Samantha Carter rushed through the halls of the SGC, looking for General Hammond and the rest of SG-1. As she turned the corner, she spotted the four men who were the object of her search and dashed over to them, waving a piece of paper around, not initially noticing their two unusual companions.
"General! Colonel! Daniel! Teal'c!" Sam almost shouted breathlessly, "You'll never believe what I and the Area 51 scientists and engineers discovered abou-"
Her sentence was never finished as she noticed the two creatures standing beside her compatriots. They all stared at her curiously.
Samantha looked at Eppy and Spidey in shocked disbelief.
After a long moment, Spidey suddenly declared:
"You know, it's rude to stare!"
"S-sorry." Sam stammered.
"Don't be a jerk." Eppy told Spidey.
"Well, it is!" Spidey argued. Eppy sighed.
"Wh-who is-?!" Sam started.
"These are the pilots of the alien ship, Captain." Hammond informed Sam.
"Oh." Sam replied mutely.
"Yeah, we had the same reaction Sam." Daniel commented.
He looked at Spidey and Eppy and stated:
"No offense."
"About what?" Spidey asked. Spidey looked at Eppy and Eppy shrugged.
"Right. Say hi to Captain Carter." Jack said, amused at Sam's confusion and discomfort.
"Hi to Captain Carter." Eppy and Spidey said gleefully. They both grinned at Jack. Jack rolled his eyes.
"Oh look. We have smart-ass aliens." Jack observed.
"If we're quite done with the comedy routine, let's proceed to the briefing room." General Hammond ordered.
"What's going on sir?" Sam asked Hammond.
"Eppy and Spidey have informed us of a dangerous enemy approaching Earth even as we speak Captain." Hammond replied.
"Dangerous enemy?" Samantha asked.
"Indeed Captain Carter. From their account, it is already wreaking havoc among their people." Teal'c stated.
When Samantha had no further questions, they all turned and made their way to the briefing room.
Thirty miles from Sunnydale...
"So how long have you known this guy Giles?" Neil asked as they drove down a lonely country road.
"I have known Ryan Landon for a number of years. We are old school chums. But I have not seen him since I came to the States. His voice was very distressed when I spoke to him over the blower." Giles answered.
"The what?" Hera asked.
"Um, the telephone?" Giles explained.
"You Brits and your damn slang." Hera muttered.
"It's a beautiful day out here." Ares commented, clearly attempting to distract Hera, which Giles appreciated.
"Yes, it is." Giles agreed.
"It's okay." Bellona commented.
"Great. I'm stuck in the backseat with Miss and Miss killjoys." Ares complained.
Bellona and Hera both mock-glared at him, which made Ares grin.
"What was he anxious about Giles?" Neil wondered, changing the conversation.
"An excellent question. He wouldn't say. In fact he hung up very abruptly." Giles responded.
"Maybe he's in hiding." Ares offered.
"Perhaps. That would explain why he's staying in this old flat in the countryside." Giles commented thoughtfully.
As they turned the last bend, they saw it.
An old house, clearly built at the turn of the century. It had definitely seen better days. The house was three stories high, and the paint was peeling from the structure. Some of the shingles were missing from the roof.
And alarmingly, the front door was wide open.
Neil slowed the car and then parked in front of the house. Everyone emerged from the vehicle warily. The area was eerily silent. Even the trees were unperturbed by the wind and stood rigid.
"I don't like this. It's too quiet." Bellona whispered.
"Agreed." Giles whispered back.
Ares, Hera, Neil, and Bellona took their pistols out and readied them. All five of them approached the open door, the three personalities entering first. Giles came in behind them, a dagger now in his hand. Neil entered last, guarding their rear.
A good thing too.
Because a black bestial thing, covered with eyes, tentacles and spines emerged from the surrounding foliage and charged them!
Neil didn't hesitate. He opened fire.
Diana watched out the kitchen window, observing her and Joyce's daughters sitting at the table in the back yard. They did not appear to be enjoying themselves.
I pray this was not a miscalculation. Diana thought somberly.
Joyce entered the kitchen and paused at the entrance for a moment, watching Diana thoughtfully, full glasses of champagne in her hands.
The moonlight played over her fine features, accentuating her great beauty, awing Joyce.
Neil's personalities are so pretty, it's almost obscene. Joyce thought, taken aback.
But...she seems sad. About Athena obviously. What's the issue between the two of them?
Before she could ruminate on the matter further, Diana turned to look at her, her ethereal green eyes measuring Joyce with a keen intelligent gaze.
"I bring alcohol." Joyce said weakly, clearly intimidated by Diana's stare.
"Thank you. You are too kind." Diana replied softly.
Joyce walked over to Diana and handed a glass to the taller woman. Diana took it and both women sipped the champagne as they looked at Athena, Buffy, and Dawn quietly.
"I hope they're getting along." Joyce remarked suddenly.
"We shall see." Diana responded.
Dawn sat nervously, blue eyes darting back and forth between Buffy and Athena, who were engaging in a relentless stare-down.
"Sooooo….checkers anyone?" Dawn finally squeaked out.
