Just a slight problem

[zerodivided]

Who: Anna, Vito, Tamara, Tony, Wolf, Malone, Catherine, Sherry, Katie, Tina
Where: The Bronze
When : Thursday Night

Vito was Bronzing it, and just sipping cola tonight.

Anna was with a Vito, and looking just a little stressed

An unfamiliar singer was on the stage tonight- a young man with shaggy sandy brown hair bent over an acoustic guitar.

Tamara bustled in the door, late to meet up with her brother and some-guy. She looked somewhat exasperated as she looked for Tony.



Tony was already settled at a table, and talking to some guy.

If TOny was there, Carmen was probably nearby stalking- er... She was probably somewhere nearby.

"Sorry I'm late," Tamara said, sighing. "My kidnapping is getting WAY out of hand." She plunked down at the table.

"V..." Anna started "Um, coke?"

"The sun came up with no conclusions," the man on stage sang. "Flowers sleeping in their beds. The city's cemetary's humming- I'm wide awake, it's morning..."

Catherine came in, having just finished her night of patrolling. "Stupid vampires. Can't they have the decency of dusting away from my hair?" she mumbled as she made her way to the bar.

Wolf looked up, bemused. "Kidnapping?"

"Oh.. heh, yeah. Don't try it at home. Bad idea," Tamara said. "They won't leave! They like my house. I've got three of them now. Three." She shook her head, and realized she'd completely forgotten to introduce herself. "Oh, hey.. I'm Tamara- you must be Wolf."

She offered a hand to shake.

"Vampires?" asked a young woman, with a southern accent. She walked in right behind Catherine "Excuse me Miss, but did you say what I think you said?"

"Hey, I take a break now and then." Vito said.

Wolf shook the hand, and chuckled. "Alexander Wolf, yes. Pleasure to meet you."

"Yeah..." Anna said "Sorry."

"Three?" Tony raised a brow. "How'd that happen?"

"No worries," Vito said. He smiled. "At least it'll be a nice, relaxing night, right?"

"Yeah..." Anna said "So, taking a break, you said?"

"Ya ne poneemayou," Catherine replied quickly. She wasn't supposed to talk about this with random people, at least, so she was told.

"I started out with one - and well, his boyfriend came to find him - and discovered that the couch was comfortable and the pizza was good. Then today, their friend came to find them... and well, now they're having a video game tournament. My games. My couch. They will not leave. According to Franco, it's the 'best kidnapping ever'." Tamara rubbed her forehead.

Wolf raised a brow. "You fail at kidnapping."

"Oh great." The young woman muttered "So now you're going to pretend you don't speak english... Well, I guess I'm not in the south anymore- and if my dad moved us to a vampire town, I swear I'm just going to stop talking to him for a month."

"I read the body count out of the paper and now it's written all over my face," the man on stage sang. "No one ever plans to sleep out in the gutter - sometimes it's just the most comfortable place."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that out. At least guy number three had some information -so we are pretty much ahead of the game. Now I just need to get them to leave my home eventually and it'll all be good," Tamara said. She glanced around the room a moment, and noted Vito and Anna. "Hm, want me to call them over, Tony? They might as well meet Wolf too, right?"

Catherine sighed. "Alright, I speak English. How do you know about vampires?" Her Russian accent was still thick, though. Seriously, this secret thing just did not work.

"My Dad knows a bunch of stuff about them." She said "I haven't actually seen one, but he's told me all about them. So, am I going to have to be mad at him for another month? We just moved here."

"I think you going to be mad at him for more than a month, then," Catherine told her. "We are on a Hellmouth, which translates to big playground for vampires." If she knew about the vampires, then she might as well know the real score, right?

"If you like," Tony said, shrugging.

Tamara got up to head on over there and ask them if they wanted to come and join the fun.

"Hey Anna, Vito... you want to come meet the new guy?" Tamara asked.

"Gosh Darnit." The young woman said. "So it's a vamp town, and a hell mouth. Of course he picks this place to live. Anyway, sorry to be all nosy like."

"It is fine. I am just not supposed to really talk about it much," Catherine told her.

