Hello again readers. Finally back with another chapter, I apologize for the long wait but I have been feeling pretty lousy lately due to the fact that I had a very bad cold that prevented me from leaving my couch, anywho, on with the chapter.
Also, if anyone has any info on when the third season of sliders comes to dvd please let me know, all I know so far is that it is supposed to come out sometime this year.
A Slayerette's SlideChapter 7
Alley in unknown world10:30 AM
"Everyone okay?" Quinn asked as the blue vortex above him closed and he climbed to his feet.
Looking around he saw that everyone looked to be all right and got affirmation from all of them, save Xander, who landed in a dumpster.
"You know something," Xander's voice came from the dumpster as his head popped out. "I'm glad I finally got one of these," he continued as he tapped the black helmet on his head.
"Sadly, to late to save any intelligence you had," Maggie said with a grin as Remy and Quinn helped him out of the dumpster.
"Ha ha," Xander said sarcastically as got to his feet, took his helmet off and put it into his backpack.
"Are you okay?" Wade asked as she walked up to her boyfriend.
"I'm fine," the young man responded with a grin.
"We should find a hotel or something," Quinn quickly said before the two could start with the queasy romantic stuff.
"I agree," Maggie said.
"How long till the we slide?" Xander asked.
After a quickly checking the readout on the timer Quinn looked up with a grim look on his face.
"Well, how long?" Wade asked.
"Three months," came Quinn's reply.
"Let's just head for the Chandler and figure out what to do when we get there," Maggie said as she and Quinn began heading for the opening of the alley.
"Maggie, Q-ball wait," Remy said trying to get their attention. "You guys hear that?" the singer asked as he looked around.
"Hear what Remy?" Quinn asked as he walked back over.
"It sounds like some sort of clanging sound," Remy answered, straining his ears to catch the sound better.
"I hear it too," Wade said as she looked around for the source of the sound.
"It sounds like it's coming from down there," Xander said, pointing to a turn farther down the alley.
The group followed the sound deeper into the alley, and upon rounding a corner at the far end found the source. Two people were locked in what appeared to be a fight for their lives, using swords.
One was a tall, dark skinned, muscle bound man wielding a large scimitar. The second was a shorter, light skinned woman with shoulder length dark hair and a finely crafted rapier.
The two combatants seemed to be evenly matched, but the fight was quickly ended when the woman was able to knock her opponent to his knees and disarm him. Before anyone could react the woman's sword arced out and severed the head of the man.
What happened next shocked the group of sliders, even though they were used to seeing odd things. A white mist flowed out of the man's corpse and over to the woman, followed by bolts of lighting. The sliders quickly ducked into cover to avoid being hit, whereas the woman simply stood where she was and let the bolts strike her.
A few minutes later the lighting stopped and the woman then slumped a little as the power dissipated. The woman then quickly wiped off the blade of her sword and was about to leave the alley when she saw sliders.
"Shit," the woman said as took in the shocked looks from the travelers.
"There's something you don't see everyday," Maggie said as the group stopped crouching behind the large dumpster they had used as cover.
"So, care to explain what that was?" Xander asked the woman.
"No," the woman replied.
"Well then, I guess we'll have to call the cops then," Xander said with a smile and a faraway look in his eyes. "Maybe the news too, I'm sure that they would love to know about the mist and lightning coming from a corpse," he continued as the woman began to panic.
"I doubt anyone would believe you," she said quickly.
"Well, maybe not about the light show, but I'm sure the cops would have a field day with the headless body," the young slider continued with a grin as his friends watched in amazement.
After a moment, in which panic clearly registered on the woman's face, she finally spoke. "Alright fine, I'll tell you what happened, but not here, it's only a matter of time before someone else wanders down here," she said as she started out of the alley with the sliders close behind.
"So, what's your name?" Remy asked as the group walked down the street.
"Amanda," the woman replied as she noticed that Xander was staring at her. "What are you looking at?" she asked in an annoyed voice.
"I was just wondering how you're able to hide your sword in those clothes," Xander responded as he motioned to the loose jeans, white shirt, and short leather jacket she was wearing.
"Just another trick of the trade," Amanda replied as the group approached a large building.
"What is this place?" Wade asked as she looked at the tall building in front of her.
"This is where I live," Amanda answered as she walked in the door, followed closely by the rest of the group.
A few minutes later the group was seated in Amanda's richly furnished condo while they waited for the woman to start explaining.
"So, I promised you a story," Amanda said in matter of fact voice.
"That you did," Maggie replied.
