TITLE: Hall of the Mountain King
SERIES: Colorado Springs High
SERIES #: 1.2 [Clone-Jack & Xander centric
RATING: PG-13 to R
GENRE: Crossover, AU
WARNING: Some violence.
DISCLAIMERS: SG1, Clone-Jack, and anyone you recognize belong to MGM, Gekko & others that are not Scorpio. Xander & the Scooby's belong to Mutant Enemy & the "Grrr Argh" Monster, not poor underpaid Scorpio. The various original characters do belong to Scorpio, however, so don't feel too bad for her.
AN: This story in the C.S.H. series is a way to "logically" fill in the background of what happened to the Scooby's after the season finale. It will also give Xan a basic overview of the SGC.
AN #2: If you look at the numbering sequence I'm using for the various stories within the series, you'll notice it's a number-decimal-number system. The first number (1 in this case) indicates the story arc and the second number (2 in this case) indicates the order in which it falls in the arc. This first arc contains the stories that establish Xander in the SGC reality.
SUMMARY: General Hammond and SG1 need to verify Xander's story and do a threat assessment of him and all he represents. Weird alien technology ensues.
HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING
Colorado Springs High Series
Scorpio
Major General George Hammond, head of Stargate Command and the main architect of the soon to be operational Homeworld Security Command sighed tiredly and pinched the bridge of his nose. It was barely 0830 hours and he could tell already that it was going to be a long long day. He hadn't even finished his first coffee of the day and already he was trying to decide if he should spike it with espresso or whiskey.
Dropping his hand down on his desk, George took a deep breath and looked over at the two men that he considered to be his personal protégés; Colonel Jack O'Neill and Lieutenant Colonel Louis Ferretti. The first was his 2IC here at the SGC and the second was his personal assistant in matters concerning the creation of the HWSC. It was George's plan that when he finally retired, Jack would be ready to step into the command position that he was working so hard to create with Lou as his 2IC overseeing all aspects of interplanetary travel, planetary security and galactic diplomacy. He had personally chosen these two men as his protégés because they both represented the very best that the USAF stood for; smart, open minded, decisive and brimming over with balls-to-the-wall courage in the face of the enemy. Unfortunately, they were both magnets for the strange and unusual. The situation that they had brought to his attention certainly qualified as both.
"Alright gentlemen, we need to get to the bottom of this as quickly and painlessly as possible. I want SG1, Special Agent Jonathan O'Neill as well as Doctor Fraiser to meet us in the conference room for a debriefing in fifteen minutes."
George stood up and reached for his quickly cooling coffee before turning laser bright eyes on Ferretti. "Colonel, if Doctor Fraiser isn't finished with her examination of our guest, ask her to join us as soon as she's finished." He sighed softly as he watched the two men exchange glances and shrug slightly. "Dismissed."
"Yes, Sir."
"General."
Two quick salutes were aimed in his general direction before the two younger men spun and walked out of his office. George stared down into his coffee mug for a long moment before turning his head to gaze at the cabinet that he stored his liquor in. He could almost see the whiskey bottle through the wooden door and was mightily tempted to get it out and add a generous splash to his mug. Finally, with a soft snort and a quick head shake, he decided to leave it until later. He had a feeling that he was going to need it. Instead, he picked up his phone and rang his secretary's desk. He was going to need a coffee and tea service for the debriefing as well as multiple copies made of the preliminary reports turned in by Colonel O'Neill's teenaged clone and Lieutenant Colonel Ferretti.
General Hammond watched everyone settle down as he walked into the conference room outside his office door. Major Carter and Doctor Jackson both seemed to express mild annoyance at being dragged out of their respective labs as well as curiosity over why young Jonathan was there. Teal'c simply wore that blank facial expression that George had come to decipher as pure professionalism as he watched the two Colonels good-naturedly squabble over the same chair. As he reached the head of the table and placed his folder filled with reports down on it, all the chatter dried up and six pairs of eyes gazed up at him.
"Let's get started, shall we?" He made a show of taking a quick glance around the table, "Doctor Fraizer?"
"She's still with our guest, General," Lieutenant Colonel Ferretti shrugged in mute apology, "she assured me that as soon as she had any results to report she would come on up and brief us."
George merely nodded his head. Flipping open the folder, George repositioned the topmost piece of paper and then turned his eyes onto the teenaged clone of his 2IC. "Agent O'Neill. I've read your preliminary report, but why don't you explain it all to me in further detail." His eyes softened slightly and he let a bit of friendly encouragement slip into his tone of voice, "Don't leave anything out, son. Even the smallest details could be important."
Nodding, young Jonathan O'Neill stood up even as George sat down. He watched the teen as he visibly gathered his thoughts.
"Sir…a lot of this is going to sound, well…stupid and unbelievable. Part of that is because it, um…is unbelievable and part of it is because I don't know everything about what happened or why."
George smiled up encouragement. "That's okay too, son. Tell us what you can. We'll figure out the rest."
Nodding again and taking a deep breath, the young teen clone began, "It started out like a typical night. I had a couple friends over for a supposed study session. Only, I seemed to be the only one interested in studying and my friends were more interested in raiding my beer and watching some T&A on pay-per-view."
"You study? Doesn't sound like the Jack I know." Everyone grinned or snickered at Doctor Jackson's muttered aside. Everyone, that is, except Jack and Jonathan.
"Hey! I resent that!"
"Jack's right Danny. That study session wasn't even for my benefit. I may not be as smart as the wonder-twins here, but high-school science isn't enough to kick my ass. It was for Justin who's in danger of loosing his spot of the hockey team if his grades don't come up. Studying may not be my favorite thing, but those who know me also know that if I've got a job to do, it gets done. No matter how annoying it might be."
There was a brief pause during which Doctor Jackson aimed apologetic eyes at both O'Neill's. Finally, Jonathan rolled his own eyes, sighed and continued.
"So basically, I spent an unproductive evening in the presence of two oblivious teenagers and despite my current physical condition, I haven't been an empty-headed kid in over thirty some odd years. After they left, I started to clean up my apartment. The incident happened when I was taking out the trash. I was…well, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself."
George watched with a sense of empathy as young Jonathan blushed with this admission, even as the others looked at him with either pity or confusion.
"Anyway, I happened to glance up just in time to see a shooting star. I remembered some silly little thing my ma used to say about wishing on falling stars, so I…uh, I made a wish. That's when a strange voice came from behind me saying 'Wish granted'. I spun around quick enough to see…the alien D'Hoffryn. It waved at me, grinned and disappeared in a ball of fire. Almost immediately after, Xander Harris appeared in the air in front of me and dropped to the ground like a stone. He was…"
Doctor Jackson cut Jonathan off mid sentence, a look of fascinated concentration on his face, "Wait. Wait a minute. You made a wish…" he blinked in confusion, "Um…what was the wish? Exactly."
Jonathan blushed a bright red and turned his face away to stare at the wall. George wanted to take pity on the young man, but he understood why Doctor Jackson wanted to know.
"Son, I'm sorry if this line of questioning seems to be personally invasive, but you have to understand our position here. This alien being spoke the words 'wish granted' before he dropped our guest at your feet. We need to know how this young man is granting your wish in order to determine if he's a threat to you or the SCG."
"Yeah…I get it. It's just…a bit embarrassing. Like I said, I was feeling pretty bad. Hell, I was indulging in a bout of self-pity, truth be told. I mean, I look like a kid, but I'm not. I'm an adult, a highly trained and very dangerous adult that just happens to be trapped in the body of a teenager. That fact puts me on the outside looking in no matter what. Adults can't see past my outside and so treat me like a dumb kid and teenagers think I'm hopelessly out of touch since gossiping about the latest pop star isn't my number one priority in life." Blushing and refusing to look anywhere but at the steel-gray wall across the room Jonathan continued, "I wished for someone to come into my life that understood me completely. I friend that wouldn't either talk down to me like I was an idiot teenager or treat me like a paranoid psychotic ready to snap at any minute."
