Summary: Certain books have found their way to Sunnydale, pre-Buffy.
Disclaimer: I dun' own nuttin'!
Feedback, it makes me write faster. (You know you want to do the feedback thing.)
Pre-Fic Comments:
I've decided I will do that Moloch ep. But with my changes. (Honestly, how do people find a really ugly dude to be the most attractive person in their lives?)
* * *
Giles pushed his glasses up his nose from where they had slipped slightly.
"Er, Buffy, from what I have just heard from a colleague in London, the Council has sent a team to, ah, /sanction/ us," Giles began nervously.
"Is this in the US-Iraq sense of sanctions," Xander asked. "Cos I don't drink Guinness or eat black pudding or anything."
"It's somewhat more permanent than that," Giles said. In his nervousness, a slight red sheen appeared on his skin.
"Giles, you're showing," Willow chirped. She was working on a program she was writing on the Library computer.
"Ah, thank you."
"They kill us," Buffy surmised. "Wonderful."
Jesse looked up from a small book he was making notes from. "Can't we kill them first?"
"Jesse, they're /people/!," Willow scolded.
"People who want to kill us," Jesse muttered. "So I say they aren't people anymore."
"No!," Giles commanded. "There will be no killing."
"Not even almost killing, put them in a coma type killing," Jesse asked.
"NO!"
"Giles, I've got that program debugged and working," Willow said.
"Wonderful," Giles said in a tone indicating anything but. "Are you sure that this 'scanning' will not harm my books? They're rather old and fragile."
"Well, the burning could put a crimp in your plans then," Jesse joked.
"WHAT?!," the British man yelled, before clutching the nearest pile of books possessively.
[AuthorsNote: Preciousss belongs to meee... filthy little computersss...]
"Take a chill pill," the new computer teacher, Ms Calendar said, entering the Library. "Scanning something doesn't hurt the books in any way."
"Well, I still think that skimming my books into the Idiot Box is a bad idea," Giles said.
"If you want, they could scan mine and Jesse's first to reassure you," Xander suggested.
Giles cleaned his glasses. "Yes, a test run with Jesse's reference material first would seem to be in order."
"That's scanning, Rupert," Ms Calendar corrected. "And TV's the idiot box. /This/ is the good box."
Two more students entered the library, carrying some computer parts with them. "Okay, Miz Calendar, where do we set up?"
"I-I thought the computer suite was upstairs?," Giles asked. "What is the meaning of this, this invasion?"
"It won't take as long this way," Willow said. "Here, I'll clear a table for you guys."
It didn't take long for the two boys and Willow to set up the extra machines.
"I still prefer a good book," the Librarian said stubbornly.
"The printed page is obsolete," one of the students evangelised. "Information isn't bound up anymore. It's an entity. The only reality is virtual. If you're not jacked in, you're not alive."
Xander rolled his eyes. "I'll show you alive."
"Thank you, Fritz, for making us all sound like crazy people," Ms Calendar said sarcastically. "Fritz, Fritz comes on a little strong, but he does have a point. You know, for the last two years more e-mail was sent than regular mail."
"And cheaper, too!," Willow said.
Giles made a noise of non-agreement.
"More digitized information went across phone lines than conversation," the computer teacher continued.
"That is a fact I regard with genuine horror," the Watcher said.
"I'll bet it is," Ms Calendar joked. "Alright, guys, we're done for today."
"Giles, you wouldn't have that copy of D'Erlettes book if Willow didn't have that computer and an internet connection," Xander observed.
"Perhaps there may be a slight chance of redemption of these infernal machines, then."
"I've just got a few more. I'll hang for a bit," Willow said. She was in the Zone, and unwilling to stop for mundane matters like sleep.
"Cool! Thanks," Ms Calendar said.
Everyone breathed out when the computer teacher and her disciples left.
"Well, I've got good news," Xander said. "I've talked to the Bronze's managers."
"And?," Giles asked. "What was their response?"
"Superstitious," Xander said. "They'll let me put sealing patterns on the inside of the Bronze which will stop more Rites and Reversals."
"Good," Jesse said. "Could we let more Drow people do that Reversal thing, though?"
"Why?," Buffy asked.
Willow hit Jesse with her book bag. "You've been watching Eilistraee's priestess, haven't you?"
"Er, what?," Giles asked, confused.
"They do their religious rituals wearing as little as possible," Xander explained.
"Ah!," Giles exclaimed. "I see."
He began cleaning his glasses furiously.
"So, when're you doing those patterns?," Jesse asked. "Want a hand?"
"Sure. They're going up tomorrow," Xander said, "while the cleaning crew are taking care of the place."
"The Bronze gets /cleaned/?," Buffy asked.
"Sure," Willow said. "With extra weak cockroach killing stuff."
* * *
"Thanks for that, Elizabeth," the Mayor said. "You know, you've been quite a help, a real saving to the taxpayer!"
"No problem," the Ventrue vampire smiled. "I'm afraid we've got a problem with the police HOD."
"Really?," the Mayor blinked, thinking furiously. He talked with the man every day. He was sure of him -- unlike this girl, who he was giving enough rope to hang herself. "What seems to be wrong?"
"This," Elizabeth said, throwing an open newspaper on the table. It had a picture of the police chief going into Sunnydale's house of negotiable virtue.
Wilkins picked up the newspaper, looking at it carefully. His suspicious mind noted that it was different to the one that he had gotten this morning, yet had the same date. Now that he had noticed that, he could feel /something/ pushing on his psyche.
"What are you?," he asked. "And please leave my mind alone."
Elizabeth looked surprised. "Why... how?"
Wilkins smiled.
The Ventrue vampire snarled, showing her fangs. She locked her eyes with the Mayor, initiating a battle of willpower.
For Wilkins the Third, it was life or death. For her, it was power.