Spark of Genius
Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy verse, girl genius verse, DC comics or any of the other smattering of pop culture and literary ideas that I refer to in my story, I just tread through a few other sandboxes.
AN: Time for a chapter on 'Xander versus the Vampires'; sounds like the title for a B grade movie that I would actually pay money for. Hope you enjoy it.
AN: Special thanks go out to my new Beta for this story, Rylia.
'Thought'
"Speech"
Chapter 13: The Grey Knight
"Knowledge is power, guard it well." ~Warhammer 40k, Dawn of War
The sun was setting on the mountain peaks that surrounded the scenic valley housing New Mechanicsburg. Around the peaks, the land was silent and peaceful, only the sounds of the wind whipping through the rocks or the chirp of a random marmot could be heard. Down in the valley however, the scene and the sounds were anything but tranquil.
Though the sirens had been silenced earlier that morning, the air was rent with the sounds screeching metal and the earth shook with the pounding of giant hydraulic presses and the thudding of heavy metal shod feet marching on stone or blasting holes in the earth.
The forging and smelting fires had burned hot all day, increasing the ambient heat level of the city due to a cap of cold air that rested over it at the levels of the peaks. Also adding to the heat was the once former orchard that had been on the side of the town. Where once there was a budding green series of rolling hills and rows of fruit and nut trees now lay a smoking and scorched muddy plain, filled with craters and the smoking remnants of what appeared to be a war.
'We could have used that fruit and nuts for the coffee shops, but Da Boyz did need a place to get used to their armor and new weapons.' Xander thought to himself as he stared out of the top windows of his chateau, looking out over his valley and the hustle and bustle that was going on below him.
"Sir, the armor and weapons have been distributed as per your orders, as well as the specialized arsenal." Igor informed Xander while reading information off of a consol. Every so often another minion would enter the large office that sat at the top of the chateau. Silently they would march in, hand Igor a note, bow to Xander, and then leave.
"What about the creation of robot 32D? How many have we completed?" Xander questioned, turning his gaze from the view of the town and returning to sit behind his desk while flipping on the TV.
Igor tapped out a sequence of commands on his consol, before replying to Xander. "Unit twenty is just rolling off of the activation line as we speak. Shall I have them continue and build more, Sir?" Igor questioned, looking up at Xander for direction.
Xander flipped through channels on the TV until he got to the news station for Gotham City.
"This is Paul Sanders, reporter for Gotham KL42: your up to the minute news on Gotham. Today's main story is about the increasing number of disappearances or what has been dubbed 'The Lost Ones.' Sources inside Gotham PD, who were unwilling to give their name, have informed us that the total number of known disappearances has passed the four hundred mark and is still climbing. As the number of disappearing citizens increases, the police have requested that anyone with information or who witnessed one of these individuals disappear should please contact Commissioner Gordon's office as a call center has been set up. Additionally, sightings of the Dark Knight, aka Batman, have been made near that time of the disappearances. Anyone who sees Batman should immediately call Gotham City PD as he has been dubbed highly dangerous and a person of interest in the disappearances of multiple…"
Xander clicked the off button to the TV as he had heard enough.
"No, Igor. We don't have time to make more of them; the Vampires are spreading too quickly. Activate all forces and have the 32D's already produced ready with Da Boyz and have the force armored and armed and ready to go in one hour. We attack tonight." Xander stated and got up to walk out of the room.
"Yes sir, and your armor?" Igor asked with a bow.
Xander turned to look at Igor, then out the window again as the shadows of the mountains started to paint the fringes of the town black.
"Have my armor ready for me at the barracks. I'll change with Da Boyz and then address the town in front of the transit center." Xander replied, his constitution turning all business as he walked out of room to go get ready.
The hiss of pneumatic seals and the clanking of locking mechanisms joined the slight hum that clicked on as the power armor on Xander's torso finished closing and sealing him in like some giant juggernaut of old. Looking at himself in the mirror, Xander thought that perhaps an analogy to a turtle and its shell, or a dragon and its armored scales would be appropriate, but frankly, he looked too deadly to be compared to such simple animals.
His reflection showed him in grey matte colored armor that appeared to absorb the light, making it resemble ebony black in the Barrack's light rather than the true grey that it was when out in clear sunlight. Xander had liberally stolen the design for his and Da Boyz armor from the Warhammer 40k universe, but whereas Da Boyz were equipped with upgraded models of the Space Marines' armor, the Mark VIII, Xander's armor, was something special.
Made of a mixed alloy of Nth Metal and metallo (an alloy developed by Lexcorp and stolen by Xander due to his knowledge from comic books and liberal use of hacking clanks in Lexcorp Towers) the armor was nearly indestructible and seemed to swallow the light that shone down on him from the barrack's lights. Unpainted dark grey bulky pauldrons and solid torso armor were joined together and covered over the joints to the armor of the arms and attached to his power armor enhanced grieves. The chest was emblazoned with a skull with a small trilobite on its forehead, and the knee-plates and shoulder pauldrons looked as if blackened skulls had been embedded in them. The helmet that sat on the table beside him looked to be a sculpted skull of the same matte grey color. It wasn't classy, it wasn't for decoration, and the whole suit was designed to inspire fear and an inevitable sense of doom in his enemies while keeping Xander's identity secure. It was armor made for one reason, to obliterate Xander's enemies, and based on the origin of its design, it would do so very well indeed. Coming from a fantasy universe that was in a constant state of war, where entire planets were turned to glass from orbital bombardment, where the death toll of war was in the trillions and one battle only led to the next, the model for this armor was used by the most feared human fighting force in existence, the Grey Knights chapter of the Space Marines.
As with so many of the geeky memories from his youth, Xander and his friends Jesse and Jonathan had been into fantasy roll-playing and table top games in addition to the comic books and science fiction that they all enjoyed. One of the games that they played and teased each other about was Warhammer 40k, a game that took place in a universe that was in a perpetual state of war. Whereas Jesse had liked the Orc forces and Jonathan the sleeker Elder/Elvin race, Xander had been interested in the forces of the Imperium of Man. The boys had all argued amongst themselves about which force was the best, but the one thing they all agreed on was that they disliked the forces of Chaos, those that were controlled by Demons from a dimensional middle ground called 'The Warp.' Therefore it wasn't too far of a stretch for Xander to find his favorite characters in the Imperial forces to be the Demon hunters, the Grey Knights, the most elite and loyal force of the space marines, who wielded the best technology and mightiest super powers of any unit of the space marines. The Grey Knights were the 'Slayers' of the Warhammer 40k universe, and after Jesse's death and Xander's meeting Buffy, Xander had often thought about and tried to model himself after the Knights' diligence in their quest to destroy the demons who threatened to destroy everything.
