Chapter Forty Nine: From Beneath You
Everything shook. The ceiling, the floor and the walls all developed ominous cracks but the building didn't actually collapse on top of them. The arrival of the Goa'uld missiles should have obliterated the house and everything for miles around but another force intervened: The Power of Three.
Before carrying out the spell to divert the power of the Key and use it to expel the Goa'uld the three sisters had carried out a protection spell. It seemed likely from the explosions that had taken place that the Goa'uld were already attacking the mansion. The sisters had therefore carried out a spell to protect the building from attack and to give them the time to divert the power of the Key.
The protection spell had not been intended to provide protection against something as massive as the Goa'uld missile strike but it did the job, just. The missiles still exploded, that couldn't be prevented, but most of the force of the explosions was directed back up into the atmosphere. Damage to the building was superficial and there were no casualties.
But the force of the explosions did have one unwelcome affect. The severe shaking of the building and everything in it speeded up the next part of a process that was already underway, the opening of a Hellmouth. The shape that had appeared in the middle of the floor of the basement now simply fell away leaving a black void. And from out of the void things began to emerge.
The first thing to come out was a dark force, a sort of black cloud or miasma. This was visible to everybody as it spread out into the room causing the temperature to drop suddenly. Everybody was not only able to see this cloud but they could feel it as well. It felt evil and threatening. It had to be dealt with straight away.
The first to react was Glory. "Back!" she commanded and light flashed out from her right hand both into the cloud and down into the void. "Back!" she repeated stepping forward to the edge of the drop.
The black cloud retreated to coalesce into a small mass above the seemingly bottomless pit that had opened in the floor. But it did not go back down into the hole. And now it was followed out of the Hellmouth by a group of long green and very active tentacles.
"I need a weapon, something sharp," said Faith looking around the room. She could see nothing suitable.
"Take this," offered Paige and Faith found the Whitelighter-witch placing a flaming sword into her hand.
"Where did that come from? I didn't see you carrying it," said Faith.
"Whitelighter trick," said Paige. "Don't ask questions, just use it."
Faith didn't need to be told twice and now she leapt forward and swung the sword at the tentacles. Soon she was chopping off some of the flailing tentacles and dodging the attention of the others which tried to grab hold of her. Daniel grabbed a chair and smashed it up against the wall. He selected one of the chair legs to use as a club and moved forward to support Faith.
"We've got to close this up and stop anything else coming through," said Prue to her sisters. "We'd better do another Power of Three spell."
"That won't be enough," said Glory who did not take her gaze and her concentration away from the black cloud. "There's only one way to properly shut down a Hellmouth."
At that moment a large figure crashed up through the hole, widening it in the process. Everybody staggered back away from it and found themselves facing a large black, winged demon. As it stood, its feet straddling the hole, it put back its head and roared in triumph.
But if the demon thought it had triumphed in some way it was premature. By forcing its way up through the Hellmouth the demon had displaced the tentacle monster. Either that or the tentacle creature had retired to lick its wounds after the damage done by Faith and Daniel. This left the well armed slayer free to take on the newcomer. Faith now swung her blade at the demon.
The demon was well protected against normal human weapons but a flaming sword produced by a Whitelighter was not a normal human weapon. It was specifically intended to deal with the forces of darkness. The demon casually tried to bat the sword away with his well armoured left arm only to find his arm almost severed by the force of the slayer's blow and the power contained within the sword.
Faith pulled the sword clear for another blow, at the same time delivering a strong low kick to keep the injured demon at bay. Daniel did not get close to the demon but threw his wooden club at the demons head and was gratified to see it strike home. This particular demon had had enough, at least for now. With a final scream it jumped back into the hole before Daniel and the slayer could do any more damage to it. The black cloud flowed downwards after it.
All at once everything was quiet. Nothing more came out of the Hellmouth and there were no more explosions from outside. The six people in the room looked at one another and for a moment nobody spoke.
"Is that it?" asked Daniel finally. "Have we defeated whatever it was trying to come up out of there?"
"Uh, probably not," said Faith. "If that's a Hellmouth there's a lot more where those things came from. A whole world of things probably. It's kinda like the Mexican border. You never run out of characters wanting to come across. We've got to shut it down permanently or much worse things will soon be coming out."
"What did you mean when you said our magic wasn't enough to shut the Hellmouth?" asked Paige, looking at Glory.
"And what happened to Lissie?" asked Prue. "Where did she go and where's the Key?"
"Who knows," said Glory. "Maybe you drained it and it needs to be charged up again. Perhaps it's now in limbo."
"Limbo?" asked Daniel. "Is that an actual place?"
"And what about Lissie?" asked Prue.
Glory shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe she's in limbo with it. It was all I could do to let go of it. She seemed to be welded to it."
