Rupert Giles was feeling more like a babysitter, than anything else at the moment.

With the exception of Nika, who was nose-deep in a large book, all the Slayers-in-waiting were drooling over the in-flight movie. I'm sure Leonardo DiCaprio must be a bloody demon...

His thoughts were interrupted, by the plane's captain coming over the intercom. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. I have to inform you that we have just been told all traffic to almost all of southern California, has been diverted. We have changed course to land in Salt Lake City, and should be arriving within the hour. We apologize for the inconvenience, but there's nothing we can do about it..."

Over the sound of many groans from upset passengers, Nika turned her worried face to Giles. "This is bad, isn't it sir?"

****

Demon Command

"Can we get him back?" Andrews asked Beth, as he tried the controls himself. Beth didn't answer, she was just staring at the small static-filled screen. "Beth!"

"Huh?" She saw Andrews' face. "Sorry, sir."

The woman checked the status screen. She double-checked the results, and then triple-checked them. "Sir…it's no…" she couldn't finish. She didn't have to – he saw it too.

The satellite 2-D profile of Xander's helicopter was flashing red. The word CRASHED flashing as well.

****

One of the many abandoned warehouses in Sunnydale

Graham and his team ran through the doors. And as soon as the last member was in, they slammed the door shut.

"You think they saw us?" Agent Parish asked, as she caught her breath.

Agent Tyler shook his head. "No, we should be okay." He turned to Graham. "Since when do we run from the enemy, sir?"

"Since they outflank us on all sides, and our air support is in the middle of a smoky hole in the ground!!" Graham yelled.

"Don't move!"

They all spun to see several Army wounded coming out of hiding.

"I'm Agent Graham Miller, and this is my team. We're the good guys," the man said calmly. He started to walk forward, when he saw someone else. A girl, about 15 or 16 years old.

"Who's she?" he demanded slowly, going for his gun.

A medic came forward. "She was here when we came in, a few minutes ago. She ran away from home, and didn't hear about the evacuation..."

Graham just kept his eyes locked on the girl. "Parish!" he called out, with his hand reaching behind him.

Parish handed him a small wooden cross. Graham drew his gun and aimed it at the girl, as he tossed the cross over to her feet. "Pick it up," he demanded.

The medic got in between them. "What the hell are you doing!?"

Graham pushed him aside. "Out of the way. Now pick up the cross," he told the girl again.

The girl started to look around nervously. "Why would you want me to pick up a…"

"Pick it up now! Or else we open fire."

The medic struggled in Tyler's grip. "Have you gone mad? Put the gun down!"

The girl started shaking as she reached slowly down, then at the last second she looked up and her face morphed into her true vampiric image.

She lunged at Graham growling, but he immediately opened fire. She fell back, as multiple bullets hit her. Graham wasted no time as he ran over, and shoved a stake into her heart before she could get up.

The medic watched, stunned. "What was that?" he quietly asked.

Graham smiled. "Welcome to Sunnydale, doc." He turned to his people. "Search this place, top to bottom. We don't need anymore uninvited guests."

****

Demon Command

"Ah, people? I know it's a bad time and all, but one of the bad guys is leaving the area," April called out.

Andrews, O'Neill, and Beth looked at the screen. "Just one fighter?" O'Neill asked, as he watched it move north on the screen. "Is it headed here?"

April shook her head. "No, it's headed inland. It's not following the coastline. It'll be passing about 30 miles away from us."

Andrews looked to O'Neill. "One of the bases, maybe?"

O'Neill frowned. "It's going to go over the middle of LA. There's nothing there, or on its flight path, that they would need to take out..."

Beth was also wondering what the jet was going after. There was no military target in its path...

But there *is* a civilian target! the thought screamed in her head. She recalled when Xander had told them what Alexis had told him. 'The guy killed all my friends, just out of spite...'

"April, lay over a street map of this guy's flight path!" she yelled.

Andrews watched her face, as a city map appeared under the white line of the projected flight path. "Beth, what is it?"

Beth didn't answer, as she sprang out of her seat and ran for the stairs.

"Take over!" Andrews called to O'Neill, as he took off after Beth. He got to the conference table, a few seconds after she arrived and started yelling at the laptop computer screen. "Come on! Come on! Pick up!" Andrews got to her, as he saw a redheaded woman appear on the screen.

