Disclaimer: The concept of the Exiles belongs to Marvel Comics. Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy Productions, and Dark Horse Entertainment. All other characters and properties that the reader may recognize from anime, other comics, and other television shows belong to the creators of said characters and properties and have nothing to do professionally or monetarily with the writer of this work. The only profit the writer gets out of this is the satisfaction of knowing someone will read this and the hope that they will kindly review, even if they do not review kindly.
Author's note: Apologies for taking five years to finish this first season of The Other Exiles. With the help of JOUNOUCHI-sama, I am getting myself back on track to writing, and I will finish this saga with a big bang . . . or with sound and fury, ultimately signifying nothing. Of course, that might be more on the characters, as there will be some deck-clearing and roster shuffling to set up for the next season of The Other Exiles. With the team back together and the surviving Slayers empowered by Omni-Buffy, there seems to be nothing standing in their way of defeating The First Evil and its Turok-Han army . . . or is there? Who lives, who dies, who goes on to the next mission or back to their world? You'll just have to read and find out . . .
"The Other Exiles"
Chapter 13: "Doom and Destiny"
"It really is bigger on the inside . . ." commented Spider as he looked around the TARDIS. "Kind of reminds me of Hank Pym's lab."
"Hmm, Pym . . . been a while, how are he and Miss Van Dyne these days?" the Doctor asked.
". . . I wouldn't know," Spider admitted grimly.
"This is so cool . . ." Andrew gushed.
With the Exiles and the Slayers inside the TARDIS, the Doctor took his place at the console. "All right, time to go. Setting course for . . . the Hellmouth."
"The Hellmouth . . . this is it, then. The final battle," Buffy said.
"Oh, you think so, do you?" the Doctor asked. "A word of advice . . . nothing is ever truly final. Nothing."
"You sound like Doctor Manhattan," Andrew commented.
"Doctor Manhattan? Hmm, I've met him once. Kind of a dreary chap."
"Wait, Doctor Manhattan's real, too?" Xander asked.
"In a sense," the Doctor replied. "And here we are. The Hellmouth. Some of you know it better than others."
"Yeah," Buffy said. "And you put us right in there, because the Turok-Han are headed our way . . . and there's . . . a lot of them."
"Gee, you think?" Faith remarked sardonically.
"Stay here and keep the ride ready," Nightwing instructed the Doctor. "We'll deal with these guys." With that, he made his way toward the TARDIS's exit door, the Flash and the other Exiles following him along with the Slayers.
"Hey, it's the interdimensional intruders," mocked a sickeningly twisted voice that nonetheless sounded chillingly familiar. "You've shown your hand, Buffy . . . time I showed mine."
That was when the Turok-Han began to transform, their flesh hardening, calcifying into chitinous, spiky exoskeletons. "Did you just make them uglier?" Buffy asked.
"No . . . spider-sense going berserk . . ." Spider muttered, and that was all he had time to say before the Turok-Han just blitzed them. Kennedy was the first to fall, decapitated and dismembered in what couldn't have been much more than a few milliseconds. Vi barely had time to scream in horror and fear at what had happened to the toughest Potential Slayer in their ranks before she would have died, too, only to be shielded by the Flash, who sped her out of harm's way . . . just in time to get one of the Turok-Han's spikes through her spine.
"IRIS!" Nightwing cried out in horror, speeding to her. "Iris, talk to me!"
"Look . . . look out . . ." the Flash warned him.
Nightwing whirled around and started blasting heat vision at the oncoming hordes of Turok-Han, but to his surprise, they weren't completely incinerated. They were charred and burned, but they kept coming, forcing him to fight at speeds that would have been incomprehensible to most just to keep them from killing him and Vi. It was already too late for Iris, paralyzed and bleeding out, and Nightwing used his senses to assess how everyone else was doing. To say it wasn't going well was to understate the situation.
Tommy was slashing frenetically and viciously at the Turok-Han with his Sword of Darkness, but the flashes of green lightning and fire barely slowed them down. For each one he fell, more took their place, overwhelming him by force of numbers alone, a hellish swarm of demonic vampires that clawed at him, piercing through the Dragon Shield and Ranger suit.
