By mid December, Xander Harris had once again settled into something of a pattern of events. Monday's and Tuesdays he patrolled with Buffy, leaving the rest of the school week open for his work on the newly christened 'Initiative' project for Tony.
The work itself was interesting, but Xander had to say that Walsh gave him the creeps.
"And I am telling YOU, *Mister* Harris," Margaret Walsh snapped, "That internal security is none of your concern! This is MY project, not some toy chest for Stark's children to play in!"
Xander kept his cool, refraining from snapping at the client, but his voice was tense when he did speak. "Ms Walsh, I will have you know that I am not related to Tony Stark, and I did NOT get this position through nepotism. In fact, given that I can see only ONE reason for you to build a military base under Sunnydale, I should inform you that I undoubtedly have more field experience then any two of your so called *agents*."
"What would you know about Sunnydale? Or my 'agents' Mr Harris?" Walsh bit back.
"I know that Sunnydale makes New York look like a petting zoo, and furthermore I know WHY." Xander snapped back, his voice still cold as Walsh's eyes widened in shock. "And I also have complete files on all of the Agents currently assigned to your 'facility'."
Walsh paled, "how did you get that information?? I'll have you sued for breach of..."
"General Westphalem authorized my clearance," Xander shut her down, "And I compliment you on selecting some of the very best military *cadets* currently available."
Walsh flushed with anger, while Riley Finn stiffened behind her.
Xander didn't let that stop him, he knew that he had to shut her down now and for good. "Your people are good, but they *just* graduated from West Point and the PMTC. I've been on the front lines in this war for two and a half years now, most of the time working with nothing more then guerrilla tactics and zero resources."
Xander paused to let that sink in, internally shuddering at the hubris of the move, but he steeled himself to follow through as Rhodey had suggested. "I *know* what goes bump in the night, Ms Walsh. I've stared it in the face every night for two and a half years, and that's why I'm telling you that your security measures are NOT sufficient."
Riley was staring at him, wide eyed, from behind Walsh, but Xander ignored the young Marine. It was Walsh who had to understand, and it was her that he had to convince. Outwardly she didn't change much, but after a long moment she let out a long breath and nodded to the security diagrams. "What is it you're suggesting again?"
Xander nodded, accepting that this was the best he would get from her, and turned to the sheafs of flimsy paper with a focused air of professionalism. "First off, I don't know why you need a secondary lab facility here, but if you MUST include it, then we need to isolate it's security system... otherwise if the lab has a breech through the secondary access you could lose control of the entire facility..."
Xander sighed, slumping down into his couch as he looked over the last of his notes for his next talk with Jim. He frowned, trying not to think about Tony's deteriorating condition, and closed the notebook after a moment.
"Xander," The computer spoke, this time using it's Sean Connery impression, "Miss Chase is approaching the building."
Xander glanced at his watch, "Oh Damn. It's after ten."
"Indeed."
Xander quickly hopped up, "Access Armory. Authorize - Xander Harris, Stark Security Chief, West Coast."
The armory swung open and Xander quickly plucked out his Plasma pistol and grabbed a Stark Security issue flak jacket. He tucked the pistol in his belt and threw the jacket over his shoulders as the computer announced Cordy's presence at the window.
"Seal armory." Xander said, not bothering to watch as the wall slid shut, once again hiding the red and gold armor from sight. "Open window."
The huge circular window pivoted open on it's vertical access and a small flitting form flew in. A moment later it was replaced by the rapidly growing form of Cordelia Chase. "Hey Xander."
"Wasp." Xander smiled lightly, leering at the form hugging costume.
"Watch it, nerd boy." Cordy smirked, cocking her hand on her hip to keep his eyes glued to her. "Or you'll get stung."
Xander grinned, "You ready for patrol?"
Cordy grimaced slightly, regretting the shift in topics, but nodded. "Yeah. Suited up and ready to fly. You've got Buffy's patrol schedule?"
Xander nodded, "Yep. She and Angel are taking the east side tonight. We should be good to sweep the docks, no problems."
"Good." Cordelia's eyes danced as she held in a bout of laughter, "Last thing I want is to be seen by someone who's opinion of me matters."
"Ouch." Xander placed a hand over his heart, "That stings."
"Of course." Cordy smirked, "I am the Wasp."
And that, Xander concluded, was what took up his weekends.
From Friday to Sunday he patrolled or went out with Cordelia Chase, AKA the Wasp.
It wasn't a bad life, he supposed, as he walked down the dockside roads and alleys of Sunnydale's decrepit waterfront district. He got to hang out with no less then three knockout girls, partner up with two genuine superheros, eat supper at the Summers' residence with a very gratifying familiarity, and work for a multi-billionaire who didn't look too hard at his expense sheet as long as he wasn't TOO extravagant.
Once in a while he even got to play the superhero himself, though doffing the Iron Man armor was a rarity recently. He simply didn't have time to trot ol' shell head out any more.
And all he had to pay for the honor of all that was occasionally playing the bait in their nightly sojurns, pretending to be helpless to friend and enemy alike.
Like now.
"Hey big boy," A rather sleazily dressed vamp said, approaching him. "You looking for a good time?"
Xander almost groaned at the cliched line. It came from way too many bad movies... or living through a time when that line was actually *fresh*. Still, he shrugged and played his part, leering at the vamp appraisingly. "Maybe. What are you offering?"
"The world, handsome..." She leered back, suddenly vamping out. "The whole wide world."
She lunged for him and Xander forced himself to remain where he was rather then react. He knew that Cordy was nearby and would be prepared to act. And this WAS her show, after all.
Just as the vamp got close and buzzing form came out of nowhere, and the air between Xander and the vampire was suddenly filled with flashes of light.
The Wasp's stingers, even at highest settings, weren't enough to dust a vampire while in their shrunken state, but they were more then enough to cause the creature to recoil in pain. She snarled, warding off the pain with both arms as she peered into the night. "Who did that!?"
"I did." Cordelia said, sneering at the vampire as she appeared from thin air and landed lightly on her toes. "And he's with me."
Now presented with a target, the Vampire snarled and redirected her attentions. "Oh yeah? How about you just TRY to hold on to your man, then?"
"Oh bring it on, you sleazy streetwalker." Cordy smirked, fluttering her fingers in a 'come on' gesture.
"Ladies, ladies..." Xander spoke up, grinning as they both looked at him. He shrugged, grinned wider, and motioned invitingly with his hands. "Please... do go on fighting over me."
Cordelia favored him with a shocked, wide eyed, look that tickled Xander just right. The Vampire on the other hand shrugged and leered, "With pleasure."
Then she charged Cordelia, game face in full evidence, snarling with her clawed hands outstretched.
Xander folded his arms on his chest and leaned back against the building he had been walking by, eyeing the fight with a critical eye. One of the things that he and Cordelia had been working on over the past few weeks was her hand to hand capability. Both he and Janet had repeatedly warned her against developing a reliance on her weapons.
He was gratified, then, to see her pivot with a graceful sidestep and elbow the vamp as she passed. The move added just enough energy to the creature's lunge to send her crashing into the wall with a bone jarring impact, actually stunning the undead monster.
Cordy was already on the move, not letting the vampire recover as she unleashed a devastating spin kick to the vamp's head that crushed her face back into the wall. Then she finished off by spinning in and whipping a fast elbow into the creature's neck.
There was a sickening crack, and the vamp fell to the ground in a boneless heap.
Cordy turned slightly to the sound of a slow echoing clap and smirked as she saw Xander approach. "Fight over you, huh?"
Xander shrugged, nodding to the vamp. "Finish her off. No reason to be cruel."
Cordelia's lip curled, but she nodded and fired a single full power bio-blast into the vampire's back. As it vanished into dust, she turned back to Xander. "Don't *you* think that I'm going to let you off as easily."
Xander grinned, "Hey, Let a guy have his fantasies... every man wants to see a couple hotties fighting over him."
Cordy sniffed, looking down her nose at him. "Oh please. She was a total skank."
Xander shrugged, "I'll take what I can get."
Cordy was about to retort when she stiffened, "Someone's coming..."
Xander nodded and Cordelia vanished from sight. A moment later he saw a couple walking down the street, staggering slightly, but very humanly, and he eyed them casually from the shadows as they stumbled by.
"You want to follow them?" He heard a voice whisper in his ear a second later. "Make sure they get home?"
Xander shrugged, then nodded, and walked off. He couldn't feel much more then the lightest itch, but he knew that Cordy was sitting lightly on his shoulder as they walked. "Good moves, by the way."
There was a short silence.
"Thanks." She replied after a moment, "I'm glad you guys insisted on teaching me to fight by the way... it's different with using the blasters... but..."
"But it makes you feel less dependant." Xander finished.
"Yeah." She admitted into his ear from her perch.
Xander nodded, "That's the point, Cor."
"Computer," Xander said as he tossed himself into his couch, "Call up the Walsh project data again... and put some music on will ya?"
A low beat started in the background as Xander flipped through a few 'pages' of proposals and security procedures for the government project. His recent breakthrough with the good Professor allowed him a bit of leeway within his area of influence, for which Xander was profoundly grateful.
Still, that was only part of his current problems. But it was a start.
The music beat hit a little harder and Xander got up, half dancing in his normally horrible style, as he went over the information on the screen.
For the next few minutes he made minor changes here and there, then finally decided that as enough for night. "Shut it down... I'm done for the night."
The screen obediently went black and Xander walked away, heading for the bathroom. "Louder."
The music rose in volume and Xander kept bobbing to it as he washed up. Things were looking up, he decided. School was looking good, he wasn't a A student, but he was doing better then his customary D's and C's. Mostly B's across the board now, except in Math, English, Computer Science, and Gym. In those he was pulling down two C's and two honest to goodness A's respectively.
Not bad for the guy voted most likely to run away and join the circus.
He had an almost sort of relationship with Cordy, neither of them seemed able to quite get past the friends hump though, probably because of the Summer past he decided. Still, it was fun as hell to hang with her, despite the dirty looks he still got from Harmony and the rest of the sheep. Well, them and Willow he conceded. Though Will had largely accepted his new split in time, especially when he had finally revealed the apartment's AI system to her.
Xander still winced at that thought, but there really hadn't been any point in hiding it anymore. Everyone except Will and Giles seemed to have already found out, so Xander had given up all hope of a private life.
So now he found himself hosting most of the research parties, despite the efforts of Giles and himself to keep them confined to the library. The AI was simply too good at ferreting out information from various legal and non-legal sources to be given up, and much the Giles ire his precious books had been relegated to a secondary source.
On the plus side Angel had moved out. That was worth a grin.
The brooding vampire had moved back to the Mansion after he and Buffy had spent three nights cleaning it out. Not that Xander really found him a bad roommate, the guy had saved the wold after all, but Xander had never been able to 'dance' while working with the vamp around. Besides, Angel kept winning at Chess. Unless he was playing the computer.
