The Circle of Scooby

by red-jacobson

The activation of the world's slayers has caused massive destruction throughout the multi-verse, and the Circle of Ouroborus is determined to prevent that happening and recruit three natives of the critical timeline to save the multi-verse!

2. Chapter 2

STORY TITLE: The Circle of Scooby

PART: 02 of ?

AUTHOR: Red Jacobson ( )

DISTRIBUTION: , Archive of Our Own, Twisting the Hellmouth

DISCLAIMER: None of the Characters You Recognize belong to me, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel Characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy (Grrr! Argh!), and the Boondock characters belong to the Estate of Robert A Heinlein and his publishers.

SUMMARY: The activation of the world's slayers has caused massive destruction throughout the multi-verse, and the Circle of Ouroborus is determined to prevent that happening and recruit three natives of the critical timeline to save the multi-verse!

FEEDBACK: Of course! It Makes Me Write Faster

RELATIONSHIPS: Xander/Cordelia/Tara

RATING: R

WORD COUNT: 4,654

SPOILERS: A Crossover with RAH's Lazarus Long Books. I'm afraid that, while I'm going to do my best to explain things, at least a passing familiarity with Time Enough For Love, The Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset would help you understand who these characters are. None, but if you don't know how the Buffy the Vampire Slayer story goes by now, why are you reading this story?

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DEPARTMENT: I'm borrowing a bit of Cordy's childhood background from my buddy IronBear's stories, specifically Rio Blanco on the Mouth of Hell, and the Hell-er-nator Stories. If you want some amazing Xander/Cordelia stories, do yourself a favor and check him out!

AUTHORS NOTES: I'm going to try something unusual for this story, no lemons. Frankly, they've gotten to be a bore to write, and I imagine they've become boring to read as well. Hope this goes well.

Boondock

Time Corps Physical Training Center

Time Immaterial

"What are we waiting for? Let's get started!"

There were hundreds of times during his training that Xander cursed himself for his eagerness. He'd actually thought he was in pretty decent shape when he was 21 years old the first time, between working construction during the day, and hunting vampires and demons at night. Not to mention having to keep up the stamina to ensure that Anya was satisfied. Hah! Compared to where he was now, he was a damned potato back then, but he still had a long way to go. Which was why he was pushing himself up off the mat again, and accepting the towel and a bottle of water from the man who was currently in charge of his training. He wanted to hate the man for what he was doing, but instead, Zeb Carter was currently one of his best friends.

The same Zeb Carter who was currently bouncing on his feet, keeping the blood pumping to resume the spar, that damnable crooked grin on his face, just waiting to knock him on his ass again. 'No! Not going to happen this time, especially since we've actually got an audience, and I could swear I just heard Sharpie making a bet with Deety that I would take Zeb this time. And Sharpie never, never loses a bet, so if she's betting on me, I'm going to knock that 'clean-limbed fighting man' on his ass, just to see the look on his face!'

Keeping that thought in front of him, Xander moved back a couple of steps and got himself into position. Giving a nod to Zeb, the two of them started moving again, but this time it was different, he could feel every lesson that Zeb had pounded into him since they started, every punch, every kick, every damned fall, and it all flowed together, and he suddenly felt like Daniel at the end of the first Karate Kid movie, only it was Mister Miyagi that he was going to end up on the mat this time!

He blocked out the sounds of the audience, the sound of the same damn song that played every time he walked onto the mat, the feel of the punches and kicks, just letting them brush him before diverting them away from his body, they didn't matter, nothing mattered, just focus on your opponent, pay attention to what he's doing to see what he's going to do, and keep moving, land your blows and keep moving. Ignore the look of surprise on his face, don't worry about the glimmer of pride in his eyes, keep punching and kicking, keep moving until you're the last one standing, then you can think again.

Xander didn't think, he just kept moving, not even wasting his breath on a wisecrack, ignoring the hit to his side that had to have cracked a couple of ribs, he just kept punching, until his opponent wasn't in front of him any longer. Blinking, he looked around as saw that Zeb was flat on his back on the mat, his eyes closed and his body a mass of bruises. He stared at the man dumbly, before grabbing the water bottle and a cloth. Kneeling, he started washing some of the wounds that had started bleeding. Zeb's eyes fluttered open and the man had the nerve to grin at him, "Not bad, Xander, you're finally getting somewhere. But I think we're both done for the day, don't you?"

