Stupid Girl (Short Story)

After having narrowly escaping the clutches of The Domo, Zoë stood alone on the bridge of her ship, Serenity. Would the others even remember this night? She wondered. Will I be able to tell them that the Domo had poisoned them into thinking that they were all horny homosexuals with an electromagnetic pulse? Why wasn’t I affected? Will everything be alright?

“I can answer that question for you,” a perky female voice said from no where.

“Who the hell are you?” Zoë asked the empty bridge.

A blue and white breezeless tornado of light appeared in front of her. Zoë flinched at the sight, expecting to be blown away by its force. She wasn’t, and she watched in awe as a beautiful brunette woman wearing a floor-length white evening gown materialized from nothingness.

“Everything’s going to be just fine,” the woman said.

“You haven’t answered my question,” Zoë said. “Who are you?”

“Don’t you recognize me?” The woman replied. She paused a bit thinking and continued,
“Duh. Of course you don’t. I’m Cordelia Chase.”

“Where did you come from? What happened here tonight?” Zoë babbled. “I have so many questions.”

“Zoë,” Cordelia began patiently. “I’m one of The Powers That Be.” Cordelia sauntered up next to Zoë and put her arm around her. “Your friends…and Jayne…won’t remember anything that happened tonight in the morning. That is, if there is a morning to wake up to.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I was testing you, Zoë,” Cordelia explained. “I’ve been watching you, waiting for when the time was right.”

“So, this was just a test,” Zoë was clearly trying to wrap her head around what Cordelia was tying to say. “And this Domo thing…you did that?”

“Sort of…the Domo are real. Their threat to the Outer Rim is real too, but I sent them here as a test for you—to see if you could save your friends…and Jayne...on your own. And you passed.”

“So what now?” Zoë asked. “And what about this whole ‘if there is a morning’ thing?”
“I can explain,” Cordelia replied. “But not here.”

Cordelia waved her arms in a big circle three times and in another cyclone of light, both Zoë and Cordelia were gone. The next thing Zoë knew, she and Cordelia were standing alone in what appeared to be a forest, but Zoë knew that it must be a trick.

“Where are we?” she demanded to know.

“We’re in the rain forest,” Cordelia said matter-of-factly. “This is where it will all end…” she trailed off dreamily. “…but hopefully not. That’s why we’re here.”

“This can’t be. There are no ‘rain forests’ on any world that I have ever heard of,” Zoë wasn’t buying Cordelia’s story. “Except maybe in the virtual reality bars in Ariel City… Did you take me to the Core?”

“No. This is Earth.”

“It can’t be,” Zoë said shakily with a tear forming in her eye. “Earth is dead. Nothing can live there. This must be a trick.”

“No, I assure you, this is Earth. Earth of the year 2005.”

Zoë’s eyes perked up, and she began to look excited.

“Hold your horses, Zoë,” Cordelia cautioned. “We have work to do, and there isn’t much time. I have to get the others.”

“Others?”

“The team...compadres…posse?” Cordelia was struggling not to be short with Zoë. “Once everyone is together, I can explain. There’s not time to explain the whole thing five times. So, wait here, and I’ll be back.”

“But why am I here?”

“To help me save the world…” Cordelia answered as she disappeared in her tornado of light. Zoë barely had time to think. In a flash, Cordelia was back accompanied by another woman—a brunette with blonde and red streaks in her hair. She was dressed all in leather with long leather gloves covering her hands.

“Zoë this is Gwen,” Cordelia introduced the two women. “Zoë can explain what’s going on.” Cordeila waved her arms and vanished.

“Gwen is it?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I’m not exactly sure what’s going on,” Zoë began, “I think that we’re supposed to help this woman—“

Zoë was cut off by Cordelia’s instant return with a man this time. She didn’t even bother to introduce this newcomer to Zoë and Gwen before vanishing again.

“Riley Finn,” he introduced himself holding out his right hand to Gwen.

“Gwen,” she replied not shaking his hand. “I don’t touch people.”

“Okay,” Riley was obviously creeped out. “And you are?”

“Zoë,” she replied looking Riley up and down, sizing him up. He was tall, and his muscled arms were practically bursting out of his tight t-shirt.

