They'd been introduced to a few too many people for them to be able to actually remember their names. There was Xander and Buffy and Dawn, of course, but then Giles and Willow and Faith and someone named Spike and…and a few more? The room they'd been led to, which was once a dining room and now being used as a conference room, was filled to the brim with what amounted to all the adults for the International Watcher's Council.
They were all seated around a massive table, with a few standing along the walls behind. Virgil and Alan were seated on one side, in the middle, with Xander and Buffy flanking them. Dawn was still giving Virgil hungry cow eyes that had him shifting a little uncomfortably. Alan couldn't quite hide his amusement at that, but thankfully tried to keep it to himself. Well, once Virgil gave him a nasty pinch to the side first.
"What's this prophecy, Dawn?" Giles stated, his British accent still a bit of a shock for the two travelers. They hadn't really expected it in Cleveland, of all places, portal to Hell or not.
"Essentially it states that the Apocalypse can only end by the 'brothers from afar that save their own with weapons not of this world," Dawn explained, turning her gaze around from Virgil to the others at the table. "We took it to mean that some people would come from another world to help end this crisis."
Xander tilted his head, running a hand through his hair. "Are we sure this prophecy is pertaining to this year's Apocalypse season?" he asked. And that had been another shock, that there were actual yearly apocalypses that were being fought off by, essentially, a bunch of teenagers and young adults. And that they all happened near the end of the school year, every year.
"Well, it's either this one or the one about the fourteen children of the White Knight," Dawn deadpanned, giving Xander a very bland look.
Xander winced. "I don't have fourteen kids," he pointed out. There were no other explanations given about the White Knight thing, but Alan and Virgil weren't asking anyway.
"Hence the fact that this prophecy is the only one that actually fits," Dawn said. She shrugged. "So long as our visitors actually have weapons with them."
Virgil glanced at his little brother and they both shrugged, pulling the Bowie knives from their boots and placing them on the table. "I'm not a fighter," Virgil stated calmly, fingers tapping against the bone handle. "And these are literally the only weapons we have."
"Except for HEMERA," Alan said faintly. "And I really don't want her learning that violence is the answer to everything." He winced a bit at that, because HEMERA was already obsessed with Utahraptors…she didn't need any more violence in her life. Especially considering the Replicator coding that she'd eaten.
Giles, who was clearly the leader of the group, blinked at him with a frown. "I'm not sure I want to ask what or who HEMERA is," he replied. Alan merely held his arm up, showing off the shiny scales. A flip of his wrist and the two claws sprung up. "What are those from?" Giles asked, a little shocked.
"Raptor," Virgil said shortly, tapping Alan's thigh. The boy shrugged a little, the claws retracting again to lie flat against the underside of his forearm. The mechanics in HEMERA gave a little hum against his arm, almost a purr, and he frowned down at it for a moment.
"As in…the bird?" the redheaded woman, Willow, asked hesitantly.
"As in the dinosaur," Virgil stated, his voice just as bland as Dawn's had been earlier. "I'm going to state again that we aren't fighters. We're search and rescue operatives. And, frankly, we just want to go home."
"I get that," Buffy stated, frowning a little. "And I really wish we could just let you hang out here until you could move on, but it looks like we may really need your help this time."
"Brothers from afar," Xander muttered to himself, staring at the knives on the table. "Tracy!" he suddenly exclaimed, slamming a hand into the tabletop. Everyone around him jumped, excluding the Tracy brothers, who just frowned. "Sorry. But I just remembered why your names were so familiar."
"Care to share, boytoy?" Faith drawled, flipping dark hair over her shoulder. She gave a sultry grin to Virgil when he glanced her way, and he frowned at her, which only caused her eyes to light up with amusement. He rolled his own.
Xander shrugged. "How much do you keep in touch with the roaming Hunters?" he asked of those at the table.
There were a lot of shrugs, and Spike mentioned something about steering clear entirely. Giles, though, was nodding thoughtfully. "The Tracy family hunters," he said softly to himself.
