Xander spent his 'other month' doing pretty important stuff. Like finding a job. Learning how to control his powers. And not using those powers to kill his father. He and his mother had the same relationship they always had, just that he lived in the basement and gave them money now, in that they were survivors aka victims of Xander's father.
He managed to get himself in with a local construction company, unfortunately the first job they had didn't start until November, and they weren't willing to give him a desk job until then. So he spent his first week back going around town and filling out applications. He spent his first two weeks after that week of applications, getting trained at 'Double-Meat Palace' and quit the day after he got his first paycheck. The only other place that would take him…Ice cream truck man.
There were exactly three genuinely good things about what he had once thought of as the greatest job in the world. He did get to eat the ice cream free, but after a box of fudge 'cicles and the first dozen creamy puffs…his stomach protested that particular job perk. He got to drive around town, learning more about the streets of Sunnydale and its residential areas than he had ever known before. And the greatest of all, he had a lot of alone time. Giving him time to practice his powers and train himself in using them.
Holograms, even ones using massive amounts of the light in the air, were easy to him now. But what he wanted to do, what he was trying to do, was create a Star Trek hologram. He could do illusions perfectly, but what he had yet to learn how to do was create force fields.
'Maybe I should tell Willow,' Xander thought as he drove along. 'Cordy already knows, and it's not that big of a deal with her. But then again…'
Xander remembered that despite the total witch-kick Willow was on right now, she was still, at her heart, a total scientist. Which meant experiments, observation, researching involving him being her guinea pig… And maybe even contacting the authorities about the Big Bang mess.
He really wanted to avoid that one. He'd heard, as had the rest of the Scooby Gang, about how there was already special medical and scientific divisions being set up within the government to help the Bang Babies deal with their mutations. He was already dealing with it; he just wanted to take it to its maximum potential.
'Why though?' he asked himself as he stopped at a red light.
He didn't even hesitate in answering, whispering to himself, "Buffy…"
But would Buffy understand? Willow would, again going back to the scientist thing, but Buffy… Buffy was the Slayer, and without regards to one ensouled vampire currently not in Sunnydale, weird things Slayer 1 slain Xander. Him being able to control light would definitely be a weird thing.
Oh sure, she would understand eventually, but it would be the initial confrontation that would kill him. Or at the very least endanger his life. He sighed. His whole point to learning how to use these powers of his was so he could contribute to the Scooby Gang, help protect people, help fight the demons and other nasties on the Hellmouth.
He paused. 'Well…why can't I? I can still protect the innocent, fight the forces of darkness with my powers of light, but who says I have to do it with the Scooby Gang?' he asked himself. His face lit up, not literally though. 'I just got myself a secret identity. I'll have to make myself a costume. Like Spiderman.'
But that brings us back to the whole full potential of these powers, he realized.
'I've got no choice. I have to tell Willow. Experimenting might be just what I need.' He thought. 'I'll tell her tomorrow.'
That night, Xander walked to Giles apartment, which is where Mrs. Summers said Buffy was, to announce to the gang that he was back early. Just before he got to the door he paused. He'd have to make something up to tell Giles and Buffy about where he'd been during his road trip. Well…he had wanted to stop at that diner in Oxnard, but instead kept going, which is where he ran to Dakota City, just in time for the Big Bang. He could just say his car broke down in Oxnard and he…what? Washed dishes to pay to get it fixed? Nah, that'd never fly because it's been used on TV too many times.
He paced and thought about it for about nine more minutes on Giles' front porch before he finally made his decision and settled his courage to actually say it. He stripped. Well, that is to say to pay off his car getting fixed. He stripped for money. Or he was a Bouncer at a strip club… Better stick with washed dishes at a strip club, he decided.
Taking a deep breath, Xander walked into Giles' home. Only to find it empty. It looked as if the G-man was finally finding a life outside of being a retired Watcher, Xander thought as he came down from the Englishman's bedroom. If the discarded clothes were any clue that is, he added, because I shudder to think of any other reason the G-man would have lady's undergarments on his floor.
Disappointed, and slightly relieved, that the gang wasn't hanging around Giles researching the next apocalypse, Xander made his way to the only other place he could think of where he might be able to find Buffy or Willow. The Bronze.
He found her all right. Looking about half as miserable as he felt. Then he stopped when she suddenly seemed to perk up, and he tracked her line of sight. A guy, that from the back coulda been Angel's twin, was just now turning around to show that he was not Angel, and Buffy deflated again, looking even more miserable, no doubt berating herself for hoping it was Angel.
Xander couldn't stand this any longer. Silently, well, silent enough in the din that was the Bronze, he snuck up behind her and gently tapped her shoulder, and said, "The whole world in front of her and she comes back to this dive." He'd heard it in a movie that he'd watched on TV recently.
"Xander!" the blonde Slayer exclaims and immediately gives him a bear hug, forcing him to bend down to accept it. The welcome doesn't last nearly as long as he would have preferred, but it was enough to remind him why he'd even come back here.
"Hey Buff," he said gently as they released each other. He still couldn't help wondering about his thoughts of Buffy's attitude of 'Slay first, ask questions later,' and what her reaction would be if he confided in what had happened, but it was just a momentary thought and he concentrated more on being back with her. In the sense of hanging like best buds do.
"Oh, when did you get back?" Buffy asked.
"A couple of… days ago," he'd almost told the truth and said 'weeks', but his common sense dictated otherwise.
Buffy frowned. "You freak of nature! Why didn't you call me?"
Xander winced at her term, but answered honestly this time, "Well I knew you guys were starting the whole college adventure and I didn't want to, um, you know... help you move. Plus I had to settle myself in, and one moving trip is quite enough thank you."
Buffy giggled good naturedly, the complete and total opposite to what she had been a few moments before. "I missed you," she admitted with a fond smile on her face, "So, spill. How was your trip? Was America nice? I hear it's nice."
"There's some purple mountain majesty, I'm gonna have to say," Xander joked.
