FIC: A Tale of Two Slayers

["M.L. Tankesly" <Shadowlander1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Title: A tale of Two Slayers (1/?)
Author: Shadowlander
Email: Shadowlander1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx - or - Tankesly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Rating: PG-17 mostly for language and violence
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all associated characters
belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and Warner Bros. And are used
without permission. No copyright infringement is intended. All other
characters and concepts belong to me and are used with permission.
Pairing: Buffy and Willow as well as original characters.
Summary: Two Slayers from different time periods are about to meet.
Achieve: If you already have some of my stuff posted go for it.
Wouldn't want any of my stories to get lonely. Everyone else just ask,
I don't mind honest. It just gives me a wider audience to torment. :)
Spoilers: Everything form the first season on up is fair game.
Notes: We are now going into the realm of Uber-Buffy. {All the Xena
fans out there will probably be familiar with the concept. For those of
you who aren't; Uber is German, it roughly means about, it is commonly
used when writing stories based on characters and concepts of particular
shows. Questions?} The following is an Uber-Buffy story, as well as
further proof that I may just have too much free time on my hands. :)

A TALE OF TWO SLAYERS
Or - HAVE YOU SEEN OUR WEREWOLF? (1/?)

20 August 2318
1305 hours
Old Sunnydale, California
National Park

The four young adults stood in front of the historical "Welcome to
Sunnydale" sign, each lost in their own thoughts. Mainly wondering what
possessed someone from the United Environmental Restoration and
Preservation Agency to declare this part of California an historical
landmark.

"Nice place. Can we leave now?" The blonde female asked, having given
up on trying to figure out what was so important about the faded green
sign the group had been staring at for the past ten minutes.

"Not until we find Benjamin." Came the reply from the tall dark-haired
man standing to her left, his eyes carefully studying the sign before
him. Unlike his companions, he understood the historical significance
of the sign.

"And why exactly ARE we looking for Benjamin? I thought he was Erin's
problem?" the blonde asked, still unsure why they were looking for a
runaway vampire in the middle of California in the first place.

"Because the powers that be figured I was having a slow week and are
taking steps to remedy that." The redhead to her right replied with a
smirk. "Anton if you're finished drooling over the road sign, can we
actually go into town now?" She questioned with an arched eyebrow.
Sometimes she really didn't understand Anton's little obsession with
learning new things. The guy was going to give nerds a bad name if he
wasn't careful. 'Nerd? What kind of word is THAT?' She thought,
knowing that Anton seemed rather proud to be associated with such an
archaic word.

"It is not just a road sign, this is a part of Slayer Lore." Anton
replied with mock outrage. "And I do not drool."

"all right, you don't drool." The redhead allowed turning to walk back
to their transport parked not far away. "But you do get this little
glazed over look in your eyes." She called over her shoulder, smiling
when she heard his choked cry of outrage. Sometimes it was just so easy
to tease him.

Watching her two companions continue their good-natured argument, the
blonde turned to the short male left standing beside her. "Do you ever
wonder why we hang out with those two?" She questioned.

"You're in love with Andrea and Anton is the only one of us who is on a
first name bases with all the bouncers at 'Spike's Place'." Came the
soft-spoken reply.

"Oh yeah, I know there had to be a reason." The blonde replied with a
grin. "Come on Ingo, let's catch up to our beloved comrades before they
make us walk into town." She said with a shake of her head. Sometimes
she really wondered about her chosen profession, then she remembered
that there really wasn't anything else she rather be doing then saving
the world from the forces of darkness on a weekly bases. There was just
something about fighting vampires and demons with archaic weaponry that
appealed to the rebel in her. Or maybe she just liked blowing things up
and killing large groupings of the undead was a really convenient excuse
to be causing large-scale property damage. Either way she didn't ask
too many questions she just went with it and had fun.

****************************************

2254 Hours
One of Historical Sunnydale's numerous Cemeteries

"What is it about the undead that they just have to perform ancient
rituals in cemeteries?" Jakobie Cross questioned as she tugged on her
body armour. "Whatever about an old castle? Or even a ship? Anything
but a graveyard." She grumbled securing her medical kit and sidearm
with practiced ease.

