Disclaimer in Chapter One - Time to Suit Up!

Authors Note 1: Here you go, Part 2.


He could hear beeping.

In all his years of being a Scooby, beeping was never a good sign.

Add the beeping to the sensation of lying in a bed, and dressed in a papery gown that he was pretty sure didn't do up all the way in the back and it never equalled anything good.

His left hand felt weird. He could move it, but it felt like something was stuck to his fingers, like he had been wrapping a gift for someone and had packing tape attached to each digit. He resisted the urge to flick his hand back and forth, trying to get whatever was stuck off.

Then there was the buzzing. That was a worry too.

He could feel it, at the back of his mind, a buzzing, tingling sensation.

Someone was near him.

Or something was coming.

Or was about to happen.

Or all three...

He heard a door open and someone walked into the room.

The buzzing stopped.

"Any news?" He heard a female voice ask as it shifted in its seat off to his side.

'Buffy.' He said in his mind.

"Nothing from the Mrs. Dyson and the Mages" another female voice said, moving to his other side.

He didn't recognise her voice, but he assumed she was some kind of medical staff as he felt soft hands check his arm and the I.V. Tube that he hadn't realised was in his arm. "The Medical tests will take longer," the voice continued, her hands moving again to lift his gown and check the monitor cables attached to his chest. "But so far they've ruled out any Demon influence."

"That's good," Buffy said as it sounded like she sat back in her chair.

"But the bulk of the magical tests can't be performed until Ms. Rosenberg and the Technopagans arrives," the female voice said moving away from him, the sound of something being picked up near his feet. "He's lucky, the lab was only fully stocked and staffed a week ago. The Doctor's were still a few days off from arriving."

"What?" Buffy almost growled.

"Don't worry Ms. Summers, the Doctor's arrived an hour ago," the female voice said startled, the sound of feet stepping back suddenly made him think that she had jumped back from the Senior Slayer. "They're going over all the information we have so far and will be with you in the next half hour."

"G-good..." Buffy stammered before apologising. "Sorry, I'm just a bit freaked..."

"How do you think I feel..." Xander chose that moment to speak and open his eye.

Before his eye could adjust to being open and focus on the room around him a blonde blur rushed to his side and placed a hand on his arm.

"Xander!" Buffy gasped before slapping him on the shoulder. "Stop passing out, it's really scaring me."

"Yes Boss..." Xander moaned.

"I'll let the Doctor's know you're awake." The female voice, which belonged to a tall black woman in nurses scrubs, said with a smile before replacing his chart at the foot of the bed and leaving the room.

"Thank you" Buffy smiled back.

When the door closed silence fell on the room, the slow beep, beep, beep of the heart monitor next to Xander the only sound. The room was your typical hospital room, a window to the left that showed a night sky and an excellent view of a small garden courtyard and parking lot, the right, a cupboard to store his clothes and a door that he knew led to a adjoining bathroom. The chair Buffy had vacated was on the right side of his bed near the foot, the wall opposite the foot of the bed was made up of a large window and the door to the room. The windows blinds were closed, but light shone through the slats, hiding the hallway and nurses station beyond.

Both friends looked at each other. Xander stared at Buffy's groused face, her injuries were healing. Her black eye now looked more like it had happened a few days ago, not a few hours. He was about to tell her to go get herself checked out if she hadn't already, which he suspected was the case, when Buffy broke the shared stare, looking at his hand and the upholstery that lay under his fingertips. Xander followed her eye line and raised the hand, himself staring.

"Huh..." He said, shaking his hand, the dark upholstery flapping back and forth.

He suddenly had a memory flash before him.

He was falling through the night sky. His right hand holding a rope, the left stretched out in front of him reaching for a flat wall. His hand touched the wall and he let go of the rope. But instead of falling down the flat surface and towards the ground several stories below he hung there, his feet moving against the wall to steady himself.

"...Cut it off without taking several layers of skin." he heard Buffy finish as he stopped shaking his hand and stared at it.

"Huh?" Xander turned to her before turning back to the fabric.

"I said, the nurses were gonna try to cut it off," she repeated, pointing at his hand. "But they couldn't do that without taking a couple layers of skin off at the same time."

