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.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Hyperion Hotel – Alternate Earth AE2005-0098-A (Pathfinder Index Code) – November 2005
Kate Lockley had good instincts, as a cop she had usually found her gut reaction to people or situations pretty reliable and in the increasingly horrible world which had developed since leaving the force they had continued to save her life. If you wasted time thinking things through then something inhumanly fast might be gnawing on your neck before you reached a decision, better to go with what your gut told you and deal with the consequences afterwards because if you didn't there might not be an afterwards.
It was for this reason that she had dropped the bag of groceries as soon as she walked back into the hotel and reached inside her jacket to take hold of the pistol she habitually carried in a shoulder-holster beneath it. She never got a chance to draw it before better than half a dozen teenage girls inside the lobby had already drawn pistols of their own and were pointing them at her, damn they were fast she thought before realising that the grocery bag she dropped hadn't hit the floor, it was floating a couple of inches above the ground. 'Bethany' she said slowly, 'we've got guests' she told the girl standing directly behind her.
Bethany leaned sideways to look around Kate. 'Lots and lots of guests' she said. 'I could throw a few of them around but not before at least some of them filled us with holes' she told her.
'Please let go of the pistol and slowly take your hand back out of your jacket' one of the armed girls instructed Kate.
'Pistol?' Kate responded, 'what pistol?' she asked. 'I was just reaching for my cell-phone to call 911' she lied.
'And we're the National Rifle Association booking in for our LA Convention' another girl carrying some kind of assault rifle replied sarcastically before activating a laser-sight on her weapon to put a green dot on the former police detectives chest.
'It's okay Kate they're friends' Tara interrupted, running over from the office and carelessly crossing several fields of fire en-route.
'Tara?' Bethany queried in surprise. 'Didn't expect to see you again' she admitted.
'It worked, I mean I found help like Whistler said I would' Tara told them. 'They're slayers, all of them' she explained. 'I mean apart from some of them who aren't'
'They're from another universe' Wesley announced, heading out from the office himself, then to Kate and Bethany's shock another Wesley followed him. 'I'm your Wesley Wyndham-Pryce he's theirs' he explained, indicating his double. 'We're going to start wearing badges or something so you can tell us apart' he told them.
'It'll get bloody confusing otherwise' the second Wesley added. 'Please comply with the request regarding your handgun Ms. Lockley' he continued, 'the girls will shoot you if you don't' he told her honestly.
Kate hesitated for a moment longer then took her hand off her automatic and instead took hold of the still floating bag of groceries again. 'I got it Bethany' she told the telekinetic who released her hold on it.
'Where's Fred?' Tara asked. 'We thought she was with you?'
'She dropped us off and went to buy some gas' Kate explained, walking further into the lobby with a cautious, guarded expression on her face. Bethany looked equally apprehensive but at least she had her weird-ass powers to fall back on Kate thought to herself, all I've got is my wits, an automatic, a stake in my jacket pocket and tonight's dinner.
'Okay, first thing to say, not the First Evil' Kennedy announced from the staircase, pointing at herself as she trotted down towards them, Kate and Bethany staring at her. 'This place is a dump' she opined, 'I forgot what a wreck it was before Xander fixed it up' she said disparagingly. 'Buffy and Dawn are trying to get the other Dawn's head straight upstairs and Faith is checking local-Dana over' she told everyone.
'Alternate Kennedy' Tara explained redundantly. 'We're not together in their universe because I'm dead over there' she continued. 'Otherwise everyone else is alive.'
'You actually travelled to a parallel universe?' Kate asked Tara, still doubting the evidence of her own eyes thought she had never seen the First Evil do more than impersonate one dead person at a time, it regularly visited her as her father which was always less than fun.
Tara nodded. 'It was weird' she replied.
'Hey this universe is the weird one' a slayer retorted defensively. 'I've been to Hell Dimensions less fucked up than this place' she declared before a look of displeasure from the Wesley she thought must be hers quieted her.
