Primitive
A Virtual Buffy "Webisode"
In the aftermath of a devastating attack on the Slayer Academy in Rio de Janeiro, Buffy reverts back to her original incarnation. Now Dawn, Faith, and the "Red Death" have to capture the Primitive, a merciless creature with immense power who does not like modern humans.
Disclaimers: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all affiliated characters are the intellectual and actual property of Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox. Furthermore, this webisode includes quotations of material written by the man himself, Joss Whedon. I of course receive no compensation for writing this story except my enjoyment and hopefully the enjoyment of others.
Continuity: This story is a delayed sequel to the stories Caliban's Daughters and One Less Martyr. It takes place in early February of 2004, right after the Angel episode "You're Welcome". If you find yourselves interested in this story, you might want to go back and check out the previous two webisodes.
Further notes: This is the third of seven webisodes I am planning to do for a mostly hidden (in my head) virtual season 8 of BtVS, based on hints dropped in the excellent final season of Angel.
This story will be written in a present tense format. The narrative is meant to describe the action as a television viewer might see it. As before with Caliban's Daughters, the "Previously, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer" chapter will run (much) longer than an actual television recap would in order to include some critical background information.
With that in mind, here we go…
Previously, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The aftermath of the Battle of the Hellmouth:
Buffy, Willow, Dawn, Giles, Xander, and Faith are standing in front of the giant sink hole that used to be Sunnydale California and the Hellmouth. In the background is the yellow school bus.
"Yeah, you're not the one and only chosen anymore, gotta live like a person," says Faith. "How's that feel?"
"Yeah, Buffy," Dawn says. "What are we gonna do now?"
In response to the questions, Buffy smiles.
The courtyard of the Hyperion Hotel:
We see Buffy sitting in the courtyard. She is softly weeping when we hear a door open. Our view switches to the open door. Standing in the doorway, cigarette in hand, is Faith.
"Oh hey," Faith says, sounding uncomfortable and apologetic. "Sorry to intrude B."
Buffy wipes the tears from her cheeks and looks at Faith, giving her a slight smile.
"You, of all people, are not intruding," Buffy says.
"Yeah, I am," Faith says. "The cig can wait. I'll go back in, take as long as you…"
Faith is cut off as Buffy rapidly stands up, steps forward, and hugs her.
"Hey!" Faith cries, now looking and sounding embarrassed, not to mention confused. "You just crushed my cig! In the Big House, that would cost ya big time."
"Sorry," Buffy says with a slight laugh as she wipes another tear from her eye. "I just…Wes told me what you did for Angel."
"Yeah, well, I didn't do it for…," Faith begins to say.
"Me?" Buffy finishes. "Already knew that. Doesn't make me appreciate what you did any less. I mean, how ironic can you get?"
"Ironic?" Faith asks.
"Yeah," Buffy replies. "Four years ago, you try to assassinate Angel by injecting poison into him, and you jump off a building to keep the cure, your blood, away from him. Four years later, you willingly poison yourself and let Angelus drink from you so that you can save Angel."
Faith looks up at Buffy, her expression thoughtful.
"Huh," Faith says. "Y'know, I never thought of it that way. That really is kinda opposite-opposite, huh?"
Buffy sobs lightly again.
"Hey, you OK B?" Faith asks with obvious concern.
"No," Buffy answers. "No not really. I think it's all hitting me, the deaths of the girls and Anya, the destruction of Sunnydale. Tara and my Mom were buried there!"
"It's a lot to lose," Faith says. "'Course, I never had all that."
"You have me," Buffy says.
"Huh?" Faith says.
"You have me," Buffy says. "It would be absolutely hypocritical of me to hold your past against you when I haven't done it with others. You get the responsibility that comes with being a slayer. More importantly, you get the responsibility that comes with being a friend. If it wasn't for you, the First and this Jasmine character would have been fighting Angelus over the scraps of this world.
"So here I am, looking at you and knowing that the most important thing in the world right now is to be your friend. I want you to be able to count on me like we were able to count on you."
