The next day, Xander told Anya he was going out, but he didn't say where. She figured he was going to the island to see Adam and the other TPs, but that wasn't where he went.
Xander had been thinking about what Adam, Megabyte, and Jade said the night before. It was true that he would be overwhelmed with emotions if he harmed another human, but he didn't think it would be the same with demons. They weren't human, after all. According to them, however, Xander should have felt something when he'd staked that vampire last night. He would need very strong shields in order to block out the vampire's emotions, and according to Adam, Xander shouldn't. None of the TPs had shields that strong.
He needed to think about it before he told the other Tomorrow People, and he decided to do so over a drink. He teleported to Paris. It was a big city, and if he understood French, it would have been made much more sense to be there. He could have simply prodded people's minds to get a general understanding of the words, but Adam had taught him not to do that, because he would be invading their privacy. Fortunately, many of the bars and cafés were used to American tourists and one or two of their employees spoke both French and English.
It was around three thirty in the morning in Paris at the moment. It had been around six thirty at night in Sunnydale. He'd left behind a sunset, so it took him a few minutes to get used to the change in time zones. He headed toward Le Blues Bar, which should still be open at this hour.
An American named Joe Dawson owned this particular bar. Joe usually served at the counter, so it was easy for Xander to order a drink there without having to worry about dealing with a French bartender.
Joe had been absent for a few weeks, however. Xander had learned from one of Joe's English-speaking employees that the Joe had gone to the States to tend to business in his bar in Seacouver, then headed South to Los Angeles to visit an old friend.
That night, however, Joe was back. Xander smiled, happy to see them again. They'd become friends since Xander's first trip to Paris about a month ago.
"Hey, Joe," Xander greeted him.
Joe smiled. "Hey, Xander. What'll it be?"
"Whatever's on tap will do."
Joe poured the drink and gave it to him, then he picked up a glass and began cleaning it. Xander took a long drink. "So," he began. "How was your trip? Did anything exciting happen?"
Joe seemed a little surprised at the question. "Oh, nothing exciting happened," he covered. "It was just the normal bartending-related stuff."
Xander shrugged. "Whatever."
The door of the bar opened, and a tall, dark-skinned man stepped in. Xander had seen him several times in the bar, and when he asked Joe about him, Joe said his name was Duncan MacLeod, but didn't say anything else.
Right now, the Scotsman stood by the bar, looking at Joe expectantly.
"It was nice seeing you, Xander," Joe said. "If you want another drink, just let me or Mike know, alright?"
"Sure," Xander said, and watched as Joe walked over to MacLeod and started to talk to him.
Xander finished his drink and walked to the door, which allowed him to eavesdrop as he passed the two men.
He heard Joe say, "Look, Mac, I'm sorry about Connor. I'm sorry I missed the funeral, too. I tried to get an early flight…but no one was there when I got there."
"It's alright, Joe," Duncan said. "You tried, and that's what counts." He cleared his throat and, clearly wanting to change the subject, said, "Melvin Korenski came after my head today."
"You've never gone up against him before," Joe said. "I haven't heard of him, either. Is he a headhunter?"
MacLeod nodded. "I need you to look into it. Figure out what he wants."
Joe nodded. "I'll get right on it."
Xander frowned. Why did that sound so familiar? Then he remembered why. Duncan MacLeod was in the Watchers' Database they hacked into a month ago for Angel and the gang in Los Angeles.
He'd have to tell Giles the next time he saw him, and he'd better come back here regularly in case Duncan MacLeod stopped by again.
As for the how-could-he-have-powerful-shields reflecting he'd come here to do, it would just have to wait.
*****
Pretar sat on his throne and regarded the minion kneeling before him. Although the rest of his body was visible, his face was obscured from view. It was as if a dark cloud covered it like a veil. No, the minion, the Queen of the Pahra Warriors, thought as she squinted up at it. It's as if his face isn't even there, like he doesn't have one.
"Three of my warriors have been killed or bound, my Lord," Queen Pahrane reported. "The one sent to the Gatehouse is now bound in the same room as our blood brothers, and the two sent to the old one's dwelling have been beheaded."
Her Lord was silent for several minutes. Queen Pahrane stared up at his gigantic body. He was about twenty feet high in her estimation, but he still sitting down. His chair was just as high, and the seat was several feet above her head. Her Lord's body was almost completely naked except for a loincloth draped between his legs. His body was the same color of a very bad sunburn, although none of his skin was peeling, and thick muscles covered every inch of his body.
