Chapter One

Marching On

Summary:

Buffy is on a super-secret mission to infiltrate the Stargate base.

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

A/N: Not set during any particular time for Stargate, but after Season 7 for BtVS. Just a bit of fun that was begging to get out :]

Chapter One:

It was a perfect day for subterfuge. The clouds were shining, no birds were chirping, and one could almost hear the sinister plot music swelling in the air.

"Dun dun, dun dun. Dun dun, dun dun."

Yeah, that sinister plot music.

To the soldiers and other various Air Force personnel working at Cheyenne Mountain and more specifically the base for Stargate Command, it seemed like another cloudy day in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

However, to a certain someone it was the perfect background for the mission at hand. That certain someone was the original Slayer Buffy Summers, who at that moment was hidden in her car on the far end of the parking lot across from the super secret base of space travelers. Buffy was the volunteer for the retrieval mission she was currently on, the object of her mission being a dusty old book of "precious and unnumbered" value.

And that book was located deep inside the mountain base.

When Giles had approached Willow with the knowledge of the books location and current owner, Buffy had immediately volunteered to be on book retrieval duty. Of course, that was before Willow had done an extensive search on the books owner and come up with a plethora of new information. Information about the existence of alien life forms, and if that wasn't crazy enough! There was a secret government base dedicated to the research of these Aliens and their home planets, going so far as being able to travel through space to visit these planets.

The part about the secret government base had set off her internal radar, and she had decided that a personal visit to determine whether or not this Stargate program was anything like the Initiative was definitely in order. Giles had quickly dissuaded her of this idea, stating that they couldn't just walk up to them and demand that they tell her their intentions. "Oh, and while you're at it, may we borrow your extremely rare book about supernatural apocalypses that is currently in the possession of one of your scientists?" He had said, his voice in a high octave with a certain valley girl tone.

"Well, why not?" She had asked, rolling her eyes and causing him to pull his glasses off his nose. "And I don't sound like that." Thankfully Willow had jumped in with an idea, and Xander had been quick to put in his two cents.

Willow had been working with potions more and more lately, choosing to devote her badass witchy-ness time to creating potions that would be more effective in helping the new mini-Slayers instead of draining her power on the big spells. She had come up with a potion that allows for invisibility. Of course, it was for a limited amount of time, but it was much better than her going Darth Willow because she had to personally channel her energy to maintain an invisibility spell.

They had decided to load Buffy up on a couple of potions to last her for a few hours, which should be plenty of time for her to get in and out of the base with the book. The book was priority, information gathering not so much. Basically, they wanted her in and out as fast as possible and without fanfare.

"Sure, no problem," Buffy had said, waving off their doubtful faces. She refused to let them consider sending someone else, like Xander. She was the original Slayer, didn't that count for anything these days? She could handle a little subterfuge!

So it was with heavy hearts that they let her go. Their words of caution still echoed in her ears. Xander had been especially emphatic that she dress the part of an Army soldier, telling her to wear a black shirt, green pants and black boots. She had complied with his wishes, of course. She didn't want to look like the odd man out in case these little invisibility potions wore out faster than she planned.

Buffy ducked her head when she saw an SUV park in the lot, and she quickly downed one of the potions. Making a face at the disgusting wheat grass taste, she pocketed the remaining bottle and exited the car. Her black ankle booties hit the pavement, and she smiled down at her pink toenails that were exposed by the open toed shoes. Slowly her feet began to disappear, traveling up her olive green skinny jeans with zippers on the ankles, and past her waist and her tight long-sleeved black shirt, until her entire body was completely invisible.

"Way cool!" She exclaimed, holding her hand out in front of her face and seeing nothing.

Buffy quickly ran across the parking lot until she reached the soldier that had exited the SUV, keeping close behind him so she could hitch a ride on his all-access pass. The soldier at the gate waved him through after checking his ID, and Buffy held her breath until she was past the gate. She shot her fist in the air in a quiet victory move before tailing her soldier across another lot until they reached the elevator.

Willow had pulled up an unauthorized copy of the base blueprint, making Buffy memorize where Dr. Daniel Jackson's office was and her best route to get in and out as fast as possible.

Buffy and her soldier were the only ones on the elevator, and she tried to stay as quiet as possible. It was more difficult than she thought. Giles always said she was the most impatient person he had ever met, but Buffy thought that was an exaggeration. Still, she found herself shifting from foot to foot, not realizing that her heels were making a clacking noise until the unidentified soldier looked about curiously. She immediately stilled and held her breath. Thankfully they reached his floor, and unfortunately it was only floor 15.

She supposed she could take the stairs if she needed to, but she figured she would have trouble with the doors. Wouldn't look good if they opened and closed on their own, and she didn't want anybody investigating what was going on. So Buffy chose to stay on the elevator on the off chance that one of the people entering would be getting off at her level. She squished herself into the back corner, praying nobody walked into her.

It took her several trips up and down the elevator before she was finally able to get off on floor 18, and she shot out of the doors before they could close, accidentally giving someone a shoulder bump.

"Sorry!" She called out, and flinched. Thankfully the doors closed behind her, and she hurried off towards Dr. Jackson's office. Her heels kept making clicking noises against the floor, and she was starting to attract attention in the form of several soldiers and what she guessed were scientists in lab coats. Buffy decided to walk on her tippy-toes but it was slow going.

Until she came to a door marked 'Closet' and got an idea. Glancing up the halls, she waited until a lone scientist passed and quickly opened the door and jumped inside. Inside the closet was exactly what she was looking for. Army-issued clothing and boots. Grinning to herself, Buffy took her heels off and stashed them behind a box of shirts, and replaced them with black socks and combat boots in her size.

Leaving the closet, she opened the door slowly and looked up and down the hall. She had to wait a few moments for some people to pass, but she was able to leave the closet in what she felt was a reasonable amount of time.

Buffy continued her mission to Dr. Jackson's office, sighing in relief when she finally reached it. All the lights were off, and she flicked them on when she entered.

"Cool," she breathed, looking around the office. It had a simple desk and computer in one corner, but the walls had bookcases filled with books and cool looking artifacts. She took a few minutes to look them over, skimming her fingers over interesting pieces of jewelry and broken tablets with writing on them. She saw a really pretty necklace and grabbed it excitedly. "Ooooh, pretties," she breathed holding it up to herself and turning to the lone mirror on the wall. Buffy giggled when she saw nothing but a floating necklace, forgetting her invisible state.

She tried to imagine what the necklace would look like with the black shirt she was wearing when she saw the faint outline of herself beginning to materialize. At that moment, she heard voices outside of the office door and the doorknob began to turn. Buffy looked at the door in horror before throwing the necklace back on the shelf and looking around frantically. She spotting a little closet and as she jumped into it and pulled the door shut, she heard the outer door open fully and someone enter.

"Shoot," Buffy whispered, realizing that she was also fully visible. She searched her pockets for the other vial of invisibility juice and winced when her fingers only felt empty pocket. There was no way she dropped the thing, was there? Man, she had the worst luck! She sucked in a breath and held it, closing her eyes tightly.

"Just a minute, Jack!" A voice said, sounding exasperated. Some words were mumbled, and Buffy strained to pick up on what he was saying. All she was able to get was "impatient… jell-o… doesn't understand… priceless!"

Despite the situation, her ears perked up at the mention of Jell-O.

Finally, who she presumed to be Dr. Jackson finally left the office, and Buffy let her breath out with a gusty sigh and collapsed in relief.

Now she just needed to figure out how to get out of there without getting caught.

"Buffy, you are in one hot mess," she murmured to herself.