FF: BTVS 2117: PHASE II - SG-FORCE (4-5/16)

["Cilia" <cilia@xxxxx>]

I'm... back, sick as all hell and still with the flu, but that doesn't stop
my hyperactive brain, so here it is and please don't kill me after you read
the last lines. The Tooth-picks are my beta's idea...
Cilia


Title: BTVS 2117: PHASE II - SG-FORCE
Series: BtVS 2117
Author: Cilia
Author's e-mail: cilia@xxxxx
Sections:
Section 0011: Meetings
Section 0100: Critical Situations
Pairings: B/W (sort of)
Distribution and Archiving: List archivers and anybody else who has my stuff
can go ahead. Other's please tell me if you chose to archive this.
Disclairment: Joss owns Buffy and Spike the rest here is mine.

BtVS 2117: PHASE II - SG-FORCE
Cilia

Section 0011: Meetings

The press was hoarded into the training area, which was now serving as the
makeshift conference room. The room, nicknamed by Buffy as the Danger Room,
had been designed by Willow, like almost everything else in the mansion. It
was a state-of-the-art simulator room capable of replicating almost all of
the rigors of vampire slaying.
"You think they suspect anything?" Buffy whispered to Hope as the
reporters, armed with their recorders and hovercams, filtered into the
conference room. Dressed in her black slayer jumpsuit and armed with her
wristbands, the slayer looked around the room and nodded, the press was
going to be silenced one way or another.
"Nope," Hope said with a grin. She was reading a spell on her
handheld, memorizing it for later use.
"Now?" Angel asked, her wings twitching in excitement as she
inspected her talons.
"Wait until they're all here," Buffy said just as the door closed
behind the last reporter. She cleared her throat and put on her best
I'm-not-going-to-hurt-you smile.
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, thank you for joining us here.
Now. before you bombard us with questi-" she was cut of by a wave of
questions hitting them.
"Angel, throw... the... fucking... switch!" she said calmly over
noise. The room shifted from the professional looking conference room into
that of a worn down part of the city, the Slums, where the vampires where
usually found. The room fell into silence as the confused reporters looked
around.
"I suggest you defend yourselves," Buffy offered as the silvery
carbon blades emerged from her wristbands and growls started coming from the
shadows.
"What the hell is going on here!" one of the reporters cried out as
vampires erupted onto the street.
"What is this?" another yelled, backing up against a wall.
"What you're seeing is what we face every night," Buffy explained as she
ducked a punch and staked a vamp.
"I strongly recommend you defend yourselves," Angel suggested as she
slashed one attacker and high-kicked another.
"Because we may have forgotten the safeties," Hope added as she let
her spell fly, causing a small swarm of toothpicks to make a pincushion out
of one vampire. They didn't do much damage until one found its mark, then
the pincushion was dust and that spell was more for show then practical use,
plus if it hit a reporter they would live... sadly.

