Rating:PG-13
Chapter 16 - First Impressions
January 2005,somewhere near Earth
Dawn was sitting near one of the ship's windows, looking in silence at the wide range of colors that were created in hyperspace. Why did she have the feeling she was giving up? She went to Tauri to find her sister and she failed. Dawn didn't even manage to find out if the refugee she was looking for was really Buffy. Dawn believed it was her, only because the woman called herself Joan and looked similar to her sister. John's description of the woman wasn't accurate and Dawn didn't want John to know that the real reason for visiting his planet was her sister. Dawn gave a slight sigh. She was supposed to storm the SGC and demand answers, not run away after the first sign of trouble. At least she saved John from the NID.
"So where exactly are we going?" John asked. They didn't talk much during the trip and he was curious about Dawn's planet.
"Earth."
"Earth?" John wondered. Did they realize he had been sent to them as a spy and wanted to get rid of him? "We just left it! I know I didn't take my toothbrush but..." He tried to hide his uneasiness by a lame joke.
"Our Earth." Dawn explained. "We call our planet Earth as well."
"You're kidding right?"
"I'm not. If you're surprised so much just by the name then...wait a minute...I promised something to Andrew when Will talked with Giles."Dawn took out a camera and started to film him. "...I want to see the reaction when you hear we have United States."
John's eyes widened and he kept on staring at Dawn with his mouth opened and unable to react for several seconds before he managed to answer. "Now I know you're making fun of me."
Dawn stopped the camera and smirked enjoying every moment of John's confusion. "Exactly what I expected. Andrew will be proud. Now I have my first Tauri Home Video!" Dawn paused. "Except the fact I filmed it in the orbit of another planet and I'm not Tauri, and you're a clone created by an Asguard, and this camera has Goa'uld technology upgrades."
"So let me get this straight. Your planet is Earth and you have United States."
"And Pizza, flush toilets, drugs, ignorant secret government operations and corrupted politicians. All the good stuff. The shape and position of our continents is a little different but other then that our worlds are almost identical. We didn't have time yet to find out how is it possible. Andrew has this higher-power-controlling-the-human-evolution theory, Willow and Giles think it's some kind of spell but I personally think someone up there screwed up. We have something your planet doesn't though."
"And what would that be?" John asked thinking about the two Earths concept. Was the other planet a future version of his world? He remembered that continents slowly change shape in the course of centuries from one of his Geography lessons during which he accidentally happened to be awake.
"Demons." Dawn shrugged. "Vampires. Werewolves. Witches. "
"All those creatures you talk about are just myths Dawn." John shook his head. "I wouldn't expect someone in your age to believe in them. Especially since you're a soldier."
"One of these myths is running a law firm in L.A." Dawn chuckled. "And talking about witches, who do you think is flying this ship? You better accept the weird or you'll be eaten before we get you a new toothbrush."
"We're almost there." Willow informed John and Dawn."Faith had sent a message that she'll arrive in the same time as we do." Willow turned to Dawn ."If I were you I'd try to avoid her. She wasn't very enthused about your mission, though I'm sure she didn't mean 'I'll tear her in two.' literally. She'll probably just ask me to send you to Quortoth for the next decade."
"Makes me feel much better." Dawn mumbled. "You still didn't tell me why are we and Faith heading to Earth. Is there a problem?"
"I doubt it's something serious." Willow shrugged. "The most dangerous mission for Giles in the last month was the rivalry between two training groups after one of them had put a laxative into the other group's soup and then installed a camera on their toilets and connected it with the screens in the main hall."
"Let me guess. Linda's group?" Dawn laughed. "I hope they recorded it."
"They were supposed to erase everything." Willow disappointed Dawn. "Anyway the situation on Earth has been really quiet the last few months. Giles thinks it's because the word got out about the existence of so many slayers and the demons moved to less populated areas." Willow paused. "We're here."
The transport ship slowly landed in front of the main entrance of the manor and Dawn, John and Willow got out. As soon as they entered the house a ring transport activated in front of them and Faith appeared. She gave Dawn an angry look and obviously wanted to say something to Dawn but she started looking around instead. Willow and the others soon realized why Faith ignored them. There were slayers running in all directions in the main hall, clearly getting ready for a mission. The problem was the preparations were incredibly chaotic and no group seemed to know what exactly they were supposed to do. Faith noticed Giles talking with Shannon on the other side of the hall and headed towards him, Willow and the others followed.
"Giles!" Faith tried to get Rupert's attention. "Is this what you and Rona call 'Everything's fine.' ? Cause that's what you told me two days ago! What is this chaos? Where is Rona?"
Giles finally noticed the group behind him and turned to face them. "Rona is dead."
Meanwhile forty kilometers away from the manor
An almost two meters high dark brown demon carried a woman's motionless body in his claw-like hands towards the middle of their village, which was hidden in an ash forest far enough from human settlements to remain unnoticed. He dropped the young afroamerican in front of their wizard and growled to get his attention.
