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.

AN1: Ok people, I really appreciate the reviews, questions or private messages, but I have to make a point. Please don't attempt to tell me I "Have to do" or "You need to do" something in order for my story to be a success or threaten to not read it unless I use your idea. If you feel that strongly about it, create your own story where Xander does what you want him to do. Chances are some of your ideas may hit an idea that I am already planning on using, or give me ideas, but make it a suggestion not a demand. I don't answer to demands and I'm more likely than not going to ignore your demand just to spite you if you tell me I have to do something; just like I do when my wife tells me what I 'have to do' or when my parents demanded I do a certain thing when I was but a boy. I'm stubborn and am more likely to take your suggestions than your demands. Little quirk, but there it is. Suggestions and thoughts are always welcome, demands… not so much.

AN2: Second verse, same as the first, Henry the 8th I am I am… ok, now that I got that out of my system and got the song stuck in all of your heads, I'll start the chapter.

AN3: Special thanks go out to my new Beta for this story, Rylia.

'Thought'

"Speech"

Chapter 14: Public Exposure

One should respect public opinion in so far as it is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny.

- Bertrand Russell

High above planet Earth, and with a great view of said planet, Wonder Woman and Superman sat in the main conference room of the orbiting Watchtower.

"Do you know what this meeting is about?" Kal El, also known as Clark Kent or Superman, asked as he turned his gaze from the planet below and walked over to take a seat across the round table from Wonder Woman.

"No Kal, though Bruce sounded especially agitated when he called the meeting with the two of us; well, as agitated as he ever gets." Wonder Woman, aka Diana, explained with a slight shrug as to the reason for the meeting of the Trinity; the three super heroes who created and semi-led the Justice League.

"I called you here because we have a new problem, one that was able to subdue me much too easily and knows too much." Bruce Wayne said, otherwise known as Batman, but here in the meetings of the Trinity all casually answered to their real names.

This caught the attention of both Kal El and Diana.

"Are you well my friend? And what do you mean by they know too much?" Diana asked with concern for both her friend and the situation.

Batman sat and removed his cowl as he took out a data disk from inside his cape. Inserting the data disk into a slot on the table, a holographic display appeared above the center of the circular conference table.

"I took this film two nights ago, right before I was subdued. It was broadcast wirelessly to the Batmobile while it was filming." Bruce stated.

The holographic display began to show a city cemetery, dark and full of angel and cross covered graves with the occasional crypt or mausoleum dotting the landscape. Walking casually through the graveyard towards a center crypt were several pale and boney figures whose white complexion and yellow eyes seemed to glow in the bright moon light.

The pale figures looked to be talking for a second before moving and entering a center crypt. Eventually more figures moved out of the shadows and also disappeared into the crypt over the next few minutes of the film.

"What are we watching Bruce?" Superman turned to Bruce and asked in his deep voice.

"Wait a second, here we go." Batman stated as crackling blue lines of energy snapped and twisted into existence, disgorging squads of heavily armed and darkly armored beings.

"Parademons!" Wonder Woman growled somewhat questioningly.

"No, notice the lack of a boom and the concerted teamwork, they don't appear to be Darkseid's parademons." Kal El stated, still focusing on the video as the view of the hologram seemed to swing wildly as it was panned around the graveyard, showing multiple squads appearing all around Bruce's position in the graveyard.

The film continued, as a center blue portal disgorged a squad of the black armored beings and then a hulking grey armored behemoth with skeletal mask and skull adorned insignia. Batman gave a running dialogue to the other heroes watching the video with him.

"Notice how the dark armored squads all work together, they are all sporting similar armor and weaponry delineating some sort of organized force rather than the normal group of villain and untrained thugs that we normally face." Bruce explained, pointing into the hologram at the different weaponry and at the way that the black armored beings moved together, covering their flanks while moving steadily closer towards the center crypt.

"Watch the center figure in the grey armored suit, possibly robotic or cyborg though he did seem to display human emotions later on." Bruce explained, as the tall figure in grey pointed towards the crypt and another black armored soldier raised a double-tubed weapon onto their shoulder and discharged two energy balls spiraling at the crypt that had been the focus of the earlier part of the video.

A 'Boom' seemed to shake the screen as the shockwave of sound from the explosion of energy had a visible effect on the film.