"Alright, here's the deal. I'm an immortal, which means that I will live forever and come back from any from of death as long as my head is still attached to my shoulders. What you just saw was me killing another immortal in what we call the game. When one Immortal takes the head of another they get what is called the quickening, which is basically what makes us immortal," Amanda explained to the group, which she was surprised to notice was very calm about it.
"That's an interesting story," Remy said.
"And yet you don't seemed surprised in the least," Amanda replied while narrowing her eyes.
"Lady, after all the crap we've been through, not much surprises us anymore," Wade shot back.
"Crap like what?" Amanda asked, interest clearly in her voice.
The sliders then spent the better part of an hour explaining about sliding from world to world, as well as some of the worlds they had previously been to and then finishing with the fact that they were stuck there for three months.
"Wow, I thought my life was complicated," Amanda said with a grin.
"So how old are you?" Wade asked as she eyed the dark haired woman.
"Little over a thousand years old," Amanda replied.
"Well, you don't look a day over nine hundred," Xander said in a joking tone, and was rewarded with an elbow to his ribs, courtesy of Wade.
"You got a place to stay yet?" she then asked as she rose and walked into the fairly large kitchen area and opened the fridge.
"Not yet," came Quinn's reply.
"Well then, I insist you stay here," Amanda said with a smile as she pulled a bottle of water out and closed the fridge.
"Why, you just met us?" Quinn asked, suspicion in his voice.
Amanda was silent for a moment, as if in thought, "because what you have told me simply fascinates me, and I would love to learn more about it," the immortal finally said walked back into the room.
"How do we know we can trust you?" Maggie asked with suspicion evident in her voice.
"You don't," Amanda replied with a smile. "But since I am in need of a shower, why don't you talk it over while I am doing that?" the immortal continued as she walked into the bathroom and closed the door.
Once the group was able to hear the sounds of running water from behind the door they all turned to face each other to discuss the offer.
"So, what do you guys think?" Quinn asked the group.
"Well, so far she hasn't giving us a reason to distrust her," Remy replied trying to keep an open mind but knowing full well they had been screwed over in the past.
Maggie was remained in silence for a moment as she thought over the offer. "I say no, there's something off about her."
"I have to agree with Maggie on this," Xander said.
"I think we should leave, Maggie's right about something being off with her," Wade said.
Quinn sat in silence thinking. After a few seconds he reached his decision. "I've got to say no, we've been played for fools one to many times in the past," Quinn said.
It was then the sound of running water stopped. A few seconds later Amanda emerged wearing loose sweatpants and a T-shirt.
"So, what's the verdict?" Amada asked as she sat back down in her chair.
"Thanks for the offer but we're gonna have to decline," Quinn said as the group of sliders stood up.
"Thought you might," Amanda replied with a shrug as she too rose and walked over to the door. "But don't be surprised if I show up at your hotel, I wasn't kidding when I said that I found this whole 'sliding' thing very fascinating," she continued with a smile as she opened the door.
The sliders then silently left the condo and remained that way until the reached the elevator.
"Not a day over nine hundred?" Wade asked as she turned to face Xander, anger evident in her voice. Causing small laughs from everyone in the group, save Xander, who had a worried look on his face.
The Chandler Hotel
1 month later
"My feet are killing me," Wade said as she dropped onto a stool at the bar in the Chandlers restaurant, where Xander was currently cleaning a glass.
"Well look at the bright side," Xander said as he put a beer down in front of his girlfriend.
"And what's that?" Wade asked as she took a sip from the beer.
"You look hot as hell in that waitress uniform," the young man replied with a grin, causing Wade to start laughing.
Over the past month, the group of sliders had been able to make a deal with the management of the Chandler. They would work at the hotel to pay for the room they were staying in. Wade was currently putting her high school waitress skills to good use, while Xander was a bar tender, for once in his life he was grateful that his parents were alcoholics seeing as they taught him at a young age how to make their drinks.
Rembrandt was singing while Quinn worked at the front desk, and Maggie was also working as a waitress, although she took the job under extreme protest. Also over the past month Amanda made good on her promise to visit them at their hotel in order to learn more about them, she had also taken an interest in Xander and had started teaching him how to pick locks.
"Hey guys," Maggie said as she sat down next to Wade.
"Hey," Wade replied, taking another sip of her beer.
"Shouldn't you two be doing waitress stuff?" Xander asked as he prepared a beer for Maggie.
"Take a look around Xander, no one's here," Maggie replied.
Taking a look around the room Xander saw that Maggie was right and that there was no one in the restaurant area. That is, it was empty until Amanda walked in.
"Well, look whose here," Xander said as he Amanda walked over the bar and sat down.
"What's up, usually you visit when we don't work," Maggie asked as she sipped her beer.