The medicine-man turned to the dead slayer and nodded. "Excellent. This will make the spell work even faster." He took a knife and cut into Rona's right arm above the wrist. Then he placed a cup under the wound and let the blood flow into it.
"We need to hurry." The demon who brought Rona reminded his leader. "The slayers will certainly attack before the sunset."
"Their attempt to stop us was foolish." The wizard spited out. "But you're right. We need to be prepared to hold them back before the portal opens. Tell the others I need four hours to finish."
The wizard saw the member of his clan leave and continued the preparations of the ritual. The cup was already full of the slayer's blood and he started to mix it with an eagle's talon and a snake's eye. The air around him began to vibrate, cracking of electricity could be heard and small lightnings began to appear around the cup. The wizard laughed. Soon he and his people will join the other clans and the slayers will never be a problem again.
----
After Faith calmed down a little and stopped yelling at Giles and everyone else who had the bad luck to be near her, she started to organize the various groups of slayers into effective teams while talking to Giles about what happened to Rona. She still couldn't believe that he and the other slayers knew there was a demon village not more than fifty kilometers away from the manor and they didn't bother to do something about it.
"The Gur'dar are usually a very friendly and peaceful race." Giles tried to explain. "They don't kill or fight humans and never leave their forest. Even the Council tolerated them and that's saying a lot."
"Then perhaps you want to explain to me why your 'exemplar goodies' demons are killing slayers and why Rona's team even tried to sneak into their settlement." Faith snapped at him.
"Yesterday we received a warning from a seer in the Coven that Gur'dar are preparing a dimensional portal. Nobody wanted to believe these demons would try to bring an apocalypse so Rona took three other slayers and went to find out their intentions."
"And it got her killed." Faith gritted her teeth. "I want thirty slayers, seventeen or older, no beginners. Willow will prepare the antidote against Gur'dar poison. I expect everyone to be ready in one hour."
"We should research the situation more before we start making hasty decisions." Giles objected. "We've no idea what to expect and the fastest way to prepare the antidote takes at least three hours."
"Time for prep talks is over." Faith declared with a voice that didn't allow any further objections. "It's simple. They killed. They die."
"Faith I don't want anything to happen to you or anyone else. You're rushing into a fight without knowing neither what you'll face nor why. You're making the same mistakes as Buffy and I won't allow you to..."
"I'm not HER! " Faith yelled. "And B didn't listen to you long before she got lost. Why do you think she chose Antara, while you stayed on Earth? She didn't want you to doubt each of her decisions and neither do I. "
Giles raised his voice, but managed to control himself. "I'm still the head of this part of SWC. I could stop this mission."
Faith came closer to Giles until her face was only several inches away from his own."Is this what it's ? "Faith whispered."How many do you think would chose your side instead of mine?" Faith turned away from the speechless Giles and left to Willow and Dawn, who already started cooking the antidote.
Faith picked two younger slayers and pointed her arm at John."Watch him while we'll be gone. Don't let him leave the manor."
"No way!" Dawn disagreed. "I promised him he can come with us."
"I'm not a baby sitter and we're not going there for sightseeing. You want him to come along? Then he's your burden. " Faith snapped at Dawn and left to a group of SITs.
"She's usually not so bitchy." Dawn assured John. "But as you can see we have a little problem here. An apocalypse caused by an army of demons coming through a dimensional portal is completely uncommon ... in January. The ends of the world have a strict schedule here and the Gur'dar are four months ahead of it. How good are you with a sword? "
"I've tried a wide range of weapons while training with Teal'c, but I don't see why we don't take your Goa'uld equipment and blast these guys away."
"Beheading is the only way to kill a Gur'dar." Dawn explained. "Bullets or ASWs just make them angry. You'll also have to take an antidote, because their claws are filled with poison."
"Yeah. That mixture smells like a ten-months-not-cleaned slaughterhouse. What exactly is inside?"
"You don't want to know." Dawn tried to relieve John's curiosity. On the other hand she wondered how he'll react when he discovers the ingredients.
"Dawn I've been black ops for twenty years. There is no food in the galaxy that could scare me." John sounded absolutely sure of himself.
"Rat's livers mixed with a sheep's urinary bladder." Dawn smirked."And garlic."
One short look at John face would be enough to recognize how fast he changed the opinion about his previous statement. "There is no way I'm eating it."
"Then I guess you're staying here." Dawn shrugged and turned to Andrew who was coming to them with enthusiasm written on his face. "Andrew. I made the record."
"Excellent!" Andrew's mood got even better. "Now we've saved the first steps of a dark warrior on his path towards redemption for the generations to come." Andrew's facial expression changed into an example of deep understanding." I know how it is to walk this path and I'll be glad to show you our Palace of Light. Don't worry, the light is waiting for you at the end of the tunnel."