After several more minutes of silence, the god of hell spoke. His voice was strange, too. It seemed to echo everywhere and not echo at the same time. His voice seemed to be as soft as a whisper and booming all at once. She could hear it in her mind as well as with her ears. If this had been the first time she had heard his voice, she would have fallen over from the surprise of hearing it, but thankfully, she had grown accustomed to it.
Pretar said, "You have not discovered the location and name of the Promised One?"
"No, my Lord."
"Very well," the dark god said. "Queen Pahrane, I want your people to concentrate all your efforts on Methos. If you do not prevent him from helping the Promised One, I will torture everyone one of you until none of you can escape my mind fortress."
"Yes, my Lord."
"I will send a message to the Tomorrow People. It will alert him to them, and then I will know who he is."
Queen Pahrane smiled. She knew what kind of message he meant. She had received such a message several centuries before, and in order to avoid experiencing it again, she obeyed the god's every command. She knew it would hurt the Tomorrow People very much, and she revealed in the thought of it. All psychics were her enemies, including Pretar, although she couldn't do much about that.
She stood up and bowed. Her wild red hair fell across her shoulders, but she ignored it. "As you wish, my Lord," she said before she disappeared, leaving Pretar's psychic palace and rejoining her body.
*****
Methos knew he wouldn't find Whistler. If the demon wanted to see him, Whistler would find Methos instead.
Methos headed over to his other Paris apartment. He wasn't surprised when he felt the pull of his Quickening that signaled Whistler's presence.
He found the demon in the kitchen. Methos had used this apartment off and on, so he had some found in the fridge. At the moment, Whistler's head was concealed from view by the open fridge door. He was probably wondering why Methos bothered with cheap beer, especially since he had so many bank accounts under false names that he'd earned a small fortune from interest.
"Get out of my fridge, Whistler," Methos said.
Whistler stand up straight and pushed the door closed. Both of his hands were empty. "I could never understand why you liked cheap beer, old guy. There's a Watcher in Sunnydale I could hook you up with. As for as alcohol's concerned, you'd have a lot in common."
Methos crossed his arms. "Who sent the demons, Whistler?"
Whistler looked at him closely. "Pretar."
Methos was shocked. "Pretar? Please tell me you're joking."
Whistler shook his head. "Sorry."
"But he'd go after the psychics," Methos said. "Why would he bother me?"
"He wanted to get you out of the picture," he answered. "He wanted to keep the prophecy from coming true."
"Which prophecy is this?"
"The Promised One is here."
"The one that was supposed to save that half-demon clan from the Scourge? Stop wasting my time, Whistler."
"Will you put aside your pride for one moment?" Whistler asked, infuriated. "You know which Promised One I'm talking about, and it certainly has nothing to do with the Scourge."
Methos knew who Whistler was talking about, he just wished it wasn't so. "The one who was supposed to be the most powerful psychic ever to walk the face of the Earth."
The demon nodded. "The one that is supposed to defeat Pretar. Pretar wants to see if it's true, although he doubts it is. The Promised One doesn't know what he is yet, and if Pretar finds him before we do, he's dead."
Methos raised an eyebrow. "We? No way, Whistler. I am not working for the Powers again."
"What, do you think you can just walk away from them? They're the higher powers, Methos! They decide your life for you."
"I don't believe in a higher power."
"And when that lie becomes true, my horns will disappear," Whistler quipped. "You're the best teacher we've got, old man. You've trained some of the best. The Promised One has the power to control demons just by planting thoughts in its mind! He can send things floating across the room with even having to look at it or make hand motions like a lot of telekinetics. Without the proper training, though, he won't be able to control himself. You have the experience needed in this area, Methos. You're the best person for the job."
"Then ask the second-best," Methos said. "There always will be someone else with more power, and then you'll just run to me to train him. I'm fed up with it. Get the next person to take over my job, because I don't want to do it anymore. The last straw was MacLeod. You wanted me to make sure he didn't get his head chopped off, because he was supposed to help people; big help that was. Because I couldn't tell him what I really was, I've caused him more pain than he should have gone through."
Whistler was silent for a minute. "I know there have been some bad times, Methos, but if you don't help this kid, he won't be able to defeat Pretar. You know how bad Pretar is, and without the Promised One or any other psychic on the Earth standing in his way, you know exactly what he'd do."
"I'm sorry for everything that's happened, Methos, but I can't do anything about it, and neither can you, but we can mold the future." He pulled out a piece of paper and placed it on the counter. "Here's his address. You'd better hurry, though." As he walked out, he explained, "Time is running out. Pretar's getting closer to finding this kid within every passing second, and if you don't go after him in the next few minutes, he may just die."
