Angel drove down the deserted highway with the gravest of intentions. His mind flowed back to early in the day. He was just ready to go to bed when the news about the ships broke. When he heard that one was over Sunnydale, he was immediately afraid for Buffy and had tried to get in touch with her. Unfortunately, she wasn't answering her number. Then the blast hit. He heard a huge boom in the distance like thunder and heard Wesley shriek.
"My God!" Wesley stammered.
"This is shaping up to be a bad day." Angel had said walking to where Wesley was standing.
He soon noticed the intensity of light but knew it was not the light of the sun. He had seen this light before, in Hell. He froze when he saw the pillar of Hellfire rising into the sky in the distance. Even though Sunnydale was two hours away, he still saw the great blast of fire and immediately he thought of her.
"Buffy.", he had murmured.
That's when the room started to shake. Angel heard Connor scream in the next room. He shot to his side as fast as he could. Wesley soon joined him in the doorway where it was customary to stand in light of an earthquake.
"This is not a regular earthquake Angel. Not even for L.A. This is too intense." Wesley had shouted over the rumbling.
He didn't have to tell Angel about it. He knew. Angel simply calmed Connor. The earthquake raged and roared and Angel heard a scream over it.
"That sounded like Fred." Angel remarked while handing his son to Wesley, "Wesley, take care of him."
Angel then raced out of the doorway and out into the hall. Debris was falling from everywhere. He leapt over the upstairs balcony and landed in the lobby of the hotel. He saw Fred screaming and attempting to lift a huge wooden beam that had fallen on their friend Gunn. Angel ran over to her.
"Angel! I can't move it!" Fred pleaded.
"It's okay. Gunn, can you talk?" Angel asked the near unconscious Gunn.
"A little. Hurts like Hell." Gunn said to Angel.
"Okay, Fred when I count to three, I need you to pull Gunn out from under this as quickly as possible." Angel said to the frightened girl
"I don't know if I'm strong enough." Fred said.
"You have to be. Now, one, two, three!" Angel said straining to lift the beam off of Gunn. Fred strained herself and managed to pull Gunn out from under it. Angel then surveyed the hotel.
"We have to get out of here. Gunn can you walk?" Angel asked
"Yeah. I think so." Gunn replied with machismo
"Okay. Fred, help him out of here. Wesley get down here! We have to go!" Angel shouted.
Soon, the awkward form of Wesley came bounding down the stairs with Connor. Angel took his son to better protect him and they all rushed out to the street and jumped into his car with Wesley making the top come up to shield Angel from the sun's light. The quake raged on with pieces of buildings collapsing all over the place. Wesley did his best to avoid falling debris though they were occasionally bombarded with it. Fred shrieked when she looked downtown and saw skyscrapers collapsing.
"I don't know if I can handle this." Fred screamed.
"Where are we going?" Gunn asked
"Yes where ARE we going?" Wesley also asked
"Caritas. The Host's sanctuary spell make it the best place for us to hide out. I just hope we get there before every other demon in L.A. gets the same idea." Angel said calming his son.
"What about Cordelia?" Wesley asked
"I'm not sure. We just have to get there first. Then we'll figure out what to do about Cordy." Angel said coolly.
The accommodations weren't much. Despite the bar's mystic "connections", it was still in a shambles from Holtz's little attack a few weeks ago. The Host stood there in his standard three piece suit looking as stylish as a green demon with horns could look in a situation like this. The quake had stopped just as Angel and the crew had entered the bar.
"Hell of a day huh?" Lorne, the Host, said to Angel.
"Tell me about it. The hotel is a total loss." Angel said to him.
"The bar is okay, but no karaoke. What kind of deity would allow such a thing?" Lorne asked looking upwards.
"Look, is it too much trouble for us to be here?" Angel asked
"Not at all. You have a baby and an injured man here. I've told you before, Caritas is and always will be a sanctuary. Besides, you got here first. I'm filling the bar to maximum occupancy and then I'm barricading the doors. Can't have every demon in the City of Angels sneaking in now can I?" Lorne said smiling
"Heard anything from Cordelia?" Angel asked hopefully
"Heard enough. She's here. Was here for martinis when the quake hit." Lorne said
"Who drinks martinis at seven in the morning?" Angel asked puzzled
"A person who had a vision that their parents died." Lorne said pointing to a crying Cordelia in a corner, "Poor thing, now that those visions of hers don't hurt anymore it's harder to tell."
