Author's Note: I own nothing, I just like to play with it…. That sounded dirty…. He he he…. Ahem… enjoy.
Author's Note after getting sleep: ^ That's what happens when I get about 10 hours of sleep in 72 hours. I was going to take a break, but there were a few threats from 123Writer so I'm being nice.
"I don't understand, how did you get here? Did Willow send you? Did something happen?" Lucas asked rapidly, his astonishment evident.
"Well, um, it was Willow, but she didn't really try to. When you left, I sort of forgot to give you something. I tried to catch you but… kinda got sucked into the vortex." He sighed, "just like Giles said."
Lucas started to laugh, "Oh man, he is going to be pissed at you."
"He already is. Didn't you hear him? 'Bloody hell Xander!' I am going to be in so much trouble." Xander ruefully shook his head.
"But why did you show up so much after I did?" Lucas asked, trying to work out what was happening in his head.
Xander shrugged, "The portal was almost closing when I went in, and it seemed like I was in there for a while. Maybe it was weakening, I'm just lucky I didn't end up fighting dinosaurs or something. I landed in a room and when I opened the door, these guys grabbed me." He gestured to Crocker and Shan. "Did you hit the floor as hard as I did?" Lucas nodded with another laugh. "I gotta talk to Willow about her landings."
"Lucas? Would you like to explain who this is?" Captain Bridger's voice said behind him. He was annoyed Lucas took off running after the security breach, but it was very obvious he knew this person.
"Oh, sorry Captain. This is Xander, he's um… from the past?" Lucas made a face in last part of his sentence. He knew how it sounded. "I guess you'll want to debrief me fully now, huh?"
"Absolutely not." Kristin interrupted, before anyone else could respond. "You need rest, and I can see your stitches are torn from here, young man. Your friend obviously has been through as much as you and he needs treatment." She turned to Nathan angrily. "Don't make me pull my medical rank. I want everyone out, now."
Bridger held up his hands in surrender. "I wouldn't dream of it, we're going. I'll leave you to your patients. Lucas, I'll be back tomorrow to get the whole story." He meekly looked to Kristin, "If that's ok."
She nodded and turned to the teens. "Ok, Lucas, let me stitch you up… again. Then it's your turn… Xander, was it?"
Both boys became as meek as Captain Bridger had under her angry stare. "Yes ma'am."
Just to be safe, Nathan waited until after noon to check on Lucas and Xander. He was surprised to find them still sleeping. Kristin caught his eye and motioned him to her office. "How are they doing?" He asked after shutting the door.
"Better, I checked them thoroughly and they just need time to heal. I informed Lucas that if he tore his stitches again, I would reprogram the chip for my voice and put it back in." She chuckled. "That seemed to work. They talked for quite a bit, but they've been doing what I say."
"Did they explain anything to you about what happened?"
"Some," she admitted. "It seems unbelievable though. I mean, even with everything we've seen on this ship, it just seems so far-fetched."
Bridger nodded, "Have you found out anything about the chip that was in his head? I really want to find a way to prevent that from happening to anyone ever again."
"No, I thought I'd give Lucas the first shot at it. It seems only fair." Kristin answered.
The two adults heard a burst of laughter followed by the sound of good-natured arguing, they left the office to see what the disturbance was. "…no way! At least give me Nightwing. I am not that whiney!" Lucas was exclaiming vehemently while Xander laughed.
"Um, hello. What are you arguing about?" Bridger asked smiling.
"Oh, hi, um sir." Xander said hesitantly. "I'm sorry, did we get too loud?"
"No, that's fine, what is 'Nightwing'?" Nathan asked.
Lucas groaned, "Uh, well Xander was pointing out that I'm basically your ward here. So he said I'm like Robin… and uh… You're Batman." The Captain raised an eyebrow and Lucas plowed ahead. "I said Nightwing is better… he's Robin all grown up."
"Because of the wunderkind thing." Xander pointed out.
"Uh huh." Bridger smiled. "I think I'm kind of old to be Batman."
"Not with the Batman Beyond universe, Bruce Wayne doesn't fight anymore but he helps with everything else." Lucas explained.
Kristin piped up, "but you can't just combine universes. It doesn't make any sense to the stories… What?" The three men were looking at her in amusement. "I always hated it when shows did that."
"So who am I?" Xander asked.
"Oracle?"
"No way! I am not a girl, my back isn't broken, and my father certainly is not a cop fighting for justice!" Xander whipped his pillow at Lucas who caught it laughing.
Lucas considered as he played with the pillow, "I'd say Alfred, but that has got to be Giles." Xander smirked at the thought. "We can make something up for you… or would that be too lame?"
"Really? This far into the conversation, you start worrying that it's lame? To late man." Xander retorted and the boys broke in hysterical laughter again.
Captain Bridger cleared his throat, "well boys, if you're feeling better… and with Kristen's permission, I think it's time for you tell us your whole story." Kristen nodded her agreement.
