CHAPTER SIXTEEN:

No nukes… Nukes bad…

Faith could hear voices as she drifted in and out of consciousness. She couldn't make out what the voices were saying, but a part of her mind noted, somewhat detachedly, that she was hurt really bad.

Kylie and Stacy had picked her up and placed her gently on a cell bed after the guards had dragged her back into the cell. They tried to clean her up and administer whatever little first aid they could, but it was obvious she was hurt badly from the beating the guards had given her.

Faith had severe bruising and cuts on her face and head. What was more worrisome was that one of her pupils was dilated and blood was visible in the other eye. Kylie and Stacy didn't know if she was going to live or die. All they could do was to make her as comfortable as possible then watch and wait, hoping her Slayer healing abilities would pull her through. This at least allowed them to focus on something else rather than sitting wondering what was going to happen next.

"What'll we do if Faith dies?" Stacy asked with panic in her voice.

"Keep it together Stacy …" Kylie responded trying to reassure Stacy, "remember what she told us. Our first duty is to survive and let's focus on that and trying to keep her alive for now."

"Will anyone come for us?" Stacy asked trying to find some glimmer of hope at this darkest time.

"Someone will come … I'm sure of it." Kylie said trying to remain hopeful.

oOoOo

Buffy and Riley were making their way through the woods using the directions that Madison had provided. When they came through the portal, they had been quickly able to orient themselves and head off in the direction of the castle. They easily found the trail that Madison and the others had been taken away down—they followed it, but stayed off to the side in the woods to avoid being spotted. They knew it would take some time to get to the castle as it was slow going in the dark.

None of this deterred Buffy, she was determined to rescue Faith and the others and bring them home.

oOoOo

Everyone was in shock and then ecstatic with Michael's dramatic arrival through the closing portal. Before he had even stopped sliding and could get up, he'd been immediately set upon by a Willow looking both happy and sorrowful as she was feeling guilty about closing the portal on him. Giles and Xander came running into training area as they had heard the commotion and been alerted by Adriana.

Michael was trying to catch his breath and finding it hard to believe that he was actually home. He took off his helmet as he stood up, looking around and expecting to see Faith but not seeing her—so much for the dramatic welcome home. As he asked the others where she was, he immediately got a bad feeling in his stomach as the others got awkward and uncomfortable looks in their faces.

Michael was now in the warehouse conference room being brought up to speed on the current situation. He looked around at the group of people assembled in the room. There was Giles, Xander, Anya, Willow and Kennedy. Adriana was there as well in her hologram form. He hadn't seen these people in over a year and where this reunion should have been a happy moment, had now become a bittersweet affair—that was becoming sour and painful with every passing moment—as he listened to Giles brief him on what had happened to Faith and her team and what Buffy and the others were attempting.

Michael glanced at Adriana. He could tell she was happy to see him, she seemed to be glowing more brightly than he remembered and she was smiling.

Michael listened and to Giles and the others he looked unemotional—dispassionate, but inside he was fighting to maintain that outward appearance as he was seething in rage. To have come so far and gone through so much to now find that Faith had been captured by a bunch of wannabe medieval demons.

"How long ago did Buffy and her group go through?" Michael asked fighting to keep his emotions in check and the anger out of his voice.

"It was almost 5 hours ago." replied Giles.

Giles studied Michael and could see that he was trying to maintain control of his emotions. His face may have shown no emotion, but Giles looked at Michael's eyes and could see the anger there.

Since Michael's return and being informed of what happened to Faith, Giles had seen a change in Michael's body language and demeanor. It had been subtle, so the others probably hadn't noticed, but Giles had. He saw Michael take on a harder more dangerous look. His face looked like it was carved from stone as he betrayed no emotions—except for his eyes.

Giles remembered how Michael had reacted when he thought Faith had died during the Battle of the Hellmouth. He had been gone for over a year—escaped the Hellmouth and crossed god knows how many dimensions to get home—to find Faith captured or worse.

"We should not plan on doing anything rash." Giles said looking directly at Michael as memories of what the Spartan had done the last time replayed through his head.

Xander picked up on what Giles was trying to say, even though he'd hadn't seen what Giles had seen, "Yeah … No nukes … Nukes bad."

Michael ignored Xander's barb as he replayed the information in his head and looked at his tactical options. He looked directly at Willow, "How long will it take you to open a portal to that world?" he asked trying, but failing this time to conceal the hard edge in his voice.

Willow jumped a bit at the tone in Michael's voice, for a second she thought he was mad for closing the portal on him and almost trapping him, but then she saw his eyes and saw the anger and hate there. She recognized it as she had seen that look before—in her own eyes after Tara had been killed.