"What'd you do? What did you see?" she quizzed as they sat down in one of the available booths.
"Well…" Xander hesitated, thinking 'This is it. Crunch time. Where's Shaq when you need him?'
"Tell me." Buffy outright demanded.
"Grand Canyon," he told her.
"You saw the Grand Canyon?" she asked, surprised.
'Why would she be surprised?' he wondered.
"Well, no, I saw the movie Grand Canyon. On cable TV. Really lame." 'And it's also where I got that stupid line from,' he thought.
"Hunh?" Buffy's look was completely clueless.
Xander sighed. From the moment that he had left his… "apartment" he had been thinking over and over in his mind what to tell his friends when he saw them and they asked what he did on his trip. From the moments he had walked into the Bronze and saw Buffy, he had perfected the details of his "washed dishes in a strip club" story.
"Basically, I got as far as Oxnard and the engine fell out of my car, and that was literally. So, I ended up washing dishes at 'The Fabulous Ladies Night Club' for about a month and a half while I tried to pay for the repairs. No one really bothered me or even spoke to me until one night when one of the male strippers called in sick and no power on this earth will make me tell you the rest of that story. Suffice to say I traded my car in for one that wasn't entirely made of rust, came trundling back home to the arms of my loving parents, where everything was exactly as it was except I sleep in the basement and I have to pay rent. How's college?"
"Male strippers?" Buffy asked, a cute and curious look on her face.
"No power on this Earth!" Xander said with absolute finality, and brought out Resolve Face. Willow may have perfected it, but he knew how to use it.
"OK," she let it go, and then frowned and with a voice so glum that he briefly mistook the Slayer for her once broody vampire boyfriend, "College is good."
"OK, uh, once more with even less feeling," Xander commented.
"No, really! I-I mean, Willow's in heaven, and Oz even has this off-campus house with the band," she listed the good things that she had observed.
"And yet you're still sitting here alone at the Bronze looking like you just got diagnosed with cancer of the puppy," Xander pointed out. "Come on Buff, seriously. This is me here. What's wrong?"
Buffy frowned and sighed. "It, it, it's just… I don't think I'm ready for college. The classes are unbelievably hard, my roommate is a nightmare and a half, Willow and Oz don't have any time for anyone but each other, and then I couldn't find you anywhere and Giles is saying I don't need him anymore and Mom turned my room into a storage place for her art stuff and…"
"Is that all?" Xander asked with a laugh in his voice.
"Well, I also got my arm broken by this skanky bitch vamp the other day before I finally managed to stake her and half her goon squad. It's been hurting for a while, but other than that I've just been feeling miserable."
"Oh," Xander muttered as he settled more comfortably into the couch. "Want me to get you some mocha?" he asked after a minute's silence.
Buffy turned and graced him with a slight smile that slowly grew, "Thanks, I'd like that."
Xander nodded with a full lop-sided grin. "Stay right here, I'll be right back." He got up and made his way to the refreshment bar. Luckily, nothing happened on his way to the bar, nor while he waited to get Buffy's mocha and his own soft drink. It was when he was walking back that suddenly every light in the place seemed to get about a thousand times brighter than normal, although Xander seemed to be the only one who noticed it.
He momentarily staggered, incidentally right next to a table whose sole occupants were without any doubt "nerds", and then froze. A moment later, he seemed to have adapted as suddenly every iota of light in the dark club became twice as intense to normal once the brief overload of light had subsided. He almost called it night vision but the fact that he could still detect shadows; only now see through them, was what changed his mind. It was more that, he now realized, he had somehow subconsciously commanded all the light around him to send a few extra particles of itself to his eyes only.
He paused by a mirror and looked at himself, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the only side effect was that his eyes looked a bit brighter, which could easily be blamed on the weird lighting of the nightclub. He quickly moved on with the drinks to where Buffy was waiting.
"Hey, took you long enough," Buffy teasingly commented as he handed her drink over.
"Yeah well, blame the people in front of me who couldn't tell a five from a fifty and insisted on haggling it out with the cashier," Xander replied in the same tone, eliciting a soft smile from the Slayer.
"So besides not great, how are things? I mean really," Xander asked, switching to his rarely used 'serious voice'.
Buffy frowned as she put her mocha back on the table beside them. "I…I guess it isn't as bad as I thought it was. I just missed my Xander-shaped friend. You always make everything not quite as serious, and I missed that. Things just weren't as fun with you not around."
Xander smiled. "Well gosh!" he suddenly gushed and play-acted like he had just been given an Emmy. Buffy giggled and laughed at his antics. The rest of the evening was spent catching up with one another and making plans for the near future. Such as going to visit Giles for a Scooby meeting the next afternoon.
By the time the two young adults had left the club, they were both feeling much better about themselves, and the rest of the world. Buffy, apparently, was feeling so good that she gave Xander a kiss on the cheek good night before leaving. Xander sighed and watched after her for some minutes, until she finally walked out of his view, and he headed, rather glumly, back to his own residence.
Not five minutes after he and Buffy parted company that Xander heard a telltale crash down an alley he was passing. Making sure he had the stake that he always kept with him, especially after his road trip, was in his hand, he quickly headed down the alley, unconsciously calling the light in the alley to his eyes so he could see better. What he saw greatly disturbed him.
Because it wasn't a gang of vamps, or even a single vampire beating up a victim. It was three overgrown, mountainous thugs that might have been jocks when they were in high school like ten years ago, beating up, and looking to do worse to a young girl that looked like she still was in high school.
Xander almost growled himself, his temper getting the better of him as he triggered his powers with a single thought.
The small alley was flooded in blinding light, causing all but one to cry out in pain and cover their eyes. The thugs were knocked back, and then suddenly Xander struck, not with more light, as the most of it was coming from him directly, but with his fists, feet, and legs. Before they knew it, all three thugs were knocked out, unconscious on the ground.