"Oh..." Xander said, reaching with his right hand, grabbing the fabric and pulling forcibly, the upholstery come off with a little give and a soft 'zip'. He looked at the dark piece before throwing it from his grip, shaking his fingers in a motion of disgust.

"What is going on Xander?" Buffy turned stern.

"No idea..." Xander said looking at his hands, a small smile threatening to appear on his face.

"Xander..."

"Seriously Buff, I have no idea," he said as his mind went back to earlier in the night. "One minute we're patrolling, I'm feeling tired, hell, my arms still feel like I'm still carrying sandbags, my legs feel like tree trunks. The next, you were getting the snot beat out of you and I was in a headlock being forced to watch." He looked at the I.V. Tube in his arm, he rubbed it before looking up at the heart monitor that continued to beep next to him, he felt like the beeping was beginning to mock him and his confusion.

"That's all you remember?" Buffy asked worriedly.

"Well... There was the way the vamp holding me turned to dust around me, then vamps were flying, there was fire and an explosion, then a bright light... Then there was lots of snow, and running, and following smells... Then we were back home, then I was walking through New York City and I woke up on the floor, then I was flying...? No, I was falling through the night sky and there was flashing lights..." He trailed off, staring at his hands, trying to remember something about them. "Why are we here? Is it because I'm confused guy?"

Buffy looked from his hands to his face and back again, "Something like that..."

"I guess this is the price you pay for stopping the party..." Xander's head bobbed suddenly. "I'm always looking... To... P-Party..." He mumbled, his eye closing as his head hit the pillow again.

The beeping monitor increased.


The bike was fast.

Just the way he liked it.

He weaved back and forth between the traffic, a smile on his face and letting out a laugh every now and then followed by a large 'Woo-hooooo!'.

But something was missing.

Then his ears picked up the faint sound of the sirens.

He was getting close.

He willed the bike to go faster as he gripped the throttle to full.

Reed was wrong. Ben was wrong. His sister, well, she was his sister, so she was always wrong on principle. They had these abilities, why not use them?

Hadn't they shown they could do good in the past few weeks? Rescuing Sue from the mole guy, beating off that psycho with the computer brain, even traipsing off in Reed's 'Fantasti-Car' prototype to find a metal goat Victor who had set some commune slave-ring trap for them... They had used their powers to fight, so why not use them to help? He had even followed Reed's advice and taken the Hover Bike Prototype they were working on at the Baxter Think Tank instead of flying on flames, all because Reed had told him it might scare people not use to seeing a burning man, let alone one streaking through the air several stories above street level.

He could see the smoke now, at the end of the street he had just turned down. He barrelled down the centre of the blocked off road and skidded sideways, or at least what passed for skidding while on a hover bike, to stop at the edge of the fire and police cordoned off area. He ripped off his helmet when he had reached a complete stop and jumped off the bike. He ignored the pair of police officers who tried to stop him as he ducked under the police tape and ran for the burning building. He wasn't sure what he was gonna do once he was there, but he was sure as hell gonna try to help.

Two fire fighters entered the building in full gear and masks just before he ran inside. The smoke was everywhere, filling his lungs almost instantly as he almost ploughed into the two firemen.

"Whoa!" He yelled over the confused yells of the men. "Hot in here *Cough*, huh?"

"Kid? What the hell?" One fireman looked at him in shock through his breathing gear.

"It's ok, I'm here to h-*Cough*-help!" He said, the smoke filling his lungs.

"Get out of here!" The second fireman yelled. "The whole building could collapse at any minute."

"Seriously, I can *Cough* help!" He yelled again.

"Get him out of here!" The first fireman yelled to the second. "I'm gonna check the third floor, some lady thinks her son is still up there."

"Third floor! Got it!" He yelled pushing passed the Firemen and running for the stairs.

He ignored the yells of "Wait!" and "Stop!" and jumped the stairs three at a time.

'Third floor, third floor,' he kept thinking to himself.

The stairs were getting hotter the higher he climbed, the air filled more and more with smoke. The heat didn't faze him as he reached the third floor landing, although he could do without the smoke.

"Hello?" He called out walking down the hallway. Several apartment doors hung open, orange glow and black smoke billowing from each. "What the hell are you doing Johnny?" He said to himself as embers fell on his head and shoulders, the small flakes hot, but the heat didn't burn him. "Hello? Does someone need any help?"

