Everything either belongs to Joss or it should, no infringement is intended and no profit is to be made. When you get right down to it I'm not really worth suing anyway unless you want a share of an underpaid civil servants wages and it just wouldn't be worth the hassle trust me.
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CHAPTER TEN
Shadow Valley - California - November 2005Tara looked up when the two new strangers entered. She had been waiting in the classroom for the last fifteen minutes with only the two unsmiling and taciturn girls stood by the door for company and her imagination had been running wild with her as she waited sat behind a school desk for something to happen.
'Ms. Tara Maclay?' the younger of the two men in expensive looking suits queried in an unmistakably British accent.
'Yes' Tara confirmed.
'You can call me Stephen' the young man told her. 'Would you mind standing up so my colleague can examine you?' he requested.
'Examine?' Tara repeated nervously.
'Nothing invasive, I'm just going to run this gadget over you' the other man told her, indicating a device he was carrying. 'I'm checking for the para-plasmic radioactivity people that travel through portals pick up along the way' he explained, his own accent indicating he was an American himself. 'You can call me Knox, everyone does' he added with a smile as he approached her.
'Radioactivity?' Tara exclaimed. 'He never said anything about radioactivity when he showed me the portal spell!' she said with obvious concern as she stood up.
'Don't worry it's not ionising and won't scramble your DNA' Knox reassured Tara as he walked around her, wafting the thing up and down her body though not coming into physical contact. 'There are definite signs of portal transference but the specific radiation signature is unknown' he reported, looking at the digital display screen. 'Not a dimension we've been to or was encountered in Enyo's Timeline either, we've got all of those on record' he told Stephen.
Tara felt something mildly familiar. 'Is that thing magical?' she asked, indicating the device. It had a hint of power about it she could sense.
'Techno-Mystical' Knox replied. 'Enchanted Cedrian Crystal built into a Geiger-Counter with a few extra gizmos that enable us to work out which alternate reality or dimension people have come from or visited' he said. 'She must have some magical ability to pick up on that and she's definitely human according to other readings' he told Stephen.
'What else would I be?' Tara asked in confusion.
'You could be a shape changing demon, or maybe a cyborg using a glamour spell' Stephen replied. 'Any one of a number of things in fact' he continued. 'You can't take appearances at face value' he told her.
'I'll check the readings I took in the lab to double-check my findings' Knox told Stephen, heading back out of the room. 'The gear in there is more accurate.'
'See you later perhaps' Stephen called out to him before moving to lean back against the teachers desk at the front of the classroom facing Tara. 'Please feel free to take your seat again Ms. Maclay' he told her. 'Hopefully this won't all take too long.'
Tara decided to remain standing. 'I asked to see Kennedy' she said with some determination. 'I don't know you.'
Stephen chuckled. 'Perhaps ironically our Kennedy has never met you either which I assume is due to the divergence of our timelines at some point in the past' he replied. 'I'm afraid this is merely our new procedure when dealing with people from alternate universes' he told her. 'Given the possibility of emotional resonance, and the inherent danger of this being abused to nefarious purpose, we thought it wise to initially establish contact via those unencumbered by emotional baggage' he said, 'such as myself in this case.'
'You're a watcher' Tara observed. 'Only a watcher talks that way with that accent' she stated with certainty.
'I'm Kennedy's watcher as it happens' Stephen told her. 'By a quirk of fate I'm apparently long dead in the vast majority of Alternate Earths by this point in time so it was considered a reasonably safe bet you wouldn't have met an alternate me in your own world.'
Tara nodded. 'I'm dead in this one aren't I?' she queried. 'I was told I was before I came here' she said.
'Yes I'm afraid the Tara Maclay in this reality passed a while ago' Stephen told her. 'Coincidentally you're also a statistical outlier like myself in that in most universes you're not alive by now either' he said. 'I'm sorry if this seems like an interrogation in any way but it's important that you answer a few questions we have.'
'Okay' Tara agreed. It wasn't like she had too many options but to be cooperative anyhow, she needed their help and wasn't entirely too sure how to get home on her own anyway.