Xander smirked, a rather impressive feat when you're brushing your teeth. Angelus the chess club geek. Man was that a riot and a half.
Finishing up, Xander headed back into the huge central room of his apartment and glanced around to make sure everything was in place. When he was assured that it was he called for the lights and headed for his room.
Friday the thirteenth was officially over now, for a total of eighteen minutes, and no big bad crap happened. Xander grinned, on the Hellmouth that was a record.
He laid himself down, and called again for the lights, closing his eyes as the darkness descended.
Then jumped right through his own skin, figuratively of course, when the phone rang.
"SHIT!" He cursed out, grabbing at the phone. "Hello!?"
"Gee who got up on the wrong side of the bed?"
Xander frowned, the voice was familiar but he couldn't quite place it. "Who the hell is this? And do you know what fucking time it is??"
The voice chuckled. "Forgot me so soon? I guess I understand that, I try to forget people I owe favors too also. And it's Eleven twenty here... we're landing in L.A. in a couple hours and we need some help."
Xander frowned, his eyes narrowing. "Whistler?" He ventured.
"Bingo." The coarse voice chuckled, "Got to cash in that favor."
"What's the sitch?"
"Big time trouble makers heading for the Hellmouth. We're about an hour behind him and he's got an artifact that's supposed to be able to open the hellmouth."
Xander groaned, "Can't these guys find something useful to do with their time??? Jeeez... Why does every yahoo want to open the Hellmouth anyway? I mean, sure, if Disney world was on the other side then I could get it... but come on! It's HELL!"
"Look kid, don't ask me. Blade and I are hitting Sunnydale in three hours. On the dot. You gonna be there?"
Xander groaned. "I'll be here. Meat me outside the highschool."
"Highschool? Why the hell would we meet there?"
"Where else do you think the hellmouth is?"
Xander leaned against his company sedan, waiting, exactly three hours later.
Ten minutes after that a familiar roar of an engine sounded in the distance and Xander watched a pair of headlights rush in his direction. The Classic Cuda skidded to a stop just a few feet away and Xander watched passively as Blade, the Daywalker, climbed out.
"Hey." He said noncommitally, matching the black man's facial expression.
"Hey." Blade rumbled back, adjusting the hang of his customized Ingram machine pistols. "Where's the portal?"
"Where's the bad guy?" Xander returned.
"He's here." Blade said certainly. "I can feel him."
Xander nodded slowly, the jerked his head back. "Then he's underground. We'll have to go in through the sewers."
Blade nodded once, slamming the car door shut, "Let's move."
"So..." Xander said as they climbed through the Sunnydale sewers. "How bad is this anyway?"
"Bad."
Xander rolled his eyes. "No shit. What I mean is, should I be calling in an all points?"
"I work alone." Blade returned. "I can handle it."
Xander sighed, "Great. You sure you've never met a Slayer? You've got the attitude down perfectly."
Blade scowled at him until Xander shrugged and shook his head, "Fine. Whatever."
"What way now?"
Xander glanced around, running back in his mind to the night he had forced Angel to show him the way to the Master's Lair. "That way. Probably."
"Probably?" Blade looked at him, one eyebrow raised.
Xander shrugged, "It's a Hellmouth, not a bus stop. You want accurate directions next time, then ask for something simple... like how to get into the President's bedroom without the Secret Service finding out."
Blade shook his head, then turned and followed Xander directions.
As the two of them continued through the sewers, it was soon Xander's turn to frown. "Hey..."
"What is it?" Blade looked back.
"It's too quiet." Xander said after a while. "I've been down here lots of times... but the last time I didn't run into at least one vamp or demon was..."
"Was when?"
"Was when the Master broke free and opened the Hellmouth." Xander said as a feeling of dread washed over him.
Blade just nodded, "Come on. Let's move."
Above ground, a mile away, Buffy Summers awoke with a start and a cry of pain. She sat up in bed, panting loudly as her pale face stared blankly at the far wall with an expression of horror on her face.
"It's Here." She said, not even hearing her own voice. "It's Here!"
"It's HERE! IT'S HERE!"
"Buffy! Darling! What's here, baby? Come on, please wake up?" Joyce was instantly at her side.
Buffy slowly came too, looking at her mother in confusion. "Mom? What are you doing here?"
"Buffy... baby... you were having a nightmare." Joyce said, a little confused. "You kept saying..."
"What?" Buffy asked, perplexed. "What did I say?"
"You don't remember, honey?"
Buffy shook her head.
"You said... It's here."
Rupert Giles opened his eyes, somewhat irritated by the phone that was ringing nonstop. "Oh bloody hell."
He reached out, his fingers tantalizingly close but not quite reaching it. He leaned, and leaned, and leaned, and then fell out of bed, his fingers hooking the phone and bringing it crashing down on his head.
"Bugger ALL!" He cursed, grabbing at the phone and putting it to his ear. "Yes!?"
"Mr Giles?"
Giles instantly became calmer. "Joyce? Is Buffy...?"
"She's fine. She... She had another nightmare."
Giles swallowed, "What was it about?"
"She can't remember..." Joyce said, "But she won't go back to sleep... she's shivering uncontrollably and she spoke..."
"During the nightmare?"
"Yes..."
"What did she say?"
Joyce hesitated, then answered. "She said... It's Here. Over and over again."
Giles paled, feeling a chill run through him.
"Giles? Mr Giles?"
"I'm here, Joyce." He assured her. "I... I'll be right over. All right?"
"Thank you."
Xander and Blade trudged through the dank sewers for a few more minutes before the cement walls began to make way to a rocky tunnel.
"We're going the right way." Xander said after a moment.
"I know." Blade replied in his gravely voice, but didn't say anything further.
Xander shook his head, rolling his eyes in the dark, but continued to show Blade the way through the craggy tunnels.
A short while later it was Blade who spoke first. "Hey..."
"What?"
"What's with the briefcase?"
Xander shrugged, "Just some stuff."
Blade shrugged and didn't ask further so Xander and he kept walking through the tunnels.
"Buffy..." Giles spoke softly, noting the shivering form that was curled up in the bed. "Can you tell me about it?"
Buffy shook her head, her eyes wide. "I can't remember."
Giles nodded, but inwardly was disturbed by that more then anything. Slayer's always remembered their nightmares. It was part of their curse, their gift. He hesitantly spoke up, "Buffy... do you remember what you said?"
"It's here." She said dully.
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know. I', just repeating what mom said."
Giles swallowed, trying to hide his concern. The only precedent that came to mind for this was a powerful masking spell. One that hadn't been used in over twenty years, because all the creatures capable of it had been banished by forces unknown to the council. If they had regained access to the Earth...
Giles shuddered.
"Where is it?" Blade demanded.
"Right through here." Xander answered, ignoring the impatience in his ally's voice.
The two of them walked around a dark corner and true to his word they found themselves entering an impressive cavern. Xander swallowed as he noted the pool of water that Buffy had drown in, and the few remnants of the Master's presence that still endured despite nearly two years of vampire and demonic throughfare.
He grimaced, looking around the place of nightmares, then turned back to Blade. "We're here. I don't see anybody..."
"He's here." The big black man reassured him. "I can..."
"Feel him. Yeah, got ya." Xander muttered.
Blade shot him a dirty look, but the two of them continued to move quietly through the cavern in search of their foe.
Xander pulled his plasma pistol from under his jacket, his grip tightening on his briefcase even as he moved. After a moment of the eerie silence of the cavern he had to speak again, "So... what's this bozo want with the Hellmouth anyway?"
Blade didn't answer right away, but after a moment he finally spoke. "She plans to use the energy to kill her enemies."
Xander frowned, glancing back. "She? I thought you said it was a He?"
Blade shrugged, "Demon. Same thing."
Xander shrugged himself, "Ok. So what enemies? Humans?"
"No." Blade said, moving through the cavern as if guided by some inner instinct. "No. Human's are beneath her. Her enemies are far from here."
Xander frowned, "So... what? She's gonna use the Hellmouth to power up or something?"
"Or something." The big man shrugged.
"What happens to Sunnydale?"
"It will probably be swallowed up by the portal." Blade replied, "Along with the rest of the planet."
Xander grimaced, "Ok. What's the plan? We kick this demon's ass and toss back some beers?"
"No." Blade said quietly, as if he were suddenly distracted.
A shiver ran up Xander's spine. Something was wrong in the cavern, something beyond the proximity to the Hellmouth. He spun around.
The computer AI at Xander's apartment was idly calculating the precise value of Pi when the call came in. It shifted part of the process to secondary circuits and answered the phone. "Hello?"
"I'd like to speak with Xander please."
"I'm sorry Mr Giles. He's not in right now, may I give him a message?"
"... Yes... Tell him that something is happening with Buffy. It may have to do with the Hellmouth."
"I see Mr Giles... I'll be certain to inform him as soon as is possible. May I enquire as to the situation?"
The computer counted off the milliseconds of hesitation in the man's voice, stopping at eight thousand four hundred and eighty four.
"Buffy has had a nightmare... She doesn't remember it."
The computer managed the mental equivalent of a frown. Then it spent thirteen nanoseconds examining it's files, especially the new ones on Slayers provided by the young red headed girl.
"That is unusual." It finally said, "I find no precedent for this in Slayers... but many for humans. Is it possible that it was a normal nightmare?"
"In sunnydale?" Giles asked, almost facetiously. "I doubt it."
The computer paused for a nanosecond, then admitted that the man had a point. It reached out over it's dedicated satellite links and began swallowing in all data it could that referred to Slayers. There was depressingly little.
Then it got a hit.
The AI paused for another nano, then read the information carefuly. Then again. And again. Finally, almost an entire millisecond later, it spoke. "Is it possible this has to do with the Wraiths?"
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Thrirteen.
Thirteen and a half seconds, minus thirty milliseconds, and then the man responded. "What do you know about them?"
"Enough to make me very concerned Mr Giles."
"Come on..." The gravely voice old man grunted as he staggered along with his burden.
He forced himself along the street in the dead of night, knowing how dangerous a place he was really in, but without wavering. He stopped after a while, looking up at an old Gothic place, and then checking a card in his free hand.
"This is the place, kid... you'll be ok... you'll be ok."
He pushed himself in through the security doors, but found himself stuck between the first and second set. An intercom buzzed a moment later.
"Can I help you?"
"I'm lookin for Xander Harris."
"He's not available at the moment. Please return after sunrise."
"I called him earlier!" The man said, his voice a little desperate. "I need help here!"
There was the briefest of pauses, so quick that he almost missed it.
"Mr Whistler. Xander has already left to meet your friend Blade at the school."
"Well then we have a pretty damned big problem here." Whistler muttered, pointing down to the unmoving form that he was dragging. "Cause this is Blade right here."
