The Circle of Scooby Chapter Fifteen

STORY TITLE: The Circle of Scooby

PART: 15 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, Buffy/Willow, Giles/Jenny

RATING: PG-13

WORD COUNT: <4,487>

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!

AUTHOR'S 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.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DEPARTMENT: The 'Ritual of Disavowal' is borrowed from Vidicon's Waifs and Strays Universe on TTH.

Chase Manor

Thursday, November 6th, 1997

Late Afternoon

Charles Chase stepped out of the back of the car, waiting for the driver to open the trunk. Taking his luggage, he tipped the driver and walked up to the door. Fumbling with his keys, he disarmed the alarm before unlocking the door. Listening carefully, there was no sound, not even Consuela's horrid singing. If she wasn't so damned good at the rest of her duties he would have gotten rid of her, the singing is that bad. Double-checking the time he frowned, Consuela had already left for the night. Fortunately, he was able to cook a meal for himself, it wouldn't pass muster at the Cordon Bleu, but it was tasty and filling, and that's all that he needed.

Finishing his dinner, and cleaning the dishes he took his luggage up to the master bedroom. Seeing that the door to Cordy's bedroom was standing open and out of curiosity, he stuck his head in. He honestly wasn't surprised to see men's clothing piled up by the hamper, but seeing women's clothing, in a different size than his daughter wore was good for a raised eyebrow, but he and Margaret usually had a friendly girl helping to keep the bed warm when they were traveling, so he didn't have any room to comment.

He went to the master bedroom and changed into jeans and his Allman Brothers Band - Live at Fillmore East t-shirt, amazed it still fit after all these years. Wanting to disguise anything he might be doing, he grabbed the Fillmore East vinyl and was soon lost in the Statesboro Blues. He turned the volume up on the stereo, just in case the monster was listening because he knew that Wilkins detested any music newer than the Glenn Miller Orchestra. It was petty, but anything that could be done to innocently make the Mayor unhappy he was happy to do! Unfortunately, if Cordy is as unhappy as he expected, there isn't a stereo loud enough to muffle his daughter in full flight! Fortunately, he has the solution. Grabbing a Sharpie and a large sheet of butcher paper and started to write. "I know there is a lot for us to talk about, but if you remember his warning from Saturday, do you really want to take a chance that he may be listening? If you can wait until Saturday Morning, I have a secure conference room reserved and I promise to answer all your questions then, can you do that?

Leaving the message on the counter, he went down to the fallout shelter that was already in the house when they bought it and opened the case they took away from the bastard watcher. He went through the trunk at least once a year, adding new information, and seeing if anything stood out. There hasn't been, but with fresh eyes who knows what they could come up with. He added a folder of photos, some extremely old. The oldest was a Daguerreotype from 1904 showing Richard Wilkins the First, with his wife Edna Mae, it surprised him that nobody noticed that the Mayor stayed the same while his wife aged at a normal rate. There were pictures of Richard the 2nd and Richard the 3rd and, other than obvious differences in clothing styles, they are of the same man. Opening a folder he had pictures of Heather from the first day of school until her 18th Birthday, Cordelia and her friends had heard stories, they should see who their parents were fighting for.

Hearing voices from upstairs, he hurried up the steps and grabbed the butcher paper with the message on it. Stepping out into the front hall, he saw Cordy look towards him, and he put his finger to his lips, the universal signal for silence. Holding the paper out, his daughter read to herself, before handing it to Tony and Jess's boy, and a girl he didn't know for them to read as well. Cordy reached for the marker and turned the paper over, writing 'we have a lot to go over with you on Saturday, too, but it's been a very long day, and the three of us are going up to bed, we'll likely see you in the morning. It's too bad, all three of us have gotten used to wearing nothing but skin, but I guess we'll have to start dressing for breakfast.'

Charles started to respond but just shook his head with a grin. It had been a long time since she had felt comfortable enough to tease him, and he was relieved that she didn't seem angry with him, so hopefully they could go over everything on Saturday and go forward from there. He will insist on being introduced to the young lady, and getting to know Xander as he is now, not the 4 or 5-year-old. At least it will keep life interesting.

Locking the door and checking the doors and windows before setting the alarm. At least they will have a warning if human thugs try to get in. The threshold is strong enough to keep the vampires, and even some of the minor demons from getting into the house, which should be enough for now, until the smiling monster starts his preparations for whatever he is planning to do.

Yawning, he made his way up the stairs, not surprised that his daughter had her door closed, unfortunately, it did nothing to keep the sound in the room. He really didn't need to hear his daughter encouraging Xander and Tara(?) to fuck her like a tenderloin whore!