"A what?" asked Anna "Yeah... whatever.."

Katie slipped into the Bronze, looking thoughtful.

"Well, the thing about that... most people just let stuff like that go over their heads." The young woman smiled "I'm Sherry. I just moved here."

"Sure," Vito said, standing up.

"Tony's boss, the new Initative department head..." Tamara offered, and headed thataway. "Some special ops guy named Wolf."

Anna followed

"I am Catherine. Welcome to Sunnydale."

Catherine stuck out her hand to shake.

"Okay, introduction time.. this is the Slayer, Anna, and her Servator, Vito. Guys, this is Wolf..." Tamara made with the hand waving.

Sherry shook hands. "Thanks for the welcome, and nice to meet you, Catherine. So, where is that accent from?"

Anna waved.

"Hiya, Wolf,' Vito said.

"Russia. I live just outside of Moscow before I move here." Catherine sat down at the bar.

Wolf nodded. "Good evening -- nice to make your acquaintance. I've heard good things about your work here."

"Nice to meet you." Anna said "Thanks."

Tina headed in after Katie

"See, it's fine," Katie said. "No worries. And look, Anna's over there."

The musician on stage launched into another song.

"Do you like it better here?" asked Sherry "I'm from Georgia. A couple of hours from Atlanta."

"I just worry about you." Tina said

"I'm going to make a food and drink run," Tamara said. "Who needs what?"

"I'm joining on to the local Initiative chapter," Wolf said, "so don't worry, I'm just a grunt. Glass of water for me, if you don't mind."

"Cola," Vito said.

"Whatever is fine." Anna said, quietly

"Some things I like better here. I make good friends here." Catherine smiled. "I get boyfriend. However, I also find vampires who leave dust in my hair and corn demons. It has pros and cons."

Tamara headed for the bar.

"That's gotta suck." Sherry said "If all that stuff is out here, my Daddy is never going to be home. So, how's the school? Is this a good place to make friends?"

Katie ushered Tina towards a table so they could sit and enjoy the music.

The musician on stage finished his set, and skittered down off of the stage, and straight towards Wolf, looking halfway between proud of himself and traumatized.

Catherine nodded. "Most of the students are friendly. Avoid the jocks, though, or at least the football players."

Tamara ordered some wings and fries and drinks for the table crew.

"Really?" asked Sherry "Well, that's good to know. You're pretty friendly. Who do you hang out with?"

Tina follwed Katie to the table. "So, um, want me to get something for you?"

"I can introduce you to them at school, if you'd like," Catherine offered.

"How about I get something for you for a change?" Katie said, cheerfully. "You always get me stuff - it's not fair."

Wolf grinned. "Not bad, Malone."

"Ok..." Tina said "If you want. I like getting you stuff though"

Malone ducked his head, and smiled a bit, then pulled up a chair to settle at the table next to Wolf. "There's people," he whispered as he settled in.

Katie grinned. "Well, if you want to, you can get me some wings and cheese fries, and a Coke... or I can get that, and get stuff for you. Your call."

Anna waved to the new person, but still glanced at Vito every few moments

"So I noticed. They seem to flock," Wolf agreed.

Tamara headed back over with the goods. "Okay, we've got wings, fries, drinks... oh, hey new person."

"We're the whole flocking crowd,' Vito agreed.

"THat'd be nice." Sherry said "We just moved here, so you're pretty much the first person I've talked to."

"Flocking like rabbits," Tony agreed, and snagged a fry.

"I'll get it for you." Tina said, getting up

"Alright," Katie said, smiling, and settled into a seat to wait.

Anna mumbled something about coming right back, then headed off to the bathroom

"When will you be starting school?" Catherine asked.

"Monday." Sherry said "I've still got unpacking to do, but My Daddy and step om kicked me out so they could honeymoon."

"Is Anna okay?" Tamara asked, looking to Vito.

Malone reached out cautiously to snag a wing.

"Did they just marry?" Catherine asked.

"Yeah." Sherry said "They got married yesterday in Vegas. He's having a midlife crisis, or something."