Without dimming the light he was emitting, mostly because he hadn't figured out how to yet, Xander turned to the beaten young woman and asked as kindly as he could, "Are you all right?"
"I…I-I, I t-th-think s-so. Th-thank you," the timid blonde stuttered out. She kept blinking her eyes, but slowly, her vision was clearing, however the light around the mysterious man that had just saved her was so bright that she couldn't clearly, or actually, see him. "Who…who are you?"
The man seemed to hesitate for a moment and then she got the funniest impression he was smiling as he said to her, "I'm just your friendly, neighborhood white knight, at your service milady." He then did a funny little bow and righted himself, still smiling at her.
"Tell you what, why don't you go call the police, tell them what happened and where you are. I'll keep these thugs here to keep them out of trouble. It can be dangerous out at night here. More dangerous than I would have thought apparently."
The young blonde, a girl named Tara Maclay, hesitated for only a few moments before quickly scurrying out of the alley and then to the nearest phone. Leaving Xander, still brightly glowing, in the alley with the three unconscious goons.
'Can't very well leave them here, too much of a chance of a vamp strolling along and getting them, and even they don't deserve that,' Xander thought. He began to cast about the alley, looking for something to use, when he saw a coil of wire that if it wasn't already tightly wound up, he might be able to use. Unfortunately, he was nowhere near strong enough to actually use it. He wished that he could just make a 'light' copy of it and use the hologram to hold the guys, but he still…
Xander startled when suddenly strands of light that he was emitting reached out and almost seemed to absorb themselves into the wire he was looking at, and then moments later rejoin him, and half a moment after that, he felt the light reshape itself into a way he had never imagined or seen before, but somehow was still natural for the light, into a solid, white, hologram of the wire, except fully controlled by him.
Ecstatic, but still too nervous to be celebrating, Xander directed the 'light' wire to wrap itself around the three thugs, and then hang them from the fire escape right above them. Like a snake-rope in a cartoon, the white colored wire did exactly that. It was as easy as manipulating the light and creating holograms to them.
Then he heard the cops and felt the blue and red lights, and casting about for a way out of the alley, absently wishing he had wings to fly him out, he felt the light reshape again, and suddenly he had wings on his back, picking him up and carrying, and then gliding him away from the alley.
"I'm starting to get the hang of this," Xander said to himself as he controlled how and where the wings took him and set him down on the ground, in another dark alley closer to his house. Xander relaxed himself, feeling tense ever since seeing that young woman in danger, and as he relaxed, the light he was emitting slowly ebbed, and then disappeared all together. Denied of a light source, the wings, and the rope back in the alley, dissolved away into nothing.
Xander sighed as the realization struck home closer than ever. "Gotta talk to Wills about this," he mumbled depressingly. He couldn't just keep figuring things out like this by accident. He needed a path, and Willow was the only person that he trusted enough and he knew was knowledgeable enough to help him.
Sure Giles was a full adult, graduated with honors, Watcher-guy, but he was the expert in the supernatural. What was happening to Xander wasn't supernatural it was science. And Willow was the expert in science.
"First thing tomorrow," Xander promised himself as he walked back to his bed in silence.
Xander, thanks mostly to good thinking, and ending up calling Oz first by accident, called ahead for Willow so they could meet, catch up, and have some privacy for their talk. Willow was completely busy with classes, as it was still the beginning of the semester, until 2 o'clock, but unfortunately his shift didn't end until 4. 'Stupid ice cream truck job,' he thought bitterly as he planned to meet Willow at a college campus coffee shop at 5.
Xander had been practicing the solid hologram trick all day, as he had practiced with the rest of his skills. By quitting time, he had figured out how to do it at will rather than instinctually as he had last night. The big thing though, it always required the light that he himself generated, using any other light source just didn't work. Although, he could use another light source to fuel the hologram after he turned his own light off so it could still last, to initiate it at all required the light his own body generated.
That was another thing he had discovered from his accident the night previous. He seemed to store up extra light inside himself, and he wasn't even sure how much of that he could, but he now had an answer as to why he felt "hungry" that morning in LA, and in Dakota City…that is until he was standing in sunshine. He was absorbing the sunlight and keeping it in his body somehow, though he couldn't begin to explain to himself how. Just another thing he'd have to ask Willow to help him with.
He quickly went home to shower and get off 'ice cream' smells, although not too bad, he still didn't want it on him, as well as stickiness from his own snacks. As it was, he was only five minutes late to the coffee place, but that was mostly because he spent fifteen minutes looking for it.
At the sight of Willow, with her hair fashioned into a cute bob no less, Xander's heart soared and he felt a piece of him that he hadn't known he'd been missing suddenly fill in and sing with joy at the sight of his oldest and dearest friend. It was like finding a long lost sister safe and sound.
"Willow!" he cried as they embraced. "It's great seeing you!"
"Xander! Omigawd I missed you so much you have to tell me everything that happened to you now don't hold anything back and Buffy told me that you worked in a stripper bar in Oxnard and you…" Willow babbled, but Xander smiled lovingly down at her, and then pinched her lips closed with his forefinger and thumb.
"I've missed you too Wills. Now lets go someplace and talk. Privately please. Willow, please?" Xander begged until he saw the acceptance in her eyes and finally let go of her lips.
"Xander? What's wrong?" she asked, concerned, and grabbing her purse as they left.
"Will…is there some place we can talk privately, and be really alone? I'm serious Willow, I've…I need to tell you something and only you, no one else." Xander, for good measure pulled out his puppy-dog eyes.
Now Willow was really concerned. She nodded numbly and led him through a virtual maze that was the college campus until finally they entered a dark building, which apparently was a science building as they entered a locked lab, which Willow had the key for, which was darker than the rest of the building.
"We can't get any more alone than this Xander," Willow told him. "Now…if this is about…you know, the whole fluke thing, then…"
Xander immediately shook his head, emphatically denying that scenario. His…feelings over Willow were now for all time siblings in nature only.