As Buffy speaks, Faith takes out another cigarette. Her hands start to shake a little as she tries to light it. Finally, Faith swears softly, closes her lighter, and slips the cigarette back into her jacket pocket.
"B, you're embarrassin' me," Faith says shakily.
"I imagine I am," Buffy replies. "But you're tough. I know you can handle it."
"Damn straight," Faith says. Then she hugs Buffy. It is quick, over before Buffy can bring up her own arms to reciprocate.
"Don't tell anyone I just did that," Faith says. "Especially the brat. I'd never live it down."
"When you say 'brat'," Buffy replies. "Do you mean my kid sister or do you mean Kennedy?"
"Both," Faith says.
Buffy nods solemnly.
"You're right," Buffy says. "We must never speak of this again."
The lobby of the Hyperion:
"At the crater, you all asked what I was going to do next," Buffy says to the remaining core Scooby group (Giles, Dawn, Willow, Xander, and Faith). Angel and Wesley are also present. Buffy is standing, and they are all seated around her. "I now have an answer to that question."
"I am going to set out to find and contact all of the other slayers," Buffy says. "Not next week. Not even tomorrow. I am going to start now. Immediately!"
"Now?" Giles asks. "Buffy, while I appreciate your dedication, I do not think things are quite so urgent."
"Yeah, B," Faith says. "What happened to living like a person?"
"Syria happened," Buffy says. "Did you all see the story about the girl who killed her father and brothers?"
"The girl who defended herself from an attempted honor killing?" Giles asks. "You think she was a slayer?"
"She isa slayer, Giles," Buffy says. "Will and the Devonshire Coven confirmed it,"
Buffy starts to pace back and forth as she speaks.
"Activating all of the potentials at once was originally my idea, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. We had to stop the First and its army and we did. But even the right decisions have consequences. The consequence for this one is that there are now somewhere between 550 and 600 super powered girls in the world. Not all of them are going to choose to use their powers to fight demons. Many of them probably live under circumstances and stresses we can't imagine, and a few of them may even be criminal or insane."
"What's everyone lookin' at me for?" Faith asks.
Buffy ignores Faith's comment.
"Whatever they do with their new power, good and bad, I bear some responsibility for," Buffy says. "And as the world's most experienced slayer, I also have a responsibility to each and every one of them."
Giles looks at Willow.
"See?" Giles whispers. "I told you we had a lot to do!"
"Yeah, yeah," Willow replies. "Spoilsport! So Buffy, how do we get started?"
Buffy looks at Willow with an overwhelmed, almost hopeless, expression on her face.
"We can use you and the Devonshire coven to locate them," Buffy says. "After that, I'm not sure. Any ideas?"
Dawn tentatively raises her hand.
"I have some thoughts," she says.
Courtyard at the Hyperion:
"You wanted to see us?" asks Buffy as she and Angel walk out into the courtyard.
"Yeah," Faith says as she steps on her cigarette. "I've made a decision. I been thinkin' about what you said, B, about even good decisions having consequences."
Buffy and Angel look at one another.
"I'm goin' back," Faith says.
"Back where?" Buffy asks.
"To prison," Angel answers. "That's what you mean don't you?"
"Yeah," says Faith. "I made a deal to pay for the things I did. When I escaped I did it just to help Angel and I fully intended to go back when I was done. Then Willow drafted me to help out with the latest Sunnydale apocalypse, and I made connections with the girls, with B, and even with a guy who I want to do more than a one night stand with. So I was thinkin' maybe I could go somewhere else, help you guys out, and not go back to prison. I now have all sorts of reasons for not wanting to go back.
"But the reasons, they're all personal, and in the end I still made a deal."
"Faith, we might be able to fix this," Buffy says. "Angel runs a law firm now, an evil law firm to be sure, but I am sure we can do something with that. And you would be amazed at what Willow could do…"
"That'd be cheatin', B," Faith says. "Angel's gonna hafta be resistin' temptation enough dealin' with somethin' like Wolfram and Hart. As for Willow, let's just say she's been walkin' a thin line for awhile, and usin' witchcraft, computer hackin', or both to clean my record up is way off a' this line."
