Sunnydale Army Base, 2050 hours.
Tara watched Major Sheppard walk out of the hanger they were in, but not before he looked back at her and signalled that he'll be right outside.. With Sunnydale being what it was, that the night was when the real dangers came out for the woodwork, Tara knew that they'll be safe in an army base.
'Unless something like Adam shows up again' thought Tara to herself as she nodded at the Major who left the hanger with Daniel, McKay, Dr. Weir and Major Davis. She then found herself looking at the machines that surrounded the bed she was sitting on as Dr. Beckett returned to her side, along with a nurse and a tray that carried a syringe, and two vials.
"I hope you're not afraid of needles" said Dr. Beckett as he smiled at the blonde who gave him a small smile before looking at the nurse as she prepared her arm for drawing blood. She then looked at Dr. Beckett who told her that he'll make it as quick and painless as possible.
"Th.. thank you" said Tara nervously when she finally realized that she was all alone among strangers. It wasn't too long before she shook her head, and pushed every bad thought that came to her mind out of the way, 'John trusts them, and… and if he trusts them then I'm fine. He won't let them harm me.'
"Are you alright, Tara?" asked Dr. Beckett when he noticed that she was looking off into the distance.
"Ye.. yes, sorry" said the blonde as she looked at the nurse preparing the syringe, and then the vials. She watched as the burse then gently took her hand and rubbed some alcohol on it. Dr. Beckett told Tara what was going on, before he started to ask question about her so that she'd be distracted. However, she answered the doctors questions but she was still distracted. She kept on looking out the door, still hoping that her brother wouldn't leave her alone here.
While Dr. Beckett was inside the hanger drawing blood from a still distracted Tara, Major Sheppard was outside as Daniel began talking about what General O'Neill had told him about Sunnydale. They listened to Daniel as he told them about the Initiative and its mission to militarize demons and vampires, the creation of a demon-human hybrid that went out of control and nearly murdered every human on base so that it could create more of itself. Daniel explained to the stunned audience that according to the file, the creature that the lead scientist who had illegally created it, manipulated the Initiative by having demons be caught easily. And then once they were under the control of the Initiative, and the holding rooms were crowded… Adam took over and released the demons.
"It was a massacre" said Dr. Weir as Daniel nodded his head.
"OK before we continue" said McKay, "you do realize that what we're talking about are demons and vampires, right? As in movie vampires? Drinks blood? Aversion to the cross? Holy Water? That vampire?"
"And demons" said Major Davis as he looked at Daniel, "are you sure, Dr. Jackson?"
"According to the report?" said Daniel, "yes, that's what Jack told me."
"Well" said Major Davis, "that's something you don't hear every day."
"Given what we know about what's out there in the galaxy" said Dr. Weir, "can we be surprised that all this exists on Earth?"
"Again, Vampires" said McKay in frustration, "demons, vampires… and…"
"We're fighting the Wraith, McKay" said Major Sheppard, "they drain the life force from human's, use them as food. If you can believe that.. that why not vampires."
"For one, the Wraith evolved from the Iratus bug over millions of years to feed on their prey. Their prey being us - humans" said McKay, "and second, we're in danger from them every day. We've seen what they can do…. We can reach out and touch them.. we know the danger they represent in Pegasus, and if they ever get to Earth… but vampires? Come on, Major… even you have to be a bit sceptical."
"All I'm saying is that we need to keep an open mind on this" said the Major, hoping that the file that General O'Neill found didn't mention any of the Scoobies.
"From what Jack can tell" said Daniel, "the file he read was one of many. Most of the information was destroyed after the Initiative protect failed. Apparently, they even destroyed the base they had here. But there was mention of a group that helped some of the personnel escape the base, they saved a fifth of the personnel… the rest all died."
"Civilians?" asked Major Davis.
Major Sheppard looked on without any expression on his face while he listened to Daniel saying that the names of those civilians were missing, that must have been in some of the other destroyed files. However, he did say that there were vague summaries on these civilians helping to fight of the demons while helping some of the personnel escape.