"Mid-life crisis?" Catherine looked a little confused. "Sorry, but my knowledge of English is a little more tecnical than general. What's that?"

Malone nibbled on the wing. "Hot..."

"So who's the new guy?" Tamara asked, pointing a thumb towards the wing-eater.

"It's when a guy divorces his wife, buys a sports car, and marries someone younger. He dyed his hair too." That was Sherry's understanding of a midlife crisis anyway.

"Aww." Wolf ruffled Malone's hair. "You don't have to eat them if you don't want to."

"Hmm...sounds worrysome." Catherine hoped that her own father wouldn't have one of these because they lived in America now.

Katie hummed to herself and contemplated.

Tina returned with some of the food, then went back to get the rest.

"Yeah." Sherry frowned "Could be worse though, I guess."

"It's good, just hot..." Malone said, and helped himself to some of Wolf's water to wash it down.

"What is this, don't answer Tamara day?" Tamara said, grumbling as both of her questions went unanswered. "Fine, I'll go check things out myself." She wandered off towards the bathroom to see if anything was bugging Anna or if she was just doing her thing in there.

Catherine couldn't think of much worse than her parents separating, but kept that to herself. She ordered herself a soda at the bar.

Anna was washing her face in the sink.

"Hey," Tamara said, heading on in. "Is everything okay?"

"It will be." Anna said "Is something going on out there? Everyone okay?"

Katie munched and looked mellow.

Wolf chuckled. "She gets cranky easily, doesn't she?"

"You have no idea," Tony replied.

Tina returned with the rest of the food. "Okay! We have food!"

"Very nice," Katie said, smiling, and munched.

"So, Sherry, what is Georgia like? My experience with America is only California. Is Georgia any different?" Catherine asked.

"Your sister?" Malone asked Tony, the only person he knew other than Wolf.

"Relatively speaking," Tamara said. "You just looked like something was on your mind."

"It's a lot of grass and trees and empty space." Sherry said "A couple of big towns, but mostly little towns and houses and farms in between. I kinda liked it."

"Yeah..." Anna sighed "My life is way the hell too complicated."

"I missed coming here." Tina said "Well... it's just nice to get out."

"Sound a lot like Russia. The only two big cities are Moscow and St. Petersburg, and there's a lot of land other than that, except replace grass with snow about eight months out of the year."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Tamara asked, hopping up to sit on the sink.

"Agreed," Katie said.

Tony nodded. "That she is. She's bossy, impatient, and the best sister a person could ask for."

"I want to." Anna said "But I can't. It's a relationship vs responsibility vs other responsibilities issue."

"Eight months?" asked Sherry "That's a lot of snow."

"You get used to it. I admit, I am still kind of baffled at the thought of a Christmas without snow."

"It doesn't snow on every christmas." Sherry said "Well, not in Georgia, and probbaly not here."

"So, is this your favorite club?" asked Tina

Malone smiled. He thought that sounded nice.

Katie nodded. "I like the music here better... don't tell Michael, though."

"I don't think it snows here at all," Catherine said. "Kind of sad."

"Well," Tamara said. "We all have those kind of problems. Like right now, there's an entire party in my house that won't leave."

"I won't" Tina said "I kinda like the music here too."

"A party that won't leave?" asked Anna "Can you send them out for beer, and lock them out?"

Tamara laughed. "It's more complicated than that. I kidnapped them. Well, I kidnapped the first guy- he just sort of brought friends."

Malone snagged the wing basket again, and offered one to Wolf.

"You kidnapped someone, and he brought friends?" asked Anna "Why won't they leave?

"I'm too nice," Tamara said. "And my couch is comfy, and they like my pizza and video games."

"So, take away the pizza and video games?" suggested Anna "And take over the couch?"

"So, um, What else do people do out here?" asked Sherry "Any of your friends hot and single?"

Catherine giggled. "Actually, most of my friends are either with someone or I wouldn't burden any poor girl with them. There not much to do here, though. Mostly come to the Bronze or maybe the Sunset club. Those two all we have."

