The Works of Red Thunder

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PART 1-THE GATHERING
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RIVERSIDE CEMETERY
RIVERSIDE, CA
JULY 14, 1998
12:40 AM

"Are you sure it's safe?" asked the pretty young girl glancing around the graveyard nervously.

Feeling manly, her date took this opportunity to put his arm around her shoulders with a smile. "Don't worry, I'll protect you."

Looking up, the girl smiled at the boy, and he slowly let his head move toward hers . . .

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a man appeared. Throwing the girl to the ground, he picked up the boy and held him in the air.

Fighting his terror, the boy looked at his assailant's face and started to scream. It was a vampire. The monster bit into the boy's neck, but before he had a chance to drink any blood, he was pulled off.

Turning around to face this threat, the vampire's jaw dropped in shock as all he saw was a teenage girl, and a small one at that. Laughing, the vampire moved toward her. He was going to feed well tonight.

That was his last thought before the girl kicked him twice to the face and drove a wooden stake into his heart. The creature exploded into a cloud of dust, and the girl straightened from the crouch she was in. Looking at the couple, her face showed an infinite amount of sadness. "Go home."

With that she left. It was time for her to go back, time to return home. To Sunnydale.

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SECTION ONE HEADQUARTERS
JULY 14, 1998
1:00 PM

"In the last few years, there has been a massive increase in drug related incidents in a small town of California. Although we saw no need for our involvement previously, recent events have caused us to change that opinion. Birkoff . . . " the older, but still handsome male speaker directed the young, almost boyish blond next to him.

"The last couple of months have shown an astronomical increase in the crime rate, with almost triple the number of gang related crimes. According to the police reports, there is a large drug ring that is the cause of most of the incidents. The action seems to be centered on a group of high schools students and a librarian. We believe they are smuggling PCP into the city through this girl, one Buffy Summers."

The face of a pretty young blond suddenly appeared out of thin air. Clearly it is a holograph, but it is also years ahead of any current technology.

"She disappeared a little less than two months ago, about a week before the increase in the crime rate."

A extremely pretty blond in her mid-twenties interrupted here. "She doesn't look old enough to have the connections to acquire a large amount of drugs."

The seductive brunette man sitting next to her answered, with perfect diction, his voice almost clipping the words. "All the more reason to suspect her. The librarian could have created the connections, and he may be sending her to deflect the suspicion from himself." To Birkoff, "who is this man?"

"Rupert Giles. A respected librarian, he left his job at the British museum to take a job in the local high school."

"Well, that's kind of unusual right there. Maybe he likes 'em young," tossed in an older, balding man with a leer.

"Walter!" cried the blond.

"Yea, sugar?" smirked Walter.

"Excuse me," cut in the handsome older man with a deep frown. "Could you please focus on the problem at hand?"

Quickly the two quieted down. "The rest of the ring is composed of Willow Rosenburg, Xander Harris, Cordelia Chase, and Oz Williams. Hereafter, they will be referred to as the Giles group. Study their profiles and be prepped by 1900 hours. That is all."

The brunette looked at the blond, and said "Nikita, Madeline wants to see us in her office."

"When?"

"Right now." The man walked away, and Nikita followed, looking sulky.

MADELINE'S OFFICE
SECTION ONE HEADQUARTERS
JULY 14, 1998
1:53 PM

"You wanted to see us Madeline?"

"Michael, Nikita, please sit down." The tall, elegant woman looked at the two agents from behind her desk. She could have been anywhere from her early thirties to her late forties, but no matter what her age, she was still beautiful.

"You will be going undercover as man and wife on this mission, and although you two did a good job as Peter and Sage, this will be different. You have to be able to act as a normal suburban couple, maybe for an extended period of time. You will have to be completely at ease with each other."

At that, Nikita stole a glance at Michael. Usually the tension between the two had to be cut with a knife, while the heat between them could melt a glacier. This wasn't going to be an easy mission.

Madeline noticed Nikita's look, and she knew what it meant. With a small smile that did not make it to her eyes, she added, "I suggest that you spend every second together from now until the mission starts, getting used to each other." Taking that as a dismissal, the two agents left the office. Madeline watched them go, then turned to her computer.

Nikita and Michael headed back for the control room, but on the way Nikita stopped. "I'll be right back Michael. I need to use the restroom."

Michael nodded, then moved to follow her.

"Michael! Do you mind?"

"Madeline suggested that we stay together at all times until the mission."

Nikita didn't have an answer for that. Madeline's suggestions were looked upon as law in the Section, and anyone who didn't follow them usually spent the rest of their very short lives in tremendous pain. Without a trace of sarcasm, she asked, "are you coming into the stall as well?"