Sara was completely engulfed by the Witchblade armor and was stabbing and slashing furiously at the Turok-Han, the ancient vampires crumbling to dust with each fatal strike. Unfortunately, there were a lot more to fill the gap left by their brethren, and though they couldn't pierce the Witchblade's metal, they could still swarm her until she fell from exhaustion. That would take a very long time, but the hordes of Turok-Han just kept coming.
Kazuma had tapped deep into his Contractor powers, his Stigma of the Wind. The winds he generated were slicing the Turok-Han apart and keeping them away from him, forming a protective barrier that slashed and sliced at any Turok-Han that dared come near him. However, the Turok-Han continued to throw themselves at him, and they were getting increasingly close to slipping between the howling winds that violently shielded Kazuma from their reach.
At first, Rogue had kept off the ground to keep the Turok-Han from reaching her, but they were able to leap extremely high and far, piling onto her. As hard as she fought to throw them off her, they kept on coming. Spider caught them with his webbing and ripped them off her, but by then, they had started biting, so blood and chunks of not-so-invulnerable flesh came with them, dripping from their jaws. Spider growled with rage and punched them with stinger blades extending from the undersides of his wrists, piercing them in their hearts and their heads. Rogue flew down after them, the scent of her fresh blood drawing the Turok-Han to her like a magnet, and she used that to her advantage, pummeling them with all her prodigious strength. As the dust kicked up from their disintegration, Spider and Rogue found themselves standing back to back.
"Mind if we patch those up for you?" Spider asked.
"Don't have the time," Rogue replied, panting heavily. "I'll hang in."
"These guys just keep on coming, don't they?"
"Won't stop until we're as dead as they are."
At the same time, Buffy, Faith, Rhona, and Vi were standing in a back-to-back circle, guarding each other against attacks from the Turok-Han. The power-up that Omni-Buffy had given them was enough for them to hang on, but unfortunately it wasn't enough to give them a clear win. The Slayers were stronger and faster and tougher than ever before, but with the Turok-Han's similar and more extreme augmentations and raw numbers, it was all they could do just to hang in there.
"Thought . . . these guys would be . . . a cakewalk . . ." Rhona muttered.
"Look where that got Kennedy," Vi mumbled grimly.
"We have to keep fighting!" Buffy shouted. "These uber-vamps aren't gonna beat us!"
"Yeah, about that, B," Faith groaned as she could feel herself tiring out, along with the others.
"Yes, yes, keep fighting till you die!" the twisted but familiar voice taunted. "That's what you Slayers do best!"
Buffy snarled and cleaved a Turok-Han in half with the Slayer's Scythe, putting all her enhanced strength into it, then swung the scythe and stabbed another Turok-Han in the head before ripping it out in a decapitating motion. Beside her, Faith, Rhona, and Vi punched, kicked, stabbed, and slashed viciously at the approaching Turok-Han with all their own enhanced strength.
"Dammit," Nightwing muttered, closing the Flash's dead eyes mournfully. He lifted himself into the air, took a deep breath, and then blew it out in freezing winds that turned the Turok-Han approaching him into ice statues, statues that he then shattered with a single punch each. He floated back onto the ground, stalking furiously toward the seemingly endless hordes of ancient undead. With one deadly glare, he unleashed a torrent of heat vision that incinerated a large contingent of them, but that didn't stop those remaining from pressing the attack.
Meanwhile, the other Exiles continued fighting as hard as they could, but they were being worn down just as much as the Slayers. Tommy had already lost half his visor from a Turok-Han's attack and he was literally glowing with desperation. He thrust the Sword of Darkness into the ground, sending a wave of jade flame and lightning through it that blasted the Turok-Han that were attacking him from all sides. Then he drew the Dragon Dagger, clashing it with the sword to generate an even more powerful and devastating emerald energy wave that felled more Turok-Han.
"Dammit . . ." he groaned. "Don't know how much more of this . . . I can take . . ."
"Yeah, these bastards just don't quit, do they?" Kazuma agreed, even as he continued to unleash windy death upon the Turok-Han.
"We'll have to make them, then," Sara panted as metallic tendrils extended from the Witchblade armor and slashed and pierced the attacking Turok-Han.
"Rogue . . ." Spider groaned, as she collapsed on him. "You're bleeding out . . . dammit!"
"It's too late, Webs," Rogue panted. "I know I'm not gonna last too long . . . so can I tell you something quick?"
"Fine, tell us," Spider answered brusquely.
"You don't . . . you deserve better . . . than letting that thing crawl on you," Rogue said.