'They beat the First Evil there' Tara told Kate and Bethany, 'activated all the potentials and closed the Hellmouth like I tried to do in Sunnydale' she explained. 'They've got weapons to fight the Turok-Han' she added with a smile.
'It's the better tactics and training more than the hardware as it happens but yes we do have effective means of countering the things' the Wesley from the other universe confirmed. 'Incendiary bullets, techno-mystical grenades and a goodly number of scythes' he said.
'They can make scythes' Tara told Kate with a shrug.
'I thought the thing was unique?' Kate responded in confusion.
'One slayer at a time only needs one scythe, when you've got lots of slayers you need lots of scythes' Kennedy interjected. 'We've got one of the women who made the original on the staff cranking out new improved ones like mine' she told her then smiled. 'You two want a hand with the bags?' she asked. 'We're ordering in pizza, better let someone know what you want too' she added as everyone started to relax a little.
If Kate Lockley could have been said to have good Cop Instincts then Gwen Raiden had equally good if not better Thief Instincts, it was those that meant that when she returned to the Hotel later on and found it crawling with strangers instead of coming in the front door she sneaked in and embarrassed the slayers who were supposedly securing the building from intruders by appearing from nowhere holding one of the girls by the back of the neck threatening to put a lethal electrical charge through her unless someone explained what the hell was going on.
After another tense standoff it fell to Bethany this time to defuse the situation persuading Gwen to release her hostage and listen to everyone's explanation of what was going on. 'I don't buy this Star-Trek Alternate Universe crap' Gwen declared, glaring suspiciously across the pizza laden dining table at the strangers, especially the ones she recognised.
'I said that's where I was going' Tara reminded her.
'And I said I thought it was bullshit then too' Gwen replied flatly, crossing her arms.
Buffy rolled her eyes. 'You know a girl with funky electrical powers that has a friend with telekinesis might be expected to be a little more accepting of the strange' she told her.
'Just because I'm a freak and so is Beth doesn't mean I have to believe every line I'm told about the super-natural' Gwen replied. 'I stuck around to help out after Denzil died because he would have wanted me to, but don't go thinking that makes me some kind of team player or a sucker for that matter.'
Faith looked at her knowingly, she recognised the attitude very well. 'Way I here it you've been bankrolling the operation here too' she responded, 'sounds like a Team Player to me' she opined.
'Hey I've got money and it's always easy to steal more' Gwen replied. 'Don't make more of that than it is' she told the slayer, assuming that was what she really was. 'I might fry a few uber-vamps sometimes but I'm not a crusading super-hero either' she said. 'The outfit is to stop me accidentally putting fifty-thousand volts through the wrong person or shorting out my microwave it's not because I'm auditioning for the next X-Men movie' she declared sardonically.
'I think the outfit is kinda bitchin' Faith told her, 'and I'll bet my Wes wouldn't mind me in it either' she continued with a grin, 'you give a lot more of a shit than you make out and that's why you're going to stick around and help us deal with your First Evil problem' she said. 'Now get with the program like the others and we'll all get along great.'
'Is this some kind of convicted criminal bonding thing?' Buffy asked.
'I've never been convicted of anything' Gwen responded with a smirk.
'I was in jail because I turned myself in and if I was you B I wouldn't be so high-and-mighty regarding the law' Faith told her. 'I remember getting caught robbing a store with you once' she reminded Buffy. 'Does "Want, Take, Have" ring any bells?' she asked.
Buffy blushed. 'I was going through a phase' she said awkwardly. 'It was peer pressure' she defended herself, directed an accusing glare at Faith.
'Nice try at deflecting the guilt B but what kind of dumbass looks to me as a moral compass?' Faith asked rhetorically.
'Moving swiftly on from this discussion on our respective brushes with the authorities' her version of Wesley said, 'the First Evil is now fully aware of our presence here and must be expected to make a move immediately to counter it' he said. 'We should expect a visit from the Turok-Han in force tonight to test our strength and I suggest we give them a hearty boot up the rear' he advised.