"Xander?" the woman asked hopefully. Her face fell, when she saw it wasn't him calling. "What do you-?"

Beth cut her off. "Willow, evacuate the hotel right now! You have incoming!"

"Ah, incoming what?" she asked, confused.

They heard another voice, as a young black man came into view. "What's goin' on?"

Beth looked at him. "Evac now! You have less than 90 seconds to get out. You have incoming!"

The redhead still looked confused, but the bald man wasn't. His eyes showed shock for a second, before he ran.

****

Hyperion

Gunn ran over to the other side of the lobby. "Everyone outside, now!" he yelled.

Angel looked at him. "Gunn, what is it?"

Gunn grabbed one of the babies off the blanket. "We got incoming! Wes!" Wesley was on the move, before Gunn had finished. He grabbed the other baby.

"Charles, what's going on?" Fred asked him in confusion.

Gunn used his free hand to pull her along. "Hotel's gonna go boom. Move it!"

They all ran to the entrance. Cordy, Buffy and Connor stopped at the door, looking back at Angel and Spike. It was the middle of the afternoon...

"No time!" Angel yelled. "We'll try to get to the sewers. Go!" He and Spike took off back into the hotel.

****

The light wind blew through his hair, as Xander regained consciousness. He looked around to see where he was... Great. In the middle of the desert.

The human felt sore all over, as he picked himself up. He looked for the other 'guy'. He noticed the chameleon demon, which now had very large wings laying several feet from him. From the looks of it, the thing hadn't fared as well as he had.

No way in hell is anyone going to believe that, the USAF officer thought to himself, as he pulled out a yellow device the size of a cell phone from his vest.

Please work... please work... he kept repeating to himself, as he watched the GPS unit turn on. Yes!

Only 1.32 miles to the north. Great, I suck at running, Xander Harris thought to himself, before he took off.

****

Street outside the Hyperion

Everyone who could make it out to the street, started looking around frantically.

"There!" Lee pointed up and down the empty street. A weird red jet was roaring down at full speed. Everyone ran – well, almost everyone.

Cordelia didn't, as she was thoroughly pissed.

I could've been happy with the man I loved all this time! But they took away my family! Tried to erase my life! And now these guys have tried to kill Xander, are going to kill him! And now they go after me and my friends! My children! the anger in her was building beyond anything the woman had ever felt before.

NO MORE!!

Amanda, Willow, and Buffy turned back, when they didn't see Cordy with them. And what they saw stunned them. Cordelia was right in the middle of the street; Buffy started to go for her, when Amanda stopped her.

"What are you doing?" the Slayer demanded.

Amanda kept looking at Cordelia. "Look at her eyes!"

Buffy looked, and was awestruck. Cordelia's eyes were glowing, and energy was radiating out of them as well. Suddenly, pure white light circled around Cordelia like a mini-tornado. It quickly rose up and followed her arms, as she raised them. She pointed her hands, right at the oncoming jet.

"NO MORE!!" Cordelia screamed, as a huge blast of light shot from her arms.

Everyone watched, as the light hit the jet – shearing it in half, like it was tissue paper. It exploded in mid-air, almost on top of them and if not for Willow throwing up a magic shield... they would have been killed in the firestorm.

As soon as they could, they ran to Cordelia. She was sprawled out motionless on the street.

"Is she okay?" Fred asked, as she took the baby from Gunn. He bent down, and took her head in his hands.

Cordelia weakly opened up her eyes a bit, and looked at him. "Did I get it?" she asked weakly.

Gunn nodded. "Yeah, you got it. Jesus, Cordy, how did you know you could do that?"

"I didn't..." Cordy said, before she passed out.

Gunn looked up. "Lee!"

"Yeah?"

"Run back in, and call them back and see if any more are coming. Willow, can you put up another of those shields if you have to?" he asked her.

"I think so," Willow said, as she leaned onto Dawn.

Buffy blinked, when she saw Dawn smiling. "What's so funny?"

Dawn smirked, "I *so* do not envy the first guys those two girls bring home to meet Mom."

A roaring noise made them look up, as two F-15s flew overhead.

