Knights of the Intrepid
Disclaimer: Don't own anything you recognize.
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The English Channel; Halfway between Great Britain and France; September 30th, 2016:
"So, you escaped from Faith's base, forced a pilot to take you to Britain, helped the survivors of the Reagan, and made it in time to help us out of London," Andrew asked, more than a little amazed.
"Well, I did have to knock the pilot out to get here, but, yeah, that's about it," Dana said as she monitored her gages, "So, what's our first move."
"We head back to the States," Xander said in his seat next to Dana, "I updated Riley, so, the Pentagon should be aware of the full situation…if there's still a Pentagon."
"One thing that still baffles me a little," Giles said from the back, "Why didn't they target Washington? And why didn't they take over the Watchers in London, like they did everywhere else?"
"Well, I have a guess as to why they left D.C. alone," Giles raised his eyebrows, inviting Xander to continue, "They know that there are survivors that will oppose them, assuming that their goal is total world domination, which it most likely is, and they will try and hold onto Washington."
"Leave it behind to demoralize them later," Giles said, getting the gist of it, "They must be awfully sure of themselves, then."
"Look who was in charge of them," Andrew reminded him, and the Englishman had to nod in agreement.
"Is," Xander corrected, "That wasn't a kill shot. It missed all the major organs. A human'd take about six months to a year, depending on the overall damage, to recover. She'll be batting a hundred by next week."
"That reminds me," Andrew said, turning his attention back to their Slayer rescuer, "You're that Slayer, Dana, that I helped out years ago?"
She turned at him and glared.
"Yeah, you're definitely her," Andrew said with a sigh, "I'm sorry we couldn't help you."
"…It's alright," Dana said with a sigh, "It was for the best. It was because of my mental problems that I was able to hold out."
"Hold out," Xander asked, confused by her meaning, "What are you talking about?"
Dana took a deep breath and said, "This might be a bit hard for you to believe, but…"
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The Land of the Rising Sun; Tokyo; Watchers' Council Headquarters; September 30th, 2016:
The upper beings, the proprietors of good, the 'Powers That Be,' had watched the events of recent Earth with despair. They had tried so hard to temper the Slayer into a force of good after the humans had created them, foolishly giving evil a great tool in the war that existed till the end of it all. And, now, all their subtle work was for not. All the Slayers had been activated, and, now, they were all tools for evil.
There was only one thing that they could do…they had agreed, long ago, that the power of the Key was for the use of the Beast, and the Beast only…but, as far as they were concerned, the treaties of old meant nothing
So, the Powers sent their representative down to the Key.
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Dawn Summers leaned against the wall as she focused on keeping her feet level. She had managed to regain her footing, though she had fallen twice, and she was trying to retain some of her energy by leaning on the wall. She sighed and brought up the apple that she had been munching on up to her mouth and took a small bite. She was trying to regain her strength, but, it was incredibly difficult…being inside the cell was drawing away from her reserves, and she was just about ready to go off to sleep from just leaning.
On the plus side, her injury was healing up well, and didn't seem to be infected.
"You look bushed, sugar," she looked up as she heard a male voice in her cell, and locked her eyes upon a short man dressed in seventies garb with a fedora.
"…Who are you," she managed out, "How'd you get in here?"
"Name's Whistler," the man introduced himself, "I'm here to get you out of here, kid."
"…Really," he looked like barely anything, certainly not enough to handle a Slayer, let alone the whole multitude of them, "My hero."
"Well, actually, I'm here to give you the ability to get out," Whistler told her with a grin, "Kid, I'm going to give you a gift."
He snapped his fingers and, all of a sudden, she felt a rush of power surge through her, pure unfettered power. It was like…nothing she'd ever felt before.
"…What," she asked, her head swooning from the sudden impact.
"I've released the power of the Key," Whistler told her, "You are, currently, the most powerful mage in the world."
Dawn leaned back on the wall even more as she felt the raw energy flow through her veins.
"…Not that I don't appreciate it, but," she paused, struggling to find the right words, before settling on, "Why?"
"Do you really have to ask that," her look answered that question, "Alright, I'll admit, my bosses ain't been the best when it comes to helping you guys, but, that's changed. The rules have changed."
