A/N: This was going to be a much larger chapter, but I decided to split it up so I could get in an update and to also make the reading load less of a hassle for you guys.
Buffy could still feel a slight tingle in her head from getting hit by The First Slayer as she approached Giles' house. She figured he might have an idea as to who or what The First was referring to.
"Wait! Don't move that!" Buffy hears Giles shout from inside his house followed by the sound of a crash.
Buffy kicks the front door open and sprints inside...only to see Anya standing idly over a huge pile of books cluttering the floor.
"Hi Buffy," Anya waves as if nothing happened.
"Umm...hi Anya. Where's Giles. I heard him yell and..." a muffled groan answers Buffy's question. "He's under the books isn't he?"
"Yes, but I am alright. I think I'll just lay here for a while," Giles says.
"Oh Giles. Such a kidder," Anya chuckles.
"While you're lying there Giles, I have to tell you that The First Slayer visited me in my dreams last night," Buffy informs him.
"What?" Giles sits straight up from the book pile and straightens his glasses.
"That...shouldn't be possible. The spell we used to invoke her essence has long since expired. Whatever connection you shared should've expired with it."
"Guess Silena..."
"It's Sineya," Giles corrects.
"Whatever. Guess she didn't get the memo. She came to me with a warning. Some great evil known as Shao Kahn. That's about all she told me before hitting me so hard it snapped me awake."
"Kahn...now why does that name sound so familiar to me?" Anya asks herself.
"Before you say anything, it's not The Wrath of-"
"KHAAAAAAANNNNNNN!" Xander shouts just outside the door. So loud, in fact, that Giles falls back into the pile of books behind him from being startled.
"Xander! Don't scare me like that!" Buffy shouts at her goofy friend.
"Sorry. I just can't resist shouting that when the title or name is spoken, Buff. It's tradition amongst Star Trek fans...what's Giles doing?"
"Thinking over my life up until this point," Giles mutters.
"Exactly what are you doing here Xander?" Buffy asks him.
"Tara and Willow sent me as the errand boy to pick up some of the things they need for a protection spell. They're going to put one around the hospital like they did for your house. What are YOU doing here? Don't you have a date to get ready for?"
"It's not a-"
"Buffy has a date?" Anya asks surprised. "Wow. The post Riley depression was pretty short lived...Willow so owes me 30 bucks."
"For what?" Buffy asks.
"We bet on how long it'd take for you to get over Riley leaving you," Anya bluntly answers.
"He didn't leave me. It was a mutual thing and...Willow bet I'd take longer?"
"Pretty much," Anya says with a shrug. Buffy runs a hand down her face and heads for the door.
"If any other weird Slayer dreams hit me about this Shao Kahn guy, I'll let you know, Giles," Buffy informs him.
"I'll see if there's anything on him in any of my books," Giles says pushing himself out of the pile for a second time.
"Enjoy your date!" Anya calls out.
"For the last time, it is not a date!"
"It is totally a date Smallville," Lois says.
"No it isn't Lois," Clark denies.
"Do you even know what a date is?" Lois asks.
"Yes. I've been on them before, Lois," Clark says crossing his arms.
"Besides with Lana?" Chloe asks. Clark opens his mouth to answer.
"And those two other times with Alicia," she adds reading his mind. Clark shuts his mouth.
"Oh my God Clark. Even during your Lana-less years you barely tried something else out? How are you going to know your type if you won't give something else a shot. Newsflash, Smallville. Lana at the end of the day is just a girl like me...only not as awesome."
"Lois," Chloe says playfully hitting her cousin's arm.
"What? Someone has to be upfront with him about this," Lois defends herself. Clark just sighs.
"Look Clark. Just be yourself...well take out a little bit of the weirdness, and it's smooth sailing for you."
"You know, in her own Lois-ish way she is trying to be nice," Chloe sighs and Clark laughs.
"I'll see you guys later," he says and heads out the door. After a minute, Chloe and Lois look at one another.
"Want to follow him in a few minutes to make sure nothing goes wrong?" Lois asks.
"Oh yeah," Chloe answers.
Smallville
Lana's eyes snap open to a blinding white light. She shuts them and tries to hold her aching head, but can feel something inside of her arms.
"-na?" She hears a muffled voice. "La-." There it is again. Lana struggles to focus. "Lana? It's me. Mrs. Kent." Lana slowly opens her eyes at that name.
The white light fades away at an agonizingly slow pace. Lana feels as if her eyes might fry out of their sockets, but feels if she closes them once more she won't try to open them again.
"Lana?" The light dies out and Lana strains her eyes to bring Mrs. Kent into focus.
"Mrs...Mrs. Kent," Lana groans. She now sees a few more wires connected to her body.
"Oh thank God. I was starting to get worried...well more worried than I already was," she sighs.
