Chapter 17
"Buffy! Teal'c's not human!" Dawn yelled; she tensed as she looked at the dark-skinned man. Her magic had started getting more and more agitated since she'd gotten close to Teal'c; she hadn't properly analyzed the feelings until now.
She'd spent the last several minutes focusing her magic on Teal'c, it had showed that he was not human; she had never read a biology book that stated that humans could carry small snakes in their stomachs; but demons! Anything could happen with them.
"So, what?" started her older sister, sounding pissed. "You military people are starting to make more super-soldiers?"
Ya know, like ONE wasn't enough!
"Ah, a super-" Jack paused for a second looking puzzled, then his eyes widened slightly. "Teal'c?" he looked at the large man and gestured. "This guy? He's not super-sol…or whatever those things were I was told about- C'mon! Is this the face of a dead guy?" he pointed faintly at the man when he said this. Teal'c just looked at him blankly.
Dawn looked at Teal'c; he didn't look like any of the super-soldiers she'd seen back when the Initiative was around, but that didn't mean anything. YEARS had passed since the operation was shut down, they were probably better at covering up their tracks. Besides, he had to be something other that human- he had a snake in his gut.
"Okay, what the HELL is going on?" ground out Buffy coldly.
They'd better start being honest with them or there could be some problems; they didn't have time for problems, neither did Willow and Chris. Dawn's gaze flitted for her angered sister to the anxious man that had introduced himself as Daniel, although he didn't look like the type of person that would hurt anyone she knew that looks didn't mean anything, evil could come in all shapes and sizes.
Heck, Glory had looked like a Gucci-obsessed blonde; and look what she had done.
"We are trying to save your friends," intoned Teal'c steadily. "We do not associate with the group that has taken them; we are in fact enemies."
"Hey, Frankenstein," snapped Xander scathingly. "Quit lying, we didn't survive by being naïve ya know."
Teal'c inclined his head, "I do not know of this Frankenstein but I assure you, my name is Teal'c."
Xander blinked, "W…what?" then he shook his head. "Quit trying to confuse me, it's not working…really…" he swallowed. "It really isn't." He shifted slightly as Teal'c just glared at him more.
Daniel clenched his hands into fists, glared at them furiously and said, "I want to get Willow and Chris back as much as you do, and so do my friends!" he frowned around at the younger group as if daring them to contradict him.
Dawn blinked, Why would they care whether or not Willow and Chris made it back? Unless… "Maybe you're not with that group."
Daniel closed his eyes in relief; the former Key almost believed that he was genuine; his emotions seemed real to her. But they couldn't chance it. Not with so much at stake. "Maybe you want Willow and Chris for yourselves, different group; same methods."
"That's not true!" exclaimed Sam fervently. "We HATE the NID, and everything they stand for, as much as you do." Giles was still glaring at her, so she started glaring right back.
"I seriously doubt that," remarked Xander scathingly. "They've just kidnapped two members of our family! Both who I've known since birth! How can you hate them as much as us?"
Sam turned her glare from Giles to Xander, "You think they haven't come after us too!? They almost killed the four of us on a number of occasions; Chris and Willow aren't the only ones that the NID has tried to experiment on; and while we're touching that particular subject, we've wasted ten minutes on just bickering with each other- how are you gonna explain that to your 'family'?!"
Dawn looked at Sam and was surprised to find that the four strangers were actually starting to convince her that they weren't behind her friends' kidnapping; she didn't know why, though. They just seemed genuine, either they were good actors or they were telling the truth. In which case, they HAD just wasted all this time on fighting and basically tracking the wrong people.
"And why, pray tell, would you care?!" snapped Giles with a Ripper-like look on his face.
The blonde threw him a glower of animosity, he returned the look; the feeling of hatred was obviously quite mutual, the blonde major didn't say a thing; she turned to Daniel, and looked at him the way Dawn had looked at Spike; like a friend and brother; she said, "Daniel, you gonna tell them?"
Tell us what?
The bespectacled man hesitated for a moment, then he said, "Almost six years ago Tara Maclay died, right?" he looked at the small group cautiously.
