Part 12: Buffy Summers, Secret Agent?
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Buffy Summers was not a happy camper. This had several different reasons, but chief among them was the continued absence of a certain male individual who had, until very recently, been numbered among the walking dead. Said man had also promised her that he would follow her to Sunnydale soon. Granted, they had never quite defined what exactly he meant by 'soon', but Buffy was quite certain that two weeks did not qualify anymore.
Not that they were completely out of contact with each other, no. They talked on the phone almost every night, long conversations that made Buffy glad her boyfriend was rather well-off money-wise, as the bills were no doubt quite impressive. Still, talking to him on the phone was not the same as having him by her side and Angel kept evading her when she asked him when he would finally come.
She would have packed her bags and gone off to Los Angeles to drag him back herself if not for several things that kept her busy at the moment. Not least among them her studies, which took up a rather indecent amount of her time and made her think hard about switching religions just so she could stick pins into voodoo dolls made to resemble some of her professors.
Giles had also told her of some new menace coming toward Sunnydale, something the Watchers Council had warned him of no less. They had sent him a huge amount of information to wade through, so he was not a hundred percent on the up and up about it yet, but he had told enough to worry her.
The Huntsman. As far as she had been able to make sense of his lectures it was something like a wandering spirit with certain similarities to the Slayer, taking over hosts and imbuing them with superior abilities. Only unlike the Slayer this Huntsman was very unpredictable, violent, and not necessarily as liable to care about the welfare of the human race.
Apparently the Watchers had activated it when she had quit, hoping that it would give them someone new to order around. Unfortunately they had done so before decoding all the various information about it. An earlier generation of Watchers had apparently gone to great pains to make sure that their texts did not fall into the wrong hands and even now only half of what they had written was actually readable.
One of the parts they had decoded only after freeing the Huntsman had said something along the lines of 'DO NOT OPEN UNTIL DOOMSDAY'. Fancier wording, of course, but that was the gist of it. Giles was working day and night to decode the rest, as did the Watchers overseas, but it would take a while longer.
Apparently Quentin Travers feared that the Huntsman, a young man called Jackson King, would come here to Sunnydale. He had not said why, probably because he did not know. One of the decoded texts said that the Slayer and the Huntsman should not be allowed to meet. Of course it did not say why. That would have been too easy, right?
They had sent her a picture of Jackson King and Buffy had recognized the young man she had seen in her dreams a few nights ago. This actually disturbed her more than anything else, as her dreams had the bad habit of announcing bad things. The Master, Angelus, the Gentlemen, it did not constitute a good track record.
Ever since she had had that dream she had felt uneasy. During patrols at night she was overcome by an almost perpetual case of Goosebumps, the hairs on the back of neck standing at constant attention. It a bit like when Angel had still been up to his stalker ways, but it could not possibly be him. He was still in Los Angeles after all and she doubted that he was still as light of step as he had been back then.
A dozen times or so these last few nights she had attempted to catch whoever might be stalking her, but without any luck. Maybe she was just imagining it. Maybe her worry about Angel and all this talk about the Huntsman was driving her batty.
Then there was Riley.
"What is this?" she asked, eyeing the piece of paper he had put in her hand.
Riley had called her a few hours ago, asking her to meet him at the Espresso Pump. To her surprise he had not come alone, though. He was accompanied by another man, older, his face hidden behind a scruffy beard and what seemed to be a perpetual scowl. Riley had yet to introduce them, instead he had begun their conversation by asking her to sign a form.
"It's a non-disclosure agreement," he told her. "Basically it says that you will not repeat a word said here today to anyone. If you do you will be brought up on criminal charges."
She read through the document, finding it surprisingly short and straight. Open your mouth and we will throw the book at you. A really big, heavy book. For a moment she considered simply ripping it apart and leaving, angry that Riley did not trust her after she had told him who and what she was. It had probably not been his idea, though. Buffy had but a quarter semester of psychology to draw on, but she had no trouble realizing that the man beside Riley was his superior.
With a sigh she signed her name below the form and handed it back.
"Do I get a copy?"
"A copy of what?" the scowler asked with a perfectly serious expression, the form already vanished inside his briefcase.
"Can we get down to business now?" Buffy leaned back and studied the two man.
"Yes, we can. First allow me to introduce myself. My name is Thomas Burke and I am the agent in charge of this operation."
"Operation?"