Both Superman and Wonder Woman's faces went grim as they saw that where formerly there was a crypt, was now nothing at all. No twisted remains, no remnant of dust from a disintegration or molecular melt down, simply nothing but air existed in a twenty foot spherical radius, and they were pretty sure that the 'boom' sound was partially formed by the vacuum of air rushing back into the gap that the energy blast had made. Thoughts that the effect was similar to Darkseid's Omega beams went through the three heroes' heads.

"That's not even the most concerning part." Batman stated seeming to read the other heroes' thoughts while still focusing on the footage taken from that night.

The camera shifted and moved as it was clear that it was being set down on the top of a gravestone and pointed towards the crypt. A black figure ghosted through the shadows, darting behind a grave stone closer to the crypt.

At the same time that the camera was being set down and Batman was moving into the picture, two of the black armored figures were seen firing what looked like giant grenade launchers into the hole in the ground. The action proceeded quickly from there as Batman's arm was seen to wing a batarang at the grey armored figure who was directing his forces into the hole in the ground, and then Batman was attacked from above.

The film showed why Batman was a force to be reckoned with, as even though he was human, the video showed his fluid motions as he parried one arm that attempted to wrap around his head while ducking under another arm while using two razor sharp batarangs to simultaneously sever two of the grasping tentacles. Still, since he was only human there was no way that he could dodge the 22 remaining tentacles since both robots had been so close to Batman before they attacked; a thrown batarang had bounced off of the hull of the one of the red optical sensor studded hull of the squid like robot.

The trinity's faces were grim as they watched Batman being carried out to face the armored soldiers and their grey armor clad hulk of a leader.

"The armor on the one you hit isn't even scratched." Wonder Woman stated, ever the warrior and trained to look for weaknesses in possible enemies. Out of the side of her peripheral vision she saw Bruce nod his head in agreement at her statement; he had no doubt reviewed the tape multiple times to glean it of all useful information.

The three heroes watched the remaining film footage with grim faces; Bruce's turning red and angry as he saw his past and possible futures thrown in his face on the film, though Wonder Woman's turned calculative as she caught the Grey Knight mention that he was a demon hunter.

As an Amazonian whose capital sat over a literal portal to hell, Hades, demons and undead were a very present concern and it made her sit back and try to look at the Grey Knight as possibly something other than a monster.

'If the Grey Knight only killed demons, then perhaps he could be a noble ally to fight beside. Just what the Grey Knight considers a 'Demon' is the question though.' Diana thought grimly.

The camera continued to record as Bruce, in his Batman garb, was rendered unconscious by a vicious looking needle on one of the multi-armed robots and then flown up into the sky by the two robots as the armored figures disappeared into the smoke. The video continued to record the hole, until a clawed tentacle appeared to get larger in the view screen and the hologram turned to static as a crunching sound was heard and the recording ended.

The three heroes were silent for a moment as Diana and Kal El gathered their thoughts, and Bruce calculatingly waited to hear their initial responses.

"What do we know about these so called vampires? I've never seen a human being disintegrate into dust like that before, even the bones powdered when that Grey Knight killed them." Superman questioned, Diana and he both looking at Bruce to answer.

"My research on the infected showed some type of virus, though my test subject disappeared before I could create a cure; I was following the escapee to the Gotham City cemetery when I filmed this endeavor." Bruce stated.

"So it wasn't demonic or magical, it was biological." Diana pointedly asked, noting that Bruce hadn't answered the question in 100% fullness.

A bit chagrined, Bruce looked away while answering, "I was unable to find a scientific pathogenic or viral infestation in the blood of the infected, which may possibly suggest that some of what the Grey Knight said was true, that the vampirism may be magical or demonic in nature." Bruce explained, his use of the words 'magical' and 'demonic' coming out like curse words.

"Still if he is killing humans then he must be stopped." Superman stated while pressing several buttons on the table before him and displaying a holographic image of the Grey Knight in the air before them.

"Let's not be too hasty Kal. If they are truly demons or undead like the Grey Knight stated, then he was right to slay them. The dead belong in Hade's realm and the demons in their planes of hell. To allow them to wander the earth is against the will of the Gods and can only bring evil to this world. Besides, he didn't kill Bruce when he had the chance. What happened after the video stopped?" Diana contributed, turning to Bruce at the end to find out the outcome of the night.

"I woke up laying on my bed at Wayne Manor." Bruce growled darkly. "He got into my house and didn't even set off any of the alarms or security that I have functioning around the place."