"This club seems nice." Sherry said "What's the other club like? And... well, some of the people here are cute, anyway."

"Yeah, but I feel mean- I mean, I did kidnap them - well, one of them- after all. Plus I need their help, which is why I kidnapped them to begin with - but enough about me. So what's bugging you, exactly?" Tamara asked. "Is Vito being jerky? Your sister?"

Wolf munched a wing. "Hm... you're right, these are a little too hot."

"I only been a few times, but it is nice. It is owned by a guy named Michael, and he bring in good bands. It a little...gothic though." Catherine wasn't sure if that was the right word.

"Vito is wonderful." Anna said "He's just too perfect. And Sam is fine... she wants to go to this really expensive school- but, I... I really should report this. I mean, blackmail is stupid, right?"

"Gothic?" Sherry frowned a bit. "I'm not into all of that."

"It is not too weird gothic, though," Catherine told her. "Don't go if it makes you uncomfortable, though. Still, only two clubs in Sunnydale."

"Well, I'm not depressed." Sherry said "And I have no black clothing... but I guess I could try to check it out.. since, two clubs."

"Michael isn't depressed, either. Most of the people who go there usually aren't." Catherine grinned. She wasn't sure if some of the people there could be depressed.

Katie stretched out a little. "Plus, there's only so much black I can take."

"I might check it out then." Sherry said, smiling

"Who's blackmailing you?" Tamara asked.

"It good to explore new places," Catherine said.

Malone grabbed a fry instead. Mm, cheesey - much better.

"How're the fries?" Wolf asked.

"Good," Malone said, and nudged the basket over towards him. "Much better."

Wolf sampled one and munched.

"This guy I never met before." Anna said "Dorian something or other. If I do what he says, my sister can go to school, I can... well- I'd have to jump ship, and I don't want to do that." Anna frowned "I want to be happy, I want my sister to be happy..."

"WHat grade are you in?" asked SHerry

"I'm a junior," Catherine said. "What grade are you in?"

"Junior." Sherry smiled "Maybe we'll have a class or two together."

"What... who the heck is he?" Tamara said. "Why would you listen to him?"

"More than likely. Sunnydale High is a little small," Catherine said.

"Cheesy is better than hot," Malone said.

"Agreed," Wolf said.

"Although it's still not good for our health."

"I normally wouldn't" Anna says, "But he knows stuff about me... Here's his card." It didn't mention a la firm, but the name happened to be Dorian Diavolo.

"So, that means I can't embarrass myself, then pretend it never happened." Sherry said

"Maybe just a little," Catherine said with a grin. "Don't do anything too drastic, though."

"Uhhh," Tamara scratched her head, and looked at Anna to see if she looked like she'd suffered any head injuries lately. "Isn't that the last name of the person that you just turned into a pile o'goo at homecoming? Of course you should report this and not listen to anything this guy has to say."

"...Fuck." Anna frowned "I've been kind of ditzy lately..."

"... do you think maybe he cast some sort of spell on you? Come on, we have to go tell Tony about this," Tamara said.

"That would explain a lot." Anna grumbled

"C'mon," Tamara said, and tugged Anna out of the bathroom and back towards the table.

Anna headed back, and absently wondered if her hair looked okay.

Vito smiled at Anna as she returned. "Everything okay?"

Anna smiled at Vito. "How's my hair?" she asked "And yeah. We need to talk to Tony about something."

"Your hair is nice," Vito said.

Anna smiled at the compliment. "Oh, uh.. Tamara thinks I'm under a spell or something. Oh, I'm being blackmailed." she took a seat by Vito

Tony looked up. "Yes?"

"Uh, what?" Vito asked.

"Anna's probably under some sort of spell," Tamara said. "Because she thinks it's a good idea to let herself be blackmailed by this dude that has the same last name as the chick she turned into a pile of goo at homecoming." She offered over the card to Tony.

"This is really a lively town," Malone commented quietly.

" I don't think I've been acting too different" Anna said "...HAve I? Cause it would make since. I spent like, an hour on my hair this morning."