"You don't eat the antidote, you're staying here with Andrew." Dawn grinned. "Have fun!"
"Rat's livers huh?" John reconsidered his position. "Sounds great."
"Good choice." Dawn nodded. "Otherwise we couldn't take you with us. Rat's livers and sheep's urinary bladder are the fastest way to prepare the antidote."
"And what about the garlic?"
"Better taste." Dawn shrugged.
Three hours later, close to the demon village
Six jeeps stopped at the outskirts of the forest and thirty slayers together with Faith, Dawn, Willow and John got out, most of them carrying swords and axes. Faith didn't really expect bigger problems, but in case of trouble, there was also a cloaked Alkesh hovering above the group and ready to wipe out the whole forest.
John was walking next to Dawn, holding the sword she had lent him, his face still a pure picture of disgust from swallowing the antidote. "You know I think I finally discovered what was Carter cooking when we were at P3 X254."
"Wait till you try one of Faith's spaghetti experimentations." Dawn chuckled. "They redefine the meaning of the word daintiness."
"Dawn you better shut up about Faith's cooking skills until your own abilities surpass boiling eggs and sausages." Willow gave Dawn a blaming look. "And perhaps we could put off this discussion until we, let's say , stop an apocalypse?"
Dawn and John nodded and they all followed Faith's group. It didn't take long and they came to the periphery of the village. The sun already almost reached the horizon which meant they didn't have much time, because according to the seer the portal would open during nightfall. Faith noticed a few guards watching the surroundings of the village and sent two slayers to each of them. After they got rid of the guards the main group continued to the small wooden buildings where they expected the ritual to take place. What Faith didn't see were about twenty demons slowly encircling them and just when she wanted to give the order to attack, all hell broke lose.
John was shocked and unable to react when he saw a two meters high demon run at him. Then the soldier part of his character kicked in and he tried to use his sword to block the demon's punch, but it was too late. He felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder, when the Gur'dar's claws sank into the flesh. He managed to plunge his sword into the creature's stomach but the demon just laughed and hit him again. John let go of his weapon and fell to the ground, seeing the Gur'dar stand above him. However the demon never got the chance to finish him, because another sword whizzed through the air and his head fell right into John's arms.
"Rule number one." Dawn helped John to stand up. "Don't die!"
John thanked Dawn, picked up his own sword and overlooked the situation on the battle field. Most of the Gur'dar who jumped them were dead and Faith together with another two slayers almost reached the middle of the village, where a wizard was standing near a bonfire and mumbled in a language John couldn't recognize, protected by at least ten demons. The air behind the wizard was somehow getting thicker and bolts of lightnings emerged from nowhere. All of a sudden the lightnings disappeared. The demon growled and pointed his arm at something on John's left. John turned and realized what made the wizard so angry. Willow was standing not far away from John, her eyes and hair completely black and was using the same language as the demon. John had no idea what she was saying but he knew it blocked the creature's spell.
The wizard's guards rushed to Willow to stop her, but the slayers expected this move and were ready to protect her. Before the wizard had a chance to join the fray himself he heard a stick break behind him. He turned around to see Faith with her sword raised above her head and ready to end the fight. "Got a last word?"
"The balance is destroyed slayer. You'll never manage to restore it."
"Whatever." Faith shrugged and beheaded the leader.
The fight was soon over with no survivor on the demon side. Wilow and the others gave John and the wounded slayers the first aid and then headed back to the manor.
"So what's your first impression about our Earth?" Dawn wondered.
"You mean except finding out about about vampires and demons, witches and wizards and portals to different dimensions?" John replied. "I got almost killed by something I wouldn't believe exists yesterday! I like it here."
John watched the dark alley the jeeps were passing by when he felt a slight tingle in his left arm. The miniature Tok'ra transmitter the SGC had operated into the arm activated and began to send signals with the planet's location. John knew the sender will be active only for five minutes - just enough time for SGC to receive all necessary informations for using their computers to count the SWC's stargate address. John looked at Dawn, knowing that soon everything will change and his mission will be over. He just wasn't sure how he felt about it.
----
Dawn was walking through the manor's main hall, feeling tired and glad she can finally get some sleep. While she was passing Giles's office she noticed Willow inside and calling Dawn she should come in as well.
"We have a serious problem." Giles stated and closed the door behind Dawn, making sure no one would overhear their conversation.
"Is there a time we don't?" Dawn wondered.
"From the beginning I had found it very strange the Gur'dar would try to cause an apocalypse. They are a peaceful race, almost never fight and they prefer to avoid major battles between Good and Evil. That's why I studied the spell they used once more and found out it really opens a portal to a demon dimension, but you can travel only one way through this portal, from the place where you cast the spell. That means the Gur'dar didn't try to bring a demon army to our world. They wanted to escape from Earth."
End chapter.
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