dragonyphoenix

Summary: Rewrite of season 1 with Giles as the Big Bad.
Master List for In a Corner of My Soul (previous chapters / scenes)

Buffy would have thought with that 'hyena taking over Xander' thing that she'd had enough of wild animals, but when she ran from school, her steps took her to the zoo, which was a lot more hectic than the last time even taking into account that whole transpossession ritual. Police blocked the entrance, keeping out a crowd of what mostly seemed to be people who'd been in the zoo based on the souvenirs: t-shirts, caps, balloons, and stuffed animals. A teacher, calling out to a bunch of high-schoolers, trying to draw them away from the entrance, didn't seem to be having much success. Three guys were standing on tiptoe as if the extra inch of height was really going to give them that much more of a view. Another, who'd climbed the decorative fence, had one foot on a dolphin and another on a bear's back.

“Hey, you! Get down from there.” It was zoo guy doing all the shouting. He had to know what was up. Buffy waved to get his attention but he must not have seen because he ran over to talk to the cops. Buffy stepped closer, hiding herself in the crowd, to listen. “The Hyena House has been checked. My assistant, Hickman, went through the basement of the Visitor's Center while Kawaguchi and I checked out the other levels. I'd suggest focusing the search on the enclaves of the carnivores. If she's hidden in some nook in the bird enclave, she'll be safe until we find her. If she's someplace where a tiger can get at her, we want to find her sooner rather than later.”

The officer seemed to agree with zoo guy's suggestion. “All right. Let's spread out.”

Buffy, noting the direction zoo guy had headed off, raced around the side of the zoo until no one was in sight and leaped the fence. Right, now to find zoo guy without getting caught. The foliage wasn't really leafy enough to hide her well. Luckily everyone was too busy running around to notice. When she did find him, he and some other guy, younger and also wearing a zoo t-shirt, were heading toward the grizzly bears. It didn't look like younger guy was about to up and vanish so Buffy stepped out of the trees. “Hey, the zoo sort of just emptied. What's up with that?”

She could see zoo guy recognizing her. “Kawaguchi, you go on,” he said. “Get Hickman to help you get started on the bear enclaves while I escort Sarah sunshine here to the exit.”

Zoo guy waited until Kawaguchi was out of sight. “What are you doing here?”

Buffy wasn't sure why she felt defensive. “Nothing. I mean, I was in the neighborhood and I saw the big police presence. What's up? Please tell me it isn't the hyenas.”

After glancing toward the bear exhibit, zoo guy motioned Buffy to follow him the other way. “The hyena's are locked up tight. It's just a lost child. I mean, it's not that a lost child isn't serious, but children wander off all the time. She'll turn up, safe and sound.”

Buffy thought about Angel, but he couldn't get at the girl during the day and he'd been with her last night. “When did this happen?”

“Her mother reported it about ten minutes ago.”

Good, not Angel. Still, something didn't feel right but there wasn't anything obviously wrong. It was subtle, nuanced. Hey, score with the vocab word. “You always call in this many cops for business as usual?”

“I didn't say we weren't worried. Obviously we want to find her as quickly as possible. You never know. There are all kinds of freaks out there.”

Buffy was reminded of the Stranger Danger lectures they'd had in elementary school. “Oh. Ugh. Are you sure she'll be okay?”

“The quicker we find her, the better.” They turned a corner and – hey! – zoo guy had led her back to the entrance guarded by the three cops she'd seen earlier. Zoo guy raised his voice so the cops could hear. “Which is why I need you to exit the zoo. We need to focus on finding this girl.”

Buffy found herself on the other side of the cops. That hadn't been friendly. Zoo guy knew she was the Slayer. He should have wanted her help, except, maybe, then he'd have to keep explaining why some random high-school girl was part of his search team.

Catching one of the cops staring, Buffy wandered across the street, wondering if she should bring this to Giles. Right, because Mr. 'don't trust your instincts Buffy' was going to be any help. It didn't seem right, standing here and doing nothing, but zoo guy probably had the sitch covered. It was the middle of the day and public. Not a hot spot or hot, uh, time for demonic activity.