"What do you mean?" Methos asked.
"Go to the address and see for yourself."
"Why don't you, if it's so urgent?"
"I’m not exactly a welcome visitor on the Ghost Roads, and you'll need to use them to get to where you're going."
*****
PART FOUR
Buffy sent a roundhouse kick at her opponent, forcing the vampire to fly backwards and collide with a tree. The vampire was back up instantly. He crossed the distance between them by jumping. When he landed, Buffy punched him, causing his neck to snap back. If he'd been human, he would have been dead from that blow.
He wasn't human, however. Buffy sent a kick towards his stomach, but the vampire grabbed it and pulled, causing Buffy to fall onto her back. Buffy used her other leg to sweep the vamp's legs out from under him and rolled out of the way as the vampire crashed to the group.
She was on top of him instantly and staked him just as quickly.
The vampire turned to dust and Buffy stood up, breathing heavily.
She heard popping sounds behind her. Buffy turned around and raised her stake in time to see a flash of light before Xander Harris replaced it.
"Xander!" Buffy said, relieved. "What are you doing here? Where were you?"
"France," Xander answered. "And I heard a very interesting conversation while in that country."
He told her what he'd heard.
Buffy thought about this. "Do you think MacLeod or Dawson are Immortal?"
Xander's eyes widened. He remembered when Angel had called Giles and asked him to research another group calling themselves Watchers. When Willow hacked onto the Watcher Database, they found out what it was that they watched.
Xander nodded. "I think so. It would have to be MacLeod, because Joe has prosthetics. Let's go tell Giles this and call Willow. I want to find out more about Joe and MacLeod."
Buffy was about to respond, but the sight of a vampire stepping out of the shadows behind Xander distracted her. "Xander, look out!"
Xander turned. When he saw the vampire, he did something none of them expected.
So fast Buffy had trouble following it until after it happened, he waved his hand. A branch broke off a nearby tree and flew straight at the vampire's heart. The vampire turned to dust immediately.
She and Xander stared at the pile of dust. "What the hell?" Xander said.
"I was wondering the same thing," Buffy said. "I didn't know that the Tomorrow People were telekinetic."
"Neither did I," Xander said in wonder.
"Come on," Buffy said. "Let's go see Giles. I hope he can explain this."
Xander had no disagreements about that.
Before they started heading over there, Xander felt the worst bit of pain he'd ever felt.
It rang out through his mind and head. It was psychic torture unlike anything he'd ever felt. He'd never had a migraine, but he knew this was much worse than that. It sounded like a thousand screams blended together in his mind.
He let out a yell, and Buffy looked over at him. She saw that his eyes were clenched shut and his fingers were pushing against his temples.
Xander collapsed to the ground and ground his teeth. Buffy caught him just in time. "Xander? Xander!"
Xander didn't hear her. The pain was almost unbearable.
Xander! He heard a mind voice call. It was Adam, but he almost didn't recognize the Australian's mind voice.
Echoing calls filled his brain, all from Adam, Megabyte, Jade, Ami. There were also two others he didn't recognize, but he was sure were Kevin and Lisa.
All of them cried out in pain before their mind voices faded from his mind. Then he knew they were all unconscious.
The pain in his own mind faded away until he became aware of Buffy's frantic calls.
"Buffy," he said, out of breath.
"Xander," Buffy said, relieved.
She helped him to his feet. "What was that? Are you okay?" the Slayer asked.
"The other Tomorrow People," Xander said, gasping. "We're connected. So when they feel pain, I feel it, too. That just happened, only their pain was much worse than what I felt. They're all unconscious because of it."
Sure that he had enough strength to keep himself upright now, he pushed her hands away. "I've got to go help them."
"I'll go with you."
"No," he said. "Go tell Giles about this. It won't do us any good if the others don't know anything about what's going on."
"What about your telekinesis?" Buffy said.
"Tell him about that, too, but we can't worry about it right now. If I need backup, I'll come get you."
"Okay," Buffy said. "Where will you be?"
"On the Island. Also possibly in England, because two TPs are over there." Then, before she could ask anything else, Xander disappeared in a flash of light.
*****
Xander teleported into the middle of the space ship. He glanced around quickly, looking for the others.
He spotted them not far away. Jade and Ami had dropped to the ground as soon as the psychic pain had hit. Laid out on the floor near them was a chessboard. Adam was sprawled on top of it uncomfortably, and Megabyte lay on the ground in a heap at the other end of the board. All four of them were unconscious.
