"My n-name is Janet Fraiser." Janet stammered to the spider creature that was examining her with a critical eye.
"You sound afraid. Why are you afraid?" the spider-thing asked.
Before Janet could reply, the long-necked being looked at her and spoke:
"Oh! Please do not be afraid, Two-Leg female. We are not hostile." it said reassuringly to Janet.
"That-that's good to know." Janet replied uneasily.
"Flipper! Don't call them Two-Legs! They want to be called humans." the spider-entity growled at the long-necked alien.
"That's right, I forgot. Well, it has been a long time since we encountered any, remember?" the long-necked creature replied.
"Yeah...that's true." the spider-creature conceded.
"You've met humans before?" Daniel inquired from the observation room. The two aliens turned to look at him.
"Who are you?!" the spider-creature demanded.
"Don't be rude." the long-necked creature chided. With an annoyed huff, the other alien fell silent.
Looking back at Daniel, the long-necked alien replied:
"We have. We are happy to see you. I'm glad you were not destroyed by our common foe."
"Common foe?" Jack commented suddenly.
It turned to regard Jack, but before it could respond, Hammond interrupted:
"I don't wish to be rude, but perhaps some introductions are in order?"
"Of course! How impolite of me! Our true names cannot be pronounced in your tongue, so we'll use the nicknames your people granted us. My name is Eppy, and my friend here is Spidey. Though it prefers to refer to me as Flipper. What are you called, if I may ask?" Eppy answered.
"I am General Hammond, and the men with me are Colonel Jack O'Neill, Doctor Daniel Jackson, and Teal'c. The lady you were speaking to in the room with you is Doctor Janet Fraiser, and the people with her are her nurses." Hammond responded.
"General? Colonel? So you are military officers. Is this a military base?" Eppy asked.
"It is." Hammond confirmed.
"Did you rescue us from the crash?" Eppy wondered.
"We did." Hammond replied.
"Thank you. We owe you our lives. We are glad you brought us here. A great danger threatens your people General Hammond."
The Tau'ri and Jaffa all looked at each other in concern, then Hammond responded:
"You're quite welcome. And what sort of danger?"
"It's a long tale, General. And a very urgent matter."
Hammond nodded gravely, then he looked at Janet and ordered:
"Get our guests through quarantine as fast as possible Doctor."
"At once General." Janet responded.
Hammond looked at Eppy and Spidey and explained kindly:
"With your cooperation, of course. It's just a matter of procedure."
"Of course General Hammond. We will comply." Eppy replied. Spidey nodded in agreement.
Hammond smiled, and the medical staff set about their assigned tasks.
Ever heard of the expression "that escalated quickly" or "everything went from 0 to 11?"
That's how our heroes felt!
One moment they were driving along the road heading for Bellona, Apollo, and Zeus in two vehicles, Buffy and the Scoobies in one car, Faith and Neil's friends in the other.
The next they were ambushed!
Energy bolts flared from both sides of the forest, disabling their transportation! As they quickly exited their motorized transports, their attackers fired on them directly.
"Are we being attacked by flying saucers or something?!" Buffy cried out. She fired a crossbow bolt into the woods, hoping to strike one of their assailants. It apparently struck no one.
"Looks like it Buffy." Helen called back. She and the other personalities opened fire with their automatic carbines. The lasers(?) abated somewhat in response.
"We must flee! We cannot make a stand here!" Giles shouted.
"No shit Giles!" Hera snapped back.
"We'll cover you! Run for it!" Ares yelled. He, Hera, and Neptune primed and threw a couple of grenades. Their grenades landed among the foliage and exploded as the others sprayed the dense shrubbery with bullets.
"Affirmative!" Xander yelled back. Buffy and friends made a break for the forest in an area where they weren't taking fire. Beams of deadly light arced over their heads.
"Holy shit!" Willow screamed.
"Keep going!" Buffy ordered.
As they made it to temporary safety, Faith, Athena, and company were hot on their heels!
Elsewhere…
Bellona, Apollo, and Zeus were faring no better.
Their own aggressors had forced them into the sewers with a barrage of energy attacks and were trailing them doggedly.
"What is with these assholes?!" Zeus wondered, firing his SMG at the zombie-like people who marched toward them determinedly. The bullets only seemed to annoy them rather than injure them.
"How the fuck should I know?!" Bellona snapped.
"What are we? Psychic?" Apollo joked. He snapped his head back just in time to avoid a beam attack that would have sheared his head off otherwise.
They had become separated from the others.
Now Athena, Faith, and Buffy and her friends were wandering aimlessly around the sewers.
As they picked their way carefully along the drenched concrete, Athena paused and cocked her head to the side.
"What is it honey?" Faith asked. Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles paused and looked at Athena anxiously.
"Did you hear that whirring and clicking sound?" Athena inquired.
"No, but your hearing is way better than ours." Buffy replied.
As they entered a large, open, and relatively dry area, Athena was ready to address Buffy's comment when they were interrupted.
By a large mechanical bug that dropped from the ceiling in front of them.
The robotic "insect" turned to confront them, whirring and clicking as it did so. Willow stared in shocked horror and disgust.
"Good lord! What the bloody hell is that?!" Giles remarked shakily.
As they watched, more of the creatures emerged, a LOT more.
"Run. NOW!" Athena ordered as the multi-legged machines skittered toward them aggressively at high speed!
Bellona, Apollo, and Zeus had stumbled across Diana, Lilith, and the other personalities (sans Athena of course) and were sprinting down the damp sewer tunnel. Brackish water flowed sluggishly nearby.
"Where the fuck did Athena, Faith, and Buffy and gang go?!" Taryn remarked, glancing around hurriedly.
"I don't see them anywhere!" Artemis remarked back.
"Wait...do you hear that?" Neptune asked the others.
They all paused to listen.
What they were hearing was the sound of many hurried footsteps heading their way!
And the owners of those footsteps soon revealed themselves!
The Scoobies ran around the corner, noticed them, and ran in their direction. As they did so, Athena, Buffy, and Faith also appeared, firing at something around the corner with their ranged weapons.
"RUN! Run! Run! Run!" Willow shouted at them breathlessly.
"Run from what?!" Helen asked Willow.
The Slayers were now hoofing it toward them with Athena hot on their heels. As she approached, there was one word upon her lips:
"REPLICATORS!"
"Replicators?!" Zeus replied.
Before anyone could say anything else, they all heard the noise of many tiny legs approaching.
And then the mechanical menaces rounded the corner as well.
Neil's other friends stared in shocked disbelief for a full second.
Then they imitated their compatriots and fled!
"You gotta be fucking kidding!" Hera yelled.
"Holy shit!" Ares shouted.
"Holy fucking shit!" Bellona snarled.
Buffy looked over her slim shoulder at their determined pursuers.
They had to be thousands of them, with some larger than others!
And they were gaining!
"Oh dear! They are catching up to us!" Giles warned the others.
In reaction to that, Neil's friends picked up Giles, Buffy and the Scoobs, and Faith, and ran at full speed, their powerfully muscled legs being pushed to the limit!
"Jesus Christ!" Faith screamed, stunned at the sight of the ever-growing horde of following machine monstrosities.
"GO! PLEASE GO!" Xander begged.
"We're going kid! We're going!" Apollo reassured Xander.
"I see light in the distance!" Diana remarked.
Their ray of hope was swiftly dashed…
...when another swarm of Replicators emerged from a side tunnel, cutting them off from what was obviously a tunnel entrance.
They were surrounded!
TRAPPED!