Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted materials contained herein. They are the rightful property of their respective creators and/or associated companies. I make no profit off of this whatsoever and I have no intention of changing this at any point in the future. I write because it's fun and because there are those who enjoy reading my stories. Therefore I would greatly appreciate it if no legal action were taken against me. I can promise that you won't make even a tenth of your legal fees back from me. I am just that poor.
The Indian Radar Station Hub, Twenty-Five Minutes Later, Eastern Side of the Building,
Buffy's POV
Just five more minutes, JUST FIVE MORE MINUTES, and we can pull out! she thought to herself as she fired another wounding shot from her SOCOM handgun.
It had been a long couple of hours but the end was finally in sight.
As one they'd worked to keep the Indian military out with a minimum of blood and death, waiting for the moment in which they'd get the signal to withdraw. Four of them had done all they could to keep the body count as low as possible but Dawn… her little sister… had made sure every single one of her shots resulted in a death. She'd done all she could with words to convince the cyborg that was her sister to shoot to wound and nothing more but all she'd gotten was some military mumbo-jumbo about how that'd reduce mission success probability by over twenty percent. Once more she cursed Mayfield for what the bitch had done because, as long as the directives were there, her sister was a slave to them.
She knew the others were working on a plan for making them free once again but it was maddening to know this without any details. She didn't know how far along their plans were or what her role in them would be and, because of that, she had precious little to reassure her soul with as time went by. However her faith in her friends was strong, so she waited and resisted the growing compulsion to say 'to hell with it' and going right after Mayfield, banking on the belief that it'd all be worth it. If things went on too long… she might just go with her option of last resort and sacrifice everything to end the evil that was Mayfield.
Even if that meant cutting through Dawn in the process because she truly believed that her sister would rather be dead than a blood-coated monster.
After all, she was having a hard enough time making through this nightmare and she was in full control of her body. It must have been ten times worse for Dawn, who didn't even have that. If she had been the one stuck inside a Terminator body and forced to follow the directives of her slave master, she'd want someone to put her out of her misery too.
So just like time was running out on this mission, so too was it running out on her faith in her friends.
Wincing a bit as a burst of semi-auto fire managed to injure her left shoulder, she brought her mind back to the present before firing her handgun in the direction of the shots that'd hit her. This late in the game she wasn't too worried about the injury since they'd be aboard their extraction craft soon enough. Using her Solid Eye, she decided to fire off the rest of her ammo while she could since it wouldn't be needed in another four minutes and five seconds. Aiming for any solid object an inch in any direction of one of the human soldiers, she succeeded in spooking them into ducking deep behind their cover to save themselves. Keeping their heads down would be enough for the time being, especially since the Indian military had lost the last batch of their heavy weapons fifteen minutes ago. It'd been a series of close calls dodging the explosives while at the same time keeping her head together enough to prevent even one trooper from getting by her, but she'd managed. Fortunately her cyborg body was not only strong but it was also capable of moving at speeds that'd let her run up a pillar while it was still falling mid-air.
True, that was only when she activated the systems boost function of her cyborg body, but even without it she was easily quick enough to dodge just about anything with a second or two of warning.
Before much longer her SOCOM ran dry and, since her tranq gun was also lacking in ammo, that meant that it was time to get creative. Charging forward at the oncoming soldiers, she used the superior speed her body gave her to get in close and, the second a gun got within arms' reach, she ripped it from its previous owner's hands. A light, for her, anyway, swing with the butt off the assault rifle to the man's head and he was down unconscious on the ground, freeing her up to dance between his buddies to do the same thing to them. As a side benefit this would make it harder for Dawn to kill anyone since (she hoped) there were rules inside her head that forbid hurting or killing a teammate on a mission. Not that that would do much good karma-wise since her little sister had already racked up the highest kill count of the lot of them but every little bit counted where God was concerned.
She hoped!
She was about done with the final soldier when her comm. system beeped.
"Priority message to all operatives. Mission complete. Disengage. Proceed to designated extraction point. Departure time: fifteen minutes."
YES! Time to drop this mission and bolt! She fired one final spray of bullets at the feet of the oncoming soldiers using a 'liberated' rifle before to dropping the weapon and running for the nav point shown on her Solid Eye.
Dawn had already heard the recall and was making her way to the extraction point at top Terminator land speed but, in a moment of sibling competition she decided to make a race of it. Leaping, she took to the roof of the radar station's main building since she still remembered the class she took where Mister Peterson had told her that the shortest distance between two points was a straight line. She didn't hit the boost button yet since there wasn't any need for that but she kept it in reserve for that final length of the race just in case.
As she entered the forested area, she could spot out of the corner of her eyes the rest of the Scoobies and, from what little she could make out, they were in decent shape. They still looked like they'd had a rough couple of rounds with the Indian military but nothing that'd require major medical methods to fix. They encountered a few of their former playmates along the way but, given that these guys had trouble taking on ONE of them, they didn't do any better facing ALL of them. Add to that the speed each of them could run at and it wasn't long before all the troops were left behind either gasping for air or possibly radioing for some aircraft to keep track of them. Assuming that the extraction vehicle was the Pelican then that wouldn't do them much good once the cloak on that thing engaged.
Ten minutes later the Scoobies exited into a clearing where just as she'd hoped the Pelican was waiting for them with the rear hatch open. Piling inside like a stampede of bulls, they quickly strapped themselves in before Xander delivered two loud knocks to the wall dividing their compartment from the cockpit. The pilots heard him and a moment later they were airborne, surging forward the moment they cleared the trees.
Washington Hotel, Thirty Minutes Later, Samantha Carter's POV
The phone rang.
She hated it when this happened even though she had gotten used to it at the same time, given her long military career. A person with a career in the military was always on call and, since no one could ever predict when something would come up, that would require they report for duty. It could be the middle of the night or late in the afternoon. Regardless of when the call came they were expected to show up for work within the hour and no later.
She just hoped this was important.
Reaching over, she picked up the phone. "Colonel Carter speaking…"
"Sam, turn on the TV! Channel Twenty-Two! NOW!" General O'Neill said from the phone.
She knew instantly from the tone of his voice that something serious had happened so, with all the speed her still half asleep body could muster, she grabbed the remote control for the television and turned it on.
"To repeat: there has been a nuclear detonation in Srinagar, a summer capital of the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir, covering a radius of forty miles," the news anchor reported with a tense look on his face. "While we are still gathering information, the death toll is expected to be over a million with many more suffering from radiation and fallout. There has been no official statement yet from the Pentagon regarding the circumstances surrounding the detonation but we expect one within the hour."
"My god! Have you heard anything, sir?" she asked, almost unable to believe what she'd just heard.
"Only a little bit more than the media knows and something from our 'overseas' interests," Jack said, sounding like something 'more' was bothering him. "Apparently the opposing side of our little 'problem', two weeks ago, showed up and, considering the timing, I think it's pretty certain that they're involved with this recent explosive development."
It didn't take even a tenth of her intellect to figure out what O'Neill's words really meant.
The assassins that were responsible for killing the IOA representatives, along with the chairman, had appeared again and somehow they were connected to the nuclear destruction in Srinagar. However it was doubtful that her former C.O. would be able to say more over an unsecure line like this and, if things got as bad as she thought they might, then she needed to get down to the Pentagon pronto.
"I'm on my way, sir!" she said, getting out of the bed and going to her suitcase to grab some clothes.
"Good. I'll see if I can figure out more before you get here. Bye!" Jack said before hanging up the phone on his end.