Megabyte! Adam! Xander called frantically, but there was no response. He tried to reach Jade and Ami, and then did the same with Kevin and Lisa, but there was no answering call from any of them.
Who did this? Xander wondered, at the same time sending the message to the others, hoping for some sort of response. He wasn't really expecting an answer.
He got one, however.
Another migraine like the one earlier entered his brain. Xander cried out and collapsed. Unknowingly, he thrashed about on the floor, trying to force the pain to cease.
A psychic voice entered his mind, standing out over the pain. It was unlike any voice he'd ever heard. It echoed in his mind, causing him as much pain as the migraine had, but at the same time it forced him to pay close attention to every syllable the voice spoke. There was tremendous power in this voice.
Hello, Promised One, the voice said. You should not have been so inconspicuous, because now you will die.
What? Xander asked. What’s a Promised One? I'm not going to die, whoever you are.
Do not try to fight, the voice said. You cannot win. I can see into your thoughts, boy. I know you have not had the proper training, which makes me the winner already.
With that, the pain in his head increased. Xander could no longer think clearly. All he wanted was to get rid of the pain. It was just too much.
His thrashings ceased, and his mind gave in to the pain. Xander now lay unconscious near his friends. If he wanted to wake up again, he would need help. He couldn’t do it alone.
*****
When Buffy entered Giles' apartment, she found the Watcher hanging up the phone.
"Giles," she said. "It's Xander. He's-"
"Developed telekinesis?"
"How did you know?"
"I just got a phone call from Jacques Regnier," Giles answered.
"The Gatekeeper? Why'd he call you? What does he know about Xander?" Buffy asked.
"He would explain it much better than I could. I've already called the others, and they're to meet us at the bound portal outside the old high school building."
"Woah-we're going to Boston? Now?"
"Yes," Giles answered, getting his coat. "Where's Xander?"
"He's in the Pacific," Buffy replied. "The other Tomorrow People were hurt and he went to see what was wrong."
"Damn," Giles said. "Xander needs to know about this as much as anyone. You see, he's not a Tomorrow Person."
"What the hell do you mean, he's not a Tomorrow Person?" Buffy said.
"I have thought about this for a long time, and Mr. Regnier has only confirmed it. Xander should have 'broken out' much sooner than he did. He's been in enough dangerous situations for any one of them to be dangerous enough to make his unconscious mind want to teleport out of them. That is only one of several reasons. But we have no time to waste. We must meet the others at the portal, and one of us must stay behind in case Xander shows up again."
Still full of questions, Buffy followed Giles out the door.
*****
PART FIVE
One minute they had been sitting around talking in the ship, and the next they were in a cave as hot as hell itself. The air was packed with water vapor and steam, causing their clothes to stick to their bodies almost immediately.
"Where are we?" Jade asked.
Ami, Adam, and Megabyte were wondering that, too.
Suddenly, Xander's figure appeared nearby. Everyone went over to him.
"Xander!" Megabyte said. "What are you doing here?"
"Megabyte! Everyone! How can you guys be awake? The last time I saw you, you were all unconscious."
"I think we still are," Adam said. "Because I just tried to teleport, and it didn't work. Also, you just showed up out of nowhere, very unlike any teleport I've ever seen."
"So we're on some sort of mental plane?" Xander asked. He looked around and peeled off his now-damp plaid over-shirt. "Whoever decided on the décor, they should install an air conditioner. Where's Lisa and Kevin? They were unconscious, too."
Just then, they heard a scream. It came from deep within the tunnel. "Lisa," Adam said, while at the same time he gave a mental call.
Adam! Lisa called back.
Hold on, we're coming. He started running in that direction.
"Wait a minute, Adam," Megabyte said, intercepting him. "We have no idea where we are, and we have no idea where that tunnel leads. You could just be walking into a trap."
Adam wished Megabyte wasn't right, but he didn't go running off.
"We need to get out of here," Ami said.
"How?" Jade asked. "We have no idea how to wake ourselves up, and we have no idea where that tunnel leads," she said, pointing into the dark areas of the cave.
Heavy footsteps resounded off the walls. They came from deep within the tunnel, and they were getting closer with each passing moment.
"I don't think I want to know what's in that tunnel," Xander said.
"Neither do I," Adam said. "Everyone, try to teleport out of here."
Everyone concentrated until Ami said, "It's no good. We're stuck here."
"We have to figure out some way to get out of here," Ami said frantically.
