Imhotep's Key Chapter IK 14
By Joseph Black
Disclaimer: Red Storm and Tom Clancy own Rainbow and Characters. Joss Whedon owns Buffy and Characters. If you recognize any other character they belong to their respective owners. Original characters belong to me. I make no profit off the following except to have a little fun.
Spoilers: Buffy to present. Rainbow to Bear and the Dragon.
Authors note 1: I am adjusting the Buffy time line slightly, this fic starts just after "Never Leave Me", moving things back about a month.
Authors note 2: I can't seem to get Fanfic to except my special formatting. So anytime you see this ' anything inside is in a foreign language. And if you see this it's some ones thoughts.
Authors note 3: This is a continuation of the story started in 'Rainbow Over Sunnydale'. It would be helpful to read that fic first.
Authors note 4: Want to apologize for how long it took me to get this one out, especially with the cliffhanger from last chapter. Work is slowing down though so I hopefully will be able to get chapters out a little quicker.
Authors note 5: A couple of reviewers have been concerned with the number of crossovers I have been adding to the story line so I thought now would be a good time to explain. There will be three types of crosses in this story arc. There will be the main stars; these will be in almost every story. They will be limited to Buffy and Clancy characters and probably O'Connell and the rest of the Sunnydale PD. There will be guest stars that will largely be in the current story and will, once that story is concluded, not appear much or at all for the remainder of the storyline, and there will be cameo's. These will be people who I will have a situation come up where I can make up a minor throw away character or grab someone who does what I need and write them in. I have fun doing it that way so what can I say?
I appreciate that people care enough about the story to warn me where they think I'm going wrong. All I ask is as Sledge Hammer used to say, "Trust me, I know what I'm doing."
Notes to Reviewers:
Union-Jack2.0: Wow, I've never had a review like that. Thank you for both the time you took to write it, and the information you contained in it. My knowledge of the SAS unfortunately is largely from what I have picked up reading spy stories, movies, and The History Channel so your information was much appreciated.
I always felt bad for Riley. Of all of Buffy's boyfriends I though he was the best for her. Okay he had issues, and their break up was more his fault than hers. I never really got the rage and hatred that he generated. I mean if Angel didn't have that whole happiness problem I could see it, but with it? They couldn't be together so doesn't she deserve some happiness. And don't get me started on Spike, while I think he was always a hell of a character, he never struck me as a good match for Buffy.
Have no fear, I will not turn Molly into some kind of character Brit. Fortunately my Mom has a friend from Britain who comes over a couple of times a year so I have been actually exposed to some one who actually speaks the Queen's English so I have at least a yard stick to go by. I understand where you are coming from by way of stereotype accents though. When I watched Benny Hill and he did either Southern or Texan, granted it was for comedy but still…, I used to shudder.
As far as Alistair's name goes, I caught that I had made the mistake, but obviously I've missed a few corrections.
You raised some good points about Benton mentioning Xander and the SAS. My intention in writing it though was for Benton to give Xander a back handed compliment. He wasn't ready yet, but Benton saw in him someone who could be made ready. Personally I doubt Xander would actually do all that well in the military, after hanging with Buffy for so long he has definite leadership issues.
Thanks for the info on British Warrant Officers. I got my info off of the web and it just had a list of British ranks. I've had to go back a couple of times and rewrite WO after writing Sergeant Major, so it will be nice not having to do that anymore.
Your guess on who is being sent by the British Government is a good one, but no this will be a purely British group, not affiliated with the UN in any way shape or form.
And you don't have to apologize for the length of the review. Feel free to do it again as the mood strikes you. ;)
Nascar girl: Sorry it took so long. Bill Engvall, just about my favorite comic. I keep hoping he gets his own show.
sirc: Sorry for how long it took to get this chapter out.
JA Baker: Anck has this pretty well thought out. There will be some fire works when Faith shows up.
Paladin Steelbreaker: You summed my problem up with Buffy the Immortal exactly. Even though she is one of the few fictional characters that have a canon excuse to be one.
As far as Anck vs. Willow goes remember, 'Old Age and treachery will always over come youth and skill.' And thank you for asking after Anya, she always was one of my favorite characters. (I didn't start seriously watching Buffy till Season Six.)
Dorothy: In this case I think O'Connell can be forgiven. When it comes to resurrection spells he's more likely to think of his Uncle Alex.