Steven meshed his fingers. 'You mentioned earlier about not being told about the radiation caused by portal travel, and also just now that you were told about the death of your alternate self here' he noted. 'To whom are you referring regarding this information, or lack of information?' he inquired.
'A man named Whistler' Tara replied. 'Well I say he's a man but...'
'He's really a balance demon that works for the so-called Powers-That-Be' Stephen interrupted, frowning, unmeshing his fingers crossing his arms.
'You know him too?' Tara asked in surprise.
'We know him' Stephen replied in the affirmative. 'We aren't on particularly good terms with his organisation however' he told her flatly. 'Not hostility per se so much as a mutual distrust and wariness.'
'But you're the good guys right?' Tara asked, looking at him perplexed by his statement. The Powers had always helped her people, if not necessarily in a particularly constructive manner and the cryptic clues grated sometimes.
'Yes, that's why we're not on good terms' Stephen responded. 'They're for the balance and we're frankly far too good at fighting evil' he explained. 'The PTB's only help you against the forces of darkness if it doesn't look like you're going to give them a sound and thorough thrashing' he said with a somewhat annoyed tone regarding that. 'They want order and balance whereas we're pursuing ultimate victory with the scales tilted firmly in our favour for eternity, so our final goals are not compatible.'
'They've been helping us fight evil' Tara told him.
'Then at the risk of sounding rude you couldn't have been doing very well at it' Stephen replied with a half smile and a slightly superior tone.
Tara opened her mouth to retort defensively before thinking it through and closing it again. 'No I suppose not' she conceded meekly. 'We were told by them to come here to get help from you' she said. 'Whistler gave me the portal spell required to get here.'
'You'll have to forgive me but it's prudent to beware trans-dimensional entities bearing gifts' Stephen responded. 'If they want us involved in something it would be only sensible to suspect their motives in the matter' he said.
'Indeed' Giles agreed, walking in the door, his own suit even classier than the one Stephen was wearing, certainly a far cry from the ones Tara remembered him to favour. 'Hello Tara' he greeted her. 'I hope you'll forgive me listening in and not entering sooner' he said. 'You can go girls' he told the two stern looking guards at the door who nodded compliance and left.
'Mr Giles!' Tara exclaimed. 'I was hoping to see someone I knew' she added happily.
Giles looked at her, the same sweet girl he remembered but there was something in her eyes he didn't remember from their own Tara, a sadness was there and perhaps something darker too. 'I hope you'll forgive me interrupting Stephen but I've got some pressing questions of my own that need addressing with some urgency, the first of which is exactly why you need our help Tara?'
Tara pursed her lips. 'What do you know about the First Evil?' she asked.
'Oh I should have seen that one coming' Stephen responded with a groan. 'We'll probably be up to our necks in Turok-Han and Harbingers by Tuesday' he continued bitterly. 'I fucking hate Bringers' he muttered to himself.
'Yes Stephen we all know your oft-mentioned opinion on them' Giles responded. 'Well apart from Tara here of course' he corrected himself. 'Stephen is not their greatest fan' he told her redundantly. 'Not that they have much of a support base in these parts generally.'
Tara frowned. 'You're fighting them here too?' she asked.
'Well not since they ran away along with the First Evil and his other allies' Giles replied.
'It ran away? Tara responded doubtfully. 'What from?'
'Well us of course' Giles explained with a smile.
Stephen grinned. 'You've come to the right universe for help anyway' he told her. 'This is the one where it's the vampires are the ones afraid to go out at night and the demon clans come to us on their knees to swear fealty and beg for mercy, well the ones that have knees do, the others just bow and scrape as best they can.'
'Forgive my young associate his hubris, it's a product of too much success in too short a space of time I'm afraid' Giles requested of Tara. 'Temper that enthusiasm Stephen.'
'As you wish Sir but it's the temper of the blades in our swords that matters more in my opinion' Stephen replied.
Giles sighed. 'You might find the consequences of the divergences between our respective timelines have led to a very different ethos than you are used to' he advised Tara. 'Which brings me to an important point unrelated to sharpened steel, we need to establish the differences between our universes and on a more personal level your story within them.'
Tara nodded. 'Shouldn't Kennedy be here though?' she asked.
