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Additional A/N:
Sorry for the confusion as to the location of this story…I didn't realize that I accidentally chose 'Book Crossovers' instead of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer Crossovers' as the Genre. It's fixed now.
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Disclaimer: BtVS characters belong to Whedon, et al, and Batman characters belong to DC Comics.
A/N: I'm on a roll here…maybe…I could be delusional, though. Another one-shot for the FFA.
Summary: FFA #122 at TTH…BtVS & Batman. Reforming the Council requires financial support.
Financial Supporters
"Mr. Giles, Ms. Summers…I was the biggest supporter of the Council of Watchers – I feel it's my duty to help continue their legacy."
"Please. Don't," Buffy drawled sarcastically.
The dark-haired man sitting across from her started in surprise.
"I'm afraid I don't understand, Ms. Summers…weren't they considered the Slayer's support system? I would think you'd wish to have that available again…especially since you now have a large number of new Slayers looking for guidance and support."
"Not their kind of guidance and support…that we can do without," Buffy scowled.
"But the reports I received claimed that a large portion of the funds I donated went towards supporting you and your efforts in the form of weaponry, books, and cost of living expenses, Ms. Summers! Why would you deny yourself that?"
Giles swore under his breath.
Buffy leaned forward, her face grim. "How am I denying myself something I never got?"
"But…"
"Let me tell you of the support I received…no, we received from the council," Buffy leaned back in her chair and clasped her hands together in order to avoid breaking anything in her anger. "The first time I ever made contact with a representative of the Council was on my 18th birthday, three years after I began my Slaying career, when they had this fun little test…"
Buffy and Giles supplied the dark-haired man with the truth…in all it's nitty-gritty, death-encompassing form.
He wasn't pleased.
"So, let me get this straight…you're telling me that, in the entire seven and a half years you've been slaying, you didn't receive one penny from the Council, had to purchase your own weapons and books, had no support, except for the one time, but with strings attached, and were told that your life was their's to do with as they pleased, including killing you if you stepped out of line?"
"Bingo."
"I can see why you don't wish to continue their legacy, Ms. Summers," the man replied seriously. He leaned back in his chair and looked at the two people on the other side of his desk with a grave look. "I'm willing to continue giving financial support to the Council of Watchers, but, as a business man, I will need to know what form this new Council will take…to have a better idea of where my funds will, truthfully, be going…a business plan, if you will."
"A…a b-business plan?" Giles stuttered.
Buffy snickered. "Told you, Giles."
She reached down to a bag next to her chair and pulled out a slim binder, handing it over to the amused man sitting behind the desk.
"It's a pretty rough draft because we haven't been able to get access to what the Council assets entail…the Council lawyers have been giving us the run-around. Willow was able to hack…um…I mean obtain some general information, but until control is given to Giles, we're kinda flying blind with a solid number. But the basics of what we want to do is there."
"H-how did you know…" Giles began.
"The loan officer mentioned it when I tried to get a home-loan to fix the pipes on the house – he wanted to know how I was going to pay for it when I didn't have a job," Buffy said quietly, looking down in embarrassment. "There was no money left after mom…"
"Oh, Buffy." Giles lay a comforting hand on Buffy's arm.
The man silently watched this exchange, seeing the closeness between the two. He turned his attention toward the contents of the binder to give them a moment to pull themselves together.
"The Slayer's Council, Ms. Summers?" the man asked, arching an eyebrow at her.
Buffy arched an eyebrow back. "We want to remind the people who are working for the Council, just who they are working for. The time for 'snobby, corrupt, tea drinking, crumpet eating, sitting on their asses because they're too lazy to help' Watchers is over. Anyone who wants be hired will have to be willing to lend a hand in the fight – we want people like Giles…doers, not watchers. You know…mini-Tweedmen."
"Dammit, Buffy! Lay off the tweed! I haven't worn tweed in over five years!"
The dark-haired man chuckled at both the British man's words, and the fact that Ms. Summers was mouthing them, word for word, as he spoke.
"And what about those who can't physically fight, Ms. Summers?"
"What? Do you mean people who are handicapped, or people who are too clumsy?"
"Both."
"If they have a brain, they can still help…they just have to share the information they find," Buffy said simply, shrugging her shoulders. "Half the fight is knowing how to fight something."
The man closed the binder and tapped a finger on it as he thought.
Buffy and Giles sat quietly with blank faces, unwilling to show their apprehension with the man's possible decision.