It took five minutes for her to get dressed, another three to get to the ground floor of the hotel and five to hail a cab that'd take her to the Pentagon. All during the drive she tried to find a pattern, a line of reasoning, SOMETHING to connect three separate incidents together and help her get a sense of what the Big Picture was so that they could start acting rather than reacting. First an attack on Area Fifty-One that destroyed everything, leaving nothing but a crater behind, then the assassination of the IOA members and now the nuclear destruction of a large part of Kashmir. The first two made her think that this was an attack on the SGC and Homeworld Security since both were connected to Area Fifty-One as well as the IOA. However this newest wrinkle, this new catastrophe, didn't fit the pattern at all… unless the goal of the operation was to finally put faces to the phantom force attacking them. General O'Neill was under pressure enough up until today to find these assassins when no one knew what they looked like and only had a general idea of their threat level.
Depending on how detailed the information was that the Indian government had, they could have everything they needed to know about the assassins, down to pictures of their faces, or they could only have eye witness accounts from the people who survived their activities there. While she knew they had to be grateful for whatever information they could obtain, it would be nice if they had something a little more than colored eye witness reports. If they had video recordings of them in action, shell casings from their weapons, or even some blood, then they could make real progress on learning how to defend themselves against this new technology as well as perhaps finding them. She still couldn't quite make herself believe that Lizzie, her cousin, was one of the assassins behind the IOA murders, so finding some kind of tangible proof would do a lot to put her mind at ease on that regard.
As the cab pulled up to the curb in front of the Pentagon, she realized that objectively she had to consider the alternative possibility: that Lizzie was one of the assassins. She hadn't seen her cousin much over the last ten years or so, both due to her duties at the SGC and the fact that there just never seemed to be a good time with the younger woman. Out of the entire ten years, she could count the number of times they'd spoken on both her hands while counting the times they'd actually seen each other on one. Still, in few those times they'd actually gotten together, nothing had made her believe that her cousin would willingly take another human life. To her that meant that if she was the assassin, then someone was forcing her to kill and, considering that Dawn had been kidnapped as well, that meant she was likely the leverage. That meant that if they were going to free Lizzie, they had to figure out where the perpetrators were keeping Dawn and rescue her. With a little luck the young woman would know where her big sister was located so they could go two for two in the rescuing department.
Assuming there isn't some other kind of leverage involved, she thought as she entered the elevator to take her to the second level of the Pentagon. If that turns out to be the case, then I'll have to think up another way of rescuing the two of them.
When she finally got to Jack's office, she caught the tail end of a conversation he was having with someone else over the phone.
"And you REALLY thought that the leader of a big name arms dealer would be supervising the theft of a NUKE!?" Jack asked at the top of his voice in pure anger. "Are you THAT mentally challenged!?"
Sounds like whatever details he's managed to dig up aren't good, she thought as she knocked on the door to his office.
"Come in!" General O'Neil yelled, causing her to open the door. "You better hope we can come up with some kind of excuse to feed the Indian government or you'll live just long enough to see the start of World War Three! Goodbye!"
With that the silver haired general slammed the phone down into its cradle, severing the connection and then, for some reason, he did it a couple of more times for good measure. Storming away from his desk, it was clear to her that the man needed a moment to cool down so she kept quiet until he looked rational again, which took about five minutes.
"Sorry to roust you out of bed, Carter, but we've got a real shit storm in the making here." O'Neill said after taking a deep breath.
"Well, you were a little short on the details over the phone, sir. Care to give me the whole story?"
"As you saw on TV, a little over half an hour ago a nuke went off in Srinagar, destroying the entire capital and irradiating everything within forty miles of ground zero. Normally while this would've made the news and crossed the desks of some people here at the Pentagon, mine would not have been one of them. What changed that was the fact that eight hours prior to the detonation, a major radar station hub was taken over by a team of five people and shut down." Jack replied elaborating on what he'd said earlier. "Again this wouldn't have reached my ears except for the fact that each member of this team exhibited abilities and possessed technology far more advanced than anything commonly known. Fortunately the CIA had an operative in the Indian military who happened to be stationed as a communications officer. He overheard the whole thing."
"What did he say?" she asked, eager for any information he could provide.
"Not much. He couldn't stay on the line long without blowing his cover," Jack replied, sounding a bit annoyed at that fact. "What he did say was that they managed to keep a sizeable portion of the Indian military at bay for the full eight hours with nothing more impressive than an RPG-7 at their disposal. The Indian force included gunships and armored vehicles."
"That… certainly does imply that the team was either very good or possessed a significant edge over the Indian military," she said, a bit shocked at the feat that Lizzie may or may not have achieved with four others.
"Yep. From what the agent could tell, they could move faster than any human should be capable of AND took direct hits from automatic weapons fire with barely a flinch to show for it." O'Neill sat back in his chair. "Other than that the only thing that he was able to get out before he had to hang up was that one of the team members showed signs of heavy cybernetic implants and not of the primitive kind."
"How heavy?" she asked, trying to get a grasp of things.
"Based on what he heard? Apparently all the way up to the neck." Jack replied, sounding as concerned as she felt at the moment.
That… did not bode well.
While significant achievements had been made in the last decade or so with regards to prosthetics, nothing came even close to actual physical implants, much less to the degree the CIA agent indicated. To hear that one of the possible assassins had been implanted to that degree and that the implants apparently gave the assassin such impressive capabilities implied off world technology. Nothing they'd developed through the technology they'd brought back through the Stargate even touched the area of cybernetics, much less to that degree.
"The agent said that he'd try to get ahold of some camera footage from the helmets of the soldiers or the choppers that got shot up," General O'Neill said, sounding like he thought he'd be waiting a while. "Once we have it, we can take a look and see if we can ID anyone or anything."
She'd definitely be checking in regularly with Jack to see when he got the footage so they could both watch it at the same time.
"The real FUBAR part though was when I tried to figure out what they were doing there in the first place. Obviously they were sent to take the place and shut it down but the WHY wasn't exactly clear." Jack said, sounding liking he was working himself back up. "All it did was blackout a section of their monitoring system for aircraft. So I asked around to see if anything odd was going on in that blacked out area and it was when I talked to a friend in Spec Ops that I got something. Apparently a week ago someone managed to lift a B38 nuke from a place north of Langely and they connected it to an arms dealer known as the Crimson Skull. Big VIP in those circles apparently. They tracked him down to an Indian extremist named Ganesh, who just so happened to be in Srinagar and so they sent a Spec Ops team in to get the bomb back and nab the ones involved. No one knows what happened next for obvious reasons."
"Oh god!" she gasped as she realized how badly things could go if word got out that the nuke came from the USA.
It was bad enough that so many people were killed in such a contested area between India and Pakistan but if one side or the other found out that it was a US nuke… Jack's prediction of World War Three might not be that far-fetched. Over a million people were dead and more were probably dying horrible deaths as a result of radiation poisoning and serious burns. India was going to want blood for that and, if things got heated up between them and Pakistan, more people would die turning the entire region into a furnace of conflict. If America's involvement with the nuke made it to the governments of both nations, things would get VERY bad, VERY quickly. It might take a while since neither nation had ready access to the technology needed to detect the fallout and residual elements of the explosion in order to confirm that it came from the US but it would happen eventually.
"If you're right and the occupation of the radar station hub is connected to the detonation of the B38, then it might've been the objective from the beginning to set off a global conflict." she said as dots were connected in her mind.
"Come again?" Jack asked, obviously not being as quick with the connections as her.