His head snapped to the side as he heard a scream pierce the crackling of the flames around him.


The monitor seemed to be deafening as it beeped loudly next to the bed, telling anyone who would care to listen that Xander's heart rate had begun to beat faster. But Buffy ignored it, instead she stared at his hands again. As soon as his head had hit the pillow, smoke and steam began to rise from his gloved hands. Acting quickly before the bed sheets caught alight, she picked his arms up by the wrists and held them above Xander's passed out body. Heat was radiating from the gloves he wore, the leather slowly began to smoulder as the heat built up.

"What the hell is happening?" Buffy said to herself before blinking. "Wait a minute... He wasn't wearing those when I brought him in..."

As if to answer her the gloves gave a few pulses of heat, the leather began to show large cracks of embers that glowed before fully bursting into flame. Buffy would have jumped back in surprise if she hadn't been holding on to Xander's wrists at the time. Instead she leaned back and looked worriedly from Xander, to his hands and then to the door of the hospital room.

"Someone get in here!" She yelled out. "Fire!"

"It's ok," Xander mumbled as if to answer. "I'm here to help..."

The nurse from before followed by two more nurses and three men in white lab coats whom Buffy assumed were the Doctors rushed in, each stopping at the foot of the bed.

"Don't just stand there!" Buffy yelled. "Put it out!"

"Don't worry, fire can't hurt me..." He mumbled again. "I'm here to save you..."

At once one of the doctors left the room and returned with a fire extinguisher, not missing a beat he proceeded to pull the pin and pointed the hose at Xander's hands. The extinguisher let off a loud 'whoosh' as it released its contents over both Xander and Buffy, the carbon dioxide moving over them both like a quickly disappearing fog. As Buffy struggled to breathe the doctor stopped the extinguisher. To their surprise the fire still rose from Xander's gloved hands, but to their amazement the fire didn't seem to be harming him. Instead the gloves were fading every now and then from his hands. Longer and longer they seemed to disappear until they were completely gone.

"How long till you tell me what the hell is going on?" Buffy said though gritted teeth, still holding Xander's hands aloft.

The doctor with the fire extinguisher lowered the canister in his hand and looked to the others. Each medical staff member looked back at him then to the angry Slayer before them.

"Ah... Well..." The extinguisher Doctor shrugged his shoulders. "We c-can't find anything wrong with him. Nothing medical!" He quickly added. "He should be awake right now, we have no medical reason for what's happening."

One of the Doctors behind him cleared his throat, an action that got stern looks from the other doctors.

"No *Medical* reason." The extinguisher Doctor repeated looking at the one who had cleared his throat.

"What's your name," Buffy asked the throat clearer, looking at him through Xander's flaming hands.

"Roberts, Dr Harry Roberts Ms. Summers," he replied stepping forward.

"What's your theory?"

"Well, as we were looking over the quick X-Rays of Mr. Harris here-"

"Xander." Buffy stated. "His name is Xander. He hates being called Mr. Harris..." She added in a low voice.

"Xander," Dr Roberts nodded and smiled nervously. "I noticed that the films that concentrated an his arms and legs were strangely blurry."

"Which could be explained by him moving when the exposure was taken," the doctor with the fire extinguisher still in his hand said.

"He never moved," the dark skinned tall nurse from before spoke up. "I told you, if he had I would have taken another X-Ray."

"And besides Davis," Dr Roberts spoke to the extinguisher Doctor. "That doesn't explain why his bones are blurry but not the flesh around them or why his hands don't even appear on the X-Rays."

As if to answer the Doctor, Xander's hands chose that moment to flare up for a few seconds before the flames died away leaving his hands their normal pink self.

"He just moved is all," Dr Davis snapped. "We just have to take the X-Rays again..."

"No more tests, Reed." Xander mumbled, pulling his hands away from Buffy and curling into his pillow.

"Outside" Buffy said, nodding her head towards the door and the hallway that lay beyond in. She didn't wait for an answer and walked out of the room to stop just outside the doorway.


'Ok, weird dreams a go-go...' Xander thought as he opened his eye slowly. He looked around the room and could swear he could still smell the smoke, only, he could smell something else... It was almost chemical, but not. The next thing he noticed was he was alone. It didn't surprise him, he couldn't remember falling asleep or passing out or whatever was happening to him and he just hoped Buffy was getting her injuries looked at.