"Hmm. Is this part of an elaborate trap on your part?" Tony inquired, looking at the card. "Or did you manage to trade your former career history in?"

"A what?" Anna asked "I just didn't think... I don't know." She frowned

"Okay... well, how exactly is this person 'blackmailing' you?" Tony inquired.

"What was your former career?" Tamara asked, curious.

"Wait, how is this guy black-- ... yeah, what he said," Vito said.

Malone reached for Wolf's hand under the table and just sort of watched the chaos unfolding.

Wolf looked cheerful, because this probably meant work for him soon.

"I..." Anna looked over at Vito "Hooker."

"Well, yeah," Vito said.

"Whoa," Tamara said.

"This is better than soap operas," Malone whispered quietly to Wolf.

Anna looked like she wanted the ground to swallow her up

Tony nodded. "And exactly when did you decide that letting random men blackmail you was a wise career strategy?"

"And I further reiterate, how exactly is this person blackmailing you?" he added.

"I don't do what he says... my sister is gone, Vito'll be gone, my friends... and if I just go work for him, everything is supposed to be fine."

"... permission to slap the crap out of the Slayer, sir?" Tony asked Vito.

" ... take a fuckin' number. Anna, what the hell?" Vito said. "When did you plan on bringing this up?"

"Can I get in on that line?" Tamara said.

"This is just dumb."

"Yes, sir," Tony nodded. "But I would like to request that she have the crap slapped out of her at least once within the next twenty-four hours, sir."

"Considering this is exactly the thing she tells other people not to do, the irony factor is going to be hard to properly convey in the report."

"I see why they called you in," Malone whispered to Wolf. "This is bad."

Wolf nodded and whispered back, "At least if nothing else, they can always get another..."

"FUck all of this." Anna said "I give up." She got up, and started heading out. "Enjoy your new slayer."

Vito followed her. "Anna, no ... why dudn't you bring this up sooner?"

Katie wasn't near enough to the table to hear what was going on, but could tell SOMETHING was. "Ever get the feeling something bad is going on? ... aside from the usual something bad that's always going on?"

Wolf merely tsked.

"It doesn't matter." Anna said "Goodbye." she hurried away

Tony looked annoyed, and flipped out his cell phone to give MJ a call.

Tina watched, and frowned.

"Hello?" MJ answered

"Hey, MJ. It's Tony. Have you noticed Anna acting peculiarly lately?" Tony asked.

"It does matter," Vito said, keeping up as best he could. "I know you want to do what's best for Sam, but just giving up?"

"Yeah." MJ said "But teenage girls... they- they're nuts sometimes. I told her to take a day off."

Malone looked vaguely uncomfortable with all this fighting, and shifted in his seat.

"Wow..." Tamara shook her head. "If I ever act like that, someone slap me before it gets to this point. Tony, seriously."

"Just... go away." Anna said "She'll be better off, trust me. I never wanted you anyway. Just leave."

"Apparently she's been compromised by Wolfram and Hart. Either we're going to have a dead Slayer on our hands, or a very severe problem in the near future. She's apparently allowing herself to be blackmailed by them, and when confronted about it, she stormed off yelling 'enjoy your new slayer', so she might be planning on suicide."

"Or she might just be having a stupid teenager moment. Either way, if you see her, would you let Initiative know? We might have to detain her if she's turned coat on us."

"You're acting irrational," Vito said. "You're going to get yourself killed, and where will Sam be then? Come on ... let's go home, you can cool off and think about this."

MJ grumbled "Ok... I'll start trying to find her now.... Was Vito with her?"

"Yeah. He's pursuing her now, but they just left the Bronze on foot," Tony replied.

"I'm not going back there." Anna said "Just... You'll get another SIT, okay?"

"Thank you." MJ grumbled something else, and hung up. He was getting too old for the job

"But you're not an SIT, Anna ... you're the S."

Tony closed up the phone. "It's days like this that make me respect you, Tamara."

"You'll get another one." Anna said "I die. Another one pops up."

Anna took off running.

"Ah, shit, I hate when she does that," Vito muttered, and took out his cell phone. He dialed MJ's number.

