Okay, this chapter was obviously a long time coming (Christ, about a year). I do apologize for the extremely long down time. Between school and a serious case of writer's block I had this story on the back burner for a long time, probably longer than was healthy for the story but I'm going to continue writing and see. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and even e-mailed me to ask whether or not the story was going to be continued. I always appreciate feedback, even of a critical nature and I would love to hear any feedback you have about this long awaited chapter. So without further ado her we go.
Chapter 10
Xander, Johnson and Monetti stood on the edge of Sunnydale's largest graveyard. Larger than any of the parks in Sunnydale, it was almost a square mile in size and it was not possible for one to see from one end to the other, especially in the night.
"So we sure we got the coordinates of the breach right?" Monetti asked. "It's right in the middle of that graveyard?" He shuddered.
"What's the matter, Monetti, you want your momma?" Johnson teased.
"Sorry sir," Monetti replied. "But going into a giant graveyard, on a full moon, in a world where vampires are real, well that's just really creepy." The three men looked down as a jet-black cat walked down the sidewalk, crossing in front of them.
"Okay, even I gotta admit that's creepy." Johnson said, staring down at the cat.
Xander hopped over the iron fence surrounding the cemetery and Johnson and Monetti followed. They moved quietly across the grounds, taking basic cover positions behind headstones and covering each other as they advanced. Suddenly Xander held up a fist, causing the Marines to freeze. With night vision activated, Xander could make out six figures in the distance. Three held the profile of Elites, and the other three were huge, bulky creatures. Though big, they weren't as large as Hunters, which led Xander to conclude that they must be the newest members of the Covenant; Brutes.
Xander had never seen as Brute, but he remembered the Master Chief's brutal wrestling match with one aboard the Unyielding Hierophant, the giant Covenant command center that Master Chief had destroyed on the way home from the Halo incident. Xander, or Master Chief rather, remembered just how strong and tough Brutes were. Johnson and Monetti would be torn apart if they got too close.
"Stay back a ways," Xander whispered. "Focus your fields of fire on the big ones, chest and up. Any hit below that won't even slow them down."
Xander advanced, as silent and invisible as a ghost, to within just ten yards of the group, who were arguing amongst each other rather heatedly. Thanks to what Cortana had learned while inside the systems of the Covenant flagship they had captured, Xander could understand much of the conversation.
"The Sangheili are the guardians of the prophets! We are one of the founding races of the Covenant! You will take orders from us!" One of the Elites shouted.
"And follow you fools to our deaths? I think not!" The largest of the Brutes retorted angrily. "The Jiralhanae will soon replace the Sangheili as the guardians! Your time is over."
"Then why is the new Arbiter a Sangheili?" Another Elite asked. "Jiralhanae are all muscle, with nothing but empty space in their skulls!"
"You dare insult me?" The Jiralhanae bellowed. "I will tear you limb from limb!"
The hulking Brute advanced on the Elite, but the lead Elite stepped between him and his target and ignited his sword. "Touch him and you will not live to see the great journey," the Elite threatened.
Immediately both sides drew their weapons, instantly entering a heated stand-off.
"What the hell is going on?" Johnson whispered.
"The Brutes and Elites hate each other," Xander replied. "Just lay low, let's see how this plays out."
To anyone but Xander, it would have been difficult to see who fired the first shot. Xander's excellent eyes, reflexes and armour allowed him to see that one of the Brute's fired the first shot by less then half a second. The air was suddenly thick with fire as plasma rounds and grenades filled the small space between the two sides. In such close quarters, the two sides effectively blew each other apart. The explosive rounds from the Brute shots tore through the Elites quickly enough, but shrapnel flew back at the Brutes as well and in the space of a few seconds all the Elites and two of the Brutes were dead, with the one Brute who remained standing badly injured.
Xander carefully lined up a shot and pumped a three round burst into the head of the Brute, dropping it quickly.
"Damn, that was easy," Johnson said.
"This is awesome!" Monetti said excitedly. "They're killing each other here, maybe their doing it back home too! It could be the turning point or this war."
"Mmm-mm. Just imagine, the Covenant collapsing into civil war." Johnson smiled. "Just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside."
Xander held his tongue. Because of the sensitive nature of many of his missions, he was one of the few who really knew how close the Covenant was to wiping out humanity. A civil war within the Covenant might buy them time, but it was by no means a guaranteed victory. "Let's get rid of these bodies and snag the weapons, we'll talk to Cortana when we get back to base," He decided.