Cordelia materialized with the fifth member of the team, before anything else could be said.

“Sheesh,” Cordelia gasped. “This one-at-a-time-ing is going to be the death of me.” She burst out laughing, and vanished again in a flash of light.

“Riley Finn.” Riley said extending a hand to the blonde new guy.

“Andrew,” he replied shaking his hand looking Riley up and down.

“This is Gwen and Zoë,” Riley finished the introductions.

Cordelia reappeared with another young woman. Her hair was some color between blonde and brown, and she was the shortest of the group.

“Everyone,” Cordelia announced. “This is Fred.”

“Now that everyone is here, why don’t you explain what exactly is going on and why we’re all here?” Zoë asked exasperated with this whole situation.

“Excellent idea, Zoë,” Cordelia began…

“It all started about three or four years ago, in this time frame. A man and a woman fell into this forbidden relationship. He was demon fighter on the outs with his friends. She was a lawyer at an evil law firm—“

Fred interrupted, “You’re speaking of Lilah and Wesley, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Cordelia continued. “Lilah and Wesley. Lilah was killed—“

“By you,” Gwen interrupted this time. “If I remember correctly.”

“Yes, but I was being controlled by an ancient evil power hell bent on enslaving the Earth. Let’s try to keep all the details—“

“Wait!” Zoë brought the conversation to a screeching halt. “You all know each other?”

“I don’t know any of these people,” Riley replied.

“Kinda,” Andrew said. “I know Fred, because I visited LA last year a few times to help her and Angel. But I thought you died when Illyria hijacked your body?”

“I can explain,” Fred said.

“And I only really know Cordelia by reputation,” Andrew continued. “We went to high school together in Sunnydale.” He paused to examine Gwen. “You, I don’t know.”

“I’m Gwen. I too helped Angel, Fred, Cordelia, and the gang a while back. How’s Charles?” She specifically directed her question at Fred.

“Charles is in a coma,” she said flatly. “He nearly died saving Los Angeles from the apocalypse with Angel, Spike, and Illyria.”

“Can we do this later?!?” Cordelia busted in. “We need to get started, and we’ll never get there if I don’t tell this story.”

There were nods of agreement around the circle, and Cordelia continued: “After Lilah died, she was given a final mission by the Senior Partners. To bring Angel and his friends into Wolfram and Hart. She did just that. And for her efforts, she was rewarded—with immortality, among other things. In the past two years, she’s built herself a fortress from which she can look down on all the things going on around the world. She kept an eye on Wesley all the time, because her heart still loved him. Then, in the apocalypse that Fred spoke of, Wesley was killed. Stricken by grief, Lilah decided that the best way to get over it is to destroy the earth.”

“Been there…done that,” Andrew mumbled.

“Hush!” Cordelia demanded. “Lilah is way more powerful than Willow ever could have hoped to be.” She cleared her throat. “My task is to stop her. I can’t do this on my own, which is why I’ve enlisted all of you to help.”

“Kidnapped is more like it,” Zoë added.

“Call it what you want,” she said. “But you all have a stake in this. If Lilah destroys the Earth, you’ll all die. And Zoë, neither you nor any of your friends will even exist in the future. The universe as you know it will cease to exist. Sure, I’m sure that some form of the universe will sill be around. But it won’t be this. It won’t be what you know.”

“So how do we stop her,” Riley asked.

“Glad you asked, hot stuff,” Cordelia replied. “Lilah has the elements of Thallia. With these she can open a portal to a black hole and basically suck the earth inside out.”

Cordelia surveyed the group for signs of hopelessness.

“So what, we just take away this Thallia stuff, and she’s stopped right?” Andrew asked.
“It’s not that simple Nerd-O. Lilah’s already started the ritual to open the portal. And we can’t get near her fortress with out the help of two more people—Anthony and Selena. They are the key to Lilah’s undoing, and she has them locked away at opposite ends of the world. We need to rescue each of them, bring them to Lilah’s fortress, and they will stop Lilah from sucking the world inside out.”

“So, why us?” Gwen asked. “What makes the five of us so special?”

