Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The woman straightened as Teal'c drew near, the sports bag swung over her shoulder. She watched him come closer, his zat pointed directly at her.

"Well if it isn't Teal'c, the alien," she finally commented quietly. "Do you think that thing will work on me?"

Teal'c glared at her and moved his other hand to reveal a sword he had picked up from one of the hostiles on his way around to her. "If it does not, I am prepared."

She gave him a cheeky smile and shrugged. "OK, then."

Then she lunged at him, revealing her own long knife. Teal'c sidestepped, bringing the zat up to fire smoothly at her, even as he sliced towards her leg with the sword in his other hand. She twisted out the way, her knife stabbing forward and forcing him to step back, even as her left hand wrapped around his wrist and snapped it. Teal'c was forced to drop the zat.

"You can't win, Teal'c. The only thing you can do is let me go."

Teal'c shook his head. "I can not do that, Anne."

She shook her head sadly even as they began to fight. "OK then, but if I want to catch my lift I have to disappear soon, so don't expect me to play with you long."

Teal'c frowned at the comment, and then his eyes widened slightly as the woman in front of him speeded up. She was moving faster than was possible even for the Goa'uld and he knew that had it not been for Bra'tac's training, he would have been overwhelmed immediately. As it was, he was only just able to keep up, and it was making him feel like a bumbling student again - particularly as the woman was hampered by a huge bag and he could tell she was holding back. Even when he occasionally got a slash through her defences, she simply jumped back grinning at him in amusement before speeding up and making it harder. It was like one of those Tauri computer games Colonel O'Neill had played with him. Each time he succeeded in getting a 'hit', it would get harder to gain another one. He was not looking forward to what would happen when he 'lost a life'.

"You do know that you're actually pretty good," she commented, teasingly. "Unfortunately…" and here her face turned hard..."I am better."

The next thing Teal'c knew was that he was on the ground, her blade against his throat and something sharp pushing into the pouch in his stomach causing his pimta to move about in fear - although not quite penetrating it. He looked into her eyes and for the first time, he was unable to hide the fear and he knew it was showing in his face. It was impossible to hide…because he could sense that this thing that wore the face of a woman was a hundred times more dangerous than the Goa'uld. A predator gazed at him through cold eyes, with a keen intelligence and a rising blood lust. Then she blinked and the predator was hidden again - but Teal'c could sense it now. He knew it was there waiting for him to make a wrong move.

"What are you?"

"In every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer. I'm sure you guys did your digging… just Google it. We fight, we die. That's it." She smirked down at him, but there was a sarcastic touch to it that was the same as Jack's when he explained something he thought sucked. "Well, that and be the Power's favourite toy until we get broken and they get a new one."

Teal'c felt something stir inside him - similar to pity. This woman, this warrior, was as much a slave as his fellow Jaffa who still served under the false gods. "These are good people. They can help you."

She gave him a grim smile. "The last time I trusted someone in the government I was sent to my death. Then they turned on my friends and those I called family." She surveyed him, looking him over. "Don't worry. We won't let anything happen to Dawn. I promise."

Teal'c dimly registered the knife being removed from his body and then her hands hitting him on the sides of his head hard. Then everything went black.

-

Spike separated himself from the fight without too much trouble and headed for where he could see the Slayer. She was talking to the other alien…Teal'c. She caught a glimpse of him coming up and clapped her hands hard against the Jaffa's temples in one smooth move. Then she stood, the bag still over her shoulder. Without a word they headed for the back fence and were over within a few seconds. Behind them, the sounds of the fight faded as they jogged together for the breach.

"They heard us in the alley way."

Spike blinked. "What?"

Buffy gritted her teeth. "Dawn must have been bugged or something…or maybe that mobile phone was connected to the SGC. Either way, they know everything we said in that alley way. That means they have Giles' name and they know to contact the army…they also know about the fact that Dawn is my biological sister."

Spike sighed. "They don't know about the others though?"

Buffy let out a half chuckle. "They find me or Giles and it'll lead them straight to the others."

Spike sighed as he acknowledged the truth of that. "You think we might have underestimated them?"

Buffy stopped and gazed at him incredulously. "Might?! Oh yeah, we under-estimated them! We counted on the fact that the usual Sunnydale Amnesia would work and because of that we didn't bother to check things out properly. Will never even looked at their full records…just the brief stuff we picked up as we went along. So, yes, we did underestimate them!"

Spike winced and nodded. "It doesn't matter though. They won't be able to trace us to Scotland - even if they do ID us all."

Buffy shook her head and started to run again. "I really don't know anymore, but the chances of pulling this off successfully are getting very, very small."