Antonio: Thanks for the review. Yeah, I think Clark is going to have a chat with Buffy on a whole number of subjects. But why should the First go after Anck? He said she could hurt her, just not kill her. Of course this gives me an idea for a scene…..
Joe: In the second movie we see that large caliber guns are rather effective against the soldier type mummies. Even in the first one Ardeth had pretty good effect with the Lewis Gun he liberated from the plane before it sank. Sharp edges work real well though.
I had originally planned on doing Ryan's reaction a little different, but I'll see what I can do with your request.
Harry: The time is not yet, but you are on to something.
Allen Pitt: Sorry Allen still a little bit before Angel and Co. shows up. Hank should be showing up either in the next chapter or the one after that. And I hope you enjoy how I do it.
War: Thank you for the line, I used it. Hope you enjoy the chapter.
Thanks to all that reviewed. Constructive criticisms always welcomed. Flames cheerfully ignored.
X X X-X-X Fic Starts Here X-X-X X XBuffy's right leg stopped working. She found herself helplessly tumbling along the asphalt and all she could do was throw her arms around her head to try to protect herself. As she rolled to a stop, a burning pain in her right hip made its presence felt. Ignoring both it and the stinging burn from the major case of road rash she had picked up on her arms and back, she looked up and saw the white van carrying Willow take the turn at the end of the road and drive out of sight behind some trees a couple of seconds later.
Ding popped up from behind the SUV and found the mummies that Anck-Su-Namun had sicked on them had closed to about ten yards. They were no longer in one lump; they had spread out into two groups of five. O'Connell blew up the rear most of the mummies in the first group by shooting it in the chest as it passed his SUV; the head, arms and legs flying away as the load of triple aught buckshot blew apart its torso. Ding aimed at the hips of the nearest mummy and blew a leg right off with his Marlin. The mummy tumbled, but when it came up it was still hopping toward him! Alistair and Pete were putting rounds alternately in the head and chest of the other two mummies with their handguns but they weren't even slowing them down. Ding got another shot off at the next mummy in line and managed to hit it in the groin. The big game round shattered the mummy's pelvic girdle and removed both of its legs. Ding saw he wouldn't get off another shot, so he brought the rifle up into a guard position and so he missed it when the legless mummy began dragging itself forward with its arms.
Clark managed to take down one of the second group by blowing its head off with his Desert Eagle. Next he then blew the other leg off of the one that Ding had maimed. He was just tracking in on the last two when they leapt completely over the SUV. Ding whirled and brought his rifle across in a smash with the butt. The mummy flew from the impact with its chest caved in. Unfortunately, the broken ribs it had just received didn't overly inconvenience it. The battle-axe to the head though put it down. Xander was about to make a smart comment when the second mummy landed on Ding's back and drove him to the ground. Clark, Alistair, and Covington all turned and began shooting. Without any thought that bullets come addressed to 'occupant' Xander rushed into the line of fire and swung his axe in a forehand smash.
The bullets had distracted the creature from finishing Ding off. The mummy was just turning toward these annoyances when Xander's axe landed just beneath its right armpit and bisected the mummy. A couple of more chops finished it off.
Xander was getting ready for the onrush of the rest of the mummies when they were suddenly obscured by dirt puffs. Legs and arms blew off; heads flew, and out of the dust only one Mummy emerged unscathed. O'Connell calmly blew that one up with his shotgun.
Xander looked in the direction that the shots had come from, and saw the rest of Rainbow had arrived, Ozo and Miller were sticking up out of the sun roofs of their vehicles bracing their M60s across the roofs of the SUVs they were riding. TThe rest of the teams deploying out of the back side of them and starting to bring the turban wearing bad guys under fire, taking a lot of the pressure off of the first responders.
Paddy Connolly, Louis Loiselle, George Tomlinson, and Scotty McTyler ran in a crouch along the fence. When they reached the corner they turned and dropped. They scanned the buildings facing them to make sure that the bad guys hadn't put anyone there to cover their backs. The buildings lacked any type of window or opening so it was easy to determine there was no one there. "Confirm there are none on the roofs," Paddy said into the microphone of his radio mouthpiece.
"Confirmed," Pete Covington replied.
The four men jumped up and began climbing the fence. As Paddy reached the top he saw a body lying in the road. He was relieved when he saw her lift its head and start to drag herself along the road. Seeing the blonde hair he realized who it must be. "Ms. Summers is down on the road. She seems to be wounded." He leapt down from the top of the fence landing just after the rest of his men.