Half an hour later, the three stood looking at the reporters huddled in the
corner of the room. A few had fought back at the beginning, but for the most
part, the newshounds had retreated to safety and cowered. It looked like a
few had even passed out.
The slayer shook her head as she approached the group, which was
slowly getting to its feet. "Ladies and Gentlemen," Buffy declared in a loud
voice, sweat dripping from her brow. "What you saw here is what can and will
happen if you try to follow us at night." She held their attention as she
made her back to the others, "Now, if there are any questions..." she
trailed off as the room shifted into the conference room again, with the
trio standing behind a large table, "we're here to answer them," she
finished, and they sat down.
"Who are you?" the first reporter, a blond, with red colored glasses
who had calmly stood by as the scenario played out, asked.
"My name is Elisabeth Anne Summers. I'm the Last Vampire Slayer and
I go by the codename: Buffy. I guess you could call me the leader of this...
group," Buffy answered with a wave.
Damn, I'm glad Hope made us practices this, she thought.
"Hope Giles, and I'm one of the researchers here. My, uh... codename
is Hope" the Mystic answered. The codenames had been a silly idea really,
but it gave the group, what Buffy called, a super-hero feel about it.
"Angelica De'Light, avian, codename: Angel," Angel said as she
removed her talons and placed them on the table.
"Whom do you answer to?" another reporter asked. It didn't seem to
take these people much time to get over life threatening situations when
there was news to be had, "I mean surely the government has some part in all
this?"
"No, we are a privately funded group, sponsored mainly by the GILES
Laboratories, the Angel Foundation and the Rosenberg Fund," Hope answered.
"But we do intend to work with the Occult Agency and the local
police when the need arises," Buffy added.
"Do you believe you are above the law?"
"No. We are our own law, and we just hope that they will have the good
sense to stay out of our way," she tried to explain.
"I only see three of you, why such a small group?"
"The threat isn't that great," Angel answered in a low voice.
"And there are very few people who can do what we do," Buffy
elaborated.
"Are there more members of your group?"
"Yes."
"Who are they?"
"At present there is: Willow Rose, a plasma-slinger; Stefan Zoëga, a
telepath; William Spike; and G.I.L.E.S., our A.I. unit," Buffy answered as
images of the members were displayed on the holoprojector in the center of
the table. The group of reporters was making its way up to the large table,
the hovercams floating around them like flies.
Like horseflies on shit, Buffy smiled to herself. She had to chew on
that one to keep from laughing out loud.
"Is that... Are you and William Spike the original warriors that
fought in the Great War?"
"Well... Spike is. As for me, I'm what you call a quantum
duplicate... is that the right term... of the Buffy Summers from the year
2000 and... Well I just hope that clears that up enough. since I really
don't understand it too well myself," Buffy explained with nervous smile.
"Miss De'Light, many question have been raised about your origins. Would
you care to. clear up some of those question?"
Buffy cringed inwardly as Angel's wings rose slightly on her back,
but then seem to settle again.
"I was abandoned by my parents shortly after birth, raised in the
Slums and at the age of 13, I was taken in by my adoptive father William
Harris and the Angel Foundation. I claim no association with the Future
Project and do not consider myself a part of it," Angel answered with such
steel in her voice that the reporter shrank back.
Sheesh, I wonder how that would have gone without Z's help, Buffy
thought.

An exhaustive hour later, Hope dismissed the reporters; hopefully they had
given out enough information to satisfy them without revealing too much
about their true strength. Questions had been raised regarding their ages,
but that argument died quickly in light of Spike's age.
I guess if you save the world on live Holo-v, they trust you more,
Buffy thought to herself as she looked out the window in her office and
watched the last of the reporters leave, a couple of them glancing wearily
back at the building. It had been Willow's idea to give her an office and
she was beginning to realize why, as she noticed the messages and offers
already flooding her computer screen.
"How did it go?" Willow asked as she stepped into the office.
"We'll see on the evening news," Buffy answered as she turned to
face her girlfriend, who wore a huge grin with sparkling eyes to match.
"I take it Spike will be staying with us, and... is happy with
things?" Buffy asked as she sat down in her chair and offered Willow a seat
on her lap.
"He wants us to be a family again," Willow answered happily as she
sat down and snaked her arms around the Slayer's neck.
"Mmmm, that's nice," Buffy said, nibbling at Willow's earlobes
causing the plasma-slinger to giggle.
"Uhmm... Buffy... training... remember?" Willow asked between
giggles.
"Plasma-bolts... and hand-to-hand," Buffy agreed as she made her way
around to Willow's lips. "But... since I'm the fearless leader... *a peck* I
guess *a peck* I'm in *a peck* charge of training schedules," she finished
as she claimed the redheads lips in a deep kiss. There was a crackle of
energy as Willow inadvertently sent two bolts of blue plasma flying into the
walls.

Angel stalked through the corridors of the mansion, her wings fluttering.
The questions had been. unsettling, to say the least. She did not like being
on display, it reminded her too much of growing up in the Slums, the shows,
and the. humiliation. She needed to vent, she needed to- her train of
thought was derailed as she slammed into Zoëga who was also deep in thought
and obviously returning from the kitchen. The crash caused orange juice to
spill over them both and anger to flare in the already tense avian.
"You..." Angel started, but one look into his calm eyes and her rant
was cut short. Catching the young telepath off guard with the amount of
anger, hate and fear she had been emanating had caused him to instantly
reach out with his mind. Now it was her turn to be pushed against the wall,
a glass bounced on the floor as her wings made contact.
"Z?" Angel asked in a trembling voice as gentle fingers started to
caress her face and neck. Licking her lips as she felt a presence surround
her mind like a warm blanket, she inched closer.
"I told you that there is... no need do be afraid," the telepath
whispered, but her hand had already sneaked behind his neck.
"I'm..." a fraction of an inch closer. "not... a." another fraction.
The sound of warning claxons telling them that a weapon had been discharged
inside mansion snapped them back to reality.
"Everybody to my office now!" Buffy was heard shouting over the audio
system.