Dawn felt anger creep into her mind, how could he know about that? And why the hell would he remind them about Tara's death? There had better be a damn good reason for that because talking about what happened to the blonde witch wasn't something she or Willow could do easily; even six years later.
Tara had been like a mother to her after Joyce and Buffy had died, she'd made her feel better even when she felt that no one had cared about her any longer; then she'd left her just like everyone had seemed to have done.
Willow had been like a cool older sister; in some ways they had been able to connect with each other in a way that she and her blood-sister never could; she and Tara had treated her like an adult most of the time and yet still looked out for her as if she were a kid.
When Willow and Tara had fought and split up it was like her mom and dad all over again; the fights, the yelling, the divorce and the eventual abandonment at the hands of Hank Summers; she'd hated when her parents had split and she'd hated it even more when the two witches had separated- the only difference between the pair of lovers was that Willow and Tara were actually meant for each other and had never had that many fights. They had been perfect together; at that time they had been the only thing in her life that had been perfect- everything else had been a mess.
"Yes," Dawn snapped between her clenched teeth. "So, what's your point?"
Daniel sighed, "Well, around the same time someone I loved very much died too; I took a…um, break at San Diego; and that's where I met Willow." An uncomfortable silence followed this revelation. "And unless Willow had a boyfriend somewhere around 2003…she didn't, did she?" For an odd reason he seemed hopeful; but to be hopeful about what exactly?
…oh, well- she got it now…
"Sweet fancy Moses," the whisper from Xander carried to everyone's ears which resulted in Teal'c giving the boy a brow-twitch that might have confusion; who knew? Oz was easier to read than this guy.
"No," answered Buffy, eyes wide in realization; then her eyes narrowed in suspicion, but she didn't say anything.
Was that relief on the guy's face? Looked like it.
"Then, Chris really is my…" a dazed look overcame the man's features. "I mean, I'm a…"
Giles glared at Daniel, "How do we know you aren't lying?"
Daniel, still stunned, blinked at the older man blankly.
Buffy smirked, "Bringing 'Frankenstein', here-" she gestured towards the man. "- would kinda kill trust potential, don't you think? Not that there was one in the first place."
Dawn noticed that people had quickly lost interest in their little altercation and were now walking away, other people just walked passed them only giving them vaguely curious glances as they passed. That was a relief to her and the other people, "Buffy, don't you think we should take this some place else?"
Her sister glanced at her, then she looked around.
The tall grey-haired man answered for her, "The kid has a good point," he looked at the blonde Slayer. "My superiors want us to bring you back to our base; we just want to find Willow and Chris and we all think it'll be in the hostages' best interest if we help each other get them back."
Buffy shook her head slightly obviously unconvinced, "And, what? You just think it'll be that simple; you think we're that stupid that we'd walk into a situation that has a neon sign over it saying 'TRAP!' Just because Chris MIGHT be your son. For all we know you could be lying!"
"We're not!" Daniel yelled angrily. "Willow and my son are missing, I need to find them and stop Willow- Tara told me!" This garnered some hopeful looks on the other groups' faces- except Daniel and of course Teal'c.
Dawn saw the agonizing frustration in the man's bright blue eyes, "Buffy, I think they're genuine." Hey, she had to try- her sister could be as stubborn as hell sometimes; although Willow wasn't exactly introverted either these days. Both of them were as stubborn as each other; with Will's 'resolve-face' and Buffy's…well, Buffy's deadly-Slayer face.
Xander looked at the older man in surprise, "What're you talking about? You know that she's…" he glanced at Dawn hesitantly. "…um, not here." They had all been affected by Tara's pointless death; Willow had of course taken it the hardest, the witch still wasn't over her death and Dawn hadn't quite stopped getting the lingering nightmares yet. After Willow she had taken it pretty hard too.
"In my dream," he started. "Tara said that I need to save them from the people who want to use him as a tool against-
"Daniel!" Sam hissed in alarm.
"Ah, Daniel!" Jack suddenly blurted out. "Out in the open? Really?"
