Unusual things have happened in Roswell before, and I’m usually at the centre of them, but this one really shook me up. The whole town’s been crawling with FBI, demon hunters, vampires and witches, not to mention aliens. It all started with the touring exhibition that arrived here last Thursday… Roswell, New Mexico Joyce Summers drove along the dusty road towards Roswell. She looked round at her car, once tidy, now crammed full of teenagers, and Giles. “It really is good of you to allow us to come along with you Mrs Summers,” he said as he pushed his glasses back onto his nose. “Call me Joyce. I’m sure I’ve told you that before Mr Giles” “Oh yes certainly, Joyce, and it’s Rupert.” He stuttered back, replacing his glasses once again. The two adults, sitting comfortably in the front of the car, were trying their best to ignore the four bodies wrestling for space in the back. Buffy, Xander, Willow and Anya had been constantly arguing over the three seats in the back of the car, Xander taking up the most room, with Anya half of his lap, and Buffy and Willow squashed in next to them. “Can I please breathe?” screamed Buffy, “Xander! Move your hand now!” “Hey,” snapped Anya, “don’t talk to Xander like that! I’m in a relationship with him, only I may talk to him in that fashion.” Xander sighed and moved his hand. *** A couple of miles behind the well-laden car, was another, carrying a cargo of three witches. “I still don’t see why you’re dragging us both to Roswell for some stupid exhibition, it’s not as if there are even any aliens there,” moaned Phoebe, the youngest of the Halliwell sisters, “or maybe there are, who knows?” “Don’t be stupid,” replied Piper, “of coarse there are no real aliens in Roswell. Maybe some witches, or warlocks. Pru, do you think there are going to be warlocks?” “Will you just shut up! All of you!” screamed Pru, the eldest sister, as the tape leaped from the player and hurled itself across the car. “You really need anger management classes,” muttered Phoebe. Los Angeles Far away in Los Angeles, Cordelia gave Angel an icy glare. “Oh come on, we have to go to the party. Everyone’s gonna be there, you could…you could dance!” “I don’t dance” “Well maybe you could just stand in the corner and feel sorry for yourself. Wesley and I will have a good time, won’t we Wesley?” Wesley tried to reply, but Cordelia just wouldn’t stop talking “there see! Somebody wants to come to the party with me.” Angel sighed and gave in. “Okay, okay, I’ll come. Where is this party anyway?” “Roswell. We have to dress up in weird alien costumes and stuff, it’s gonna be great.” Angel just sighed again, and exchanged glances with Wesley. The thought of dressing up did not impress either of them. FBI Headquarters In FBI headquarters, Agent Dana Scully chased briskly after Mulder who was racing down the corridor. “Mulder! Mulder! What are you doing?” “I thought I saw Tapolsky,” he replied flatly. “Tapolsky? The one who got kicked off the Roswell project? I thought she was dead. Mulder, I can see that look in your eye. You want the case don’t you, ” infuriating Scully, Mulder didn’t reply, “Mulder, this is not an X-File, there are no aliens in Roswell, just some kids with a drug habit and a cop with a wild imagination.” Roswell, New Mexico “This is just like, so cool,” enthused Maria, “we are going to a UFO festival with actual aliens.” Liz tried to interrupt, “Maria, we went to the crashdown party with actual aliens a couple of months back, remember? We were nearly arrested by Valenti.” “Yeah I know, but that wasn’t the same. We just found out they were aliens, we were helping them, but now we are going to a party with actual aliens!” As Maria screamed with excitement Alex burst in, “what’s the matter? Is there an emergency? Shall I get Max and Isabel?” As he looked around and saw Maria and Liz giggling together, he realised there was nothing to worry about. He suddenly looked embarrassed. “Alex, what are you wearing?” questioned Liz, “you look like a giant fish!” Maria burst out again into uncontrollable giggles. “I’m an alien. Can’t you tell? You know, a big ugly thing from out of space?” “Thanks, I suppose I need more make-up,” laughed Isabel as she opened the door, followed by Max and Michael. “Are we all ready to go?” *** Just reaching Roswell, Joyce Summers finally pulled up and stopped the car. “Here we are everyone, this is Roswell. I’ll just go into this café and ask where the museum is.” Joyce got out of the car, and walked over to the Crashdown Café, where Max, Michael, Isabel, Liz, Maria and Alex were just leaving. “Oh sorry,” apologised Joyce, “I was wondering if you could tell me were the exhibition was?” Liz looked completely blank for a minute. She hadn’t heard of any exhibition in town. Then Max came forward “sure, it’s in the museum, just