“Yeah,” Andrew and Riley agreed in unison.

“Each of you has your own abilities, each of you has a stake in what happens here today, and each of you is destined for great things,” Cordelia explained.

“What are you talking about?” Fred asked.

“Listen, there’s really not time to—“

“You’d better explain yourself, missy,” Zoë interrupted, “or I’m not going anywhere or doing anything.”

“Ugh. Fine,” Cordeila relented. “Fred, you and Andrew are destined to take over Wolfram and Hart and bring it down from the inside out, ending centuries of evil all over the world. Riley, you and Buffy are destined to be reunited and your granddaughter will be the first prime minister of a unified Earth. Zoë, you and your band of friends in the future will lead a rebellion that will bring an end to the Alliance and bring prosperity to those suffering in the Outer Rim.”

“And me,” Gwen asked, uncharacteristically meekly. “What’s my great purpose in this life?”

“Gwen, honey, isn’t it obvious?” Cordelia looked upon her blank face and decided that she needed more of an explanation. “Gwen, you are destined to save the world alongside your great-great-great-great-great-great…oh you get the point, granddaughter.”

Gwen looked to Zoë. Zoë looked back at Gwen, and then both of the women shot glances
at Cordelia.

“What?” She said. “You and Gunn—sorry, Charles—get together, raise a family, have many beautiful children. Zoë here is your descendant. But none of this is ever going to happen if we don’t take care of Lilah and stop her from sucking the whole world inside out. Are you with me?”

“Hell yeah!” Riley yelled with true military forcefulness.

“Sounds like fun,” Zoë cheered, sarcastically.

Selena

“I don’t see why we had to split up,” Andrew whined.

“Because, Squirt, twenty-three hours is not enough time for all six of us to get this job done,” Riley explained.

“Don’t call me Squirt.”

“Come on, boys,” Fred interjected. “Play nice. We still need to rescue Selena and meet up with the others.”

Fred, Riley, and Andrew were sent via Cordelia’s light tornado the Australian outback.

Luckily, Cordy had done her research in advance and knew roughly where Andrew and Selena were being held. Unfortunately for this half of the team, neither Selena nor her demon guard were visible anywhere in the vicinity.

Andrew pulled a gismo that looked strikingly similar to a control for a remote-control car from his pocket and pressed a button on the side of it. The gismo lit up and began steadily beeping.

“What’s that?” Riley asked examining Andrew’s gismo.

“You should know, Mr. Initiative,” Andrew teased. “It’s a demon tracker. Cordelia told me that Lilah is most likely using Ha’aal demons to guard these guys. They give off a very distinct pheromone.”

“I know all about the Ha’aal,” harrumphed Riley.

The unlikely threesome walked in the barren wilderness in silence, with Andrew slightly in the lead. The beeping of the device kept its constant meter. Andrew was the first to break the silence.

“So, you never explained the whole back from the dead thing,” he directed toward Fred.

“It’s relatively simple, Andrew,” Fred explained. “You should be able to figure it out. But I’ll tell my story anyway.”

Riley looked confused.

“Fred died when Illyria took over her body. That is true. What is also true is that Illyria retained all of Fred’s memories: her time in Pylea, her love for Gunn and Wes, graduate school…everything. Angel and Wesley took away most of Illyria’s super powers to prevent her from exploding and destroying the city in the process. The human body was simply not enough to contain the essence of the god. After Angel and the others defeated the army sent by the Senior Partners, Illyria began to go insane. She could no longer distinguish herself from Fred, and it was driving her mad. That’s when they decided to go to South America and pay a visit to Willow. Willow used a spell that removed Fred’s memories and residual essence from Illyria. And Illyria was sane again. She and Spike decided to return to Los Angeles and keep the vamps and demonies under control.”

“That doesn’t explain—“ Fred cut Andrew off and continued.

“The spell that Willow used to rid Illyria of Fred was a transference spell. She shunted all the residual Fred from Illyria to the Buffybot.”

“You can do that?” Riley asked.

“Willow can do anything she sets her mind too,” Andrew replied in awe.

