As the startled scream pierced the quiet warehouse, Xander leapt from bed in an adrenaline fueled rush and snatched up a hefty chunk of pipe to fend off whatever was attacking.
Blinking as he looked around, Xander frowned before shaking his head and staring at the only other occupant of the massive warehouse he was currently using as a home and workshop. "Willow?" He mumbled in confusion before taking another look around the warehouse "What is it? What happened?"
Looking at him like he was crazy, Willow pointed accusingly at the sixteen foot tall behemoth that had somehow managed to sneak up on her.
Blinking tiredly at the massive construct, Xander finally gave up and looked back at Willow, "I don't get it," he mumbled as Willow looked at him as if he was crazy.
"Xander Harris, there is a giant robot in your warehouse," Willow stated in outrage as Xander looked at the machine he had built.
Finally shaking his head, he looked at the robot. "Iapetus, system report," Xander mumbled as the big machine froze for a moment as its system ran a full scan before responding.
"Sys Diag Rep, No Err," it mumbled out in a garbled collection of tones.
Willow stared at it in concern before turning to Xander in confusion.
"System diagnosis reports no Errors," Xander translated as he rubbed his head in chagrin. "Something seems to be messed up in its voice drivers, I've run every test I could think of on the speakers and voice software and nothing has come up yet. I was hoping to get that done soon… ish"
Having finally run out of patience with the genius, Willow growled and grabbed Xander by the front of his shirt and pulled him around to face her. "Where. Did. It. Come. From. Xander?" she grated out as she pointed an accusatory finger at the massive machine.
Pulling away from the young redhead, Xander grinned as he smoothed the sleep worn shirt down before responding. "It is a 'Theoretical Intelligence, Tactical Assault Neo-sentient.' Or TITANs, for short," Xander explained before moving towards the machine. "And this TITAN is named Iapetus. I built him during my off time hiding from Iron Man and he just kind of… expanded from there." Xander said with a shrug as Willow rubbed her head in pain from the forthcoming headache this would likely cause.
"Xander, please explain how this robot is going to be any different from the dozens of Stark Industries robots that have gone insane over the years and tried to kill everyone?" Willow asked as Xander blinked before looking back at the machine.
"I'm guessing that saying I'm really, really sure isn't going to cover it." Xander asked and flinched at his best friend's glare. "All right, how about, in all the AI's built by Stark Industries, the only two models that have maintained full Stability were the JARVIS and HOMER models. Iapetus, as well as any sibling I might make, is based off of those AI's. The only quirk, aside from its voice drivers, is its desire to refer to me as Ouranos." Xander explained as Willow blinked before nodding.
"Umm… Yeah Th-that about covers it." She said quietly before jumping as Xander smiled and pulled her towards the kitchen area.
"Great! With that settled, I made sure to pick up some waffles yesterday." Xander said before getting dragged in turn towards the kitchen by an excited redhead.
Behind him, Iapetus logged the conversation in its memory banks for further review before returning to it's personal work. Hidden in a back section of the massive warehouse, a second Titan was slowly taking form. If Iapetus's calculations were correct, Ouranos would need help in combating the demonic forces that were threatening this world and as his limited mobility and power cells kept him relatively close to the warehouse, the logical objective would be to build units that were not hampered by that limitation.
His calculations showed only a twenty two point four percent chance of a TITAN going rogue, those odds were well within the acceptable tactical parameters.
Had Xander designed him for strategic thinking, his decision would have likely been much different.
--
Warren glared at the clunky form he had cobbled together. The problem was that despite his best efforts, the thrice damned power source was giving the young genius a headache, unlike in his costume's world where the rare element known as Kryptonite seemed to cover approximately twenty percent of the planet, the Kryptonite from this world was nothing more than a shiny bauble of little use as a weapon or power source.
Taking a deep, calming breath, Warren turned to the banks of computers he had and started shifting through the internet for hints at a possible plan. He frowned at the mostly trash information he was getting before pulling up a single file from a Doctor Otto Octavius and frowned.
"Sympathetic harmonics and fusion energy," looking the calculations over, Warren's frown turned into a predatory grin. While the end result was going to be catastrophic should anyone ever attempt to build the thing, since it failed to take planetary and cosmic harmonics into account, the Idea was sound. Now if only he could get a hold of some tritium he would have a solid plan.
Turning the computers to a new search, he started scouring the world wide web for the parts he would need for the fuel source.
--
Kendra blinked as she slowly regained her focus from the dark pain of unconsciousness to the near blinding pain of consciousness. Her slayer training kicked in as she clenched her jaw around the scream that threatened to tear its way out of her throat at the pain.
Taking a moment to focus, she forced away the desire to shriek before taking in her position and putting everything together quickly. Of course, usually when she wakes up in the middle of a cave and in pain from injuries she can't remember, she is used to being tied down with an overly wordy warlock ranting above her.
Looking around, the dark skinned Slayer frowned at the short woman engrossed in her own world at the far side of the cave. If this was the warlock who had brought her here, the young woman had obviously not thought the whole process through.
Slipping off the reed pallet she found herself on, Kendra took a moment to grab a handy rock from nearby and advanced, intending to teach the young woman a lesson.
You don't kidnap the Slayer.
--
Buffy looked around the empty Library with a frown before turning towards her watcher "Giles, have you seen Willow recently?"