Xander tried to laugh but winced instead as all the pain he'd been ignoring hit him all at once. Gripping Zeb's hand, he forced himself to his feet, pulling Zeb up as well. Zeb nodded in thanks and threw his arm over Xander's shoulders, the two of them supporting each other as they made their way out of the ring.

He could see Tara and Cordy watching him, concern on their faces, and he tried to grin at them, but his face just hurt too damned much. He did manage to get Zeb over to Deety, who took him away, fussing the whole way. Stopping to look at Sharpie, he said "I hope you got real good odds on that bet of yours, because I want at least half, understood?"

The woman looked surprised for a second, before laughing, "Oh, that won't be a problem at all, I'll see you tomorrow to take care of it. Now, your ladies are about to come rushing over here, so you'd better not keep them waiting."

Glancing over, Xander could easily see that she was right, so he just gave her a nod and turned toward Cordy and Tara, moving as quickly as he could, until the two of them literally forced him into a hoverchair and took him to see Galahad, not that Xander protested all that much.

Fortunately, the two of them were healed in time for dinner, which Xander greatly enjoyed. It was nice being congratulated on taking Zeb down. He could tell that Zeb didn't seem to enjoy the gibes quite as much, and so he didn't add to them, but it was still sweet to hear.

It wasn't until he stepped into the training area the next afternoon and saw Sharpie standing on the mat, a predator's grin on her face, that Xander started getting the idea that the dinner conversation had been part of setting him up. Seeing Zeb standing beside the mat with a huge smile on his face made Xander want to quote Han Solo because he really had a bad feeling about this!

Less than five minutes later, he was proven right, as water splashed in his face waking him. Zeb and Sharpie both gave him friendly smiles as they helped him to his feet, and Zeb said, "Congratulations, you've survived the ego-busting portion of the training, now we can get to the good stuff. And, you should know that you lasted almost a full minute longer on your feet than the previous record holder, which was me, by the way."

Taking a drink of water, Xander managed to say, "So the bet, and last night at dinner was all a set up? Why?"

Sharpie shook her head, "The bet wasn't, I really didn't expect you to hear me. I've been watching your training, and so has Lazarus and Colonel Campbell, and we were all sure that you were close to a breakthrough, and I could see something in your eyes yesterday that told me that it would happen."

Zeb picked up, "And yeah, the dinner conversation was a bit of a set up, to keep your confidence up. The reason we do this, and everyone has experienced the same thing, is after beating me, there's a tendency to get cocky, and Sharpie, all five foot nothing and 90 pounds soaking wet is there to bring your ego down to manageable size again, because cockiness in the field gets people killed."

Xander nodded, "Okay, I'll buy that for a dollar, but I do have another question. Why is it that every time I step onto the mat, 'Eye of the Tiger' starts playing?"

Zeb looked surprised, "Isn't that the traditional training song on your timeline? Cordy swore that it was always used during training."

He groaned, closing his eyes and shaking his head, "Zeb, we've both been had by my brat of a wife, let me tell you about something you see in movies called a 'training montage'..."

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Thursday, October 30th, 1997

Various Locations

Spahn Ranch

Death Valley, California

Tara groaned, her tired body resisting the movement as she bent down to kneel on the bathroom floor. One of her chores was to make sure that the entire room was spotless, including the floor under the toilet tank, and she didn't want another whipping for missing a spot, not after the last one!

Reaching around, she brushed her hand over the tile, checking to see if anything had fallen back there, and paused when she felt something metallic. Putting her hand over the object, she slowly pulled it from behind the toilet and picked it up. She looked at it curiously, it was a ring of some kind, and Tara knew she hadn't seen it before. It didn't have a gem on it, but a carving of what looked like a snake eating its own tail. Drawn by something she couldn't describe, she reaches out and touched her finger to the carving, only to gasp as the ring started changing, flowing around her ring finger and looking like an ordinary ring.

Her eyes shot open as years of memories hit her, of mama dying and her escape to Sunnydale, Willow, and the magic, Buffy dying, and the shock as her blood splashed across Willow's shirt. Then came everything else, including the knowledge that her lovers would be getting their memories back today. Giving her older self permission to take over, she faded into the background to watch her future self get the revenge on Daddy and Donnie that she had wanted to inflict on them.

