Fic: Robin Lays an Egg, Prologue of 10 parts

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Title: Robin Lays an Egg
Author: Ozma914

Summary: Post Chosen: Robin Wood goes on his first mission for the new Watcher's Council. He's bringing some friends along, and he'll be meeting other old "friends" along the way ... too bad he's also being accompanied by Murphy's Law.

Rating: PG
Warnings: violence, slayer nudity, puns
Disclaimer: I own practically nothing except my Mac and my Buffy comics.
Characters: Robin, Andrew, OC slayer Kara; later on Giles, Xander, Dawn, Faith, and several surprises that I hope will be, well, surprises.

(This fine banner was made for me by the lovely and talented strangexgirl!








PROLOGUE: JINGLE BELLS ...


Robin started speaking as soon as Giles picked up the phone. “I tracked it down, and I was right - it was headed for Cleveland. I need at least one slayer, and I need her here fast.”

“Um ... who is this?”

Exasperated, Robin rested his head against the storefront window, then jerked back - the frosted glass was so cold it made his skin hurt. But he couldn’t retreat to the car, where his cell phone had no signal. “It’s me, Robin Wood. I found our little egg laying demon hen, but it’s already gotten to a nesting place. I’ve got a plan, but I’ll need an ambulance and a crew.”

“Oh - yes, of course. Sorry, it’s been rather hectic here. You found it so soon?”

“It wasn’t easy. Willow and Kennedy are still on standby, right? If they leave right now -”

“I’m sorry, Robin, they ran into a problem in Connecticut. Willow was very vague, but I take it they crashed somehow, and Kennedy broke her leg.”

“She - is she all right? What happened?”

Robin heard a rustling sound, and realized Giles was cleaning his glasses. “She’s healing, and apparently not in any danger. But whenever I ask Willow for details, she starts giggling. It’s very disconcerting.”

Robin suspected he knew what activity had led to the injury, but he had a feeling Giles would rather not know. “Well, you’ll probably be glad to get a few of the other slayers out of HQ for awhile.”

"Unfortunately, the slayers who have been cleared for field work are all unavailable. There’s ... um ... a bit of a bug going around.”

“You’re kidding. Isn’t Faith there?”

“Actually, she’s the one who brought the bug in. Rona, Vi, Chao-Ahn, they’re all going to need at least a full day of recovery.”

Clapping a hand over his bald head, Robin looked toward the old brick building across the parking lot. “Unbelievable. Giles, this thing is going to start laying its eggs, and then those eggs are going to hatch before we can get ahold of one. That means not only will my mission fail, but a lot of people are going to die.”

“I know, I know. I’ll get the most experienced people available, and send them to you right away. Just try to keep a handle on things until nightfall.”

“Right.” There was nothing that could be done. The demon wouldn’t lay until after dark, according to Giles’ research, and the eggs wouldn’t hatch for another day or two after. That gave them time, but Robin shivered and tried to shake off the feeling that things were going seriously wrong already, and the dangerous work hadn’t yet begun.

“Robin,” Giles said after a moment, “remember how important this is. The eggs and their mother are dangerous, yes. But obtaining at least one egg whole is absolutely critical to our mission. The life of one of our own is at stake.”

“Yeah.” Robin rang off and, shivering, climbed back into the car. It was littered with fast food wrappers and scattered paperwork, and even with the heat turned on full, he felt chilled to the bone. He’d trained since childhood as a warrior, prepared to battle evil to avenge his mother’s death. Later he’d been leader of an entire high school, responsible for dozens of employees and hundreds of students. Granted, it was on a hellmouth ... but now he’d ended up in another city with a hellmouth, without a battle to fight, without a comfortable chair and central heating, just ... watching. Well. He was a watcher now, after all.

He glanced at his watch, knowing he had to remain alert and make a plan for when help arrived. “Nightfall.” It was 9 a.m.



Next: The Batmobile Has Lost a Wheel ...

Comments

[caliente-uk.livejournal.com]

Great beginning! :)

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm hoping you'll like the middle and the end too, of course. I promise surprises.

[shinodabear.livejournal.com]

I'm intrigued!

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Aha! Got you!

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Ok, Robin Wood isn't exactly my favorite character (to put it mildly) but you've got me interested. And poor Giles is still polishing those specs I see, I'm amazed he hasn't snapped them in two by now.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

I try not to show the old cliche's too often, but I put the spec polishing in this time to hint at what's going on back at the headquarters.

I'm trying to show the character Robin had the potential of being; however, if you really dislike him, you'll be happy to know all is not going to go well for him in the immediate future. *evil laugh*

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Giggle*giggle*giggle

I'm not a Robin fan (which is your cue of asking yourself "Then why are you reading?" — Lord knows I would), this characterization is both dead-on and a great start to introducing the good side of the character.

As for why I'm reading? Well, Robin is so maligned in Buffy fandom where it seems that he's always the support character who gets kicked in the head, that seeing a gen story where he's the main character meant I had to read this. People who take little-loved characters (I've noticed), tend to do a good job with them. This is no different.