Daniel just kept looking at Buffy, "There's another threat to humanity that you don't know about, we fight it, but a hidden part of our government- like the Initiative- keeps working against US instead of the real threat…they're power-hungry and in their minds Chris and Willow are ways for them to gain power; they won't stop until they get it," he swallowed anxiously. "And if they don't get what they want, they'll make sure that no one else can…they'll dispose of them like they tried to dispose of my best friend." He cocked his head in Sam's direction as an indication.
Buffy looked at the man analytically and said slowly, "What did she look like? How much did Tara tell you?" it was a trick question; good thinking, sis.
Daniel sighed in exasperation, "She had blonde hair- maybe dirty-blonde- blue eyes; a little taller that Willow- a bit stocky. She was too cryptic; I couldn't get much out of her," he paused briefly. "And then I was in a library with the other guy, he was about fifteen or sixteen; a little goofy- he knew Buffy was the Slayer; said that she'd kick my ass for getting her best friend pregnant."
He looked at Xander, "He said to me to tell you that he could feel the worms in the earth; apparently it wasn't that cool." A blank look was all that he received from the boy for the next few moments.
Then, Xander's eyes went wide, "Jesse," the single word held an emotion that was familiar to him; the tone of pain and loss was unmistakable in the young man's voice. Dawn only had one memory of Jesse; it was a very brief one in which she had been introduced to her as Buffy's little sister- apparently Jesse had always wanted a younger sibling especially after his parents had split up.
Daniel then turned to Buffy who had a conflicted look on her face, "There was a crossbow in the library; stacks of books…it was a high school library, I think."
Buffy gaped, "Sunnydale high," she muttered.
Oh, shit; they HAD been following the wrong guys! "How could we be so stupid!?" Dawn cried in angry, disappointed guilt.
Hope the glinted in Daniel's eyes, "Help us get them back," he implore, the hope in his eyes became more pronounced. "Please."
Dawn looked pleadingly at her older sister, even though she still didn't trust them she knew that they weren't against them; they didn't want Willow and Chris to be used by power-hungry morons; both their groups had a common enemy, the NID, and they both had one objective, to get Chris and Will back, "Buffy, they obviously know more about this NID group than we do; I don't think they're lying about this."
After a second, in which Buffy continually frowned at Daniel, she nodded, "Okay," then she gave the other group an icy look. "Make a wrong move, you're all dead. Got it?"
Teal'c, lips twitching into a slight smile, inclined his head; Daniel and Sam nodded with hopeful looks on their faces.
Jack's eyes gleamed with triumph and relief before they shuttered to their normal military look; he said, "Let's get this show on the road, kids."
Buffy glared at them, "First, tell us what's the deal with Chuckles over there." She jerked her blonde head in Teal'c's direction. "Until then, we're not going anywhere."
Her sister had a good point, What was the deal with the big guy?
Jack tensed, "You'll be told everything back at base."
What did they take us for? Idiots?
Her sister gave them a piercing look, "You want us to walk back with you to a base that's full of soldiers? Why not tell us here?"
Jack scoffed, "Because!" he lowered his voice. "In case you haven't noticed we're in the middle of the freaking street, is why!"
Buffy looked at Giles, who nodded slowly; she turned to Jack, "Okay, we'll go."
The colonel let out a breath that he'd obviously been holding, "Sweet," she heard him mutter.
Then, she continued, "But, you know what we are, right?"
SG1 nodded, oh yeah- they knew.
"Right, well, you know not to make with the funny business," she said pointedly. "Let's go."
"'Funny business?'" Dawn heard Chris's supposed 'Father' say. "They have all the power over us."
"Don't remind me," groaned Jack, then he turned to the rest of us. "We got two cars so we can get you back to our base, c'mon."
Without a word the group of demon fighters followed, still keeping a wary eye on the others.
NID Base
Over there! Chris's black eyes stared at the door to the storage closet blankly; his magic probed around inside the room and he knew that Serena's friend was in there. He ignored the sounds of people yelling, it sounded so far away that he didn't worry at all, they'd be gone before those people caught up with them.
