Sylia stared at the hardsuit diagnostics on the computer screen, not really seeing them. She'd had to design it from the ground up to fit the intended wearer. Much like Linna's, it was optimized for close combat. Sword blades, knuckle bombers, and a couple of ranged weapons.
She'd denied his request for a battleaxe.
And Linna's suggestion of a shield. A ghost of a smirk crossed Sylia's face at that thought, but it quickly faded.
Alexander's scores on the battery of tests she'd run to properly design and tune the hardsuit to him were quite impressive. He was strong, fast, and almost inhumanly resilient. He'd even beaten Linna on the reflexes test, if just barely. When asked about it, he'd simply brushed it off and told her, "I've been fighting things that could kill me with one hit for thirty years, and I'm still alive."
But that wasn't the memory occupying most of her thoughts at the moment.
Xander rose and looked at her. She knew his cybernetic eye couldn't penetrate her hardsuit, but that didn't make it any less unsettling. It was like he was looking into her soul.
Sylia shivered.
"Why don't you take off that helmet?" he asked evenly. "I won't work with someone who won't trust me."
In that moment, Sylia had seen something... old in him. Sometimes, he acted like he was twelve; he looked like he was twenty-five; and yet, in that moment, she'd caught a glimpse of the fifty-year-old he was.
And what she had seen... scared her.
She was used to fear. Every time she put on her hardsuit could be the last. The DD had nearly killed her, as had Mason in their face-off on Genom Tower. But this wasn't the adrenline-pumped survival instinct. This was a different kind of fear. Deeper, more primal.
Not even Quincy scared her like this.
The ringing of her videophone startled her out of her reverie, and she quickly flicked off the monitor before answering, but the video phone's screen remained blank.
"Hello?"
"It's good to finally speak with you, Miss Stingray."
She frowned, "Who is this?"
"A friend of Doctor Raven's... and yours."
"What do you mean?" she asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"Your pet project consumes a great deal of resources, Miss Stingray. Did you never find it odd how easy those resources were for you to get ahold of?"
"What do you want?"
"To meet you. I'll be in town on business for a while, and I thought it would be appropriate."
Xander spun and flung the vampire at Sylvie, who caught the demonic bloodsucker and held it in place for Xander to plunge a stake in its heart.
"Well," he said, looking around. "That makes eight. Wanna keep going or call it a night?"
Sylvie shrugged, eyeing the dust pile that had once been a vampire uncertainly. "We should get back. Miss Stingray did say she wanted to show you something tonight, right?"
"That's right." Xander grinned at her, "God, it's like fighting by a Slayer again." The smile faded quickly.
"What's wrong?" Sylvie asked.
He shook his head, "Nothing."
She frowned, but he didn't notice.
He'd been honest. It had been like fighting by a Slayer again, but then he'd remembered some of the less pleasant memories. Also, Sylvie wasn't the only one who reminded him of something; nearly all the girls seemed to be giving him a severe case of deja vu.
Every time he was around Priss, he had to suppress a shudder. She was so similar in attitude and temperament to Faith that he could almost picture her hands around his throat.
On the other hand, Nene was almost frighteningly reminiscent of Willow before she'd started her magic studies. If he didn't know better, he'd have suspected reincarnation...
And speaking of reincarnation, he DID suspect that with regard to Anri. She was, in his mind, Tara with green hair.
Mackie was a little sex-crazed, but he didn't blame the guy. He hadn't been a whole lot different himself at that age.
Little Linna-chan hadn't changed much, as far as he was concerned. He'd caught her trying to sneak out the window twice already.
Sylia was the enigma. She was calm, cool, and collected, and he was hard-pressed to get any kind of bead on what she was really feeling or thinking at any moment. In a big way, she kinda reminded him of Sailor Pluto from Sailor Moon... not that he ever watched that kind of show, nope, nope, nope.
That was all Dawn's fault. Yessirree.
Xander's eye twitched as he stared at the hardsuit they'd built for him. This had to be a joke. He shot Sylia a baleful look, but she seemed to shrug it off without noticing.
"I expect you will keep it clean," she said coolly.
Xander looked back at the hardsuit and knew -- just KNEW -- that, somewhere deep inside, Sylia was laughing her ass off, despite the utter lack of any hint of emotion on her face.
Linna, on the other hand, wasn't bothering to hide it, and after she filled them in, neither were Priss and Nene.
It wasn't the basic construction. The hardsuit appeared more heavily-armored than the others, with thicker and larger but fewer interlocking plates and thus, fewer seams and an overall more solid construction at the price of heavier weight and slightly less agility. With his lack of hardsuit experience, the extra armor was... comforting.
It wasn't the armament. Each arm sported a retractable sword blade and a set of knuckle bombers. The right arm additionally had a railgun much like Priss's for when he needed the extra firepower, while the left boasted a simple laser cannon. Perfectly fine there.
