Happy Development
by Whedonist
Crosses Aren't Just For The Faithful
[reviews]
Disclaimer: See my prior disclaimers.
A/N: G..thanks again...I hope me and my spelling keep in you in stitches for moons to come.
Chapter 4 - Crosses Aren't Just For The Faithful
Finishing off the list of parts proved to be more difficult than Kaylee had anticipated. Because of the electrical routing on Serenity, she needed an exact measure of how much wiring was needed. The mechanic had enlisted the help of Buffy due to the blonde slayer's size. When they had finally finished, Buffy looked as if she had been down in the sewers for a week and grumbled the entire way back to the school about perfectly good clothes being ruined.
Buffy left to go shower while the rest of the Scoobies and the crew of Serenity convened in the main conference room. Willow sat down next to Inara and they restarted the conversation they were having on the ride over. Willow had been telling the companion about the Scoob's encounter with Dracula. Kaylee was going over the list of parts with Mal and Xander, Dawn, and Faith were trying to get Jayne and Simon talking. Out of the two Simon proved to be the more vocal.
Buffy walked in a few moments later fresh from the shower and gathered everyone's attention. "So, you guys have a list right?"
Kaylee handed her the paper, "It's all right here, but I'm still worried about where we're gonna find some of these parts. They're easy as pie to get at any one of the port cities, but I don't know what you have available in this time."
Buffy looked the list over and scrunched her eyebrows. "Uh, Will, I'm gonna need you to decipher this list. Help Kaylee out and see what we need." She passed the list over to the redhead and watched as Willow's brow furrowed at the items.
"Most of this is fibre optic material? There is also material that we don't use here. High voltage wiring, so stuff that's more than copper right?"
"Yeah, just wiring and such, that's the major problem. I was able to take a look at Serenity's body and there wasn't any damage when we crashed." Kaylee smiled over at River, "Our new pilot set her down right proper."
River smiled at her sister-in-law and tugged at Zo''s sleeve offering her a sad, but heart felt smile. Zo' returned the smile in kind and winked at the girl.
"Give me a few days and I'll see if we can find something comparable."
"What's the up Will?" Buffy asked.
"Well it's just that the material for the wiring isn't stuff we use. Not regularly I mean. I can check around and see if some of the newer buildings or maybe NASA is using stuff like this, but it's going to be hard to come by. Let me do some digging and maybe try and figure out if there's an alternate substitute for carbon nanotubes. This just came out a few years ago and from what I've read is still in the developmental stages. So off the top of my head I can't think of an alternative." Willow plastered on her best reassuring smile, "Although, I'm sure I can find something to replace it with. No worries here. Nope. Worry free."
"Thank you, Willow." Mal said. He smiled at the group, "So when do we get to see these vampires?"
Buffy looked at the clock on the wall and nodded, "In about an hour, let's eat and then I can take you on patrol. Are all of you coming?"
Everyone in the room nodded and Buffy rolled her eyes. It was going to be hard finding vamps with such a huge entourage and then try and keep said entourage with all of their bits intact. Calling out to Willow before she left, Buffy watched the rest of the group file out.
Willow grinned and walked over to the blonde, "You rang?"
"Yeah, I uh," Buffy sputtered a moment more and fell back on shop talk, "How impossible is it going to be for us to get that stuff?"
"Maybe not too bad. I need to brush up on my space craft electrical systems, but we should be able to find some decent substitutions."
"Good, good," Buffy swung her arms and looked around the room.
Willow picked up on Buffy's nervousness and smiled. "Was that all?"
"I, uh, well," Buffy's eyes skirted to meet Willow's and then quickly found an interesting scar on the back of her hand to admire.
"Buff?" Willow was becoming concerned. The blonde was never this nervous with her.
"I, it's nothing."
"You do know you're a terrible liar?"
Buffy blushed bright red and nodded. "I was, ah, you seemed to be getting awfully chummy with Inara. Wanted to know what was going on?"
Willow looked at her friend a bit confused and then shrugged it off. She was chalking it up to concern. Willow had come back from Rio withdrawn and depressed after breaking up with Kennedy some 18 months ago. Since then Willow had not even been interested in dating, citing the need for a break and some alone time to try and figure out what she needed and wanted from a relationship. Buffy had been there through the crying spurts and had done the requisite best friend duties. Thinking that's what was troubling her friend, Willow took Buffy's hand and sat down at the table pulling her along. "Buff, you worried about Inara and me getting involved?"