Another pause that almost wasn't, then the security door buzzed open.
"Proceed directly to the elevator, Mr Whistler. Do not deviate." The voice said sternly. "I believe that we have a very serious crisis forming."
"No shit."
Xander stood, frozen as he stared at the big black man, his plasma pistol aimed at Blade's head. "Who are you?"
The big man stared back impassively, no emotion in his face.
"You're not Blade are you?"
Slowly the black man began to grin, and then he started to laugh.
Xander shivered slightly, watching as the normally stoic vampire hunter began to laugh almost hysterically. He swallowed, forcing his muscles to remain still as he kept the pistol aimed at the man. "Who are you?"
The figure slowly began to change and shift, actually growing taller and much much larger. It's skin changed from the deep ebon of Blade's to something that turned Xander's stomach as he watched. It reminded him of nothing less then some great beast that had been turned inside out, and he was looking at the bloody underside of it's epidermis.
It had no neck that he could see, it's head was an evil protrusion from it's body. It had two glowing yellow eyes, no iris and no white, just solid yellow like the headlights of an oncoming car. It's nose was more like a beak in shape, and it's mouth and jaws were much the same, but worst of all was it's tongue.
Xander shivered and took a step back. That tongue was whipping around, several feet long at least, and barbed like some poisoned arrow. He didn't need to be told to stay clear of that.
"What the fuck are you??" He managed to get out, again holding his ground as the creature's form solidified into the horrible visage he now looked on.
The creatures voice was unreal, like some echo of evil, "I am the last of my kind here, and I will avenge the loss of my sisters. You can not stop me human, I know all about that weapon you carry."
Xander swallowed, as much in fear of the creatures voice as from it's words. Then the thing moved toward him and he started firing.
"Yes?" Giles snapped, grabbing the phone.
"Mr Giles... A friend of Xander's just arrived at the apartment."
Giles shook his head, it took a lot of getting used to dealing with a computer. "So?"
"Two of them, actually." The computer corrected. "One of them is the person that Xander supposedly met almost an hour ago. He's not in good shape."
"Oh dear lord." Giles mumbled.
"Giles? What is it?" Buffy asked, walking into the room.
Giles put up a hand, speaking into the phone again. "I'm on my way."
Then he hung it up.
"Giles... what's going on?"
Giles hesitated, "I'm not sure yet."
"Giles..." Buffy said warningly.
Giles rubbed his eyes, "Buffy..."
"Tell me!"
"Xander was supposed to meet a friend tonight..."
"So?"
"His friend just showed up at his apartment... badly injured." Giles said softly, "No sign of Xander."
"Oh my god." Buffy's hand came up to her mouth in shock. A moment later she resolved herself, "I'm coming with you."
The phone rang and rang, until finally a tired voice answered. "This better be good, I may not need it, but beauty sleep IS a constitutionally guaranteed right."
"Ahem." Cordy's eyes opened at the oddly inflected sound. "Miss Chase, I believe that Xander may require some help."
"What's going on??"
"Xander left earlier and hasn't returned... the friend he was going to meet has arrived... badly hurt."
"What!?" Cordy sat bolt upright, her blankets falling off her as she grabbed at the strap of her nighty and pushed it up over her shoulder. "Where was he going?"
"He was going to the school. He heard that there was trouble at the..."
"Hellmouth!" Cordy uttered, "Damn it! I'm going to kill him! I'm on the move."
She hung up the phone and through off the blanket as she hopped off the bed. Her nightgown flew in one direction, she in the other as she dove for her closet. In the dark of the shadowy room Cordelia Chase ceased to exist with each passing moment, and the Wasp was again born.
Xander kept backing up, pausing in his firing only to flip the selector switch to full automatic. The little weapon hummed away in his hand as he opened up again, blowing out the clip in a long burst that didn't even faze the ugly monstrosity that was stalking toward him. He stopped when his back hit the wall, the whine of the low power signal telling him that the pistol was discharged.
"I uh... don't suppose we can talk about this huh?" He tried, his eyes widening suddenly as the creature made it's move.
Xander threw himself to one side, just escaping the stabbing of it's great tongue. The rather disgusting attack blew out chunks of the wall as the tongue drilled into the rock where his head had been as Xander rolled clear, banging his arm on the briefcase he carried.
"Ow! Damn it!" He muttered, coming up into a crouch and instantly sprinting for a nearby tunnel.
The creature spun inhumanly fast and lashed out again, only luck saving Xander this time as he stumbled over a chunk of rock in his haste and skidded along the ground.
"Hold still..." The thing rasped. "You can't win, human."
"Pardon me..." Xander gasped, diving under another attack as he was forced away from the tunnel, "If I keep trying anyway."
"Fool." It rasped again, turning as it tracked him on his fleeing path through the cavern.
"Computer?"
"I'm here, Wasp." The computer responded over the two way link.
Cordelia nodded, "I'm leaving my place... now."
She took a running start at her open window and flung herself bodily from the third story window, hurtling over the roof and beyond it to the pool. As she began to drop, she abruptly vanished from sight, and all that was left was a tiny figure, two inches in height that was buzzing straight across the town toward the school.
"Where is he?" She asked, her voice tense.
"I can't track him." The computer responded, "There is heavy interference in the area... It's remarkably localized and doesn't show up on any of my satellite scans."
"The Hellmouth." Cordelia guessed.
"That would seem likely." The computer responded, "I lost track some time after he went underground."
"Not good." Cordy muttered. "Not of the good at all. I'm five minutes out."
"Confirmed." The computer replied. "Mr Giles and Miss Summers are on their way top the apartment. We'll be attempting to formulate a plan..."
"You do that. I'm going in." Cordy said, then cut off the signal.
Xander dove and rolled again, staying just one step ahead of his attacker, wincing from the hard rocks and pebbles that dug into his back. He tossed the briefcase from one hand to the other and hefted a heavy rock a moment later.
When his roll brought him back to his feet he whipped around and laced the rock at the beast with all his strength.
It struck the thing between the eyes and bounced off with what would have been depressingly little effect if Xander hadn't gotten precisely the reaction he wanted.
The thing blinked.
Not much, but enough, and when it did Xander through himself through a tunnel entrance and rolled down the length of the small corridor, bouncing off the walls as he did.
Behind him he could hear the thing roar and scream, but there was simply no way it was coming in after him.
<Not unless it can pull that shifting trick again.> Xander swallowed, glancing back as he came to his feet and *ran*.
He didn't stop until he reached a smaller cave, and then he paused to listen.
Hearing nothing he got his breath and hefted the briefcase to shoulder height. "You want to play? Let's play."
He clicked the button and waited while the onboard computer system scanned his DNA and fingerprint. Then the case began to unfold.
"I can feel it..." The creature rasped to itself as it wandered the cavern, "But where? Where!?"
It searched the ample cave, feeling out the power of the hidden dimensional portal, searching for the source with a quiet desperation.
"Close... so close..." She murmured, "Oh you'll do... yes, you'll do. And when you're mine then I shall make Galador pay for the indignities it has heaped on my sisters."
The beast came to a shambling stop as it stared down into the pool of water that once claimed the life of a Slayer, if only for a moment. It smiled, a horrid hideous leer made all the worse by it's inhuman visage.
It stretched it's arms apart, crackling tendrils of an eerie black energy snapping between them. "Open.... OPEN... OPEN!!"
The pool of water shimmered, then turned to black, and finally to a murky ochre red. Then the water parted and something *moved* in it's depths.
The creature's focus grew greater, more powerful, as it stared and it's eyes gleamed against the odd black light that it was generating. And then, it was all destroyed.
A blast of energy struck it bacdk on, boweling it over and throwing it face down into the water. As it's focus was lost the fragile portal wavered and collapsed, leaving nothing but water. The creature sunk into the pool but was turned around and back up in seconds.
There, standing about ten meteres away with armored arms crossed over armored chest, was a hated memory.
"Ah ah ah," The hated one said in a cheerful tone, "No destroying the world without a permit. You wouldn't want a ticket would you?"
"Space Knight!" The Wraith spat out.
The figure seemed a little put off by the title, "Excuse me? Is that some kind of crack about my IQ?"
"DIE!" She screamed, black arcane power suddenly surging across the cavern toward the hated foe.
The power surge took the computer system by surprise. It paused for three nano seconds to confirm the readings, then sent a signal to an NRO satellite that it calculated to be in position. It hacked the bird's systems for twenty nanoseconds, just long enough to grab an electromagnetic reading of Sunnydale to compare to a baseline it had taken months earlier.
The two were WAY off.
Another two nano seconds passed as it wrote an algorithm to search and compare the readings to it's database, and then another eight nanoseconds to complete the running of the program.
Only then, well over thirty nanoseconds later, did it report the information.
"Miss Chase?"
"What is it?"
"There is a heavy energy surge from approximately under the high school."
"How heavy?" Cordy asked, fear coloring her voice as the wind rushed past her.
"Well beyond normal readings for this area. Over three thousand times normal."
Cordelia paled slightly, but didn't waver in her flight. "I'm over the school. Can you talk me down to where it's coming from?"
"Perhaps."
"Try."
Iron Man's boot jets flared as he dodged the energy blast. Inside the armor, Xander decided that a good offense was less likely to wind up with him being melted into his armor so he charged forward under the blast rather then dodging to one side.
The Dire Wraith screamed her fury as the black energy crackled and ripped into the cave wall, initiating a minor tremor that rocked the cave system around them.
Xander led with his fist, connecting with the Wraith's 'jaw' at the full power of the armor, and drove the monster back into the cave wall behind it.
"Sorry pal," He grated out as his boots touched down on solid rock again, "I'm afraid we have a bylaw in this town about ending the world... You need a permit, and it's only valid on Tuesdays."
The Wraith shrieked, her magical power charging again as she sent out another blast at the armored form, this time a shotgun like spread that practically saturated the cave.
Xander threw himself to one side this time, successfully evading the majority of the blast but catching the fringe as he struck the cave wall. Magical fire roared through the armor, sending pure pain up his left arm and tore a scream from his throat.
"Ah... So the Space Knight can feel pain, can he?" The Wraith gloated, regaining her poise as she stepped forward. "How nice... That will make this all the more... delicious."
"Now go north fifty meters and you should..." The computer's voice suddenly blitzed out, leaving Cordy flying in the dark. Literally.
"Computer? Computer!" Cordy called out as she buzzed through cracks and crevices at her best speed. "Oh great... Picked a fine time to freeze up on me!"
She continued to flutter through the tiny passageway the computer had mapped out for her. "You'd think that Stark Enterprises could manage to build a computer better then the one my dad got from radio shack."
The computer sighed as it's communications with The Wasp was washed out by another energy surge. It spent several nanoseconds trying to break through it, then admitted defeat.
The Wasp and Iron Man were on their own.
