Chapter 6 – The Last Four
The room was completely silent, but that didn't last long. Just as Xander opened his mouth, about to ask another question, Angel's office phone began to ring.
All eyes turned to the original Angel as they waited for him to answer.
"This is Angel," the souled vampire said as he picked up the office phone.
"Mr. Angel," the voice on the other line began, "We have a situation at the warehouse, sir."
Angel's expression became that of seriousness and worry as he asked the next question. "What is it?"
"You instructed us to report anything out of the ordinary, sir," the voice continued. "We've reported sight of an extremely bright light coming from within the building. Would you like us to go inside to investigate, sir?"
"No!" Angel responded sternly.
He knew that this most likely meant that more people from the alternate realities had come through the portal. They were still unsure if what was causing it had been the presence of the original Angel, Buffy and Spike so they did not want any other people entering the building until they were sure.
"I'm coming there now," Angel instructed to the voice on the other line. "No one goes inside the warehouse and no one comes out. You just stay there and guard the place until I get there. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir," the man responded obediently just before Angel hung up the phone.
Everyone in the room sent Angel a disbelieving glance. "More?" Willow asked with annoyance and exasperation.
"Looks that way," Angel responded as he stood from his desk and went for his coat.
"I'm going with you," Buffy announced. She stood up straight and began to fallow Angel to the door.
Spike looked frantically back and fourth between the two with annoyance. "Now hold up a minute," he protested. "The two of you shouldn't go alone. Whoever these other ones are one of them is probably going to be a vampire. You might need backup."
"Well it shouldn't be anyone that's not Buffy, Angel or Spike that gives you that backup," Willow suggested.
Angel1 nodded his head in agreement. "She's right. If Wesley's theory is true then the presence of anyone else might just cause their alternate realities to come through as well."
"Yeah, but we've already all been in the warehouse," Dawn reminded. "Isn't the damage already done?"
"It might not be," Buffy4 offered. "You never know, it could be the collective time spent in the presence of the portal that causes it to select who goes through."
"And how do we know that you guys going back in there isn't going to cause even more alternate yous to come through?" Faith asked intuitively.
"We don't," Buffy agreed, "But that's a risk we're just going to have to take."
Angel nodded his head slightly in agreement. "She's right. We'll get in there quick, figure out who came through and then get them out as quick as we can."
Spike took a few steps forward before Buffy and Angel could leave the room. "I'm coming with you," he insisted, leaving no room for argument.
"So am I," Angel4 added as he stepped up as well. "You're going to need backup."
Buffy and Angel exchanged glances and ultimately came to the collective conclusion that they didn't have time to argue with them.
"Fine," Buffy responded with defeat.
"Willow, I need you to go find Wesley and the others and inform them on what's going on," Angel instructed. "I'll call as soon as I know more."
The redhead nodded her head in understanding. "No problem."
Then Angel turned his attentions to Faith. "Faith, keep an eye on things while I'm gone."
Faith nodded her head as well. "You got it boss," she responded in understanding.
Angel nodded his head back and continued to head for the door with Buffy, Spike and Angel4 fallowing closely behind him.
XXXXXX
It didn't take long for the group of four to reach the warehouse. As soon as they arrived they were greeted by several armed personnel of Wolfram and Hart's defense. They briefed Angel once again on the situation and informed him that since he was contacted on the phone there had been sounds of a possible confrontation within the building.
All four individuals, looking worried at this point, responded to this by quickly rushing to the warehouse doors and hastily running inside.
When they reached the inside they began to slow their advances so that they would be more alert to their surroundings. It was already going to be a surprise as to whom the alternate reality people would be, but they wanted that to be the only surprise. All though they didn't know who these people would be, they had an idea that it would probably be one of the eleven who had joined them in the warehouse after the arrival of the Buffies.
As the three vampires and the slayer slowly and cautiously walked through the building towards the opening of the portal, they were surprised to hear no sounds. As they got closer they even began to notice that they couldn't even hear the once very noticeable crackling sounds of the portal itself.
