ChapterThree at your service.
Cleveland, Buffy Summers Residence
Liu Kang watched as the last man, Murray, fell through. The Mortal Kombat Champion tentatively shared Stryker's notion that there was no way the man could be named Murray. It just didn't fit right.
The Champion looked his friends over, making sure none were silently bearing an injury. They all seemed fine, though Sub-Zero looked a bit weary from the heat and overuse of his chi and Stryker was busy grumbling under his breath about the portal. Mostly Liu only saw well-concealed aggravation, and undoubtedly the irritation was directed toward whatever new threat was gracing Earth Realm rather than their new comrades.
They had only just finished defeating Shao Kahn and ensuring safety from future invasions by Outworld a month ago, and now they were back on the front lines again. Stryker hadn't been the only one to be looking forward to a vacation; Liu had bought tickets for Kitana and himself for a cross-country trip, beginning tomorrow.
Jax and Sonya, while not exactly enjoying a vacation in Maui like Stryker, were settling back into their normal, everyday life as Special Forces agents. Liu had even heard from Jax that Sonya had bought a dress—a real dress—to wear to a government function coming up in a few days.
Sub-Zero had ensconced himself in China's mountains, but somehow managed to send out letters every week to reassure the others of his health and prevent a mass-hunt for the ninja. Nightwolf had done a similar thing, except in the Pacific Northwest and secluded himself far less than the reclusive ninja.
Everyone had looked forward to a future of peace, normality, and the occasional visit from Rayden (and by extension a coffee—or chow mein—theft). No one wanted another Mortal Kombat to arise, but they all knew the chances were astoundingly high for this generation.
Liu wondered briefly whether his ancestor Kung Lao had dealt with such blatant disregard for the rules of the Kombat as this era.
The older man of the entire group, Colonel Jack O'Neill if Liu read the tag right, held back to make sure his team was alright after the rough ride. Liu felt respect for the others, knowing that a journey through the portal was no picnic but still kicked up less fuss than Stryker did.
A petite blonde whom Liu had missed the name of led the way into the house and arranged seating for everyone. Considering the seventeen (eighteen if you counted the oddly-dressed man who remained standing) people, it was quite a tough fit. Eventually O'Neill's team except O'Neill himself sat on the couch, joined by the youngest of the whole group. A British man almost O'Neill's age stood by the doorway leading to the foyer with a young brunette woman that appeared tougher than Liu felt she was; Sub-Zero took a place by them, hating to be caught unawares.
Willow sat at a dining table set apart from the living room opposite of Nightwolf, who had yet to separate with Kiva. Xander sat beside the red-head, one hand squeezing hers reassuringly. Sonya and Jax took places in chairs dragged out of the kitchen, and Stryker stood near the doorway to the backyard, looking outside.
Kitana stood at Liu's right near the fireplace, both providing and taking comfort. O'Neill sat on the arm of the couch closest to the mantle, arms folded and a look of contemplation on his face. The blonde woman took a place between Liu and O'Neill, directly in front of the fireplace's grate.
The oddly-dressed man was opposite of her, looking around at everyone as if taking a headcount. When he appeared satisfied, he clapped his hands and said, "Alright, now that we're all here, I think we can get started on proper introductions."
Silence followed. Then the young woman sitting on the couch piped, "I feel like I'm back in kindergarten."
Murmurs of consent echoed her statement. Then the petite blonde sighed. "Well, I'm Buffy Summers. That," she pointed to the one who spoke first, "is my sister, Dawn. The brunette's Faith, a Slayer-in-arms, I guess. The British guy next to her is Giles, my mentor. Willow is the Wiccan-bad-ass of the group, and sitting with her is Xander, our anchor-guy that keeps us all grounded in normalcy. Oh, and that's Whistler," she added as a meaningless afterthought.
Liu thanked the Elder Gods he was so good with names; he suspected not many of the others were. "I'm Liu Kang," he pointed to each person in turn, "this is Kitana, that's Nightwolf, Lieutenant Sonya Blade, Major Jax Briggs, Sub-Zero, and Captain Stryker."
"And that just leaves us," Jack quipped. "Colonel Jack O'Neill, Major Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson, and Murray–"
"Jack, I really don't think secrecy is going to be much of an issue here," Daniel interrupted. "You remember what Oma said about 'giving faith and having faith'."
Jack frowned at the man, then threw up his hands. "Fine, fine. His real name's Teal'c, not Murray."
Buffy tilted her head. "That's so much better. There was no way he could pull off a Murray. That name is so. . . not him."