"That won't be necessary."

With a frustrated sigh, Nikita stormed into the bathroom.

She was never going to understand this man.

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

On the traditional last stop before loading, Nikita and her new shadow walked up to Walter to get their guns and any other goodies the genius might have come up with. He was kind of like Q with an explosives fetish.

"Hey sugar, look at this." Eager to show off his latest invention, Walter was waving at Nikita frantically. She walked over while Michael stood back a little, clearly not interested.

"It looks like a necklace, Walter."

"It *is* a necklace, but with a surprise inside. Do you remember that little scientist we picked up a couple of months ago during the latest Red Cell clean-up?" Nikita nodded.

The scientist had been a genius, but a bit lacking in morals. He sold extremely high tech explosives to the highest bidder, and that usually meant terrorists. After Madeline's "assistants" had finished with him, he gave the Section everything that they wanted to know. Including the formula for the most powerful explosive ever created.

Walter continued, "well, this pendant is filled with his stuff. The explosives in this one little piece of jewelry can level a city block. And I'm giving it to you," he added with a little smile.

"Thank you, Walter. I'll try not to set it off while wearing it," Nikita smiled.

"You know sugar, we could probably get a quickie in before you have to leave. I know of this dark little room, and no one would be the wiser." Walter's come-ons had become a habit between the two, and he never seemed upset (or surprised for that matter), when she turned him down. It was just another reason why she liked him more than just about anyone else in the Section. He was kind of like the dirty old man, if the dirty old man had turned out to have a heart of gold.

"Sorry Walter, but Michael isn't allowed to leave my side until the mission starts."

Walter gave her another leer. "He could watch."

Nikita almost burst out laughing at the thought. "You tell him that." Walter thought about it for a second, then "good luck, sugar. I'll see you when you get back."

Grinning, Nikita headed for the loading dock, armed to the teeth and still leading Michael. "Next stop, Sunnydale."

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FOX MULDER'S OFFICE
F.B.I. HEADQUARTERS
JULY 14, 1998
8:00 AM

"Hey Scully, you're finally here. Look what the Lone Gunmen sent over."

Special Agent Dana Scully sighed, and walked towards her tall, lanky partner. He looked like he had been up all night, his usual neat cloths in disarray, and his hair.....Scully looked away, trying to cover her grin. His hair looked like it had joined Dorothy in the tornado.

"Auntie Em, Auntie Em," she muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing. What did they send?"

"About a month and a half ago, a small town in California suddenly started to suffer a major increase in gang related deaths. From the police reports, it sounds like there is a drug ring taking over the town, and killing a massive number of people to do so. Surprisingly enough, the police don't seem to realize how far the crime rate has deteriorated, which is why they never contacted the Bureau for help-"

"Mulder, how is this an X-File? Why are the Lone Gunmen interested?" Scully knew that he could babble on like this for hours, and she had a feeling that they had a plane to catch.

"A large number of the cases involved massive blood loss caused by severe damage to the neck and shoulders."

"*Vampires*! Mulder, you know as well as I do that-"

"I'm not finished yet, Scully." The petite redhead sighed and waited for her partner to finish, although she was pretty sure that she would say the same thing then as she wanted to now. "That is what originally got the attention of the Lone Gunmen, but after a bit of digging, they found much more interesting things. In the last two years, this town has seen spontaneous combustion, human sacrifices, sewer monsters, invisible girls-"

"How can anyone see an invisible girl?"

"Blue demons, werewolves, living dummies, and probably even more that the Gunmen didn't find yet. It's a veritable hotbed of paranormal activity, and no one has noticed, not even the people living there. This could be the answer to over half of the X-Files, all right here in one little town." Mulder's voice was getting louder and louder as his enthusiasm rose higher and higher. Scully breathed one last sigh.

"When do we leave Mulder?"

"The plane leaves at 2:30, and we should be there by 9:00."

"Be where? What's the name of this town?"

"Sunnydale."

_______________________ GREYHOUND BUS DEPOT
SUNNYDALE, CA
JULY 14, 1998
4:45 PM

The young blond stepped off of the bus and looked around. She was back, back to the mouth of Hell. Back to Sunnydale. Walking down the streets, she noticed that the town seemed emptier, less crowded. The vampires must have been busy. Finally reaching her street, she looked up at the place where she lived in another time. Before she had to save the world, and lost everything she ever cared about to do so. She fought back the urge to cry and started towards the door, forcing her feet to go forward. Once there she knocked, so softly that no one could have heard her. Feeling disgust at her own weakness, she made herself knock again, this time loudly. Then she stood there, trying not to run away as the footsteps got louder. The door opened, and there she was. Her mother.

