EPIC!
by Tyval
Chapter 5


Lara cursed as she uncharacteristicly missed her shot. Her next shot was
dead on though as the vampire died clutching his chest, blood pouring
from his mouth. Any doubts she had left about the exictance of vampires
where long since gone as the fight raged all around her. The underground
parking lot of the arena had been a perfect place for the Scooby gang to
set up an ambush. With hundreds of screaming teenagers nearby it served
as both bait and noise cover. 

Angel, Buffy, and Faith seemed to taking the brunt of the battle as they
fought hand to hand with the vampires. Lara was an olympic class athlete
in her own right as well as an expert in several martial arts. Lara
could beat up most men, but she had always already felt the strength of
more than a couple of vampires and was amazed to see Buffy throwing them
around as easily as she could a child. Xander and Willow fired
super-soakers filled with holy water or threw water balloons also filled
with holy water from cover.

Oz had been another surprise for Lara as he had transformed into a
were-wolf and was fighting several vampires hand to hand. Angel threw a
vampire through a car window, then slammed him against a wall. Landing 2
hard shots across the face, Angel then dropped the unconcious vampire.
Giles snuck in and plunged a stake through the vampires heart as Angel
was already fighting 2 more vampires, his handsome face was now twisted
into a mask of horror as the other vampires were.

Lara fired 4 shots, getting 3 vampires in their hearts, and wounding the
last for Giles to finish off. Buffy, for her part stabbed one in the
heart, spun around and kicked another, whirled around and staked a
third, backfisted a fourth, staked the one she had kicked, then kicked
the fourth one before plunging a stake into his heart as well. Lara felt
arms grab her from behind. She back-headbutted the vampire, shatterig
his nose, but the vampire held firm. Fortunatelyfor Lara, Faith was free
at the moment and got the vampire with a stake from behind. Lara
redeemed herself by shooting 2 more vampires in the heart. 

It was pretty obvious that the Scooby gang knew how to fight as a team
as they covered each others backs well. A small group of vampires, about
5, flew away, towards the arena. Lara ran after them followed close
behind by Buffy. The other members of the Scooby gang were still engaged
in heated combat. 

" They're after Britney!," Buffy yelled.

" I thought they didn't know she had the 'Vampire's Eye'," Lara replied.

" They don't, but ask yourself, if you were a vampire who's neck would
you want to bite?," Buffy said as they reached the top of the stairs. 

" Point taken," Lara half grinned as they reached the back door of the
stage.

Only 2 sleeping guards were on duty. That saved Lara and Buffy the task
and time of having to knock them out and answer questions later. The
lights of the arena would hurt and slow the vampires Buffy knew. And as
luck would have it they arrived on stage at the same time. Britney was
doing a very sexy version of 'Slave 4 U' when she saw 5 very familiar
looking men land on the stage in front of her. Britney smiled and the
crowd went wild as Justin Timberlake, Joey, Lance, J. C., and Chris
landed in front of her. 

Everyone, including Britney thought the boys she knew as her friends
'N'sync had done this with hidden wires. Lara and Buffy saw the arrival
and whispered something to the band leader. A song that could cover what
was about to happen. The song 'It's Gonna be Me' started. This had the
desire effect of turning the vampire pop stars away from their target as
Buffy leaped and kicked Joey. Lara shot J. C. right in the heart, then
with a low spin kick knocked lance down. 

The crowd thought that the entire thing was just part of the show.
Britney did too until Justin grabbed her and with bared fangs and a face
cruelly twisted attempted to sink his fangs into her neck. He didn't
succeed as Buffy threw a wooden drumstick right into his heart. Britney
screamed once, then saw Lara shoot Lance while Buffy staked Joey. Buffy
then stepped up to the microphone.

" Hi everyone! Britney would like to thank all of you for coming here
tonight, and a special thanks to 'N'Sync and a very special guest, Mss
Lara Croft!," Buffy shouted out with a flourish that was greeted with
wild applause.

Lara and Buffy both worried about how to get the dead members of the boy
band off the stage without anyone knowing what had happenend.

" Ohmigod! Omigod!," Britney moaned in a daze.

She couldn't believe that her friends had just tried to kill her. '
Vampires!,' Britney thought,' They were vampires. But how? When?'
Britney had seen them only 4 days before in broad daylight. In truth
they had been turned that night. Justin had always covered for Britney.
The whole world thought that they were in love. In truth Justin had been
her oldest and dearest friend, but Britney wasn't into men. Britney had
actually been a lesbian lher entire life. Her virgin statement just
meant with men since she had doing it with many other pop girls for
years.

Just as Britney, was coming out of her daze she noticed that only 3
people were still moving. Lara and Buffy gazed up at the sky and saw the
huge U.F.O. that bathed the entire town in an eerie blue glow. The
vampires disintegrated into nothingness. 

" What the hell?," Buffy asked to no one in particular.

" Hell has nothing to do with it," Rommie said as she materialized with
Beka, Hel, and Cleo.

" What is going on here? Who are you people?," Britney cried out in a
panic.

Hel shot her with a stun beam. Britney was on the verge of a breakdown
and they couldn't afford that if they were to save the future. Lara
aimed her pistols at the strange women as Buffy readied a wooden knife.

" Calm yourselves," Beka said cooly," If we wished you harm we could
have frozen you as well, or simply zapped you from space. The truth is
that you are needed to save the future. If you don't come with us
Trillions of lives of thousands of planets are forfeit."

" Guys, we're on the level," Cleo spoke up," I'm from this time too
originally, and well, I've seen what's going to happen. This threat is
real!"

" Wait a minute," Lara said," I've seen you before. You're Cleopatra,
you danced at 'Sappho's Flame' until a year ago. You supposidly went in
for a boob job and dissapeared off the face of the Earth."

" It's a long story," Hel smiled," One that can best be told on-board
the Andromeda."  

" But my mission...," Buffy started to say.

" Is over," Rommie said," Every vampire on Earth has been destroyed or
soon will be thanks to a special ultra-violet pulse beam I fired from
your moon. Pure death to any and every vampire on the planet. Angel and
Spike too, but it had to be done."
  
" I'm game," Lara said, her adventurous curiosity was aroused," Take me
to your leader, the one-eyed lizard that eats faces, or is it Darth
Vader? E. T.? Captain Kirk?"

" Actually, I'm the unofficial leader," Beka grinned," But Rommie's
probably really in charge."

..........................

It was hours later, and after Britney finally calmed down, that it was
obvious to all three of them that they had been chosen. Ironiclly,
Britney thought Trance looked 'cool' and they became friend immediately.
As the 9 women gathered on the ships bridge the faces of the next three
women appeared on the main screen. 

" Ladies," Sarge announced," It looks like our next stop is in 1820."

" So, who are we after? Zorro?," Cleopatra asked.

" Actually you are pretty close, time-line is almost the same, Zorro
operated out of early Los Angelas, this lady was further south,  a few
years later, San Diego," Rommie said," Motives, similar, but differant,
Zorro fought for justice, she did too, but she also fought for vengence.
She was called the 'Queen of Swords'."

" Am I the only one noticing a pattern here," Cleopatra said.

" Huh? What do you mean?," Beka asked.

" I'm not sure, but we seem to gathering in groups of 3," Cleo said,"
Look, there are 3 women there too."

Hel and Sarge were slightly taken back. They always underestimated
Cleopatra's intelligence it seemed. She had noticed something that none
of them, not even Rommie with her massive databanks banks had. Each stop
was adding 3 women to the Andromeda.

" California here we stay," Buffy joked unfunny. 

..........................................
end of chapter 5.