follow the signs, you can’t miss it.” Joyce smiled and returned to the car. “Are you kids getting out here? You were going to that crash party thingie weren’t you?” Buffy smiled and climbed over Xander and jumped out the car. “Sure,” she smiled “we get to do the whole alien hunter thing.” As Buffy said this, Max, Liz and the others stiffened, until they realised this girl was only joking. “Oh, there aren’t any aliens here,” said Alex in an attempt to end the silence, “just us kids, and your mom and dad..” “No!” shouted Buffy “Sorry, no, he’s not my dad, he’s Giles.” “Oh, sorry” replied Alex “hello Mr Giles” “Oh, yes, er hello,” muttered Giles as he studied the UFO Centre across the road, “that looks like quite a fascinating place you have there, perhaps I’ll er, have a look later.” Max stepped forward “Mr Giles, I’m Max Evans, I work in the centre. If you’re interested I’ll show you around tomorrow.” “Oh, yes, that would be nice, thank you.” With polite goodbyes, everyone set off for their various destinations. “Why do we have to go to this party anyway?” moaned Anya, looking through the cafe windows, “can’t we just go and eat ice cream in that place?” Xander decided to ignore Anya, staring in amazement at who was walking past. “Hey look!” he said excitedly, “it’s Star Trek guy! The one with the beard! What’s his name?” “Commander William T. Riker – Jonathan Frakes,” pointed out Willow, “He doesn’t have a beard, he shaved it off for Deanna Troi.” Buffy looked surprised, “Check out Willow the closet Trekkie, how’d you know so much?” Willow just shrugged. Anya tugged on Xander’s arm, “would you shave your beard off for me?” “I don’t have a beard.” “I know, but if you had one, would you shave it off for me?” Xander ignored Anya again and watched as Max, Liz and the others said hello to Jonathan Frakes. “They’re on speaking terms with Star Trek guy! How cool is that?” “I heard he’s been here a few times,” said Willow, again showing her Trekkie knowledge. FBI Headquarters Back in FBI Headquarters, Mulder raced down the corridor, pursued by Scully. “Mulder what are you doing?” she said, panting as they came to a stop by the lift. “I’m sure I saw Tapolsky again.” Before Scully could reply, they heard screaming at the end of the corridor. Mulder was right. Agent Kathleen Tapolsky was desperately trying to escape the arms of an armed agent, trying to restrain her. As Mulder and Scully watched, the lift doors opened, and out stepped CGB Spender - the smoking man. Scully nudged Mulder and Spender walked past them to Tapolsky. He nodded at the armed agent, who let her go, but before she could run, he had hold of her and dragged her into the lift. “Mulder,” Scully began cautiously, “you’ve got that look in your eye again. We can’t get involved with this. He’s a dangerous man, whatever mess Tapolsky’s gotten herself into, it’s not up to us.” “But don’t you see,” began Mulder, “She must’ve found something in Roswell, and now he doesn’t want her talking.” Scully sighed, and followed Mulder down the corridor to the lift, which would take them to their little office in the basement. Roswell, New Mexico “Here we are,” said Pru, “this is Roswell, home to nice ordinary people, and the exhibition.” The other two sisters sighed as they got out of the car and looked at the museum. “Looks boring,” mused Phoebe, “isn’t there some big party around here?” As Prue turned to go into the museum, she bumped into Joyce Summers, who looked surprised. “Are you Pru Halliwell? I read your paper on the Incas, quite fascinating.” “Thank you,” replied Pru, “I wasn’t aware my work was all that well known. Where are you from?” “I’m from Sunnydale, California,” Joyce replied, “my name’s Joyce Summers. Pleased to meet you.” Pru nodded, she had heard of Sunnydale. Being witches, the three sisters knew a bit about the Hellmouth. Sunnydale had quite a reputation in occult circles. Both women shook hands, smiled again, and then parted. Los Angeles   Cordelia hammered on the office door, waiting for Angel to come and let her in. A few seconds later, Angel rose from the lift and strode over to the door, opened it and welcomed Cordelia. “You look like a fish,” she said bluntly, ignoring the customary greeting of ‘hello.’ She looked over Angel’s shoulder at Wesley, who was emerging from round the corner, dressed in a Star Trek uniform. Cordelia grinned falsely, “Well that’s just excellent. I get to go to this great party with a great big fish, and some guy from Babylon 5!” “Um, Star Trek,” corrected Wesley, “Babylon 5 is something quite different.” “Oh, never mind,” continued Cordelia, “do you like my costume?” There was silence, as Angel and Wesley studied Cordelia’s outfit, which appeared to be a white dressing gown, with earmuffs on her head. “I’m Princess Leia!” she said defensively, “you know, Star Wars, ‘may the force be with you’.” She stopped and looked at Angel, “you’ve never seen Star Wars? How culturally retarded are you?” Angel sighed, “I’ve seen Star Wars, but you don’t look like Princess Leia, you just look like Cordelia in a white dressing gown wearing earmuffs.” He said frankly, and walked back over to his desk. Cordelia glared sourly at him and stamped her foot in an attempt to hurry them along, “come on, we have to get to Roswell, this party is going to be so cool. I wonder if there’ll be aliens there?” Angel sighed, “there’ll probably be lots of fish,” he said sarcastically. Not waiting for a response, he walked past Cordelia, and out to his car. He was followed by Wesley, followed by Cordelia, slamming the door on her way out. FBI Headquarters “Scully,” Mulder called, “we’re going to Roswell.” Scully came round the corner to where Mulder was sitting in their little joke of an office. “Mulder,” she sighed, “why are we going to Roswell? There are no aliens there, get it into your head!” Mulder sighed at Scully’s scepticism and showed her a magazine article. “See this,” he said “The UFO Festival, a celebration of the crash in Roswell.” Scully didn’t look interested. “If you were an alien, where would you hide?” he looked at Scully, but she didn’t answer “in plain site is where I’d hide, who’d expect real aliens to be at something like this? I tell you Scully this is where the answer lies.” “Okay,” said Scully, giving in, “we’ll go to Roswell. Just don’t expect me to wear some stupid outfit.” Mulder looked up and grinned. “No Mulder,” said Scully, looking nervous, “you can dress up, but I won’t!” Roswell, New Mexico, The UFO Festival “I feel ridiculous,” stated Scully as the two of them stepped out of the car. Scully was wearing an ewok suit, without the mask, she scratched at her leg, “this thing is too itchy, and you like a fish.” She said laughing at Mulder’s attempt at an alien costume. As Angel, Cordelia and Wesley approached the crowds, Wesley spotted a familiar face a few metres away. “Fox Mulder?” he called, “Spooky? Is that you?” Mulder looked around to se who was calling him, and saw Wesley. “Good to see you,” he said, then turning to Scully, “this is Wesley, we were at Oxford together.” Scully smiled at Wesley and the others, “Dana Scully,” she said, “so, are you here looking for aliens as well?” Wesley smiled at Scully’s comment, but Cordelia spoke up, “vampires actually,” she said, “look, I bet he’s one over there.” Mulder and Scully looked strangely at each other, then turned back to the others. As Angel looked at Mulder’s costume, he whispered to Cordelia, “see, I told you there’d be lots of fish here.” Cordelia took in Scully’s furry suit, “hey, you’re that Wookie guy,” she grinned, “I’m Princess Leia!” “Really,” asked Scully, “I thought you were a girl in a dressing gown.” Then she added icily, “and I’m and Ewok, not a Wookie.” Jumping from foot to foot awkwardly, Wesley broke the frosty silence, “oh well,” he began, “can’t stand around here chatting all day, people to see, you know” He smiled at Mulder and then left with Angel and Cordelia. After they had gone, Scully looked at Mulder “you have very strange friends,” she said quite seriously, “what was that girl talking about, vampires?” Mulder looked quite seriously at the three figures disappearing into the crowd, “he’s one,” he said. “Who? What? Mulder what are you talking about?” “Tall brooding guy, Wesley’s friend,” Mulder explained, “he’s a vampire. I’m sure of it.” Scully shook her head in despair and wandered away from Mulder. As Buffy and Willow wandered through the crowds of people, Willow suddenly stopped, “what’s wrong Will?” asked Buffy “more Trekkie guys?” “No,” said Willow absently, “witches. I can sense them, three of them, in Roswell.” She shook her head and carried on walking. “No big,” she said, “what did you think of those guys at the café? Suspicious behaviour or what? Did you see the look on their faces when you said we were alien hunters? They looked really scared.” Buffy didn’t reply, she was too busy staring across the crowd. “What is it?” Willow asked in a concerned voice?” “Angel. He’s here, with Cordelia and Wesley over there.” Willow didn’t reply, she knew it was best. Just as Buffy was turning away, Angel looked over and their eyes met. They shared a few brief seconds of eye contact before Angel quickly turned and disappeared into the mass of people in silly costumes. Willow smiled awkwardly and they carried on walking, until they bumped into Max, Liz, Isabel, Alex, Michael and Maria again. “Hi,” said Willow politely “you guys live in Roswell?” “All our lives,” replied Isabel coldly, “where are you from?” “Oh, we’re from Sunnydale,” replied Willow brightly, “nice normal town with no strange people.” Alex looked