Price heard one of the other cars peel out down the road and assumed someone was going to take care of Ms. Summers. Tomlinson and McTyler stopped just short of the roof and cupped their hands. Price and Loiselle stepped into the cup and were both propelled up onto the roof. The two on the ground pulled out their weapons and moved to the corner of the first row of garages.
The two on the roof also readied their weapons and at a crouch jogged down the roof. Reaching the end they found themselves overlooking five bad guys. Price saw they were dressed in dark t-shirts and black pants. Each had a red turban wrapped around his head. They were totally focused on the people they had pinned down behind the cars. "Like shooting fish in a barrel," Price thought to himself.
Pete turned to Alistair, "Buffy's been hit."
Hearing that Xander turned away and started around the front of the car. Ding reached out and grabbed his arm, "Where do you think you're going."
"To help Buffy," Xander replied in a tone that suggested Ding's question was one of the dumbest he had ever heard.
"You go out there and you are going to get killed," Ding told him earnestly. As if to emphasize his statement the passenger side window blew out and three rounds punched through the door. Xander ducked as glass shards showered over him, and looked around the tire toward where Buffy had disappeared frowning.
As soon as Graham Miller heard that Buffy was down he tore out from behind the other two SUVs. He had four people plus Ginger with him. Bob Crugen was in the shotgun seat of the Explorer; Sharon Larapold the team's medic had the right back seat. Tony Baker, one of the team's riflemen had the middle seat with his M4 carbine sticking up between his legs and finally Charlie Bigford another rifleman had the left window seat. He had his M4 out the window as the passed the storage site ready to return fire if necessary as they accelerated down the road. Ginger had the cargo area in the back all to her self. She was excited looking out through the window but she followed training and kept silent.
Graham skidded to a stop next to the prone Slayer, and turning to his troops he barked, "Sharon, see what you can do for Buffy, Bob you and Ginger cover them.
Bob had just gotten his door open when Sharon's door was jerked open. Buffy stood there standing on her left leg. Her right was raised off of the ground and was covered in blood from about midway down her thigh to below the knee. Buffy was also covered with brush burns on both arms and part of her face. Her clothes were ripped and blood spattered. "Move over," she ordered Sharon. "We can still catch them."
"You aren't coming," Graham told her. "Let Sharon look at you."
"We're wasting time," Buffy argued.
"No," Graham corrected her, "You are. Buffy what could you do if we caught them? I know you heal fast but come on!"
Buffy nodded and hopped backward wincing as she landed, "They took the first road", She told Graham.
During the argument Bob had let Ginger out of the back and Sharon followed Buffy out. Ginger immediately started sniffing the air. Turning toward Secure Store she growled deep in her chest.
Sharon and Bob lowered Buffy carefully to the ground and Sharon grabbed a pair of scissors off her belt and began cutting the jeans over the bullet wound. "God, another pair of pants ruined," Buffy, moaned.
Graham turned the corner that the white van had taken. He saw that there was another curve about a quarter of a mile down the road. The Explorer rocketed down the straightaway slowing only when he came to the curve at the end of it. As Graham rounded the curve he saw something in the road. He slammed on the brakes but it was too late. All four of his tires went over the spike strips. Graham struggled to control as they all blew. He was lucky they had blown together because it kept the SUV from flipping. He only had partial control though and was unable to stop before he skidded into a ditch with a crunch. Stunned by the impact it took Miller a couple of seconds to shake it off. When he did, he got on his radio and said, "This is Team 3 we have been disabled, pursuit abandoned."
Flight Line
NTC, Fort Irwin, CA.
29Oct2002
1822hrs
Badger Cole held on as the Hummer he was riding in bounced across the median toward a Kiowa Scout helicopter that was waiting for him with its rotors turning. Behind it an AH-64 Longbow Apache attack helicopter also had its blades going.
It had taken less than 5 minutes from when he had hung up from giving General Clark the bad news on his chopper till the Hummer had pulled up outside with orders to get him to the flight line.
