Revelations

Previously:

"So," Buffy said slowly, her eyes narrowed to slits, "Your from the future. Where apparently something big happens and now America is in Poverty. You we're sent back in time and on top of that, you've killed countless people, as a genetically engineered killing-machine." She stopped, glaring at the intruders, before turning back to the red head, who was standing rather clumsily, her hand almost white gripping the werewolf's elbow. "Will, can you send them back to wherever the hell they came from? Cause or else I'm going to get violent."

"Giles!" The brown haired girl, Cordy, spoke before Buffy could even open her mouth, throwing herself forward and pulling the man into an apparently unwilling hug. "Oh Giles! Thank god you're here! You have to do something! Buffy is trying to kill us all again!" Buffy herself rolled her eyes, but turned quickly back to watch their prisoners. It was too late. Buffy felt her blood run slightly colder as she realised the two women, had vanished. Xander stepped forward, mouth hanging open, before turning his incredulous eyes to Buffy.

"Where did they go?" He asked. He followed her line of sight to an open window. Apparently, when Giles opened the door, the spell broke, allowing the killers to escape.

"Uh, guys?" They turned at Oz's voice, to face an empty couch.

"I think they took Willow."

Uh oh.

And now:

Everything was white. She was floating. She knew that far. Willow could feel the gentle pulse of the Earth beneath her, the wash of magic flowing like an ocean, consuming her. That was before she dropped back into reality.
As the red head opened her eyes, cracking them only slightly, assaulted by the bright lights and the headache that invaded her mind, the last dregs of her pleasant dreams falling away like rainwater, the unpleasant memories of the past few hours surfaced, making her groan slightly, her eyes widening. What would she find? Buffy and the others fighting the time-travelers in a battle to the end? The clones trussed up and sour?

What she expected to see, and what she actually saw as her eyes opened fully after several second like minutes was very different. Willow's confusion grew as she looked around the warehouse she was apparently lying in. Her left wrist was bound to one of the pillars, the dusty floor making her sneeze slightly, the cold cement chilling her despite her large woolly jumper. Her head throbbed, no doubt from when Sam elbowed her to the neck, effectively knocking her unconscious. A short distance away stood two identical black motorbikes and beside that, a small table covered in various instruments that fearfully reminded her of the tools she had seen on the wartime movies, when the informant was tortured for information.

She gulped; hoping against hope that this was a joke of the Scooby gang, but inside, she knew the clones had escaped, taking her, and possibly someone else with them. In the distance, Willow could hear faint voices coming from outside, getting closer as she watched the two large metal doors at the opposite end of the warehouse.
"We can't just torture her for information, it's wrong. You know what Manticore did to us, I won't inflict that apon someone else for just may be innocent is this." The voice that answered, although identical, was slightly angrier.
"I'm not living in 1997 for the rest of my life Max. If you don't want to be here, then don't be, but I'm not letting her go until we know everything she does, and why the hell she brought us here."
"Look at this world Sam! It's different to the one we know! Look at the houses and the people who waved at us in the street, this isn't like Seattle! It isn't a dog eat dog world here, these people have no idea what they've done! For all we know, this nomalie could be totally responsible for this entire thing. She may not know anything, Sam!"
"Well," Came Sam's slightly smug reply, "We'll soon find out, won't we?"

With that last comment the doors swung open with a bang and the two soldiers strode inside, both with smiles on their faces, Max's a little more strained then that of her clone.
"Well, finally the sleeping beauty is awake." Came Sam's gloating voice, wheeling the trolley closer to the girl and sitting down beside her. "Now, we're going to ask some questions, and you, well, your going to answer us clearly and precisely. Got it?" She picked up a long pair of tweezers, as Willow's eyes flashed from both clones in abject fear.
"Okay," Sam said gloatingly, "I want to know exactly how you brought us here, and why. Start talking or your pretty little nose gets a one-way trip to broken. And you won't enjoy it, trust me."