Jack bristled. "What do you mean? It's a perfect name for him. Right, guys?" he turned to his team for support.
Daniel jumped at being addressed, then started hemming and looking anywhere but Jack's face. Sam grinned uncertainly then said, "It is a little. . . unorthodox, sir."
Teal'c just raised a brow and tilted his head a notch.
Jack blinked at his unhelpful team, then grumbled, "Well, you just don't have culture."
"Excuse the interruption to the banter," Sonya broke in, "but why exactly are we here and not at home, doing things other than saving the world? Again?"
The large group turned to Whistler. He shifted. "Well, you already met those. . . screaming things, and that's the bulk of what you're going to fight. But there's of course the menace behind it all–"
"And would we have a name for this menace?" Jack inquired lightly.
"Hanbi," came the answer, but not from Whistler's mouth. Instead another figure emerged from the hallway, munching carelessly on an apple.
"Whoa," Liu rested a hand on Buffy's shoulder; the woman had tensed into a battle position. "That's Rayden. Not a wise move to hit him."
"Not a wise move to be rude to me either," the Thunder God grumbled, glaring sidelong at Stryker. "Next time you 'summon' me, be sure to restrain the insults."
The man turned away from the backyard scenery to roll his eyes at him. "Complain to Liu. He's the one that lost."
Daniel squinted through his glasses, then his facial features relaxed. "Sumerian god of evil and king of the evil spirits. That's who Hanbi is," he added when everyone peered at him.
"Ooh, I remember him," Willow's face brightened. "He used to cause all sorts of bad, destructive wars in the ancient world. . ." Willow drifted off, face falling as she realized what she was saying, ". . . and that is not in the least bit cool, 'cause he's all evil and king of evilness."
"Definitely sounds like our kind of Big Bad, though," Xander quipped.
"Unfortunately so," Giles agreed quietly.
"So, how do I kill him?" Buffy chirped, relaxing from Rayden's induced apprehension.
"Hang on," Jack protested. "What do you mean, how do you kill him? We're the ones that are going to be doing any killing," he motioned to his team.
"Hey, pal," Faith threw the man a dirty look, "you have nice guns and all, but me and Buffy here, we deal with the supernatural. So buzz off."
Liu kept back as the two groups went at it, arguing back and forth as to why theirs were the better group for the job. Kitana leaned in and whispered, "Shouldn't we stop them from fighting?"
"I'm Mortal Kombat Champion, not a miracle worker." At Kitana's frown, Liu sighed and shouted, "Everyone, calm down!"
Eventually his demand was met; Faith and Jack took the longest to settle, glaring at each other as though the other were stepping on their territory. Liu continued on, "We have a common enemy. And I don't know about you, but we rarely have an opportunity to work alongside others to beat a. . . Big Bad, as Xander puts it. So why don't we try cooperating, rather than segregating into our own little groups?"
Hesitantly, nods exhibited approval. Buffy, however, peered at Whistler and asked so lightly that Liu knew it was a fabrication, "And what do the Powers That Be say? I thought the Slayer was supposed to be a one-Champion show."
"Slayer this, Slayer that, Slayer everything," Sonya interrupted grouchily. "What the hell is a 'Slayer' anyway? Some sort of Superman?"
"Supergirl, actually," Buffy retorted. "What's the big long speech again, Giles? 'One girl in all the world,' that thing?"
"Into each generation a Slayer is born," Giles began reciting absently, "One girl in all the world, a Chosen One. One born with the strength and skill to–"
"Bottom line it for us, would ya?" Jack cried, grimacing. It reminded the Colonel of all the times Sam or Daniel would drone on about a theory.
Giles seemed annoyed at the interruption, but did grant Jack his request. "She is a Vampire Slayer. One who fights, obviously, vampires as well as demons and other paranormal, evil creatures."
Silence. Then Jack said, "Oookay. I'm just going to pretend I believe all that."
A snort came from Stryker's direction. "Why did I get up this morning? I had that feeling. Whenever I have that feeling, nothing goes well. So why?"
"Because you're a sucker for that first sip of coffee, just like the rest of us," Jax informed him somberly. The conversation was an old one, it appeared to the others.
"Well, since you guys all know my– er, Faith's and my deals, what about yours?" Buffy folded her arms over her chest. "I won't feel good about going up against Hanbi if I have no clue who's backing me up. Or leading the way," she added quickly at Jack's dark look.
