The Ultimate Scooby Gang, Part 3

"Alright, I can fix this," Dawn said, trying to sound convincing.

Just who she was trying to convince was anyone's guess. "I just need to,

um, figure out how."

"Oh, no," Cordelia denied. "We're overdrawn on our deus ex credit

as it is. No more interventions for you."

"Aw, Cordy..." Dawn began to whine.

"Nope, we're just going to have to wait and see if they can make

it on their own," Cordelia told her firmly. Then she thought about what

she just said. "Oh, God, I can't believe I just said that."

***

"Wow," Willow breathed upon entering the TARDIS. "It feels

wonderful in here. The magical forces seem almost familiar. Not all

strange and twisted like outside."

"Of course it does. The TARDIS exists inside an expanded space-

time bubble that functions as a pocket universe," the Watcher replied

snippishly. "The interior laws of physics must be constant for the

machinery to function properly. Did you think they would change to match

the laws of whatever universe the doorway interface was in? That would be

a recipe for chaos!"

It had taken a combination of pleading, dealing, and strong arm

tactics to get the Time Lord to agree to transporting Buffy and Willow

anywhere. The Watcher was pretty much immune to pleading. The dealing

involved helping the Watcher to fix his TARDIS. As for the strong arm

tactics...

"Could you please release my arm now?" the Watcher asked Buffy.

"Huh? Oh sure." Buffy looked around the TARDIS interior as the

Watcher pumped his arm in an attempt to get some feeling back into them.

There wasn't much to see. "What's with all the smoke?"

"Ah, that would be from the burning machinery," the Watcher

replied. "Do you require a lecture on the physics of thermally driven

oxidation of reactive materials?"

"Huh?" Buffy said, not quite following.

"Burning," Willow clarified for the Watcher. "I don't think we

can work in these conditions."

"Yes, quite," the Watcher agreed. "We need to put out the fires

and wait for the smoke to clear as the first thing..."

"Okay, can do." Willow closed her eyes and spoke two... They

weren't quite words, more like the concept behind words as impressed on

reality.

CLEAR.

The smoke vanished. The whole room was visible once again. Here

and there fires still burned, busy attempting to replace the vanished

smoke.

EXTINGUISH.

The fires puffed out of existance.

"Okay, done," Willow announced as she opened her eyes. She took

in the view of the TARDIS' main hall. "Oh. Wow."

"There is no way this could be a coincidence," Buffy commented,

seeing the same thing. The TARDIS' main hall looked like a library. The

central area was an octagonal shape with a lushly carved wooden table in

it. Beyond it was a raised floor where shelves full of books radiated away

into seeming infinity. To their right was a series of cages where

mysterious equipment and paraphenalia was kept. To their right was a

counter and door leading to other areas of the TARDIS. Behind them was the

exit to the outside.

In short, the place looked like the Sunnydale High library.

"Ah, yes," the Watcher broke in, "a rather impressive feat of

direct mind to matter manipulation."

"It was just magic," Willow said modestly.

"Nonsense, there is no such thing as magic," the Time Lord said

dismissively. "'Magic' are only those forces that have gone unexplained

by primitive minds with only a primitive comprehension of what they are

dealing with."

"Definitely not our Giles," BUffy murmured.

"Of course not," the Watcher told her. "Now, this 'Giles' person

may be a resemble a temporal double of me, but in truth, given an infinite

number of possible universes, the probability that..."

"Hey, Watcher," Buffy interupted. "Is there any time when you open

your mouth that you don't start spouting technobabble?"

"Now, see here..." the Watcher began to sputter.

"Uh, maybe we could start fixing your TARDIS?" Willow intervened,

trying to play peacemaker. She glanced at Buffy. This Buffy seemed to have

a harder edge than her own Buffy. That last comment didn't have the

playful tone her own Buffy would have put in it. In fact, since entering

the TARDIS, Willow had sensed something... off about her, but she couldn't

quite say what that was. It was more than the sheer power and age that

Buffy seemed to radiate.

"Yes, rightly so," Giles agreed. "Come this way." He lead them off

deeper into the TARDIS.

***

"So, Mister Harris..." General O'Neil began.

"Call me Xander," Xander interupted from the end of the briefing

table.

"MISTER Harris," O'Neil began again, "would you be so good as to

explain why there's human blood on your sword?"

"My sword?" Xander said innocently. "Which one?"

"Y'know, the one you were waving around when you first appeared?"

