Although this is the "Band Candy" episode, I do not attempt to take dialogue straight from the show because that is so boring. I get tired of reading stories where writers do that, so I rarely do it anymore.

I switch back and forth referring to Natasha as Natalie. I do that on purpose depending on who is thinking of her. When the kids and Giles are thinking of her, they only know her as Natalie. She thinks of herself as Natasha, which is who she is to Clint and Coulson. It is also who she is most of us who read the story. It isn't a typo, so I wanted to explain why I do it. Sorry if it's confusing.

Chapter 28: Mr. Trick's Treat

*****The Next Day******

Buffy, Willow, and Cordelia were walking into school with Oz while Xander was forced to stay home for a day.

"I can't believe Xander is going to miss a day of SAT prep. The test is on Saturday," Willow said. "It's really good that you came back now, Buffy. You can get caught up."

"Oh, I'm caught up," Buffy informed her. "I had a lot of time on my hands since I couldn't go patrolling or even do much in the way of exercising."

"That's great!" Willow said, beaming at her.

"She's like a proud momma," Cordelia said with a snort.

"I know," Buffy said with a sigh. "What about you guys? Are you ready?"

"Still cramming," Cordelia said.

"Me, too," Willow said. When Buffy looked at Oz, Willow shook her head. "Oh, Oz doesn't believe in studying for state tests."

"I don't dance for The Man," Oz said.

"Because you know you don't need to," Cordelia said, annoyed. "Oz has made like perfect scores on every test that he has ever took. It's not fair to the rest of us! And he refuses to tell me how he does it!"

"I don't know how I do it," Oz said with a shrug.

Cordelia slammed her locker and walked off in a disbelieving huff.

Then she paused. "Are you coming?" she asked Oz.

"They have first hour together," Willow told Buffy.

Buffy laughed, glad to be back at school until the troll came up to them. "I see rumors of your demise were greatly exaggerated," Principal Synder told her.

"Gee, I'm touched by your concern," Buffy said dryly.

"Students that get shot when they should've been safe at a school event probably deserved it," Principal Synder replied.

"We were walking to school to the dance," Buffy said sourly.

"How can we help you?" Willow asked, working to distract them both.

"We are selling candy bars, so go to the cafeteria and get your required amount to sell," he said as he opened up a chocolate bar and took a bite.

"Okay," Buffy said.

"Willow, since your connections have resulted in some state-of-the-art computer equipment, you are exempt from having to sell," Synder informed her.

"Really? I don't mind," Willow said.

"Of course, you don't," he said, smiling at her. "You are the pride of our school. I wish we had a hundred students just like you. Tell your mother I said hello."

He walked off eating the chocolate bar.

"Synder smiling gives me the willies," Buffy said.

"Yes, it is strange," Willow agreed.

"Looks like you went from teacher's pet to principal's pet," Buffy said, grinning.

"Comes with the price of fame," Willow said, sticking her nose up and tossing her hair now short hair.

Buffy laughed and followed her to class.

*****End of Day*****

"Mr. Coulson is somehow recovering at our house," Buffy shared as they walked out of school.

"That's nice of your mom to help him," Willow said.

Cordelia frowned at the giggling teachers. "Did you notice all the teachers acting odd by the end of the day?" she asked.

"Now that you mention it, yes," Buffy said. "The sub for Mr. Coulson told a dirty joke."

"Did you forget something?" Principal Synder said, suddenly appearing in front of them.

"Not me," Oz said, eating a chocolate bar. "I got mine."

"You are supposed to sell them. Not eat them!" he told them, annoyed.

"Hey, I can buy them from myself!" Oz insisted. Willow looked at him in surprise because it was not like him to ever argue with an adult.

"Whatever. Summers. Here's your box," Synder said, handing her a box.

"What do we get for being all Willy Loman?" Buffy asked.

"You get to keep attending this school," Synder said with a pointed smirk.

"Oz has mine," Cordelia informed him.

Oz patted his messenger bag, nodding.