No, it was the aesthetics. The entire hardsuit -- head to toe -- was a gleaming, almost painful-to-look-at white. Instead of the smooth and bulging helmets the other hardsuits sported, his hardsuit had a cylindrical helmet with a V-shaped eyeslot and a grill below it in front.
In short, it looked like a stereotypical white knight.
"Linnaaa..." Xander began, whirling on the one he knew was responsible for setting this up.
Xander made a mental note not to antagonize any Summers girls. He'd made similar notes about a dozen times already, but he kept forgetting it...
He shook that thought off as he and Sylvie trudged up the stairs to the apartment they shared with Anri. He wasn't entirely comfortable with the arrangement -- and his discomfort had nothing to do with how lumpy the couch was -- but until the two found some form of income, it would be criminal to turn his back on them.
"Let me GO!" Anri's voice cried out.
That caught their attention. Xander and Sylvie shot each other a look and bolted. Sylvie outpaced Xander, but not by much. Sylvie flung herself at the 55-C that had Anri pinned to the wall, but it caught her and flung her aside.
Xander stopped a good distance from the apartment and drew his hand cannon. A fat slug spat out, and a roar whooshed down the hallway as the rocket ignited. A good-sized chunk of the combat boomer's head vanished, and he rushed in.
Xander swept his gaze around the room, and he aimed his gun again. The round slammed into the neatly-dressed man's chest, but somehow did not penetrate. He stared as the man ducked out the window. Xander raced over, but the man was gone.
*What the hell was that? Boomer? Demon?* Xander wondered, then began cataloging and comparing various boomer models and demons he was familiar with.
He'd come up empty.
Largo silently cursed as he plucked the bullet from his chest. Well, at least he could now put a face to the one who'd meddled with his careful manipulations, but it looked like acquiring the sexaroid and manipulating or reprogramming her was out of the question... at least for now.
Perhaps an alternative plan...
"This makes us look like we're incredibly evil!" Nene snarled.
"We don't just look evil, we are evil, as far as everyone's concerned," Linna pointed out calmly.
"Well, we're gonna have to change that, won't we?" Xander said, eager to get into his hardsuit and do something. It had been weeks since the attack on Anri, and Sylia's investigation hadn't been able to turn up anything. Xander was getting antsy, and blowing away bad guys sounded like a great idea to him.
"And we will," Sylia said quietly, "but you won't be joining us, Xander."
"What?!" It wasn't clear just who besides Xander had blurted that out, but the others present were clearly just as surprised.
"Whoever's doing this is challenging us directly, even knowing our capabilities," Sylia elaborated. "Xander, you're not used to using a hardsuit, and we're not used to working with you. At this point, you're more of a liability than an asset... for now. I want you to coordinate with Mackie and remain on stand by in case of emergency."
Xander ground his teeth at that, but nodded. She had a point.
Xander grunted as he slid the missile into place. He turned and shot Mackie a questioning look, "Is that it?"
The younger man nodded, "Yeah, that's the last one. Just need to do a system check, and we're ready to roll."
"Good," Xander nodded and headed for the door.
"Uh, hey, where're you going?" Mackie asked.
"Just going to drive around a bit, clear my head," Xander replied curtly, not even looking back.
After disposing of four vampires and a t'nac'ti demon, Xander was feeling much better, considering that a very tough demon or boomer was after his friend, someone was challenging the Knight Sabers and his little Linna-chan, and he was unable to help with either situation.
In other words, he was still in a rather foul mood as he headed back to rendezvous with the Knight Sabers. It was then that he saw him.
Xander swerved the car around.
AD Police Inspector Leon McNichol was not having a good night. The fake Knight Sabers had almost squished him like a bug (much like the DD had not too long ago, come to think of it...), the Defense Minister got himself kidnapped, and now, someone was choking him to death.
No, this was not a good night to be AD Police Inspector Leon McNichol.
A gunshot interrupted his impending demise, and some part of Leon's mind that hadn't yet been affected by the lack of oxygen was immensely relieved at that.
"Out of the way!" a voice cried out, and Leon complied, rolling aside despite the pain as a car roared past and rammed the man who'd been choking him.
To say that Largo was surprised would be an understatement of an impressive degree. He was going to blast this meddling insect with a particle beam from orbit, but having a couple of tons of automobile ramming into him at a 150 kph put a kink in that plan.
The 40mm high-explosive grenade didn't help much, either. Neither did the twelve-gauge armor-piercing slugs administered from close range.
Xander snarled as he emptied the shotgun -- a full-size pump-action, not the Super-Shorty he'd pulled on Sylvie earlier -- into the demonboomerwhatever's chest.
He stepped back and fired the other four shots from his anti-armor magnum, then pulled out a pair of his "Nestbusters" -- white phosphorous grenades usually used to clear out vampire nests.