O'Neil prompted, picking up the sword in question. It was still blood

stained.

"Oh, that one," Xander said with exagerated realization. "Self

defense."

"Self defense?" O'Neil echoed in disbelief. "You carry all this"

he gestured at the array of guns, knives, and unidentifiable whatzits

littering the table, "and you use a SWORD in self defense?"

Xander shrugged. "It was the first thing at hand."

O'Neil rubbed his eyes, feeling a headache coming on. "Daniel,

your turn."

"This is a nice sword you have," Doctor Daniel Jackson began,

taking the sword in hand. "A Japanese katana, no less."

"It'd be even nicer if you'd let me clean it," Xander replied.

"The blood will cause rust eventually. That'll bring down its historical

value, y'know."

"I doubt it," Daniel replied. "We tested the sword. It's been made

very recently using very modern alloys. I doubt it's even ten years old."

"It's a long term investment," Xander adlibbed.

"There's something I don't understand though," Daniel continued,

examining the blade closely, but carefully. It was extremely sharp. "What

are these symbols etched into the blade?"

"They're very pretty?"

"Did you know they're actually glyphs in an obscure ancient

dialect of Sumerian?" Daniel asked. "As near as I can tell, it's a request

or plea to the god Marduk to guide and protect the warrior holding this

weapon."

"So what?" Xander said. "You guys got something against ancient

gods?"

***

"This is the Well of Eyegon," the Watcher explained. He indicated

a pit twenty feet across. A luminescent fog filled it, wisps of it

drifting off. "The Well is the TARDIS' power source. Without it, the

TARDIS is incapable of traversing spce-time." The Time Lord pointed to a

large, thick disk to the side that looked like it had been carelessly

tossed aside. "The cover needs to be placed back on the well before we

can strart drawing power again. But without power, the lid cannot be

moved."

"Why not?" Buffy asked.

"It is simply too massive," the Time Lord replied. "The lid has

several components made out of neutronium, totalling perhaps a thousand

tons. And there is simply too little ambient energy for Willow to tap to

lift it."

"Why don't I draw on the Well?" Willow asked. "There's plenty of

power there."

"No, absolutely not!" the Watcher answered vehemently. "Doing so

would cause... cause..." He trailed off in shock.

Willow and the Watcher stared as Buffy physically lifted the lid

with her bare hands and dropped it onto the Well. A little pushing and

shoving, and she had the Well fully covered.

"Okay, how's that?" Buffy asked, not even breathing hard.

"Perfect," the Watcher said without humor, "except that the lid is

upside down."

***

Xander thought he was holding his own quite well. His hosts would

ask pointed questions and he kept on giving non-answers. If it weren't for

the bloody sword, he guessed that he would have been released by now.

And then it hit him like a hammer blow. The familiar buzzing

feeling of a nearby immortal, only this was way more powerful. Instead of

a buzz, it was more like a cacophany.

A knock on the door and Colonel Carter stepped in.

"Sir, the Secretary of State is here," she announced. A man

followed her in. Xander looked at him and stifled a yelp of recognition.

"Sir," General O'Neil greeted neutrally, rising to meet their

guest. "What brings you to Stargate Command?"

"Why, your otherworldly visitor, General," Connor MacLeod replied.

***

"Well, everything seems to be in working order," the Watcher

commented after the third check. "The repairs appear to be adequate even

though much of the work was done by primatives."

"You're welcome," Buffy said drily. They sat around the table in

the main hall. The chairs here were much more comfortable than theones in

the old Sunnydale High's library.

"So can you take us back to our home dimensions now?" Willow

asked.

"Yes, yes," the Watcher replied absently, opening a book and

taking a quill pen in hand. "All that remains is determining your exact

timelines of origin." He began to scribble in the book. As he did, the

background hums changed pitch and rythm, and indication that something was

happening.

"Hey, what's with the books?" Buffy asked. "I thought there'd be

panels of blinky lights and switches."

"I like books," the Watcher replied absently, "so I had my TARDIS

customized with a nonstandard user interface that only appear to be books,

pens, and the like."

"Okay, my worldview just took a critical hit," Buffy said slowly.

"I'd never thought I'd hear Giles use terms like 'user interface' of his

own free will."

"Yeah, isn't it neat?" Willow added.

"I am not this Giles person," the Watcher retorted. He frowned at

his book. "This is odd..."

"What now?" Buffy inquired.

"My TARDIS's next destination has already been programmed in,"

the Watcher answered. "I'm sure it wasn't there before."

