(See chapter 1 for disclaimers.)

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"Homecoming"
By OldScout

In the centuries since the WCI was taken over by those it was supposed to be watching it had grown and diversified. Though few knew the true extent of its holdings it had become one of the largest privately owned interplanetary corporations in the league.

Officially, the WCI's corporate headquarters were in London. Unofficially and in reality the WCI was run from its North American offices in New Chicago. The two hundred and sixty floor Summers building towered above its corner of the sprawling city and the remains of the old city hidden far below. One time considered a marvel of modern engineering, the Summers tower was now considered moderately tall.

Corporate and business offices of the WCI's numerous subsidiaries filled the Summers building. Tens of thousands of people worked throughout spending years coming and going and calling it a second home never knowing that the other tenants shared the same mother company. The few aware of the unique relationship shared by the workers and residents of the Summers building reported to work on upper unofficial floors of the tower. These were the true employees of the WCI. The ones who knew what the initials stood for. Though these employees of the Watcher's Council International considered themselves the inner circle and elite of the corporation, they knew there were other progressively smaller inner circles. There was the Elite Security team said to be the corner stone of the council's original business.

When the security team members, usually dangerous looking and, oddly enough, young women, occasionally made an appearance in the offices a strange silence would settle over the area. The employees instinctively knew that all they did was in someway to support the security team.

Apart from the security team there was another inner circle. These were the people directly involved in handling the team. This inner circle was made up of Senior Watchers, researchers, administrative staff, trainers, technicians, mages, wizards, witches and others who knew about the things that went bump in the night. They were the ones who called the elite security personnel what they were, Slayers and Watchers.

Inside the circle headed by the Senior Watchers was the Council's board of directors. They were not only in charge of guiding the mega corporation known as the WCI, they were also the key decision makers guiding and molding the relatively minuscule number of Slayers at their disposal. They decided what laws and edicts of the underworld would be changed or enforced. What infractions needed attention and which emerging power players needed to be taken care of. They were the guiding hand of the council but they were not the inner core. The next inner circle was known as the Scoobies.

The Scoobies were the power brokers. They were the family and guiding influence of the WCI. Most were related to each other or to Slayers and Watchers from generations before. Several served on the Board and all held positions in other circles. They were the few who knew most of what occurred within the influence of the WCI.

Even the Scoobies were not the core of the WCI. There was one who held the keys to the entire kingdom. The top two floors of the Summers tower were the personal residence of the CEO of the WCI. It was real estate that on the open the market would sell for many millions of credits. Few outside the Scoobies even knew who the CEO was or that the top two floors of the building was their residence.

The express elevator from the lowest sub basements of the Summers tower signaled its arrival on the two hundred and sixty third floor. The grav lift elevator locked into place before opening its heavy blast doors and releasing one of the few creatures who used this particular elevator. A red skinned demon walked confidently through the hustle of the giant open floor office. People quickly moved out of the way of the large square shouldered demon as he strode down the main corridor, his battered ankle length duster flaring out behind him. He headed directly to the back offices and the main reception area of the CEO's office suite. Few paid any attention to the large demon with shaved off horns and strange under chin goatee. He'd haunted the upper floors of the tower as if he owned them for as long as anybody could remember. His name was Hellboy. The name had been a joke when he was found as an infant. It stuck

"Can I help you?" A pretty young brunet asked from her seat behind a fine old wooden reception desk. A plate on the desk informed everybody the girl's name was Syng.

"I hear she's back." Hellboy stated around the unlit cigar stub clenched between his teeth.

"She got in a few hours ago." The receptionist stated.

"Who brought her in?"

"Luv Gordon."

Hellboy raised an eye brow at the news. "You're shit'n."

"She was the only one in the vicinity."

"Great, that girl has a titanium broom handle permanently embedded up her ass."

"She's not the bad." Syng defended.

"You trained with her." Hellboy stated. "She sure as hell is that bad."

The girl shook her head. "I owe her my life.."

"Hey, Sweetie, I like your loyalty." Hellboy grinned before he headed toward the main entrance to the CEO's office suite.

"I don't know if she wants company right now." Syng said trying to head off Hellboy.

"Is her family with her?" It was more a statement than question. Hellboy knew they weren't

"Mrs. Sumpter-Harrington was in Siberia on official business when we got the signal. She'll be here in a few hours. William and Ellen were in Australia. They should be back soon as well. The others all have prior commitments. They will be here as soon as they can."

"So the answer is no." Hellboy said and continued to the office.

"She might not know you." The girl suggested to Hellboy's back.

"She always knows me." He growled back.

"- -"

Dawn sat on a giant plush leather sofa hugging her knees to her chin. She'd been here by herself for what felt like an eternity. Luv had told her this was Chicago but she'd been to Chicago with her father once and this didn't look anything like it. Then they'd landed on this massively wide and fantastically tall tower and she'd been escorted to this office. They'd waited for her to open the door by placing her hand on a panel like she'd used on that Vid. The girl out front, Syng, assured her that her family would be here soon and to let her know if she needed anything. Then they'd all left her here, alone. Somehow Dawn knew the family she was waiting for would not be Buffy or her mother, or even her father.

