The Other Watchers
Ms. Hunter Ash
Fan Fiction Crossover
Buffy,
the Vampire Slayer: Buffy & Dawn Summers, Anya Emerson, Xander
Harris, Willow Rosenberg, Rupert Giles, William Pratt, Tara Maclay ####
Pairings: Buffy/Spike, Anya/Xander, Tara/Willow
Angel: Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Cordelia Chase, Charles Gunn (maybe) Winifred Burkle (maybe) ###Pairings: Wesley/Winifred
Highlander: Original characters so far but some of the tv/movie cast might appear
# # # # # # #
"So,
Giles and Tara are both immortal?" Xander asked that dinner at
the Summers house consisting of plenty of pizza for everyone and
their own individual pints of ice cream.
"Yeah,"
Buffy said with a nod. "Tovar too."
"Wow."
Xander whispered. "So where's Giles?"
"A day
or so behind us," Tovar answered.
Buffy wasn't quite
sure of that.
# # # #
"Hey, Anya, what's
up?" Buffy asked as she and Dawn were grocery shopping. Having
enough money to get a decent amount of food was a relief, she
thought. "Someone's asking for Tovar? We'll be right
there."
She looked at the full grocery cart and frowned.
"Give me the bank card and I'll take a cab home with
this stuff," Dawn suggested.
"That works,"
Buffy said with relief. "Thanks. Pick out your favorite
cookies."
"I'm not four, I don't need to be bribed,"
Dawn protested.
"Okay, make it two packs of our
favorite," Buffy countered. "I'll meet you at home."
Five
minutes later Buffy walked into the Magic Box and her eyes narrowed
as she took in the stranger in the shop.
"You were in
Canada," she said and reached for a sword from a rack of
decorative swords for sale. She didn't think it would last long
against a well made blade but it would be a start.
Garth
raised his hands. "Asher sent me."
"Who?"
"Well,
this is awkward, I don't know what his name is here," Garth
said. "My apologies. I've known him for centuries and most of
those as an enemy. I'm not now."
"Go on,"
Buffy urged as she moved closer with a strong sword in hand but not
on point with it yet. The blade wasn't sharp but the blade was a
thick metal. "Where is he?"
"I don't know,"
Garth said. "We started to talk and he was hit by a car. I
picked him up from the hospital and explained why I sought him out.
We were planning on following you that night. He stopped to grab some
items from a club and he didn't come back out. He told me to find you
and to say that you have a problem with the Initative and to go
underground."
"Initative?" Buffy repeated.
"What? Explain. Anya, close up the store and close the drapes.
You're Garth, right? I'm Buffy. Let's talk."
After 20
minutes Buffy was still frowning. "An, call Xan and tell him
to....meet us at Angel's mansion." The Slayer dialed and her
frown deepened when the call wasn't answered. "Voice mail?
Where are you, Will?"
She closed her phone. "Come
on, we have to get to my family. You help us, I help you and we get
Giles and your wife back."
"Deal," Garth said
easily.
Giles coughed and held his ribs tightly. "Will they do those Nazi inspired testing? If so, I won't make it through."
"I doubt it," Ethan said as he changed channels on the television every 10 seconds. "They did that for the first couple of months. Since then, they've focused on testing my PSI....whatever. 'What is the symbol on this card?' I'd answer, 'A penis?"
Giles chuckled and winced. "Don't make me laugh, you prat."
"Have you seen Garth's wife?" he asked after a few moments.
"The girl you fell for before she took up with him?" Ethan asked. "Nah, not so far. She's talented with the magic and they grabbed her?"
"It appears so," Giles said calmly as if they were discussing football scores by two teams neither of them supported.
"Shame," Ethan commented. "Let's hope they figure out that we haven't figured it out so how the hell can we tell them how we do it other than, meditate and pretend you're a tree and channel the energy, nonsense?"
"I haven't known this bunch to be very logical despite being scientists."
Giles sat up when the illusion disappeared from the wall and he and Ethan saw a man in a lab coat approaching with four soldiers with him.
"Looks like your first 'getting to know you' meeting," Ethan commented. "Think they'll figure out it'll be a political nightmare if they keep you?"
"If they're smart they will."
Giles swung his legs off the bed as the electricfied wall was disabled.
"You don't cause any problems and we don't shock, chain and drag you," the scientist said firmly.
"I'm not dangerous," Giles responded.
"We know you're trained in martial arts and with all kinds of weapons in addition to being a sorcerer," the scientist countered.
Giles almost smiled. "Thanks for confirming that you know I'm the Watcher to the Slayer and that you're knowingly violating numerous international treaties with an organization more powerful than yours."