"No, no, no, and again I say no," Xander said, putting the emphasis of his denial into words. "I'm entirely over that, and now more than ever I believe that you and Oz belong together and I would never in my life risk your happiness with him for anything. This is… quite a bit more serious I'm afraid." Xander started to pace around the dark lab.
"Xander? You're scaring me," Willow's voice conveyed just how true that was.
"I'm pretty scared myself Wills, believe me," he sighed, and ran his hands through his dark hair. "You, uh, have you been keeping track of the news? Heard about that explosion in Dakota City they're calling "The Big Bang"? Willow, have you?"
Willow was staring at Xander, praying with all her might to the goddess that what she felt and knew in her heart he was telling her was not what he was telling her. She nodded, knowing almost every detail of the chemical disaster. She even knew quite a bit more than she had a right to about what the chemical in the Big Bang was.
Xander sighed again and kept pacing.
"I lied to Buffy. I never even stayed in Oxnard. I was going to stop there for a bite to eat, but for some reason, I…I didn't. Instead I kept going, only stopping to get gas and food, and I found myself in Dakota City…the night of the Big Bang." Xander paused and took a deep breath. "I stopped for gas about half way into the city. There was a vamp there and I dusted it. After I got back in my car, I got buzzed by a police copter, and that's when I noticed what was going on down by the docks. I…I'm not sure why, but I went in that general direction when suddenly there was this huge explosion."
Xander stopped and turned to look at his best friend, his face and front covered in shadows. "By the time I got there, this purple mist was damn near everywhere. Where I parked, I saw this young kid in trouble, some innocent bystander that got caught between the crossfire of a gang war. A real gang war Wills, not vamps. I grabbed him, pulled him in my car, and we hightailed it out of there. But…not before we both got a lungful of that purple mist. I drove him home, and his father ran a kids shelter and let me spend the night. By morning, I was on my way back to LA."
"Xan…Xander…wh-what are you saying?" Willow stutteringly asked.
"I guess it's better if I just show you," was all he said before slowly the lights came on in the lab. Until Willow realized that the lights weren't on, but the room was lit up as if they were.
She looked back at Xander, and immediately had to cover her eyes from the incredibly bright glare he presented her with. Almost immediately the room was plunged back into its darkened state.
"Xan-Xan-Xander, you-you-you're a, a, a…" Willow stuttered.
"I'm," Xander finished for Willow, "a Bang Baby. Ever since that day, I've been able to control light, and just last night I figured out how to generate it as well. Normal guy got powers. Must be a sign of the apocalypse somewhere."
Willow was almost too stunned to speak.
Finally, she managed to gain enough thought to actually form words. "Why didn't you…why did you lie to Buffy? And why haven't you told us about this sooner?" she asked.
Xander shrugged and took a few steps forward until the light from a blinded window illuminated his face. "Willow, think about it. Buffy Slayer. Slayer live on Hellmouth. Hellmouth equal weird things and weirdos that always want to destroy or control the world. Normal guy gets powers. Normal guy is now weird. Slayer kill weird and dangerous things, and until I can prove that I can control these powers, that makes me pretty dangerous Willow. Willow, I, I'm scared."
"Oh Xander," Willow raced forward and embraced her now meta-human friend. "I…I promise, I'll help you. No matter what, I'll help you."
Xander smiled, feeling a warmth fill his soul. "OK, first rule, until I can control this thing," Xander told her as they released from their hug, "we can't tell Buffy or Giles. Think about it Willow. Even with you backing me up that this is a science freak accident thing, they're going to think an evil supernaturalness is at work."
"Buffy would never hurt you Xander, you should know that better than any of us," Willow protested, "And, and look at Oz. He's a werewolf, but he's still part of the group."
"Yeah, because we know how to control him when he's dangerous. Willow…I don't think you quite understand what all I can do here. I control light. Our eyes are dependent on light to see. Remember the funny monkeys, "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil"? Well with me, it'd be "See no anything!" And that's not all, I can create illusions, as easily as you can write your name with a pencil, and just last night, I actually created a very for real, solid hologram. I'm talking Star Trek Next Generation holograms here Willow. I need your help, and not just keeping this secret. I need your help to help me figure out my powers, how to help me control them, hell, explain to me what they do or what it is. I'm going on instinct here, and considering I've only been a meta for three weeks, that's not comforting even to me!"
Willow frowned with thought as Xander finished. She believed him about what he said, if anything his earlier display was more than proof enough. Then she really began thinking.
Slowly, the need for secrecy became more and more relevant in her mind. She nodded, a resolved and strong look in her eyes. "All right. I promise Xander. And I promise to help you as much as I can. But…I'm not an expert in meta-humans. If, if you get sick or something…"
Xander shushed her, a fond smile forming on his face. "I promise, if anything goes really wrong with me, I'll turn myself into the proper authorities. Like S.T.A.R. Labs. They're the people that take care of Superman, remember?"
Willow nodded and smiled. Then she looked thoughtful again before an even bigger smile came up on her face. "What?" Xander asked. He recognized that look.
"A new branch of S.T.A.R. Labs just opened up outside of town. They've set up a kiosk near the Academic building. They're asking for student volunteers. Not for like experiments or anything, but like internships, only actual jobs and stuff. At first I wasn't going to do anything with it, but…now I'm going to sign up," Willow told him.
"Wait, what? Why?" Xander tried to follow, but falling just short.
"S.T.A.R. Labs is the premier organization into the study of meta-humans, funded through multiple grants and donations from many generous business owners. They also have the latest in technology to help them in that study," Willow explained. "Once I'm in, it shouldn't take me too long before I can access the lab and tools, and then we can start getting real data on your new meta-humanness."
Xander grinned, then a thought suddenly struck him that took it from his face. "Wait, Willow, won't using equipment like that leave a trail, like a listing that someone used it at this time, or maybe even the results of what was done with it. They'll know it was me!"