"Ever since the attack on Area Fifty-One, I've been trying to figure out if it was just a one-time thing or part of a larger game plan," she replied as she laid out her thoughts. "When the attack on the IOA reps happened, I believed even more that someone was working towards a bigger goal. The two attacks were aimed at a location and an organization with ties to both Homeworld Security and the SGC, resulting in pressure being put on us as well as stretching our resources out. The more pressure that's put on us, the more effort we have to put into finding the people responsible, but if the person behind it all plays their cards right, they can move about in a rush undetected."
"So you think this is all one big smokescreen?" O'Neill asked, things coming together in his mind.
"Yes. If I'm right something big is coming and whoever is behind this is just keeping us too busy to see what that something is."
"Then we need to figure out what this mysterious someone is trying to keep us from seeing," Jack said, sounding less than optimistic. "Any ideas?"
Ten Days Later, Farrow-Marshall Aeronautics R&D Facility, Supposedly Abandoned
Northern Tip of the Rocky Mountains, British Columbia, Canada
Scooby Quarters, Giles' POV
"How're things going with you and 'Cortana', G-man?" Xander asked, sitting down next to him on the specially prepared bed. "Any new and exciting revelations?"
This struck him as odd.
While all of them had stuck close to each other, leaned on each other for emotional support, none of them had started a conversation quite like Xander had. Nevertheless, he decided to play along just out of curiosity to see where the conversation went in case the destination turned out to be worth the trip.
"Not really. We've mostly been spending our time debating strategy and tactics," he replied, being mostly honest with his words. "Nothing useful for our favorite scenarios but we still have variables to explore. I'm confident victory will come eventually."
"Good! Just don't be surprised if I beat you to the finish line," Xander said with his usual lopsided smile before putting his nanosuit's mask back on. "I wonder if Willow's managed to do better."
With that the young man walked towards the former redhead, leaving him to puzzle out the meaning behind the words just spoken. The obvious translation, the one that anyone listening in was supposed to hear, was that Xander was using the acquired skills and memories of Prophet to sharpen his strategy devising skills. It was not a bad way to pass the time but, if the truth was located between the proverbial lines, then the young man would know he really meant that he and the A.I. had been working on an escape plan with little success. If the nanosuit wearer was being equally subtle, then it could be inferred that the young man had hit a breakthrough with his own efforts. How big of a breakthrough it was could not be determined from the discussion moments ago but, given how little reason they had to smile these days, he presumed it to be quite big. Indeed, if he went further between the lines, he could assume that the lad intended to pass this news along to the others as subtly as he could.
It would be a big boost to morale and sooth the scars on their souls.
He was just about to get off his bed to help spread the good news when the door to their room opened and their blonde captor entered with one of her bodyguards, wheeling a television as well as a DVD player. Immediately he got to his feet and moved to place himself between the woman and Buffy in order to decrease the odds of the Slayer lunging at their tormentor. All of them had done their best to weaken the flames of hatred and rage within their friend but it was still up in the air as to whether it'd be enough when the wench was actually in the room. Recalling where Dawn had been positioned when the door had opened, he seriously hoped her older sibling would realize the danger of having an enemy at her rear, one that had proven capable of 'restraining' her before when she'd tried to attack Mayfield without a lot of difficulty.
"I trust you are all doing well today?" Mayfield asked with a smile on her face as her bodyguard prepared the hardware for use. "You had quite a trying time in India and I imagine that even with your 'enhancements' you were quite tired. That was why I waited until now to show you the fruits of your labors."
"What? You want to gloat over the killing you made with your 'merchandise'?" Buffy asked with her usual hostile edge.
"You have a way with words, Miss Summers, because killing is definitely the correct word for the situation!" Charlotte laughed before taking the DVD player's remote from her bodyguard's offering hand.
With the click of a button the static-filled screen vanished to be replaced with what looked to be a CNN news broadcast but his attention swiftly sharpened when he saw then read the headline at the bottom of the screen.
'HOSTILITIES BREAK OUT BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN'
From there it was a simple matter to listen to the news anchor as he laid out the details for all to hear.
"We have reached the tenth day of a situation that could escalate into a nuclear confrontation at any moment. It was ten days ago that a nuclear weapon detonated in the city of Srinagar, located within an area heavily contested by the governments of Pakistan and India, killing over a million of its inhabitants. However that was only the beginning of the tragedy for those that survived the blast were forced to suffer through severe burns as well as radiation exposure," the anchorman said, only briefly taking a look at the papers in his hands. "Since the initial blast, though, many have succumbed to these injuries, increasing the death toll by the tens of thousands. In the face of such horrific death, destruction and misery, there is one question that is on everyone's minds: who is responsible for this atrocity?
"Inquiries made to the relevant government departments have yielded only that an investigation is underway to answer that question but no concrete answers. We have checked with our sources in both the Indian government as well as the Pakistan government but, understandably, we were only able to get short answers to our inquiries." An image of the affected region appeared with circles showing the degree of destruction. "What we have been told is that both governments believe the other to be responsible for the detonation of the nuclear device, causing an ever-rising escalation in animosity between them. At the moment neither India nor Pakistan have officially declared war but, unless evidence can be uncovered exonerating both nations, it is the outcome our experts expect.
"The reactions of the various neighboring countries vary from openly pledging their support to one of the involved nations, to imploring them to not act until definitive proof of guilt is found. The spokesperson for the White House has made it clear that America will make every effort to give humanitarian and medical aid to those affected by the blast. Aid will also be provided to uncover who is responsible for this terrible loss of life, with every resource being utilized to this end. We will bring you more as the story develops."
The recording ended returning the screen to static but both he as well as his former charges were too overcome with shock as their minds connected their previous mission to the event described by the news broadcast. A part of him wanted to believe that the entire thing was fake and that it had been created for the sole purpose of making them all suffer but his more realistic side knew it to be the truth. The 'merchandise' that Mayfield had asked them to help in delivering had been a nuclear weapon and, for reasons unclear, it had been detonated in one of the world's most heavily contested regions. Had the woman sold the nuclear device to terrorists? Representatives of either government who wished to take violent action? He did not know but the bottom line was that, however ignorant they were of the details, they had helped kill over a million people.
With his mind so overwhelmed he imagined that it was only because of Cortana/Jenny that he was still standing since he didn't think he was focused enough to stand at the moment.
The others, with the exception of Dawn, didn't have that problem as he saw Willow and Xander drop to the ground, with disbelief on the former's face. Even with all they had done, all the lives they'd been forced to take since entering into Mayfield's employ, they had clung to the belief that it was not impossible to atone for the deaths they'd caused. Now… now they were faced with a number that was beyond comprehension for them because just how easy could it be for a person to visualize over a million human beings?
"Business will truly be booming for the next few years," Charlotte Mayfield said, sounding overjoyed at the fat contracts she'd sign with one of the involved governments. "It'll be nice to have such generous customers."
Customers?
She was going to sell weapons to BOTH countries?!
It was then that a combination of his own analytical mind and John's ability to discern the truth relating to matters of war that revealed a possibility that made his earlier shock pale in comparison. Shock that swiftly turned to barely controlled rage as he soon began to wish that there was someone strong enough to restrain him because his self-control was being put to the test at the moment.
"You did it. Didn't you?" Xander asked with a voice that could freeze the sun.
"You'll have to be more specific with the 'it', Agent Prophet." Mayfield said with all but her eyes looking puzzled. "I've done a great many things."
"You detonated the nuke. It wasn't terrorists, criminals or soldiers that set it off," Xander said, keeping his chilly tone of voice. "Either you pressed the button yourself or whoever delivered it started the countdown before getting out of range of the blast."