There was a long and painful silence as everyone considered what Jonathan had said, as well as what he didn't say. Each person at the table was guilty of ostracizing the young clone. He had been dumped into Ferretti's capable hands and then forgotten as everyone assumed he would be fine. It was never really taken into account that Ferretti was usually away on HWSC business or that Jonathan was used to being in a position of command as well as extreme physical danger. He must have been slowly going nuts pushed aside as he was.
It was finally Teal'c that broke the guilty silence with his cool calm tones, "You essentially expressed a desire for a warrior such as yourself to, as you say, watch your six. One who has also experienced being…physically altered."
"Well…yes."
"Do you think he's a clone that's been…uh…de-aged as well?"
Jonathan glanced over at Major Carter and shook his head. "No. No way. I specifically mentioned that I wouldn't want anyone else to go through being cloned. It's no picnic to have an original out there living your life when you can't. I wouldn't want that for anyone."
Colonel O'Neill blushed and frowned at that even as he held up a finger towards his clone, "Hey! I didn't ask for this anymore than you did." George watched him grimace and gesture with the flustered frustration dealing with his clone usually brought about. "And you know that if you ever need anything that I'm just a telephone call away. The same goes for anyone here at this table. You're not…you know, alone."
Jonathan nodded and gave a weak smile, "Yeah. I know Jack. I know." The others all averted their eyes briefly in acknowledgement that despite all good intentions, it wasn't enough and it wasn't the same. The best they could do is simply try to make young Jonathan's life as easy as possible until he was once again old enough to join the program.
"So," George began in an effort to get the meeting going in the right direction again, "you made this wish and the alien…D'Hoffryn granted it by dropping our guest at your feet. What happened next?"
"Harris looked around and realized that he wasn't where he should be and that he had been physically changed. He seemed disoriented at first, but when I described the alien that I had seen, he recognized him enough to…summon him. I'm not sure how exactly. He just sort of yelled the guy's name and he appeared in another ball of fire." Jonathan shrugged his apology at not understanding the mechanics behind it and continued. "The alien D'Hoffryn then explained that his kidnapping of Harris was…I guess legal is the correct term, as it was in response to a wish. Apparently, this move was one that Harris can't or shouldn't counter due to whatever reasons, but D'Hoffryn was pretty smug about it. When asked to clarify exactly what he had done, D'Hoffryn admitted to kidnapping Harris, altering him physically to the age of 15 human years and then shifting him into an alternate reality. Ours. Once in our reality, D'Hoffryn brought them both backwards in time until they reached last night. It was at that point that he dropped Harris at my feet."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Waitaminute, here." Colonel O'Neill had the expression on his face that let everyone know that he just heard something that made his head hurt and his teeth itch. "Are you trying to tell me that the kid currently down in the infirmary is a time traveler from another reality? And that he's not really a kid at all?"
Jonathan rolled his eyes, "Yeah Jack. That's exactly what I'm saying. According to Harris he's supposed to be a Commander in some demon-fighting army and that he was in the process of training up his successor when he got kidnapped."
"Demons?"
"Demons?"
Colonel O'Neill and Doctor Jackson spoke at the same time; one in a tone of derision and the other in a tone of curiosity.
"Yeah. I had the same reaction, but according to Harris it's a word used to describe any one of a number of species of hostile 'dimensional monsters'." Both hands came up to form finger quotations around the words. "Look. I can only tell you guys what D'Hoffryn told us both. He basically used my wish as an excuse to bring Harris here, which was his real goal. The reason for this is that he, and others he briefly mentioned, believes that there is some sort of threat heading our way that will eventually defeat us. After we are gone this supposed threat will do something to damage Harris' reality as well. By sending Harris back in time and into our reality, the one where the original threat manifests, they hope to be able to stop it before it happens."
George paused a moment and then gave a pointed look towards Samantha Carter sitting down the table from him and looking pensive. "Major? Thoughts, ideas, suggestions?"
"Well…Sir. We know that travel between realities is not only possible, but a fact. We also know that manipulating time is possible although beyond our current technology. That doesn't mean that other races couldn't have found a way to successfully manipulate the timestream or to physically travel through it. So, hypothetically, this is all in the realm of possibly being true. My concerns tend to fall under, 'what now'. I mean, it's possible that this Harris will soon begin to suffer from Entropic Cascade Failure and if he does, how do we send him home. So far, that's the only way we know of to stop or reverse the breakdown of reality within an alternate universe doopleganger."
"Um…" Doctor Jackson fiddled with his pen for a moment before tapping it thoughtfully on his notepad. "Also, his physical presence here as well as the reasons for his being in this reality is somewhat worrisome. After all, we only have D'Hoffryn's word that there is trouble coming. That's pretty vague. We don't even know what form this supposed 'trouble' is going to take. Either way, Harris' presence here can only corrupt the current timeline, but do we really know that that's a good thing?"
George tilted his head and gave the head of the Anthropology Department a questioning look. He had learned long ago that Doctor Jackson often saw a situation far differently than his military trained companions, and as such, he often saw things that they overlooked or didn't consider. That meant that, even when his advice couldn't be taken for strategic reasons, it was still a good idea to hear him out.
"What exactly do you mean, Doctor? How could learning of a future threat ahead of time be a bad thing? I would think that it would be helpful to be able to prepare in advance."
Doctor Jackson nodded his head slowly in tactic agreement. "Yeeessss…but only if it really is a threat that's coming. I mean, suppose that this alien, D'Hoffryn, is telling the truth. He has somehow found a way to bring an agent backward in time and across the dividers between the various realities to stop some enemy from destroying this Earth and the Earth that Harris came from. What, exactly, is D'Hoffryn's definition of destroy? We know what it means to us, but to him it could mean that all the humans on Harris' Earth suddenly become vegetarians and he's the world's biggest producer and seller of meat products."
"Ah…Danny. I don't think that's a very probable guess."
"Jack…"
"No. Jack's right, Daniel. I actually asked D'Hoffryn that myself. I said, why do you care and he told me that he cared because if there were no humans left he couldn't enjoy torturing them."
George snapped his neck around to stare at the teenaged clone. "What!"
He nodded, a look of disgust flickering over his face. "Yeah, Sir. My reaction as well. Harris tried to explain it to me. It seems that D'Hoffryn is some big-time muckity-muck that runs a lower dimension. Agrippa, Arishmale. Aristotle. Something like that, anyway. The point being, he and his minions have spent millennia granting wishes to people like a bunch of demented genies. The catch is, the wishes have to be made by someone with a legitimate complaint and it has to result in someone getting hurt. According to Harris, they refer to themselves as Vengeance Demons."
"Son, you're lending weight to Doctor Jackson's theory that this guy is trying to trick us into doing something that we don't want to do and that he plans on using this Harris person as key."
"No, Sir." Jonathan was shaking his head. "I don't think so. From what I could figure out, D'Hoffryn's entire society is bound up in the destiny of the humans of his reality. In his own twisted way, I do believe he actually likes them." He paused and flicked his eyes about the room in an obvious search for the correct words, and just as obviously didn't find them, "In a, strange…big brother…bringer of Justice against the…bad people…sorta way."
George watched as Jonathan huffed out a breath and looked down at the table top while the others tried not to show any amusement at his floundering. Just then, a brief knock on the door was swiftly followed by it opening and admitting a slightly flushed Doctor Frasier. She flashed a brief smile at him even as she walked over to the table and began to pass out copies of her report.
"Sorry I'm late, Sir. I came as soon as the results from our initial testing came back."
He smiled at her and gestured for her to sit down. "That's all right Doctor. I'm glad you could make it. Please, tell us what you've found out."
She took a deep breath and mentally gathered her thoughts before turning bright eyes his way. "Well, Sir. He's human. Test results show negative for being a clone, although he does show the minute phase variance in the magnetic spectrum that we have come to associate from those who have traveled here from another reality. Although, just how closely parallel his parallel universe is remains to be seen. In the previous cases of alternates' crossing over into our reality, the phase variances were negligible. So minute, in fact, that we were forced to improve our means of detecting it. Our guest's phase variance, while still small enough to categorize him as the same species, is of much much greater size than any we've previously seen."
"I see. Any theories as to why this is so?"
