Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy.

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. Iron Coin Chronicles is BACK, baby!

I was actually planning to get this written, or at least started, back in September or October, but for various reasons, I didn't end up doing that. I did have to take a long break after ending ICC Season 2, which really did take a lot out of me, but I'm back and ready to do the Silver Summer.

Now, unlike the between Seasons 1 and 2 Interquel, Silent Summer, Silver Summer will not be one chapter in total. I can't say how many chapters it will be, but as with splitting ICC "Episodes" into two chapters, I don't have the time or capacity to really write the longer bits I used to.

Regardless, as I ease back into the Coinverse, these chapters won't even be as long as the chapters that were "part" of a latter-parts of Season 2 Episode. Probably around 4-5k a pop, at a guess. Maybe more, maybe less, depending on things.

Thanks are, once again, extended to Starway Man and Deiticlast for their assistance as beta-readers and sounding boards.

Iron Coin Chronicles: The Silver Summer

By Kylia

Installment 1

May 14th, 2000

Private Room, Sunnydale Public Library

"So, anyway, Colonel McNamara has been relieved of his command over the Initiative," Riley said. "Dr. Angleman assures me that the people behind the project have been convinced that it's simply not worthwhile or feasible, to continue on like we have. Weaponizing demons and vampires - hostile sub-terrestrials - proved to be... bad idea." He could have told them that after a few encounters with what he'd even then still called HSTs without a hint of irony - but no one had told him that was the plan.

"That is - that is gratifying to hear, though I cannot say I feel certain these individuals are telling you the truth." Giles said carefully. "Regardless, the Council has told me they have spoken to their people at Number 10 Downing Street - and they have asked that the Prime Minister personally convey their dissatisfaction - and his - regarding the Initiative to the President."

"All well and good, yes - but just how much effect do you expect that to have, Mr. Giles?" Wesley asked, with a raised eyebrow. "Since the end of the Cold War, the American government has largely proceeded to pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist. Why would this be any different?"

"Hey, Brits, diss America on your own time, okay? Or I'll toss your tea in the ocean, do the Boston Tea Party all over again." Faith said, grinning a bit as she said that. She sounded both serious, and yet not - but then again, as far as Riley could tell, Faith was always like that. When she and Buffy had gotten up from their almost coma-like state, she'd started making jokes about the ways the Slayers before her and Buffy had died. Which is apparently what their entire coma had been - endless visions of every death of all the countless Slayers before them.

She'd pretended it was nothing, but Riley could tell that Faith was covering. Not only because of his own training in the field of psychology - he hadn't been Dr. Walsh's psych class TA for nothing - but because he'd seen that look in her eyes before. Seen it in the eyes of war veterans who'd been through the kind of things that led to PTSD.

Riley didn't think Faith was that far gone, not exactly, but he couldn't imagine that any of the people here didn't have traces of it, in one form or another. Not after half the things he'd heard about them going through.

Riley sometimes wondered if he himself was dealing with PTSD, or something like it too. Events within the Initiative after ADAM had let loose all the demon captives hadn't gone anywhere near as badly as they could have, thanks in large part to Buffy and Faith, but...

They'd been bad enough, and he had already had nightmares about it. Mild ones, true, but still.

But Riley also knew the dangers of self-diagnosis.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a therapist available he could talk this out with. None that were cleared to speak about this within the military, and he couldn't talk about a classified project with a civilian.

Well, okay, more civilians.

Buffy had also made light of her experiences in the coma, though differently than Faith - but he could pick up that she too had been affected. His girlfriend was... a little less bright, a little more withdrawn. Just a touch, just a hint. But it was there. Buffy always seemed to prefer to keep part of herself from him, to herself, but now it seemed more acute.

All he could do was be there for her.

In a perfect world, she too - she, and Faith, and everyone else could go to a therapist, work through all the sh- the stuff they'd all been through. How many times had all of them nearly died, or had their minds invaded by magic, or otherwise been through things that would drive most normal people insane?

