Revisions:
Chapter 2: all you need to know is that the Slayers weren't depowered, and have been dispatched around the globe. Willow still dumped Kennedy. Jack mentions that the Tok'ra have moved base again and the Goa'uld are laying low. The reason behind the change? A review made me realize this chapter and what I intended didn't meet eye to eye, so something needed to be changed. I like what I have going for the end, so this portion had to change. Besides, my reviewer was right; it did seem supremist of the Scoobies.
Chapter 3: I was informed that I made a poor choice in Big Bads, so really the only difference is a change in enemy's name and alterations in the dialogue. Nothing terribly outstanding that you would miss if you didn't read the chapter over.
Chapter 4: only noteworthy editing is that Faith puts up more of a fight; I did mean for her to actually fight, but as stated in my profile the changes weren't saved. Grr.
There! Hopefully everything's peachy keen now. If not, point it out and I will change it and swear profusely. Probably not in that order.
Here's Chapter 5--after a very long delay.
10:53 A.M.
The atmosphere hung with despondency as the Scoobies, SG-1, and the Kombatants exhausted their leads. Finding where their friends were held was one thing; getting to Abaddon was apparently an entirely different issue.
Willow referenced and cross-referenced and cross-referenced the cross-reference book and started all over again in a completely different direction, but nothing mentioned the entrance to Abaddon. They mentioned 'Pits of Death' and 'Harsh Desert Sands,' and there was also something in a language that predated ancient Sumerian which Willow could only translate roughly as 'Man of Sorrow's Broken Leg of Paradise.' No one could fault her translation, not even the far more fluent Giles.
Sam's scientific findings were little good to them. While it was very nice to know beforehand that Hanbi's transportation had an adverse combination of elements, there was nothing useful in getting to Abaddon.
Their last hope, as far as Willow knew, lay in Rayden. The Kombatants held faith with the god, but Buffy, Jack, and Xander had enough skepticism to go around.
"I mean, c'mon," Jack was saying, "how do you really know that he's a god? For all we know, he could be a really convincing Goa'uld."
"Unless Goa'ulds can produce lightning from their own willpower, I doubt that," Liu calmly refuted from his meditative position. He had finally given in to Sub-Zero's prompting and irritably found himself more relaxed than three hours ago. He would have preferred worrying relentlessly about Kitana's safety, since he couldn't do anything else. "Not to mention he's never displayed the desire to take over the entire universe."
"You sure about that?" Xander insisted. "Glory didn't look like a god that wanted to take over the world. She did, though."
"We're sure," Sonya growled absently; since the kitchen, the Lieutenant seemed more distracted than normal. "And the next person who asks how trustworthy Rayden is will be getting a swift kick out the door."
"My, I'm touched," Rayden's dry voice chuckled. "Do you always defend my honor while I'm away?"
Most everyone jumped. Teal'c was the sole person recently acquainted with the god to not flinch. "It's about time you got back to us," Jax said. "What took you so long?"
"Bureaucratic red tape is a rather nasty hindrance," Rayden waved aside. "However, I did get some good news."
"And the bad news is?" Sub-Zero lifted a brow.
"Wait, he didn't say he had bad news," Willow argued faintly. "He said he had good news. Good news is still defined as good, right?"
"Right," Rayden nodded, adding with an apologetic smile, "but with the good news comes the bad news."
"Get on with it then," Buffy demanded. "The sooner you spit it out the sooner we can get Dawn and the others back."
Rayden sighed. "I know where the entrance to Abaddon is."
"That's great news," Sam smiled.
"It's in Outworld."
The Kombatants groaned. "And the other shoe dropped," Liu muttered.
"The lead-weighted, steel-toed Sasquatch shoe," Sonya added darkly.
"Where is this Outworld located?" Teal'c inquired.
"And what's so bad about it?" Xander wanted to know.
"A Realm taken over hostilely by a tyrannical emperor," Nightwolf answered. "If the emperor's remnant soldiers don't kill you, the natives will. Us needing to go into Outworld is bad."
"How bad is bad?" Willow gulped. "Bad bad? Or really bad bad?"
"Bad as in we're going to want light-speed transportation to get through Outworld," Sub-Zero murmured forbiddingly.
"It doesn't matter," Buffy broke in solemnly. Everyone looked at the Slayer, varying degrees of concern expressed at her tone. "This. . . this Hanbi wants to destroy the world. He wants to undo everything I've done and make everything I gave up for in vain. He kidnapped friends of ours. He has Dawn. I won't just let him hide away in his stupid world, no matter how many Realms or baddies I have to pass through. I have to save them."
"She's right," Jack nodded. "Daniel's our friend. We won't just let Handy have him without a fight."
"Hanbi," Teal'c corrected.
"Didn't I say that?"
Liu nodded in agreement. "We've faced worse. We'll go in and save our friends."
"Besides," Sonya added with a halfhearted grin, "Kitana wouldn't ever forgive us for leaving her with just Stryker for company."
Unknown
Hot. So . . . damn . . . hot.
A man groaned as he opened his eyes, feeling sore beyond belief and nauseated.
He blinked several times to shed the veil over his eyes left from sleep. The veil didn't lift.
I'm blind. How . . . how can I be blind? What happened? Do I have amnesia? Stryker. Captain Stryker, NYPD. Sonya, Liu, Jax, Sub-Zero, Nightwolf, and Kitana are my friends. Rayden only on selective days. Okay, not amnesiac. Just blind. Dammit.
Stryker struggled to get his feet under him, slipping on a grainy surface. Sand, he thought bewilderedly. The last he remembered, he had been helping Jax move some crates to the kitchen on the base.
He searched for the sun, using his hand to measure where the greatest heat radiated. Having his bearings, Stryker walked toward the sun, wincing and swearing as his boots sank deep enough into the sand to allow the particles in.
Several times he tried looking at his watch to calculate how long he had been walking, only to curse his idiocy and plod on futilely. He did his best to ignore his thirst and the rumbling in his stomach. He distracted himself by running through scenarios that would have landed him in this situation.
Shao Kahn had invaded the base and, in escaping the self-destruct, he'd somehow landed in the Sahara Desert. Rayden forgot that April Fool's Day wasn't for another two months. Jax took offense to something Stryker said and had struck him upside the head, dumping him in this desert as a reinforcement to the lesson.
Just as Stryker was about to calm himself from hyperventilating, the ground beneath his foot disappeared. He wind-milled, then toppled head-first down a slope.
Curling into a ball, Stryker took the brunt of the force on his back, covering his head with his hands and locking his ankles together. When he finally came to a stop, Stryker unraveled himself and took inventory. Nothing felt broken, though his body was under protest about the treatment. Pillow-fighting with metal was not what his body signed up for when he was born—
Wait a minute . . . Metal?
Stryker felt the slope. Smooth, cold metal met his gloved fingers.
"Oh great, now where am I?" he muttered to himself, using the slope to get to his feet.
Something crackled to the left of his ear, making him drop to his stomach. He heard a swearword behind him, and with a split-second decision Stryker jumped to his feet, spun, and lashed out as best he could at the attacker. He felt a gun-like object connect with his heel, and the hand wielding it was disarmed. Reacting with the training Sub-Zero gave him, Stryker followed through with his kick, using the hand's location to estimate where the chest was. Stryker punched, feeling the air leave the body and the person falling away.
From behind he heard another crackle, but he couldn't duck in time. His nerves suddenly lit on fire, crackling with hot energy that made him howl. Knees weak, head bursting with firecrackers, Stryker gave to the pain and collapsed.
I hope to make updates more regular. 'Hope' being the operative word.
