Fic: History Visiting (5/?)

[C A Moore <cab_moore@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

TITLE: History Visiting (5/?) 
AUTHOR: C A Moore (cab_moore@xxxxxxxxx) 
PAIRINGS: Eventually B/W, mild B/R, W/T, B/f in
transit 
RATING: PG, I suppose, nothing very explicit 
DISCLAIMER: Buffy Universe is the property of
Joss/Mutant Enemy/WB. Helen, Jo, Chris & Jane are mine

SUMMARY: A visitor comes to Sunnydale and ruffles a
few feathers. Fits "in the cracks" between "Doomed"
and "A New Man". 
SPOILERS: Now we start to jump. I don't think I've
spoiled past "The Body" because I didn't hve any info
past there when I wrote this (Being in australia I
have to work from transcripts a lot, we're only up to
about a third of the way into season 5.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: It's B/W but don't hold your breath it
will take a while (blasted story keeps expanding).
Mary Sue alert (I don't need to tell you who). 
<Thoughts> 

Forgotten where we are? - All parts posted to date are
avaiable online:
www.geocities.com/themoralminority/BtVS/history.html


****

Dracula?s castle, Buffy vs. Dracula. (Just a memory
refresher)


Dracula whispered to her
"You think you know ... what you are ... what's to
come. You haven't even begun." 

Buffy looked at his arm, then at his face. She took
his hand in both of hers and put her mouth on the
bloody wrist.

"Find it. The darkness. Find your true nature."

Buffy?s eyes open wide. Images flashed through her
mind fighting, the First Slayer, blood corpuscles
through a vessel. A familiar power flooded through
her, she felt different, stronger. She lifted her head
"Wow." 

She shoved out her hand and pushed Dracula away. He
landed on the table and slid across it on his back. 
"That was gross."

****

Around the time of Angel: Epiphany (BtVS:The Body)

Darla walked blindly along the street; her world had
changed, Angelus couldn?t love her, Angel didn?t love
her. Drucilla had gone to Sunnydale and Spike had a
chip in his head. Finally the biggest, most feared
evil in town was a bunch of lawyers, just puny Humans!
All those years, God! All those centuries she had
always held that little bit back, kept a little of
that poor, weak, girl. "Think!" "Hold back", "There
will be other days" it had whispered as her demon
raged for violence and death; it was the reason she
had lived so long, and the reason she had died. It had
made her great, and it couldn?t go on; now she let it
go. Seeking temporary oblivion in the joy of its rage
she gave herself utterly to the demon: her face
morphed, her connection to what she had been ? to her
soul ? passed through its weakest point, and she
scanned the street for victims.

Unseen by her a figure stood watching in a shadowed
doorway. As she morphed the figure felt the change,
and smiled, the link, the timing; like it was meant to
happen ? the forces were in balance - it needed only a
little effort to put the transformation in motion.

Darla?s eyes glowed for a moment with the flood of
supernatural energy, and dimmed again as she returned
to human form and collapsed to the sidewalk.

She opened her eyes. She was lying on a sidewalk, in a
city at night; her mind was blank, she remembered
nothing, but she had a feeling of memory so very much
memory crowding to be known. Is it all mine? She
wondered dizzily. She realised she was no longer
alone; a woman was walking towards her; she had a
feeling she was connected to her condition. Before the
strange woman reached her she leapt up, strange to
feel so strong, and yet so weak.

The sorceress spoke
"You?re not at full strength yet; that is to be
expected"

"Who am I?" she asked with a slight frown

"You will have to decide that for yourself. It must be
very confusing; you should stay somewhere while you
work things out" she began leading her down the street
to a motel.
For a while the vampire paused, a name surfaced
briefly from the hidden seas of memory.
"Buffy" she murmured trying to recall more. She knew
that it was important but nothing would come.

Her companion heard the name, and tried to reassure
her
"Don?t worry, as soon as you?re ready I?ll take you to
Buffy and you can sort it out"

She knew she had to go and see this Buffy; then things
would be clear, she would know what to do. But the
woman was right, it was best to wait; she sighed
followed her meekly.