Closing the door to his bedroom behind him, he flicked the switch to have the music from the stereo piped into his room, to drown out the sounds coming from Cordy's room. It didn't help and he wasn't able to fall asleep until nearly 2 in the morning.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Sunnydale High School

Library

Friday, November 7th, 1997

Before the first bell

Kendra and Tara led the way into the library, ready to take the placement tests so Kendra, at least, could join the right classes. Of course, everyone had to come with the two of them to wish them luck before heading to their first class. That was their plan, anyway. Everything changed when they saw Giles standing at the front desk, smiling widely, and not the way that he, Cordy, or Tara were smiling after the massive number of orgasms last night and this morning. Curious, they all moved closer, and Xander said,

"Okay Giles, what's got you so excited this morning, did you get a message that David Bowie is bringing the Spiders from Mars back together, and he wants you to take over lead guitar?"

Giles just rolled his eyes, and said, "No, Xander, Mick Ronson is still the lead guitar for the Spiders, but this is something of more interest to all of us."

All of them pressed up against the counter, and Giles picked up a wooden box and set it in front of them. Xander's eyes widened, "Giles, is that what I think it is? I thought your friend couldn't get them done until tomorrow morning?"

Giles just lifted the top off the box, and, neatly packed in rows, were cartridges, and, lifting them out of the box they saw countless ball-bearing-sized spheres of wood, soaking in 3 clear sealed containers. "My friend had some extra help to work on the other jobs, giving him enough time to finish for us. He's also very curious to see how effective they are because as far as I can find, nobody has done this combination of ammunition against the vampires, so there's a lot of interest as I'm sure you are aware."

Before Xander could reply, a loud ringing bell was heard and he said, "Okay, that's our queue to be good little students. Ken, Tar? Good luck to both of you and we'll see you at lunch, it's Taco Friday!"

Laughing they headed out the double doors, leaving the two nervous girls sitting at the long wooden table, waiting for Giles to bring out the testing materials.

It was going to be a long morning.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

The Wharves

Warehouse behind the Fish Tank

Friday, November 7th, 1997

8:25 AM

The inhabitants of the warehouse were all asleep, except for the sacrifices, and none of their captors really gave much of a damn for their comfort anyway. They can be tired, or they could be rested, the blood will the basins either way. The dozen men took their positions, sealing the windows and doors with Holy Wafers blessed by the local Catholic Church, the other men were approaching through the sewers, sealing the pipes and other access tunnels with the multiple Holy Wafers. The men were focused on their mission and didn't notice the single vampire approaching slowly, warned by the noise up ahead. He was extremely fortunate, he was the only vampiric survivor from Spike's minions. Once he saw the remains of the lair, he quickly grabbed the hidden stash of cash and, stopped at Willie's for a bottle, and to spread the word that William the Bloody was either dusted or wishing he was dust. The customers at the Alibi Room were stunned for a long moment, and then they started wondering who was powerful enough to take down the entire lair.

Spike could have answered their questions, but the holy water sprayed in his eyes and mouth meant that any answer he could give would mean less than nothing. He had been sleeping soundly in his inside room, when there was the sound of shattering glass and then agonized screams from all around him. Leaping out of bed he was reaching for his leather jacket when the only door into his room exploded inward, with a flash of extremely bright light and painfully loud explosion. Before he could even start to realize what was happening, a horrendous pain spread through his body from the heavy blow in the back. He wasn't conscious of what had happened, all he knew was he couldn't move his legs, and then he was rolled over onto his back, where he could barely make out the shape of a man holding a sledgehammer, that he lifted over his head and brought the weight down on his left shoulder. While Spike was screaming in pain, the hammer came down on his right shoulder, and when it was repeated on both knees, the pain was too much, and he mercifully lost consciousness. He was unaware of anything, the leather jacket, the trophy from the second slayer he killed, was pulled off his body and folded gently. The rest of his clothing was torn from his body leaving him totally naked.

He came awake by a cup of water splashing in his face and he was able to focus enough to recognize the man in the tailored suit standing over him. In a quiet, almost friendly voice, he heard the Mayor saying,

"I must say, William, I thought you understood the message when I had your newest childre crucified, you told me you understood, and would abide by my rules. What part of making hostages of well known citizens, proper tax payers, people that would be missed if they disappeared, what part of that, or arranging to use them as human sacrifices is abiding by my rules? Well it doesn't matter, I only allow one violation, and then I make an example. Just so you know what is going to happen, my employees here are each carrying containers holding 10 gallons of Holy Water, which means they have at their disposal 100 gallons of something that would burn you like acid. You see, on occasion, I give in to scientific curiosity, and need to find something out, and this is where you come in. I've wondered at times just how much Holy Water would it take to cause a vampire to lose it's body and fall to dust."

Picking up the Leather Jacket, the Mayor said, "I'll be returning this to Miss Wood's son, letting him know that his mother's killer is no more.

