Repost FIC: Trinity's Child 4/25

["Tony McD" <o163210@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

TITLE: Trinity's Child 4/25

AUTHOR: Tony McD

EMAIL: o163210@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Joss Whendon, Mutant Enemy, WB and others. This is for fun, not profit.

SUMMARY: Sequel to Terra Australis Incognito. 17 years on Buffy, Xander, Willow, and their child must face very different evils to save the world (again).

SPOILERS: None really. AU.

RATING: MA 15+ (Australian system).

AUTHORS NOTES: All places described in this part are real and accurately 

described except for: a. Sunnydale (obviously),

c. the vampire nest, and

b. those areas subject to the Official Secrets Act of 1914. 

(had to put that bit in, saves an unpleasant knock on my office door tomorrow morning by gents with dark glasses and unsmiling faces).

 

Trinity's Child 4/25

 

As the helicopter headed north, Buffy took the time to look out her window and to watch the land travel beneath her. To her west, as far as the eye could see, the land was mass of farmland and tree covered wilderness. To her east was the unbroken expanse of the ocean. She looked north east for a moment. Across the vast Pacific Ocean lay the land of her birth, where people were busy rebuilding the city of her birth after its destruction in a moment of mankind's madness. She shook off the sadness that she felt every time she thought of LA, and looked ahead towards her destination.

 

The spire that was Centrepoint Tower was the dominant feature from this distance. It stood like a watchtower, over looking the city in which it stood,keeping watch on distant horizons. Eternally vigilant.

 

As they flew closer, the sprawl of Sydney became evident. Here, almost 6 million of the 22 million Australians, called the city home. Not one of the world's largest cities (there were several cities that had populations greater than the whole of Australia), it was never the less one of the most beautiful and pleasant cities in which to live (as far as any city is beautifulor pleasant to live in).

 

They started to overfly the out skirts of the city now. Below them was Botany Bay where 200 or so years ago a nation sent its unwanted convicts. Nowadays, Botany Bay was still the gateway that visitors passed through to get to Sydney via Kingsford Smith airport. But soon that would change as more and more people used the new hypersonic aircraft and its' associated airport far to the west of Sydney.

 

She could see the harbour now and icons that were known the world over. It was this harbour that people flocked to if there was a celebration or fun to be had. At the entrance to the harbour lay her destination.

 

The naval base at Watson's Bay sat on the South Head of the entrance to Sydney Harbour. Here the navy taught officers and sailors warfare and mariner skills they needed to be an effective part of the fleet. The base itself was beautiful, in particular the naval chapel that stood on the sandstone cliffs over looking the Pacific Ocean. But it was the billion-dollar view of the harbour that visitors gaped at.

 

Buffy and the sleeping Xander were not coming here for the views. Since white settlement, people had dug a massive network of tunnels, sewers, drains,subway tunnels, bunkers and storage areas into the sandstone the city stood on. Indeed, if one was to look at the earth beneath it, it would 

resemble Swiss cheese.

 

The helicopter flared over the pad and then touched down, jolting Xander out of his sleep. They unstrapped themselves and exited the helo, embarking on the short walk to their destination. As they walked they passed the Navigation School that, Xander had been amazed to learn on his first visit here,backed onto a nudist beach. Needless to say, occasionally students found the view more fascinating than their textbooks.

 

They entered a bunker like building and showed their passes to the guards. They then entered the elevator where they had their retinas scanned and entered a pin code. The elevator then descended deep into the earth.

 

The doors opened and they entered a small room where another guard checked their passes and they had a second retina scan. This last check done, the two of them entered the underground Headquarters.

 

"Xander! Buffy! Good you could make it." A middle-aged man with a protheticleg called out and went to greet them. Lieutenant Commander Tony McDonald was the unit intelligence officer and technical boffin responsible for a number of gadgets that the group used. Not a particularly tall or good-looking man, he was well liked and Xander and Buffy considered him a close friendof the family. His constant tinkering with gadgets had earned him the nickname of 'Q'.

 

"Well, you know us Q, always keen for a spot of violence." Buffy said with a smile on her face. "Speaking of violence, where's Spike?" she enquired.

 

"He's out the back trying on a new combat arm. I've added a few tricks and refined the movement program. It should mean that his chip should be able to handle it a bit quicker." Tony informed the pair. The Defence Science Labhad a few years ago come up with a robotic arm for Spike to replace the one he had lost defending Buffy. It was controlled via the same chip in Spike's head that prevented him from feeding on people. According to Spike, controlling the arm was the only good thing that the chip had ever done for him. Spike emerged from the back room with his new updated arm. 

 

"Q, this arm's a marvel. I feel like Robo-Vamp." Spike said swinging his arm around.

 

"Try Swiss Army Knife Guy." Xander told the blonde vamp. Spike looked at him with distain.

 

"Funny, coming from a guy who'd have trouble using a knife and fork." replied Spike.

 

"Let's just get on with the brief and dust some vamps." Buffy interjected. The three of them when into the briefing room where the rest of the team was waiting. Q started the brief.

 

"At 0415 this morning, a number of vampires along with a number of demons, probably Li Tet demons, were seen entering a drain grate in this part of Rookwood cemetery." he circled an area on the displayed map.