After a moment it returned it's attention to the 'guests' currently occupying it's home.
Xander threw himself to the side again, this time hitting the floor in a rough roll as he barely evaded the next blast from the monster. His left arm was useless, completely limp at his side, and what scared the hell out of Xander was the fact that his armor circuits read out as completely fine.
That meant that it was his arm at fault.
And *that* meant trouble.
He grunted softly as he rolled to his feet, lifting his good arm and responding in kind to the energy attack. His repulsor blast ripped across the cavern, staggering the Wraith, but doing little more.
The Wraith recovered quickly and continued to stalk towards him. "Not up to your usual firepower, Space Knight."
Xander growled, sweeping up a fair size chunk of rock and whipped it at the Wraith. "Stop calling me that!"
The rock crossed the short distance of the cavern at nearly the speed of sound, making dodging an impossibility. It struck the Wraith between her glowing eyes, and the impact blew her back ten feet and into the far wall of the cave with a loud crack.
Xander used the time to regain his poise, his left arm flopping uselessly at his side, but he still stood to his full height, his right arm tensed as he prepared his next salvo.
As soon as the Wraith regained her footing, Xander triggered his Chest Repulsor at full power. The blinding beam crossed the cavern at the speed of light, ripping into the Wraith with five times the firepower of one of his palm repulsors, and again slammed her into the wall of the cave with rock shattering power.
When the beam died down, the Wraith was on the ground and seemed to be panting hard. Xander was sweating inside his armor, feelings of pain starting to return to his dead arm and he hoped that was a good thing.
"Well well, Space Knight..." The Wraith panted to herself as she regained her feet. "That was closer to what I expected. Too bad it wasn't enough."
Xander swallowed, sweating harder as he prepared to respond to whatever she was going to dish out.
The black energy crackled and grew again as the Wraith summoned her arcane power for one final strike against her enemy.
Xander tensed, his eyes and scanners reading the room almost desperately for a way out, a way to win. His eyes widened in shock a moment later, his scanners just continued to record the events that followed with mechanical equanimity.
"Oh no you don't you demon bitch!" A shrill voice called from the air as a sudden flurry of blasts ripped through the cave and into the Wraith. "I didn't save the tin man's butt just so you could roast it!"
<That's my Cor.> Xander smirked under his mask. <So humble.>
The Dire Wraith flinched away from the flurry of blasts, looking around in shock and pain. "Who dares!?"
She was answered a moment later when a woman's form appeared from thin air, and leveled her arms at her. The woman smiled slightly, "Let's try this at full power."
The following barrage of blasts smashed the Wraith back into the cave again, stinging pain roaring through her. The Wraith looked around, flinching under the wasps sting, and made a decision.
<The Space Knight has allies. We'll finish this another time.> Then she marshaled her power once again, and the cavern was filled with a sudden inky blackness.
"Hey!" Cordy complained, "who turned out the lights!?"
When the inky blackness faded out a moment later, only she and Iron Man were standing in the cavern.
"Well..." Cordy cocked her hip, laying a hand on it. "Don't you attract the most interesting people?"
Iron Man walked calmly toward her, "I know. Weird as it seems I just can't seem to ditch you."
"Oh very funny." Cordelia Chase scowled at him, "See? I'm laughing inside."
Iron Man half shrugged, his left arm still not moving. "If you laughed on the outside maybe your face wouldn't have that permanently etched 'pissed off' look."
Her hands flashed to her face, "Are you saying I have wrinkles!?"
Iron Man shook his head as he walked, carefully examining the debris and marks left by the battle for any sign of their enemy's departure.
Cordelia glared at his back for a moment, then remember what had brought her here in the first place. "Hey! Have you seen Xander down here? I was looking for..."
"I had him medivacced to a Stark Security Hospital in L.A." Xander answered after a moment, "Kid held beasty girl off long enough for me to get here, but he was hurt."
"Hurt!? How bad? I mean... is he going..."
"He'll be fine." Xander answered, "Better then us, probably. Come on, we have to get topside and see if m... Xander's computer can track the she-beast."
Cordelia shrugged, "Alright... but you're sure that he'll be..."
"He'll be fine." Xander said, devoutly hoping that it was the truth.
"Who the hell are you?"
Giles blinked, looking at the wiry looking man with the greasy white hair and beard who was challenging him. "I'm Rupert Giles, a friend of the owner of this apartment... and just who are you?"
"Oh. The Watcher." The man looked disgusted as he shrugged and turned away.
"Pardon me!?"
"The blond your Slayer?" Whistler asked over his shoulder as he looked after Blade's motionless form. "What's her name? Betsy? Boopsy?"
"Buffy!" The Blond slayer snarled.
"Oh right." Whistler shrugged, "I like Boopsy better."
Buffy snarled, taking a half step forward. "You want to tell me why I shouldn't kick your ass across this room?"
Whistler pulled a modified Ingram submachine gun from his belt. "Because I'm packing weapons that weren't invented in the stone age."
"Buffy..." Giles laid a restraining hand on her, "Calm down. Just who are you?"
"Name's Whistler." He replied, sliding the gun back into his belt but keeping it above his shirt this time. "I came looking for the Kid... Harris... but it looks like our bad guy got her first."
Giles nodded, "So I heard."
He walked across to the couch, looking at the powerfully built black man laying motionless on it. "What happened to him?"
"Our bad ass." Whistler said softly, running a damn cloth over Blade's forehead. "It's some kind of shapechanger. It... it..."
"It bored a hole into his skull with it's tongue." Giles finished.
Whistler looked up sharply, "How did you know that!?"
"Because you faced a Dire Wraith, Mr Whistler." Giles said, sighing. "I had thought them all dead or banished from this plane. Supposedly they were eliminated by a hunter named Rom over twenty years ago... with the help of a young boy by the name of Forge. This is the first contact recorded with them since."
Giles frowned, looking down at Blade. "He should be dead. No one survives being 'read' by a Dire Wraith."
"Yeah well... Blade's tough." Whistler shrugged. "He'll make it."
Giles heard a note of sincere concern and near desperation in the man's voice, but didn't think it wise to say anything about it. "Death should have been instantaneous... so perhaps you are right."
Whistler shook his head, looking down at Blade in worry.
Buffy walked up to them, frowning. "What's with the tongue thing? I mean... sickening much?"
Giles sighed, "Dire Wraiths and shape shifters that can read a persons memory by... devouring their minds. Literally and spiritually. Once that's done, they can imitate a person to perfection... it's almost impossible to tell them apart from the real thing."
"And this Wraith thingy gobbled on this guy to do what?" Buffy asked.
"To get close to Harris." Whistler sighed, "He needed to know what Harris knew."
Buffy paled, "You mean... Xander could be...?"
Whistler nodded.
"No... No." Buffy said, "I won't believe it."
"Buffy... it's very possible that the next time we see Xander he won't... BE Xander." Giles cautioned.
"No. No." Buffy shook her head, "Xander's gotten through worse. He'll be ok."
Giles nodded tiredly, "Yes yes... For now we must see to the injured here..."
"Blade. His name is Blade." Whistler sighed, "And I don't know what to do..."
"If we perhaps knew how he survived," Giles surmised, "then maybe we could discover how to restore him."
There was a sudden scraping noise above their heads and the three of them reacted instantly. Buffy drew her stake, Giles grabbed for a stool that was nearby, and Whistler pulled his Ingram as a armored figure in Red and Gold descended into the room on flaring jets. "Blade's part Vampire, Mr Giles. Whistler is understandably reluctant to share this information, but I'm afraid we don't have time to play getting to know you right now."
The armored figure touched down lightly, then looked at Buffy. "Miss Summers, if you'd be so good as to retrieve some of the blood that your Beau left behind I think that may help Blade to recover."
"Who the hell are you!?" Whistler demanded.
The figure turned to him, "my name, Whistler, is Iron Man. And this..."
He crooked his arm slightly and a figure suddenly burst into vision, lounging in the crook of his right arm and smiling at them. She was obviously a woman, but her face was hidden by a slim mask that covered her eyes without doing anything to hide the fine bone structure of her face.
"Is The Wasp."
"They're going to recognize me." Cordelia hissed through her smile.
"Relax. Just don't talk too much." Xander responded, smirking under his helm. "I know that'll be a challenge... but it'll be good for your character."
"Hey!" Cordy snapped around to look at him, but the impassive metal of Iron Man's helm just looked back with equanimity.
"You!" Buffy stared straight at Iron Man, ignoring Cordy completely.
"Me." Xander agreed, smiling freely under his Mask. "Computer?"
"Yes, Iron Man?"
"Access my armor diagnostics and do a neural scan of my left arm." Xander said, "That Wraith thing packs a nasty punch."
"Confirmed, Sir." The computer said respectfully.
"Who are you!?" Buffy demanded, "And why does the computer know you!?"
"I'm Xander's boss." Xander grinned, "The Computer is a Stark Issue AI."
"All Stark AI's know Iron Man." The computer said somewhat smugly. "He's in charge of all security for Stark."
Buffy blinked in shock, "Oh... But... Why are you here?"
Iron Man half shrugged while the computer scanned his immobile arm. "Xander put out an emergency call for backup when things with the Wraith went South. He held her off until I got there."
"Is he ok!?"
"He's fine. Being treated for minor injuries in a Stark Facility in LA." Xander replied.
"Thank God." Giles sighed.
"Yes." Xander said, holding back a chuckle. "But for now we have a pretty serious problem. Miss Summers? The Blood?"
"Oh. Right." Buffy shook her head, pushing the relief away and rushing for the kitchen.
"Why does the kid keep blood in his kitchen??" Whistler snapped suspiciously.
"Long story. Good guy vamps saved the world... Xander feels he owes him." Iron Man replied. "We'll cover that later."
"Damned right we will." Whistler muttered.
"Iron Man, Sir?"
"Yes Computer?"
"The suit diagnostic checks out, and your arm doesn't read as having any malfunctions." The Computer stated evenly, "However your neural readings are slightly off from earlier records."
"Damn." Xander muttered, "The arm is hurting like hell now... but it was numb earlier."
"That could be a good sign." Giles said hesitantly.
"I'd hoped as much." Xander muttered, "You know anything about it?"
"Perhaps..." Giles wrung his hands, "I need my books."
"Go." Xander ordered. "And grab anything you have on the Wraiths too. Computer, give Mr Giles a visual from my visual feed."
The big screen flickered and a moment later it was filled with an image of the Dire Wraith.
"Good lord."
"One ugly son of a bitch."
"Eh. I've seen worse."
Everyone turned and looked at Buffy, who had just walked back into the room. She shrugged, "What? Slayer, remember?"
The Dire Wraith smashed the steel grate that blocked it's path, cursing in her own language as she shambled through the sewers under the town.