'As Stephen told you our Kennedy doesn't know you and in any case she lacks seniority, Buffy is in charge here.'
'Buffy's alive too!' Tara exclaimed. Then something clearly occurred to her judging by the expression on her face. 'Is... is Willow...?'
'If you were going to say standing outside in the corridor the answer's yes' Giles told her. 'Bugger' he added when she fainted. 'Stephen fetch some smelling salts and a cup of tea for our guest would you and best tell the others it might be best if they didn't drop in until we've established some more information' he instructed him.
Shadow Valley - California - November 2005Giles had sketched out a few notes which were now on the table in front of him. It seemed a touch strange to have an annoyed looking Anya still in her wedding dress sat directly across from him around the War Room conference table but she insisted on being there with the others and refused to change into something else. This was her wedding day and she was going to wear the outfit until it was her honeymoon night, and maybe still then if it proved suitably kinky.
'She's waiting in the canteen, given the circumstances I thought it best to brief you all before you met her, it could be quite traumatic from her perspective' Giles told the group. 'Rebecca is watching her discretely, she seemed quite paranoid regarding any links with the Powers-That-Be and insisted on keeping Tara under surveillance' he said.
'You said traumatic from Tara's perspective?' Anya responded. 'It's pretty weird for us to see a friend come back from the dead' she declared. 'Well with a pulse anyway' she added. 'Or unless we accidentally pulled them out of heaven or something' she reasoned.
'Oh it's far worse for her I assure you' Giles replied. 'Allow me to give a brief summation of the timeline she comes from' he said. 'In May 2002 a petty, odious, misogynistic bastard by the name of Warren Mears decided to murder one Buffy Summers with a handgun' he began. 'Whilst doing so he not only shot Buffy but several of his bullets went astray.'
'One killing Tara' Willow interrupted quietly.
'No' Giles responded, 'one killing Willow Rosenberg' he corrected her.
'Willow died not Tara?' Xander queried.
'Correct' Giles confirmed. 'From that point on the entire world starts to degenerate sharply' he said. 'Buffy was mortally wounded by Warren as in our universe, but in this timeline Willow wasn't there to save her by mystical means, Tara tried but wasn't powerful enough so later that day Buffy died in hospital.'
'Well crap, that sucks' Buffy opined. 'No third comeback I guess?' she asked.
'No, and it gets even worse from there' Giles replied. 'With Buffy and Willow murdered by Warren a certain Alexander LaVelle Harris tracks him down and shoots him dead in the street in broad daylight a month later in San Deigo' he said. 'Xander avoids a death penalty verdict given the circumstances but was nonetheless sentenced to a very large number of years in prison where he still resides.'
'Bet he thinks it was worth it' Xander stated firmly.
Giles couldn't help but agree with the sentiment. 'While Xander goes into jail' he continued, 'Faith Lahane, being told of Buffy's death, conversely breaks out of such an establishment and heads for Sunnydale because she knows the Hellmouth needs a slayer' he said. 'She ends up living under a new identity with the alternate Rupert Giles who has also returned to Sunnydale to help Tara look after a now understandably very upset Dawn Summers' he told them. 'Shortly after this point Spike also returns to town and finding out that Buffy is dead again, this time certainly for good, he commits suicide by falling onto a stake.'
'You do like those big gestures' Buffy told Spike whose eyes had widened.
'His mental stability was already on shaky ground thanks to his recent soul acquisition, and of course the machinations of the First Evil' Giles noted. 'Yes we're now getting to the period where Bringers are assassinating every potential and watcher they can find' he told them. 'Eventually a number end up in Sunnydale seeking Faith's protection including Kennedy who eventually it seems becomes an item with Tara.'
Willow and Kennedy looked at each other. 'So your type is older witches?' Anya asked the latter.
'Well... maybe the cute ones I guess?' Kennedy replied uncertainly.
'I can see why Tara would like you' Willow remarked awkwardly.
'You don't spend as much time with her as I do' Stephen interjected, before the searing look Kennedy directed his way made him wish he'd kept his mouth shut. He definitely decided it would be wise not to make a crack about the three of them getting together... in a sleazy motel with a film crew.