****

The two women sat on the balcony looking down to the
beach, using their enhanced eyesight to follow the
interactions of the people below. One was a fairly
tall redhead the other, a shorter blonde, was seated
snugly on her companion?s lap. The blonde was the
first to disturb their comfortable silence
"Check out the blonde by the volleyball game"

The red head stirred slightly to get a better view
"I?ll assume that was innocent interest. The one at
the far right corner?"

"Yes"

"She?s not exactly keeping her eye on the ball is
she?" The redhead observed with a smile.

"Seems to be feeling guilty. Still in the closet, even
to herself?"

"Probably. I think I saw her arrive last night with
her parents. I think I heard them call her Simone"

The blond snorted
"That explains her jitters. So where is Jane anyway? I
thought Miss sweetness and innocence there would have
been exactly her scene"

"Far end of the beach. Hitting on blonde Miss silicone
in the red bikini"

Looking back to the area in question they noticed that
the scene had evolved somewhat; their friend, a tall
brunette with a flawless tan, was involved in an
altercation with a muscular beach boy type, while the
aforementioned blonde stood by.
"Looks like she might have left the boyfriend out of
the calculation", the blonde noted lazily

"Probably not" the redhead was more cynical.

Below the boyfriend made the mistake of attempting
physical violence. The pair watched in amusement as
the ?bloody skinny dyke? (as much as they could
lip-read) flattened her opponent with a few careful
blows.
"Do you think she?s getting bored?" the blonde asked

"How can you tell? She?s always looking for a
challenge"

They watched as the brunette jogged towards the
volleyball game
"Looks like Simone is in for a wake up call"

"I hope she didn?t hurt the boy?s pride too much; it
could get nasty" the blonde was looking back towards
the scene of the brief altercation.

"You know Jane, she?ll probably buy him a drink
tonight and they?ll part as friends"

"She certainly has manipulation down to a fine art"
Below, Jane had made contact with their jittery
volleyball voyeur.

"Discussing the game progress and finer points of
style by the look of the stricken look on Simone?s
face" the red head was wearing an appreciative grin
"and soon the suggestion of a quiet walk to a less
crowded area on the beach, and conversation other than
volleyball, is going to look like a positive godsend"

"Should I be worried that you have studied her tactics
that thoroughly?"

"Just academic interest. The girl makes me feel like a
nun"

"If I had known I would have packed my habit"

"You know what I meant"

Their conversation died suddenly as they felt the
brief distortion of the interdimensional jump.

They both stood up and walked into the room

"Chris this is Helen, Helen this is Chris. What brings
you to this sunny tourist trap?" Jo inquired of the
darked haired woman sitting on the bed

"Hello. I have just visited Sunnydale, and I don?t
like the look of the Hellmouth; it?s changing and I
think it may have become unstable. I thought you might
be interested"

"I thought things had been a little strange lately" Jo
commented thoughtfully.

"Are the Initiative still in town?" Chris asked the
demoness.

"Down but not out. Seem to be operating some sort of
scaled down milliary operation, eliminating perceived
hazards only. Riley left to join them, and they have a
few operatives monitoring activity in Sunnydale"

"They don?t know about Buffy?"

"Buffy doesn?t know about Buffy" Helen pointed out
"Ironic really; people have striven for lifetimes to
get even a part of what she now has by accident. The
enjoining spell triggered completion, of course"

"We felt the shock waves here, but I think we can rely
on the Initiative?s ignorance. They seem to be pretty
blinkered about the magic thing, I doubt the thought
has even occurred to them"

"I guess with them watching for anything unusual
you?ll have to be discreet" Helen had been rather
looking forward to fireworks.

"Or not" Jo said thoughtfully, "I have a plan. The
Initiative is pretty short staffed right?"

"Just a skeleton crew as far as I can tell" Helen
admitted

"This wouldn?t be one of your plans that involves
elaborate and unnecessary cruelty to Iowa farmboys
would it?" Chris asked suspiciously

"I blame my childhood. Anyway he deserves some travel
after all his hard work"

"You?re thinking wild goose chase, yourself as bait?"
Helen enquired.

"We?ll be live bait for a few days to whet his
appetite, then he ought to follow a fake trail fairly
readily, leaving us an open field in Sunnydale. It
should be able to get us a week"

"We can send Jane ahead to check out the situation.
Considering the time needed to set it up she should
have about a week lead on us"

"She?ll love it. Sunnydale won?t know what hit it;
neither will Buffy, I expect" Jo said with some
satisfaction

"Jane wouldn?t do anything damaging would she?" Helen
inquired nervously.