"Tell what?" Angel asked.
"Whether or not she actually has one. She was asleep when it happened and it woke her up. She thought it might not have been a vision at first: just a dream. Still, scary dream. She came to drown her sorrows here but when the quake hit she realized that she did indeed have a vision about Sunnydale being destroyed."
Angel stood silently at hearing the word Sunnydale and it always drove him to thinking of Buffy. He looked over at the crying Cordelia. He thought of Buffy, of Xander, Willow, hell even Spike. He knew what he had to do.
He had left hours ago, handing Connor to Wesley to watch after. Naturally, his friends protested his insistence on going alone and in the daylight. He had assured them that he would be alright, that the sunlight wouldn't bother him while he was in the car. Angel flatly told them that with L.A. in near ruins and Sunnydale almost assuredly destroyed that it was no trip for an infant, a wounded man, and two women with questionable mental stability at the moment. Wesley said that he and the Host could go with him, but again Angel told them no (which Lorne seemed grateful for). They needed to watch after the bar and the others. Angel went alone.
It had taken hours to get out of Los Angeles alone, but now he was nearing Sunnydale. Or what was left. He got out of the car into the night and simply stared. Sunnydale and all the area for miles around was gone. Only a huge crater remained. Angel looked into the sky and saw the mysterious ship had disappeared as well. He hadn't even thought of that. His mind was still dwelling on Buffy. He just looked at the crater. She had to be alive. She just had to. But the sad reality of it all sunk in. She couldn't be. And Angel's cries of rage echoed in the night.
"Tough break amigo. Tough break." a voice said
Angel turned and saw…
"Trick?" Angel asked confused
"In the flesh." Trick laughed.
"You're dead though." Angel stammered in disbelief
"Yeah. That little number Faith did me in. But I'm back. And so are these boys." Trick laughed baring his fangs as vampires appeared out of the shadows.
Dozens of them. Maybe even fifty. Angel even recognized a few. They were vampires he and Buffy had killed before. Angel knew what was next. In a moment they were on him. Angel bared fangs of his own however and began to fight the vampires off as best he could. There were just too many of them though. They beat him and held him down. He lashed out at them but they held him fast. Trick walked over to the downed Angel.
"Let him have it boys." Trick laughed, "Pull his head clean off."
Angel braced for the pain before a hand grabbed Trick and placed him in a headlock. Angel saw it was a huge vampire. A huge vampire who had been killed by Buffy when she first came to Sunnydale six years ago.
"Let him up Trick." Luke said tightening his grip on Trick's head.
Trick squirmed and hissed but soon realized he couldn't get free.
"Fine. Let him go." Trick hissed
Angel got up and looked at the huge vampire.
"Mind explaining to me why you're all alive?" Angel said bracing for another battle. Luke simply stared at him without expression.
"I'll tell you why, lover." a feminine voice rang.
Angel turned and saw a beautiful blonde woman clad in a red shirt and black pants smiling at him intently.
"Darla?" Angel babbled
"I just won't stay dead baby." Darla said walking over to Angel and tracing a line on his chest, "Just like your Slayer."
"Start talking. What do you know?" Angel said backing away.
"Hell is destroyed. We're free to roam the earth again. Every vampire, demon and monster that ever died are pouring out of Hellmouths all over the world. Something happened. The walls of Hell just got breached by something. Next thing you know all the fire is gone and we got vomited into earth's upper crust. We stayed there until night fell. Now however we're on the move. We've rallied all the vampires under our control. This planet will soon belong to the demons again. Isn't that nice?" Darla giggled
"Who? You and Luke? It would take a hell of a lot more to get them to work together than you two." Angel growled
"Yes. It took me."
Angel froze. If his heart could beat it would have skipped one. He swallowed hard and turned to the voice behind him. He looked and saw that not five feet away, stood the Master.
"Rise and shine."
Buffy opened her eyes and found herself in the bar called the Bronze.
"What happened?" Buffy asked. But no reply came. She looked over and saw the others likewise just waking up.
"What's going on?" a newly awakened Xander asked
"No idea. Last thing I remember was being in the car." Buffy mentioned
"Then why are we at the Bronze?" Anya questioned
"Well hopefully to drink." Spike said leaping over the counter and getting a bottle of whiskey.
