Imhotep's Key Chapter

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.

Response to reviewers:

JA Baker: Thanks JA, but you've been posting heavy in your own stories so I'm happy you took the time out to post the review.

sirc: Let me know if I missed something okay? Both of those movies were great. I liked the growth that Evie showed between the movies, and that Jonathan really didn't. Too often in sequels they try to redue the first movie all over again.

Union-Jack 2.0: No problem Union, you took the time to write it, it was the least I could do to respond. I've been thinking on the Jack/Faith conversation for a while. I have it mostly worked out, but it's not quite there yet. There will be a Faith/Clark meeting.

I'm glad you liked Trifurcates. My biggest disappointment in Season Seven was the Turuk-Khan. All build up, no follow through; I wanted mine to have a little more staying power. And yes I am planning on Dru putting in an appearance.

The San Fran killer is on deck. The story will tentatively be titled 'Witchfinder'.

Tried to find you a recipe for hasenpfeffer on the web but no joy. My only knowledge of it comes from an old Bugs Bunny cartoon where Yosemite Sam is the king's chief and he decides he wants it for dinner about the time Bugs Bunny stops by to borrow a cup of carrots. Needless to say it does not end well for Sam.

Badger Cole is the current Rainbow helo pilot. Mallory got a new position. And they will be using a less conspicuous helo for the time being.

Team 2 is already all over, they arrived the day that Buffy and Ryan met. I didn't mention it specifically though.

Thanks for the complement. I doubt that Whedon could have afforded Clancy as a writer, of course I would have worked a lot cheaper. But considering who all I have running around the licensing fees would have been astronomical. I didn't think Whedon did that bad a job considering. The only thing I thought he really missed on though was after season 4 there is no way they would have left Buffy just fade into the background. Someone would have tried to recruit her.

The second gulf war in the Clancyverse came about when the head of Iran instituted a biological attack on the US using the Ebola virus. He believed that this would paralyze the US into not being able to react when he attempted to take over Saudi Arabia. He miscalculated.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with your assessment of George Bush. However I also don't want to turn my review section into a political debate. But I'd be happy to defend my position and take a look at your arguments if you send them directly to me.

Benton's calmness will be explained in the future. And I have plans for an extra-national teams to be helping out in the situation.

I was more existing in the Clancyverse than offering any slight to the SAS when I had the British Government trying to hold onto one of teams. Realistically I agree with what you said. But realistically Rainbow would never have come into being. Just the fact that there was so many nationalities on it would severely limit how much intelligence they would have shared with them. I also don't think that Clancy was intentionally slighting, or rather that he isn't aware of how good the SAS is in an anti-hostage roll, but in order to have his guys be 'the best' he either had to turn the Rainbow teams into super powered people, or tone the real guys down a tad.

As far as the rescue attempt in Iran, the plan was too complex, plus it was initiated for the wrong reasons. Carter I think put it into motion for political reasons rather than it was the best way to bring the hostages home.

Antonio: Sorry for the confusion on the different characters. I'll try to work a group intro into the story soon.

I haven't submitted 'Gate' yet. It didn't really generate a lot of response so I'm looking at it some more. I have a couple other stories based in Paragon City that I'm working on also. So hopefully they will be better received. Thanks for asking though.

Joe: But you have to have the leverage to apply the power.

David Morris: Thanks for the review. You could well be right about the Sunnydale PD. I imagine that while The Mayor was in charge it wasn't fun at all. And to be a cop on the night shift? brr…..

I agree with you on Riley. He certainly was my favorite Buffy boyfriend. I think he was so universally hated because he wasn't Angel. You'll notice that when Whedon introduced Kennedy she was set up to be hated.

Dorothy: I agree with you, they deserve each other.

Darklight: Do my best.

nascar girl: I don't know about Buffy not being that tough. Remember the episode in Season 2 when she was sick and went after Das Kindertodd. Or even the ep where she got stabbed with her own stake and was self medicating, or even when she went after Faith in Graduation part one. When the situation called for it she was way aggressive.

sparky: As I myself have admitted many times. I am trying to do better though.