As the group began cleaning up none of them noticed the Covenant datapad that had fallen behind a tombstone, nor the lone vampire that had observed the entire encounter from afar.
"A civil war?" Cortana mused. "It is possible, our limited intelligence seems to suggest a rift between the Brutes and Elites, but I would still be inclined to suggest that this is simply an isolated incident."
"Christ! We've got to find a way to get back!" Monetti said angrily.
"On that I may have made some progress, maybe," Cortana said. "I've scoured all human knowledge for any information on dimensional gateways of any kind. On several occasions I found references to some kind of dimensional mirror. It's sketchy, but its come up a few times so I think it might be worth looking into."
"Any idea where to start?" Xander asked.
Cortana shook her head. "Like I said it was just a few references, and I have no idea if they are at all credible. But at the very least it's a starting direction. I'll keep you updated on any breakthroughs I might happen to make. In the mean time let's just focus on the here and now, okay?"
Xander nodded. "Buffy is still pretty sure Angelus is up to something, and I don't disagree. Ms. Calender says she's close to translating the writings to return his soul though."
Johnson shook his head. "God DAMN! What the hell is wrong with this reality? Vampires exist, and not only that, returning their friggin soul is an option?"
"Sarge, in case you forgot, in your reality a conglomerate of religious aliens are trying to wipe out humanity," Buffy commented wryly as she entered the warehouse. "You guys find anything interesting tonight?"
"Yeah a group of Brutes and Elites blew each other away," Monetti replied. "It was awesome."
"That's a good thing?" Buffy asked.
Xander shrugged. "Well, it did save us the trouble of having to do it, plus it's a sign of discord throughout the Covenant, or so we hope. What about you?"
Buffy shuddered. "Angelus left me a drawing… of me sleeping."
"Yikes," Xander replied. "Should we start standing guard or something?"
"No, he's just trying to mess with my head. Giles says we can cast a spell to keep him out of the house, but it gives me the wiggins." Buffy said. She reached into her purse and extracted a small piece of metal. "Cortana here's that dealy you asked me to pick up. What's this for, anyway?"
Cortana plucked the piece of metal out of Buffy's hand and smiled. "You'll see when it's done. I guarantee you'll all be very surprised."
To anyone else on planet Earth, the datapad that the Elite dropped would have been indecipherable and completely useless. However, to the person who found it, namely Warren Meers, it was a treasure trove of Covenant gathered information about dimensional gateways. He scrolled through the information in awe, coming to realize that in his hand he held his ticket, hell, probably the only ticket on Earth back to what he now thought of as his home. He grinned wickedly and started putting together a list of materials he would require.
Xander walked into the library to see a beautiful woman leaning on the round table that he had so often sat at to do research. Despite her shapely curves, sexy v-cut business suit and relaxed posture the most striking thing about her was her shoulder length hair, which was almost vibrantly purple.
"Hi, there Miss. Can I help… Holy Crap it's Cortana." Xander said in a state of shock. Standing in front of him was what appeared to be the completely human amalgamation of Cortana.
Cortana flashed him a smile, showing her white teeth. "Hey Xander, I take it you're surprised?"
"Just a smidge," Xander replied. "Uhh, how is this possible?"
Cortana smiled again and pointed to the purse that sat on the table. "I scaled down a version of the holographic emitter and put it in the purse. I have to stay within 30 feet of it at all times, but since I'm solid I can carry it around so there you go, mobile holo-emitter."
"And the whole, you know, not being translucent and purple thing?" Xander asked.
"Well I can't very well walk around looking like that," Cortana said exasperatedly. She straightened her hair and looked at her reflection in a window. "I made some adjustments to my avatar."
"Is this what the thing Buffy brought you was?" Xander questioned.
Cortana nodded. "Mmm-hm. That was the last piece of the power cell I needed. It was a pain getting my hands on plutonium, let me tell you."
"Hold on just one second, are you telling me you're walking around with a NUCLEAR PURSE!" Xander said loudly.
Cortana pouted. "It's just cold fusion, relax. If it was dangerous I wouldn't have built it."
"Obviously we have differing opinions on the meaning of the term dangerous," Xander replied, though he was not particularly angry. Cortana was probably, as usual, right.
Buffy entered the library, staring in surprise. "Whoa, Cortana, what are you doing here? And why do you look all normal?"
