Fandom: "Trial by Combat" by resolute
Title: Trial by Combat
Author: resolute
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Pairing/characters: The Scoobies, OC
Rating: Gen
Disclaimer: The characters are not mine, they are owned by Mutant Enemy, Dark Horse Comics, and some other people.
Prompt: 137. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: any characters. A FTM slayer has to fight for recognition of his gifts.
Summary: The Scoobies and Slayerettes must decide what to do about Andros.
Author's Notes: (if any) Set firmly in the Buffy Season Eight comic, published by Dark Horse. Spoilers for season seven and eight. Thanks to sionnain and willowaus for the beta.
Trial by Combat
Xander crossed his arms. The move looked fairly studly when he wore his Nick Fury outfit. Imposing. Commanderly. It was possible he also looked imposing if he sat the same way in his nightshirt. He tugged at the sleeves on the long, white, pinstriped pajamas and added a scowl to his crossed-arms. "It's just freaky," he said. "Unless someone I trust explains it to me, I'm going with a firm no."
Willow looked at Xander from her seat across the table. The corner of the room behind her was cluttered with the books and ritual candles hurriedly cleaned away before this urgent command meeting. She leaned forward, elbows on the dark wood, chin in her hands. "And I think it's wrong -- the, the magicks, they don't like being pressured, or messed with -- "
"We mess with the magicks all the time, Wil," Buffy interrupted. She stood up and paced over to the wipe board. The room had no windows. That added security was one of the reasons they'd made it a briefing area. Plans could be made here with some assurance of privacy. Buffy looked at the blank wipe board. Nope, no plans for this. She turned around and pointed at the thin, scruffy, bearded young man who lounged in the chair next to Willow. "That's how me and him are here, together, at the same time in the first place. Magicks-messing. Messes Are Us."
The man shrugged. "I already told you," he said. His accent was strong. "I was early in transition when the powers came to me. Being a Slayer. I had not started the hormones yet. I saw no reason to stop, no reason to not continue transitioning, just because I was now with super powers." He smiled. "The strength was quite welcome. And the agility made easier the coordination problems of testosterone doses."
"Now, see, that's not fair," Xander interjected. He scowled at the young man. "Andros, you are cheating. That's it." Xander put his hands on the table and made a brushing motion. "Case dismissed, you're cheating. If you want the testosterone, I insist you walk around for two years knocking over all the lamps. It's the only way you'll ever learn to be a man," he added.
"It was more like two-and-a-half years, Xander," Willow said. "I thought my mom was going to ban you from the house." She smiled, a grin that lit the witch's face. "Do you remember that awful phone on the piano?"
"That's not really the point, Wil," Xander said. He grinned at Willow. "And your mom had, like, a serious hate-on for me after that phone."
"It was a present."
"It was Krazy Kat with a vibrating tongue."
"It was- oh, goddess," Willow said, laughing. "It did have a vibrating tongue! When it rang!"
"Not after I was done with it."
"Nope, after you glued it all back together the tongue sort of lapped there, slowly -- "
"Okay, enough!" Buffy called out, clapping for attention. She looked at Willow. "Tell me again. How does this - " she pointed at Andros " - work?"
Willow sank her face into her hands. "I have no idea," she cried out, her voice muffled by her palms. She looked up. "I'm sorry, Buffy, but this one throws me for a loop. The Powers That Be, they let the original Watchers bind the demon nature to the original Slayer. And those guys, they made it so it was only girls. But, see," she continued, looking from Xander to Buffy, back and forth. "See, the original Watchers, they weren't doing a DNA test. Or a hormone count. They just said . . . Let's do girls!"
"You might want to rethink your verb choice there, Wil," Xander remarked. "'Do girls' is a little . . . " He made a see-sawing motion with his hand.
Buffy ignored her friends and looked at Andros. "You," she said levelly. "What do you think?"
Andros stood. He stretched, working out the stiffness in his back and legs after sitting in the briefing room so long. "I think I am tired of talking about it," he replied. His light eyes gleamed from over the strong, slightly hooked nose, over the scruffy beard and mustache. His dark brown hair, almost black, hung in curls in his eyes. He brushed it back with both hands and tied the long strands in a tiny ponytail at the nape of his short neck. His hands were a little small for a guy. He smiled at Buffy. "I think I would like to go practice, go work out. Would you like to come along?"
***
Renee stood near Xander. "It could be a trap." The younger Slayer was looking serious, scowling at everyone like they were delinquent children.
"It could always be a trap," Buffy said, pulling her hair back and tying it up.
Xander put his hand on Renee's shoulder and patted it awkwardly. "There, there, young Watcher-To-Be. You've just said the most obvious line ever. I think it's inscribed in the Watcher's Handbook. The Russian judges give you a two."