He sat up in the hospital bed, trying to remember what had happened in the dream this time. He had been riding a motorbike? He'd never ridden a motorbike before, unless you count the time Jessie's Cousin let him sit on his Dirt bike and he had accidentally thrown it into gear and ran into the side of the house with it.

And the dream had been so real... The jumping off the bike and running into a burning building? It reminded him of the time he had helped Caveman Buffy rescue the other Neanderthals in college. The smoke, the flames, the heat, all the same, only the heat hadn't seemed to faze him.

He was deep in his musings when the door was promptly opened and a woman in her late forties and dressed in tweed and glasses walked in. If one didn't know any better they would assume she was related to Giles, those that did know better knew that besides her look she was pure Watcher to the core, only slightly more open minded.

"Mrs. Dyson, don't tell me they called you in because of me..." Xander half groaned, half sighed.

"I am the Watcher in charge till Mr. Giles completes his staff recruitment, as you well know Mr. Harr-" Xander cleared his throat in annoyance. "Oh please, I will not call you Xander, that is not a proper name." She huffed in all her Britishness.

"It's the name my best friend of 19 years gave me when we first met back in kindergarten." Xander told her. "Mr. Harris is my no good son-of-a-"

"Yes, yes, your father..." Mrs. Dyson sighed. "Alexander then?" Xander nodded his head yes. "Very well."

"So Mrs. D, what's wrong with me?"

"Must everyone butcher my proper name?" Mrs. Dyson rolled her eyes and sighed under her breath.

"Welcome to the states, we like a nickname" Xander shrugged.

"Yes, I've noticed," Mrs. Dyson sat down in the chair next to the bed. "Well Alexander, you have everyone in a frenzy. The doctors will be in with you shortly, they are just going over your results with Ms. Summers... As for the mages on Staff, well, we have ruled out Demon influence, witchcraft and a number of curses."

"Why would a demon want me to pass out and have weird dreams?" Xander questioned.

"They wouldn't Alexander, I just said we've ruled out Demon influence."

"Right, right..." Xander nodded his head.

"But unfortunately we have exhausted the power of our current mages." Mrs. Dyson sat back in her seat. "We will have to wait for Ms. Rosenberg and her, *hem*, friends, to arrive before we can learn anything."

"So it's not Magicks?"

"We're not sure," She replied. "There is something happening with your hands, as to what's causing it, is anyone's guess..."

Xander looked at his bare hands, making fists and then releasing them. "My hands...?" He said confused. "What's wrong with my hands?"

Before Mrs. Dyson could answer Xander's hands changed before him. Once again his hands were covered in the fingerless tactical leather gloves he had put on at the start of the night.

"Ok... That's a little weird..." Xander stared at his hands. "And I usually like the weird s-stuff..." He smiled, his eyebrows moving up and down to convey his meaning before his eye slowly closed and his head fell back.

"Oh my..." Mrs. Dyson let out quietly as the heart monitor began to beep shrilly next to the man she had come to know and understand the past few months while she was Head Watcher in Giles' absence. She let out a sigh before her own eyes went wide. "Why did I have to visit him now..." She slowly stood up as whirring could be heard coming from his hands as they slowly changed again.


"Ok people, what have you got?" He walked into the room and raised his arms in greeting, spilling a little of his drink in the process. "Oops." He smiled.

The room was large, broken up into small work areas and workshops. One long corridor went down the room, one row of stations on either side against each wall. Upon his entrance all work had stopped as each person proceeded to ready their presentations.

He was bored.

And a little drunk.

But then again, if he wasn't near his own workshop or with a beautiful woman or two (or three or four) he was always bored. But he had promised the Board Members that he would take a more 'active role' in the company if he wanted their continued help with his suit.

'Don't get me wrong' he thought to himself as he faked interest and "Ooo'ed" and "Ah'ed" his way through the various stations. 'I could make my suit work on my own, but I still need someone to help me out of it.'

So he would play the part of the interested Company CEO. After all, even he could afford to waste an hour just to get the Board Members off his back. But it wasn't a total waste, most of the stations were home to some of the brightest minds from all over the world, either brought under the Company's wing to continue its foothold of being the number one Fortune 500 Company in the world, or they were employed just so they wouldn't end up as competition against the company further down the line. It was touch and go with which projects he was looking at that fell under which category.