"Ah! I understand now. As to your inquiry it was more the latter than the former," she replied, not looking or sounding the least bit guilty. "I gave the order to enter the code for the countdown to begin to the subordinate on site not long before giving the order for your team to withdraw."
"YOU MONSTER!" Buffy exclaimed in fury but, surprisingly, this was not accompanied by action. "DO YOU EVEN CARE THAT OVER A MILLION PEOPLE ARE DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!?"
"If by 'care' you mean did I cry myself through an entire box of Kleenex or empty a bottle of expensive liquor, then no I did not," Mayfield replied, sounding completely unconcerned. "My only concern is that the action produces the results I desire and, unless something dramatically stabilizing occurs, I believe it will."
"Results?" Willow asked, sounding as though all emotion had left her.
"War. Glorious, profitable war," Mayfield replied, dollar signs practically glowing in her eyes. "Both Pakistan and India will pay through the nose to get their hands on the latest in weapons technology and I plan on supplying both sides. Oh, I'll be smart about it, of course, start with one before being 'swayed' or 'blackmailed' into arming the other side, and then 'courageously' seeing the error of my ways and returning to my original client. I actually have a political analyst, a psychologist, a sociologist, a fiction writer and an astute conspiracy theorist mapping out how to get the most out of both nations as we speak. I believe the first draft will be ready by the end of the week for my perusal."
"You… set off a nuke… and potentially started a war… for MONEY!?" Xander asked, finally showing some fire through the cracks of his icy emotional mask.
"No. Not for money. For A LOT of MONEY," Mayfield replied with a bit of humor to her tone. "We're talking in the billions here, young man. True, those two countries would probably have gone to war sooner or later without my involvement but I prefer a more hands on approach to making a profit. Why wait for the Fates to get things rolling when you can do it yourself, right?"
At that moment he believed he was safe in assuming that everyone with even a shred of morality wanted to make the woman suffer for a month before finally killing her. Like him, though, they realized that an attack now would likely end in failure because the woman wasn't stupid enough to walk into the proverbial lion's den, poke said lions with a stick and not take precautions. Indeed, unless his eyes deceived him, the woman had one hand in her pocket and, given the shape of the bulge, likely had a remote of some kind inside. The remote was likely set to trigger the pain inducing implants, meaning the 'businesswoman' could likely drop all four of them with half a second's warning.
DAMN IT ALL!
"Now I suggest you all relax and get as much rest as possible," Mayfield said as she turned to leave. "I have your next mission almost ready for you. I'm just waiting on a few pieces of information to reach my hands before sending you off. Ta, darlings!"
With that the woman left and her bodyguard followed close behind, shutting the door on his way out.
"Patience guys," Xander said, sounding like he was having difficulty with the concept himself. "Patience. Patient people will get rewarded and sometimes sooner than they expect."
He knew that the young man meant he almost had a cure for their collars but patience was a little hard when every day that went by meant more dead innocents.
Nevertheless, all would do their best because in the end that was all they could do.
For now.
Homeworld Security HQ, Ten Days Later, Early Afternoon,
Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill's POV
I swear it's days like this that I wish Hammond had court marshaled me after we took out Apophis' two mother ships! he thought as he picked up another 'intelligence report' but not expecting much from it.
He'd read so many dead end reports he could probably predict what they were going to say word for word by now. The only piece of information he didn't have, the one he really wanted, was whatever the Indian government had on the group that took down then occupied the radar station. He wanted it because it would not only help in preventing any future FUBAR situations but it'd also put to rest any doubts Carter might have about her cousin. He could see it written all over his former second in command's face whenever they saw each other, that not knowing for certain what Lizzie was up to was tearing her up inside. Sure, they had a lot of circumstantial information saying that the cousin he'd never met was involved in the mess they were dealing with but nothing concrete like a picture or a recording from a video camera. As long as that little bit of uncertainty existed, Carter wouldn't be able to completely focus on any task she was given and that could lead to problems down the road. Distracted people tended to make mistakes and distracted genius scientists tended to make BIG mistakes that could cost them a lot.
He'd called in what favors he had to be kept apprised of everything the spy in India managed to uncover or send back home but that'd been precious little so far. With the Indian government up in arms over the nuke, they were upping the security all over the place to catch spies, bombers and people like that before they could do anything. That made things a little difficult for any undercover operative to phone home, especially since the penalty for being caught was probably a bullet. When added to the fact that the people higher up the chain of command were still sweating bullets about whether or not the truth would come out about the nuke being American…
So far they were alright in that neither government, Indian or Pakistani, were making subtle or blunt comments about the US being involved in the blast. He figured that the people in charge of coming up with cover stories were probably destroying some evidence, fabricating other pieces of evidence and generally doing everything they can to give America plausible deniability. Lord knew it'd be better than the truth which was that someone stole a nuke right out from under their noses, tricked them into thinking an arms dealer did it and had a spec ops team next to the bomb when it blew. He still wanted to know how the hell they'd been that close and not been able to stop it from going off because the intel he had so far said the thing wasn't rigged for remote detonation. Someone would've either had to type in the activation code with the spec ops team in the room or started the countdown timer before the soldiers got there. Neither scenario smelled right but, without more intel to work with, no one could come up with a clearer picture of what'd happened.
His computer beeped repeatedly, causing him to turn to see that someone was trying to vid-conference with him and, when he checked out who it was, he almost left his office on the spot.
It was McKay.
The man was without a doubt one of the smartest people on the planet who was in the know about aliens and everything the SGC was involved in but he was also an arrogant asshole who never failed to rub everyone's face in how smart he was. Still, the fact that the man was asking for a vid-conference interested him enough that he decided to stick around rather than flee his office in terror. The man had been working on the Easter egg left by the assassin that'd killed Strom non-stop since he'd gotten a hold of it but so far hadn't been able to crack it open. If that'd changed it could prove to be the big break that they'd been hoping for and that was worth putting up with McKay's usual cocky attitude. Clicking on the right icon, he waited while all the necessary encryption and security software fell into place before a window opened showing Rodney's face. The man looked like he'd barely slept or ate since he'd started working on the Easter egg but the smile on his face was encouraging.
"What's up, Doc?" he asked, deciding to take advantage of the positive energy present.
"Very original, Jack," McKay replied, like the quip was amateurish. "Just thought I'd let you know I've finally cracked the Easter egg. It was tough, whoever designed it was good, but I am just that much better."
"So this egg have something interesting inside or is your beating it all we have?" he asked, deciding to skip the casual chit-chat for now.
New info on the assassins had to take priority.
"After cracking open the egg the only thing I found was a name. Charlotte Mayfield," Rodney said, sounding like he had a little more to reveal. "However with all the time I spent trying to open it, I managed to confirm one more thing. I think I know who made this particular Easter egg."
"Who?" he asked, eager for anything that could help them make some progress.
"The design and the framework matches an old hacker acquaintance of mine. Her name…well, I assume it's a she… can't be sure with cyberspace and all… was RedWitch01. She's been an active hacker since the late nineties and has managed to get into some rather impressive places," McKay said, sounding like he was talking about a potential protégé. "It wasn't until early two thousand that her skill was at a level where I'd entertain going a few rounds with her to humble her a bit. Getting cocky is what gets a lot of hackers caught and thrown in prison for twenty-five to life."
"Heaven forbid she not heed your superior experience," he said, implying that the man was cocky himself.