 

"I don't need to remind you why the possibility that demons and vampires are working together is a bad thing. If at all possible, you are to determinewhy they are together before taking them out." Q said, looking directly atSpike. Spike merely grinned.

 

"Fine by me, just means I get to do a spot of torture in before Christmas."the blonde vamp told the gathered members. Rolling his eyes, Q continued.

 

"The area is fairly well mapped but I've sent out a unit to do some seismicmapping to give you the most up to date maps. They should meet you at the stadium to give you an update."

 

"This mean we are going in via the Olympic stadium?" one of the team members asked. Q nodded.

 

"That's correct. It is easier to keep it covert if you enter the tunnel system via the underground loading dock. You will also note that gas pipes runthrough most of the tunnels in the area. You may have to do this mission by hand." he informed the team. Eight years ago, a team went to take 

out a nest of vampires under a shopping centre. A stray match head round from one of the team member's gun hit a gas pipe. The resulting explosion killed the entire team and 37 unlucky shoppers. Doing it by hand meant doing it without using their submachine guns, which was fine by Buffy. She personally didn't use them.

 

"Questions?" Q asked. A hand was raised.

 

"Who's leading the team?" a soldier asked. Everyone looked over at Buffy and Xander, who in turn looked at each other.

 

"Xander can lead today." said Buffy. Xander nodded in acknowledgment. Therewere no further questions and the team started to kit up. Xander went up to Buffy.

 

"Thanks for letting me lead today." he said to his soul mate. She gave him a little impish grin.

 

"Don't thank me. I just didn't want to get stuck with the debriefing and post action paperwork." she told him. Xander grumped.

 

"Paperwork. We never had to do paperwork in high school." he muttered and joined the rest of the team.

******

 

The 12 of them were assembled in the loading dock at the stadium and were going over the fresh seismic map.

 

"We've got readings of demon presence in this area here." one of the seismic team showed them. There were three rooms attached to a dead end tunnel. Agas pipe ran through two of them.

 

"OK people. These two rooms are no fire zones. The main tunnel and the other room are free fire. Understand?" Xander asked. After a few moments the team entered the tunnel system.

 

Just before they reached the particular tunnel, Xander employed a little trick to ensure the team had all the information they needed before rushing in. Opened up a box and pulled out of it a controller pad and robotic cockroach. The cockroach was the latest reconnaissance devices. They looked like a real cockroach but were fitted with camera and sensitive microphone. Theyroach would enter a room and relay what it saw and heard via its radio antennae. The beauty of them were that in an environment such as this, there were cockroaches everywhere and would generally be ignored.

 

The roach entered each room, revealing the first two rooms had sleeping vampires and demons while the other room had 2 vampires talking. The roach relayed their conversation.

 

"I don't like it." the taller of the two vamps said.

 

"Neither do I but we need them around in case the Slayer shows up. The Li Tet demons are outcasts and they need shelter. We need help in dealing with the Slayer. So they stay here and help us." the other said.

 

"Well I still don't like them. They smell funny." the first vamp told his sire.

 

"Looks like we've just got a case of one off opportunity here Buff." Xanderwhispered.

 

"I'll agree with that." she looked at Spike. "Looks like you miss out on torture today." she told the vamp.

 

"Soddin' spoil sports." was all Spike said. Xander divided them into three teams. Two teams were armed with stakes and axes while the third would go in with their guns. They took their positions and waited for Xander's signal. Xander looked around and saw that they were all in place.

 

"Go!"

 

The gun team smashed open the door and entered the room, firing as they as they went. In moments there was nothing left but smoke and ash. Buffy quickly dusted the two vamps they had listened to earlier. Buffy's team then went to help Spike and Xander's team.

 

Spike was having the time of his unlife. He grabbed the nearest vamp and extended a small metal tube from his arm and jammed it into the vampire. The tube injected holy water into the vamp who quickly turned to dust. A Li Tetdemon attacked him and Spike proceeded to slash and stab it with a blade from his arm.

 

With the arrival of Buffy and her team the fight was over in a minute. Xander checked with everyone as they gathered. All the vamps and Li Tet demons were history for only a few cuts and bruises suffered in the hand to hand. Xander looked at the bodies of the Li Tet demons.

 

"I guess we had better remove the bodies before someone finds them." Xandertold the team.

 

"No need, Chubs. This old dog has learnt a new trick." Spike said and started to pile the bodies together in the main tunnel. When the bodies were allpiled up, Spike stood back and extended his robotic arm. The sound of several shots rang out and the bodies burst into brilliant flame, consuming them. Spike walked off singing 'I'm a hunk, a hunk, a hunk of burning love' ina bad Elvis impersonation. Buffy and Xander looked at each other a little shocked.

 

"I think we had better tell Tony about how bad it is for him to turn Elvis here into Robo-Vamp." Xander told the Slayer.

 

"Agreed. At least we know that if it all goes wrong with Spike, Jenny is the last person he'd use his toys on. She can stop him without the messy dusting." said Buffy.

 

"If it's Spike that get dusted, then I would welcome the mess." Xander replied and the team headed back for the post operation debriefing.