Jack looked pointedly at Liu, hoping to keep the U.S.'s greatest secret just that: secret. Liu, noticing the look and preferring to stay on everyone's good (or better) side, stated, "I'm Mortal Kombat Champion."
The statement was met with blank, "Huh?"s from most everyone. Only Liu's group, Whistler, Daniel and Giles were aware of the full-meaning.
"I thought that was just folklore," Daniel frowned, and Giles said, "So it is true."
Buffy turned to her mentor. "Sooo, what's a Mortal Kombat Champion?"
"Mortal Kombat is a tournament," Liu explained for him, "held once every generation. The greatest fighters are gathered in one place and fight until one comes out on top. I was the lucky winner this generation."
"Excuse me," Rayden glared. "I suspect that my training you has more to do with it than your 'luck'."
"If you insist," was Liu's dry reply.
"So, what's the big deal about that?" Faith shrugged. "Sounds like one of those cheap shindigs I went to while touring the world."
"Except they probably never included maniacal Emperors from another Realm trying to invade Earth and nearly succeeding," Sonya growled morbidly.
"Twice," came Stryker's input.
Buffy blinked. "How come I was never asked? Aren't I one of those greatest fighters in the world?"
"Would you have liked to deal with the Master, an egomaniacal tyrant, high school, and your mother all at the same time?" Rayden asked blandly.
Blanching, Buffy shook her head furiously.
"Then don't look a gift horse in the mouth."
"So what's your deal?" Jax asked of the Colonel, delicately sidestepping any further inquiries toward Buffy. "How are two Air Force officers, a Doctor, and. . . whoever Teal'c is, going to save the world?"
Eyes riveted onto them, everyone curious. Xander, Buffy, Willow, and Giles seemed extra interested in their explanation.
Jack looked at Sam, who looked at Teal'c, who looked at Daniel. Daniel looked frantically at the three of them and gulped, "Me?"
"You, Danny," Jack smirked. "You remember, 'giving faith and having faith' and whatever other nonsense Oma spouted."
Daniel scratched his head and sighed. "Well, alright. We work in a top-secret government facility known as the Stargate Command."
Jack thought this was mighty furtive of the archaeologist. He was about to commend the man when Nightwolf perked. "Stargate Command? Huh."
Turning his attention to him warily, Jack asked, "And what's that mean?"
Nightwolf was slightly taken aback by the demand, but answered it easily, "I accidentally hacked into computers belonging to a program of that name a while ago. Didn't stay long, though, I had other things to do."
Sam sputtered, "You hacked into our computers? How much did you get?"
Shifting guiltily, Nightwolf answered, "Enough to know that it's not 'deep space radar telemetry' you're working on. And to know what he is," he nodded to Teal'c.
Jack fumed. There went their cover. "Aren't you Native American?" he scowled. "Believer in that whole 'magick' concept? And what's with the eyes anyway? Wrong prescription?"
It was Nightwolf's turn to scowl. "Stereotypes, Colonel, are hardly appealing. And while I am quite masterful at hacking into government computers, I do believe in the spiritual side of things as well. As for my eyes," he seemed to consider. "I ought to release him now, the danger's gone anyway."
He closed his eyes and a look of concentration came over him. A bright flash of green light exploded, and when everyone's eyes cleared a wolf sat before Nightwolf, tail wagging happily.
"Amazing!" Willow exclaimed, leaning closely. "Is this your familiar?"
"Companion is a term I like better, but the concept is the same," Nightwolf nodded, patting the wolf's head.
Stryker groaned. "Can't you go anywhere without that mutt, Nightwolf?"
The Native American chose not to reply.
Dawn, meanwhile, was peering at Teal'c. "What did he mean by knowing what you are? Are you some sort of. . . demon?"
Teal'c continued to look straight forward as he said, "I am not a demon. I am a Jaffa."
Attention swerved back to those on the couch. "Alright," Xander jibed, "I'll bite. What's a Jaffa?"
Daniel ran a hand through his hair, mumbling, "An alien race taken from Earth and bred to carry. . . other larvae aliens."
Gaping, Willow stammered, "Aliens? You work with aliens?"
"'Work' is such a strong word," Jack drawled. "It's more like 'blowing them up' and 'stepping on their toes'."
"Great," Sonya snorted. "Vampire Slayers, alien hunters, and kombatants all together under one roof to kick the latest tyrant's ass. Can I just say this is the craziest, most out-of-this-world experience yet?"
"So we all know each other and what our purposes in life are," Giles said, wiping his glasses. "What are we all intended to do together? We barely understand each other's capabilities and weaknesses. We would be detrimental to each other in battle, not without some training."