"Fine. Get them sold. Turn the money into the office," he said. Then he bit off another bite of chocolate.

"Oz, are you feeling okay?" Willow asked in concern. "And why do you have Cordelia's candy?"

"My boyfriend isn't here to carry my stuff. He was being chivalrous," Cordelia said. "You're not going to go all possessive, are you?"

"Well, no," Willow said, frowning. She looked at Oz, though, in concern.

"I feel fine," he said. "Would you like a bit of chocolate?"

"No. I don't really like chocolate," Willow said.

"It's really good," Oz said. "I feel really relaxed eating it."

"Is that a good idea in your condition?" Willow asked.

"It's chocolate, Will. Not LSD," Cordelia said in amusement.

Oz smiled and took her hand. "I'm good," he assured her. He walked Cordelia to her car, handing off the chocolate and kissed Willow goodbye.

The kiss was a lot more than the normal peck he would give her when in public.

"What's got into Oz?" Buffy asked, watching him get into his van.

"I don't know," Willow said, confused.

Buffy rode home with Willow since Oz took his van home to sell his chocolate to his band mates, and she wanted to cram in more study time.

When Buffy told her mother and Mr. Coulson about her candy sale, they insisted she give them the chocolate.

"I can take them to the gallery," her mother told her.

"I'll buy the box," Mr. Coulson said. "It's the least I can do for invading your space."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Buffy said happily. She handed over the box to him.

"So what's on your agenda this afternoon?" Joyce asked.

"Well, Willow wants me to do an SAT study session with her to assure her that I'm not woefully behind," Buffy shared. "I told her that my time in the hospital left me with nothing to do but study and schoolwork. However, I think she needs some proof."

Joyce laughed. "She's a good friend," she remarked.

"The best," Buffy agreed.

"The SAT is Saturday morning, right?" Mr. Coulson asked.

Buffy nodded. "Yes, at the ungodly hour of eight a.m.," she shared.

"Are you going to train with Giles?" Joyce asked.

"Yes, after our study session at her house, we'll head over there," Buffy said.

"Eat a snack before you go," Joyce suggested.

"How about a chocolate bar?" Buffy asked, hopefully.

Mr. Coulson handed her one and opened up one for him and Joyce to eat.

*****Mayor's Office*****

Clint knew that coming in late to the game put him at a disadvantage, but he knew he was missing something. The Mayor had a meeting with a very smug looking British guy that morning. When he asked who he was, the Mayor said, "I have to pay tribute tonight to someone very important. I can't have our town's do-gooders getting in my way, so Mr. Trick brought in this very talented Mr. Rayne to distract everyone."

"What's he going to do?" Clint asked. "Should I have the police on standby?"

"Oh, no need," Wilkins replied, waving his hand. "He's good at causing chaos, not anything too terrible. It should be fun actually."

Clint nodded and went back to his office, turning up the police scanner to listen to any calls that came through. He also sent out a message to both Natalie and Coulson, warning them about what the mayor said.

Several hours later, all was still quiet. Clint felt anxious waiting for the shoe to drop.

"Clint, you can leave a little early today," Wilkins said, coming to his office door.

"Are you sure? I don't mind staying around and helping with the late meeting you have on the books," Clint offered.

Wilkins smiled. "I do appreciate your good work ethic," he said. "But Lurconis can be unpredictable. I rather not put you in unnecessary danger. I need a reliable human in this office, after all."

"Well, okay," Clint said slowly. "Have a good evening." His boss gave him that creepy smile of his that made Clint want to ram his hidden knife into his neck.

He left the office and headed to the Slayers' Headquarters where he knew Natasha would be since she replied to his message. Training with the slayers.

When he got there, however, she wasn't training but eating a candy bar with Rupert while Buffy and Faith sparred. "How is Buffy?" he asked.

"See for yourself," Natasha told him.

Clint watched the two teenagers going at each other full throttle, and he had to blink a moment and make sure he wasn't seeing things.

"Is this for real?" he asked Natasha.

