Disclaimer: refer first chapter.
A/N: This is a good comfortable length. Wonder if I can stick to it?
(Sorry for the absence. It may or may not involve SpaceBattles.)
The Usual Suspects?
Chapter Seven: What's In A Haystack?
—ox-oxo-xo—
The group of eight formed back into its previous huddle.
"Well, that worked well," Wesley noted with a small smile for Fred. It faltered for a moment as he realised just how close Fred was standing to him, then softened as he continued. "Shall we continue the same tactic?"
"Um, no offence Wesley," Fred told him, "but you're so lucky you were right."
"Right!" Buffy clapped her hands, determined to take charge despite her increasing exhaustion. It had not escaped her notice that there was a big reward being offered if she did her job right. "Names, and reasons for including them. Go!"
Wesley began. "I hesitate to begin with this of all names, but Xander Harris has been mentioned a lot as having some unusual areas of expertise – areas which nonetheless have turned out to be useful more than once here. Should we include him?"
Spike snorted. "Why the hell would we bother with Droopy? 'S not like Red here hasn't been divvying up the goods so far as that's concerned, and why else would we need him?" Heads nodded quietly in tacit agreement. (Drusilla ostentatiously looked away, but remained silent. Nobody noticed.)
"Faith?" Angel tabled. "We already have a Slayer, but another one might be good back-up…"
Buffy shrugged. "Or maybe Kendra…"
"Or Kennedy!" Willow added. She reflexively shrank at the look Spike gave her. "Why do none of you like her?"
Buffy cleared her throat as Angel and his people remained quiet. "So, a spare Slayer. I'd kinda prefer one with more experience than one big battle, but maybe. We'll keep it in mind, I guess. Oh, I know – Riley? He's all military…"
Wesley nodded. "That kind of background could certainly come in handy, though much of it may depend on the ordnance available where we're going. Let's keep to topic, though." He looked over at Angel. "Was I right in my surmise that Connor would somehow be available for selection?"
Angel hemmed and hawed. "Maybe… if we could find a stable one. But he'd be just another melee fighter with powers, and we've got plenty already – maybe later." He paused. "Same with Groo – sorry, the Gruselag. Same deal."
"Hmm," Giles thought aloud, "if we're going to run through all our acquaintances and allies, let us perhaps list off some departed ones. Tara, Jenny, Anya of course… We may as well include Jonathan in that."
"Not Andrew?" Buffy asked with a wry smirk.
"Hell no," Spike stressed. "And lemme guess – Tara the witch, Jonathan the…yeah, another witch. Anya…? You thinkin' we'll be dealing with demons here, Giles? 'Cause she's been round long enough she'd know a lot about 'em. That and boons – those sound suspiciouly like wishes."
"Perhaps we should ask?" Fred pointed out. "Maybe it's not demons, maybe it's cyborgs or aliens or something…"
"Good point," Rupert noted. "Jenny Calender, or Janna Kalderash, was a technopagan. Her skills in melding technological advances with scientific ones may well come into use – and I rather imagine in that field, it's him or some benevolent version of Warren Meers."
"Nuh-uh! No way I'm working with Warren!" Willow exclaimed. "Even if we got an innocent one – I'd be spending all my time either hiding from him or trying not to kill him all over again…"
Angel empathised. "I have to say, there are people I would really rather not work with either, even if they might be useful. Lindsey or Lilah…" He shuddered. Then he noticed the strange looks. "They're lawyers. Evil lawyers. And who knows? They might come in handy where we're going. But still… lawyers."
Everyone shuddered.
"Actually…" Spike glanced carefully over at Buffy. "I might just have another strange one. If you can all keep this secret."
The others agreed, intrigued. After all, his last 'strange' one had turned out to be an excellent if uncomfortable pick.
"Okay, Dawn. Her blood makes portals." Buffy bristled, but held off to see where this was going. "D'you suppose she might ever learn how to do that herself? Usin' portals to go wherever, right quick an' all? And…if she did, could that come in handy where we're going?"
"Actually," Fred interjected, "I'm saying it again. Let's just ask Whistler who's available. And about the demon thing."
They turned and wandered over to Whistler.
"Well?" Buffy said. "We know you heard all that. So – who's available, and are there demons?"
"No, there are no demons – or there were, but they were all wiped out long ago. What you'll be fighting… Let's just say, either they're abominations of science and you'll have no moral problems taking them out like they were demons – or they're the people who made them, and there might be other ways of dealing with them."
Buffy sighed with relief. That had been worrying her more than a bit since Fred brought it up.
"Now for the others. There's one flat-out no, and one condition you might wanna know. The no, is that version of Dawn Spike wanted. But not because she doesn't exist…"
"Okay, I'll bite. Why's that?" Spike asked.
"Dawn is available. Dawn can do those things, if she learns. But here's the problem: in every realm of the Multiverse, there is a Key. And, it's the same Key – it has to be, otherwise how would it open everything at once if someone used it the wrong way? Buuut, in some places it's bound – like the Order of Dagon had it. In other places it's partially bound – like Dawn, who might learn to unbind it herself someday, depending on the realm. And in yet more places – places like where you're going – the Key is unbound and serves as an underpinning element of the realm. In this case: interstellar travel is possible there, because the Key is unbound.