-

Back at the SGC, Sam blinked and then shook her head. She had finally found the breach in security and was attempting to trace it back to its source. She was finding it hard…very hard…and she was well aware that for most people this would be impossible. Whoever this 'Wills' person was, they were very talented. Given a bit more training and they might end up being a match for her!

Thankfully, though, that wasn't the case yet. The hacker had left an almost undetectable trail, and while it was hard, it wasn't completely undetectable and that meant she could follow it. Finally, she grinned. It seemed that the tracker had stopped trying to erase their path at this point. It was almost as if they were sure that no one would be able to follow their trail any more and had just given up. Sam smiled to herself as she found an address. Maybe the hacker was right to be so cocky - she doubted any one else could follow the trail 'Wills' had left.

"General Hammond? Sir, I've found how the hacker got in."

"Yes sir, I've fixed the problem. The location was in Sunnydale, California. Apparently it originated in a shop called 'The Magic Box".

"I have more good news, sir. It seems the breach in security wasn't as big as we originally thought. They only seem to have looked at Dawn's file and SG1's. Even in that case, they haven't dug that deep. They seemed more interested in the earliest records of the program. They couldn't have got anything more recent than the mission to the planet Simarka, sir."

"Thank you, sir. I should have the information by the time the Colonel gets back with the security team."

She put down the phone and headed back to the computer. She loved it when things worked out so nicely.

-

Jack was exhausted by the time the storm of zat fire penetrated to where he was. He dropped to the ground happily, watching as the hostiles exploded into dust around him. This had been a very confusing night - not to mention disappointing. The girl had come right into his house and he hadn't been able to stop her. It was definitely annoying. If he had just waited until the security team got here…

He looked up when he heard the sounds of boots heading towards him. Major Castleman looked down at him an eyebrow raised. "Heard you had someone for us to pick up, Colonel?"

Jack rolled his eyes and stood, feeling his knee twinge unpleasantly beneath him. He looked down at himself, noticing for the first time the various cuts and bruises that covered his visible skin. "I guess I might have had a little trouble…"

The major shook his head as he led Jack over to where the medic they had brought with them was checking out Teal'c. Jack frowned at the still form of his friend. "He's going to be OK?"

Castleman shrugged. "We don't know. He seems to just be knocked out, but we're not sure. He went after a blonde who was hanging about under your window. From the looks of things she decimated him - although he did manage to get a couple of cuts in and we have a blood sample now. I've ordered it bagged and sent up to Janet ASAP to see if she can get a DNA reading out of it. After, we can see if there's anything in the system."

Jack nodded. "Good. I'll need to call her in a minute - get her to check for some more unusual stuff. That girl was far too fast and strong."

Major Castleman frowned. "Goa'uld strong?"

Jack shook his head, looking down at Teal'c. "Nope. According to her it's to do with a load of crap that got stuffed into her when she was 'chosen'. I hoping Janet will pick something up."

The Major nodded, and the two relaxed slightly when Teal'c groaned and sat up. He sat up and looked around. "I am sorry, Colonel O'Neill. I failed to stop the kidnapper."

Jack shook his head. "It's OK, Teal'c. You did your best."

Teal'c sighed. "I fear my best was not good enough, O'Neill. Even hampered by a large bag such as the one that Dawn O'Neill uses for swimming, she still held back when she was fighting me. The Slayer is indeed a dangerous opponent."

Jack clicked his fingers. "Yep, there's another thing. Everyone is calling her Slayer - and they offered a trade - the lives of her friends and family for Dawn. She turned them down - claiming it was crap. I'm wondering what would have happened if she thought it wasn't."

Teal'c shook his head. "We must know more about this fight, Colonel O'Neill. These warriors are too strong and fast - and the Slayer is faster and stronger than them all. Had she wished to kill me, she would have found it all too easy." He looked around for a second, taking in the devastation and then raised an eyebrow. "Major Castleman? Where is Daniel Jackson?"

-

Daniel blinked up at the male of the pair he had been attempting to trail. The two had been moving along and then Daniel had heard that comment about Scotland. He hadn't been able to keep in his gasp of surprise but he didn't see how they could have heard him - he was too far away. Then, of course, they had turned a corner. Daniel had followed carefully and found himself suddenly dragged into an alley by the pair. He put his best innocent face on and smiled up at them - hoping they wouldn't recognise him.

"Hi? I don't suppose you want to donate any money to Christian Aid?"

The male chuckled and grabbed him, hauling him upright. "Nice to see you have a sense of humour. But, no, you have to come with us. I'm sure Dawn will be glad of the company."

Daniel swallowed, hurriedly pressing the call back button on his mobile phone. This was not what he'd planned.