Harry: Not yet. But they will be working on the other stuff.

Allen Pitt: Good calls all. Just be careful when you assume.

Paladin Steelbreaker: Hank will be muchly abused, maybe just not the way people are expecting. But boy will he get an eye opener.

War90: I enjoy smart villains too. It makes the story so much more interesting when it's not just a cake walk for the good guys.

Thanks to all that reviewed. Constructive criticisms always welcomed. Flames cheerfully ignored.

FIC Starts Here-----à

"We're clear," Ding reported from the office. "We need an ambulance for Anya and a meat wagon for the rest."

"This is Connelly, we need an ambulance for one of the guys out here. He's unconscious and having real trouble breathing; I think Buffy might of ruptured his diaphragm. The other two are dead, it looks like they shot each other."

Clark started down toward the storage complex with the rest of the Scoobies and the potentials trailing behind, except for Dawn, she took off running toward where Buffy was. Ding saw her coming and radioed Connelly to keep an eye on her. Stanley and Covington headed over to the downed officer to see if they could help. They doubted it though. As soon as the shooting stopped his partner had come out from behind the car and was now kneeling beside the body, tears leaking down his face.

As Clark got to the office he started to hear sirens in the distance. Xander was sitting beside Anya on the floor and keeping her company. The others were checking out what Anck-Su-Namun's henchmen had on them. It wasn't a lot. There was one AK-47, though looking at the gun it was one of the Chinese knockoffs. The other one had a Berretta Model 12 submachine gun. Those weren't in common use so they might be able to trace something through it. Each of them also had a Browning Model 35, which was commonly called the Browning Hi-Power, it was the first of the high capacity mag 9mm pistols. Unfortunately, it had been standard issue for any number of militaries over the years; in fact it was still in use with a couple and a lot of police forces. So these guns had probably been through so many owners they would be impossible to trace.

"What's wrong with Anya?" He asked Xander when he noticed she hadn't moved or said a word since he came in.

"They hit her with some kind of paralytic poison. Ahmed says she should be okay in a couple of hours," Xander replied, not taking his eyes off of his ex fiancée.

"Ambulances are inbound so we'll get her to the hospital as soon as we can."

"How's Buffy?" Xander asked.

"She got hit in the leg. The medic thinks she should be fine. Dawn's with her."

Xander just nodded.

Clark turned to his men. "Okay, we got anything besides the guns?"

They just shook their heads. The bad guys had been sanitized. Anck-Su-Namun did it by the book. Turning to O'Connell he asked, "What kind of a crime lab do you guys have?"

O'Connell shook his head with a sour expression on his face, "Our crime lab is run out of the Corner's Office. He's a hold over from the Wilken's administration and we can't get rid of him. O'Connell pulled out his radio. "Night 1 to Chief."

"Chief," the reply came, the siren in the background indicating he was in route.

"Stew, Willow Rosenberg has been kidnapped and I think we can call it a terrorist incident. I'd like to invite the FBI in to use their lab capability."

"Do it," came the reply. "I'm three minutes out."

O'Connell turned to Clark and said formally, "I'm requesting Federal assistance in this case."

Clark nodded and grabbing his phone he hit the number for the local FBI office, "Can I speak to Agent Murphy please? This is General Clark."

A moment later Clark said, "Murphy? We've had an incident, Willow Rosenberg has been kidnapped and we are calling it a terrorist act so that makes it Federal. I need you to get out here and take control of the scene. I also want you to contact LA and get their lab people out here. We need to find Willow ASAP. You'll be fully briefed when you get here."

He listened for a second then replied, "Yes O'Connell is here, and he put in the request for help. Their Chief should be here by the time you get here and he okayed it."

