The Italian wind blew briskly through the hair of one Dawn Summers. She loved Rome. It was so different from California. Yes, they were both hot, and yes there was the occasional demon or vampire to deal with. But all the memories of pain and loss she'd endured the past few years seemed to be washed clean by the bright rays of the Italian moonlight. The recollections of events were still there, but the hurt was less now. Now, Dawn could concentrate on more important things, like helping her sister fight the good fight. Although, tonight that help had turned her into a gopher for gellatti, she didn't mind all that much. She had plenty of company in the form of Xander Harris, who had offered to help her carry the various tubs of ice cream for their band of super-heroes.
Currently, Xander was telling a very animated joke, during the course of which he'd almost dropped the Stracciatella twice. Dawn was even more amused by the fact that he was doing this with at least three different flavors of gelato smeared on his face from the cone he'd just eaten. They decided to take a short cut back to Buffy and Dawn's apartment. Though, in Sunnydale, they wouldn't have taken a route down an alley without being heavily armed, they had no problem with doing it here.
It occurred to them that it might have been wiser to take the long way around when they were cornered by several very ugly demons. They dropped the ice cream. Dawn drew the dagger she perpetually wore strapped to her ankle. Xander took out a few of his hidden stakes. They were about to call for back-up on Dawn's cell, but the demon's barely had time to look menacing before scattering in fear, for no apparent reason. Xander raised an eyebrow. "Is it just me or was that just a bit too easy?"
No sooner had the words left his mouth, than the air erupted right where the demons had been standing. A great swirling portal opened, emitting three figures. All three were dressed in a different weird fashion. All three were female. And all three were armed to the teeth.
Even more disturbing than their arrival method, garb, or arsenal, was the way they looked when they stepped into the patch of light flooding the alley. One was tall, with an athletic build and a posture that screamed authority. She had dark hair, pale skin, piercing blue eyes, was dressed in head-to-toe black, and had power coming off of her in tangible waves. The second was dressed in brown leather, reminiscent of the Amazons Andrew liked to watch on Xena. In her hand she held an ornate staff that looked like it was made from some kind of metal. She had bright red hair that was parted into two bundles. It looked like frightened porcupines on either side of her head. The really shocking part about her was that her face looked exactly like Dawn's. They could have been twins, but for the red hair and emerald eyes of the newcomer. The third woman wouldn't have stood out at all against her companions were it not for the fact that she moved like some kind of exotic bird and had skin that was various shades of gray.
They apparently had yet to notice Dawn and Xander, who had ducked behind some trash cans upon their arrival. The darkest of the group turned to the gray one angrily after doing a quick survey of her surroundings. "Well, she's not here. Are you sure about the coordinates, Chiana?"
Chiana took an object out of a large bag slung across her body. She looked at the thing, which vaguely resembled a glowing glass plate, and shrugged. She uttered a few phrases in a grumbling language that Dawn couldn't place. The dark woman grunted in frustration. "So, you're saying we're in the right time but the wrong place?"
Now it was the redhead's turn to speak. "Pilot warned us that we might not be able to get a bead on her location, Rox. You, yourself, said she was getting good at spacial wormholes. The fortunate thing is she only has enough strength to do one temporal shift. At least we know we're in the right time period."
"Thank you for that brilliant deduction, lieutenant." Rox glared. "You know, if you weren't my sister, Kira, I'd be tempted to throttle you."
Kira ducked her head. When she looked up again, her eyes were glowing, and she spoke in a more guttural voice. "Please desist from strangling my host. I do not want to have to repair her just yet."
"Tra'lana, you have yet to grasp the concept of sarcasm. I'm not going to hurt Kira. I just want to know where the frell we are! Is that so much to ask?"
Chiana mumbled something again. Rox looked even more irate. "Italy! What in bloody blue blazes was Mina doing in Italy? She's not even allowed to cross the walkway to Pilot's den on her own! When I find that bitch of a Scaran who took her, I'm gonna..."
The glowy eyed redhead cut her off. "Perhaps our time would be better spent trying to find some help in this time period, than threatening people who aren't here to hear it."
Rox nodded. "Right." She turned in the direction of the trash cans. "You! Yeah, you two hiding behind the garbage receptacles. Do you speak English?"
Dawn slowly inched out into the open with Xander dragging reluctantly behind, trying to pull her back to cover. It was no use. They'd been made. Dawn neared the group but stopped a safe distance away before saying. "Are you guys demons?'Cause if you are, just know if you hurt us, my sister'll kick your ass."
Chianna snickered. Rox looked annoyed. The redhead bowed her face again and looked up at them without the glow in her eyes and spoke in her original voice. "We aren't demons. We're just...travelers. We need your help if you're willing to give it. I am Kira of the New Amazons. This is my sister, Roxanne Crichton. That's our partner Chiana."
Xander eyed her suspiciously. "Yeah, like we're gonna believe a chick with glowing eyes who jumped out of thin air. She looks human." He pointed at Rox, then at Chiana. "But she's obviously a demon of some sort and you're not looking too homo sapien yourself."
Roxanne grunted. "This is a total waste of time! The longer we talk to these fekiks, the farther away Mina could be!"
"Relax!" Kira replied. "We're going to find her."