Probably way more than he was comfortable contemplating.

"Don't even think about it, Faith," Wesley said flatly, then shook his head. "Still, we should get back on point."

"Thank you," Riley nodded, and then he let out a sigh. "There's a lot going on, and most of it way above my clearance level, unfortunately. But the long and short of what I was told, really, is that the top brass is still unhappy about the idea of leaving the fight against demons and vampires - or HSTs, as I'm still supposed to call them - just to you guys. But until the people in charge of this charlie-foxtrot have a more suitable plan to deal with the enemy, they've decided the Hellmouth is safe in your hands. I think I convinced them that they shouldn't try to interfere again." He looked to Buffy. "No jostling your elbow. Or anything like that."

"That's good news, at least. And no one will be after Willow?" Buffy asked, letting out a small sigh.

"No. None of you will have to worry about being kidnapped or arrested or anything, no. I've been given assurances by the person in charge of the project." Riley didn't know the name of the man in charge, nor exactly what position he held. He had spoken to him though, by video conference, albeit briefly. Dr. Angleman had said the man with no name was part of the Defense Intelligence Agency, though that didn't make a lot of sense to Riley - but then again, it was hardly Riley's area of expertise. The man was a civilian, though, not an officer, so he was obviously with the Department of Defense in some fashion.

"Can we trust him?" Cordelia asked, and Riley hesitated a moment, not sure how to answer that as she barrelled on. "I mean, let's face it, the Initiative isn't really doing much to make me trust my own government, if they can put a psycho like Walsh in charge and come up with a plan as brain-dead as making ADAM in the first place."

Riley opened his mouth to answer her question, but now Buffy interrupted.

"It doesn't matter if we can trust them or not. If anyone comes gunning for Willow, or anyone else, we'll stop them." She said with unbreakable certainty, looking around the table. "Besides..." she added, "if the Initiative big shots really are done trying to turn 'HSTs' into weapons, they've got nothing to come back here for." Riley could hear Buffy's air quotes around HSTs, even if she didn't make the motion itself.

"Well, Angleman deleted all of Dr. Walsh's research data. There might be backups somewhere, or at least part of them, but I think the man I spoke to was being honest when he said all demon research operations have been terminated." Riley said. He sighed.

"And what about you?" Buffy asked, reaching over towards him. Riley held her hand as she offered it, taking a deep breath.

"I'm currently on suspension, pending a review of all my actions and decisions." Riley admitted. "At the very least, I was promised that I wouldn't be going to Fort Leavenworth over this, but that's about all I was promised." Of course, he could still go to some other, much more secret prison. A black site, somewhere. But he didn't think it was likely. Or maybe he just hoped.

"After you saved so many people?" Buffy exclaimed, confused.

"I broke the rules, Buffy. Lots of them. The end doesn't justify the means - I disobeyed direct orders, misused military equipment - and the system can't work if the chain of command doesn't mean something." Riley shook his head. "I'd say the odds are fifty-fifty they let me stay in the military."

"Figures - you put yourself out there to save their asses, and your head ends up on the chopping block," Faith rolled her eyes.

"It's a little more complicated than that," Riley said, feeling a need to defend the rules that could be used to eject him from the service.

He hoped it didn't come to that. The Initiative had been... complicated, but Riley didn't want his career in the Army to end here. One way or another, being a soldier had been his dream since childhood. It didn't work out like seven year old Riley Finn had thought it would, true, but it was still his duty, and - he liked being in the Army. The structure, the system, the feeling like being part of something greater than just himself.

It was his life. Had been his life for years. He'd always figured he'd wear the uniform and defend the country to the best of his ability until he had to retire.

But thanks to this particular tour of duty, he had violated some pretty important rules. Doing the right thing wasn't necessarily a great defense, when facing a military tribunal to account for your actions. When he'd told Graham about being put on suspension, his friend had referenced an episode from one of his favorite sci-fi TV shows - Babylon 5. Riley had seen a few episodes, but it wasn't his favorite. Still, the bit Graham had mentioned was funny, if hitting a bit too close to home in his current situation.

