Lie To Me, Part 1
(_)(_)(_)
Xander wasn't overly surprised when they discovered, the next day, that Zabuto was making no move to leave town. If he was half as loyal to the Council as he seemed to be, he wouldn't so much as sneeze without their written in triplicate permission.
The fact that the bit about sneezing was a direct quote from Giles - said in the world's most sarcastic tone ever - kind of boggled Xander's mind. Xander had no freaking clue *why* Giles was so wound up and acting atypically from how he'd acted up to now, but he sure was. Xander couldn't decide if it was freaky, awesome, worrying, or a combination of all three.
What cheered Xander immensely, though, was the fact that Kendra was watching them.
He wasn't an idiot. Zabuto and Kendra had clearly been in town for a bit, and Kendra'd watched them at least once. He remembered Jon remarking on several occasions that they were being watched. While some of those times Jon had been able to identify their watcher as something non-human, other times, he hadn't. That didn't mean that all those times it had been Kendra, but the odds of some of them being her were actually fairly good.
The point being - they hadn't seen her. If it hadn't been for Jon's senses, they'd never have known they were being watched. Now, Kendra wasn't bothering to hide. Xander let her lurk semi-obviously before he strolled over. For a second, she looked like she was considering bolting. Xander slowed to a stop nearby, but not close enough to crowd her.
"Hey." He said quietly. "I don't think we got properly introduced. My name's Xander."
Kendra gave him an odd look, but didn't say anything immediately.
"Curious what we're doing?" Xander asked. "You don't have to lurk over here if you don't want. You can come in and join us. Not like we're doing anything we're ashamed of."
And while it was probably dangerous in that she'd tell Zabuto, it was really the only way to 'corrupt' Kendra into realizing that the Council way wasn't the only way. There was only so much she'd learn by lurking around outside the house, or following them at a serious distance at night.
Kendra's eyebrows headed for her hairline. "You know I am to watch you, and to report to my Watcher, yet you invite me in?" She shook her head. "It passes comprehension."
Xander grinned at her. "Maybe I think we have more to gain by letting you hang out with us." He said. "Maybe I think we can open your eyes to another way of thinking." When she bridled, he held up a hand. "I'm not saying the Council is wrong." Well, yes he was, but if he laid that out there right now, Kendra'd clam up and they might lose her. "I'm saying that it is very, very rare for a single solution to be the *only* solution to a problem. Especially one as complex as handling demons."
Kendra visibly wasn't buying it, but she also wasn't scoffing at him or immediately dismissing it. It was possible she was employing the same tactics he was, but in this particular case, that was going to work to his advantage. The longer she stuck around thinking she could 'correct their thinking', the longer they had to convince her they weren't nuts.
After several long moments, she sighed, then pushed away from the house she'd been crouched next to in order to watch them. "Very well, I will join you."
"Excellent. C'mon, I'll introduce you to everyone." Xander said, then led the way back across the street, around the side of Joyce's house to the outside entrance to the basement.
"Hey guys, look who decided to come for a visit!" He called as he walked into the basement. "Everyone, this is Kendra. Kendra, you already know Giles and Buffy." Xander indicated the two of them, working on grips and throws for human or near-human opponents as control practice for Buffy's strength.
"That over there is Jon O'Neill," Xander pointed at Jon, who was doing some crossbow target practice.
"And the lady sitting at the table there Joyce, Buffy's mom. The gal sitting across from her is Willow" He indicated the table that sat in the gap between the 'library' section and the open section used for training practice, behind the stairs up to the main floor. It was placed such that anyone sitting there had a straight line-of-sight to the backyard entrance to the basement.
"We've got a couple other folks that help sometimes - Mrs. Calendar, who helps with research and such, and a gal named Cordelia, who helps with patrols sometimes, and acts as backup if we need numbers for something. Oh ... and Angel. Him, you won't meet until tonight."
He glanced at her. "This is one of the things Zabuto threw a fit about last night. Angel is a vampire. He got cursed by gypsies to have a soul about a hundred years ago or so. Hasn't eaten people since, so far as we know. He's good for backup if we need more muscle than just Buffy can provide, and he has some decent intel on Vampire courts and various demons he's encountered. So we don't stake him."
Much as Xander sometimes might want to, they didn't.
Kendra looked horrified. "You willingly consort with a vampire?" She asked.
"More like reluctantly and cautiously." Xander admitted. "We're not stupid about the risks, but it's worth it for the backup. Because even you have to admit that sometimes Slayers run into problems they can't win against alone."
Kendra looked sour, but if she knew her history, she couldn't possibly deny it. Slayer history was rife with Slayers who got overwhelmed by superior demonic forces in big battles.
"But that's us. Joyce and Mrs. Calendar generally act as research if we run across something in the middle of a patrol. We just call them and go 'ok, it's big, scaly, green, and has wickedly curved claws' or whatever the description of the demon - or the condition of the victims that get left behind - might be. Means we don't lose time going 'what the heck'. Because we've run across stuff even Giles doesn't know."
That got Giles an accusatory look from Kendra. Giles regarded her blandly for a moment. "This is a hellmouth, Kendra. As such, it is home to, or lures in, a far wider variety of demons than is normally found in other locations. Many of which would not normally be found in the same vicinity as other demons that have been drawn here, or who find the weather conditions here unfavorable. It makes identification of what we are pursuing far more problematic than the norm."
Kendra visibly thought that one over for a minute before she nodded reluctant agreement. "There is truth in what you say." She said aloud."