"Whatever. Anyway, it wasn't until three years later that she got good enough for me to actually take some of her challenges seriously. We kept in touch after that, exchanging tips and proposing challenges, even managed to send each other a few Christmas presents, daring each other to try to track the packages back to their source." McKay now sounded like he was referring to a friend and that was impressive given the man's personality. "Naturally things dropped off after I joined the Atlantis expedition but when we started getting mail every so often, I managed to convince a friend to act as a go between. Bottom line? This is her work without a doubt. Every hacker has their own style and signature when it comes to programming and this is hers for certain."
"You ever get close to figuring out who RedWitch01 was when she wasn't sitting in front of a computer?" he asked since a real name would be easier to run a search on than hacker alias.
"I was able to trick her into revealing that she was one of the survivors of the Sunnydale Sinkhole and that she'd left the country soon afterwards but nothing else. If we check for female survivors with a high IQ, we might be able to narrow down the possibilities," McKay said, sounding minimally annoyed that he couldn't give a name for his friend/protégé. "Another thing I noticed was that the Easter egg looked like it was put together in a rush. Still tough to crack but the weak spots I used to open it up were things she would've known to protect. Makes me think she did it in a hurry, maybe even a couple of minutes before she started reducing the blue blood population, and that does not sound like someone who'd planned to do it from the beginning. More like someone who thought of it at the last minute and did a rush job."
"You think she's trying to slip something past her 'new boss'?" he asked as a picture began to form in his mind.
"Probably. If her new job is closely monitored then she wouldn't have had the time to put together a quality piece of programming. Even doing something like this might've been a big risk." McKay replied, nodding in agreement with the possibility.
"Sounds like whoever her boss is, they aren't the trusting cuddly type," he said, linking this with what was suspected about Lizzie. "Go online and check with the rest of the hacker crowd. See if any of them have more current info about your friend or any idea who she really is."
"Already put out a few requests but I wouldn't expect much," McKay said, sounding like his opinion of those he contacted was barely what could be called respectable. "They aren't in RedWitch01's league."
"Better than nothing. Now if you don't mind, I've got paperwork to get through," he said, sounding like he was open to ANY reason not to go back to the paperwork.
"I'll let you know if something relevant comes up. Bye," McKay said before terminating the vid-conference at his end.
It was beginning to come together.
All of it.
Charlotte Mayfield was the host of a Goold that'd worked under Ba'al at Farrow-Marshal Aeronautics but, ever since the amnesia bit with Vala, there'd been no sign of her. Athena, the name the snake head chose for itself, was still on the 'locate and capture' list for the alphabet agencies and, through the IOA, other law enforcement agencies were also keeping an eye out. Still, he knew that finding her had probably been delegated down the ladder since nothing tangible had been found lead-wise in a long time.
If that Snake Head's the one calling the shots, she'll hit the SGC and NORAD soon enough. He picked up the phone and began to dial Sam's number. Here's hoping she's got that countermeasure she was talking about last time running.
When he got off with her he'd put things in motion to have security at Cheyenne Mountain increased for at least the next three months, if not a bit longer.
Just when you think you'd seen the last of 'em, one more slithers out from under her rock!
Thebes, Greece
A Medium Sized Mansion on the Outskirts
I see my brother hasn't lost his taste for large, temple-like structures, she thought, looking at the mansion that appeared very much like an upgraded version of the places that once had a great deal of traffic going through them. I hope he doesn't make all his guests do the same sort of things or else he isn't going to have this place very long.
Her brother was still going by the name Adrian, thankfully, so that'd make things easier than they otherwise would've been. She had been tracking him down for a while now and it'd only taken longer since using magic would've only alerted the man that she was looking for him. They might be family but at the same time they rarely agreed on anything and that included how best to go about their shared specialty. She preferred a more strategic and well thought out approach while Adrian preferred to just charge in, kill them all and leave others to clean up the mess. Still, the few times that they actually agreed with one another were rather impressive to behold with few if any, enemies proving strong enough or smart enough to hold out for very long. However those days were gone and even if what she dreamed of came to pass, it was unlikely that either of them would be able to intervene directly as they once did.
The battle to come belonged to the young and it would be them that emerged victorious or fell before the coming storm.
Walking up to the front door, she pressed the doorbell and waited to be admitted into the mansion so she could speak with her brother. It didn't take long for footsteps to approach the door but, when it opened, she had to restrain her initial reaction to what she saw since being honest would not likely help her. Standing before her, wearing an outfit that could only have come from a sexy roleplay website, was a fairly attractive maid with a pasted on polite smile combined with a look of inquiry.
"Yes? May I help you?" the maid asked, no doubt to determine if she should admit the person in front of her.
"I wish to speak with Adrian. We're OLD friends," she replied, wondering if her brother would ever accept that the 'good old days' were long gone. "If he asks, tell him Anita is here to see him."
"Oh, yes! He's actually been expecting you for some time now," the maid said with a look of recognition before stepping to the side. "Please come in."
He's been expecting me? she thought as she remembered the days following the dream. Have I grown that rusty or did he simply have the same dream as I and anticipated that I would visit? I will find out soon enough I suppose.
As she followed the maid to where her brother was located, she cast her gaze about the immediate area, appraising what she saw while also comparing it to what had been present during her last visit to her sibling's home. Much of it was the same, with a smattering of weapons mounted on the wall mixed every so often with a painting of a battlefield that held special meaning, most likely for Adrian. While not as serious about it as her brother, she too had mementoes of past battles and dead friends spread out through her more secure homes. In this way they were not all that different from everyone else on the planet: nostalgia was attractive and memories tended to fade without visual aides to keep them sharp. What made her different from her brother was that he made sure that every weapon hung on his walls were in perfect working order so that they could be used in a real fight at a moment's notice. Considering how hard it likely was to find parts or, in some cases, the right maintenance equipment, it must have cost him quite a bit.
Eventually they reached a room and, once the doors were pushed open by the maid, she got her first look at her brother in a long time.
As expected the maid wasn't the only one wearing attire chosen by the gutter portion of her sibling's mind since two other young, attractive women were wearing similar clothes. One looked to be a lady butler while the other appeared to work in the kitchen if her cook outfit was anything to go by. She had to wonder what Adrian was paying them in order for the ladies to put up with his chauvinistic tastes but none of them seemed too uncomfortable, so she had no choice but to believe that they were willing employees.
Best make this quick, she thought, keeping her opinions to herself. I would rather not find out what outfits he chose for the stable workers out back.
"Sister! Long time no see!" Adrian exclaimed, putting down his wine glass as he got out of his chair to meet her. "How long as it been? Ten? Twenty years?"
"Seventeen, actually. I was supporting the Americans while you were whispering in the ear of that mustached fellow," she replied, remembering clearly the last time they'd seen each other.
"Oh yes! Pity the fool didn't listen to me more. Things might've turned out very differently for him if he had," Adrian said with a disappointed tone before it vanished. "In any case, I presume you're here about 'The Dream'."
"If you're referring to the one that bodes ill for the world, the one I believe is a vision of things to come, then yes that is the reason I have come," she replied, getting confirmation as to how her sibling knew she'd come. "Despite our differences, I think we can both agree that sitting this one out would not be wise by any measure of the word."
"Indeed. I have to say I was quite surprised with what I saw," he said as he stood before her. an intrigued look on his face. "I had thought those worms all but gone but it looks as though this one might just breathe new life into their corpse of a system."
"Worm? You mean…" she said with a bit of surprise as she connected the word 'worms' to the only race her brother had ever used the term for.
"Ah… I see that you did not perceive as much of the truth of the dream as I did, sister. Quite the slip up for one who was once hailed as the wiser of the two of us," he said, amused by getting one up on her. "Yes. It's them. The one using your name to be precise and it looks like she has some grand plans indeed. Not sure how she could get her hands on such advanced weapons and soldiers but I'd look up Janus if I were you. He did something rather impressive awhile back and, if I'm right, it's similar to his old Halloween trick."