"Sir." Major Carter's eyes shone with excitement. "Common theory on the different phase variance in the few reality travelers we've met says that the smaller the variance the more alike that reality is to our own. The greater the variance, the more different that reality is. Which means that which ever event it was that split our two realities apart, it must have happened further in the past than any of the other realities we've been in contact with before."
"She's right." All eyes turned to young Jonathan. "D'Hoffryn mentioned something along those lines when he was explaining to Harris why he brought him here. After all, wouldn't a warning to the right people be easier?" He shrugged. "Apparently, according to D'Hoffryn, Harris had training that we don't. He said this is because the people that lived on Earth before the humans," Jonathan glanced meaningfully and Doctor Jackson, "I'm assuming he meant the Ancients, anyway, those people made a different discovery on Harris' Earth. Instead of inventing a gate to travel to other planets, they found a way to open portals to other dimensions. This lead to a big war that wiped the Ancients out, much the same way that some weird space disease wiped them out here. Then, when the humans came along on either world, they were forced to deal with the fallout. For us, that means the Gou'ald. For Harris' people, that means these dimensional monsters. Demons. Whatever."
"I see." George turned to face Doctor Fraiser again. "Doctor?"
"Sir, he checks out as a very healthy and fit teenaged male. There are no physical scars or signs of injury despite the fact that he clearly remembers being horrifically maimed several times in his life. Also, there are some strange readings from some of his tests, things that I just can't explain as of yet."
"In what way, Doctor?"
"Well…" she pulled a color picture of an MRI out of the folder and stood up. Walking over to the wall mounted light board; she affixed it to the unit and turned the light on. "You see these areas here and here?" Doctor Frasier pointed out two different areas that were a reddish-orange. "Both of these areas of the brain are not normally this active. While some activity is normal, expected even, what we're seeing is not." Tapping the first area she sighed. "This portion of the brain is related to the functioning of the various senses. It's a regulating area." Another tap. "This portion is also a regulating area. It's associated with emotions and how they interact with our reasoning abilities. This particular portion of the human brain is why Gou'ald sarcophaguses are so dangerous." Doctor Fraiser gave a quick apologetic glance to Doctor Jackson, "A sarcophagus damages this area of the brain and lets the emotions, usually the baser ones, rule over the mind's intellect."
"How does that effect him, Doctor. And what does it mean to us?"
Pulling the MRI picture off of the light board and turning it off, she shook her head slightly. "I'm not really sure. It's a fair guess that his perception will be very good, that he's able to use his physical senses far better than most people. It's also very probable that he will have excellent emotional control…to a point. Whether that's something native to all the humans of his reality or if it's something that's been trained into him or if it's something that was done to alter him…I don't know."
George glanced over at Ferretti. "Colonel? You've been very quiet."
He was greeted with a frowning face. "Sir…I think that we should question our guest with some lie detecting gizmo; either the Tok'ra's or the one over at Area 51 that we recovered from Hathor. Right now it seems like he's as much a victim of this D'Hoffryn as Johnny," he gestured to the teenaged clone of his oldest friend, "here was to Loki. As much as I'd like to take him at his word, I think it would be better if we knew for certain that he's not a threat to us and that he really is who he says he is. If he's really on the level, there's probably a lot we can learn from him. If he's not…well, then we need to know about that even more."
"True enough."
"Oh, one more thing Sir."
He turned back to Doctor Fraiser. "Yes, Doctor."
"Once it became apparent that our guest really was from an alternate reality, I had one of my people do some background checking for our version of this young man. We know from the time that Major Kalawski and Doctor…um Carter came to us for help that a person can avoid Entropic Cascade Failure if their double from this reality is no longer alive." She paused and he nodded to continue, "From what I could find, he wasn't even born in this reality. The woman he named as his mother died at a young age in a drunken hit-and-run."
"I see."
George took a moment to stare down at the reports in front of him and allow everything that had been said to swirl through his brain as he considered all possible actions. Finally, he looked up and cleared his throat.
"Okay, people. Here's what we're going to do." He turned to Ferretti. "Colonel, get that memory machine over here from Area 51, this way we can actually view our guests memories rather than just determine if he's lying or not." He turned to Carter, "Major, I want you to see if there is a way we can return him to his home reality if it turns out that he's a threat or if he begins to suffer from Entropic Cascade Failure."
"Yes, Sir."
"Doctor Jackson, I want you to see if you can find any common references that we can work with as far as demons, dimensional portals or whatnot. It's very possible that this was a line of thinking that was studied at one point in our own history, but that it had been abandoned. If you need to talk to our guest to do so, that's fine. It might be a way for us to know which questions to ask once we get him hooked up to the machine." He turned to face the original Colonel O'Neill, "Jack, I want you to dig deep into this kid's background. Turn over every leaf looking for his possible double. If he's really displaced in time, his alternate might not be a fifteen year old kid. He might be a thirty year old man."
Finally, he turned to look at the teenaged clone of his 2IC. "Son…until this mess has been straightened out; I'm recalling you to active duty. I want you to stay with our guest and watch over him. Be kind and friendly, a sympathetic ear if he needs one. If he's telling the truth, he's had a very rough few days, what with being kidnapped, physically altered and then thrown into an alternate reality where he doesn't know anyone. Now, he's essentially a prisoner of a foreign military power. That's the kind of stuff that will stretch anyone's nerves." George sighed and shook his head. "Help keep him calm, son. Make him realize that we aren't going to hurt him; we just need to be sure that he's not going to hurt us. Let him know that once we're certain that he's not a threat that we will do everything we can to help him adjust to his situation."
His eyes turned hard and his tone of voice shifted to that of command, "And if he does anything that can be construed as a threat, you are to take him down, son. Understood?"
Jonathan O'Neill gave him a frank stare and then nodded silently. He shifted a pointed look over to Teal'c. "Teal'c will always be within shouting distance in case you need backup."
Teal'c lifted one elegant eyebrow up and then regally nodded his head down once in acknowledgement. If Jonathan couldn't keep Harris calm and contained, Teal'c would zat him into unconsciousness.
George took one last look around the room and nodded. "Dismissed, people."
Walking into the observation room that overlooked the medlab, George nodded at Colonel Ferretti, Major Carter and Teal'c. Teal'c nodded gravely and stepped back slightly to allow him to move further into the tight space.
"General."
"Sir."
He finally made his way over to the table with the microphone and sat down next to Major Carter. Colonel Ferretti & Teal'c loomed behind them so that they all had a clear view through the glass windows down into the lab below them. Looking around at the proceedings, George's eye was immediately drawn to the medical bed where Harris sat propped up by pillows. Young Jonathan stood by his side talking softly to him while Doctor Fraiser bustled about setting up a bunch of equipment, much of which was unfamiliar to him.
Colonel O'Neill and Doctor Jackson stood quietly in one corner waiting for the okay to question Harris and two silent SF's guarded the door to the lab.
"Major, can you explain what it is I'm looking at and how this will work? I've never actually seen this equipment in use."
Major Carter flashed him a quick smile and nodded, "Of course, Sir." She pointed at the monitors stationed off to one side. "Doctor Fraiser will use that bank of computers to monitor Harris' basic reactions and status during the proceedings. This is because he will be very lightly drugged to relax him and allow his memories to flow smoothly. This technology also utilizes the Goa'uld memory devise which is attached to the temple, just like the Zar'tac detector was. The main difference is the equipment that it is hooked up to. The Zar'tac detector checked for variations in the brainwave created by false memories. This equipment will actually show us Harris' memories. They will be displayed on that glass panel complete with images and sounds. The effect is much like watching a movie; however it's actual memories of real events from the subject's specific point of view."
"I see." George frowned. "It sounds as if it has the potential to be very invasive."
Major Carter was nodding even as she answered. "Yes. The machine doesn't care which memory is triggered and it spares no detail. Whoever does the questioning must be very careful not to ask something that could trigger a memory of a personal nature, nor to allow the person being questioned to wander off on a tangent." A small frown graced her face. "It's the fact that it shows images that make it such a wonderful technology as well as an invasive one."
George considered this all for a long moment and then grinned wryly. "I don't know if having the Colonel and Doctor Jackson question him is a stroke of genius or just cruel to Harris. Between Doctor Jackson's curiosity and Colonel O'Neill's…uh, quirky sense of humor this should be interesting."
