Chapter 6: Reunion
Spike let out a small laugh at the irony of this. There he thought they were stuck in some strange dimension that no one knew, when one of the first things he saw in this dimension was something that all, or at least most of the Scoobies should know pretty well. "Lookie lookie what I found," he said amused, more to himself than to anyone else in the group.
"Spike? What happened?" Buffy, who had thanks to her Slayer healing quickly recovered from the blood loss, wanted to know, when she came up to him.
"This happened." He pointed to a large office building at which side a large logo was to be seen – a small C surrounded by a larger C.
"And what does that mean?" she wanted to know, still confused about what Spike wanted to get at.
In the meantime the others had also arrived and following Spike's gaze they also spotted the logo and voiced out their surprise. "Hey! Do you guys see what I see?" Xander exclaimed surprised.
"This is impossible… Or maybe not… I mean, we are in another dimension and if our eyes don't betray us, what I'm quite sure of, since we all can see this logo, it does seem to be possible… Okay. Shutting up now," Willow finished her rambling, when she noticed the weird gazes the others gave her.
"Hello? Since it seems that I'm the only one here who doesn't know what's going on, can someone please enlighten me?" Buffy asked exasperated.
"Pet, let's just say that we know where we are…"
"Spike, stop speaking in riddles, please."
"Buffy," Willow now offered to explain, "this sign is the logo of Capsule Corporation. That means we're in the dimension Pan and Trunks come from."
Suddenly a huge look of understanding passed the blond Slayer's face, but before she could say anything, Anya decided to cut in. "But we don't know what time we are in."
"I think there's just one way to find out," Buffy told them determined. "Let's go there." The others agreed at once and so, hunger and exhaustion forgotten for the moment being, they walked into the direction of the CC office building.
With the new determination it didn't seem long until the Scoobies were standing in front of the main entrance. The sun was just about to disappear behind the other buildings and most streets were already lying in shadows. Spike, who had somehow become the leader of the group, after Buffy had been weakened, waited until the rest of the Scoobies were standing behind him, before he strode with forceful and secure steps into the entrance hall of the building. His black duster swirled behind him, letting him surely look quite intimidating.
Buffy and the others followed closely behind him, but Buffy herself stopped right next to Spike, when they reached a reception desk with a young brunette woman sitting behind it, who seemed to be talking to a friend on the phone, since she held the receiver of her phone fairly relaxed at her ear and giggled quite often. She and the former vampire looked around, while they were waiting to get the woman's attention and noticed that the building looked rather deserted. Her eyes rested on a clock at the wall and it showed that it was close to eight o'clock. They had actually managed to walk all day – no wonder that she and especially the others were so weary.
She was first able to avert her gaze from the clock, when she heard the tapping of Spike's fingernails on the white marble of the desk. Fortunately this also succeeded in finally getting the attention of the other woman. She heard her mumble something like 'wait a second', before she turned her gaze to the visitors in front of her. "Can I help you?" she asked with a sweet politeness that was obviously faked.
"Yes, indeed you could help us," Spike said, trying to show his best manners despite his true nature in this situation. "We need to speak to Mr. Briefs."
"Oh, I'm sorry. But Mr. Briefs doesn't welcome guests that late. He just stays late to finish some paper work." She leafed through a small book in front of her, before she looked up again. "He also doesn't have an appointment with you, Mr.-?"
"Ferrington. My name is William Ferrington," Spike answered grudgingly.
"Well, Mr. Ferrington. I think that you and your… friends," she said at length, after having given them a once over, noticing the current states all of them were in, "have to come back tomorrow. After you made an appointment, of course." Her voice was still as sweet as sugar, though it was hard for her to not throw them out into the streets because of their dirty and sweaty looks. Besides, it was quite seldom that one, no make that two, she decided after having taken a closer look at the dark haired guy in the back, hotties who could actually give the two presidents a run for their money, came to Capsule Corporation.
"Listen lady," Spike said, his voice being strained because he still tried to remain somewhat civil. In moments like this he wished that he still was a vampire so that he could show her his game face. "It is really important that we meet Mr. Briefs right now. He knows us… Or at least I hope so," he added under his breath.
"Even if he knows you, Mr. Ferrington, I can't…"
"Oh bloody hell, woman," Spike almost growled, slowly losing all of his self control, when he felt Buffy's hand on his arm. He looked down at her and followed her gaze to some kind of map of the building next to the elevator that showed that the office of the president was on the top floor. "You know what? Forget it! We don't need you to find his office. Luv, let's go."
"Wait!" the woman called, when she saw that the group went to the elevator. Unfortunately for her the doors opened at once and the group was inside before she could stop them somehow. So she quickly grabbed the receiver and dialed a number. "Security. There are intruders. Seven, I think. They're going to Mr. Briefs' office."