"Your proposal, though rough, as you said, Ms. Summers, is quite interesting. But before I can commit to any future endeavors, I believe you should have a more firm idea of the status of the Council's assets and finances," the man said. At their defeated looks, a small smile graced his features as he continued. "I know you're currently having difficulties in finding that information out, which is why I will be happy to provide you the services of my own lawyers….you have to fight fire with fire, or in this case, fight lawyers with lawyers. With the heavy losses sustained by the Council, you're probably the most senior staff left anyway, not to mention the fact that you've been sorely mistreated by an organization that should have been providing support…it's your due."
Buffy and Giles grinned at each other.
"I-it would be greatly appreciated," Giles replied. "They have been quite a headache, and we have close to fifty girls to support, with more appearing every week."
"Yeah…I was just about ready to fly over and talk to them with my fists. If they still give us grief, can I, Giles?"
"No."
"Damn."
Chuckling, the man rose from his desk.
"I have several ideas, if you would be interested in discussing this further over lunch," he offered with a friendly smile.
Giles hesitated.
"I'm afraid I need to return to the motel to provide sustenance for the girls…the downside of being the only one who possesses a Council credit card, I'm afraid," the British man said ruefully.
Buffy looked disappointed.
"Would Ms. Summers be able to represent your group, Mr. Giles?" the man asked, seeing the look on the lovely young woman's face.
Giles laughed. "Buffy was the greatest contributor of all our ideas. Having been the only active Slayer for the majority of the past seven and a half years, she knows more of what's needed – and I'm sure she knows more about the proposed formation of the new Council than even I… she provided the business plan, after all."
"Willow and Xander helped too," Buffy said, blushing.
"I'm sure you'll be able to answer most of my questions, Ms. Summers…that is, if you will be joining me for lunch?" he arched a questioning eyebrow at her.
She hesitated, looking over at her smiling Watcher.
"Feel free to go, Buffy…we'll be able to handle the girls for a few hours."
"If you're sure…"
"I'm sure…go, enjoy yourself – you deserve some time off."
"In that case, I'd be happy to join you for lunch, Mr. Wayne," Buffy said, giving the handsome man a radiant smile.
Trying not to reveal how much her smile affected him, he gracefully skirted around his desk and held out his arm.
"Please call me Bruce, Ms. Summers."
"Only if you call me Buffy," she responded with another dazzling smile as she picked up her winter coat before threading her arm through his.
"Deal…Buffy," he smiled down at her.
Taking a moment to say their good-byes to Giles, the two strolled off, chattering comfortably with each other.
Giles watched them, a smile on his face. He had seen the interest Bruce Wayne had shown in his Slayer, though the man had tried to hide it. Being a Watcher had it's perks sometimes, and Giles couldn't help but hope something would happen between the two…after all, Mr. Wayne was a thousand, no, a million times better than any other relationship Buffy had had in the past.
Better yet, he was well-off, stable, and intelligent.
And best of all, he was…normal.
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Sometimes Buffy wondered if God had it in for her…or maybe she was the Devil's plaything. In any case, all she knew was that whenever anything good happened to her, something tended to show up and try to suck the happiness out of her life.
"Shouldn't you be up in New York City bothering Spiderman, Dr. Octopus?" Bruce ground out.
"That little bug doesn't have what I need, Mr. Wayne," the odd-looking man grinned at him, squeezing the tentacle wrapped around the dark-haired man as he drew him closer.
"And what would that be?"
"Ohhhh…the plans for that very interesting power source your company is creating to replace nuclear generators, Mr. Wayne."
"And what makes you think I'll give you that?"
"If you don't want your…date to end up in several pieces, I'm sure you'll play nice," the many-armed man replied smugly as he lifted the blonde-haired woman up, holding her several feet away from the other man.
A little apprehensive at what he might see, Bruce took a quick glance at Buffy's face, then started. He almost laughed at her expression.
Buffy looked pissed. Even though one of Dr. Octopus' tentacles was tightly wrapped around her middle, her arms were crossed angrily over her chest. Bruce swore that if her feet had been on solid ground, she would have been tapping one in irritation.
"I'm afraid you've made a grave mistake, Dr. Octopus," Bruce said with a hint of humor.
"And what might that be, Mr. Wayne?"
"You made my date mad."
Dr. Octopus looked over at the blonde woman and was startled at seeing an angry expression instead of a fearful one. He pulled her close, glaring at her face from inches away.
He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a fuming Buffy.
"You…are…wrinkling…my…dress!" she hissed.
For a moment, he gaped at her.
Shaking himself from his stupor, he growled, "Aren't you afraid of me, little girl?"