"I wish there was a handbook," Willow muttered. "Because if this goes badly, everybody here is in danger. A handbook might give us a clue . . ."
Buffy flashed a smile at Willow. "That's why you're here, Wil. Always got my back." She stood straight and stretched, looking around.
The sparring ring rustled like a cave full of bats. The perimeter of the room was lined with Slayers. They talked quietly among themselves. Buffy could feel the weight of them watching her. She was used to it. "It has to be worse for him," she muttered.
In the middle of the ring Andros stood. He stretched a bit. Checked his gloves, retied his shoes. Buffy watched him. His lips were moving. If it was a spell, Wil would catch it. But maybe it wasn't a spell. Maybe he was talking to himself. Maybe he was praying.
Buffy stepped forward. The room went silent. "All right," she said simply. "Show me."
"Nay, fyseek," Andros said. He raised his hands and moved in.
Buffy ducked and spun, a leg-sweep. Andros jumped it and kicked at Buffy while in the air. Buffy rolled sideways and jumped up, jabbing. Andros dodged back. Three exchanges and nobody hit yet. "Well, you're not human. If you were human you'd be hit by now."
"I am a Slayer." Andros ducked and kicked sideways.
Buffy caught his foot and flipped him. The spectators made a collective noise, and hushed again as Andros went all the way around and landed on his feet. "What's your name?" Buffy asked.
"Andros."
"No. What's your real name."
"Andros is my real name."
"What's your girl name?"
"Andros is my name, Buffy Summers, and you can go fu-"
Buffy caught the guy's sleeve and twisted him around. "You move like a Slayer who just got her powers. I'll grant you that. I've fought enough of them in the last six months, I should know. But you don't have any training. So I'm going to kick your ass." Andros heaved and pushed. Buffy stumbled back. Her eyes narrowed. "That was something extra," she said flatly.
"Testosterone." Andros took a half step back and waited in a defensive stance.
"What?"
Andros shrugged. "I have been injecting human testosterone hormone into myself for six months now. At least it says it is human. Sometimes, the stuff, it might be other things. Horse, perhaps. But primarily human."
"Primarily human?" Xander said. He was behind Buffy. She didn't turn to look.
"So you have all the Slayer strength, and a guy's muscles?" That wasn't the important part, anyway. Buffy spoke over her shoulder to Xander and Willow, not taking her eyes off Andros. "How does that work? Team Us, paging Team Us, how does that work?"
"I told you, Buff, I don't know," Willow called out.
Andros dropped the defensive posture and stood, catching his breath. "You called me a Slayer."
"No, I didn't," Buffy replied.
"You said I had Slayer strength. It is the same thing."
"Not at all the same!"
"You did not say I had demon strength, or weird strength." Andros smiled. "You said Slayer."
"It's not that -- "
" -- and you said I have Slayer combat -- "
" -- simple." Buffy stopped. She looked at the young man in the center of the ring. He wasn't blustering. Wasn't pushing around, wasn't demanding anything. She walked around Andros, circling him. He tensed, but didn't protest. Was ready for a fight, but not looking for one. Buffy remembered Andrew's description of finding Andros -- He's a fireplug -- staked two and went after the third, and didn't lose his lunch until the place was secure -- Andrew had been in a Bogart Moment when he called.
Andros was her height. Buffy stopped pacing. "Damn, you're short for a guy."
"Not where I am from, American Girl." He smirked as he spoke, then looked down. "Not very short. Only a little short, for a man. Where I am from."
Buffy met his eyes. "You were seventeen when you wanted to become a guy?"
"I was eleven, but it is illegal and impractical."
"So you waited until you were seventeen and started."
"I lied and said I was nineteen."
"And then you became a Slayer."
"Yes."
"And superpowers didn't stop you, and vampires didn't stop you. You were going to be a guy, no matter if it meant injecting horse goo into yourself."
"Yes."
Buffy stood nose to nose with Andros. "You wanted to be who you saw yourself as, no matter what."
"Yes."
"Didn't want anyone or anything controlling you, making decisions about your life."
"Yes."
"Making decisions about your body, what happened to it."
"Yes."
"Because you have to live in it, and you have a right to control it, no matter what some freaky old Watcher's Council thinks?"
Andros blinked. "I have never met the Watcher's Council." His certainty wavered a little at this question.
Of course he hadn't met the Watcher's Council. None of them had. "Never mind, not important." Buffy looked away, looked at Willow and Xander and suddenly they looked old. As old as she felt. "You're in." She turned to face the spectators. "Andros is in," she said loudly. "He's a Slayer, and he's a guy. And if anyone has a problem with that, they can take it up with me."