An irreverent snort of amusement from Colonel Ferretti and a softly spoken, "Indeed." from Teal'c had both himself and Major Carter grinning widely.
"General. We're ready to begin down here." Doctor Fraiser's voice came over the intercom. George looked down into the medlab to see that Doctor Fraiser stood by her banks of monitors and that young Johnny sat on a stool on one side of Harris while Colonel O'Neill and Doctor Jackson were quickly arranging stools for themselves on the other side of his bed. The glass panel which would display his memories was set so that both those inside the medlab and those up in the observation booth could see it clearly.
George flicked on the switch and spoke into the microphone. "Mr. Harris, I am Major General George Hammond. With me are Major Samantha Carter, Teal'c Murry and Lieutenant Colonel Ferretti, whom you've already met. Sitting at your side is Colonel Jack O'Neill and Doctor Daniel Jackson. They will be asking you a series of questions about your life and how you came to be here. Your memories of these events will be shown on that glass panel, much the way a movie is projected onto the big screen. I ask that you try to relax and just let the process happen. It will not cause you any harm, I assure you."
Harris gave him a long assessing stare as if he were judging his words and his sentiment all at once. It was unnerving to see such a look on a young teen's face since it was born of a frame of mind that normally came to veteran soldiers after years of battle and losses. Finally, Harris visibly relaxed back into his pillows and nodded. "I'm gonna take your word on it General George. The version of you that I knew in my home reality was a stand-up guy and I'm just gonna have to trust that this version of you is as well."
George could see the quickly hidden expression of mild shock on Doctor Jackson's face and could practically feel Teal'c eyebrow rise up behind him. Ignoring his own surprise, George simply nodded his head. "Proceed."
Doctor Fraiser bent her head down and flipped a series of toggle switches. A quick step over to another piece of equipment and she pressed a sequence of buttons. The glass panel flashed once with light quickly as it powered up. She silently nodded at Colonel O'Neill.
"Alright, Harris." Colonel O'Neill tilted his head slightly as he studied the teen in the medical bed. "Who are you?"
George watched in fascination as the glass panel lit up again, this time with brief images pulled directly from Harris' mind.
flash
Teenaged Xander wandered into the library through the double doors smiling happily. He carried a box of Krispy Kreme donuts and a tray full of coffee. "Hey guys! I've got some food for thought." With that said, the young Xander plopped the box of donuts and the coffee down on a table filled with large ancient books. Willow gleefully grabbed a latte while Buffy and Giles attacked the donuts in search of a jelly-filled.
flash
Site Foreman Alexander Harris was wearing his favorite flannel shirt and the bright yellow hardhat with the legend HARRIS written across it while leaning over a set of blueprints and directing several other men in how he wanted them to proceed. They were all nodding in agreement with what the youngest foreman in company history was telling them. One of them, Mitchell, was bitching under his breath about pencil pushers moving deadlines forward without a lick of sense and the pencil pushers' need for a map, a flashlight and three extra hands just to find his own asshole.
flash
Turok-Han were swarming up out of the basement of the High School and that made him worry about the girls down below. The pain in his skull throbbed harder and faster as his blood pressure rose with the rush of adrenalin pumping through his system. Part of him hoped that Willow would hurry up with the spell and part of him knew that it was a bad idea. He only shuddered when he considered what the karmic retribution for meddling in such magics would be.
His racing thoughts instantly blanked themselves when a Turok-Han popped up from behind the science lab counter like some demented piece of toast. His heart slammed in his chest and his axe was swinging before he could assemble a rational plan of action. He must have surprised the hell-beast too, because it just stood there and let him lop its head off.
Grimacing, Xander turned away and caught a brief glimpse of his reflection in a shiny metal cabinet. He looked exhausted, wrinkled and dirty, his hair was a bird's nest and the black leather eye-patch covering the white of his bandages gave him a sinister air. All in all, not one of his better days.
flash
Xander drove along the rutted dirt road in his jeep until he came to a fork. A sign pointed down the path that was deeply ingrained in the earth with ruts and tire tracks and a hand dug version of a drainage ditch. The sign, written in Arabic promised that there were several large towns ahead and that eventually, if one drove long enough they would reach the city of Adrar. With a sigh, Xander turned the jeep in the other direction and headed down the less used path. He had a slayer to find and all reports pointed to a slightly nomadic clan that raised sheep for wool and mutton. Hopefully, the people of this clan would speak Arabic or French instead of some traditional language. Xander preferred English since he didn't sound like an idiot when he spoke it unless he was talking to a megabrain like Giles or Willow. But Arabic and French he could at least muddle his way through semi-intelligently.
flash
Xander stood back to back with the youngest of his slayers. Several of the older ones battled the army of Krotaay Demons one on two and one on three in various places about the ruins. Conrad, his main researcher stood on a crumbling rooftop shooting with his long bow as the trio of wiccas stood along his back chanting loudly and hurling magics about. Muhammad and Salim, two ex-soldiers that he had picked up on his adventures were shooting round after round of ammunition into the hell-beasts, aiming for elbows and knees since the only way to kill Krotaay Demons was to remove their heads. Sudden excruciating pain erupted along his left side as his blind spot worked against him once more. Darkness rushed in to fill his vision as his legs wobbled underneath him. The last thing he heard was Alenii cry out a denial and his name.
flash
Xander walked alongside of the old man being pushed in his wheelchair by his youngest granddaughter. General George Hammond had retired from the United States Air Force after many years of exemplary service. When the dark underside of the real world and those that fight against it became common knowledge around the world, it had shaken up many of the current power structures as well as the movers and shakers in those structures. General George was one of those former movers and shakers.
His youngest daughter, Samantha Hammond had married Buffy's old flame Riley Finn. Ri and Sam had had a daughter before Sam Finn had been killed in action. Their daughter, Emily was a potential slayer. When the General had found out the truth he had laboriously pulled himself out of retirement and offered his services to the Watchers and Slayers on the front lines.
Xander, for one, was very grateful. The old man might not be fit for a battlefield anymore, but what he didn't know about running an army or logistics or training forces or staging a battle against superior foes hadn't been invented yet. This was war, the days of secretive guerilla fighting in back alleys was over. They needed his knowledge and experience if they were going to win.
flash
Panic tore through him and his heart pounded in his chest. Emily Finn was pinned down by a Rancor Beast, its slavering jaws snapping over her face as she struggled to keep it from chewing her head off. Not for the first time, Xander cursed himself for getting older and slower. He doubted that he'd make it in time, but he had to try. Lifting his weapon, he shot the Rancor with a combination of electricity and magic in the shoulder. The stench of burning flesh filled the room and the beast lifted its head and roared in anger and pain.
Emily turned her head and saw him charging towards them, his gun spitting magical bolts of lightening and screamed, "Uncle Xan!" The Rancor shifted and stepped on Emily, its claws piercing her chest and side, stealing the voice from her and leaving her whimpering.
Horror flooding his brain, Xander shot the beast again and then threw himself bodily at it, slamming it away from the last surviving member of both the Hammond and Finn families. Both Xander and the Rancor fell away from a weakly struggling Emily, just as slayer reinforcements poured into the room. Hope had just enough time to build in his heart at the sight of his slayers when the Rancor lashed out in panic and pain, snapping its huge and powerful jaws around his right thigh. Xander screamed in agony as it chewed on his knee, leg and hip.
flash
Xander stood at the head of the polished table with the aid of his leg brace and a thick cane. Looking out at the fresh faces of his slayers and the eager and excited faces of his mages, Xander fleetingly wondered if he had ever been that young. He was older now than Giles had been when they had permanently sealed the Sunnydale Hellmouth. He was, in fact, the oldest field Commander in the entire United Slayers Army and he held the largest command in that Army.
It wouldn't be long until he retired from the field and joined the main Council in London. He had two separate successors that he planned to divide his command between. Still, he felt that they could handle the responsibility and the difficulties in dealing with a bunch of teenaged slayers.