The owners of the footsteps stepped into view. They wore army boots and uniforms, and they pointed taser rifles at the five Tomorrow People.
Commandos, Xander thought, and all the Tomorrow People heard it. There are a lot of them in Sunnydale. I think this is my contribution to this mind world.
If that's true, who came up with the eerie cave look? Megabyte asked. And could they make it a little cooler in here?
"Move!" One of the commandos barked. The Tomorrow People obeyed. As they walked down the tunnel, the commandos fell into step on all sides of them.
Maybe they'll take us to whomever's responsible for all of this, Jade 'pathed hopefully.
I certainly hope so, Xander thought. He'd just love to have a word with whatever did this.
*****
The commandos led them through the tunnel. The Tomorrow People asked them where they were going once or twice, but after being completely ignored, they stayed quiet.
After an hour or so, they could see light. As they got closer to the tunnel's end, Xander instantly wished he could go stay in the tunnel, because the heat became almost unbearable.
When they stepped out of the tunnel, he saw why. They were in a naturally formed cave. The rock floor they stepped onto, however, was on a high peak. Peering over the sides, Xander saw a running river of boiling lava.
One of the commandos pushed him with the but of his taser rifle. "Move!" he barked. Xander wondered if that was all the English that the soldier spoke.
When the commando nudged him again, Xander held his arms up and kept moving. "Okay, okay! I'm moving!"
The others couldn't see over the edge. Ami asked, What did you see?
Lava about fifty feet below us, Xander answered. I hope we don't get too close to that.
Me neither, said Megabyte, glancing nervously over at the edge on both sides.
On the other side of the cavern were seven more tunnels. Xander, whose clothes were pasted onto his body because of the immense heat, almost looked forward to it. That changed very quickly, however.
The commandos forced the group to separate. Four commandos moved to stand on all sides of Xander, and sixteen more did the same with the other telepaths. Only one more commando stood off to the side.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Megabyte began to protest. One of the commandos standing behind him took out a pistol and, pressed it against Megabyte's back, and took the safety off. Feeling the pressure applied to his back, Megabyte fell silent, dead afraid.
Megabyte! Jade cried, and Ami echoed her alarm.
Everyone, stay quiet, Xander said. We don't want to do anything else that'll upset them.
Everyone agreed. Are you all right, Megabyte? Jade asked.
Yeah, Megabyte answered. For now, anyway.
It's going to stay that way, Adam said.
Adam sent him a look, but he knew Xander was right and said nothing.
The commandos lined them up in front of different tunnels. Xander's was in the middle, while Jade's was to his right and the others were to his left. That left two tunnels on the far right. Xander guessed that Kevin and Lisa were somewhere down those tunnels.
As if to confirm this, they heard screams coming from those two tunnels. One was female and the other was distinctly male.
"Lisa!" Adam cried, almost on instinct.
Stay quiet! Xander warned him.
It was too late. One of the commandos behind him struck him on the head with the but of his rifle. Because of their connection, the other Tomorrow People felt the blow as if it had been inflicted on them. Adam collapsed, and the commando to his right picked him up and slung him unceremoniously over his shoulder.
"Adam!" Jade cried.
"Shut up, Watson," the commando standing to the side ordered, "or we will kill him." He nodded at Megabyte.
No one dared say another word. As soon as the leader was satisfied no one would speak, he said, "Move!"
The commandos directed each of them to their separate tunnels. Xander glanced over at Lisa's and Kevin's tunnels. Thankfully, he wasn't connected to them in this strange place, and couldn't feel their pain. He didn't think he had to. From the looks of it, he was going to be tortured as well in a few minutes.
I don't like any of this, guys, Megabyte said.
Neither do I, Ami said. Jade echoed their sentiment.
Hang on, guys, Xander said. We'll get out of here as long as we stick together.
They stepped through the tunnel, and Xander felt it instantly, and he suddenly found his words being twisted.
Almost instantaneously, the Tomorrow Peoples' presence in his mind disappeared, and so did the background noise of the commandos' minds. As far as Xander could understand, the tunnel blocked his telepathic communication with the others, leaving him alone with his thoughts and his chances of escape.
He could no longer hear, mentally or physically, anything outside the tunnel, and when he attempted to look back out into the cave, one of the commandos forced him to keep looking straight ahead. If he couldn't hear what happened outside the tunnel, he reasoned that it was safe to consider that it was the same for the others. That meant that no matter what happened while he was in the tunnel, no one would know about it until it was too late.
It didn't make him feel any better at all.
