Through the Mirror darkly chapter 2
"Ms. Summers and her team from the Council have landed after a five-hour flight," announced Satsu to the assembled girls. Her fellow Slayers. They were all living in a rented building in the heart of Los Angeles. To prevent any unwanted interruptions, the sign on the front read Summer's self-defense studio for women. Now closed for renovations!
"Is it true that Ms. Summers once used a bazooka to blow up an invincible demon?", asked one of the girls excitedly sitting in front of her. The junior slayers all murmured to each other, wondering. What was Buffy like? They had heard some things about her from Faith. But very few had met her in person, although Satsu once had been Buffy's apprentice. So, they turned to her, Vi, and Rona expectantly. Vi and Rona had a special status to the newer Slayers because they were the veterans of the conflict against the First in Sunnydale, a crater in the ground.
"Yes, both Buffy and my Willow told me that was true," replied Satsu. "It was called the Judge, by the way."
"Yeah, well let's hope she knows that Faith is the main person who needs to be rescued. Not those vampires," said Rona, who was standing next to Satsu. "Buffy dated two vampires in Sunnydale. I think that's probably because she read one too many Anne Rice books."
"They do have souls, though," defended Satsu. "Willow told me all about that."
"Yeah, well, so did Jeffery Dahmer! Besides, we are vampire slayers! We are meant to kill vampires. Not to date them or have them as fathers-in-law," answered Rona snapping. Several Slayers shuddered at the idea of dating a vampire.
"Rona, enough!" said Vi shortly. "Mr. Giles and Mr. Harris will be here along with Ms. Rosenberg, so they should keep Ms. Summers's head in the game. Besides, Ms. Summers and Faith led us in the Hellmouth to victory over the First once, and without Ms. Rosenberg, none of us would have our powers."
"Well said, babe," said a statuesque blonde with a Scottish accent.
"Thanks, Mary," replied Vi blushing. Rona soon quietened up, much to everyone's relief, feeling she had said enough.
There was a knock at the door, a young blonde Slayer went to open it.
Only to face their leader on their doorstep with her entourage on the threshold. She let out a nervous squeak while blushing red in the face before standing to one side to let them in.
"I think that your reputation precedes you, Buff," said the dark-haired man with his arm around a young brunette's shoulders. Buffy gave a tired smile at her best friend.
"Hi ladies," said the redhead standing next to "the Buffy Summers," the original Vampire Slayer.
"Willow! You made it, baby," said Satsu rushing over to greet her girlfriend with a kiss. Xander smiled at the couple kissing passionately. In contrast, Giles was busy cleaning his glasses before he followed Buffy and the others inside.
"Wills put down Satsu so that we can get down to business," requested Buffy to the kissing couple.
"Yes, quite so," murmured Giles.
"Sorry, Buffy and hon could you fill us all in?" asked Willow.
"My apologies Sensei," said Satsu after drawing back from kissing her girlfriend's full lips. "Faith, her husband, and those vampires were investigating the disappearances of missing people. When Faith requested backup, that was the last we saw of them. They were sucked into a portal. We can take you to Faith's apartment to show you the notes of their investigation."
"That would be useful, thank you," said Giles approvingly.
"So, what's Faith's husband like?" asked Xander in interest, "Is he as broody as his old man?"
"Well, he's brooding and quiet but very good in a fight," answered Vi. "Connor comes by to visit Faith and sometimes helps us on patrols."
"He's a cutie though!" said a brunette. The local Slayers all giggled at each other.
"Faith would murder you, Amelia if you tried to hit on her husband," pointed out Vi, once the laughter had died down.
"He doesn't have any gypsy curses, does he?" asked Dawn. "Being Angel's son and all that."
"According to Faith, he seems like a mostly normal guy who has a pulse and isn't undead," said Vi. "So, no curses there."
"Being Deadboy's son must explain his attraction to Slayers," murmured Xander to himself, "It runs in his family."
Buffy cleared her throat. While she absolutely loves the talk about Faith and her ex's son, she can't help but be worried. Who knows where they have gone? How different time can be. If they will be okay... If Spike will be okay. She needed to find the snarky vampire that she still loved before she loses him for good again. Buffy had seen the best and the worst of Spike. But she loves what he is and how he tries. She understood with perfect clarity that Spike was the one.
"Yes, we would like to see the notes in Faith's house," requested Giles, realizing that time is of the essence because Faith could be in mortal danger. Also, the Watcher believed that Buffy hadn't gotten over Spike.
So, it looked like they would be rescuing the platinum-haired vampire from whatever mess he had fallen into again because as much as Giles didn't want to see Spike in Buffy's life, he had to respect his eldest surrogate daughter's wishes. After all, the last time he didn't it caused a rift between him and his Slayer when he and Robin tried to murder Spike at the height of the war against the First. In retrospect, it wasn't one of his better ideas.