"Well, yeah kinda. I mean you've just been as non datey as me lately and then it seems like since they showed up, you and her are all with the chummy. Just worried and curious."
"Nothing going on, of course I wouldn't say no if something did happen, but I think we're just becoming fast friends. She's really easy to talk to."
"Oh, okay." Buffy nodded and let some relief show, but wasn't entirely convinced. She stood and let the witch follow her out of the room.
Diner was a tad more interesting what with Mal and his crew at the table. Diner had become something of a ritual over the past year with the Scooby gang. Regardless of the busyness of their lives, they had made it a point to have diner together. Buffy had been the instigator, using Joyce as the reason. Truthfully, Buffy had always harboured one form of guilt or another for the lack of time she had spent with her mother before her death and she had made a promise to herself during the time of the First that if they made it out alive she would make more time for the people that mattered to her. Dawn had been the second to fall in line with the rest of the gang quickly following suit. The meal was boisterous and full of conversation. Everyone had traded one story or another and before they had a chance to finish two hours had gone by. Once everything was settled, Xander led them down to the armament centre and passed out the requisite stakes, holy water vials and crosses. He then let the crew pick out another weapon they would be comfortable with. The only two to do so was Inara, who picked up a compact crossbow and extra arrows and River who picked a smaller broad sword.
"So keep these with you at all times. It looks like you guys are used to keeping guns on you. They won't work on vamps, so keep these handy. If any of you are comfortable with a sword, then pick one and let's get moving."
Mal tried to hand Xander back the cross, "Don't see much use in this boy. I'll be alright."
Xander looked at Mal and shrugged, "Fine, but if you meet a vamp the most sure fire way to get rid of him is stick a cross in his face. We're not big on the religion here either, but a fact's a fact: crosses repel the vamps."
Mal shrugged and placed the cross on the table. "I'll take my chances."
"I get to tell you I told you so later."
Everyone met back up in the garage. Willow and Buffy were talking about the best way for them to patrol and were standing by one of the school's commuter vans.
"Xand," Buffy called out, "You coming or are you staying for communication?"
"Ah, I think I'm gonna go tonight. I've got Vi and Kimmie on deck so they should be able to handle it. We've also got Faith with the red team over on the west side. I'm thinking we should take a stroll a little further out to the south?"
"That's what we were thinking." Willow opened the doors up, "Okay everyone let's go. I want to be home before 2."
Buffy shook her head and made her way to the driver's seat. A firm hand stopped her and she looked up to meet Willow's questioning gaze. "I can't drive can I?"
"No." Willow slipped into the driver's seat before anymore protests could be raised while the blonde walked over to the passenger door grumbling about the resolve of annoying redheaded witches and the fact that sure she may have gotten in to one or three accidents, but that was forever ago.
They got to the first cemetery by 9pm. Buffy gave them a crash course in the do's and don'ts of staking vampires and then set off with Willow and Xander to lead the rest of the troops to a roomier spot in the crowded area. They situated themselves on a hill side that was secluded enough to avoid civilians, but just in the path of un-dead types who were looking for a meal. The Scoobs on more than one occasion had saved some teenagers from becoming walking happy meals in this general area. Buffy looked around at the group. The mechanic looked really nervous and a smile couldn't help itself from forming on Buffy's lips. Kaylee reminded her of a pre-magic Willow that made the blonde slayer's heart lighten just a little bit. River was looking around and Buffy's spidey sense tingled whenever she came near the girl. Deciding to figure out the why later, Buffy sent a small smile and nod in Willow's direction. The two stepped over by Xander to discuss the plans.
"Buff, you want to go find some un-dead pale guys to bring around?" Willow knew that's what Buffy wanted to let everyone in on. The witch waited on confirmation from the slayer and returned the grateful smile Buffy had on her face.
"Why bring them to us again?" Xander asked slightly confused.
Buffy quirked a brow and motioned to the bored time traveller's.
"Oh right, proof that we aren't insane type people. Gotcha. Wills you go with the Buffernator and I can watch these guys."