“After Spike and Illyria returned to LA and Angel left to join Nina and her family, Willow decided that if the Buffybot was going to be a home for Fred’s memories, that she should look like Fred. Six months later, here I am. Pretty neat, huh?”

“That’s one word for it,” Riley said.

The beeping of Andrew’s gismo grew louder and faster. “I think we’re getting close,” he said.

“Close to what?” Riley asked. “I don’t see anything.”

“There!” Andrew pointed directly ahead.

“There’s nothing there.”

Andrew put his demon tracker down, picked up a hefty stone, and heaved it forward. It drifted in midair for a second then stopped abruptly and fell to the ground with a thud. Then, as if from nowhere, the Ha’aal demon appeared before them. It stood well over seven feet tall and oozed blue pus from every pore. The stench was almost unbearable.

Riley drew his gun from the back of his pants and fired four rounds straight into the demon’s chest. Andrew laughed, “you should know that you can’t shoot a Ha’aal.”

And as if to illustrate his point, the Ha’aal demon walked closer to them pulling the bullets from its dark, gooey flesh and throwing them back at them. If it had a mouth, it would have been laughing at them.

“So, what now?” Riley looked worried.

Andrew looked to Fred. Fred looked at Riley. Riley looked to Andrew, to the demon, and back to Fred. Fred looked at the demon and a look of determination and triumph spread across her face. She ran to it. It held out a tentacled arm and stopped her like a thirteen-year-old will keep his seven-year-old brother at bay. Fred reached up and snapped the bone in its forearm three times. The Ha’aal hollered in pain. Fred kicked the demon as hard as she could in the stomach-area. The demon fell to the dirt. She grabbed its head and twisted with all her might, and the blue, oozy thing popped right off of its neck. Fred held the head triumphantly above her own head. The body teetered for a few seconds then fell to the ground.

“That’s how you kill a Ha’aal demon,” Andrew snarked.

“But where did it come from?” Riley asked. “It just appeared from no where.”

“Not no where,” Fred said, tossing the head aside and wiping her hands on her pants. “From here.” Fred walked up to an invisible wall and leaned against it.

Andrew felt along the invisible wall and found what felt like a latch. He pulled on it, and an invisible door opened, revealing a stairway. Riley led the way up the stairs with his gun drawn. Fred went next, and Andrew brought up the rear.

Lilah obviously thought that no one would be able to defeat her Ha’aal at the door. Fortunately for them (unfortunately for Lilah) she was wrong. Selena’s prison was a maze of stairways and narrow halls. Everything was painted black. Every twenty feet there was a dim red light, it made it very difficult for Riley, Andrew, and Fred to make their way around. They could have easily been lost in the maze for the rest of their lives, but again luck was on their side. Fred, after all, was a robot. She kept track of their steps and directions, and within an hour they reached the end. The final stairway led up what felt to Andrew at least thirty stories. Fred assured him that in reality it was only three and a half. The top of the stairs was what on initial inspection appeared to be a dead end. There was a red light directly above them. And Fred noticed that a tiny bump on the left wall was casting a shadow. Andrew pressed the button, and a small panel opened in the ceiling.

“How do we get up there?” Andrew wondered aloud.

His question was answered without words when Fred lifted Riley off the ground and tossed him through the opening.

“Whoa.”

“You’re next, Squirt,” Fred said. And before Andrew could object, he found himself next to Riley on the floor of a small room filled with light. Fred leapt up and joined the men. The walls of this room consisted solely of glass, as did the ceiling. The change from the darkness below to the brightness above had momentarily blinded Riley and Andrew, but soon they adapted.

There, they saw her. A small-ish woman, barely twenty-four years old with long black hair flowing down her back wearing only a white cotton bed gown stood in one corner of the room examining her rescuers.

“We’re here to rescue you,” Riley told the woman.

“We have to hurry, there’s no time,” Selena replied. She walked fast in her bare feet and dropped down the hole in the floor through which everyone had arrived.

“Ungrateful bitch,” Riley replied looking at Andrew.

Anthony

Cordelia planned her attack well, and her initial meeting place for her team was right outside Lilah’s other invisible prison. After taking Riley, Andrew, and Fred to Australia, she, Gwen, and Zoë got to their task of rescuing Selena’s twin—Anthony—from his captor.