"What-what happened?" Lana asks unable to sit up any longer. She feels herself almost float back down onto her bed.
"You're guess is as good as mine. I was at The Talon when I heard you scream. I ran to your room and found you lying unconscious on the floor. By the time you were brought in to the hospital your vital signs were only at half strength. I...I almost thought you were dead, Lana."
"Don't worry about me, Mrs. Kent," Lana says as the world continues to spin for her. "I-I'm not dying anytime soon."
"Do you remember anything at all about what happened to you yesterday?" Martha asks. Lana opens her mouth to answer, but faintly sees Sindel floating behind Martha. She shakes her head before disappearing.
"No," Lana lies. "Nothing at all. At least not right now." Mrs. Kent doesn't look like she believes Lana in the slightest.
"Alright," Martha says, however, deciding not to press the situation. "Well I'll let you get your sleep. I'm glad you're still with us," she says with a kind smile and exits the room.
When she leaves, Sindel fades back into the room.
"My apologies Lana," she says genuinely sounding concerned.
"What the Hell did you do to me?" Lana quietly asks, but faints again before Sindel can give an answer.
Clark super speeds into an alley across the street from the ice cream shop he is supposed to meet Buffy at. Buffy's standing outside the shop waiting for him. Before heading out of the alley, Clark takes a deep breath and starts to walk out only to be caught off guard by a swift gust of wind.
"Bart now is not a good time," Clark informs his too fast for his own good friend.
"What? Can't a guy say hi to his friend?" Bart chuckles.
"I'm meeting someone actually and I'd like to not be late," Clark says to shake him off.
"Wait, wait, wait. You're meeting someone? Are you meeting a girl?" He asks and smiles at Clark's hesitancy to answer.
"You totally are! Finally breaking free of Lana, huh? Well I won't hold you up. I've got some things to take care of in town anyway. Catch you later and good luck," and Bart is gone in a flash.
Clark looks back across the street, takes another deep breath, and jogs across the street.
"Hey!" He calls to Buffy.
"12 o'clock on the dot. Nice to see you aren't the kind of guy to keep someone waiting," Buffy compliments. Clark smiles and they enter the shop together.
"You could say it's one of my powers," Clark jokes earning a smile from Buffy as they order their ice cream.
Buffy orders cookie dough. Clark at first goes for vanilla like he typically does, but instead opts for cherry. After paying for their ice cream (Clark, being the gentleman that he is, pays for both), Clark takes a spoonful, shrugs his shoulders and takes a bite. His eyes widen at just how delicious the cherry flavor is and immediately goes for another spoonful and another and another.
"Wow take it easy there. We're only a few feet away from the shop," Buffy laughs. "Haven't seen anyone eat that quick since...well me."
"Sorry. I've just never eaten this flavor. I normally always go for vanilla," Clark explains forcing himself to stop before he finishes the whole thing at once.
"What made you change you mind this go around?" Buffy asks eating at a slightly quick pace as well.
"Let's just say I have a very outspoken friend," Clark answers.
"I have less an outspoken friend and more and outspoken fre-nemy who is thoroughly convinced my life is in danger," Buffy comments.
"You sound real concerned," Clark states sarcastically.
"I'm The Slayer. My life's always in danger."
"...Slayer?" Clark asks and Buffy stops walking.
"Right. I forgot that's what we came her for. To talk about each other's stories. We'll since I said my title first I guess I should go on."
"I always let the lady go first...unless it's my friend Lois," Clark jokes.
"Quite the gentleman...sort of," Buffy laughs as does Clark. They walk to a more secluded area where no one can hear their conversation and start to talk.
"I'm what people in my world call The Slayer. Well officially the title is Vampire Slayer, but I've fought so many things outside of vamps that Slayer is more fitting," Buffy explains a little surprised at how easy she was able to reveal this to someone she didn't know. "I know this probably sounds absurd."
"Not really. You see I'm...not exactly from around here," Clark says.
"...Oh God. Please tell me you aren't a demon sent here to kill me because I was..."
"I'm not a...demon," Clark interrupts. "I'm, well, an alien. Actually I prefer intergalactic traveler..."
"An alien? But there are no such thi-...that would be hypocritical of me to say wouldn't it?" Buffy laughs.
"I wouldn't say that. Even as a being from another world, I find it hard to believe in certain things and I've seen a lot since high school," Clark replies.
"Well if you are really an al...intergalactic traveler, why are you on a planet as boring as Earth? Well it's not boring, but in every sci-fi film Xander's forced me to sit through, Earth is always so primitive to every other planet out there."
"From what I vaguely know of my home planet, yes Earth is indeed primitive," Clark jokes, which Buffy laughs at. "But Earth is my home now and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Especially since there isn't anything for me to travel back to."
"Wait...do you mean...?"