Decades planning her revenge, the revenge of all her kind, and the moment it comes... The very instant of victory, snatched from her by that thrice damned *Space Knight*.
Her muttered curses drew the attention of other dwellers in the dark, and soon she was no longer alone.
"Hey... whoa there," A figure motioned, seemingly unperturbed by her natural appearance. "Watch where you're going..."
She snarled at it. "Be gone from my sight, human. Lest I taste of your life."
"Hey, who you calling human!?" The figure asked in mild irritation. "Besides, who do you think you're talking too? I'm the right hand of the guy who runs this place. Say... what kind of demon are you anyway? You seem... familiar."
"I am a Dire Wraith." She said, stepping closer to the figure, a thought forming in her mind.
"A Dire...?" The figure said, confused. "Hey weren't all of your kind wiped out by... URK!"
His question was cut off as her tongue lashed out and bored through his skull. She fed off his memories and thoughts, bringing them into herself. As his limp for slumped to the ground, her bulky one shifted and compacted until the Dire Wraith was no longer present.
In her place stood a tall, immaculately dressed figure who glanced down at the body floating in the still sewage and smiled. He adjusted his suit, and walked along the sewers at a steady gate and with purpose.
"Ah... The life of a vampire. That's the life for me." He said, smiling. "Now to see Mr Mayor and... discuss the future."
"What do I do?"
"Just cut the corner and pour it in his mouth." Buffy said, shrugging.
"And you know this how?" Whistler stared at her.
"What? It's not that... well... I mean..." Buffy stammered defensively.
Whistler rolled his eyes, "I don't like this. We've spent years keeping Blade off blood. It's addictive and makes a vampire aggressive."
Xander shrugged, "No choice. He's dead without it."
Whistler sighed, nodding. "Ok... fine. I'll do it."
He growled to himself, but cut open the bag of blood and started to pour it into Blade's mouth.
The black vampire didn't respond at first, but slowly began to swallow the thick liquid, then reached up for the bag and ripped it from Whistler's hand. He drained it quickly and sat up, his eyes wild as he looked around.
Iron Man intercepted the Vampire in mid lunge, slamming him against the far wall of the room and holding him there in a steely grip. "Blade! Snap out of it! Wake up!"
Blade struggled in his grip, but wasn't able to break free. The snarling, writhing, vampire was held firmly as his struggles relaxed and finally ceased.
"Blade?" Xander asked slowly.
"Yeah. Who the fuck are you?"
Whistler chuckled, "Sounds like he's gonna be fine."
Xander rolled his eyes under his helm. <This is getting too damned complicated.>
Out loud he merely muttered, "Great. Whistler, you keep an eye on him until we know for sure he's ok."
Then he dropped Blade and spoke again to the computer, "Computer, Access the surveillance sattelites over California and assume constant monitoring of Sunnydale and the hellmouth especially. If anything spikes past normal levels, I want to know about it."
"Yes Sir."
"Wasp?"
"Yes?" Cordy asked softly, disguising her voice.
"Head home." Xander said, knowing that keeping her around was asking for trouble. "If we need you..."
She just nodded and then vanished from sight in a flash. A moment later the big circular window rolled open, and then closed.
"How the hell?"
"How'd she do that?"
Xander shrugged, "She's The Wasp. It's her thing."
"Great." Buffy muttered, "This place is getting bogged down with supertypes tonight."
"What's the matter Slayer?" Whistler smirked as he pushed Blade onto the couch. "Feel like you're coming up a little... short?"
Buffy just glared at him while Iron Man sighed and shook his head.
Giles returned some time later, books under one arm and a strange vial of liquid in his free hand.
"Here..."
Iron Man looked at the proffered vial with skeptical eyes. "Here what?"
"This should accelerate the healing of your arm." Giles said. "Assuming that you ARE human under that?"
Xander grimaced and took the vial. "Thanks. Am I supposed to drink this?"
"Unless you prefer to administer it from the other direction." Giles returned.
"I'll drink it thanks." Xander shuddered. "Later."
Gas hissed as his helmet pressure equalized with the external atmosphere, and Xander slid the red and gold helm from his head, taking a deep breath as he did.
"Ah... Hell." He muttered, looking at his pale face in the mirror. "Computer... Check the diagnostics again."
"All systems working within established parameters." The computer droned back, using it's standard voice for once.
"I meant the medical diagnostics." Xander growled, a little touchy as he set the helm down with one hand, his other still hanging limply against his side.
"So did I." The Computer returned, this time using Groucho Marx as it's voice template.
<I'm gonna kill Rhodey for this.> Xander promised himself again, picking up the thick potion that Giles had given him, or rather, Iron Man. He sighed, grimacing as he swished the thick liquid around the glass jar.
<Well... I'm *pretty* sure that Giles wouldn't try to kill me.> Xander thought grimly as he upended the flask to his lips and chugged the liquid down.
"Gahhh!" He grimaced horribly, shuddering under the advanced body armor he wore. "So much for THAT thought! Gman *must* be out to get me. God that tastes horribly."
"I doubt that 'G-man' is out to get you. He doesn't even know that you are Iron Man." The computer replied, using it's stock voice again.
"That's what makes it such an insidious plan." Xander deadpanned, "He's willing to poison people at random just to get to me."
"Oh..." The computer replied, puzzled. "I see."
Xander rolled his eyes, plucking the helm off the counter as he slid it back over his head and felt the automatic pressure seals lock around the back of his head and neck.
"Alright." Iron Man said, looking at his own imposing figure in the mirror. "Duty calls."
The tension in the main room of Xander's apartment was almost palpable as Slayer and Watcher sat across from Dhampir and Armorer.
"Who exactly are you, if I may ask?" Giles ventured hesitantly.
"You may not." Blade responded flatly.
"Hey! Listen up Mister!" Buffy snapped, hackles rising at the big man's tone. "This is our turf, you want to play here you try a little curtesy!"
"To a Watcher and his teeny bopper slave?" Whistler snorted, "Yeah right. And tomorrow night I'll start apologizing to suck heads when I dust the bastards."
"Now see here!" Giles' stiffened, eyes flashing in anger as he rose from his seat, glaring at Whistler. "There's no cause for that!"
Blade was on his feet in an instant, "Sit down, Old Man. Before I sit you down."
Almost as fast as he could move, Buffy was between him and Giles, arms crossed and a wooden stake palmed. "You want to try sitting ME down, big boy?"
Blade leaned over, glaring almost straight down as Buffy craned her head back and glared straight up. Neither one backed off so much as an inch.
"Oh for crying out loud."
Both sides of the antagonistic foursome glanced over as the red and gold armored man appeared from the bathroom. He just stared at them, his armor somehow conveying an irritated expression that was at odds with it's inanimate nature.
"We don't have time for this crap." Iron Man growled at all four of them. "That Wraith thing was trying to open a god damned gateway to HELL. Unless you four want to buy condos in a place one hell of a lot hotter then Miami, let's cut the shit and deal with his."
"Tin man is right." Blade said finally, straightening up and nodded.
Buffy nodded once, stepping back. "Fine."
Then she turned and glared at Whistler, "But you watch your mouth. Giles is my Watcher and I trust him one heck of a lot more then I trust you... And judging from how little you seem to know about these Wraith things, I'm willing to bet that we NEED him a LOT more then we need you."
Whistler curled up his lips in response, but didn't say anything as he let out an irritated breath. "Fine."
"Giles?" Iron Man said, turning to the Watcher and barely remembering NOT to call the british man 'gman'. "What have you got on the Wraith?"
"Very little, I'm afraid." Giles admitted.
Whistler snorted.
"What I DO have," the british man's eyes flashed as he slipped off his glasses and dropped them into his jacket pocket, "is that they are extremely dangerous opponents. They practice black magic, and have a lot of experience in it. Dire Wraiths have been known to master spells that require several lifetimes to learn... Which indicates either a massive talent for the art, or a lot of time to gain experience."
"Look," Blade said curtly, a hand motion cutting Giles off. "This is all really interesting, but I just need to know one thing..."
"And what, pray tell, would that be?"
Blade smiled slowly, his abnormally sharp teeth gleaming in the light, and he reached over his shoulder, pulling a long slim blade from a sheath at his back. "Do they die when I cut their heads off?"
"Umm... No actually." Giles returned the feral smile.
Blade's eyes widened slightly, his sword dropping a bit, and behind him Whistler snickered loudly.
"Mr Trick, it's such an unusual pleasure to meet a Vampire of your stature..."
"I'm equally pleased to meet you, Mr Mayor." The immaculately dressed black vampire said, his voice carefully measured with dignity and decorum.
"Yes, yes... Please, do call me Richard..." The pleasantly evil man smiled, picking up a tea cup from the table. "Oh negative? It's from a rather pudgy young boy... an excellent vintage."
Trick nodded, smiling slightly as he accepted the China cup. The blood inside was still warm, and the vampire doubted that it had been reheated. It smelled too fresh.
As the vampire took a sip, Mayor Wilkins smiled and nodded. "Now, I understand that you're looking for employment?"
"Yes... my previous employer... ran into a difficult situation."
"The Slayer." Wilkins said simply.
"Presumably."
Wilkins raised an eyebrow, "You don't sound convinced?"
Trick shrugged, taking another drink. "The damage to our headquarters was... impressive. Even a Slayer would have had great difficulty causing all of it. Our security system was destroyed by an advanced search and destroy program... high technical..."
"Hmmm..." Wilkins nodded slowly, "Not exactly a mark of the Watcher, I'll admit. Still, that was Boston... this is Sunnydale. We don't have to worry about that here."
"I should hope not." Trick permitted himself a slight smile.
"That's it?" Whistler growled, frustrated.
"I'm afraid so."
"What a worthless waste of time."
"Not entirely." Iron Man interrupted. "We know now what doesn't work... and I can add repulsors and Plasma bursts to the list. It's not affected by fire, at least not noticeably... Energy pulses from by repulsors had little effect... Overall, I had more luck with straight physical blows."
"Physical I can get." Blade said simply.
"No kidding." Buffy replied, rolling her eyes.
The tall black Dhampir shot the short blond Slayer an annoyed look, but didn't respond.
"The Wasp had some luck though." Iron Man added, almost as an after thought. "Her bio-blasters stung it..."
"Excuse me?" Giles looked up, curious. "Bio blasters?"
Iron Man nodded, "Yes... The Wasp's weapon systems are tapped from her own neural energy... then ran through a booster pack and several step up transformers... Bio energy can affect a lot of creatures normally immune to electrical and energy attacks. Vampires, for example, are particularly susceptible."
"Ingenious." Giles said simply.
"Christ." Whistler said, snorting softly. "What a fucking pointless complexity. Just use silver bullets for christ's sake."
"You can run out of silver bullets." Iron Man responded cooly, "As long as she's breathing, The Wasp won't run out of bio-blasts."