'Its like the Baxter Think Tank," he thought as he looked at the mismatched projects of the room. 'Only everyone can legally drink...'

His mind was just thinking about asking someone to fetch him another drink himself when he saw something that made him pause and then see red.

At the far end of the room, still working at his station, sparks flying every once and a while, was a small man of maybe twenty. It wasn't that the man was working, that he could forgive. It was the fact that he had several pairs of his Gauntlets, many disassembled, others with modifications attached it to them, all except for the pair the man was working on which looked just like their normal red and yellow armoured configuration.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" He yelled moving quickly to the man's station and snatching the soldering iron out of the mans hand.

"Working!" Snapped the man not looking up.

"On my Gauntlets?" He snapped back.

"No, on my Glov-" The man finally looked up and his words died in his throat. "Mr. Sta-"

"Well?" He cut the man off. "What the hell are you doing with my Gauntlets..." He quickly looked around the station for a name plate and saw a small plaque slightly obscured by a dead pot plant. "Barren Bears?"

"Actually, my name is War..."

"You know what? I don't care what your name is," he put his glass down and crossed his arms. "I care about how you got your hands on my Gauntlets?" He looked down at the man. "Are you even cleared to see these, has S.H.I.E.L.D. vetted you?"

A balding, bespectacled man in a white lab coat stepped up with a clipboard and quickly said. "I'm Dr. Kelping, floor manager, Sir. Everyone who steps through the front doors of this company is vetted to the highest levels by both the Government and S.H.I.E.L.D. Sir."

"And you have clearance?" He asked the smaller man.

"Well, I thought..."

"Did you think?" He asked, stepping closer. "Ok, now I do want to know who you are, what makes you qualified to even touch my gauntlets?"

"I'm War..." The smaller man began.

"Who hired this man?" He quickly turned and asked Dr. Kelping. "WHY did we hire this man?"

"You hired me," the smaller man informed him. "Personally. I was brought on because of my breakthrough in the L.M.D. Project..."

"L.M.D.?" He looked puzzled.

"Ah, Life Model Decoy Sir." Supplied Dr. Kelping.

"Oh, right, the Robots that Fury thinks can be used for doubling people and hopefully weaponised..." He paused in thought. "And just because you made yourself a girlfriend in your parents basement-"

"College actually." the small man muttered.

"-That makes you qualified to play around with my Iron Tech?"

"I just thought that I could..." The small man began to explain himself.

"You're fired." He said looking down at him. "Get security," he turned to Dr. Kelping. "Box all his projects and send them to my personal Workshop." He turned back to the small man. "Grab your Coat, and your Gloves," he said pointing to a pair of leather fingerless gloves that sat where he could have sworn were a pair of his Gauntlets a few minutes ago. "And get out! And if I see any of my Tech out there on the streets, Barren, I'm gonna personally-"

"My name is Warr-"

"AND I'M GONNA PERSONALLY," He looked stern at the small man as he raised his voice and talked over him. "Hit you with so many lawsuits that S.H.I.E.L.D. won't have to arrest you, you'll be running up to the Triskelion, begging to be thrown in Jail."


His hands had changed again as soon as he had lost consciousness. The heart monitor next to him again beeping loudly, but not successful in blocking the whirring noises now coming from his hands.

Mrs. Dyson stood, standing and staring at Xander and the Weapons he now had covering his hands. The Red and Gold Gauntlets had been described to her by Buffy and she slowly became worried as two panels, one on the back of each hand, had begun to open and close. Each time they opened she could see a series of six small rockets in a row. She was about to call out to alert someone when the door to the hospital room opened and Buffy came in followed by Dr. Roberts.

"He-he..." Mrs. Dyson began, pointing to the Gauntlets as more panels began to open.

"I can see Mrs. Dye." Buffy stopped short, staring at his hands. "Go Go Gadget Hands..."

More weapons were exposed, small gun barrels that seemed too short, to small to fire bullets, a small platform that rose from halfway up his right arm held a deadly looking small missile that everyone in the room was sure could level the building if it were to be fired. Two, foot long blades, one on each hand sprang out from his wrists just above the back of his hands. Both looked razor sharp as they retracted by themselves, only to shoot out a few seconds later. Each tip of his index fingers opened, a small red glow shining from within, while the tips of is other fingers opened up and three nozzles on each hand extended out, small puffs of carbon dioxide leaked out in two short bursts.