Tara smiled as she felt herself take full control, although she wasn't happy about the aches and pains in her younger body, she could deal with them later, she had things to do before heading to Sunnydale. But she did decide to make things extra-painful for the two monsters in the house before she left.

Checking the time, she nodded, a plan forming in her mind. First, take care of her sperm donor, then his spawn, and then she could get mama the hell out of here. Standing, she started flexing her fingers, getting them used to the exercise, and cursing her lack of conditioning. Her mind knew exactly what to do, but getting her body back to that level was going to be a lot of work. At least she would have Cordy and Xander going through it with her, that would make the pain worth it. Once she got her fingers loosened up, she practiced forming them into the shape for the strike she was going to use. Fortunately, this attack didn't require strength, just accuracy, and she could manage that.

Leaving the cleaning supplies behind, she quietly slipped out the door and down the hall, passed her mama's room, but she would be back there soon, toward her sperm donor's 'den'. She whispered a spell to silence the hinges of the door and eased it open. Once she was inside, she smiled, the bastard had his back to her, watching something on the beat-up old television. It didn't really matter, as long as he was distracted for the next minute, that's all she needed.

Closing the door quietly, Tara walked up behind him, her fingers forming the perfect triangle needed for the blow. She was less than six inches away when he noticed something, and by then it was far too late. Her hand hit the nerve cluster at the base of his neck, and the beast stiffened, before collapsing unconscious in the chair. Reaching into his pockets, she took all the money and his bank card out of his wallet, before dropping it on his lap. Sneering at him, she whispered, "I hope you enjoy being Bubba's bitch in whatever prison you end up in, but you will never see me or mama again."

Quickly scanning the room, she didn't see anything of value that she could take so she opened the door and closed it behind her, heading for Donnie's room.

Her brother was even easier, although a lot more disgusting, she found him sitting on the edge of his bed, pants around his ankles and a magazine in one hand while the other hand was busy. Tara didn't bother to look at the magazine, she did not need to find out what the disgusting creep found exciting. One quick strike and Donnie was unconscious on the bed. Looking around the room, she whistled softly at the pile of cash, and the baggies of white powder. Taking the cash, she checked the time again and saw that it would be at least an hour and a half before 'dear daddy' woke up, and he wouldn't be able to do anything but moan in pain for an hour after that. Tara had plenty of time to finish looting the house of anything she wanted.

Forty-five minutes later, she had all the money in the house, including the hidden stashes, in the bottom of her backpack, as well as some personal items she wanted to keep, and a couple of changes of clothes until she could get Cordy's help getting a new wardrobe.

Slipping into Mama's room, Tara winced at how much pain she was in, and cast a mild sleep spell to let her rest comfortably for a little while. While her mother was sleeping, Tara gathered up everything that she thought her mother would want to have with her in her new home, including her family grimoire and the other books of magic, and teachings of the Goddess that had been carefully hidden by the women of her family going back generations. Once everything was ready, she used the ring to contact Boondock.

"This is Deety, go ahead Tara."

Tara smiled at hearing her friend's voice again but kept her tone businesslike, even if the code made her want to giggle.

"Base, this is Ellie Mae, Uncle Jed and Jethro are out hunting for oil, and Granny and I would enjoy a trip to the cement pond."

Tara heard the humor in Deety's voice as she acknowledged the message, and told her that her ride would be there in 3 seconds. As Deety reached the end of her countdown, the wall in her mama's room dissolved, and the open door of Gay Deceiver was hanging there. She blinked as Ishtar stepped into the room, followed by Zeb and the double twins, Laz and Lor, and Castor and Pollux, who floated Mama out of the bed while she and Ishtar carried Mama's personal items and got everything into the car. Climbing in behind them, Tara waited until they were sealed up and said,

"Okay, we're out of there, now, will you please tell me who came up with the damned Beverly Hillbillies for the code? Was it you Zebbie? It would fit your sense of humor to a tee!"

He shook his head, "Nope, wasn't me Tinkerbell, that was all your ever-loving husband and wife's idea, something about getting you back for planting the 'Eye of the Tiger' idea in Cordy's brain."