****

Demon Command

"Ah, Command? This is Bishop One. You're probably not gonna believe this, but the enemy aircraft was taken out by some sort of energy weapon. We've buzzed the area twice now, and cannot see any type of weapon the blast could have been launched from. But the jet is definitely down, right in the middle of the street."

Andrews moved to the mike. "Copy that, Bishop One. Remain on standby in the area, in case more attempt to try this again."

"Roger that, Command."

Andrews looked over to an officer at one of the far terminals. "Take a team out there, and secure the wreckage."

As the officer ran out of the room, O'Neill looked up. "Where the hell did they get an energy weapon from? Who are these people, sir?"

"Later, Colonel."

****

The second wave of jets came out of the portal, low and fast. They engaged the over 250 U.S. and Canadian fighter jets, that had just arrived on-scene. And behind the jets came the Big Boy.

It was elongated, cylindrical-shaped, with several fighter bays along the front and underside. It was huge; it dwarfed the fighters, as it came out. And as soon as it emerged, it started to go on a direct course for a small Navy weapons testing range in Nevada.

****

Stargate Command

Hammond sighed, as he saw the report on the screen. "Mr. President? The ship is being tracked. It's headed right for the hangar, just like we thought it would."

Bush nodded, as he spoke to the Pentagon. "Launch the Prometheus."

One officer spoke up, "Sir, there is a news chopper in the area..."

"Just launch the damn ship! We're at war now, they'll all see it anyway. It's time to see what seven billion dollars will buy you these days..."

****

Salt Lake City International Airport

Like everyone was doing in the terminal, Giles and the girls watched the large TV.

"...we are definitely seeing some sort of activity here. It seems the ground is opening up, we're trying to get closer to see what is going on..." the reporter on the chopper said.

"Could this be some sort of bunker-?" the news anchor tried to ask, when the reporter cut her off. "Oh my God!"

The image switched to a view of the desert, and inside an incredibly large hangar. A large, long gray ship, the size of a small aircraft carrier sat in the bay. It slowly started to rise out of the ground.

The terminal was dead silent. Everyone was stunned, as the ship that was obviously a human-made craft gained momentum till it was out of the bay and the doors closed behind it like a huge garage door.

The reporter was trying to regain his composure. "We can see the letters USAF on the side, along with the designation X-303. We do not know what the 303 means, but..."

****

Prometheus Bridge

Major Erin Grant looked over at Colonel William Renson, in the center seat. "Looks like we have an audience, sir." They could see the news chopper on their screens, and out the view windows.

Colonel Renson sighed. "The term 'restricted airspace' means nothing anymore, does it? Okay, where's our target?"

Major Grant checked her screen. "They're coming straight for us, fast. Distance 79.6 miles, and closing rapidly."

"Sound battle stations. Helm, take us to them, and try to keep us over the desert. We don't need a dogfight over a city." the colonel ordered.

"Yes, sir..."

****

Salt Lake City International Airport

Giles and the others watched, as the ship went from hovering off the ground to a complete turn to the left in one fluid motion, and it took off to join the battle in Sunnydale.

As the reporter tried to speculate on where the ship had come from, a young man in a USC sweater near Giles smiled. "I suddenly don't mind paying my taxes..."

Giles watched, amused, as the man turned to his friends. "Come on guys, U! S! A!" the young man started to chant, and then his college friends joined in. "U! S! A!"

The man looked his friends over. "C'mon, let's go find a bar with a big screen so we can watch them kick the crap out of who ever those bastards are!"

Giles watched them leave with a smile, before turning to the girls he was leading. "Come along, then; we, we have to rent a van for the trip to LA."

****

Abandoned warehouse

Graham looked out the window at the noise. And he didn't like what he saw. "What the hell-?"

A small, strange ship was almost directly over head. Everyone ran to the window to watch, as a long object came out of the front of the ship. The object seemed to be in sections of thin metal. As soon as the tip hit the ground, it split open and legs dug into the earth.

Graham then realized what it was. The damn towers. A moment later, a blue field popped up and covered the area. It went over the next rise.

He turned to his men. "People, we just found what we have to blow up."

Agent Donavon asked, "You know what the thing is, sir?"

"I was briefed. Basically, they're shield towers. None of our support teams will be able to get through, and they'll have time to bring in a whole crap-load of troops. Okay, I want a weapons check of everything we have here, and I want it now!"