"Yeah, yeah, they're real impressive," she said, waving her hands, unimpressed. She whispered something in Giles' ear, making him chuckle.

Clint gave her a side glance, but his eyes stayed on the two slayers, who were trading quick blows. It wasn't at all apparent that either had been shot recently. It especially wasn't obvious that Buffy had been recently paralyzed as she dodged a hit from Faith by going into a backwards flip and jumping up onto her feet.

"Looking good, B," Faith called out.

"Yep," she said happily. "I'm as good as new."

"You don't feel any pain at all?" Clint asked.

"Not even a twinge," Buffy said, noticing him.

"So which of you is better?" Clint asked.

"It wasn't obvious?" Faith asked, grinning.

"You moved too fast," Clint replied.

"I'm more experienced," Buffy said.

"Don't worry, though, I'll catch up soon," Faith said confidently.

Buffy noticed the clear flirting going on between Natalie and her watcher and nudged Faith. "Do you see that?" she asked.

Faith looked up and saw Natalie leaning into Giles' space, and he was clearly enjoying it. They were whispering and laughing. Then Giles started hand feeding her chocolate.

"What the hell?" Faith asked.

"Hey, do you shoot a bow?" Clint asked, not paying attention to what his partner was doing. He figured that she was working some angle to get in close with the Watcher.

"Normally, crossbows," Buffy said.

"No bows and arrows?" Clint asked.

"Giles, do we have bows and arrows?" Buffy asked.

"Tony has everything," Faith answered for him. She hit a button, and a display of various weapons appeared. Crossbows and bows and arrows were there along with various blades.

She grabbed a bow and arrow. The workout room was a large ballroom converted for their use, so Wesley, who didn't like chocolate and was focused on their training, opened a target at the end of the room.

"Wow. That's really far," Faith observed.

"There's no point in trying against Clint," Natalie said.

Clint gave her a sharp look. It wasn't like her to speak out of school. "You know nothing about my skill," he said pointedly, giving her a look. Natasha Romanoff his partner did, but Natalie Rushman did not.

"I can tell by the way a man carries himself. You wouldn't have suggested it if you weren't good at it," Natalie told him. "Men always look for opportunities to show off."

"Some men do," Giles said. "Some men don't feel the need to."

Nat gave him an approving look as took another bite of chocolate.

"It doesn't matter," Faith said with a smirk. "We're good at everything."

She put an arrow in the bow and pulled it back, letting it loose.

"Nice!" Buffy exclaimed. "Almost dead center."

"Pretty good considering that I have never picked up one of these in my life!" Faith boasted.

Clint was impressed. He practiced for countless hours before he got that good. If he was honest, it kind of pissed him off. These girls just instinctively had the skills mere humans trained forever to obtain.

"Good job," Clint said, keeping his annoyance to himself.

"My turn," Buffy said, holding out her hand for the bow. She cocked the bow with another arrow and released it, hitting it dead center.

"That's my girl!" Giles boasted.

"Why don't we make this more interesting?" Clint suggested. "Blindfold."

"Well, you know Giles has trained me blindfolded," Buffy said.

"Really?" Faith asked. She looked at Wesley. "How come you haven't trained me that way?"

"I had not realized it was a skillset a slayer would ever need," he admitted.

"We fight in the dark, and sometimes have to chase vamps into even darker crypts," Buffy pointed out. "Giles throws knives at me when he blindfolds me."

"She is quite good at dodging things," Giles said proudly.

"Look whose top Watcher," Natalie said, running her hand down his chest. Then she kissed him.

Buffy and Faith looked equally shocked at the very carnal kiss the bodyguard gave Buffy's watcher.

"Mr. Giles. Miss Rushman, control yourselves around the children!" Wesley called out, clearly freaked out.

"What has gotten into them?" Buffy asked, a bit disturbed.

"I have no idea, but I gotta say that I totally approve," Faith said, grinning.