"Now, the problem with that comes in when unbound Keys from different realms come into contact with each other. That could be someone trying to use one like Glory did. That could also be an unbound, portal-making Dawn in a foreign realm. Either way, the end result is the same: Multiversal apocalypse – basically, a slower version of the kind of paradox that freaks the hell out of scientists. See where I'm going with this?"
"Yep. So no Dawn," Spike summarised.
"Or at least, no Dawn who can do that. And no Dawn who learns to do that on the mission, either."
"So no Dawn," Buffy finished regretfully. "And, what else?"
"It's about picking Slayers – oh, and while I'm on this? You've just earned another minor mission boon – but we'll see who else you pick before we get to what it is. Now, Slayers. You'll notice I didn't make Willow or Fred Slayers?"
"Yeah…? I just figured you can't make Slayers out of nothing."
"Exactly. And Potential – that's not enough either, I still can't make the Slayer Spirit out of nothing. If you want Slayers, then they gotta be Slayers when I pick them. So apply that to Gingee's girltoy…"
Buffy paused. "Just how many Kennedy 'Slayers' are there?"
"From before the Slayer-Activation spell? That I can access, that you'd want in the team?" Whistler shrugged. "None. None of the others would agree, not without Willow for incentive. And remember – they gotta agree first."
Buffy nodded, and thought that over a little. "So… no experienced Slayer-Kennedy. Unless… wait. No. If they're from later, they've got to be kept out of the loop so nothing spoils the…" she took a guess at the right word, "…timeline, right?"
"Exactly – and your friend there? Not so great with keeping her mouth shut. So it's pretty much that one over there," Whistler said with a glance at the frozen teenager, "or it's nothing."
She nodded again. "Right… Thanks."
—ox-oxo-xo—
They were back in the huddle in short order.
"So. No Dawn, no Anya…" Buffy paused, glancing at Willow. She sighed. "And no Kennedy, or at least probably not."
Willow hesitated, but nodded glumly.
"So… useful and new skills. So far we've got military, technopagan, and…I guess lawyer." She considered that for a while, crossing her arms and biting her lip. 'So – Riley, Ms. Calender or one of those lawyer-types Angel hates.' She stole a glance at Angel. 'So, Riley or Ms. Calender then.'
Her gut was saying Riley. Then again, it could be another organ somewhere in that general vicinity. Then she remembered she had people for this. Especially one she'd selected just for this.
Well, two. But one was going to be wiser and more objective…probably.
"Giles? Riley or Ms. Calender? Thoughts?"
Rupert thought that over, mentally shaping out the general framework into which to consider the question with some semblance of objectivity. Once that was done, he verbally traced out the lines of logic for the benefit of his audience.
"Magic is useful for the mission. Science is prevalent, and we must assume that so is the military. But there are no demons – there were once, but not for a long time. Most likely for long enough that their existence has faded into legend. Hmm… Culturally, the long-term belief in the ascendancy of science would historically suggest that magic has also faded into legend… so magic is likely to be far rarer. I wonder…" He straightened. "Oh dear. One moment."
He turned to Whistler, several of the others beginning to worry.
"Excuse me, but we just recalled something which we truly should have asked about earlier. What resources will we have available to us when we begin the mission? For that matter, what of details like identities, er residences, incomes, transport and such?"
"About time, Rip." Whistler grinned. "There'll be a certain amount of forensic jiggery to insert that stuff into the timeline you're heading for, though some of it'll be pretty basic. Your I.D.'s will be as good as we can make them, and you'll have at least one fair-sized base to start from. You won't be sweating over that for a while – and that'll be a longer while now, because your base fund just tripled as our minor boon to you. Just another reward for using your head, people."
"Right. Thank you." He turned back to the huddle, accepting their thanks with quiet grace.
"Where was I…right. With a sufficient base to start from, I imagine we should be able to procure some form of local aid – both in connections and in the form of consultants such as the local equivalent of Angel Investigations." He thought for a little longer, checking if he was missing anything. "Right. Military expertise would likely be easier to procure there by far than magical expertise. My first choice would be Jenny Calender, though Riley remains a viable second choice."
There, done! His justifications were sound, and Jenny being the logical choice was merely a bonus.
"All right." The look in her eyes said she'd caught the subtext, but wasn't going to say anything. From her, that likely meant that she'd also caught enough of his reasoning to follow it. Buffy raised her voice. "One technopagan coming up. Ms. Calender, please!"
Whistler shrugged and snapped his fingers. "All right."
The dead Jenny Calender that appeared was in far better condition than many of the bodies had initially appeared: seemingly intact other than the obviously broken neck. The neck snapped back into place with a grisly crackle and the body levitated upright before she stumbled into Rupert's arms. This time Spike did notice Drusilla looking at the sky, but couldn't see anything up there so didn't mention it.
This new arrival, though, had something on her mind. "Tell me I stay dead?" she beseeched the balance demon.
Whistler looked off into the distance, head tilted. "Done."
"Sorry?" Rupert wondered.
Ending A/N: Yeah, this kinda thing was always gonna come up. That doesn't necessarily mean they're gonna learn, mind you…