Willow gave her lanky friend a disturbingly evil grin. "Xander, Xander, Xander, do you truly doubt me, and my hacking skills, that much?"
Xander stared for about three seconds before a very similar grin appeared on his face, and he started chuckling. "Remind me to never, ever underestimate you Wills," he laughed, and hugged her again. She laughed with him, until they let go of each other, and then she got serious in a heartbeat.
"OK, first of all, I have to get a baseline of what all you can do. What are you doing this weekend? I have a feeling this might take a while," she said, getting down to business.
"My weekend is entirely yours Willow," he said with a smile, feeling a great weight lift from his burden. Whether that was from getting Willow's help with his new powers, or finally telling Willow, or a combination of both, he couldn't tell. He was just glad it was gone.
"All right then. I'll see you tonight at the Bronze with Buffy, but plan to meet me just outside this building at the side entrance we came in on Friday night. That's when we'll start. Right now, I've got to hurry if I'm going to catch those S.T.A.R. Labs people before they leave for the day. Don't worry Xander, I'll help you learn to control your powers, and then everything will be all right," she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek before running off, presumably to the kiosk near the Academic center.
Xander sighed, and took a deep breath of relief. Then he too left the science building. Neither aware of the watching eyes, hidden so deep in the shadows that even the light meta couldn't see them.
Two weeks later had seen greater change for everything than anyone expected.
First of all, Buffy's roommate from hell ended up actually being from Hell, and because Buffy interrupted some ritual she was doing that was draining Buffy's soul, she got sent back to wherever she came from, and Willow moved into Stevenson Hall to become Buffy's new roommate.
Second, Willow was not only accepted into the S.T.A.R. Labs program, she was made Senior Management Director of Student Applications at the lab just outside of town, which was actually about a ten minute drive, or a single bus ride from the campus. Basically she was put in charge of all the other "interns" and answered only to the Head Director of the Lab, a Professor Laura Clarkson, or "Laurie" to Willow.
Interestingly enough, this also gave Willow exactly what she had promised Xander, access to the lab and all of its meta-human studying equipment, and equal access to the computer system that would allow her to cover up their tracks after using the equipment to study Xander's powers over light.
Giles had slowly become a more active role in the Scooby Gang's life, after briefly parting from it as they were in college and he was living off his savings. He was in particularly valuable when dealing with Buffy's demon roommate, and later in dealing with a couple of demons Buffy had come across on her patrol that had nearly beaten her before running off. He provided once more the needed research to show exactly how Buffy could, and did defeat the demons.
Xander's job with the construction company was still a month away, but his skill with his powers was increasing in droves, day by day. Willow claimed that it was because light was almost always all around us, and it was like he was swimming in his element, completely natural.
Xander still gave credit to Willow for her helping him.
That first weekend experimentation period had been rough, for both of them, as Willow had not figured out how to safely contain Xander's powers, and he hadn't planned on spending all Friday night, Saturday morning, afternoon, evening, and then well past midnight into the early hours of Sunday morning being Willow's guinea pig. So she was temporarily blinded at least five times, and he was nearly a walking corpse, with less life than a vampire zombie by the time Willow let him get some sleep.
Nevertheless, Willow got her baseline results. After that, she checked up on him in his basement home several times during the next week, showing him her results of the tests, and giving him exercises he could be doing with his powers, like creating holograms from a distance, finding out what that distance was and trying to do it from further away. Things like that and other things even more difficult.
By the next weekend, where they once again planned on spending the weekend in the lab, Xander felt he had a very good control on his powers, but Willow pointed out to him, not full control. At least things weren't going out of control around him. Yet.
That second weekend was all about pushing Xander's limits with his powers, and push them they did. His range, from the baseline, nearly doubled in his ability to affect outside light, and exponentially increased according to days on how much and how far the light he himself generated and could control that.
He also learned control over the solid holograms, or solholos as he liked to call them, at first as a joke to Willow, but it quickly caught on. He could pretty much create a holographic reconstruction of anything, even stuff just from his imagination, but the difference quickly became that holographs were only light, while his solholos had no color and were only a pure white. Shadows rested on them, so one could define their shape, but at the same time they shined.
Willow was at a loss to explain it and came to the conclusion that the only way they could get any real answers, was with S.T.A.R. Labs equipment. Willow had a scheduled lab time that Tuesday afternoon, and Xander was off that day, so they were making plans with how to get Xander into the lab with Willow, without actually bringing him into the lab, through Security and all that.
"It's not that hard, you've done it dozens of times already Xander," Willow chastised him. "Just make sure absolutely no light, nothing hits you. Make all the light go away from you."
"But Willow…" Xander tried again to protest.
"How else are we going to get you past security? We've already discovered that your powers don't affect just visible light, and when you turn stuff invisible, it is completely undetectable except through touch." Willow tried again to convince him to do it.
"And sound," Xander added. Then he realized she had just given him the perfect opening. "What if I make all light just go around me. There would only be a slight distortion, true, but if I'm careful nobody will even think to look for me."
"No, not good enough. Xander, I don't think you realize just how good this security is," Willow told him.
"And I don't think you realize what you're asking for," Xander told her just before he disappeared.
Willow stared for a moment, and was filled with an incredible unease as she stared at the empty space where Xander had been. It…it was just wrong somehow. She couldn't explain it, but it was like there was a space of just nothing there, and that was just wrong.
Then Xander suddenly filled in the nothing. "That is reflecting all light away from me. I know what it looks like. And even though it is a big strain, I could just make it so no light can reflect off of me at all."
"But…won't that turn you into like, a walking shadow?" Willow asked.
Xander and several things directly around him suddenly disappeared. There was no sense of wrongness, or even a distortion. It was like Willow was alone in the lab until footsteps sounded. Suddenly Xander was right beside her, causing her to jump.
"What about lasers?" she asked once she had calmed down, no longer trying to force Xander's way of doing things.
