Title: A Sense of Inevitability Chapter 4
Author: Muse's Inspiration
Rating: Hard 'R' right now… could lead to higher! ;-)
Warning: The usual Buffy & Terminator violence, gore, yadda yadda yadda
Disclaimer: Please see in previous chapter(s).
Author's Note: There are a few spots where I took dialogue directly from the episode 'Dungeons and Dragons' as it pertained to the scene. Again, everyone needs to give DharkCharlotte some love, because if it wasn't for her endless patience with me as I toss ideas around for a chapter, nothing would ever get done!

Dawn rushed out to her car, barely taking the time to acknowledge the gate guards as she passed them. She was on a mission and she couldn't allow anyone to interfere; there was too much to do and only a few hours to accomplish it. Flinging open her truck door, she threw her purse and the various other items she was carrying across the cab and frantically dialed the Council outpost as she climbed in. Holding the phone between her shoulder and ear, she fumbled with her keys and cursed when they became hopelessly ensnarled within each other. Realizing that panicking was not going to help anything, she took a second to collect herself. Breathing deeply for a second calmed things down enough that she was able to start the whole process over again. Since she stopped fighting with her keys, they fell apart and she was able to jam the ignition key in and start the truck up.

Okay, so she was only marginally less frantic.

Frowning at the sound of continuous ringing on the other end of the phone, Dawn hung up and started dialing all of the private cell phone numbers she had saved into her phone when she first started working for the ICW. Everyone had stated that she wouldn't need them, but now it was quite obvious that she did! Sifting through her contact numbers, she finally found the one she wanted and hit 'Send', dialing the head watcher for her outpost. She wondered how she would explain how she came into the information that she was passing on, but figured that if she just played 'Vague Girl' like her sister taught her, she could probably just bypass that part of the ordeal. Of course, it was just her luck that no one answered there, either!

Growling in frustration and driving at breakneck speeds to get to the other side of Los Angeles in time to make the plans that were needed, Dawn gave in and called the only person she knew would answer the phone no matter what the situation was: Rupert Giles.

When Dawn saw who Giles had sent as her 'backup' she really didn't know if she should sit down and cry... or laugh at the comic irony of the choice that was made. It wasn't that she hadn't known he was up there in Seattle, as a... whatever he was there as. It was more that she was rather surprised that Giles would intervene and send him here to begin with.

That was the part she was having a hard time wrapping her head around.

However, there was an upside... he'd brought Siobhan and Ashanti with him. They were the only Council trained Potentials that survived outside the Sunnydale gathering. Their Watchers had somehow managed to escape the Bringers and hid them away until after everything had died down. Because of this, they were among the most experienced of Slayers. Luckily, the group as a whole now had plenty of backup and the veteran Slayers could make the rounds when needed.

In the meantime... Dawn could only sigh and shake her head. She couldn't help but smile as her 'backup' started talking at the speed of light, about all different manners of extracting their quarry from the armored transport vehicles, what they would need to bring with them to accomplish their mission, where they would need to do the snatch and get... and the files! - Good Lord, where he got his information from, she was fairly certain she didn't want to know. But that was how he had always been... Mr. Information.

Andrew Wells was a pain in the ass; a nerd to the nth degree. But he was her nerd and damn it! - She sure had missed him. He might not have been her first choice for backup, but she also knew that this extraction was something that had to happen fast and his Council outpost was the closest. It was also apparent that Andrew's was the only outpost that could spare people. She really didn't have time to quibble over why he was sent; she had to get Derek off of that prisoner transport today!

This led to the next problem… Siobhan and Ashanti, being the good little Council trained Potentials they'd been taught to be, had never been good at following other people's orders aside from their Watchers and Dawn desperately needed this to go off without a hitch. Mr. JD was her only source of information regarding Andy Goode, what the future held and what she could do to help prevent what she'd seen in his mind. If something happened to him, she didn't know what she would do.

Ashanti and Siobhan's constant arguing brought an instant frown to her face. It was ridiculous to argue over who was going to drive and who would extract the guy from the truck. Considering their situation, it was actually a little funny listening to them bicker, since they had to keep stopping in the middle of the heated discussion constantly and demand the other to repeat themselves over and over again as they couldn't understand each other's accents. Siobhan was from Ireland and had the thickest Gaelic accent you could find and Ashanti was from Kenya and had a lyrical accent that was about as close to a foreign language while still being English as Siobhan had ever heard.