"Are there any picture, Dr. Jackson?" asked Major Sheppard as he kept on hoping that there weren't any picture, and if there were.. then they would be destroyed as well. The man wanted to keep the Scoobies secret for as long as he could, especially Tara's secret. He didn't know if the Initiative knew about magic, and if they did know about it's existence.. he hoped that information was lost as well.
"No pictures" said Daniel, "but, immediately after jack received information on the Initiative, and Sunnydale… he got a call from the President."
"The President?" asked Dr. Weir, "why?"
"Here's the screwed up part" said Daniel, "the President told him that he received notification from an outside organization that they had an asset in the city, and we aren't supposed to be attempting to recruit her, or…."
"Outside organization?" asked Major Davis.
"I couldn't believe it either" said Daniel, "and Jack's not happy about it, neither is the President. But the head of this Watchers Council of Great Britain called the Prime Minister, who in turn called Hayes and asked his not to have anyone approach.. or even try to recruit this asset."
"Dr. Jackson" said Dr. Weir confused, "what are you saying? That a foreign organization is refusing to have us talk to this… asset?"
"They knew we were checking in on Sunnydale" said Daniel, "they must have planted some flag on any remaining Initiative files. Anyway, Hayes gave Jack information that he wasn't supposed to. Apparently, this asset of there is a young woman with mystically based abilities by the name of Buffy Summers."
"Mystical?" asked McKay hysterically as the others listened in silence while Major Sheppard internally groaned, "Mystical?"
"That's what the President said" said Daniel, "he told Jack that the Council were very protective of their asset, and they were going to intervene when they found Miss Summers received clearance to join the Initiative due to her status as a Slayer. They've relayed their displeasure – their words – on the Army gaining control of a Slayer when they have an agreement that such a thing wasn't supposed to happen."
"Let me guess" said Major Sheppard, "they didn't intervene because the Initiative fell?"
"The President told Jack that she quit after a few days" said Daniel, "but Jack's pissed that an outside force is preventing him doing his job as the head of Home World Security."
"I would be too" said Major Davis as he shook his head.
"The President told Jack that he was sorry" said Daniel, "that his hands were tied because of the agreement with the Council. Though Jack did ask the President to clarify some things."
"Like?" asked McKay.
"Well, he got confirmation that Miss Summers was one of the civilians who helped some of the military personnel escape" said Daniel, "which means that she may know the other civilians involved in saving whoever they could. And since we can't make contact with, or recruit Miss Summers… this Council never said anything about talking to these other civilians. Jack cant run a check on her since her public files are possibly flagged as well. We'll have to do this the old fashioned way."
"Guys… again… magic?"
"We've seen things that…"
"If you mean the Ancients?" said McKay, "it only seemed they had magic powers because they were already evolutionarily advanced than normal humans. And that's not to mention the powers of an Ascended being.. Chaya being the prime example. But what you're talking about here is magic… it's not possible."
"Some of the things we've in Pegasus.. in Atlantis are unexplainable" said Major Sheppard.
"They're technological" said McKay, "I can tear it apart and look at how it works, even the Atlantis database tells us how to create ZPM's but it'll take me…."
"And your team" said Dr. Weir, "you and your team."
"Yeah.. yeah" said McKay, "it'll take me a life time just to understand it all, and even then… it's not magic. It just seems like it because the technology is so far ahead of us that it's not even funny.. that doesn't mean it's magic. Do you think the puddle jumpers are magic?"
"No" said Major Sheppard.
"That's because we have an idea of how it works" said McKay, "to someone in the stone age, it would seem like magic. Magic doesn't exist… this girl.. this Miss Summers.. by the way, what kind of a name is Buffy anyway…"
"McKay" said Dr. Weir and Major Sheppard together.
"Look" said McKay, "maybe this Slayer is just a genetically engineered human, and anyone who uses magic is in some way a human on an evolutionary path to Ascension. But Magic by itself? Really?"