Captain Sheridan, who had ended the illegal regime of the tyrant President Clark - but only by leading the starships of Earth against the planet in question, splitting the military of humanity in two. Right, yes, but messy. Apparently, one of the politicians had told him that half the generals in the military wanted Sheridan given a medal, and the other half wanted him shot.

And her first - not serious - proposal was a compromise - give him a medal, then shoot him.

Riley didn't think a firing squad was in his future, nor a medal, but he did wonder if his final fate was going to be some sort of compromise - honorable discharge, maybe, or something along those lines. It would be better than dishonorable discharge, which meant no veterans benefits and a civilian criminal record dogging his heels for the rest of his life.

"Sounds pretty simple to me, but you're the soldier-boy, not me." Faith threw up her hands for a moment in mock-surrender, dragging Riley out of his thoughts.

"It might take them a while to come to a decision. In the meantime," Riley squeezed Buffy's hand, "I'm not going anywhere."

"Good," Buffy smiled for a moment, then she looked around the table. "Anything else? Amy - how - how is Drusilla doing?"

"Better, for a given value of the word," Amy said softly. "That's mostly Spike's work, though. She's no longer actively wanting to kill herself, or trying to starve herself into a hunger coma. So I call that a win."

"Take what you can," Buffy nodded. "Xander, did Willy have anything to say?"

Xander shook his head, "He's happy the Initiative is gone - they were taking away all his customers. But he's saying all the vamps and demons left after... well, after you turned God knows how many of them into chop suey? They're laying low - for now." Xander chuckled at his little joke.

"That's summer in Sunnyhell for you, though, isn't it?" Willow grinned.

Riley couldn't understand how they could take it all so lightly - but then, maybe that was just how they were still sane, after everything these people had been through.

The psychologist in him really wished he could turn them all into a case study about handling the sorts of extreme stresses they'd been under, but he could think of at least five major ethical issues with him being the one to do it, among other concerns. Plus, they'd never agree to it anyway.

Still. He had to admire their ability to handle it. Before meeting them, he hadn't had to know the plural of apocalypse. Or that a plural was even possible.

May 23rd, 2000

Cemetery, Sunnydale

Buffy had planned to do a joint patrol with Faith here tonight. Usually they covered different areas, but once in a while, they partnered up to really put the fear of Slayers into the local vampire population.

But then Faith had gone off to L.A. with Wesley for some reason. Amy hadn't shared many details - something about a Slayer Dream. And Wesley was going there to pick up some fancy scroll that Angel had called Giles about.

So that left her to do it alone. She'd debated asking Riley to come with her - Buffy knew her boyfriend would, if she asked, or perhaps even if she didn't but he thought he could help - but he'd gone on patrol with her into the early hours of the morning the last two nights. And Riley, while probably one of the most durable and capable normal people she knew, was still limited in stamina compared to a Slayer.

Buffy frowned. On temporary suspended duty, and without anything really to occupy him, Riley had gotten restless. He was still living on campus, at Lowell House, but he was the only one left - the rest of the Initiative's soldiers had been transferred out of Sunnydale, even the ones who'd helped Riley disobey orders - like his friend Graham.

Buffy had been a little surprised by that, since his bosses were supposedly punishing Riley for his actions, but her boyfriend hadn't been that surprised. His explanation hadn't made a whole lot of sense to her either, since it had been so full of military jargon that she would only follow every other word. But after he'd clarified when she'd mentioned that, it basically had boiled down to the fact that Riley figured he was being made into an example.

Which had left him figuring he might be discharged from the military entirely, and sooner rather than later.

Buffy wanted to be upset at the prospect of Riley leaving the Army - mostly because she knew how important his career was to him - but at the same time... well, she didn't like the idea of him being deployed somewhere else, if the Army decided they wanted to do that. Still, ultimately, it should be Riley's choice - he had done nothing wrong, as far as she could tell, in terms of preparing for the fight against ADAM.