Buffy nodded. 'We're in the middle of LA so we don't want to shoot up the local area with machine-guns attracting attention...' she began.
'If we were in Compton it wouldn't draw as much attention' Faith quipped.
'... but fortunately we've got plenty of nice quiet cross-bows' Buffy continued, ignoring her, 'so we should be able to take out plenty of uber-vamps without resorting to the heavy weaponry.
'Crossbows don't work so great' Kate commented from personal experience.
'Not the normal ones but we have heavy duty ones that only a slayer could draw without needing a winch' Kennedy told her. 'We've dusted Turok-Han with them before' she noted confidently.
'We've also got silenced pistols in case of Harbingers' Buffy told them. 'I don't like guns but they work pretty well against them' she admitted.
'Can't you put silencers on those rifle-thingies?' Tara queried.
'They work reasonably adequately on our re-chambered G36K's as it happens' the visiting Wesley responded, 'the problem is that even if the incendiary bullets going out of the firearm aren't too noisy the ones going into the Turok-Han are' he told her.
Bethany looked confused. 'Why?' she asked.
'Because we've shot vamps with Bucky before and they scream and holler when you do' Buffy told her, using the nickname for the special bullets Vi had coined. 'They don't kill vampires they only hurt them a lot so you can stake them more easily' she explained.
A girl in a dragon-leather jacket entered the room. 'Sorry for interrupting boss but Willow just got here with the second group of slayers and the rest of the gear' she told Buffy. 'Oh and we had to Taser Dana when she woke up' she added apologetically, 'she's crazier than our one!' she declared.
Gwen raised her eyebrows. 'The number of times I've had to do that recently I'm surprised she's not getting used to it' she said.
Los Angeles Sewers – Alternate Earth AE2005-0098-A (Pathfinder Index Code) -November 2005
'I don't know why you're complaining' Connor told the moaning slayer following him, there were three of them but the other two were just trying to ignore the situation. 'I've got a better sense of smell than you do' he reminded her.
'I'm complaining because I'm in a concrete tube half full of sewage ten yards under LA and it's not even my Los Angeles' the girl replied. At least the fact they were all wearing night-vision gear meant they were spared the full unpleasantness of shining a flashlight over the surroundings and seeing everything in its actual colour, it didn't look as nauseating when everything was shades of green.
'You volunteered for a Sweep and Clear mission didn't you?' Connor asked.
'I was denied the full facts' the girl told him, she was American but of Chinese descent and petite with it to boot. She wasn't much over five foot and looked smaller than the arbalest crossbow she was carrying.
'Well how did you think vampires moved around during the daytime?' Connor asked reasonably.
'I heard people talking basements and storm drains' the girl responded.
'That was the team going with Rona' Connor told her. 'You need to pay more attention' he advised.
'I need to get in with the people in charge is what I need' the girl responded bitterly. 'It's all about who your friends are and who you know' she complained.
'I know everyone in charge and I'm down here' Connor pointed out.
'Yeah but we all know the Chief doesn't like you screwing Dawn and anyway you're the type that volunteers for things' the slayer told him.
'Dedicated you mean?' Connor asked.
'Stupid' the girl corrected him.
Connor raised a hand to quiet them. 'Something else down here' he whispered, indicating the way up ahead where the sewer line gently curved to the right. 'It could just be a sewer repair-man so don't put a crossbow bolt into something unless you're sure what it is' he said.
They continued moving on more slowly, tense for action. The three slayers had crossbows and short-swords but Connor was carrying his mystical knife which morphed into a sword when he silently mouthed the spell required feeling some of the demonic energy which made him so strong and fast flowing into the blade as it grew.
Fortunately Turok-Han were rarely smart enough to be sneaky and one simply jumped out in front of them with a snarl, despite earlier Connor's warning to expect possible trouble one of the girls still flinched enough that her crossbow bolt went wild, hitting it in the shoulder not the ribcage but another calmer or possibly more experienced slayer put her own shot right on target.