"Faith," Buffy says. "We need you."
"No, you really don't," Faith says. "Not like ya think, anyway. You got a whole platoon's worth of veteran slayers. Vi, Kennedy, Karyn, and that Korean chick, Jinny, are all really good. And have you watched your kid sister practicin'? She's gonna be better'n any of us inside the month. 'cept maybe you. I may have more experience than any of 'em right now but that won't be true inside the year. When it comes to my experience, ya gotta remember that I spent most a' my time as a slayer in prison or in a coma."
Buffy and Angel both start to open their mouths.
"Don't try an' change my mind, guys," Faith says. "This decision is final."
"You go back," Angel says. "I don't think they'll ever let you out."
"Yeah," Faith says. "I know. That's where the consequences come in."
A Los Angeles Police Precinct:
Faith enters, flanked by Wesley Wyndam-Pryce and a couple of Wolfram and Hart's lawyers. The offices are cleared out except for some men in SWAT outfits all training their rifles on her.
"Aw, is all this for little ol' me?" Faith says.
"When we are dealing with someone who can jump through bullet proof glass," the prosecutor seated in a desk in front of Faith says. "We respond accordingly."
"I ain't goin' anywhere," Faith says. "I'm ready to go back."
"Yeah," says the prosecutor as he signs the last of the papers in front of him. He then holds it out behind him. "Only you're not going back.
"She's all yours, Major."
Riley Finn steps out from behind the ring of SWAT officers, flanked by his wife Samantha and his friend Graham. He takes the papers from the prosecutor.
Faith's eyes go wide, but she mounts no resistance as Riley takes her by the upper arm and steers her out of the precinct.
"So, does the Initiative have a new demon prison to put me in?" Faith asks in a whisper.
"More like an alternative sentence," Riley says. "And I have a message for you from Buffy Summers. She said, 'I told you you can count on me'."
"Cool," says Faith. "So I guess I'm in Club Uncle Sam now huh?"
"As long as you behave yourself," Riley says.
Devonshire
Willow is walking out of a circular grove of tall oak trees. Inside the grove various women in white robes are milling about in groups of two or three. Willow is also wearing a white robe, and her hair color is now white mixed in with her customary red.
Buffy, Kennedy, and Vi are standing together and watching Willow approach them. As she does so, the white hair slowly turns back to its usual red.
"The coven senses great potential in one of the new slayers," Willow says. "The potential to acquire magickal power."
"So one of us will become a witch as well as a slayer?" Kennedy asks. "Cool."
"Or very disturbing," Buffy says. "A slayer who could perform witchcraft would be almost unstoppable.
"Do you know who it is Will?"
"Well, yeah, since I sensed the power first," Willow said. "The coven was just providing a second opinion. Now they want me to help with this girl's training."
Then Willow looks directly at Buffy as she says, "But to do that, I need to get your permission first."
"My permission?" Buffy says. "Why would you need my permission? It's not like I'm this slayer's legal guardian…"
Buffy's voice trails off for a moment as she frowns thoughtfully.
"…unless I am that slayer's legal guardian," Buffy says uneasily.
"That's it, Buffy," Willow says. "I didn't want to say anything to you until the coven gave me a second opinion, but now they have. Dawn's the slayer who is also a potential witch, and I need your permission to start training with her."
Devonshire
Dawn and Willow are in a room in Gile's house in Devonshire They are sitting cross legged on the floor, their eyes closed. Between them, eight pencils are floating in the air and twirling end over end. Buffy walks in.
"Willow," Buffy says. "Are you trying to teach Dawn how to levitate pencils now?"
"Nope!" Willow says.
Dawn holds her hand out and all eight pencils stop their twirling and go one at a time into the palm of her open right hand.
"Lesson's already over," Dawn says.
Devonshire
Giles is talking to six people sitting around a round table, four men and two women, the youngest looking to be in their seventies.
"We are starting Slayer Academies in Cleveland, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Johannesburg, New Delhi, and Tokyo," Giles says.
"Where are you getting the money for all this Rupert?" asks Roger Wyndham-Price.