"Bring him!" the scientist snapped.
Two soldiers grabbed Giles and pulled him off the bed and hit him twice in the ribs, doubling him over.
"Hey!" Ethan protested. "He's not fighting!"
"Shut up or you'll spend the night in the ice room," a soldier threatened.
Two of the soldiers pulled Giles down the hallway, his shoes dragging on the floor.
Giles raised his head as he was dropped onto a wooden chair and he looked over a metal table at another man in a lab coat and another dressed in a non-descript suit.
"I am the Watcher to the Slayer," Giles declared. "The Watchers Council has agreements with almost every civilized country in the world. Watchers, potentials and especially the Slayer and Watcher, are not to be impeded, imprisoned nor injured by any agents of said governments."
The man in the suit glanced over his shoulder and upwards. Giles resisted looking up at the camera watching him.
"Hmm, I seem to have missed that in my civics class," the man in the suit said with a smirk.
"That's odd, your lackey here acknowledged that you know who and what I am," Giles countered and resisted smiling as the man in the suit glared at the first lab coat. "My Slayer, myself and her team have been responsible for saving your sorry arses several times whether you were aware of it or not. I demand that you release me, arrange transport back to Sunnydale, California and you stop trying to capture my Slayer and team."
"We'll check with your organization, by third class mail," the man in the suit said as his hand clenched tightly.
"You're making your position worse," Giles said. "Is this really worth it? We don't even know how a Slayer is chosen or how she gets her powers. We know how to train them, guide them and instruct them. We can't duplicate the process or there'd be more than one Slayer in the world. Ah, my mistake, two Slayers in the world."
"How did you get two Slayers?" the 2nd labcoated scientist asked.
"We're still puzzling that one out," Giles responded. "They certainly don't know why they were selected. A Slayer doesn't know what's happened until a Watcher pops up and tries to convince a teenage girl that she's now been chosen to fight nightmare creatures until she dies."
"How do you know who the Slayer is?" Labcoat #2 asked.
"We have seers, magic users in the Council," Giles said. It was somewhat well known among the governments, afterall. "Even those of us with a talent with magic don't know how those particular magic users do it. Whether you believe in a higher power or not, that's the only explanation we've come up with so far."
"You realize we can get answers out of you," labcoat #1 threatened.
"Everything I've said is known to your government higher up, most of the governments actually," Giles said wearily. "From the Pope to queens, kings and presidents and cabinets. Let me go."
"I say we put him through at least two rounds of intense interrogation," labcoat#1 urged.
Giles coughed and wiped at his lips and sighed.
"I wouldn't advise it," he responded.
"And why not? Think you can stand up to our interrogations?" Labcoat #1 demanded.
"No," Giles said and held up his hand, revealing blood. "I was in a car wreck before your goons attacked me and then drugged me and your idiots here also hit me in the ribs, which are broken. The inability to breathe very well and blood indicate I probably have a punctured lung or more. Stop trying to capture my Slayer and team."
"Hey, catch him!"
Giles heard someone yell as everything went black.
# # # #
Buffy jumped out of the Jeep and pulled a crowbar out from under her seat and Garth pulled a sword from his coat as they took in the open door of the house. "Anya, get up on the porch behind us. If anyone pops up or out, run and get to Angel's mansion."
"I'm not sure where that is," Anya protested.
"Then get to Oz' cell," Buffy suggested.
"There's an immortal somewhere near," Garth said softly.
Buffy peered into the open door and stepped inside slowly. She brought the crowbar up, catching the sword blade aimed at her head from behind the door.
"Oh damn, I'm sorry!"
"Wow, Tara has moves now," Buffy said. "Where is everyone, why is the door kicked in?"
"I was upstairs unpacking my clothes and someone kicked in the door. I got to the top of the stairs in time to see Willow fall and I heard Dawn scream. I saw a dart in Willow's shoulder and stepped out of sight. I went out your window and hid in the tree. I don't know where Altheana is."
"Go on, where's Dawnie?"
"In the kitchen with an ice pack," Tara explained. "I saw them carry Will out. They were dressed like Riley."
"Initiative soldiers," Buffy confirmed. "This is Garth, the soldiers grabbed his wife and they've got Giles."
"We need to get out of here," Garth suggested. "They know you'll return for your sister."
"He's right," Buffy said. "Pack a bag and hang out upstairs for a minute. Pack me and Dawn one too. Garth, keep an eye out here. Anya get in here. Grab weapons from the closet."