"Can we do it in the Ward room?" Lucas asked, "I'd like to show some of the ship to Xander and I really don't want tell this whole thing over and over again."
"Yes, of course, I will gather everyone there. How does an hour sound? That way you can eat some breakfast… or lunch actually." Nathan suggested. The boys agreed and he left the room pulling out his PAL, "Well, I guess I do have a lot of gadgets…"
Although Xander would have loved to see every part of the ship, they didn't have the time before the meeting. The boys grabbed a quick meal in the mess and Lucas introduced him to the people they ran into. "Whoa… who is that?" Xander asked with large eyes.
Lucas followed his gaze, "Dagwood! Come meet my friend." He grinned at Xander's shocked expression as the G.E.L.F. lumbered over to them.
"Um… Hi, I am Dagwood." The large man said holding his hand out to Xander.
Xander took the hand and tried not to wince as Dagwood squeezed too hard. "Xander, nice to meet you."
Lucas' new PAL chirped and he pulled it out. "Wolenczak."
"Just a heads up Lucas, you have about five minutes until the meeting." Ben told him.
"Shit, thanks! We're on our way. Talk to you later Dag." He put the communicator away and the boys hurried out of the room.
Close by, Mark's eyes followed the two teens. He was still under orders to just observe while Stark finished planning, but he could see the pieces fitting together perfectly.
The Captain gave Lucas the seat at the head of the table and stood back, Xander sat to the blonde's right and looked around anxiously. Lucas cleared his throat. "Um, I think I'll induce everyone to Xander before I start. He'll probably be helping me with a few parts of the story." The people gathered nodded. They were still having a difficult time looking at the injured teens. They looked happy and were healing, but the dark bruises and burns would take several more days to disappear.
"Commander Ford, Lt Commander Katie Hitchcock, Lt Ben Krieg, Lt O'Neill, and you already know Chief Crocker." Each crew member nodded a hello to Xander as their name was mentioned. Lucas took a deep breath. "Ok, this is going to be long… and strange. Please just hear me out and um… I'll answer questions at the end?"
Lucas paused as he tried to figure out where to begin. "So remember the award I won?" He furrowed his brow, "I should find out if that was all part of the trap…"
"I don't think so," Nathan interrupted. "They called when you didn't show up. That's how we knew there a problem so soon."
Lucas nodded, "Well, that's nice of them. So, I was going to get the stupid thing and…"
Lucas finally stopped talking and looked around the room. He had left nothing out and everyone was looking disturbed. Ben and Tim in particular, were repressing rage. Nathan put his hand on Lucas' shoulder and the boy tried to suppressed a flinch. "We will find her and she will spend the rest of her life in jail." He said gently. He tried not to think about why Lucas was still jumping at every touch. He knew it would take a while for him to feel completely safe.
"So, this um… witch, she had the power to send you back?" Katie asked.
Xander answered for him. "Willow has become crazy strong. With the books Giles has collected all his life, she can normally find an answer."
"Stark must be using the magic she learned to hide her ship. That's why we couldn't get a fix on her. Ingenious really." Tim said.
"More like evil genius." Ben retorted.
"I… I mean…" Tim tried to explain. "It's just amazing."
Lucas flashed the commutations officer a smile. "It is, I know this all sounds crazy but it's true."
"I'd like to hear about this Slayer." Crocker put in.
Xander nodded, "I'll tell you all about her, it will probably take few hours though."
"So we have a plan? Or do we just wait for her to attack again?" Ford asked.
Nathan sighed, "I'm not sure. We can't find her, we don't even know where to look for her. I don't like the idea of useing anyone as bait but it may be the only way."
"I'm ok with that." Lucas said, looking the Captain in the eyes. "I know you'll keep us safe."
Nathan paused for a long moment, reading what was in Lucas' intense expression. "Ok, then I have an idea."
The meeting broke up and the boys went back to the med-bay with Ben. Bridger ordered them to never be without some kind of protection. If someone tried something, he wanted to be ready.
Nathan looked up in surprise, he had been so deep in thought he didn't realize Ford was still in the room, until he cleared his throat. "Do you think it will work?" The commander asked.
"I really don't know. We'll do everything we can to keep them from her. I can't stop thinking what they went through. And Lucas did it for us, to save our lives. What do I say to that?" The Captain sighed and sat down. "If she gets ahold of him, or Xander again…" He shook his head, refusing to finish the sentence. "How can one person mess up so many lives?"
Marilyn Stark looked in the mirror in annoyance. It would take a while for her to get use to this face. The spell she and Mark preformed worked perfectly. She took the place of one crew member as did he. They had the memories of the people and so far no one suspected. The two people they transformed into were hidden in the bowels of the ship in a storage room. Stark thought about killing them but decided they may need them at some point. She liked to keep her options open. She laughed softly when she thought about the meeting she was just part of. Lucas surprised her by telling the whole story and not sparing his friends the amount of pain he survived. They were out for blood and it resulted in the pointless plan. Even if she didn't know about it, she was sure it would never work. "I'm not that stupid, Bridger." She said coldly.