"Killing demons," he simply said. "I will not go into too much details right now, but suffice to say that we are working for the government. It's our job to make sure that the creatures in this town are stopped and we would very much like to do so without the American public becoming aware of it in the process."
"Just a tip," Buffy smirked at him. "Don't let your agents storm occupied dorm rooms in full combat armor."
Burke frowned, but otherwise did not react.
"Agent Finn here," he motioned at Riley, "told me of your little talk a few days ago. Though it saddens me to say this, you were quite right. My men are inexperienced and unprepared for this mission and things are not going well for us."
Buffy managed to keep a more or less neutral face despite her surprise. She had expected something like being admonished for interfering in some kind of all-important black ops spook operation, not an admittance of the facts.
The government guys in X-Files were a lot different.
"So you will call it all off?" she asked the man called Burke. "I'm kinda sad to see that. Every little bit helps. But I guess it's better than ..."
"You misunderstand me, Ms. Summers," Burke interrupted her. "I do not intend to call off this mission. Quite the contrary, actually. I am more convinced than ever that these creatures need to be contained. Eliminated completely, if possible."
"But then what ...?"
"I am authorized to offer you a position as a civilian consultant, Ms. Summers."
For a long moment she just stared at him.
"What?"
"Ms. Summers, in the last few days we have managed to gather quite a bit of information about you and have come to the conclusion that your input would be invaluable to our operation. You have more experience fighting these creatures than anyone else we are aware of. To make it short ... we want you on our team."
"Uncle Sam wants me?" Buffy giggled saying that, but she felt anything but amused. Shocked was more like it.
"You would, of course, be compensated quite nicely," Burke continued as if he was conducting a job interview for the local supermarket. "Absolute secrecy would have to be maintained, of course, but ..."
"Wait, wait! Slow down for a minute, okay?"
Burke complied as Buffy closed her eyes and just breathed for a moment, trying to make sense of it all. Some kind of government spook operation wanted her to work for them? To help them kill demons? They would PAY for her help?
The government guys in X-Files were a lot different.
"What ... what would this 'consultant' thing entail?" she finally managed to ask.
"Basically we want you to show us how to kill demons," Burke said nonchalantly. "Our operatives are among the best-trained fighters in the world, but most of them have never even suspected that vampires and other demons exist, much less know how to handle them. We have very little hard data on these creatures. What their vulnerabilities and habits are, how they think. Every little thing you could tell us about them would be a great help to us."
Buffy sat back, thinking. What Burke was telling her seemed almost too good to be true. The Watchers had never paid her, nor given her any kind of support system except Giles and his books. Now she was asked to train a group of trained combatants, show them how to kill vampires. Not only would this make her own job much easier, they would also PAY her for it.
Definitely too good to be true.
"I will have to think about this," Buffy finally said.
"I understand," Burke nodded. "I would appreciate it, though, if you could reach a decision quickly. This operation is of high importance for national security and quite a few highly-placed people are hoping you will take us up on our offer."
"How highly placed?" Buffy asked, intrigued.
"I am afraid that is classified. At least for now. I hope you understand that, until we have your decision, there is only so much I can tell you. Contact Riley when you have decided."
Burke was starting to rise.
"One other thing," Buffy said, causing him to sit down again. "If I agree to this, then I want another person included in this deal."
"Oh?"
"Yes! I don't know how much you have found out about the Slayer, but it's always a package deal."
"Package?"
Buffy could not help but smile a little. It was almost funny how little these guys knew about the world they were immersing themselves in.
"Every Slayer has a Watcher. Something like mentor, trainer, and teacher all rolled into one. He is the guy with the books who knows all the demon trivia, handed down from God knows how far back in the stone age. If I decide to take you up on your offer he will have to be in on it."
"This is a bit unexpected," Burke said after thinking for a moment. "We will have to discuss this with our superiors. What is the name of your Watcher?"
Buffy was about to say Giles' name, but then thought better off it.
"Let me talk to him first, okay? I want to get his input on this before we go any further."
Burke obviously was not a hundred percent happy with this, but apparently decided that he could not admonish her for her secrecy. He was not sharing everything with her yet, either.
"Very well, talk to your ... Watcher. I will try and sell the idea to my superiors. Before we can agree to this, Ms. Summers, we will have to run him through a security check, of course. I hope you understand."
"Totally."
"I hope to hear from you soon then."
Buffy had hoped to talk with Riley for a minute in private, but he rose together with Burke, stopping just long enough to pay for their coffees.
The government guys in X-Files sure were a lot different than these guys.