He nodded and said, "Okay. I'm not going to be here, I have to pick up Andrea; I'll leave Alistair in charge till you get here. Okay, I'll call Dan and let him know what happened. We're going to have to come up with something to explain this because I can't see anyway that this won't make the national news. If you come up with something let me know. I'll talk to you later."

Turning back to the Sunnydale cop he said, "Frayne is on his way out now and he'll get the LA lab people out here as quick as they can get them into a helicopter. Frayne asks that you secure the scene till they get here."

O'Connell said he would and headed over to where a group of squad cars had started to gather.

Clark headed up the hill to the cars, when he got there Alistair and Pete were standing by what used to be their Explorer. All four windows were shot out, the front windshield was stared to the point you couldn't see through it and the back had a hole in it you could throw a basketball through. Clark saw a couple of different fluids leaking from the engine compartment. He didn't smell any gas though so that was good. "I think that Enterprise will be somewhat cross with the conditions that the rentals are going to be returned in," Pete commented.

"That's why we're spending fourteen dollars and ninety-five cents a day on insurance Pete," Clark joked, then he looked over at the Sunnydale officer that was kneeling besides his partner. Someone had found a blanket and covered the body. Two ambulances turned off of Route 46 and Eddie Price, who had been in charge of the teams that had arrived in time to bail them out, directed them to the far end of the facility.

Clark looked around and noticed that Xander's Explorer had managed to avoid any damage. Turning he started back down the hill hoping that Xander would be willing to loan it to him.

Sunnydale General Hospital
655 Wilkens Ave.
Sunnydale CA
29Oct2002
1840 hrs

"Dr. Sanchez!" The duty nursed called as soon as she put the phone down.

Sandra Sanchez's head whipped around at the tone in the voice. She had heard it only once before and prayed that this wasn't going to be the same thing. She had just earned her MD and a bus loaded with 45 senior citizens on their way to Las Vegas had been rear ended by a cement truck when they had been forced to stop by another accident. "Here!" She called.

"Doctor, the SPD has been involved in some kind of a shootout. They know there are multiple injuries and fatalities, they aren't sure how many yet, they are just giving us a heads up."

Sandra began clapping her hands; heads started popping out of doorways and from behind curtains. "All right people, listen up! We have a possible mass causality coming in. Set up Trauma One and Two, and Treatment One for gunshot wounds. Have X-ray standing by and alert the Blood Bank.

"Sheila," this was to the nurse who had taken the call, "Contact San Bernardino General, and Rampart in LA let them know that they will be getting any overflow.

"Let's get to it people!" she ordered. People hurried to follow her orders.

Currently only one of the treatment rooms was in use. A young boy had overestimated his prowess with a skateboard and had come down on his left arm. Sandra stuck her head into the room and saw that Dr. Dan Jansen the shift's orthopedic specialist was mostly done with the boy's cast.

"Are you going to have to move my son?" A man who Sandra assumed was the boy's dad asked.

"I hope I won't have to sir," she told him, "I'll be able to let you know as soon as I find out how many patients we are going to be getting in."

The man nodded, "If you have too, I understand."

Sandra thanked the man and seeing everyone getting ready as fast as the could she headed into a washroom to get scrubbed up.

Upstairs in room 714, Andrew Wells' eyes slid open. His stomach didn't hurt quite as much so he supposed that was a good sign. He could vaguely remember a black-haired Hispanic woman leaning over him and telling him that his intestines were healing back together nicely so he probably wasn't going to need a colostomy bag for the rest of his life. Andrew looked down the length of his bandaged body and started. He found himself looking into the eyes of a woman that was sitting in a chair at the end of his bed. He couldn't tell her height, but she was slim and had her blonde hair cut just off of her shoulders. There was some gray in it and there were laugh lines around her eyes and mouth. Though right now she was definitely frowning. It occurred to Andrew that if Buffy lived long enough she would probably end up looking a lot like this woman.

"So Mr. Wells, you are back with us," she said in voice that reminded Andrew of the tone that Agent Smith used with Neo before he had implanted the tracker in him. Andrew hoped she wouldn't take his mouth away.