"Uh guys," said Faith. "Sort that out later. For now could you get on with shutting down the Hellmouth?" As she spoke Faith moved forward towards the group of scarlet and green imps that were now coming out of the hole. This time Piper leant a hand and began to explode the small demons one by one.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
General Hammond had never felt so helpless. Here he was waiting at the SGC for something to happen but with no way to make it happen. He had the resources and skills of a well tuned organisation at his command and the backing of the government of the most powerful country on the planet but he was unable to affect events which might be vital to the future of that planet.
As usual the General was sat at his desk. He did not spend much time in the main control room at the moment. Staring at the inert Stargate was simply a waste of time and just added to his frustration. The worrying thing was that the Gate network might remain down permanently. For him and the others in the SGC on Earth there would be continuing careers, continuing life and family. But as far as those people who were currently marooned on other worlds were concerned he might never know what happened to them. He would have a lot of letters to write to grieving relatives.
How long would the government be willing to allow the SGC to remain sat in front of a non-operating Gate? There was a lot of money invested in the SGC and up to now some real benefits had come out of the programme. But the General didn't think it would be much longer before some sort of investigation was launched to find out why the Stargate had 'broken down.'
Senator Kinsey would certainly find some way to blame what had happened on the alleged incompetence of the SGC. If the investigation found out about witches, vampires and all that there would be hell to pay. The General grimaced briefly to himself at his inadvertent pun.
Perhaps even more worrying was the renewed isolation of the planet. The next time the Goa'uld made a move against Earth the SGC might know nothing about it before it was too late. One day soon they could be faced with a Goa'uld fleet on their doorstep threatening to take over the world, without any realistic chance of fighting them off or calling on their allies for help.
As the General again started to go over in his mind all of the bad things that might happen, the telephone on his desk rang. He picked it up to find that Captain O'Leary at the Control Center was on the line.
"You'd better come up here sir," said the Captain. "We've just heard from NASA. They've picked up transmissions from some spaceships out of Kallistien. They're on the way here. They were Goa'uld ships but now they're crewed by our people."
"You're sure they are what they say they are?" asked Hammond.
"As much as we can be," replied O'Leary. "They're using the right call signs."
"I'll be right up," said Hammond.
A few minutes later the General arrived in the Control Center to talk to the Captain.
"Do we know if SG-1 are on board any of those ships?" asked the General.
"I asked about that sir," said the Captain. "But no, they don't seem to be on board any of the ships. The report is that Colonel O'Neill, SG-1 and some of the others stayed behind aboard the Goa'uld flagship they had captured. He ordered the smaller ships to come to Earth."
"And just why would he have done that?" asked the General.
"Because another Goa'uld fleet with Apophis aboard had just turned up and the Colonel didn't think the smaller ships would be any help in the fight," replied the Captain.
"So SG-1, plus whatever help they could get from the locals and the other people there, might have already fought a battle against Apophis," said the General. "Let's hope it came out OK."
"At least we now have a way of getting to Kallistien and getting our people back," said the Captain. "Shall I order the ships to go back and conduct an evacuation sir?"
"No," said the General. "O'Neill's the man on the spot. He ordered those ships away. If he won that battle he won't need us. If he didn't we'd just be throwing away those ships. Unless he found a way to destroy Apophis's fleet it wouldn't be very healthy for any ships sent back there at the moment."
"But he probably gave that order before he knew about the Gates going down," said the Captain. "How else are we going to get our people back?"
"Let's give them a little more time," said the General. "SG-1 have got a pretty good track record of getting out of really bad scrapes. I'm betting they'll come through this time as well. Anyway I've got another urgent job for those ships."
"Sir?" asked the Captain.
"I want those ships to be loaded up with supplies and sent out to all of our offworld bases," said the General. "They can evacuate any bases that are threatened or that won't be able to survive for long cut off from us. By the time that's taken care of we might know more about what's happening on Kallistien."
"Those ship will also be able to find out if the whole Gate network is down or if it's just the Gates on Earth," said the Captain. "I'll get things moving."
The General returned to his office to make some calls to ensure that his orders were put into effect without any interference from other commands and agencies. As he arrived in the office he realised that his first call had to be to the President to update him on the latest developments. Even so it was probable that the White House, Kinsey and who knew who else, might already have the news from NASA.
The General shut the door to his office for privacy and turned back to his desk. He jumped at the unexpected proximity of a person in the room with him next to his desk. A person who had not been there a moment before. It was Leo who had quietly orbed in.
"I've got some news about why the Gates aren't working," said Leo.
"And some way to get them working again?" asked the General.
"Maybe," said Leo. "But there's a big risk involved."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Xander watched as Phoebe, still holding onto Buffy, came into land next to the fallen demon. "It's dead," he said. "As a Dodo."
"Can't be too sure with something like that," said Buffy. "Let me borrow your sword."
Xander gave Buffy his sword. The slayer went round to the head of the creature and with one blow cut through its neck and separated the head from the body. She jumped back quickly to avoid the dark green blood that streamed out onto the ground.