**fin**
Author: resolute
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Pairing/characters: The Scoobies, OC
Rating: Gen
Disclaimer: The characters are not mine, they are owned by Mutant Enemy, Dark Horse Comics, and some other people.
Prompt: 137. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: any characters. A FTM slayer has to fight for recognition of his gifts.
Summary: The Scoobies and Slayerettes must decide what to do about Andros.
Author's Notes: (if any) Set firmly in the Buffy Season Eight comic, published by Dark Horse. Spoilers for season seven and eight. Thanks to sionnain and willowaus for the beta.
Trial by Combat
Xander crossed his arms. The move looked fairly studly when he wore his Nick Fury outfit. Imposing. Commanderly. It was possible he also looked imposing if he sat the same way in his nightshirt. He tugged at the sleeves on the long, white, pinstriped pajamas and added a scowl to his crossed-arms. "It's just freaky," he said. "Unless someone I trust explains it to me, I'm going with a firm no."
Willow looked at Xander from her seat across the table. The corner of the room behind her was cluttered with the books and ritual candles hurriedly cleaned away before this urgent command meeting. She leaned forward, elbows on the dark wood, chin in her hands. "And I think it's wrong -- the, the magicks, they don't like being pressured, or messed with -- "
"We mess with the magicks all the time, Wil," Buffy interrupted. She stood up and paced over to the wipe board. The room had no windows. That added security was one of the reasons they'd made it a briefing area. Plans could be made here with some assurance of privacy. Buffy looked at the blank wipe board. Nope, no plans for this. She turned around and pointed at the thin, scruffy, bearded young man who lounged in the chair next to Willow. "That's how me and him are here, together, at the same time in the first place. Magicks-messing. Messes Are Us."
The man shrugged. "I already told you," he said. His accent was strong. "I was early in transition when the powers came to me. Being a Slayer. I had not started the hormones yet. I saw no reason to stop, no reason to not continue transitioning, just because I was now with super powers." He smiled. "The strength was quite welcome. And the agility made easier the coordination problems of testosterone doses."
"Now, see, that's not fair," Xander interjected. He scowled at the young man. "Andros, you are cheating. That's it." Xander put his hands on the table and made a brushing motion. "Case dismissed, you're cheating. If you want the testosterone, I insist you walk around for two years knocking over all the lamps. It's the only way you'll ever learn to be a man," he added.
"It was more like two-and-a-half years, Xander," Willow said. "I thought my mom was going to ban you from the house." She smiled, a grin that lit the witch's face. "Do you remember that awful phone on the piano?"
"That's not really the point, Wil," Xander said. He grinned at Willow. "And your mom had, like, a serious hate-on for me after that phone."
"It was a present."
"It was Krazy Kat with a vibrating tongue."
"It was- oh, goddess," Willow said, laughing. "It did have a vibrating tongue! When it rang!"
"Not after I was done with it."
"Nope, after you glued it all back together the tongue sort of lapped there, slowly -- "
"Okay, enough!" Buffy called out, clapping for attention. She looked at Willow. "Tell me again. How does this - " she pointed at Andros " - work?"
Willow sank her face into her hands. "I have no idea," she cried out, her voice muffled by her palms. She looked up. "I'm sorry, Buffy, but this one throws me for a loop. The Powers That Be, they let the original Watchers bind the demon nature to the original Slayer. And those guys, they made it so it was only girls. But, see," she continued, looking from Xander to Buffy, back and forth. "See, the original Watchers, they weren't doing a DNA test. Or a hormone count. They just said . . . Let's do girls!"
"You might want to rethink your verb choice there, Wil," Xander remarked. "'Do girls' is a little . . . " He made a see-sawing motion with his hand.
Buffy ignored her friends and looked at Andros. "You," she said levelly. "What do you think?"
Andros stood. He stretched, working out the stiffness in his back and legs after sitting in the briefing room so long. "I think I am tired of talking about it," he replied. His light eyes gleamed from over the strong, slightly hooked nose, over the scruffy beard and mustache. His dark brown hair, almost black, hung in curls in his eyes. He brushed it back with both hands and tied the long strands in a tiny ponytail at the nape of his short neck. His hands were a little small for a guy. He smiled at Buffy. "I think I would like to go practice, go work out. Would you like to come along?"
***
Renee stood near Xander. "It could be a trap." The younger Slayer was looking serious, scowling at everyone like they were delinquent children.
"It could always be a trap," Buffy said, pulling her hair back and tying it up.
Xander put his hand on Renee's shoulder and patted it awkwardly. "There, there, young Watcher-To-Be. You've just said the most obvious line ever. I think it's inscribed in the Watcher's Handbook. The Russian judges give you a two."