Xander shrugged, "I can just tell them to avoid me. Not that hard after practicing all day yesterday with that laser machine of yours."
"It's the schools, and okay. Just remember, meet me at the coffee place, then we'll find some place for you to turn invisible, and then stay with me on the bus until we're at the labs. And hopefully Security won't be that bad. Or maybe…"
"Wills, you've got a class in half an hour, do we really have time for a babble-lecture?" Xander teased.
She smiled at him and hit him on the arm before saying her good byes and then quickly heading to her class. Xander sighed and lay back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, imagining what the next day would bring, and what he might have to end up doing if he and Willow got caught. Turning her invisible with him would definitely be one, but creating distracting holographs and solholos were also near the top of his list.
Tuesday early afternoon, everything had gone rather smoothly and straightforward. Xander and Willow had met at the coffee shop, talked for a little bit, relaxing away the last bit of their nervousness, and then Xander looked at his watch and made an excuse of needing to go to the bathroom, but didn't want to make Willow wait for him and miss the movie they were going to see. He made sure to say it casually out loud.
Willow had smiled brightly and put up an almost typical protest and wanting to wait for him, except that she didn't babble once. So, walking around behind the building where the restrooms were, Xander canceled out the light reflecting off of him, making for all intents and purposes as far as anything could care, that he wasn't even there. Because what light didn't reflect, it just went through.
Xander touched Willow at a specific point on her neck occasionally to let her know that he was still with her, and then with just enough time to get to the bus stop, she made a bit of noise about Xander making her miss the movie, and then "stormed off" without him. Even Xander was pretty convinced.
The bus ride, since it only went three places, the campus, S.T.A.R. Labs, and it's fueling station in L.A., was also easy, though to keep the driver and what few other passengers there were from being suspicious, Willow made Xander stand the entire trip, although he assured her that it would be no trouble to project a holograph of a seat without a person-depression in it. She still made him stand.
It wasn't until they got to the Lobby security gate that Xander realized that Willow had forgotten one very important detail. The metal detector.
"Willow," he urgently hissed in her ear, dragging her towards the restrooms and water fountains.
"What?" she asked mightily pissed as she aimed for the water fountain, not even considering taking Xander with her into the ladies restroom.
"I need you to take the metal off of me. Just a few coins," coins appeared in the water fountain dish, "my watch and my wallet," they too appeared as Willow opened her purse and put the requested items into it, "and this." A chain floating in the air appeared right before Willow's eyes. She almost panicked, but realized that the object was hidden by her head and body from view. Then she noticed the object on the chain.
"Xander," she reached up and took the chain from her friend, holding the object in the palm of her other hand, "what is this?"
The object was a pendant of some kind, looking kind of like a Yin Yang sign, but wasn't at the same time. It was circular, but the wave down the middle was horizontal, not vertical as with most Yin Yang symbols, and there were two colored lines separated the black and white spaces. The black half wasn't really black, but the uncolored metal of the pendant, and had two symbols written in red on it. The white half, separated from the metal by a gold line and a silver one, held a bright white crystal on one side, and on the other another symbol.
"Something from my grandfather, on my mother's side before he died," Xander explained, the emotion plain in his voice. He had loved his grandfather. "It means, 'the light in the dark shines brightest'. You can't really see it, but the symbol for brightest is etched into the center of the stone there."
"Xander…" Willow started to ask more, but he interrupted her.
"Wills, that's all the metal on me, now lets move. Don't wanna get caught at the entrance to the Lion's den," he joked. Willow smiled and quickly put all the items away and walked back to the security gate.
"And you could have mentioned the metal detector earlier," he whispered into her ear a few feet from the gate. She just smiled and nodded at the guard, who smiled back, but said nothing.
She placed her purse and a couple other things on the X-ray conveyor belt, then stepped through, and held baited breath as she waited for the alarms to go off about the unauthorized meta-human in the building. But no alarms went off, and despite her holding her breath, she smiled again as she retrieved her purse and other items and went on into the building.
Only once she was in the main hallway to the primary lab, did she begin to worry overtime and slow down, trying to look around her without appearing to look around her for any trace of Xander. She was halfway down when she felt the familiar touch on the back of her neck and let out the breath she had been holding in relief and whispered, "Xander?"
"Who's Xander?" a familiar, but not Xander's voice said right behind her.
She jumped and shrieked a little when she saw her direct boss at the Labs, Professor Laura Clarkson, right behind her and looking concerned. She got her breath back under control quickly and her mind already on overdrive quickly gave her an excuse.
"Oh, Laurie, you startled me!" Willow accused the older woman. "Xander is a friend of mine, and he's been having some trouble lately. He, uh, he didn't get into college and is kind of feeling left out, so I was preoccupied with trying to think of some way of getting his spirits back up, that doesn't involve drinking or anything too dangerous, but he is a guy and I guess that…"
"OK, OK, I get the idea, and I am now very sorry I asked," Laurie threw her hands up to stall Willow's continued babbling. "I thought you felt me when I tried to get your attention. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. You headed to the lab?"
Willow nodded, relaxing somewhat more.
"Cool," the adult smiled at the college student, "I left everything unlocked for you, since I knew that you wanted to check everything out. Oh, here, my access card so you can get back out," the Professor handed Willow a magnetic card. "Don't worry, it expires at the end of this week, and I've already got my new one. Have fun Willow, and I'll see you on Thursday. Who ever heard of having your weekend in the middle of the week anyway?"
Willow laughed at the joke as Laurie left and then smiled at what the woman had just handed her. Suddenly she felt a tap on the back of her neck and tensed and turned around…to see she was now the only person in the hallway.
"Whoa, chill Will, it's me!" she heard Xander's voice. Willow relaxed again.
"Sorry," she apologized and continued on her way to the lab, now confident that Xander was beside her…or behind her, one of those.