His idiot bosses didn't agree, apparently, which was majorly annoying.

So Buffy was patrolling alone tonight, which wasn't likely to be that big of a deal anyway. She'd already dusted two newly risen vampires, and she figured she'd probably run into a few older ones hanging around this cemetery for one reason or another.

Sure enough, the sound of a scream off to the left caught her ear, and jumping up and onto one of the headstones, Buffy practically ran across the headstones, easily leaping from one to the next until she found the source of the screams - a young woman, looked a few years older than her, screaming as a vampire fed on what Buffy guessed was her boyfriend. The bloodsucker was a woman, who looked like she was in her late twenties - but from the way her clothing style seemed frozen in the 70s, she was probably a lot older.

"Hey! Stop that!" Buffy called out. The vampire snarled and looked up, seeing Buffy.

"Slayer!" It growled, like nearly every vampire that knew who she was said. It was like they thought they earned some kind of points if they said it.

"I said stop that," Buffy repeated. She lunged for the vampire, grabbing the back of her shirt and pulling her away from her evening meal. A quick glance at the man suggested he had only been fed on for a few moments, and was still semiconscious.

But Buffy couldn't spare him another look just yet, as the vampire she grabbed broke free of Buffy's grip by the simple expedient of quickly tearing off her blouse, leaving her only in a tight undershirt - no sleeves, straps that covered the straps of her bra, mostly. And leaving Buffy holding a tattered rag of a top. The vampire turned and lunged at her, trying to grab her and throw her. Buffy jumped back, punched out at the vampire, and caught her wrist, sending her arm away from her, while the other hand clawed at Buffy's torso -

But Buffy evaded that quickly enough.

"Were you trying to distract me when you ripped your shirt off?" Buffy asked, ducking under another punch, then kicking the vampire in the stomach, sending her flying backwards and crashing into another headstone, cracking it in two. "Because I'm the wrong Slayer for that to work on, you know." Buffy added.

Hey, I'm not the one who actually dated a vampire! Buffy imagined Faith countering if she was here, which... would be fair enough. But Faith would also take a moment to stare, regardless. Committed to Amy or not, Faith was, in her own words, 'not blind', and the vampire's breasts weren't small.

But, more importantly, this vampire was not joining in on her quipping at all. She wasn't even saying anything, just growling and jumping up, coming at her again.

"Okay, now, you're just no fun at all," Buffy pouted. Pulling out a stake, Buffy waited for the vampire to reach her, and then Buffy dropped to one knee and drove the stake upwards into the woman's heart, dusting her. Buffy pulled away as quick as she could, to avoid getting too much dust on herself, and she quickly brushed the rest of it out of her hair.

A quick glance saw that the woman and her date were already out of the cemetery, the girl propping him up a bit and helping him walk. After a moment, Buffy decided to follow them, make sure they got somewhere safe - but before she'd taken two steps, they suddenly stopped moving.

And everything went silent.

Sunnydale didn't have a lot of native animal life - not a whole lot of birds or dogs or whatever - but it did have crickets, like everywhere else. And now, suddenly, the crickets were no longer chirping.

Tightening her grip on her stake, Buffy slowly looked around, turning, and then -

"Well, that vampire might not have been much fun," a wholly unfamiliar voice said, as she finished turning.

Standing on a nearby mausoleum was a man. Maybe Xander's height, Buffy figured, but it was hard to tell. He wore a dark blue suit, light blue collared shirt, and a dark blue tie. The suit looked fancy and expensive, like the sort of thing her dad's bosses would wear. He had tanned skin, and short black hair, trimmed neat, but not too close to the scalp.

In one hand, he was flipping a coin idly. The coin sparkled silver in the starlight, and seemed to catch the light of the moon, even though it wasn't really in a good position to do that.

