Rainbow Over Sunnydale: Chapter 6
Disclaimer: Red Storm and Tom Clancy own Rainbow and Characters. Joss Whedon owns Buffy and Characters. Anyone else belongs to me. I make no profit off the following except to have a little fun.
Spoilers: Buffy to present. Rainbow to Bear and the Dragon.
Authors note: I am adjusting the Buffy time line slightly, this fic starts just after "Never Leave Me", moving things back about a month.
Thanks to all that reviewed. Constructive criticisms always welcomed. Flames cheerfully ignored.
The White House
Washington D.C.
25 Oct 2002
2140 Hours
John Ryan came forward in his chair and tossed his reading glasses onto his desk. Glancing over at Ben Bascome the Secret Service agent standing post in the office, "Ben I think I am going to call it a night." He told him.
Speaking into his radio, "Swordsman moving to the Residential Wing." He said.
Getting up and moving around his desk Ryan asked the agent, "What do you think of what was discussed today?"
Ben was uncomfortable with his principle asking him his opinion. Andrea had warned him that this might happen, but it was one thing to have some one tell you The President might ask your opinion about something, it was something else when it happened. He considered his answer carefully, finally he said. "Scary sir, and not just the demons and stuff. I have a 3 year old daughter, what if she gets Chosen to be this Slayer thing?"
Ryan who had two daughters of his own understood the agents concern perfectly. Ben went on, "You heard Agent Finn, that most of them don't make 20. Kendra lasted what 6 or 8 months? What kind of a life is that?"
Ryan had been troubled to his core when Riley had finally explained exactly what a slayer was, the kind of life they led, and the usually violent and bloody end they suffered. The fact that there was this long unbroken line of warriors, stretching back to before there was even language, who had fought, suffered, and died in secrecy, protecting a world that not only did not know of them, but largely that they were even fighting. Ryan considered the current Slayer, a young women who according to Riley had already saved the world 4 times by the time he knew her, and saved it twice more while he was with her, and probably had saved it a time or two since, if Riley was to be believed. She had saved countless millions of people without asking for anything in return. What was her reward for this selflessness? A short life, a bloody death, and no one would even know what she had done for them. "Not this time." He promised himself.
"So are you planning on picking up some garlic on the way home?" Ryan asked to lighten the mood.
"Yeah, I know of an all night grocery store that sells strings. They're going to think that I am making a couple of hundred pizza's with what I'm planning on buying." Ryan smiled.
"Hold it a minute Ben, I want to leave a note for Ellen." Ryan said to the agent as they were passing Ellen's desk in the outer office. Ryan leaned over and wrote.
'Ellen,
Could you please set up an appointment for the Secretary of the Interior and the Head of the INS for as early on Monday as can be arraigned?
Jack'
They had just reached the main hallway leading to the stairs going up to the residential wing of The White House when they saw Andrea Price coming there way holding a folder in her hand. "I'll tuck The Boss in Ben, you can take off." Then more formally, "You are relieved."
"I stand relieved." Ben responded. "Thanks Andrea, Mr. President, good night."
"Good night Ben, thank you. Have a safe trip home." Then turning to the head of his protective detail. "Shouldn't you be home with your kids too? Pat's out of town isn't he?" Pat O'Day was a Roving Inspector with the FBI. One of Dan Murray's chief troubleshooters, he had joined the Ryan family the day he had saved his then youngest child Katie from a group of terrorist who had taken over her day care center in a failed attempt to kidnap her. O'Day who had been inside picking up his own daughter at the time had managed to get the drop on them. Andrea and Pat had come in contact with each other while Pat was briefing The President on the investigation into the crash that had elevated him to office and things had sort of grown. She had given birth to a son recently and had just started back to work.
"Yes sir, He is in San Francisco. There is a serial killer out there and the local SAC is screaming for all the help he can get."
"Andrea, I'm off duty. It's Jack." Ryan chided her. "Dan hasn't sent anything over on that yet, what's the situation?"
"The perp so far has killed two victims. What makes this one so nasty is he kidnaps his next victim as soon as he drops off his last. He takes his time with them too. With his first two victims he kept them alive for about a week. He's been holding his third victim now for almost three days. So the local authorities are grabbing everyone they can beg, borrow or steal trying to find her."
"If I forget, remind me to call Dan tomorrow and see what else we can shake loose to help." Ryan ordered her. Then thinking about it he made a mental note to have Ed Foley call Sir Basil, the head of England's Intelligence Services to find out what he knew about the Watchers Council.
"Yes…Jack," She replied.
"Do the victims have any similarities?" Jack wanted to know.
"So far one was a fortune teller, one ran a new age store, and the current one is a high priestess of a store front church. Given what we learned today it might be smart to brief Pat that he may be looking for something weirder than your normal serial killer."
"Not a bad idea." Ryan agreed. "Why are you still here? You must have a really understanding sitter."