"I have the spare key to her house in Beverly Hills, it's no problem," said Vi and they all got into their cars. For Buffy, it was a hire car rented out to them thanks to Willow, who made the booking online. They drove off in two cars to Faith's house in Beverly Hills to pick up the notes and then back to their hotel to rest before making their next move.
9 am in the alternate universe at the Hyperion Hotel
Angel was up and about. He was busy brooding as he looked in the fridge for a fresh blood bag. He'll never regret having Connor in his life or that his best friend Faith came back to work with him. But seeing and hearing their happiness, especially blocking out the sounds of his son and his wife making love last night reminded him of everything he had lost.
Once he had a chance with Cordelia. But due to Jasmine's manipulations, his brunette seer ended up in a coma before passing away while his son went mad. He had to make that deal with Wolfram and Hart to heal Connor's mind. Thankfully, it seemed to have worked because Connor was someone Angel could be proud of even though his elopement to Las Vegas with Faith had taken him by surprise.
Angel believed that Cordelia was someone he could love because she understood his mission more than Buffy ever did. He could never regret his brief time with the blonde Slayer. But they were no longer the two people who met and fell in love in Sunnydale.
On the flip side, Cordy had seen the best and the worst of him and didn't hesitate to call him out on his poor decisions. And yet she still believed in the mission that they started with Doyle. But Angel believed that it did him no good to think about his regrets involving the tall and confident brunette, who had changed so much since her time in Sunnydale.
To Angel, it looked like Spike was going to eat cookies once the younger vampire got over his deep issues with Buffy sleeping with the Immortal. His irritating, smart-mouthed grandchilde, the Slayer of Slayers would do anything for those he loved, whether it was Drusilla whom Spike had fawned over, or getting a soul for Buffy which was something Angelus would never do. Angel believed that if his counterpart Angelus had been chipped, he would still be getting his meals delivered, not helping the Slayer and her Scooby Gang against a hell god.
"Hi, Angel!", which snapped him out of his brooding about Spike and the past.
Angel turned to see an athletic brunette in a white bathrobe with a cheeky smirk on her face.
"How's my son?" asked Angel, "Has he woken up yet?"
"Not yet Dad because he needs to rest after last night but he's great,"
"Faith! If you cannot stop calling me that, at least stop hinting at things no parent should hear about their child's sex life," reprimanded Angel.
"Hey, I was only joking," protested Faith.
"Sorry, I am in a bad mood at the moment. It will pass Faith," apologized Angel. "Forgive me? You've been a good influence on Connor by loving him and keeping him on the straight and narrow."
"Hey don't worry, big guy! I don't blame you for being in a bad mood. We are in a strange place that looks like it could be straight out of a Slasher film," said Faith soothingly. "Your son is Mr. Right because he makes me happy, so there is no reason to worry about him and me."
"Don't worry hellcat, Angel is always a cranky fella in the morning," commented a familiar Cockney baritone. Spike had arrived in the kitchen looking for blood. "He's been that way since London in 1885."
"Spike!"
"See my point?"
Faith snickered at the interaction between the two souled vampires.
About twenty minutes later, Connor arrived after waking up, yawning widely, wearing boxers and a shirt. Faith grinned as she casually wrapped an arm around his waist before she smacked his ass.
Connor grunted with approval before he kissed his wife in a passionate liplock. Faith put her arms around his neck as she responded.
Spike looked extremely amused at the sight in contrast Angel looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but here.
"Lighten up Peaches. Your son is married to someone who understands him, be happy about that."
"Morning all," said Connor, once he pulled back to breathe.
"Hello, son, and how was your sleep last night?" asked Angel wryly.
"Excellent! As always."
"Good we need to make some sweeps after your breakfast," said Angel, "Faith are you coming?"
"Sure, let us shower and dress, and then we can start going out and saving people."
"Ok, you have an hour to meet Spike and me in the lobby."
Connor and Faith ate their breakfasts of bagels and coffee before showering and getting dressed. While Angel and Spike drank from their recently stolen bags of blood.
Two hours later, on the streets of downtown Los Angeles
Team Angel was making some sweeps of the nearby area and so far, they had staked a few vampires and beheaded a Fyral demon much to Spike's amusement before they were confronted by a monster from Angel's past. A giant horned demon who rumbled in a bass voice.
"Angelus, I am going to dance in your dust!"
"What are you supposed to be big fella?" asked Spike with curiosity.
"Not this stone freak again!" cursed Faith, recognizing this creature from her time in Los Angeles.
"It's the Beast Spike," explained Connor. He quickly dodged the Beast's punch before Angel attacked him but his thick stony hide was like armour, so the monster was still standing.
