Author: Cyclone
Feedback: Please be gentle.
Distribution: Gimme credit and a link.
Rating: Nothing too bad.
Spoilers: Up to the end of both series.
Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to other people. I'm just borrowing them for a while.
Summary: Xander discovers he's not as normal as he thinks.
Author's Note: THIS is certainly a rare crossover. Credit goes to Yorath for his delightful input and some suggested scenes that will appear throughout this series.
Click. Skrik-skrik-skrik. Click. Skrik-skrik-skrik.
She knew she shouldn't be here, but with the bonus she'd gotten for the picture of the one-eyed man last night, she couldn't resist. She had to get another shot.
Besides, the editor had been very obvious about how much he'd like to see more on this.
So, here she was, Minako Aino, photojournalist, following up on her first big break.
Where was the idol girl wannabe now?
She smiled to herself at that. It felt strangely liberating to be behind the camera for once. On the other hand...
Hmm... maybe...
She froze as she saw someone else step over the police line.
It was him.
The man looked around warily, and she hunkered down, resisting the urge to lick her lips. After a moment, apparently assured that he wouldn't be disturbed, he clambered aboard the burned husk of the Kage Maru and began to dig around. Releasing her breath, she crawled back to the roof access door and climbed down into the warehouse.
"Venus Crystal Power, Make Up," she whispered.
After several minutes of waiting while digging through the wreckage, Xander finally stopped and asked, "So, you gonna say something, or are you just gonna stand there all day?"
"Eep!" came the startled reply, and as he looked up, he saw one of the Sailor Senshi step out into view. "How'd you know I was here?"
He shrugged, "Just a feeling." He glanced at her miniskirt, "Isn't that a bit too short to be legal?"
"Regulation, actually," she said with a smile and a shrug. She hopped over to stand next to him and added, "In case you hadn't noticed, it's kind of a uniform."
Xander shook his head, "What is with me and superpowered girls in miniskirts?"
Venus blinked, "You've met the others?" She then scowled, "And they didn't tell me?"
"No," Xander shook his head, "unless you count that mess with the fyarl the other night. Just a few friends of mine back home with a similar fashion sense."
"Oh," she responded. "Thanks, by the way. We probably would've gotten our butts kicked without you." She squatted over by where he had resumed digging through the wreckage. "What're you looking for?"
"This boat was run by demons," Xander replied. "I'm looking to see what they were hauling." After a moment, he asked, "How'd you find me? Was it that article in the paper?"
"Uhh..."
Xander blinked, then blinked again, and then shook his head, thinking to himself, Can't be. There's no way my luck is that bad. Out loud, he asked, "Do you know who wrote the article?"
"Umm..." She blinked and pointed, "Hey, what's that?"
Xander looked down, and then tried to wrestle the small crate out. "Definitely something worth looking into..." he muttered. He looked up, "And don't dodge the question."
Busted, she thought. "Well," she said, "you know how Spiderman has Peter Parker?"
"Yeah..." Xander said carefully. Damn. My luck really is that bad.
"Well, something kinda like that," she explained, "only instead of getting me last night, she kinda got you."
Xander looked at her, "So you knew this was happening, and you didn't bring any backup?"
"That would have attracted an awful lot of attention..." she hedged.
"..." Xander respondedly eloquently. "Fine. Could you at least help me with this?" he asked, as he finally got the crate out and onto the burned deck. "Knowing my luck, that skimpy little costume change comes with a super-strength boost. Am I right?"
"A little," she replied as she bent to the task, "but not that much. How'd you guess?"
He sighed in resignation, "Experience."
After a few moments' struggle, they managed to get it open.
"It's... an arm."
"Get back!" Xander called as he jerked away from the crate himself, narrowly evading the arm's reach.
Sailor Venus shrieked as the arm tried to reach for her, and she leaped clear off the boat. "Venus Love and Beauty Shock!" she cried at the apex of her jump.
At the heart-shaped magical blast, the blue-skinned arm quiesced long enough for Xander to slam the lid shut again and put his full weight on it. As it stirred and began to struggle again, he drew a pistol and began to fire repeatedly into it.
"No," he corrected. "It's a Judge arm. Looks like we've got another apocalypse on our hands here..."
She stared. "'Another'?"
"That's it," he mumbled, glaring at the box and not paying any attention to her, "this time we find a nice active volcano as soon as this is over with... maybe Hawaii..."
"Actually, we have no intention of reviving the Judge," came another voice. "The arm, please. That's really all we want."