"Rules," she asked, "What rules?"
"The rules of engagement," Whistler said, "That's part of why we've never really given you guys help, save an idea or two. And even with Rat Boy's group, all we did was vague. That's part of the rules."
"You have to be annoying retards," Dawn asked.
"Well…yeah," he said sheepishly, "That's a point in the bad guys' favor. Means information doesn't get received well, and that always has an advantage."
"So, someone organized a treaty between the good and the bad," Dawn asked and, at Whistler's nod, asked, "Who the Hell hammered out that treaty?"
"For the bad guys side, the First," Dawn nodded, figuring that that probably made sense for them, "For our side, a being you know as Jasmine."
Dawn glared, remembering what Buffy had said about Jasmine. A former Power who had been dethroned, only to return in an attempt to control the world through mass mind control. If she'd been in charge of making that treaty, then it was no wonder why the bad guys got a Hell of a lot more breaks than they did.
"Anyway, the Powers, along with a few other organizations upstairs, have decided to…well, ignore the treaty, due to the sudden mass betrayal."
"…What's happening, Whistler," Dawn asked, wanting more answers, "I know things were bad before this, but, they were nowhere near this level."
"…" the balance demon paused for a moment, before asking, "You know how vampires came about?"
"Yeah," she said, remembering what she'd learned from Giles about the last demon to leave this world, and how it had made vampires from its own blood.
"…Sit down, Kid," Whistler advised and Dawn obeyed as she saw the intensity in his eyes, "…I know that your sister told you about the Shadow Men and how they created the Slayer by giving her the heart of a demon…but, it wasn't a pure demon like they thought.
"When the last demon to leave this world created the vampires, it also took a human, a female, and poured its life essence into her…and sent her soul away. Her body became like a demon's, with that demon in control."
"What was the demon's name," Dawn interrupted.
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The English Channel; Halfway between Great Britain and France; September 30th, 2016:
"He was born without a name," Dana answered Andrew's question, "But, to the Slayers, he calls himself the Destroyer…Apollyon."
"You mean, he actually communicates with them," Giles asked, "How?"
"Through a mental connection," Dana answered, "When the Shadow Men took the First Slayer and gave her the demon's heart, the demon was actually the same one who created the Slayers…that's why, over time, Slayers and vampires began to come together, like Buffy and her vampires. Since the demon was a part of them, it stayed in the background, influencing every Slayer of the generation, trying to get closer to controlling them…if it hadn't been for Buffy's two resurrections and the activation of all the Slayers, it would have accomplished its goal several thousand years from now."
"…You mean, I…" Xander stared out into the night sky, lost in thought and fear.
"All the Slayers of the past don't know whether to condemn you or love you," Dana said with a grin, "They don't blame you, though…they know you did it out of love. Except for the second time, then, they're pretty much in agreement that all of you suck."
"Nice to know," Xander muttered, "…I damned the world by saving a life…that's just what you'd expect."
"No good deed goes unpunished, eh, Xand," Andrew said with a sigh.
"Don't forget that Willow, Anya, and Tara were involved," Giles reminded him.
"But, Tara and I were against it," Xander said, "…it doesn't matter. Even if we did go against Willow, she would have found a way. I wish she'd told Spike…he would have chewed her out like none of us could have."
"…Dana, please continue," Giles requested the Slayer.
"Well, after Buffy came back, the demon had a lot more influence over her. The first time, it influenced her a lot for a while, but, eventually, she fought back. The demon was weak enough to be sent back, but, not for long."
"That's probably after she got back from that first summer," Xander thought back, "She was so pissed during that time…then, after she realized what an idiot she was, she got better…then, she gradually became what she was then."
"Yes, I noticed that, too," Giles admitted, "I thought it was just the stress of the times."
"Some of it was," Dana told them, "The demon learned its lesson after that battle. It took over slowly, making it seem natural."
"Was it the demon that made Faith evil," Xander asked, hoping that it really was.
"…Somewhat," Dana told him, "When Kendra was called, the demon had a small amount of influence…it'd invested too much into Buffy to do much. When Faith was called, though, it saw that she had lead a much harder life and, as such, she was already hardened in the mind…but, in a way it could work with. It influenced her, but in a way that it knew would lead to her being unstable…and, eventually, turning to evil."