at Willow, “We’re all normal people as well,” he pointed out. “Says the giant fish,” remarked Buffy, “why is it that all aliens look like fish?” Max and Liz smiled at each other and kissed. Buffy looked depressed and started to walk away. Maria sidled up to Willow, “she having man trouble?” she whispered. Willow nodded. “She was nearly over him, but we just saw him. They had quite a painful break-up. He moved away, they couldn’t face being in the same town and not being together. She took it real bad.” Maria looked surprised and looked over at Michael, who was looking impatient, as usual. “I should really go after her,” said Willow quietly, “it was nice to see you again.” Mulder had been watching Max and Liz all evening. “It’s them,” he said to Scully. “More vampires?” she asked cynically? “Aliens,” he hissed, “all six of them are connected, maybe just those three are aliens, the others are just the partners, shared secrets, passionate love, secret meetings in the closet at school, that kind of thing.” Scully looked up at Mulder surprised, “Sounds like somebody’s had experience of secret romances,” she teased, “care to fill me in?” Mulder looked back at Scully, “funny story actually,” he began, “turns out all the time she was having secret meetings with me, she was doing the same with Wesley. We had a laugh when we found out.” Mulder left Scully and strode confidently over to Max Evans. “What do you know about Kathleen Tapolsky?” he asked bravely. All six teenagers looked horrified at Mulder, but Scully came over before Mulder scared them even more. “I’m sorry for my partner’s behaviour. We’re from the FBI, and Agent Mulder thinks that you are connected to an agent’s disappearance. We’re sorry to bother you. Please enjoy the rest of your evening.” Scully turned and pulled Mulder by the arm away from the group of teenagers, “come on Mulder,” she hissed. Liz looked horrified, “Max do you think that’s him? The alien hunter guy?” She watched as Mulder and Scully disappeared. Michael shook his head, “he wouldn’t be so blunt,” he stated, “that’s some quack who works at the FBI and wants to know what happened to Tapolsky. Didn’t Valenti tell us she was dead?” “I think there’s more to it,” said Isabel, sounding worried, “I think this Mulder guy would be on our side.” She watched as Mulder and Scully argued frantically, making several gestures in their general direction. “Mulder what did you think you were doing?” she shouted, “you’ve probably terrified those poor kids, even if they are...” she paused, “if they are from… ‘out of town’, which they are not, you could at least be a bit more subtle!” Mulder wasn’t fussed by Scully’s anger, “I’m telling you Scully, those kids know something. You saw the look on their faces when I mentioned Tapolsky, they know her. Can’t you see it?” Roswell, New Mexico, The Museum Giles looked at the American Indian carving on the wall, then at Joyce Summers, “you know, um... Joyce, this really is quite fascinating. It would seem that this symbol is deeply rooted in Indian culture, but I’m sure I’ve seen it before somewhere.” Joyce nodded absently. Her work at the gallery in Sunnydale had led her to see lots of interesting things, but this exhibition was far greater than anything she had seen before, yet she could sense that something was wrong. *** Phoebe and Piper wandered round the exhibition slowly, not even attempting to look interested, while Pru studied an artifact in great detail. “You know I’ve read about this,” she said enthusiastically, “I think it represents some kind of ancient witchcraft.” Phoebe looked up, finally interested, witchcraft had always interested her, and it was her who had bought the powers to the three of them, reading from the Book of Shadows. Pru continued to talk about the artefact, “you see these three prongs? It’s the power of three, a much recurring theme so I’ve discovered.” The Crashdown party Willow looked troubled again. “What’s the matter?” asked Xander, “more witches? Buffy told me about earlier, are you alright?” Willow had a very vacant expression on her face, “yeah,” she muttered, “three of them… the power of three…stopping time… moving objects…premonitions…” “Willow what are you talking about?” asked Xander quite concerned, but before she could answer there was a scream from not far away. Willow, Xander, Buffy and Anya turned suddenly to look for the screamer, it was Cordelia. “A vision! Pain… suffering… unbearable!” “Someone’s in pain?” asked Angel, concerned, “who? Can you see a face?” “Me, you stupid dead guy! I’m in pain….oh, face! Three of them, teenagers, names too, Max, Michael, Isabel, oh wait! There’s more, three more, Liz, Maria and Alex, ah! Pain!” Angel looked around to see if anyone was listening, his eyes met Buffy’s. “Is Cordelia alright?” she asked