Sighing, Dawn turned back to Andrew and shook her head with a mixture of frustration and disgust, he merely shrugged and winced. He lived with them full time. For a long moment she debated with herself, silently regarding what she should say to him before finally deciding to just spit it out and have it done with.

"You know… for two Slayers whose destinies are to fight the forces of evil… I can't see how they get anything done with the constant bickering."

Andrew swallowed hard, almost choking on a mouthful of soft drink. At least he'd avoided spewing, which was probably in his best interest, given the situation. Dawn just shook her head and walked off, calling over her shoulder as she did. "Flip a freaking coin to decide who drives, damn it. Andrew! You need to get everyone rounded up and in the transport! We're running out of time."

Dawn came to awareness in stages, swimming through the levels of consciousness in varying degrees. Her first awareness was of muted shouting; as if she was underwater with cotton stuffed into her ears. Straining to understand, she slowly became aware of pain racing through her body, followed by a tell-tale stiffness that indicated extreme muscle usage or injury. She knew something wasn't right, but she couldn't quite place what it was. Frowning in her semi-conscious state, the presence of light started making itself known in the form of blinding pain when she attempted to open her eyes, causing her to slam her eyes shut again and groaning; whatever had happened, it wasn't good. She hadn't felt like this even when she had been kidnapped.

Rolling ever so slowly onto her side, Dawn concentrated on keeping back the bile that threatened to force its way out when the movement, even as slight as it was, caused a wave of nausea to swamp over her. Her head spun wildly, her mouth watering threateningly once again and she took slow, deep breaths, relieved when the feeling of nausea retreated enough that she was willing to try again. She opened eyes, but even squinting caused lances of pain to shoot through her head and she couldn't contain the groan that slipped out. Dawn knew she couldn't stay in this state, however. It was dangerous to be this helpless; she was too vulnerable like this. Gritting her teeth, she rolled over some more and got to her hands and knees, slowly pushing herself up, she forced her eyes open, taking in the scene around her with a dazed incomprehension as the sounds began coalescing into words, phrases, shouts…

As Dawn looked around, flashes of what had happened began racing through her head, causing her to whimper in fear and sorrow. Blood… so much blood around her. Screams. She could remember the screams of the young Slayers as that man… no, he couldn't be a man; no man could rip a person to pieces with his bare hands. And then the sensation of flight as she was thrown free of the melee and the sickening pain of the force of impact as she slammed into the brick wall of the nearby building.

Dropping to her knees as everything threatened to overwhelm her again, Dawn became aware of motion next to her. Looking towards it, she realized that it was Andrew. He was sitting silently in an out of the way corner with his arms wrapped around his legs, rocking as he stared blankly at nothing. Shock… Andrew was in shock. Whatever had happened, it was bad enough that it had sent Andrew into an almost catatonic state.

Gripping her building panic by both reins firmly, Dawn pushed herself to her feet and examined her surroundings, trying desperately to get her bearings. She was in a room, possibly the living room of a house. The furniture was battered and well-used. Looking around, the shouts and yells still muffled to her befuddled mind, the thought that this wasn't a home, it was just a house crossed her mind. There were no pictures; no nick knacks. There was nothing to personalize the space… and for some reason, this was vitally important to her and she suspected that her mind was attempting to distract her from something. She suspected that she was suffering from shock as well and again took a deep breath to calm her racing heart.

Suddenly, without warning, all sound returned to full volume and she could make out the frantic shouts coming from the next room. Running to the doorway, she stood there and witnessed a sight she had hoped to never see again… it was almost too reminiscent of her days back on the Hellmouth.

The man, Derek… the one she had been trying to break out of the prisoner transport when that… thing… had appeared on the scene, lay on the kitchen table, covered in blood from a nasty gunshot wound. Another man worked frantically, obviously trying to save him, but Derek wouldn't calm down. He fought everyone; the man working on him, the younger boy and two women that she remembered from the convention center.

"Get that metal bitch away from me!" Derek shouted, panicked and agitated.

"Bullet nicked his left lung. I got a fragment lodged in the soft tissue, I can get it out, but will someone please tell me what the hell is going on around here?" the other man demanded, trying to work on Derek as he fought all four of them from his prone position on the table.

"She's a machine! She's a liar!" Derek shouted, growing weaker from the loss of blood.

Dawn couldn't help but feel a sense of sympathy for the man as she watched him fight for his life. How many times had this scene played out before her eyes during the countless battles that she had witnessed in her short life? She couldn't help but admire him.

The man working on him finally couldn't take it anymore and looked to the group. "We need to do something! – I can't give him any sedatives, it'll lower his blood pressure too much and I can't monitor it from here!"

