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What in the world is going on?By James CarmodyPennames: Cotto, Vantiri, Krulos, Palpatine, Mollari, Thrawn, Hammerhead.A Three-way Crossover Historical Fanfiction story.Buffy/Sleepy Hollow/The Patriot/Historical FictionAuthor’s Notes:I am not even going to bother trying to explain how the Scoobies find themselves in the American Revolution, that I think would be better left as a ‘noodle-incident’… Call it what you will: Communal dream, Willow’s spell gone horribly wrong, Hallucination, Time Travel, A mystical attack by the ‘bad guys’, Whatever! I leave it up to the reader’s imagination.Summery:Something happens and the Scooby Gang finds itself in the American Revolution Southern Campaign.Warning:This is a War-Story, so there Will be Crimes- misbehavior and such, some actions will be profoundly unpleasant and scary… but the conduct will be in line with the person’s actions recorded if the person is a historical character, example: Banastre Tarleton was not a nice man at all at that time, he will do evil stuff; creepy, immoral things. He will often be referred to by his nickname ‘Bloody Ban Tarleton’.Disclaimer:I really don’t know who thought up Sleepy Hollow, it’s probably in the public domain now, the Patriot is not mine either, that was a movie about the American Revolution, I don’t know who owns that movie, the TV series Sleepy Hollow is not mine, it belongs to someone else, and Buffy is the property of Joss Whedon.Setting: Siege of Charlestown South Carolina 1779.A pretty red-headed girl in a nightgown of the times slept soundly until she saw through her eyelids a brilliant reddish-orange flash, like a burst of fire, upon a brick building’s chimney like structure… with a weird grumbling rumble the structure collapsed. Some civil servants headed in the direction of the wrecked building, and from the ramparts of the city fortifications there were shouts of “The Lobster-Backs got another one!” and “Looks like the Brits are going for ‘Collateral Damage’ this time!” Another shot whistled through the city with similar effects.The girl thought that the cannonballs exploding looked like water-balloons bursting against a wall, only loaded with light-blood-red fluid.‘Where am I?’ Willow thought, then questioned again ‘First off, how on earth did I get here? Cause the power to teleport through time- Wow! Advanced! I don’t have anywhere near that!’ To put it bluntly, Miss Willow Rosenberg was completely flummoxed- she had simply no idea of how she got here. Last thing she remembered was being home in bed… she had gone to the movies with her friends, even though she had been in a bad breakup with Oz she still loved him deeply. That’s the thing about Willow, she is always a loving gal. He had been there, and her girlfriend, along with the rest of the Scooby Gang, it was a ‘gathering of friends’… she remembered that they had watched ‘The Patriot’.‘This is just too weird.’ She thought. Her conscience kind of bugged her about her lifestyle choice, but in this case it was unusually quiet- the encounter with her girlfriend was chaste in this case, downright sisterly in fact, and she was quite pleased about that.She walked to the window, and looked out… her ex-boyfriend, Oz, walked in the room just then, and, to her amazement was dressed in a Colonial Uniform, complete with tri-corner hat, blue jacket, and musket with bayonet. He explained that he was on ‘temporary leave’ from his unit to say his goodbyes if the battle didn’t go well, and he could be captured or killed in the fight- should the British storm the city. She just didn’t feel like telling him what really happened- it didn’t make any sense at all.Across the lines, Tarleton’s Dragoons had driven Hugger’s Cavalry off the peninsula thereby trapping Benjamin Lincon’s American Southern Army in the city, and Bloody Ban was called to meet with General Charles O’Hara, Lord Cornwallis’ second in command, Cornwallis was to oversee the siege by General Henry Clinton’s orders. It was common knowledge in the Royal Army that Bloody Ban was, while unquestionably brave, also totally brutal… and while His Majesty George 3rd needed men who would fight, and Bloody Ban certainly was such a man, this was, as the Redcoats saw it; a civil war- they did not want to wipe out the entire population of the Colonies, and left to his own devices,,, there were rumors that Tarleton would do just that.While the man was arguably a genius at the use of Cavalry, his brutality was just plain too scary for the likes of his co-workers and superiors- in fact, most of the Royals considered his conduct with non-belligerents really insulting. Scuttlebutt was that Cornwallis had spoken to his Cavalry Commander, Lt. Colonel Tarleton several times about the proper treatment of prisoners. Rumor was that he was also something of a philanderer., all in all, Banastre Tarleton was not behaving himself.O’Hara was brief, but he was also rather hostile in his words. While he didn’t curse, it was clear to Tarleton that his superior didn’t want him to take part in the assault and it’s glory that would come from taking the town. “I know that it’s not a Cavalry man’s dream to storm a fort…” O’Hara was saying “And we do need someone to protect the Army’s rear during the fall of the Rebel City, you will therefore take your 3rd Legion and accompanying units, leaving the regular infantry to guard the post used to trap the Rebel Army, and move to protect the rear areas of His Majesty’s army!” Tarleton bit his tongue, he knew that it would be stupid to fight O’Hara on the topic of orders, but it was eminently clear that the two men despised each other completely. “Yes, Sir.” Tarleton bit out.“Man, I hate him!” O’Hara thought walking away… Tarleton was pretty bitter too; “Arrogant Jerk! If I hadn’t blocked off the escape when I did… ON MY OWN Too, the Rebs would have escaped and we’d have to chase them all throughout the Colonies, now he wants to deny ME credit?!”
