Chapter 9: The Claw

Challenge: for the livejournal 2020 August Fic-a-Day Challenge

Timeline: season 1 for BtVS and pre-series for SG1; storywise, it starts about 4 months or so after 'XX Origins of Buffy', Chapters 21-24

A/N: Hour and a half before midnight before I got a chance to start writing. Hopefully this will be coherent.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. Stargate SG-1 character belongs to Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright / SyFy Channel. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

Sunnydale Zoo

March 1997

Buffy saw two of the group were missing when she joined them and asked, "Where are Mara and Sticks?" She wasn't expecting the frowns she received in reply.

Mark answered for the group, "The co-ed Heathers chased a couple of the more…socially awkward kids into the closed Hyena exhibit. Sticks and Mara wanted to make the odds a little better until you returned and we could join them."

They had nicknamed the psychotic foursome (Kyle, Tor, Rhonda and Heidi) after a group of psychotic girls in a movie. Shrugging, Buffy reminded her brother, "Apart from you, they're doing the best with the martial arts training. If anyone can defend the helpless against regular humans, they can. Still, let's join them so they don't have to fight."

When they tried to duck under the tape, a zoo employee stopped them. A look from Mark got the others to distract him so he and Buffy could get inside. They caught up just as their friends pulled the socially awkward kids away from Kyle and his vipers.

The confrontation between the two sides was enough to trigger the spell put on the floor and when Mara met the eyes of the front hyena in the enclosure, it took effect. The students within the ritual circle got the brunt of the spell, but just as the spell completed, Buffy and Mark stepped on the outer edge and got a lose dose of it as well. When the bullies turned around, there was something predatory in their eyes, which scared their would-be victims into scrambling out of the exhibit.

If that hadn't been enough, seeing the same look in their rescuers' eyes would have had them screaming as they ran.

For several tense moments, the six students tried to stare down the twins. Kyle snarled at them, only to have Mara snarl at him. Shocking everyone, Buffy gave a low growl which had all of them except her brother step back in a submissive stance. No words were spoken, but when she turned to leave, they fell in line behind her.

Everyone was shocked when the four bullies moved quietly to the back of the bus and didn't bother to torment anyone, even their earlier victims.

Buffy went to sit near the kids and asked, "Are you okay?"

The red-headed girl stammered nervously, "Do you want us to move?"

"You're fine," Buffy tried to reassure her. "You're Willow, right? Resident 10th grade genius?"

Willow looked like she might start to hyperventilate. She managed to nod, though.

"Xander is me," one of the boys tried to introduce himself, causing Buffy to smile in amusement.

"Way to go, lamebrain," his friend mocked him. "I'm Jesse. Are you allowed to cross clique lines and talk to us like this?"

"What's life without a little adventure," Buffy teased. "Getting back to my earlier question, are you alright?"

They all shrugged in resignation. "Not the first time we've been picked on; doubt it will be the last," Jesse answered for them.

Since they got Flutie's okay to start the afterschool club for self-defense – provided each student had waivers from their parents and a doctor – Buffy decided to make her first non-Coven invitation. "We've got a club that meets to show kids how to protect themselves. You have to get a couple waivers, but nothing hard. You also have to promise not to use what you learn to bully others." Technically that wasn't an official rule, but she figured it wouldn't be hard to make Giles turn it into one.

"Really? You'd let us be part of that?" Xander asked in surprise.

"Why not?"

"Because it goes against the natural order of things for somebody as popular as you to spend time with us?" he replied.

Next day…

During gym, the bullies tried to corner another outcast kid named Lance, but Mark stood between them and growled like his sister did the day before. It was soft enough that nobody other than the bullies could hear it. They tried to ignore the command in the sound except they knew the power he held as Buffy's brother. It was a close thing, however they did back away.

Mark was sufficiently surprised by his actions – and theirs – that he called for a research session in the library after the defense group.

It didn't take them long to narrow down when something had changed, so Mark went to the zoo with the magically inclined in the group, as well as Giles. Buffy decided that she held more sway over the bullies – probably because of the Slayer thing – and went to track them down to keep them out of trouble. Mara and Sticks went with her as backup. The found the others just as they were about to make a meal out of the new school mascot. To keep them mellow, Buffy led them back to her house and pulled out some roasts she had cooked the day before and let them tear into the meat. It was a pain to lose that much meat – especially after all the work to get them seasoned just right and stuff.

Seeing how quick the meat disappeared, Buffy knew that if they didn't figure this out soon, Giles would have to chip in for groceries. Fortunately, once they were done, they laid down on the living room floor in a tangle of limbs and dozed off. The others better find something at the zoo.

A/N: Had to stop so I could post.