Timeline: BtVS: Post-Chosen & JJ: Post-AKA Everything.
Disclaimer: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss Whedon and Jessica Jones/MCU belongs to the Stan Lee Estate and Marvel.
Author's Note: Written for Day 21 of the 2019 August Fic-A-Day.
The drive from middle-of-nowhere, USA to Cleveland took eleven days. Faith refused to allow Jessica to fight anything unless it was sparring with her. Which effectively meant that while the Slayer was out patrolling the various boneyards and other undead hotspots, the emotionally damaged superhero was at the nearest bar drinking cheap whiskey.
Faith had gotten the other woman on the Sineya Council's payroll as soon as she had signed the NDA, read she had sent Buffy the information, even if it was on one of the lower wages at the moment. Once she proved herself as a competent fighter and capable of going up against their kind of baddies she'd get a raise. They were free to use their money on anything they wanted, but drinking alcohol and energy drinks as a replacement for water and other fluids were not going to go over well with the higher-ups.
Arriving at the Sineya Council's Main Headquarters was a special feeling of both being home and constantly being in the spotlight. None of the Scooby Gang lived there permanently, but Giles split his time between the US HQ and their UK HQ more or less evenly. Probably on Queen B's request since she disapproved of the English weather.
B traveled a lot, usually with one or two of the Mini's to show them the ropes outside of the carefully orchestrated training all of the new ones received when they first joined up. She deliberately took the scenic route between the various Council Houses so they could see as many different vamp hangouts as possible.
Red spent most of her time with the Devon Coven, despite losing all of the dark magic she had absorbed over time. She still had power but it wasn't nearly as much as she'd had while the Sunnydale Hellmouth was still open and she could drain power from it. The main reason was her addiction to magic and their consequences.
Xan was one of their resident handymen and also traveled between the various Council Houses to fix whatever got broken, or to build something they wanted. He was surprisingly happy about it.
Dawn and Andrew were attending Oxford and learning magic on the side in addition to working for the Council, but their mentors were from a different coven than Red. Something about them not needing the same kind of help. Whatever.
As far as Faith knew, B was the only one currently at HQ. Introducing Jessica to the crack team that kept Earth safe from demonic threats was best done on a one-on-one basis. Wouldn't want to scare her away after all. All of them together in one place could be... overwhelming to an outsider.
When they drove into the large parking lot the queen herself was waiting, despite not being told when they would get there. Which meant either a great guess, some supernatural shit, or someone broke into Faith's GPS or the surveillance cameras on the way there and then told her.
B looked beautiful as always. Blonde hair loose over a light pink tank top, black leather pants, and black probably stylish shoes. She had been doing something with her phone when the car entered but quickly put it in a back pocket as soon as she saw the car. That meant she'd been there for some time.
"That her?" Jessica asked as soon as she saw someone was standing outside.
"Yeah. The queen herself in all her pink glory." Faith winced a little at the last word but pressed forward. "She must be curious to not wait inside with everyone else." It wasn't that she had the same issues as before, but there was something bad about keeping the two of them in the same close proximity for too long that never ended well.
The introduction went well enough, and B refrained from mentioning the scent of alcohol on their new recruit. It was late enough in the evening that they were allowed to do whatever they wanted rather than starting the big introduction process right away.
The next morning was something else. Jessica got a very thorough health check, followed by a magical check by one of their resident witch healers, and finally, the part Faith was most interested in; the test of Jessica Jones' abilities.
This meant she and B had front row seats to watch a team of Slayers run Jessica through hell for 12 hours with very few and very short breaks. They began with the powers she had listed to Faith; enhanced strength, speed, durability, and flight/high jumping/guided falling. The healing properties would be tested later by using magic.
Erika, one of the Slayers, guided Jessica to a weight room, where she was told to lift the weights in front of her one by one. Each one was heavier than the next. It was simple and efficient but it gave them a basis for what she would be able to handle. Every weight was repeated quite a few times, much to the woman's annoyance.
The verdict was a 3,8 on the 5 point Slayer Scale. Which made her stronger than the average Slayer, but weaker than both Faith and Buffy.
Next up was speed and durability. This time it was a Slayer named Belinda who took charge and showed her the tracks. Holding a stopwatch, Belinda told her to run as fast as she could around the track without holding back. Then a short break before repeating it, over and over.
Afterward, she got a ten-minute break and some water before being ordered back on the track. This time they were checking durability at top speed. Next up was the same but at a more comfortable speed.
The verdict this time was a 4,6 on the 5 point Slayer Scale.
The last test was the flight/jump/falling thing. It was a little trickier as it was normally something they didn't test for, just corrected once they were out on the final stretch of their training. But, they had tall buildings and other structures so they improvised.
The verdict was a little uneven this time. She failed at actual flying. Got a 4,5 on jumping. A 2,1 at falling when attempting to fly, but a 4,6 when she deliberately jumped.
The last thing they did that day was spar. First against an older Slayer with years of experience, then a younger one with only a couple of years, and finally a 16-year-old who had only arrived 4 months prior. It was brutal and all of them could see that Jessica's confidence took a beating.
Still, it wasn't all bad and despite everything, she held promise and a stubborn will to succeed.
It gave the instructors a good starting point, but as they said it was one thing to do something during training but it was something entirely different to do it when your life was at stake.