"That's right, I keep forgetting you were raised by the Shadarra.
Cemeteries are sacred, its bad luck to enter such a place with malice."
Anton said, looking up from his equipment check to regard her with calm
dark eyes. It was hard to figure out Jake Cross, at times, her unusual
upbringing making her a truly unique individual. It also made it hard
to understand how her mind worked. She really didn't have anything
against dusting vampires in general; she just didn't want to do it on
sacred ground. He made a mental note to do a little research into
Shadarrian burial rituals when he had the time, and went back to his
equipment check.

"It's rude." She replied uncomfortably. "It dishonours the memory of
the dead."

"That's understandable. I think it's really rude to have a demon
running lose in someone else's body too." Ingo Ostrom commented
absently, his close cut white hair and matching beard, making him stand
out in the moonlight. "I mean come on, you get killed by a vampire only
to become one yourself. How's that for screwing up your whole
after-life. None of your friends are going to want to be around you,
especially if you start going on killing streaks and torture large
groups of people. How do you justify that to your buddies, when you
wasted an entire family of new-agers and their livestock for kicks? It
definitely makes one rethink that whole 'friends-no-matter-what' thing"

"This from the werewolf that actually got arrested for slaughtering an
entire herd of cattle." Andrea Vladikova said with a grin, the team's
usual 'cemetery etiquette' helping to keep the mind numbing fear, that
always seems to accompany interrupting vampire rituals of any kind, at
bay.

"In my defense Oh proud and noble Chosen One, I was having an allergic
reaction to some experimental antibiotic and therefore couldn't be held
accountable for my actions for those thirty-six hours."

"So your little rampage through the Werewolf Hunters Memorial was all
apart of your accidental high care of Community Medical?" She couldn't
help but ask with a wicked grin.

"Oh hell no. I did that with a clear head." Ostrom replied with a
wicked grin of his own. "None of those butchers were any heroes of
mine." He didn't bother to try to hide his dislike for the 'legendary
werewolf hunters', the name leaving a bad taste in his mouth. Just
because he didn't have much of a choice about turning into a werewolf
during the full moon, didn't mean he had any less of a right to live.
And yet government funds had actually been spend to immortalize those
killers who had nearly wiped out his entire race in the mid-twenty-first
century, due to ancient hatreds founded on senseless fears.

"Ah guys." Jake said getting everyone's attention. "Show time." She
added with a jerk of her head indicating a gathering not far from them.

"You got the best hearing, Os my boy. What are they saying?" Andrea
asked slipping into full Slayer mode, as she pulled up her night vision
field glasses to take a closer look. Being a Slayer had its advantages,
like being able to sense a vampire nearby. It also had its
disadvantages, like giving those very same vampires the ability to sense
you.

Closing light gray eyes, Ostrom focuses his hearing, filtering out all
unwanted noise to zero in on the small group of vampire's clustered
around the centerpiece of the ancient cemetery. After a few moments,
"They're talking about reclaiming the hellmouth." He reported slowly,
unsure if he was hearing correctly.

Reclaiming the hellmouth? Anton and Jake mouthed to one another in
confusion. "The hellmouth is in Florida, what are they doing here?"
Andrea voiced the question on everyone's mind, in a low whisper.
"Unless.."

"They're talking about this hellmouth." Anton finished his mind
already working. "The one sealed three hundred years ago."

"Okay, that would be a bad thing." Andrea said more to herself then to
the others. "Reopening sealed hellmouths are well into the screwed
category of possible mission outcomes and are to be avoided at all
costs. Suggestions?"

"Wait, wait, they can't break the seal, the binding wards prevent it
from happening. If I remember right, this place was capped off by using
the old ways - magic that had been lost for countless centuries. You're
not going to be able to break that seal, unless you're prepared to use
an ion pulse cannon." Anton cut in.

