about Willow and I and is cool about it, and we sat down yesterday and told her the truth about what's been happening with the 'Gangs on PCP' or the 'BBQ Fork accidents', and, to put it mildly, she was not happy, at all.”

As they were getting ready to head back inside for their next class, Xander said, “When you see Ford again, invite him to the Bronze tonight, I'm going to talk to him, see if there's anything savable for me to try and help him.”

She was very curious about how her 'Xander-shaped Friend' would be able to help Ford, but she trusted him and would be inviting Ford to the Bronze.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Sunnydale High School Library

After Lunch

Tara was sitting at the table, busily writing on some official-looking forms, stopping at times to work the kinks out of her hand.  She finished the last form and signed her name with a flourish, done at last!

Mister Giles came out from his office and picked up the paperwork, going over it carefully before nodding, “This will do nicely, Miss Maclay, to get you registered as an external student.  It would be helpful if we could get your transcripts from your previous school, but obviously that would defeat the purpose of keeping your name out of the system.   What we can do is set up a time for you to come in and take the standardized tests for your grade level so Miss Calendar and I know what areas you are stronger in.   I believe that Miss Calendar is also very interested in discussing your magical training, and if possible, taking it further.  Is that something you would be willing to discuss with her?”

Tara smiled, “That would be fine, most of my training was done in secret by my mother, and we spent a lot of time going over the ethics of using magic, because it's too easy to let it do everything, and that's when the problems start.”

Mister Giles smiled wryly, “Trust me, Miss Maclay, I learned that lesson years ago, when I realized just exactly what we had done inviting that demon to possess us. All of us, except for Ethan, have been searching for years to find a way to free ourselves, but none of us had heard of the ritual Xander mentioned, but all of us are using everything we have to find that ritual.  He had given us hope for the first time in years, and that's a gift that I can't repay.  But that's enough of my maundering.  Would you be able to come in Friday morning to take the tests?  It will give you a few days to go over the study guides to refresh your memory.”

“Not a problem, I'll get a ride with Xander and Cordy and just wait until they finish for the day.”

The final bell of the day sounded, and a few minutes later, Xander and Cordy, followed by Buffy and Willow were all seated at the table, and Giles was passing out Watchers Diaries from different slayers.  All the slayers encountered Spike, most were able to get free, but there were two that died at his claws and fangs.

After a while, Cordy closed the diary and said, “Hey doofus, I seem to remember you were a pretty good shot with daddy's rifle when you were younger, did you keep in practice?”

He nodded, “I go out to Uncle Rory's place every few weeks and work on my aim, so I'm better than average.  What did you have in mind?  Because unless we can get some special ammunition, he's going to shake off a bullet wound, unless it's a head shot and you follow it up with a staking.”

Buffy looked like she was going to object, but then she closed her mouth and sat back, listening.

Cordy said, "What I'm thinking about, is filling the cartridges with ball bearing size balls of wood. A chest shot, armed with that kind of ammo should put a hurt on any vampire, I don't care who they are.

Mister Giles chuckled, "I don't know if it would work, as far as I'm aware it hasn't been tried, but I have a friend or two who could help make the cartridges.  I'll admit I'm interested to see if it works."

Tara said, “I'm out of practice, but I've fired a rifle several times, so I'd like to work on my target practice”

Xander looked over at Buffy, “What about you Buff? Want to see if Slayer makes you an expert shot?”

Buffy stays silent for a moment, before nodding decisively.  "Yes, it seems like we need to do the unexpected to send Spike to Hell with his loony-toon girlfriend, and Cordy's idea qualifies as unexpected.   I would wish we could get the Spanish inquisition, because nobody expects them."

Everyone stared at her in disbelief, until Giles coughed to cover a laugh, and said, “And where did you find Monty Python's Flying Circus?  Next you'll be wanting to know what is the average airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow!”

Willow sat up, “Ooh! I know that, it's just over 20.1 miles per hour, and that's for either the African and the European swallow.”  Seeing the looks she was getting, she said “What? I was curious and looked it up.”

Buffy and Xander laughed, “Only you, Will, only you.” Buffy said, smiling at the girl fondly.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

The Bronze

Just after Dark

They were sitting in their booth, sipping the soda, or in Willow's case, hot chocolate, she is still banned from drinking caffeine after the last time.  Buffy kept checking the door, but there was no sign of Ford and Xander was frowning, Ford might have already made a deal with Spike or some other vamp to be turned.

He would still be willing to help the guy, because when you are dying, especially the nasty way that Ford is, you are willing to do just about anything to keep on living.  It's too bad that Ford doesn't understand what happens when you are turned.  You are gone once the vamp drains you, and a demon who has all your memories, and can mimic your personality takes over your body, but it's not you.

He looked up as he felt eyes on him, and saw Angel walking toward them, and he didn't look thrilled at all.  When he got to the table, he softly said, “I need to talk to you about Buffy's friend.  Do you have a minute?”

Getting out of the booth, the others looked at him curiously, but he stepped over to the hall leading to the bathrooms.  “Okay, from the way you are looking, I'm going to guess you didn't see him volunteering at the humane society, did you?”

Xander gave himself a mental point when he got Angel to scowl.  “No, not hardly, have you heard about a  place called 'The Sunset Club?”

“Yeah, a place for people who've read too much Anne Rice or Laurel K Hamilton, who think that vampires are higher beings.  Idiots! And easy prey for the stupidest fledge ever turned.   So Ford is hanging out with them, is he?  I can't think of single good reason for him to be there, and a lot of very bad ones.”

Angel nodded, “Especially since I got Giles to check the school records, and there is no record of any new students, male or female registered with the school.”

Xander shook his head, “I'm afraid it might be too late to help him, depending on if he's made a deal yet, and what the deal was.  But I see him coming in the door now, so I need to get back to the table and give the girls a heads up.”

There was no answer, and when Xander looked back, the vampire was gone.  “How the hell does he keep doing that?” He muttered, heading back to the table.

End Chapter Eleven