"Iron Man..." Dr Roberts gasped, staring at Xander and turning to Buffy. He let out a laugh and smiled. "He... Iron Man's Gauntlets..." He pointed.

"Iron Man?" Buffy looked at the Doctor. "As in the Comic Book Character? As in One of Andrew's Favourite Comic Book Characters?"

"Mr. Wells?" Mrs. Dyson questioned. "Mr. Giles' Apprentice?"

"Barren..." Xander mumbled, Buffy turning to look at him. She frowned at her friend and placed a hand to his forehead, brushing a lock of hair from his brow.

"Andrew Wells?" Dr Roberts asked. "I don't know who Andrew is, but those, as hard as it is to believe, are Iron Man's Gauntlets, his, uh, Repulsors..." He stepped closer, the tech still opening and closing the various weapons. He chose the left arm as it looked like the less deadly of the two, and it didn't have a large Missile sticking out of it, and very carefully he reached forward and lifted Xander's arm. Holding it up he turned the appendage so he could show Buffy the underside. "Here, this is his main weapon, the Palm Repulsor..."

"That's what he fired into the air..." Buffy muttered staring at the slowly winking in and out circle of light that rested in the palm of the large red Gauntlet.

Dr Roberts lowered the Gauntlet back down to the bed slowly and turned to Buffy.

"Can you describe the abilities he displayed before you brought him in..." He asked.

"I've already told you," Buffy gave him a tired look.

"Then tell me again," Dr Roberts moved around the bed to stand next to the Slayer. "In as much detail as you can remember."


Xander could hear talking, three voices seemed to be discussing... Superheroes and... Comic books? He wouldn't have been so surprised if not for the fact that two of the voices were Buffy and Mrs. Dyson.

"Ok," he mumbled sitting up with a yawn. "What did I miss and why are you guys talking about Superheroes?"

He looked at the trio as they stood at the foot of the bed. He looked to the man in a white lab coat and blinked at him, trying to find his name in his confused brain.

"Hi," he said to the man. "You are...?"

"Dr. Harry Roberts Mr. Harri-" the Doctor began.

Both Buffy and Xander cleared their throats, interrupting the man and causing Mrs. Dyson to roll her eyes and let out a sigh as she sat down on the foot of the bed.

"-Xander," he nodded. "I am one of your doctors-"

"Only competent Doctor," Buffy added.

"Right..." Xander looked to Buffy who nodded to him. "So Doc, what's the problem with me?"

Dr. Roberts smiled and took a step around the other side of the bed. "Well, that's a big question, isn't it?" He folded his arms and looked down at the man. "At the present time we can't find anything wrong. We can't explain why you keep passing out, you are a fit young man..."

"But...?" Xander said slowly. "There's a but coming, right? There's always a but."

"But..." He paused, looking from Buffy to Mrs. Dyson. "Something showed up on the X-Rays."

"Or didn't show up." Buffy added.

At Xander's confused look Roberts continued. "Both of your hands failed to register in the images. Your arms just seem to end at the wrists."

Again Xander looked at his hands. There was something at the back of his mind...

"What else?" He said, looking up at the Doctor, he had a feeling there was more... A buzzing in his head.

"Your arms and legs," he took a breath. "They show up, but they appear blurry. As if the X-Rays..."

Xander rubbed the back of his head, the buzzing increased.

"The X-Rays just bounced around them." Roberts finished. "As if something is *coating* them..." He nodded his head slightly in emphasis.

"So... What?" Xander shook his head. "I'm fit as a fiddle, but my hands, arms and legs are... Changing?"

"Yes..." Mrs. Dyson nodded, followed by Buffy. "We are leaning more towards something Mystical that's effecting you." She said, placing a comforting hand on Xander's foot.

"I thought you ruled Magicks out?" He cocked an eyebrow at the Watcher.

"No Alexander," she frowned. "The mages ruled out Demon Influence and many small curses and spells, we still have to wait for the Coven to perform a more thorough diagnostic."