"Wouldn't that sort of defeat the purpose? An ion cannon would blow a
crater the size of the Grand Canyon into the entire western seaboard."
Andrea questioned.

"Hey, I know that vamp." Jake said looking through her own field
glasses. "Os, that one on the far right. Isn't that Merlin?" She
asked not taking her eyes off of the vampire in question.

"Yeah, it is. I thought he was one of Spike's 'special quests'. I
wonder what he's doing so far from his cage......and without his collar
too." Ostrom replied with an evil grin, his wolf itching to be set free
to do a little hell raising of its own on the old hellmouth. "Looks
like Benji's been a bad little vampire, taking the Master's toys
without permission. What to do? What to do?"

"It would explain why Spike wants Benjamin and his little crew brought
back to the lair. Turning lose Merlin is not the way to endear one's
self to one's sire." Anton added lowering his field glasses to give
Andrea a troubled look. Merlin, aside from looking all of ninety-seven
pounds soak and wet, was a rather unstable vampire, he was quite mad
actually. He had this overwhelming desire to plunge earth into the
demon realm for some really bizarre reason. It was generally agreed
upon by the Slayer, being Andrea, and some of the older vampires, who
liked things just the way they were think you very much, that Merlin was
to be kept as a 'quest' of one of the more powerful vampires so he
couldn't cause any mischief. The only reason Merlin hadn't been dusted,
and put out of everyone's misery, was the little fact that he did serve
a purpose every now and then, but mostly he helped to ensure that Spike
never got too rusty in the torture department.

"Damn, the little bastard is casting!" Ostrom growled, his enhanced
senses picking up the trace elements of magic coming into play around
the vampires. Something bad was about to happen, he just knew it.
Whenever vampires started messing around with magic bad things always
happened, it was an unwritten law of the Slayers. Magic and vampires =
bad things! Everybody knew that.

"Son of a.." Jake cursed in a low growl. "They're going to reclaim the
hellmouth."

"We got that part already, Jakobie. But they don't have an ion cannon
so they can't do much damage even with Merlin's magic." Anton replied
wondering why Jake was anger. He figured that they were going to let
Merlin and Benjamin have they little light show before sending them back
to Spike for punishment. It was really the only thing they could do,
interrupting Merlin in the middle of a spell was damn near suicidal in
anyone's books, the vampire was just too far out there in the insanity
department to be able to spit his attention once he started doing his
magic.

"No, we don't got it." Andrea said her eyes widening in realization.
"They are going to reclaim the hellmouth, before it was sealed."

"The only way they can do that.." Ostrom continued, his own eyes
widening in disbelief.

"Is to go back into time!" The four of them finished as one.

"We are so screwed."

"We are well beyond screwed, we're into totally fucked territory."

"Anton, if they open a portal, how long would it take before it
closes?" Andrea asked, her mind already formulating a plan. They just
couldn't let Benjamin and his crew get away, she had given her word to
Spike that the rogue vampires would be brought back to the master
vampire. And there was no way in hell or Sunnydale for that matter that
she was going to break her word, especially to Spike.

"Ah hum, time traveling isn't easy, you got to call upon some heavy
magic, it's going take time to dissipate properly." Anton replied his
mind already racing along the same paths as the Slayer's. "I'd say
anywhere from two weeks to two months before it disappears completely,
but with an active hellmouth on the other side, who knows?"

"All right, listen up." Andrea said after a moment. "Here's the game
plan, we let Benji and his crew go through first. We follow, our
objective is to capture and retrieve only."

"They aren't going to make it easy on us." Jake replied, getting that
sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that said she would probably
be putting stitches in someone really some.

"Do they ever?" Ostrom commented not taking his eyes off the light show
Merlin was creating, absently wondering about vampire mages and they odd
need for fancy special effects when it came to doing magic. "Heads up,
the portal's just about open."

End Part One.

So what does everyone think? This is what I working on instead of part
8 of Stormchaser. Do you like it? Want more? Want Shadow to give up
eating and sleeping and finish Stormchaser all ready?? {Throw that one
in there to see if anyone was paying attention.}