"Yeah I saw. Sorry, but I had to run the gauntlet. You would not believe how many passive laser systems they've got here, that are activated by air displacement, not visual movement. Took me a while, but I managed to get the lasers tracking a couple cockroaches. Hopefully they'll desensitize the system now. Wouldn't want a fly to send Security teams on Full Alert," he explained.
Willow smiled, but again didn't reply as she came to the lab entrance and swiped Professor Clarkson's card through the electronic lock, which immediately opened the door with only a soft buzz.
"Hold on Will," she felt Xander's hand on her shoulder. "Where are the Security cameras in there?" he asked. Willow quietly told him, and then Xander stuck his invisible head in to confirm it. A minute later, a fully visible Xander waved her in.
"What did you do?" Willow asked as she walked in to find everything still on, including the lights.
"I took some light from the air and put up an illusion right in front of the camera lenses. Well…actually, I froze the light right in front of them. Same as putting it in a loop, only none of the electronic stuff. And I don't even have to maintain it, " he told her.
Willow blinked in surprise. She had never thought something like that was even possible, but Xander had just done it automatically, probably without even trying. She needed to get things started. She pulled out a sheet with the baseline and progressive data so far for Xander from her notebook and then quickly decided what to do first.
"All right, we're short on time, so we'd better get started," Willow told him, receiving a confirming nod.
And get started they did. First, the physical work-up, his dexterity, endurance, strength, reaction time, and reflexes. Then, Willow started to work with the equipment available. Xander quickly lost track of how many and what the tests were called, but roughly about three hours later, Willow told him that, for now, he was done and could go rest on a cot that was conveniently placed in the corner. Putting his shirt back on, he did exactly that.
45 minutes later, Willow woke Xander up and dragged him to the computer where she had been running all the data through the computers for computation and copulation. The results were finally ready.
"You've been covering your tracks, haven't you Wills?" Xander asked worried as they walked back to the computer station.
"Don't worry, I've got it taken care of and then some," Willow reassured him. "And I've been deleting all traces of this data in the computer records and saving it to a CD that will come with us when we go. And don't worry, I'll keep it in a very safe place."
"Uh, yeah, since this is me we're experimenting on, I'll keep the disc, and bring it next time you need to update it, and I will keep it and there will be no copies made. I trust you Willow, but even you have to admit that in the wrong circumstances, you're kind of gullible and naïve and it's the people that would try to take advantage of that or break into wherever you would hide this that I don't trust." Xander told her.
Willow thought about it, and finally nodded in agreement. He was right. This was his life they were talking about. And as much as she wanted to keep this with her at all times, she would not risk her best friends life over scientific curiosity. Just as it was passing 99 complete, Willow swore to herself to forever keep Xander's secret until he himself broke it.
The computer beeped that the information had been compiled and Willow rapidly began going through everything. A good deal of it was nothing but charts, the direct results of all the tests run, but what Willow, and Xander, were interested in was the summary and detailing paragraphs at the end.
"Here we go," Willow commented and pointed at a large paragraph on the screen, "Data sheet summary. "Subject is class A-S12 meta-human. Mental instabilities and physical malformations are not present and no early signs of either can be detected. Physical abilities are registered as top performance human level. Physical attributes include the subject being a Solar Battery, containing an entirely unique photosynthesis process, neuro-luminescence, and radiation immunity. Immune system is normal human class. Mental capacity is registered as normal human level. Mental ability is registered at Teenage level. Mental attributes include identifying and sensing all types of radiation, manipulating or controlling any light wave/particle within distance of 1 mile (minimum with possibility of expanding), and subconscious thought processes known as "Meta Instinct". Meta Instinct (definition) is the common term of the inbred knowledge of meta(s) knowing how to use and control their meta human abilities. Details on ability of powers are on pages 7-13."
"Oops, guess I didn't have to read that part," Willow apologized and quickly flipped through the beginnings, which were the detailed "reasons why" of most of what she had just read, until she got to page 7 and began to read.
Xander was scratching his head and interrupted her, except that she kept reading, "Uh, what exactly does that all mean Willow?"
"What? This?" she pointed at page 7.
"No. The summary. I…barely understood a word of that. Care to translate?" he asked.
"It's pretty straight forward Xander," she said. "OK, yeah, I can understand how you might not know some of the words, but basically it said you are in perfect health, there is no chance of you becoming poisoned or going insane from having these powers, physically you're a normal human who can control light, and mentally you're a below average student that graduated high school but didn't get into college."
"Very funny," Xander sarcastically snapped back as she went to page 8, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Fine then, let's start at the beginning. What the heck did it mean subject is class…something meta-human?"
"A-S12. It's a classification for meta humans that S.T.A.R. Labs started using a few years back and it kind of caught on. There are about 10 different classes of meta human, based on power and potential of its power," Willow explained as she kept reading, moving on to page 9 as she did so.
"The lowest is F, then G, E, D, C, R, B, T, A, and S, which is the strongest, and incidentally was inspired by Superman. Because there are things out there that have proven to be stronger than Superman, Class S was given a number system. The higher the number, the stronger the meta. Right now, you're strength is…an A class…" Willow's eyes widened at what she was reading, but before Xander could ask her what was wrong, she continued, "…and what it means by A-S12 is that you have the potential of reaching the level of strength of an S12 meta." She stopped talking and quickly moved to the next page and then flipped through the last three much more urgently.
"Willow, what is it? You not talking is scaring me more than you babbling on about the world being doomed and being right," Xander teased nervously.
"Sorry," she turned to look at him to convey her sorrow, but quickly went back to the screen, "Sorry, but this, this is just too amazing for words Xander. What this says…what it says you can do, Xander some of these things are completely impossible as far as science is concerned."
She turned back around and saw the look on his face and quickly started to explain.
"Look, here," Willow pointed back at page 7, "First of all, the solholos? Xander, you're turning ordinary light into something that can move and pick things up and are actually solid! No radiation of any kind, it's just ordinary light, except that it had enough raw power in it that it could light the entire Northern American power grid for two months straight. They're made up of what light is made out of!"