"Well seeing as Xander and I have an appointment today and he gets off work in five minutes, I thought I'd pick him up," Amanda replied with a shrug.
"How do you know when Xander gets off work?" Wade asked, she still didn't fully trust Amanda, and the fact that she spent so much time with Xander wasn't helping much.
"I learned all of your schedules awhile ago," the immortal replied with a grin. "How did you think that I always showed up when at least three of you were off work."
"That's slightly creepy," Xander observed as he his replacement showed up.
"Where are you taking him?" Wade asked, trying to keep distrust out of her voice.
"Out," Amanda replied.
"Out where?" the red haired waitress asked.
"To repay him," the immortal replied
"What do you mean repay?" Wade asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Poker debt," Xander answered for the immortal as he walked out from behind the bar.
"Poker?" Maggie asked
"Yeah, I owe him alot of money so I thought that I would repay him with something that is functional," the thief replied.
"Alright, let's go," Xander said as he grabbed his coat. "We still on for dinner tonight?" he asked as he leaned down next to Wade.
"Yeah we are," Wade replied as she gave him a quick kiss.
A few minutes later the two were in Amanda's car and driving down the crowded streets of L.A.
"So how exactly are you repaying this debt of yours?" Xander asked.
"It's is a surprise," the thief replied as she turned onto a less busy street.
Twenty minutes later Amanda was pulling the car to a stop in front of a small, run down pawn shop. Amanda quickly got out of the car and walked into the shop, Xander following close behind.
The inside of the shop was just as rundown as the outside. There were several different things decorating the walls and counters, ranging from guitars to rings and watches. Amanda ignored all this and quickly walked up to the man behind the counter that reminded Xander far too much of Willy the Snitch.
"Ralph, how you doing?" Amanda asked as she approached the man.
"As well as can be expected, how bout you Amanda?" he asked as he shook the woman's hand.
"Pretty good," she replied.
"What can I get ya?" Ralph asked.
"I need a set of good lock picks for my friend here," Amanda replied as she gestured to Xander, who was slightly shocked at what he heard.
"You got it," Ralph replied as he reached under the counter and came back up with a black cloth case and handed it to Amanda, who quickly opened it up and began inspecting the contents.
"I'll take it," Amanda replied as she pulled a wad of bills out of her pocket and handed it to Ralph, before turning and walking out the door.
Xander sat for a minute, slightly shocked before hurrying out the door after his immortal friend. Once the two were outside and back at Amanda's car she handed over the case.
"Here you go kid," she said as she opened the car door and got in. Xander quickly doing the same.
Once the two were on their way Xander opened the case and had a look at the tools inside. Once the black case was folded open he saw that it contained three different pouches, each one holding a variety of different tools, all of which he knew how to use.
"You like it?" Amanda asked with a smile as she turned a corner.
Xander was about to respond with thanks when he saw a figure out his window that he still saw in his nightmares.
"Stop the car!" Xander yelled, causing Amanda to quickly step down on the brake.
Once the car was stopped Xander jumped out and began running in the direction he saw the figure walking, Amanda following close behind. After quickly scanning a large crowd of people gathered on the sidewalk he was able to spot the figure duck into an alley.
Quickly pushing his way through the crowd he made it to the alley and ran down, Amanda still following and wondering what had gotten into her young friend.
Reaching a turn in the alley Xander saw that it was a dead end, and that Angus Rickman was standing there with an evil grin on his face.
"Xander, good to see you, how's the chest," Rickman asked, grin still on his face.
"I have a little trouble running long distance now," Xander replied as his hand slowly started going for his Zat.
"That's too bad," Rickman replied as he noticed Xander's hand. Quickly pulling out a silenced handgun he pointed it at Xander's head. "I wouldn't do that if I were you,"
"You forget Rickman, I have a shield," Xander replied as he willed the amulet around his neck to life, causing the familiar dome of energy to appear just as Rickman started firing on the young man.
Quickly grabbing his Zat, Xander returned fire but missed as Rickman dove for cover behind some crates. Knowing that his shield wouldn't last forever he quickly moved behind a dumpster where Amanda had jumped behind when the shooting started.
"Friend of yours?" Amanda asked, slightly pissed off.
"If you consider a friend is someone that takes you prisoner and cuts up your chest, then yup," he replied as he peeked around the dumpster and saw no sign of Rickman.
Slowly moving out from his cover he began to head toward the crates Rickman dove behind, once again activating his shield, just in case. Once he reached the crates he cursed when he saw that Rickman wasn't there, but an open manhole was.
"Damn bastard got away again!" Xander screamed as he kicked the crates.