"He's right," Sam nodded. "We would wind up stepping on each other's toes and give Hanbi a greater advantage."
"So, what do we do?" Xander asked. "Lie down and say, 'Heil Hanbi?' Unless you intended this whole thing as a huge, funny-yet-not prank?" he asked Rayden and Whistler.
Rayden stopped biting down on his apple to think. "Hmm. Great idea. I need some material for the next April Fool's Day–"
"NO!" Liu, Nightwolf, Kitana, Sonya, Jax, Sub-Zero, and Stryker shouted. Kiva barked his agreement.
Huffing, Rayden went on, "Fine, fine. Sheesh, a little sensitive much? Like I said before, your enemy is Hanbi. He plans on coming to Earth and destroying everything in sight. Obviously, your goal is to stop him from accomplishing that. Whether you kill him or not," he said with a nod to Buffy, "is moot. As long as he's out of the way."
"How big a threat is he?" Sam inquired.
Rayden paused, juggling numbers in his head. "If left unchecked, he'll whittle Earth down to its core two hours after his arrival. That's after he annihilates everything living, rips out all raw material, and abducts all those he deems worthy to become slaves. Give or take a few minutes, of course."
"Joy," Buffy breathed. "It couldn't be something small, like the Mayor o-or the Nerds. It has to be Glory-sized."
"Where is this Hanbi guy, Rayden?" Stryker finally left his corner to obtain a better angle. "All this time you've let us ramble, let us get an ounce of what he's all about, and yet you haven't given us a single clue about his whereabouts. Usually it's very plain where the enemy is, yet I haven't seen any cities being overrun by otherworldly beings or huge faces in the sky."
Whistler took pity on the Thunder God, choosing to answer this question, "He's in a hell dimension."
12:03 A.M.
Daniel lay in his bed quietly, listening to Jack's snores and Sam rustling in her bed. Teal'c was the only one out of the three asleep able to stay still and noiseless, his breathing deep and even and his arms folded comfortably over his pouch.
The archaeologist couldn't sleep. Too much had happened to sleep. His mind worked overtime, going over the details he learned. Gods, vampires, hell dimensions, demons? All of it was out of his area of expertise, out of all of SG-1's, to be truthful. He assumed Sam had picked the subject to pieces before her mental capacity fell apart, dragging her to the dream world.
The truth of the matter was, Buffy's line of work was more akin to Liu's than either were to SG-1's. Life at the SGC was relatively reasonable, or at least scientific. The Ascended and parallel universes were about as close to mysticism as they usually got, and that was only on a spectacularly bad day.
The Slayer and Champion both seemed comfortable with the thought of magick, gods, and dimensions. If SG-1 were going to contribute anything other than grunt work to the fight, they would have to start thinking outside their soothing box of physics and alien technology.
And that, Daniel knew for certain, would be something to which Jack, much less Sam, would have difficulty acceding.
Daniel sighed mentally. He wanted to sleep, but the situation with Hanbi kept nagging at him. He wanted to make sure he did everything he could to help his friends and new comrades. He refused to sit on the sidelines anymore and let his friends wade through trouble without him. While Ascended, Daniel hated to 'look in' on SG-1 too often. It made him ache whenever he saw them planning an escape from their latest prison.
Sitting up, Daniel gave into the urge for coffee. He had missed the hot beverage, but of course Ascended beings didn't need the brew. After all, they had no real physical form and thus no need to provide nutrients to a body.
Being dead sucked, was Daniel's summary of his Ascension.
Trekking to the kitchen quietly, Daniel prayed that no one woke up because of him. While Buffy had been gracious enough to open her household and its amenities to all, he suspected it wouldn't go so far as to interrupting their beauty sleep just so he could have a cup of hot, black, caffeinated coffee. The anticipation of having caffeine running through his veins made Daniel shiver with anticipation.
However, upon reaching the kitchen, Daniel found he was only the second person to hunt for coffee. Stryker sat at the table, mug in hand and dazing into the night as though searching for something important.
Daniel helped himself to an already-prepared pot, making barely enough noise to stir Stryker out of his stupor. "Hello," Daniel smiled. "Just wanted some coffee, I didn't want to scare you."
Stryker smirked. "The last thing I would be afraid of is a coffee-addicted insomniac."
Daniel blinked. "What?"
Motioning to the mug, Stryker explained, "The way you hold that screams 'addicted.' And I think you know what an insomniac is."