"What happened with all the fire and destruction?" Willow asked
"I don't like this." Tara added
"Buffy," Dawn said looking at her older sister, "Are we dead?"
"No, no dear child. Nothing so crude." the voice that spoken to Buffy resounded.
Suddenly, traces of light began to form in the room. They formed a man of average height and build with brown hair on his head. On his body was a skintight uniform with black and red as its colors. Xander immediately showed recognition.
"Okay this is just crazy now." He said
"Like it wasn't before?" Dawn asked him
"Who are you?" Buffy asked the man
"Oh. It's obvious to the moppet back there." the man smiled sitting on a couch.
"Xander?" Buffy asked
"Q." Xander said
"Who?" Spike asked
"Q." Xander said again
"No, we're wanting his name Xander not a letter." Anya explained
"That is his name! It's Q. Just Q! Jeez, you people really need to watch Star Trek more often." Xander said
"I knew it was him Xander." Willow added to reassure him and to prove their combined geekiness to the group.
"Why's his name a letter?" Tara asked
"Unimaginative parents?" Buffy said smirking at Q
"Well, yes I suppose they were, but frankly Q is the closest thing to my real name that you insects can pronounce." Q smirked back.
"Okay are we on trial for the fate of our race or did we cause a time anomaly to destroy life as we know it?" Xander asked
"No." Q said bluntly
"Just checking." Xander said walking to the bar, "Spike a drink. Make it strong."
"So he's from that Star Trek show huh?" Spike said tossing Xander a beer.
"Well the next generation." Xander added again.
"What is he then?" Tara asked
"Well….imagine God. Then imagine God's pesky little Dennis the Menace like brother." Xander said between drinks of the beer
"He's God's brother?" Dawn asked
"Not at all." Q laughed standing up
"Then what are you?" Buffy asked getting up in Q's face
"I'm Q." Q stated
"You're a fictional character." Buffy said.
"No, I'm not." Q answered, sounding hurt
"Yes you are." Buffy said to him again.
"No, I'm not. What's fictional to you might be fact to others." Q smiled
"Okay, you saved us from the big wall of burning death and have us in some pseudo Bronze, and we demand answers." Buffy said with her hands on her hips.
"Well first of all this IS your Bronze. I merely plucked it from the explosion of the Gateway." Q said
"The Hellmouth?" Buffy asked
"Is that what you amoeba call it? Well then yes." Q smiled
"Why did you save us?" Buffy asked
"Why not?" Q asked
"Did you save everyone else?" Buffy asked again
"No." Q said again.
"Why?" Buffy demanded
"I had no need of them." Q said walking and sitting on a stool.
"You cold hearted son of a bitch!" Tara uncharacteristically screamed
"Temper." Q said still smiling
"Tara. Just calm down okay?" Willow asked. Tara looked at her and despite all the anger that had built in her for months and just been unleashed onto Q, calmed down.
"You need us. Why? Why did I fight the guy from Friday the 13th earlier? Why did spaceships from Independence Day blow up my town? What's going on?" Buffy asked
"Alright. I'll tell you. It might be a little hard to follow, but bear with me. I am from another reality, many times removed from your own. As a matter of fact, I'm from another reality plus a few centuries in the future. The dimension of that "Star Trek" your friend spoke of. You see, what you view as mere fantasy actually exists in other universes." Q said
"Okay so why do we know about it? I mean its just too big of a coincidence for it to actually exist." Xander asked
"Too true, Too true. The proper explanation is a bit too hard for your pathetic little human minds to comprehend. It's easiest just to say that if you can imagine something, somewhere in infinity, it exists. Basically, all universes are linked by subconscious surges in reality. It may even surprise you that you are all "fictional" in some universes. You're a very popular, what do you call it? Ah yes, television program." Q grinned
"Cool!" Xander laughed.
The others just looked at him, Q included.
"Sorry."
"Did you cause this mess?" Willow asked
"No I didn't." Q said
"Then who did?" Buffy asked
Q looked at her and quit smirking.
"Pure evil. A demon. In fact a Lord of Hell." Q said, with absolutely no amusement.
"A Lord of Hell did this?" Anya asked.