"Yeah. My home planet is gone. One minute it's there and the next it's gone in one blast of light. My father and a few others were the only ones with the foresight to prepare for the destruction of the planet. My parents got me off just minutes before the planet blew up. After that I landed on Earth when I was little more than five."
"Oh my God," Buffy whispers. "Have you met others like you?"
"Just two others in the flesh. Both of them were savage beings and it scares me to think that I migth've been like them. In truth I know very little about my birth parents. I only have one memory of my mother, but my father is a different story. He left behind a very detailed 'memory' of the person he might've been and we haven' t had the most pleasant of conversations."
"I'm so sorry...I wish I could say more, but I can't being to understand what it is you must be going through," Buffy says taking Clark's hand.
"There have been some bright spots. The people that took me in are the kindest couple I've ever seen. Well if you ever cross my dad you'd better run for the hills." Buffy laughs as that makes her think of Giles in a way.
"The other people I've met are definitely one of a kind and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Even the bad ones. I like to think that there is a good in every soul; even if you have to dig sometimes to find it."
"You'll have to dig real deep to find Cordelia's," Buffy jokes to try and alleviate the mood. "Back in high school there was a swirling black vortex where her heart should be. It's only recently that's she's tried to change though I'd never admit to her face that I've noticed. She was a cheerleader, by the way, which explains the swirling black vortex."
"Do I ever have a story about cheerleaders for you," Clark starts to snicker glad the conversation shifted.
Los Angeles
"Freeze! L.A.P.D!" Kate Lockely orders, but winds up firing her gun anyway. The culprit dodges the shot and races into another room in the dark warehouse.
"Circle around and try to cut him off!" She orders another officer and chases after the man into the room.
It's near pitch black though there is some illumination from the sunlight coming through a window.
"I'm not ignorant like you may think. I know what you are," she announces. "Bright sunny day. One stray ray of light and you're toast...well dust is more like it." The vampire jumps out of the shadows and grabs her neck.
"You talk too much," the vampire sneers.
"Do I?" Kate asks before shoving the crucifix attached to her necklace in his face.
The vampire flinches backward and Kate fires her gun five times into his chest. He staggers backward into a wall and slumps down. Kate runs forward and holds her crucifix back up to his face.
"Alright. Show me what you stole and maybe I'll consider letting you live," Kate offers.
"What kind of fool do you take me for?" The vampire asks insulted. Kate notices something resembling an amulet in his right hand and snatches it.
"What is this?" She asks him. The vampire instead of answering starts to chuckle.
"What the Hell is so funny?" Kate asks not in the mood for games.
"You're all gonna die," the vampire cryptically answers then punches Kate across the face.
She falls to the floor and the vamp tries to make a run for it. She makes a grab at him tripping the vampire to the floor as well. Kate takes off her necklace, jumps at the vampire, wraps it around the demon's neck like a garrote, and in one motion decapitates the demon with her holy relic; getting some of the vampire's dust on her in the process.
She moves to pick up the demon's amulet when she freezes and looks up to see her friend standing right there. Confused not being a good enough word to describe the look on his face.
"Hi Stryker," Kate says standing up.
"Hi Kate," Stryker greets as well. "Please tell me I'm going crazy."
"You're not," she simply responds.
"You...just killed a man."
"It wasn't a man. There's a lot you need to know, but I'm not the one to explain it; not without sounding biased at least. Come with me," Kate says heading for the exit.
"Shouldn't we report this in?" Stryker asks.
"No."
Kate reluctantly enters Angel's place of business; Wesley watching the front desk.
"Kate? How might I help...you?" He asks noticing Stryker right behind her; still looking confused.
"Where's Angel?" Kate asks.
"I think he's still asleep. Why?"
"Asleep? It's the afternoon," Stryker says.
"Excuse me, who are you?" Wesley asks.
"He knows, sort of, about the supernatural. I need Angel to take a look at this," Kate says showing him the amulet.
"Wait...supernatural?" Stryker asks.
"You saw that guy turn to dust, remember?"
"Well I don't know if I saw that exactly," Stryker tries to deny.
"You saw what you saw," Angel confirms stepping into view. "Hi Kate."
"Angel," Kate acknowledges. "This is my friend Kurtis Stryker. Visiting from New York."
"Um...hi, did you just say that I saw a man turn to dust?" Stryker asks wanting someone to give him a straight answer.
"You did, but it wasn't a man. It was a demon; vampire to be exact," Wesley explains.
"Vamp-ok this is insane," Stryker says about to head out the door.
"Angel, show him," Kate says nonchalantly grabbing Stryker's arm.
Knowing what she means, Angel changes to his demonic vampire face making Stryker's eyes widen.
"Kate come with me," Angel says while changing his face back to normal. "Wesley give our other guest the cliff notes version of the supernatural."