"Alright! Cool it!" Buffy spoke up, distracting them. "So these bio thingys can hurt the Wraith thing, right?"
"Sting it at least..." Iron Man shrugged under his armor.
"So call her back!" Buffy said, exasperated. "We're going to need her, right?"
"We can contact the Wasp when we have a target." Xander said, forestalling the chance of drawing Cordelia back into the mix for as long as possible. He didn't want her and Buffy sniping at each other. Mask or no mask, Buffy wasn't likely to mistake the Wasp's sharp tongue for anyone but Cordelia Chase. "For now, we have a serious situation and no leads to work with."
"I'll check with Willy." Buffy said after a moment.
"Willy?"
"A Mister Willy the Snitch, as it were." Giles responded to Blade's single word question. "He runs the local Demon bar... with the proper persuasion, we can usually get information out of him... He tends to hear everything going through town."
Blade snorted, shaking his head. "Human?"
"Unfortunately." Giles replied.
"Figures."
"Alright, The Slayer hits the Snitch... literally," Xander's humorous tone was all but lost in the voice changer built into his helm. "I already have the town under surveillance from orbit, but I'll take to the sky and maybe check out a few places Xander reported."
"Very well..." Giles nodded, "I'll attempt to contact the Council... They may have resources concerning the Wraiths that haven't been released to me..."
"I'm going with the Slayer." Blade said in his gravely voice. "I want to have a chat with this... Willy."
Whistler nodded, "Fine. That leaves me out in the cold though... We had to leave all our weapons behind in order to get here this fast... We've only got a few side arms and such. Is there a gunshop I can hit here in town? And maybe a jewlers that might have some ingots of pure silver?"
"I can do better then that." Xander replied, half turning. "Computer... Access Armory, Security Override, Iron Man."
There was a soft click and a section of wall swung open on silent hinges, revealing a small room that was stocked to the brim with advanced weapons.
"Holy Shit." Whistler muttered, under his breath.
"Oh my."
"Huh."
"I'm gonna wring his neck. Xander's been holding out on me!"
Willy's Alibi Room fell silent as the door slapped against the wall, permitting an unusual duo to enter.
The first was a familiar face, a short blond girl who was a semi-regular despite her obvious youth. Her face was enough to shake the relatively jovial mood of many of the demons and vampires in the bar.
The second was someone none of them had seen before.
He was tall, towering over his companion, and his complexion was dark, his face a permanently etched mask that made the serious look on the Slayer's visage appear to be positively welcoming.
Low murmurs started in the bar as the two stepped across the dirty floor, stopping at the bar as the small man behind it looked between them with a sudden attack of nerves.
"H... Hey Slayer... Who's your pal?" Willy asked hesitantly, looking between the odd couple.
Buffy glared at him, "Shut up, Willy. Wraith. What do you know?"
"Excuse me?"
Buffy's hand snapped out, yanking the bartender halfway across the bar. "Don't play with me, Willy. I'm not in the mood."
"I don't know what you're talking about!!" Willy panicked, eyes wide as he felt himself being flattened against the bar. "Honest!!"
"Didn't know you even knew the meaning of the word." Buffy scowled, "Let me ask you one more time. Wraith. Dire Wraith... What do you..."
Buffy trailed off as the sounds in the bar died out suddenly, and she felt every eye in the bar fall on her. She slowly turned around, conscious of Blade taking an unobtrusive half step away from her as he let his long black coat fall open.
"What?" She asked slowly, looking over the motley collection of demons and vampires. "What'd I say?"
Willy choked slightly, reminding her to lessen her grip on him, and he slid back behind the bar as three demons slowly got up.
"Wraiths all dead." The lead one, a seven foot tall Morok demon ground out. "Have been years past."
"Not anymore." Blade said softly, his voice gravely. "What do you know about them?"
"Who asking?"
The black man's lips pulled back slowly, exposing his gleaming white, and ferally sharp, teeth. "The name... is Blade."
A second shocked silence echoed through the bar, followed almost instantly by a furious round of shocked whispers.
"The daywalker..."
His boot jets whined as Iron Man dropped slowly through the open manhole and into the sewers. He touched down lightly in the muck, ignoring the filth that clung to his boots as he started walking.
<I wonder is this qualifies as one of my more boneheaded ideas?> Xander thought to himself as he made his way through the smooth cement tunnels until he came to the break that gave way to rough hewn rock.
He paused for a moment, thinking about just a few hours earlier, then continued on his way.
The caverns became larger, less uniform, as he made his way back to the Hellmouth. He remembered the times he'd been down here, none of them pleasant memories, and briefly hoped that this time he might break the pattern.
The cavern that had once housed the Master was empty, which was a relief but not a shock. Even demons tended to avoid the Hellmouth unless they had specific intentions toward it. The same energy that made Sunnydale a demonic haven was too focused here, and for whatever reason the vast majority of demons tended to live in the more 'comfortable' zone that existed further out from the epicenter.
<I guess I'd better do this.> He thought, casually activating his sensors to grab a full and intensive sweep of the cavern.
He instructed the armor's computer system to pay specific attention to energy readings, as well has attempting to locate the Wraith's trail via pheremones, DNA, or whatever the damned thing used in the place of those things.
After a few minutes an alert tone sounded and the armor's HUD listed a pheremone trail leaving the highly concentrated mass that existed around the Hellmouth.
It wasn't certain, but he'd take what he could get.
Iron Man set off through the caverns, following an invisible trail through hostile territory as the rest of the world continued on it's merry way.
"Put it Back."
Whistler jumped, knocking over his tools with a clattering crash. "What the fuck??"
"The Pistol, Mr Whistler." The voice said again. "Put it back."
"Who are you??" Whistler's Ingram was out, seeking a target. Any target. "Where the fuck are you??"
"I am Mr Harris' security system." The computer informed him tartly, "As such, it's part of my job to prevent *petty* theft."
Whistler's Ingram dipped a bit as he frowned and tilted his head. "Yer a fuckin computer?"
"I am a Stark Enterprises AI system. And YOU, Mr Whistler, are a thief. Put the pistol back."
Whistler glared at the walls, not knowing where to look, but finally growled and replaced the plasma pistol in it's wall rack. "Fine. I was just looking for an edge. Fighting suck heads is dangerous work."
"You may want to consider *asking* next time, Mr Whistler." The Computer stated flatly. "Mr Harris could have made an application with Stark Security for you."
"Stark would supply us with weapons?"
"No. But it never hurts to ask."
Whistler glared at the walls again before giving up and returning to his work.
"No. I'm telling you, we have one here NOW."
"That's not possible, Mr Giles. The Dire Wraiths were eliminated over two decades ago."
Giles repressed an urge to curse, which wasn't easy as this was the fourth time he'd ridden around this particular circle. "What part of 'we have one here NOW' do you not understand? Perhaps it's the big words?"
"Insulting me won't get you any further and faster Giles." The voice informed him tartly. "The books you have requested are highly dangerous, and without clear and pressing need I can't authorize..."
"It tried to open the Hellmouth you insufferable TWIT!" Giles snapped, his voice growing angry. "If not for the intervention of three... allies... it would have succeeded. I've SEEN video imagery from the battle! It's a Wraith. One of them survived."
There was a silence from the other side and Giles dared to hope.
Finally, the voice came back. "Video?"
Xander kneeled down in the much, looking at the body that was laying face down in the muck and grime. The suit it was wearing had been immaculate, Xander judged, and he recognized the wound in the back of the body's head.
<Same as Blade.> Xander let out a breath as his Armor's computer played back the imagery from his apartment, comparing the two wounds. <Yep. Same.>
He rolled the unmoving corpse over, but didn't recognize the black face that belonged to it. He did recognize the fact that the body was that of a vampire, which fitted with what Giles had told him about the Wraith's method of mind sucking, and the fact that it hadn't completely killed Blade when it got him.
But whoever, or whatever, this one may have been, it wasn't blade. So Xander just stood up after his scans were complete, and hit the body with a full power repulsor to the chest. The high energy beam caved in the immobile vampire's chest, crushing it's heart as it burned the expensive suit and finally turned the corpse to dust.
When that was done, Xander looked up along the tunnel one way, then down the other.
<Two new pheremone tracks... both identical to the vampire it sampled... it's own trail a dead end.> Xander marveled at the sensor readouts. <My god. What a camouflage system... it's perfect.>
He shook his head clear, then chose the stronger of the two trails and followed that.
"Daywalker."
"That would be me." Blade answered, his voice lethally hard, yet as soft as breath.
The denizens of the bar were nervous by this time, shifting around each other as some of them moved toward the door.
"Uh uh." Blade grinned nastily, wagging one finger at them as his other hand dipped into his coat and retrieved a small disc.
With a flick of his wrist the Disk snapped open, revealing two razor sharp blades angled away from each other, and his hand snapped out.
The Glaive spun through the air, the airflow around the blades causing it to arc as it approached one wall and turn right into the three vampires closest to the door. They didn't have time to blink as the weapon sliced through their necks with contemptuous ease and continued on it's way.
The weapon continued to sail around the room, but didn't intersect the paths of any others, until it settled into a course that would return it to it's owner.
Would *normally* have returned it to it's owner, that is.
As Blade's hand snapped out to pluck the weapon from the air, a slim fair skinned hand with immaculate fingernails reached up and got to it first.
"Hey! Cool weapon!" Buffy's eyes gleamed as she examined the Glaive, "Where'd you get it?"
"Do you mind?" Blade asked pointedly, hand extended.
"Huh? Oh... right." Buffy blushed a bit, "Sorry."
He took the Glaive from her, then collapsed it before returning it to his coat. Then he smiled back around at the bar, eyes cold, "Now... where were we?"
"Welcome to Sunnydale."
The young girl snorted softly to herself. "Yah. Right."
She turned in her seat as the bus continued past the sign, heading into town, and forced herself to turn her mind on the task at hand.
<I'm coming for you, you bastard.> She vowed, not for the first time. <I'm coming for you.>
Xander Harris, AKA The Invincible Iron Man, frowned as he reached the end of the trail.
<What in the hell would a Vampire be doing paying a late night visit to City Hall?> He puzzled briefly as he stood in the cover of a stand of trees near the building. <Ummm... Ok, so what would a Wraith in the Guise of a Vampire be doing... Ah fuck it, it still doesn't make any sense.>
He made his way around the building, noting that only one of the lights of the building was still running.
"Schematics." He commanded, watching the HUD as the layout of the building appeared and rotated around from several angles while the computer identified the lit room.
"Well well well... Working late, are we Mr Mayor?" He whispered, tagging the window with a laser. "Let's see what kind of mayor we've got working for us here."
"Now, since your former employer isn't around to direct inquiries concerning your qualifications, why don't you tell me a little about how you handled the problem in Boston?"