"We can't discount anything though" said Daniel as Dr. Weir nodded her head, "I remember the Nox were able to revive SG-1 when we first encountered them. Aphis' Jaffa killed us.. but they revived us; as well as one of their own people."
"Advanced humans" said McKay, "you just proved my point. They said that to revive someone, there still had to be some life.. some electrical charge left in the body basically that they could use to jumpstart the body again. It's not magic."
"There are some things out there that we still don't understand, Rodney" said Dr. Weir, "don't discount anything."
Major Sheppard was torn now. They knew that Buffy was the Slayer, and that the other civilians who helped save the military personnel were probably her friends; but if he told them right now… he would be betraying Tara. But when they go to talk to Buffy and Willow about breaking into his file… Dr. Weir and the others will know that he knowingly lied.
It was then that Dr. Beckett walked out into the night from the hanger to tell Dr. Weir and the others that he was done with taking blood from Tara, that now he needed to take blood from the Major.
"Go ahead, John" said Dr. Weir as Major Sheppard nodded his head, still unsure of what he should do, as he turned and walked into the hanger. HE smiled at Tara who was sitting on a chair having some crackers while there was a small bandage on her left arm.
"Go ahead and take a seat, Major" said Dr. Beckett, "I'll be right back."
As Dr. Beckett headed back to get the materials he needed, Major Sheppard got off the bed and walked over to Tara before crouching down in front of her.
"You alright?"
"Yes" said Tara as she nodded her head.
"Listen, Tara" said the Major before he turned his head to make sure that Dr. Beckett was still on the other side of the area gathering materials before looking at Tara again, "the people I work with just found out about the Initiative."
Tara opened her eyes wide at the revelation as she looked behind Major Sheppard, and then at the entrance to the hanger before looking at her brother once again, worry reflected n her face.
"At first they didn't know about some things" said Major Sheppard, "but it seems that there's another organization protecting Buffy, and they kinda outed her as a Slayer. One of the Initiative files said that a group of civilians helped save some of the military personnel, and my bosses boss suspects that one of them was Buffy… and the rest could be her friends. My people know that her powers are mystical and…."
"What will you do?"
"They're going to want to talk to Willow about what happened with my file" said the Major, "that's something that I can't help with, and when Buffy introduces herself… well, they'll know I didn't tell them everything."
'Will you get into trouble?" asked Tara as the Major smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
"But apparently we can't contact, or recruit the Slayer" said Major Sheppard, "I can have my team talk with Willow somewhere else, but Carson wants to check up on Buffy; make sure she's not hurt in any way."
"I.. I.."
"Major?" asked Dr. Beckett as he returned to the empty bed, "I'm ready."
"Yeah" said the Major as she looked over his shoulder before looking at Tara, "I'll think of something."
Tara watched, conflicted, as the Major walked over to the bed and sat down while Dr. Beckett started the procedure of drawing his blood. The blonde witch knew that hiding the truth from Dr. Weir and the others would get her brother into trouble, so she made a decision. She'll have to talk to Buffy once she gets back after the Major gets his blood drawn. It was then that she noticed McKay, Dr. Weir and the others walking back into the hanger. She could see that McKay was angry about something while he kept on mumbling under his breath, and then she saw the other man from earlier follow them into the hanger as they walked towards the Major. Tara saw that McKay, meanwhile, was working on attaching various monitors and computers to gadgets that she didn't recognize.
"Tara?" said the Major as he nodded at Daniel, "this is Dr. Daniel Jackson."
"Dr. Jackson?" said a surprised Tara as she stood up, "I'm sorry I…"
'Didn't know who I am" said Daniel, "I get that a lot."
"I've heard a lot about you though" smiled Tara while shaking the man's hand, however when he let go she noticed a strange feeling go through her body. It felt as if a warmth just travelled through to her soul before passing through her body. Shaking her head, Tara continued to say that she heard a lot about him from the professors in her Anthropology classes.
"Ah yes" said Daniel with his hands in his pockets, "they still bring up that book?"
"Uh huh?" said Tara, "and.. and the lecture you gave before you vanished from academia. But I.. I never realized you were working with special artifacts for museums."