Athena and Buffy both glared at Dawn and she shut up fast.
They returned their attention to each other.
"What is your freaking problem anyway?!" Buffy snapped at last.
Athena raised an eyebrow and answered:
"With you? Or Mom? Or both?"
"Yes!" Buffy said curtly.
"You're a stuck-up fake bitch and I don't like you. As for dear old Mother-"Athena began.
"Look who's talking Ms. Darkside! You pretended to be the good guy but you're actually the bad guy!" Buffy interrupted hotly.
"Moi? I'm Neil's bad half and that makes me the villain? You're so young and naive it's pathetic, with your black and white morality and holier-than-thou attitude. If I'm so evil, why did I help to save Neil and beat Demona? Hmmm? Remember her? The actual villain?" Athena retorted.
"If Neil had died you would have ceased to exist. It was self-preservation and nothing more. I don't trust you, you or Lilith. Clearly, you're not telling the whole story of how you stopped Demona Athena." Buffy growled back.
"And how do you know Neil's death would have killed me Buffy? Maybe I assisted in stopping the "Tall Scary Redhead" as you called her because I love Neil, and I love my friends, that ever occur to you? And the tale I told is all there is, because it's true and you can't prove otherwise, sweetheart." Athena hissed back.
"How about a game of Uno?!" Dawn whined desperately.
Buffy and Athena whirled on Dawn, but fortunately for the younger Summers, Joyce appeared at the table with a tray of glasses of champagne and a glass of cola, which she sat on the table.
"How's everything going out here?" Joyce asked with a hopeful inflection in her voice.
"Take a wild guess Mom." Buffy said sourly.
"Oh great. Give them alcohol. That's really going to help." Dawn grumbled.
Athena didn't say anything because she was busy guzzling the champagne. The Summers stared at her in disbelief.
Standing at the back doorway, Diana sighed.
This is swiftly becoming a monumental catastrophe. Diana mused dourly.
Cheyenne Mountain…
SG-1 watched Eppy and Spidey observe the departure of SG-9 through the Stargate from the briefing room window with great interest. They were all waiting for General Hammond, who was in his office speaking with the President on the phone.
"They don't seem that impressed by the Stargate." Sam remarked.
"Maybe it's just old hat for them." Jack answered casually.
"Old hat?" Spidey repeated, turning to face them.
"Earth slang. It basically means the Stargate isn't unlike anything you've seen before." Daniel translated.
"Ah! I see Mr. Daniel." Spidey said.
"You have a primitive wormhole device. Interesting. It's clearly beyond your present technology. Did you discover it?" Eppy asked, also turning around to face them.
"Primitive?!" Sam exclaimed.
"I mean no offense, Captain Sam, but I wanted to be honest." Eppy replied apologetically.
"I wasn't offended, just surprised." Sam answered reassuringly.
"And we did discover it, in Egypt. A nation on our planet." Daniel explained.
"Nation? Nation states? So your world is not united?" Eppy asked.
"No, but we're getting there." Daniel responded.
"I see. Do you have more Stargates, if I may ask?" Eppy wondered.
"As far as we know, this is the only one Eppy." Teal'c answered.
Eppy and Spidey looked at each other anxiously, then back at SG-1.
"Is this approaching threat that formidable?" Teal'c inquired.
"I'm afraid so, friend Teal'c. I was hoping your people would be able to evacuate this planet." Eppy explicated.
SG-1 stared at them in shocked disbelief.
It was a massacre.
Helen stared in angry disbelief at the scene.
They were in a bad part of town, following a lead on the mysterious murders that had been occurring in Sunnydale lately.
But they couldn't have imagined anything like this.
They were at the Fish Tank, a crappy club known for all sorts of illegal activities.
But whatever the patrons had done in life, they didn't deserve a fate like this.
None of the victim's bodies were intact. They had been literally torn asunder. The words "decapitated", "eviscerated", and "dismembered" immediately sprang to one's mind, because that was exactly the situation.
"Jesus Christ. What the fuck did this?!" Neptune exclaimed in shock.
"Certainly couldn't have been vampires. Look at all the gore." Apollo commented, looking around.
"Did you hear that?" Taryn suddenly said.
"Yeah, it sounds like...footsteps." Zeus answered.
They raised their weapons and turned towards the door behind the bar from behind which the approaching footsteps were clearly coming from.
As the door opened, they all tensed…
...and a girl emerged.
She was very badly injured. Blood caked her leather clothes.
Staggering forward towards them, she began to collapse but Helen ran forward and caught her and lowered her gently to the ground. The others gathered around them.
"Who did this to you?! Who killed everyone?!" Helen asked quietly.
The girl reached out to her, and whispered:
"My parents...My dead parents...They turned into monsters...and slaughtered us all…"
Those were her last words, as she shuddered and went still, her soul passing beyond the veil.
They all looked at each other.
"We have some more hunting to do." Helen remarked grimly.
"Then let's get to it." Apollo replied.
They departed the Fish Tank, got into their cars, and drove away, more determined than ever to stop this nightmare.