"No."
"And why not, pray tell?"
"Because," she punched him in the face…hard, "I can kick your ass."
She punched him a few more times, until the tentacle released its tight grip, and the 'Doctor's' eyes were rolling back, showing the whites of his eyes.
Both she and Bruce slipped through the loosened coils, Buffy grabbing the man's hand as she latched onto on of the tentacles the 'Doctor' was using to lift himself high off the ground, and slid down it like a fireman.
Once they reached the ground, Bruce chuckled as he watched Buffy calmly brush down the front of her dress before quickly inspecting the rest of her outfit.
Before he could say anything to her, though, an enraged expression crossed over her face.
"Dammit!"
The diminutive blonde grabbed the tentacle they had just slid down, and used it to flip the villain over her head, causing the man to crash into the ground twenty feet away (the length of the tentacle).
"You!..."
Flip…CRASH!
"Made me!..."
Flip…CRASH!
"Get a run!..."
Flip…CRASH!
"In my!..."
Flip…CRASH!
"Pantyhose!"
Flip…CRASH!
By the time Buffy was done, Dr. Octopus lay unconscious in front of the restaurant Bruce had planned on taking her to.
"You do know that his arms are rumored to run independently from his brain, don't you?" Bruce said with a faint smile.
"They do?"
He nodded his head.
"So, they're still dangerous?"
"I'm afraid so."
Buffy jutted her chin out, "We'll see about that!"
She stomped over to the unconscious Dr. Octopus, and grabbed one of his tentacles about a foot from his body.
Flashing a grin at Bruce, Buffy pulled.
"He defeated me…"
RIP
"He defeated me not…"
RIP
"He defeated me…"
RIP
"He defeated me not!"
RIP
"Yeah! I win!"
Bruce laughed at the sight of Buffy taking the last arm and spiking it like a football before doing the 'touchdown dance'.
When she finally completed her antics, Bruce walked up to her and wrapped an arm around her waist. Lifting one of her hands up, he kissed her knuckles.
"I do believe we'll get along famously, Ms. Summers."
"Buffy."
He smiled down at her, his eyes sparkling with laughter.
The tentacles lying around them twitched a few times before they wheezed their death-knell, which sounded uncannily like dying bagpipes.
Releasing her waist, he took her arm and threaded it through his again, pulling her alongside him as he began to walk towards the restaurant they'd been waylaid from.
"Aren't you afraid that people will recognize you now, Buffy?"
She waived a hand in dismissal. "Nah. By the end of the day, I'll be a seven foot tall red-head, with gold eyes. I noticed this town has the same 'denial' thing going on that Sunnydale had. I mean, how can someone not figure out who Batman is…he only wears a half-mask! And Robin?…Don't get me started on the Lone Ranger-esque masquerade mask that doesn't hide anything! Pfft!"
"So you know who they are?" Bruce asked, bemused.
"Yup."
"Who?"
"I'll only tell you if you can answer one question for me," Buffy replied with a half-smile in his direction.
"And what question would that be?" he questioned with a tone of amusement.
"What's it like to wear your underwear over your clothes?"
Bruce burst into loud, bellowing laughter, not quite certain if he was laughing over his lack of surprise that she knew his secret, or her cheeky question.
Buffy grinned at him.
"My dear Mr. Wayne…I think you and me need to talk about the benefits of leather."
"Only if you will let me in on the non-chafing secret, my lovely Ms. Summers."
"Talcum powder, Brucie…plain, old-fashioned talcum powder. Of course, you need to know where to put it."
"I assume you'll tell me?"
"Nope," Buffy replied, then gave him a sly smile, "But I'll be happy to show you where…you should know that I'm definitely a 'hands-on' type of person, Bruce."
Bruce grinned and opened the door for her.
"It would be my pleasure, Buffy."
Buffy stepped through the opening, and tossed her comment over her shoulder, "You got that right."
Bruce laughed in delight.
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I know I should be working on my other stories, but I'm having too much fun with the FFA pairings. LOL
I make no claim as to know all that much about the Batman series, and took the position that Gotham City is located somewhere in the state of New Jersey (as was stated in the little bit of research I did that mentioned DC placed it there at one point).
I also know that Dr. Octopus is a Spiderman villain, but went ahead and used him, just for the purpose of ripping his arms off in this story. LOL
A/N 2: Someone just informed me that Dr. Octopus only has four tentacles…I fixed the segment that implied more. Sorry…didn't mean to imply that Buffy ripped off his arms and legs too. LOL
I hope you enjoyed!
Please review!!