"Huh?" Xander was confused.
"The sun!" Willow exclaimed. "Star plasma, except no radiation, no too high temperature. Purified, mostly harmless light. I mean, if you like hold it against your skin for like a day, you might get a small sunburn. Every amount of energy goes into maintaining the structural integrity of whatever you make. Meaning that instead of being as unstable and dangerous as real star plasma is, all that energy is directed to making it solid, making it real. Science can't even begin to imagine what it would take to do something like that."
"Uh, okay. Wow. Next?" Xander was feeling just a tad bit overwhelmed.
"Oh, right," Willow startled and moved to page 9. "Uh, when you manipulate light into either canceling out at the very point at which it would reflect on a surface or doing something else that it isn't supposed to do, you leave behind a very faint but barely detectable infrared trace. Uh, that means that you make the air just a bit hotter than normal, but on such a small degree that it's only about as detectable as detecting sulfur traces in a crowded lunchroom where they just served beans. That's a fart in the wind Xander," she explained off the blank expression on his face.
"Next," she switched to the last two pages, "is the symbiotic effects your powers now have on…whoa."
"What?"
"The, uh, the symbiotic effects of your powers with your, your biological energies. Basically that means that if you're running low on energy, then you can't use your powers, or if your tired either probably. The same could be said for the other way around. If your powers are severely drained, then it's going to start taking the energy to use them or maintain them from your body directly," Willow explained.
Xander blinked, and then nodded. "Yeah, I kinda figured it would be something like that," he said aloud. At Willow's confused and concerned look he added, "Remember I told you about the first day after the Big Bang? Well, at first I was like ravenous, then I opened the shutters and watched the sun rise. I didn't eat anything until that night."
"Oh," Willow nodded, following the logic. "Yeah I guess you did kinda already know that. Okay, that's all we can do here for right now. I'm going to get started on covering the last of our tracks. You go through everything and around to make sure we don't leave some physical evidence."
Xander nodded and quickly went to do as told and sooner than Willow was done at the computer station, he had gathered all of their things and made it so everything was just about where it had been before they came. Any minor discrepancies could be excused away that Willow and Professor Clarkson had been in here.
Not too long after, Willow, with CD, and print outs of what she wanted hard copies of, was ready and they exited the Lab, and Xander took the 'light loops' off of the cameras. Once outside, a feat incredibly easier according to Xander than entering, Xander became visible just outside the single occupant bus stop and sat down next to his bestest friend in the entire world.
"Thank you so much for doing this Willow," he said with every fiber of his being put into that sentence.
Willow handed him her notebook, with CD, printouts, and personal written notes in it without a word.
"I won't betray your trust Xander. Never. Not even by accident," she swore. "I love you too much to let my curiosity get the better of me. See you tonight at Giles'?"
Xander smiled and accepted the notebook, and then quickly hugged her, which she immediately reciprocated. "I love you Willow. If you ever need me for anything, and I mean anything, just call, and I swear by all that I hold dear that I will be there for you. For as long as you need one, and even after you don't, I'm your knight in shining armor."
Willow nodded.
Then they let go of each other and Xander got a dangerous look on his face. Usually the same face associated with a plan forming in his mind. "Uh oh," Willow mumbled under her breath.
"Do you really want to sit around here waiting for the bus?" he asked her, teasingly serious with a lopsided grin on his face.
Willow sighed and shook her head. 'That's my Xander,' she thought.
"Why? What did you have in mind?" she asked, sure she was going to regret it.
Xander's smirk deepened and she stood and walked around to the back of the bus stop, Willow following him. "Ever since I saw Top Gun I've wanted to fly in one of these," he said before he held his arms up before him and began to glow himself. The air shimmered in front of them before the light began to coagulate into a somewhat familiar shape.
A plain white, unmarked, and slightly distorted from subtle inaccuracies, F-14 jet fighter appeared before them, canopy already open.
"Oh my…" Willow's jaw dropped in shock at the display of power, but the implications suddenly forced themselves upon her mind.
"No!" she protested when Xander took her hand. "No way am I getting in, in, in that! I don't care how much control over your powers you have Xander, I'm not getting in that!"
"Aw come on, you'll have to wait around at least another two hours here for the bus," Xander used logic. "This way, both of us are back home in minutes. I swear, I'll take us back down to the ground at a safe speed the microsecond there even looks like their might be trouble. Wills, I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you. You know that."
"Yeah but…" Willow weakly protested.
"I promise not to break the sound barrier. If I can help it," Xander grinned.
Willow snorted, shaking her head again. "I've got a bad feeling about this."
"Hey, I thought I was the Han Solo wannabe!" Xander shouted good-naturedly.
Willow rolled her eyes and stepped forward. "So how the heck do we get in there anyway?"
Xander smirked and held his hands out again, white stairs appearing up to the cockpit.
With not another word spoken, they both climbed the steps and got in, Xander called "Top Shot Gun!" and got the front seat. Willow got the back one. The stairs disappeared once they were seated in the very realistic cockpit seats. There were no instrument panels however.
"Uh, Xander? Now what?" Willow asked, wondering just how far she would go to humor her friend.
Xander smirked and the lid closed. He then closed his eyes and shouted, "Hi ho Silver! AWAY!" And with that the solholo jet just took off at a speed that pressed them into the white seats. Then, with no visible effort of any kind, and with no sound but themselves and the wind, it went vertical.
"XANDER!!" Willow shouted, wishing she had looked for restraining harnesses or seat belts at the least before sitting down. Almost as if he had read her mind, a crash webbing identical to that used in Top Gun appeared and wrapped around her, keeping her safely against the seat.
"Sorry about that," Xander said as the jet leveled on a course for Sunnydale. "I realized in that climb that I forgot something very important there. Taking off with my eyes closed was cool though."
"NOT FUNNY!" she shouted over the wind. Xander just laughed and they sped back to Sunnydale.
TBC...