Section 0100: Critical Situations

Angel and Zoëga crashed through the office doors. They were greeted with the
sight of Willow, unconscious on the couch, but their eyes were soon drawn to
two smoldering holes in the walls on either side of the room. Hope was
gently trying to bring Willow back to consciousness, while Buffy sat on the
edge of the desk looking worried. Spike was sitting in the chair, tapping
furiously away at the computer. Hope looked up at her brother and a silent
communications passed between them. He closed his eyes.
"What... happened?" Angel asked softly as she touched one of the
burn holes.
"It would appear that Miss Rose's powers are connected to her
emotions and when excited, there is an involuntary release," G.I.L.E.S.
explained from his position above Spike's shoulder.
"And when it's all over the drain on her system is so great that she
collapses," Buffy finished, talking fast, not taking her eyes off Willow.
"Okay," Angel said as she rubbed the ash off her fingers.
"She's coming to," Zoëga said and when he opened his eyes, there was
a lengthy groan as Willow too, slowly opened her eyes.
"I did it again, didn't I?" she asked in low voice.
"It would appear so," Buffy said as she jumped from her perch on the
desk to get closer to her plasma-slinger. "How do you feel? You ok?"
Willow had to smile up into her Slayers soulful eyes. "Yeah, I'm ok.
Just tired."
"I believe I can... help her," Zoëga said standing up and leaning
back against the desk.
"How?" Willow asked as Buffy helped her sit up.
"Well, first I would have to do a scan, a search for the root of the
problem. Then, I would have to teach her some control," he explained.
"Telepathically," he added.
"You talking psychotherapy?" Buffy exclaimed.
"Yes," he said calmly. "And in the light of this latest flux, I
think we're out of choices."
"Elisabeth, it's okay... really," Willow said taking Buffy's hands.
"I just..." Buffy trailed off.
"We can start now if you want to," Zoëga said.
"Now?" Willow asked. "Really?"
"The sooner we get this under control the better," Hope said.
There was a moment of silence as Willow's eyes passed over everybody in the
room, Spike looked at her with concern, Angel with a mixture of fear and
intrigue, Hope was professional, as usual, and Buffy looked scared.
"Okay, lets get started on this. Why don't we. take this somewhere
else, though," she said as she started to get up. "Can Buffy... stay with
me?" she asked.
"No," was the answer.

Buffy paced outside Willow's room. The sun was going down and they still
hadn't come out of the room yet.
"Do these things usually take this long?" she asked.
"Depends on the problem," Hope answered, not realizing she was
swaying with the rhythm of the Slayer walking back and forth in front of
her, "If it's something deep in her subconscious, this could, quite
possibly, take all night."
Buffy still paced outside Willow's room as a few more minutes passed.
"I'm going out to patrol," Buffy exclaimed and stalked away.
Hope raised an eyebrow and looked down at her ever present handheld. She
tapped in four words.
Slayer cares about Willow.