Willow glanced in fear at the tweezers, before back at Max, whose face was concentrated on ignoring the going's on around her and focused purely on one of the black bikes.
"We didn't bring you here on purpose." Willow said slightly indignant, "We we're only trying to catch a monster that had killed several people and disappeared in bursts of white light (Max looked up), so I called forward the Circle of Sebecus to intercept any portals being used at that time that match the description and to deposit it's traveler in the circle field. You were in the portal at the time I assume, so you were dropped off in the circle, instead of your next destination." Sam blinked slightly.
"Well, you know who we are. But we don't seem to know who you are. How do you and your little friends know about all this stuff? This world doesn't seem to be a very informed one."

Willow sighed, deciding to get the truth out of the way first. After all, they had made a deal back in Buffy's lounge room.
"Like I said earlier, Buffy is the slayer."
"Which means nothing to us." Max interjected, stepping forward, a dangerous glint in her eye. Willow felt more nervous.
"There's a prophecy, one girl in all the world, born with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires and to stop the swell of their numbers. Buffy is the slayer, with skills formidable enough to stop evil in it's tracks."
Max and Sam exchanged an amused glance.
"Okay, how do you know if someone's a vampire or not?"
Willow sighed.
"They're a walking corpse, so that's usually where you start." Max shrugged.
"And the others, they're all…what exactly?"
"Like I said," Willow said slightly annoyed, "I'm a witch, Xander is normal, Oz is a werewolf, Cordy is…well, Cordy, that's the entire point of her existence. Giles is a watcher; it's his job to train Buffy. And that's all. We call ourselves the slayerettes."

Max raised an eyebrow, as Sam casually twirled the tweezers around her fingers as if torturing someone was the most natural thing in the world. Willow shifted slightly, hiding her bound hands behind her back as she tried to squirm out of them, waiting for Max and Sam to stop paying attention for a few moments so she could utter a small spell to help.
"Okay," Sam continued in her line of questioning, "How do you get us back to the future?" Willow winced.
"I'm a witch, I can't send people back and forward in time, I'm not that powerful. To get back, I suppose we would have to make another circle and hope to catch this nomalie. If we can catch him, I should be able to transfer his ability to a Morace Stone. That way you can go back to your time. But it's complicated, and I would need Buffy here for her slayer blood."

Sam raised an eyebrow.
"Good try kiddo. Get all your friends here so they can take us back to that place of yours and hold us captive? I don't think so. You do this alone."
Willow slammed her hands against the cement behind her as the rope disintegrated into nothingness from her magic. Sam and Max automatically took up defensive stances, but Willow muttered only a few words under her breath when Sam and Max found themselves behind an invisible barrier.
"Look." Willow said quietly, but oddly menacingly, "No matter what, we are going to help you get back. But you two need to stop acting like jerks and start helping, us help you. I don't care who you are, or what you've done. I only want to get you back to your time. Got it?"
Sam raised an eyebrow.
"How do we know we can trust you?"
"You don't." Answered Willow, lowering her hands and the force shield, "But right now, neither of us have any choice but to believe in the other."
Sam shrugged, throwing the tweezers over her shoulder.
"Good enough for me. So, lunch anyone?"

Willow frowned by the suddenly change in attitude as the clone walked over to one of the bikes and rummaged in a bag beside it. Willow decided to ask the question.
"How did you guys buy the bikes when you don't have any money?"
Sam raised an eyebrow.
"Who said anything about buying?"
Willow suddenly felt cold. She nodded slightly, mouth dry.
"Well, Should I go get Buffy and the others? We can't do this without them. And I need to pick up some more materials; I only had one orb of kaylash and mine was damaged when you landed in the circle."
Sam nodded toward Max, who nodded.
"Here." Was all that was said, as Willow caught the cell phone, which was thrown at her.
Willow nodded slightly nervously, pressing in a familiar number.
"Oh, hey Giles. Can I speak to Buffy?"

Buffy tapped her fingers lightly against the table, ignoring the deep, bubbling guilt that was gnawing away at her stomach. She had let her guard down, and thanks to her, Willow was gone. Taken by those circus freaks who could be who-knows-where doing who-knows-what. Around her, Giles, Xander, Cordelia and Oz we're searching through books, trying to find a solution to a problem. Sitting around Buffy always hated. She sighed as the sound of more page turning met her ears.