TO BE CONTINUED
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Buffy Summers was not a happy camper. This had several different reasons, but chief among them was the continued absence of a certain male individual who had, until very recently, been numbered among the walking dead. Said man had also promised her that he would follow her to Sunnydale soon. Granted, they had never quite defined what exactly he meant by 'soon', but Buffy was quite certain that two weeks did not qualify anymore.
Not that they were completely out of contact with each other, no. They talked on the phone almost every night, long conversations that made Buffy glad her boyfriend was rather well-off money-wise, as the bills were no doubt quite impressive. Still, talking to him on the phone was not the same as having him by her side and Angel kept evading her when she asked him when he would finally come.
She would have packed her bags and gone off to Los Angeles to drag him back herself if not for several things that kept her busy at the moment. Not least among them her studies, which took up a rather indecent amount of her time and made her think hard about switching religions just so she could stick pins into voodoo dolls made to resemble some of her professors.
Giles had also told her of some new menace coming toward Sunnydale, something the Watchers Council had warned him of no less. They had sent him a huge amount of information to wade through, so he was not a hundred percent on the up and up about it yet, but he had told enough to worry her.
The Huntsman. As far as she had been able to make sense of his lectures it was something like a wandering spirit with certain similarities to the Slayer, taking over hosts and imbuing them with superior abilities. Only unlike the Slayer this Huntsman was very unpredictable, violent, and not necessarily as liable to care about the welfare of the human race.
Apparently the Watchers had activated it when she had quit, hoping that it would give them someone new to order around. Unfortunately they had done so before decoding all the various information about it. An earlier generation of Watchers had apparently gone to great pains to make sure that their texts did not fall into the wrong hands and even now only half of what they had written was actually readable.
One of the parts they had decoded only after freeing the Huntsman had said something along the lines of 'DO NOT OPEN UNTIL DOOMSDAY'. Fancier wording, of course, but that was the gist of it. Giles was working day and night to decode the rest, as did the Watchers overseas, but it would take a while longer.
Apparently Quentin Travers feared that the Huntsman, a young man called Jackson King, would come here to Sunnydale. He had not said why, probably because he did not know. One of the decoded texts said that the Slayer and the Huntsman should not be allowed to meet. Of course it did not say why. That would have been too easy, right?
They had sent her a picture of Jackson King and Buffy had recognized the young man she had seen in her dreams a few nights ago. This actually disturbed her more than anything else, as her dreams had the bad habit of announcing bad things. The Master, Angelus, the Gentlemen, it did not constitute a good track record.
Ever since she had had that dream she had felt uneasy. During patrols at night she was overcome by an almost perpetual case of Goosebumps, the hairs on the back of neck standing at constant attention. It a bit like when Angel had still been up to his stalker ways, but it could not possibly be him. He was still in Los Angeles after all and she doubted that he was still as light of step as he had been back then.
A dozen times or so these last few nights she had attempted to catch whoever might be stalking her, but without any luck. Maybe she was just imagining it. Maybe her worry about Angel and all this talk about the Huntsman was driving her batty.
Then there was Riley.
"What is this?" she asked, eyeing the piece of paper he had put in her hand.
Riley had called her a few hours ago, asking her to meet him at the Espresso Pump. To her surprise he had not come alone, though. He was accompanied by another man, older, his face hidden behind a scruffy beard and what seemed to be a perpetual scowl. Riley had yet to introduce them, instead he had begun their conversation by asking her to sign a form.
"It's a non-disclosure agreement," he told her. "Basically it says that you will not repeat a word said here today to anyone. If you do you will be brought up on criminal charges."
She read through the document, finding it surprisingly short and straight. Open your mouth and we will throw the book at you. A really big, heavy book. For a moment she considered simply ripping it apart and leaving, angry that Riley did not trust her after she had told him who and what she was. It had probably not been his idea, though. Buffy had but a quarter semester of psychology to draw on, but she had no trouble realizing that the man beside Riley was his superior.
With a sigh she signed her name below the form and handed it back.
"Do I get a copy?"
"A copy of what?" the scowler asked with a perfectly serious expression, the form already vanished inside his briefcase.
"Can we get down to business now?" Buffy leaned back and studied the two man.
"Yes, we can. First allow me to introduce myself. My name is Thomas Burke and I am the agent in charge of this operation."
"Operation?"
"Killing demons," he simply said. "I will not go into too much details right now, but suffice to say that we are working for the government. It's our job to make sure that the creatures in this town are stopped and we would very much like to do so without the American public becoming aware of it in the process."
