FIC: The Citadel of the House of Scooby (B/X, W/X, B/W, B/X/W)

["cdreramius" <o163210@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Title: The Citadel of the House of Scooby
Authors: Mike and Tony McD
Rating: mild R
Category: season 7 AU/ early season 2 (kinda)
Pairings: B/X, W/X, B/W, B/X/W
Summary: Follows `The United House of Scooby'. The Scoobies really 
need a citadel as Spike sends his assassins after our Scoobs. 
Distribution: Anywhere, just let us know.
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer nor do I own any 
other characters. This is a work of fiction written for fun and 
enjoyment. 
Authors' notes: This is a collaborative effort between Tony and me 
due to Tony's illness. Feedback is appreciated.
Mike's notes: Today is Tony's birthday so here's a gift for you all. 
Tony has agreed to help with `Hot Nights in the House of Scooby' so 
parts may be a little slow in coming. We can all thank Tony's wife 
for twisting his arm.
Tony's Notes: Mike, you're a scheming bastard.



Things have been pretty quiet since Parent Teacher Night. Mrs. 
Summers had a period of time where she didn't take everything too 
well. Which is understandable. It's like `Hey! Vampires and demons 
and magic are all real and your only daughter is the chosen one to 
fight and die to stop them. Which has already happened once. Oh, and 
you know how your daughter has been pestering you to get a CAT scan 
lately? Well it turns out that she found out from her friend who's 
from the future that you'll get a brain tumor and die.'

Hence the not taking things too well for a while.

But true to form, she's learning to deal and has become a real pillar 
of strength for Buffy. It's great to see the two of them get closer. 
Without the whole hiding her secret Slayer identity from her mom, 
Buffy is a lot more relaxed around her.

But Buffy is still holding back on telling her about her relationship 
with me and Willow. Unlike the Slayer identity thing I'm not pushing 
Buffy to tell her about it. Mrs. Summers may be a really cool mom, 
but she's still a mom, and thirty seconds after she finds out she'll 
take to my favorite Xander parts with a carving knife. Buffy has 
decided to eventually tell her.

Sometime around April 2016.

Which sounds good to my Xander parts.

We've tried to drop subtle hints to Oz to avoid being bitten without 
trying to drag him into our mess. However, all we've managed to do so 
far is convince him we're a bunch of crazy people. We're debating if 
we should tell him everything and get him into the Scooby Gang.

After Cordy's foot in mouth episode she's been pretty good. No, she 
hasn't undergone a complete personality transplant. It's just she's 
learnt her lesson about what things she shouldn't rag on if she likes 
her lungs to stay in place. I think she's still having trouble 
understanding and accepting our relationship though. We're gonna get 
that a lot with people when they find out, so we keep our private 
life private and knock back on the public displays of affection.

Giles tries not to get too involved with our relationship and 
whenever it comes up he does the avoidy thing he does so well. Ms 
Calendar is fascinated by me, Buffy and Willow's relationship. She's 
been talking about some legendary triad of warriors for the forces of 
good but we think she's been sitting in front of her computer too 
long. We're not some legendary triad, we're just three friends who 
fell in love.

Willow and Buffy are going great guns together. They've set 
themselves a pace for their relationship and they're happy with that. 
Me, well, every relationship that I rushed into blew up in my face, 
so I'm taking things slow.

Which is apparently too slow for Buffy and Willow, but this 
relationship means so much to me and I don't wanna fuck it up. It 
isn't easy. God only knows how many times I've had the urge to drag 
Buffy and Willow into a secluded little spot and do all kinds of 
insane, sweaty things with them.

And they're deliberately not making it any easier.

You should have seen what they did the other day when Buffy was 
wearing that?

Sorry, got off track there for a bit. Now where was I?

Willow's hand and Buffy's mini skirt.

DAMN IT!!!

Back on track.

Spike.

Twice he's tried killing Buffy and twice he's only managed to escape 
by the skin of his minions. Or should that be dust?

Anyway, he's nuts. Not in the `Blue Wiggle I'm nuts in the basement 
because I've got a soul' kinda way. More like `I've lost the love of 
my undead life and I'm gonna kill you for it' way.

I'm trying to anticipate his next move, which isn't easy. This 
situation didn't happen before so we're flying nearly blind here. 
Going on form I think it's either that order of assassins he sent out 
first time or he's trying for The Judge.

Assassins we can deal with. The Judge is another matter. It took a 
rocket launcher to take him out first time and we only got that 
because my Halloween soldier memories were still fresh. Now, thanks 
to Giles letting Ripper come out and have a little pre-emptive `chat' 
with Ethan Rayne, Halloween was nice and quiet. Ethan was really good 
at helping us deal with that demon thing he and Giles had chasing 
them. That is to say he did what he was told under pain of Giles 
going Ripper on his ass. Deadboy is batting two for two in the `My 
demon can kick your demon's ass' stakes.

