Outsiders
Chapter 4: Believe it or not
Around the time Robert was telling Buffy everything, Ames White was waking up in the abandon office building he found the night before. As he opens his eyes, he found that he wasn't alone, kneeling right in front of him, looking him straight in the eye, was a certain blonde woman he met last night.
"Good morning, sleepy head" The First in the form of Buffy said
"Why don't you just leave me alone" Ames said annoyingly as he rubs his head, he felt like he had just woke up after a long night of drinking.
"Oh, is this how you talk to the only friend you have here"
"I don't want or need your friendship"
"You might wanna to rethink that" First (Buffy) said
"And why is that?" Ames said with sarcasm
"Well, lets see, maybe because you are stuck in an alternate past, with no allies, all by yourself, I'm all you got"
"I may be in your alternate past, which I don't completely believe, but there are still people I can call for help"
"Oh, are you talking about your little snake cult? Oh they don't exist here, as well as that mutant producing factory"
Ames returns a look indicating that he didn't believe it.
"If you don't believe me, come check it out yourself" The First (Buffy) said
Ames now had an uncertain look.
"Come on, if you can't trust me" The First morphs from Buffy to Ames "Then trust yourself"
"That's not funny" Ames angrily said back
The First (Ames) begins to laugh
Two days later, Max, Alec and Robert stood on the hillside over looking the spot where Manticore should be, but there was a simple farm. Two days ago, after Max had say she needed to see this area for herself, Giles decided to help and use his contact to get them some fake ID's and even gave them some money for the bus ride up here as well as some extra spending cash. After the bus ride, they rented a car to drive the rest of the way.
Giles wasn't the only one that was being helpful, Buffy had offered them a place to stay, that place was her basement, but hey, they didn't have any other place.
They all stood on the hilltop, in silence, looking down at the farm. Sure it was one thing to hear it, but seeing it, that had an even bigger shock.
Alec was the first to get over his shock, and express his feelings "Alright!" he said joyfully.
His joyfulness wasn't share with Max "Alright?! You're actually happy about this?"
Alec looks at Max like she was nuts "Of course I am, why aren't you?"
"Because we're stuck in the past, in fact we're stuck in a past that's not even our own! This means our chances of getting home are less then before!"
"Home?! Why the hell would we go home? This world is paradise compared to the hell that is our home. There's no Manticore, probably no snake cult, and this place isn't a third world junk yard, and since it isn't our past, we don't have to worry about altering our future"
Max was really disappointed in Alec "You're forgetting our friends, they need our help"
"I'm sure they'll do fine without us" Alec responded
Max sighs and then looks towards Robert "Could you talk some sense into him?"
Before Robert could say anything, Alec says "No, no, don't turn to him, we know he's just gonna side with you like he always does!"
"And why is that?!" Max asked
"Yeah, why is that, Alec?" Robert asked, eyeing him with a not too friendly look, a look that Alec saw
Alec knew he just backed himself into a corner, he rubs that back of his neck as he looks away and mutters "Because you're her bitch" As he looks back up, he suddenly sees Robert standing in front of him with a huge smile on his face that made Alec a little scared. His fears were justified as suddenly Robert punches him stomach, dropping him to his knees. Robert then turns around and starts back down the hill towards the rental car. Alec calls out to him "Robert, wait" but unfortunately for him, the wind is still knocked you of him and he can barely speak.
Max sighs and shakes her head at Alec "Tell me, are you not gonna be happy until you pissed everyone off" She then runs to catch up with Robert "Robert, wait up" Robert stops and turns around, he did not look happy. Max stops just short of him and says "Look, tell us what you think, what you really think"
Robert thinks for a moment, looking off into the distances, and then says "Well, we definitely need to find a way home and Willow and Giles could help, but that may take some time, so we should take Buffy up on her offer to stay at her home…of course I don't wanna feel like we're sponging off of her, so I think we should find jobs and pay some sort of rental fee"
Max smiles "That's a good idea"
Robert sees Alec slowly walk up next Max, his arms were still wrapped around his stomach "and if you ever call me her bitch again, I'll knock the holy hell out of you. I gave you the first two, but this was strike three, let's not go to a forth" Robert knew of two other times he overheard Alec calling him 'Max's Bitch'; he just didn't confront him until now.