"Oh, maybe that's where we're supposed to go next," Willow said

thoughtfully.

"Pardon?" the Watcher asked.

"Well, Buffy said it earlier. This" Willow gestured around her,

indicating all of them, "can't be a coincidence. Somebody brought us all

together for a purpose. Maybe it's to fight some Big Bad somewhere."

"Hmm, or it could be a trap," Buffy mused. "Of course, given the

lack of information, it's kinda hard to tell the difference some times."

"Now see here, I do not get myself involved in these shenanigans,"

the Watcher protested. "I watch and record. Those are my duties."

"Yeah, yeah, you don't have to get your hands dirty," Buffy said,

a hint of contempt in her voice. "Just get us there." She twirled the

Scythe like a baton for emphasis. "We'll take care of the rest."

***

"Connor, good to see you, man!" Xander greeted when he was alone

with the other immortal in the briefing room. Connor had insisted over

General O'Neil's protests.

"I take it we know each other in your reality?" Connor asked. "Ah,

of course, there you were a student of mine. Correct?"

"Yeah. Obviously, my counterpart here isn't an immortal," Xander

replied. "So how'd you know I was your student then?"

"I read your mind."

There was a moment of silence as Xander digested that fact. "Okay,

that's not an ability my Connor has," Xander said slowly.

"That's likely because in your reality, the Gathering has yet to

occur," Connor told him. "Here, it has."

"It has?" Xander echoed. "Uh, does that mean you need to lop off

my head?"

"No, Xander," Connor chuckled. "I have no need of your Quickening.

I've already won the Prize."

"Whew, that's a relief." Then the rest of Connor's statement

clicked together in Xander's mind. "The Prize? Really? What is it?"

In reply, Connor held out his hand. Xander's sword floated up from

the table into his hand. As Xander watched, a wave of electrical sparks

flowed from Connor's hand across the blade, cleaning the dried blood off.

"Let's just say that the Prize has made me the kind of man I am

today," Connor added.

***

"What the hell happened here?" Buffy asked.

Having arrived at their destination, Buffy, Willow, and the

Watcher had exited the TARDIS to have a look around. They had emerged into

a devastated city. The damage was extensive, but the remains of the Eiffel

Tower in the distance was a good clue. The Tower appeared to be subject to

an ongoing series of lightning strikes at what was currently its top.

Aside from the three of them, there was not a soul in sight.

"Oh, dear, this is not right, not right at all," the Watcher

fretted as he consulted a book in his hand.

"I'll say," Willow added. "This world feels in turmoil. I'm

getting all kinds of conflicting vibes."

"According to my logs, this world shouldn't be like this," the

Watcher explained. "An immortal by the name of Duncan MacLeod had won the

Prize on this world a few years ago. Whoever wins the Prize on a given

world has the power to lead that world into a new golden age or plunge

that world into hell. Last word we had, MacLeod doing the former."

"Yeah? Well it looks like..." BUffy began. She was interupted

when something the size of a car with lots of teeth and claws jumped out

of the shadows at them. Several seconds later, Buffy had literally torn it

to pieces. Somehow, her white leather suit was still spotless. "...he

changed his mind," she finished.

"Oh dear, I don't understand how this could have happened," the

Watcher added, wiping off some splatter. Buffy had been less careful with

her companions.

"I do," Willow said suddenly. She was staring off into the

distance at something only she could see. "The Hellmouths, ALL the

Hellmouths are open." As if in emphasis, a flock of somethings too big to

be birds flew by overhead.

"Okay, looks like it's our job to put a stop to this," Buffy said

grimly. "Where do we find this Duncan guy?"

"Hmm, the power of the Prize is closely associated with lightning

and electricity," the Time Lord said, studying his book.

"Right, looks like we're off to the Eiffel Tower," Buffy

concluded. Without waiting for the others, she set off in the Tower's

direction, her way well illuminated by the constant lightning strikes.

***

"So what kind of man did the Prize make you?" Xander asked gamely.

Connor put Xander's sword back on the table and looked Xander

directly. So Xander didn't miss it when electricity flashed across

Connor's eyes.

"It made me God."

***

"Dawn, wasn't the gang supposed to pick up Xander first before

facing the Big Bad?" Cordelia asked.

"Oh, um, I think I got the coordinates to the two worlds mixed

up," Dawn replied, embarrased. "Um..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Cordelia said heavily. "'Oops'."