"Very understanding, Jack." Andrea smiled. "It's Megan's Grandparents on her mother's side. Thankfully they have adopted Don as their own, and they don't mind if I have to work late." Andrea told her President.
The two began climbing the stairs that led to the residential floor of The White House. Andrea began explaining what kept her here so late. "I was thinking about what we discussed in The Oval Office today sir. I'm thinking that we're going to need some new security protocols. I am hoping to get out to Sunnydale sometime next week and talk to some of the people out there."
"I would make plans to head out there sooner if I were you. If you want to recruit anyone anyway." Ryan told her. "I've seen that expression on MP's face before, usually when she has spotted a promising recruit."
"I wish her luck with Buffy, Jack." Andrea said deadpan.
"You wouldn't want to have a slayer in the detail?" Ryan questioned, clearly surprised.
"Didn't say that sir. But I was thinking, that even if Buffy was interested in joining up I believe that she would probably have to stay around the Hellmouth and protect that. Even if that wasn't a problem she would probably end up being called away to deal with paranormal problems."
"I see what you mean. Someone nice to have around, if she was around. " Ryan responded.
"I haven't given up on slayers though Jack." She said, handing over the folder.
Glancing at the name on the other folder Jack looked up in surprise at his head protective agent. "The other Slayer?" He asked incredulously. "Andrea she is a confessed murderess!"
"Yes sir," stepping back into the persona of the Head of the Protective Detail. "And she is still in prison."
"Shouldn't she be? She killed three to five people Andrea."
"Jack, if she is half as capable as Riley suggested that slayers are, then she is in there because she wants to be. That suggests two possibilities. One: That she is hiding from something or someone and is using the California Penal System to provide security. That's unlikely as she surrendered herself under her own name, and has made no attempt to hide her presence. Prison being what it is, anyone that wanted to could probably arrange an accident."
"That's more of a Hollywood cliché than a real threat Andrea." Ryan said reprovingly.
"Normally I would agree Mr. President, but given the circles she traveled in there may well be any number of people who might want her dead. Riley said that the Council of Watchers was interested in her, they at least would have a reason to kill her, if only to generate another slayer that they would be able to control."
Ryan clearly unconvinced said, "Okay I'll grant you that one for arguments sake right now. What's the other option?"
"That she is offering up an act of contrition." Andrea said in all seriousness. "If that is the case then I think we can provide her with a more useful form of redemption."
"There is a third possibility." Ryan countered.
"That is sir?" Andrea questioned.
"That she doesn't trust herself outside of prison. If that's the case then I don't think I want her on my detail." Ryan told Andrea.
"I agree sir, which is why I want to send a psychologist out to talk with her. I was planning if I got a positive report to then go out and talk to her myself." Andrea explained.
"Do you have anyone in mind for the initial contact?" Ryan wanted to know.
"I was thinking of using the one that Dan Murray uses." Andrea said.
"You mean the woman who is responsible for me being here?" Ryan joked.
"Yes Jack, her." Andrea smiled. "I thought she might have used up her quota of coincidence for the century."
"Alright I approve of her going out and talking to Faith, but no promises are to be made to the woman, in fact it would probably be better not to mention who she is representing in the first meetings. I want to read Dr. Golden's report when she puts it out. If she gives a positive report then you can go out and talk to her. If you think that there is anything there that we can use, we will look into what we can do to help each other." Ryan instructed Andrea.
Stopping at the top of the stairs Ryan turned to Andrea and asked, "So if you aren't looking to recruit a slayer then why do you want to go to Sunnydale?" Ryan was actually curious.
"I am hoping to recruit Tara McClay. She is apparently estranged from the 'Scoobies right now so I would not be disrupting group dynamics if she accepted. If she is not interested in signing on permanently then I am hoping that she will at least come and look the White House over to see what might have to be done to make it more secure from magic. God I can't believe that I just said that." Andrea said rubbing her eyes. "Anyway if nothing else I thought that I could talk to Willow Rosenberg. Hopefully she can point me at a credible witch, or warlock, who could act as magical security for your party when you travel."
Ryan nodded. "All right I approve your trip to Sunnydale. But for the love of God be careful out there, I can not afford to loose you. Pat and your kids would never forgive me."
"Yes sir. Hope to be out of town by sundown. If not then I will stay with Mr. Clark and Ding. I promise, no wandering the town at night." Andrea assured her President.
"Okay, and Andrea?"
"Yes sir?"
"When you get a witch or wizard on staff I want them to check out the events leading up to my inauguration."
"You don't think that Billingsly is right do you?" Andrea asked incredulously.
"About me being the Anti-Christ? No, or if I am no one has bothered to tell me anything. But I have to know that there is nothing moving in the background that I don't know about. I have to know." He finished quietly.
"I'll get someone on it as soon as I can." She promised.