Buffy saw Dawn coming out of the kitchen with a bag of frozen peas pressed against a cheek. |
"They took Willow and hit me when I tried to stop them," Dawn said. "I'm sorry, I couldn't fight them."
"I know, we're going to get her back," Buffy said firmly.
"There's a black van coming up the street with running boards on both sides," Garth said as he stepped inside the house. "Cop car."
"Out the back, Garth and I will handle anyone coming in the alley. Get to Angel's mansion. Tara, out the tree!"
Buffy and Garth dashed through the kitchen and out onto the back porch as Dawn and Anya moved closely behind them.
"I hear brakes squealing out front," Buffy said. "This is going to be a mad dash. Come on."
The Slayer motioned the others past her as sounds came from inside the house. She trotted behind the small group and closed the gate. She turned and rushed past Anya and Dawn to help Tara and Garth fight Initiative soldiers. Swords against battle batons and fists.
Soldiers poured out of the gate from the house and joined the fight. Anya tossed a baseball bat to Dawn and pulled out one for herself.
Buffy spun out of the way as a pickup roared down the alley and stopped just short of a soldier. The soldier, distracted by the grill of the pickup, never saw the bat aimed at his head by an angry teenager.
Spike leaned out over the bed. "Nibblet, come on!"
"Good to see you!" Buffy called over to Xander as he slammed open his truck door into the head of a soldier. Anya jumped into the bed of the pickup as Dawn climbed in with Spike's help. "Xan, get ready to drive."
Xander punched a soldier and got back behind the wheel.
"Garth! Fall back to the truck!" Buffy called as Tara slashed the arm of a soldier and jumped into the pickup.
Buffy and Garth hit and slashed the last three soldiers and jumped onto the bumper as some of the soldiers tried to recover. "Go!"
Buffy and Garth climbed into the pickup when Xander screeched to a halt and Altheana got into the cab of the truck at the end of the alley and Xander turned onto the street with his lights out.
"Well, that was fun," Garth said as he began wiping his sword off. "Now what?"
"We get your wife, Giles and Willow back," Buffy said firmly.
### # # # #
Giles coughed and opened his eyes with a moan. He was surprised to find himself in a hospital bed in a larger cell. Especially surprising was that Ethan and Willow were with him with the girl holding his hand.
"What?"
"It'll take him a few to form complete sentences," Ethan predicted.
"Prat."
"See what I mean?" Ethan commented with a smirk.
"Don't try to get up," Willow said. "Your ribs were pretty busted up. They said they found a problem, that you're really sick."
//But immortals don't get sick// he thought. "Well, damn. I was hoping to retire in about 20 years. Anyone else here?"
"No, everyone else was out," Willow said.
"Come here, luv," Giles said softly and pulled her down gently and kissed her neck. "Don't reveal your magic levels," he whispered and then kissed her. "Thanks for watching over me."
//Let them puzzle out the relationships, the idiots//
"I saw Oz," Willow said as she continued to hold his hand.
"You went to school with him, right?" Ethan asked.
"I dated him," Willow explained.
"I'm sorry, luv," Giles said softly. "He didn't know you, did he?"
"No, not at all."
"Don't worry, the Council will demand our release and Buffy is likely to avoid capture," Giles said in a normal voice. "They're risking an international dust-up."
"The Council isn't out in the public," Ethan said with a frown.
"The Council isn't but the government and the Royal Family are," Giles said with a slight smile. "My father has the ear of the crown prince and Her Majesty. MI-6 will likely take notice if we aren't released soon."
Giles' eyes darkened slightly and the camera in the corner was revealed along with it's recording alert, a red light. The light went out and Giles sighed. "I was right, they've shielded the cells but not inside the cells and likely not below us," he whispered to Ethan and Willow. "Don't do any magic yet."
"Company is coming," Ethan said and pulled back away from the hospital room wall.
Giles wasn't surprised when it disappeared and the plexiglass wall was revealed. He recognized the man from Giles' earlier meeting and with him was another man in a suit and four guards. The 2nd suit walked with an air of confidence. "Their version of my boss, I believe."
"Good to see you awake, Mr. Giles," the 2nd suit said. "I'm Raymond Shaw."
"It's good that I'm not referred to as a number," Giles said. "I can't quite say it's a pleasure."
"I'd worry if you did," Shaw responded. "Our doctors tell me that you're very sick. They're surprised that you're up and about."
"Lungs or the heart?" Giles asked.
"Lungs, small-cell, stage four," Shaw answered. "We are attempting to contact the Council but we don't have their direct number. Our governments and organizations cooperate with each other. Given the urgent nature of your illness, we would like to talk with you about your Council and Slayers. Your Slayer is quite talented with weapons and the martial arts. Your training?"