When the doors of the elevator opened on the top floor, the Scoobies were already expected by about ten guards with batons in their hands and guns in their belts. "Get out, one by one…" the one in the front told them and motioned with his stick to his right. "And slowly," he added.
"Come on guys," Faith said, quite flirtatiously. "You don't try to hurt us and we won't hurt you."
Some of the guards chuckled and one advanced towards Faith. "Well, you seem to be spunky. What about this deal. You and your friends will be able to leave unhurt and not arrested, when you and me, one night…" He didn't get any further, because of the fist that flew at his face, followed by a knee in his guts.
"Faith, did you have to do that?" Buffy asked and rolled her eyes, looking down at the guard who was now crouching on the ground.
"Hey, he was the one who started it," Faith defended herself.
"Can't your fight wait until later? I mean, we still have company, ya know," Spike's voice got their attention and not even a second later, the other guards rushed at them.
The Scoobies tried to fight back as well as they could without hurting any of the guards too much. While Faith was fighting alone and Willow, Tara, Anya and Xander more defended themselves than actually fought, Buffy and Spike were standing back to back. "Really Spike, it somehow seems to me as if you enjoy beating up humans way too much," Buffy told him with a slight smirk.
"Well, pet, you know that I still have two years of catching up to do," he said, while knocking the one guard he had been fighting out. "Hey Red!" he then shouted over the noise of fighting. "Don't you know some spell that keeps them out of our hair?"
"I know one, but I don't think that we should show them something like this!" she shouted back.
"Do you want us to knock them out then?"
"Okay… Now come to me and keep them away!" The other quickly obeyed, shoving the guards they've been fighting into the direction of the elevator and got behind Willow. With her eyes turning black, the Wicca extended one hand and yelled, "Protect!" A shield of yellow light appeared right at the moment one guard had pulled his gun and shot at them, and divided the corridor into two - one side being the one of the elevator where the guards were now stuck and the other side where they were and now had the possibility to go to the office without further disturbances. The bullet bounced off of the shield, much to the surprise of the guards and they could just watch helplessly, how the intruders retreated to the CEO's office.
But the racket the fight had caused didn't go unnoticed by the current occupant of the office. He raised his head, turning away from the files; a strand of long lavender hair that didn't fit into the ponytail fell out from behind his ear in front of his eyes. He wiped it away and picked up the receiver. "Mr. Briefs is speaking. What is this noise outside? I see and you didn't care to tell me about this? Did they mention any names? William Ferrington? Never heard before. No, don't call the police, yet. I think that the guards will be able to…" At that moment the door to his office was flung open and he jumped up, ready to take any attacker down. Peace had now reigned for so long, but being truly of his father's blood he had never stopped training.
But what he saw surprised him more than he could ever imagine. The person that stepped inside was completely clad in black and his hair was bleached blond. And if this didn't convince him of the identity of that person, the smirk surely did. "'ello mate. I must say, the security in this building is good, but not good enough for us."
"Spike? Is that really you?" At that moment he also noticed the rest coming inside and a large smile spread over his face. "Wow, it's really you! Welcome!"
"Trunks?" Anya's voice showed true relief and in the next moment she was hugging him. But she didn't remain the only one doing this, because soon he found himself also embraced by Willow and Tara. Faith, who wasn't as emotional as the others, and Buffy, who barely knew this guy, stayed behind. After the girls let go of him, he walked up to Faith and gathered her in his arms, though she silently protested – at least a bit, since she also had a reputation to lose, but in the end her delight in meeting him again won. He then shared a brotherly hug with Xander and shook Buffy's hand, well understanding her reluctance in the matter of hugging, before he also hugged Spike the same way he had already hugged Xander. "Oy Spike, you stink," he remarked grinning, when they let go.
"That's not a nice thing to say, Trunks… Euh, Mirai… By the way, shouldn't your other self actually be here?"
"He took a few days off… But now tell me, what brings you here to our dimension?"
"For now let's just say that we happened to do some unintentional dimension hopping and somehow ended up here, fortunately if you get my meaning. But I think we should wait with a longer explanation after we got something to eat and maybe also were able to take a shower… We've been walking the whole day in the search for some sign of life and also Dawn."
"What happened?" Mirai asked. He immediately grew worried at the mentioning that Dawn was in trouble. During the time he spent in Sunnydale he had come to love her like a sister and he couldn't bear if something dreadful had happened to her. And it wasn't even Tuesday.
"Drusilla kidnapped her to open some portal and she's now also somewhere here, we hope."
Trunks concentrated for a few seconds until he shook his head. "I can't feel her, but this could also be due to physical exhaustion. Well, let me just call my mom and then you're all invited to a huge dinner and shower. We have more than enough rooms for you. If you want, I could go and look for Dawn along with the others while you rest some. Is she alone?"