"Gotcha" Alec said, he was bending over a little from the pain
Max laughs and accidentally says "Well, actually that was the forth" She then sees the angry look in Robert's eyes and quickly steps in between him and Alec "But anyways, why don't we start heading back"
The other two nodded in agreement.
The three of them start back down the hill together and Alec says "You know, I'm hungry, how about go get something to eat first"
"I don't know, I really wanna get going" Max said
As Max and Alec continue to talk, they didn't notice Robert suddenly stop. Robert suddenly had a weird feeling come over him and it was coming from the woods not too far to his left. It almost felt like a warning, but a little fuzzy. He didn't see anyone over there, even with his enchanted vision, but it also felt like something was trying to block his senses.
"Hey, Robert, what's wrong?" Max yelled to him from the car
Robert focus was broken and he replies "Nothing" and then mutters to himself "I think" He then continues to the car. As he gets there, Max gets in the driver's seat and Alec is about to take shoot gun until Robert says "Alec, wait"
"What?" Alec responded
"Something just ran behind the car, you approach it from your side and I'll get it from the other side"
Alec was a little confused by what was going on, but the spooked look on Robert's face meant he must have saw something, so he carefully starts walking toward the back of the car, but as he gets to the backseat door, Robert quickly jumps in the passenger side.
Alec realizes he's been tricked "Son of a bitch!"
Max laughs "I can't believe you fell for something so obvious"
Alec decides not to attempt to get the front seat back and just hoops in the back. As he shuts the door behind him he says to Robert "Have you ever hear of the boy who cried wolf"
"Oh come on, you got the front seat on the ride up here" Robert replied
"Whatever, lets just get out of here, and please stop somewhere to eat, I'm really hungry"
"Fine, we'll see what's on the way" Max said
As the car drove away, Ames White walks out of the woods feeling a little relieved, because for a moment it looked as if Robert knew he was here. Although he would never admit it and never show it, he was afraid of him.
Ames walks up the hill and when he gets to the top, he is shocked by what he sees.
"See, what did I tell you, no mutant factory" A familiar voice said from just behind him and as Ames turns around, he nearly jumps back in fear, at first it seemed like Robert was standing right behind him, but he quickly realizes that it's just the First in Robert's form "What? Did I scare you?"
"Don't take that form" Ames ordered with anger in his voice
"Sorry, you don't order me around, plus I like this form, it's quickly becoming my second favor, mainly because it strikes a little fear in you" The First (Robert) replied
"And here I thought you wanted to be my friend"
"Yeah, but I'm still evil, and you know when I said 'friend', I meant team up against common enemies"
Ames looks at him amusingly "Common enemies?"
"Well not so much common as more like your enemies are about to team with my enemies and if we join together we can wipe them all out at once" Despite what The First (Robert) said, Ames was giving him an uncertain look, so it continues "Look, you can keep trying to get a hold of that little snake cult of yours, which doesn't exist here and so you'll be on the street with no money and no place to stay, or you can join me, and I can offer you money and a place to stay. And once we're dealt with our enemies, I can offer you a way home"
Ames continues to stare at it for a few more seconds and the First (Robert) finally says "Well, say something"
Ames responds by asking "Can you take any form?"
The First (Robert) laughs and answers "Only the dead, or those who were once dead"
Ames was confused "Wait, you took my form and I'm not dead…or never been dead"
"Well, funny thing, when you and your friend were being teleported here, you were all in a sort of dead state, which is getting technical, but hey, it's given me four new forms"
"What good is looking like all these people if you can't touch anything?"
The First (Robert) laughs again "Just because I can't touch anything doesn't mean I can't do any damage, I do have hordes and hordes of worshippers"
Ames sneers "Just so we're clear, I'm your partner, not a worshipper"
"Of course"
On the way back to the bus station, Max, Alec, and Robert stopped off at a nice little street side dinner to eat. The place wasn't busy, so it was easy for them to find a secluded booth to sit in. When Robert sat next to Max, opposite of Alec, it was apparent that he was still mad at him. Max ordered the grill chicken, Robert ordered a turkey sandwich, and Alec decided on a hamburger and fries. They were currently waiting for their orders.