"She invented a mobile holo-emitter, so she can walk around anywhere now." Xander explained.
"Yeah. I love technology." Cortana said with a smile.
"You are technology." Buffy said, one eyebrow raised.
"Semantics," Cortana said with shrug. "I did come here for a reason other than to show off my latest invention though."
"Showing off a little more than that," Buffy muttered.
Cortana silenced Buffy with a glare, then continued. "Among other things, I wanted to mention that Warren has been listed as missing, which I thought odd considering you shot him an left him dead in his backyard."
Xander looked up sharply. "Oh hell, you gotta be kidding me. He was dead, or as good as dead anyway, I severed his spine."
Buffy looked at Xander with a surprisingly apologetic gaze. "Actually, I might be able to explain that for you." She pulled an object wrapped in cloth and handed it to Xander. "Angelus left it for me with a note that said to give it to the tin man, which I'm guessing is you."
Xander took the cloth and unwrapped it, finding a bullet stained red with dried blood. He stared at it quietly for a moment. "This is the bullet I put in his back. That son of a bitch is still alive!"
"Well, not really alive, just not dead." Buffy added.
"God damn it! What happened to the good old days when bad guys stayed dead?" Xander asked. "How come you don't have this problem Buffy?"
Buffy shrugged. "Almost happened that one time when they tried to resurrect the Master, but I smashed his bones into dust. I guess I'm just more thorough."
"So since Angelus sent you the bullet, I guess it's a safe bet that Warren has been turned." Cortana said, idly playing with her hair. "Looks like we might be looking at combined patrols."
Xander sighed. "Yeah, I guess that's probably the way to go. Any other depressing news?"
Cortana pursed her lips. "I didn't want to be the one to break it to the Marines, but as far as I can tell there is no way to get back to their dimension. Not technologically at least."
"What about that mirror you mentioned before?" Xander asked.
Cortana shook her head. "Not an option, even if it does exist the simple fact that there are an infinite number of universes would make it next to impossible to find ours, you could look for decades and never find it. There may be some magical way to do it but I wouldn't be the person to ask."
Xander sighed and sat down. "The Marines are not going to be happy about this."
"I would suggest not telling them that all hope is lost just yet." Xander and Buffy turned to see Giles standing at the doors. "A friend of mine in London has been gracious enough to send me a copy of a very old text containing a large amount of information on dimensional gateways. It should be here by the end of the week."
"Well, that's something at least." Xander said. "In the mean time I don't think we should tell them anything, I don't want to get their hopes up, or destroy them for that matter. Let's do our best to figure out what Angelus, and now Warren I guess, are up to."
Over the next few weeks the Scoobies and Marines patrolled together, usually as one large group. The usual goings on of the Hellmouth kept Buffy, Giles and Willow busy, while Xander concentrated on training with the Marines, only helping Buffy when he had time or it was really busy. Buffy killed an invisible demon at the hospital that preyed on children, and stopped a ghost from committing a murder at the school. The biggest, and saddest event, was when Angelus killed Ms. Calender. With Buffy and Xander both on patrol, no one was there to help her. With her dead, the Scoobies resigned themselves to the fact that they would have to kill Angelus to stop him.
One week after Jenny's death, an event of epic proportions for one group in Sunnydale occurred; the release of Halo 2.
Xander arrived home from school to find the Marines and Cortana standing around the TV, with a copy of Halo 2 lying on the table beside an Xbox.
Johnson looked at Xander. "We thought we'd give you first dibs on playing it, you being a Spartan and all."
Xander shook his head. "It's not my reality. Tell you what Sarge, let's you and me play co-op."
Johnson grinned. "Hell yeah, that's the answer I was looking for."
"You know," Cortana mused, "I could just tell you all the relevant information without you having to play the game at all."
"And miss out on killing hundreds or even thousands of virtual Covenant bad guys?" Johnson asked. "Cortana, sometimes you just take all the fun out of everything. Harris, let's do this." Xander and Johnson dropped onto the couch, with Monetti and Mendez pulling up armchairs to watch.
Angelus, Spike, Drusilla and Warren stood around the statue of Acathla, ostensibly admiring it. Suddenly, Drusilla's eyes widened and she stared at Warren. "The bad one is having unpleasant thoughts!"