Natalie pulled herself away from Giles and handed Clint a black silk scarf. He blindfolded himself, and Buffy put the bow and arrow in his hand. She was impressed when he hit the target dead center.

Faith took her turn and managed to hit the target, but she was not very close to the center.

"That's crazy!" she exclaimed. "How did he do that?"

"Practice. Lots and lots of practice," Clint said.

"Also, you just have to picture the target in your mind," Buff said, reaching for the scarf and covering her eyes after she took a long look at the target. Faith handed her the bow and arrow.

"You got this, B!" Faith encouraged her.

Clint smiled. The girl may be gifted, but no one could do what he did.

Then she did what he did. The arrow hit the bullseye.

"Yes!" Faith exclaimed. When Buffy took off the scarf, Faith high-fived her.

Natasha met Clint's eyes and smirked at him. He looked a bit disgusted but had to chuckle. The girl was incredibly gifted.

"My girl is the best slayer this world has seen in centuries," Giles boasted.

"It was very impressive," Wesley acknowledged.

"Sun is starting to set," Giles said. "Why don't you girls run along and do your patrolling?"

"What about Angel?" Buffy asked.

"Miss Rushman and I will take care of him," Giles said, eating the last of his candy bar.

"Why don't I come along with you?" Wesley asked. "I want to make sure you two are have no ill effects."

"That is a splendid idea," Giles said.

"I'll go, too," Clint said.

"You should take the bow and arrow," Buffy said. "You are very good with it."

The four of them left the headquarters, and Giles smiled at Natalie. "I thought they'd never leave," he said.

"Me either," Natasha told him. She ate the last piece of chocolate. "Let's go to your room and have some fun."

"I was about to suggest the same bloody thing," Giles told her, smiling. Then he gave her a very carnal kiss before taking her by the hand and leading her toward his room.

However, when they got to the Hulk room, he paused. "You know Angel is in there," he said.

"I know," Natalie said nodding.

"That is the face of the man who killed the woman I loved and tortured me for hours," Giles told her.

"He is the man your foolish slayer loves," Natalie reminded him.

"So she thinks," Giles said. "But she is young."

"You want him dead, don't you?" Natalie asked.

"He is a vampire, and he will always be a danger to Buffy both emotionally and physically," Giles said. "Yet I know he is a good man."

"You can't kill him," Natalie observed.

"I want to," Giles said, opening the door. "Hello, Angel."

"Giles," Angel said.

"But I cannot," Giles said. "She would never forgive me."

"Then let me do it for you," Natalie said.

"Who's your friend?" Angel asked, curious.

"This is Natalie Rushman," Giles said. "She is Willow's bodyguard. She also works with the children, training them in hand-to-hand at Tony Stark's instruction."

"Tony Stark, the billionaire?" Angel asked.

"He is my employer," Natalie said. "He would love to study you because he is a scientist. He wouldn't care about the soul bit. I don't care about it either. I just know that you are a threat to the teenagers."

Angel frowned, not sure how to respond to the woman he didn't know. Then before he could react, she was on top of him. His eyes looked at Giles' in disbelief as the stake hit his heart.

"There," she said.

Giles watched Angel's body turn to ash and felt a rush of grim satisfaction fill his body, and he smiled at Natalie.

"That was immensely satisfying," he told her. "Thank you, Natalie."

"Call me, Nat," she said.

"You can call me Ripper," he said as he pulled her against him. Then he began kissing her.

*****Across Town*****

Buffy and Faith were quickly realizing that the town had gone insane. "What the hell has happened to all the adults in this town?" Buffy asked. They had patrolled for a bit, killing a few vampires. There were a few too many accidents on the road, and the streets were utter chaos.

"Things are out of control," Faith said.

"It's wild," Wesley agreed.

"It's the Mayor," Clint said. "He said to pay tribute to someone tonight and the town's do-gooders, which I'm assuming he meant you two, couldn't be allowed to get in the way. So he said Mr. Trick, the vampire who organized the Slayerfest, was bringing in someone to distract everyone."