The three women walked about half a mile through the rain forest toward where Cordelia’s memory told her Anthony was being held.

“What’s with the gloves, Grandma,” Zoë asked Gwen. “It’s like a million degrees out here.”

Gwen replied by removing her right glove. She bent down and picked up a snake with her left hand. She held the snake in the middle with her left (gloved) hand and quickly grasped the snake an inch below its head with her right. Blue electricity shot out of her hand. The snake twitched and shook violently. Smoke curled up from its body. The twitching stopped, and Gwen dropped the dead snake to the ground. “That’s why I wear the gloves, and don’t call me Grandma,” she added.

Zoë replied silently with a smile.

“There it is,” Cordelia said a minute later.

“I don’t see anything,” Zoë countered.

“It’s invisible,” Cordelia replied.

“Of course it is,” Gwen said.

“How do we—“ Zoë began. But she was interrupted when a blue, gooey, foul-smelling demon appeared before them.

The Ha’aal demon lunged for Cordelia. Cordelia vanished before the tentacles touched her. The Ha’aal swung through empty air, and Cordelia reappeared a moment later.

“Nice trick,” Gwen said.

“Thanks.”

Zoë drew her gun and fired several rounds into the demon. Nothing happened. It didn’t even seem to notice the lead slugs in its flesh.

“Gwen,” she said. “Looks like you’ll have to take this one.”

Gwen removed her gloves and charged the demon. “Come on bitch!” She yelled. “Come and get me!”

The Ha’aal demon grabbed Gwen and lifted her off the ground. Gwen grabbed back and held onto the sides of the demon’s head with both hands. Its flesh sizzled. Electricity crackled around all of them. Zoë held her nose against the stench of frying Ha’aal demon. The demon released Gwen from his grasp, but Gwen held on, dangling from the thing’s temples. The Ha’aal let out a low groan and dropped to the ground. Gwen released it and kicked it hard in the face.

“Come on,” Cordelia urged. “Time is short, and the Ha’aal won’t stay passed out for long.”

Cordelia led the way to the invisible door and pointed at the right spot. Zoë kicked it in.

“That was unnecessary,” Cordelia said. “The button’s right there.”

“Let’s get this over with,” Zoë replied.

The inside of this invisible prison was identical to Selena’s. As they made their way through the black halls of stairs, Gwen decided to get some answers.

“I thought you died,” she asked Cordelia.

“I did.”

“Oh.”

“I…transitioned,” Cordelia explained. “I think that’s what they called it. I was a great asset to the Powers when I was a human, and they gave me this afterlife. I suppose you could say I’m a Power in training. This is my first mission.”

“But how did you know about me,” Zoë asked, “in the future?”

“Time isn’t exactly linear,” Cordelia explained. “That’s one of the first things they teach you. It’s kinda like being in a room full of televisions all showing different time periods of what’s going on around the universe. It’s rather intimidating.”

“What’s a television?” Zoë asked.

“So, what’s to stop you from going to the past and changing things?” Gwen asked.

“I said not exactly linear,” Cordelia tried to explain. “We can go forward, but not back.”

“Huh?”

“Because the future hasn’t happened yet. Anything is possible. And we can see each possibility unfold.”

“So, you know what will happen if we don’t stop Lilah in time,” Zoë commented.

“Trust me, it isn’t pretty.”

No more was said of time travel. The ladies found Anthony in the same way Selena was found. And Gwen, Zoë, and Cordelia escorted him from his invisible prison. Once outside a flash of light signaled the disintegration of the invisible building.

“Now what?” Gwen asked.

“Now, we wait for the signal,” Cordelia replied.

Thallia

After about twenty minutes of sitting in the forest staring at each other, Cordelia stood up and stared at the sky.

“Oooh…” Gwen teased. “My spidey sense is tingling.”

Anthony shot Gwen a nasty look. Zoë rolled her eyes. She still couldn’t believe that she was wrapped up in all this mess. People back from the dead, an evil lawyer hell-bent on sucking the world inside out, a set of twins held captive in invisible prisons, and to top it all off, she was fighting along side her very distant relative. She shook her head in disbelief.