"Well, much of the money came from funds recently liberated from the old Council's Swiss Bank accounts," Giles says. "Since then, we have also come into some additional funds for ongoing operational expenses."
"And those funds come from…?" Roger Wyndham-Price asks.
"Philanthropists," says Giles.
Location unimportant
We see a magazine lying on the table. The Magazine is Wired, and on the cover is a picture of Willow Rosenberg.
The caption says:
The Tech World's Newest Billionaire: Web Security Guru Willow Rosenberg is the "Wicked Witch of the Network"
Los Angeles, the offices of Sunset Development
Xander, very well dressed in a black suit, is talking to another, equally well dressed older man.
"The fact is, Mr. Harris," the man says. "In the span of a year, you went from working for Sunnydale's largest contractor as a foreman to becoming Sunnydale's largest contractor. As a result, you now hold most of the contracts for rebuilding Sunnydale."
"People want to rebuild Sunnydale?" Xander asks. "Why?"
"That's not important, Mr. Harris," the man says. "The important thing is that we at Sunset Development want to buy those contracts from you. I think you will find our offer to be very generous."
Berlin
"Mrs. Durtz," Buffy says. "I want to assure you that our new academy in Rome will provide Inga with a top notch…"
Frau Durtz angrily cuts off Buffy's speech with a torrent of German. At that time, Dawn, who has been speaking with a young blond woman who is apparently Inga, turns and speaks to Mrs.Durtz in fluent sounding German. Mrs. Durtz responds, and Dawn calmly and fluently replies. Mrs. Durtz appears to calm down and turns and asks Inga a question. Inga nods.
"Very well, Fraulein Summers," Mrs. Durtz replies in heavily accented English. "I will sign your papers. But you take good care of my daughter."
The scene changes to Dawn and Buffy walking out of the Durtz's house. Buffy turns to Dawn.
"I thought you were taking Spanish in High School," Buffy says.
"I was," Dawn says.
"So how come you were speaking fluent German in there?" Buffy asks.
"I don't know," Dawn says with a shrug. "After Sumerian, I guess German was easy."
Dawn stops and, with a thoughtful look on her face, continues.
"As was French, Dutch, Swedish, and Italian."
Devonshire
Giles is holding a sheet of paper and showing it to Willow, Kennedy, and Buffy.
"I hold in my hands the highest admission test score in the history of the Watcher's Academy," Giles says as he turns the sheet of paper to Buffy.
Buffy looks at it and her eyes go wide. Willow looks at it and her eyes go even wider than Buffy's.
"Oh!" Willow says. "Oh no! This can't be right Giles!"
"I'm afraid it is," Giles says. "Dawn Summers has the highest entrance examination score in Watcher Academy history."
A street in Rome, followed by the gym of the Rome Slayer Academy
On a Rome street, three slayers are fighting a very tall vampire.One of the slayers is Inga, the slayer Buffy and Dawn recruited from Berlin. The vampire they are fighting is clad in a very expensive looking suit and black sunglasses. He wears his long red hair in a pony tail and he is wielding a sword. The slayers are all hard pressed. As we see a close up on the vampire's face, we hear a slicing noise, and the vampire's face is splashed with blood. He smiles.
The scene switches to the Rome Slayer Academy. Buffy is lecturing a group of young slayers, including Dawn, when she suddenly falls to her knees.
"Inga," Buffy rasps as Dawn runs to her side. "Dawn, I felt her die."
Tokyo, in front of the Tokyo Slayer Academy
A small army of vampires are dressed like Mongol warriors and riding obviously vampiric horses with yellow eyes and prominent canine teeth.They are riding towards the Tokyo Slayer Academy. In front of the academy stand several young women and girls, armed with swords, crossbows, and axes. One of the Mongol warriors lets fly an arrow, and a slayer falls dead with an arrow in her heart.
Rome, Buffy and Dawn's apartment
Buffy sits up in her bed and screams. Dawn runs in.
"Buffy!" she yells. "It's just a nightmare!"
"No," says Buffy. "Nine more slayers in Japan, including Chao-Ahn! Dawn, I felt them die!"