She stammered as she felt the intensity of Michael's stare, "It … It could about 30-40 minutes before I can attempt to open a portal. I have to prepare the spell first."

"Get on it!" he barked harshly.

Everyone jumped at his tone and looked at each other with concern.

Adriana could tell that Michael was "not happy" and her happiness at his return was tempered with her concern for him, "Michael … Wouldn't you like some time to evaluate the situation more before deciding on a course of action?"

He tried to keep his emotions from clouding his tactical judgment, but it was hard. He decided on what he was going to do—there had always been only one option for him to choose.

"No … Time is of critical importance. You have sent a small group of people with no heavy support against an unknown number of hostiles against a fortified position … I am the only one here that can go and do this successfully."

Michael looked around the room and the others found it hard to meet the intensity of his eyes,"…Does anyone have any further objections to this?" He said it with such a finality in his voice implying that there would be no further discussion.

Again everyone looked around uncomfortably.

Michael could see the hesitation in their eyes, this wasn't the time to hesitate. "Okay … Let's move on this … The clock is ticking!" he said again with a bark in his voice.

That snapped everyone out of their hesitation and they jumped up to work on their tasks.

Adriana's hologram form remained in the room after everyone had left. Michael could see how happy she was to see him, but he also saw and heard her concern when she spoke, "What are you going to do now?"

"I need to get some equipment from the armory while Willow is preparing."

Michael saw Adriana's face take on a familiar concerned look.

"You know me … I wasn't planning on doing anything stupid." he said trying to reassure her.

"I do know you … That's what worries me." she replied shaking her head with concern and worry.

"I missed you too." Michael said as he put his helmet on and headed to the armory.

oOoOo

The armory was located in the basement of the warehouse. He entered the armory walking past the stacked crates of guns, ammo and other equipment that would have given law enforcement and government officials fits. Some of the weapons had been taken out of their crates, cleaned, oiled and placed in racks on a wall by the entrance of the armory. Boxes of open ammo and loaded magazines were stacked on a table by the racks. He walked past all that as his destination was at the back of the room. There was another door at the back of the armory that had a numeric keypad on the wall beside it. Michael was the only one that had direct access to this room—he stored the weapons and ammo he had brought with him from his universe in this room. He punched in the code and entered the room. He looked around at the small collection of UNSC and Covenant weapons and ammo he had left.

He had used the last clip for his pulse rifle fighting those creatures getting back here. The manufacturing requirements needed to make the specialized caseless ammo meant that there would be no more for now—maybe in the future. Other than a couple of grenades left for the grenade launcher he wouldn't be using this weapon. For this mission he would need something different.

He approached a table at the back of the small room and pulled a tarp off the table to reveal what had been piled there and what he was looking for.

Adriana was monitoring Michael in the armory and saw what weapons he was looking at, "You're kidding right? Don't you think that is going a little overboard and excessive?"

A small smirk came to Michael's face, he had missed these exchanges with Adriana.

"The extra weight I'll be carrying is not an issue … Plus it seems sort of appropriate since I will be storming a castle."

He picked up, checked and attached the weapons to his battle armor's magnetic holder strips. He made sure he had enough ammo loads, without overloading himself. He was now going to head to the training area to check on Willow's status.

Yeah … simple as pie. Open portal … go through portal. Find castle … rescue Faith. Come home. Sounds too easy, Michael thought with a sigh.

As he started to leave the armory, Adriana spoke up, "Michael … If you insist on taking this course of action then I want to go with you. I … I … missed you very much. It wasn't the same without you here. Whatever happens I want to be with you."

Michael felt a twinge a guilt as he had promised Adriana years ago that he would never leave her behind. He hadn't had a choice last time—this time he did.

"Okay … Only if you're sure about this." he said unsure if this was the right thing to do.

He heard the relief and happiness in her voice, "I'm sure. Thank you."

Michael made a detour to the main computer room to retrieve Adriana's storage module.

"Are you ready for this?"

"I'm ready … Yank me." Adriana replied.

Michael pulled her storage data module and inserted into the special interface slot in the back of his helmet. He could immediately feel Adriana's electronic touch on his system—it had been a long time.

"Wait! Something is different here!" Adriana said with concern as she settled back into her home inside his battle armor.

"What's wrong?" Michael asked with his own concern about something being wrong with his battle armor at this critical time.

"I am picking up anomalous code … It looks familiar … Analyzing…"

After a quick moment Adriana spoke again, "I am detecting Forerunner code in your systems! Where have you been and who have you been interfacing with Michael!" Her voice had a mix of shock, alarm, surprise and jealousy.

