16581/Backscene: Seeking WAND Assistance

Backscene: Seeking WAND Assistance
Date of Scene:	21 October 2024
Location:	Ready Room, The Triskelion
Synopsis:	Willow goes to SHIELD seeking help for Buffy's loss of memory. Without telling Buffy. Arrangements are made. (OOC Note: Should be backdated to June 2032 ICly)
Cast of Characters:	Black Widow (Romanoff), Willow Rosenberg

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Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
June 2024

When the request came through from Alexander, Natasha made sure she was the one who would handle it. While Alexander was an agent, Natasha was of a higher rank and therefore could get more done typically. Though she wasn't as personable as he was, and perhaps others might be doing it out of fear from her mystique, but as long as it got results that's all the mattered. She was in her office, up on the Operations level. It was a good sized office, very modern looking and with no personal items to speak of. Bare-bones. A comfortable pair of chair sat in front of the desk, a big leather office chair behind. The desk itself seemed odd in this room of glass and black accents as it was heavy and made of actual wood, very dark colored and aged. It didn't fit. But it was something she had demanded if she was going to have an office.

Natasha was sitting in one of the chairs in front of the desk, awaiting the arrival of the visitor at the scheduled time. She didn't want to have the desk between them. It created a distance and this was a situation of helping a friend of Alexander's so she was avoiding that. She was dressed in her SHIELD uniform, sans weapons. Unless one counted the wristbands. Most people didn't even know they were weapons unless they'd seen them in action.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow was stumped.

All things considered, something had gone wrong with Buffy. That much was for certain. And Willow had tried to brush the whole thing off in front of Buffy. Even though Willow was torn between anger, and her realizing that Buffy wasn't herself for the whole two plus years..

And without Giles, or Constantine she had hit a wall that she couldn't get around.

Enter SHIELD.

Willow had been there before. And they did have a pretty decent venue with WAND.. So when Phobos suggested she should ask someone from SHIELD, namely his girlfriend.. she agreed.

Walking down the corridor, looking at the room assignments, she thought this one was it.

Knocking, Willow looked at her phone, and called out, "Miss Romanoff? Is that right?"

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
At the knock, Natasha found herself quirking up an eyebrow in surprise. For most people when they had an appointment just came in. She wasn't used to someone knocking in this sort of setting. She rose to her feet instead of just calling out, needing to see this for herself. The door was opened and there stood a fellow redhead. Though this woman was a couple of inches taller than Natasha herself. A young woman. She scanned her briefly as she offered a hand along with a smile. "You must be Miss Rosenberg. Please, come in. Have a seat. Would you like something to drink? I'm sure we can get anything you like, though it might take a couple of minutes."

She stepped back to let Willow enter then would close the door behind the other woman before moving back to sit in one of the two chairs that Willow didn't take, sitting opposite her but on the same side of the desk. "Alexander said you needed assistance with something?"

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Phew! She'd guessed right. Not that it was terribly hard in the Trisk. If she had gone to far in, someone would have corrected her and turned her around. Or worse, escorted her to Nat.

"Willow! Please. I don't even let my students call me by my last name! Unless the professor is around!"

She followed Nat into the office. "Phobos told me to come and see you about a problem." At which Willow looks nervous. Would Nat understand? Would Nat treat her as someone who knew what she could do, as opposed to patting her on the head?

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"Willow," Natasha acknowledged, giving a nod that she would respect the wishes of the young woman. "But if that's going to be the case, I'm Natasha. Or Nat if you prefer. No need for that Agent stuff between us. Any friend of Alexander's..." She let that hang, since the rest of the sentence would be obvious.

Then she focused on the situation at hand. "He said you might need someone who could pull rank," Natasha said with a little smirk. "So that's why he referred you to me instead of handling it himself. I know some about you and your friends. He tells me you are a very talented witch. And your friend is also..gifted. Though in a different way. As are many in your circle. You also serve with the Justice League, if I understand correctly. That's quite the resume. So how can we help you?"

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow smiled as Nat returned the favour. "Nat, then. It feels more.. normal." But she is distracted by what Nat knew about her. Namely, the Justice League. Even the Scoobies didn't know that. Or care to. Only Buffy. And only recently.

She blushed.

"You know that!" Then. "Then again, you are a spy.." Willow scrunches up her forehead. "Anyways. Yes I don't know what I would need. It's.. it's easier if I explain what little I know. My friend, Buffy, was.. is.. something has been done to her. At least I think so. She is missing the entire clump of years when we went to University. Sortof. I mean she remembers the time. But she wasn't herself."

"I know, because she stopped being my friend over time. And now she's back to herself. And she is hurt, as though that was another person being her. Only she looks back on the time and can't make it fit. I know, it sounds weird, like I'm making it up."

Sigh.

Willow waits for the inevitable snorting and telling her she's crazy.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
Natasha listened as the situation was explained. She did smile at the spy comment and resisted the urge to wink. After all, SHIELD did have Justice League connections through a liaison so it wasn't surprising Willow being part of that team was in the files. For Natasha had, of course, read their file on the witch before her. While she did trust Alexander and knew he wouldn't set up a meeting with someone that was a danger, he also hadn't lived as long as Natasha. Thus he wasn't as paranoid. She hadn't stayed alive this long not being cautious.

