BUFFY 2029 A.D.: Goddess & Demons
by Miles
“Even though our locator spell couldn’t find them, at least they’re probably together and alive,” Willow is explaining.

Buffy’s expression is pained as she turns from Willow to Dawn. “If that’s the good news, then the bad news is…?”

“Whoever has them is extremely powerful,” Dawn tells her. “Not quite as strong as the First Evil, but I’m thinking on a par with Glory.”

“A goddess?” asks Buffy.

“Maybe even greater than she was,” suggests Willow, “someone who at least belongs in this realm—or once did.”

There is a knock at the door and Dawn answers it, returning with Roger in toe. Buffy introduces Willow and Dawn to him as close allies. Experience has taught them all to be cagey about explaining their connections to each other.

"Have you got Rupert back yet?” Roger asks abruptly.

Buffy winces. Understandably, he is still angry. “Afraid not. But these are my closest associates, and there is good news. We are confident that Rupert is alive. There is still time to save him and we're doing everything we can....”

"How can you be sure he is all right? And I'm wondering how you can search for my son and deal with that complete disaster at Credit Suisse.”

"Huh?"

"You are consulting with them, aren’t you?"

"Oh, I quit working for them yesterday," says Buffy, but she does not tell him how she spent last night.

"Oh, I thought you must have been involved in the announcement today. Perhaps you have no more idea of what is going on than I do. You should take a look at the news. KRU has just acquired well over fifty percent of the shares in Credit Suisse. They as good as own the company.”

“When did this happen?”

“About twenty minutes ago,” replies Roger.

Just then, Buffy gets a call on her lapel-cell; her holo-screen tells her it is Gottfried Liebling, chairman of the executive board of her former client. “Excuse me Roger,” she says. “This incoming call has to do with Credit Suisse. I’ll get rid of them and get back to you.” Then she says, “Hello, Herr Liebling?” as she heads into the bathroom for privacy.

“What the Hell is going on?” demands an angry German accent that Buffy had only heard twice before, and one of those instances had been an interview on TV.

“Herr Liebling, I’m afraid I am as shocked as you are.”

“Don’t try to fool me at this late date. You wrote this press release, did you not? If it is the last thing I do as chairman of the board, I will sue you for breech of contract. I’d like to know who put you up to this.”

“Herr Liebling, do you have the press release in front of you?”

“Ja,” he says tentatively, perhaps surprised by Buffy’s matter-of-fact response to his threats.

“Please indulge me for one moment, sir. What is the date and time on that press release?”

“You must know very well that was this morning at nine o’clock New York time. You got it out in time to influence he American stock markets.”

“Herr Liebling, I gather that you are unaware that I stopped working for you yesterday morning. Someone has played a trick on both of us. Would you be kind enough to copy that press release to me?”

“Ein minute,” says Liebling, now sounding befuddled. He overstates the interval; the text of the press release appears on Buffy’s holo-screen eight seconds later.

Buffy sees her name as the issuer of the release. Christian Pinault’s authorization should appear on the release, but it is nowhere to be seen.

The text runs:

KRU and Credit Suisse (CS) have come to an agreement under which CS will become a wholly owned subsidiary of KRU. Gottfried Liebling, chairman of the executive board of CS, said in a statement that he is excited to be joining the most-respected global enterprise in banking, reinsurance and electronic manufacture. Through a spokesman, KRU said that Credit Suisse “will make for a nice fit with KRU’s financial division.”


Buffy stops reading. “Will make for a nice fit,” she repeats mentally. Supposedly that comes from an unnamed spokesman for KRU, but Buffy would never put such a locution into a press release. She wonders whether the real author is a native speaker of English.

“Herr Liebling, I assure you that I did not write this,” she tells the Chairman. “In fact, I would call your attention to the fact that, as a consultant, I could not put out a press release unless Christian Pinault signed off on it, and it doesn’t look as if he approved this.”

“Ah, but Pinault claims that you stole his authorization code in order to do this.”

“What?” Buffy nearly shouts. “And do you believe this?” she asks, bringing her emotions under control.

“I frankly do not know what to think,” he says, trying to stiffen a bit, but his voice falters.

“Perhaps I should come over to your offices,” Buffy suggests.

“Just now, I am not so sure that this would be in order,” says Liebling. “The building is under tightened security, and your pass has been revoked. I could not let you in if I wanted to.” He pauses. “I am not sure whether to believe you, but I had previously been under the impression that you are a woman of great integrity. Still… is it true that you seduced Pinault?”

“Seduced!?”

“Well, did you sleep with him last night?”

Buffy sees where this was going. Her breech of business ethics now compromises her in more ways than one. “Yes, Herr Liebling, that much is true.”

“Well, I cannot tell whether or not you are being framed, but Credit Suisse is now in the hands of KRU, and I do not know if someone will ask for my resignation before I have time to get to the bottom of this.”

“Could you hold on Her Liebling? I’ll be back directly.”

“Ja.”