In fact, as they finally reached the large open space of the warehouse where they first found the portal, they quickly noticed that it wasn't even there at all. The four searched every inch of the open space above their heads where they stood, but none could spot even a small sign that the portal was ever even there at all.
The first thought running through most of their minds was that maybe the bright light that the men saw was just the portal closing. Maybe this time no one actually came through it.
'But then what were the sounds of a fight that the men heard?' Buffy thought to herself.
This was when she started looking around more closely and finally spotted them. Everyone had been so busy trying to comprehend what had happened to the portal that they hadn't even noticed the four figures in a shadowy corner of the large room.
"Angel," Buffy said softly to get his, and the other's, attentions.
At the sound of Buffy's voice the three souled vampires turned to look at her and then looked in the direction that the blonde was looking in.
The four warriors slowly walked towards the four figures to get a better look so that they could make out whom, what seemed to be, the last of the alternate reality people were.
As they got closer the first thing they realized was that the figures were female. They noticed that one was sitting down on the ground with her back to the wall while the other three were standing defensively around her.
One of the four slowly started to walk into the light revealing who she, and the others, where alternate selves of.
The girl smiled slightly, clearly a little relieved to see familiar faces. She looked around at all four of them, her gaze finally resting on Buffy.
"Hey, B."
XXXXXX
All eyes were planted firmly on the former watcher when he walked back into Angel's office after being called out to take a phone call.
"Was it Angel?" Buffy4 asked him curiously.
"It was," Wesley responded.
Dawn rolled her eyes in annoyance as she waited for Wesley to continue. "Well?"
For a moment Wesley couldn't help but smile inwardly at how much Dawn had grown to be so similar to her older sister. Rather then think on that fact any longer he decided that he had better inform everyone about his conversation with Angel before he got his head bitten off.
"It turns out that we do have four more alternate reality persons on our hands," the British man began to explain. "The good news, however, is that the portal appears to have closed. They're not exactly sure how or why but the new comers informed them that it closed almost immediately after they had been forced through. Hopefully this will mean that these resent arrivals will be our last visitors from these alternate realities."
"What?" Buffy2 asked with extreme worry. "That can't be. If the portal is closed then how are we going to get back to our worlds? How are we going to get back to our son?"
Wesley looked back at the married couple with defeat. "I'm afraid I'm not sure at the moment. But I assure you, we're doing everything in our power to figure out why you all are here and how we can get you back to your worlds. I have everyone in Wolfram and Hart working on it."
"You haven't found anything at all yet?" Angel2 asked hopefully as he held a very distraught Buffy2 tightly in his arms.
Fred's face fell as she decided to help Wesley out a little. "I'm sorry. We've been searching everything having to do with alternate realities, alternate selves, portals, anything and everything we can think of. But so far…we haven't had much luck."
"So…what do we do now?" Buffy1 asked.
"Well, as Fred said, we haven't really had much luck," Wesley began to answer. "We have, however, found some references relating to alternate worlds and alternate selves. It has been documented on past occurrences that knowledge of these alternate realities can help to uncover the meaning as to why the alternate selves are there."
"The fact that the portal is now closed suggests that either someone unknown to us has closed it, or that these four people's alternate selves were sent into our world for a specific reason," Fred continued to explain.
"What that reason is, we're unsure of," Wesley added. "But, by learning more about these alternate worlds it should, in theory, spark the 'why' right into our brains."
Spike4 shrugged his shoulders in slight understanding. "Makes sense I supposed."
Willow nodded with a smile as what Wesley and Fred were explaining began to click perfectly in her mind. "Of course, it makes perfect sense. So we need to talk to them and find out more about what things are like in their worlds. Then, hopefully, something should trigger an answer."
"Precisely," Wesley confirmed with a smile.
Fred smiled as well and then turned back to Wesley. "We should get back to the research though, incase our theory is completely wrong."
"Right," the former watcher agreed. "Angel and the others should be along shortly and we'll be sure to keep you all informed on any progress we come across."