Adriana's tone caught him off guard, "Uhhhh … I met a new friend … He fixed my battle armor … It's a long story… I'm sure you'll like him." he said sheepishly. The last thing he needed to deal with or worry about right now was a jealous AI.

Adriana replied using that distinctly female tone letting you know that you've done something wrong, "Hmmmm … We will see about that … I will have to analyze and check all systems to make sure that your new 'friend' has not made a mess of things in here."

Michael sighed as he knew right then that he would never begin to understand and comprehend women.

oOoOo

Willow was having difficulty with the spell to open the portal. She had already opened three portals today and closed a fourth. She could feel the weight of her tiredness and weakness pulling on her body as she tried to concentrate on the incantation. The stress of the situation was also causing her to have trouble concentrating on the spell. Kennedy was there trying to encourage her and keep her focused, but it was hard as her energy just wasn't there. When Michael entered the room carrying his weapons—looking like a God of War that was about to declare war on a world—Willow's concentration faltered even more.

Willow's nerves and concentration were shot, but she kept pushing ahead with the spell. She spoke the words.

"…Invoco deam…"

"…Meam audi vocationem…"

"…Aperuit ostium ut inveniam aliam quaerimus orbem…"

"…Aperi ego præcipio…"

She could feel the power and energy of the spell flow through her body as it started. Everyone gathered in the area watched as the portal started to form. The portal started to form, but then stopped—not even large enough for one person to squeeze through.

Kennedy's concern grew as she could see Willow struggling with the spell. She was trying to concentrate harder and chanting the spell again to try and make it larger.

Willow was trying through force of will to open the portal larger—she could feel every nerve and fiber of her body pushing—trying to force the portal to expand larger. She could feel the sweat running down her back. Her vision was blurring as she tried to focus, but she could feel her body starting to weaken—the spell was starting to fail.

"I can't do it! It's closing!" Willow cried out in despair.

Michael watched as Willow cast the portal spell, it became obvious that she was in trouble. Michael could feel his anger, frustration and fear of failing Faith grow.

This isn't how it's supposed to end…

Michael knew what was at stake. As always when the situation was the most desperate and at its worst, he went with his feelings. It didn't come as a conscious thought, he just knew what needed to be done. He stepped forward to cross the circle in which Willow was sitting in.

Giles and several others cried out as they saw Michael break the boundary as they knew that wasn't a good thing to do when a spell was being cast. In their experiences, either the spell was broken or something really bad happened.

"Michael! What are you doing?" Adriana said in alarm as he moved forward and crossed over into the circle.

Everybody in the room could look on in shock as Michael moved into the circle and stood beside Willow in the pentagram, towering over her as she sat on the floor. Everyone held their breath as he then reached out and touched Willow, who was struggling to maintain the spell along with her own shock at seeing at what Michael was doing.

As Michael's hand touched Willow, she suddenly felt a jolt of energy slam through her body. She felt Michael's force of will join with her and she could feel his strength—she could feel the power that he wielded. Before this moment, she would have said that what was happening was impossible, but here she was experiencing it. As she felt the power fill her body, she was flooded with and absorbing feelings and memories. She had flashes of images … strange planets and stars … spaceships filling the skies over burning cities … bodies piled in streets … swarms of attacking aliens that made vampires look tame. She felt his emotions surge through her body. She felt his pain … anger … sadness … happiness and the love that was inside of him.

Everyone watched with awe as it seemed that both Willow and Michael were glowing. They were shocked as they saw the portal grow larger and stabilized.

Michael felt a surge of power flow through his body, it wasn't like anything he'd ever experienced. He looked down and saw Willow glowing and he looked up and saw the formed portal.

Adriana was getting energy readings off the scale, it wasn't impacting any of the systems, but she had no explanation for what was happening, "What happened? What's going on?" she asked confused by what was happening.

Michael didn't reply. He had no words to explain what had happened. He turned and ran for the portal…

oOoOo

Everyone was stunned by what they were witnessing. Willow was still glowing and Michael running for the portal. They watched him enter portal disappearing to another dimension—the portal closed a few seconds later.

As soon as the portal closed, Willow stopped glowing and she slumped to the ground. A stunned Kennedy seeing Willow slump to the floor recovered quickly and rushed to her side. She looked at Willow with concern and love, worried about the condition of her girlfriend. She was surprised to see Willow laying there with a happy smile on her face.

"Willow … Willow are you alright?" Kennedy asked with love and concern in her voice.

All Willow could do was look at Kennedy smiling and say, "Whoaaaa … What a rush."