"Not permanently damaging. But she has a knack for
manipulating people, and her pet topic is repressed
sexuality, so expect a few fireworks"

Chris amplified,
"Anyway sooner or later Buffy is going to realise what
she is, and when the news arrives the fewer potential
psychological problems she has the better. Already her
calling makes her fell isolated, this could be worse.
She will think she doesn?t deserve it, or she is being
punished, she will see it take away her friends one by
one. And, of course, her mother dieing and the whole
Dawn/Key thing make it even harder"

Helen interjected hastily, forestalling a long lecture
"You?ve been watching fairly closely, then? I guess
that means you can see through the illusion too; I
wasn?t going the say any thing before you did. Weren?t
we worrying about the Hellmouth, not the future Buffy
problem"

"If the Hellmouth really is destabilising the Buffy
problem may be quite immediate"

"You think it will come to that?"

"Know of any other candidates?"

"None, as you well know. Anyway, as there is nowhere
near that much power available these days it?s a moot
point. I take it you couldn?t?"

"Like you, we choose to tread lightly-", Jo paused as
if listening and continued, "The power, it seems, we
may be able to arrange"

"I guess we had better find Jane and fill her in then"
Helen was looking forward to meeting the infamous
Third.

"She has been following the whole thing,
telepathically, sort of. We have an internal radio
capability. She will be here in about fifteen minutes,
after she has finished with Simone. I don?t think a
quick counselling session was exactly what she had in
mind half an hour ago, but the opportunity to have a
go at the infamous Buff ought to have put her in a
good mood"

Two minutes later Jane entered the room
"Short quarter hour" Helen pointed out

"She had a lunch date with her parents, so I decided
to join you lot instead"

"Thanks" Jo replied sarcastically

"You?re welcome"

"The Hellmouth?" Helen pointed out

"It?ll keep, you said yourself that it?s been changing
fairly slowly. Nice hair, with that jacket ? very
sexy"

Helen, unconsciously preened her hair,
"Thank you, I-. Weren?t we talking about the
Hellmouth?"

Jane smiled
"Hard to divert, I like that. All right Sexy, the plan
is fine, finished even; however I might point out that
in Sunnydale, as you would know, it?s the middle of
the night, even the Slayer has gone to bed. I?ll need
a good cover story, life history, car, accommodation,
the works. Easiest to set up in business hours really,
five hours away, no point in arriving before the
Slayer is on deck anyway. I can do the crossing in
one, leaving four spare for the having of fun, or more
specifically Simone. I had better get going,
reconnaissance to do, virgins to deflower. See you in
Sunnydale"

Helen stared at the closed door for while
"Is she always so..?"

"Efficient? Commanding? Rude? Jane is, well,
different. Don?t worry she can be very charming when
she is prepared to take the time. She was probably
just trying to disconcert you" Chris decided that
reassurance was the best policy.

"Different?"

"Since the early days of our existence she has been a
composite of two personalities, a human mind in an
artificial medium, and an artificial mind in a human
brain, that he created. The most brilliant, devious
man I ever knew, combined with the carefree curiosity
of a young woman whose intelligence was near
incalculable. They were scary enough separately,
together we just try to keep clear." Jo appeared to
still be following an ?honesty is best? policy

"I noticed that you were in a male form when you
arrived, sex change shape shifting extraordinarily
rare here, are all of you composite?"

"Jane is the only true composite, and mostly she
prefers to be female. I picked the male form because I
was trying to be inconspicuous, and people tend to
ignore shy guys. I didn?t use a personality overlay.
When I wanted to be noticed I changed back to this
form"

"Isn?t there anything you won?t answer?"

"You haven?t found any of those questions yet, I?m not
going to help narrow the field"

****

Next part could be a while as my work load is
spiralling out of control (if thirty students take 1
hour to do an assignment, how long does it take one
teacher to mark them?), and I'm trying to fit it in
with "Forever" (only just got the transcript),
involving some fairly fancy time line footwork. Will
try to write faster (Can't hope to beat MadHamlet for
speed/quality, if anybody hasn't read prisms, they
should)

CBMoore


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