"Yea… special artifacts" said Daniel as he looked at the Major, before looking at Tara again, "really interesting artifacts really, I'm still hoping that I'll find something that will get me back into the good graces of the scientific community."
Tara immediately noticed Daniel's aura when he said that he hoped he'll find something that would get him back into the scientific community. She could see that his aura was pulsing, and she could tell he was lying about something but she could see something behind his aura; a bright white light.
"Tara?" asked Daniel as the blonde shook her head, "are you alright?"
"Ye.. yes" said Tara, "sorry, I guess I'm just a bit tired. A lot's happened today."
"Understandable" said Dr. Weir as Major Sheppard got off the bed and walked towards them.
"Maybe it's time I took Tara home" said Major Sheppard as he helped Tara stand up, just as Dr. Weir's phone started to ring. Picking up the phone from her pockets, the woman connected the call and brought the phone to her ear.
"Yes? Oh, General" said Dr. Weir as she mouthed to the Major that it was General O'Neill on the line, "yes… Major Sheppard? Yes.. he's right here… uh huh? Uh huh? OK… I'm sure there are many people with that name General. Yes, I understand that Buffy's not a very common name but… I understand… of course, sir… yes… I'll talk to him sir. I'm absolutely certain he didn't know.. of course, sir."
"Elizabeth?" asked the Major as he suddenly had a bad feeling in his gut as the woman sighed before looking at him.
"John" said Dr. Weir, "that was General O'Neill and.. and well he was notified your name popped up on a police report from Sunnydale and, he accessed the report."
"I told you about it" said Major Sheppard as he rubbed the back of his head nervously.
"Yes" said Dr. Weir, "but you never mentioned that one of the witnesses was Buffy Summers."
Tara noticed Major Sheppard's face fall and finally made a decision. She walked next to her brother and told Dr. Weir, and the others that he wasn't aware that her name was Buffy.
"She introduces herself to strangers as Anne" said Tara as the Major and the others looked at her, "that's her name, Buffy Anne Summers. I was there when she introduced herself, when I met John for the first time, I mean."
"John?" asked Dr. Weir as she looked at the Major, "is that true?"
Major Sheppard looked at his sister who gave him a small smile before telling the others that it was true, she did introduce herself as Anne.
"Major Davis" said Dr. Weir, "please accompany Tara to the car, and stay with her. Major Sheppard will be with her soon."
"Sure" said Major Davis as he escorted Tara out of the hanger, the blonde witch looking behind her and giving the Major a small smile before heading out of the hanger. In the meantime, McKay was still working on his computers, as he started to set up every sensor imaginable before he connected everything to the Prometheus that was still in orbit so that he could scan for any strange energy reading that would be affecting the Major. Back at the bed, Dr. Weir was looking at Major Sheppard with her arms across her chest as she frowned at Major Sheppard, while Daniel just stood next to her with his hands in his pockets.
"John?" whispered Dr. Weir while Daniel made sure that everyone, including Dr. Beckett, was doing his own work, "did you really know that the person we were talking about was Buffy Summers?"
"Look, yeah" said the Major, "she did introduce herself as Buffy, and she did tell me something about why she and her friend looked into my file. Apparently they got burned by this Initiative, the lead scientist tried to kill her, and the personnel were after her as well… it was kind of hostile between them. Then when Adam was released, she tried to help but they didn't listen… then what Dr. Jackson told us about happened. Demons got loose and people died, she helped save people."
"John, you…"
"Dr. Weir" said Daniel, "its understandable that Miss Summers would be a bit iffy in regards to the military especially with what Jack told me about the Initiative. He still trying to get the other files which he says are somewhere in deep storage. But, with this Council's not letting us even talk to Miss Summers, we could talk to her friends."
"Do you know if Miss Summers' friends have any abilities?"
"No idea" said the Major, "but the girl who broke into my file's smart, really smart."
