STORM OF SHADOWS

This is my 8th fanfiction story. This is a ROBOTECH and Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover story and is the sequel to "Shadows of the Apocalypse". This story will feature original characters and will be kept as close to canon using my OCs, but my main goal is to provide an entertaining story to the reader.

I just want to say thanks to the creators and writers of both the ROBOTECH and Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchises. They have provided me with hours of enjoyment and entertainment. A special thanks to all those that created many of the ROBOTECH technical reference sites, they were excellent sources of information on the types of mecha and ships. All characters are the intellectual property of their respective creators and publishers; this story may not be sold or distributed on a profit-making basis.

A special thanks and shout out to all that read this story.

oOoOo

The arrival of the REF cruiser Arcadia had been heralded as opening a new age for humanity with the knowledge and technological wonders of Robotechnology that they brought. When the Arcadia left to explore the galaxy, there had been great hopes and expectations for the future. When she didn't return, those hopes and expectations turned to ashes as the forces of darkness made their moves, using their human minions to seize power. Faith, Buffy along with the few allies they have left find themselves engaged in a desperate fight for survival, but what neither side knows is that a bigger galactic struggle that is nearing its climax is about to wash upon Earth's shores.

oOoOo

CHAPTER ONE:

Every day is a struggle…

"…One area where Wolfram & Hart's importance played a crucial role was with their experience and contacts in media, especially in terms of shaping and molding public opinion. These were no crude attacks launched against the Slayers, these were slick, crafted media campaigns that were geared to create doubt and suspicion among the public. They had started their campaign by raising questions about Captain Coleiro's true objectives. The information about General Edwards and the REF Civil War played perfectly into this. After the 'Cleveland Hellmouth Incident' with the public trying to come to grips with what had happened and the President praising the work of the Slayers, an orchestrated media campaign against the Slayers was initiated. Numerous commentators were asking 'hard' questions about the Slayers and what their 'true' purposes and goals were. In terms of how to conduct a media campaign it was brilliantly executed as the Slayers and anyone associated with them were labelled and referred to ranging from 'vigilantes conducting extrajudicial killings' to an 'extremist group'. Even after the attack on the White House with the President, the Secretary of Defense and most of the cabinet dead, the media campaign was a textbook case of how to manipulate the public. The image of a bloody Vice-President Kinsey standing on the steps of the White House, with the fires barely extinguished, being sworn in and appealing to the country for calm and not to rush to judgement about the Slayers was again perfectly executed. This set the stage for the newly sworn-in President Kinsey to implement, with lobbying support provided by Wolfram & Hart, labelling the Slayers as a 'terrorist organization' and making changes to the laws and constitution after the 'Boston Disaster'…"

— Excerpt from "The Devil's Counsel – The Story of Wolfram & Hart"

oOoOo

The setting sun's rays gave one last burst of light to the desert. It was a lonely stretch of desert that was broken by the unending trail of asphalt along with the occasional road sign that was the only indication that humans had ever been through the area.

This secondary highway had long been deserted by most travelers for the interstate and the only people that used it were locals, people who were looking for adventure, had gotten lost or those that didn't want to be seen. Not being seen was the objective of the occupants in the old beat-up windowless van with the heavily tinted windshield that was driving this stretch of road, heading away from the setting sun. The occupants of the van looked human, but they were far from it.

"I'm hungry," the vampire from the passenger seat moaned.

"Damn it! I told you not to finish off that hitchhiker so fast. We still got a long drive to Wichita!" the vampire driving replied angrily.

"I hope they have better security there than they had in Phoenix. What a waste, it was like a frigging All-inclusive resort there," one of the vampires from the back of the van said.

"How many processing facilities does that make?" the vampire in the passenger seat asked.

"They're getting ballsier these days… I heard that they've taken out five processing facilities in the last six months," the driver said angrily.

"All that blood gone…what a waste," moaned a vampire from the back of the van.

"They're getting desperate…they know they can't win," added another vampire.

"When are the damn feds going to get their shit together and take out those bastards?! I mean we got the freakin' FBI on our side and they can't stop a bunch of girls and useless humans!" the passenger complained in a whiny voice.

The vampire driving was getting tired of his passenger and was considering whether to kill him quick or throw him out of the van and see if the waning sunlight would do the job…more slowly. He had to admit that his passenger did have a point. In the last year, processing facilities had been setup around the country to process quickly and quietly humans for consumption by his kind. Right now things were staying below the radar as the humans being taken were those on the edges of society and wouldn't be noticed or cared about if missing. The vampire smiled as most of the humans were either afraid, ignorant or too stupid to admit what was going on until it was too late.

He'd heard rumors that the processing was going to be ramped up to higher levels soon. If it wasn't for the Slayers and the rest of the resistance, this world would be a whole lot better place. He still got a happy feeling knowing that the government had labelled all Slayers as "terrorists" and started hunting them down. His thoughts quickly shifted as a small sign on the side of the road caught his attention.