"Now this is nice" Alec said with a smile "A friendly little dinner, good food, or at least I think its good food, we'll find out soon enough"
"You know they have places like these at home" Max said
"Yeah, but not this nice" Alec responded
"You know, Alec, for all your boast on how great this world is" Max said "There heading down the same road as ours, and will end up just as bad"
"How do you know?" Alec asked
"I've been paying attention to the news" Max answered
"So have I" Robert added
"Yeah, well, it isn't going to be as bad because the two of you are forgetting one thing, there's no Manticore to try pull us back in cages"
"Whatever" Max said rolling her eyes at him
"You're what's the most confusing part about this" Alec said with frustration to Max "You've spent all that time running, and now finally you don't have to run anymore, you wanna go back to running"
"Not at the sacrifice of my friends and family" Max responded with the same frustration
"Logan, Joshua and the rest of them will be fine" Alec responded, raising his voice a little more then it needs to be
"Alec, quite down, and stop brushing Max's worries aside" Robert said to Alec, and Alec rolls his eyes at him. Robert then turns to Max and says "And how about you let up on him and let him enjoy this place while he can" Max was a little shock "Now there is no telling how long we'll be here, and I, for one, would like Buffy to think we're one happy family and not a bunch of jerks that could possible keep her up ever night by having yelling matches"
There was a moment of quite between the three before Max says to Robert "I see your point…I'm sorry Alec, I guess we can look at this as a vacation"
Alec sighs and says "Yeah, I'm sorry too, I guess I can see why we need to get home"
Robert gives a fake smile "Now isn't that better" before he could continues the waitress came with their food, after placing their food in front of them, the three of them told the waitress 'Thank you' and she said 'Welcome' before heading off. Once she was out of ear shot, Robert continues "as I was about to say, let's try and keep it civil, especial in Buffy's house, the last thing I wanna start getting from her is that 'You've worn out your welcome' feeling"
"Let's not forget, we're sleeping in the basement" Alec said
"Beggars can't be choosers; it's a lot better then sleeping out on the street"
"Yeah…and no different then where I was living before, but at least we get a nice sunny upstairs to go…" Alec stop talking when he suddenly notice the look on Max's face, a look she was giving Robert
Robert takes notice to the look and says to Max "What?"
"Nothing" Max said and then goes back to her food, however there was something, something that Robert just said that kind of bothered her a little, it was the 'worn out your welcome feeling'. After Max rescued Robert from Manticore, he stayed with her at her place, until her roommate, Original Cindy, had her ex-girlfriend temporarily back in the picture and bunking at the place for awhile. With three women there, Robert started feeling a little uncomfortable and asked Logan if he could stay at his place for awhile and was going to move back after OC's girlfriend left. However, when she did leave, in a very unfortunate way, but that's another story, Robert never came back. She never asked why, but now she's wondering if she might have accidentally gave him an unwelcome feeling.
"Oh yuck" Alec said with disgust as he lifts the top part of burger bun to reveal a thick layer of grease "I guess some things aren't better here, well I still have my fries"
Robert laughs "you can have half of my sandwich" and offers him half
"Thanks, man" Alec takes half "I guess the food is the same" he then bits into his half of the sandwich
"There is just one thing I've got to know" Max said "Why didn't either of you tell me about vampires and…demons"
"Hey, don't ask me" Robert said "I just remembered them when I saw them in the graveyard" Due to Robert's memory lost, certain info only comes to him on the spot, only he doesn't know where he learned it from, like how he can speak many different languages but he has no memory of when he learned to speak them.
"As far as I go" Alec said "It's just never came up, and besides, if you would have stayed at Manticore longer, they would have eventually taught you about them"
Max rolls her eyes at him "Yeah, okay"
The gang made it back to Buffy's house late the next day, currently they were all in the kitchen with Buffy, Giles, Willow, Anya, and Xander, all drinking one beverage or another. Again, they were all in silence after what Buffy had told them about what had happen while they were gone. It was just one big shocker after another.