This latest idea born in the minds of his mages would, if it worked, provide even more safety for the various slayer encampments around the world. "I like it. This shield spell has got a lot of potential for fortifying permanent encampments a lot easier and faster than the method currently used." Xander grinned as he looked down at the proposal again. "Especially if it really can give us a self-recharging power source instead of having to exhaust a coven of witches that have to travel to each encampment to repower the shields with their own energies on a yearly basis." The mages all beamed with pride.
Just then, Taleyli, a pretty young slayer with caramel skin and simmering blue eyes stormed into the conference room. Shocked looks erupted around the table and an embarrassed guard tripped over his tongue trying to apologize for being unable to stop a slayer in a snit.
"Commander!" her tone made the title an insult, but Xander merely raised up an eyebrow and gestured for her to continue. "How come I was told I wasn't allowed to leave the base and go into town?!" It was less a question than it was a demand.
Sighing, Xander stared at her with a grave frown, "Taleyli, you know very well that the Devon Coven is here to repower our magical shields and that if you want to be able to pass through them without a lot of pain and ritual, you have to be inside them when they go up. We're actually working on a solution to that problem as we speak and if it works out like we hope; we'll be able to modify the shields by next summer so that this problem doesn't creep up again."
A look of extreme annoyance and teenaged angst crossed the young girl's face. "But I have a date! Do you realize how long it took to convince Amar to agree to go out with me?"
Xander had always sympathized with his slayers. They were, after all, simply teenage girls who wanted nothing more than to be allowed to be simple teenage girls. It was not their fault that they were chosen and most would give up that honor if they could. That didn't mean that he would let them do something stupid that could hurt them if he could prevent it.
"I'm sorry Taleyli. The shields can't wait. They are crumpling around us as we speak and the Devon Coven has to repower it tonight. Tell Amar that you'll see him tomorrow night. I'm sure he'll understand. If he doesn't than he's not good enough for you anyway."
Taleyli's face crumpled even more and Xander knew that she would do as he said, but she obviously wasn't happy about it. Her face twisted up in a flare of anger, "I wish that you could know what it was like to be fifteen years old with a twisted and scary destiny that made everyone look at you funny and think you were a freak!"
A burst of flame erupted out of thin air next to Xander and the people around the table jumped to their feet and assumed defensive positions. The flames died away and left D'Hoffryn standing in their place, his head tilted back and laughing. "Oh, hellfires, I've waited a long time to hear someone wish vengeance on you, boy."
Xander turned his head slowly around to face his old time nemesis and was gratified to see the look of regretful horror growing on Taleyli's face. Finishing his turn, Xander looked upon the gray skinned and horned Demon Lord with the long and bound beard. "Hello, D'Hoffryn."
The demon just chuckled, reached out and laid one gentle hand on Xander's shoulder and smirked at the young slayer. "Wish granted, young lady." Then the world dissolved in a swirl of hellfire.
flash
The gray featureless plains of Arashmaha swam into focus as rain began to pour down on Xander as endless green lightening scorched the sky. "What are we doing here?"
D'Hoffryn quirked a small grin at Xander and shrugged. "Granted, it has been a long time since you've been to my home dimension, but I'm glad that you remembered it. And the reason we are here is because I need to…change you a bit. Taleyli did specify she wanted you to be fifteen years old. I little subtle for her, but then again, I doubt that she understands just how horrific that could turn out to be. There are a few other changes that I'm going to make in you, boy…but that's more for myself and…another who you'll meet soon enough."
Xander took a step back and leaned on his cane heavily as his knee threatened to buckle under him. "Now wait a moment here. We have a truce! No wishing. No vengeance!"
D'Hoffryn shook his head and tutted. "The truce states that I won't kill you or your slayers and you won't go around killing my minions. It says nothing about what I'm about to do to you." The Demon Lord smirked smugly, "Don't worry; it will only be agonizing for a short while. I should be finished with altering you in just a few short human years. No more than ten, at least."
Xander startled as panic began forming in his chest. "What?!" Chuckling, D'Hoffryn merely raised his hand and waved it in an odd gesture towards Xander and his world exploded in pain.
"Whoa!"
Doctor Jackson's awe tinged voice pulled everyone's attention even as the last of the images faded away. Everyone sat there in various stages of shock, including the young teen on the bed. George flicked the switch on the microphone.
"What was all of that?"
After a brief pause Doctor Fraiser answered him, "That was Commander Harris' response to Colonel O'Neill's question about who he was. These were the memories triggered by that question. My guess is that those memories," she directed a questioning look at the teen hooked up to the machine, "are events in his life that helped him define who and what he is."
Harris spared her a quick glance to nod in affirmation of her guess and then went back to looking at the glass panel with a mixture of distrust and amazement. "This reminds me of a mind scanning spell I've seen performed."
"What?!" Colonel O'Neill barely had time to get the question out when the machine powered up again.
flash
Xander watched the slime encrusted chaos demon that was strapped down to the chair in the dirty stone tomb. Several of his slayers guarded the door and stood in various strategic spots around the room. A wiccan stood on either side of the demon chanting softly, each one with a hand touching its temple and the other hand waving a small brass incense burner.
"Tell me, Chomash…where did your master hide the Jewel of Pyrscilta?"
The chaos demon stuttered and murmured denial of any knowledge, promising that it was ignorant and would never lie even as an image of a bat-faced and cloven-hoofed ancient master vampire holding the Jewel in its clawed hands appeared on the wall behind it.
Harris flushed slightly and shrugged at the slowly fading glass panel. "Sorry about that."
George watched Colonel O'Neill, Doctor Jackson and Johnny O'Neill all exchange confused and slightly concerned glances with each other before Johnny finally leaned forward and reassuringly patted Harris on the arm. "It's okay. Unexpected, but okay. It's just strange to see the same results from a… technology that's so different than the one we use."
"Um…" Everyone turned to look at Doctor Jackson. His head was tilted slightly and his face was a picture. It was clear to everyone that even though he was uncertain how to proceed, his curiosity was pushing him to find the answers to all of the questions swirling around in his brain. Finally giving up finding a natural way to segue into his topic of choice, Doctor Jackson simply frowned, glanced at his notes and then stuck out his chin with determination. "There was mention in the reports that you gave us as well as…Johnny's report that mentioned something called a, um…" another quick glance down at his notes, "…uh, a-a Hellmouth. What… what is a Hellmouth? Exactly."
That question caused a strangely bitter-sweet expression to flash across Harris' face before it melted into one of tired resignation. The softly spoken word, "Home" was barely heard before the glass once again began showing a slew of images.
flash
Tired and filled with an odd sense of hope that the future would be better and feeling recharged after his financially disastrous but wonderfully demon-free summer road trip to Oxnard, Xander drove past the big Welcome to Sunnydale sign and smiled. "Home, sweet Hellmouth." A wry chuckle escaped his lips, " I'm back…"
flash
Xander glanced through the doors of the library and watched in dismay as Willow, Jenny Calendar and Giles battled against the many tentacled Guardian of the Hellmouth while Buffy, Faith and Angel fought against the Sisterhood of the Jhe. Part of him wanted to dash in there and protect those that he considered to be his family, but he knew that he couldn't. He was needed elsewhere.
Heart heavy in his chest, Xander turned and raced down the corridor until he reached the door to the basement. Tearing down the stairs, he ran to the boiler room door and barged in only to see O'Toole completing the last steps of arming the bomb. If that bomb went off, nothing would be able to stop the Hellmouth from opening.
flash
Pain lanced through his head in burning spikes that threatened to leave him emptying his stomach contents all over himself. The only thing that kept his stomach under control was his incredible worry that Buffy wouldn't make it to the bus in time. How could she when Sunnydale itself was being sucked into the Hellmouth all around them as they raced desperately to outrun its unholy influence. Suddenly, the loud bang of Buffy's body hitting the bus echoed through the vehicle and Xander's head and he didn't even breathe a sigh of relief because his attention suddenly snapped to watching his entire world being pulled inexorably into Hell.
flash
Xander leaned back in his chair, his one remaining eye closed in resignation as the tiny magical hologram of Giles stood on his desk and confirmed everyone's worst fear. "First Cleveland and then Rome. Now the Cairo Hellmouth is showing distinct signs of becoming active. We're not sure if the remaining Hellmouths gathering energy is the result of Sunnydale being shut down or if it's the result of the Slayer Activation."