Xander thought that it was all the more fitting that he was garbed in the armor of the Grey Knights seeing as he too was a super powered demon hunter who walked the dimensions, so to speak.
'Well, it's time to get this show on the road.' Xander thought to himself as he looked at the reflection of his eight foot armored hulk. Mentally pumping himself up for what he was about to do, Xander questioned what would Buffy do in a situation like this.
"See demon, slay demon." Xander stated under his breath and chuckled to himself while cracking a smile for the first time that day as he remembered his gorgeous perky friend. Buffy was a great Slayer; a strategist and leader she was not.
Xander continued to think about his friend as he picked up his helmet, glaive, and Toastmaster 2000.
"It's going to take more than 'pointy end goes into Vampire' this time Buff." Xander continued to mumble under his breath as he clicked his Toastmaster into clamp holes on the left forearm of his armor and heard the electromagnets and gun hum as it connected to the power and targeting system of the armor.
The helmet Xander attached to a belt wrapped around the outside of his armored waist, and then rested the glaive on his shoulder as he turned to walk out of the barracks.
"No, this isn't the time for Buffy to lead, not with the possibility of five hundred vampires plus Dracula. No, this is going to take strategy and cooperation; not one person running forward into a fight." Xander spoke to the air as his heavy boot falls seemed to reverberate through the entire barracks, "No, this is my fight, and come hell or high water, I've got to go stop this here before it spreads any further." Xander continued before stopping before the door and taking a big breath of air to prepare himself for what came next.
A few seconds passed as Xander calmed his rapidly beating heart, and then he looked up and put on his 'determined face' as Willow would call it.
Pushing open the door of the Barracks, Xander was met with a wash of sound, as the crowd before him cheered, and two double lines of black clad fully garbed 'space marines' came to attention and saluted. The sound of forty Jägers pounding their clenched fist against their chest in a salute boomed across the town square and was clearly heard over the cheering townsfolk.
Xander silently looked over his Jägerkin and the citizens behind them. The forty power armored Jägers had their armor painted black, and white skulls had been painted on their shoulders, knees, and across their helmets, whereas a large golden trilobite was embossed into the chest pieces of their armor. Their free hands held an assortment of weapons, some Toastmasters, others with weapons with gun barrels big enough to fit a child's head inside. However the most daunting feature was probably the bright red glowing optical sensors that shone like eighty crimson eyes from within the helmets of Xander's troops.
Xander looked out over his troops, and smiled an evil smile. They were going to kick so much ass.
Raising his visage above his metal clad Jägers, Xander raised his glaive filled hand towards the still cheering crowd who all seemed to be wearing matching blood hungry smiles on their faces.
At the raising of the glaive, Xander's people quieted, and the Jägers stopped their salutes and stood at ease.
Xander spoke in a quiet voice, but it seemed to carry to the very back of the crowd of gathered townsfolk.
"I've never been much of a hero, but I've been fighting a war against the demons and vampires for years now, ever since they took away my brother in everything but blood." Xander started as he panned his eyes over the silently staring crowd.
"When I came to this dimension, I believed my part in that war was over, but a little more than twenty hours ago, those demons declared war on us again." Xander continued, as a snarl started to grow on his lips and a dark light began to shine from his eyes.
"This time they've taken away our friends, our family members, your fellow minions and people who I pledged to protect and lead. Well, we will NOT allow this to go unanswered!" Xander yelled the last part, shaking his glaive and armored fist at the sky.
"God damn it, we didn't start this. The Black Heterodyne made a mistake a long time ago, and now we are going to have to deal with it! We are going to finish this once and for all!" Xander yelled, anger and madness coming through his voice and noticeably mirrored in the faces of the townsfolk.
"Wherever those vampires are, we will kill them! Where ever they try to run, we will track them down and destroy them! Wherever they try to hide, we will crush them! We will burn their bodies and then we will send their ashes back to hell where they belong! We are Death! We are Destruction! You are my almighty hand of vengeance, and together we will finish off the vampires once and for all!" Xander screamed.
The crowd screamed out in reply, joining their own rage with Xander's as the Jägers pounded their armored feet on the ground and their metal covered fists against their armored chests, shaking the surroundings as Xander whipped them into a killing frenzy.
Xander let the eardrum shattering sound go on for almost a full minute before issuing with his glaive and free hand to talk, and the entire audience instantly quieted as they stared in maniacal devotion at Xander.
"You all know your jobs. I expect you to do them while I am away just as if I was here with you. Each of you has a part to play in this war, whether soldier or support, and I know I can trust you to work your hardest. I promise you I will avenge those that were lost to us." Xander's voice was once again quiet, but the smoldering anger was still present as his face was shadowed with evil intent.
With that, Xander placed his helmet on his head, and felt it seal itself into place as his view screen came online and all sorts of troop positions, tactical and health data deployed on his visual interfaces.
"Good morning sir, all systems are optimal and ready for use. I am linking with the nanoclanks in your system and your thought commanded interface is online and fully operational. You should know that your body is 78 percent optimized and the full nanoclank capabilities should be available in approximately two hours and twelve minutes." A proper male British sounding voice said in Xander's ear as the AI in the helmet came online.
"Thank you Jarvis. Please run a com check on all of the troops and ascertain that we are all ready to go." Xander commanded as he mentally flicked through drop down menus and plotted transit endpoint locations throughout Gotham via his connection to the Transit Center security and command system.
"All systems are a go Sir, and all forces are reporting ready for deployment. The transit center is querying whether it should open the portals for the 32D's to precede us to the target city?" Jarvis's voice responded.
"Yes Jarvis," Xander stated calmly as his brain multitasked at incredible speeds. "Please send fifteen of the 32s through to the coordinates that I am uploading to the Transit Center now." Xander completed.
In the transit center warehouse, fifteen black bodied robots with multiple eyes and tentacle like arms came to life and floated up off of the ground like fifteen foot long floating metal octopuses. Banks of red optical sensors glowed as the robots, series 32D, came online and orientated themselves towards fifteen individual transit openings that rippled and then flashed blue as gateways were opened in the air all over Gotham City. The hunter killer robots, or 'squidies' as they were affectionately called in the Matrix movies, were on the move, yet without the self awareness or capability of hunting down all humans hardwired into them. These were Vampire and Demon hunters, not human killers, not unless Xander specifically requested them to.