"Calm down, you'll hurt yourself," Amanda said as she walked over and put her hand on his shoulder.
"I got tell the others that Rickman is here," Xander said as he deactivated the Zat gun and tucked back into his coat.
Chandler Hotel
10 minutes later
"What do you mean you saw Rickman?" Quinn asked after Xander had arrived and explained what happened.
"I mean that I saw Rickman," Xander replied. "Damn bastard tried to shoot me too," he added as an afterthought.
"Are you okay?" Wade asked as she quickly moved to his side.
"Yeah I'm fine, the wonder shield the Charmed Ones gave me once again proved its worth," the young man replied as he held up the pendant.
"Do you know where he is now?" Maggie asked, a fire burning in her eyes.
"Nope, jackass escaped down into the sewer,"
"Um, who is this Rickman?" Amanda asked from her place in the far corner of the room.
"The crazy brain eater we told you about," Remy answered.
"Oh, right, him,"
"So what do we do?" Wade asked, still at Xanders side.
"We still have two months here, plenty of time to hunt him down," Xander said as he fingered his Zat.
"Xander you have to remember that he slides at different times then we do, for all we know he could have already slid," Quinn explained from the other side of the room.
"But he might not be, I say we go with Xander's plan to hunt him down," Maggie quickly responded.
"That is going to be slightly difficult," Amanda piped up as she moved to stand with the group.
"What do you mean?" Maggie asked in anger.
"What I mean is this is a big city with an ass load of people, how the hell do you plan on finding him?" the immortal asked the pissed off woman across from her.
Wade thought for a moment about all the things they knew about Rickman before a thought formed in her mind. "I might have a way that may help us at least get a general idea of where he is," the red head said as she moved over to the computer in their room.
"And that would be?" Maggie asked as the group moved to stand around the computer.
"Simple, Rickman needs a specific type of brain tissue to survive right, so what we do is run a search of all people who were attacked within the last few weeks that show the symptoms of Rickman's attack. Once we've done that we can find the locations of where they were attacked, and if we're lucky Rickman will be hiding out in the general area of the attacks," the former computer saleswoman said as her fingers flew over the keyboard.
"That is of course if the all of the attacks happened in the same general area," Remy said.
"That's why I said I might have a way," Wade replied as list of names appeared on the screen.
A few minutes later she was able to find several people on the list that had symptoms matching Rickman's attack. After a few more minutes a map of L.A. appeared on the screen with several red dots, all concentrated in the same six-block radius.
"Well, we have our general location," Xander said as Wade printed up the map of the six block area.
"So now what?" Remy asked.
"Now we hunt," Xander replied in a grim voice.
Abandonded Warehouse
2 weeks later
"We've looking for two weeks now and there hasn't been any sign of that bastard," Maggie ranted as she and Xander searched an old warehouse in the area where they believed Rickman to be.
"That doesn't mean we won't find him," Xander calmly replied, Zat held at the ready.
"I know, but I really hope we do soon," Maggie responded.
The two walked in silence for a moment before a voice called from the darkness. "Ask and you shall receive," the voice said as bullets began raining down on the two.
Reacting quickly the pair dove behind a large pillar as the bullets continued coming down. Quickly peeking around the pillar, Maggie was able to see flashes in the darkness coming from Rickman's gun. Quickly pulling out the Glock that Amanda had acquired for her she took aim at the flashes and pulled the trigger, she was rewarded with a cry of pain.
"Let's go," Xander said as he activated his shield and jumped out from behind the pillar, Maggie right behind.
Soon they found the location that Rickman was firing at them from, unfortunately he wasn't there, but a trail of his blood was. Pulling out his Zat, Xander and Maggie quickly followed the trail. Seconds later they were on the roof of the warehouse, staring down Rickman who clutched at a heavily bleeding arm.
"Well look who we have here," Maggie said as she pointed her gun at her former CO.
"You really should have someone look at that," Xander commented as he leveled his Zat at the man.
"Go to hell!" Rickman yelled in response.
"What's wrong Rickman, no more smart remarks?" Maggie asked as the pair began to move closer.
"Well you know how I love to banter, but I'm out of time," Rickman shot back as he held up his timer and activated it. "Be seeing you!" he called as he jumped through the portal.
Without wasting a second Xander quickly ran for the wormhole with Maggie following close behind. Just as the vortex began to close the young man increased his speed and leapt into the red tunnel, which closed behind him leaving Maggie alone on the roof.
Staring in shock for a moment the brunette sent out a pray for her friend, followed by a silent curse. "How the hell am I gonna survive telling Wade this."
End Chapter 7
Here it is, sorry for the long time it took to write, please R+R