"We have nothing else . . ."
"That's . . . not true." Rogue touched his chest, right over where his heart would be, and Spider gently pressed her hand with his own.
"We're . . . I'm sorry," Spider whispered, before Rogue went limp. He let the symbiote peel away from his face and his hands, and then he held onto her face, pressing his forehead against hers, hoping Anna Marie's original and primary mutant ability would activate in time to save her. Meanwhile, the symbiote lashed and thrashed at the Turok-Han that were still approaching them, determined to protect its host to the last even if said host had ceased to care about his own life. Then it felt its host weakening, slipping away, as Rogue began to heal, and it began to slip off him and onto Rogue. "Take it, Rogue . . . take as much as you need . . ."
His grip began to slip, as Rogue's grip firmed and strengthened, and when her eyes opened, she saw Peter Parker looking straight into them. "Spider, what are you doing?!" she asked.
"Saving you," he replied, sticking to her face with his hands so that she could keep absorbing him until she healed fully. "That's what Spider-Man does. He saves people."
"But . . . you'll . . ." Rogue tried to plead.
"At least I get to be with my family again," Peter replied softly, wistful hazel meeting blue-green.
"Spider . . . Peter . . ."
"It's ok, Anna . . . Kitty . . ." Then he let go, but the symbiote didn't, bonding with her instead, flooding her with power, healing her wounds, and filling her with rage that mixed into her grief and sorrow.
"You're all going to die here."
With that, the Venomous Rogue went on the rampage, speeding through the Turok-Han and ripping them apart with her hands when she wasn't caving in their heads or their chests with her fists. The symbiote engulfing her burst into a flurry of tentacles that stabbed and lashed at the ancient undead, and even started smashing the Turok-Han into the walls and ceiling and ground of the underground cavern.
"Hmm, look at her go . . ." the twisted yet familiar-sounding voice of the First Evil mused mockingly. "She must've really loved that loser."
"You're next!" Rogue vowed, smashing and stabbing through Turok-Han to emphasize her threat.
"You really think you can touch me?" the First Evil taunted. "You can't! I'm not one of your pathetic super-villains! I am evil itself! I exist everywhere! In all times, in all worlds – you can't even hope to touch me, much less destroy me!"
"Typical super-villain spiel," Nightwing retorted icily. "But this is as far as you go. No further. We draw the line here." As he spoke, he shot down Turok-Han after Turok-Han with bursts of heat vision, at least when he wasn't using his breath to turn them into frozen statues that he then shattered with single punches.
"Really, Dickie? Really?" the First taunted. "Use those super-senses! All your friends are dead or dying at my feet!"
Indeed, they were not doing so well at all. Of the Slayers, Buffy and Faith were all that remained, Vi and Rhona having been swarmed and pummeled and slashed to death by the Turok-Han. Of the Exiles, the Flash and Spider had already died, and Tommy, the Green Ranger, was about to follow them despite his best efforts. With a final desperate howl, he lashed out with all his power against the Turok-Han, creating an explosion of green flame and lightning that felled so many of the ancient undead – and caused him to de-morph, having exhausted himself completely. The remaining Turok-Han took this as an opportunity to swarm him, and despite the efforts of the remaining Slayers and Exiles, they, too, were swarmed by the Turok-Han. Nightwing's eyes glowed and steamed with crimson heat before he unleashed a massive blast of heat vision that reduced the oncoming Turok-Han to ashes. As the ashes fell, they could see . . .
. . . that Tommy and all the Slayers were dead, savagely mauled and even eviscerated by the Turok-Han.
"Buffy!" Xander, Dawn, and Andrew cried out in horror and grief from inside the TARDIS, the three otherwise powerless humans trying to run out before the Doctor stopped them.
"No!" the Doctor insisted. "Do you think you'll make any difference out there? You'll just die, too, and she didn't want that for you!"
"Then what do we do?!" Dawn asked tearfully. "That's my sister and she's dead, and everybody's dying, and what do we do?!"
The Doctor was painfully silent. There were no words for this. After centuries of death and destruction, he still had no words to say to the grieving young girl in front of him. The two young men beside her weren't much better off, both looking like they were about to collapse out of sheer rage from their own helplessness. Then, to his surprise, the TARDIS opened and Dawn dashed out to Buffy before Xander or Andrew could stop her, only to be cut down in a vicious blur by a Turok-Han.
