Epilogue: Slayer-verse
Xander was both panicking and swooning with excitement. The combination was such that he was sure it was only the Family's symbiote that was keeping him conscious. Standing next to him in the aisle was Anya, looking absolutely radiant in her wedding gown. Behind her, Faith, Seven, Buffy, and Vala were arrayed as her bridesmaids. Willow was filling in as his best man...though they had left an empty seat in the audience reserved for Jessie. Giles was also part of the Groom's party, along with Jimmy and Daniel.
He looked to the officiant...freaking Jean-Luc Picard of the starship Enterprise! The man smiled at the two of them and began to speak. "Friends, family, colleagues and allies, we are gathered here today to witness the joining of Alexander and Anya in holy matrimony." The ceremony seemed to go by in a blur, though apparently he was able to say his lines properly, and he remembered exchanging rings. Then suddenly he was kissing Anya, he was married, and everybody was heading to a different part of the hall for the reception.
The hall itself was a recreation of an old Scandinavian hall, a nod to Anya's origins that she appreciated. The holodeck allowed for a degree of freedom in planning that would have had a 21st century wedding planner drooling with envy. Some liberties were taken, of course. The building was absolutely massive, much larger than most actual structures of that type. It looked like something out of Beowulf, and in fact a Beowulf holoprogram had been the origin for the baseline model...something that Seven had dug up from somewhere.
The couple began making the rounds of the guests, starting with the members of the wedding party. Willow and Kennedy were first, followed by Daniel and Sarah. Jimmy was there with a reporter named Cat Grant as a friends-only date...and he had invited another couple as a surprise for Xander.
"Xander and Anya, this is Clark Kent and Lois Lane, two colleagues of mine from the newspaper," introduced the still young-faced reporter.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Xander, shaking both their hands. Clark's was a fairly limp grip...probably something he practiced. Xander had to work hard not to squeal in excitement.
Clark and Lois both smiled. Clark said, "Jimmy tells us that people in your world are familiar with us?"
"You could say that?" said Xander, not sure how much they knew.
Anya pursed her brow. "Wait, is this the guy who wears his underwear on the outside of his costume?"
Xander and Clark both blushed, while Lois completely lost her composure, nearly falling to the floor in her laughter. Jimmy was hiding his face behind his hand, having clearly expected something like this. Clark replied, "It may look that way, depending on how it's depicted, but it isn't really like that."
The couple quickly excused themselves, and moved on to the table where Buffy, Faith, Seven and Vala were sitting. They were debating on places to go shopping, and the couple didn't get away without Anya promising she would take them somewhere -- only this time, Buffy would come too. Xander resolved that he most definitely would NOT be going, though he would have Saurial on speed dial.
The next stop was two tables with the Enterprise command crew -- Picard, Beverly Crusher, the ship's CMO, William Riker and Deanna Troi, First Officer and Ship's Councilor, Data for Operations, and Geordi LaForge (who had helped program the hall), the Chief Engineer. Lal was also there with her father, as was Miles and his family (three of which had actually lived on the old Enterprise). Xander probably spent too long talking with them from a pure time-management perspective, and Anya finally had to physically tug on his arm to get him to move on.
The android SG-1 had a table to themselves. Amusingly, they had microchips attached to their lapels in case it was necessary to tell them apart from the human SG-1. Jack, at least, seemed relieved that only the human Daniel was in attendance. Both the human and the android SG-1 were slightly uncomfortable in each others' presence. Lal, also, seemed to spend half of her time chatting with Sam and Daniel instead of sitting at her table.
Ellen, Dwayne, and Rebecca were at a table with Bishop, and a couple of members of the Sineya station staff that had worked for Weyland-Yutani. One of them, a young woman named Bobbi, seemed a little overwhelmed at sitting at a table with the W-Y CEO. Rebecca...Newt...was overjoyed when Xander stopped by, though she did fake pout that they hadn't had any flower girls in the wedding party.
At another table, Danny, Taylor, Saurial, Metis and Ianthe were chatting with Peter and Mary Jane. "So that's where you got to," said Xander to Peter as they walked up.
"MJ was asking me to check on something," said Ianthe.
Anya and Xander looked concerned. "Is everything OK?" asked Xander.
Peter and MJ exchanged looks, then seemed to come to a decision. "I didn't want to upstage your wedding," started MJ. "I can tell you two, though. I'm pregnant!" There was mutual congratulations shared all around, and the pseudo-secret rather rapidly spread throughout the guests.
