Chapter 7: August 20, 2013 – Accidentally

Chapter Summary: **The 'Betrayal' Part of the 2013 LiveJournal's Twisted Shorts FaD** series. In an AU 'Teacher's Pet', unintentional betrayal costs more than anyone can imagine.

Timeline: obviously season 1 'Teacher's Pet', but with a slight alteration that has tragic results; post-movie for The Avengers.

Challenge: for the livejournal 2013 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Warning: ugly section at the beginning, but not high on the gore factor.

A/N: Let me know if you have any ideas for fandoms that could help Buffy when she's betrayed or ways she could be betrayed by the others.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. The Avengers are from Marvel Comics (using the 2012 movie version). I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.


Ms. French's house (the fake one)

Xander whistled to himself as he walked up to his teacher's door. Things were pretty cool lately. Not only did a smokin' hot teacher want to spend some time alone with him, but Buffy was actually jealous of that fact. Why she couldn't figure out her feelings before Ms. French came along, he didn't know, but that was her problem, not his.

When he got to the door, though, he heard sounds of a scuffle inside. He considered his options for a couple seconds. On the one hand, he wasn't a great fighter; on the other…if something happened to his teacher and he didn't even try to stop it, he'd hate himself. Fortunately the door was unlocked, so he didn't have to break it down.

What he saw inside floored him. Ms. French's attacker was Buffy! He rushed over to try and pull her away, but the Slayer kept spouting that nonsense about giant bugs. Looking down at the battered woman, he locked eyes with her, then felt a rush of warmth over his body.

He decided that if Buffy wasn't going to be rational about this, he'd do what was necessary to defend his mate- er, teacher. He picked up a lamp and brought it down on his friend's head as hard as he could, hoping it would be enough to knock her out.

As he got closer to Ms. French to help her up, he was overwhelmed by the smell of bug spray that covered her. At least he thought it was bug spray. Geez, Buff really was taking this crazy theory of hers too far. He raced to get some towels after Ms. French requested them. It didn't occur to him to ask why she couldn't get them until it was too late.

Once enough of the spray had been wiped away, the craziest thing happened. She changed from a hottie to a…well, giant bug. Xander really hoped it was just the spray causing hallucinations.

Unfortunately, if it was a hallucination, it was a pretty gruesome one, 'cause the next thing the bug woman did was grab an unconscious Buffy with her claws. He could almost swear that the thing was smiling as it used its claw to cut Buffy's right arm off. Before it could do the same thing to her left arm, a horrible screeching sound filled the room.

Buffy fell to the ground while the bug creature started spazzing out. Giles rushed forward with a machete and hacked the thing to pieces. Meanwhile, Willow raced to Buffy's side to try and stop the bleeding. In shock, Xander stood there, staring blankly at nothing.


Hospital

Somehow, they got to the hospital, but Xander didn't remember how, or why the paramedics didn't ask about the giant bug parts next to Buffy's body while they worked to keep her alive.

Dimly, he heard Willow asking if they should call Buffy's mother, but Giles answered that he had a special medical form that the Council gave to its Watchers so they could get their Slayers or Potentials treatment. Technically speaking, it wouldn't hold up in a court of law against Joyce's rights, but there wasn't time to worry about that at the moment.

The doctors looked Xander over as a precaution, but said he was only in shock. Their best guess was that he witnessed the attack and was having trouble processing it.

What felt like seconds or days later – he wasn't sure which – the doctor came out to talk to them about Buffy. Between the blood loss and shock of sudden amputation, she died momentarily while in surgery, but they were able to resuscitate her and stabilize her. The next 48 hours would be the most critical.

Since Giles was the one with the paper, he was allowed to see Buffy for a couple minutes. Xander and Willow had to wait in the lounge though.

Later, Giles staggered back into the room and collapsed next to Willow. She asked what was wrong, and he said he called the Council to let them know about Buffy's condition. They told him that she wasn't his concern anymore because a new Slayer had been Called; apparently the few minutes she was dead was long enough for it to happen. The new girl would be there within a week with her own Watcher. Once they were settled, Giles was to return to England immediately.

