Finally Woken: An Alias/Buffy crossover

by: Sam Lincoln

Rating PG-13

Summary: What if Sydney Bristow's disappearance was due to a more sinister and supernatural force? (Alias Season 3 AU)

Spoilers: Season 2/3 Alias, Post-BtVS

Disclaimer: All characters from Buffy and Angel are property of Mutant Enemy. All characters from Alias are property of Bad Robot and Touchstone Television. All characters are used without permission and no infringement is intended.

Author's Notes: Just a bit of fun that's been percolating in my brain for a year or so. I'm sorry to have to say this, but for a firm grasp of the backstory here I suggeset you read my earlier stories The Ghosts That Haunt Me and God Shuffled His Feet. They setup the how and why of this tale to a large degree. Though I hope the work will stand on its own.

Finally Woken: Chapter One

-Buenos Aires

A cell phone rang in a darkened apartment in Buenos Aires. "Hello?" A woman asked into the phone.

"Sydney Bristow appeared in Hong Kong," an electronically distorted voice said into the phone.

"Does he know yet?"

"Bristow immediately called the CIA. She is currently in their custody."

"Where are they taking her?"

"Los Angeles first, but in all likelihood she will be transferred to Washington, and out of your reach."

"Very well. What do you expect of me?"

"Just that you do what you were already planning on doing." The line went dead.

Irena Derevko walked out of the shadows in the apartment and stared out the window at the lights of Buenos Aires. She dialed a number from memory. "It's me..."

-Los Angeles-

Sydney awoke with a groan and found herself lying in a familiar holding cell. She tried to shake the fog from her mind as she sat up on the bare cot. "What the hell is going on here?" Sydney asked herself as she tried to piece things together. She closed her eyes and ran through a series of exercises her father taught her to enhance her memory.

She remembered the fire, and the horror she felt at having to fight someone with Francie's face. The grief over the loss of her friend stabbed at her but she forced it back. There would be a time to grieve later. She focused in on the last moment before she passed out. Just on the fringe of memory she recalled feeling something as she lay there. It had felt like a rush of power, but just as soon as it hit she had lost her grip on consciousness. There was something else though, a cold feeling of dread that was unrelated to the near death experience. Sydney had no proof, but was sure that was the cause of her time loss.

Sydney's musings were cut short by the arrival of Assistant Director Kendall. "I never thought I'd see you in this cell Agent Bristow," said.

"Assistant Director Kendall, what is going on?"

"What puzzles me most is why do it?" Kendal continued on ignoring Sydney. "You know your mother already tried this trick with us, why turn yourself in now."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Where's Vaughn, or my father. I demand to speak with them."

"Michael Vaughn is being interrogated in another CIA facility. As for your father, I was going to ask you the same question."

"Director Kendall, I swear to you, I have no clue what's going on," Sydney insisted. "The last thing I remember was fighting Francine's double two years ago."

"Yes, about that. It seems you lied to us Agent Bristow. That wasn't a double you killed, but the real Francine Calfo. You knew about the doubling technology and reasoned that we would go along with your claims that she was a double trying to spy on you."

"It wasn't the real Francie," Sydney growled. "I would never kill one of my friends."

"Oh I know all about what you could and could not do Agent Bristow. Your ability to compartmentalize, to do whatever it takes to complete your mission."

"I will not stand here and listen to these baseless accusations," Sydney shot back. "I know what happened in that house two years ago and I can prove it."

"Be my guest, we have a wealth of forensic evidence that says otherwise, not to mention motive. We learned the truth Agent Bristow, about you and your father. You obviously knew how close we were to uncovering that information and panicked."

"My father and I are loyal operatives of the CIA," Sydney protested.

"You and your father were working with Irena Derevko to gather Rambaldi artifacts as part of a plot hatched shortly before Derevko faked her death. Everything you and your father have done since then, from joining SD-6 to working with the CIA has been to further that agenda."

"That's absurd!" Sydney shouted. "Irena Derevko betrayed both me and my father. The thought that we would be working with her is laughable at best."

"A smokescreen to throw us off your trail," Kendall replied.

"How long did we work together?" Sydney asked. "You should know that I'm not a traitor."

"That's exactly why I don't trust you. You spent two years evading Alliance counter intelligence. If you could fool them you could fool us."

"When was I anything but loyal to the CIA?"

"I don't know, you tell me," Kendall replied.

"Director Kendall, I don't know who's been feeding you these lies, but I assure you they are false."