"I wish there was a handbook," Willow muttered. "Because if this goes badly, everybody here is in danger. A handbook might give us a clue . . ."
Buffy flashed a smile at Willow. "That's why you're here, Wil. Always got my back." She stood straight and stretched, looking around.
The sparring ring rustled like a cave full of bats. The perimeter of the room was lined with Slayers. They talked quietly among themselves. Buffy could feel the weight of them watching her. She was used to it. "It has to be worse for him," she muttered.
In the middle of the ring Andros stood. He stretched a bit. Checked his gloves, retied his shoes. Buffy watched him. His lips were moving. If it was a spell, Wil would catch it. But maybe it wasn't a spell. Maybe he was talking to himself. Maybe he was praying.
Buffy stepped forward. The room went silent. "All right," she said simply. "Show me."
"Nay, fyseek," Andros said. He raised his hands and moved in.
Buffy ducked and spun, a leg-sweep. Andros jumped it and kicked at Buffy while in the air. Buffy rolled sideways and jumped up, jabbing. Andros dodged back. Three exchanges and nobody hit yet. "Well, you're not human. If you were human you'd be hit by now."
"I am a Slayer." Andros ducked and kicked sideways.
Buffy caught his foot and flipped him. The spectators made a collective noise, and hushed again as Andros went all the way around and landed on his feet. "What's your name?" Buffy asked.
"Andros."
"No. What's your real name."
"Andros is my real name."
"What's your girl name?"
"Andros is my name, Buffy Summers, and you can go fu-"
Buffy caught the guy's sleeve and twisted him around. "You move like a Slayer who just got her powers. I'll grant you that. I've fought enough of them in the last six months, I should know. But you don't have any training. So I'm going to kick your ass." Andros heaved and pushed. Buffy stumbled back. Her eyes narrowed. "That was something extra," she said flatly.
"Testosterone." Andros took a half step back and waited in a defensive stance.
"What?"
Andros shrugged. "I have been injecting human testosterone hormone into myself for six months now. At least it says it is human. Sometimes, the stuff, it might be other things. Horse, perhaps. But primarily human."
"Primarily human?" Xander said. He was behind Buffy. She didn't turn to look.
"So you have all the Slayer strength, and a guy's muscles?" That wasn't the important part, anyway. Buffy spoke over her shoulder to Xander and Willow, not taking her eyes off Andros. "How does that work? Team Us, paging Team Us, how does that work?"
"I told you, Buff, I don't know," Willow called out.
Andros dropped the defensive posture and stood, catching his breath. "You called me a Slayer."
"No, I didn't," Buffy replied.
"You said I had Slayer strength. It is the same thing."
"Not at all the same!"
"You did not say I had demon strength, or weird strength." Andros smiled. "You said Slayer."
"It's not that -- "
" -- and you said I have Slayer combat -- "
" -- simple." Buffy stopped. She looked at the young man in the center of the ring. He wasn't blustering. Wasn't pushing around, wasn't demanding anything. She walked around Andros, circling him. He tensed, but didn't protest. Was ready for a fight, but not looking for one. Buffy remembered Andrew's description of finding Andros -- He's a fireplug -- staked two and went after the third, and didn't lose his lunch until the place was secure -- Andrew had been in a Bogart Moment when he called.
Andros was her height. Buffy stopped pacing. "Damn, you're short for a guy."
"Not where I am from, American Girl." He smirked as he spoke, then looked down. "Not very short. Only a little short, for a man. Where I am from."
Buffy met his eyes. "You were seventeen when you wanted to become a guy?"
"I was eleven, but it is illegal and impractical."
"So you waited until you were seventeen and started."
"I lied and said I was nineteen."
"And then you became a Slayer."
"Yes."
"And superpowers didn't stop you, and vampires didn't stop you. You were going to be a guy, no matter if it meant injecting horse goo into yourself."
"Yes."
Buffy stood nose to nose with Andros. "You wanted to be who you saw yourself as, no matter what."
"Yes."
"Didn't want anyone or anything controlling you, making decisions about your life."
"Yes."
"Making decisions about your body, what happened to it."
"Yes."
"Because you have to live in it, and you have a right to control it, no matter what some freaky old Watcher's Council thinks?"
Andros blinked. "I have never met the Watcher's Council." His certainty wavered a little at this question.
Of course he hadn't met the Watcher's Council. None of them had. "Never mind, not important." Buffy looked away, looked at Willow and Xander and suddenly they looked old. As old as she felt. "You're in." She turned to face the spectators. "Andros is in," she said loudly. "He's a Slayer, and he's a guy. And if anyone has a problem with that, they can take it up with me."
**fin**