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Chapter 2.): Camp life and life besieged.
Buffy Anne Summers was rather quick to put together that she was in the situation of a ‘camp follower’ which in those days was a civilian who helped the soldiers with ‘camp life’ (cooking, cleaning, medical, and so forth) they would literally follow the army and often assist with such things; these were often the families of the soldiers. Right about then, a patrol of Germanic mercenaries (Hessians) came by, in pale blue coats. One of them stopped and, looking at her, asked “Frauline, what’s the stew you’re working on?” (‘frauline’ is German for ‘girl’ or ‘young woman’, in some sense: “Miss”) Buffy looked up, a little alarmed, but realized that it was probably better to ‘play it cool’ and responded “Don’t really know, Sir, I think it’s meat and potatoes. Want some?” he smiled kindly, and responded “Maybe later, when I am off duty.”As he walked away, she spotted a unit of men in green coats and, I believe it is called “bone” colored pants: Provincials! A term akin to ‘loyalist regulars’ pretty much the most fearsome units in the Royal Army- equal in skill in the open to British Regulars, and equal in skill in forest to the Continental Army units, but often despised due to the ‘class politics’ of ‘imperialist societies’ such as Great Brittan at that time. ‘Colonials cannot be the equals of ‘homeland troops’, what nonsense!’ was Buffy’s opinion of the attitude she just seemed to see in the army she was with… another blonde woman approaching her agreed. As Buffy’s eyes drifted to her right she spotted a female who looked a lot like her friend, Tara. “Utter nonsense, that attitude.” Tara whispered.“I don’t think I said anything.” Buffy said “You didn’t have to, I could see your disgust in the way you looked at the interactions between the troops, and the ‘class segregation’ between the units; the way the Provincials are looked down upon by most of the other units, for instance.” “Ah, so it’s not…” Tara whispered her response to Buffy “Telepathy? No! Your face gave away your views.” “It’s vital you keep hidden your beliefs and ‘temptations’, Tara, they do not like persons who do such things in this time.” Tara sort of laughed “Tell me something I don’t know.” and poked the fire with a thick but short stick “Anyway, I always liked learning, and, while it is pleasant to look at something or someone who does look good, I am well aware that a proper attitude is that that’s just a temptation.” A British security officer passed by at about then, and Miss Summers looked up and said “Just trying to help my friend to be good.” he nodded, tipped his hat, and went on his way. He had heard the conversation, and while he now had his suspicions of ‘Tara’s’ orientation, and that it wasn’t good, he was well aware that he was constrained by the ‘rule of law’, and to be completely honest, Captain and Royal Security Officer Frank McSavadge, rather liked the fact that he couldn’t do whatever he wanted. ‘So long as she’s not acting on it, it’s fine.’ he said in his mind. In truth, Frank had a fondness for and considered Saint Paul his patron, in fact, he went so far as to select him as his Confirmation Saint (which was a form of a pact as it were, in fact.), he feared ‘going too far’, and that was one major reason he ‘stayed his hand’ then and there. In Charlestown, Oz was told, in no uncertain terms, to, frankly, flee to the swamps and escape the city by his superiors “The city can only hold out so long, and with the artillery bombardment going on, it’s probable that our defenses will not stand up to a full frontal assault, especially if the Royals use the 3rd legion in the attack, and if they do storm the city, while the British are known for discipline and are not likely to massacre the prisoners and civilians, errors do happen. This is to be considered a secret mission, Soldier, You are to find and join Francis Marion’s swamp forces. Leave the city by night, via boat, cross the river to the north, as silently as you can, and make your way through the Green Swamp to Marion’s unit, and link up with them.” “Sir, our men?” “This army is likely to be captured, and with that, the southern gate opened to our economic heartland, if that happens, I doubt that, if the British can get an army into our economic center unopposed, we’d be able to sustain the war, or the army much longer, all we’ll likely have to stop Cornwallis from trouncing through, and cutting off the main Continental Army’s retreat is some scattered irregulars; farmers really.”