Greeting and Salutations. Sorry about the time it's been taking lately. I just got a new job recently and its taking up a lot of time I used to have for writing. Hopefully I can get back into a rhythm soon. Just be patient. Please?
Big thinks to Manitcor Gurl for betaing for me. Appreciated. After far too long, the moment some of you (Harry) have been waiting for: the Hacking Team Supreme take on Weaopon X's computer systems.
Willow sighed angrily. Nothing. Not a Goddess damned thing. She reached for the phone, wishing she had better news.
"Buffy?" She said as her friend answered, "Bad news, I'm afraid. I've tried everything I could think of. Nothing. I'm sorry," she listened as Buffy conferred with someone, "Backup? What kind of… Two days? All right. Where are you? The manor? I'll get the rest of the gang. See you soon."
Katherine Pryde got of the plane uneasily. She'd thought she'd left this life behind, jetting around to save the world.
No, she thought, this wasn't saving the world. This was helping a friend. One of her best, she added, seeing Logan across the airport. One of the few still alive.
"Hey there, bub," she said, as she got close.
"Hey," Logan nodded. The two embraced fiercely, "Missed ya."
"Same here," Kitty said, "So, what is it this time? Magneto claim to be your father?" Logan chuckled.
"Actually, I'm the surprised father," he said. Kitty nearly stopped breathing.
"Say what!?" She managed to gasp, "You're a… How? When?"
"Weapon X," Logan said sourly. Kitty recovered immediately, "I'm not dragging ya there for answers, darlin'. I know ya don't want anythin' ta do with that life. But we need info."
"What kind of info?" Kitty asked. Despite Logan's assurances, she had every intention of helping track those creeps down so she could make them pay or Logan's pain.
"Where they are," Logan started, "What they're up to. Who the girls mother is?"
"Can I cause their computers to self destruct?" Kitty asked darkly.
"Kinda the prerequisite," Logan chuckled, "Ya've even got a partner. Hacker friend of my daughters…"
"And that just sounded really weird," Kitty interrupted. Logan chuckled before continuing, his voice low.
"Ever hear of WiccaRed?" He asked.
"Are you SERIOUS?" Kitty barely managed not to shout, "The guy that Hacked S.H.E.I.L.D's data base for info on the GSA?"
"She hacked Fury's computers?" Logan grinned again, "No wonder she was so pissed she couldn't find them. How'd you know about that?" Kitty shrugged.
"Nick asked me in to try and track her down," she said, "Got as far as Langley before the trail went all over the place."
"Oh I gotta hear this story," Logan muttered.
"You never told me you went through S.H.E.I.L.D!" Buffy gasped. Willow looked at her, face red.
"Well, you wanted any info that might help against GSA," Willow said defensively, "I thought it'd be the best bet to find it there. If they don't know about it, who does? How'd you think we've kept them off our back? I found more than enough blackmail info there."
"But still, S.H.E.I.L.D?" Buffy said again.
"How far did you get?" Xander asked Kitty, "Before you lost her?"
"CIA computers at Langley," Kitty said calmly. Buffy nearly choked on her tongue at that one, "After that it bounced off so many satellites I gave up. Nick's still looking for her."
"Why?" Shalimar asked.
"To offer her a job," Kitty said simply. Logan chuckled.
"Damn, Red," he said, "Can't believe you couldn't find Weapon X," Willow scowled.
"I don't understand it," she said, "I've checked every database I could think of, tried every back door I've ever thrown together and I still couldn't find anything."
"Well, then, let's get hacking," Kitty said eagerly, "I can't wait to find out what you can do," Buffy looked at Willow suspiciously.
"Wills, what didn't you try?" Willow looked at her, surprised, then bowed her head.
"Sorry," the red headed Wicca/hacker said, "Guess I got distracted," she looked over at Oz.
"So there's still some thing's you haven't tried?" Kitty asked, her grin widening, "Oh this is going to be fun."
"Mind if I tag along?" Xander asked, reaching for his 'glasses'.
"Just remember your priorities, Boytoy," she said teasingly, "Wouldn't want me catchin' cold now, would ya?" Xander looked up at her calmly.
"Highly unlikely, Faith," he said, "Maybe a small chill, but nothing that extreme."
"Damn," the Slayer muttered, "That cold, calculating side of you spoils all my fun."
"That's not what you said last night when we…" Xander started before stopping, as shocked as the rest of them, as Faith turned bright red, "He shoots, he scores!" He crowed.
"You'll get yours, X," Faith muttered.