"The matter's out of my hands Agent Bristow, the Director is going to personally oversee your interrogation. You're leaving for DC immediately." A squad of heavily armed marshals appeared behind Kendall. "And despite your special abilities I recommend you comply. Your kind can't outrun bullets."

"What are you talking about?" Sydney demanded. As the cell opened and one of the marshals moved to shackle her. Sydney jerked out of the marshal's grasp and sent the man flying into the cell wall. Before Sydney could take advantage of the opening two of the marshals jabbed her with stun batons. She fell to her knees, clutching her sides in pain.

"I warned you not to resist Ms. Bristow," Kendal instructed, "and next time my men will use lethal measures." He watched as Sydney was shackled and lead out of the cell. Kendal shook his head and returned to the communications center.

Sydney was loaded into the back of a windowless armored van. She was chained to her seat and two guards sat across from her with assault rifles trained on her. The van rumbled out of the Operations Center and pulled into the heavy LA traffic.

The van came to a sudden stop, causing the guards watching over Sydney to tumble to the floor. Sydney guessed what was about to happen next and put her head down and covered her ears. As she expected a powerful explosion ripped off the doors and filled the van's interior with smoke. A masked figure backlight by the Californian sun entered the van through the ruined door. The guards were still stunned from the explosion and slow to react as the stranger shot them with a tranquilizer gun.

"Who are you?" Sydney asked as her rescuer retrieved the key to the shackled and unlocked Sydney.

"Don't worry Sydney it's me," Irena Derevko said as she pulled off her ski mask.

"Mom? What are you doing here?" Sydney asked in amazement.

"There's no time to explain. Kendall will have a strike team here in minutes. We have to leave. Now!" Derevko grabbed Sydney by her arm and dragged her out of the van to a waiting blue sedan. Derevko shoved Sydney into the passenger's seat and sped away.

Derevko drove until they were deep in the desert, just past Barstow, before pulling off the highway. They bounced along a dirt road until finally coming to a stop next to an abandoned farm house. "This is as far as I can take you," Derevko announced. "There are fresh cloths, ID, and a car waiting for you here. I suggest you find someplace safe and hide for a while."

"I'm not going anywhere until I get some answers," Sydney told Derevko as they got out of the car. "One minute I'm fighting Francie's double and the next it's two years later."

"And you have no memory of the intervening time?" Derevko asked.

"None," Sydney replied. "Which is why you need to start talking."

Derevko sighed, "Very well. It all started shortly after you went missing. Arvin Sloane turned himself in to the CIA. I do not know what he said to them but he was granted full clemency for any crimes he committed as head of SD-6."

"He must have given the government a Rambaldi artifact in exchange, but even that doesn't begin to cover Arvin Sloane's crimes. The man is a mass murderer, he doesn't deserve any sort of deal."

"There's more, the government then claimed that Sloane was also a double agent. That he never truly betrayed the United States. That the whole while he was working to bring down the Alliance and secure Rambaldi artifacts for the United States."

"And that Dad and I were really working for you," Sydney added bitterly. "I learned that nonsense from Kendall." Sydney fell silent for a moment. "Let me guess, Sloane is the new CIA director."

"As much as I wish it wasn't so, that is the case."

"How did he do it? What could possibly be worth that much?" Sydney wondered.

"I do not know," Derevko admitted, "But it has to be more than just a Rambaldi artifact. Sloane found something that gave him power. He now runs the US government from the shadows, manipulating it to serve his agenda."

"Which is what exactly?"

"The acquisition of power by any means possible, but primarily through unlocking the secrets of Milo Rambaldi." Derevko paused. "There is something else Sloane is after, something old yet completely new."

"What?" Sydney asked.

"Something happened while you were gone, the night you vanished in fact. The town of Sunnydale California was wiped off the face of the Earth. You're familiar with Sunnydale, are you not?"

"More than I ever wanted to," Sydney replied. Memories of her previous encounters with things that went bump in the night passed through her mind. "Most of the nightmares I have that don't involve Arvin Sloane are related to what I learned in Sunnydale, but what does the destruction of Sunnydale have to do with Arvin Sloane."

"I'm getting to that. The same day Sunnydale was destroyed girls and young women around the world began to exhibit extraordinary powers, the powers of the Slayer."

"How is that possible. No, scratch that, how do you know about the Slayer?"