"Buffy!" and then she was in her mother's arms, crying for the life that she left behind. She tried to speak, but she couldn't get anything past the lump in her throat. She was home.

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"Oh, Buffy, I'm so sorry about what happened before. I should never have made you feel that you had to leave." It had been a bad couple of months for Joyce Summers, with the guilt eating away at her and anxiety destroying her health. She had lost weight, and had black circles under her eyes from the lack of sleep. Joyce kept touching Buffy, afraid that this was some kind of dream, that her baby would leave again, and this time, not come back.

"Don't blame yourself mom, it wasn't your fault. I just had to get away from it all. But trouble seems to chase me." Buffy remembered how every town she went to seemed filled with vampires and demons, almost like they were following her. Or that she was following them.

"I want you to explain this to me Buffy, explain what you mean when you say that you are a Slayer."

Buffy smiled, remembering how much Giles always liked to explain this part. She needed to speak to him, to let him know that he hadn't failed, that she wasn't dead.

"Do you remember the librarian, Mr. Giles?" Joyce nodded. "Well, he could probably explain this better than I could. Do you mind if we go to see him?" Joyce didn't want to share her daughter with anyone right now, but Buffy had that look on her face, the same look that she had when she left the last time.

"Ok dear. Would you like something to eat before we go? You look like you could use a good meal." That was the understatement of the year. Buffy was so thin that her bones stuck out, and she looked like she hadn't bathed in days. "Maybe you could take a shower while I'm making dinner."

Buffy looked at herself, and decided that a shower couldn't hurt. She wasn't really hungry, but her mother looked worried. "Ok mom. I'll be down in a few minutes. Can you make it a quick meal? I need to talk to Giles as soon as possible." she thought as she headed up the stairs.

RUPERT GILES RESIDENCE
SUNNYDALE, CA
JULY 14, 1998
6:30 PM

Buffy and Joyce Summers looked at each other as they walked up to the door of the house. Although it wasn't too obvious, there were signs that the place had run down. A bit of trash near the door, flower pots that had overturned and never been righted, and a few newspapers that had never been picked up. Nervously, they went to the door, and Joyce knocked loudly. When there was no answer, Buffy called out "Giles!" and knocked again. Just as she was about to give up and break the door down, it opened to reveal a tall Englishman. Buffy gasped. Giles' hair was almost all white, and he had aged ten years in the month and a half that she was gone. He looked at her and disbelief and hope crossed his face.

"Buffy?" he spoke as if he was out of practice, and his voice was hoarse, but there was a definite note of life in it that Buffy suspected wasn't there yesterday. She looked at him and nodded, then caught him in a hug. He held her tightly, like he never wanted to let go. Joyce looked at the two of them, clearly wondering what relationship that they had. She cleared her throat, and the two reluctantly broke apart.

"Please, please come inside," Giles ushered them in, and hastily cleaned up a bit of the mess so that they would have a place to sit. He looked at them, especially at the younger and asked the question that had been plaguing him for months. "Buffy, what happened? When you disappeared, I thought that...."

"I'll explain that in a bit Giles. Right now, could you explain everything to mom while I call everyone else over? That way I'll only have to tell my story once."

"Of course, take all the time that you need."

Buffy looked at the two of them and smiled, a bit of her old self shining through. "He loves this part," she said, then walked into the kitchen to the phone.

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

"You see, Mrs. Summers, this world is older than you know. Contrary to popular mythology, it did not begin as a paradise. For untold eons demons walked the Earth. They made it their home, their... their Hell. But in time they lost their purchase on this reality. The way was made for mortal animals, for, for man. All that remains of the old ones are vestiges, certain magics, certain creatures. The books tell the last demon to leave this reality fed off a human and mixed their blood. He was a human form possessed, infected by the demon's soul. He bit another, and another, and so they walk the Earth, feeding... Killing some, mixing their blood with others to make more of their kind. Waiting for the animals to die out, and the old ones to return. We call these creatures vampires, and for as long as there have been vampires, there's been the Slayer. One girl in all the world with the strength and skill to fight the vampires. Your daughter is the Slayer."

Joyce looked understandably confused. But at the same time, she realized that she knew that vampires were real, and that Buffy was somehow involved. When it came right down to it, that was pretty much the only way to explain everything that happened in Sunnydale. However, like most people, she had refused to see what was right in front of her. Looking at Giles, she asked "who are you?"

