Rebuilding
Ch 14 – Buffybot's Test
Giles nervously shifted from foot to foot as 'Buffy' invited him and Quentin in with a huge smile.
Already she's not acting Buffy-ish and she hasn't even opened her mouth yet, he thought fearfully.
"Ms. Summers. I must say, I expected much more your usual greeting," Quentin dryly commented.
"I could adjust my behavior if you wish," she responded with confusion. "However, I believe that a Slayer's role is to be subservient and respectful to her Council."
"A commendable attitude, if surprising," he responded. All the while Giles was blanching at how unlike Buffy the robot was acting. She should have hurled a poorly covered insult several minutes ago already. "And one which is appreciated for a change."
"Please sit, Mr. Travers. Willow made a pot of coffee before leaving for classes. Giles? Why have I not been attending my courses?"
Giles' eyes widened in nervous surprise, since he didn't have an immediate answer. Buffy, of course, would have gone back to class but it didn't seem to be important for the robot to emulate that behavior. Of course, they really should have had her go through the motions of dropping out. That was an error which was now going to bite them.
"Uh… oh… uh, I-I thought we had discussed this. You remember? You wanted to stay home to provide Dawn more stability?" Giles tried to will the robot to just agree and shut up.
The Buffybot searched her data banks for the information that her Watcher was referring to, but there was nothing. Still, he must have discussed this with other-Buffy and since she was pretending to be her sister during her absence, she supposed she could agree.
"Oh, yes. Of course," Buffybot responded. "My sister is very important. I will pour coffee. Please sit at the dining table."
"I-I'll help you," Giles said nervously, while Quentin sat and pulled out a small notebook.
In the kitchen, Giles whispered, "Please do not ask any questions about anything which Quentin doesn't bring up! Remember, he must believe that you are Buffy."
"I am Buffy, Giles. And you are my Watcher," she smiled brilliantly.
Giles sighed.
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"There were four vampires slain," Aprilbot's tinny sounding voice rang out of the speaker. Warren sat in front of the PC watching Spike through April's eyes.
"No sign of Adam," the vampire asked.
"Negative. No sightings."
"How about any bodies? We're investigating a rash of men with their throats torn out."
"No bodies were discovered," Aprilbot reported, utilizing the script that the Trio had come up with to explain her last patrol. He'd wiped her memory of her encounter with the cyber-zombie and her discovery of their location.
"Damn," Spike was saying. "There's something about these killings that I could swear I recognize."
"Ooh, is that Spike," Andrew excitedly asked over Warren's shoulder. "He is so ho… uh, cool. He's so cool."
Warren smirked but didn't reply. On the screen April was asking Spike if it reminded him of any of his kills. She managed to sound belligerent, which was a nice touch in keeping with Willow's re-programming efforts. Warren had worked with Jon to keep as much of Willow's changes in place as possible to put off any suspicion that she'd been tampered with.
Spike growled and turned on his heel, "I'm turning in. Re-charge your robo-batteries or something, 'Faith'."
"Why is she at Xander's," Andrew asked petulantly. "How are we supposed to figure out Buffy's plans if she's wasting time not being at her house?"
"Relax Andy-pandy. She'll show up for their little Scooby-meetings, at least. Besides, I'm sure we can still learn a lot from Xan and Spike's conversations. So far, it's obvious they have no clue where we are or what we're up to. You just be ready with the demon summoning to keep them busy if we need it."
"No problem. I was thinking of trying the flying monkey thing again, but they're not very housetrained. I'm thinking demon beetles, instead."
"Whatever. Where's Jon? We're supposed to be working on the Ice-Ray Gun."
"He had to get to work at the Espresso Pump," Andrew replied.
"We just robbed a bank. We're surrounded by money, and he's working for minimum wage? What's wrong with this picture?"
"Well, we're not really surrounded with money after spending it on the high tech toys," Andrew said. "And then there are the ones we can't spend because of the exploding dye packets. And… uh, the serial number problem…."
"Okay, okay… so our big 'get rich quick' scheme had a few bugs. We still have bigger things to plan than serving Mochas!"
"Oh, a Vanilla Latte sounds really good about now," Andrew brightened at the thought.
"You're right. And there's nothing going on with our spy right now. Let's go," Warren grinned.
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Buffybot placed a hand over Quentin's, causing Giles to grimace nervously. He was just waiting for Quentin to realize he was chatting away amiably with a huge fake. Instead he simply placed his hand over the Buffybot's and continued on as if he and Buffy had always had such a good relationship.
"I must again state how sorry I was to hear of your mother," he was saying to the robot. "I'm sure it must have been quite a blow."
"Yes. I'm sure it was," Buffybot agreed. "However, the stipend that the Council is providing is helping in taking care of my sister and I am grateful to them and to you," she smiled.
"Y-yes, well," Quentin said, uncharacteristically embarrassed, "We at the Council are very gratified with our new relationship with the Slayer. Especially, with Faith being such a bitter disappointment. Anything we can do to assist you, you have only to ask."
"I appreciate that, Mr. Travers. Thank you," Buffybot was trying to reconcile how Faith was a disappointment. She seemed to be performing her Slayer duties adequately and she was happy to have her fellow Slayer to help guard the Hellmouth and kill the evil-vampires-who-were-not-Spike.
"Well, I believe we are finished here. Thank you again for making this visit so surprisingly pleasant, Ms. Summers."
"Thank you for visiting, Mr. Travers," she beamed.
Giles, in the meantime, stood in a state of shock that apparently Quentin bought everything.
Does he actually remember who Buffy is? Or was, he felt another brief ache for the missing young woman who should be here instead of the automaton in front of them.
"I believe I'd like to discuss Mr. Harris' impressions and observations next, Rupert?"
"Xander is my best friend," Buffybot replied.
"Yes. I'm sure that's true," Quentin replied, unimpressed.
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Minutes after Spike had gone into Xander's bedroom, Faithbot answered a knock at the door. Signing a form she accepted a very large and heavy package from a pair of deliverymen, shocking them by lifting the huge crate as if it weighed nothing.
"Thank you," Faithbot said. "I don't have money. Run along," she added, closing the door on them.
When she opened the crate to reveal its contents she noted it contained a large slab of marble. Next to the large slab were also three smaller tablets.
"Odd," she commented, not understanding that the large one was to be Buffy's tombstone.
She was even more confused when Spike returned. He'd looked into the crate asking Faithbot what this was about. Before she could formulate a response, he'd looked at the granite and immediately paled, which was impressive considering he was always pale.
"Oh," he said. "I-I can't believe I forgot…."
He reached in and hefted one of the 'practice' slabs, a look of sorrow on his face. When he returned to the bedroom, he took the stone tablet with him and muttered that Xander's heart was going to break again, leaving Faithbot more confused than ever.
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End Chapter 14