Yet another of father's trysts come back to bite us in the ass! she thought angrily as she recalled her half-brother's past antics. The fool will doom this entire world with his games!
"I agree with your disposition, sister," he said, sounding displeased as well. "While war is a nice thing to have, it is only interesting when there's some question as to who will win. Unchallenged, your worm counterpart will have little trouble conquering this world as well as any other she sets her eyes upon. Still, hope remains to turn things around."
Now Adrian had her full attention for, while the dream had told her of the danger to come, it had not revealed to her a means to counter the war to come.
Not successfully, anyways.
"When I sensed Janus' power at work, I used the resources at my disposal to find out who he changed and how he'd changed them," he said before walking over to a folder on a nearby table. "A worthy group with two of my favored among them. If they can be freed from their shackles, they will be just what the worm's enemies need to stand in her way."
Taking the folder, she opened it up to reveal the faces of people she did indeed know and at once she shared her sibling's appraisal of the situation.
If these five could be freed from the Goa'uld's control, they would be the seeds that would lead to her symbiote counterpart's defeat.
"I don't suppose you have anything else to share?" she asked, not interested in being fed useful information drop by drop.
"A plan and… an idea," he replied with a smile that spoke of future amusement. "That is if you're up to joining forces with me. One more time?"
For a moment she dreaded what her sibling had in mind but, then again, when they did manage to work together towards a common goal, the odds of success did go up.
"Very well, brother. One more time," she replied with a nod of her head. "Just try not to get too carried away this time. We're to save the planet along with everyone on it, not burn it to a cinder for your own amusement."
This time her brother rolled his eyes, understanding where the last statement had come from and apparently exasperated at being reminded of it once again.
She, however, would keep reminding him however many times it took in order for it to sink in.
It was her duty as his sister, after all.
Eleven Days Later, Cheyenne Mountain, Tech Lab, Late Evening, Carter's POV
"C'mon…C'MON…" she muttered as she tried to overcome the latest problem in her efforts to prepare the SGC for the attack to come.
KRZAP! POOF!
"Dammit!" she exclaimed as the device she'd been working on shorted out and smoke rose from inside.
Out of frustration more than anything else she picked up the stubborn device and threw it across the room and into the wall, not damaging it much but the impact made noise. The moment it'd left her hands, though, she knew that she shouldn't have lost control like that but she couldn't shake the feeling that she was running out of time. Ever since she'd seen the first news report on the detonation of a nuke in Srinagar, she'd known that they were entering the end game of whatever grand plan had been put into motion. She'd become even more certain when she'd learned what Rodney had managed to uncover from the Easter Egg in Strom's computer since even the most patient of Goa'uld would turn their gaze to the SGC eventually. Even with all the ships they'd made, Gate travel was still the main means they had for getting people from one end of the galaxy to the other to do whatever needed to be done. If Athena managed to inflict heavy damage on them, it'd be weeks, if not months, before they could resume operations, leaving the former subordinate of Ba'al with time to do god knew what out there.
None of their satellites in orbit had detected anything that could be considered unknown ships coming and going but, with cloaking technology, there was always the chance that something had slipped past them. When added to the fact that Athena had the resources of The Trust at her disposal and it was possible that undercover agents were sneaking items from off world out of the mountain somehow. However the woman was doing it, no one doubted that space was somehow involved in the grand scheme that the false goddess had come up with because Goa'ulds were never satisfied with just one planet or even one system. The only real question was would Athena conquer Earth before turning to the stars or would she somehow leave Earth with the new technology she'd somehow uncovered only to return later with an army at her back.
She didn't have an answer for that so instead she focused on making sure the defenses were ready for Athena's strike time… ready for Lizzie.
Jack kept her apprised of anything new he learned about the occupation of the radar station as well as any other place where the team of five were thought to have been involved, but still there was no concrete proof saying that her cousin was involved. All they had was her father's story and the similarities with the dead Chinese representative, thus leaving her with one annoying splinter in her mind. It was one of the driving forces behind her efforts to develop defenses against cybernetically enhanced enemies because she was doing her best to make it non-lethal. It wasn't easy and she knew that if it wasn't for the friends in high places, her orders would be to focus on stopping the enemy, not taking them down alive. To the people in the Pentagon and probably the White House, the team that'd attacked Area Fifty-One, that'd assassinated the members of the IOA committee and played a part in the Srinagar blast were the enemy and deserved no quarter.
If I screw this up, they'll reassign the job to someone else, she thought as she tried to release the frustration and anger she felt. Someone who won't care about taking Lizzie alive. I won't let that happen!
"Well, you won't get anywhere with that," came a voice she did NOT want to hear at the moment.
Turning her head to the doorway of the lab, she saw one Rodney McKay looking like he was a bit amused by the scene he'd walked in on. Her relationship with the man was a mass of contradictions, with her acknowledging his intelligence as a scientist on the one hand while being very irritated with his arrogant and condescending way of treating most people. Eventually they'd managed to develop what could be called a friendship but that still didn't make the man any less irritating when he spoke sometimes.
"Repurposing the anti-Prior device to work on cybernetics and electronics is proving to be more challenging than I thought," she said with a bit more bitterness than she'd originally intended.
"So when our five friends show up, you want to block their ability to command their machine parts. Hmmm… an efficient answer," Rodney said as he walked across the room and picked up what she'd been working on. "I'm guessing that you're having trouble synchronizing the energy meant to disrupt the bio-tech connections with radiation meant to disrupt their electronics? Tricky business but it's your lucky day! I am officially free and unassigned, so with a little collaboration we should have this resolved by morning."
She couldn't help but roll her eyes a bit at the man's ego.
Please, I'm Rodney McKay, difficult takes a few seconds. Impossible, a few minutes.
That was what Major Shepppard had told her Rodney had once said to Malcolm Tunney of Kramer Innovations during the botched presentation of a space-time matter bridge. It summed up Rodney's entire opinion of himself and, while she'd be lying if she said the man wasn't brilliant, he could certainly stand to be more humble about it. Still, she knew that the likelihood of that was about the same as hoping that world peace would be declared tomorrow, so she decided not to waste energy on trying to change the guy. Instead she chose to look on the bright side of things and that was that she now had some additional help that hopefully would reduce the amount of time it'd take to get the SGC's defenses operational.
"I think that's a bit optimistic but, if you're willing to help, then I'm not going to turn it down. Without any idea of when Athena will send her team, we need to get this up and running ASAP."
McKay looked a little disappointed by the lack of her usual reaction to his words but shrugged it off before bringing the anti-Prior device she'd been attempting to modify over to the work table so they could get busy. For the next several hours the two of them went at it, with one or the other going for coffee when necessary but never really stopping what they were doing. Peripherally she knew things were going smoother since, with a second pair of eyes helping, they could catch mistakes before they happened, saving them time on replacing parts or resetting systems. It didn't diminish the difficulty of the overall task of modifying the device to work on electronics and cyborgs but it made her more optimistic about the odds of getting everything ready in time.
"So what do you think about all this?" she asked offhand as they took a break while waiting for some results to get back.
"You mean the crater where Area Fifty-One used to be and everything after that?" he asked, to which she nodded. "Well, it's horrible, sure, but at the same time I'd love to know they pulled it off. I mean, all I've seen is second hand stuff and clips from a helicopter, but from a scientific point of view it's fascinating."
"Yeah. I felt the same way," she said before taking a sip of her coffee. "It just pisses me off that it's being used this way!"