Even if Buffy had somehow managed to maintain her Slayer abilities after her death – something the Council couldn't see happening – they felt that a handicapped Slayer was a liability and bound to die quickly. As long as the Hellmouth had a healthy Slayer to protect it, Buffy didn't matter anymore.

Willow wanted to know if Buffy was in danger from the Master or his minions, or if he would be focused on the new Slayer. Giles sadly admitted that they had never come across any records of a Slayer who died and came back. His educated guess, however, was that as long as she stayed in Sunnydale or LA, any demons and vampires who knew her by sight would come after her.

It was that realization that caused the Watcher to rebel at the idea of leaving his Slayer helpless. After several minutes of talking to himself, Giles whispered to Willow that they had a chance to help Buffy, but first they'd have to fake her death so her mother wouldn't go looking for her. He knew somebody who might take Buffy away…maybe. It was son of somebody he had saved once upon a time.

He got up to call this mysterious friend, and moments later came back with a look of relief on his face. The man's son decided to honor the 'debt' that his father owed Giles. They were on their way, and even had a way to fake Buffy's death without risk to her. It would take a few hours to get there, so if Willow and Xander wanted a chance to say goodbye, now was the time to say it. He would go back to his apartment and wait for the man and his associate(s).


Shortly after…

Willow hacked into the security system to erase any evidence of Giles approving Buffy's treatment. That way nobody could blame him later when she 'died'.

Joyce got to the hospital within minutes of the surgery being finished – since that was when the hospital found her contact information. She listened in horror as the doctor explained about how Buffy's right arm had been amputated and that she had died on the operating table while they tried to repair the damage caused by the unusual amputation.

He warned Joyce that the next 48 hours were critical. If Buffy got through those two days with no further problems, her chances of survival improved a great deal. That made the lie Giles' planned easier to execute. Since she was intellectually prepared for the possibility, Buffy's death wouldn't come as a total shock.

After the visiting hours were over, Willow dragged Xander to Giles' apartment. Since her best friend was still semi-catatonic, she wasn't sure what to do with him. In the end, she figured it would be safer to keep him with her, so she called his parents and said he was sleeping over at her house. She was afraid that if she left him alone, he might wander out of his house and become a vamp snack.


Giles' apartment

Giles was already talking to somebody when they got there. Willow took one look at the man and started stuttering, "Tony Stark! Giles…that's Tony Stark!"

"I'm well aware of that fact, Willow," Giles remarked. "His companion is retrieving Buffy as we speak. During the shift change, he'll create a trail that indicates she died and was taken to the morgue, where he will substitute her body for an unclaimed one. That body will be cremated immediately per written instructions," he explained, hoping things would go off as planned.

"What about Buffy?" Willow asked sadly.

"I'll take her back East with me. Once she's recovered enough, we'll get her fixed up with a prosthetic arm. Don't worry, it will be top of the line and will look natural. She'll be as good as the day she was born," Tony promised.

Giles and Willow shared a look with an unasked question between them: Would she be as good as she was yesterday?

Clearing his throat, Giles informed Willow – and presumably Xander, "I will pack up my belongings and make plans to follow Buffy to Mr. Stark's. When she recovers, we will talk about whether she wants to inform her parents about her survival, or if she's afraid that the group responsible will come after her again."

"You know, Mr. Giles," Tony interjected, "If she and her family need protection, I do have some superhero-ish friends that could help. We did just save the world from an alien invasion."

"Perhaps you would be able to understand after all," Giles replied with a speculative look. "Did your father ever explain to you what I saved him from?"

Tony appeared perplexed by the apparent non sequiter. "No, just that if I ever had a strange encounter that science couldn't explain, that I should contact you for help. And to give you help if you ever needed it, no matter what it was," he added, explaining why he'd go along with what amounted to kidnapping a young girl from her mother. He also looked offended at the very idea that there would be something that science couldn't explain.

"Give him the speech," Willow suggested.

Giles nodded, poured Tony a tall glass of single malt and began, "The world is older than we know…"


A/N: Originally this was going to be a Batman cross, but then I figured that it sounded more like a Tony Stark-type problem to fix. That, and apparently I'm on a Marvel kick this month.