“It’s time,” Cordelia said. Without another word, she vanished in a poof of light.

Seconds later, she poofed back to Zoë, Gwen, and Anthony along with Fred, Andrew, Riley, and Selena.

“Selena!” Andrew shouted.

“Andrew!” Selena shouted back and went to her brother.

“NO!” Cordelia yelled stepping between the reunited twins. “Not yet.”

“Not yet, what?” Riley asked impatiently. “I thought we were in a time crunch, here.”

“We are. But if they touch each other they’ll be taken to Thallia.”

“Where’s that?” Andrew asked.

“Thallia is our sister,” Selena replied.

“She was banished from this world centuries ago,” Anthony explained. “She was evil. Pure evil. The Powers banished her to stop exactly what Lilah is trying to do now.”

“They divided her body into five pieces and imprisoned each inside a talisman,” Selena continued. “Once the pieces are reassembled and the proper ritual performed, Thallia will be reborn. Only she can open the portal of Rubidius.”

“And that’s what’s going to suck the world inside out,” Gwen confirmed.

“Yep,” Cordelia replied. “Okay. Here’s the plan…” Cordelia laid out the plan before the eight of them, and once they were done everyone joined hands starting with Selena and ending with Anthony. When Selena took Anthony’s hand, all eight of them disappeared.

“Patefacio vestri porta ut abyssus per combibo eternus nex orbis terrarum,” Lilah chanted this phrase over and over. A young woman with blonde locks of hair flowing down her back hovered about the center of a pentagram inscribed inside a circle painted on the floor. “Patefacio vestri porta ut abyssus per combibo eternus nex orbis terrarum.”

The twins mode of transport was much less dramatic than Cordelia’s, and Lilah did not even notice the arrival of the eight visitors. Two shots were fired at exactly the same time. Each hit Lilah precisely on target. She fell to the floor.

“Thalia!” Selena and Anthony shouted in unison running toward their lost-and-now-found sister.

“You can not stop what has already begun.” Ominous words from a crumpled Lilah on the floor. She stood and faced the intruders. “Stupid mortals. I can’t be killed with your mortal weapons,” she said to a dumbfounded Zoë and Riley. “Cordy! Nice to see you again. You should have prepared your minions better.”

“Stuff it,” Cordelia replied. “You don’t get to call me Cordy.”

Anthony and Selena dragged Thalia out of Lilah’s pentagram. A spherical hole appeared in the spot where Thalia had been during the ritual. It was about the size of a golf ball and steadily growing. “See,” Lilah said. “It has begun.”

“You never loved Wesley!” Fred shrieked at Lilah charging her.

Fred ran full-on into Lilah with incredible force. She held her pinned against the wall.

“My Fred, you certainly have grown big and strong. Milk certainly did your body good.”

“Lilah, you can’t do this,” Cordelia pleaded. “Have you thought about what you’re doing? The Earth and everything and everyone on it—including you—will be destroyed. Is that what you want?”

“It will end,” she replied flatly. “It always ends.”

Fred punched Lilah square in the face breaking her nose.

“You’re lucky that I heal fast, Robo-Slut.”

Lilah was still unable to escape from Fred’s grasp.

“What are we supposed to do,” Andrew asked.

“Help,” Riley answered.

Andrew did nothing. Riley did nothing. Zoë and Gwen exchanged a glance and both charged at Lilah who was still pinned against the wall by Fred. Gwen reached them first, but unfortunately her aim was off and she ran straight into Fred’s back. The shock was instant, loud, and bright. Fred and Gwen fell to the floor releasing Lilah. Smoke curled up from Fred’s mouth and nostrils; her eyes stayed fixed and open. Zoë arrived an instant later, leaping over the bodies on the floor and pinned Lilah back against the wall.

“You’re no match for me, Future Bitch,” Lilah yelled shoving Zoë back.

The two of them began throwing punches. First Lilah landed a right into Zoë’s face, and Zoë countered with a punch to Lilah’s already broken nose. The two continued this back and forth fight as Gwen tried to get back to her feet.