Xander stepped back from the conflagration and blew out a sigh, completely spent. He'd used up nearly his entire arsenal of demon-hunting gadgets. The slugs were blessed and had had a mixed silver and gold core to overcome the usual immunities.
Barring very unusual immunities, there wasn't a demon on this entire plane that could assume human form and still survive that.
So when he saw a shadowy figure rise out of the flames, Xander was naturally quite alarmed.
Largo snarled. That had actually HURT.
He flicked his wrist, summoning a bolt of technological lightning to remove all signs of this meddler.
As the orbital particle beam struck, a young man shot a look over his shoulder.
"That's twice, Boss. Looks awfully familiar to me. Didn't we just leave this show a while back?"
"It appears we're in for an encore," the elderly man replied. "Get the suit."
"You got it."
As the four original Knight Sabers slumped in exhaustion aboard the Sky Carrier, Mackie called out over his shoulder, "We've got trouble! Xander's hardsuit's missing from the equipment bay!"
"What?!" the cry came in stereo.
"Well, well, well," Largo sneered at the hardsuited male figure. "I don't believe I know you."
"Screw you, you Terminator reject!" Xander snarled as he charged, sword blades extended. His hardsuit's sensor readouts had told him all he needed to know.
Not demon. Boomer. A very, very powerful one.
"Kill him," Largo nodded to his blonde companion. Without hesitation, she charged, but Xander batted her aside without effort.
Largo caught a sword blade in each hand and grinned, tossing the hardsuited figure aside. "My turn."
The concussive blast sent Xander flying, and his faceplate shattered. Reflexively, he closed his eyes, shielding them from the jagged shards.
"Ohh..." Largo nodded in understanding. "You."
Xander grunted and nodded, "Yeah. Me."
Largo's face twisted with rage as he sent another concussive blast toward Xander, who dove to the side and returned fire with a rapid succession of railgun spikes and laser pulses.
The lasers scorched Largo's clothing, but the superboomer didn't seem particularly bothered by that.
"So, is this all the strength you have?" Largo smirked, holding the captured railgun spikes.
*Shit shit shit shit...*
That pretty much summed up Xander's thoughts as Largo flung the railgun spikes back at him. Reflexes honed by decades of demon hunting sent Xander cartwheeling to the side, but even as he rose from that maneuver, Largo was suddenly in his face, throwing him back through a wall and to a lower level.
"How stupid of you to think you were a match for me!" Largo laughed, bashing aside some concrete. "You've come all this way, only to die like a dog!"
"Come down here and prove it, jackass!" Xander shot back. "You're not the first to say that, and you won't be the f***ing last, Junior!"
Largo -- had he possessed a remotely human cardiovascular system -- would have turned purple at that remark. As it is, he merely snarled, "Take a good look before you die, boy!" He tore off his outer covering, revealing his boomerhood, "This is the look of the true victor!"
"Bring. It. On."
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Xander looked around at the newly-arrived hyperboomers.
*Oh, this is not fair,* he whined silently. *He's already winning, and he gets reinforcements?!*
He cursed himself for a moment before something struck him, *Wait a minute... they're right...*
He grinned.
One radio signal later, explosives planted to cover an escape through the hallways in which the hyperboomers stood detonated.
"Ouchie..." Xander groaned as he found himself leaning against Sylia's hardsuited form.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
"Just peachy," Xander replied sourly.
"Human beings... how vulgar!" Largo muttered.
Xander rolled his eyes, "Can we just go ahead and kill this guy now?"
For someone incapable of it, Largo did a fair attempt at going livid, and he snarled, "DIE!"
"Linna!" Sylia called.
Xander missed the interplay between Linna and Nene as he boggled at the size of Linna's motoslave. And its gun. That could come in handy next time someone tried Ascending...
Uncontrolled, the particle beam struck and began moving towards Largo, engulfing the superboomer. Xander stared as Largo did an impressive job of not melting.
*What does it take to kill this guy?!*
A gunshot broke his reverie, and Largo tumbled over the side.
He blinked when he saw Leon standing on a nearby rooftop. Well, that answered that.
As dawn broke over MegaTokyo, another figure watched the proceedings.
"Huh. I guess I missed my cue."
Coldsteel smiled at the combat boomers Largo's hyperboomers had stolen for him. Yes, this would do nicely.
Unbeknownst to Coldsteel, programming on a chip he'd salvaged some time ago for repairs, programming long dormant, began to activate.
Sylia concealed her anxiety as she waited for the so-called "friend." Fargo hadn't been able to learn anything about her mysterious benefactor, and it bothered her.
Hearing a sound, she turned and watched the elderly man approach her.
"Greetings, Miss Stingray," he said. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Bruce Wayne."
If you're wondering where the title came from, it's because the BGC episode in question is Red Eye's, a reference to Priss, whose involvement will be reduced due to Xander's intervention and presence.