"Well that should mean it's well and truly dead all right," said Buffy. She picked up the head by one of its horns and threw it a long way down the street.
Buffy had insisted that Phoebe fly at top speed on their way south to join up with Angel, Dawn and the others. The flight through the night had been hair-raising for the two Scoobies and not something that either of them wanted to repeat any time soon, except in a dire emergency.
It's not like I ever wanted to fly out the window with Peter Pan thought Xander as he watched Buffy. I'm gonna use the train to get back, one of those trains with a restaurant car and a bed. I hope they have that sort around here.
"OK," said Buffy having finished with the demon. "Now where's Dawn?"
No sooner was the question asked than it was answered. It was Xander who spotted Dawn and Connor coming out of the house where they had taken part in the slaying of the lesser demons.
The dragon had now landed in the street along the road. This was the reason that none of the locals had yet arrived on the scene. A small group of uniformed people was now gathered down the other end of the street but every time a civilian had arrived to see what was happening, one look at the dragon and they had quickly disappeared again.
Phoebe looked at the dragon and wondered if it was one of those she had met before. Then she wondered if the dragon was wounded and if it needed any help. She went over to talk to it.
Xander stood and stared at the giant beast but he didn't follow Phoebe in walking up to it. At least it seems to be friendlier than the last lot of dragons he thought, taking his mind back to the big fight inside the Sunnydale Hellmouth. His last memory of that fight was of being flattened by a dragon. I suppose dragons are like everything else he thought. Some are good and some are bad and the rest do the best they can.
Meanwhile Buffy rushed over to her sister. "You're sure you're OK," she asked looking her up and down. "You're not um..."
"I'm fine," said Dawn. "And no, I'm not going to turn into a mystic Key any time soon."
After a few minutes together they were joined by Xander, Angel, Connor and Drusilla. They briefly brought each other up to date on what had happened to them and agreed that they had to decide where to go and what to do next.
"We've got to go back to the city," said Phoebe who had joined them for the last part of their conversation.
"But we just left there," said Connor rolling his eyes up. "First we leave, then we go back. Doesn't anybody know what they're doing?"
"The Goa'uld have been pushed back out of the city, at least for now," said Buffy. "With the dragon's help we've dealt with the big demon and you've killed all the lesser demons. It should be safe enough to go back there now."
"We didn't just leave the city because of the demons and the Goa'uld," said Angel. "We also left because the witch magic there was a danger to Dawn."
"Dawn should be safe enough so long as she doesn't go back to the Witch HQ," said Phoebe. "I've got to go back there to find out what's happened to my sisters but you guys don't have to. I think you should find somewhere near to the Stargate. When that starts working again that'll be the way home."
"She's right," said Buffy. "And anyway if anybody can get the Gates working again or open up a magic portal it'll be Willow and she's in the city. I think it's about time we all got together in one place anyway. I've a feeling it's gonna take all of us together to straighten things out."
"Anybody know the time of the next train?" asked Connor.
"You don't need to wait for a train," said Phoebe. "I've had a word with the dragon over there and the dragons are willing to carry everybody back to the city."
There was a moment's silence while everybody digested the prospect of a dragon-back ride. The silence was broken by Xander.
"Uh Buffy," he said. "Isn't the city where the spaceship is gonna crash if nothing is done to stop it?"
"Yes it is, but it's also where Willow and the others are checking out what it is that's affecting the spaceships," said Buffy. "She might need us, but I don't want Dawn to..."
"I'm going where you're going," interrupted Dawn.
"You've been saying that since you were three years old," said Buffy. "Erm that's to say..."
"Well I'm going back to the city anyway," said Phoebe. "Even if nobody else does. That's where my sisters will be returning to, eventually."
"You need to have one of your visions my dear," said Drusilla to Phoebe. She had so far simply listened to the others talking. "I can help you with that."
"You mean if we work together like I did with Cordy?" asked Phoebe.
"Let's find somewhere to sit down," replied Drusilla.
Drusilla led Phoebe into the garden of the house where the demon fighting had taken place and sat down with her on a garden seat. The others followed and watched. Drusilla now placed her right hand onto Phoebe's forehead and began humming to herself. After a few moments Phoebe reacted and began to stare vacantly into space. Clearly she was now seeing a vision.
After a few moments Phoebe came to herself and looked at Drusilla. "Did you see it too?" she asked.
"Oh yes," said Drusilla. "But you'll be better at explaining it to everybody."
Phoebe looked up at the others standing nearby waiting. "We've definitely all got to return to the city," she said. "If we ever want to get home that is."
"Oh," said Dawn suddenly, interrupting any further explanation by Phoebe. Dawn put her right hand to her head. "I feel very strange."
"Sit down," said Buffy taking hold of her sister's left arm. But at that moment Dawn fainted. Buffy caught her and made to lie her down on the ground when in the space of two seconds Dawn simply faded away, leaving Buffy holding onto nothing at all.