"But you... you, little girl. You've actually been more fun than I'd have ever expected." The man chuckled, then dropped down from the mausoleum with ease, landing on the ground without a sound, and walking towards her.

"Who are you?" Buffy demanded, raising her hand with the stake up, as well as her empty hand, bracing herself to run. Her Slayer senses were screaming at her louder than she ever hard felt them before - this... this was no human. This didn't even feel like a demon, or at least not like any other demon she'd ever faced.

"I go by many names." The man snarked, grinning. He walked closer, and Buffy stepped back. The man flipped the coin in his hand again, then let it land on the back of his other hand. He looked at it. "Tails. You lose."

"I lose?" Buffy raised an eyebrow, then mock-pouted. "And here I was thinking I could win a year's supply of Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco Treat."

The man laughed, throwing his head back and howling with mirth.

Okay, hello to the creepiness. It wasn't that funny. Not that Buffy minded her little joke getting a response, but still. She tried to step back again as he finished laughing and took another step towards her, but her heel brushed up against stone...

Buffy turned, then blinked in surprise. There was a headstone behind her, one that hadn't been moments before, and it was as tall as she was.

Did he just-

"Yes. I like you. Not as much as your friend, of course, but I've decided that I like you." He gestured at her, wagging a finger pointed towards her. "Please stop trying to move back, it's really not worth my time to throw up more obstacles, and we really do need to have a little chat."

"Do I have a choice?"

"Everyone has a Choice, Slayer. Choice is the greatest gift of Chaos. Choice, Choice, and nothing but Choice. All the world's a choice, and everything always comes down to it. That's the life - life of you, life of some worm somewhere, and the life of even something so high as me." He was still flipping the coin as he spoke, effortlessly flipping, catching, flipping, catching. The motion was almost mesmerizing, and Buffy had to figure it was related to...

Whatever power he seemed to have.

Okay, first step, stop him flipping the-

Really now, Slayer, when I asked you to stop running, I didn't think you'd start coming up with pathetic strategies to attack me.

Buffy's eyes widened as she heard the man's voice in her head - but his lips hadn't moved, and her ears hadn't heard a thing and he'd responded to her -

"DId you just-?! Did you just read my mind?" Buffy demanded.

The man chuckled, "No, not exactly, but I suppose that's how you'd put it. What with your limited mortal perceptions."

"Limited mortal perceptions?" Buffy couldn't help but roll her eyes. "You sound like a bad cliche."

"I object to that!" The man replied, voice thick with mock-offence. "Bad cliches sound like me. Make sure you get it right, Slayer." He stepped closer again, and Buffy got a good look at his eyes. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they were entirely inhuman. No irises, just solid blue, a little lighter than his tie and suit. Buffy would have thought all that blue might be a fashion mistake, but the guy made it work, somehow.

"Who - what are you?" Buffy demanded. She dropped her arms down to her side, suspecting her stake would be useless.

"Like I said, I go by many names. Your friend - Harris, the would have been pirate. He likes to call me 'bastard'. He has other names for me too, of course, but that's his favorite. Well, that and - his source."

Would have been pirate?! What does that -

Buffy was still processing that non sequitur that she almost didn't catch the last two words. But then, her brain made the connection. His source...that means...

"You - you're... you're Xander's source?" Buffy didn't realize her voice was shaking in shock until she'd finished speaking. This was the person Xander had met before their senior year of high school had started, who had started feeding him information? This was the guy who -

Her mind flashed back to Xander's death in the wishverse, when he'd given her a coin made of iron, saying it had something to do with his source...

What exactly did he say, back then? Buffy tried to remember her friend's words, but they were escaping her mind just now.

Still, that coin... it had been the same size as the one the man was flipping looked to be. Different color, yeah, but the same size.

"In a manner of speaking." He answered her previous, semi-rhetorical question. "As I said, I have many many names. But you can call me - The Jester." He smirked, then laughed at some private joke for a moment. "And you and I, Buffy Anne Summers, are about to know each other quite well."