Xander groaned and opened his eye, shooting a seriously grave look at his mentor. "Giles…Sodom took out an entire ancient people. Pompey took out a volcano. Neither Hellmouth shutting down did more than activate one dormant Hellmouth, though. We've got three that are active. My money is on the Powers doing their bit to restore the balance we tipped when we activated thousands of slayers all over the globe."
The hologram of Giles paused a moment and then nodded. He pulled off his glasses and polished them with a soft cloth. Slowly, he put them back on and looked out at Xander, his expression just as dark as the man behind the desk. "Yes. I do believe that you are correct."
"Um…" Harris shook his head and a look of concentration filled his face. "Let me… let me try something. Maybe I can try and direct this thing to the memories that will help you best."
"Oh…okay. Give it a try." Doctor Jackson's face studied the glass panel intently.
flash
Xander sat in the library with Buffy and Willow as Giles stood in front of them in his favorite tweed jacket frowning, an old dusty book in his hands. "Xander. Willow." Giles' voice was stern, but not angry. "You are aware of Buffy's status as a-a slayer and what her destiny entails. What you may not be aware of is that this town has been built-upon a-a Hellmouth."
Giles placed the book down on the table and pulled off his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose briefly. Sighing, he put them back on and began to pace slightly as he spoke, "A Hellmouth is a location of-of mystical convergence. It's a thinning in the barriers that separate the various dimensions, particularly the lower and in-infernal dimensions."
There was a tension filled pause before Willow's timid voice squeaked out a strangled, "You mean HELL, hell?"
Giles stopped his pacing and pivoted to face them all again. "Precisely. The Hellmouth is closed now, but it does have a strong influence on the area. Demons and vampires are attracted to its dark pull. Magics are twisted and darkened by its aura. Many beings of demonic decent often wish to-to open it and release the more powerful and deadly beasts which reside in the infernal realms. It is a grave and deadly job to guard against that. That is the slayer's true destiny."
Colonel O'Neill cleared his throat in the silence that followed. "Okay…that was sorta grim and dramatic. If vague."
Doctors Jackson and Fraiser glared at him even as Harris grinned and shrugged. Colonel O'Neill made an expression that clearly asked, 'what did I do?' even as young Johnny snorted in what could either be amusement or agreement.
"Sorry Colonel. I grew up on the most active Hellmouth of the last five thousand years and then after blowing it to Kingdom Come, I spent the rest of my life training warriors to fight on the Hellmouths that became active after it. To me, it's just normal life and explaining it would be like trying to describe sunlight to someone who has spent their entire life in an underground cave." Harris shook his head lightly and offered up a lopsided grin that contrasted the seriousness in his dark eyes. "It's funny for me to watch those who are sensitive to mystical emanations step into the area of influence of a Hellmouth for the first time. They usually are horrified and rub at their skin as if they itch or feel dirty. Nightmares, paranoia and random tremors are normal behavior until they have adjusted. Me? Stepping onto a Hellmouth feels like home and I'm usually jittery if I'm away from one for too long." A slight pause and a shrug. "It's the same for everyone else who was conceived and born within the power radius of a Hellmouth. Theory is that we're…changed by it on a metaphysical level by coming into being within its twisted and reality warping area of effect."
George flipped the switch on his microphone even as Major Carter shifted uneasily next to him. "Commander Harris, are you currently suffering from any symptoms from being in our reality? As far as we know, there are no…Hellmouths connecting this reality with other dimensions."
The glass panel flickered to life with images, but Harris ignored it and answered him. "Actually, I think that was part of what D'Hoffryn did to change me while I was in Arashmaha. He knew that my destination was this timeline and that the Hellmouths had never been created here. I, like most of the Hellmouth born, seem to thrive on the infernal emanations that radiate from a Hellmouth. Myself more so than most, but I think that's just because I've spent the better part of fifty-eight years living and fighting on one Hellmouth or another. To answer your question though, I feel fine. I feel as if I'm on a Hellmouth…sort of."
flash
Xander was strapped to a cold damp blood-stained stone altar by cackling imps even as several low-level Vengeance Demons began to chant and dance around him with stilted and almost formal movements. Xander wasn't sure what they were doing exactly, but he suddenly was paralyzed, all his muscles locked into place. The hair on his head and all along his body stood on end as mystical energy rose up around him, crackling along his limbs.
Then D'Hoffryn was there, reciting some arcane spell in his native language, the words painful to Xanders' ears and grating down his spine. The Demon Lord lifted up a chalice etched with runes and an oddly stylistic paint brush. Green lightening flashed from the sky and hit the chalice. The chanting became louder and faster as the demonic dancers twisted and swirled around them. With a grim smile, D'Hoffryn dipped the brush into the chalice and then reached down to begin painting symbols and demonic words on Xanders' body. He didn't know what type of ink was in the chalice, but it burned his skin like acid.
Xander did the only thing he could with his throat paralyzed and mentally screamed inside his own mind.
"I… I see." George shared a look with Colonel Ferretti that spoke eloquently of recognizing torture when they see it. Harris seemed to shrug it off, but in George's experience, it was only a matter of time until the boy – no the man trapped inside of a teenage body needed to come to terms with what was done to him against his will.
He nodded down to his 2IC. "Continue, Colonel O'Neill."
Harris shifted his attention to the Colonel, but the Colonel himself was looking up at George in the observation room. He seemed to be slightly pained and when he turned back to face the young man on the bed, he screwed up his face into his classic 'I can't believe I'm going to actually say this' expression that SG1 all new so well. Reaching up with one hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, Colonel O'Neill sighed before abruptly throwing an exasperated glare at the visitor.
"Okay. Tell me about…" his face twisted in distaste, "demons."
flash
Faith was fighting one of the Sisterhood of the Jhe at the mouth of an alley. She was loosing, badly. Xander had a brief vision of his father and his uncle Rory yelling at him and calling him names, but he pushed that out of his mind. Shoving the car into gear, Xander slammed his foot on the gas and aimed right at the Jhe Demon.
flash
The Polgara was huge, at least seven feet tall. It didn't move very fast, but it was tough and hard to take down. Buffy was twirling and leaping around it, battering it with hit after kick after punch. It barely seemed to notice her, let alone that she was slowly herding it towards the back of the alley. Meanwhile, Xander stood off to the right side of the alley with Giles guarding the left. Each of them carried a heavy crossbow with poisoned bolts incase it managed to get around the slayer. Willow and Tara were in the back of the alley hurriedly putting together the spell that would trap the Polgara and render it unconscious.
flash
Xander burst into Spike's crypt only to find Clem sitting back on Spike's favorite chair, eating nachos and watching a documentary on tuna fishing. His saggy blue skin and floppy blue ears peaking out from under his woolen cap looked particularly frightening in the harsh glare of the old television. Clem turned to face him with wide eyes and trembling limbs until his recognized his friend's friend.
"Oh, uh…hey Xander. Spike's not here right now. He's out collecting kittens to pay off his poker debts. I'm…uh, crypt sitting." Clem smiled and held up the nachos. "Wanna join me in watching some thrilling fishing?"
He sweetened the deal. "I've got nachos and lemonade."
flash
"Ahn?"
She turned around; her gameface all wrinkled and twisted and her teeth razor sharp in her smile. Slowly her gameface melted away to reveal the beautiful features that he still loved so well.
"Oh, it's you." She frowned as she walked over to him and placed her hands on her hip. "I suppose that I should forgive you for leaving me at the altar like the scum-sucking man you are since I've been forbidden from seeking vengeance upon you. Which is a good thing for you or choice bits of you would have fallen off and you would currently have ear hair long enough to braid."
She stomped her foot and waved her hands in the air with frustration. "It wouldn't even be so bad if it weren't for the fact that I still love you, you dweeb!"
Xander smiled sadly and reached out for her. He dropped his hand back to his side before he could touch her, his dark eyes watery. "I still love you too, Ahn. I always will love you."