"Think we should go find out?" Katie asked Tina.

"Yo?" asked MJ "On my way."

Tina nodded, and started to head out to be nosy

"Wow, it's like magic," Vito said. "So you know what's up with Anna?"

Katie wandered afterwards, carrying her drink.

"...I told her to take a day off. She was moody and irritable. Look, be there in five." MJ hung up

"Sorry about that," Tamara said to Wolf and Malone. "It's not always like this, we swear."

Vito shook his head and turned, walking back towards the club, where nosy people were standing about. "Nice night, huh?" he said.

"What happened?" asked Tina

"Yeah... what's going on?" Katie asked.

"Well, this would explain the high mortality rate..." Wolf said dryly.

MJ happened to see a running Anna, and he pulled over the car, and got out to try to reason with her.

"Stress," Vito said.

"Anna- Hey, You wanna-" He was cut off when Anna punched him, and took off running again

MJ calmly got out a dart gun, aimed it, and shot her with a tranq dart.

"That's all?" asked Tina "Because she was yelling, a lot."

"Well, it's a lot of stress," Vito said. "A job like hers, things get kind of nuts. You know?"

MJ waited for her to be knocked out, then picked her up, and loaded her into his car. "I was trying to sleep." he said "I really don't have time for breakdowns like this. Talk to a damn therapist,or something."

"I don't think I like it here," Malone confessed quietly.

"Oh... sorry. Is there anything we can do?" Katie asked.

Tamara sighed and hugged Tony.

Tony hugged and chuckled.

Vio shook his head. "I think she needs time to rest. Hope the Hellmouth gives her a little grace period."

MJ pulled up, and pulled a limp Anna out of his car. "Vito, you handle this. Goodnight." He headed back for his car.

"Um..." Katie blinked.

Vito watched Anna get dropped on the asphalt. "Shit. And if you like, Katie, you can help me load her in the car ... "

Vito walked over to start maneuvering Anna into his car.

Tina headed over to help. She was very glad she wasn't responsible for this.

Katie did so, grabbing her feet and trying not to ask the obvious question, since it was equally obvious that Vito probably didn't quite know either.

"Thanks, both of you," Vito said. "Glad I came out for a nice, relaxing evening ... " He closed the car door and started the engine.

"Are you going to let the people you were sitting with know she's okay?" asked Tina

"We could do that," Katie said.

"You let 'em know. Tell 'em I'll get in touch with 'em tomorrow, and we'll have a meeting this weekend."

Tina nodded. "Should I tell Michael when I see him?"

"That she went batshit insane?"

"Uh ... not in those exact words, no," Vito said.

"Okay." Tina turned, to head back in, and be the messenger

Katie followed Tina back in, and headed for the table Anna and Vito had been at. "Um... pardon us..."

Tamara looked up.

"Vito told us to let you know that Anna's okay, she's going home with him, she's unconscious, and he's going to get in touch with you tomorrow, and have a meeting with you this weekend," Katie said.

"Oh, good..." Tamara said. "Thanks. I hope he keeps a good eye on her."

Katie nodded. "Um... so what's going on?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know," Tamara said.

"... well, yeah," Katie reluctantly admitted.

"Like I said" Tina said "She went batshit crazy."

Katie fidgeted. She did want to know what was wrong, but... on the other hand, it wasn't like knowing would either be helpful, or reveal something she could do about it.

Malone shook his head, and tugged on Wolf's sleeve. "Home?"

"Alright," Wolf said, nodding as he got to his feet.

Malone got up to follow him out.

"Sorry..." Tamara offered.

She waved to them both

Wolf headed outwards, chuckling to himself. "No, no, it's like job security."

Katie looked to Tina. "Think maybe we should go, or...?"

Tamara looked to Tony. "This is just going to be one of those weeks, isn't it?"

Tina glanced at her watch, and nodded. "Yeah... I need to get back to the club."

"Okay... c'mon." Katie started heading outwards.

Tina followed.

"Yup," Tony agreed matter-of-factly.

"Want to come home with me and visit my kidnapping?" Tamara asked.