Mr Trick shifted in his seat and smiled, "Well after our HQ was destroyed I took a few of Kakistos' minions and began an investigation. The only active demon or vampire hunter in Boston at that time was the Slayer and her Watcher."
"So you presumed that they inflicted the damage?"
"Well, if it wasn't them, whoever it was wasn't making any noise to take credit for it..." Trick shrugged, "So I figured that taking them out would be good enough to maintain an appropriate level of fear."
"Excellent, Excellent. Shows initiative..."
"Yes well, we tracked the Slayer down... took us a few weeks, this one is slippery you know..." Trick said casually. "After that we decided to watch them."
"Oh?"
"On the off chance that they DID kill Kakistos, it wouldn't have been prudent to rush in unprepared."
"Oh, Absolutely..."
"Finally, about two weeks ago, we made out move."
"Is the Slayer dead?"
"As a doornail." Trick smiled. "We firebombed her house while the two were inside. By the time the police and fire department got there, the Watcher was the only one left alive... The Slayer had apparently shielded her in the bathtub. She's in the burn ward in Boston."
"Excellent. The Slayer?"
"Crisped." Trick smirked. "The police pulled her body out and they had to have a closed casket funeral."
"Excellent. I believe that I can find a place for you in my organization."
Xander leaned against a tree as he listened in, shock fading away as anger roared in.
<Faith's dead!?> His hand clenched tight around the tree, snapping it like a twig. <Faith's DEAD?>
"Warning. Warning. Heart rate and Neurological indicators are exceeding safe limits. Recommend immediate stand down."
The computer's voice sent a shiver through him.
<Stand down?> Xander growled, "Not fucking likely."
Iron Man's boot jets flared as he rose into the air.
"Well that was a bust." Buffy Summers growled as she and the Daywalker headed back toward Xander's apartment.
"Can't tell us what the don't know." Blade grumbled, shaking his head.
Buffy rolled her eyes, "Yeah, and the way YOU question demons, they'd have talked."
"You have a better way?"
She shrugged, "I just throw them into the wall until they talk... it's not as messy."
Blade shrugged, reaching for the door. "Whatever."
The two warriors came to a halt as they spotted a brunette girl standing by the elevator to Xander's loft.
"Umm... Hello?" Buffy said.
She spun around, startled, then looked between Buffy and Blade for a moment before pulling a knife. "Look, I don't want any trouble. Just move aside..."
"You have got to be kidding me." Blade muttered, pulling a sword from his back as Buffy pulled a stake from her belt. He glanced down at Buffy, "That's all you're carrying?"
She looked at her stake, then at Blade's sword, and pouted. "We can't all be built like King Kong. Do you have any idea how hard it is to hide a sword when you're this short?"
"Point." Blade conceded.
The Brunette was looking between them slowly, apparently reconsidering her knife. "Who are you guys?"
"We got you outnumbered." Blade said pointedly. "Why don't you introduce yourself first."
"Look, I don't want no trouble!" She waved the knife threateningly.
"Well gee, you think that maybe drawing a knife was a bad idea then?" Buffy asked sarcastically.
Blade sighed, shifted the sword to one hand, and drew his modified Ingram. "Look, girly. We haven't got the time for this dance. Name, NOW."
Iron Man hit the window just as Xander's brain kicked back in and he realized how utterly *stupid* his actions were.
Glass shattered everywhere, spraying the room, and the two occupants jumped away on reflex.
"Oh, I say!" Mayor Wilkins exclaimed as he jumped aside. "This just won't stand!"
Trick scrambled away from the glass on reflex, but his reaction was just a little bit more... unusual.
"Space Knight!" He hissed, his form shifting automatically.
Richard Wilkins stared at the change, jaw dropping. "Oh My. A Wraith."
His eyes flicked between the Armored Knight and the Wraith that were slowly circling one another, and then immediately started inching toward the door.
Both antogonists turned to glare at him, or at least he *thought*the Knight was glaring.
"Do not go far..." The Wraith hissed. "I have uses for you."
"Ditto." The Knight sneered. "I've got a bone to pick with the local Government... I understand that you're hiring Non-Union... That's a strict no-no."
Wilkins ducked out the door as the Knight wagged it's finger at him, slamming it tight behind him as he looked around wide eyed.
After a few moments he calmed down, then adjusted his shirt and tie.
"Well... This is... Not good." Wilkins shook his head. "Most certainly not good."
He strode down the hall, pulling a cell phone from his pocket and hitting the autodial. "Oh Alan? Where you asleep? No? Good... I have a clean up for you in my Office... No, you might want to wait a short while. Oh, and could you get me the number for the Order of Teraka, if you please? Thank you Alan, you're a life saver."
"Space Knight." The Wraith hissed again.
"Listen up, Ugly, I don't know what the hell you're talking about, but you and me have some issues to settle." Iron Man said evenly as Xander Harris shivered and started looking for a way out. <Stupid, stupid, stupid! You IDIOT! This isn't the vamp that killed Faith... This thing sucked it's brains out, and I dusted the vamp myself... STUPID!>
"Indeed." The Wraith hissed, it's tongue flicking out and wrapping around in the air.
Xander toggled his radio, "Computer, issue an alert to all forces. I've found the Wraith."
"Faith." The girl said quietly, staring down the Barrel of the rather large gun. "My name is Faith."
Buffy blinked, thinking back. "Faith? Wait... You mean the other Slayer?"
Blade shifted, the point of his blade dropping to rest on the ground, but his gun stayed even. "She's a Slayer?"
"How do you guys know about that??"
"Gee, I wonder." Buffy smirked, hefting the stake. "Me with a stake and the Neanderthal here with a sword... what do you think?"
Faith looked between them, then at Buffy. "Are you Buffy Summers?"
"You've heard of me?" Buffy preened unconsciously.
"Yeah. I heard Linda talk over the phone about you... Never heard so many curse words in my life." Faith smirked. "Hey, did you really pork a Vampire?"
Buffy's face disintegrated into shock, and her hands dropped to her side limply.
Blade chuckled, shaking his head as he holstered his gun. "I take it that's a 'yes'?"
Buffy was still looking for a comeback when the elevator doors opened, revealing Whistler, who was loaded down with weapons and looked plenty worried.
"What's up, Old Man?"
"That Iron Jerk found the Wraith!" Whistler muttered, "It's at city hall, and from the sounds of things they're gonna rip that place apart inside ten minutes!"
That snapped Buffy out of her shock, "We've got to move! That thing hurt Xander, I want a piece of it!"
"Xander's hurt??" Faith asked, eyes widening.
"Who's the jail bait?" Whistler asked, frowning.
"Slayer." Blade said.
"Another one?? What did we do to deserve babysitting duty anyway??"
"HEY!" Two irate Slayers turned on Whistler as one.
"Ms Chase?"
Cordelia grimaced as she recognized the voice, "What's up?"
"Iron Man has located the Wraith. It's at City Halle."
"Alright, alright... I'm on my way." Cordy said, hanging up the phone. "Mom! I'm going out!"
"Thash nice, dear..." He mother drawled.
Cordelia shuddered and sprinted up to her room, stumbling into the door frame as she wrestled her way out of her shirt.
"I just got dressed too..." She grumbled, her arm hooked in the shirt as she pulled it over her head. "Damn it... ow! ow! ow! That hurts!"
After getting the short untangled from her hair, she unbuckled her belt and struggled out of her jeans. "Damn it... There has to be a better way to..."
"Duh!" She slapped her forehead and rolled her eyes. "I'm such a dunce."
She focused for a second, and suddenly was gone, her clothing dropping to the ground in it's place. A moment later, Cordelia reappeared, sans clothes, and grabbed for the suit hanging in her closet. She quickly put it on, shivering once again as it activated and her... extremities, suddenly bounced up into a firm grip.
"Ooooh!" She yelped, "I'm not getting used to THAT any time soon."
She was halfway to the window, when she suddenly paused and turned to glare at the mask on the table. "Damn, I'll probably need that..."
She grabbed it and fitted the uncomfortable thing on, and sighed. "Whoever come up with this secret identity thing should be shot."
With that parting comment, The Wasp flew out the window and into Sunnydale.
"Hold on, I have a call on the other line." Giles sighed, looking down at his telephone in irritation. "How on earth do I get this to work..."
He pressed a button. "Hello?"
"You're still talking to me, Mr Giles." His Contact with the Council told him.
"Oh Bugger." Giles muttered, pressing another button. "Hello?"
"Still me."
"Damn it all!"
"Mr Giles." A new voice broke in over the line. "If you cannot operate your telephone, might I suggest carrying a beeper?"
"Who is this!?" The Council man asked, irate.
"I'm afraid it's a computer. Infernal machines..." Giles muttered, "Yes, what is it?"
"Well I don't know if I should say now." The computer sounded hurt.
"Bugger." Giles cursed, "Listen here you piece of silicon trash..."
"SILICON!?" The Computer huffed. "I'll have you know that there is not one single gram of Silicon in my entire..."
"WHAT ARE YOU CALLING ME FOR!?" Giles blew up.
"What? Oh. That. Iron Man is fighting the Wraith at Town Hall." The Computer replied, then disconnected.
"What!? Wait! Computer? Computer!" Giles yelled, then groaned. "Oh Bugger all. I have to go... This is bad... this is very bad."
He tossed the phone down, missing the receiver, and as Giles rushed out of the house a voice could be heard coming from the phone.
"Mr Giles? Mr Giles? Mr Giles? Hello?"
"Wait wait! Stop here!" Buffy yelled from the cramped backseat.
Blade his the brakes, looking around for the Wraith. "Where is it?"
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Buffy blinked. "Hey, open the door."
Blade cracked the door open and Buffy stuck a hand out. "Angel! Angel! Come here!"
Whistler looked over at the blonde Slayer. "Who the FUCK is Angel?"
"Oh, that's the name of the Vampire she boned." Faith said helpfully.
"What!?" Whistler twisted around in his seat, "Listen Blondie, I don't know how you do things but it's traditional to go looking for a lay *after* defeating the bad guy."
Buffy blushed bright red, but managed to glare at Whistler despite that. "Angel can help."
"You expect us to trust a suck head!? Are you out of that bottle blonde brain of yours?" Whistler snapped.
Meanwhile, outside, the Vampire in question had approached cautiously. "Buffy? What are you doing in..."
Angel paused, staring in shock for a moment, then he took three steps back. "What the hell are you doing with the Daywalker!?"
"No time!" Buffy lunged out of the car and grabbed Angel, she yanked him into the car as she babbled. "Big fight, need help. Hit it, Mountain man!"
"Whistler." Blade growled.
"Got him covered." The old man said simply, his modified pistol aiming right at the Vampire that was currently trying to get twisted around in the backseat with the two Slayers.
"Hey, Fang!" Faith snapped, "Keep your hands to yourself!"