The Inca museum tour went OK. We stayed around making sure no one 
broke the seal or stuff like that. Unfortunately it also made us late 
picking up Ampata from the bus stop and he got eaten by a vamp. Giles 
said that sometimes people are destined to die no matter what we do 
to try to stop it. I was pretty depressed by the idea and Buffy 
didn't like it one bit either for reasons obvious.

I've got some long-term projects going to help nip some of the big 
bads in the butt. Willow's helping with the Mayor and so is Giles. 
Giles is also handling Acathla along with Deadboy. All of us are 
helping handle the Nerds of Doom. Willow has started wicca training 
under the strictest supervision of Ms Calendar and Giles. Willow is 
scared half to death about taking up magic but she wants to 
contribute to our future ass kicking efforts.

Spike aside, things are going generally OK.

Except for my nightmares.

*********************

"Do ya really have to go?" Xander whined playfully. He and Willow 
were up in the stacks having smoochies out of sight of Giles who was 
training with Buffy.

"Yes, they're letting me do some of the senior year math classes 
finally and I need to make a good impression. Being late because I 
was too busy having smoochies with my boyfriend isn't the best way."

"Spoil sport."

"You could always come with me."

"Mmmm. An hour of no Willow kissage AND extra hard math? Add Harmony 
talking to me about shoe shopping and I'll be ready to do a Kurt 
Cobane. I'll pass."

"OK, but you don't know what you're missing."

"Yeah I do. Willow kissing." Xander told her and kissed her. Willow 
gave him a radiant smile and left with a happy spring in her step. 
After years of not seeing it, Xander truly loved seeing that genuine 
Willow smile. It was the kind of smile that made everything better. 
With his own smile firmly in place Xander turned back towards the 
stacks.

Only to run straight into the person standing right behind him.

"Arghhh!" Xander yelled in shock, tripping over his feet and landing 
flat on his back on the floor. Giles and Buffy raced up to the stacks 
to see what was the matter. They stared at the new arrival. Still on 
his back, Xander did the introductions.

"Buffy, Giles, meet Kendra the Vampire Slayer."




"Uh-uh, Kendra, uh, there are a-a-a few people, uh, civilians if you 
like, who know Buffy's identity. Xander is one of them, a-a-and they 
also, um, spend time together, uh, socially."

"And you allow dis, sir?"

"Well, uh..."

"But de Slayer must work in secret for security."

"Of course, but, uh, with Buffy, however, it-it's, um, some 
flexibility is required."

Buffy gave Giles a look.

"Smooth one G-man." Giles ignored Xander's remark and asked Kendra 
why she was here.

"Mr. Zabuto said all de signs indicate dat a very dark power is about 
to rise in Sunnydale."

Xander raised an eyebrow.

"Anyone else thinking Judge?" Buffy asked.

"Oh yeah. Here comes the judge." Xander quipped.

"Right, then I'll give your Watcher a call and see If I-I can get 
anymore, um, information on this, er, dark power." Giles told Kendra 
and went into his office. Xander looked over to Buffy.

"We better do more research on the Judge, just in case. Buffy, you 
wanna hit the stacks with me. To, uh, help find, er, books, for 
researching."

Buffy smiled, knowing exactly what he was getting at.

"Sure, I'd love to. Excuse us for a minute." She told the other 
Slayer. As soon as they were out of sight in the stacks they found 
themselves in a passionate embrace.

"Yummy, strawberry lip gloss." Buffy said licking her lips.

"Willow."

"Kissing Xander and Willow at the same time. Goodie!" and she started 
kissing Xander again. In the middle of their kiss Xander was grabbed 
from behind and ripped out of Buffy's embrace. A fist smashed into 
his face and sent him flying into a bookcase. For the second time 
that morning Xander found himself on the floor.

"Kendra! What the hell was that for?!?!"

"He's a cheating pig! I saw him kissing de redhead when I first got 
here."

Buffy went to Xander's side and helped him up. She rounded on Kendra 
angrily.

"Damn it! He's not a cheating pig! If you'd turned up five minutes 
before you did you would have seen ME kissing `de redhead'." Kendra 
looked confused.

"But de redhead is a girl."

"Gee, you noticed that too, huh? Yes, she's a girl. She's my 
girlfriend. She's also his girlfriend, and he's my boyfriend."

Kendra looked even more confused. Buffy rolled her eyes.

"God! This is gonna be a long day."



"Order of Taraka?"

"Order of Taraka." Giles confirmed to his Slayer. She was holding a 
ring that she had taken from the huge one-eyed assassin that had 
attacked her while she patrolled the Parkfield Cemetery.

"One down, two to go. Bug Guy and Gun Girl. I better give Xander and 
Willow a call and give them a heads up."

"De assassins? I read of dem in de writings of Dramius."

"Oh, really? Which volume?" asked Giles.

"I believe it was six, sir."

"Um, how do you know all this?" Buffy asked the younger Slayer.

"From me studies."

"So, obviously you have a lot of free time."

"I study because it is required. The Slayer handbook insists on it." 
Kendra insisted.

"Wait. Handbook? What handbook? How come I don't have a handbook?"