Giles ignored the interruptions. 'Cutting a long story short, the First Evil was now of course hell-bent on opening the Hell-mouth and in the circumstances faced rather less competition in doing so than he did here' he told them. 'Faith does manage to get the scythe, but although they try to use it to activate all the potentials as we did unlike Willow Tara isn't strong enough with magic to do so' he continued. 'With Spike out of the picture as well Angel wears the Amulet obtained from Wolfram-Hart instead of him but is killed by Turok-Han before it can activate, after venturing with it beneath the Seal of Danzalthar, because one slayer and a handful of potentials can't hold them off long enough.'
'Fuck me!' Faith exclaimed. 'Is anyone still alive in that universe?' she asked in amazement.
'Not you I'm afraid' Giles responded. 'You die in the Hellmouth protecting the only three potentials who get out alive which includes Kennedy who is then immediately called herself to replace you' he told her. 'Everyone them escapes to Los Angeles seeking refuge at the Hyperion that that "everyone" is too many survivors by this point.'
'What about me?' Anya asked out of interest. 'Did I make it?'
'Yes apparently' Giles replied. 'You made it to LA as did I' Giles replied.
'Yay us' Anya declared enthusiastically.
'However you get killed some six months later along with Gunn and Robin Wood by a pack of Turok-Han attacking the East Hills Teen Centre' Giles told her.
Anya pouted. 'Well crap' she said, copying Buffy's earlier response.
'Okay got to ask, am I alive?' Kennedy asked.
'As of three weeks ago no you aren't any more' Giles told her, checking his notes. 'Turok-Han again' he explained. 'You and the last potentials you commanded were slaughtered by a pack of the creatures that ambushed you.'
'So who got called to replace her?' Buffy asked.
'The only living potential apparently left in California by that point' Giles replied. 'That being the one being kept safe in a psychiatric hospital until then' he said.
Faith groaned. 'Not fucking Dana?' she said, shaking her head.
'Oh yes' Giles confirmed. 'It seems alternate Fred and Wesley then spent much of the following week hunting her down with tranquilliser guns' Giles replied. 'She racked up an amazing number of dusted Turok-Han before they caught her apparently' he said. 'They eventually found her chasing three of them down an alley in '
Spike couldn't help but grin. 'Power of insanity' he observed. 'I bet she scares the shit out of them, she does me' he said, Angel having to nod his agreement with the sentiment. Dana was frankly frightening in a way other slayers weren't.
'So basically from what I can tell so far this alternate Tara comes from the arse-end of the entire multiverse' Wesley commented dispassionately. 'The only high spot being that I'm personally still alive it seems.'
'Yes but you only have the one arm after a Harbinger hacked the other one off with a machete' Giles told him.
'Don't complain, at least you're alive' Buffy told Wesley quickly.
'But if he can't do the dual wielding pistol thing what point is there in that?' Xander joked. 'It's his coolest move.'
'He's right' Wesley agreed glumly.
'I must confess that I concur with "arse-end of the multiverse" as a fair assessment' Giles commented. 'The First Evil there is now being rather canny and is gradually building up his strength rather than force an early confrontation with Wolfram and Hart or the demonically-aware sections of the US Government that he might lose' he said. 'He's playing the long game with Turok-Han spreading out further from Sunnydale every day making the night hazardous in the extreme for people throughout most of California and heading down into Mexico' he noted. 'The quantity of humans being killed on a nightly basis is rapidly climbing through the hundreds into the thousands and will be millions in due course as the numbers of the First Evils army increases at an near exponential rate.'
Buffy looked thoughtful. 'You don't think this is the world that spawned the First Evil's jihad from Enyo's future do you?' she asked.
'It could be although given the number of possible universes it's unlikely that there is only one alternate reality where the First won' Giles told her.
'Maybe it is and the Powers-That-Be have pushed Tara our way to deal with it?' Xander suggested.
'Or maybe they just want to tie us down in a campaign that would absorb much of our resources if we decided to intervene' Wesley responded, earning a nod of agreement from Illyria who had been listening quietly throughout stood behind him. 'This wouldn't be a short sharp decisive battle like our sojourn to an Alternate Scotland' he said. 'If we throw ourselves into this disaster area of a dimension we'll be in for the long haul and the Power's may have decided to keep us too busy to interfere elsewhere for a while.'