The hunter killer robot's first priority was to track down the nest of Vampires and secondarily to track down and dismember any vampiric stragglers in the city, floated through the portals of the transit center and into Gotham city.
"External sound delivery system on please Jarvis." Xander stated, and a brief pop and fizz sounded as plates on his suit were magnetized to vibrate with his voice, somewhat turning Xander's armor into a giant speaker.
Xander's red glowing optical lenses and skeletal helmet focused on the people still in the square.
"We are a go people. Report to your duty stations please, Boyz, let's head over to the Transit Station and do a final check in." Xander stated, smiling, as his people immediately began to do what he asked while the Jägers started marching towards the jump off location.
Xander had his system hook into the communications network that the Jägers were talking on.
"Hy vonder vat Vampire tastes like?" Xander heard the voice of one Jäger ask.
" Hyu don' vant to eat dat. Blah! Dey are hall dry und schtrinky like tryink to eat kardboard." Another Jäger answered, making a sound of disgust at the idea of eating a vampire.
" Hey, zume uf my best soup recipez kall for kardboard!" Another was heard to defend cardboard as a soup ingredient.
"Nobody is going to be eating any Vampires, and all helmets are to be kept on at all times until the operation is over. If you are hungry or thirsty, just ask the suit to provide it to you and bite onto the hose it provides. It may be a liquid lunch, but it will satisfy for the time being." Xander cut into the conversation and saw several of the fully armored Jägers turn to look over at his silver armored caprice as it marched towards the Transit Center with them.
A few seconds passed, and then one of the Jägers chimed in on the comm. System, "Yumz, mine tastez like bratvurst!"
A second Jäger voice chimed in, "Und mine tastes like real bacon."
A cacophony of voices were then heard to add the flavor of 'food' that their suit provided, somewhere in the mix Xander swore he heard, "Und my schnozberries really tastez like schnozberries!"
Xander merely chuckled as he asked Jarvis to provide him some food.
A small straw extended out from below Xander's chin and snaked its way towards his mouth. As he bit it, fluid flooded his mouth until he stopped depressing the nozzle with his teeth.
Xander smiled to himself, "Yum, pureed Twinkie with nutrients. Not as good as the normal cakey goodness, but will have to do for now." Finished taking a large enough taste to satiate his appetite for now, the tube snaked away and Xander gave the Jägers a minute to get the talking out of their systems.
Entering the Transit Center deployment warehouse, Xander saw the mechanized portal doorways lining the walls. The mechanical arms of the transport technology could move, either stretching a single portal's surface so that it was large enough for a truck or a tank to go through, or shrinking down so that a small doorway only large enough for a little clank was present. The system had adapted over the last few weeks as problems arose and the technology changed to solve new situations. One of those fixes had entailed the mechanical wall portals being able to extend out from the wall and pivot on robotic arms which enabled them to take a portal and move it over a stack of crates, then move downwards to envelope the shipping crates and send them on to their end destination. The original problem of having to return to the Transit Center before going on to a secondary location was also solved by the addition of the mechanical arms, as two equal sized portals could now mesh together, creating an exit point into the transit center that immediately sent the traveling contents into the second portal and on to its end destination. That isn't to say that the process was perfect, far from it in fact as mistakes with the transportation system had the high probability of being fatal. In the corner of the warehouse were great pillars and artificial boxes of metal that were neatly shorn in half at different angles; the results of a portal opening or closing while an object was in its field and left by Xander as a reminder to his people to take the transit technology seriously.
That thought led Xander to butting in on the continued discussion of the best flavor of food by the Jägers. "Ok Boyz, Show time. Let's keep the chatter down to the necessary. Everybody check your melee weaponry, and no scratching your crotches while they are on." Xander finished the last part with a joke and a smirk that went unseen by the gathered Jägers and technicians who manned this portion of the transit center.
Xander flicked his thumb on a sliding lever on the haft of his glaive, and the blade along the top of the glaive popped and flashed as a blue energy the same glow as the portals seemed to hum and vibrate along its already sharp edge. This was the visual and auditory effect of the weaponized version of the portal technology, rapidly opening and closing a portal along the edge of the blade thousands of times per second and turning it into a cutting tool that could potentially even cut through Xander's supposedly impervious armor.
The chatter on the Jägers' communications channel cut out, as the black armored figures all raised and looked at their free left hands. Razor sharp claws folded out of the tips of the gloves in a sort of telescoping feature that ended with a snick sound as they locked in place; then the claws popped and hummed an ominous blue color as the portal blades appeared along their edges as well. The Jägers then turned off the power to their bladed left hands, switched their weapons to the now free left hand, and activated the power and claws on their right hand.
Xander asked for the Jägers to speak up if their system wasn't working, and when nobody answered Xander turned his attention to the large screen that was projected onto the slanted inside of the roof of the transit warehouse.
Images from the 'squidies' were being piped through tight beam laser and satellite upload to Starscream who was keeping a powered geosynchronous orbit over Gotham at an altitude right above the stratosphere. The black nightmarish hunter killers swarmed in and out of the metal supports of the Gotham rail system and through dark alleys, hunting with their parabolic ears and sensors for any signs of a vampire feeding or traveling through the streets. Taking a page from the Scooby's playbook and good old Sunnydale patrol route common sense, Xander had several of the squidies searching the Gotham cemeteries.
"Bingo!" Xander shouted as one of the segregated displays showing a squidy's upload started flashing with a red border signifying a probable hit on vampire activity. Sure enough, it was the Gotham Cemetery and darting into a crypt was the female vampire who had been a part of the attack on the Gotham Sparkbucks coffee shop.
"Pan back so that we can get an idea of the surrounds." Xander commanded, and the camera zoomed out to show the cemetery in its entirety, including several more vampires; Xander assumed they were fledglings as this dimension wasn't known for many master vampires besides Dracula and The Monk.
"This is our target people." Xander announced on his external speakers. "Launch squidy units 16 through 20 to run top watch and commence ground penetrating radar mapping as soon as they clear the portal above the cemetery. I want full containment on this cemetery; we don't want any of these blood suckers escaping when we bring the slayage. Somebody get the plot mapping and city designs for the cemetery uploaded to our HUDs immediately." Xander continued to command as his brain's synapses started to fire and warm up. Experiences and memories, uploaded from that Halloween night, of past Heterodynes and their military campaigns began to flood and filter through Xander's brain as his eyes took in the tactical situation and processed it, coming up with plans and contingencies.
The warehouse buzzed with activity as the remaining unit 32D's all floated into the air and then through portals, appearing above the cemetery at a mix of 1000 to 5000 feet, and began to map out the situation and add their sensors and radar to the information streaming to Xander.