As the Hummer pulled up a figure jumped out of the Kiowa and moved toward the vehicle. Badger jumped out as soon as the vehicle stopped and in a crouch ran toward the helicopter. The crouch wasn't really necessary; Badger was only five foot six inches tall. He had gotten his call sign partial from his size and shape, which had been compared, to a fireplug. More though it had come from his 'If you don't mess with me I won't mess with you, but if you do you'll wish you'd never been born' attitude. Badger could not truthfully claim to have never lost a fight, though his opponents in those cases might argue that they had won anything. As he passed the former occupant of the helicopter he was handed a flight helmet. Badger put the helmet on and climbed in. The pilot turned toward him and he saw that it was a woman. She was had on a matching helmet and aviator's shades so he couldn't tell either hair or eye color. She was taller than him though and rail slim. Once he was plugged in she said, "I'm Warrant Officer Guthrie, Col. Hamm says that I'm all yours."
"Good, head for Sunnydale I'll brief you on the way."
WO Guthrie pulled back on the collective and the helo climbed into the California sky.
Cole pulled his secure phone out of his pocket and unplugging the radio line from the side of his helmet he plugged in the phone. Pushing the speed dial that connected him with the General he waited for him to pick up.
"Clark," he heard.
"This is Badger, I'm airborne and heading for Sunnydale. Col. Hamm loaned us one of his Scout helos."
"We are in the northwest corner of Sunnydale, one of the locals has been kidnapped, it is imperative that she be located. The kidnappers are driving a white panel van. Judging by how everyone on their side is dressed the driver will either be a woman with long black hair, or a man wearing a red turban with a black or dark brown top."
The pilot of the helicopter waved to catch his attention. "Just a minute General," he said into the phone. He pulled the plug out of his phone and reconnected the radio line.
"I was going to be doing an exercise with the Apache you saw warming up behind us. Col. Hamm left it up to you if you wanted the extra help."
Cole glanced back and saw that the Apache was flying formation with them, "Is he armed?"
His pilot nodded, "He has a full load of target ammo for his chain gun."
"Yeah, tell him to stick around." Badger swapped plugs again and said, "General, Hamm is loaning us an Apache too. His chain gun is armed."
"Badger, have your choppers split up, one searches north the other south. If you locate the van I want both choppers on it. Under no circumstances are you to allow it to escape. If no other option is present you are to destroy it."
Badger was shocked, "I thought there was a friendly on board."
"There is, the kidnappers can use her to cause untold harm. If the only way to stop it is to destroy the van that's what we'll have to do."
"Understood," Badger said quietly.
Plugging back into the intercom system of the helo he asked, "What's the call sign for the Apache?"
"It's Shotgun 4-6. We're Birddog 4-1," Guthrie replied. "The pilots name is Captain Jake Preston."
"Shotgun 4-6, this is Birddog 4-1," Badger said into the mike.
"Shotgun 4-6 standing by," came the response in a slow drawl.
"We are looking for a white panel van. Suspects have kidnapped a local, we are going to help with the search. I want you to take the south and east area's in and around Sunnydale, We'll take north and west. The van we are looking for will be driven either by a dark haired woman or a man in a dark top wearing a red turban. If you locate it contact me."
"Roger," came the reply as Shotgun 4-6 turned southwest and picked up speed.
Inside the Apache Capt. Preston asked Tom Rice his front-seater, "Since when did we join the FBI?"
Secure Store
155 Rt 15
Sunnydale, CA
290ct2002
1827hrs
John Clark flipped his phone closed and prayed that his final solution would not be needed. His phone had rung just as Paddy and Louis had taken out the last five of Anck-Su-Namun's henchmen. He carefully stuck his head over the hood of the Explorer he had been hiding behind to see how things were going. Ding, O'Connell, Ahmed Bey, Xander,(Clark frowned at that, he'd have to have words with the Scooby about bringing an axe to a gun fight), O'Connell's driver, and the Finns where crouched behind the wall around the corner and out of sight of the office. Paddy and Louis where on the roof over the office, it looked like Paddy had a flash bang in his hand. This was the part he hated, he knew that his post was back here monitoring what was going on and keeping on top of the big picture. But damn if didn't he want to be down there with Ding on the sharp end.
Ding called to the men in the office to surrender, telling them they would be well treated. The answer came in a language that Ding didn't understand. "Anyone understand that?"
"They say they will die for their Master," Ahmed told him.
Ding waved him up, "Telling them dying serves no purpose and they would better serve him by surrendering and still being around."
Ahmed called toward the office.
Riley eased up behind Ding and asked, "What's the plan?"
"They probably have at least one hostage in there," Ding hoped that Anya was a hostage not a corpse, "So I want to avoid using a flash bang in that kind of enclosed quarters.