"Who?" Buffy asked.

"A guy named Mr. Rayne," Clint shared.

"Rayne? Ethan Rayne?" Buffy asked, her eyes wide. "That guy is the worst! A former buddy of Giles. He worships the god of Chaos, and this is totally his thing, causing chaos. He turned us into our costumes one Halloween."

"Seriously?" Faith asked. "That's wicked!"

"It wasn't when I dressed as a stupid and weak girl from the seventeen hundreds," Buffy said.

Faith snickered and listened to the Halloween story as they walked to the Bronze. Clint grew more concerned about what might be happening in the town as he listened to Buffy's tale.

When Buffy saw Principal Synder eating a candy bar at the Bronze, she began to think the candy bars had something to do with the night's insanity.

"Hey, guys. Whatcha doing?" he said, coming up to them. Buffy ignored him.

"All the adults are here and no teenagers," Faith said. "They're acting like teenagers."

"This is very disturbing," Clint observed.

"They're all acting like Giles and Natalie. They were practically feeding each other the candy," Buffy said.

"It's really good. Do you want a bite?" Synder asked.

"Where did you get the candy bars?" Buffy asked him.

"The Mayor," Snyder told her.

"He gave them to you?" Wesley asked.

"Well, someone from his office dropped them off at the school and said the Mayor wanted us to sell them for the band," Synder said.

"That's it," Buffy said. "The candy must be cursed. We have to find out where it's coming from."

"I'll go to the office and find out more about the tribute," Clint said.

"You know tributes are normally a sacrifice of some kind to some type of god," Wesley explained to him.

Clint grimaced and nodded. This job detail got more and more disturbing.

Two hours later, a weary Buffy made it home only to find her mother naked on the couch with Mr. Coulson.

"Mom!" she exclaimed, horrified. Then she turned around and went back to Faith's.

Faith was in the kitchen making herself a sandwich. "Hey. You want a sandwich?" she asked.

"I'd like to say I have no appetite after finding my mother and Mr. Coulson naked in my living room, but sure, I could eat," Buffy shared.

"Go, Mr. Coulson!" Faith exclaimed with a grin.

"No, that's not funny, Faith," Buffy said, glaring at her.

"I still can't believe that Giles got Natalie to do it with him, too," Faith shared, snickering. "All the nerds are getting some tonight!"

"What?" Buffy asked incredulously.

"Oh, yeah. You can't be surprised! They were all over each other when we left here. Even Wes knew that one was going to happen," Faith said. "Giles is in her room right now."

"Kill me now," Buffy begged, grabbing a pickle.

"You might kill her yourself, though," Faith said.

"Why?" Buffy asked.

"Angel is gone," Faith shared.

"What do you mean gone?" Buffy asked.

"The room is empty," Faith told her.

Buffy went to the Hulk room and saw the door open, and Angel was gone.

*****The Mayor's Office*****

Clint still could not get over the events of the evening. They had rounded up most of the candy, and he had agents take Ethan Rayne into custody. The man had cursed the candy. It didn't affect most teenagers because they already had no inhibitions—at least most of them didn't. Then he and the girls had gotten Rayne to tell him about the demon Lurconis, and they rushed to the sewers to save the babies.

Clint was still in a rage. The mayor was going to sacrifice fucking babies to a demon. He wanted to rip the man's head off after filling him full of arrows.

He called Fury and told him. "Babies. They fucking kidnapped babies from the maternity ward of the hospital and were going to let a fucking demon eat them! We cannot allow that man to live another fucking day!" he exclaimed.

Nick Fury grimaced as he considered their options.

*****To Be Continued*****

So I've been watching Jeremy Renner in Mayor of Kingstown, a very gritty show by Taylor Sheridan on Paramount Plus, where he is constantly dropping the F-bombs, which is my excuse for the unusual foul language in this chapter.

Obviously, this chapter is not wrapped up and will continue in chapter 29. I have started it and won't make you wait too long for an update. Reviews are much appreciated! Thanks!