Xander watched the situation in cemetery, trying to figure out the right time to move in, but that time was decided for him.
"Sir, it appears that the fledglings are all moving towards the mausoleum that the female vampire fled into, vampires are also trickling into the cemetery grounds from the city. Additionally, sir, it appears that Batman has arrived at the gates of the cemetery and is proceeding towards our target." The voice of Jarvis informed Xander.
"That's our cue people. Squidies, subdue a few of the vampires entering the cemetery, units 15 and 16 move in on Batman but don't interfere unless I order or he attacks us." Xander ordered.
Ten portals around the room flashed to life and squads of four Jägerkin ran through the portals, weapon muzzles pointed forward and ready for use. On the screen in front of Xander, the blue snap and twist of portals blinking into life could be seen opening in spaces around the target crypt in a circular pattern. Xander followed through the portal that led right in front of the crypt's still open doors.
Xander's arrival initiated the beginning of combat, for as soon as he stepped through the portal, the blue doorways throughout the cemetery snapped shut and Xander turned his metal clad skeletonal visage towards the crypt and pointed at it.
At his unspoken command, a Jäger from the squad closest to Xander raised a Boom-Stick and fired it at the crypt; the by now familiar firing sound and sizzling balls of blue energy zipped towards the crypt, followed by an intense Boom and the resulting disappearance of the crypt.
Where the crypt stood was now a circular hole in the ground that showed the natural formation of a tunnel and cave system that had been hidden by the mausoleum. The Jäger with the Boom-Stick secured his weapon to his back and pulled down the Toastmaster 2000 that was on his shoulder while moving to provide cover over the new hole. The other Jäger squads moved forwards, creating an ever shrinking ring of firepower around the entrance to the undergrounds of Gotham city.
"Grenadiers, fire." Xander ordered, and two of the other Jägers from the squad standing beside Xander fired off what looked to be cannons but were in fact grenade launchers that fired canisters as large as paint-cans.
The grenade launchers made a deep pair of 'Bloop' sounds as the canisters whizzed past Xander and flew down the cavern hole, a second later a mist of greenish white gas could be seen to slowly fill the entrance and slowly waft into the nights air, the majority of the canisters' gas filtering down into the caverns below as the garlic gas was heavier than air.
Squads started to rush towards the cavern entrance, only to stop when a dark bat-shaped throwing star zinged through the air right at Xander, only to explode against the chest of an observant Jäger who threw himself into its path.
Several things happened all at the same time. Time slowed down to Xander and he caught the flying armored body of the Jäger who had been blasted through the air by the explosive batarang, while at the same time Xander's auditory sensors picked up the sounds of a scuffle and a grunt of pain in the darkness behind a massive cross shaped gravestone.
"Tankz for catjing me Boss." The Jäger in Xander's arms stated on its external speaker system.
"No, thank you." Xander stated over the comm. system as he helped the Jäger onto his feet and pushed the Jäger's armored frame towards the hole; though the paint on the Jäger's armor had been scuffed a bit, the armor itself wasn't even scratched.
"Jarvis, have the units bring the Batman here as well as any vampire stragglers that were trying to join the party." Xander ordered his system.
"Very well sir. Units 7, 9, and 12 are all on their way to your position with vampires and 15 and 16 are reporting in with the Batman, though he has lived up to his reputation and unit 16 is missing several limbs." Jarvis reported.
That said, the five squidy units silently floated down to Xander's position with their struggling cargo.
"Jarvis, turn auditory voice overlay on please." Xander commanded as his heavy metal boots made thudding sounds as he purposefully crushed the cobblestones of the cemetery with each step he took towards units 15 and 16 and their Batman shaped cargo.
Batman was tied up tighter than a Christmas goose who had wandered into a Boy Scout knot tying demonstration, the sheer number of loops of tentacles around his body kept the Dark Knight in a spread eagle position that he couldn't hope to escape from through physical force.
From Batman's perspective, he was being held captive by a truly fearsome looking skeletal armored being and his horde of heavily armed troops and robots, as usual this wasn't a good situation to be in, but he had gotten out of stickier; or so Batman thought.
"Greetings Dark Knight." The voice of James Earl Jones stated, sounding like Darth Vader from the Star Wars movies. "Normally I'd love to stay and chat with you, but I don't have time to deal with you tonight." Xander stated, his speaker system giving his voice a nice sinister edge that matched his glowing red optical sensors and skeletal helmet.
"If you'll excuse me." Xander stated. With that, Xander depressed the lever on his glaive and quickly behead a male vampire that one of the other squidies had wrapped up in its tentacles, the vampire crumbled to dust.
"No!" Batman shouted and started to struggle. Somehow Batman was able to trigger an electrical discharge on his suit, briefly causing the tentacles around him to light up with discharged electricity.
Unfortunately for him, the electricity had no effect on the squidies.
"You don't think I'd let a little thing like EMP or electrical discharge knock my robots off line, do you?" Xander's deep voice semi-mocked Batman. Xander mentally ordered one of the squids to slice through Batman's utility belt and throw it to the ground.
Xander moved his glaive to the hand that had the Toastmaster attached to it, and then claws formed out of the fingers of his armored fist, claws that hummed with power. Xander then turned his attention away from Batman to a second struggling vampire who wore the clothes of a night security guard.
Quick as a wink, Xander sank his clawed fist into the male vampire's chest, and pulled out the vampire's heart; both the heart in his hand and the vampire in the squidies grasp dusted.
"See, no blood Batman. No beating heart. I have come here for a job, to exterminate these blood suckers once and for all." Xander stated facing Batman while letting the dust fall from his hand to the ground below him.
"No! You can't do this, not in my city." Batman growled, "Stop killing them, I can save them!
"No you can't, there is no salvation for the damned." Xander bluntly replied.
"Just who are you to judge, to decide the future of these people!" Batman yelled at Xander, continuing to futilely struggle against the mechanical tentacles around him.
"Future?" Xander's deep voice angrily questioned. "These people have no future, they are dead!" Xander punctuated his point by raising the arm with the Toastmaster on it, there was a slight 'click' and then a 'fwoosh' sound as a large fireball shot from the barrel of his gun and disintegrated the head of the third vampire.
"Let's talk about the future Mr. Bruce Wayne, he who lives in the past and is haunted by the death of his parents." Xander spat back at Batman, the statement and brutality of Xander's actions stunning Batman speechless.