"How are you back, Beast?" asked Angel, glaring at the rock monster that once served Jasmine and caused the reign of fire that allowed Angelus to be released back into the land of living thanks to the rogue power's manipulations of his old team.
"My new master resurrected me to destroy you!" snapped the Beast as he tried to hit Angel again. But Angel used his vampire speed to dodge the blow.
Angel lashed out with a punch before the Beast grabbed him and threw him aside. Faith also attacked the monster with a spinning kick but realized that this thing was nearly unstoppable as the last time. It took Angelus taking him by surprise to destroy it.
"It's good to see that you are still a warrior, Angelus because I want to crush you to prove who is the superior being," rumbled the Beast. "And you've brought a Slayer! You must be trying harder than before to destroy me, but it will do you no good. My Master's power is beyond your petty imagining, vampire!"
"How do you destroy it, Junior?" asked Spike, after cursing in pain from hitting the creature's hide with a right hook.
"I don't exactly know Spike! I think that's best to run like hell," barked Connor before he was sent flying by the Beast.
Suddenly, there was the sound of fired gunshots which distracted the Beast. The good guys turned to see the shooter, a dark-looking Wesley wielding a pump-action shotgun.
"Wesley! My God!" breathed Angel.
"Percy, how are you here?" asked Spike while Faith looked genuinely taken aback.
"Hello Angel, it's good that I can rescue you but we need to retreat before the Beast destroys you and your team," replied Wesley, still firing at the Beast to slow him down.
"This must be Wesley from this dimension," mumbled Connor to himself.
"Connor you look different than your counterpart," replied Wesley as they ran down the street to his jeep, which had another familiar face at the wheel. Fred Burkle.
"Is this the team that our Cordy talked about from her vision?" asked Fred, looking at the strangers closely.
"Get in you four if you want to live," insisted Wesley. The two vampires, one hybrid and a Slayer immediately jumped into the jeep.
"Get us out of here Wes," demanded Faith, seeing that the Beast was chasing them.
"Yes, now drive Fred!" ordered Wesley. The grey jeep sped off breaking several speeding regulations if anyone cared about that.
"When we get to the safe house, my boss and I will tell you everything. I know that you don't belong here in this dimension," promised Wesley from the front passenger seat.
"It's good to see you, Fred," said Angel.
"You too, Angel" replied Fred. "Even if you are not our Angel."
The jeep drove as fast as Fred could to outrun the Beast who was flying towards them. Additionally, other pursuers in cars started to chase them.
"Step on it Fred!" insisted Wesley.
"What do you think I am doing, hubby?" demanded Fred.
In the mainstream universe in Beverly Hills at 1300 hours.
The cars pulled up on Faith's street in Beverly Hills, it looked like any street in the Los Angeles area with its neat rows of houses. They parked at one of the houses across the street and got out. Vi pulled out the spare key that Faith gave her before letting them in.
Buffy thought that the house looked very nice. The living room had a plasma-screen tv and an Xbox One plugged into it. Several paintings were on the walls. One looked like an oil painting of Faith in matching black leather while holding a stake. Probably done by her husband.
"How rich are Faith and her husband to afford all this?" Buffy heard Dawn mumble to herself, seeing the shelf of DVDs behind the tv and the black leather couch with a coffee table.
"I heard that he works two jobs. One of them is a part-time job at the tech billionaire David Nabbit's company and for his father. While Faith has a monthly stipend from the Slayer's Organization like all Slayers", explained Willow to the sisters.
"That was something that I insisted on to make sure that we Slayers are paid to look after our families," reminded Buffy. "Rather than the whole Doublemeat Palace deal because the old Council was too cheap to pay me a salary."
"I supported the Slayers such as you my dear girl in getting paid because our organization is no longer the Council run by Travers and his cronies," added Giles, also looking around. Buffy shot him a friendly smile. She and her Watcher may have clashed a few times, especially over Spike. But the older Englishman had often been more of a dad to her and Dawn than Hank Summers.
"Never let it be said that Deadboy doesn't treat members of his family poorly," commented Xander, looking around interestedly. He smiled in amusement at the painting of Faith holding a stake.
Giles went into the study as directed by Vi and Satsu and looked for the notes before retrieving a book of typed-up notes where it laid down the process of Team Angel's investigation into the missing people.
"Hi, guys!" said a familiar voice, making Buffy and the others jump. They saw a brunette woman stepping through a portal.
"Cordy? Is that you?" asked Xander. Seeing his ex-girlfriend from high school was the last person he would've expected. He felt his hand taken by a smaller hand belonging to his wife.
"Yeah, it's me, now let's go and save our vampires and Faith."