The boy and the older woman looked at each other in trepidation as Derek's struggles increased in response to the younger girl's approach.

"She's a liar! Everything she says is a lie! Don't listen to her! Don't listen-- don't! Don't! Get that bitch away from me! No, no! Get that bitch away from me!" Derek fought mightily, his wounds forgotten.

The younger girl looked at Derek and then to the group, silently asking for instructions.

"Charley…" the older woman started.

"Sarah!" He looked at the younger woman. "Do you want him to die?" he demanded.

"If I wanted him dead…" the younger girl started.

"Cameron!" the woman now identified as Sarah shouted, effectively cutting off the statement before it could be voiced.

Seeing that nothing was going to be accomplished and more than likely the man was going to bleed to death if she didn't step in, Dawn cleared her throat and approached cautiously, stopping short when Sarah spun around, gun cocked and aimed directly at her head.

Holding her hands out in a show of non-aggression and surrender, Dawn quietly said, "I can help him. I can calm him down enough that your guy there can work on him."

Sarah looked her in suspicion. "What? Are you some kind of nurse?"

"Nnno…" Dawn stuttered out. "I… look, I just… I can help him, ok? Right now, he's going to bleed to death! – None of us want that! Please?!" she pleaded, "Please… just let me help him."

"Mom…" the boy standing behind Sarah said quietly. "Let her help. Please."

Sarah paused for a moment, debating. The boy shifted, impatient. "Mom! – we're running out of time!"

"Ok." Sarah nodded. "OK… but if anything happens to him…" she trailed off. Dawn nodded. She understood.

Walking over to Derek, she pulled a chair up to the end of the table where his head was and sat down, looking at Charley. "My name is Dawn… I'm going to do something, and you're not going to understand it. I don't know how long I can keep it up so you need to work fast, ok?"

Charley nodded in agreement despite his confusion.

Taking a deep breath, Dawn placed her hands on either side of Derek's head with a firm grip, focusing herself and tuning out everything around her so she could concentrate solely on the man within her hands… the warmth of his skin, the blood giving it a tacky texture, his scent… these elements combined and allowed her ability to slowly flow through her, exiting through her hands and into Derek. She entered his mind quietly, calmly… slowly. She soothed him, wrapping herself around his mind and as he quieted, his vitals slowed.

"Now, Charley…" she whispered hoarsely as she kept a tight rein on everything around her… "Hurry."

Charley nodded and resumed his task of saving the strange man on the table with the aide of the even stranger young woman.

Inside Derek's mind, Dawn worked to soothe the agitated man enough that Charley could do what needed to be done to save his life. She noticed that Derek had retreated to a place he felt the safest and peeked in, curious as to what a battle hardened man such as Derek would find comforting… and what she saw was nothing like she had expected given her earlier experience inside his mind.

"But I can't hit it!" the young boy declared emphatically. He glared at the offending baseball bat that he held and gave it a shake for good measure, letting it know that he considered it to be all the bat's fault.

Chuckling, the older boy smiled and shook his head. "Yes, you can. You're just going to calm down and listen to me. I'm going to slow-pitch it to you, all right? And when I say 'now!' you're going to swing!" he instructed, adjusting the glove on his hand and smiling at the boy.

"But Der-EK!" the boy whined, "I just can't do it!" His lower lip jutted out to the point where someone could have landed a jumbo jet on it and Dawn couldn't help the smile that came out. Whoever the kid was, he was damn adorable!

"Kyle…" Derek said with the sound of infinite patience, "You can do this. Just trust me. Has your older brother ever let you down?"

"Well… no…" Kyle trailed off.

"OK, then! Let's just give it a couple of tries and then we'll see how it goes, ok?" Derek smiled at his little brother.

Dawn smiled softly, watching the exchange and quietly left as Derek slowly pitched a ball to Kyle and then yelled out when to swing the bat. She would never have expected someone like the Derek she had met to find comfort of memories such as those…

However, as she explored further, trying to get a bead on the man beneath her hands, she found memories that she didn't understand fully, but could definitely relate to… Memories of torture, pain; fighting for survival. Memories of losing loved ones, anger at following orders he didn't necessarily understand and always, the overwhelming need to protect and guide his little brother; to teach him to grow to be a good man despite their desperate living conditions, someone worthy of respect and love… someone not like himself.

…and then feeling the all encompassing sorrow of losing that same brother.