'Cynic' Xander responded.
'Realist' Wesley countered. 'Though given the day I can forgive your boundless optimism' he said.
'So Whistler came to Tara and told her he knew where she could find help?' Angel asked.
'Correct, although he had contacted them before to pass on information from the powers' Giles replied looking at his notes. 'There are a number of other people involved in the fight against the First and they are still doing their best against impossible odds' he said. 'But frankly they're outmatched, outnumbered and utterly under-equipped for the task and they know it.'
'If it were not for the involvement of the Powers-That-Be I would wholeheartedly endorse our intervention in this but I am loathe not to play into their hands if this is a trick or ruse of some kind' Illyria spoke up for the first time. 'This is a fight being chosen for us by others and we should be cautious in the extreme' she advised.
Angel leaned forward in his chair. 'I thought we were in this to help everyone everywhere' he asked. 'Champions for every world.'
'Choose your battles carefully or risk losing the war' Illyria responded. 'We cannot afford to bleed ourselves white to save one world, if the First Evil is so entrenched it may be better to cauterise this wound and save our forces for the future.'
'Cauterise the wound?' Buffy queried.
'Such as using the temple of Prosepexa on Kingmans Bluff to incinerate the whole world' Illyria told her. 'The witch Willow has the required power as you all know.'
'That would involve me killing billions of people' Willow told her sternly in a manner that definitely made it clear she wasn't a big fan of planetary genocide especially given that she would be the one triggering the holocaust.
'With the possibility of saving countless more by doing so' Illyria replied. 'No I do not expect any of you to go for the idea' she admitted, 'but rest assured, if and when everything goes to hell, possibly literally, I will be saying "I told you so" at every opportunity and noting if you had embraced my solution we wouldn't have been in such a mess' she declared, crossing her arms.
'Taking Plan A off the agenda, that being A for Apocalypse and Armageddon' Buffy said, 'Now we're onto Plan B for Buffy' she said. 'I want to talk to Tara myself, then send scouts through portals to check out her story and if everything she told Giles is true then I don't think we have an option people, we have a duty to help them if we can.'
'Sounds like we'd be putting our dangly bits into the hornet's nest but she's right' Spike agreed. 'I need to get hold of a good mace, the one I used to fight the big ugly bastards before worked great' he said. 'And that grenade launcher which fired the stakes, that was good too' he recalled.
'I'm not fighting Turok-Han alongside Spike again' Angel declared forcefully. 'He nearly got me killed last time' he said bitterly.
'You only slow me down anyway' Spike retorted. 'Even if you do make me look even more stylish by comparison' he added with a smirk.
'Stylish?' Angel responded, rolling his eyes. 'Me Spike, me have big club, me bash in skulls like caveman' he said scornfully.
'At least I don't do those poncy 18th Century swordfighting moves that make you look about as butch as Liberace' Spike retorted. 'And I'm not the one with the forehead and eyebrow ridges that make me look like a sodding neanderthal' he said smugly.
'No fighting on my Wedding Day' Anya ordered, cutting them off before it escalated. 'And no getting drunk and throwing food at each other' she added. 'Xander we're missing our own Wedding Reception' she said. 'Willow needs to make a speech, we need to cut the cake and everyone needs to dance.'
'Except Wesley' Illyria said quickly.
'Except Wesley' Anya agreed.
'I'm not that bad' Wesley muttered to himself.
'Yes you are' Faith told him. 'He is' she told Buffy seriously, Angel nodding his agreement.
'Okay, I'll give everyone ten minutes to say hello to Tara and then it's back to being my Special Day where everything revolves around me' Anya told everyone. 'If you want to start a war tomorrow when Xander and I are heading off on our Honeymoon that's fine but no more of this nonsense today' she commanded, in a tone that even Illyria felt compelled to obey. 'Move people!' she said, snapping her fingers.
'Well it's still going better than our last wedding day' Xander decided as everyone else started to move with alacrity.