by Philip S.
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: Welcome to the fourth story arc of "A Slayer Transformed". We are adding some boys to the cast, some from Hell, some from space, some we've seen before.
And now, on with the show:
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Previously on A Slayer Transformed:
Faith is the Vampire Slayer, Earth's chosen defender against the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness. Arcee is an Autobot, member of an alien race of mechanoid shapeshifters, who have come to Earth to defend it against their enemies, the Predacons. When Faith came to the rescue of Arcee's commander Optimus Prime she was gravely wounded and the only way to save her was to link their sparks, the Autobot term for soul. Faith is saved, but the spark link led to a phenomenon called spark alignment, a permanent connection between Faith and Arcee.
Faith and Arcee travel to Sunnydale to meet Rupert Giles, a member of the Watchers Council, and Buffy Summers, the other Vampire Slayer. Things do not go well, especially because an attack by an ancient Cybertronian warrior drone ruins any chance at keeping the Autobots' existence a secret from Sunnydale's defenders. Now revealed to Buffy and her friends, they join forces to explore Sunnydale's underground area and find an old Autobot fortress, as well as a Decepticon shuttle craft. Before they can explore further, though, the whole place vanishes in an explosion.
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The
Boys are Back in Town
Chapter 1 of 6: Now Arriving
The race of cybernetic shape shifters known as the Transformers had long ago developed a very expedient and rapid method of travelling across both planetary and interstellar distances. Using the invention known as the space bridge, they utilized space folding (or transwarp) technology to shorten distances (and travel times) to near zero. The Earth-based Autobots had erected a global space bridge network that allowed them to instantly travel to many key regions of the planet and the network was only growing.
To travel interstellar distances was a bit more difficult, but no less doable. It just required space bridge terminals on both ends of the journey, a sender and a receiver. Cybertron, home planet of the Transformers, sported many such space bridge terminals that connected it to the many different worlds where the Autobots were active. One such terminal led to the planet Earth, more specifically the secret underground installation called Autobase, buried half a mile underneath Tokyo.
Optimus Prime was currently awaiting an incoming traveller from Cybertron, having gotten word that the first group of reinforcements was underway. The events in Sunnydale had convinced the Autobot Council of Elders that Earth might just be a bit more important than anyone had originally thought, so they agreed with his demand for more troops. He had received their files just minutes ago.
Optimus knew who was in charge of troop assignments. Kup, possibly the oldest Autobot currently living and a veteran of many wars, was a close friend and comrade and wouldn't send him anything but the best. Still, he couldn't help but wonder if Kup's professionalism hadn't been compromised just the tiniest bit this time around, considering whose name was on the list.
The space bridge flared to life, bridging hundreds of light years in an instant, and a group of three Transformers set foot on Earth for the first time.
"Optimus Prime, sir," the senior Autobot of the group saluted him. "Autobots Blurr, Downshift and Hot Rod reporting for duty."
"At ease, men," Optimus said. "Welcome to planet Earth. I trust you have all been briefed on this assignment and are ready to take up your duties without delay?"
All three nodded.
"Very well, then carry on. Prowl will hand out your patrol duties. Hot Rod, stay for a minute?"
Blurr and Downshift exited the space bridge chamber, leaving Optimus Prime alone with the flame-coloured Autobot warrior. Hot Rod had barely changed from the last time Optimus had seen him, his reformatting to an Earth-based alternate mode had actually required but very few alterations. From the way he was moving, Optimus also saw that the young hothead's restlessness was also very much intact. He hadn't gotten the name Hot Rod for nothing, after all.
"I'll say this but once and then we won't talk of it again," Optimus said, looking Hot Rod in the optics. "I kind of expected you to somehow convince Kup to reassign you here after I let Arcee send that message and I can't say I'm completely happy about it."
"Optimus, sir, Kup wouldn't have assigned me here if he wasn't convinced that I was good enough for..."
"I am not questioning your competence or your abilities, Hot Rod," Optimus interrupted him. "You are an excellent warrior; your record speaks for itself. I am questioning whether or not you will be able to put the mission first when there are other... priorities on your mind."
Neither had to mention what, or who rather, that priority might be.
"I am a professional, sir," Hot Rod just said. "Just like her."
"And I expect both of you to remain that way. Very well, soldier. Dismissed! See Prowl to get your patrol assignment!"
Hot Rod left the room, feeling a bit down after his encounter with the Autobots' commander-in-chief. His mood brightened considerably, though, once he received his patrol route from Prowl. It seemed that, despite his stern words, Optimus was a bit of a softy at heart.
Why else would he have assigned Hot Rod to patrol the western coast of the United States, the part of the planet where a certain town called Sunnydale was located?
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Sunnydale was, at first glance, nothing but an average suburban town, no different from hundreds of others across America. Most people never went beyond that first glance, so they missed that Sunnydale was a very special place. At least once the sun went down.