"I'm surprised you know what cliff notes is," Kate comments heading for Angel's basement room.
"Just because I'm 300 years old, doesn't make me ignorant to modern things," Angel quips as they go downstairs.
"So, do Leprachauns exist?" They manage to catch Stryker asking Wesley.
"Don't be ridiculous. Even in a world as unpredictable as ours, there's no such thing," they hear Wesley answer before his voice completely trails off.
"The vampire told me we were all going to die right before I took his head off. I should be afraid, but I'm taking this calmly. Far too calmly even."
"You get used to it after a while," Angel reveals as Kate hands him the amulet.
"I don't want to get used to it Angel," she sighs.
"I can't blame you for it," he says. "Are you thirsty? I don't normally have guests down here, but given how I have human employees..."
"Water," Kate cuts him off. Angel goes into his refrigerator, which is mostly filled with animal blood, and tosses Kate a bottle of water. Angel looks over the amulet for a few minutes while Kate takes small sips of her water.
"Unless my knowledge is off, this amulet would act as a portal between dimensions. This vampire wanted out of our world. The vampire said 'we're all going to die'?" Angel asks. Kate nods.
"That means the world is about to end. Demons tend to try and flee this dimension whenever it is," Angel explains.
"Again, I'm taking this far too calmly. You know what I miss Angel. Having mysterious cases just going unsolved."
"But now that you know, think of all the lives you can save Kate," Angel reminds her.
"I know Angel. In the time that I've met you, I've saved God know show many more lives than I ever did when I started out with the police. But you have no idea how strenuous this one person army thing is for me. I have to report back almost every night in worse shape than when I started the day and I can't tell anyone why."
"You know, being a supernatural creature doesn't make this anymore easy on me, Kate. Back in Sunnydale I couldn't tell the person I loved I was a vampire at first since she was The Vampire Slayer."
"Sounds like someone I would've liked," Kate says.
"You met her when you tried arresting me for hiding Faith; also a Vampire Slayer," Angel says taking a drink of some pig's blood.
"Let's not dwell on this right now Angel. Exactly how is the world going to end?" Kate questions.
"I wish I knew. If the vampire were alive, I'd know of one way...is that dust?" Angel asks noticing Kate's clothing.
"Yeah. Got some on me when I killed the vampire," she says getting ready to wipe more of it off.
"Don't!" Angel quickly shouts.
"Why?" Kate asks.
A short while later
"I don't know what's crazier Angel. The fact that we travelled here by sewer or the singing demon on stage," Kate comments observing Lorne's club.
"I can't believe you just said 'singing demon' with a straight face," Stryker says; still just as confused as he was when Kate killed the vampire in front of him.
"I can't believe you brought him along," Angel says.
"Well we couldn't just leave him behind. You don't just introduce someone to this world and then say 'you're on your own'," Kate says back to him.
"Actually people do that loads of time and the unfortunate soul usually goes through a weird period of denial to convince themselves that they didn't see what they saw," Lorne says approaching the group.
"Adding more people to your ranks I see," Lorne adds observing Kate and Stryker.
"We just need information Lorne. The world might be ending, but we don't know how. Kate still has vampire dust on her, so we need you to try and read her aura and see if there's any residual aura left from the vampire. That way we might be able to know what the vampire knew."
"Try? Don't insult me Angel. I can read residual auras in my sleep," Lorne boasts.
"So how does this work. Is there a crystal ball involved?" Kate asks.
"Crystal ball," Lorne starts to laugh uncontrollably.
"What's so funny?" Kate asks.
A few minutes later
I new saw the sun shining so bright
Never saw things going oh so right
Noticing the days hurrying by
When you're in love my how they fly!
"She has a wonderful singing voice," Angel compliments as Kate finishes up Blue Skies.
"You should hear her sing 'The Circle of Life'," Stryker jokes as the demons actually applaud her for the song.
"So what do we have Lorne?" Angel asks, but doesn't get a response. "...Lorne?" The green demon just looks at Angel and can only bring himself to say one thing.
"You guys are so screwed," he deadpans.
"Well that really narrows things down to about every day," Wesley says. "Care to be more specific?"
"A destroyer is coming..."
"Too general Lorne," Angel says.
"Fine, I'll cut to the chase. A near god like being known as Shao Kahn is coming to Earth to forcibly merge it with his dimension known as Outworld. Now would you like the good news first or the bad news?"
"Good news," Angel answers.
"He can't just take over the Earth. According to some rule he has to follow, Shao Kahn has to win it from us in a tournament known as Mortal Kombat, which we're about to be challenged to...again."
"Again...is that the bad news?" Wesley asks.
"No. The bad news is that Outworld has never lost a round of Mortal Kombat to anyone."
To Be Continued...