"I have seen your future Bruce Wayne, and I know the results of tonight if I let you fight this battle your way. In one future, the prettiest future, you win; you save the people and the girl and destroy Dracula in the depths of the caverns after you and Alfred get the shit kicked out of you. That's the best case scenario." Xander continued. "In other futures you lose and become a vampire yourself, ending up killing more villains and people in this city than the Joker ever did, and that's not even the worst future. The worst future is that you fail, and the scourge of vampires that started in your city spreads to the whole world, and in a year there are nothing left but vampires; not the Justice League, not the civilians, not the villains, they will all be joined in a world of never-ending night, wandering the world eternally as animated dead." Xander spat at Bruce Wayne, who no longer struggled against the bonds of the squidies.
"Who are you to make the decision? You said so yourself, I can save them." Batman's gravelly voice questioned.
"I am the Grey Knight, I have hunted these demons since I was a child, and I walked the dimensions to continue my quest to destroy them, and you will not stop me." Xander stated, perhaps being a little melodramatic. "I don't have time to talk to you; I've got a job to do." Xander stated and turned away to walk towards the hole in the ground, the Jägers forming up around him.
Behind him, Batman struggled and was about to yell out again when one of the squidies popped a needle out of its arm and stuck it deep into Batman's neck where his cowl had an opening. The Dark Knight's last conscious sight was of the Grey Knight and forty black armored figures disappearing into the smoke clouded opening of the caverns beneath Gotham.
Xander noticed that the natural tunnel of stone was surprisingly wide as they proceeded deeper into the caverns under Gotham. The breathing systems on Xander's and his Jägers' armor filtered out any scent of the garlic infused smoke that they were using to plug the entrance, and Xander had been surprised to see on the ground penetrating radar that this was the only opening to this section of tunnels and caves. Only a few vampires had been caught by the garlic smoke, but the results were rather disgusting as blind vampires scuttled along disoriented in the smoke after having their nostrils, skin and eyeballs burnt out by the garlic saturating the air. The Jägers walking beside Xander were quick to put the debilitated vampires out of their misery through the liberal use of power claws.
As the tunnel started to open into what Xander's map said was a large cavern, Xander clicked on his communications system so that all of his troops could hear him.
"Ok Boyz, this is it. There should be about 500 vampires, give or take, and one really old master vampire right on the other side of this smoke cloud." Xander stated as he reviewed the information that the ground penetrating radar was telling him. "When we come out of the smoke, I want you to shoot at anything that moves and we'll sort out the rest on the other side." Xander stated.
A series of "Yez Boss," or "Hyu betzcha" and "Yez Sir." Came back in reply from the Jägers, and Xander smiled a nervous smile inside of his helmet.
This was it; this was Xander's turn to be in the first string, not donut boy, not backup or side kick. These were his troops, and he was leading them. A sudden burst of inspiration hit him; perhaps it was time for Xander to start a new tradition in slaying.
"Jarvis, let's give Da Boyz something to get pumped up with and take a hint from the movie 'Apocalypse Now,' scare the crap out of the vampires." Xander stated as his nervous smile turned into an excited smirk that grew across his face. "External speakers on full volume, first track 'Immigrant Song' by Led Zeppelin please, followed by the track 'Hell March'." Xander commanded.
With the first strain of the pounding beat, and right on the war cry of the classic rock song by Led Zeppelin, Xander yelled, "Light them up!" and headed out of the smoke while depressing the trigger on his Toastmaster, shooting a solid string of plasmatic fire straight in front of him.
It looked as if the Grim Reaper and his red eyed demon Host had stepped out of the fog of the river Styx, as Xander and forty fully armored Jägerkin charged out of the smoke cloud with streams of fire leading the way. It was incredibly impressive; it's just too bad that no plan survives first contact with the enemy.
The music had startled the horde of fledgling vampires that was edging around the toxic smoke, none of them willing to enter it as most of those standing in the ranks closest to the smoke had rash like blemishes on their skin from it. The brief second of shock from the blast of music was punctuated by five vampires, standing in the front row, immediately turning into towering infernos of flame as balls of plasma seemed to roll through the air in a tidal wave of unexpected fury.
The first blast of fire was followed by a second, and then the entire front ranks of vampires on the ground were on fire. It is important to note that it was the vampires on the ground that were on fire, because the vampires that were scuttling across the ceiling and walls like so many demonic cockroaches as well as the row upon row of vampires behind those initial Bar-B-Q'd vampires were not on fire.
Xander's eyes got large behind his helmet as he realized that there were more than a mere 500 vampires crammed into the cavernous underground room before him and connecting side tunnels. It was at that moment that Xander cursed the fact that vampires were 'room temperature' due to their non-beating hearts, and thus hadn't shown up on the infrared sensors built into the sensor package of the armor. It was like some deranged Alien's movie, where instead of acid infused spiny aliens from outer space clinging and scuttling on every surface, it was demonic hordes of super strong, super fast vampires hissing and showing fangs at the interlopers who had invaded their territory.
"Sir, I count at least three thousand vampires within one hundred yards of your position." Jarvis helpfully added.
"Fuck, and here I thought fate was done screwing with me today." Xander cursed into his helmet but continued to spray and pray; gouts of fire created a path in front of Xander as he tried to clear out as many vampires as possible before the blood suckers could rally and counter attack.
Clicking his communications system on Xander shouted out orders, scrambling to get ready for when the tide of vampiric bodies fully realized they were under attack by a much smaller force and charged his position.
"Pull in close like a Roman turtle formation. Back ranks, keep our heads clear. Right and left most lines have the walls and front put up a firewall!" Xander yelled over the communications system.
The Jäger's, ever the consummate soldier and warrior, immediate followed directions and formed up on Xander, creating a line with Xander in the front foremost and middle of the line. With that, a concentrated barrage of flames leapt like a wall of fire at the vampires.
The vampires screamed in a mix of pain and agony from the flames, as well as fury that someone would dare to challenge them. Caught like a rat in a corner, the tide of vampires swept forward with a scream, moving as if they were one giant creature rather than individual vampiric beings.
It was like a tidal wave, an avalanche of demonic fury that swept away everything before it with a scream of fury as the vampires charged Xander's position, using the flaming hulks of their dying brethren as shields which they jumped and pushed through to get at Xander and his forces. Xander and his troops were stuck using the ToastMasters to trying and set alight enough vampires to keep their position from getting overrun.
"Ha ha ha ha! Come and get me fuckers! You're all going to burn!" Xander found himself laughing like a maniac as he killed more and more vampires, creating a literal burning wall of flesh in front of him that the vampires had to get past to get at him and his men, and still the vampires came.