"Hello?" Andrew said to her uncertainly.

The woman got out of her chair and approached Andrew and drew a wallet out of her handbag. She flipped it open and displayed a badge and id card, "I'm Special Agent Loomis of the FBI. I have a proposition for you."

Andrew looked confused.

"Let me explain your situation to you. You are currently wanted for armed robbery of an armored car. That is a Federal offence by the way. Escape and crossing both state and national borders to avoid prosecution are also Federal offences. And, we can also probably add murder one to the list, that one will be a state offence though. In California that can be a capital offence or if you are lucky you can be sent to jail for the rest of your life with no possibility of parole."

Andrew got even paler, "What's your proposition?" He asked in a nervous, tentative voice.

Loomis put her ID away and sat back down. "This First thing seems to want you in Sunnydale. It stopped you from leaving but seemingly has ignored you for the last five days as you recover. The next time it contacts you we want to know what it wants."

"Wasn't it after Willow?" Andrew asked.

"It had other better chances to get Willow and it makes no sense for it to be after Special Agent O'day, so that leaves you."

Andrew was quiet for a couple of seconds then asked, "What happens if I say no?"

Loomis shrugged, "We'll provide you transportation to LA. You'll be arraigned on the federal charges there, but murder one is a higher offence so you'll likely be shipped back here to face that one, we won't be covering you either."

"How would me working for you work?"

"You'll be placed back into the Summer's household. Buffy would tell everyone that she has agreed to look after you till it's safe to send you to LA. We figure you'll be contacted either to provide information or to do something in the house. You tell what it is you're supposed to do then we'll take it from there."

"Buffy is okay with this?"

Loomis frowned, "We haven't actually discussed this with her yet. We figured that if you said no there was no reason to bring it up."

"If it's okay with her, it's okay with me," Andrew said. After all, how much deader could he get being at the Slayer's house than just sitting in a Sunnydale jail cell?

The Oval Office
1600 Pennsylvania Ave
Washington DC.
29Oct2002
2155 hrs

Jack Ryan was surprised his hand didn't shake as he replaced the receiver of his phone. He took a couple of moments to collect himself, then pushed the intercom, "Ellen? After you ask Arnie, Robby and Ben Goodly to come down to my office I need one."

"Yes, Mr. President," the reply came.

A minute later Ellen came into the office and passed the President one of her cigarettes and said, "They'll be right here sir."

Lighting the cigarette first he took a deep drag and looking up at his secretary with a crooked smile said, "Thanks."

Arnie walked in then with Ben Goodly right behind him. Robby, whose office was the farthest away arrived two minutes later, frowning at the cigarette.

"Have a seat gentleman we have a potential problem in Sunnydale."

Robby Jackson rolled his eyes, "One of the old ones or has something new popped up?"

"New one," Ryan told his old friend.

"Man, do they have one of those ticket machines at the city line? You know, 'Now serving number 12 at the Hellmouth?'"

"They ought to install one for sure," Ryan agreed. "Okay, this is what we got," Ryan brought the three men up to date on what had happened.

Ben Goodly was the first to speak, "We have a lot of assets available in the area. We have Edwards Air Force Base just to the north of the town. The NTC at Fort Irwin is to the northeast. Then we have the bases around LA that are within easy reach of Sunnydale. All told we could probably scrape together a little over a mixed division if we had too. Currently, there is one Carrier at Alameda and two in San Diego with attendant air wings available. General Diggs and the advisors he picked up down in South Carolina should be landing there in about an hour."

Ryan nodded, "Thanks Ben, right now I'm going to give Diggs some maneuvering room. We'll see what he comes up with and go from there.

"Jack?" Robby asked thoughtfully.

"Hmm?"

"Why did they go after Willow? Do we know? I mean from what we've learned she's pretty powerful. Wouldn't have been easier to grab someone else?"