"As opposed to what the boys in the Pentagon would probably use it for?" Rodney asked rhetorically, with a bit of cynicism. "Let's face it, Sam. There isn't a piece of tech in the galaxy that the military won't try to turn into a weapon. Assuming we capture this team, make them tell us everything and maybe even take control of Athena's headquarters, the brass is going to think of weapons first."
She didn't want to think of it that way but she had to admit that, after being hit so hard, the generals and the admirals that ranked above her would focus on increasing their military strength before considering the possible benefits to civilians. From what they'd learned of the advancements the team of five had, she could think of many ways it could help those that'd lost limbs in accidents or on the battlefield. Sure, progress had been made with prosthetics over the years but they were still well away from making one that was just as good, if not better, than what'd been lost. She was sure that there were many other technological marvels present in Athena's group with a lot of them having beneficial applications in the civilian sector. However until the military and the government were satisfied that they'd gotten the most out of the new technology to make everything secure again, the common man would just have to wait.
"True. Still, it'd probably be for the best," she said as she dropped her empty paper cup into the nearby waste basket. "We've seen how dangerous this technology can be in the wrong hands. Until we can protect people from anyone who'd abuse it, it'd be too reckless to just release to the public."
"As long as they assign me to reverse engineer it all, I don't mind." Rodney said, sounding like he was looking forward to it. "Who knows? Maybe they'll assign both of us to the job."
"We have to catch this team and turn the tables on Athena first," she said, trying to bring the man back into the here and now. "Let's stay focused on that and worry about the rest when we get there."
With that they went back to their work on modifying the anti-Prior device to do what they wanted it to do, all the while hoping that they'd finish before it was too late.
One Week Later, Farrow-Marshall Aeronautics R&D Facility, Supposedly Abandoned
Northern Tip of the Rocky Mountains, British Columbia, Canada, Briefing Room
Xander's POV
"Another group mission? What does she want now?" he grumbled as he waited for their jailer to pop onto the screen. "Bomb a church? Mutilate some babies? Literally decapitate everyone in the White House and stick their heads on the fence outside?"
"Shut up, Xander!" Buffy growled with a slightly off look in her eyes. "Don't give the bitch ideas!"
He winced a bit but did as he was told just the same.
None of them were in good shape and that was mostly because over the few weeks Mayfield had dropped in every once in a while to let them know how things were going between Pakistan and India. At first it'd just been troop movements along the borders as well as riots that had nearly broken out in the cities of both countries, but a little over ten days ago things escalated. Both countries launched nuclear missiles at each other as a sort of pre-emptive strike against the country they believed was behind the blast in Srinagar. With such a short distance between the two nations there'd been no time for anyone to convince them to input the abort codes, so two more nuclear blasts were unleashed. The only positive thing, if you could call it that, was that both missiles had been aimed at where the opposing nation stored the rest of their nuclear arsenal. There were still scattered military bases with nukes but, as of ten days ago, the damage done by the missiles had taken priority as millions more had died while others clung to life by a thread in various hospitals. One news anchor had even said that, as a result of the nuclear fallout, everything within a hundred miles of ground zero of each blast was completely uninhabitable. Clouds covered the skies there in every direction and, with all the dirt and debris launched into the atmosphere, things could only get worse.
In the days that followed both nations looked to be setting aside a nuclear solution to their problems and were now preparing to use more conventional means to strike down their perceived enemies. Naturally the rest of the world was divided on how to handle the situation and, because of this, no real course of action had been decided upon. Some nations were throwing their support behind Pakistan or India, others were doing everything they could to keep full out war from erupting and some didn't see it as any of their concern, so they stated that they wouldn't get involved. The last news report they'd been shown made it look like unless the truth was exposed, that Mayfield had been behind it all, even more people were going to die.
Deaths that he and the Scoobies were at least partially to blame for due to the role they played at the Indian radar station. He knew he felt every single one of them that he became aware of and he doubted that the others felt them any less than he did. He had no doubt that he'd be spending the rest of his life atoning for the lives lost because of him but even after he died he just couldn't see himself entering heaven. Thanks to Mayfield, each of the Scoobies had racked up a kill count that usually would be reserved for entire armies and he couldn't think of anything any of them could do to atone for it all within the standard human lifespan. Some might point out that, thanks to their 'enhancements', they'd live a lot longer, but he knew it wasn't a certainty for any of them. All of them were susceptible to fatal injuries and some of them, without proper maintenance, would break down on their own. Seeing as how none of them would rely on Mayfield for that maintenance, the only other option would be whichever country or organization that chose to shelter them. Depending on the resources of either, the normal human lifespan might be stretching it a bit.
The flatscreen turned on to reveal the face of the one person they could all agree on to hate. "Well, boys and girls, you'll be happy to know that after this mission you'll be able to enjoy a six month long vacation. Maybe even let you go someplace, albeit chaperoned, of course," Mayfield said, sounding like she thought that they were the loyal employees and she the benevolent employer. "For now, though, here is your next target."
With that a picture appeared in the upper right hand corner of the screen, showing a tunnel leading into a mountain with military personnel scattered about. Normally this wouldn't be very informative except for the words that adorned the arch of the tunnel: Cheyenne Mountain Complex. There was only one target he could think of that Mayfield would want taken…
"You want us to take out NORAD!?" Willow exclaimed, clearly questioning the sanity of their 'boss'.
"Of course not," Mayfield replied, as though the idea was ridiculous. "Destroying the facility would only inconvenience the American government since they'd need to relocate the location's responsibilities elsewhere. Your objectives will be twofold. First you will infiltrate the bunker command center of NORAD and upload a specially prepared virus into their systems that will throw it along with all connected systems into chaos. It won't matter if it's in the mountain or on the other side of the country, the result will be the same. To that end a paralytic gas has been added to the armory to aid you in achieving the objective with minimal interference. Blueprints of the facility procured through secondary sources will be provided with various entry points highlighted for your benefit.
"The second objective is one thousand meters beneath Cheyenne Mountain and is one of the most heavily kept secrets America possesses. It's called Stargate Command and, once you're done with NORAD, you are to descend to the SGC's level and bring back items of interest," Mayfield said with a no nonsense tone of voice. "Pictures of items of high value will be included with the blueprints of the facility. Kill no one on your way in but feel free to do so on your way out. This will be as much a test of your stealth abilities as it will be completing your objectives. You'll be dropped off via Pelican on the opposite side of the mountain. I'll leave it to the five of you to devise a plan to complete both objectives however be aware that with Fort Carson close by, you'll be up to your waists in infantry soldiers of all sorts if you waste too much time. Best of luck."
With that the screen went blank but no one really looked away because their hate was so great for the woman that it took a minute to shake it loose.
"When is it going to be enough?" Willow whispered just loud enough to be heard by all. "When is she going to be satisfied?"
"People like her are never satisfied, sadly," Giles said, sounding tired but not yet defeated. "For everything of value they gain, their thirst for more only grows."
"Too bad the only way to cure that isn't an option." Buffy grumbled, with a look in her eye that spoke of barely restrained violence.
"Maybe, but you gotta keep the faith, Buff," he said, hoping he could convey with a look what he couldn't say in words. "Sometimes what you need can pop up when you least expect it."
He could tell that the Slayer knew he meant more than what he said but it didn't look like all the pieces had fallen into place inside her head. He wanted to say more, to tell her about last night, but without a way to keep Mayfield in the dark he had no chance of that so he'd just have to hope for the best.