"Angel's son, Connor is with her," Buffy told him. "He's about her age and according to what Angel told me about him he knows how to defend himself. But you don't need to look for her alone. I'll come with you."
"Luv, you need to rest. We all have been up for two days. Besides, I'm sure the Bit will be fine. Otherwise you'd know it, believe me. As soon as she also sees the CC logo somewhere she'll know where to go."
Reluctantly the blond Slayer agreed. "Okay… But now, let's go. The sooner we get to your home and got something to eat the sooner we can start looking for Dawn and Connor."
Giving her an encouraging smile, Trunks picked up the receiver just to find out that his secretary was still on the other end of the line, fearfully calling his name. "I'm okay," he assured her. "No, they didn't hurt me. They're friends. Yes, I'm sure. I'm now planning to go home. Why don't you also do that? Okay, goodbye."
After he had called his mother, giving her the brief information that there would be seven friends coming over for dinner and that they would also stay some nights at CC, he turned to the others. "She's preparing everything. By the way, how did you get past the security guards? I hope you didn't hurt them too much."
"We tried to hold back as much as we could and in the end one of Red's spells kept them away from us," Spike informed him.
"A spell?" Mirai raised his eyebrows.
"Oops, the spell!" Willow suddenly remembered, her face turning slightly red, and she snapped with her fingers. "It was harmless, really… Just a protection shield and I've just deactivated it."
As if to prove her previous statement, some guards were standing in the doorframe a few seconds later, their guns raised. Mirai quickly raised his hand, to keep them from shooting. "It's okay. They are friends of mine. You can go now. If anyone of you needs to see a doctor, I'll pay the bills, of course."
Reluctantly and still warily eyeing this strange group of people that had managed to get through them, the guards left the office. "Well, now that this is cleared we can go to the jet and I promise you that in less than half an hour you'll get a warm meal."
"Great!" Xander rubbed his hands. "I'm famished."
It was already long dark, maybe two hours, maybe more. Dawn and Connor had lost track of time, mostly due to of the fact that this dimensional traveling had somehow damaged Dawn's watch. But after a long day's walk they had now finally arrived in the city they had seen the same morning from afar and though Connor still didn't show many signs of weariness, Dawn did. Her whole body, especially her feet, hurt. She was hungry, tired, dirty and cold. When they'd first walked through the city the teenagers had tried to get some food, but in vain. Every time Dawn wanted to pay, they were thrown out of the shop or bar or wherever they had tried, the owners calling them robbers, beggars and similar things.
So, when she spotted a bench, she plopped down on it with a loud sigh. "Connor, I'm sorry, but I can't go on anymore. Let us rest for a while, okay?"
The boy looked at her and seeing her exhausted form he nodded in agreement. "You stay here. I'll be back in a few minutes. I'll try again to find something to eat for you." He gave her a small smile, hoping that it would comfort her somehow and left.
It was about the same time, when three young women were leaving a cinema. All of them were giggling or laughing. "Oh god," one of them, a girl with long blue hair, laughed. "This movie was hilarious."
"Yes, it was…" her blond companion decided. "What do you think, Pan?"
The black haired girl in the group, Pan, looked up after rummaging in her small backpack. She looked up and grinned. "It was great," she said, before turning her attention back to the bag, out of which she took her cell phone just a few seconds later. "Hey, Mirai called me…"
"Why would Mirai call you? Couldn't he have just connected you through your bond?" the blue haired girl wanted to know.
"And let him ruin our girl's night? Nope, I blocked the bond for tonight. But maybe I should call him…"
"But then call him, while we're walking to the club. It's just down this street," the blonde urged on.
Having no other choice, since her two friends were already walking ahead, Pan dialed the number of her boyfriend's cell, when she suddenly heard a scream coming from a nearby alley. Alarmed she and her two friends looked at each other and went there as fast as they could. There they stopped dead in their tracks, when their gaze fell on two persons. It was dark in that alley so they couldn't see what was going on. Pan lit a small ki ball in her hand, which gave them enough light to see what's going on. "Hey!" she yelled and got the attention of the man standing with his back to her. Surprised by this sudden disturbance he let the woman in his grasps go, who also used this chance to flee, and turned to face the three girls.
"Eww, what's that?" the blue haired girl said in disgust. The face of this man was cruelly contorted. There were strangely formed bumps on his forehead, his nose had lost its normal form and the eyes of the man were glowing in a threatening gold. Blood was trickling out of his mouth.
"I can't believe it…" Pan mumbled to herself. "It's a vampire." She quickly extended her senses just to make sure that her eyes didn't betray her and indeed, this man felt like a vampire. But he wasn't the only one. "Bra, Marron. Get out of this alley. Now!" Of course she knew that Bra and Marron knew the basics of fighting, but they had never faced a vampire before and this could work for their disadvantage, especially in a small alley like this.