****

Cave entrance

"We can't wait any longer!" D'Amata said, as he started to move.

Melissa grabbed his arm. "We wait for him. We need Xander; nothing else we have will hurt that thing."

D'Amata sighed, "Look, he should have been here a long time ago. They must've crashed, it's the only explanation. We've lost the element of surprise by now; they have to know we're here. If we don't go now, we might not get another chance!"

Before they could argue a Marine called out, "Sir! Someone's coming!"

They turned to see a figure running to them, as D'Amata grabbed a pair of binoculars. "Well, I'll be damned! It's him..."

****


Pentagon War Room

"Sir, they have the shield towers up!"

"How many, sergeant?"

"Six of them, sir."

General Martinson looked at the satellite display. "Damn it – our boys are trapped in there! Did we have any luck with the equipment drops?"

"Yes, sir," his aide told him. "We dropped several payloads in. If the troops got them or not, we don't know."

"I want everything we have that can get through that shield there, as soon as possible. Get in touch with Area 51, have them go through all the crap the SGC teams acquired off-world. Maybe something we can use is sitting on a damn shelf there!"

****

The news chopper was still tailing the Prometheus, as it glided over the landscape. And everyone around the world was watching it.

Colonel Renson frowned at the monitor. "Have they responded at all to our hails?"

"Only to put me on live TV, sir," the communications officer sighed.

"Damn! Get me Major Carter."

****

Tok'Ra Cargo Ship

Cloaked flying along side the enemy ship.

Carter opened the channel on her panel. "Go ahead, Prometheus."

"Major. How much longer?"

"We've completed our scans of the ship, and it's not really as advanced as we thought. It just has really good shielding," she told Renson.

"Good enough that we'll have a hard time?" he asked.

"It might take a bit longer than anticipated sir, but you shouldn't have too much trouble."

"How's the assault team doing?"

Carter checked her display. It showed nine blips, moving through the corridors on the ship. "They haven't run into any resistance so far. I had the transport rings set them down in a cargo section. They... stand by, Prometheus..."

****

Inside the ship nicknamed 'Big Boy'.

Jacob spoke into his radio, "Thanks, Sam. Stand by..."

He held up his hand, and the other members of the team stopped without a word. He waved them over to the side wall. They all pressed themselves against it, just before two storm troopers marched past in an adjacent corridor.

As soon as the troopers had their backs to them, Jacob fired his zat gun and both troopers fell as blue energy wrapped itself around their bodies.

Gavin grinned. "General, you have *got* to get me one of those."

Jacobs's eyes flashed yellow-white, as his symbiote spoke. "The Zat'ni'katel is not a toy for the young."

Gavin stepped back. "Give a guy a warning before ya do that!"

Teal'c looked to them, as he started to put on the fallen troopers' armor. "How far is the control center from here, Jacob Carter?"

"Two decks up, and down half the length of the ship," he answered, as the Tok'Ra operative started to remove the other's armor.

****

Cave entrance

"Xander!"

"What happened to you, sir?" D'Amata asked, looking at the state Xander was in.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Now, let's get a move on. Have you seen any enemy troopers?"

"No, sir."

"Alright then, let's get started," Xander said, as he took out a P90 from the equipment.

They moved into the cave, and were shocked at what they saw. Rebecca was the first to say it. "No way in Hell! How could they do this, right under our noses?"

The cave was a vast network of corridors. Metal walls, lights, even carpet. Four corridors led out from the main entrance. "We'll have to ask after we save the day. Melissa, which way do we head?" Xander demanded.

Melissa looked at her Tok'Ra-issue scanner. "Second to the left."

Xander looked back to his team. "Okay, keep an eye out for any cameras or troopers. Avoid weapons fire if possible. They probably know we're here, but I don't want to risk it anyway..."

"You okay with that thing?" Rebecca whispered to Melissa.

Melissa glanced at her P90, and nodded her head. "Two hours of training will have to be enough."

****

Hyperion

Cordelia woke up slowly. "Oh God, my head."

"About time you woke up."

Cordy looked, and saw Fred sitting next to the bed. "How long was I out? I had the weirdest dream..." she asked, holding her head.

Fred grinned at her. "A dream where you shot down a plane?"

Cordelia was shocked. "That really happened?"