"Mostly mine, others have also lent a hand," Giles said. "My ribs?"
"Not too bad now, they were put back where they should be," Shaw answered. "That's why your chest is bound tightly. May we count on your cooperation? Before your father raises all sorts of alarms."
"Stop trying to capture my Slayer and her team," Giles said firmly. "And start arrangements to release Willow and Ethan."
He held up a hand as the witch and sorcerer protested.
"You heard my prognosis," Giles said. "I want you two out of here. Take care of Buffy and Dawn."
"We'll start cutting through the red tape," Shaw said easily.
"Why the detainment orders for my Slayer, the team, myself and one of our aides here?" Giles asked.
"We tracked patterns among the hostiles that are alarming," Shaw said. "The consensus is that they are organizing and likely to start making progress in taking over some areas. We need your Slayer's talents and strength. She can't be all over the States and Canada."
"But we don't know how to duplicate the....what makes the Slayer a Slayer," Giles protested. "Don't you think we would have at least ten Slayers around the world by now?"
"Your Council hasn't had our technology," Shaw countered. "If you can get your Slayer and the Council to cooperate.... well, it would be very appreciated. We will be working on your cancer as well. There are some experimental drugs that show great promise even at your advanced stage."
"Let me think on that," Giles said after a moment. "I haven't taken this in yet."
"I understand," Shaw responded. "We'll leave you all to your dinner. I believe you'll find these quarters and beds a bit more comfortable. We'll talk tomorrow, Mr. Giles."
The three watched Shaw and guards leaving the cell and the plexiglass illusion once again was activated.
Giles glanced at the camera and slightly moved his head side to side. "Well, this is rather a problem. I'm sure the broken ribs didn't help my lungs any."
"I don't want to lose you!" Willow protested and wiped at her eyes.
"Shhh," Giles said softly. "We'll be all right. I am a proud father of some remarkable men and women. And more."
Willow kissed his cheek.
"Oh goodie," Ethan said loudly. "It's taco night. Let us pray that they let us start picking our meals. Their meatloaf sucks."
"Prat," Giles muttered and glanced at the red light.
# # # #
"We have to get out of Sunnydale," Xander suggested.
"We can't go to Angel's crew," Buffy said thoughtfully. "I called and warned them. The government was helped by Angel once and Riley may have reported about Angel."
"How the hell do we run and find Giles and Will?" Tara asked.
"And my wife," Garth added.
"Altheana, how did you get out of the house?" Tara asked the older woman.
"I threw out an illusion spell," the witch replied. "They thought I was one of their soldiers."
"Clever," Dawn commented. "Can we find Willow and Giles through magic? I mean they both do magic and Garth's wife is a witch."
"Possibly," Altheana said after a moment. "I'm not sure. The government must have a way to block or dampen their magic or else they wouldn't be able to hold them."
"Giles isn't that great with the magic," Xander commented.
"You're wrong," Altheana said. "He had to hold the magic from the coven when he transported here and took on Willow because he is capable of working with some major power. He doesn't because he fears the temptation."
"We know the Initiative has Ethan Rayne," Buffy commented. "Who knows where he is, probably Area 51. Siobhan is probably with Giles and Willow."
"We need to have some kind of idea what part of North America to look," Altheana complained.
Buffy pulled out her cellphone and frowned.
"Hello?"
"It's Riley," a voice said. "I need to talk to you but your phone isn't safe. I swear I'm on your side."
Buffy hesitated. "All right, meet me where we found the jars in fifteen."
She clicked off her phone. "Everyone except Garth and Altheana, give me your phone. That was Riley and he said my phone isn't safe."
"Oh man, of course, pinging off the towers," Xander exclaimed. "They'll know all of us are still in Sunnydale."
"Turn all of them off except Garth and Althie's," Tara suggested.
"Yeah, that should work," Xander said. "We'll need to get those phones where you pay for minutes."
"I'll be back," Buffy said. "I'm going to listen to Riley."
"And if its a trap?" Garth asked.
"They won't be able to sneak up on me," Buffy said. She didn't mention that she'd be stuck in a clock tower if it was a trap. She went to the mantle of the fireplace and felt along the wood until there was a click and the bottom of the mantle fell open to reveal a pistol and a shotgun.
"Vampires don't use guns but sometimes they aren't up against Slayers or other vampires," Buffy explained and pulled the shotgun off it's hooks. "I'm going out the back way over the fence. There are shells in the pantry."
"Just...be careful," Dawn said and hugged her big sister.
"As I can be."
# # # #