"Makes sense." added Spike
"Okay forgive my youth, but what's a Lord of Hell?" Dawn asked
"Dear Key, you should know. Glorificus or Glory as you knew her was one. However, she was a bit underpowered during her tenure on earth. A Lord of Hell is exactly what it is billed as. A Ruler of the pan-dimensional realm of Hell. Hell, like Heaven and Purgatory, exists in every dimension, every reality in one form or another. Each Lord is given rule of a small expanse of Hell that covers one universe. It is their job to try and unbalance good and evil by gaining as many "souls" as possible. This particular Lord of Hell attempted to set in motion the Apocalypse in his universe. He was thwarted. Nearly destroyed. When he had regained strength he traveled back to Hell to find ownership of his lands usurped by a creature known as Sin. He appealed to the Morningstar." Q explained while looking directly at Buffy.
"Well you know the Morningstar as Lucifer or Satan or whatever you wish to call it. The Morningstar would not hear the plea of the Hell Lord and cited the acquisition of his lands by Sin as a punishment for his failure. He would have to work his way back up to Hell Lord status through billions of years of work. The Hell Lord rejected this and fled from Hell. He drifted aimlessly for a century or two formulating a plan. While weakened, he did have the power to cross the barriers between realities. He plundered weaker worlds and overwhelmed them. He destroyed enemies and created havoc in general, laying waste to worlds. Whatever served him loyally joined him in his quest. The quest to usurp the throne of Hell itself and to then take Heaven as well. I learned of him after he acquired a powerful ring from a lesser being called Sauron on a backwater world. I saw this creature's rage and alerted my people. We watched as he kept gaining armaments and dimensions. Soon, he began to break the barriers to Hell itself and in doing so drained it of its flame, drawing it into him to make him stronger. Whatever Lord of Hell ruled that area of Hell would be destroyed and absorbed into his essence if it refused to serve him. He's done this for untold millennia as time moves differently in different realities." Q explained
"That's what he did to Sunnydale. But why use the ships? Why not do it himself?" Buffy asked
"Very simple. He wasn't even in your dimension. He was taking another as they broke the dimensional barrier and transmitted the Hellfire to him. He has doubled his efforts because he senses that the Q Continuum is planning to strike against him soon. He needs all the power he can get. As do we if we are to defeat him." Q said
"Why save us though?" Xander asked Q
"Because I have need of you. Here on this primitive backwater world in a backwater universe, you have all saved reality. You saved reality from Glory. Each universe has at least one central protector to save it. Maybe only once, maybe multiple times. You are one of those beings vampire slayer." Q said looking at Buffy
"So I need to save my world?" Buffy asked
"In addition to countless others. You creatures are but a fraction of the armies being gathered to battle this being. I have need of you to recruit a few more allies in addition to finding parts of a weapon to help us against this creature. I'll send each of you to different realties. Realties untouched by the demon, for now. You may find opposition though in the form of his armies. You will be obligated to finding your new allies and the part needed. Mentally, you'll be aware of the part of the weapon needed and be able to track it. I will handle the proper transportation to these worlds. I would do it all myself but I need to conserve my powers for the battle. Please, I may not be the most pleasant being to be around but right now the survival of countless dimensions are at stake. I need your help." Q said almost sympathetic
"So guys? I'm up for it. Are you?" Buffy asked the rest of the group after hearing Q's story.
"Do we get our families back?" Willow asked Q
"If you like. You can undo the damage although you'd quite frankly be stronger creatures if you just moved on." Q said
"We want them back." Xander said in his best forceful voice
"Fine. You know you almost sounded like Jean Luc there for a moment." Q smirked
"Really?" Xander asked
"No. Not really." Q said.
"Well if we get everyone back then I'm in." Willow said
"Me too." Xander added
"Me three." Tara spoke up
"I guess so. Just don't send me to a dimension where the boys I like are all vampires." Dawn said meekly
"I have no idea what you mean but fine." Q said confused
Buffy looked over at the bar.
"Spike?" She asked. Spike took a swig of whiskey then sat it down
"Sure. Could be fun. Just send me where I can hit things." Spike smirked at Buffy.
Everyone looked at Anya. She looked back at them confused then recognition shot through her.
"Oh! Yeah! Sure. I guess." Anya said somewhat confused
"Good. Now off with you all." Q snapped his fingers sending them off