Fred nods. "Willow put up one of her shield things in time to stop it coming down on top of us. It was freaky. Her eyes went all black and everything."

"How the hell did I mange to do tha-" she stopped, as the new mother looked around. "Where are the girls?!" Cordy asked, panicked.

"They're downstairs, with Lorne and Dawn. Kristen and Conner went out to get some baby food for them," Fred reassured her.

"I miss anything?" Cordy asked, as she tied her hair in a ponytail.

"Other than World War Three?"

"It's that bad?"

"Oh yeah. The bad guys put up some kind of shield around the place. The TV is saying that the Army isn't lasting long, trapped in there. It's becoming a bloodbath," Fred told her sadly.

Cordelia looked down, fighting back tears. And my Xander is right there in the middle of it..

****

Assembly base

Xander glanced down the corridor. "Clear!" His team and the group of Marines with them ran to the next corridor. "Ether this is a gigantic trap, or we are really lucky..."

D'Amata sighed. "I'm going with trap."

"Yeah, so am I. "Xander looked at him. "I was wondering why you quit the SGC. After what I was told about that place, it seems like a cool gig."

D'Amata frowned. "You're asking me this now?"

"Well, I was wondering, and I am going to be dead later, so I can't ask then," Xander shrugged.

"Something happened on a mission. My team thought I was dead. They had to leave me behind. But I wasn't, and I got the fun end of a Goa'uld slave labor camp."

"Ouch," Xander winced.

"I left the service, after I got back three months later. I hooked up with an old high school buddy, and tried to get back to my old life." He shook his head. "That lasted about a month, before I signed back up. Then I got the call for this."

"Captain!"

They both turned to see who had called them. Two Marine privates were standing next to a small portal, next to the wall. Xander, D'Amata, and Rebecca all readied their weapons, as they moved over.

Rebecca was the first to see the portal. What the hell?

Xander saw her shocked face, as he came over. "Bad guys?"

"Ah, I don't think so sir..."

Xander looked into the small portal, to see on the other side, Angel and Lorne standing in the lobby of the Hyperion looking back at him. Why the hell would a portal be there?

Angel's face went as white as it could, when he saw Xander. Rebecca and Xander looked at each other for a second, before the man from Sunnydale heard a voice that he knew very well. Cordelia's voice.

"Angel? What's going on?" she came into view, and saw Xander. Her face went pale, and the woman threw her hand over her mouth.

"Oh my God!" she cried, as tears started to fall. Cordy looked like she was going to collapse as she spoke again, "Xan... Xander?"

Xander weakly waved to them. "Ah, hi guys. This must seem strange to you... okay, let's just call this a Hellmouth moment. Or one heck of a wacky, wacky dream."

Angel was holding Cordelia, so that she didn't fall. "Who are you? What kind of game are you playing? How did you learn about Xander?" he demanded.

Xander was very surprised at the amount of venom in his voice. "I kinda have to know about myself, Dead Boy. Look, I can't really talk right now. If they survive this thing we have to do, Rebecca here can come-"

"This isn't going to work!" Angel interrupted him angrily. "I told you that if you ever tried something like this again, I would burn your damn firm down to the ground!"

"Firm? What – oh! You think I'm with those evil lawyers."

Cordelia spoke softly through the tears, but she was still shaking a bit. "I'm sorry I had them pull the plug on you, honey... but they said you had no chance of ever coming out of the coma..."

"Coma?" Rebecca looked to Xander. "When were you ever in a coma?"

Xander looked at Cordy through the portal, sadly. "I was never in one. But, her Xander must've been."

Cordelia's eyes went wide as he said, 'her Xander'. She watched, as Xander turned to the redheaded woman next to him. "I swear, this is just too freaky. Almost as weird as when we did the enjoining spell, to help Buffy stop ADAM..."

Angel, Lorne and Cordelia just gave each other confused glances, as they listened to them talk.

"You mean that demon Terminator you told us about?" Rebecca asked him.

"Yeah, but it got even weirder when the ghost of the First Slayer attacked us in our dreams later," Xander grimaced.

Cordelia Chase, now known to the rest of the world as Chase Winters, couldn't help but smile. It was the one thing about her late husband and father of her adopted children that she'd loved and hated at the same time. His ability to talk about everything other than what was important.