"Is that a promise?" The mutant teased.
"Get outta here," she said, "'Fore I change my mind and lock you in our room."
"Choices, choices," Xander muttered before Willow dragged him out the door. Buffy giggled.
"You two always like that?" She asked. Faith shook her head.
"Sometimes they're worse," Giles said dryly.
"I don't get it," Willow muttered, "Nothing."
"Let's just get this sucker hooked up," Kitty muttered, pugging the last cables into Willows computer.
"What is that, exactly?" Xander asked. Kitty stood up, looking at the thin machine.
"A booster," she said, "We get a clearer signal from the military satellites, plus it increases the capacity of the CPU. Has a direct link to those," she pointed to Xander's glasses, "and my lap top. A little something I picked up off Forge on the way here."
"So, we get to track down Weapon X, shut them down and play with a new toy?" Willow asked eagerly, "Can I play with it a bit first? See if I can't get a little something extra out of it?"
"Oh, this I have to see," Xander said, almost pleadingly, "Forge's inventions with a little 'coaxing' from Willow?" Kitty grinned.
"Go for it," Willow grinned, pulling the cover off.
"Oh, nice," she muttered, "This things got satellite boosters out the wazoo. If I do this…" she fiddled with n gizmo in particular, the replaced the cover and moved to the software, "Locked," she muttered. She typed for a few moments, "Unlocked. Now, this goes here, that goes there…" the booster beeped a few times, earning a "Oh hush," from Willow.
"Done," she declared happily. Kitty looked over her shoulder.
"You hacked a Kree spy satellite?" She gasped, "That thing's orbiting Pluto! This doesn't have that much power."
"My friend the genius," Xander said.
"It had plenty of power," Willow said, "It just wasn't scanning anything other than terrestrial frequencies. Now, if I do this," she pressed some buttons, bringing up a world map with strange, alien markings around it, "Damn. I was hoping for English."
"I got it," Kitty said, typing on her laptop. The language on their screens changed to English.
"Cool," Willow said, "Now, I scan for mutants…" the map lit up, showing everyone with the X-Factor gene, "Whoops. Too general."
"Try restricting it to mutants with some type of work done to them," Xander suggested, "Use Logan or Marrow as template for the search. They should have the same general markings."
"Oh, right," Willow said, homing in on Logan. A few seconds later, several dots appeared, one larger than any of the others.
"That's it," Kitty said, "Weapon X."
"Think we can hack in using this thing?" Willow asked. A grin spread across Kitty's face.
"Let's rock," she said, typing furiously. The clicking of Willow's computer soon joined hers as two of the world's best hackers began working on the most secure computer system in the world. Xander sat back to watch them work.
"Damn," he muttered as they slipped past the firewall and roving sentries with ease, "Watch for decoys guys."
"Please," Willow snorted, "I already disarmed ten of them."
"This is it?" Kitty snorted, "Please. I programmed better security when I was fourteen."
"I know," Willow agreed, "Hang on. Here's something. Hm…"
"Looks like S.H.E.I.L.D's Aegis 15 security sensors," Kitty muttered, "Nice. Too bad I helped design them… Damn! Back door's closed."
"Side door's not," Willow said happily as she used the same codes she used to hack S.H.E.I.L.D's computers, "We're in. What do we look for?"
"Wolverine," Kitty said, "Try Buffy and Shalimar's name's as well, see if anything comes up. I'm going to scan mission data see if I get any hits. Anything else Xander?"
"Genomex," he suggested, his mind running through possibilities, "Research data. Also, try synonyms for Rebirth."
"Under way," Willow said, "Watch our backs, Xand Man."
"All over it, Willmeister," Xander muttered, looking at Weapon X's data stream through his glasses, "They don't even know you're there."
"Hits," Kitty said, "Targets, something called Project: Rebirth."
"Download," Xander said.
"Half way done," Kitty answered.
"I've got some thing's coming too," Willow said, "A Project: Speedfreak, gene maps for them, all sorts of interesting things."
"Better hurry up," Xander said, "They're on to us."
"One more thing…" Kitty muttered, "I'm done and out."
"Ditto," Willow said, shutting the link down, "Easy as. And they should be feeling the effects pretty soon."
"What did you do?" Kitty asked. Willow grinned.
"E-mail's to every major law enforcement agency in the world detailing their operations," Willow said, "You?"
"Total system meltdown," Kitty said, "Emergency system encrypted to prevent them being able to do anything about it. And they won't break it."
"Why not?" Xander asked. Kitty smiled at them both.