"After meeting you, Buffy, I realized that, uh, the handbook would be 
of no use in your case."

"Well, what do you mean it would be of no use in my case? Wha-what's 
wrong with my case?" Buffy asked incensed.

"Uh, Kendra, um, perhaps you'd like to show me the, the part in, uh, 
Dramius Six where, uh, where it refers to the Order of Taraka. 
Really, I-I, I seem to have never been able to get through that book. 
It was a bit stodgy."

Kendra smiled at the Watcher.

"It was difficult. All dose footnotes." The younger Slayer and the 
Watcher laughed and headed for Giles' office. Buffy watched them go.

"Volume six, ha, ha, ha." She mocked them. "Watcher's pet." She 
grumbled and went to the phone on the front counter to call Willow 
and Xander.



"You're dropping your shoulder, Xander."

"No I'm not." Xander said as he launched another punch at Angel who 
effortlessly dodged the punch.

"Yes you are."

"Not happening." Xander said and threw a left jab at Angel's head. 
Angel caught his fist in his hand.

"You want me to help you or not?" an annoyed Angel asked. A right 
hook crashed into Angel's jaw. Angel looked at Xander.

"That's better." He told the young man who just smirked.

The two squared off again.

"Angel I? oh, Xander, what are you doing here?" Willow said from the 
doorway.

"Guy stuff." Xander told her. "What's up?"

"Oh, uh, Buffy called. She just got a visit from one of the Order of 
Taraka."

"Which one?"

"One eye guy."

Xander let out a long breath and looked to Angel.

"OK, been there and done that. You wanna try to dig up info from 
Willy while the three of us hunt down the other two?"

"You sure you're up to this?" Angel asked him.

"Bug Guy is easy. Annie Oakley is another matter. We're not bullet 
proof."

"Then I should handle her."

Xander thought for a second then nodded.

"Where's Buffy?"

"She's gone home. You wanna go over there?" Willow asked her 
boyfriend.

"Sure. Let's go."



"Buffy? You home?" Willow called out as she and Xander entered the 
Summers house.

"We're in the kitchen honey." Mrs. Summers yelled.

Xander and Willow walked into the kitchen to find Buffy and her Mom 
cleaning a gooey mess on the floor.

"Buffy, did you try to make that pancake surprise thing again?" the 
redhead asked.

"Unless you like the surprise in the pancake to be glue and squashed 
up Bug Man." Willow screwed up her nose in disgust.

"Makes you appreciate vampires more, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, a quick going over with a dust buster and you're done." Buffy 
said scooping up a mass of goo and dumping it into the trash.

"Well, Angel's hunting down Gun Girl and he's also hitting up Willy 
for info on Spike's whereabouts. Maybe this Taraka thing could lead 
us to son of a bitch."

Mrs. Summers gave him a sharp look.

"Excuse my French."

"Actually in French it would be?" Buffy and Xander gave Willow a 
look. "Um, never mind."

"Can't we do something? I mean like tell the police about her?" Joyce 
asked.

"Mom, what would we tell the police? `Excuse me but a vampire has 
sent an assassin disguised as a policewoman to kill my daughter 
because she dusted the love of his un-life?'"

"Then what can we do?"

"Hope Deadboy gets her first. Oh! And stay away from the windows. 
That's how Tara got it."



The Bronze was packed, as was usually the case on a Friday night. 
Buffy and Xander were sitting at their table showing Kendra how 
normal teenagers spent their Friday night while Willow was over 
talking to Oz in a last ditch attempt to change his future history.

"I tink we shouldn't be here. A good Slayer needs to patrol in de 
places where vampires feed."

"And we are. All these clueless young people out at night, this is 
prime feeding ground for vamps. Pick out one from the herd and take 
them to a dark alleyway for a leisurely devouring. The Bronze is 
always a good stop for a patrol."

"That's right. We find, she slays, we party. That's the Scooby way." 
Xander informed Kendra who still wasn't convinced.

"Besides, it's important for a Slayer to keep her? GUN!!!" Buffy 
yelled grabbing the other two and pulling them down.

For among the crowd, the final assassin drew her gun and opened fire. 
The Bronze erupted into screams as gunfire rang out and people ran 
for their lives. A tall dark figure raced against the tide of 
humanity towards the assassin. He reached her and with a savage 
twist, snapped her neck.

"Angel!" Buffy yelled as the vampire dropped the now dead assassin.

"Buffy! I tracked her down to here. Are you OK?" he asked.

"I think so. I?" Buffy paled as she turned and saw Willow screaming, 
covered in blood. They raced over to her.

"WILLOW!"

"We were just standing here talking and then he just pushed me aside 
and there was shooting and blood?" the uninjured Willow broke down in 
Buffy's arms.

There, on the floor, lay Oz. A single bullet had hit him in the 
heart. Xander knelt down beside his slain friend and took hold of his 
hand. Tears rolled down Xander's cheeks.

"A true Scooby till the last." Xander said as sadness filled his 
heart.