Chapter Twenty Nine: Facing the Enemy
Glory teleported into the basement of the castle ready for the meeting with the Goa'uld Ninurta and the promised exchange of Daniel for Lissie. As they arrived Glory put her hand over Daniel's mouth.
"Not a sound," she ordered in a barely heard whisper, at the same time glaring at Daniel.
As Daniel looked through the gloom he saw the back of a Jaffa disappearing along the corridor leading out of the room, holding a light in his hand. Daniel said nothing but gave Glory a look of inquiry. As the light held by the Jaffa disappeared along the corridor the room became completely dark. Glory quietly muttered an incantation and a small witch light floated up in the air giving a little illumination.
"Ninurta's people have been checking this place out for traps," whispered Glory. "They haven't found anything because there's nothing to find. I made sure not to arrive in this room until after they left."
"Perhaps they've set up some traps of their own," suggested Daniel who immediately wished he could take the comment back. Just being an observer without contributing is what he knew he should be doing but he simply found it impossible to remain passive in a situation like this. Making helpful remarks came naturally. He still felt uncomfortable about just watching the Jaffa attack on the witch ceremony in the woods.
"Perhaps they have," said Glory with a smile. "We'll find out won't we? But I expect Marduk will want to carry out the exchange first before springing any surprises."
"But you said you're not going through with the exchange, so why am I here?" asked Daniel suspiciously. She doesn't seem worried about anything Marduk might do he thought. She still seems to be getting stronger. And how did she know she wouldn't arrive in the room until after the Jaffa left?
"Ninurta will be walking out of here with an image, a simulacrum of you," replied Glory. "Having you here makes it easier to make and maintain the image. Watch!"
Glory quietly muttered another incantation, waved her hand and a second Daniel appeared in the room face to face with the real Daniel. Glory waved her hand again and the second Daniel silently went over to the other side of the room and stood there with his back to the wall.
"The Goa'uld won't know the difference," said Glory. "Stay near me and Ninurta won't be able to see you," said Glory. "And don't say anything once he and his people get here."
Daniel still didn't know whether to trust Glory or not. He wouldn't be at all surprised if she really did turn him over to the Goa'uld. She certainly wasn't telling him everything. He was now sure she had done something, something magical to stop him escaping. He knew he should have made further attempts to escape but he hadn't been able to bring himself to do anything. He knew for sure that what was happening could not have happened before. There must be a grave danger of compromising the time line.
So many things are potentially threatening the timeline we just have to hope that something like the finger in the river theory is true thought Daniel. The theory that Daniel was thinking about said that although minor changes to the timeline were possible anything beyond that was impossible. Of course what was minor in the great universal scheme of things might still be devastating from a human viewpoint.
The theory suggested that a time traveller would have the equivalent affect of a finger being put into a river. Although the immediate surroundings would change and a little bit of the river would flow slightly differently this made no perceptible difference to the overall flow of the river which was decided by much stronger and irresistible forces. As soon as the finger was removed, that is the influence of the time traveller was removed, everything would quickly become exactly the same as if nothing had happened.
This deterministic theory was in contrast to the butterfly wing chaos theory which proposed that even something a minor as a butterfly flapping its wings differently would eventually build up into a massive change to what happened in the universe as a whole. Well if there's anything to the butterfly wing theory we're already well and truly messed things up thought Daniel.
For some reason Glory, who had claimed more than once that she recognised it was in her interest not to change things, was trying to do just that. Daniel had pointed out that even pretending to exchange him for Lissie must be a new departure and not what had happened before. Glory had simply claimed that what she was doing was necessary.
"But you know you'll defeat the Goa'uld if you don't change anything," Daniel had explained. "You're putting all that at risk."
"It's you people who've put it at risk, just by coming here," had been Glory's response. "How do I know you haven't already changed things yourselves? How do I know the Goa'uld aren't really defeated a hundred years from now? I'm doing what I think is right. That's all I can do."
Daniel was given no more time for reflection. "Shhhh," said Glory even though Daniel wasn't making any sound. "Stay close. I can hear them coming down the stairs."
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Buffy concentrated on speed, on keeping away from the metal warrior or robot and darting in whenever she could, to deliver what were meant to be disabling, but not lethal blows to the body. The trouble was the blows had no visible effect apart from a little superficial damage to the metalwork.
The creature or machine seemed to be unaffected by the punishment it had taken as it continued its efforts to get close to Buffy. The main reason why it had so far failed to make more than superficial hits on the slayer was because of a lack of agility. The metal whatever-it-was was very powerful and well protected but not able to move or dodge as quickly or effectively as the much smaller slayer.
Meanwhile Angel and Xander continued their combat with the group of Jaffa. Until Xander joined in, Angel had been just about holding his own. With Xander's intervention and distraction Angel had been able to take out two of the Jaffa, just leaving three others.
For the moment Angel ignored the Jaffa who was trying to batter Xander and delivered a high kick against one of his two remaining opponents. The Jaffa staggered back into his colleague and just for a moment Angel had a view of Buffy's combat with the armoured figure. He at once noticed something about Buffy and her opponent.