Chiana nodded and turned to Xander. She mumbled something in her own language that sounded vaguely like a question. Off the man's confused look, Roxanne glared at him and turned to her friend. "English, Chiana! Humans have no access to translator microbes in this time. And this dolt looks like he couldn't understand Nebari if he did have some."
"Hey!" Xander protested! "I have no idea what any off that crap that you just said means, but I don't like the sound of it! And... well... you're not human! You admitted it! Hah! Now, that part I got?"
Roxanne simply rolled her eyes. Chiana put a calming hand on her arm and spoke in clear English. "She's half human. But that's not the point. We need your help. If we don't find the little girl we're looking for, Earth and the rest of the universe could be pretty well frelled."
The mention of the fate of the universe caught Dawn's attention. "We could help you."
"Dawn!" Xander exclaimed." We do NOT help demons! Rule numero uno. Well, maybe not uno, but it's gotta be in the top ten!"
At this point Roxanne got fed up and walked right up into Xander's face. "Look you bloody ponce, we aren't demons. I'll make this real simple for you." She put her hand on her chest. "Me, half-Sebacean Slayer." She then pointed to Kira. "She, amazon Jaffa and host of a Tok'ra." She pointed at Chiana. "She, Nebari Seer." Roxanne, then poked Xander in the chest with her finger. "You, human frellnick who's wasting my time."
Before Xander could retort, Dawn cut him off. "But if you're not demon's, how did you create that portal-thingie?"
"Spacial-temporal wormhole." Kira clarified. "And you don't want to know. Trust me, the quantum physics of it hurt even my head. Suffice it to say that we can travel through time and space through the wormholes. Roxanne has the ability to make and control them with her mind."
Dawn nodded not really understanding, but taking Kira's word for it. "So what do you mean about the little girl?"
"She is the key to the fate of the universe." Kira replied. "If we don't get her back, the battle ground between Good and Evil will be overrun and the cosmos, as we know it, will descend into chaos."
Roxanne glared at her. "She's also a five year old little girl with no idea of where she is and who to trust, don't forget."
Kira looked sufficiently chastised. Dawn thought over it for a few minutes. The part about the girl being a key really resonated with her. If this Mina was as important as the women insisted, Dawn just couldn't leave them to their own devices. Dawn's instincts told her to trust them. "Alright."
"Oh, no. No. NO!" Xander cried. "We are not helping these people, Dawn! Buffy will freak! I mean, time travelers and wormholes?"
"Oh, come on." Dawn said, crossing her arms over her chest in the Summers' sign of determination. "Buffy would totally understand. She helps people all the time! Besides, if the fate of the universe is involved, she's gonna want to know about it. We'll just go to her and tell her the whole story and then have a big old research party."
"Um, I don't think that'll work." Chiana interjected. "See, we're working under a bit of a time constraint."
Dawn nodded finally putting together their conversation from before. The girl was constantly on the move, either with the people who had taken her or on her own. The younger Summers thought about her sister. What would Buffy do if she was in this situation? While Dawn contemplated the situation, Chiana's panel started to beep and glow again. All eyes turned to her.
"Is it Mina?" Rox asked anxiously.
Chiana nodded. "Someplace called Los Angeles. And she's holding steady. The read out shows none of the Empress' people within range. Mina must have gotten away."
Roxanne looked infinitely relieved. "Right. Then, we're off to Los Angeles. Wherever that is."
"LA?" Dawn asked. "We have friends in LA. We could take you to them."
"No we can't! What is this 'we' you speak of?" Xander interjected.
"Fine, then, I can take you to them." Dawn corrected, glaring at her friend.
"Buffy's not gonna like this."
Dawn let out a long suffering sigh. "Look the fate of the world hangs in the balance. Buffy can deal!" Seeing him shake his head hard enough to shake his eye patch loose, she placed a hand on his arm. "I believe these people, Xander. I know they're telling the truth. I can feel it. Now, I'm going to help them find that little girl with or without your aid."
"I can't do that." he replied, still shaking his head.
"Not to be pushy, or anything, but does that mean we can get the frell out of here?" Roxanne asked, plastering on her cheesiest fake smile.
"Don't you have to make travel arrangements or something?"
"True enough." Roxanne nodded. "Chiana? Coordinates?"
The gray woman showed her partner the readings she had on Mina's location. She nodded, her face twisting in a look of deep concentration. She held a hand out in front of her and the air seemed to take on an electrical charge. Then it erupted into swirling blue.
"Travel arranged." Kira commented with a smirk. It was a look that made her resemble Dawn so much, Xander almost had to smile.
Dawn then turned to the man who was like her big brother. "When you talk to Buffy and the others, make sure they don't freak out too much. Tell them I'll be at Wolfram and Hart. I'll be okay, Xander. I really will. I have to do this."
Seeing that he wasn't going to break through the younger Summers' determination any time soon, Xander nodded his assent. "Be careful, and at least take these."
Taking the stakes and dagger he handed her, Dawn gave him a peck on the cheek. "Don't worry too much."
"Come on people!" Roxanne shouted. "We don't have all night"
With that, Dawn followed the three other women in to the swirling blue portal. The portal closed up shortly after, leaving Xander Harris standing in an alleyway in Rome. He looked around, then sighed. "Buffy's gonna kill me."