Wesley and Fred then turned towards the door and began to walk out, but before they got fully out of the room they were stopped by Faith's voice.
"Hold up there Wes," the husky voiced slayer spoke up. "You never said who the four newbies are."
The others all looked on at Wesley awaiting an answer as if they had all forgotten all about the four new comers.
"Oh yes, very sorry," Wesley apologized for forgetting. "From what I understand…their you, Faith."
A look of disappointment and slight worry appeared on the dark slayer's face. She shook the emotions quickly away though as she nodded her head somewhat at Wesley. "I was afraid you were gonna say that."
XXXXXX
It was only about ten minutes after Wesley and Fred had left Angel's office that Angel, Buffy, Spike, Angel4 and three incredible likenesses of Faith walked through the doors.
Wesley and Fred were still doing research, Gunn and Lorne having also joined them, but Robin and Andrew had recently gotten back with Chinese food, pizza and several thermoses of blood. Everyone had started eating already knowing that Buffy, Angel and the others would be back soon.
As the three Faiths walked into the office they immediately began looking around the room for the people that were from their worlds. They had all been extremely confused when they first came through the portal. Some were less confused then others though.
Faith3 had been with Spike3 when he'd gone through the portal so when she came through she had a pretty good idea that the same thing had happened to her that had originally happened to him.
A similar situation had occurred with Faith4. She had been with all three of the people of her world that had come through the portal. She had watched each one get taken at a separate time and had been working with the Willow, Giles, Xander, Dawn, Kennedy, Fred and Wesley of her world on trying to figure out where they'd gone and how to get them back. They didn't have much time to figure anything out though because before long, Faith herself was also taken.
Faith1 hadn't been around the others when they were taken but she was quickly informed as soon as Buffy1 had gone missing. The Xander, Anya, Willow and Spike of their world had been with her patrolling when she was taken. Then Spike1 was taken shortly after. The dark haired slayer had been on her bike rushing to Buffy1's house when the portal appeared in front of her and she was sucked through.
On the other hand, Faith2 had no idea what had happened to her. She hadn't been in contact with Buffy2 or Angel2 in quite a long time and Spike2's crew hadn't even thought to have called her after he was taken. She was, understandably, the most confused when arriving in the warehouse with the other Faiths.
Even though some of them had a hunch as to how they got to the warehouse they still had no idea where they were, why they were there, or why there were three other girls that looked almost exactly like them who looked equally confused.
They had initially tried to stay calm and talk to each other to try and figure out what had happened, but as soon as Faith3 realized that the other Faiths weren't vampires like herself she realized that she should probably get out of there. The other Faiths sensed something different about her and quickly came to the conclusion that they shouldn't let her leave.
At first Faith2 and Faith4 thought that maybe she was evil like they had been for a brief period of their lives. But, whatever it was about her, they all didn't want to be the ones responsible for unleashing her into the general public.
When they attempted to stop her she quickly revealed exactly what it was that was different about her. She vamped out and tried to fight them off. Unfortunately for her, three slayers against one vampire proved to be an easy match. The three human Faiths pretty much kicked Faith3's ass and backed her into a corner as they stood guard.
It wasn't long after that when they were found by Buffy, Angel, Spike and Angel4.
The four warriors explained to the Faiths everything that they currently knew. They informed them that their reality's Buffies, Angels and Spikes were safely back at Wolfram & Hart and that their people were doing everything they could to try and figure out what was going on.
Angel4 had immediately recognized the Faith from his world. Faith4 seemed to recognize him as well which seemed to make her feel slightly more clam.
Faith3 was naturally extremely frustrated at being held captive and gaining the knowledge that aside from the three vampires from her world everyone else was human or ensouled. Luckily for the others, Angel had brought a tranquilizer gun along with him in anticipation of finding someone from the vampire world. The vampire Faith was quickly knocked out before they even left the building.