"Hey boys! I got good news!" the driver said as an evil grin formed on his face.

He saw the looks of confusion on the faces of his passengers.

"We're getting take-out…"

oOoOo

The vampires sat in the van parked at the far end of the dirt parking lot watching the building. It was a small run-down looking road-side bar. The whole thing looked like something you would see in a movie. There were a mix of old pick-up trucks parked at the front of the building and you could hear the country music coming from inside the bar. The vampires waited and watched, while the sun continued its retreat for the day. They felt their hunger grow as they saw people go into the bar.

"Okay…we go in the front door and we taste the local cuisine," the driver said as he saw the sun finally disappear and the darkness had come. He heard the other vampires growl in approval.

"Make sure that you keep a couple of the waitresses alive… We'll save them for the road. We still have a long drive to Wichita," the driver added.

Exiting out of the van, the vampires walked slowly across the parking lot, the ground crunching underneath their feet. The sound of music and people drifted from the building, growing louder as they got closer. Their hunger grew exponentially with each foot step they took closer to the bar. They stopped just in front, pausing as the lead vampire took a quick look around before opening the door.

Time to feed, he thought, changing his face to its true look and stepping through the door.

The vampires could smell the blood pumping as they entered the bar. At first nobody noticed them as the patrons were busy drinking, talking and listening to the music. It was one of the waitresses that finally noticed them and their faces, her screams alerted everyone else in the bar.

The bar was frozen except for the music that continued to play. One of the vampires went over to the jukebox and smashed his fist through the front panel killing the music, bringing silence to the bar. The lead vampire took a deep breath to inhale the fear that was coming off the humans. He was about to say something when a voice spoke out cutting through the silence.

"Why don't you boys just turn around and leave… I'm not in the mood for this tonight."

The vampires were confused and mystified by the voice, "Who the hell said that?" one of the vampires asked out loud.

Everyone in the bar was surprised as a woman with long brunette hair stood up from her stool at the bar, throwing back her drink to finish it. The humans in the bar, noted her looks and the attitude she gave off, facing off against the four vampires.

"I'm going to give all of you until the count of three to get out of here and drive off," the young woman said with a smirk. Her eyes studied the vampires, noting their positions and their body language. The silence hung over the bar as everyone waited anxiously for what was going to happen next. The woman's smirk grew into a predatory smile.

"Three…" she said.

oOoOo

Faith moved back to the bar after dusting the last vampire. She saw the looks on the peoples' faces, grabbing her helmet she knew it was time to leave. No one made a move, the eerie silence still hanging over the bar as she started walking for the door. The silence was finally broken by the bartender, "Y-You're one of those there S-Slayers…"

Faith stopped, giving the bartender a look and then glanced around the room. She knew what they were thinking. She didn't respond to the bartender's question, but a small smirk formed on her face which caused the bartender's eyes to go even wider.

"T-The President s-says that you're all t-terrorists!" the bartender said in a nervous voice.

Faith snorted at the man's response, reaching into her pants pocket she flipped an object towards the bartender. The startled man managed to react and catch the object him in his hand. Opening his hand slowly he was surprised to see that it was a quarter.

"Call someone who cares…" she said, walking past the stunned patrons and exiting the bar into the night.

oOoOo

Faith sat on the back of her Cyclone taking deep breaths. She had only stopped at this bar for a drink on her drive back from Phoenix. It was just her luck that a van load of vamps would stop in, she shook her head snorting as she thought about her luck.

I guess still being alive is a form of good luck, she thought wistfully.

Gazing up at the night sky, seeing the stars, she felt as if they were mocking her. She had once looked at them with wonderment, hope and love. Now, she felt only pain and anger as they were just a reminder of what she had lost. She had meet and fallen in love with a man from alternate universe. He'd literally dropped into her life and he had changed everything for her. Being with Paul had instilled in her hopes and dreams for the future. She had found herself wanting a future with him. He had then left on his ship to the far side of the galaxy, promising that he would return. The mission was only supposed to have lasted six months…that was nearly five years ago.

She could painfully recall each day of those six months, how she'd waited for the ship and Paul to return. When they didn't return, there had been speculation as to why they had been delayed, but as the days turned to weeks and the weeks into months, hope began to fade and die. She still could recall with crystal clear detail where she was and what she was doing when they made the announcement that the Arcadia Expedition was declared missing — presumed lost. Nobody wanted to say out loud that they were dead, because there was no evidence, but the implication was clear.

It had been hard for her and the others as they had all lost someone with the expedition. Buffy had taken it as hard as she had...her sister, one of her best friends and her lover had been with the expedition. That was the hardest part of the whole thing...the not knowing what had happened. It was at this lowest point that The First Evil made its move again, this time using the Cleveland Hellmouth. It had been a desperate time, but Buffy and she had managed to turn the tables. It had been Buffy who found the Scythe, back in Sunnydale, and came up with the idea to have Willow channel the power to use the essence of the Scythe to activate all the Potential Slayers around the world.