Dawn had explored for awhile, looking at pictures of people who looked familiar but she knew she'd never met. The oddest was a picture of her looking like she was in her sixties standing behind a just as old version of Xander. He even wore that tattered eye patch he'd been wearing in the picture at the memorial. The age thing was weird, but what was really weird, every once in a while she swore the picture moved.

For awhile Dawn had thought she'd been transported into some bizarre-o world of the future, but she seemed to know things like faint memories that told her this was her reality. She was sure she was missing something and nobody was going to tell her or they assumed she knew.

The fine wooden plank door leading to the reception area opened abruptly. A large red skinned creature wearing a long tattered brown duster stood in the door. "Hey, Half Pint, did you miss me?"

Hellboy immediately found himself with a sobbing fourteen year old clasped around him with her head buried in his chest. He patted her gently with his left hand. "Hey kid, when you get a chance I'll need to breath."

"I'm sorry." Dawn said as she backed away. Her face flushed with embarrassment and distress. "I thought I knew you."

Closing the door behind him, Hellboy stepped into the office suite. "You do, kid." He said as soothingly as he could around the cigar clamped in his mouth.

"Who are you? Do you know what's going?" Dawn asked hesitantly. She looked at this demon that was at least two feet taller then her. She didn't know why, but somehow she knew she could trust him. She watched his pointed tail whip back and fourth as he pondered her question. She knew the tail thing meant he was nervous, but she didn't know how she knew.

"I'm Hellboy. But you've always just called me Red. And yea, I know what's going." Hellboy crossed the office and looked out the window at the sprawling mega city.

"Red huh? I wonder where I came up with that." Dawn waited a few seconds. "Well?"

"What do you remember about something called The Key?"

Dawn started hugging herself again and her complexion got pasty. "Oh, no, no, no not that."

"See, kid, you do remember." Hellboy turned back to Dawn. This was always difficult. The most recent thing she remembered before falling into the lagoon was talking to her mom and sister. She could remember other things but the order was reversed. The manufactured memories where clear as day; the others, the real memories she had to dig for. It usually took a year or two for her to get her memories fully realigned.

"Did Glor…she do this to me?" Dawn dropped back to the couch. Who was Glory?

"No kid, all that played out a very long time ago." Hellboy said as soothingly as an apocalypse demon such as he could. "It's just that the energy or whatever it is you're molded from doesn't know how to be anything else but you."

Dawn looked at Hellboy. "What does that mean?" Dawn had that sinking feeling back in her stomach.

"It means." Hellboy said bluntly. "That you died a while ago and the key, not knowing what else to do with itself, reset." He knew it wasn't a really accurate description. If Illyria where here, she'd be correcting him that Dawn wasn't the key, yada, yada, blah, blah, blah, but he didn't want to get into that with her now. The details didn't really matter.

"So I grow old, die, and come back? Only since Sunnydale apparently isn't there anymore I just get dumped in the water?"

"Not exactly." Hellboy said cautiously. "It seems you don't get much older then Buffy was when you were sent to her."

"What? I'm going to get how old?"

"Around twenty?" Hellboy said cautiously. He'd done this before but it always went differently.

Dawn scrunched up her face and started hyperventilating. "You mean I've only got six years to live then I've got to do this again?"

"What? No. I mean you stop ageing when you're twenty. You'll live until you get killed again." Hellboy did not like doing this. It wasn't his job. Damn, where was her family. "I think your record is about one hundred and eighty."

She looked at him wide eyed.

"That's when you were building this tower. It kept you focused and out of trouble."

"I built this tower?" Dawn gasped. "How?"

"Well not by yourself or anything." Hellboy almost laughed. "You got degrees in architecture, engineering and other stuff then worked for Wendall Associates learning how to build mega towers." He gestured randomly around him. "There are features that you designed in this building over a hundred years ago that are still considered state of the art."

The door to the suite opened to admit a woman who Dawn thought looked a lot like her mother, only older. She was tall with gray blond hair and wearing an expensive looking business suit. Dawn was immediately across the room hugging the woman.

"Hi, mom." Julie said softly to the young girl clutched to her.

Dawn loosened her grip and looked up at the woman. "Mom?"

Julie nodded. "I'm sure Hellboy has filled you in. Apparently he thinks his duty is to interfere in our family whenever possible."

Dawn squinted then shut her eyes leaning back forward against the woman. "You're Julie?"

"Yes, I'm Julie Maria Sumpter-Harrington. Your youngest daughter." Julie looked up at Hellboy. "Thanks for keeping her company, but I'm sure you've got other things to attend to." She didn't even try to keep the chill out of her voice. Having Hellboy give her mother the blunt reality of what was happening was almost as bad as Illyria doing it. Almost.

"I guess I knew when I saw you." Dawn said to Julie as Hellboy approached.

Hellboy leaned in over Dawn and kissed Julie. He grinned as the woman blushed. "You're late, Spit Fire. She needs her family." With that he was out the door.

With a questioning look from Dawn Julie said. "I had a crush on him a long time ago."

"So you're mean to him because he's an ex and not because he's a demon?"

"Ah, can we talk about something else." Julie took Dawn's hand and led her to the couch. "We have a lot to discuss."

To be continued...

"- - 00 - - "

(This chapter is a crossover with Hellboy. To know how I introduced Hellboy to the Buffyverse, see my story 'Bump In The Night')