Title: Xander Harris: Year One (Chapter Four)
Author: Randall Stone
Disclaimer: All characters are belong to someone else.
Summary: Some are born to destiny. Others make their own.
Notes:
Spoilers: S1-4
Continuity changes: Hopefully everything will be explained in the
text. One note- Veruca tragically stepped in front of a bus the
day before she was going to be turned into a werewolf, so Oz will
be hanging around.
From this point on, we are leaving the Season 4 continuity. Only
events described or referred to directly in this fic should be
assumed to have occurred.
Category: B/X, a little B/R early on
Rating: PG-14- nothing worse than what's on the show.
*****
Xander followed the secretary's directions and entered the
mysterious office. The first thing that he noticed was that the
expensive decoration motif from the reception area was continued
inside. The second thing he noticed was that the office was empty.
He was about to walk out when a figure appeared behind the desk in a
swirl of fire. The figure towered over Xander, and appeared to have
some kind of horns on its head. It spoke with a booming bass
voice.
"Alexander Harris, welcome to my abode!"
Xander immediately started backing away. "Um, I'm sorry, I think
I'm in the wrong place."
He was surprised when the thing behind the desk started laughing in
a very normal sounding way. As he watched, the figure started to
melt and reshape itself, ending up as an average sized redheaded
man wearing a mischievous smile. And bent over laughing.
"Oh man, I really had you going there."
"What the hell is going on here?"
The man's laughter subsided. "You really don't know?"
Xander shook his head.
"That spell you cast- it's a cry for help. All the big boys passed-
they don't want to waste their time with some kid out to get himself
killed. So it came down to me."
"Why?"
"I like you kid. You remind me of myself a couple of millenia ago."
"Who are you, anyways?"
"Loki, Norse god of mischief." Loki performed a mock bow. "At your
service."
"Um... hi."
There was a pause as Loki waited expectantly.
"You don't have any idea what's going on here, do you kid?"
"Not really, no."
"OK. Let me explain. First, let's talk about magic.
"Magic, of course, is basically the manipulation of quantum
probability through the use of esoteric forces to produce
counterintuitive results. These forces can be used to project
quantum messages in a wave form... you following me, kid?"
"Right up to 'let's talk about magic'."
"OK, let's try again. You know the smell of the air on the first
day of spring? The crack of the bat at a midsummer baseball game?
A pretty girl's smile? Not magic.
"Think of magic as a sort of fundamental force that can trump all of
the other forces, under the right circumstances. You can't break
the laws of the universe, but you can bend them pretty far.
"Now a human being with some aptitude, like your friend Willow, can
use magic directly to do little things. Float a pencil around, read
a card from the back, that sort of thing."
"She can do that?"
"When was the last time you really cleaned her out at the poker
table?"
"Well, it was... no, it must have been... I see your point."
"Right. Anyways, the human mind on its own is incapable of anything
more than these sort of parlor tricks. The bigger spells, well,
that's where we deities come in.
"As you may have noticed, your standard magic spells take the form
of a very formal request for a favor: Great So-and-so, please do
such-and-such a thing for me. And if the Great So-and-so likes you,
he'll do it for you. That's why witches tend to be such hippy dippy
tree huggers, by the way. Kissing up to the earth goddesses.
"Anyways, the spell that you cast lets you ask for a favor directly.
There are limits, of course, but basically I'm here to help you out.
"So, what seems to be the problem?"
---
Spike groaned as he was roused to consciousness by a bright light
shining in his eyes. He didn't feel any bleeding, so he figured
that his vampiric healing had taken care of all of the surface
damage. A slight soreness from his ribs let him know that he
wasn't quite whole yet.
Gradually his vision cleared up, revealing a flashlight shining into
his eyes being held by Maggie Walsh.
"Well, well. Fancy running into you here. It really is a small
world."
Maggie was not amused. "What the hell were you thinking out there?
Do you even stop to think before you start killing people?"
"Not as a general rule, no."
"Damn it, killing my soldiers wasn't part of the deal."
"Ah yes, the deal. I thought we had a real win win situation going
there, but I guess you got tired of it." Spike sat up and surveyed
the room.
The room looked a lot like the solitary confinement room in a
prison. Solid looking walls, a massive door, and no windows. There
was a small flat panel of glass in the roof that probably hid a
security camera. Spike was secured by a massive ankle chain to the
bed, restricting his movement to only a few feet either way.
Professor Walsh was standing just out of his reach at the end of the
chain.
"Got tired of it? I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Spare me the innocent act, Mags. This isn't the first time
somebody's tried to stake me in the back. The question now is how
you're going to get me out of here."
Walsh drew herself up. "Why on earth would I do that, after-"
"Look, love, you're angry, and you want your pound of flesh. I can
sympathize with that- hell, I've been in the same situation before.
Your man Finn has already collected on that debt." Spike gestured
towards the video camera. "You've even got the home video.
"But you have to understand, I don't intend to be anybody's guinea
pig." Spike's voice hardened. "And I wonder what G.I. Joe would
think of our little deal."
Walsh's eyes widened and she reached into her pocket where she kept
her small stun gun and a wooden stake. Spike saw her action.