"Don't hold back," he yelled at Buffy. "It's not human, it's just a thing. You can destroy it."
"Are you sure?" gasped Buffy as she rolled away from the latest effort by the armoured figure to knock her head off and came back to her feet.
"I'm certain," called Angel as he finally reduced his immediate opponents to one by using an old fashioned upper cut. "I can smell it and hear it. Most of it's a machine. There's some sort of organic component but it's lifeless. No blood, no brain, no breathing. It's just a thing."
Angel now finished off his last opponent by slamming him up against the nearest wall. He then turned to help Xander. But Xander no longer needed any help. He was rising to his feet, bloodied and bruised, but the victor in his battle with the other Jaffa. Xander Harris thought Angel, easy to underestimate, he always does better than you expect. Jaffa were tough but not as tough as a vampire, or many of the demons that Xander had faced in Sunnydale and Xander never backed down when his friends were in danger although friend certainly didn't describe the way Xander thought of Angel.
By now Buffy had really cut lose on her metal opponent. She was delivering a fast succession of devastating punches and kicks to the body and head. For the first time the robotic warrior was showing signs of wear. At last, after being hit by a particularly powerful flying kick from the slayer it lost balance and fell onto one knee and then face down onto the floor. It showed signs of stirring and getting back to its feet until Buffy jumped high above it and came down with a final crushing blow to the head with both feet.
"We'd better see if they need any help next door," said Xander after a deep breath. He started off in that direction. I'm sure I heard Willow in there he thought.
"Just a minute," said Buffy walking back over towards the fallen robotic warrior. She picked it up and led the way towards the other room. At the doorway she suddenly moved quickly to aim and throw the cyborg into the other room.
Action and conversation in the other room suddenly stopped as the armoured warrior/robot came through the door. It came fast because of the strength of Buffy's throw. Buffy had hoped to scatter Marduk's witches with her throw but they didn't move. The magic shield held by the witches remained intact and the metal figure stopped dead at the barrier and fell to the ground where it remained immobile.
Now the center of attention, Buffy walked into the room followed by Angel and Xander. "Got any more pieces of junk like that?" she asked looking straight at Marduk.
"You must be a new sort of witch," said Marduk. "But it won't do you any good. Goodbye." With that he began inputting the command code for the self-destruct into the key pad he held in his hand.
Tara up to that moment had just been a spectator. She had kept a tight hold on Willow, ready to act if anything looked like hurting her partner. Now it was quite clear that Willow and the other witches were in danger. She was therefore justified in taking action herself. Without a word to anybody she let go of Willow's hand and orbed.
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"So how does that work then?" asked Kennedy. "Every time you screw up you do a time travel spell and go back to tell yourself what went wrong? Neat trick if you can do it. Next time read a few of the racing results or lottery numbers before you come back huh?"
"Doesn't work like that," said Cordelia. "You try to do something for personal gain and it always works out badly. You ask Willow sometime what happened when she decided to have a little fun with magic." Cordelia paused briefly. "On second thoughts don't ask Willow, not a good idea."
"It doesn't sound so good to me anyway," said Gwen. "I mean I'm not the same person I was yesterday, or last week, or last year. If I went back and spoke to my previous self it's kind of like committing suicide. This me, the me I am now, ceases to exist. No thanks."
Cordelia was leading the way back upstairs to the hotel room where Wesley and Eve were studying the Wolfram and Hart book. She hurried because she didn't know how much time they had before people started turning into demons. As she made her way to the door of the room she had a lot of questions in her mind but few answers.
Was it that book thought Cordelia? It must have been. It must have been the book that infected us, infected me. Will it change us all into demons here in the hotel or does it only work over in the witch HQ? Did the wards protecting the HQ set it off? Is it an attack on us or an attack on the Kallistians? What do Wolfram and Hart expect to achieve by all this? Are they really working with the Goa'uld?
They reached the hotel room and went straight in. The room was empty and so was the adjacent bathroom as they discovered after a brief examination. No Wesley and no Eve but no signs of foul play.
"Where could they be?" asked Gwen. "We weren't gone for long. They must have left the room soon after we did. Could they have gone down the back stairs or left by some other method?" The three women had already passed by the nearby meeting room and it was empty.
Cordelia went over to the window. It looked down on the street at the front of the hotel. "It's all normal out there, no panicky people running around," she said. "That must mean there isn't a Wesley demon or an Eve demon down there, at least not yet."
"Eve's room?" suggested Kennedy suggestively. She immediately led the way out of the room and along the corridor to Eve's room. The door was locked but Kennedy didn't let that slow her down. She forced the door open and led the way into the room.
There were no people in the bedroom or the bathroom but the Wolfram and Hart book was present, or what had been the book. Somebody or something had ripped the book apart and pages, many torn and in fragments, were strewn around the room. Even the cover of the book had been torn to pieces.
"Maybe somebody has been turned into a demon?" suggested Gwen. "Maybe they've both been turned into demons and they ripped up the book before they left?"