He focused his will and magic on the door and swiftly ripped it off its hinges completely, a man jumped out of the room obviously shocked; the guy- who Chris assumed was Grey- swore loudly, "You grown-ups sure do say some mean things," he piped up.
Grey just stared at him, "You-
Chris felt a bolt of fear shoot down his spine, "Y-you're one of the peoples that tooked me!" Was he a friend or not?
Grey gave him a look that reminded him of the expression he'd had on his own face when him mommy had caught him with his hand in the jar of cookies; the man sighed and said, "Yes, I was. But I'm trying to get you out, now."
The redhead frowned at him, "Why did you take me and my mommy?" he had to have an answer to that, it was an answer that Chris wanted to hear.
"My bosses ordered me to," he explained nervously. "Say, you aren't gonna throw me around like last time, are you?
Chris considered this for a moment, "Are you gonna try to take me back there?"
"No, Serena and I were working on getting you out," informed the soldier. "Where is she anyway?"
For a few moments Chris didn't know what to say, he looked down and saw splashes of red on his night clothes, a lump formed in his throat making it hard for him to breath; his eyes burned as he looked up guiltily, "She rescued me and t-the bad man was angwy and h-he hurt her and she wouldn't get up."
The black faded from his eyes as he scrubbed them with his fists, he sniffled tearfully, "She was really nice, even though she p-pretended she wasn't and the bad man made her pull the injection out and squeeze my arm real hard, but she didn't want to."
Agent Duncan Grey put his hands under the boy's arms and lifted him up, the boy's arms wrapped around his neck as he hugged the younger boy to him, "Chris? The bad man used a gun, right?"
The young witch nodded his head against his wet, tear-soaked shoulder and sobbed, "Y-yes, I think so, it was real loud and it hit her head and it looked like it hurt, but she didn't cry. Why didn't she cry?"
The agent stared uncomprehendingly at the wall in front of him; Serena was dead? The girl who he'd known since they were fifteen, "Fuck," he mumbled. She'd gotten away from that drunken asshole that had the nerve to call himself a dad; only to get killed because some power-hungry old bastard that wanted a woman and her kid!?
Holding onto his rage, he said, "Let's go find you mom." He was going to get Chris and his mom out of this hellhole no matter what, otherwise his buddy's death really would have been pointless. His superiors weren't going to get away with this; he'd make sure.
As he turned a corner along the hall he came face to face with a very pissed off looking group of soldiers, he glared at them, "Let us pass, now."
"Agent! I dunno what hell you think you're doing," snapped a person of a higher rank than him. "But, you'd better stop."
Grey gave them a vexed look, "Get out of our way." He felt anger building up inside him. "NOW!" teeth bared in rage he thought about launching himself at them, to hurt them; but before he could act on the thought Chris acted on his own.
Chris's head lifted from his damp shoulder and turned towards the soldiers, his eyes were deep, dark black, "Go away!" the group of five were thrown backwards along the hall and only stopped flying when they hit the wall. He sniffled; turned to Grey and said, "I want my mommy now."
Grey swallowed warily as the child's black eyes stared into his, "Whatever you want, kid."
He hitched the boy up further to keep him from slipping, "You know where she is?"
He didn't reply for a second, he sniffled again at first and mumbled, "Yes." He hiccoughed and pointed down the hall. "I'll tell you where she is."
"Lead the way," the quicker they got to the boy's mother the better.
SGC
Sub-level 28
Xander looked around at the boring grayish walls, he rolled his eyes; "Would it kill you people to redecorate the place a bit; it's in serious need of some colour." And he wasn't kidding, apart from a two stripes of colour that ran along the floor everything was grayish-pale green and didn't get any prettier further down.
In his peripheral vision he saw Colonel O'Neill turn to him, he said, "That's what I keep saying; you think this is bad- try eating the food here, I mean THAT'S okay but the MREs…oy."
The younger man scoffed, "Sunnydale high cafeteria food probably tastes worse."
"Oh, really," Jack challenged, eyes brown eyes focused on his own.
Xander nodded, "We got snakes in ours once." That was an occasion he'd much rather forget; who likes eating snakes?…wasn't as bad as eating the pig, though.