“Do something you two!” She shouted.

Andrew looked around the room trying to find some sort of a weapon. Riley drew his gun and tried to aim at Lilah, but the two fighting women were moving too fast and Zoë kept drifting in and out of his sights.

“Oh, you two are useless!” Gwen groaned. She rolled over and lunged for Lilah’s ankles. Lilah kicked her in the face, which scooted her back about five feet.
Meanwhile, Cordelia was talking with the triplets and the hole in the world was growing larger. It was now the size of a ripe cantaloupe and still steadily growing. Gwen could feel its pull already.

“It’s begun,” Lilah groaned kicking Zoë away from her enough to break free. “Soon, the Earth and everything on it will be gone.”

“We can’t let you do this,” Andrew said rather forcefully.

Riley and Andrew appeared on either side of Lilah. Lilah turned toward Riley and winked at him. Riley gave her a swift and very hard kick in the chest and pushed her into Andrew. Andrew jumped up and climbed onto Lilah’s back wrapping his arms around her neck.

“Silly boy,” she laughed. “I’m dead. I don’t need to breathe.”

Lilah began to spin around trying to toss Andrew from her back. Riley pulled his gun and shot Lilah again. She recoiled but still remained vertical. Gwen tried again with the ankles, and this time she was able to hold on—to both of them. Andrew pulled back. Gwen pulled forward, and Lilah fell to the ground.

“Hold the bitch down,” Zoë shouted.

The noise coming from the portal was growing so loud that Zoë had to shout to have any chance of being heard over it. The growing sphere had now reached the ceiling. Soon they would all be engulfed in its blackness.

Riley fired his gun once more and a dark red circle appeared on Lilah’s forhead.

“They sure do grow ‘em dumb in Iowa, don’t they,” Lilah laughed still pinned to the floor.

That was the last straw. Riley gave Zoë a knowing glance and they hoisted Lilah off the floor. The four of them carried her over the smoldering robot that looked like Fred and on the count of three they tossed the screaming bitch into the portal. The instant she breached the periphery of the sphere, Lilah was sucked into a tiny point of light and vanished from sight.

The hole kept growing.

“What now?” Gwen asked. “I thought the hole would close.”

“Why would you think that?” Andrew snarked back. “The only way to close The Portal of Rubidius—“

“Is for me to go through it,” Thallia finished Andrew’s sentence.

Selena and Andrew looked longingly at their sister but said nothing. Cordelia nodded, and Thallia walked up to the edge of the portal. She looked around at everyone, smiled at her brother and sister, and then jumped into the sphere. And just like Lilah, she too vanished into a point of light at the center. Without any prompting or any warning, Andrew and Selena joined hands and ran into the sphere. Within moments the sphere retracted. Everything in Lilah’s fortress was as it was before.

“I was going to say that,” Andrew said. “She didn’t let me finish.” Riley tussled Andrew’s hair and smiled.

Cordelia smiled at her assembled team. “I did it,” she said toward the ceiling.

“You mean, ‘we’ did it,” Zoë corrected.

“Yes, Zoë, we did it. We stopped Lilah and stopped the earth from being sucked inside out.”

“Not to bad for a first mission, eh?” Gwen teased.

“What about Fred,” Zoë asked.

“I can fix her,” Andrew said solemnly.

“Good job, Squirt,” Riley said tussling his hair again.

“Guh! Don’t call me Squirt!”

Zoë

“And that’s it?” Wash asked his wife.

“That’s it,” she replied.

The two of them were laying naked in bed together. Wash rolled onto his side and looked longingly at Zoë.

“And this Gwen could shoot electricity out from her hands?”

“No,” she laughed, “it didn’t shoot out. She just conducted it with her touch.”

“And she’s your grandmother?”

“Something like that,” Zoë smiled.

“I don’t believe it,” Wash said rolling onto his back.

They both sighed a deep sigh.

“So, did this Cordelia tell you anything else about the future?” Wash prodded. “Anything about us?”

“Nope,” Zoë replied. She turned to Wash and ran her index finger around his bare chest. “But I’ve got another story for you.”

“You do?” Wash was intrigued.

“Do you remember last night?”