"So, quick tour. To the left there is our 'oh, gross, I'm covered in goo' wash station. Lots of hot water, several types of soap and other things to get goop off, and clean clothes. Most of this area is for training purposes. Other side of the stairs has a miniature library - all the books Giles consults the most frequently, or thinks we'll have the highest likelihood of needing at some point. He's got a whole bunch of others at his place. Tables and comfy chairs for research parties. Weapons in easy reach everywhere in the room, and that's about it." Xander wrapped up.
Kendra looked like she actually liked the basement. Xander didn't blame her. While it wasn't perfect for their purposes, it came as close as made no never mind. It was also something that would be very rare for a roving Slayer to have access to.
"What is it you are researching?" Kendra asked.
"Not researching, so much as learning at all." Joyce admitted. "Buffy came into this rather later than seems to be the norm with Slayers, so she's having to learn as she goes. Since we're all living here, we're all learning as well. Because even if we weren't taking part in patrolling and actively thinning the demonic population, it *is* the hellmouth and the odds of us accidentally running into something are pretty high. Knowing when to just run like hell, or whether we can risk fighting back is always a good thing."
"Normal humans cannot fight off demons." Kendra said.
"Hand to hand? With most demons? You're right." Giles agreed. "But normal humans can handle some of the lesser demons, and vampire minions - especially here on the hellmouth, where there is a tendency for minions to sire minions. It makes for very, very weak vampires overall. Many have virtually no strength or speed advantage over a normal human."
"And with certain martial arts, even if we can't kick its butt, we can make it fall on its face and get a few extra seconds to get the heck out of there." Xander said.
Of course, they weren't really learning those arts - Jon and Jim had been very clear on their desire to concentrate on those arts that taught 'survive by doing whatever the hell you need to with whatever is on hand'. Krav Maga being their main go-to in that arena. Still, the fact remained that arts like Aikido and Judo, that taught you to use an opponents height, weight, and momentum against them, had a lot of moves that could be used to give you a few extra seconds to run.
"And the crossbows and grenade launchers tend to even the odds a little bit too." Willow piped up for the first time. "Especially with the demons that are susceptible to something in particular. If you can hit them at range, them getting their claws on you becomes less of a worry."
Kendra cocked her head to the side, but after a moment, she nodded. "A valid point." She admitted. She still strongly disagreed with them being in the fight. That said, she couldn't deny that this town was dangerous, and that the residents had a right to defend their own lives. In that light, learning all they could of the demonic world made sense.
She didn't know enough to question that they had grenade launchers. The Watchers considered weapons other than stakes and blades to be useless, and even if they had thought them of use and equipped Slayers with them, Slayers did not concern themselves with weapon-related laws. They carried what they needed to get the job done, laws be damned.
"C'mon. We can show you some of the stuff we've been learning, and you can show us any moves we don't already know. Maybe give us the down-low on any demons you've run into that we haven't yet." Xander offered.
Privately, he gave a pleased grin. For the first day of attempting to corrupt Kendra, they were doing pretty good. Apparently, appealing to logic was the way to go to at least get her to listen, even if she still thought they were crazy. Of course, whether or not she could handle being around Angel remained to be seen.
It took all of half a minute for Buffy to talk Kendra into a sparring session about fifteen minutes later, when she'd finished working with Giles.
"C'mon, you know you want to. I mean, this is like the first time ever there's been two Slayers, right? So there's never really been a chance for a friendly spar with someone who can match us in strength and speed and all that."
Kendra nodded soberly. "No weapons. I do not wish to harm, accidentally."
"Agreed." Buffy said.
The rest of them got the heck out of the way really fast, retreating behind the table where they could duck behind the bulk of the stairwell if it became necessary for some reason.
"This is going to be awesome." Jon said. "I've seen the sort of damage super strong, warrior-trained women can do."
Xander shot him a curious look, wondering what he was talking about. Obviously, it was something his older counterpart had encountered, but with what Jack O'Neill did for a living, there was absolutely no telling what, exactly, the story was.
"Tell you later." Jon said with a grin.
The spar between Buffy and Kendra was ... pretty epic. Kendra had a clear edge in overall experience with fighting. Hardly surprising, since she'd been training since she was in diapers more or less and Buffy'd only started learning to fight a couple years ago. But Buffy was far, far more adaptable than Kendra, which really evened the odds. Again, hardly surprising as Buffy kind of had to make stuff up as she went because of not having any training as a Potential.
Who had the upper hand changed so many times that Xander lost count. Eventually, it ended in a draw, with both girls out of breath and leaning on a handy patch of wall. Buffy had a toothy, pleased grin on her face.
"That." She proclaimed. "Was fun as hell. We have got to do that again sometime. I haven't gotten a workout like that since Xander's dad put us through the wringer this summer."
Kendra blinked at her. "Xander's father?"
"Ex military." Buffy said. "Taught us all quite a few handy tricks. And don't look at me like that. He got into this when Xander got attacked and his dad found him - bleeding like a stuck pig - clear in freaking Los Angeles. His dad kinda cottoned on to there being something funky going on when his kid had, you know, claw gouges and had gotten dragged a good hour and a half away from where he'd been when he disappeared."
Of course, that was missing out about three fourths of the truth of those events, but none of them was quite ready to trust Kendra with *all* their secrets. Which would be why Jon's status as a Sentinel and Xander's as a Guide hadn't been mentioned.