Sunnydale Airport

Sunnydale CA

29Oct2002

1907 hrs

Andrea Price and Ben Bascome were waiting at the terminal entrance with their bags at their feet. Both were dressed casually, Ben in a blue sport coat and khaki's, Andrea in a pair of cream slacks with a white top and a light brown coat. Both were wearing reflective sunglasses.

"You know Ben, I'm starting to feel cursed," Andrea remarked as she scanned the parking lot.

"What do you mean?" Ben asked. As Andrea had been leaving the President had decided that he didn't want her heading into Sunnydale alone. Since Ben had been present when they had been initially briefed in Jack had decided that he should be the one to go.

"First I wanted to recruit Tara McClay, but she was dead. Now I came out here to talk to Willow Rosenberg and she's been kidnapped. It's beginning to look like something doesn't want any magic users around the White House."

Andrea wanted to be annoyed about the babysitter, but now that she was on the ground she was glad for the back up. She spotted a Ford Explorer coming into the lot and said, "There's John now."

Ben was turning toward the direction she was pointing and a movement caught his eye. Two cloaked figures with daggers were coming out of a set of nearby bushes and were heading straight for Andrea's back, "Boss! Behind you! Knife!" He yelled as he was pulling out his pistol.

Hearing Ben yell 'Boss' Andrea turned toward him. She saw two more cloaked figures coming up behind him. She got her piece out as Ben shot the lead bad guy that was coming up behind her. She shot the lead one of his, but the one behind slashed her partner in the shoulder. The knife was going back up for a stab when Andrea shot the attacker, which she noted with horror, had scars where its eyes should have been, twice in the center of its chest. It fell backward away from Ben.

She flung herself backward trying to buy herself some space to deal with the last one of the creatures, but she was sickly sure she wasn't going to make it. There was a loud shot and the last of the creatures was blown over her to land in a heap. Looking toward where the shot had come from she saw that Clark had swung the Explorer sideways in the road and had a Desert Eagle extended out through the open window. The Finns were deploying out of the passenger side doors and had MP5s out and were scanning the area. After a moment when there was no further threat Riley Finn called, "Clear!"

Shotgun 4-6
Southwest of Sunnydale CA
29Oct2002
1910 hrs

"Shotgun 4-6, this is Fort Irwin Flight Control."

"4-6," Captain Jake Preston replied.

"California Highway Patrol is reporting they lost a white van whose driver was wearing something red on his head just north of your current position."

Preston looked down and spotted a logging road heading in a generally southern direction. Popping a map up on the screen in front of him he quickly traced the road out and thought it was possible that they could of lost the cops by ducking down it.

"Shotgun 4-6 to Birddog 4-1, Billie, I'm going to fly along logging road 143 and check out if they ducked down it."

"Roger, I'll start down the other end, I think it's a good bet."

"Shotgun 4-6 what's your fuel status?" WO Cole in Birddog 4-1 asked.

Glancing at his fuel gages Preston replied, "About twenty minutes till I'm bingo for Fort Irwin, about forty if I land at Sunnydale international."

"If you acquire the van and are forced to break off pursuit and there is no one to pick it up, or if for some other reason you feel you are about to loose contact you are to destroy the van," came the voice over the radio.

Jake frowned hard, "Could you repeat that Birddog 4-1?"

"You heard me the first time Captain Preston, under no circumstances is that van to escape."

"I thought there was a friendly aboard."

"You have your orders Captain."

"Williams monitor the radios for a minute," Preston ordered his frontseater. Switching frequencies to the brigade channels he said, "Shotgun 4-6 to Fort Irwin Control, I need to speak to Colonel Hamm now."

"This is Hamm," came back immediately.

"Did you hear my last order Colonel?" Jake asked, almost pleading with him to countermand it.

"I'm sorry Jake, the order comes from on high, under no circumstances is to that van to be allowed to escape."

"Roger," was all Jake said.

"We'll talk about it when you get back," The Colonel said.

You're damn right we will, Jake thought to himself as he switched back to the normal flight channels.