Daniel shook himself out of his reverie. "Ah, yes. Sorry, looks like drowsiness did catch me."
The two went back to their mugs, drinking in silence. Daniel asked, "What brought you down here?"
Contemplatively taking a sip, Stryker lowered the mug to the tabletop. "Eight hours of sleep is too novel a concept. I'm adjusting, but with this new debacle I have a feeling being able to stay awake for three days and still function is a better tool than sleeping."
Daniel grimaced. "Sounds rough."
Shrugging, Stryker replied, "You get used to it."
"And Buffy complains about me drinking all the coffee," a female voice entered the fray. Looking up, they saw Dawn approach. She took her own mug, filled it, and sat with them after adding sugar and cream. "So, whatcha two talking about?"
"The necessities of sleep and how we do without," Stryker answered dryly.
Dawn nodded sagely. "Sounds like a Scooby research party."
"'Scooby'?" Daniel asked confusedly.
"You know, Scooby Doo and his band of mystery-solvers," Dawn rolled her eyes. "Grown-ups these days. You guys are as bad as Giles; at least you don't have the British accent."
Neither Stryker nor Daniel knew how to reply to that. So instead they drank their coffees deeply.
Dawn eyed the two men, wondering who to chat up first. She chose one. "So, how'd you 'summon' Rayden?" she asked Stryker. "Some sort of incantation or spell?"
Stryker choked on his coffee and took a minute to wipe his chin before answering. "Nothing like that. Don't know how to do any of that."
"Then how?" Daniel prompted, just as curious. "Was it technology you developed? Unless you know. . . magic, as well?"
Glaring between the two, Stryker lifted his wrist and revealed a watch-like device. "It's a communicator. Nightwolf built them for simple communication across and between Realms."
Dawn leaned across the table, looking at the device. "So cool," Dawn whispered. "We so need one of those things. Buffy keeps forgetting to bring her cell, plus it costs money to pay for them—" Stopping abruptly, Dawn blushed and sat back down. "Uh, just . . . just forget I was talking. I'm just a teen babbling Valley-speak that no adult ever understands."
Daniel and Stryker traded looks, agreeing silently to drop the topic like she wanted. "Nightwolf would probably be thrilled to make a few more," Stryker said. "He always likes showing off his new tech."
"Sam would probably like a look at the device," Daniel added. "She loves tinkering with new technology."
"If you're talkin' tech, you'd better get Will in on the action," Faith waltzed into the kitchen, looking as energetic as ever even at the dead of night. She accepted the coffee Dawn offered with enthusiastic thanks, sitting beside the younger woman to drink. "She's got a brain the size of Einstein's, even if she does the voodoo more often nowadays."
A silence overcame them, slightly awkward with uncertainty and coyness. They all sipped at their coffees, though Faith chugged her drink a little louder than the others.
"A hell dimension," Daniel severed the quiet. "We have to go to a hell dimension. Is anyone else worried? I've been to a world molded after Hell, but that wasn't anything close to a dimension."
"Buffy went to a hell dimension before," Dawn piped up, running a thumb around the rim of her mug. "She didn't stay very long, of course. And her first boyfriend went to one and was there for, like, months. He was kinda crazy afterwards—well, crazier."
Stryker shrugged. "Once you've seen hell on Earth, it dulls the experience."
"All too true." The four turned around, seeing the fifth person come in. Kitana sat at the table but declined a cup of coffee. "Some people's worst nightmares are already lived."
"Got that straight," Faith nodded, a haunted look fogging her eyes. She shook herself clear of reminiscing to ask Kitana, "You sure you don't want anything? I'm pretty sure we got some tea around here, Giles always goes ballistic without some good Brit tea."
Kitana smiled. "Tea would be nice, thank–"
The room erupted in white. When the glare faded, four steaming mugs of coffee sat in front of five empty chairs.
Oooh, a cliffie. What will happen next, where did they go, what does this Hanbi guy want (aside from world domination, because that's just stereotypical)? Well, hopefully I'll know sometime soon; vague outlines aren't very helpful in that department.
I'm not completely horrified with this chapter, but there may be some revisions in the future. I'd also like to apologize about SG-1's reaction; I know they should have been more hush-hush-Don'tSpeakAboutTheTopSecretProject, but I needed everyone to get the major things (i.e. how they save the world on a regular basis) out into the open. I'll try to keep their reactions a little more believable in the future.
The next chapter might not come as readily as these last two did; I have to do some heavy fixing and revisioning so that it doesn't completely suck and be all Mary Sue/Gary Stu ish.