"Pan, why?" she heard Marron ask.
"Don't ask, just do what I say. He isn't the only one."
"Wow, the girl is good…" Their heads turned around upon hearing the voice behind them, just to see that a few more men with the same contorted faces were blocking the exit of this valley. "What are you? A Slayer?"
"Close enough." Pan ground her teeth and looked around. She had to get her friends out of there. "Bra, grab Marron and fly up to one of the roofs. I'll take care of those guys," she whispered to her friend.
"But how?"
Pan flashed her a smirk. "Just how you take care of vampires." A look of understanding washed over Bra's and Marron's faces. Bra then put her arm around her friend's waist and together they slowly but surely took off into the sky. Pan looked after them until they had landed safely on a roof, using the surprise effect that this small stunt had on the vampires to do this. She cracked her knuckles and turned to face the vampires, whose attention she now finally had. "Okay, I have no idea what you are doing here, since I've never seen any vampires in this dimension before, but be sure that you won't live long anymore."
"You wish," the vampire behind her snarled and attacked, along with the others.
The fight was evenly matched, if you remember that Pan was still holding back, the whole time looking around to find something that resembled a stake. Sure she had already dusted one vampire by burning him with a ki blast, but she'd rather wanted to do it the old fashioned way. Ki blasts could draw too much attention and she didn't want to have any civilians engaged in that fight, when she knew that she could take care of those few vamps alone. And soon she spotted the desired object – a piece of splintered wood, which end was sharp enough to pierce a vampire's heart. She smirked. Now the real fight could begin.
With a back flip over a vampire's head, who had just wanted to attack her crouching form, she got back into the middle of a circle and embedded the newly found stake in the vampire's back, turning him to dust. At that moment she noticed just how much she had missed this. She had always thought that slaying had been fun – no wonder with Faith and Spike as teachers, who had the same opinion.
She just wanted to shove the stake into another vampire's chest, when he turned to dust right in front of her eyes to reveal a dark haired youth standing behind the vampire. Stakes raised, they stared at each other intensely, both seemingly to check if the other was a vampire. After a few seconds they noticed that this wasn't a case and came to a silent agreement.
Pan watched the other teenager fight out of the corners of her eyes and was impressed. He seemed to know exactly what he was dealing with and his ki was unbelievably strong for a human. Quickly they finished the last few vamps before they turned again to each other. "Who are you?" she demanded to know.
"My name is Connor. Who are you? Or better, what are you? I can smell that you're not human. Are you a demon?"
Pan was taken aback by this. "I'm Pan. And I can safely say that I'm not a demon!"
Since both of them were too occupied with glaring at each other, they didn't notice how another person appeared in that alley. "Oh my god… Pan?"
Upon hearing her name, Pan turned her head away from the youth to look who had called her name. Her eyes went wide with surprise, once she recognized the person. "Dawn?" Not even a second later the two girls were engaged in a strong hug. "What are you doing here? What happened to you?"
"Longer story… I see you've already met Connor," Dawn told her shortly. The joy of seeing her old friend and now knowing in which dimension they were was obvious on the girl's face.
"You know each other?" Connor asked confused.
Dawn nodded eagerly. "We'll tell ya later… Pan, if you don't mind, can you bring us to your home? We have been walking all day and I haven't eaten anything for more than twenty-four hours."
"Of course… You can tell me then why you're here. Oh, Mirai will be so happy to see you!" Pan said, being just as excited as Dawn, before she looked up to where her other two friends were standing. "Hey, you can come down now! The fight is over and I also want you to meet someone!"
The dinner was over and now newly strengthened, Buffy, Spike and Faith wanted to go looking for Dawn together with Mirai, the other Trunks, Goten and Gohan. After finding out just who the guests were, Bulma had called over Gohan and Videl and Mirai had even called Pan on her cell, but she hadn't responded to that call. Bulma would've also tried to contact Vegeta somehow, but he was out for some wilderness training and had told her that he wouldn't be back for a couple of days. Everyone had been surprised and excited that the Scoobies had ended up in their dimension and after hearing what had brought them there, they immediately offered their help.
They just wanted to leave, when Pan materialized in the middle of the living room, together with Bra, Marron, Dawn and Connor.
"Buffy?" Dawn asked, surprised at seeing her sister also being here in this dimension. How did she get here anyway? Wasn't the Key the only thing/person to open this portal?
Buffy's head jerked up, first now noticing his sister. "Dawn," she whispered, the relief being evident in her voice and she felt tears in her eyes. The two sisters quickly walked up to each other and shared a tight embrace.