"Paddy, can you see if you can get a pin camera in a position that we can get a look inside the office?"
"Wait one," the reply came.
Up on the roof Paddy Connelly took out a telescoping pole and a small cylinder. He screwed the cylinder to the pole then extended the pole out to almost six feet. "Control, are we set up to receive images?"
"Any time you are ready Sergeant," David Peled's voice came back.
Price laid down on the roof of the storage units and extended the pole till it reached just beyond the lip of the roof.
"Okay, I can see inside now," David, said. "The room looks to be about fifteen by fifteen. There is a counter about ten feet from the door. The center of the room is open, with a two chairs and a table about five feet from the door on the right wall, and a box display just to the left of the door. We have three hostiles, two are at the windows facing your group Maj. Chavez. The other one is behind the counter. I see one body on the floor behind the counter. It's male and not dressed like them; I'll guess that's the manager of the site. And I think I see a sneaker on the other side of the counter, it's not moving. That's all I got."
Ding digested, "We have civilians down inside. Ahmed tell them that their only option is to surrender. That selling their lives for nothing will accomplish nothing."
Ahmed called Dings words in. There was quiet for about thirty seconds and Ding was about to order the one of the roof crew to throw a flash bang in when the voice called from inside. "Not the only way," Ahmed translated and his eyes went wide.
Back at the command van David Palled watched in horror as the goon behind the counter calmly took his handgun and shot the two men at the windows in the back of the head and then stuck the barrel under his chin.
Clark frowned at the three shots; they really needed one of those guys alive. Hopefully one of the three bad guys that Buffy took down would still be alive. "Connelly? You and Loiselle over to the field to the east, Buffy took down three of them over there, hopefully one will still be alive."
Ding and his pick up squad carefully worked their way toward the office. McTyler and Tomlinson were working their way to the office from the other side.
Ding was about to take the door when O'Connell touched his shoulder, "This is technically a law enforcement issue, let me."
Ding glanced over his shoulder and decided not to get into a pissing contest. He hated working with new people, he saw that O'Connell was good, but they weren't operating out of the same playbook. They'd have to fix this, but later.
O'Connell, shotgun covering the windows approached the door. Reaching out he tried the knob and was surprised when it opened under his hand. He flung the door open and covered the two bodies on the floor by the windows. Riley and Sam were in next covering the counter and empty corners of the room with their MP5s.
"Clear!" O'Connell called, followed by both Finns.
Ding was next in and moved to the counter, leading with his rifle he looked over. He realized that Anya was at his feet. She was on her side with her head lying on an outstretched arm. Her unblinking eyes staring at the empty corner of the room, there was a red-feathered dart sticking out of her right shoulder.
Forcing himself to ignore her he looked at the two bodies on the other side of the counter. Both were males. The first wore a pair of tan khakis and a stained t-shirt. He had been shot in the chest and the throat, a double barrel shot gun was on the floor just past his outreached hand. The other was one of the attackers; he was slouched in the corner the top of his head missing. The fan shaped spread of gore showed where he had been standing.
Xander managed to get into the room right behind Ding. He spotted Anya on the floor and went to her immediately. He scooped up the limp body and throwing her head over his shoulder he pulled her into his body and howled, "No! Oh God Anya I'm so sorry for what I did to you."
Ahmed was the next in and decided to let Xander alone with his grief so he went to help the Finns check the bodies by the windows.
Xander was rocking back and forth with Anya in his arms tears streaming down his face when he realized someone was breathing down the back of his neck. He also realized that he was feeling a heartbeat against his chest. He pushed Anya away from him; her head just flopped backward, then forward and hung there.
Ahmed sensed the movement behind him and turning he saw the dart in her shoulder. He grinned, "Your friend will be alright Mr. Harris. She was struck with a dart loaded with a drug that paralyzes the voluntary nervous system."
"That's a new one," O'Connell said.
"Not really, they acquired in the '50s, they don't use it much."
Xander was looking at Anya and noticing that her eyes were open asked, "Is she conscious?"
"And aware of everything you say or do," Ahmed replied.
Xander quickly laid Anya down on the floor, stripping out of his jacket he bunched it up and placed it under her head, "Sorry about that Ahn, I know how you feel about touching and all, but I thought you were dead and I was feeling really guilty and .."
The others in the room tuned out the rest.