The Slums, home to the unfortunates of society, the criminals and, of
course, the vampires. Buffy's senses tingled as she waited, perched on a
windowsill, several floors above the street. She had taken the time to study
the design specs of her suit. Willow had done a great job on it, laser
absorbent, light absorbent, and a cool new de-celerative material, making
her able to jump from considerable heights.
I feel like Batman, she thought. Now all I need is a Batbelt.
"Make room," Angel whispered as she landed next to her on the sill.
Folding her wings together, she probably looked like a gargoyle from the
street.
"You find anything?" Buffy asked tapping on the computer build into
her wristband.
"A raid on an illegal synth-factory down on Eighth, I stopped a rape
over on Second and-"
"But no vamps," Buffy stated.
"No vampires. But I was going to say that some of our reporter
friends are out here undercover tonight," she explained.
"Which ones," Buffy sighed as she set a quick text message to
G.I.L.E.S.
"The blond, what's her face..."
"Christina Rex," Buffy said without thinking.
"Impressive, you got her measurements as well?" Angel asked.
"Ha, ha. No. Its just that she was the only one standing after our
little... surprise training session, so I looked her up," Buffy explained.
"Are you thinking about recruiting her?" Angel asked, eyes wide.
"No, but she did give us a fair review in her news piece, and you
never know, she could prove useful," Buffy explained.
Boy, we certainly could use more good reviews; they pretty much had
us for breakfast. The only reason we're still operating is because of Hope's
connections, Buffy thought to herself.
"Spike thought that up, didn't he?" Angel asked.
"Hey! I can plot and scheme!" Buffy exclaimed.
"Sure you can! No, really, I believe you..." the avian said with a
sympathetic smile.
"Not funny, Angel. I'll have you know that I happen to be- Hey,
check it out. It's our star reporter," the Slayer stated. With an evil smile
to her cohort, she dropped from the ledge, landing quietly in the alley
below. "Miss Rex, I presume," she asked causing the blond reporter to jump
then spin around.
"Guess some people won't take hint," Angel said as she landed next
to the Slayer.
"Buffy, Angel," the reporter replied as pulled back her hood and
tried to catch her breath and blond, shoulder length, curls came rolling
down.
"You know, walking around in the open like this, you would make an
easy meal," Buffy stated.
"And you're easy to follow, what's your point?" the reporter shot
back.
"We told you to stay away from us, but-"
"What makes you think this is about you?" Rex asked.
"Well. I-" Buffy flustered. Her eyes darting over the reporters
features, red lips and blue eyes obscured behind the red lenses of her
glasses.
"You, for starters, are here, while the nearest drug bust is five
blocks south," Angel said, hoping to save the Slayer some face.
"Good point. But you guys are news, too, like it or not," Rex said
as she adjusted her glasses and Buffy felt like she just had her picture
taken.
"You're not giving up on this are you?" Buffy asked with a sigh.
"Nope. At least not until I get a live slaying," Rex answered.
"A live slaying, you say?" Buffy asked with grin and tapped on her
computer.

They sat on a tombstone over a fresh grave. Angel had stayed in the Slums;
she had business there that Buffy just did not want to know about... yet.
"So, we're just sitting here, waiting for the vampire to... rise?"
Rex asked.
"That's pretty much what this job is all about," Buffy answered as
she played Tetris on her wristband. "Oh, you made me lose," she whined.
"So... the battle against the Primal One, what was that like?"
"A major bad scene. But, luckily that doesn't happen very often,"
Buffy explained as she turned to face the staring reporter. "What did you
expect? Ninety percent of the time this is the most boring job in the world.
Not to mention the pays bad, short life expectancy and no dental plan,"
Buffy explained with a smile.
"No... I was wondering... how an girl like you... could become the
savior of mankind," Rex answered.
"Ah... Well, you got me there, cause I don't-" The Slayer held up a
hand as she stopped herself. There was low thud, then a louder one.
"Time to go to work," Buffy said as she jumped down from the
tombstone. Five seconds and one dust cloud later, she turned back to the
blonde with a satisfied smile on her face.
"So, you happy now?" she asked the reporter.
"Very," Rex said as she looked over the cemetery using her glasses
to take pictures.
Thank good for onboard computers, Buffy thought.
"Okay then... Cool. So you'll... stop following me now, right?"
Buffy asked.
"No can do Slayer." Rex said as she walked way.
"Hey!" Buffy exclaimed and was in front of the blonde instantly. The
reporter blinked, then smiled back at the slayer, with impossibly white
teeth and looked at her over the glasse's with shining blue eyes. "What do
you mean 'No can do'?"
"The rest of your group, the SG-Force, is off the hook," Rex
explained. "I won't follow them. But, ah... as for you..." she finished,
unable to hold back a most unprofessional smile.
"Me?" Buffy asked, a bit confused. "But-" Then it dawned on her,
"Oh. Oh, no... I can't. No... I mean... I..." her eyes went down and then
snapped up again.
Think Willow, think Willow, think... look lips, breasts, and...! Bad
Slayer!
"It's been fun," Rex said with a grin as she slipped past the
Slayer, but not without kissing her first.
"Doha!" Buffy muttered, trying to form a retort, as the reporter pulled
away from her with grin, pushed her glasses higher and was gone.

She walked in a daze back to the mansion. Her wristbands dropped soundlessly
on the floor as she entered room and pulled her jumpsuit off. Willow was
still in therapy with Zoëga. Damn! Spike had just looked her over and shook
his head, Hope was asleep, and Angel, gods only knew where she was. The
distraught Slayer crawled under the sheets and tried to replace the image of
the blond reporter looking at her through red lenses with her Willow's, but
to no avail.

To be continued....