Dawn looks intently at Buffy's face. Our vantage point is the back of Buffy's head.
"Buffy!" Dawn says. "What's happened to your eyes?"
"My eyes?' says Buffy.
We then see what Dawn sees. The corneas of Buffy's eyes have turned bright yellow, and the whites have turned bright red.
Edna Giles home in the Nottingham countryside
"What is the prophecy, the first prophecy every watcher and every slayer learns?" Edna Giles asks Dawn and her grandson.
" 'Into each generation a slayer is born, one girl in all the world born with the strength and skill'…" Giles begins.
"That's good, Rupert," Edna says, cutting him off. "Did you hear the key phrasing there?"
"I'm afraid not," Dawn says.
"I'm afraid I'm rather at a loss as well," Giles says.
" 'Into each generation a slayer is born'…" Edna says. "Not 'when one slayer dies, another takes her place'. The original slayer was part Higher Being. Her physical body could be killed, and much of her power could be taken. But, her spirit was beyond the power of the Shadow Men to contain. So, the spirit went out and searched for a girl child who otherwise would be stillborn. The spirit would choose that child for her next incarnation. That child would grow up to be the next 'chosen one'."
"Wait a minute," Giles says. "You're saying that the slayer prophecy refers to a single entity who is repeatedly reincarnated?"
"Yes I am," Edna says. "The spirit of the original slayer simply worked herself into a rotation with the other slayers, the ones called by the Shadow Men and their descendents in the original Council. Unfortunately, even the true chosen ones tended to die very young, so the spirit of the original slayer was literally reincarnated every generation."
"So you are saying that Buffy is the latest incarnation of the original slayer?" Dawn says.
"Yes," Edna says. "That's why Buffy's own powers increase with every slayer death. When your friend Willow used the scythe to activate all of the potentials, what she actually did was call all of the stolen power of the original slayer back onto this plane of existence, back from wherever the Shadow Men had hidden it. When one of the other slayers dies that stolen power, instead of going back to wherever the Shadow Men had kept it, now returns home.
"And that home, dear heart, is your sister."
The Great Hall of the Rome Academy
Giles and Dawn are walking side by side down the Great Hall.
"So what are you so worried about, Giles?" Dawn asks.
"I'm worried about you and Buffy, quite frankly," Giles says. "About a month ago, I noticed that you started submitting the weekly reports for this academy instead of Buffy."
"Buffy's been busy," Dawn says. "You've been busy. You know, things like shutting down Quentin Travers and the old Watcher's Council?"
"No, that's not it," Giles shakes his head. "Running this Academy, coordinating between all of the Academies, was Buffy's top priority. She was quite obsessive about it. Now, she seems to have delegated everything to you, in spite of your own studies…"
"My school studies?" Dawn says. "They're nothing Giles. In fact, if I have to I can work ahead and finish out the year and still have time for the Academy. And Buffy's still involved in things here. It's just different now."
"How?" Giles asks.
"Well, she still leads the patrols," Dawn says.
"Buffy has always led the patrols," Giles says. "I spoke with Karyn. She says Buffy is usually leaving the group behind to hunt on her own.
"Surely you see it, Dawn. Buffy was once consumed with her self imposed responsibility for finding, training, and protecting the new slayers.
"Now, she seems to be consumed with nothing but the hunt."
The bedroom of Willow and Kennedy's condo in Rio de Janeiro
Willow is asleep in bed when a figure steps out of the shadows.As light hits its face, we recognize the features as belonging to Warren Mears.
"Warren" touches Willow's face. Her eyes fly open and she turns around.
"Hey sweetie," "Warren" says gently. "Miss me?"
Willow's eyes turn black as she raises her right hand. "Warren" flies out of Willow's room, through the large picture window, and into the courtyard outside of the Condo. Willow, her hair now as black as her eyes, floats out of the window. She looks very angry.
"There's my girl," "Warren" says.
Suddenly, Willow's expression changes and she laughs.
"Nice try, 'Warren'," she says. "But I know who you really are, and I've been waiting for you."
"Really?" says "Warren" as he brushes the broken glass off of his sleeve.