Last night S.E.C.O.N.D. had finally given him a message that made him think that he might just have what they all wanted ready for deployment. He couldn't say for sure because the terms his suit used were unfamiliar to both him and the remnants of Laurence Barnes, but it did sound like the solution the suit had been working on was finished. Throughout the entire process he'd been worried about what kind of cure it was and what it'd do to them but now he felt that he had no choice but to give it a shot. The Scooby gang was at the end of its rope and couldn't afford to let the bloodshed go on any longer.
I'll have to do it during the mission, he thought as he listened to Giles and the others lay out a basic plan for the mission. Sure, the soldiers there might just shoot us on sight but, assuming we can speak, maybe we can at least try to surrender to them.
After that… he'd just have to hope that the value of having five enhanced soldiers on their side would outweigh the desire to make them all pay for the deaths they'd cause. He knew all too well from how he was feeling that vengeance was a potent compulsion and it didn't contribute much to rational thought. Still, so long as no one at Cheyenne Mountain had lost anyone close to them during the previous missions, he had hope that military professionalism and the law would keep them alive long enough to tell the whole story.
"Xander? Are you paying attention?" Giles asked, sounding mildly disapproving.
"Of course. Four of us cloak while you wait outside. Sneak inside, gas NORAD, plant the virus and when it's time to pay this Stargate Command a visit you take the elevator down to us."
This, of course, surprised Giles a bit but not enough to completely throw him for a loop.
"Yes… well, let's get to the armory then so we can acquire our equipment." Giles said now that the basic plan had been laid out for all.
There was something SO wrong about how casual it'd become for them all to consider going to the building's armory but, if S.E.C.O.N.D.'s cure worked, it'd be the last time they did it here.
They'd wind up getting used to doing it someplace else most likely but it'd still be better.
En Route to Chyenne Mountain, Aboard a D77H-TCI Pelican, Ninety Minutes Later
Willow's POV
What can I do to stop this?
It was a question she'd been asking herself ever since Mayfield had told them what their mission was and sadly the answer kept right on being the same each time she asked it.
Nothing.
When she'd been given the virus by a flunky, she'd been told point blank that any attempt to alter the virus would trigger the pain givers implanted in each Scooby, if the virus wasn't uploaded to NORAD within acceptable time frame the pain givers would be activated and if she tried to help the military defeat the virus, the pain givers would be activated. Obviously since she was the key person for this operation's first objective, they wanted to make sure she didn't get any ideas about sabotaging it. Did it mean they knew about the Easter Egg she'd planted in Strom's computer? Unlikely, since that would easily have been justification enough for the blonde to press the pain button and hold it down for half a minute. Therefore she could only presume that Mayfield believed there to be a chance that she might do something in response to the stress the Scoobies had been under thanks to the consequences of their last mission. Whatever the reasons, it meant that no hacking or computer programming solutions would be possible during this mission unless she wanted to be floored by pain the second she got started. Her feeling of helplessness, of slavery, only fueled the hate she had for Mayfield in her mind and left no question in her mind that the second she had the option she'd pound the bitch into paste.
She imagined that the others, even Dawn deep down inside, felt the same way.
Giles was probably the most level headed about it, though she did occasionally see some dark rage in his eyes from time to time. She guessed that age and wisdom had some advantages in that it helped people keep their cool better than someone half their age. At the moment the man was checking his gear for the second time since boarding the Pelican in order to make sure that everything was ready. She figured that it was a calming technique, much like how he used to clean his glasses whenever things got stressful for him. There was also the possibility of John One One Seven's training being the source of the activity since, according to Giles, the SPARTAN-IIs had been trained since childhood in how to be soldiers. She'd been shocked at this news, that kids had been conscripted into being soldiers, but Buffy had been ready to put the Halsey woman Giles mentioned in the same category as Mayfield before the senior Watcher cut her off. While not as defensive as someone that'd been brainwashed, Giles had made it clear that not only was the world fictional but that they had no right to judge the woman since they hadn't lived through the same history as she had. Buffy had argued that no circumstance justified stealing the innocence of dozens of children and turning them into killing machines.
Giles had just shaken his head at the Slayer before going silent, almost as if he'd been both amused by her position and disappointed by it at the same time.
Xander was quietly sitting in his seat, having only checked his gear once after takeoff before settling in for the trip. Contrary to what some might've thought that didn't mean that her best friend was at ease or that he was not a maelstrom of emotions himself on the inside. It meant that he knew better than to lose his head or waste energy on things that he couldn't change at the time. While some of this was likely Prophet's influence, most of it came from years as a Scooby and then later was one of the Watcher's looking for newly Called Slayers. You fight demons and travel the world, you see things that enabled you handle just about anything eventually with only a few surprises every now and then. What reassured her most, though, was the fact that there were signs that Xander might just have come up with a way to let them slip the leash and finally regain their freedom. She didn't know what it was for obvious reasons but she had faith in her friend so if his plan needed help from her, she'd give it in an instant.
Buffy, on the other hand, was a ball of barely contained emotions who'd probably jump at any opportunity to vent her fury in some manner. She was actually better now that they were en route to Cheyenne Mountain than she'd been back at Mayfield's secret HQ because at least now the Slayer had potential violence to look forward to. Stuck in the building that they'd been living in for the last month had to have felt like limbo to Buffy and that was never a good thing. Even before they'd been upgraded by Rayne's spell, Buffy had never been one to sit still because she always had energy to burn one way or another. Things had only gotten worse after the upgrades because of the amount of available energy going up and the trauma they'd all undergone since then had left each of them an emotional mess.
Excess energy and emotional duress did not a happy Buffy make.
Looking up as the lights turned green, she knew that they were beginning their descent to their drop off point so she stood up and walked to hatch in the back. According to what they'd planned out, the Pelican would decloak, land, drop them off, take off and then recloak before taking up a standby position waiting for their signal to come in. Feeling a comforting hand on her shoulder, she turned to see Xander behind her and, even if she couldn't see his face due to the nanosuit's mask, she knew he was smiling at her the way he always did to cheer her up. Giving him a half-smile back, she looked down at the techno belt each member of the Scoobies had been given, focusing on the button that'd activate it. According to the guy that'd shown them how the belts work, it worked as a combination of Thermo-Optical camouflage and something that fed false info to any sensors they came in range of. When she'd probed for details, all they'd been told was that the place they'd been breaking into had access to some out of this world tech and probably had sensors all over the place. That'd struck her as a bit strange but, considering what they'd stolen from Area Fifty-One, it wasn't completely out there.
With touchdown completed the hatch popped open, turning into a ramp, but she was already on the move the moment there was enough of an opening for her to squeeze through. Tapping the activation button on her belt, she activated the false info system while a thought activated her own camouflage. Just as they'd done in their previous missions, once they got out of the transport they moved to enter the target from multiple points of entry rather than staying as a group. Her point of entry would be a lid-covered ladder with an access code keypad attached to it but fortunately she had the access code so there wasn't much to worry about.
Assuming that Xander does have a way to freedom ready to go, he'll probably do it sometime during the mission, she thought, contemplating possible chances for him to do something. I'll have to get the virus out of the way quick so he can do his thing. If his cure works quickly enough I might even be able to neutralize the virus myself.
She only caught glimpses of the others going towards their chosen points of entry before they activated their own belts but, even so, she memorized what they looked like. To her this would be their 'before' photograph and, once Xander's method freed them all, she'd take 'after' photos to commemorate the occasion.
Indeed she had a feeling that this day would mark the beginning of fresh start in their lives and, while they could never return to what they'd been, the future might very well be enjoyable.
And for a moment she allowed herself to believe.