"'Cause I used the Kree programming code from that satellite we used to break in," she explained. The three burst into laughter.
Weapon X (Meltdown in progress).
"What is going on?" The Director demanded.
"Systems are going down all over the place," a technician said.
"We've been hacked," another shouted out, "They've shut down everything, we're locked out of the emergency systems…"
"Lock down! We're in lock down!"
"Oh shit, we're e-mailing! All our mission data, our location, everything!"
"What the hell did they do? Emergency systems are coming up with screen loads of crap!"
"Abandon the complex!" The Director ordered. Technicians began abandoning their posts as he looked around. This was all HIS fault, him and his little bitches. Well, he'd get his revenge, "And send Speedfreak after them. Give her extermination orders," yes. Revenge would be sweet.
Sunnydale.
"They are going down!" Kitty crowed, "Hard!"
"That was so awesome," Willow bubbled excitedly, "They didn't stand a chance. Everyone knows about them now, from the CIA to the Mossad and there's not a thing they can do about it."
"Willow, calm down," Buffy managed, "Now, slowly, what did you do?"
"Hacked their computers," Willow said, "Then set their systems to e-mail everything on their hard drives to every major law enforcement agency in the world. Then Kitty got involved," Logan gave the mutant a look.
"Shut down their systems," she explained, "Everything. And locked them out of the emergency systems with a Kree computer code."
"And you got a Kree code how?" Logan asked. Xander smiled.
"Willow gave the device Kitty brought with her a once over," he explained, "They hacked a Kree spy sat hiding around Pluto."
"Willow did most of the work there," Kitty said, "I just translated it."
"You're the one that recognised the security they had," Willow said.
"You broke in there though," Kitty added. Buffy shook her head.
"See, this is why we don't let Willow make friends," she said in mock disappointed, "Everything they say goes right over our heads."
"They made bad place go boom," Dru muttered, "But now they send Her. You must be careful."
"Who are they sending, Dru?" Angel said softly.
"Buffy's mummy," Dru muttered, "Must be careful," Buffy and Shalimar looked at each other. Their mother had still been there? And now she was being sent against them?
"Faith, warn the Initiative," Buffy said, "Xander, try and track her. I want a warning before she gets here," Buffy looked at Logan, "Any ideas?"
"No," Logan said, "I'm sorry, I just can't…"
"It's okay, dad," Shalimar said, "It's not your fault. We'll just have to hope we can get through to her without hurting her."
"When I get my hands on that bastard…" Buffy muttered. Angel placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"It's alright, love," he said, pulling her close, "It's alright," Dru looked at them. This wasn't fair. Even she knew that. There had to be something she could do. What though?
"Help them," Miss Edith whispered gently into her mind. Dru nodded, closing her eyes.
"Moving so fast," she whispered, "Coming so quickly. Here so soon."
"How soon Dru?" Angel asked.
"When Speedfreak comes, vengance be done," Dru sang softly, "He will pay, what he did. Leaving, running, no escape now, no, no, no."
"Dru," Angel said, slightly firmer, "How long?"
"Weeks, months, days," the seer sang, "Her daughter makes the pain go away. Doesn't know they're here yet, soon she will."
"I don't think we'll get much better than that," Angel said ruefully. Buffy walked over to Dru, bending down so she could look at the vampire, who was sitting on a chair.
"Dru," she whispered, "We need to know. How long til she gets here?" Druscilla opened her eyes, looking at Buffy. Had to prove her worth, here and now. This is the moment.
"Two weeks," Dru whispered, "Shalimar must meet her, alone, or else the Bad Place will keep her. Only Her Daughter can help. The Wild Slayer and Her Father will only make things worse," Buffy smiled gently.
"Thankyou," she whispered, straitening. Dru grinned. She'd done it.
"Knew you could," Miss Edith whispered.
"Why only Shalimar?" Faith asked, "And why's Shal the only one that gets called 'Her Daughter'?"
"Buffy's her father's daughter," Xander said, "The claws, the attitude… she takes after Logan more than her mother. I'm guessing Shal's more a mommy's little girl."
"Good call," Buffy said, "Got anything?" Xander grinned as he looked through his 'glasses'.
"Used the gene maps in the Project: Speedfreak file," he said, "Dru's right on. Two weeks, tops. Her current trajectory brings her entering Sunnydale via Rosehill Cemetery, exactly two weeks from now."
"Two weeks to prepare?" Buffy grimaced, "We've had less time."
Stay tuned.
Doc.