Note: Thanks to my beta t_geyer for her unending patience, perseverance and support.

SECTION 5 - LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

He raised his son in the English way
And he taught him respect, he taught him how to pray
He sent him off to boarding school
Where he learned how to live by someone else's rules...

... It must be something much deeper than fear or pain
Another child learns the pattern, he won't break the chain

Fear of God and the feel of the rod will raise a good boy
The fear of God and the feel of the rod will raise a good boy
The fear of God and the feel of the rod will raise the next boy


(Rick Springfield Album - Living in Oz)




Chapter 5.04
Friday, June 14th, 2002


Roger Wyndam Pryce picked up his dental piece from the highly polished floor of the library and reinserted it into his mouth. With his dignity restored he made to follow Giles and Wes, no doubt intending to take control of the situation outside. Instead he found his path blocked by a young man that up to that point had largely escaped his notice, other than to be disparagingly written off as one of the slayers' motley crew of undesirables. Somehow, standing face to face with the slayer's friend, his presence seemed to far outweigh his physical stature.

"My Morse code's a little rusty," Oz admitted, referring to the way Clem's girlfriend had sounded the horn on her motorcycle, "but it seemed to me like it was Wes the ladies asked for." Marie came to stand just behind the lycanthrope's right shoulder. Tara positioned herself at his left, her expression slightly nervous at standing up to an authority figure who surely reminded her all too well of her own father, but, nevertheless, resolute.

At the other end of the room, Dawn could be heard half pleading, half arguing with her sister before both the Summers girls and Brandon turned for the door.

"This is preposterous. I will not be dictated to by a bunch of children. As senior watcher here, if there is a situation it's my duty to oversee what is happening."

"It seems to me, in the absence of one of the senior council members, that the watchers assigned to the current slayer would claim that privilege... even if we were inclined to ignore your retired status," Marie informed him. "And since at least one of the ladies in question is personally acquainted with Wes and knows Mr Giles by reputation but has good reason not to trust the council in general, I think it might be better if we adhere to protocol. I also think, even from the little I've heard of how Buffy's friends have helped her in the past, that you would be more of a fool than I already take you for, if you dismiss them as mere children."

There was a muted roar as the motorcycle took off down the school's gravelled drive, only quieting slightly as Ha Nath reached the turning onto the street before she accelerated once more.

The watcher's eyes narrowed as he reassessed the Latina as an opponent, but for once he kept his silence.

"W-Wasn't there a t-translation you were working on?" Tara suggested, as she picked up an empty cup and its saucer from the table where the watcher had been seated. "I'll make some fresh tea." The Wiccan waited anxiously until Wyndam Pryce, finally admitting that whatever had happened, he was going to have to content himself with second hand reports, returned to his former seat before she turned to leave.

---

Buffy passed the mug of chocolaty goodness to the young girl. "There you go. Maybe you could tell us what happened now?"

The girl shifted forward in her seat on the attic's decrepit sofa between Dawn and Brandon, her elbows resting on her knees and the mug held in both hands. She looked apprehensively at the two watchers and the slayer, as if reluctant to begin.

"It's okay, Amanda. They're all friends. You can trust them." Dawn tried to settle the girl.

"It's just... so... well, weird."

Brandon treated the girl to a reassuring smile and slid an arm around her to gently rub her back, his eyes briefly meeting Dawn's to check that the gesture of friendship didn't violate the 'girlfriend code'. "From what I can tell, weird pretty much passes for normal in Sunnydale. Just start at the beginning."

"Oh, okay... People, well they kinda say that... well, you're into all this freaky stuff." Amanda nodded toward Buffy.

"Sometimes, people are right."

"Well, see... on Friday nights my Aunt Karen goes to this Tae Kwon Do class at the Y and well, I watch my little cousin Susie... So I was on my way home and I know I'm meant to stick to the main streets but it saves like ten minutes if you cut through the park and it was only just beginning to get dark and I was late... so..." Amanda took a sip from the mug in her hands. "I'm like cutting through the park, and you know how you start to like hear things but it's really just the wind and maybe you can see shapes in the shadows but there's not really anything there but you still kinda have to convince yourself that everything's okay?"

"Sure..." Brandon encouraged her to keep going. "Only this time there was something, wasn't there?"

"Lots of somethings... or someones... I'm not really sure. I mean they kinda looked like people... only without the hair and with the eyes... Their eyes were all kinda... messed up and they... I mean it sounds weird but they were all wearing these robes and they had these weird knives... so I was thinking that maybe they were like a cult or something..."

"Or something," Buffy answered, her voice thick with a mixture of resignation and sarcasm. She could see now where Amanda's tale was going. "Sorry. On with the story. It's just that we've run into these guys before."

When the girl looked like she might stall once more Dawn interceded. "Go on, Amanda. The more you can tell us, the better the chances we can figure out what's going on."

"Well, like these guys start sorta sneakin' up on all sides, and at first... I just, y'know... think that I'm imagining it, but then, well this one , he pulls his knife and you, like, know that the wind doesn't make that sort of noise and when I look around to see where the noise is coming from there's like two of them on the path behind me and by the time I look back there's one ahead of me as well, so I figure I gotta get out of there quick as I can, y'know?"