"Right," Xander nodded. "Jeff Tracy is a legendary hunter, from a family of legendary hunters. They could take down anything in their path but they were known for only going after things that were harming people, not peaceful demons or creatures. They were even said to have been friends with a coven of vampires at one point." He shot a grin towards the two travelers, who were both staring at him in curiosity. "Jeff dropped out of the hunting game when he got married and had a handful of children. Became a self-made multi-millionaire. And then his wife was killed by a demon, and he got back into hunting and dragged his kids into it with him."
Giles nodded. "Okay, so we can assume from the prophecy that the Tracy family is somehow involved in this Apocalypse."
Dawn cleared her throat, drawing the attention back to her. She held up her notebook, the cover worn and the pages a bit ragged. "I have information about the one causing the Apocalypse, if that helps."
"It helps, bit," Spike stated, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms over his chest. Virgil eyed him warily; the man gave off dangerous vibes.
"So," Dawn said, looking up at Virgil again with the big doe eyes. He shifted a little in his seat, and Alan leaned against him heavily, shoulders subtly shaking with confined amusement. Virgil threw his casted arm over Alan's shoulder, a little heavier than needed, clunking him in the collarbone with it. "The demon we're dealing with is one named Belegant. He has the ability to create the situation that can open the Hellmouth with the right ritual, but he can't do it alone. He has to work with a human that shares his views."
"Do we know which human that is?" Giles asked, taking off his glasses to polish them.
Dawn looked down at her notes. "Traughn Kyrano," she answered. "Or at least we think its him."
Virgil and Alan both groaned at the name, causing everyone to look over at them. "Do you know this Kyrano?" Giles asked.
"We know his counterpart in our world," Alan answered, pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers. He had a killer headache starting up, and by the way that Virgil was frowning, so did his big brother. "And it pretty much guarantees that the Tracy family is involved. The Hood always seems to have a thing for going after the Tracys, no matter what world we're in." Because even in the last world, Jeff Tracy had been fighting legal battles with the man before the car accident had taken his life. The Scott Tracy of that world was then left with that mess.
"What's the ritual involve?" Virgil asked lowly, his arm tightening around Alan's shoulder.
Dawn frowned down at her notes again, her face twisting. "A heaping load of pain and fear," she said. "Topped off by a ritual sacrifice on the full moon." She shuddered a little, clearly remembering some of the details she'd read. "The more pain and fear and familial blood spilled, the stronger the ritual and the more 'cleansing' the Hellmouth will become. Cleansing of course meaning the wiping out of humanity and the creation of a new world order. Presumably with Belegant and his human friend at the top."
"Lovely," Virgil said, reaching out to grab his knife again. His was the one with the inlaid jade spelling out T2 in the bone handle. Alan's had red resin fire branching out from the hilt into the stylized T3. Tony really was a master of his craft.
"What are those made out of?" Xander asked suddenly, still staring at the knives. He had an odd look on his face that had the rest of the table going quiet.
Virgil blinked at him. "Bone and Vibranium," he replied.
"What the heck is vibranium?" Willow asked, face scrunching.
Xander's eyebrows had risen, though. "As in the metal that makes Captain America's shield?" he questioned. Virgil nodded, frowning a little. "You have weapons from a comic book world?"
"They're comic books here?" Alan asked, face scrunching. Because if Tony and Peter were characters of a comic book in this world, what were the odds that they even existed in their own? Not likely, to be honest. He'd been hoping that maybe he could make friends with them in their home world but…
Virgil's arm tightened again, comfortingly. He fell into his big brother's side and gave a sigh. It wasn't important. Not now. Not when they were apparently the ones that were going to help save this world. "The last world was a good one," Virgil rumbled.
Buffy gave a wry smile. "I wish you could say the same thing about ours," she said softly.
Giles placed his glasses back on his face, running a hand through his hair with a sigh. "Alright. Tomorrow's the full moon so we have work to do. I need more information about the Tracy family. Recent information. Willow?"
"On it," Willow stated, getting to her feet.
"Dawn," Giles said, still frowning. "We need every scrap of information you can find about Belegant and the ritual. Everything we may be up against."
"Sure thing," Dawn said, gathering up her notes and getting to her feet. She shot one last glance at Virgil, who ignored her.