Buffy put him on hold and went out into the living room of the suite. “Roger, I'm sorry, but do you have sources that could look into the KRU takeover?”

Roger looked up from the holoscreen of his cellphone. “Already looked into it while I was waiting.”

“Would you mind joining a conference call with the Chairman of Credit Suisse?”

“The Chairman?” Roger sounded a bit impressed in spite of himself. “All right.”

Buffy puts the Chairman on a large holoscreen so that everyone with her could see him. “Have you heard anything directly from KRU?” Buffy asks him.

“Previously they scheduled a meeting for this afternoon; there has been no word of its being suspended. It might well be that they always intended this meeting to be the moment to give us the ultimatum.”

“Who will be at this meeting?”

“Why, Herr Ravana and his brother Herr Kumbhakarna.”

“They don’t usually make personal appearances, do they?” Buffy asks.

“Nein. Not unless they are closing a deal. But I don't know how they could have gotten hold of so much stock. Only someone in our company could control so much stock and no one would have sold so much to them.”

"Yet someone has done precisely that," says Roger. "They've purchased several large blocks of stock through someone within your company."

"Who is that man and how does he know so much about my company?" asks Liebling.

“He's my securities advisor," Buffy says. "Herr Liebling, I will get back to you before this afternoon. We're going to look into this at my end."

"I might not be in the mood," says Roger.

"What does he mean by that?" asks Liebling.

"Don't worry, Herr Liebling. Am I back on your team?"

"As far I'm concerned, yes, but things are spinning out of my control at the moment. I can't get you into the building."

"Not to worry." says Buffy.

She hangs up.

Buffy quickly explained to Roger that the same people who are behind the takeover are also behind the kidnappings of both Xander and Rupert. "You need to trust me, but I just know that there are too many coincidences going on. My experience has taught me to be very suspicious of coincidences."

“Dawn, what do the names Ravana and Kumbhakarna mean to you?”

“Oh, those are the names of Legendary demons from Sri Lanka,” replies Buffy’s sister. “Don’t worry, though. They don’t really exist.” She stops and looks from Buffy to Willow. “Oh, who am I kidding? We’re us, so of course they’re real, and they’re here in Geneva, too.”

“They’re the Sri Lankan brothers who own KRU, aren’t they?” says Willow, not really asking.

“Not only that, but I’m beginning to get the picture that nothing that’s happened in the past couple of days is a coincidence.”

“Do you have a plan?” asks Dawn. “Because I can help once you have a plan, but I don’t think I can come up with one. I know I seem really competent sometimes, but I’m not any better at coming up with the plans than I used to be, and I hope that doesn’t disappoint you.”

“Dawny, you’re babbling,” says Willow. “Take a deep breath. When the time comes, you’ll be just fine.”

“And the answer is no, I don’t have a plan yet,” says Buffy. “I’m going to have to find out more about what’s going on before I can come up with one. When I do, I’ll need to ask the two of you for help.”

“You can count on us,” say Willow and Dawn in unison.


********


Christian Pinault sits behind the managing director’s desk, trying it out for size. The M.D. has been called away to a war council in the chairman’s office, so she will be fully occupied for the rest of the morning. Pinault supposes that she might return in time to clean out this desk before KRU has the top executives escorted from the building. Pinault anticipates no such severence of his own services. On the contrary, the new management has promised him a promotion.

“My, my. It’s a good thing someone taught you how to hide your thoughts, because when they come out in the open they aren’t the least bit attractive.” When Pinault looks up to see where these words are coming from, he sees Buffy, leaning against the inside of the door to the office.

“How did you get into the building?” asks Pinault, leaping to his feet and coming around the desk to face her.

“Not important,” says Buffy. “What I want explained is what happened between us. I get that you’re a KRU mole, prematurely gloating behind you’re boss’s desk the day that your real masters are coming to takeover. I wanted to ask you how you could use me and then accuse me of stealing your authorization code. I guess I don’t have to ask now; you’re obviously as two-faced as they come.”

“I have already sent for security to have you escorted from the building.” Pinault points to a desktop electronic panel with a blinking red light. “You are far too late to change anything now. And by the way, you wish to know how I could do it? It was so easy. All I had to do was guess your favorite singer and you opened your legs.”

Buffy notices that he pronounces “opened” with the emphasis on the second syllable—and she no longer finds this charming.

“Tu es une vieille salope,” Pinault says, fairly spitting the words.

Buffy is reminded that when they met she almost told him that she knows enough French to get her face slapped; the phrase that Christian Pinault has just uttered is on the list.

She forgets to hold her energy in reserve as she takes a step forward and slaps him across the face so hard that he goes backward heels-over-head across the desk. He dissappears, all except for his Italian-clad feet, which stick straight up in the air.

There is a pounding on the door. Buffy lets in a pair of security guards, a male and female in sky-blue blazers.

“Monsieur Pinault is still unfamiliar with his future office,” says Buffy. “He fell while trying to climb into a bigger chair than he’s use to.” She walks out, passing these guards just as she walked right by their colleagues on the way into the building.

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