When Willow paused and waited, Natasha simply nodded. No laughter. No obvious derision on her face. She was taking this completely serious. "Sounds like it could be any number of things. Memory manipulation from a pyschic perhaps. Maybe possession from an entity of some sort, demonic or otherwise. Mental rewriting of her personality. Again could be psychic or even magicl. With her having a different sort of personality, perhaps it was even a version of her from an alternate universe. A lot of potential options. Have you already eliminated some of those possibilities or need us to do the testing from top to bottom to help you try to solve the problem?"

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Oh my! It was as though she were talking to Giles. oR john. Given credit for being smart. And capable.

Willow blinked.

"OH! Uhm. That's the weird thing. Nothing I know of should be able to do what Buffy had done. For example, she remembers going to classes, and failing. Which isn't very unusual. But at the same time she went out with someone who really isn't her type. I'm not saying that just because she dumped me, it really isn't a person that under normal circumstances would cause her to take a second look. Let alone pretty much move in with him."

"It's like there were two of her living in the same body, only at the time, she didn't do it so suddenly that anyone could point and say there is the turning point. Even I didn't notice it until she came back to normal. I haven't found anything residual on her. So it's hard to say what happened. I think it might have been a upper level spell, but without doing more invasive tests.."

And here the crux comes in.

"Buffy is hurt when I try to dig into the problem. And without more understanding I can't just try everything. I'm too close to the subject to do a good job without having someone else tell me what they think. Otherwise, to Buffy it looks like I am still angry with her. AND to tell the truth I am. Or at least the other Buffy."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"Having someone change completely can cause pain. But if it is another Buffy, or an altered Buffy from someone outside source, that caused you that pain, it is also understandable that the real Buffy would be hurt having to face the brunt of something she didn't actually do."

Natasha considered a moment, watching Willow's face and expressions. "I'm not asking this question to downplay your concerns but it has to be asked. Is it possible this is something else? Is there any chance perhaps she started down the path of taking drugs or the like? A lot of people who get hooked on narcotics can cause many of the things that you are describing as well."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
*blink blink*

"But she's a Slayer?!" As though that explains everything. "She would be able to fight demons and stuff if she were stoned."

Ironically what Willow says she couldn't do because she couldn't be a Slayer was almost the same way that Buffy was. Not that Buffy couldn't use her special, but since she 'returned' the contrast between the Buffy was incredibly wide,

At least for Willow.

Others didn't question Buffy at all.

"Besides, if she was down that path, she wouldn't be fixed. Not so quickly. And not without a sponsor.. and besides which, she, the old Buffy was in love with Thomas, and then she wasn't. Like *really* wasn;t. She could look back and know she was in love, but it seemed like somebody else. Like in Star Trek. The alternative dimensions. Like that."

Willow nodded to emphasise her statement,

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"It was just a theory. But falling completely out of love with someone in a sudden manner is indeed unusual. And not something that would be explained by an addiction."

Natasha weighed the information given slowly then glanced over toward her desk. A moment of consideration as she went through the options before them. Finally she looked back over at Willow. "I will reach out to some of our agents in WAND, see if they have any theories. They likely will want her to come in so they can do some testing to try to determine a cause. We do have some very experienced people in the mystical arts who may have access to resources you don't have." In other words, it likely was the lack of information that was keeping Willow from figuring it out, not the lack of ability. she had no doubts that Willow was formidable. It was always interesting when the person didn't look as dangerous as they were. That was something Natasha had first hand experience with, something she could use to her advantage in her particular choice of work.

"I can setup a meeting with someone in WAND for her. They can see what it will take to try to figure it out. They'll look at all possible options and, hopefully, get an answer for both of you."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow sat back, and pondered.

In theory it was a good plan. In theory they would find out - if there were things to be found - something that would make sense. In theory it would help Buffy. In theory..

Except..

In reality, Willow was going behind Buffy's back. And in reality, Willow still had big feelings that she still had to bite down. In reality..

Willow frowned. "She is likely to be mad at me." It was talking to herself as much as Natasha. "But if we don't try.. I've read tons of books. I just can't figure it out. She's my closest friend. Even if she hates me, something has to be done."

She looks up. "Not just because she is the Slayer. Though that is very important to figure, so that it can't be done again. But I have noticed that Buffy is withdrawing into her shell because of how she can't trust herself anymore.."

Firmly, then. "Do whatever you need to."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"If she is worried about things as well, I don't think she'll hate you. She probably is just scared. Amnesia, by whatever reason, is frightening. It will develop that lack of trust, that fear of losing more memories."

She rosed to her feet, moving around the desk and opening one of the drawers. There she took out a card as well as a pen. She wrote something on the card then put the pen back in the drawer, closing the drawer. She brought the card back around, offering it to Willow. "This is a number you can reach me at. I added the WAND number so you'll have a direct line to them. I don't know what sort of schedule the Slayer has but I'll be sure we arrange for something. Probably just a few hours, I am guessing."

She had no idea that it would be far more as she had no concept of magic outside the little she'd seen from time to time. And the Harry Potter movies. She was pretty sure they weren't a good representation though.