"Sam really wants to talk to her" said Daniel before he looked at Dr. Weir, "since we cant talk to Miss Summers about her Slaying activities, or recruit her, maybe we can talk to her friends. If they really were the ones who helped her rescue those soldiers, then maybe we could get a firsthand account of what happened down there."
"John?" said Dr. Weir.
"We should take it slow" said Major Sheppard, "with her friend's death, and then with this whole Initiative situation… maybe we hold off on the interview about what happened down there. We'll just have Carson examine Anne, and talk to the one who broke into my file."
Dr. Weir and Daniel agreed with that, and decided not to tell Major Davis or anyone else that he knew about Buffy back when they were talking about her. It wasn't long before Tar and the Major left the Army Base and headed for Buffy's house where, while driving, Major Sheppard told Tara to give a message to Buffy and the others. That she introduced herself as Anne, and that the others didn't have any abilities. It was a little over twenty minutes later that the Major reached Buffy's house before he walked with Tara up to the front porch and knocked on the door.
"Are you going back to the hotel?" asked Tara as the door opened to reveal Buffy standing on the other side.
"Yea" said the Major, "they'll run the other tests on me later tomorrow, but.. ummm… yeah. I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yea" said Tara as she nodded her head at the Major before heading in. Tara suddenly stopped before turning around again, and then giving the Major a hug, "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Good night" said the Major as Tara pulled back, "you have my number in case anything happens?"
"Yea" she said as Tara closed the door while the Major walked down the stairs, and back to his car.
Inside the house, Tara placed her hand on the door before she looked at Buffy. The blonde Slayer recognizing the look on Tara's face immediately got worried that something may have happened. And her suspicions were confirmed when Tara said, "Buffy, we need to talk."
Westown Hotel, Sunnydale, 2300 hours.
In the parking lot of the Westown Hotel was parked the same black van that lay in the alley earlier that day. With the destruction of his robot, Warren had to go onto his contingency plan which involved large sums of money, and magical gadgets from the dark magic dealer known as Rack. As Warren looked at the screen which showed the view from across the Major's room in the hotel thanks to a micro-camera of Warren's own design. HE looked at the video and chuckled as he ate some take-out.
He was going to take care of the Major after he took care of Buffy, but once he received his magical gadgets from Rack… he decided to kill the Major first since he was the unknown in his quest against Buffy. So once the man received his items from Rack, he rushed back to his van and hacked into the records of every hotel in Sunnydale until he found the name of Major John Sheppard.
'You thought my robot couldn't hear you because you knocked it unconscious' Warren had thought to himself while furiously typing on his keyboard earlier that day.
Once he found out where the Major stayed, it was only through the use of a glamour spell that he disguised himself as one of the front desk staff, took the Major's key, and then attacked the camera across the hallway towards his room. Warren then took out five spheres, as well as a small pen-shaped speaker, from his pockets as he walked into the room with the stolen key and closed the door behind him. He walked towards the corners of the room and lay one sphere on each side, and the speaker on the table before he opened the door and lay the last one behind the door as he walked out into the hallway while whistling.
Now, Warren continued to eat his food when he suddenly sat up straight as the Major walked to his door. HE saw the Major slide his keycard in before opening the door, and then walked inside before closing the door behind him.
"Hah" said Warren as he picked up his burner phone and dialled a number, "Amy, honey…"
Warren rushed out the back of the van with his phone on his ear as he faced the hotel; especially the room that Major Sheppard was it.
"Warren" said Amy excitedly, "you done? Can we do Willow tonight?"
"Hold on" said Warren as he brought his wrist to his mouth and spoke into the microphone on his watch, "Seal."
Warren smiled as he imagined that Major panicking right about now before he spoke again.
"Combustum."
"Amy" said Warren as he grinned and went back to speaking on his phone, "how about we take care of the others tomorrow… and yes, you can have Willow… I want the sister and the girlfriend."
As Warren continued to speak, there was a massive explosion that virtually destroyed Major Sheppard's room. HE then casually got back into the van as people started to scream from the hotel. Getting into the driver's seat, the man could only look at the destruction he caused, and smile.
TBC