The Muscle Car roared off again, it's driver glaring straight ahead, while his passengers tried to shift around in order to either get comfortable, seated upright, or in a better position to shoot each other.
Iron Man circled the Wraith, alert for the slightest sign of motion, and watching for any chance he might have to actually survive the fight.
"You are poorly armed, Space Knight." The Wraith hissed, circling as well. "Have the Knights fallen on such hard times?"
"Look, ugly." Iron Man returned, "I don't know what the hell you're talking about... and stop calling me Space Knight! The Name's Iron Man."
"By any other name, Space Knight." The creature hissed, then lunged.
Iron Man dodged to one side as the Wraith destroyed the Mayor's desk, then returned the attack with a repulsor assisted right cross.
The building shuddered as the Wraith slammed into the wall, and the fight was on.
Wilkins braced himself against a wall as everything shook, then glanced over his shoulder. "Oh Bother. Those two will simply have to take their disagreement outside..."
He thumbed through his cell phone's directory, "Now who can I call to tell them...?"
"No... No... No, I might want that one alive for some reason... let's see... Oh drat, he's left town." The Mayor sighed, then redialed his aide. "Alan? Yes it's me again... Could you find me someone replaceable please?"
The Wraith grabbed him, then slammed a clawed hand across his armor, to little effect.
Xander shifted his stance, using his martial arts training, and pivoted with the force, flipping the Wraith over his hip and slamming the creature down onto the ruined desk. The once beautiful antique desk splintered into it's component particles as the heavy Wraith slammed hard into the floor below it.
"Pest!" It hissed, then struck out with it's tongue.
The boring appendage slammed into Xander's shoulder, striking hard enough to throw him back even though the armor held up to the strike.
Iron Man hit the ground hard, skidding along the Mayor's Office as he dug his fingers down into the floor. Stopped, he rose to his feet and growled.
"Time to get a little more room." He muttered, then charged forward on a full Repulsor burn.
The Mayor was knocked to his back as the building shuddered again, and he scrambled quickly to his feet and ran down the last of their stares.
"A wraith..." He rolled his eyes, "Really now, how bad can my luck be?"
He ran out the front doors, then heard a shattering crash from above him. Wilkins looked up to see the wall above explode outward as the Wraith and the Knight flew out through his office wall in a spectacular motion.
The Mayor stopped and sighed, not paying any attention to the two combatants as they hit the ground in the large parking lot out front of the Town Hall.
"Well... at least they're out of my office." He sighed, looking up at the gaping hole in the wall. "But really, now... That's public property they're destroying..."
"Shit." Whistler muttered as they skidded to a stop just shy of the City Hall parking lot.
"Whoa." Faith half crawled over his shoulder. "Man. Sunnydale ROCKS."
"Who is this idiot?" Angel asked, jerking a finger toward the Brunette.
"That's Faith." Buffy supplied.
Faith turned around to look at Angel, "That's Faith the *Vampire Slayer*. Please note the 'S' found in front of the word 'Layer'. You want to call me an idiot again?"
Blade seriously considered slamming his head into the steering wheel, but decided that he'd take his frustrations out on the Wraith instead. Wordlessly he threw open the door and climbed out. On the other side he could see Whistler do them same.
The two looked at each other for a long moment over the classic muscle car.
Whistler spoke first, "This is the first time I've honestly been afraid that the world would end if we ever retired."
"I know the feeling."
"Hey! Move it!" Buffy snapped from inside the car. "You're blocking the door!"
Blade shook his head and stepped out of the way.
Xander groaned as he forced himself to his feet, standing amidst the wreckage of the black sedan that he had landed in after the Wraith had thrown him off.
The car was in bad shape, that was for certain, he thought as he cast a quick glance around himself. He briefly wondered who's car it was, but was quickly reminded to keep his focus when the Wraith hissed in anger and flung a lightning attack in his direction.
His boot jets hissed as he took to the air, returning fire with repulsors, as the sedan exploded behind him.
Richard Wilkins the Third sighed.
"That was MY car." The Mayor groaned as he watched his sixty thousand dollar Mercedes go up in smoke.
"Whoa!" Faith craned her neck, looking up. "He can FLY!? Wicked."
Angel looked between her and Buffy and shook his head, "And you're *certain* that she's a Slayer, right?"
"Would you people cut that out!" Whistler growled, drawing his Ingram. "We've got some work to do."
"Stay here, Old Man." Blade growled. "I have a bone to pick with this guy."
Whistler rolled his eyes, "Yeah, Right. Say, kid, has hanging around the jailbait rotted your BRAIN??"
Blade shot him a dirty look, but didn't pause as he strode quickly into the battle.
Whistler growled, limping around to the front of the car. "This is insane."
"Tell me about it." Angel muttered, walking up beside him. "Isn't that a Wraith??"
Whistler glared at the vampire, "Don't push me suck face. I am NOT doing to buddy buddy thing with you."
"Right..." Angel stared at the muzzle of the machine pistol that was suddenly pointed in his direction. "I guess I'll just go see if I can help..."
Whistler rolled his eyes as Angel moved off.
"Where does Buffy *find* these wackos??" Angel muttered under his breath as he got as far away from the old man with the weapons as he could.
The Wraith glared into the sky, blasting at the flying figure with necrotic energy in an attempt to swat the Space Knight from the sky.
"Space Knight!" It screamed yet again, it's frustrations reverberating through the air as it blasted away. "I will NOT be thwarted by your kind!!"
"That's nice." A gravely voice said from right behind it.
The Wraith spun at the sound, and froze as it recognized the figure behind it.
"You can't be here! You're dead! I absorbed you!"
"Absorb this." Blade snarled, lunging forward, his sword flashing through the air almost of it's own accord as it opened deep wounds along the Wraith's flanks.
The Wraith fell back, snarling and hissing in pain, but healed just as quickly as Blade could inflict damage. It snarled, then struck back, slamming the half vampire with a backhand blow that lifted Blade off his feet and threw him back into the Municipal building, over eighty feet away.
Glass shattered as Blade slammed through the doors, and vanished from view.
"Pest." The Wraith growled.
"Hey!"
The Wraith spun around again, startled to find two more pests standing right behind it. "What...!?"
The two of them glanced at each other, nodded, then moved together and slammed their fists full power into the Wraith's skull.
The force of the impact dazed the Wrath as it staggered back, falling to it's back.
"Blade may be a pain, but he's on our side." Buffy told the fallen wraith as she and Faith stood over the thing, smirking.
"What she said." Faith smirked, looking around. "You know, this thing ain't so..."
"PESTS!" The Wraith screamed, it's voice tearing the air as it struck out at them both, it's tongue lashing out like a coiled snake.
Mayor Wilkins rolled his eyes as he slumped a little bit.
"Do they HAVE to destroy public property??" He asked in annoyance, watching as the remnants of the front doors fell apart after the passage of the Daywalker through them.
"This is really too much." He shook his head. "The Daywalker, a Wraith... TWO Slayers, unless I miss my guess... and..."
He looked up, "Whoever, or whatever, that thing is..."
"Buffy!" Angel yelled, lunging forward and tackling the blond Slayer out of the path of the Wraith's tongue.
The two of them tumbled to the ground as the rasp like tongue slashed into Angel's side, parting his skin through the leather jacket with ease.
"Ahhh!" Angel groaned in pain, rolling clear of Buffy as he clutched at the wound, which burned like acid had been poured in it.
"Angel!" Buffy cried out, then glanced to one side to the younger Slayer. "Faith!"
Faith was caught in the backlash of the whip-like attack, unable to move in time, when a blur snapped into place at her side, catching the ugly appendage in mid-air, just centimeters from her head.
"Faith!?" An unfamiliar voice echoed Buffy's yell, surprise in it's tone.
"Yeah..." She swallowed, staring up at the armored figure. "Who the hell are you?"
The armored figure froze for a second, still holding the Wraith's tongue in an iron grip, then shook itself as if from a trance.
"Later." He growled, suddenly looping the Wraith's extra long tongue around his wrist and forearm as his helm snapped toward the Wraith. "I've got some business to wrap up."
He reached out and shoved her away, tossing Faith back on her ass like a play toy with a casual shove.
"Hey!" She yelped in protest, eyes widening as the armored figure suddenly snapped it's arm back, yanking the Wraith to it's feet by it's *tongue*.
As the Wraith screamed in furious outrage, the Armored figure slammed his fist into it's 'face', sending it sprawling back away. Then he yanked on the tongue again and repeated the blow.
Faith winced.
"Ouch." She muttered.
That HAD to hurt.
The Wraith hissed and howled in his grip, but Xander wasn't letting go as he repeatedly yanked it to him, and then slammed it right back.
He thought that the Wraith was trying to say something, but couldn't quite get it out.
"What's that?" He grinned under the helm. "Having trouble talking? It's a bitch trying to threaten someone when they have your tongue wrapped around their arm, huh!?"
The Wraith kept up the howling as he hammered into it, until it suddenly lashing out with another energy blast.
<Warning! Heat is...>
"Yeah yeah yeah!" Xander cut the computer off as he flinched under the force of the blast. "I get the idea!"
"You want to play!?" He growled at the Wraith. "Let's Play."
With that he cut in his jet boots and lifted off, hauling the Wraith along behind him by it's tongue.
"Whoa." Faith craned her neck back, looking up into the sky. "That's bitchin."
Over to one side, Buffy was leaning over Angel, checking his wound.
"Angel! Angel! Are you alright!?"
"I'll be fine if you stop pressing on the wound!" The Vampire ground out.
"Oh! Sorry!" Buffy jumped back.
Angel groaned, sitting up and looked up. "Buffy... I think that we're playing out of our league."
"Duh. What was your first clue??"
The Wraith screamed at him as they climbed, it's words unitelligible, but it's intent clear as it hit him with another blast. A blast that didn't let up this time.
Xander groaned, feeling the armor heating up despite the Stark Heat Dissipation coils, but kept the jets on full as he climbed like a falling star in reverse.
"UUUURRRRRRRNNNNNNN!" The Wrath screamed at him the whole way up.
<Warning. Heat exceeds armor tolerances by twenty two percent!> The computer screamed at him as the heat built up.
Finally it grew too much and Xander started screaming back, only his voice wasn't filled with rage.
It was filled with agony.
"That's SO not a good sign." Cordy muttered as she watched the ball of fire rise into the sky ahead of her.
She had to get a lot closer before she recognized the forms that made up the fireball.
"Oh No." She whispered in shock as she heard a sudden scream of pain come from Iron Man.
Instinctively, Cordelia poured on the speed, charging her bio-blasters as she flew into the, literal, firefight.
"Hey demon-bitch!" She screamed, fists flying out ahead of her. "I've got too much invested in saving Iron Butt's backside already to let you get away with that!"
Then Cordelia Chase, The Wasp, opened fire as she came in at full speed.