He started to turn away, "That doesn't mean I'll ever be good for you though…"
flash
Bart screamed like a girl and danced away from the opening of the cave. Xander had one brief second to be glad that it wasn't him who had freaked out in such as embarrassing way. Then a huge freaky half giant spider half hungry demon scrambled quickly along the wall of the cave and leaped out of it and into the middle of his slayers, mages and warriors. They all leapt back, many of them shrieking. Xander let out a high pitched, "Whoa momma!"
Weapons in hand, spells on the tips of tongues, they fanned out to circle it as it skittered around on it's eight long black and grossly hairy legs. "Xan…what is it?"
"I don't know."
"Uh…how do we kill it?"
Xander looked at the spider demon and considered. It was huge, at least four feet tall with foot long fangs that dripped some type of pale green slime. Coal black multifaceted eyes sat in various places along its oddly shaped head and it was chittering loudly. Perhaps it was trying to talk to them…more likely it was calling to its friends about the good eats it had found.
"Not sure, try the basics; fire, decapitation and dismemberment. If we can flip it on its back, those legs might not be any use to it. Watch out though, it's fast, can walk on walls…possibly ceilings. And for God's sake, don't get bit. That slime is probably venomous."
As the last image slowly began to fade from the glass panel, Colonel Ferretti breathed out a soft whistle. "Damn. Either this kid is a delusional lunatic or his world is one seriously dangerous place."
"Indeed." Teal'c paused briefly to frown deeply. "I also find it disturbing that so many young females are on the front line of this war Commander Harris' home reality is embroiled in. Many of them can not be any older than Dr. Fraiser's daughter Cassandra."
George merely sat quietly and considered all that he had seen and heard so far while their guest took a quick break for a glass of water. He was polite as he apologized for delaying the proceedings as the drug given him to aid the memory recovery device was making him slightly dehydrated. Harris' pale face and haunted eyes spoke of another story however. Dr Jackson seemed a little fidgety and impatient, but even he seemed to realize that these memories were painful for Harris to relive. George made a mental note to speak to Dr. Fraiser and Jonathan about the possibility of Harris suffering nightmares.
Dr. Jackson clearing his throat pulled everyone's attention back to the business at hand. A brief glance at her monitor followed by a curt nod from Dr. Fraiser indicated that all was in readiness.
"Yes, um…" Dr Jackson consulted his notes, "There was mention in Agent O'Neill's report about…un, vampires and slayers. What exactly can you tell us about them?"
flash
Giles stood in front of a small wooden lectern with Willow, Kennedy & Dawn seated in chairs behind him. Xander relaxed against the side wall watching over the third group of slayers and support staff that he had brought back to England from his roving quests to seek out all the activated potentials. This particular group consisted of two slayers, three magic-users and three non-empowered humans that wanted to be Watchers or demon-hunters. They had gotten the Xander-version of this speech, but Giles liked to greet every group personally and make sure that they all understand the truth of the world.
Clearing his throat, Giles began. "The world is older than scientists believe and unlike what most religious sects would tell us, it was not a paradise. Demons ruled here on Earth. This world was their Hell, their home. Than the humans came.
Unlike the beasts and animals that the demons used for food and sport, humans fought back with weapons, magic and logic. Despite all their effort, however, humans were loosing the war against the demons. Their greatest mages all gathered and came up with a plan to create a super-powered warrior, one who could defeat the demons with extraordinary strength, speed and battle prowess.
They chose a young girl. She became the first slayer, the one destined to drive the demons out of our world. She lived, she fought and then eventually, she died.
When she died the power of the slayer found a new girl and the destiny to protect humanity from the demons fell upon the shoulders of this girl. She also lived and fought and died. Then the slayer spirit found a third girl. It has been this way since the first slayer that when one girl dies, the next is called."
Giles paused a moment and glanced over at Willow briefly before speaking again. "Until now, that is. Two years ago, we changed that. One of the oldest and most powerful evils made a bid to return to this world and reclaim it. In order to stop this evil, we were able to activate the slayer spirit in all the girls that held that potential within them. Where before there was only one girl in all the world, now there are hundreds.
flash
Giant tentacles were swinging through the air as the Guardian of the Hellmouth battled everyone at once. Willow, Cordelia, Giles and Ms. Calendar fought desperately just to stay alive and all of them were sporting cuts and bruises or worse. Above the library, on the roof, Buffy battled the Master. Chaos ruled. Then suddenly the skylight shattered raining glittering shards of glass down into the library as the Master fell to his death, impaled on a broken bit of wood. Everyone paused in shock to goggle at the sight when the Master's body exploded into ash leaving only his burnt skeleton behind.
flash
Jesse. His best friend and his brother. His link to happiness and sanity. His other half slowly dissolved in a soft shower of gently drifting ash swirling around his feet in the confusion of the Bronze. The hand holding the stake began to shake. He had dusted Jesse.
flash
Buffy and Kendra stood side by side, both gripping stakes and poised on the edge of violence. "Two Slayers." Twin grins. "No waiting."
flash
Xander sat on a headstone in the middle of a graveyard with Willow next to him. He held a bag of potato-chips that the two were sharing. With an excited gasp, Willow pointed. Looking up from his snack, Xander watched as Buffy ran and jumped, flipping over the head of the leader of the vampire gang only to land lightly on her feet between him and two of his minions. She quickly spun on one foot while kicking the leader away with the other. Another spin in the opposite direction left one minion dusted and the other flying through the air curtsey of a solid punch to the jaw.
"Ooo, and that's another three points for team slayer. The Buffster is wiping the floor with these guys. I hate to say it, but team vamp just doesn't have any quality players this season. Don't you agree, Wils?"
Willow grinned up at him nodding enthusiastically. "That's because they're all big poopyheads."
flash
Xander watched silently from behind a row of hedges and trees as Spike tried to calm a frightened and half-hysterical girl who had been called as a slayer only three weeks before. No one blamed her for being freaked out. She was painfully young at the age of thirteen and she was orphaned by vampires that attacked her home the very night she was called.
"Look, pet. Vampires, for the most part, are dumb brutish thugs that have very little going for them. They're just blood-demons that have animated a corpse. The person, the soul that had once been that person, is gone. I know this for fact, because I've got both and so I, more than anyone, know the difference. Vampires are stronger, faster and much more violent than any human. They're also usually pretty dumb, over arrogant and lack patience. You're a slayer and that means that you are just as strong, fast and deadly. You just need to learn how to out think them and you can beat them. Remember that Slayer; your greatest weapon against the demons is your brain and your heart."
The teary eyed little girl looked up into the compassionate eyes of the blond killer next to her and sobbed, "But why me!? I don't want this! Why me!?"
Xander and Spike shared a look of heartbreak over her head even as the souled vampire pulled her into his arms and let her cry on his shoulder. "Why not you, pet? Who would you chose to carry your burden for you?"
It was painfully quiet both down in the lab and up in the observation booth as everyone tried to absorb what they had seen. Little girls tapped by ancient magics to become mystical warriors against horrors invading from distant dimensions. It was unfair and cruel and each of them would have loved to step backwards in time and strangle those long dead mages who cursed thousands of generations of young girls with such a horrifying fate.
Finally George gathered himself together enough to flip the toggle on the intercom. "I think that we've seen enough with Hathor's Memory Viewer. I'm sure Commander Harris would like a break from this. It's a difficult thing to relive ones memories and these have proven to be harsh ones." He ignored everyone's slight noises and nods of agreement and gazed down at the old soldier trapped in a child's body. "While this procedure has confirmed the initial reports given about your home world and how you arrived here Commander, its' also brought up a whole host of questions. I'd like to meet with everyone in the conference room first thing tomorrow morning so that we can answer those questions."
A chorus of 'Yes, sir' and 'Yes, General' washed over him as he flipped off the intercom and stood up. With one last long look at Harris down in the lab, George turned on his heels as headed for the door. "Colonel, you're with me."
Everyone was gathered in the conference room waiting for Agent O'Neill and Teal'c to escort their guest in. Everyone had copies of all the reports written so far.