"Dawn, no!" Xander cried out, his horror and grief magnified. Then he whirled upon the Doctor. "Are there any weapons on this ship?"
"No," the Doctor replied somberly. "I don't believe in weapons."
"A pacifist, huh?" Xander sneered. "Well, if I can reach that nifty sword and dagger the Green Ranger just left behind . . ."
"Xander, you'll . . ."
"How did this TARDIS even open in the first place?!" Andrew asked.
"The Key . . . Dawn was the Key . . . she must have tapped into that power somehow out of desperation, and then . . ."
That was when Xander dashed out, too, charging desperately for the nearby Sword of Darkness. Just as he touched it, a Turok-Han slashed him, though he managed to whirl and decapitate the Turok-Han in what amounted to a mutual kill. "XANDER!" Andrew wept inconsolably. "Nobody left . . . nobody left except me . . ." With a furious scream, he charged out as well, catching the Sword of Darkness and using it to slash viciously at the oncoming hordes of ancient undead.
"Andrew, look out!" Nightwing shouted, but Andrew was too consumed by his grief and rage to listen, subsequently finding himself decapitated by a Turok-Han.
"Dammit . . ." Sara groaned. "They keep coming . . . and we keep dying . . ."
"There's nothing we can do to stop them, is there?" Kazuma grimaced.
"No, the First Evil is gonna keep spitting these things out until they kill us all!" Nightwing snapped.
"Exactly! I'm so glad you finally figured that out, Dickie!" the First taunted.
"How about we keep going until all your damn undead freaks die?! How about that!?" Rogue snarled, already forming the familiar fanged jaws and long, slobbering tongue of Venom, along with claws on her fingers and toes, as she began slashing and biting at the Turok-Han, going feral in her rage and grief.
"Rogue!" Sara warned. "She's losing it!"
A black blur of death charged through the Turok-Han, slashing and tearing and biting at the ancient undead faster than even they could react. "My God . . ." Nightwing uttered, able to follow the trail of carnage with his eyes.
"God?!" the First cackled mockingly. "There is no God here! I'm your God!"
Alas, as many Turok-Han as Rogue was butchering, even more were coming to take their place, threatening to overwhelm her by sheer numbers, even for her and the symbiote's mutual rage. Nightwing looked aghast, but then the Tallus on his wrist began to blink brightly, drawing his attention to a very clear message. "Run. Run for the TARDIS. Get the hell out of there if you don't want to die."
"Run?" Nightwing repeated disbelievingly. "This must be wrong. We don't run."
"Yes, you do run. You run if you want to live. Something's juiced up the First, and it keeps replenishing its army. Until we can cut that off, there's no way we're winning this one."
"We can't run . . ." Nightwing protested.
"You run or you die. Final word. Get to the TARDIS. NOW."
"I don't like this," Nightwing murmured. More loudly, "Anyone who's still alive at this point, get to the TARDIS! We're getting out of here! Now!"
"Seriously?" Kazuma asked. "Why are we running? These guys are fodder!"
"Infinite fodder! We'll run out before they do!" Nightwing replied. "And we've lost too many of our own as it is!"
"Someone tell that to Rogue!" Sara snapped.
Indeed, Rogue was still savagely tearing into the Turok-Han with all her own and the symbiote's strength, and didn't seem interested in stopping any time soon. "They killed him! They killed Spider! They pay! They all pay!"
"Sorry, Rogue . . ." Sara murmured, and grabbed her with a tendril from the Witchblade, using it to pull her away from the fight and drag her toward the TARDIS, Nightwing and Kazuma already ahead of them. The two young men made it inside the TARDIS as the remaining Turok-Han began to give chase, Sara quickly following. The symbiote peeled away from Rogue's head, letting her face be seen, and she was livid.
"What are we doing?!" she asked. "What kind of cowards are we!?"
"Getting out alive, I'm afraid," the Doctor replied. "Now get inside before . . . look out!"
That was when Sara yanked Rogue inside the closing TARDIS, but it was too late. One of the Turok-Han had managed to pick up a discarded scythe that had been held by a Slayer and fling it with enough force to embed itself into Rogue's exposed head. "No!" Sara cried out, staring into Rogue's wide eyes, her face frozen in a look of shock. "No, no, no, no, NO!"