The sharpened heavy hardwood bolt smashed through the vampires bone and sinew armoured chest plate and going right into its heart exploded the vampire into dust, the particles looking almost like fog for a second via the night-vision goggles before they fell downwards to scatter themselves on the flow, heading slowly away like the rest of the detritus.
Despite a still outwardly relaxed demeanour inside Connor was going into overdrive, his already slightly faster-than-normal pulse went through the roof, muscles tensed for action and he smoothly shifted into a combat-stance 'Where there's one there's...' he began.
'More' the small slayer finished his sentence firing her own crossbow directly into the snarling face of a second Turok-Han as it leapt from seemingly nowhere, presumably a narrower feeder pipe that emptied into this main channel. Coming in at an angle the bolt knocked out several of the creature front teeth and drove itself through the roof of its mouth before it stopped leaving have the length of the bolt still protruding from its face. Although far from a lethal injury it was still the kind of wound that even a uber-vamp wasn't easily able to ignore and instead of continued its intended attack on Connor it clawed at the bolt as another girl drew a silenced pistol and emptied a magazine through it as fast as she could, Connor dodging as far out of the line-of-fire as he could as supersonic .357 SIG ammunition began punching into the things torso, the bullets deforming as they impacted its natural body-armour and tearing even more serious internal wounds as the misshapen copper-jacketed rounds tumbled and came apart.
The damn things were unbelievably tough, Connor decided as the pistol used up its clip and the Turok-Han already seemed to recover. He swung his sword as hard as he could and caught the vampire in the side, the sharp and mystically-enhanced metal blade biting in deep and causing a muffled, half-choked, gurgling howl of pain and a spray of blood from its mouth.
'Shit' one of the slayers swore as a third Turok-Han ran to the attack. She had been reloading her crossbow but she threw it aside and drawing her sword with her right hand deployed a wooden stake to her left from the device on her wrist.
Connor did likewise with his own similar gadget and putting all his strength into it slammed the wooden stake into the chest of the creature he was still fighting before it could recover. It came apart into ash freeing his sword and sending his half-stumbling as he overbalanced as the three slayers jointly tackled the next vampire, inflicting almost the death of a thousand cuts as they hacked at it relentlessly with their swords, trying to injure it enough to make finishing it off less hazardous.
More howls echoed down the sewer. 'We've got more company on the way, sounds like up to a dozen' Connor yelled as he regained his balance and retrieved the discarded crossbow to hand back once the girls had finished with the one they were fighting which they quickly did. He passed it back and told the owner to reload it as he pulled a Helios Grenade from his pocket. 'Get ready to close your eyes and turn off your goggles to stop the flash totally fucking them up when I set this thing off' he told them, pulling the pin but keeping hold of the sprung-loaded lever that would have to flip off before the grenade would explode.
The girls moved back as Connor waited for the next wave, Turok-Han often arrived en-masse so he might get the chance to completely take out a good number all at once and hopefully give a few more behind a very bad case of sunburn.
Practically shoulder to shoulder as they arrived the uber-vamps went straight for Connor who let the grenade lever spring away as they neared, he waited a couple of seconds and threw the grenade into as high an arc as he could as he squeezed his eyes shut and put his now free hand over his goggle lenses so they wouldn't flare out.
The Helios Grenade was in the midst of the Turok-Han when the techno-mystical grenade exploded, liberating the spell contained within in a burst of sunlight far brighter than the daylight above. For a brief second the sewer was a blinding flash and the mob of vampires simply caught alight several exploding at once and others further away being scorched or charred, others blinded as their retinas burned out.
'Finish them' Connor howled as he opened his eyes and witnessed the bedlam and disorder in the Turok-Han ranks. The three slayers switched their goggles back on and finding three easy targets straight away simply shot them down with crossbow bolts before joining Connor in the attack, sword and stake against teeth and claws.