The music continued to blast from his speakers, but now it was drowned out by the scream of the dying vampires, the crackling of flames, and the fwooshing sound of the Toastmasters and their vampire kindling.
The first sign that Xander's forces were in real trouble was when a flight of five vampires seemed to leap off of the ceiling and fly through the gap in Xander's coverage scheme; flying between the blasts of fire hitting the ceiling and those hitting the forces charging on the ground.
Xander and the Jäger next to him went down, each under a pair of flailing vampires. The power of the body blows knocked Xander and the Jäger next to him to the ground while the fifth vampire was cut in half when Xander fell backwards and his crashing glaive neatly bisected the blood sucker.
Scrabbling claws failed to puncture through Xander's or the Jäger's armor, but it took the combined efforts of them plus two more Jägers to quickly dispatch the vampires that had breached the line.
Just like that, the brief moment where the Jägers turned to help their boss was enough for about fifty more vampires to break through the mound of flaming corpses and attack the front line hand to hand.
"Claws Out! They've breached the line!" Xander yelled over the comm. system, just in time to catch two vampires by the neck with his glaive while sticking the muzzle of his Toastmaster into the chest of another one and sending a stream of fire through the torso of that vampire and into the four behind the demon.
It devolved into a brawl that would have made any Space Marine proud, as fire and power claws met the undead flesh and claws of the charging horde.
The front rank of Jäger's dropped their Toastmasters as they extended claws and fought as only a Jägermonster could, in brutal claw to claw combat. Claws of undead flesh met claws that went through flesh like a laser cutter through toilet paper. Vampiric fangs met steel that wouldn't give as well as heads that smashed in noses and armored feet that broke knees and shattered spines; and that was just the Jägers fighting.
Xander was a spinning ball of death, the fury of a storm as Xander's mind lit up with lines of physics, vectors, and the power assistance of the suit added to his already inhuman strength. Flicking a switch on his glaive, a perpendicular three foot blade of pure energy shot from the end of the haft of his glaive, turning the once innocent end of his weapon into a scythe that could carve through steel in a blink of an eye and through flesh without resistance. Xander had become the Grim Reaper, a being who danced death to his enemies as he used the bulk of his eight foot armored frame to push forward and give himself room to work.
And work he did, dodging claws and fangs while sweeping the rear blade forward in a spin that cut a score of vampires off at the waist; Xander rolled the glaive's top blade flush up against his back and towards the ceiling to skewer a vampire that was attempting to leap on his back. Xander's free hand extended its claws as he took out the eyes of two vampires to his right, bladed fingers straight forward like a spear blade and moving so quickly that a trail of optical nerves and grey matter followed the sweep of his hand as he continued his spin. Xander then leaned forward while continuing with the force of his centrifugal motion to fling the dying vampire off the top blade of his glaive and bringing said top blade spinning like a top across his back, bisecting and dusting the thirty vampires around him. In short, Xander was the lawnmower, and the vampires' asses were grass, Xander mowed them down like wheat ready for the harvest.
This dance of death continued for about fifteen minutes, fifteen minutes where Xander must have killed at least a hundred or so vampires.
Unfortunately, it wasn't enough as hundreds more vampires continued to pour out of side tunnels. 'Apparently Dracula and his horde have been busy,' a voice in Xander's head quipped.
'Not Helping!' Xander grunted at the voice in his head as he caught a flying vampire by the throat and clenched his clawed hand into a fist, power claws crushing the throat and dusting the vampire as it was beheaded.
Again, the press of bodies was too much as several vampires that Xander was busy stomping on, tripped up his footing and allowed others to dog pile him to the ground.
Xander realized he was in trouble, and his HUD was telling him that many of his Jägers were also on their backs struggling to hack their way to a standing position. None of the Jägers' armor had been breached yet, but enough blows to the helmet could rattle around the brain until they passed out, then they would be dead meat.
"Jarvis! Activate everybody's Firewall system now!" Xander screamed at his AI as he wildly struggled to throw off the equally strong fledgling vampiric forces that were gathered on him beating on his armored form. Xander's hand with the power glaive was trapped to the side, and his one clawed hand could only cut through so many vampires at a time, not enough to get him unburied and standing at the same time.
"Sir, need I remind you that the Firewall system is still in its experimental stage for biological or manned armored systems?" Jarvis's British voice questioned, a bit too smug for Xander's liking given the situation.
"Fuck experimental Jarvis! Do it now or so help me God, I'm going to load your AI core into a hard drive full of nothing but Barney the purple dinosaur episodes for you to have as input!" Xander cursed.
"You don't have to get snippy, Sir. Firewall system engaging… now." Jarvis announced.
With that, napalm exploded in a high-pressured spray from miniature ports all over the armor of Xander and his Jägers and a magnesium spark was lit.
A gigantic 'FWOOSH' sound of ignition was heard, as all of the surrounding oxygen around Xander and the individual armored Jägers ignited like miniature aerial fuel bombs.
The piles of vampires that were pinning down Xander and his troops disappeared in a flash of fire, as Xander and his Jäger troops rose up from the ground like vengeful fire gods; Xander had copied the defensive systems from the fiery streetlamp clanks from New Mechanicsburg and installed it in their armor.
"Sir, Heating levels in your and the Jägers' armor are rising quickly, I judge that you have just about thirty seconds of this before your systems start to overheat and the Firewall system's fail safes kick in to avoid boiling you in your armor." Jarvis announced.
"Alright Jarvis, I hear you." Xander stated as he felt a noticeable increase in heat levels in the normally temperature controlled armor.
"Jäger's form up and charge!" Xander announced over his comm. system, and like that, he used the flight capability of his Nth Metal infused suit to shoot towards the ceiling and zigzag back and forth through the masses of vampires on the ceilings.
The Jägerkin followed suit, but without the flight capability the majority merely plowed straight across the floor of the large cavern like miniature flaming comets while others used their claws and superior strength to vault themselves to the walls and scrambled forward into the horde of vampires, all together vaporizing any vampire that got within 10 feet of them. Like living furnaces they melted through the horde of vampires while running, scrambling or clambering, or flying at full speed. Vampires died by the thousands and the air was choked with smoke as the once charging horde of vampires turned tail and tried to get away from Xander and his forces, but there was no escape.
Xander's forces moved inexorably deeper into the caverns, and Xander finally saw a white light shining in the distance as his troops continued to flame more and more vampires; and still time counted down.
10 seconds, 8 seconds, 5 seconds, 2 seconds, and then "Ding, Sir, your turkey is done." Jarvis's voice stated as the Firewall systems on the armor extinguished itself.