"Buffy, Faith," Giles stated, turning to the two Slayers (which had been more thoroughly explained to the two brothers earlier). "Choose two teams. Prep them. You know the drill."
"Full teams?" Buffy asked.
Giles gave a stern nod and Faith gave a cheeky salute. "Five by five, G-man."
He gave a huff at the nickname, rolling his eyes. "Xander, Spike, make sure our guests are taken care of. Everyone else, Apocalypse duties as usual."
The room split up, everyone going their own ways and leaving Virgil and Alan with Xander and Spike. Virgil was still eyeing Spike warily, and Xander noticed with a grin of his own. "He won't hurt you," he stated calmly. "Gives you a wiggens though, right?" Spike gave a nastily feral grin.
"Wiggens is one word for it," Virgil said faintly, getting to his feet, his arm slipping from around Alan's shoulder. His little brother yawned, stretching as he got to his feet and then bent to grab up his duffle bag. Alan wiggled his fingers in the way that meant they were tinging again, a left over from being impaled through the arm by the Replicator. The tingling feeling was slowly diminishing, and he and Virgil were pretty sure it would disappear entirely within the next few weeks.
Virgil grabbed up his own bag, only stumbling a little when his leg didn't quite want to hold his weight. That was a little worrisome in and of itself, but there was frankly nothing more that could be done to help with the healing of his thigh. Other than time and rest of course, which honestly seemed to be in short supply lately.
"He's a vampire," Xander shrugged, and both brothers looked over with raised eyebrows. Xander was still grinning, and patted Spike on the chest with one hand. "Has a shiny soul and everything though. Saved the world himself a few times, so we can safely say he's one of the good guys."
Spike rolled his eyes, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Don't know why I bother," he stated grumpily, the cockney accent actually more comforting than they'd been expecting. He sounded like Parker in a distant sort of way.
Xander led them out of the dining room and into the hall. "Thanks for being at least a little willing to help with our current disaster," he stated.
Alan sighed, forcing a grin. "I love disasters," he said, the sarcasm heavy.
"Great," Virgil said, patting him on the shoulder. "Self-love is important." Alan shoved him, hard enough to make him stumble, and he huffed out a laugh. Behind him, Spike was snickering heavily.
They were led to a dormitory room with three sets of bunkbeds. Usually they'd be filled with Slayers, but a group of girls had just "graduated" and had been sent off with their Watchers (which were generally related to them. Apparently this New Council had learned a lot from the Old Council in how NOT to deal with Slayers and the supernatural.)
"Prophecies," Virgil grumbled, rolling his eyes as he set down his duffle bag. He gave a huff, placing his hands on his hips and watching as Alan paced the room.
"And vampires and demons and what have you," Alan shrugged. "Honestly, I'm kind of hoping we get to deal with a world that's more normal eventually."
"Even the first world we were in wasn't exactly normal," Virgil pointed out.
"And yet," Alan grumbled, "The psychic stuff seems far more normal than any of this."
Virgil hummed a bit, sitting down on one of the bottom bunks. The beds were all twins, so the two brothers wouldn't be sharing tonight. It didn't matter though, since it was nearing six in the morning and they weren't thinking they'd get more than a couple hours of sleep anyway. "Pretty sure today is going to suck, so we should probably get some rest."
Alan slipped up to Virgil, pressing their foreheads together even as he gave a tired sigh. "Yeah. But HEMERA is charging faster so we just have to do our part to end this apocalypse and then we can move on."
Virgil's eyes slid shut and he sighed as well. "You make it sound so simple."
"No need to overcomplicate things, bro," Alan pointed out. "Let's get some sleep."
Note: We head home from our vacation tomorrow. After that, I have to go through the process to reimage my computer, which will probably put me back a couple days. From that point on, though, I'm hoping to have at least two chapters out a week. School is starting up soon though and I homeschool my boys, so we'll see how it goes. Unlike a lot of my other fics, I actually have this planned out through the end, so its not gonna be abandoned or put aside for long stretches of time. No worries. (I'm not feeling guilt about not finishing Tamer despite having it active for a decade, not at all…)