It was a sign of Anya's progress in her therapy that she didn't appear bothered in the slightest. Instead, she turned to Saurial. "I want to thank you for bringing Xander back to me...and also for making us rich."
Saurial chuckled. "It was our pleasure," replied the reptile. "It's always fun to make friends who know how to attract interesting problems."
"You ARE an interesting problem," commented Metis to Saurial.
"That just proves my point," said Saurial.
The next set of guests had another copy of Taylor and Danny. There was also a blonde girl who introduced herself as Lisa, and a young Hispanic boy who introduced himself as Carlos and seemed completely overwhelmed by everything. Taylor had apparently asked him to be her plus-one for a wedding without giving him any details. Anya surreptitiously gave her a thumbs-up, much to the girl's embarrassment, though the bride thankfully refrained from any embarrassing questions.
Linda, Randall and Kevin were sitting at a table with another man and an Asgard. "I hope you don't mind. Svafar and Tsol both expressed an interest in the wedding, so I said they could come along."
"Nah, the more, the merrier," replied Xander, while Anya nodded in agreement.
"Thank you for allowing me to attend," said the Asgard politely. "I'm particularly intrigued by the design of this facility."
"It's similar to the style of building I was used to when I was growing up on Earth," replied Anya.
Tsol looked at her curiously. "I was under the impression that the period where these buildings were common on Earth was many centuries ago. Are you human?"
"Now I am," replied Anya.
At the looks of confusion from the Ancient, Xander added, "She has had an exceedingly long life via mystical means."
"You have to get used to the unusual around here," commented Linda, which caused Randall and Kevin to just nod in agreement.
Extracting themselves, the married couple moved on to where Harry Dresden was sitting with his girlfriend, his two daughters, his brother and his brother's girlfriend. They also stopped by the tables where Giles and Dawn were keeping the baby slayers from Sunnydale in check, along with a few tag-alongs from the staff at Sineya.
There were a few people missing. Most tellingly, Xander's relatives and Anya's demon friends were not in attendance. The couple had learned their lesson, and bringing evil demons to the Federation would have been foolish. Cordelia had also declined their invitation, though she had sent her well-wishes. Xander had been disappointed, but he understood. Spike and Angel had not been invited, and thankfully Buffy was past the point where she would ask either of them as a plus one. Thor and Dr. Strange had both sent congratulations and small tokens, but had begged off due to other responsibilities. Xander wasn't going to complain, especially given their past generosity.
The two spent another two hours socializing before leaving for their honeymoon -- two weeks in Bali on Stargate Earth, followed by a week visiting a world called Cimmeria, a planet that Daniel had recommended as being a close parallel to the culture where Anya was raised, and a world where the Asgard were now taking a slightly more active role now that the Goa'uld, the Replicators and the Wraith were no longer an issue.
By the time it was over, Xander could honestly say it had been the happiest time of his life...so far.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Lilah walked into the lobby and headed straight to the receptionist's desk. The size of the building was larger than the one where she used to work. Wolfram and Hart obviously had a more significant footprint in this dimension. The receptionist appeared human. "My name is Lilah Morgan. I have an appointment to see Marcus Hamilton."
The woman picked up her phone and spoke quietly. Lilah could barely hear the phrase, "...your ten o'clock appointment is here," after which the woman paused to listen. She then hung up the receiver and directed Lilah toward an elevator bank, and told her the floor and number for Hamilton's office. It wasn't the same office as Angel had used, she noted in passing.
Hamilton was waiting for her in his office. She noted that he looked a lot more like Adam Baldwin than Lin-Manuel Miranda. He looked up at her entry. "Lilah Morgan...but not
our Lilah Morgan."
She smirked. "Not anymore, at least, and never the one to which you're referring." Her counterpart in this universe had apparently walked knowingly and willingly into her damnation, which reduced her sympathy to levels so low it was undetectable by any normal means.
Marcus Hamilton looked at her appraisingly. "What can Wolfram and Hart do for you today?"
Lilah reached down into her briefcase and pulled out a number of file folders. "I represent the Sineya Council, the spiritual and literal successor to the now-defunct Watcher's Council. What I have here are a number of cease-and-desist orders."
The Child of the Senior Partners took the folders and began to look through them. "Boston? Kansas City? You do realize that this is the Los Angeles office?"
She smiled again unpleasantly. "We felt that it would be more meaningful to present the Senior Partners with the full set of paperwork related to friends and allies of the Sineya Council. I'm also here to advise you on several other matters of interest to my employers."