"Shotgun 4-6, Birddog 4-1, I think I got them, they're about a mile from the Badger Canyon Bridge. I think we can trap them on it."

Glancing at his map Preston saw that he was coming up on the bridge himself. There was a forested hill between him and the bridge. He pulled the Apache into a hover on the other side of it and raised the helo till the sensor pod on top of his rotor hub just peaked over the hill. He had to wait only a couple of seconds when a white Econoline van speed onto the bridge. Billie was above and behind the van in a position that she couldn't be seen waiting to close the back door.

"The Chippies are about a minute behind them Jake,"

Jack pulled up on the collective of his helicopter and popped over the hill and slid down the other side just above the treetops. He pulled up at the end of the bridge and hovered about twenty feet above the ground.

The eyes of the driver went wide as he saw the business end the gunship's chaingun pointed right at his windshield as he jerked on the wheel and skidded the van to a stop in the middle of the bridge.

Billie Guthrie put her Kiowa Scout down across the other end of the bridge blocking that escape route.

Preston scowled as he took a good look at the driver, "Birddog 4-1, this is Shotgun 4-6. Was your perp wearing a Marlborough hat?"

Inside the van Peter Marko sweated, he had been making a pretty money running illegals over the border, but when the Border Patrol started using attack helicopters, that's it he was through.

Secure Store
155 Rt 15
Sunnydale, CA
290ct2002
1915 hrs

The ambulance that was carrying Anya pulled out through the back gates, it had been decided that they would leave the destroyed car there until the lab guys were done with it.

Murphy was talking with Alistair Stanley, O'Connell and Stew Donaldson deciding how they were going to explain all of this. Ding was about to head over and join the discussion when he noticed that Dawn was heading back into the locker areas.

"Dawn! Where are you going?" he called.

Dawn turned and said, "I have the spare keys for Anya's locker, I thought I'd go and get the books we were originally after."

Ding nodded and jogged over to her, "Good idea, I'll go with you."

Dawn gave him a look, "Why does everyone think I can't take care of myself? I've been doing this for two years now. Plus, I doubt anything is looking to kidnap me in broad daylight."

Ding smiled as he walked toward her. Turning serious he said, "I'm sure you do, and you can. But how do you do with guys with guns?"

Dawn looked nervous, "Not so hot."

Ding nodded, "We might of missed one."

"You coming along? Great idea." Dawn told the commando.

Ding smiled back at her.

Dawn went up to one of the lockers and using the key she opened the garage door.

Ding was impressed the locker was fairly full, but who ever had stacked it had allowed for easy movement inside. Most of the stuff was in boxes, there were a couple of items that weren't, including a couple of vases, a spear, something that looked like a sci-fi ray gun and the torso and head of a mannequin that looked remarkably like Buffy. As Dawn started going through Book boxes Ding worked his way to the mannequin to get a closer look at it. He tried to lift it and was surprised at it's weight. Dawn glanced over to see what he was doing, "That's what's left of the Buffy Bot. Well, it's legs and arms are in that box over there," nodding at another box.

"Buffy Bot?" Ding asked.

As she started pulling books out of a box she explained," Spike had her made when he first fell for Buffy and she wouldn't have anything to do with him. Then she was used as a decoy to wear Glory down a little. When Buffy was …gone we used her to try and convince everyone that Buffy was still around it worked till right Buffy was brought back. A demon motorcycle gang somehow figured it out and they did that to her." Dawn was clearly uncomfortable with the subject but Ding wanted to know more.

"She was good enough to fool people?"

Dawn snorted, "Anya and Xander saw her and Spike doing the nasty and they couldn't tell the difference. Buffy wouldn't let them forget it for weeks."

"Is it beyond repair?"

"No, Willow said she was fixable, but we'd need about forty thousand dollars in parts. Wasn't an option. Plus Buffy really doesn't like it. Brings up too many unpleasant memories."

Ding looked at the robot, a very thoughtful expression on his face.