"Now now Mags, let's not do anything hasty. Who knows what sort of
incriminating evidence will get sent around if I were to suddenly
vanish?"
---
"OK, I think I see the problem. You want to fight the vampires, but
nobody's afraid of Lamont Cranston."
"Basically, yeah."
"The thing you gotta understand, kid, is that I'm working under some
pretty tight restrictions here. I'm not as high up in the pantheon
as I used to be. So we aren't talking superpowers. Not even the
lame ones."
"I kinda figured that."
"But the good news is, I think I can help. First of all, I can heal
up your injuries."
"You mean I'm not-"
"No, right now we're on the astral plane. Physically..." Loki drew
a square in the air with his finger. When he finished, a screen
appeared that showed Xander lying unconscious in his apartment, his
body as battered as he remembered.
"But like I said..." Loki snapped his fingers, and Xander could see
his body healing up.
"Hey, thanks."
"You're welcome, but don't get used to it. This is a one time deal.
I'm not some kind of cosmic vending machine here. That said-"
Loki made a pass with hand, and then reached into his pocket,
pulling out a plastic bubble. He tossed it to Xander. "I think
this should come in handy."
Xander caught the bubble and opened it up. Inside was a ring. The
ring was made out of silver, and fashioned to look like a snake
swallowing its own tail. Inset in the snake's eye was a completely
black gemstone. The stone seemed to simply swallow all light that
came into contact with it.
"Neat. What does it do?"
"You think I'm going to ruin the surprise? You'll find out soon
enough. Now, let's get you home." Loki raised his hand, ready to
snap his fingers and send Xander back.
"Hey, could I ask you a question first?"
"Go ahead."
"What's with all the different gods? Don't most of you come from
completely different belief systems?"
Loki explained how things worked with the Powers That Be.
"Wow, that actually makes a lot of sense."
"Glad you approve."
"I'm not going to remember any of this, am I?"
"Not a thing."
"Hey, do I owe you anything, you know..."
"Just keep making me laugh, kid." Loki snapped his fingers.
As the world in front of him faded to grey, Xander could barely make
out Loki's final words to him.
"Oh, I also have a case of mead riding on you hooking up with the
blonde..."
---
Dr. Walsh sighed as she read the day's report. Two young men had
been killed in Hostile 17's escape. Two more innocents on her
conscience. Two more faces she would be seeing in her dreams.
Sometimes she wondered if the ADAM project was worth it. But no, it
was too late for thoughts like that, wasn't it? It had to be worth
it. It just had to be.
*****
End chapter 4.
--Randy
Author: Randall Stone
Disclaimer: All characters are belong to someone else.
Summary: Some are born to destiny. Others make their own.
Notes:
Spoilers: S1-4
Continuity changes: Hopefully everything will be explained in the
text. One note- Veruca tragically stepped in front of a bus the
day before she was going to be turned into a werewolf, so Oz will
be hanging around.
From this point on, we are leaving the Season 4 continuity. Only
events described or referred to directly in this fic should be
assumed to have occurred.
Category: B/X, a little B/R early on
Rating: PG-14- nothing worse than what's on the show.
*****
Xander followed the secretary's directions and entered the
mysterious office. The first thing that he noticed was that the
expensive decoration motif from the reception area was continued
inside. The second thing he noticed was that the office was empty.
He was about to walk out when a figure appeared behind the desk in a
swirl of fire. The figure towered over Xander, and appeared to have
some kind of horns on its head. It spoke with a booming bass
voice.
"Alexander Harris, welcome to my abode!"
Xander immediately started backing away. "Um, I'm sorry, I think
I'm in the wrong place."
He was surprised when the thing behind the desk started laughing in
a very normal sounding way. As he watched, the figure started to
melt and reshape itself, ending up as an average sized redheaded
man wearing a mischievous smile. And bent over laughing.
"Oh man, I really had you going there."
"What the hell is going on here?"
The man's laughter subsided. "You really don't know?"
Xander shook his head.
"That spell you cast- it's a cry for help. All the big boys passed-
they don't want to waste their time with some kid out to get himself
killed. So it came down to me."
"Why?"
"I like you kid. You remind me of myself a couple of millenia ago."
"Who are you, anyways?"
"Loki, Norse god of mischief." Loki performed a mock bow. "At your
service."
"Um... hi."
There was a pause as Loki waited expectantly.
"You don't have any idea what's going on here, do you kid?"
"Not really, no."
"OK. Let me explain. First, let's talk about magic.
"Magic, of course, is basically the manipulation of quantum
probability through the use of esoteric forces to produce
counterintuitive results. These forces can be used to project
quantum messages in a wave form... you following me, kid?"
"Right up to 'let's talk about magic'."
"OK, let's try again. You know the smell of the air on the first
day of spring? The crack of the bat at a midsummer baseball game?
A pretty girl's smile? Not magic.
"Think of magic as a sort of fundamental force that can trump all of
the other forces, under the right circumstances. You can't break
the laws of the universe, but you can bend them pretty far.
"Now a human being with some aptitude, like your friend Willow, can
use magic directly to do little things. Float a pencil around, read
a card from the back, that sort of thing."
"She can do that?"
"When was the last time you really cleaned her out at the poker
table?"
"Well, it was... no, it must have been... I see your point."
"Right. Anyways, the human mind on its own is incapable of anything
more than these sort of parlor tricks. The bigger spells, well,
that's where we deities come in.
"As you may have noticed, your standard magic spells take the form
of a very formal request for a favor: Great So-and-so, please do
such-and-such a thing for me. And if the Great So-and-so likes you,
he'll do it for you. That's why witches tend to be such hippy dippy
tree huggers, by the way. Kissing up to the earth goddesses.
"Anyways, the spell that you cast lets you ask for a favor directly.
There are limits, of course, but basically I'm here to help you out.
"So, what seems to be the problem?"
---
Spike groaned as he was roused to consciousness by a bright light
shining in his eyes. He didn't feel any bleeding, so he figured
that his vampiric healing had taken care of all of the surface
damage. A slight soreness from his ribs let him know that he
wasn't quite whole yet.
Gradually his vision cleared up, revealing a flashlight shining into
his eyes being held by Maggie Walsh.
"Well, well. Fancy running into you here. It really is a small
world."
Maggie was not amused. "What the hell were you thinking out there?
Do you even stop to think before you start killing people?"
"Not as a general rule, no."
"Damn it, killing my soldiers wasn't part of the deal."
"Ah yes, the deal. I thought we had a real win win situation going
there, but I guess you got tired of it." Spike sat up and surveyed
the room.
The room looked a lot like the solitary confinement room in a
prison. Solid looking walls, a massive door, and no windows. There
was a small flat panel of glass in the roof that probably hid a
security camera. Spike was secured by a massive ankle chain to the
bed, restricting his movement to only a few feet either way.
Professor Walsh was standing just out of his reach at the end of the
chain.
"Got tired of it? I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Spare me the innocent act, Mags. This isn't the first time
somebody's tried to stake me in the back. The question now is how
you're going to get me out of here."
Walsh drew herself up. "Why on earth would I do that, after-"
"Look, love, you're angry, and you want your pound of flesh. I can
sympathize with that- hell, I've been in the same situation before.
Your man Finn has already collected on that debt." Spike gestured
towards the video camera. "You've even got the home video.
"But you have to understand, I don't intend to be anybody's guinea
pig." Spike's voice hardened. "And I wonder what G.I. Joe would
think of our little deal."
Walsh's eyes widened and she reached into her pocket where she kept
her small stun gun and a wooden stake. Spike saw her action.
"Now now Mags, let's not do anything hasty. Who knows what sort of
incriminating evidence will get sent around if I were to suddenly
vanish?"
---
"OK, I think I see the problem. You want to fight the vampires, but
nobody's afraid of Lamont Cranston."
"Basically, yeah."
"The thing you gotta understand, kid, is that I'm working under some
pretty tight restrictions here. I'm not as high up in the pantheon
as I used to be. So we aren't talking superpowers. Not even the
lame ones."
"I kinda figured that."
"But the good news is, I think I can help. First of all, I can heal
up your injuries."
"You mean I'm not-"
"No, right now we're on the astral plane. Physically..." Loki drew
a square in the air with his finger. When he finished, a screen
appeared that showed Xander lying unconscious in his apartment, his
body as battered as he remembered.
"But like I said..." Loki snapped his fingers, and Xander could see
his body healing up.
"Hey, thanks."
"You're welcome, but don't get used to it. This is a one time deal.
I'm not some kind of cosmic vending machine here. That said-"
Loki made a pass with hand, and then reached into his pocket,
pulling out a plastic bubble. He tossed it to Xander. "I think
this should come in handy."
Xander caught the bubble and opened it up. Inside was a ring. The
ring was made out of silver, and fashioned to look like a snake
swallowing its own tail. Inset in the snake's eye was a completely
black gemstone. The stone seemed to simply swallow all light that
came into contact with it.
"Neat. What does it do?"
"You think I'm going to ruin the surprise? You'll find out soon
enough. Now, let's get you home." Loki raised his hand, ready to
snap his fingers and send Xander back.
"Hey, could I ask you a question first?"
"Go ahead."
"What's with all the different gods? Don't most of you come from
completely different belief systems?"
Loki explained how things worked with the Powers That Be.
"Wow, that actually makes a lot of sense."
"Glad you approve."
"I'm not going to remember any of this, am I?"
"Not a thing."
"Hey, do I owe you anything, you know..."
"Just keep making me laugh, kid." Loki snapped his fingers.
As the world in front of him faded to grey, Xander could barely make
out Loki's final words to him.
"Oh, I also have a case of mead riding on you hooking up with the
blonde..."
---
Dr. Walsh sighed as she read the day's report. Two young men had
been killed in Hostile 17's escape. Two more innocents on her
conscience. Two more faces she would be seeing in her dreams.
Sometimes she wondered if the ADAM project was worth it. But no, it
was too late for thoughts like that, wasn't it? It had to be worth
it. It just had to be.
*****
End chapter 4.
--Randy