He had only gone a couple of steps out of the room when the screams started. Opening his watch, he made note of the time and would wait to hear from the testers to see what time it was when Spike's demon was sent back to hell, to enjoy an eon or two as the lowest being in the Hierarchy, and it was so unnecessary, this is his town, and he is within his rights to establish rules to what is considered acceptable behavior.

Looking at the crowd of humans receiving medical attention, those who are unaware of what is walking the moonlit streets are given an injection to make them suggestible, and they will have memories of being caught in a gas leak. Those who are aware of the nightlife will be offered part-time positions that take advantage of their knowledge.

Heading toward the exit, he heard a voice from the upper level calling his name trying to get his attention.

Pausing, he turned to see who was calling him and put his genial smile in place when he recognized the Team Leader who was moving toward him at a walk, still appearing the unhurried professional, The man, Walter he thought his name was, wanted him to see something that they had stashed, because it included something that they were to bring to the Mayor's attention. Intrigued, Mayor Wilkins followed the Team Leader up the stairs and along the metal walkway to an open doorway. It only took a glimpse to see what had his employees wanting to move it up the chain. There were easily 50 10-pound bags of white powder, with blotches of red through the bag. "Is this what it looks like, Walter?"

The man nodded, "It seems to be, just on a visual check to be several million dollars worth of 'blood rage', there were rumors that it was being sold through a few of the suck-houses, but cut way down to avoid customer fatalities."

Mayor Wilkins nodded, "Go ahead and test some of it, and if it is what we think, contact the suck-houses and find out their arrangements for splitting the profit. If it's equitable, you can allow it to stand but give yourself 1% for the additional responsibilities. Now, did you find any of William's cash?" There was a hidden cabinet, secured with three key locks that were opened, and Richard smiled with satisfaction. There was easily several hundred thousand or more in cash, more than enough to cover the needed medical expenses for the planned sacrifices, and enough to go into the general fund to increase the available overtime to eight hours a week, needed to make sure our civil servants enjoy a cheerful holiday season, and it wasn't coming out of the city's budget making it a win-win situation.

"Well done, Walter, follow the normal process for the money and when you finish, you and the rest of your team can enjoy the rest of the day off, with pay. Have a pleasant weekend."

Sunnydale High School

Library

Friday, November 7th, 1997

After the Last Class

Buffy was the first one through the library doors, practically dragging Willow by the hand. She couldn't help it, Slayer knew new weapons were waiting to try them out, and outside of Willow kisses, a new toy for Slayer took priority. Kendra was only a couple of steps behind them, with Xander, Cordy, and Tara bringing up the rear. Buffy froze in mid-step when she saw Angel standing and talking seriously with Giles, and both of them looked shaken. Catching herself before she stumbled, she approached the counter, "What's going on? Both of you look like you took a 2 x 4 to the head. Care to make with the 'splainy? Because I'm starting to get nervous, and when I get nervous, Slayer starts looking for a weapon."

Angel said, "Slayer doesn't need to find a weapon, Giles and I were discussing something out of the ordinary that happened this morning. A fully equipped team sealed the warehouse that Spike had been using, using Holy Wafers in the door jambs and window frames and then the team crashed through the painted glass of the skylight, dropping multiple Holy Water grenades, to destroy all of Spike's minions, before managing to capture Spike. They used sledge hammers to break his back and knees and even shoulders, before taking the leather jacket to return it to the son of the Slayer Spike had killed, The vamp that managed to get away had waited until the team removed the Holy Wafer from the access tunnel and gone into the warehouse. The survivor heard Spike screaming before the screaming stopped, he heard one man tell one of the others to get a broom and dustpan, so they can sweep him up. He didn't stick around, just took the money he had in a personal stash, and escaped through the sewers."

Buffy is briefly disappointed at not getting to try out the new toy, but then she grinned at Kendra, saying "I guess your in luck now, Kendra, if you hurry you can catch Oz and tell him that you aren't occupied tonight, and would love to go with him tonight."

The others gently tease the Jamaican Slayer about having a date, but Kendra doesn't seem to pay attention, hurrying from the library with a smile on her face. Once she is gone, Buffy turns to Xander, saying, "From the look of surprise, this isn't what happened before?"

Xander shook his head, "No, things are already changing, and have been since Dru was destroyed along with those murderous thugs. And, while you and Willow were extremely close, you weren't in a relationship that anybody was aware of. We've already short circuited the rest of this year, and are making plans for next year's big bad, I don't see anything we've done to change that being's plans." Turning to Giles, "Can you write us a letter of introduction to Doctor Dormer?"

Giles nodded, "Certainly," and Xander gave him a quick grin before turning to Willow,

"Will, this is probably child's play for you, but it has the benefit of not being even close to illegal, we need a phone number and address in Boston and surroundings for Doctor Diana Dormer. The net is still your area of expertise, and we can count on Buffy, or Joyce with her 'amazing mom powers' to make sure you stay on the straight and narrow. And I shouldn't need to remind you, but you don't get unlimited caffeine in jail. And you don't get overnight visits from your girlfriend either. I'm sure Buffy doesn't want to talk to you over the phone through a plexiglass window, would you?"