By now the group were beginning to get used to Amanda's style of description and they mostly answered with solemn nods that encouraged her to go on without interrupting her.

"So, anyway, I just take off. I mean, it's not totally dark, yet, and I figure those guys wouldn't see so well anyway and I know the park pretty well, so I reckoned if I headed south I'd come out on Hawthorn in a few minutes and I'd be able to flag someone down, maybe... or whatever, but then there's another one of these guys right in my face and he's lookin' to cut me up with that knife of his, so I just throw my book bag at him hard as I can an' that kinda takes him by surprise so then I'm past him and I just keep running till I reach the road, but I can hear them all coming behind me, like maybe half a dozen of them. An', y'know, you would think that someone would stop, but there's like all these cars driving past like they just don't want to know, so I start running up the middle of the road because by now they're starting to get pretty close. And then there was the motorcycle and it was kinda weird 'cause like nobody can really like do that stuff outside of films. I mean she's riding along and then she's got her feet up on the seat but the bike's still doing like seventy or something and she just kicks one of these guys and he goes flying like a rag doll... Well, I mean you would, wouldn't you, if someone kicked you doing that sort of speed? And then like I thought she was gone but she musta done a U-ey but because of that sort of dip in the road I couldn't see her, 'cause next thing I know she's coming back over the brow of the hill, but now she's got like some sort of sword in her hand and before they know what's happening she takes the head off two of 'em and there's like blood all over. An' then she pulls up next to me, an', well, I'm not too sure whether I'm more scared of her than I am of the guys in the robes, but I figure at least she hasn't tried to hurt me yet, so I like get on and I'm trying to tell her which way to go to take me home but she doesn't listen and she brings me here instead and then, like, Dawn's here and like Brandon, but I don't know him so well, 'cause like only the last couple of weeks in music, but isn't this meant to be some girls' boarding school, so like he shouldn't be here at all... And I really gotta call my mom and get her to pick me up... And what are you all doing here?"

Giles did his best to give the young girl a comforting smile. "That happens to be rather a long story. How about Buffy and I take you home and we can explain it all to your parents at the same time?"

---

"Willy said I didn't have to tell you guys nothin'."

"And the little weasel was right..." Spike calmly lit a cigarette as Faith pulled the barman's wrist until his hand lay flat on the counter. "...Just so long as you're not too worried about me an' the slayer systematically breakin' every bone in your body."

Faith used her other hand to lift up the barman's pinkie just enough for the strain on his muscles and tendons to be painful. Her smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Heyyy!" the young demon protested. "I thought you were meant to be the good guys..."

Spike hawked up a gobbet of phlegm from his throat and spat it to land within inches of the bartender's splayed hand, treating Faith to a quirk of the eyebrow and a winning grin when she gave him a look of distaste. After all, it was her hands that were holding the demon's in place. "You're kinda behind the times, mate. See, this fight isn't about good and evil or any of that fairy tale crap. This is about survival an' there's two sides but mostly it comes down to 'us' an' 'them as get in our way'. That right, kewpie doll?"

Faith increased the pressure on the barman's finger as she replied. "I guess, but you talk too much, Billy. Let's just get on to the crunchy noises." There was a quiet pop as the demon's finger dislocated.

"Pegaral, you psycho bitch! Try the old vineyard. Used to be some vamps holed up in the cellar down there but none of them been in here in weeks-."

A rather tinny version of 'Whisky in the Jar' interrupted the bartender's exposition. Spike rolled his eyes before pulling his new cell phone from his pocket and wandering to a quiet corner of the rather emptier than usual bar to take the call. "What's up?... Hawthorn? We'll swing by that way on our way back. Can't exactly guarantee anything, mind... Tell your sis that Willy's new barman sends his love. An' get yourself to bed before I get in tonight. No sitting up all night watching football... I don't care if all the watchers are staying up. You want to watch the England match then you get to bed now an' I might wake you up when it's time. An' if that lad of yours is hangin' 'round he can take the spare bed in Percy's room. I don't want a repeat performance of this morning when we got in, the two of you curled up on that sofa like a pair of interlockin' pretzels... Yeah, alright... Same to you... No, I'm not sayin' it. Not here. You know it anyway... Bog off an' get some kip."

Spike swaggered back to where the dark slayer was now sipping at a glass of bourbon. She pushed another toward the vampire as he approached. "I miss anything?" the blond asked.

"Vamps ain't been seen for a couple of weeks, some guy no one knows drivin' their truck around and the vines nearest the winery don't seem to be thriving too well."

Spike knocked back his shot and tossed a twenty on the bar. "Now, see, wouldn't it just have been simpler to tell us what we wanted to know without all the theatrics?"

The demon slunk from his safe haven, as far away from the pair as the bar would allow, to grab the bill. As his good hand snatched out to reach for the money, Spike grabbed it and pulled the bartender close enough to land a resounding right jab on the demon's nose.

"...And then, you wouldn't have used a nasty name like that in front of the lady and I wouldn't have had to break your nose." Spike left the twenty on the bar and made for the door. "Come on, pet. We've got places to be an' I want to be back in time to watch the Krauts an' see if I can convince Glinda to put a hex on 'em or somethin'."