quietly, “heard about the vision things, didn’t realise quite how painful they really were.” Angel nodded, “she’ll be alright, but we have to find those kids.” “Already done,” said Willow, “we were talking to them earlier, hey, here they are now, Maria! Over here!” Maria and the others looked over at where Willow was calling from. “Hey, Willow. What’s up?” she smiled as they approached. “No time,” said Buffy, “you’re in danger, Cordelia had a vision, I think it’s best if we all stick together. Cordelia, did you see anything more in your vision?” Cordelia nodded, “FBI, government, commando’s, psychology teachers? Must’ve got that wrong.” “The Initiative,” suggested Willow, now very concerned, “What would they want in Roswell?” She turned to Maria, “this is going to sound funny, but is there anything...you know...wierd here that you know of?” The six Roswellians looked round at each other, surprisingly Isabel spoke up. “We’re, how should we put it, not from around here.” Liz could see Willow didn’t understand, so she pointed up. “You’re from up north?” suggested Xander. Liz pointed higher. “Canada?” questioned Buffy. “I get it!” gasped Willow, “you’re..,” she lowered her voice to a whisper, “aliens.” “Just the three of us,” said Max. “Yeah,” added Maria, “we’re just the tag-alongs.” A very strange thing was happening. Before, none of them, especially Isabel would have even dreamed of confessing like this, but there was something about Willow and her friends that made them trust them completely. Unfortunately, Mulder had decided it was time to go and catch up with Wesley again. The others hadn’t seen him in the crowd, but he had heard everything, so had Scully. “I knew it,” he said approaching Max, “I knew by the look on your face.” Scully stepped forward. “I’m Dana Scully, this is Fox Mulder,” then she turned to Buffy and the other three from Sunnydale, “I don’t believe we’ve met either, Mulder was at Oxford with the English guy, Wesley.” Buffy nodded and smiled, and all of them said hello and introduced themselves properly. All except for Cordelia, who was still reeling from the shock. Scully could see the look on Liz’s face. “There’s nothing to worry about, we’re not the threat, but we know who is,” she said calmly, “a man named Spender is involved in a conspiracy, high up the FBI.” “It’s worse than that,” murmured Buffy, “a very dangerous woman named Maggie Walsh is somehow connected with this Spender guy. She’s tried to kill me before.” “Who is she?” asked Maria. “She was in charge of this big government operation called the Initiative, they hunt supernatural stuff. I thought she was dead, but who knows....” The Museum At roughly the same time Cordelia was having her vision, Phoebe suddenly had one of her preminitions. It wasn’t like her normal visions, what she saw was almost excactly what Cordelia had seen. She saw Max, Liz, Michael, Maria, Isabel and Alex, along with the FBI, the smoking man, and Maggie Walsh, but she also saw Buffy and her friends, and Joyce Summers. “Pru,” she called, “who was that woman from Sunnydale you were talking to earlier?” she asked, “I just saw her in a vision, along with loads of kids, they’re in danger!” Piper looked around, “I saw her not long ago,” she said, “there! She’s over there with the English guy.” The three sisters looked over to where Joyce and Giles were standing, then rushed over. “Mrs Summers,” she began, “I’m sorry to worry you but are you in anyway connected to a group of teenagers?” Joyce nodded, “yes, my daughter and her friends are at the alien party thing,” she looked worried, “is everything alright?” “Mrs Summers,” interrupted Piper, “do you have any reason to believe the FBI might be after your daughter?” Giles looked worried, he looked at Joyce and then at the sisters. “You wouldn’t by any chance be um…witches would you? If you don’t mind my asking?” Joyce looked surprised that Giles would ask such a rude question, but from the look on the sisters faces, he knew he was right. “Yes, I thought as much, I recognised your name. Buffy, Joyce’s daughter is the slayer, I’m sure you’ve heard of her?” Pru and Piper looked blank, but Phoebe knew, “into every generation, a chosen one is born,” she muttered as if reciting from a book, “Buffy’s in serious trouble from the FBI, and some military group of demon hunters…” “The Initiative,” Giles interupted, “They are very dangerous. We must get to this party immidiately. We have to find Buffy and her friends.” The Crashdown Party  “Over there,” pointed Buffy, “I thought I saw Giles. Do you think he knows the Initiative are here?” she asked Willow. She shook her head, “I don’t see how he could,” she pondered, “unless…” she paused and looked faint “they’re here.” “The Initiative?” asked Xander “No, the witches,” she replied vaguely, “the witches are here.”