"Such as?" he asked evenly.
"First, we would like to inform you that Jacob Pearson in Chicago has decided to retire, and Sheryl Leah in Boca Raton has sadly passed away." The first was a practicing necromancer who had repeatedly sold his services to clients like W&H. The second was a dark witch who had terrorized the Southeast United States for over forty years. "Second, we want to warn you that taking on Grilnak the Bloodthirsty as a client is likely to be seriously unprofitable." The San Diego-based demon was about to have his entire cult swatted by the Council. "Third, I have the pleasure of informing you that the United States Department of Justice has added your firm to a watch list of organizations supporting terrorism. I think your associates are going to find flying somewhat unpleasant from now on."
Lilah smirked internally as Hamilton appeared to take a moment to regain his composure. Pearson and Leah both had paid W&H handsome sums for protection. Taking them off the board would mean a lot of bad PR in the supernatural community. Grilnak was supposed to be a huge win for the firm, given his extra-dimensional contacts. That, combined with the Feds taking a much more serious interest in the company was bad news for the firm overall. The cease-and-desist orders were just icing on the cake, letting W&H know that they weren't the only supernatural organization who could play within the rules.
"The Watcher's Council was never so aggressive as this, Ms. Morgan," said Hamilton. "They understood that certain acts could result in retribution."
"The Watcher's Council was complacent, and they were constrained by realpolitik in a way that doesn't apply to their successors," she replied.
"You think you're above that?" he asked with an amused look.
Lilah raised her hand. In her hand was a brooch. "I think we've gained a significant jump ahead in abilities that you and your firm will have to learn about the hard way." With that, she pressed the surface of the brooch and vanished in a transporter beam.
Marcus Hamilton stared at where she had been sitting, wondering exactly how she had been able to leave through the building wards without triggering alarms, at the very least. He reached for his phone and dialed the number of his assistant. "Call a meeting of the department heads," he said. "We have some matters to discuss."
The nanobots left behind in his office recorded everything.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Giles looked around the table. He resisted the urge to peer over his non-existent spectacles. It was rather disturbing to realize how many of his mannerisms were affectations he used to convey certain attitudes, and how hard it was to adapt to new mannerisms now that he no longer had his prop, so to speak. The Sineya Council was sitting around the table. "Very well, let's get the report. We'll start with Buffy."
"You've got the reports, so I'll just highlight the big stuff. Vanessa's team managed to stop the demons in Manila before they got anywhere near the hellmouth. The demon cult in San Diego is no longer kidnapping street people to serve for dinner. We've also got thirty-seven level B events that have been stopped in the last thirty days." Level B events were things that could have caused significant deaths or evolved into something more serious, but weren't apocalyptic or potentially so. San Diego was only level A because the demon in charge was working toward an apocalyptic summons, otherwise it would have been B. Stakings of random vampires were considered, by comparison, class E events. Even the old Council had simply made a note of the numbers, though the new Council at least used statistical methods to look for unusual trends.
Giles nodded to her in acknowledgement. "Jack?" he asked.
Jack was in charge of Council Security and the recruitment of non-enhanced combatants. The old Council had had their own wetworks teams...usually ex-SAS and other special forces. There could be issues sending slayers against purely human opponents, so having alternatives was useful. "We've just finished recruiting enough soldiers for a fourth team, which I expect to be primarily responsible for South America. That leaves gaps in Asia and Oceana. I expect we'll want two teams for Asia, preferably recruited locally. Until we can staff up, we'll have to use the existing teams on rotation. I've also got Tolmak and Teal'c looking around for more Jaffa who don't want to work with either the Goa'uld or the Free Jaffa. A lot of them will end up as mercenaries for hire if they don't have another option, and they're excellent security folks once they're retrained and we cure their little symbiote dependency."
"Excellent. I believe we've all seen how useful the Jaffa can be. Willow, what about our casters?" continued Giles.
"Dawn has been doing an excellent job recruiting witches, warlocks and other practitioners from the U.S., Canada and Western Europe, but we need to start expanding our efforts. The same is true for seers, though Andrew is running that. We also have had some hints on the location of Amy Madison." The materials provided by the Family had made it clear that Madison was not likely to be friendly to the Council.
Giles frowned. "Is it worth focusing our attention there?" It was a valid question. The Family's intervention had derailed the entire situation with Twilight, but Madison was still a dangerous witch.