"I'm going-" She began, before the shrill sound of the phone reached her ears. Giles shot her a look, before picking up the receiver.
"Hello? What? Willow? What's going on?"
Hearing this, everyone looked up, jumping from his or her chairs and toward Giles, hands outreached for the phone. Seeing this, Giles took a step back, everyone falling into a pile at his feet. He listened for a minute, ignoring the group at his feet trying to untangle themselves, before he held it out.
"Buffy, Willow needs to speak to you." A hand reached out, unsure whose, Giles gave it the phone, which turned out to be Cordelia, who lifted it to her ear, her other hand pushing Xander's face away.
"Willow!" She said, almost happily, "Oh, your alright! Fantastic! Does this mean I can stop book searching now? Giles is like a slave driver he- oh. You want to speak to Buffy. Fine."

The phone was passed around several more times, before the struggling figure at the bottom of the pile managed to get it.
"Oh, Hi W-willow." Buffy stuttered out, crushed by the people above her. "What's up?"
She listened for a few seconds before her face-hardened.
"Can we trust them? Uh-huh. Yeah. All right. We'll take care of it. Meet? Yeah. At school, it's neutral. Yeah. All right. See-ya." She looked up at Giles and threw him the phone, ignoring his amused stare as she used her super human strength to push the figures off her. There was a series of 'Ow's' before everyone managed to stand up.
"Okay people," Buffy said quickly as the other's fell into line, relieved looks on their faces, from Willow being okay, or from being free of the human pyramid Buffy couldn't tell. "Willow told me the clones want to go home and are willing to compromise. Xander, Cordy," She said sharply, "I need you two to buy the things we need for another circle of Sebecus. Willow tells me the list is still by her laptop."
Xander saluted.
"Yes ma'am. You can count on us." Buffy nodded.
"Alright people. We're setting up this gig in the school. Oz, Willow says someone needs to pick up a…Morace Stone…yeah, that from her house. Can you take care of that?"
Oz nodded tightly.
"Got it. I'll meet you down at school." Buffy watched them leave. She turned to Giles.
"Giles. We need weapons. Lots of weapons. Just in case."

As both Buffy and Giles entered the school, each feeling nervous, axes and swords in hands, they kept their eyes peeled for signs of Willow.
"We'll set up here." Buffy whispered, dropping a bag full of various herbs. Giles followed suit, taking one last scan of the perimeter before beginning to set up the circle. Behind them, Xander and Cordy strolled in, each carrying their stocks, closely followed by Oz, who was carrying a palm sized, deep black stone.
"Anyone see our visitors?" Buffy whispered. Xander shook his head.
"No sign. You reckon' they'll turn up?" The others continued talking, as Buffy stopped. Her super sensitive hearing picked up the smallest sniffle that the others would dismiss as an everyday sound. Buffy froze.

Silence quickly followed. She had kept tabs on everyone around her and none had made the sound in question. Assaulted with sudden suspicious as the others watched her in interest, Buffy looked up, seeing three pairs of eyes, two rather like a cat, one staring in fear, staring at her from the roof above them. The two clones we're gripping Willow, each staring down. Buffy tightened her hold on the dagger she had brought, as the others followed her gaze. They appeared to be sitting without anything to suspend them, and that was the thing that made her friends jump in fear as they noticed the object of Buffy's stare.

Cordy screamed. Xander yelped. Giles raised an axe.
With a quick flip, all three figures fell to the ground, landing with a thump.
"Are you okay?" Max asked the middle figure, who looked pale and close to collapsing.
Oz rushed forward, as Max and Sam almost slithered from the girl's side and into the shadows.
"Are you okay?" He asked quickly. Willow nodded, eyeing Giles and Buffy, both still holding up their weapons.
"Fine…" Buffy muttered, lowering soon after Giles. "Let's get this party started shall we?"
No sooner had these words left her mouth when around them, the lights flickered out.
"What the hell?" Xander asked, ignoring Cordy, who was gripping his arm in fear.
Confronted by darkness, weapons we're suddenly drawn and the group converged closer, the two clones doing the same.

"Well," Came a new voice from the darkness, "What do we have here?"

Tbc…