Xander looked up and leveled his gun at the demon standing there. "And why would I believe you?" He looked at the demon for a moment and asked coolly, "Brachen?"
The demon held his hands up defensively, "Okay... the hand, then? A bone? We're not asking for much here. Just a piece."
There was a pregnant silence, and the demon swallowed nervously, but kept his head bowed.
"Let me get this straight," the cloaked figure strode over to him. "This man -- whom you've never seen before, but was in the company of a Sailor Senshi -- not only identified Garrick as a brachen demon, but also recognized the Judge's arm?"
"Yes, m'lord."
"And you not only let him live, but let him get away with the Judge's arm?"
"I could not stop him, m'lord."
"And you didn't even have him followed!" the cloaked figure whirled around in fury. "Why am I surrounded by idiots? I don't recall killing anyone for being too smart, so why am I surrounded by idiots? First the fyarl, now this." He glared at him, "Get out of my sight."
"Yes, m'lord!" the demon fled.
He glared at his aide-de-camp, "I believe I need to review the hiring standards you've been working with. I don't want mindless drones. I want people with initiative, people who can think."
"But, Master, such people would be a threat to your rule," his second protested. And mine, he added silently.
"Dear God, do you think I plan to rule the world all by myself? The paperwork alone would kill me."
"So, what was that all about?"
"Honestly, Venus, I don't know," Xander shrugged, "but whatever it is, it isn't good. The Judge was a demon who couldn't be stopped by any weapon forged by man and with the ability to burn humanity off the face of the planet."
"So, what are you going to do with the arm?"
"I know some people who can dispose of it. Don't worry."
The Senshi of Venus frowned at him. They were on the roof of a deserted building, which afforded them a good view of their surroundings.
"So, what brings you to Tokyo?" she asked. "How do you know so much about youma?"
"Grow up on the mouth of hell, you learn a few things," he shrugged again.
Venus took a moment to digest that. While a part of her wanted to trust him -- he had, after all, killed all those youma and probably saved their lives with that... what did he call it? A fyarl demon? -- she couldn't help but recall the stunning number of coincidences in the past.
If there was one thing she had learned as a Sailor Senshi, it was that new arrivals that showed up just when the new enemy did tended to either be the enemy... or a new ally. Which one he was was still up for debate.
She'd have to introduce him to Luna. If past history was any indication, the less Luna trusted him, the more trustworthy he was likely to be.
"All right, I'll get straight to the point here," Venus said. "Are you here to hurt us?"
He blinked, "No, why would I want to do that?"
"Because most of the new, cute guys we run across tend to want to hurt us."
Xander stared at her for a moment, then started rubbing his temples, "I thought I was the only one with that problem."
"You have cute guys showing up to hurt you too?" she asked, confusion and growing horror on her face.
"No," he said with a shudder. "Beautiful women. So I suppose I could ask you the same thing."
"Oh," she blushed as relief flooded through her. "So where do the cute guys come in?"
"They tend to go for one of my friends," he shrugged. "She tends to attract the tall, dark, and homicidal types."
"Wow," Sailor Venus sat on the low wall marking the roof's edge. "So, what now?"
"You tell me," he said. "I mean, how come you've so quiet the past ten years, for example? Local hellmouth close or something?"
"Hell-what?"
"Hellmouth. It's a mystical convergence where the barriers between dimensions are weakened, making it easier for demons and other nasties to cross over."
"Oh!" Sailor Venus nodded. "Well, it would actually explain a lot, but we never knew about anything like that."
"You mean there's other weird things out there to worry about?"
She nodded, "Yup."
Xander gave her a speculative look, "Like what?"
Sailor Venus looked around for a moment and then whispered, "Do you believe in aliens?"
"Lay off the X-Files, Venus," Xander deadpanned.
She stamped her foot and glared at him -- Xander knew this wasn't going to be fun -- and insisted, "Aliens are real!"
"Look, I'm not gonna argue," he said, holding his hands up placatingly. "It's just... the only alien I ever ran into was still a demon."
"Well, the only demons I ever ran across were aliens... at least, I think they were," she amended. "They were from other planets, at any rate."
Xander looked at Venus for a second and then shook his head, "You know, for some odd reason, that actually made sense."
Venus nodded, "Just wait until you meet the others." Mineminemineminemine.
"And when will that be?" Xander asked, just as Sailor Venus's communicator began beeping.
"Sooner than I thought," she replied with a sigh as she answered.
Author's Postscript:
No, I haven't abandoned this one.