“Farmers can make good fighters, Sir.” Oz said. “You have your orders.” Oz saluted, and responded “Yes, Sir, I do.”, left the building, and made his way to some docks north of the city, for small rowboats unnoticed. The British had set up some light field guns on the peninsula Hugger had been driven off of, but under the cover of night Oz was able to sneak out relatively unnoticed… especially by British security, so when Benjamin Lincoln Surrendered his army the next day, nobody knew that one of the Continentals was missing, except for the officer who had ordered Oz on this mission. He had to duck down in his boat several times to avoid the British sentries spotting him from that point, but he made it into the swamps alive and well. ‘This boat would be very useful, I think I’ll have to keep my hands on it!’ he thought as he rowed north, keeping his eyes peeled for anybody in Brown or Blue (typical colors for the US forces).The surrender was an embarrassment for those involved, but they probably didn’t notice it in the emotional rush of war: Henry Clinton had required that the ‘Rebels’ be denied the ‘honors of war’, essentially he had insisted that the ‘colonial Rebels’ were nothing more than ‘unlawful belligerents’, despite the undeniable fact that they were in uniform, after the surrender, in which the ‘Wigs’ had to play one of their own tunes for, and the Wig soldiers had laid down their arms, the Redcoats went through and bound their enemies hands, then lead them into military prisons for the duration of the conflict, or until they were ‘paroled’, this was customary, but the British prison ships were notorious for poor conditions- aside from security, which was really quite good. Next the Kings troops entered the captured city, and proceeded to round up, and execute the ‘rebel agitators’, many of the trials preceding these executions were ‘show trials’ and at least one of the ‘agitators’ was re-tried until the British got the result that they wanted. After that, two prison ships entered the city, and rounded up a large number of civilians who the British suspected of ‘plotting against the King’.When the camp was moved into the city, Captain Frank McSavadge found and spoke to the camp followers he had met at length, Buffy and Tara had been distinctly uncomfortable with what they had seen of the treatment of the prisoners: binding their hands and leading them away at bayonet point, he for his own part didn’t know much of their own background, but asked them “How would you propose to deal with them? We obviously cannot simply release them to their own regonicence, they’ve shown the willingness to fight against us in battle, until, that is, the agitators in their own society are rooted out and punished.” “Must everyone who stands against a particular point of view die?!” Tara asked, shocked at the brutality she thought was going to happen. “You do the crime, you must pay the price.” Frank responded. He also found out a substantial amount about their personalities, When he saw how hurt Tara was by what she thought his attitude towards the Colonials was, he explained “We have no interest in wiping them out, but there are some among us who, sadly, seem to ‘live for battle’.” this pointed comment was directed by a look as a rebuke for a certain man in a green coat who was riding ahead on a brown horse… Frank was looking directly at Tarleton when he said “live for battle”. Both Buffy and Tara kind of chuckled at that.Frank was, in the archetypes of modern literature, a knight, he lived his life by moral honor. He also learned quite quickly that his suspicions about Tara were correct, but he jotted it down to a temptation, he was also devoutly religious, and told her “So long as you don’t act on your desires, you’ll do fine.” he also explained to her that she’s in the situation of somebody who through no fault of their own cannot get married.Tarleton simply rode ahead, this was a day of celebration, and he would not embarrass himself by challenging Frank to a duel over this ‘No’ he thought ‘my vengeance will come from my record in this war… there’s no need to kill him for that rebuke, besides, that’s ‘common speak’ here in this army camp, anyways, so it’s something I am well used to. While I rise into Parliament’s houses, possibly the House of Lords itself, he’ll fade into the ‘dust-bin of history’, that’ll be enough revenge for me.’. Besides, he was going to see what the ‘treasures of the town’ held, a very dark deed indeed, considering the amount of ‘stock’ the flesh had in him!As this vast column moved into the city of Charlestown, Lt Colonel Tarleton was informed, via courier, to head to City Hall, the new Headquarters of the Occupying Army, to learn where to quarter himself… by chance, sheer chance, he was to be quartered as a guest of a certain Miss Rosenberg!The sheer chaos of the situation was compounded by the logistics of moving into a city with an army, and simply straitening out who was to be stationed where.