Willow considered. They had no proof that Warren Mears was still out there...just comic book stories that didn't appear to be one hundred percent accurate. Dawn Summers, at least, hadn't turned into a centaur or a giant, although that could easily be attributed to the butterfly effect. "It's probably worth a low-level effort, but I wouldn't consider her B-class yet."
"We can spare some assets, and I would rather be safe than sorry when it comes to Sunnydale alumni," countered Giles. When Willow didn't disagree, he moved on to the next person. "Robin, how are our operations?"
"Sineya station is fully stocked, of course, thanks to Bishop and our friends at Weyland-Yutani. We've just opened our twenty-second field office on our Earth, this one in Sydney. They also managed to fix the glitch in the artificial gravity on the
Kalderash." The three ha'taks of the council, the
Joyce Summers, the
Janna Kalderash, and the
Tara Maclay had all been refit with a mix of Asgard, Federation and tinker-inspired technology, which turned them into impressive warships, but also led to infrequent problems due to unexpected incompatibilities. "We've also got another class of slayers graduating soon, and it looks like at least seventy percent of them are open to fieldwork." Slayers had a choice, now, as to whether or not they wanted to patrol or work on strike teams after receiving a basic education in their abilities and the threats they may encounter. Most of them saw the advantages of working with the Council.
"Thank you. As for myself, we've had positive diplomatic responses from most of the governments we've contacted, barring a few expected exceptions like North Korea. The Chinese are willing to facilitate operations there, if they become necessary," said Giles.
"I'm surprised China is so accommodating," commented Jack.
Giles nodded in acknowledgement, then explained, "Their government may not be especially friendly, but they're also relatively better informed about the supernatural than most western governments. There were a number of incidents during the Great Leap Forward that left a lasting impression."
"So, enlightened self-interest," commented Robin.
"Indeed," agreed Giles. "As for finances, Devin Keeley has agreed to take on the role of financial officer reporting to the Council. I expect he'll begin attending these meetings as soon as he settles in." Luckily for them, the assistance of the Family meant they had enough money to facilitate a number of activities...including taking over the properties of the old Council. As with anything, having money already made it easier to gain access to those assets.
"We still need to find a head of R&D," commented Willow. "We have a lot more in terms of technology assets, and not all of it falls under magic or even technomancy."
"I agree," added Robin. "While starship operations can be covered under my area, I don't feel confident handling repairs and upgrades beyond the basics."
Giles turned to Jack. "Do you think Samantha would be willing to assist us with finding an appropriate resource?"
"As long as it's temporary," said Jack. Carter was busy exploring the Federation and Asgard databases, and he had no doubt that she would resist any attempt to drag her into an administrative role.
Giles looked at the others. "Do we have any other business?" When nobody spoke, he said, "Very well. Same time next week, then."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Jack Collins was an up-and-comer at Wolfram and Hart in Cleveland. At least, he liked to believe that was the case. This meeting coming up was likely to be his ticket to promotion. His contacts told him the person he was going to meet knew a lot about some of the members of the Sineya Council, and that group was a huge threat to the firm, at least based on what the rumor mill was saying.
The house that he pulled up in front of looked like it was ready to be condemned, and it wasn't in a particularly good part of Cleveland. It looked more like the home of a serial killer than a powerful witch. He paused to look at the iron fence around the property, and was reassured when he found that the metal had powerful protection runes inscribed in it. That, at least, was promising. He went up and knocked on the door.
A young woman, appearing to be about twenty, opened the door while leaving the chain on. "Who are you?" she said suspiciously.
"My name is Jack Collins. I'm an attorney with Wolfram and Hart, and I'm here because I'm looking for information about a number of people who were in Sunnydale when it was destroyed. Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg, and Xander Harris, among others," he replied.
The door closed, then there was the sound of the chain being removed, and it opened again. The woman asked, "What do you intend to do with the information?"
Jack smiled. "Our firm has had some...issues with the individuals in question. We would be willing to pay for any information or assistance you could provide."
The woman stood to the side, "If you can come inside, then I'm listening."
Jack walked over the threshold, and the woman closed the door.
* * * * *
Mark Smythe had been a member of the Australian 2nd Commando Regiment until he retired early due to a bad leg injury he received during a training exercise. The American who had come to his door promising revolutionary healing technology and an opportunity to, "save the world," had sounded too good to be true, but he had been at wits end and had decided to give the bloke a chance to prove himself. The result of that was that he was now part of the Sineya Council's second Action Team, with responsibility for North America. His training on the reality of the world had been both enlightening and horrifying, and it killed any reservations he had about the necessity of what the Council did on a daily basis.