Ryan nodded, "Andrea I meant what I said about Faith. I approve in writing before you move onto the next step, and I will want to have an interview with her myself before I make the final decision." Ryan ordered.
"Understood Mr. President." Andrea said formally, then in a more relaxed tone. "Good night Jack."
"Good night Andrea, be careful going home, I meant what I said about not being able to replace you." Turning from the head of his security detail Jack turned and started down the hallway that led to his bedroom. Even here though Jack was not alone for a number of secret service agents lined the hallways protecting him and his family from potential intruders. Jack wished that they did not have to be there, he knew that his family found it claustrophobic, but grim experience had taught them that they were needed.
Jack decided that after today he was going to spend some time with his kids before he turned in. He found Sally and Jack Jr. awake and doing homework, so he helped them with what he could. One of the things Jack hated most about being President is the amount of time it took away from his kids. Tonight was an exception as he had called it a night at an extremely early hour. After spending a half an hour with his two oldest kids, he looked in on the other two, four year old Katie and 6 month old Kyle were both asleep. Looking at Katie Jack remembered Ben Bascome words, "What kind of a life is that?" Jack needed to find out if either of his daughters had a chance of becoming this Slayer thing. He would call Sir Basil himself tomorrow and find out what he knew. Finally he came to his bedroom door; he stepped through and quietly closed it. As soon as it was closed he leaned back against it and rested his head back against it and let out a loud sigh. "Have I ever mentioned how much I hate this job?" He asked his wife.
Cathy Ryan was sitting up in bed wearing a comfortable nightgown. An ophthalmic surgeon, the empty wineglass on the nightstand indicated that she had no procedures tomorrow. She looked up and said. "I believe that you may have mentioned it a time or two honey." She said as she was glancing up. Catching sight of her husband leaning against the door she quickly started putting the files away.
"Bad day huh." She asked her husband as she moved across the bed and motioned for him to come over so she could give him a neck rub.
"Made the top ten, maybe the top five." Ryan responded as he gratefully removed his coat and tie. He sat on the edge of the bed and leaned back into his wife's breasts as she started rubbing his neck.
Cathy Ryan was shocked, considering some of the days they have had, The day that Jack had become president, the attack on Katie's daycare center, the day they had realized that someone had hit the US with a biological attack, or the day that Washington almost got nuked. "What happened?" She wanted to know.
"I found out today that we have been lying to our kids, that our parents lied to us, and probably theirs lied to them." Jack responded despondently.
"About what?" Cathy was perplexed. She had never seen Jack like this before.
"Monsters are real babe." Jack said quietly.
"I don't think that you would have a problem convincing our kids that they were." Cathy replied, thinking of the time that Sally was almost killed when she and Sally had been ambushed by terrorists. So long ago, really at the beginning of journey that ended here in this building.
"Not human monsters Cathy." Jack continued quietly, "Real ones, vampires, werewolves, and demons."
Cathy looked at her husband in alarm, had the pressure of the job finally made him crack?
Jack saw the look and smiled a lopsided smile at his wife. "I only wish I was cracking up honey." He then went on to explain about all he had learned, about things that went bump in the night, about the Initiative and its fight against the more malign aspects of the supernatural. By the time he had finished Cathy had climbed down off of the bed, and Jack was holding her hands in his.
"Are you sure of this?" Cathy asked dazed.
"Yes, I sent John and Ding out there. Rainbow is going to help set up defenses for the Hellmouth."
"Will it be enough?" Cathy wondered.
"It should be. You see I received one piece of good news in this mess." Jack said, a tired smile coming to his face.
"And that is?" Cathy asked.
"Superheroes are real too." Ryan finished.
LAX
Los Angeles, California
25 Oct 02
2135 Hours
Riley, Ding, and Mr. Clark stood outside of a private hanger and watch as the VC-20 that had brought them there, and was carrying Sam Finn taxied out into the dark.
"We managed to contact Graham, and he will be able to get in contact with most of the my team, Sam will be able to get the rest, but it looks like my three to five day estimate till I can get them here was accurate." Riley said. He then proceeded to lead Mr. Clark and Ding over to the suburban that had been brought for their use.
Reaching the set of cases that had been left next to the SUV he pointed at the two new cases in the mix. "Those are for you. Loaners from the FBI, I did not know what you preferred so I asked them to send you over some MPK's. I thought that it would be better to have something that could be hidden under street clothes." Riley explained.
"I thought that bullets didn't hurt these things." Ding said as he reached for a case and lifted it onto the tailgate of the suburban."