She studied the memories of the war he had fought, frowning at the cold efficiency of machine-like enemies he had fought against. Some looked human, like the one that had killed her girls and others were chrome plated nightmares. Dawn could sense his terror when Kyle was taken by the enemy and watched with gut tightening fear as Derek himself was captured and taken to a house. She frowned as she watched the other captives being taken away one by one and then it was Derek's turn. But once he got into the basement, the memory was forcefully shut down; Dawn couldn't access what happened behind that door and no matter how much she pushed, it wouldn't budge. She didn't understand how or what had happened, but she knew enough that forcing the issue would cause more harm than good.

Dawn choked back the tears that threatened and steeled herself against feeling too much. Something told her that she'd find it way too easy to fall for this man, if he survived.

Eventually, Dawn became aware of Charley's movements and realized he was nearly finished so she slowly started releasing Derek from her grip, allowing him to drift off into his sleep unassisted. Standing up, a wave of dizziness washed over her and she stumbled into someone standing next to her. Apologizing, she realized it was the young boy that had insisted she help Derek. He stared at her with hooded eyes, secrets dancing all through his gaze.

"Thank you." He quietly stated.

"You're welcome."

Staring at her for a moment, he sighed. "My mom's wondering why you and your team were there for the transport." He looked back towards the living room where the sounds of voices could be heard in urgent conversation. "My name is John, my mother, the woman with the gun, is Sarah…" he glanced back at Dawn before staring down at Derek and sighing. "We need to know if you're a threat to us, Dawn."

Dawn nodded in understanding… he wanted to hear what she had to say before his mother got involved. "I had a friend… Andy. I… I couldn't run the risk of losing the only lead I had… But, I never expected anything like this… my girls…" she trailed off as the sorrow once again made itself known.

"I'm sorry." He said, sincerely. "They never stood a chance against him, you need to understand that."

Dawn looked at him, shaky as the adrenaline that had been keeping her going slowly started tapering off. "What was it? He wasn't human… I know that. And he wasn't…" she drifted off, tears beginning to form and her voice thickening from the effort of resisting an emotional breakdown. "He wasn't what my girls were used to, either." She took a deep breath; sniffling and John glanced away, respecting her grief. Siobhan and Ashanti had been brave warriors, they hadn't deserved the deaths that they had been delivered. They had gone down fighting, that much she knew. But she didn't even have a clue as to how to describe to the Council what had happened. She was at a loss, having never experienced anything like this before and turned to the only source of information she had; John. "I need to know… I need to know what we were up against."

The boy sighed and looked down at the floor, rubbing the back of his neck tiredly. "What would you say if I told you it was a robot? One that was sent back in time to kill me?"

Dawn narrowed her eyes, looking at him in thoughtful silence and then tilted her head slightly towards Derek, sleeping quietly on the table. "I'd think that I've heard stranger things… and seen them, too."

The boy looked at her in wide eyed surprise.

Dawn nodded, acknowledging his unspoken question. "Trust me, killer robots, while not my usual soup de jour, is not what it would take to surprise me… how's my friend? He didn't look too good when I woke up."

John frowned. "He's not usually in the thick of things, is he?"

Dawn shook her head. "No. He usually stays in the office… he's one of our computer guys. I'm not even sure why he was sent to us."

"He's still over in that corner… he hasn't moved since we brought him here. Cameron's been keeping an eye on him. She seems fascinated by him, which is really… disturbing." John muttered to himself.

Dawn watched the boy as he turned and headed into the other room. He stopped at the doorway and looked back over his shoulder at her. Taking a deep breath, he said quietly, "Thanks, again. He…" he looked away for a moment and then softly spoke over his shoulder to her, "he's very important to me… to us."

"You're welcome, John."

John nodded and walked off, heading toward the back of the house, where voices were once again raised and urgent. Dawn sighed and walked over to Derek, watching him for a moment while he slept. She gently laid a hand on his forehead; feeling the slightly feverish skin beneath it and frowned softly… he had been through so much. Gently stroking his face one last time, she turned and went in search of Andrew, knowing that the poor guy was probably going to need some Xanax and explanations…

She really needed to figure out what she could say to Giles when she called him that wouldn't result in Buffy jumping on the first plane to Los Angeles.

At first glance, Andrew may have appeared to be in a catatonic state. The reality was that he was attempting to process what he had just witnessed in Technicolor 3-D. It was obvious it was real; the Slayers were dead. But it was like something out of a science fiction movie and that was what he was trying to get his head around… it wasn't something he'd made up like when he was a kid. This was real life and he had witnessed something he had never thought would go further than the Buffybot and Sunnydale.