"Ouch," the colonel winced. "How did ya manage that?"
He smirked, "Hazards of livin' on a Hellmouth; crazy stuff is normal for us."
At least they weren't bickering anymore, they didn't trust them- nope, not even an iota of trust- but after they had been told about their new 'enemy' and had been debriefed on the basics of what had been going on the past several years they had begun to at least trust them not to be the bad guys…or well, it might have taken a little longer to convince them that SG1 weren't completely nuts first- it had taken a peek a Teal'c's 'Symbiote' to convince them that aliens were, in fact, real.
You know, because apparently demons and the supernatural aren't enough; their lives had effectively become stranger…
He, Buffy, Dawn, Anya and Giles followed Sam, Jack and Teal'c up the stairway into the control room; he heard his fiancé complain loudly of the number of steps that were in the mountain as they trudged up them; finally, they passed the last step and were face-to-face with a huge window- and an even bigger ring; that was said to a 'Stargate'.
"Oh, a whole lot stranger," Xander breathed as he looked at the alien device. He noticed that Jack was smirking at his obvious amazement; the older man was clearly enjoying their introduction to the contraption.
"Wait 'till you see it in action," Jack said smugly; that received a curious glance from him as he wondered what the man was talking about.
He'd soon find out.
SGC
Sub-level 18
Daniel's Office
Daniel breathlessly lifted some papers from his desk in an effort to find the tablet, "C'mon, where are you?" his office was always so messy; it was hard to find what you were locking for in the piles of what Jack would call 'really old junk'.
Triumphantly, he snatched the prophecy from under a couple of sheets, glanced at it; then grabbed his notes and practically flew out of his office. His feet pounded along the ground as he ran along the hall which had pale-blue tunnel lights in it, he rounded the corner and muttered an apology to technician he almost collided with; he kept running.
He hoped that the tablet would be translated in time, before Willow did anything she would later regret.
SGC
Sub-level 27
After they had walked down the spiral stairway they had entered the briefing room; then a few minutes of silence followed. That is until Buffy spoke up and voiced her thoughts.
"So, you want us to translate this message thing," she said. "How will this help my friends?"
Xander wouldn't mind knowing the answer to that question, he doubted that the others would either.
They all turned as the door to the briefing room slammed open, Daniel rushed in holding what they assumed was the message and some notes; red in the face from so much running around, he walked over to the conference table and plunked down onto a seat as he placed the items onto the table.
Giles, ever the translator, ambled over to the items quickly with an expression of great curiosity on his face; he looked at it for a few moments and then said, amazed, "This is a demonic dialect, how did this end up on another…um, planet?"
"Beats me," said Jack. Xander seconded that response.
Giles alternated between looking at the notes and the tablet itself; obviously deep in thought, "I can translate this, just give me…a little time…" already sucked into the awesomeness that was lost on people like him, Jack and Buffy, he trailed off distractedly.
Xander looked out of the huge window, but he didn't see the stargate; he looked straight through it as he fell deep into thought; He was happy that they now had extra help to bring back Will and Chris and it helped that knew what they were all going up against; but he still didn't know how they were doing, he wondered if they were awake and waiting for them to come running in to save them- which wasn't a common occurrence these days because both of them could usually take care of themselves. But for the first time in a long time the two witches needed them.
He hoped they weren't too late.
White Room no. 02
Willow swallowed and coughed a little as her throat remained dry and painful, she looked around and was now acutely aware of the fact that she was, well, aware of where she was; she looked to the right of her and noticed an IV drip on her wrist; frowning, she telekinetically ripped the restraints off her and then reached over to pull the needle from her wrist.
She grimaced slightly when the action brought a rather painful twinge to her attention, "Hate needles," she mumbled to no one in particular. She sat up; now fully awake and jumped off the 'bed'. Which in actual fact had been a rather stupid thing to do; this thought occurred to her as she yelped in shock and dropped unceremoniously to the floor.
"How long have I been here?" groaned Willow as she sat upright. She huffed, "Stupid drugs."
She noticed something tickling at the edge of her mind; she examined it for a moment and then her eyes widened, "Chris."