She wiped a few new tears away, before she suddenly exclaimed, "But that was over 100 years ago. How can you still be alive?"

Xander spoke softly. "Uh, Cordelia. I'm sorry, but I'm not your Xander. There's this thing here, that's doing a bunch of weird crap to the Hellmouth right now…"

He stopped, suddenly in shock. "Wait, a hundred years ago? How the heck are you still alive, then?"

She and Angel looked at each other, unsure of what was going on. Melissa frowned, "Xander? How can this thing open a portal to the hotel in LA? The thing isn't that powerful, is it?"

Xander thought for a minute. "Well, there was a big portal created in the Hyperion a little under two years ago. Cordy sent me an email about it, after Dead Boy's son..." He stopped as he saw Angel's face.

"My... son?" the undead guy asked. "Vampires can't have children!"

Xander sighed. "So, no Connor in your little bit of the universe? Look, just forget all I said. Let's just go back to the wacky, wacky dream idea." But before anyone could say anything else, the sound of running footsteps was heard.

Xander spun around. "Damn it. They know we're here!" He aimed his P90 at the rushing troopers, and opened fire. "Give me some cover for a minute!" he told D'Amata.

He turned back to the portal to see Angel looking ready to fight, and Cordelia holding a long sword. They looked very ready for battle. "Ah, I'm not even going to ask about how you got the sword so quick."

Xander didn't notice D'Amata look back, when he mentioned the sword.

"But I have to close this portal now, or else they could come after you." He lifted his arm and checked the white wristband. It had a series of fourteen numbers on it; 59418493728438.

Before he hit the button to close it, Xander looked over to the still softly crying Cordelia.

"Look, I know this must be hard for you, but I'm sure your Xander knew that you did what was for the best. You must have loved him very much, and I'm betting he loved you the same. I'm sorry, but I have to go." He said as he hit the button.

As the portal started to shrink Cordelia screamed at him, "No, wait!"

D'Amata glanced over at him, while he changed a clip in his P90. "You okay?"

"Doesn't really matter anymore, does it?" Xander answered him with a shrug, as he opened fire at the enemy.

****

The realm of the Powers That Be

"What in God's name?" George Bush asked, as he looked around. "Do you see this also, General?"

"Yes, sir." Hammond told him. "I see plenty of white."

"The Asgard?"

"Those little grey guys? Nope, not this time," a British voice answered.

The President and the General watched, as Metatron appeared. Hammond immediately got in front of the President. "Who are you? And why are we here?"

Metatron just sighed. "No time for twenty questions, George. Let me just get to the point. I needed to talk to Junior there, and you my dear General are only here to keep him from thinking he's gone nuts."

Bush stepped forward. "What do you want with me?"

"My name is Metatron. And don't ask, you've never heard of me. Now my boss and I were discussing the matter of Alexander Harris. You know what he was told about that time travel business?"

"Yes."

"Good. Didn't need the headache of re-explaining it all again. Here's the deal. If Harris does his bit for king and country, and kicks the bucket in the process – we might be able to do something about it."

"But Alexander Harris is already dead," Hammond said in confusion.

Metatron held up his hand to silence Hammond. "Just because a light changes from green to red, doesn't mean someone's dead... yet. Look, it's real simple. If he wins, and dies... don't declare him dead for a week or so."

"Why?" asked the President.

"There's something in the pipeline. If we can work something out, we will. But in the meantime could you have the CIA, FBI, or whoever the heck does it, make up a two fake birth certificates. Twin girls. Born to Alexander Harris and Cordelia Chase. She'll be needing them." He waved his hand, and in a flash the two humans were back at the SGC.

Bush turned to Hammond, "Am I-"

"No sir, you are not going crazy"

****

Assembly base

D'Amata and three Marines took turns firing, as they went through the corridors. "Take a left!" Melissa called out, as she read her scanner, and they soon came to a set of large cargo doors.

Xander moved the switch on the side, how they'd discovered a few doors ago. Then they rushed through, as soon as the doors started to open. They found themselves in a small part of another corridor only a few feet wide, with another set of large doors at the end.

Everyone raised their weapons, as the doors opened on their own. When they saw what was waiting for them, Xander sighed. "I guess this is the trap part."

On account of the over sixty five enemy troopers that had their weapons pointed right at them.