Buffy looked at Willow seriously, "He's right Will, we need to sit down and talk about limits with your computer explorations, I know you are smart, probably even a genius, but remember, there's always somebody smarter, and a lot of them are hired to stop and catch people who get into places they don't belong. And 'War Games' is just a Matthew Broderick movie, you don't get offered a job when you get into a defense department computer and play Nuclear War."

Willow briefly looked defiant, but then relaxed, and nodded. Buffy decided she needed to learn more about just what her girlfriend was doing on the computer. The first thing is getting Will to recommend books on how things work, and talk to Miss Calendar about getting computer practice, and why. She'll tell Willow that they are too close, and you shouldn't try to teach your lover, that way lies badness!

The situation was defused when Kendra came rushing back into the library, practically bouncing with excitement.

"So, you have a date tonight, Ken?" Buffy asked with a grin as if it wasn't obvious. Catching Willow, and then Xander's eyes, they seemed to all agree that the Bronze is a good place to go for a date. Cordy and Xander both say Oz is a good guy, but Kendra isn't used to dating, and it's better to be safe than sorry. And maybe she'll get called up on stage to sing a couple of songs.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

The Bronze

Friday, November 7th, 1997

8:30 PM

Kendra wanted to be angry with Buffy and the others, acting like chaperones, acting like they just happened to decide to take their dates to the Bronze as well. She knew she liked Oz so far, but she didn't know if she wanted to kiss him or not. It was fun talking music, and favorite classes. She was thrilled that she and Tara both tested well enough to be in the Junior year, with Buffy and the others in the 'Scooby Gang.' Naturally, she had to be introduced to the Scooby Do Adventures, both cartoon and live-action movie. She thought it strange how much Daphne reminded her of Buffy, but nobody else seemed to notice, so Kendra just shrugged and went along with it.

Part of the reason she wasn't angry was Oz, she already accepted that he was quiet, and that was fine. She was quiet herself, so that didn't bother her. She also had to recognize that the blue-haired musician was also very observant. He saw that she

was getting annoyed with having the others watching over her and looked her in the eye, "It's nice that you have friends to look out for you. I know that I don't have bad intentions toward you, but they don't know me all that well yet, but hopefully we can correct that soon."

Kendra thought about it and realized that Oz was right about the friends watching over her, but she had to disagree with something else he said. Sliding closer to Oz, she put her mouse to his ear and said, "It's not going to happen tonight, and probably not the next time we go out, but after that, I'll be more interested in comparing bad intentions. Interested?"

Oz smiled slightly, "I'm certainly going to be thinking about them with great concentration."

Kendra's smile was wider, and she said "Me too,"

There wasn't much he could say to that, luckily a song they both liked came on, and they made their way to the dance floor. It was another few songs before they needed to take a break, and Kendra needed to visit the ladies' room. Coming out, she didn't bump into anyone, but she felt a sudden twinge in her belly and she started looking around for the vampire. She saw the female vamp leading a teenage guy by the nose down the hallway and through the door out into the alley. Kendra followed, pulling a stake out of her boot and holding it against her body. She felt someone coming up behind her, and in the security mirror in the corner saw that it was Buffy, Kendra turned and gave her sister Slayer a grateful smile, which Buffy returned as they stalked toward the open door, focusing on feeling for the vampire as she and Buffy reached the door. It was too bad that Kendra was concentrating on what was in front of her, and not behind her, where Oz stepped out of the men's room wiping his hands. He saw Kendra going down the hallway, followed by Buffy Summers, and, was curious as to what they were doing, because the intense focus on their faces made it clear they weren't playing a game of some kind.

The girls were just ahead of him, sliding quietly through the open door, but then there were shouts and sounds of a fight, Oz hurried after them, only to freeze in the doorway when he got a good look at the girl and she had a face from a Hammer Horror Movie, and part of him, that wasn't gibbering in terror, watched Kendra and Buffy toy with the vampire, her victim had already run out of the alley, still alive but hopefully a little wiser. Turning back to the fight, he was searching for something to use as a weapon so he could help Kendra and Buffy, only to find it wasn't needed as Kendra glided forward and buried a long piece of wood, was it a stake? Into the vampire's chest, and he watched as the girl's face returned to normal as her body turned to dust. Kendra was brushing off her hands, and Oz stepped forward, getting their attention, and he said, "That was a vampire, wasn't it?" Kendra nodded, looking at him nervously, and Oz just nodded, "That explains a whole lot. But I'm thirsty, let's get a soda."

End Chapter Fifteen

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