"Just a tip," Buffy smirked at him. "Don't let your agents storm occupied dorm rooms in full combat armor."
Burke frowned, but otherwise did not react.
"Agent Finn here," he motioned at Riley, "told me of your little talk a few days ago. Though it saddens me to say this, you were quite right. My men are inexperienced and unprepared for this mission and things are not going well for us."
Buffy managed to keep a more or less neutral face despite her surprise. She had expected something like being admonished for interfering in some kind of all-important black ops spook operation, not an admittance of the facts.
The government guys in X-Files were a lot different.
"So you will call it all off?" she asked the man called Burke. "I'm kinda sad to see that. Every little bit helps. But I guess it's better than ..."
"You misunderstand me, Ms. Summers," Burke interrupted her. "I do not intend to call off this mission. Quite the contrary, actually. I am more convinced than ever that these creatures need to be contained. Eliminated completely, if possible."
"But then what ...?"
"I am authorized to offer you a position as a civilian consultant, Ms. Summers."
For a long moment she just stared at him.
"What?"
"Ms. Summers, in the last few days we have managed to gather quite a bit of information about you and have come to the conclusion that your input would be invaluable to our operation. You have more experience fighting these creatures than anyone else we are aware of. To make it short ... we want you on our team."
"Uncle Sam wants me?" Buffy giggled saying that, but she felt anything but amused. Shocked was more like it.
"You would, of course, be compensated quite nicely," Burke continued as if he was conducting a job interview for the local supermarket. "Absolute secrecy would have to be maintained, of course, but ..."
"Wait, wait! Slow down for a minute, okay?"
Burke complied as Buffy closed her eyes and just breathed for a moment, trying to make sense of it all. Some kind of government spook operation wanted her to work for them? To help them kill demons? They would PAY for her help?
The government guys in X-Files were a lot different.
"What ... what would this 'consultant' thing entail?" she finally managed to ask.
"Basically we want you to show us how to kill demons," Burke said nonchalantly. "Our operatives are among the best-trained fighters in the world, but most of them have never even suspected that vampires and other demons exist, much less know how to handle them. We have very little hard data on these creatures. What their vulnerabilities and habits are, how they think. Every little thing you could tell us about them would be a great help to us."
Buffy sat back, thinking. What Burke was telling her seemed almost too good to be true. The Watchers had never paid her, nor given her any kind of support system except Giles and his books. Now she was asked to train a group of trained combatants, show them how to kill vampires. Not only would this make her own job much easier, they would also PAY her for it.
Definitely too good to be true.
"I will have to think about this," Buffy finally said.
"I understand," Burke nodded. "I would appreciate it, though, if you could reach a decision quickly. This operation is of high importance for national security and quite a few highly-placed people are hoping you will take us up on our offer."
"How highly placed?" Buffy asked, intrigued.
"I am afraid that is classified. At least for now. I hope you understand that, until we have your decision, there is only so much I can tell you. Contact Riley when you have decided."
Burke was starting to rise.
"One other thing," Buffy said, causing him to sit down again. "If I agree to this, then I want another person included in this deal."
"Oh?"
"Yes! I don't know how much you have found out about the Slayer, but it's always a package deal."
"Package?"
Buffy could not help but smile a little. It was almost funny how little these guys knew about the world they were immersing themselves in.
"Every Slayer has a Watcher. Something like mentor, trainer, and teacher all rolled into one. He is the guy with the books who knows all the demon trivia, handed down from God knows how far back in the stone age. If I decide to take you up on your offer he will have to be in on it."
"This is a bit unexpected," Burke said after thinking for a moment. "We will have to discuss this with our superiors. What is the name of your Watcher?"
Buffy was about to say Giles' name, but then thought better off it.
"Let me talk to him first, okay? I want to get his input on this before we go any further."
Burke obviously was not a hundred percent happy with this, but apparently decided that he could not admonish her for her secrecy. He was not sharing everything with her yet, either.
"Very well, talk to your ... Watcher. I will try and sell the idea to my superiors. Before we can agree to this, Ms. Summers, we will have to run him through a security check, of course. I hope you understand."
"Totally."
"I hope to hear from you soon then."
Buffy had hoped to talk with Riley for a minute in private, but he rose together with Burke, stopping just long enough to pay for their coffees.
The government guys in X-Files sure were a lot different than these guys.
TO BE CONTINUED