"…I see," Giles responded, "So, this demon must be exceptionally smart, at least in terms of knowledge of the human mind."
"It's been around for hundreds of millions of years," Dana explained, "It picked up a few things."
"So, it's controlling the Slayers en masse," Xander said, "But, how? Can they be freed?"
"Perhaps," Dana's tone relayed just how much she believed it was possible, "The way it works is the demon exists in the Slayers' subconscious minds, influencing their conscious thoughts and feelings. But, now, it's shoved the subconscious forward, leaving the consciousness in a state of false bliss."
"'False bliss,'" Giles muttered, "What do you mean? Do they think they're in heaven or something?"
"They think they're in whatever they believe to be in, wherever they'd like to be," Dana told them, "It makes it towards where they won't be inclined to fight back."
"But, the subconscious controls the finer brain functions, keeps the body alive," Andrew said, "If the conscious part of the mind isn't functioning, how can the body still live?"
Dana did not answer immediately, instead, her eyes lost all focus, like she was off in a daydream. Then, she blinked and her mind returned to them.
"The Slayers say that the conscious only uses enough mental power to create the fantasy, and it lends all the rest of it to the subconscious. That's why the Slayers seem to have some semblance of their original attitudes. The demon creates a link between the Slayers, giving them the ability to hear its orders…and, maybe, eventually to create a psychic link between themselves."
"How are they controlling the mages," Andrew asked.
"There's an item called the Staff of Devosynn that steals people's will," Dana answered, "Turns out, there's more than one in existence…lots more. After the demon told the Slayers where they were, they easily found them and converted them into necklaces and bracelets. They recreated more after they started to run out, in the beginning."
"There's one question that's been bugging me," Xander said, "Why didn't they take the London base when they took the rest? Why'd they wait?"
"To provide a delay," Dana said with a sigh, "In every other country, no one with the Council has any real ability to get the militaries to listen, whereas in London, there are quite a few people who can talk to Parliament and get them to listen, Mr. Giles could even talk to the Prime Minister directly."
"I see," Giles pondered this, "We were trying to find things out, and that took time…lots of time. I thought about calling the Prime Minister, John Cleese, but…by then, the bombings had already begun…and, it was beyond too late. He was hidden or dead by the time it was over. And, it did take time for us to discover their intent…whereas, if they'd attacked instantly, we would have acted much more swiftly, most likely alerting the authorities to the situation."
"…What about freeing them," Andrew asked, "Can it be done?"
"…Only if we find a way to make the Slayers understand what's happening," Dana said, "For now, all that we can see are the Slayers subconscious, which is ruled by the demon. They follow its orders without much thought, to them…it's what they do."
"…So, from what I can see, we have two fronts to work on," Xander said, "One designed to fight against the Slayers, and another to free them."
"What's our next move," Andrew asked.
"Roswell," Xander said, "We need to get this info to the militaries of the world. If we act quick, we may be able to stop them up."
"No," Dana countered, "We're going to Japan."
"Japan," Giles wondered, "…Wait, Dawn's there. We're going after her?"
"The Key," Dana said, "The Slayers want her alive, and unspoiled."
"Why," Xander asked, afraid of the answer.
She never did respond.
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The Land of the Rising Sun; Tokyo; Watchers' Council Headquarters; September 30th, 2016:
Dawn stared at the wall, her shock and disbelief consuming her. It was simply too much to take in…her sister, Faith, Rona…all of them, controlled by a demon.
"Kid," she ignored the being that had come to rescue her, too lost to really notice his presence, "Dawn, you need to listen…your life, and your sister's, depends on it."
That got her attention, and she looked up into his face, letting him know she was listening.
"With the power that you have now, you can escape, with ease. To use it, just focus on one specific thing. Like, trying and make that door come unlocked."
Dawn didn't understand at first, but, she did as she was told. She focused her mind on the door unlocking and, for the longest time, nothing happened. It was like she was just thinking it, and nothing else.
"You're not using your power," Whistler said, "Reach inside and focus with it."
Dawn sighed and took a deep breath…and, looked inward.