Fic: Orb Of Mentez (1/?)

[annelise@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Orb Of Mentez, Part One.
Comments/Flames/Etc. to: annelise@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

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Giles knocked tentatively on the classroom door.
"I wonder," he asked, "if I could have a quick word with you, Miss 
Summers?"
"Sure!" Buffy threw him a perky grin. "Class!" she commanded as she 
rose from her regulation wooden teacher's chair, "Can I trust you to 
behave yourselves for five little minutes?" She smiled sweetly and 
followed Giles into the corridor.
"What is it?" she demanded as soon as the classroom door was firmly 
shut behind her. "You know what those little bastards are like. 
Give 'em an inch and they take a country..."
"Willow's discovered a nest. She radioed in for backup." Giles said.
"She needs backup? Must be some serious nest." Buffy frowned. Willow 
hadn't requested backup on an operation since she'd discovered how to 
crush a vampire's heart by the power of thought alone.
"Quite so," Giles agreed. "Here's the location." He handed her a 
standard Watcher's Council mission brief. She flipped to page 
sixteen, Operation Parameters and Objectives.
"Giles! This is in Mexico!" Buffy fumed. "What's Willow doing in 
Quintanaroo anyway? You know its our anniversary tomorrow! I was 
looking forward to... unwrapping my present, not having to machete my 
way into the Yucatan to retrieve it!"
Giles removed his horn-rimmed glasses. "She got a lead on the Orb 
of Mentez," he replied as he gave his specs a cursory polish. "She 
thinks its located in the tomb of the High Priest buried within the 
Incan burial ground marked on the map. Page seventeen."
"Any you were going to tell me all this... when, exactly?" Buffy 
snarled.
"Focus, Buffy!" Giles ordered. "The Apache will be here in twenty 
minutes, so grab your gear and get ready to roll."
"Yes, boss!" Buffy threw Giles an irreverent salute and ignoring his 
frown of consternation, marched back into the classroom.
"Class! Listen up!" She clapped her hands and called for order. "Mr. 
Giles will be taking you for the remainder of this week. I've got to 
go to Mexico to kick some vampire butt." she explained.
"Wicked!" commented an obnoxious seventh-grader from the third row.
Buffy pressed her hand against the plate set into the wall beside 
the blackboard. A green scan-line glowed briefly against her palm, 
and the blackboard rose silently into the ceiling revealing her 
personal armoury and minibar.
Buffy grabbed the standard mission kit, a broad-brimmed hat, a 
machete, her whip, and an ice-chilled can of Mountain Dew. Then she 
sauntered back out into the classroom, palmed the access plate to 
seal away the armoury once more, and left the room to seek out Xander.
As soon as she'd left the obnoxious pest in row three 
muttered, "Cool!"
"Now settle down, Class!" Giles ordered the awe-struck and 
enraptured students. "Josie, get rid of that bubblegum. Michael, I 
saw that! See me after class."

*

Buffy caught up with Xander in the school hall where he was 
attempting to teach Physical Education to truculent six-year-olds.
"I don't care if you think I'm queer," he chanted as he led them 
around the mini-assault course. "Your tuition fees keep me in beer! 
So don't be crude or give me sass... Or my demon lover will kick 
your..."
"Xander?" Buffy called. "Willow's in trouble! We roll in five."
"You heard her, maggots!" Xander roared. "grab your socks and grab 
your... pumps! Lesson over!"
"Yay!" screamed the horde as they scampered wildly about.
"Where're we going?" Xander asked as he followed the Slayer up to 
the school roof. Buffy handed him the mission brief, and he skipped 
to page sixteen.
"Do you think they have Taco Bell in the Yucatan?" he asked.
Buffy shrugged.

*

"Where are you gonna set this crate down?" Xander asked as he peered 
out through the gunship's window.
"We're not." The pilot, an ex-marine drafted in just for this 
mission by the Watcher's Council, regarded him sternly. "You're 
parachuting down into that clearing over there. Ever done a drop into 
dense jungle before, man? Its harsh."
"Oh, yeah." Xander nodded. "I've racked up field time."
Buffy scanned the thick jungle below. "I don't see any clearing," 
she admitted.
The pilot toggled a switch, and shortly after the jungle lit up 
like the fourth of July.
"Shee-it!" Xander commented. "Nothing like the smell of napalm in 
the morning breeze."
Buffy's mouth firmed. "That area of jungle you just decimated," she 
growled, "contained endangered wildlife, rare trees, and maybe even 
the cure for cancer."
"Fucked if I care," the pilot said, displaying the pinnacle of 
American military training that indicated officer material. "Now 
you've got yourself a landing site."
"My wife cares." Buffy pointed out. "'Cos she's the caring type is 
my Willow. And if I find out you made her cry with that stunt you 
just pulled, I'm going to come find you, wherever you are, and rip 
you out another asshole."
"Here's your 'chute," Xander smiled cheerfully as he passed her said 
item. "But I should leave that guy's sturdy butt alone. It looks like 
its taken enough punishment before now."
The Slayer's face creased into a wide grin. "Thanks, Xander." she 
said, and leaned forward to kiss his cheek. "I can always rely on you 
to keep my feet on the floor."
"And on that note..." Xander turned, and stepped out into space.
Buffy shook her head as Xander's "Whee!" dopplered down into the 
jungle below.

*

End Part One.