"I know because for years both the Soviet and United States governments tried to acquire an active Slayer. That was a hidden agenda of both Project Christmas and it's KGB equivalent, to target potential Slayers. The thinking was a properly indoctrinated Slayer would be an ideal covert agent."

"But the problem was that there was only one Slayer active at a time. If there are more Sloane can create a private army of Slayers loyal to him," Sydney realized.

"He already has begun collecting new Slayers for training," Derevko confirmed. "There is more though. Sydney, Rambaldi was also interested in the Slayer. His writings often mention the 'Chosen One,' a common code word for the Slayer."

"That's not right," Sydney objected. "You said it yourself, I'm the Chosen One in Rambaldi's prophecy, and I'm not the Slayer."

"You weren't...until now, your latent ability was activated with the rest of the potential slayers two years ago."

"That's not possible, from everything I was told I'm too old to be a Slayer," Sydney protested. She did not want to be a Slayer, not on top of everything else in her life.

"I know and I don't fully understand that either. It probably is related to Rambaldi in some fashion. The how is unimportant because you are, surely you've felt stronger since you awoke in Hong Kong."

Sydney nodded, "I have, I can't describe it precisely, but I have." She thought back to Hong Kong and how she managed to toss grown men around like rag dolls. "So what does Sloane want from me?"

"I'm not sure, but I do know this. Your disappearance broke Rambaldi's prophecies and cleared the way for Sloane's rise to power. Now that you're back, and especially with your new abilities, perhaps you can undo some of the damage Sloane caused."

"Wait, what about Dad, or Vaughn?"

"Jack went into hiding before Sloane took power, I don't know where he is. Vaughn is being held in a CIA detention center. He probably is scheduled to be executed, that is how Sloane has dealt with others who have crossed him."

"We have to rescue him," Sydney said. "I know it's a trap, but I can't let Vaughn die because he tried to help me."

Derevko smiled, "I'm sure if anyone can free Mr. Vaughn it will be you." Derevko took a breath. "However you will have to do it without my help. This is as far as I can take you Sydney, from here on out you are on your own."

"I can't break Vaughn out of a CIA detention facility by myself, I'm going to need help."

"Let me give you some advice Sydney. Go to Cleveland."

"Cleveland? What's there?"

"Another Hellmouth, and allies. Good luck Sydney, and be careful." Derevko climbed into her sedan and sped off down the dirt road. Sydney stood in front of the abandoned farmhouse and watched the cloud of dust recede into the horizon.

-Langley, VA-

Arvin Sloane sat at his desk in his office at CIA Headquarters. He picked up his phone after the second ring. "Hello. Yes, I see. No that's alright. I will take care of things personally from here on." He returned the handset to the receiver. "That was Assistant Director Kendall. It seems that Irena Derevko liberated her daughter from the convoy bringing Sydney to Washington." Sloane said aloud. He glanced down at his hands momentarily. "I should have foreseen that Derevko would take such an action, she has done similar things in the past."

"Don't blame yourself Arvin, you took all the necessary precautions. Derevko is a shrewd operative, sometimes these things happen." Emily Sloane walked out of the shadows of the office and stood behind Sloane. "Do you want me to handle the problem?"

"Sydney will not be fooled by your subterfuge," Sloane replied. "She has far too strong a mind for that, not to mention that she has already met you once before, and now that she has been activated I'm afraid she's too great a liability to ignore."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

He looked up at Emily. "You know, I wish you wouldn't do that."

"Why, does this face trouble you too much?" Emily asked.

Sloane drew in a breath. "No, it's just irksome."

"You want to touch me, don't you Arvin." A hand ran down Sloane's face, fingertips passing through his flesh.

Sloane jerked his head back. "You're not Emily," he rasped.

"No, I'm not," the First admitted. "But I'm the only way you will ever see your dearly departed wife ever again. Not to mention that we still have our agreement to conclude, or are you developing cold feet Arvin?"

Sloane squared his shoulders, "Of course not, but could you at least wear the face of someone I didn't like?"

The First laughed, "I'll take that under advisement, but you never answered my question.

"I'll call in a specialist," Sloane replied. "One who can deal with Sydney's...new abilities. Don't worry, Sydney Bristow will not be a problem much longer."

-to be continued-

end notes: Ok, so two weeks was a lie, what can I say work kicked my ass. Chapter Two's being beaten into submission as we speak. Thanks go to the good Mr. Payne for beating my grammar into something resembling sense. Oh, and Majin I agree with you 100; I'll be sure to find some worthy opponents for Sydney ;)

-sam 2/13/2005