"I am her Watcher. I train her, and help her in her fight."

Absorbing that, she tried to think of what else she could ask since he seemed to be willing to answer her questions. Remembering that night when Buffy saved her life, the same night that she left, Joyce asked, "who is Spike?"

Rather surprised, Giles replied, "he was a vampire king until a few months ago. I assumed that Buffy killed him before she disappeared. Why do you ask?"

Before she could answer, Buffy walked in. "I'll take that one. Spike isn't dead. He helped me with Angel on the condition that I let him and Dru leave town. Apparently he's kept his promise about leaving. The gang will be here soon. I'll wait until then to explain the whole story."

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

"Then I left, because I was afraid of hurting anyone else that I loved. I've spent the last month and a half traveling from town to town, killing vampires along the way. But lately, I've been feeling this need to come back, like I'm being called. " Buffy finished her story, and everyone else looked at her, wondering what was coming.

"So the curse did work," said Willow, a pretty redhead, in awe. Buffy nodded.

Joyce looked up and said, "I still don't understand this whole cursed Angel thing."

Willow answered for her friend, "Angel is a vampire, and he used to be an unusually evil one. About eighty years ago he killed a gypsy, and was cursed by her clan as punishment. The curse gave him back his soul. Since then, he lived in guilt, horrified at what the demon had done, until he met Buffy. She was willing to forget his past and they fell in love. Then, one night they....consummated that love, and that caused Angel to lose his soul once again. He spent the last few months before she disappeared making Buffy's life a living hell, killing her friends, threatening her, stalking her. He found a way to open a portal to Hell, and to close it, Buffy had to trap him in there. But just before she did, we recursed him, giving him back his soul. He's in Hell right now......"

Willow's voice died off, realizing what that meant. Angel had done nothing wrong, but his body did when under the control of the demon. Right now Angel was being punished for the demon's crimes. He would have been better off dead. Much better off.

Buffy had started to shed silent tears as she listened to Willow's explanation. "I knew that the curse had worked when I trapped him. I told him to close his eyes, and he did. He trusted me, and I condemned him to eternal torment!" Buffy sobbed. How could he ever forgive her? How could she ever forgive herself?

Giles reached out an touched Buffy's arm. "You had no choice Buffy. You did what you had to do." Buffy jerked her arm away and left the room. Willow went to follow her while the rest of the group looked at each other.

They were all looking pretty bad. Buffy's disappearance had hurt them, more than they wanted to admit. The rest of the town had started to fall apart as well. They were sitting right in the middle of spookyville, and without Buffy they couldn't handle it. But she was back now, so everything would go back to normal. Hopefully.

Xander, a tall boy with dark brown, almost black hair spoke first. "She's not ready yet."

Giles sighed. "I know. But at least she is here. We can help her until she recovers."

"Wait a minute. Buffy can't go back to "slaying" vampires. Look at her. It almost killed her." Joyce was not going to let them do this to her daughter.

"I am going to do it mom. I have no choice. I'm the chosen one." Buffy had come back, with Willow beside her, and she had that look again.

"Of course you have a choice Buffy."

"No, I don't. Sure, I could stop, but then every time I hear about a person getting killed by a vampire, I'll wonder if I could have saved them by killing that vampire first. I wouldn't be able to stand the guilt. Giles," turning to her Watcher, "I want to get started. I'm going to do a patrol tonight, and I'll meet you tomorrow at noon in the library to create an attack plan. Vampires are over running the town, and we have to stop them." Giles started to protest, but Buffy just shook her head.

"I'm ready. I've been ready. Mom, I'll see you at home." With that Buffy left, as everyone watched her go.

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PART 2-SUNNYDALE

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RUPERT GILES' RESIDENCE
JULY 14, 1998
8:03 PM

No one wanted to be the first to leave, so they sat there, each absorbed in their own thoughts. Willow was the first to speak. "We can't leave him there."

Oz reached out and hugged her. He was one of the group that had helped to restore Angel's soul, and he knew the guilt that she was facing. They hadn't even thought about getting Angel back, having assumed that they had failed, or that Buffy had killed him. Whatever torment he was in, they were just as responsible as Buffy for putting him there. Maybe even more so.

"Hey, maybe we can find a way to get him out. You know, a spell or curse, or something..." Cordelia looked around at the surprised faces. Defending herself, "I care about Angel. Besides he's so good looking."

Xander grinned. "The slayerettes are back in business!" Everyone smiled, a bit of their old enthusiasm coming back to them. Joyce decided to go home to wait for Buffy, but the rest moved to the library to start researching.

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