"Bullets won't kill a lot of the creatures that are running around in Sunnydale, but it will hurt or slow down the majority of them. If we run into vampires remember to shoot low. Chopping their legs out from under them is always a good way of slowing them down." Riley told him. Then reaching for another battered case he clicked it open, and passed a stake, something that looked like a steel squirt gun, and a cross small enough to fit easily into a jacket pocket. "The squirt gun is loaded with holy water, it acts as acid to a vamp. Be careful with the cross, they don't like it, it will burn them if it touches bear skin, but they can bat it away and vampires have incredible reflexes."
Riley then opened another case and pulled out a shoulder rig. Ding looked over and recognized a Desert Eagle pistol. "That's a lot of gun." Ding said nodding at the pistol.
Riley slipped it out of the holster and put it down on the tailgate so he could get the holster on properly. Then Ding saw the size of the opening on the barrel of the gun. "Is that the .50 version?" He asked looking at the 9mm opening on the SMG he was slipping under his coat."
"Some things need a lot of stopping power out there." Riley explained. "This won't be enough for some of them."
Ding looked over at Mr. Clark.
John Clark said to Ding, "Once we are on the way get in touch with Allister and make sure that he brings ours."
Once on the road to Sunnydale Riley gave the two Rainbow troopers an overview of what Sunnydale was like, what help they could expect from the locals, favorite hotspots for the local HST's, and the area around the Hellmouth and answering any questions they might have on the town.
When they reached the halfway point Mr. Clark finally said to Riley, "Tell us what you know about this Slayer person that we are supposed to meet up with."
Riley clearly had been putting of talking about Buffy till the last minute began. "The first thing you should not do with Buffy is underestimate her. Dr. Walsh made that mistake and it cost her. She has been at this for almost a decade so don't let her youth and sex lead you to underestimate her. She has a real problem with authority, especially if she doesn't respect it. The easiest way to get her respect is give her some. She'll generally try to work with you until she thinks you are patronizing her, at that point she will let you get eaten."
"So we can expected to be tested by her when we get there?" Ding wanted to know.
"To an extent, but she isn't much for mind games. She will give you her advice on a situation, she won't really care if you take it or not. But if it blows up in your face because you ignored her she is not above saying 'I told you so' a couple of times." Riley told him.
"We'll have to play it by ear then." Mr. Clark said. "Okay Riley, I want you to tell us what you know about Ms. Summers and be detailed."
For the rest of the trip to Sunnydale Riley regaled Ding and Mr. Clark with the adventures that he and Buffy had had when he was in Sunnydale. This took them up to the Sunnydale city limits. Once there Riley started driving past the various cemeteries in town.
"Shouldn't we make contact with Ms. Summers?" Clark asked after the second stop.
"That's what we are doing," Riley replied. "This time of night she is usually out patrolling, we are more likely to make contact in one of the cemeteries than at her house."
Pulling into one of the larger cemeteries, Riley stopped the SUV and got out several pairs of night vision goggles and passed them out. Scanning the surrounding area he suddenly said, "There we go."
Ding looked in the direction that Riley indicated and saw a slight figure fighting with four larger people. He immediately started toward the fight only to be pulled to a stop when Riley grabbed his shoulder.
"Where are you going?" Riley wanted to know.
"Where I come from four against one is not a fair fight." Ding replied.
"Yeah." Riley told him, "They should have done a lot more recruiting!"
Ding was non-pulsed; he looked again at the slim figure that had just finished slamming one of the people….vampires that she was fighting against the side of a crypt. "That's the Slayer!?!" Ding demanded.
"Yeah, what were you expecting?" Riley said smiling slightly.
"Someone nine feet tall and green." Ding admitted. "Not some one that tiny."
"I warned you not to underestimate her." Riley said as he started walking toward the fight.
Ding and Mr. C followed neither taking their eyes off of the fight. Ding had to admit that the slim figure of The Slayer had to be one of the most formidable, if not the most formidable, hand to hand fighter he had ever seen. She kept complete control of the fight except for once when two of the vampires managed to get a hold of her arms and slammed her against the same crypt that she had bounced one of their own off of. She just bounced off the stone wall and did a spinning kick on one of the vamps. Finally she had everyone were she wanted them. She dropped the two in front of her with a double leg sweep, then came over the top with a stake in each hand, and then there was an explosion of dust from behind the tombstones that were between the walkers and the fight. The third vampire came in from behind hoping to take advantage of the Slayer being on the ground. She simply braced herself and kicked backward. The sneaker clad foot struck the vampire in the solar plexus and he flew ten feet to strike a broken tree limb that stuck out six feet above the ground. The last vampire looking at odds that had suddenly gone from four to one, to mano a chica and decided to call it a night. He got as far as the first line of headstones before a thrown stake turned a high-hurdle jump into a pile of dust landing on the other side.
Buffy looked over at the approaching men and leaned over and grabbed a backpack that had been on the ground. Approaching the group that had stopped took off the night vision equipment and waited for her to come to them, when she got into easy talking distance she stopped and said, "Hi Riley, don't tell me, we have to talk." She did not look real happy.