This time, it was Max that broke the silence "Now let me get this straight, after a spell was cast, a demon was summoned, who caused the whole town to break into a number of songs and dances like something out of a musical, and now that it's all over, everything is back to normal and nobody in town, excluding you guys, has stopped and said 'What the fuck just happened?'"
"Yeah…that's basically what happened" Buffy said
"And you had a hard time believing we're from an alternate future"
Buffy suddenly sees her point "You know what, I totally believe you now"
"I believe from the beginning" Xander said to Max with a smile
"I still don't believe any of you" Anya said in a spiteful way; however she didn't care if they were or not, she just didn't like the way Xander was looking at Max. And she did have a right to feel that way considering Xander was her soon to be husband, of course the attitude towards Max wasn't necessary
"Alright then" Robert says "I guess we're all in agreement…except for one, so about that offer to room here"
"Oh, it's still open" Buffy said "Just as long as you don't mind staying in the basement, sorry, all my other rooms are taken"
"Hey, no problem, it was overly kind of you to let us stay in house…and we'll pay a rental fee"
"Oh no, that's not necessary"
"It really is" Max says "We don't know how long we'll be here, and I don't wanna be sponging off you the whole time"
"Well, I guess I could use the extra cash" Buffy said
"And hey, I'll work my hardest on finding a way home for all of you" Willow said
"Well, I guess that's one less favor we have to ask" Alec said "But don't work yourself too hard, Willow"
"Oh, no, that's okay; I always put my best effort forward"
"Yeah, but I'm sure you already have a lot on your plate, I don't want our problem to slow you down"
"It won't slow me down, in fact I'm looking forward to helping, it seems like a real challenge…the only problem is where to start" Willow looks towards Giles "Do you know where?"
"I may have a few ideas" Giles answered
Alec was about to say another 'don't worry too much about it' comments, but Max cut him off "Alec…"
Alec mutters "I know, I know"
Buffy, who was standing next to Robert, looks at him and asks "Are they always like this?" she was referring to Max and Alec
Robert got a little nervous "No, No, there're really like brother and sister…but in the good, loving each other way, not the hating always arguing way, trust me their usually quite…it's just the stress of the situation that's making act like this"
Buffy was amused by his rambling "Relax, I was just asking"
Max and Alec start to laugh at Robert and Robert return an annoying laugh at them.
A few hours later, everyone, including Dawn, Spike, and Tara, was in the basement, straightening it up. All Buffy had was sleeping bags, so Giles told them that he was going to go to the department store and buy the three of them each a folding bed, Max told him that they would pay him back. Giles had returned forty five minutes ago, and then they all started on the cleaning. Buffy brought down her CD player and it was playing Xander's 'Korn' CD, one of Alec's favorite bands. This, however, wasn't one of Robert's favorites.
Robert and Alec were hanging up curtains in the back end of the room, separating up the folding beds which would give each of them a little privacy.
At one point, Robert couldn't take the Korn music anymore "Okay, that's it, would someone please turn off that 'so called' music and put one something good"
"This is good music" Alec responded "What, would you rather that old junk you listen to, 'Rolling Stones'"
"Hey, Korn might not be as old, but it's still old"
Alec smiles "Old in our world, but you forget, we're in the past and Korn is new here"
"Oh, shut up, this still sucks!"
"They seem to go at it as much as you and Alec" Buffy said to Max and laughs
"Only when it comes to music…and football…and video games…and a few other guy things, but don't worry they'll keep it down" Max answered
"Oh, I'm not worried about them being loud, there's good installation down here, and besides Dawn and I argue a lot louder then that"
Giles and Xander had been drawn into the music argument.