Tara snickered, remembering the look on Xander's face when he found out about it, and the spankings he gave her and Cordy, and the fun they had apologizing. But she could remember that later, after she had a nice hot shower with decent soap.

"Okay, fair enough. Now, are you sure you don't want me to take the trip to Boondock with you? I still think Mama would be more comfortable waking up to a friendly face."

Zeb shook his head, "No Tara, we can handle it just fine. Seeing you there when she woke in strange surroundings would just confuse her more. Once we get her healed and able to wake up completely, we can have you there when we explain things. But this was only part of the mission. I know and understand how personal this is for you and your loves, but you need to focus, we're only getting one shot at this before the Adversary becomes aware of things and moves to stop us. It's only the waves of Chaos flowing out from Ethan's spell preparation that's letting us mask what we are doing now."

Tara frowned, she didn't like it, but knew that Zeb was right, she would just have to let it go and focus on the next steps. "Okay, then I need you to let me out at the Love's Travel Stop in Boron, and pick me up 30 minutes later, I'm going to buy a burner phone and bring down a world of trouble on Cletus the Slacked Jawed Yokel and his spawn. Then I need to get to the Greyhound station in Parumph, Nevada. I'll take a bus to Sunnydale from there, and, if I'm lucky I'll see news of the raid on the tube when I get to my destination."

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Chase Manor

Sunnydale, California

"I can't believe the nerve of that damned troll!" Cordelia grumbled, "It's taken me weeks of maneuvering to get the invitation to the Grauman's Theater Halloween Party, and now I've got to change everything! Doesn't that moron understand that the agents and producers I would meet are far more important to my future than escorting all these brats around to scrounge candy?"

She looked around the empty house with a frown, "And of course Daddy and his wife are in New York until next week, so I can't get him to talk to Snyder, if he was even willing to help." She stood there silently, searching for a possible solution, only to sigh, "Crap! I'm going to have to rethink my costume for the party, there's no way I can use the cat costume if I've been wearing it traipsing around Sunnydale with those grubby little monsters."

Running different possibilities through her mind, she wasn't finding anything that really felt right, so she decided to do what's done before, and it never let her down. Walking into her bedroom, she pulled out the box of costume jewelry her mom had given her when she was little, before mommy went away when she didn't have to worry about 'being a Chase' all the time, and could have the friends she wanted, not the ones her father and his latest wife thought were appropriate. She still missed the times when she had been friends with Xander and Willow, and even Jesse, although he was more than a little annoying at times.

Growling just like she did when she was Raksha, the Mother Wolf as she ran with Xander, her mate Akela by her side through the jungles of Seonee, Cordelia pushed aside the memories and opened the box. Closing her eyes she shoved her hand into the jumble of rings, necklaces, broaches, and earrings until her hand closed around something that felt right. With a soft cry of triumph, she pulled her hand back and opened her eyes, taking a look at what she'd found.

She examined the ring closely, wondering where it had come from, because she knew her mother never had anything like it, not with the carving of the snake eating its tail. Mommy had always hated snakes and didn't even like hearing her talking about the Jungle Book adventures she and the others shared because Amy was Kaa the python.

Reaching out, she ran her finger over the carving, when she froze, images of her life hitting her, and memories of things that hadn't happened, can't have happened, poured into her brain, overwhelming her until she was just sitting there, staring at nothing. She didn't notice that the ring had changed, flowing over her hand until it wrapped snugly around her ring finger, looking like nothing unusual at all.

Eventually, the flood of images, emotions, and memories slowed and then stopped, and she heard adult Cordy asking permission to take over and change things, which she eagerly allowed.

Opening her eyes she looked around the room, smiling softly at the memories of her childhood before the real world tore it away. She knew, through the ring, that Tara had already come back, but not Xander, so she couldn't drive over and give her husband the kiss she longed to do. Well, there would be time for that tomorrow.

Looking at the costume she had rented from Party Town, she shook her head, that just wouldn't do, not at all. However, they did have a decent G.I. Jane costume, and while the movie was a mess, Demi did look good in the uniform! Too bad they didn't have any Navy Whites because A Few Good Men was a much better movie. Oh well, she would work with what they had, and starting in the morning she and her husband were going to kick the so-called Powers in the balls so hard their creators would feel it!