Finally the door opened and the three men walked in. Teal'c was as impassive and difficult to read as ever, but both Harris and Jonathan looked slightly rumpled and they had dark circles under their eyes that spoke eloquently of sleep loss. With a gesture, George directed them to the end of the table where three chairs awaited them. Once they were all seated, George stood up.
"Commander Harris, first let me start out by saying that I believe you when you say that you did not arrive in our reality by choice. I also believe you when you say that you don't mean anyone in this reality any harm."
He paused a moment to let that sink in and only continued after Harris nodded his understanding. "That said; there are several issues that we must all deal with. First, while we will continue to research the matter, at the current time we do not have any reliable way to send you back to your own timeline. The device that we do know about that can open portals to other realities is not under our control and to be honest, you wouldn't want those people to be aware of your existence here."
A throat delicately clearing over to his right drew his attention. "You have something to add to that Major?"
"Yes, sir." Major Carter took in a deep breath and blew it out again, obviously gathering her thoughts. "I've studied the mirror closely when Kalawsky and… the other me came through it last time. While it did give access to many alternate realities, they were all variations on a theme. That theme was the SGC. It's possible that it can only reach those realities that are closest to us or connect to this one in some way. Each of those realities we've found had a split in the timeline within a fifty-year span." She flashed an apologetic look down the table at their guest. "If what the alien D'Hoffryn claimed was correct, the break in our reality from Commander Harris' happened over a hundred-thousand years ago. The mirror might not even be able to connect to a reality that far away."
There was a brief pause during which George watched what little hope had sprung up in Harris' eyes dimmed again. Frowning, he looked down at the table and then back up again.
"Thank you, Major. It wouldn't hurt to review your notes on the device and I can make some discreet inquires to see if Area 51 was able to determine anything else since they took charge of it." He looked around at the rest of his staff before resting his eyes on Harris. "However, I believe that it is a slim chance at best and that we should concentrate on planning for the long term."
"Uh... General." Everyone turned their attention to Colonel O'Neill. He was tapping his pen on the top paper in the report in front of him. "I did some digging like you asked. The preliminary report made by Dr Fraiser's staff was correct. Harris here was never even born in this reality. He doesn't exist here, so we don't have to worry about the Cascading Entenmanns thingy."
Harris leaned over towards Jonathan and mouthed 'Cascading Entenmanns?' and got a half-shrug and a nod in reply. Major Carter took pity on their guest.
"I think the Colonel means Entropic Cascade Failure. It is a phenomenon that occurs when two copies of the same person try to exist in the same alternate reality at the same time. Essentially, the universe tries to correct the problem by erasing the copy."
A strange expression washed over Harris' face then. It was a mix of fear and resignation. "Does that mean that the universe is going to try to erase me? 'Cause I have to tell you, so not wanting to be wiped off the blackboard."
"Nah." Colonel O'Neill shook his head. "You're safe kid. That's what I was looking for in the public records, to see if there was an Alexander Harris running around somewhere. Unless you didn't tell us the truth about who you are and when you were born?" One graying eyebrow rose up in question.
Harris nodded and grinned. "No, it was the truth. My mom was born Jessica Lavelle and my dad was Tony Harris."
Colonel O'Neill nodded. "Well, I did find Tony Harris." He flashed an apologetic look at their guest. "I'm sorry kid, but the only information I could find on a Jessica Lavelle says that she died childless many years ago in a car accident."
An unreadable look flashed quickly over Harris' face. Too quick for George to read it before it was replaced by a quick forced grin and a nod of his head in the Colonel's direction. Taking a deep breath, George pulled the meeting back on track.
"While I am sorry about Ms. Lavelle's untimely death, it does make it easier that we don't have to worry about Entropic Cascade Failure." Looking up at Harris, George's eyes soften in sympathy. "I'm having a full set of identification papers drawn up for you Commander. However, you are in the same boat as Agent O'Neill here."
Ignoring everyone's eyes flickering over to the young clone of his 2IC George continued. "While your mind reflects your true age with memories that reach back over five decades, all medical exams show that your body is less than two decades old." He shuffled his papers briefly until he found the one he was searching for and briefly re-read the report. "According to Dr. Fraiser, medically you appear to be around the age of fifteen or sixteen years." His voice softened in apology, "And I have to be honest and tell you that anyone who looks at you is going to believe that you are exactly what you look like; a teenaged boy."
Sighing, George put the report back down on the stack of papers and looked directly at Harris. "With that in mind, I would like you to enroll in the local High School along with Agent O'Neill. It will keep you close to the base in case of emergencies and hopefully you can provide another set of eyes keeping watch over the children of the staff here at the SGC as well as act as back up for O'Neill in the event of one of our enemies attempting to get to us through those children."
Harris' eyebrows almost hit his hairline even as a confused "What?" left his lips. Jonathan reached out and rested a calming hand on Harris' shoulder.
"Hey, it's okay. Look, High School sucks eggs. It always has and it always will. The teacher's are misinformed and the students are clueless. It's also an important assignment." Jonathan jutted his chin out towards Dr. Fraiser. "Doc's kid was snatched once by a rouge group calling themselves the NID. We got her back in one piece, but it's always a worry that they'll try that again. And the doc isn't the only person here will a kid at Springs High. I was planning on taking a tour of the world until I could re-apply to the USAF Academy when the General asked me to enroll at the Springs and watch over the kids."
There was a long moment with Harris staring directly into Jonathan's eyes as if he could look right into the other young man's heart and soul. Finally, with a weary sigh Harris nodded. "Yeah. Okay. I can't promise to pass science class…but I'll do it."
Jonathan nodded sharply once. "Its important work, as big a drag as it seems at times. They're good kids and they deserve to have someone watching their six."
George waited for a brief moment to let the tension bleed out of the room before speaking again. "That brings us to our second issue; the reason that the alien D'Hoffryn brought you to us in the first place."
Sighing and shaking his head briefly, Harris looked slightly lost and confused. "To be honest, General. I don't know. He said that he had been looking for a way to get someone from my world here for a while. It wasn't until a specific wish was made – one in each reality really, that he could work enough magic to get me here." Harris shrugged lightly and gazed into the middle distance as he gathered his thoughts. "D'Hoffryn said this reality had extremely limited magic and almost no links to any of the infernal realms. While he is powerful enough on his own to come here himself, he wouldn't be able to tap into any ambient or latent magics. He was forced to use what magic was his and his alone. As powerful as he is, that is very limiting… at least for a being that is used to having the ability to draw upon the infernal magics of an entire hell dimension."
Harris' eyes lost their hazy expression and he focused intently upon George. "I don't know his full reasons for wanting me here, only what he told me. And while D'Hoffryn has never lied to me, he's also pretty well known for never telling the whole tale or twisting it just enough to serve his own purposes. He claimed that the seers of good, evil and neutrality were all seeing the same event; the destruction of the human race. He also claimed that this destruction couldn't be stopped because it originated in a separate reality – this one. Apparently, if the danger isn't stopped here, in the reality it begins in, it will sweep across all of the timelines."
George nodded. That's what he understood the reports to say. "What is this danger that he believes that you can stop?"
Harris sighed and shook his head frowning. "I don't know. He said that it came from the stars, but that he didn't have any more information on it. The only thing that he could tell us was that it is something that I have been trained to deal with and that no one here could. What that thing is, he didn't say or didn't know."
George took a deep breath and looked down at the reports on that table in front of him for a long moment, thinking. Finally he looked up and nodded. "Okay, folks. This is what we're going to do. Once we get the identification papers for Commander Harris here finalized, we're going to enroll him in Springs High. Agent O'Neill can brief him later about the assignment there and who to protect and what to watch for. Dr Jackson, I'd also like you to work with the Commander to try and get as detailed a history on him and his reality as possible. If something he has encountered before will provide us clues on what this mysterious danger is and how to counter it, then I want to know what that is." He took a brief moment to look around at everyone, "When Dr Jackson has that information documented, I want the rest of you to pour over it and compare it to everything that we've run across so far just in case this danger has already shown itself and we just didn't recognize it."
Taking one last look around and suppressing a vague worry that things were going to take a turn for the worse, General George Hammond closed the cover on his report and stood up. "Dismissed, people."
END – HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING