Title: Maxie Needs a New Bike
Author: Nefertiry
Summary: Alec, Max and Logan are planning a little scam which includes Xander's life insurance. Their biggest problem is how to 'kill' Xander. And Xander is an Immortal… Buffy/Dark Angel crossover + the concept of immortality from 'Highlander'
Pairing: Max/Xander
Disclaimer: nothing is mine. Neither the characters of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', nor the characters of 'Dark Angel'. All rights belong to their respective owners.
Author's Note. Ok, the deal's like this. This story is in no way connected with other Buffy/DA crossover that I write. Actually, it's a response to UNTALENTEDTKK's challenge in the last chapter of his 'TF2 –And Then We All Threw Up'. I liked the idea and decided to write it. If anyone wrote a fic with the same theme, then it'll be MY version.
Timeline: early season 2 of DA, after a slightly AU-ish 'Proof of Purchase'. Some events will coincide with the events in the show; some won't (as the story is absolutely AU). Everything that happened to Xander is described in UNTALENTEDTKK's 'The Finals' series. Some things will coincide with the original's story line, some will not. (I'm picking up the storyline from ch. 4 of 'TF2…' and changing some things.)
Author's Note 2 To those who really think that Max is gonna be with Xander… Well, you obviously don't have sense of humor :) Read more and you'll see my reasons for this pairing. And this story will be understandable to those who actually read the stories I mentioned in the first A/N. For crying out loud, people, first read 'The Finals' series. (This note is for SnapDragon, by the way)
Logan Needs Money
Same Friday night as in ch.1
Logan's apartment
Logan was furious. His electronic equipment, the only thing that could compete with Max as his Passion #1 was dead - dead as a doornail, fried as a toast in the toaster. The power surge in the electric grid was so strong that it left half of the city without electricity and fried his computers right in the middle of 'Eyes Only' broadcast.
He fell on the couch and grabbed his head. "What did I do to deserve this?" he groaned.
If only he knew what had caused that power surge…
Three hours earlier
After a tiresome day Xander was pedaling home, dreaming about some sleep, but his dream wasn't meant to come true. He stopped near the shop not far from TC and bought some ham hocks and hotdogs for Joshua. And when he exited the shop he felt it. The Quickening.
"Fuck", cursed Xander silently and looked around, trying to see the Immortal who was giving him that vibe. The street was empty. "Huh, weird", shrugged Xander and went to his bike when a figure clad in long black trench coat appeared between him and his bicycle.
"I challenge you", said the stranger.
"Oh, man", moaned Xander. "Maybe I should wear a sign 'do not disturb' or something", he murmured. "Look, I'm not an active Game player, ok? I just want to go home and get some sleep."
"I do not accept rejection", said the stranger calmly. "En garde!" He drew a long sword from under his coat.
"Will you fight with an unarmed man?" Xander raised an eyebrow.
"No, I'm a man of honor", the man lowered his sword. "I'll meet you in two hours at this place", he gave Xander a piece of paper with the address. "Come armed and we'll fight. If you don't come you'll disgrace yourself and I will hunt you down and kill you."
"Gee, that's interesting", smirked Xander. "Did you pick this place beforehand?" he waved the piece of paper in the air.
"That shouldn't trouble you", the man replied and turned around. "Remember, in two hours. Armed. If you don't come…" he said not looking at the young Immortal.
"Yeh, yeh, I know, I'll disgrace myself and you'll find me and kill me", snorted Xander and mounted his bike. "Don't worry, I'm not a chicken."
The man went down the street and Xander pedaled in the opposite direction, cursing the moment when he decided to buy food in that shop. If he hadn't he wouldn't have been spotted by that Immortal and… 'Argh, it was inevitable. Sooner or later I'd meet one of them and would have to fight. Too bad that it happened sooner', thought Xander while he was driving through the streets of Seattle towards Terminal City.
Terminal City
An hour later
"Xander, thank you for the food", said Joshua entering Xander's apartment. "Why do you need this sword?" wondered the big transgenic, seeing the Wakizashi sword in his hand.
"To defend myself", replied Xander, hiding the sword in the scabbard under his long coat. Then he came up to Joshua and hugged him. "Bye, Josh, and in case I don't return, you've been a good friend", he said, letting go of the big transgenic.
Joshua stared at him not understanding what came over Xander and why he was saying he might not return.
Xander took the keys to his Porsche and went to the door.
An abandoned building near Seattle power plant
Another hour later
"I'm here", shouted Xander entering the empty one-storey building. Probably it used to be a warehouse as there were no walls, just one huge room. It was dark, only the center was illuminated by the bright light coming from powerful halogen lights placed in a circle. "Heh, he even prepared a playground", snorted Xander entering the circle of light.
He didn't get any response. "I'm here!" shouted Xander as loudly as he could.
"Good, good", said the man stepping into the circle of light and drawing his sword. "I knew Kaja could never train a coward."
"Kaja?"
"Yes, she trained you, remember?" said the man mockingly. "She was a beautiful woman and one of the best players of the Game." He sounded almost sad, but his blue eyes were cold as ice when he looked at Xander.
"WAS?" gasped Xander, drawing his sword and taking a fighting stance.
"Yes, I killed her", replied the man nonchalantly, but also took a fighting stance. "Her quickening was amazing and when she died I found out about you, that you have a very powerful quickening even though you are an absolutely fresh Immortal."
"Did you know her?" asked Xander through gritted teeth. This man was starting to annoy him but he wanted to know more about his mysterious teacher.
"Oh, yes, very well", smiled the man smugly. "She was my wife 200 years ago. So, are we gonna fight or not?"
"Wait, what's the hurry?" said Xander. "You'll have time to kill me."
"True", shrugged the man, but didn't lower his sword. Neither did Xander.
"How old are you?" asked Xander, not taking his eyes away from the man, waiting for an attack.
"Oh, I'm old, very old", said the man with a half-smile.
"But still…" insisted Xander.
"I'm 2 thousand years old", said the man with pride.
"Are you the oldest Immortal?" wondered Xander, moving slowly to the right. The man noticed his movement and moved to the left.
"No, the oldest Immortal is 5 thousand years old and his name is Methos, but he's more a legend, than an actual living person", replied the Immortal.
"Do you have a name?" asked Xander, moving slowly.
"I've had thousands of names but you can call me Lucius", replied the old Immortal, copying every movement of his young opponent. Two Immortals circled round each other ready for an attack.
"Well, at least I'll know the name of the man who'll take my head", smirked Xander, hiding his nervousness under sarcasm. "How old was Kaja?"
"A little younger than me, about 1800 years old. I was her teacher, just like she was yours", said Lucius.
"And you killed your own student. What kind of honor, if you are a man of honor, would allow that?"
"She challenged me, we fought, I won", replied Lucius. "In the end there can be only one. And it's gonna be me." With these words he attacked Xander.
*
The fight had been going for half an hour and during the fight Xander and Lucius somehow managed to destroy all halogen lamps that lit their 'playground'.
"Outside", said Lucius when darkness wrapped them.
"Okay", breathed out Xander and ran outside.
The night was clear and full moon gave enough light for the Immortals to see each other. Besides, the lights from the power plant gave them some additional illumination.
The fight continued and Xander felt he was losing it. Lucius's movements were precise and smooth and Xander had a strange feeling of déjà vu; he remembered his trainings with Kaja. But his experience couldn't be compared with Lucius's – one accidentally (not in the fight) killed Immortal/the Watchers' Council hired assassin and a month of training against two thousand years of the active participation in the Game. It was obvious who was meant to go home and who was meant to lose his head.
And again Powers that Be messed with the course of things. Someone above must've liked Xander very much and gave him a chance to win this fight. How?
The area of Seattle power plant wasn't a usual route for the hoverdornes zooming in the air space above Seattle, but by some twist of fate or glitch in the drone's navigation software one of them appeared right above the fighting Lucius and Xander.
"What the heck is that?" exclaimed Lucius who hadn't seen these things before and for a brief moment his attention turned away from Xander. Then next moment Xander's sword swooshed in the air and Lucius's head detached from the body. With a soft 'thump' it landed on the ground and rolled a couple of feet.
"Well, it wasn't very fair but I never said I'd play by the rules", murmured Xander falling on his knees from exhaustion. But it wasn't over yet. He had to take his prize, the Quickening of another Immortal.
Xander remembered his first Quickening – his feelings when he saw that man's whole life, his every victim and his every thought. That wasn't a very pleasant thing… "Daaaaammn!!!" shouted Xander when the Quickening began.
Lucius's body lifted in the air and electricity started to crackle around the body. The first lightning hit Xander and his body arched. He spread his arms and yelled half from pain and half from the amount of energy that was filling him. Again Xander saw every Immortal and human Lucius had killed during those 2 thousand years. Good Immortals and bad Immortals; women and men; people of different nations and races…
While Xander was getting his prize everything around him was raging. Huge bolts of lightning hitting everything they could hit, sparkles flying around, shattered glass in the windows of the old warehouse. One of the bolts hit the high-voltage line at the power plant and caused the power surge in the system…
Logan's apartment
Logan was lying on the couch grieving for his lost electronic equipment and praying that the hard discs with all information hadn't been damaged. "What am I gonna do now?" he whimpered. "I don't have money to buy the new equipment…"
Then he stood up and came up to the bar. But he found only a couple of bottles of red wine and a bottle of Chardonnay. And he needed something much stronger than wine.
Logan sighed, put on the jacket and took the car keys. He needed to get drunk and if he smashed his crappy Lada while driving home drunk, so be it.
Crash
When Logan entered the bar he saw Max and OC at the table and Alec at the bar. He didn't want to join the girls at the table, so he just went to the bar and sat not far from Alec. Alec didn't even notice him; he was drowning his misery in scotch.
"Double vodka, straight", said Logan to the bartender.
*
If it took Alec two hours and a couple of bottles of scotch to get drunk, for Logan it was only half and hour and three double vodkas that made him dead drunk. And right at that moment when both of them reached the desired condition the third character joined them - Xander.
**Flashback**
After the fight with Lucius Xander went home, which made Joshua incredibly happy as he seriously worried about his building-mate. "You're back!" exclaimed the big transgenic running into Xander's apartment and squeezing him in his firm grip.
"Yes, Joshua, I'm back", hissed Xander. He wasn't afraid of dying of suffocation, he just didn't like the moment of resurrection. THAT was unpleasant, to put it mildly. "Let me go, please."
Joshua let go of Xander and smiled widely. "I'm glad you're back", growled the dog-man and clapped Xander on the shoulder.
"Easy, buddy, I don't need a broken shoulder", winced Xander rubbing his shoulder. "You know, I think I should get some drink, ok?"
"Ok", nodded Joshua vigorously.
"Ok", smiled Xander and went to the bedroom to get a jacket. He decided not to take the sword with him as he thought he had fat chances meeting the second Immortal during one night.
**End of flashback**
Xander came up to the bar and ordered one beer when he noticed Alec practically lying on the counter with the stupidest expression on his face. "What happened to you?" asked Xander.
"I need money", whimpered Alec and passed out.
The bartender placed the beer in front of Xander. "Friend of yours?" he jerked his chin towards Alec.
"Not exactly", shook his head Xander and sipped his beer. He looked around trying to see some familiar faces and the first face he saw was Logan's. Logan was in the same condition as Alec – stinking drunk.
He stood up from his stool and approached Logan. "Hey, man, are you alright?" asked Xander sympathetically.
"I'mmm drunk", said Logan with a goofy grin.
"Why are you drunk? Is something wrong between you and Max?"
"Nooo, Maxie's ok", grinned Logan, waving the glass in the air and spilling some vodka on Xander. "Oops, sorry", giggled Logan, trying to wipe the drink from Xander's leather jacket.
"So, what happened?" wondered Xander sitting down on the stool next to Logan.
"My computers fried and I need to buy new ones. But I don't have any money", whimpered Logan, gulped down his vodka and passed out.
"Great", murmured Xander looking at Alec and Logan. "Both need money and both are totally blasted."
TBC
A/N This evening at Crash isn't over yet ;) There's more to come in the next chapter and don't forget to review. Oh, and feel free to read and review my other stories even two of them are finished I'd like to know what you think of them.