In the ensuing fight they had stopped the Turok-Hans, but at a cost. Besides losing a number of the newly activated Slayers and civilians caught in the middle, they had lost Spike. He had used a magic amulet, they had gotten from Angel, which was to be used in a final battle. He killed off the Turok-Hans and closed the Hellmouth, but the power of the amulet consumed him in the process. That had been a bitter blow to Buffy on top of losing Dawn, Xander and James with the Arcadia mission. There had been the hope that things would settle down and everyone would have a chance to get back to some semblance of normality...that peace only lasted a few months.

Faith was in Las Vegas, when the live news reports came in. She had watched, stunned and shocked like the rest of the world, as the White House was attacked. When she saw the teenage girl running across the White House lawn, seeing how fast she moved and how she took down the guards, she got a bad feeling about what was happening. Nobody knew who the girl was at the time and it took a couple of years for Giles and Riley to finally piece together what had happened, but it soon became apparent that The First had raised the stakes and countered their victory in Cleveland. They had known about the Vice-President's connection to Wolfram & Hart, but they hadn't known about the law firm's connection with The First.

From there, things took a downward spiral. While politicians, the media and the public were screaming for Slayer blood over this heinous attack, the newly sworn-in President was appealing for calm and let the investigation take its course. That message quickly changed after the 'Boston Disaster'.

She still doesn't know how her dad managed to track her down, to get word to her. She hadn't seen or talked to her mom in years as they had never really been close, but the news that she'd been killed in the explosion still hit her. Nobody can say for certain what really happened that night as any witnesses to the disaster died in the explosion, but from security footage that happened to be "miraculously" recovered showed a teenage girl, who was later "identified" as a Slayer, breaking into the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion testing lab. The lab housed one of the new fusion reactors that was built using knowledge provided by the Arcadia. The ensuing overload and explosion of the reactor devastated a huge portion of Boston, leaving a death toll of over 150,000 people. Things got a lot worse after that…

Faith was still recovering from the news about her mom, when the President with unanimous support from the Congress and Senate declared all Slayers and anyone assisting them a terrorist. Hidden in the bill language were laws providing for the suspension of Habeas Corpus and the "indefinite detention without trial" for anyone belonging or assisting the Slayers.

Overnight, Slayers became hunted not just across the country, but around the world. Those girls that were unlucky enough to get picked up in the first sweeps were never heard from again. The official line was that captured Slayers were being held in "special" detention centers, Riley had managed to gather evidence to what had actually happened to some of the girls…it gave Faith nightmares.

To Faith and the others this situation was worse than when the Bringers were hunting the Potentials. How bad the situation had become was exemplified when news reports from Africa showed two Slayers being burned alive by a cheering mob that included their families.

If it hadn't been for Riley and Willow, they probably wouldn't have lasted this long. Riley had been able to provide access to resources — money, fake identification, places to hide out. Willow had been able to use her magic to charm objects for everyone that would hide them from magic locator spells and The First Evil to allow them to move around in public. There were also a lot of people that didn't believe the President and his propaganda and at great risk helped however they could.

Despite everything that had happened, Faith had continued to hold out hope that Paul and the others would return. Each day she kept hoping that this would be the one, but then nothing would happen. More days, then weeks and months went by. She couldn't recall exactly when she'd given up. It just seemed to happen gradually until one day she woke up and found that she didn't expect him to return anymore. She finally decided that to be effective, she had to stuff all those memories and feelings down as they were just painful reminders of what she'd lost. Now she just focused on staying alive each day and trying to fight back against the evil forces that were spreading across the country.

She didn't want to think about "what ifs", but when she looked at the night sky all those "might-have-beens" played through her mind. She knew that if Paul hadn't left, then this world would be a better place. There wouldn't have been Cleveland, Washington or Boston…there wouldn't have be the blood factories being setup across the country. If he'd stayed, she and the other Slayers wouldn't be hunted by both demons and the authorities.

She laughed to herself thinking about being hunted by the authorities. She'd been in trouble with police most of her life and even done time in prison. Paul had arranged for her to get a Presidential Pardon before he left because he thought she deserved a second chance and that they could have a future together. Now those plans and dreams for the future were nothing but ashes and once again she was a fugitive from the law. Out of reflex her hand went to the pendant under her shirt. Besides the Cyclone she drove, the pendant was the only thing tangible and real that she had left of Paul. She could feel the weight of the pendant pressing on her. She would have stopped wearing it years ago if Willow hadn't charmed it with the magic spell that was keeping her hidden from the First and others.

Starting her Cyclone, she felt the comforting power as she revved the engine. She glanced once more at the night sky, before flipping her helmet visor down. She peeled out of the parking lot leaving a cloud of dust, speeding down the highway into the night.