"Very funny Jarvis, ha ha." Xander growled sarcastically as, with sweat dripping into his eyes, he saw a character looking like a bad impersonation of Dracula, with black and red cape and slicked backed black hair, standing next to an alter with a hovering girl floating in the white light.
'Then again, since that really is Dracula, maybe it's not a bad impersonation after all.' A voice in Xander's head stated.
'Yeah, that's right; he just has no sense of style or taste.' A second voice added.
'This coming from the guy with a Hawaiian shirt fetish.' Stated a third voice, sounding remarkably similar to that of Cordelia Chase.
Xander ignored the voices as he was too busy regrouping with his troops and charging the mass of about two hundred vampires that remained between him and Dracula.
Using his airborne momentum like a cannonball, Xander flung himself into the mix of vampire fledglings like a twister into a trailer park; his armor still hot enough to melt any flesh that touched it.
"Stop him my children! My bride is almost reborn and then we can leave this city and start anew somewhere else!" The voice of Dracula cried out, spurring the remaining fledglings to stymie Xander's forward momentum.
A second later, the Jägerkin had caught up to Xander and were having a blast throwing vampires around and practicing Vampire Anatomy 101: the Jäger Style.
"Tenks for trowink such a fun party boss. Kan ve do dis again zum time?" a miscellaneous Jäger's voice said over the communications channel.
"Yeah sure, I'll look right into that." Xander said sarcastically in reply over the communications system as he gutted another vampire.
Apparently the Jägers didn't understand sarcasm, because a flurry of, "Tenks Boss!" and "Hyu da best!" soon rang out over the system.
"Rise, Rise my beauty and we will crush this interloper once and for all!" Dracula stated as dark smoke seemed to issue out of the master vampire's hands towards the beauty floating in the air over the alter.
At the same time, Xander realized that whatever that black smoke was, it shouldn't be allowed to hit that girl, whom Xander's systems told him was still alive.
"Fast Jarvis! Snatch and grab transit portal on that girl and open me a window through!" Xander yelled into his system as he quickly punched his fist through the chest of the vampire in his grasp and dived forward towards a vampire in front of him.
The vampire in front of Xander tensed for impact, but got a surprise in the form of a portal snapping and twisting to life right at the middle of said vampire's chest; a portal that Xander disappeared into fists and head first in a superman dive.
On the raised platform, where the alter and floating girl were, a portal quickly appeared on the floor and sucked upwards quickly, making the girl and white marble alter disappear while a flying Xander soared out of it and straight through the black wisps of magic that had been heading for the girl.
Dracula only had a second to realize that he was in trouble before two metal clad fists dissipated Dracula's black magic and then nailed him right in the chin, sending Dracula rolling head over heels with Xander on top of him.
Being a 500 year old master vampire has some perks though, and one of those is speed beyond anything Xander could have hoped to match. With this blinding speed, even faster than Xander could track, time seemed to slow down, Dracula kicked Xander off of him and launching Xander's armored frame towards the ceiling.
Inside his armor, Xander gave a metal shout of 'Shit!' as he flew up to impact the ceiling before crashing down to the ground.
Xander hit the ground hard but then rolled to the right, and then to the left, dodging two crushing stomps before engaging his flight power and causing Xander's armored body to twist like a top, allowing Xander to fling his armored claws out wide and rending a chunk out of Dracula's calf muscle that had the master vampire stumbling back.
Xander popped up into a standing position and moved into the light as he did what is normal to Xander when stuck in a fight with a vampire stronger and faster than he was; Xander taunted the master vampire on his external speakers, using his own voice this time. "So Deadboy, or Sir-Gels-a-lot, your daddy called you an impotent waste of fecal material who had the gall to call himself 'the first vampire.' I figure that it is only fitting that as his real heir that I finish cleaning up after his mistake, don't you agree fang face?" Xander taunted. Xander slowly moved closer to the vampire and came fully into the moonlight that was issuing through a crack in the ground above the cavern.
"I am the first vampire, and I don't know which Father you speak of for I…" Dracula started off being pompous and sneering at Xander but then stopped as the light hit the Heterodyne crest embedded in the forehead of the skull in the middle of Xander's chest.
"You!" Dracula said, the first hints of real fear come to the vampire's face, for even when his fledglings were getting torn apart the master vampire hadn't really cared. With that, Dracula backed out of the light and towards the shadows behind him.
Xander realized in a spit second what Dracula was about to do when he saw the shadows around Dracula seem to draw together.
"Oh no you don't!" Xander yelled and flung himself at Dracula as quickly as he could.
Dracula's eyes grew even larger as Xander hit him, and both Xander and Dracula disappeared into the shadow. A solid wall of stone behind them, and no sign of Xander or Dracula.
Xander and Dracula came rolling out of a shadow and across a richly carpeted floor of a room lit with torches, hung with tapestries, and looking to be straight out of Martha Stewart's guide on 'How to Decorate Your Evil Castle.'
Xander dug his clawed hands into Vlad Dracul's chest and took handfuls of flesh with him as the two figures rolled across the floor and Xander was kicked free by Dracula; Xander sailed across the room and through the wall behind him.
"Wow, he kicks like a mule." Xander said to himself as he shook his head, hopped up, and charged right back through the hole that he had just made in the wall; only to go flying right back where he had been and through another wall as Dracula had apparently found himself a large mace to use against Xander.
Vlad Dracul seemed to glide through the hole in the first wall with preternatural grace, his silken shirt torn but his bare chest unmarred underneath it. The giant metal mace, inscribed with all types of screaming faces and demonic seeming symbols was easily carried in the master vampire's hands yet looked to have been more fitting if it was carried by a giant, rather than a man of six foot height.
"You may be my Tată's heir, but you don't have the power or strength of The Black Heterodyne." Dracula said with a toothy smile as he marched up to the still shaken Xander and brought the mace crashing down on Xander's armored form, sending Xander crashing through the floor and through the floor of the level below that.
Vlad jumped through the hole and only Xander's dazedly rolling to the side allowed Xander to dodge getting a two story pile driver from the ancient vampire. Still, Xander's dodging wasn't fast enough to dodge the grasping hands that caught Xander by the armpits and repeatedly smashed Xander head first into the ceiling.
"Fuck!" Xander slurred, as though his armor wasn't breached, his brains and body were being shaken so much by the blows that the inertia was damaging his internal organs, causing Xander to struggle to remain awake; he had seriously underestimated this vampire.
Somehow, in between the seventh and eighth time of having his armored head embedded in the stone ceiling, Xander was able to whip his hand around and slice through the side of Dracula's neck, causing blood to spurt across the room and Vlad to gag and drop Xander as the vampire's esophagus was sliced through.