"Why would a spell be cast on me to pass out? For my hands to disappear?" He rubbed his head, the buzzing seemed to be in his whole head now until a sort of epiphany happened to him. "Why the dreams... A-about...? Whoa..." The buzzing stopped and he suddenly looked sharply at all three. "I dreamed about heroes! About Comic Book Characters... How did you kn...? What aren't you telling me?"

Buffy put a hand on his shoulder and began to explain the last few hours to him. How he had saved her in the cemetery, how his hands had displayed abilities. How he had passed out and his hands had changed to have spikes coming out of them and ropes and turned into living rock or had caught fire, and how one of the vampires heads had glowed a bright pink before dusting the demon. And lastly how he had suddenly had large red and gold Gauntlets covering his hands and most of his forearms, various weapons opening and closing on the metal gloves.

At first he wasn't sure if they were pulling his leg or if they were serious. As Buffy talked he stared at his hands. Spikes, Ropes, Fire, Rock, Pink Glow, Red Gauntlets. He flexed his fingers a couple times before making a fist with both of them. She had said spikes had come out of his hands, but in his dream he had claws...

Taking a deep breath he thought back to his dream and squeezed both fists. He was rewarded with a dual *SNIKT* sound and three large blade like claws sprang from his knuckles on both hands. His hands hurt for a second or two were each blade protruded from between each knuckle. He moved his fists about in front of himself, looking at each of the shiny metal blades. Buffy had taken a step back when the blades had shot out, her eyes wide, the Doctor and Mrs. Dyson doing the same thing.

"Xand... " Buffy gasped.

"Alexander..." Mrs. Dyson stood, shocked by the blades.

"Right there with ya." He said in awe as he knocked one set of blades against the other with a *CLANG, CLANG, CLANG*.

"Wolverines Claws..." Roberts said in awe.

Xander un-tensed his fists and the blades retracted into his hands. He tensed his right and the Claws sprang forth again with another *SNIKT* sound. He un-tensed his right fist again and the Claws retracted once more. He tried with the left and *SNIKT*, they were back. He retracted his left Claws and unleashed his right. He did this back and forth with a *SNIKT, SNIKT, SNIKT* before retracting both sets and flexing his fingers again and again.

"How far away are the others?" Xander asked, looking up at the Slayer then the Doctor and finally the Watcher before him.

"I don't know..." Mrs. Dyson reached out and took one of his hands in hers. Her fingers tracing his unblemished knuckles. "But I will go find out," she let go of his hand and turned for the door.

"Good idea," he said pointing a hand at the ceiling, followed by a *THWIP* sound, a white rope had sprang from his gloved wrist and stuck to the ceiling tile.

Buffy jumped back as Xander made the devil horns again with his hand and a rope attached to the ceiling, Mrs. Dyson turning back and staring at Xander's now gloved hand.

"Spider-Man's Webs..." Roberts smiled, reaching out to the thin strand.

"The Gloves are back." Mrs. Dyson pointed.

"Huh..." Xander too stared at his gloved hand, then the other still bare hand.

"I will contact Mr. Giles," Mrs. Dyson looked from the glove then up at the webbing. "And find out from the Mages on staff if they have a ETA on Ms. Rosenberg and the Coven." She turned and left the room.

Xander stared at his hand and the pose of his middle and ring finger touching his gloved palm and his thumb, pointer and pinkie were stretched out, pointing at the ceiling. He moved his hand and grabbed the thin rope of what actually appeared to be real life webbing that had shot from his wrist. He pulled the sticky web like rope and it had some pull to it. He let go of it suddenly and the rope sprang back up to the ceiling and stuck to the tile in a web like shape.

"N-No way..." Xander said in awe, staring at his hands and the leather fingerless gloves he had put on earlier in the night, which hadn't been there a few seconds ago.

"It has to be the Gloves," Roberts gestured to Xander's hands. "Where did they come from before you put them on?"

Before Buffy could say something Xander had turned both hands and pointed them at the chair she had been sitting in only a few hours before. His gloved hands were in the pose his hand had been a few seconds ago. She now saw that it wasn't the devil sign, but more like he was pushing a button on the gloves palms with his middle and ring finger. Two large *THWIP's* sounded, followed by that white webbing, shooting from his wrists and landing on each arm of the chair. All Buffy could do was gasp wide eyed and reach out feebly as the rope retracted quickly, the chair going airborne and heading towards Xander.