Sunnydale was the location of a Hellmouth, a supernatural convergence that attracted all sorts of supernatural beings and critters. No one really knew exactly what it was. Some thought it a portal to Hell, others a natural phenomenon that amplified magical energies, still others didn't give a damn and just went there for the power it contained. Sunnydale's population of vampires, demons, and assorted creatures was as large, if not larger, than its merely human population.
The vampire population had grown by three this night, in fact. All of them arriving in very different ways.
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The black limousine stopped in front of a non-descript building and the driver quickly headed to the back to open its door. The vampire that emerged had been a black man in life, but skin colour meant little to him now. He was immaculately dressed, looking sharp as a razor, and ready to take on the world. His name was Mr. Trick.
Mr. Trick considered himself to be the front runner of a new breed of vampires. The kind that didn't hang out in crypts or slept in coffins. The kind that didn't dress in black capes or outdated clothing. The kind that didn't run around and just killed for food like any wild animal. No, Mr. Trick considered himself far above the usual riffraff that made of the vampire population.
He was a businessman and business was what had brought him to this town. Someone was in need of his unique talents, someone willing to pay handsomely for his services, someone who knew how to pick the best. Not only was Mr. Trick one of the best-connected demons in the entire world, he also belonged to a very select group of vampires: Those that had encountered the Vampire Slayer, the dreaded bane of their kind, and lived to be droll about it.
"Sunnydale, eh?" Trick said to no one in particular, breathing in the scent of the place. "What's so special about this place anyway?"
As a vampire he could, of course, feel the dark emanations of the Hellmouth under his feet, calling to his demonic nature. He had known about Sunnydale for quite some time, but so far avoided the place. A Hellmouth was no place for a businessman, really, as it tended to attract those who wanted to destroy the world for whatever warped reason. Mr. Trick didn't want to destroy the world. He didn't understand why anyone would want to destroy the world, in fact. He really liked this world and all the opportunities it offered to a smart businessman such as himself.
He had gotten a handsome payment up-front, though, so he came to the Hellmouth. The customer was always right, after all. Insane, maybe. Grotesquely misguided, possibly. Incompetent, all too often. But always right.
Mr. Trick had yet to meet his newest clients, but after suffering through his most recent one, he was quite certain that he could handle just about anything Sunnydale was about to throw at him.
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Mr. Trick didn't know it, but said client he had just been thinking of was actually much closer than he would have suspected. Said client being a vampire several thousand years old, going by the name of Kakistos.
Kakistos was almost the exact opposite of Mr. Trick: Ancient, old-fashioned, steeped deeply in vampire lore, and demonic to the point where he couldn't resume his original human shape anymore. He was also massively powerful and his favourite pastime was confronting -and killing- Vampire Slayers.
His encounter with the most recent Vampire Slayer, the girl Faith, had taken a turn for the worse, though. He had managed to kill the girl's Watcher and send her running, but it had cost him one of his eyes. And Faith had recovered to face him once more, aided by a strange mechanical being of tremendous strength and fighting skill, and together the two of them had beaten him.
They had beaten him. Those words left an ashen taste in his mouth. In thousands of years he had never been beaten. It was him that did the beating. It was him who hunted and killed the bane of his kind, the Slayer. More than two dozen Slayers had died under his hands, most of them stronger and more experienced than Faith. That this slip of a girl had beaten him, help or no help, was a tremendous insult to someone such as him.
Kakistos was filled with the need for revenge, but he was also quite intelligent and knew better than to rush headlong into another battle. Faith was stronger now than the first time he had faced her and she had help. So after he recovered from the wounds of their second battle he did not go after them again, not immediately anyway.
If the Vampire Slayer acquired help, well, then it was only prudent for him to do the same. And a vampire of his age and power found help easily, especially in a place like Sunnydale where the vampire population numbered in the hundreds.
Soon it would be time for their third battle, he mused. Then his little Faith would find out just what she had gotten herself into. And that machine being by her side, whatever it was, wherever it came from, would be recycled into spare parts. Soon.
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In yet another part of Sunnydale the third and final vampire to arrive in town this night was about to make his appearance. An abandoned mansion in Crawford Street became the site of his arrival. Had an Autobot been present, he or she might have been fooled into thinking that a space bridge was opening here, but it was actually something very different.
A space bridge folded the fabric of time and space. The phenomenon currently taking place inside the mansion did not fold, it ripped. A tear opened up, a hole in reality, a gateway to a realm that most people didn't even believe existed. It was actually the second time such a hole had been opened in this place and, just like the first time, but a single individual made his way through and crossed over from one dimension to another.
The vampire known as Angel, sometimes called Angelus depending on his state of mind and soul, crumbled to the floor in a heap as the tear in space-time closed behind him. Three months ago he had been sent on what everyone involved had believed to be a one-way-trip into Hell. Now he was back. Considering the schizophrenic nature of his existence, though, no one could exactly be sure which Angel it was that had returned here tonight.
Amber demon eyes opened, his face shifted into its demonic aspect, and Angel escaped into the darkness.
TO BE CONTINUED