"Dru, seriously, that doesn't even tell us who you're talking about!" Spike said. "I'm going to assume you mean Angelus' wanker, but only because you don't like him. You're in a room of vampires, we're all bad!"
Angelus, Spike and Drusilla left, Drusilla still shooting looks at Warren as he continued to look at the statue. After waiting a moment for them to leave, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the datapad, re-reading the information to verify it. He looked back up at the statue and grinned. "This should work. Oh, Angelus won't you be in for a surprise."
Xander stared at the screen in shock as the credits rolled. "That, that was half a game! What the hell kind of ending is that!"
"How was that even possible?" Mendez asked. "Johnson was there with Keyes in the game, and he helped the Arbiter beat Tartarus, how can he do that if he's here?"
"And how the hell can we have formed an Alliance with the Elites?" Johnson asked angrily.
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Cortana replied. "I have a couple of theories on what we've just seen."
"Big shock." Xander said, rolling his eyes.
Cortana ignored him and continued. "What we've just seen could be one of two things. Firstly, we must understand that there are an infinite number of realities, and therefore an infinite number of possibilities. What we just saw could be from a reality similar to our own, but not exactly the same, which would explain why Johnson was there. The other possibility is that what we've seen is, well, the future."
The room was silent for a moment, and Cortana continued. "I have no idea how time in our reality compares to time in this one. Johnson, you were there for the first part of the assault, but then you don't appear until significantly later in the game. Maybe that amount of time has not yet passed here, so we could be seeing what will happen."
"So then, we might still find a way home?" Monetti asked.
"I honestly don't know, but after all we've seen, I'd say anything's possible." Cortana replied.
Xander dreamed of the white room again that night, and Whistler was waiting for him when he work up there.
"Hey kid, how ya doing?" Whistler asked.
"Better before I woke up here," Xander replied warily. "What do you want?"
"Well, the Powers have decided to call in that favour we need sooner than they thought." Whistler said, shrugging. "Originally this was going to be a test for the Slayer, but since then the situation has turned into a real snafu, so we're turning it over to you."
Xander rolled his eyes. "Hooray."
Whistler looked seriously at Xander. "Look kid, I'll level with you. This is an all or nothing test. You pass, you get a break, the holes in the dimensions are closed, you get to come back here and forget about fighting any more Covenant baddies, but let's just say you aren't the odds on favourite for this one. If this was a military mission, it would be the kind where you get medals, but they mail them to your family along with a letter that starts, 'we regret to inform you', you get me?"
"So there sending me on a suicide mission? What the hell? I thought they didn't want to, 'lose their chess piece' or some crap like that!" Xander yelled.
"You aren't the first and you won't be the last," Whistler replied. "Sometimes you have to sacrifice a piece for the greater good. And I'm not saying you'll die for sure, just that there's a very good chance."
"And what if I say no?" Xander asked defiantly.
"Then everyone on Earth dies a horrible death, including your friends." Whistler answered calmly. "Pretty sure you don't want that on your head."
"Has anyone every told you that they hate you?" Xander asked.
"You'd be surprised how much I get that," Whistler replied with a wry smile. "Look, the long and short of it is you're getting sent on a trip, along with your Marine buddies, if they're still around when the time comes. I'm only allowed to tell you that this was supposed to be a test for Buffy, but this while dimensional thing has messed it all up."
"So whatever happens is gonna be around her, and probably more demon related than alien related?" Xander asked.
Whistler shrugged. "If that's how you want to read it, that's your business, I'm not allowed to say any more."
"Can you tell me when, or how?" Xander asked.
"Soon, and just trust me, you'll know it when you see it, unless you're a lot dumber than the Powers are counting on." Whistler said. "Remember what I said, you do this and you're off the hook, no more Covenant on Earth to counter the balance. I gotta go, take care."
"Yeah, thanks a lot." Xander replied sarcastically.
"Oh!" Whistler said, snapping his fingers and spinning around. "I almost forgot. Right around the time of your little errand, Buffy is gonna do something that she doesn't need to anymore, what with the test being for you now. If you can figure it out and stop her, bonus points for you."
Xander woke up and rubbed his face, then looked at the bedside clock. Seeing that it was still four in the morning, he dropped back into bed and contemplated the fact that someone, or something he had never met, had decided it was time for him to ive his life for a cause he didn't even understand.
End chap 10
Hope you guys liked it, I promise I'll get back to more regular updates now that I am done school. Thanks for reading and please leave a review!