Vlad dropped to his knees next to the now collapsed form of Xander as the master vampires neck quickly healed from the blow.
"Gggrrggle ha ha ha, nice try human. Your claws may cut me, but you're not fast enough to take off my head, and you can't do any permanent damage to me with your silly mechanical weapons, for I am truly the first vampire of this world!" Dracula stated, first as a gurgle and then more clearly as he pushed himself off of his knees and started to stand.
Xander pushed himself up to all fours and looked up at the vampire that towered over him. Ever defiant, Xander turned his red optical lenses to look up at Dracula and said, "Well your dad liked me better than you, and you hit like a girl." Xander taunted. The scowl of rage on Vlad's face was a shallow victory, but it was still a victory that Xander would take.
Dracula's reply was to frown and do a full golf swing with the mace that ended up picking Xander up off the floor and sent Xander careening through the stone ceiling, a stone wall, another stone ceiling, and finally another stone wall before falling and crushing a long wooden table in what must have been a banquet hall for the castle.
Xander's nose and ears were bleeding from the blow, and he was struggling to breathe as it felt like his lungs and stomach were trying to come out of his mouth, or failing that, through his eyes.
Blurrily, Xander saw Vlad floating up through the hole that Xander guessed his 'flight' had made in the wall of the Great Hall. Xander's subconscious admired the tapestries on the wall; they were suitably fitting considering they showed people being impaled on stakes, fighting the vampire armies or Dracula himself.
'It's a fitting place to die, here where the battles against vampires are immortalized in some way.' Xander thought as he coughed up some blood in his helmet, the automatic systems immediately cleaning the HUD off so that Xander could unfortunately watch Dracula smugly walk across the floor towards Xander, carrying the huge mace.
"I think I'll use your armor for my own after I finish scraping out the goo that is left after I kill you. No mere human could ever hope to fully defeat me, the Master of all Vampires. After I'm done with you, I will find your base of operations and turn your minions, using them as cattle to feed upon or slaves as I take over this world once and for all." Dracula said, and then with a smirk and a lot of showmanship, twirled the mace around him before bringing it over the vampire's head and positioned to crush Xander.
"Any last words, mortal?" Vlad Dracul, Dracula and master vampire said as he got ready to crush Xander.
"Stupid monologue," Xander replied, and with that Dracula brought the mace crashing down at Xander's head.
This was it; the mace was heading at Xander's head and Xander's life flashed before his eyes. The drunken parents, meeting Willow and the yellow crayon, the fun times with Jesse Jonathan Willow and the other geeks doing geeky things, meeting Buffy and learning about vampires and demons, slaying Jesse and Xander's vow to kill all vampires, saving the world a time or two, and then Xander's experiences in this new world all flooded through his mind's eye in that instant as the mace moved closer and closer to his head.
All of this introspection was interrupted by an internal voice in Xander's head going, "Ding, upgrade complete and fully activated."
An almighty 'Clang' sounded as the gigantic mace of Dracula crushed into the metal of Xander's armored fist, and fractured with the force of the blow.
Xander was shocked to find himself still alive.
Dracula was shocked to see the handle of the metal mace cracked from the impact where Xander's fist had punched through the mace and left Xander and his armor undamaged.
Xander smiled inside his helmet, and lashed out with his feet at the vampire that stood over him; sending Dracula flying through the ceiling of the great hall, through a wall, and then the ceiling of another room.
Xander took off flying after the tumbling vampire. No flashy moves, just flying with fist straight ahead of him and faster than a speeding bullet to impact into Dracula's stomach and drive the vampire two floors down into the castle.
Xander didn't let up, driving feet first through the hole just created and impacting straight into the vampire's back with a resounding snap as Dracula's spine cracked and ribs shattered.
Xander dodged the flailing blow of Dracula as if the vampire was moving in slow motion, and then Xander moved forward to rain a hail of rabbit punches into the kidneys of the downed vampire, no doubt bursting internal organs in the vampire's torso.
Dracula groaned in pain and rolled out of the way, attempting to propel himself into the shadows under a table so that he could escape the damage that Xander was raining down on the vampire.
"Oh no you don't! It's my turn now." Xander growled as he grabbed Dracula by an ankle and pulled the struggling clawing vampire back into the light that came from torches that flickered on the walls. The vampire's clawed hands rent the fabric of the carpet as he was dragged out from under the table.
Picking Dracula up by the armpits, Xander smashed Vlad's head into the ceiling repeatedly.
"See how you like it, you son of a bitch." Xander snarled as Vlad rained blows upon Xander's shoulder and clawed at Xander's armored hands.
Whereas before Dracula had easily overpowered Xander, the opposite was true now, for Xander's Amazo inspired upgrades had finally completed and now Xander had the strength and speed of the Son of Krypton and The Flash.
Xander wrapped his hands around Dracula's throat entirely, and the vampire thrashed, rained blows on Xander's head, and even attempted to kick Xander in not nice places.
"Any last words?" Xander snarled to the frightened vampire that was helpless in Xander's hands.
"I thought you were a hero? Hero's don't kill the villain!" Dracula gasped out through Xander's strangling hold.
Xander merely growled and tightened his hands into fists, power claws beheading Dracula in a splash of blood and gore that almost instantly turned to dust.
Xander was left holding a fanged skull in his hands as the rest of the vampire's flesh and bones ignited in flames and turned to dust.
"Not a hero." Xander growled, "I'm a Heterodyne." He finished, and with that Xander crushed the skull between his hands and the remains of Dracula turned to dust and blew away on ethereal winds.
Xander stood there, stunned that he had won, as he looked around at what he assumed was Dracula's castle but didn't know for sure. It was then that the aches and pains of his multiple hour long battle caught up to Xander and he groaned in pain and fell over backwards like a toppling tree.
As Xander hit the ground, he activated his armor's comm. system and transponder.
"Medic!" Xander groaned, before darkness fell over his eyes.
AN1: Well, I hope you liked it. A bit different than the happy go lucky that Xander usually gets up to in this universe, but definitely not the last time that he will get stuck in an all out battle or even a war. Cheers!
AN2: A side note, though I use some designs from the Warhammer 40k universe or others, my Xander is not relegated to using one system or another exactly like it was in the universe he is borrowing the idea from; hence the Grey Knight armor with the Jarvis 'Iron Man' AI system in it plus other changes. Expect to see him mixing and matching as the situation calls for it.
AN3: In case you want to see the inspiration for Xander's armor, go to my author's profile page and click the link there.