"We have to get out of here!" Nightwing shouted.
"Who's giving those orders?" Kazuma asked.
"Buffy!" Nightwing snapped back.
"Really? Boss lady is just throwing in the towel?" Kazuma asked.
"No other choice," Nightwing replied. "It's either this or we're all dead."
"Run, run, run, run!" the First taunted. "Don't worry, boys and girl, I'll catch up with you soon enough!"
"Vile bastard . . ." the Doctor growled as he navigated the TARDIS out of the Hellmouth and into the vastness of the timestream. "Now . . ."
"What the hell, Buffy?" Nightwing interrogated.
"My store of omniverse energy is running out. I only have a comparatively limited reserve, like oil in a car, and unlike a car, I can't just refuel. Not that many places for an omni-dimensional being to get recharged. That's why I called on the Doctor. He'll have to be your transport from now on. Time and Relative Dimensions in Space, remember?"
"I'm gonna remember how we left our teammates to die and botched our mission!" Nightwing snapped. "I'm gonna remember . . ." He stopped himself, pulling out a pair of red-framed sunglasses with lightning bolt-shaped red stems. "Iris . . ."
"Wait till you've lived as long as I have," the Doctor muttered somberly. "You'll have a lot more loss to recall."
"So what do we do now?" Kazuma asked. "You're running out of juice, we're running out of teammates, and now we've got your sister out there recruiting psychopaths to be some black-ops version of us!"
"We recruit. Or rather, I do. I can still do that much. I'll bring them to you, but after that, you and the Doctor will have to handle everything else."
"And what happens when that goes south, too?" Sara asked. "Do we cut and run again?"
"No. We'll have to do this smarter. We have to find who was amplifying the First and cut them off so that they can't just steamroll us again."
"How do we do that?" Nightwing asked.
"You're Kryptonian, right? Or at least you have the powers of one. Doesn't that include fifty different kinds of vision?"
"I don't have soul vision or astral vision or whatever you're thinking I've got," Nightwing retorted.
"Have you tried?"
"Have I tried?" Nightwing scoffed, then barked out a harsh, mirthless laugh. "Have I tried, she asks me?"
"You haven't, have you? Then how do you know you can't?"
"If this thing wasn't irremovable . . ." Nightwing glowered at the Tallus.
"Who are our new comrades going to be?" the Doctor asked.
"I'll let you know when I find them. It's not easy searching the Omniverse for the right candidates. In the meantime, you've got a TARDIS at your disposal. Rest up, grieve, get what you need to get yourselves back in fighting mode. I'll be in touch. Buffy out."
Then the Tallus went dim and Nightwing slammed the wrist bearing it into the nearest wall. "Watch it!" the Doctor warned. "She's very, very sensitive!" Nightwing just glowered at him, his eyes glowing furiously. "Oh, are you really going to blast me? Not very heroic of you. Superman would be disappointed if he knew that was how you honored the name and shield he gave you."
"Superman's not here," Nightwing hissed, his voice low.
"But you are," the Doctor said. "That'll have to be enough."
"It wasn't enough for them," Nightwing spat.
"Enough to avenge them, then," the Doctor replied. "Enough to stop whoever was behind this 'First Evil' from doing this again. I know you're angry, but I also know you're in pain, and right now, everyone across reality is counting on you. You must push through this. Feel it, but push through it, and when you come out the other side, remember that you not only have a mission, you have people beside you who are willing to help you see it through."
"Is that . . . what you tell yourself?"
"Sometimes."
"Is it enough?"
"It has to be."
There was a long silence, and then Nightwing finally spoke up. "Then so will I. So will we. We couldn't protect them. We couldn't save them. But we can damn well avenge them. Everyone in?"
"I am," Kazuma replied.
"Yeah," Sara agreed.
"And I," the Doctor added.
"Then we're all in," Nightwing said. "We won't let another world fall. And we'll carry on in the name of everyone we've lost."
The End Is the Beginning Is the End
Endnotes: Weren't expecting that, were you? No worries, this is just the end of Season 1 of The Other Exiles. New Exiles, new worlds, and new enemies await, but will they be able to overcome the tragedies they've left behind, or be consumed by them? Tune in next chapter for the beginning of Season 2 of The Other Exiles, and my utmost apologies for not updating all this time, as well as for killing off so many of the characters. While all seems lost now . . . that won't always be the case.