by Chaoseternus Chapter 15: Wild-goose chase
Buffy was so far beyond annoyed now as to redefine the concept.
Anubis had gotten very good at vanishing mere seconds before her teams arrived for retrieval. Had the bonus that there constant searches for Dawn had distracted him from his assaults on the mouth and allowed them to slowly subtly wear down the numbers of the hostile Jaffa and supersoldiers, but soon enough she knew Anubis would just throw everything into a last ditch assault on the Cleveland hellmouth.
And she knew without question that the teams on defence would suffer horrific causalities and most likely be pushed off the mouth when that happened. IT made retrieving her sister all the more urgent, not just because she was family but because certain generals had their own idea of subtle', one that hadn't been used in anger since Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
She wanted her sister alive and unglowly thank you, plus she really didn't want to know what would happen if that kind of energy combined with a key rather abruptly released from its physical form.
Still...
"Right, assuming Anubis hasn't started faking Dawn's aura she is still here in the abandoned Quik-E-Mart you see in front of you. Unfortunately, it is well past time Anubis tried to ambush us, so the fact that they're still here when they have always evacuated before this is suggestive of two things. One, they haven't spotted us coming for once or two "
"Right," Hondo replied, more then a little tired and cynical, "ambush it is"
"This reminds me far too much of my Seal days," Street shook his head, "I sighed up for Swat, not reenlistment"
Buffy glared at the two, "if you have quite finished in the peanut gallery, we are trying to discuss the minor matter of rescuing my sister," she paused, "oh yes, and PREVENTING THE END OF DAYS!"
Hondo winced, sharing a look with street that said all too clearly that somebody nearby wasn't getting anywhere near enough sleep. Not that they were much better in that respect
"Anyway," Buffy continued, wincing as she realised how short she had been and sending the two an apologetic glance, "I did manage to arrange some slight reinforcement"
Daniel yelped, landing head first on the floor as the rock' had had been sitting on rose up underneath him, revealing a camouflaged figure, one who was shooting Daniel a bemused and annoyed look. Around them, several other figures melted into the foreground.
The Swat team startled, weapons raised in surprise, Teal'c raised in eyebrow in approval, and Buffy just reached over and patted the seat' on the shoulder, "nice camo, but you breathe too loud"
"Thanks, really," Major Scott McCoy replied, "now if you will excuse me, my back is killing me. Somebody has been sitting on it for the last half hour"
"Okay," she shook her head, amused;" now we just need to plan our entry"
"Wont be easy," Street replied, "the damn store is surrounded by car parks, worse they're empty car parks. Killing fields"
"Probably why Anubis has based himself here," O'Neill shook his head, hands on binoculars as he gazed at the store, "we are hidden so long as we remain in these trees, but as soon as we move out he will see us. Why couldn't he have chosen a Quik-E-Mart with a full car park"
Xander snorted, "Why couldn't he choose a store that doesn't sound like it should be in a Simpsons episode?"
"There's a sewer access just four feet from the outside walls of the structure" McCoy commented, his own binoculars in his hand as he gazed across at the store.
"Sewers, lovely" Buffy grimaced.
"Map shows a sewer access on the eastern edge of these trees, should connect directly to those underneath the Kwik-E-Mart" Carter nodded, glancing up from her PDA.
"That'll do, hope everyone brought spare air fresheners" Buffy replied, her red scythe swinging as she walked through the trees towards the sewer access.
"Well," O'Neill commented, "more then a little disgusted by the squelching noise coming from his feet, a stealth assault is certainly out, Anubis will smell us coming"
"Yea " Buffy shrugged, "at least I remembered not to wear new Gucci shoes this time, last time I was in the sewers chasing a Moh'ra well, lets just say new leather shoes are never the same afterwards"
"Hope you burned them," O'Neill commented, "I know Doc Frasier is going to insist we burn these"
What, can't stand a little smell? Buffy teased.
"Smells I don't mind so much, it's the bloody bugs that kill you" O'Neill replied.
"What sort," Carter dryly commented," the microbes or the replicators?"
"Both!"
"Just remember this is methane gas," Xander commented sardonically, "whilst sewers are designed to stop a build up to unsafe levels, try not to fire your guns in here anyway, just in case. And no sparks "
"That," McCoy added wryly to his Delta team, "means you put those cigarettes out right now"
"Sorry sir," came the sheepish reply from a dark haired private,"I was just watching how well the thing was burning"
The cigarette in his hand now had everyone's complete attention, it was burning rather well.
"Put the cigarette out," Honda carefully replied, "and nobody, but nobody makes a spark, understood?"
"That would be a great epitaph for my next gravestone," Buffy dryly added, as they started on their way again, "Oldest Slayer in recorded History, defeater of The Master, Angelus, Adam and the First... killed by spark in sewer"
Willow chuckled, "would kinda suck, huh?"
"Indeed," Teal'c commented, carefully watching the White Witch's back.
The entry was perfect, flash-bangs slamming through the windows, followed by the swift pouring of the various teams into the shop.
Just one snag.
"She's not here?" Buffy screamed, her hand sweeping a full shelf clear of its cans, ""what do you mean she's not here?"
Willow shrugged helplessly, "Anubis got smart, left her locket here and had somebody do a magnify aura spell on the residual traces of Dawn on the locket"
"Fine," Buffy spat out, here eyes sparking dangerously, "who?"
Willow shrugged helplessly," I don't recognise the magical signature, sorry... And he is definitely masking Dawns signature too, I can't detect her at all"
"Wait," O'Neill frowned, "I thought you were the most powerful witch on Earth, how can he mask anything from you?"
Xander snorted, "He's not from Earth "
"Some spells the power of the caster doesn't matter " Willow frowned, "but if I am sensing correctly it was here they cast the magic's, they didn't bring the locket in from elsewhere and place it here"
McCoy shouted at them then, "place is rigged, we need to leave!"
Cursing as they ran swiftly out of the building, Xander asked, "would the magic use have left a trial we can follow?"
"Well yes, but " a flash of light was all the warning they had, then they were planted face down on the floor by a giant fist, glancing back they saw that McCoy had called it right, the building had been rigged. 'Had' being the appropriate word.
Willow grimaced, "well, no. Not any more anyway, start of the thread just got blown away and there are a few other magical signatures in the area, identifying the correct one ."
"So, we've lost her" O'Neill commented unhappily.
"Yea," Willow was frowning, her teeth worrying at her lower lip as she concentrated, not even noticing that she was still face down on the hard tarmac, "but we shouldn't have. There's no way he had more then a few hours to set a masking spell up and I can break through all the quick ones with ease"
"So, maybe it isn't a spell?" O'Neill commented.
"I have yet to see a technology that can block magical signatures," Willow sat up slowly, "and if Anubis had the technology, why wait till not to use it?"
Shaking his head at the very concept at getting involved in a conversation which involved magic, McCoy spoke, "are there any places around here that might naturally block such a signature?"
"No, except maybe inside the..." Willow froze.
Buffy didn't even need to ask what the end to that sentence was; "Hellmouth" was her grim comment.