"Yeah, really," says Willow. "I finally figured out that a community college student with a misogynistic streak doesn't turn into an evil technological genius decades ahead of the rest of the world overnight. Warren was your puppet. You were the puppet master. You provided him with the knowledge to create robot duplicates, ice rays, jet packs, etc. And you turned Warren's misogynistic streak into an obsession."
"Very good, Miss Rosenberg," "Warren" says as he morphs, adding mass until we see Adam. Especially observant viewers notice that the biological and mechanical sides of Adam's face are switched.
"Another nice try," Willow says. "But Adam and the Initiative were simply more of your pawns. And now Quentin Travers and the old Watcher's Council are your latest pawns.
"Isn't that right…Malcolm?"
"Adam" morphs again. Metal seems to fly in from everywhere. We now see the giant, demonic robot visage of the demon Moloch from the first season episode I Robot, You Jane.
"You are being a bit unfair to Mr. Travers, I am afraid," Moloch says in his beautiful yet mechanical voice. "We have more of a true partnership. He found and contacted me. In the end, though, I couldn't resist seeing you, my greatest unfinished work of art.
"It is so good to see you again, Willow. Love the hair, the eyes, and especially the rage. You look so beautiful, more than I ever dreamed."
"You almost succeeded in turning me," Willow says. "You caused Warren to kill Tara and pushed me into a darkness I didn't know I had within me.
"Fortunately, you underestimated my friends, one friend in particular."
"Actually," Moloch says. "I was targeting your friend the Slayer. I figured her death would be enough to push you over the edge, since you had gone to such effort to resurrect her. Your lover's death was simply a very fortuitous accident."
Willow floats down to the ground. Her hair turns from black to red to white, and her eyes turn from black to a bright glowing blue.
"Hey!" Moloch says. "That's just disgusting! Turn back!"
"I've mastered my darkness, Malcolm," Willow says. "Now, I'm gonna master you."
Cannons pop out from all over Moloch's mechanical body. Spikes come out from his knuckles. And he grows larger.
"Willow?" we hear a voice say softly. It's Kennedy, standing in shorts and a t-shirt, her hair mussed by sleep. Obviously, Willow and Kennedy have been sleeping separately.
"Go back inside, Kennedy," Willow says. "I got this."
"Really?" says Moloch. "If you embraced your inner darkness, you might have a chance against me. But to fight my technological might with your puny, do-gooder, love-the-Earth magic? Willow my dear one, you are deluded. I'm going to squash your little slayer lover like a bug, and you won't be able to stop me"
The earth around Willow explodes, and we can't see her. Kennedy flinches back and covers her face with her arms. Even the giant Moloch raises his arms to shield his mechanical face.
From within the swirling dust, we hear Willow's voice, louder and now with a mechanical inflection of its own. As the dust starts to clear, we see another giant robot, slimmer and female shaped with glowing blue eyes.
"You really haven't been paying attention to how I made my fortune, have you Malcolm?" Willow says. "It's more like your technology against my not so puny do-gooder earth magic and technology!"
We hear the crash of rending metal and a bright flash of blue light, then Moloch's giant mechanical head rolls next to Kennedy.
"Oh my God, Will!" Kennedy exclaims in a shocked whisper. "You've turned yourself into a transformer."
Lyssa McGrath's bedroom in the slayer academy
Giles is sitting up in bed and staring into space. Lyssa McGrath, at 44 the oldest of the called slayers and mother to two more slayers, awakens next to him and kisses him on the cheek.
"Are you OK?" Lyssa asks.
"No, I'm worried," Giles says.
"You're always worried, hon," Lyssa says. "That's what I love about you. What is it this time?"
"Buffy, Willow, and Dawn," Giles says. "They're all so much more than what they were even a couple of months ago. They are so much beyond human, beyond slayer and witch, even."
"You're thinking about the prophecy," Lyssa says. "From the Scrolls of Aberjian."
"Yes," Giles says. "The Warrior, the Goddess, and the Adept are emerging. And when they have completely emerged…
"…will anything be left of Buffy, Willow, and Dawn?"