"Cool, Buff?"
"Right," She turned to the group, "Wills and I are going to see if we can chase anything back this way, you guys hang tight." Buffy took hold of Willow's hand and glanced back to see Inara's reaction. She smiled internally at the narrowed eyed gaze of the companion and tightened her hold on her redhead.
It didn't take long for them to open a crypt and find five vamps hanging out.
"Aren't you guys supposed to be stalking the living? Really now, you guys are la-az-zy." Buffy grinned at them while Willow threw a phial of holy water at their feet. All five shot back away from the shattering glass. A few drops had gotten on one of the vamps and Buffy snickered as he tried to stop the burning. The other's looked up pissed and ready to tear the girl's heads off. Normally that would have frightened the standard person, but not the two girls who only exchanged bored looks and shrugged at the vamps.
"Jeez, is that all you guys got? A glare? Man I tell you, you blood rats sure do make my well placed puns a waste."
"I'll show you what we got, bitch!" The leader, or the one the girls picked as the leader, advanced.
Buffy picked out the weakest one and threw a stake straight into its heart. The thing dusted and as the ashes floated to the ground, his friend's started chasing the slayer and witch through the cemetery. The two girls had worked this out ahead of time and split up at an outcropping of headstones. Buffy sped up and knew that 3 of the remaining 4 were chasing her. She smiled as the hunt truly began. She catapulted herself over headstones and stopped short of running into a mausoleum. She leapt up, onto the roof and jumped off landing a good 20 feet from the edge of the roof. She glanced back and saw the vampire's were having a hard time keeping up. Slowing up, she then took a quick glance to her left and saw that Willow had done an excellent job of paralleling her movements.
Both girls came to a screeching halt when they met head on. Ducking as they grabbed each other's arms for balance, they watched as the four vamps crashed into each other trying to reach their "prey". The girls had led the small clan around to the hillside where they had left Xander and the crew of the spaceship.
One had been knocked unconscious so Xander moved in, dragged it backwards out of the fray and tied it up. Willow looked the one over that had been chasing her, he was the first to regain his balance and she could tell by the look in his eyes that his only concern was to kill her. Her vampire took a wild swing at her face. In one fluid motion, she ducked the attack brought out the stake and rammed it firmly up and under the vamps ribcage. The demon exploded into dust which floated down on Willow.
Before continuing, Buffy shot a look to her friend and made sure Willow was out of the way before she began to pummel on the two remaining vamps. She wanted to draw the fight out as long as possible as it had been ages since she had taken on two at once. The leader of the clan lunged for the blonde, but missed as she crouched down, sweeping his legs from under him as he passed. The second had thought that Buffy was defenceless while on the ground, but quickly learned the opposite, as Buffy's leg swept out to catch the lunging vampire, she rested her weight on her hands, thrusting back with her right leg and catching the advancing vampire square in the chest causing him to go sailing fifteen feet backwards. The flying vamp crashed against a broken branch of a tree dusting on impact.
The leader had regained his balance and was now circling the blonde slayer. Buffy couldn't resist the laugh that bubbled forth.
"I'm gonna rip your neck open girl. I'll drink your hearts blood while it still beats."
Buffy rolled her eyes, "Really? You honestly think that's the first time I've ever heard that? Is there a handbook you guys get when you rise? Seriously I want to know," She threw a punch that connected with the underside of the vamps chin sending him back a few feet. "Do you know who I am?" Buffy asked annoyed as the thing lunged for her once again. She side stepped and kicked out breaking the vampire's left shin.
His cry of pain rang loud and he seethed, "A slayer obviously." He was in serious pain, but still made an attempt to kill Buffy. The blonde gave him points for effort.
"Riigghhttt, I'm Buffy the Vampire Slayer," She smiled triumphantly as the name registered with the vamp. Using the shock as a distraction, she spun forward and neatly placed Mr. Pointy into the vamps chest. The usual shocked look appeared and right before he dusted Buffy causally waved goodbye, "and you are dust. Have a nice trip to hell."
She was all smiles as she turned to the group. Dusting her hands off, she walked over to the remaining bound, vamp. She held the vamp up by the shirt collar and turned towards the group, "Questions, comments?"