Knowing the answers lay in details, Andrew started methodically, brutally, going through his memories of what happened. Starting with the call that morning from Giles, he raked through it all… He smiled sadly at the memory of Siobhan and Ashanti arguing over who was going to drive. He'd miss them greatly; they had always been kind to him and had made an effort to include him when others shunned him.

Flashback

Dawn stormed out of the room, impatience practically radiating off of her and Siobahn glanced at him, the silent question reflected in her quirked eyebrow. He shrugged. "Let's get a move on, ladies! I'll drive, since you two are going to be needed for the strength and skill part of this little rendezvous!"

He could tell that they wanted to argue the point with him, but they also saw the validity of his point and finally just snapped to work and started gearing up, preparing for the extraction. He wandered off in search of Dawn, leaving the two Slayers talking quietly with each other for the moment.

Reaching the extraction location, he would have never been prepared for what greeted them. There was already an attempted break-out being performed, but a large man in an orange prison jumpsuit was interfering. The Slayers leapt into the fray, weapons and fists flying with what should have been brutal efficiency…

…they were anything but.

Andrew screamed when the first Slayer, Siobhan, went down with a sickening show of blood and the distinct sounds of bones snapping and breaking under the large man's hands. Dawn rushed over to try and drag the Slayer out of the line of fire, ducking and dodging the battle between Ashanti, who had gone into an almost berserker-like rage, a small dark-haired woman who was throwing punches and kicks with as much effectiveness as the man they were fighting, and the strange man that was intent on killing them all. Just as Dawn reached Siobhan, the man in the prison uniform reached out and grabbed Dawn by the arms and threw her into the brick building on the other side of the lot.

Andrew was torn between assisting the remaining Slayer and rushing to check Dawn. Just as he was about to race over to Dawn, figuring Ashanti could handle herself, the man reached a fever-pitch battle with the Slayer and what Andrew witnessed he knew would stay with him forever.

He had seen Slayers go down in battle. In the final battle for Sunnydale, he had witnessed firsthand how nastily Slayers could be taken down. They didn't die well and didn't go quietly. Slayers caught in the grip of a killing rage went with the intention of taking everything around them down, too.

Andrew had never witnessed a Slayer ripped to pieces; heard one beg for mercy, plead for the lives of others while continuing to fight. Hearing Ashanti cry out, Andrew fell to his knees, the tears streaming down his face as he watched, knowing that the Slayer deserved to have this recorded, to have someone witness the sacrifice she made so that others could continue on. Andrew watched as the other woman, while the man was occupied with Ashanti, was able to finally overtake him and wrap him in rebar, effectively containing the threat… but moments too late to save Ashanti.

Andrew fell back, scrambling away toward Dawn, anxious to protect the unconscious woman as the dark-haired woman strode purposefully towards him. As he reached Dawn, covering her form with his body, the woman stopped and stared at him. She studied him for a moment, head tilted as if processing something. Just as he was getting ready to demand an answer as to what was going on, another woman screamed the girl's name and that was when Andrew noticed that the man they had come here for was on the ground, bleeding.

The girl looked back him. "Come with me."

"Who are you?!" Andrew demanded, not willing to place Dawn in any more danger.

"Come with me." She said again and walked off, grabbing the bleeding man as if he weighed nothing and placing him into the waiting Jeep. The boy with them raced over and grabbed one of Dawn's arms and looked at Andrew.

"What are you doing?! Get your hands off of her!" Andrew yelled.

"Look, she said you two needed to come with us… so you're coming. Let's go!" the boy stated.

Andrew hesitated for a split moment and then, realizing he had no other options, grabbed Dawn from him, swinging her up into his arms and stumbled toward the Jeep, pausing briefly when he saw the girl staring at him again.

End Flashback

Looking back on the entire episode, Andrew felt an incredible wave of grief wash over him and he felt the tears start running down his face as he broke down, sobbing quietly over the loss of the two Slayers and feeling a great sense of relief for Dawn and himself making it out with their lives.

"Andrew?" he heard his name as if from a great distance. Shaking himself, he forced the tears back and focused on the sound and saw Dawn crouched near him, weariness radiating off of her frame.

"Yeah?" he said hollowly.

Dawn sighed. "You ok?"

"No, not really… but I think we have another problem." He had finally isolated what had been bothering him about the whole encounter.

"What's that?" she asked tiredly.

"That girl…? The one with the dark hair?"

"yeah…?"

"I think she knows me, Dawn."