Standing, she looked at the mirror, Cordy was seized by an impulse she couldn't explain, but if questioned, she'd claim it was Xander's influence, and, smiling widely at her reflection yelling, in her worst Desi Arnez voice, "Hey Luci! I'm Hooooooooooommmmmmmmmmme!" before laughing and grabbing the bag from Party Town. She had work to do and wanted to get done before it got dark.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Harris House

15 minutes later

Something very similar happened to Xander when he went digging for the dog-tags he was planning on wearing with the old fatigues for his costume. Although, when the ring started showing him the memories, he felt a brief feeling of happiness that some of his favorite characters were actually real, and he'd met them before the horror of the next several years hit him, and he understood exactly what he and the others would be preventing.

It was more than a little strange to realize that he and Cordy were married, both to each other, and this Tara girl, but it was clear they were all in love with each other, so he wasn't going to worry about it. Once the memories finished, and his future self got permission to take over, he felt himself fading into the background. Once the adult was fully in control, he went searching for the memories of him and Cordy having sex, sure, he had just seen memories that scared the crap out of him, but he was still a 16-year-old boy and Cordy was the hottest girl in school!

Xander smiled to himself when he felt younger him going for the naughty bits, hoping he didn't shock the kid with his memories of Anya, and then finding out just how kinky both Cordy and Tara are. But he had work to do if he ever wanted to enjoy their kinks in the flesh again. The ring told him that both Cordy and Tara were awake now, so tomorrow morning was going to be extremely interesting.

Grabbing his dog tags, he changed out of his school clothes and left the house. It was a long bike ride out to Uncle Rory's, but the man had the metalworking kit he would need to change the information on the tags. He trusted Jake, Libby, and Deety for programming the rings, and was sure they did their best to make sure they prevented possession, but he was a big believer in giving his team as much of a boost as he could, which is why, under their costumes, he and Cordy were going to be wearing the Identification of Commander Alexander Chase-Maclay-Harris, and Cordy would be wearing Lt Commander Cordelia Harris-Maclay-Chase, both of the Inter-Universal Time Corps, 'Kicking Ass and Taking Names Since Three Weeks from Tomorrow'

Lazarus had wanted to kick his ass for coming up with that motto, but everybody else thought it was hilarious, and he eventually saw the humor in it, but still refused to allow it on their uniform patches, the crotchety old fart.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Greyhound Station

Parumph, Nevada

Thursday, October 30th, 1997

8:30 pm

Tara relaxed into the seat as the bus finally pulled away from the terminal. Things had been going almost too well so far, but she wouldn't feel completely comfortable until she was back in her lover's arms again. She had been thrilled when the ring told her that Cordy and Xander had both arrived, and she could feel that they were missing her too. It had actually only been, at most 24 hours since they had been together, but with the disorientation of copying her memories into the ring, and then adjusting to the new/old body, it felt like so much longer.

At least the first part of the plan was going well, there was a news report when she arrived at the bus station, showing a film of dozens of police cars and ATF Vans pouring into the ranch. It surprised her to find out that the ranch used to be home to Charles Manson and his cult, but it explained the feeling of evil in certain places. She always tried to avoid those spots, and now she wondered if there were murders done there? The TV report said they were working from an anonymous tip that the men at the ranch were stockpiling weapons and threatening President and Mrs. Clinton, as well as Attorney General Reno.

Tara smiled to herself, there was enough truth to what she told the police that all of the men at the ranch will find themselves behind bars tonight, and that's even without the bags of cocaine in Donnie's room. She had told the police who she was and that she and her mother were going into hiding until all of them were in prison, out of fear for their lives. She had ended the call and tossed the phone in the sewer before Gay Deceiver came back and was miles away before the first police car arrived trying to track her down.

She watched the highway go by for a while until the movement of the wheels lulled her to sleep, and she reclined the seat-back and closed her eyes, sliding into dreams.

End Chapter Two

Wow! The scenes sure expanded from my original outline, I've got enough for another chapter already, but I'm going to wait to start working on that tomorrow. Hope you enjoy the chapter, and as I told you above, check out my buddy IronBear's stories on and Twisting the Hellmouth, they are some of the best Xander/Cordy stories I've ever read. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the latest chapter and, to steal a line from a Bette Davis movie, "Buckle your seat-belts, it's gonna be a bumpy ride."

See you soon