"Oh yeah? So which demon locked the door behind them then?" asked Cordelia.
"Maybe they locked themselves in before they disappeared, before they became demons," suggested Kennedy, "to make sure they weren't disturbed."
"Could you use your wand to find Wes?" Gwen asked Cordelia.
"My wand!" said Cordelia. "It touched the book. I can't trust it. That must be why future me said not to use it." Using a handkerchief Cordelia brought out the wand from the inside pocket of her jacket and tossed it away from her into the middle of the floor amongst the pieces of the book.
"Nobody touch anything!" ordered Cordelia. "Don't touch anything to do with the book, or the wand..."
"Or you?" said Kennedy.
"Or me," agreed Cordelia.
"If it's the wand then why haven't you been affected already?" asked Gwen.
"Ever hear of Typhoid Mary?" asked Cordelia.
Kennedy shook her head but Gwen nodded. "You mean somebody who spreads a disease without getting it themselves?"
"Uh huh," said Cordelia. "That's how I'd arrange things if I was trying to spread something like this. The first person to touch the book, or in my case touch the wand which touched the book, becomes a transmitter without being affected themselves."
"But you didn't, or rather the other you didn't say she touched everybody who changed into a demon," said Kennedy.
"But she did use the wand when she arrived at the witch HQ," said Cordelia. "That might have spread the infection all through the place."
"But wasn't Eve the first person to touch the book," asked Gwen. "Why wasn't she affected?"
"Yes, she was," said Kennedy. "Maybe it wasn't touching the book. Maybe it was because you touched it with your wand. Your magic might have set off the trap."
"And every time I use the wand I spread the infection," said Cordelia. "Yes, that makes sense."
"But thanks to your future self you haven't used the wand since it touched the book," said Gwen. "So we should be alright."
"I hope so," said Cordelia. "Look you guys get out of here. Go and warn the witches about that attack coming in from the Goa'uld and do what you can to help. I'll try to get rid of this demon infection and find Wes and Eve." And have a long talk with Eve thought Cordelia.
"And if we change into demons?" asked Kennedy.
"In that case I suggest you go back to Wolfram and Hart and have a little demon to demon talk with them," said Cordelia. "It's about time they learnt to stop messing with us."
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Tara's orb took her inside the circle formed by the witches protecting Marduk where she appeared behind the Goa'uld. She appeared with her hands outstretched and immediately dropped a small chain over Marduk's head and then stepped back. Marduk turned at once and drew back his hand to hit Tara but then stopped.
A puzzled expression appeared on Marduk's face and he put his hand down. He dropped the key pad onto the floor, not having finished the self-destruct sequence. "What? How?" he said as he looked around him as if for the first time and then at himself. He flexed his fingers and felt his face. "It's gone! I'm, I'm Jagerat again, I'm me."
"You have broken the hold of the symbiote on the host," said Teal'c to Tara. "How were you able to do that?"
"Magic?" suggested Jack. I'm getting to like this way of explaining everything he thought. Beats one of Sam's explanations hands down. She'd probably come up with something like an 'in phase vibration theory thingy' and have a half dozen charts to explain it all. He glanced briefly at a thoughtful Sam. All this must annoy the hell out of her.
"We made these amulets," said Willow. "There's one on that chain. They provide protection to stop something or somebody else from taking over your mind. So long as you keep wearing the chain with the amulet on you can't be taken over or controlled by somebody or something else."
Sam looked at Jack and Jack looked at Sam, both with the same thought. "Could you run a few of those off for us and the other SGC people," asked Jack. "We always seem to be running into people or things who try to take over our minds, not just the Goa'uld."
"Better get Anya to negotiate a contract for you," said Buffy to Willow. "She'd love to get involved in something like that. A government contract. She probably dreams about things like that."
"If I did that I'd have to give her ten percent," said Willow. "But it might be worth it if..." Willow stopped because she realised that Tara was looking at her with a quizzical expression. She gave one of her old nervous grins. "Just joking. Of course we can't make money out of magic, no personal gain. But we'll see what we can do to help SG-1 when we have the time."
By now Tara had completed the other part of her plan. She had gone around the circle of sitting witches and placed a chain with an amulet over the head of each witch in turn. The result was less dramatic for the witches than it was for Marduk because the control which they were under was more subtle but in a few moments the magic barrier protecting Marduk had been dropped and the witches began standing up, wondering what had been going on.
"Jag... um, whatever your name is. Could you please tell all Marduk's Jaffa on the ship to stop fighting," asked Jack.
"And could somebody please turn everything the right way up again before I barf," said Xander. He looked somewhat the worse for wear as he leant against the wall.
Tara immediately orbed over to Xander and started healing him. Willow and Buffy rushed over as well. As Tara carried out the healing she suddenly looked up as if paying attention to a hidden voice. She finished the healing and then turned to Willow. "Duty calls," she said and orbed away.
"I didn't think she could orb back to her other charges on Earth," said Phoebe.
"She can't," said Willow. "But she's got one other charge right here on Kallistien."
"Cordelia," said Giles.