Summary: Oz's presence has... repercussions. S2 E27
Disclaimer: I own whatever OC's I create, and not much more.
Feedback: Unlike most sound setups, I like positive feedback. Like most amps, a little bit of negative feedback can help as well.
Pre-fic Comments:
Even worse than normal plotbunnies are inspecific ones that force me to make up detail. What a pain.
* * *
Owwww... his head felt like a thousand dogs were digging into his skull. Where the hell was he? Last he remembered was coming to fetch some cub who knew nothing, and he got jumped by the cub and some other kid...
He opened his eyes, absently changing the claws back to fingernails, and the fangs back to normal teeth. Okay, so he was chained up. He didn't see any guys in white coats with syringes, so that was cool. The cub, some kid who was being cleaned up by the cub, and...
Crap. A Watcher. Complete with the Watchers' uniform -- tweed suit, glasses, and a receding hairline. He was so screwed. Unless this one wasn't quite so Watchery.
"Well," the Watcher said, "the demon in question is waking up now. We can ask for ourselves."
Demon? He wasn't a demon!
"Good," the kid who had grappled with him said. "Now we can ask him why he's into kidnapping and death threats."
Death threats? Maybe Mum was right, and he shouldn't hand them out like candy.
"He's not normal," the cub observed. Duh, Einstein. "Books?"
The Watcher took his glasses off to clean them. The practiced motion spoke of a nervous habit. "Erm, while researching your... condition... I came across no references to any organisations of werewolves, nor references to other varieties of were-creatures. There were, however, numerous instances of demons with the ability of minor shapeshifting, claws, fangs, eye colour and so on."
He decided that this crap had gone on long enough. "'M notta demon."
Damn tranquiliser.
All three heads whipped around to look at him.
"That so," the kid said. "Given the party guests that usually come to town, you'll get it if we're not exactly certain that you're being honest with us."
Damn Hellmouths. Damn leaks. Damn paranoid normals.
"'M a were," he mumbled.
"Wolf?," the cub asked, crouching to his eye level.
"'Sno leopard," he tried again. Hopefully this tranquiliser stuff'd be neutralised in a few minutes.
"Did you get that, G-man?," the kid asked.
"Yes, Xander, and don't call me that," the Watcher said, obviously not fond of the nickname.
So. The kid was called Xander.
He decided to look around. He was in a small library... looked like the one to the school the cub was in. Lucky him. Musty old bookshelves, polished wood, ratty carpets, pile of bloody rags...
Bloody rags?
As his head stayed fixed, looking at the pile, Xander grinned morbidly.
"You're hard to beat, know that? Like trying to put a five year old on a sugar rush to bed."
Great. Just great. Another leak. The Boss was gonna have his head for this.
"Uh, i-if he is, as he claims, a were-snow-leopard, Xander, you could be in some danger," the Watcher said, putting two and two together with some extrapolation. He had hoped that that old man wouldn't figure that out... dammit!
"I'm gonna turn into a cat each full moon?," Xander asked. "Whoopee."
This thinking stuff officially sucked. After a long day, then a fight with a kid who would not stay down, then this tranquiliser bullcrap, he was bushed.
* * *
The next day found Willow and Buffy getting Very Mad at Xander.
"Why did you not tell me?," Buffy demanded. "You're the normal guy! You can't go taking down things!"
"Hey," Xander protested, manliness assaulted. "I didn't have to take him down! I only had to give Oz a clear shot at him!"
"And as for you, Mister," Willow said, shaking a finger at Oz, "you should know better, being in a higher grade! You should have told us as well, and we'd've helped, and Xander wouldn't be in trouble now!"
"Speaking of which, what did you find out from the guy last night?," Buffy asked.
"Not much," Xander shrugged. "He mumbled some stuff then nodded off to sleep like a baby."
"I've kinda got practice with Devon and the band," Oz said.
"Okay, you can go, but you'd better get to the Library afterwards," Willow commanded.
Xander started to quietly sneak off.
"Xander! You're coming with us!," Buffy snapped.