"Now I have to agree with Robert" Giles said "Rolling Stones do have more talent…plus they can write songs that don't include offensive language"
Xander was on Alec's side "Yeah that sounds like something someone who was up their in age would say"
"What are you implying, Xander" Giles said back
"Just like it sounds" Xander replied
"Yeah, that's telling him, Xander" Alec said "I bet back in his old British college days, Giles sat in his dorm room listening to Rolling Stones records, talking with his pals how they would always rock, however they were just a bunch of stuffy geeks"
"Oh no" Buffy says with a laugh "He shouldn't have gone there"
Xander backs off "Oh, you're on your own on this one, Alec"
"What?" Alec said, a little confused
Giles had a very dangerous smile as he walks up to Alec "If you truly knew what I did in my youth it would give even you nightmares, understood solider boy"
Alec was a little shocked and, from Robert could tell, had a little fear in his eyes "Yeah…I understand, but hey, I was just joking with you"
Robert laughs "He was just joking, Giles, he just doesn't have that filter in his head that stops him from says the bad jokes…and asshole remakes"
"Indeed" Giles replied
"Don't let it get under your skin" Robert said "So anyways, Giles, you and I should get together and talk music, good music that is, I take it you like 'The Who'"
Giles's smile returns to a pleasant one "In fact I do"
Buffy laughs a little at the event and then says to Max "Well, I'm out, I'll be back before dawn"
"Wait" Max says "Where're you going?"
"Just patrolling, you know, look for vampires, slay vampires"
"Need some company?"
"Well…if you want, but I don't want you to feel like you have to"
"Nonsense" Robert says as he walks up to them "It would be a great chance to see the town"
Buffy smiles "If you mean seeing the town as in seeing a bunch of cemeteries, then yeah"
Robert smiles back "Cool, bunch of cemeteries, alright lets go"
"Then let's get going…wait, what about your 'old music rocks' discussion with Giles"
Robert nods back to where Giles and Alec are now talking "He's back to arguing with Alec about it"
Buffy laughs "In that case, let's get you out of here before you get pulled back in"
Max had noticed how Buffy's whole demeanor had changed when Robert offered to tag along, from 'wasn't so sure' when she offer to 'smiling and love for you to come' when Robert offered. As Buffy and Robert walk past her and head up the stairs, Max says "Uh, Can I come with? Or would I just be in the way?"
Buffy stops and looks back "Oh, yeah, the more the merrier"
About forty minutes later, the three of them were in one of Sunnydale's many cemeteries.
There hadn't been any vampire activity and Max was talking to Buffy about her employment choices "The only job I've ever had, well real job…that couldn't be considered illegal, was bike messenger, but I have other skills and I don't want to go back to being a bike messenger" Max suddenly notices that Buffy might not be paying attention, she sees her looking at back at Robert, who was trailing a number of feet behind them. Max gets her attention by speaking up a little louder "SO, what do you think?"
Buffy jumps to attention "About what?"
"Oh never mind" Max said "I can see your attention is elsewhere"
"What? Oh no, I'm just wondering why he's trailing behind us?"
"He's covering our rear"
"Coving our rear?"
Max explains "Yeah, you see, you can take the soldier out of Manticore, but you can't take the soldier out of…well, the soldier" As she was talking, she could see Buffy's eyes daring back and forth from her to Robert. Max could tell this was more then just wondering why he was behind them, Buffy had a thing for him and Max would ask her about it, but she knew now wasn't the time because even though he was a distances behind them, she knew Robert could still hear them do to his advance genetic hear. Max wants to wait until they were alone.
Buffy turn back forward and says "Well, he really doesn't have to be back that far, there isn't a need for soldier like tactics when it comes to patrolling"
"Oh sorry, I'll remember that for next time" Robert said from right behind Buffy, making her jump because she didn't even hear him walk up behind her "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you"
"That's okay, but sneak up on me like that again, and I'll start making you wear a cow bell" Buffy joked
"So, anything I need to know about slaying a vampire" Max asked "or is it just like the movies, stakes, garlic, crosses and holy water"
"Pretty much, expect for the crosses and holy water, that only works on vampires who were religious in their life before they were turned" Buffy answered "So I wouldn't rely on them too much"
"Speaking of vampires" Robert says "Here comes five of them now"
Five vampires wearing sports clothing and their game faces on were quickly moving their way. With their wooden stakes ready, Max, Buffy and Robert ran into battle, the vampires didn't know what hit them.
TBC