As soon as they had found the alternate Faiths, Buffy found herself becoming immediately uncomfortable. She picked out Faith1 almost immediately as she was the only one giving the blonde slayer that look that people have when they're put in a room with their ex. That, and Faith1, upon realizing that the original Buffy wasn't her Buffy, had immediately asked if her Buffy was alright.
As everyone walked into the room, Faith1 was now looking extremely nervous about the fact that she was about to come face to face with her ex.
Faith2 was the first to enter the office behind Buffy, Angel and Spike. She found it fairly easy to spot the people from her world. Buffy2 and Angel2 were parents and she was assuming that they were the only ones. Buffy's ratty hair and stained clothing, and Angel's human attire that actually consisted of something other then black cloths and a leather duster easily gave them away.
She had also become fairly good friends with Spike2 over the years so she found it easy to pick him out of the crowd as well.
As she approached the group of three she found herself oddly nervous. She hadn't seen Buffy2 and Angel2 in quite some time. She still spoke to Angel2 on the phone occasionally, but she had this sinking feeling that Buffy2 still wasn't over what she had done to her so many years ago.
"Faith," Spike2 greeted her first. "Are you alright?"
Faith2 shrugged her shoulders in response. "Five by five," she answered. "Just…slightly confused."
"Welcome to the club," Angel2 said with a friendly smile that took off some of the tension on the dark slayers shoulders.
Angel4 and Faith4 had fallowed behind Faith2. They spotted Buffy4 and Spike4 in a corner of the office and walked over to them with small smiles on their faces.
Aside from the evil vampire crew, these four were the only ones that had all been together in their reality.
The four of them exchanged silent glances, all seeming to be relieved that they weren't alone but at the same time worried for those they had left behind.
"Welcome to the world of weird," Buffy4 broke the silence with a small smile.
Faith4 smiled back at her and nodded her head slightly. "Yeah, thanks," she responded sarcastically.
Faith1 was the last to walk into Angel's office. She took a deep breath to prepare herself before entering. As soon as she walked in she began to survey the room for the Buffy from her world. After being with the blonde for so long she knew that she would recognize her right away.
Sure enough, as soon as the dark haired slayer spotted Buffy1 she knew it was her Buffy.
She slowly walked up to the blonde slayer who was standing with what seemed to be the Angel and Spike of their world. As she got closer to Buffy1 she tried to analyze the look on her face to try and predict what kind of reaction she was going to get. So far it seemed that she might be in the clear. Buffy1 didn't look upset or annoyed at the site of the brunette.
"Hey, Buffy," the nervous slayer managed to get out when she reached her group. She anxiously placed both hands in her back pockets as she awaited a response.
Buffy1 tried her best not to make any expressions at all. She had really been hoping that the new group wasn't going to be Faiths, but she was glad to see that the brunette was ok.
"Faith," she greeted, not really knowing what else to say.
Faith1 bit her lower lip slightly. At least this was going a little better then she had thought it might go.
"I'm glad you're ok," Faith1 chanced to say. "I was…we were worried," she added, catching herself at the end.
Buffy1 sent the other slayer a slightly confused look.
Faith1 quickly understood the confusion and began to explain. "Xander called me. He told me what happened. I left to go to your house as soon as I hung up with him, but then as I'm on my way I all of the sudden ended up in this warehouse with a bunch of me look-alikes."
The blonde slayer tried her best not to smile at the fact that the other slayer was rushing to her house as soon as she found out that something was wrong with her. That meant that she still cared.
She quickly shoved that smile away though as memories of why they broke up in the first place began to surface. Her face began to harden once again.
"You didn't have to come and…" the blonde began to say before being cut off.
"I know," Faith1 interrupted as she looked to the floor in slight shame. She then looked back up at Buffy1 and sent her a very serious, caring look. "I just wanted to make sure you were ok."
The dark haired slayer really wasn't making it easy for Buffy1 to be upset with her. She too found herself looking down to the floor for a moment. When she looked back up and into Faith1's eyes she simply responded, "Thank you."
A small, hopefully half smile appeared on Faith1's face as she replied, "You're welcome."