Xander felt the buzzing, tingling sensation again at the back of his head and instantly had the urge to roll out of his bed. His eye went wide as time seemed to slow down around him, he looked to his gloved hands and the Webs he had somehow been able to shoot from his wrists, then to the chair that was now leaving the ground and heading towards him, the webs retracting into his wrists. The buzzing told him to move, so he did, rolling to his side and off the bed, the Doctor jumping back and out of his way quickly in surprise. The chair was now sailing past Xander to bounce off the bed and into the wall behind it, breaking into several pieces.

Xander hit the floor with an "Oof!", landing on his fingertips. As Buffy's mouth went agape and the Doctor grinned like a six year old reading a comic book for the first time Xander straightened into a handstand, turning his body around as a gymnast would on a pummel horse, and jumping around quickly, moving into a crouching position to face The Slayer and Doctor. Xander's hands were outstretched in front of himself, fingers spread apart, one leg bent underneath himself, the knee raised higher than his body and the other leg straight at his side, the ball of his foot flush to the ground. His body hugged the floor, poised and ready for anything in a strangely accurate portrayal of his childhood hero.

"B-Buff?" Xander asked from the floor, straightening up, his fingers splayed out, each remaining in contact with the floor, his outstretched leg moving underneath him till he was in a crouching position.

"Y-yeah Xand?" Buffy stared at her friend and then the remains of the chair strewn around the head of the hospital bed.

"Did I just..." He gulped.

"Move like Spider-Man?" Roberts finished, grinning in awe.

"Yeah..." He nodded.

"Yes..." Buffy nodded.

"Good... Good..." He said, standing. "Cos for a second there I was starting to get wigged out..." He looked down at his now gloveless hands.

"Not the only one Xand..." Buffy said stepping closer to her friend and reaching out to move her hand over his, both staring at them.

"This is amazing!" Roberts almost yelled.

"Nice choice of words Doc." Xander frowned at the man, clearing off the remains of the chair from his bed, Buffy helping him.

"I'm so glad I took this job!" Roberts said, moving to the foot of the bed and picking up Xander's chart. "Ok, I think the first thing we need to do is have a few more scans of your hands, M.R.I., CT scan, P.E.T., and an Ultrasound, just in case..."

"Happy your thrilled Roberts..." Buffy muttered, helping Xander back into bed.

"Yeah, ecstatic for ya Doc." Xander nodded and Buffy helped him with his blankets.

"I'm sorry, it's just that, well..." The smile left his face before appearing again. "Spider-Man's webs, Logan's Claws, Iron Man's Gauntlets... And the way Buffy described it, you even have Gambits Kinetic Energy charge-"

"What!?" Xander sat up quickly. "You, you never said anything about Gambit..." He looked from the Doctor then the Slayer.

"Which one is-?" Buffy began.

"Aw, Chère," Xander drawled, his head drooping slightly, his voice taking on a Cajun accent. "You don't want to k-know..."

As his head hit the pillow raised voices could be heard coming from the hallway.

Buffy stared from Xander then the Doctor, Roberts was staring horrified at the one eyed man and his blankets.

Blankets that began to slowly pulse with a bright pink energy.

"Oh Crap..." Roberts gasped.

The commotion outside grew louder, people were now shouting out someone's name along with the sounds of people running. The door suddenly burst open and a small man with longish, curly blonde hair, dressed in a tweed suit and jacket came barging in.

Huffing slightly the small mans eyes grew worried as he took in the sight of Xander's prone body and his Gloved hands as they lay on the rapidly glowing pink blankets.

"Oh my sweet White Knight..." The man said stepping closer.

"Andrew?" Buffy turned to the small man.

"Hey Buffy..." Andrew nervously waved to the Slayer. "I, uh... I think I might have screwed up..." He looked at the Gloves. "Really screwed up..." He said his eyes growing wide as he realised what was happening to the blanket.


A/N 2: There you have it, it was a long one but that's Part 2 done and hopefully Answers were contained within.

For those of you dear readers who might have realised the name of the creator of the Gloves (Not the best way to hide his name I know, but I thought it was funny), please keep it to yourself if you leave a review, just call him the Creator... I think his ego would like that.

Feel free to mention his name in future chapter reviews as his name will be given away next chapter, for now I just want some Mystery kept in place (because that's one thing this story is lacking, Mystery... Not!)