Connor decapitated the last himself, a satisfied expression on his face as he neatly chopped off its head, he started to cough violently from all the dust now filling the enclosed space and hoped uber-vamp remains didn't cause lung-cancer. 'I want a shower' he announced. 'And a beer' he added. He wasn't a big drinker but his dad had taken him to an Irish Themed Pub a few weeks before and introduced him to a drink called Guinness saying something about heritage and the quality of most of the output of the big American breweries. It was nice stuff and practically a meal in itself which was good when you burned through calories like Connor did, hopefully the same establishment was present in this LA too he thought.
One of the slayers was shaking the dust out of her hair. 'I'm asking for a transfer to night patrol' she declared, 'just muggers and nice pleasant garbage-strewn alleys with junkies in them' she said wistfully as they trudged back towards the Hyperion.
'Paradise' another agreed as they ignored the rats running past them along a pipe fixed to the wall.
Hyperion Hotel – Alternate Earth AE2005-0098-A (Pathfinder Index Code) – November 2005
Fred was already all too wary of the horde of strangers or almost-strangers that had already arrived but the appearance of the all too familiar form of a portal vortex opening half way between the ceiling and the floor in the middle of the lobby set all her alarm bells ringing. She didn't have a good record with portals be that being sucked through one into Pylea, failing to stop the Beast by opening one herself or attempting to murder her old College Professor by dumping him through one.
One of the newly arrived slayers noticed her reaction. 'Relax' she said. 'Only one person travels that way who has to worry about ending up inside the walls or the floor' she said as a red-haired girl with very strange skin colouration a sword and a large hold-all dropped through and landed gracefully on the floor, trying to arrive with as much dignity as possible.
The portal closed above her as the girl straightened up. 'Aunty Fred' she greeted Winnifred Burkle as her appearance morphed into a rather more human condition the bright red hair becoming brunette locks for one thing. 'Seen one Hyperion seen 'em all' she observed, looking around.
'Just you?' a slayer asked.
'Nobody else ever wants to travel by no-frills budget portal' the girl replied. 'I don't know if it's the lack of the in-flight movie or the no honey-roasted peanuts that does it' she joked.
'We're too worried about our undercarriage given the way the landings go' the slayer replied. 'Can someone tell the Chief that the Red Menace has arrived' she called out loudly.
Rebecca sighed, Enyo hated that nickname and was scowling in their shared mind. 'Are you okay Aunty Fred?' she asked.
'You're the Slayer-God thing' Fred said in amazement, Tara had given her a quick summary of what was going on as soon as she got back from filling the car with gas.
'Rebecca or Enyo is fine, calling me a "thing" is a little rude though Aunty Fred' the girl responded, 'hurtful too' she added.
Fred blinked. 'The other one, the one that looks like me...' she began.
'Mother isn't coming' Rebecca told her. 'She thinks this is all a very bad mistake and possibly an attempt by the Powers-That-Be to screw us' she said. 'I agree completely but Mom and Dad are here so I need to look after them' she continued. 'This all bears the classic hallmarks of a total clusterfuck in the making if you ask me' she opined.
'Language' Faith chided loudly.
'Sorry Mom' Rebecca apologised. 'I'm right though' she stated with certainty.
'You've met Alternate Fred?' Faith asked, walking over to join them.
'We were just getting to know each other' Rebecca replied with a half-smile. 'I called her Aunty, she called me a thing...'
'My daughter is not a thing' Faith told Fred sharply.
'See, not just my opinion' Rebecca noted. 'Where's dad?' she asked.
'Talking guns with the other Wes and a couple of Vi's stormtroopers in the basement, they're stacking the hardware down there' Faith replied. 'Our Wes is the one carrying a rifle' she told her.
'Oh I can tell them apart' Rebecca replied, 'each parallel universe has a slightly different vibe' she explained as best she could.
'Some sort of sixth sense?' Faith queried.