Just as an example, he was now watching a lawyer walk into a house in a civilian neighborhood in Cleveland. He spoke into his communicator. "I have a positive ID on Amy Madison. She's inside talking to the lawyer now."
A voice came back.
"We're inserting now."
Smythe could see the telltale flashes of light through the windows of teleporters delivering troops, followed by another flash that was clearly a Goa'uld shock grenade. The noise was fairly muted...but it wasn't likely that the neighbors would be calling the police in this neighborhood even if they heard gunshots. Smythe winced as the power went out in the neighborhood. A stray zat blast must have hit the house main and taken out the local transformer.
The communicator spoke again.
"We're done. Three targets captured, including Mears. Stay on site until you can verify the house is fully on fire." The local fire department would hopefully chalk the fire up to an electrical short.
"Roger that," he replied. Now it was just a matter of waiting.
The emergency responders still hadn't arrived by the time he left via transporter, making him wonder how bad the city public services could be? This was unfair to the locals, though. The alarm was sounded as soon as the runes for the notice-me-not wards burned through, at which point the fire department arrived to find that the house was already engulfed in flames up to the roof. There was little that they could do other than contain the fire until it burned out, at which point there was little left besides ash.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Years later...
Jack opened his eyes to the purple lizard. "How are you feeling?" she asked.
He considered the question. He wiggled his toes. he wiggled his fingers. Sitting up, he said, "I feel human again...but thankfully without the aches and pains of age. I'm also kind of hungry."
Ianthe chuckled. "Why would we put you back in an old body? Your physical age is now about twenty-five. Also, you should be hungry, as your stomach hasn't ever had food in it. I'm temporarily suppressing your hunger or you would be absolutely starving."
Ianthe led him out to a table that had food laid out. He immediately began to eat, while Ianthe left to get Sam. When the two appeared, Jack paused, bread halfway to his mouth, and whistled. Samantha Carter as a twenty-five year-old was hot.
She smiled slightly self-consciously. "Hello, Jack."
Dropping his food, he went over to his former second-in-command. Ianthe let herself out of the room while the two were kissing.
Rupert Giles was waiting for her. "Thank you for doing this, Ianthe. The two of them were never entirely satisfied with android bodies."
"It's not a problem. We can do the same for Daniel and Teal'c, you know," she replied.
"Teal'c is simply satisfied with no longer having a symbiote. As for Daniel...well, he's been so absorbed with his work that he hasn't had time to think about becoming human again. I'm pretty sure he would resent having to eat and sleep again even if he did," said the Watcher.
Ianthe frowned. "You know, we may need an intervention there. Daniel's human counterpart is happy working with Sarah...and he's a lot more personable and social now."
"Hm...you may be right. I'll check with our psychology department. We're all supposed to have regular sessions...but Daniel may be skating because he's not a field asset," said Giles after some thought.
"Things are going well for you folks otherwise?" asked Ianthe.
"I'm surprised you don't already know, given how much we share with the Family," he replied with a grin.
Ianthe shook her head. "I tend to be focused on my Guild more so than field operations...and Randall, Metis and Varga usually handle the mystical side of things."
"Wolfram and Hart finally just gave up on our dimension and abandoned the rest of their operations. I think losing Pylea pushed them over the edge. If anything, many of our problems now come from the Powers that Be. Apparently, we're tilting the balance too far toward the side of the light," he replied with an annoyed look. "Personally, I expect they're annoyed that they no longer have the degree of control that they had before."
"I can't imagine that's going over well with the others," said the reptile.
"Not bloody likely," he said. "Willow is worried that they may try something drastic. She's reached out to Harry and Stephen for advice."
"Do you need Family help?" asked Ianthe.
"We'll call if we do, of course, but I have faith that the three of them will come up with something to keep those pompous celestial bureaucrats out of our business." Rupert gave an evil smile. "You remember what happened to Dracula."
Ianthe chuckled. "Even Varga was impressed with that one. That's why he sent the gift basket."
"You know Willow is still trying to duplicate that biscotti," he said with an answering laugh. "Do you think you can get the recipe?"
"I'll ask. It may involve ingredients that aren't available on your world, though," she said. "Are you sticking around here?"
"I have a feeling that Jack and Samantha will want some time to themselves. Just bring them back when they're ready," said the Watcher.
"Not a problem." Ianthe smiled as Rupert left. It was nice when things turned out well for good people, and both the android SG-1 and the Sunnydale crew deserved it.