This is great start to what promises to be a fun story. It's tightly put together, it efficiently sets up the problem, and it definitely leaves me wanting more.

Bravo on your choice of main character and bravo on the opening salvo. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do next.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

I hope I do right by Robin -- I agree, he's much maligned, and I think that's too bad. His character has great potential, and hopefully I'll show some of that here. Just the same, Robin bashers might find something to like in this story, too -- in a fun way.

Thanks for the compliments! I hope the rest of the story will meet your expectations.

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

I haven't read any Buffyverse fic in ages, but liz_marcs recced this: and she had me at 'Robin fic', frankly *g* Really excellent opening and it's lovely to see good fic with Robin as the central character.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

She recced this, really? Cool! I'm glad you're liking it so far; Robin -- as the title might indicate -- will be going through some hard times ahead, but I hope the story will be true to his character.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Holy demon omelette, Batman.

Very intriguing start! I'm one of the few people, it seems, who actually likes Robin, so I'll be sure to follow this...

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Glad to have you with me! I like Robin more than most; there were bad things about him, but I always felt those things were within his character -- I mean, the guy's mother was killed by a vampire when he was little, and he spent his whole life trying to avenge her; of *course* the guy's a little messed up!

Anyway, I think this story will have something both for Robin fans and Robin haters.

[spikendru.livejournal.com]

Oh, I liked this! But poor Robin - it sounds to me like Giles is completely blowing him off!

I love fics based around - I don't want to say 'minor' or 'secondary' characters, because it's always interesting to read about, shall we say, characters who don't get as much fic-time as others. Looking forward to more.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Well, Giles -- as we'll see later -- has a lot on his mind at the moment.

I'm with you -- I like to read about the second stringers, not only because they can be interesting in themselves but because they often have unplumbed depths to explore. There's just so much you can do with a lot of the main characters, but a minor character can be like working a vein in a gold mind, taking you to all sorts of places. you might encounter a few more of those as this story goes along ...

[spikendru.livejournal.com]

you might encounter a few more of those as this story goes along ...

Yay! You get the Robin Two Thumbs Up Seal of Approval! I totally agree with you about writing minor characters - three of my favorite characters to play with are Ethan, Harmony and Andrew. *g*

two thumbs up! Yay!

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Andrew? Hee!

Harmony has made only walk-on appearances in a couple of my stories ("phone-on", in one), but she's a lot of fun. Ethan I've only used once, in one part of my story "Mary Sue Got Harried", but they're both bound to turn up again sooner or later.

[evilawyer.livejournal.com]

“She’s healing, and apparently not in any danger. But whenever I ask Willow for details, she starts giggling. It’s very disconcerting.”

***laughs so uproariously that it sounds like "arf, snork, arf". Wonderful start. Robin is just so beleaguered. So I guess that means Andrew is on the way?

Andrew?

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

What makes you think, just because the theme of this story seems to be "Robin, beleaguered", that Andrew's going to show up?

Bwahahahahah!!!!!!

Ahem. I guess in a way the genesis of this story was a drabble I did way back called "Weeping Willow", which is about Kennedy's injury, along with a story called "Faith's Lesson" and its sequel "Xander's Morning", which described what happened to keep those slayers from showing up in Cleveland. I didn't know at the time that they would lead me here, and they're only mentioned in passing in this story -- but it all turned out well for me, if not for Robin.

[redrikki.livejournal.com]

Nice beginning. I actually liked Robin, so it's nice to see him in a story where he isn't just background or an adversary. I'll definitely be on the look out for the next installment.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Robin is definitely the focus here, although he might not be much thrilled at that by the time all's said and done. :-) I liked Robin too; or at least, I felt I understood why he did the things he did.

[pfeifferpack.livejournal.com]

Just caught up on this part and chapter one. I actually like Robin (except don't want him anywhere NEAR my Spike!!!!) and can't wait to see how you play him. Mind you I understand his issues with Spike but you don't have to like your comdrades in arms to work together or not kill them, but I digress....

Like Robin and want to see him in the spotlight. Love the banner. Put upon Giles is quite visual and I have a feeling that he is going to have to think on his feet for this mission.

Kathleen

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

I'm sure Robin wouldn't want to be anywhere near Spike, either! :-)

Everyone will have to think on their feet here. Although Robin still has his issues, I believe you'll be satisfied with the way I handle him. Meanwhile, I'll pass on to strangexgirl that you liked the banner she made!

[francis-eugene.livejournal.com]

Just catching up with this now, and it's an intriguing start. I don't have much to say yet, but I like the idea (and storytelling) so far. You've already got us developing a sympathy for Robin (who is too often vilified in fanfic).

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

I'd like to say the reason I wrote this story is to put Robin in a more sympathetic light -- as you said, he's too often vilified, partially because he's a very well developed and well rounded character.

But the truth is, I came up with the idea simply because I had to do *something* with the old "Batman Smells" song we used to sing when I was a kid, which contained the line "Robin Lays an Egg". It kept calling me. Sad, but true.