'More like my eighth' Rebecca corrected her. 'It's related to the way I can feel my way through a portal, each universe has a sort of... well taste might be the closest description' she said. 'At least it works better than my sixth and seventh senses, despite Enyo being of Berith's and Illyria's lines our precognition is completely dire almost to the point of non-existence and we're tone-deaf to a lot of plant species.'
'Connor and a few of the girls have already tussled with some uber-vamps' Faith announced, 'they just got back from a patrol underground.'
'Well at least I'll get to kill some Turok-Han while I'm here' Rebecca said, looking on the bright side of things. 'Have you found me a room?' she asked.
'You don't sleep and a lot of the rooms aren't liveable so the girls that need to sleep get the ones that are' Faith replied.
'Well can I leave my stuff in your room when I don't need it?' Rebecca requested.
'Sure, we're in room three-twelve, me and you dad I mean but just knock before walking in okay' Faith asked. 'We could be doing something you might not want to see.'
'If I did want to see my parents doing that the people that doubt my mental togetherness would have a point' Rebecca replied. 'Or more of a point' she admitted. 'I'm going to find dad' she said. 'Tell Aunty B where I am if she asks.'
'Okay, will do sweetheart' Faith responded as Rebecca dumped her bag and her sword to one side and headed towards the basement. The slayer noted the strange expression on Fred's face 'You take good family where you can find it' Faith told her. 'And she got me an awesome card on Mother's Day last May' she added with a smile.
The two Wesley's were watching several girls strip and reassemble rifles. 'All custom?' one asked the other.
'We've got our own armaments factory in China' the other replied. 'The basic designs are the same as the ones Heckler and Koch made we just scaled them up for a more powerful cartridge and made some special loads for them' he explained.
'And the incendiaries are proven effective?' the first Wesley checked.
'Extremely, though we're interested in seeing what Buckingham type .338 Lapua Magnum will do to a Turok-Han' the second replied. 'That's untested though we predict great things because the combination of a larger quantity of phosphor and the much higher muzzle-energy should work wonders' he said. 'A three round burst in the chest should put one of the buggers down pretty sharpish.'
'I wish we had your resources' the first Wesley said sadly.
'Luck of the draw as regards the timeline really' the second replied. 'But as to resources ours are not unlimited I'm afraid' he said. 'We're already committed to fighting the forces aligned to Jasmine and are conducting small scale operations against them on a regular basis' he told his double. 'We're also tied up with another commitment to aid the rebel females of Oden Tal, we have to guarantee the security of Pylea against the Wolf, Ram and Hart and we still have to make sure our home reality is secure.'
'Imperial Overstretch?' the first Wesley suggested.
'Illyria believes it to be so and I fear she may be right' the second agreed. 'We never shifted onto a full-scale war footing expecting to have more time to prepare for the so-called Dimension Wars so now we're perhaps over-reaching ourselves.'
'What's Imperial overstretch?' one of the slayers queried, 'sorry for interrupting' she said when the two Wesley's looked at her.
'No need to apologise young lady' the first Wesley told her. 'Imperial Overstretch is a theory that says that a Great Power, a nation-state or an empire perhaps, can extend itself beyond its ability to support the military and economic requirements of it's commitments' he explained. 'There are many examples in history of countries bankrupting themselves by trying to do too much with too little' he continued. 'The historian Paul Kennedy wrote a very successful book based around the concept called The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers.'
'It's too persuasive a theory for comfort if you ask me' Rebecca interjected. 'Hi Dads' she greeted the pair of them with some amusement.
'Hi sweetheart' the second Wesley replied. 'This is Rebecca my time-travelling sort-of daughter' he introduced her.
'Takes after Faith' the other Wesley noted. 'Very nice to meet you' he said. 'She's not going to hug me is she?' he asked hurriedly.
'You're too many twists in the timeline removed' Rebecca told him. 'Dad there is a lot closer to my original Dad than you are' she said. 'So I guess its game-time when the sun sets?' she asked rhetorically. 'Don't either of you get killed okay?' she requested.
'We're not planning on it' they both said together.