That took Superman and Wonder Woman aback. It was somewhat frightening hearing that the Grey Knight and his forces were able to ghost unseen and unhindered into Wayne Manor, probably one of the most strongly secured and monitored private mansions in the US if not the whole world.

"That's not all. Take a look at this video from when we found the skunks in the Watchtower." Bruce added, pressing a few buttons on his consol and changing the hologram to show a camera video from a hallway.

On the video there was a slight flash of blue light that flashed from around the corner that was out of sight, and then a few seconds later several skunks wandered into the monitored hallway and wandered off screen. The blue light that had appeared to glow from off screen suddenly went out.

"The color and light spectrometers agree that the color and intensity of light is consistent with that given off by the Grey Knight's portals." Batman explained, before changing the screen back to an image of the Grey Knight.

Diana leaned forward to get a better look at the image. "So Flash or Plastic man really weren't the culprits for that prank. Why do you think the Grey Knight would send a pack of skunks into our station? Do you think it's as simple as a prank or something more sinister like notifying us that he can reach us any time he wants to?" Diana finished, pressing buttons that made the three dimensional image of the Grey Knight rotate around in a circle.

"I don't know, but I've doubled the security coverage of the station, since neither of you are allowing me to put in more active defenses." Batman stated, glaring at Superman at the last part of his statement while pulling his cowl back into place covering his head.

"And it will remain that way Bruce. I don't want somebody getting injured simply because you haven't had the time to agree to the addition of a new hero to the league or are too busy to update the systems. You can arm the Batcave as much as you like, but the station is neutral territory for all league members and our guests." Superman stated firmly, but not harshly.

"Which I have already done so since I had a bit of a… difficulty last month." Batman growled, his head again fully covered by his trademark cowl.

"Do we know anything else about this Knight, this dimension walking demon slayer?" Wonder Woman asked as she continued to look at the intricacy of the armor, trying to assess its capabilities. The seeming smoothness of the armor gave no evidence to any internal systems or weapons.

"No, no other information on abilities, location of base, strengths or weakness. The only other information we have to work with is the symbol on the chests of his soldiers, otherwise I don't have anything. No historical books seem to have that symbol in its exact configuration, especially not matched with the skulls and skeleton motif. The only recent example of a symbol showing up like that is a new coffee company that seems to be spreading, but it is being launched by a Native American tribe that has been around for centuries. I also haven't found a way to track or predict his manor of transportation. For all we know he could be opening a portal from another dimension every time he steps into ours." Batman explained, the two other heroes could tell that Batman was not happy with this lack of information.

"Perhaps we should just ask him the next time we see him?" Superman postulated, ever the Boy Scout and willing to give people a chance, especially based off of Wonder Woman's statement regarding demons; Superman wasn't too fond of magical enemies either.

"If we ever see him again." Batman stated firmly.

A slurping sound, like trying to suck the last little bit of fluid through a straw, was heard to issue from behind them. The three heroes quickly turned towards the door.

"Hey, isn't that the Grey Knight?" Flash asked from where he was standing in the doorway slurping the last bits of an iced-mocha coffee drink from a container in his hands; he'd become a bit addicted to having one at least twice a day if he had the time to run on by a Sparkbucks coffee shop.

Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman's eyes all got large as they turned and looked at each other, then the hologram that was still in the middle of the table, then back at The Flash.

"How do you know that name?" Batman growled.

The Flash shrugged. "I figured you'd already know about it, he's on the TV right now, live from Gotham Cemetery talking about some vampire infestation that he stopped. It's on pretty much every channel, surprised you didn't know considering its 'your' city and all." Flash said with a blasé smile while continuing to annoyingly slurp at his cup, trying to maneuver the straw through the ice to get that last little bit of iced coffee goodness; though the Flash had taken a moment away from slurping to do air-quotes around 'your' city.

The members of the trinity all looked at each other and then sprinted out of the room towards the Javelin hanger.

Earlier that day…

Xander had been unconscious for more than a day before he woke up groggy and confused as to where he was. It didn't help that when he woke up he didn't recognize the large bedroom that he was in. Xander did however recognize the cute blonde Dora, who was dressed up in a naughty nurse outfit.

"Good morning Master. Are you feeling better, Sir?" Dora asked when she saw that he was awake and went to throw open the long heavy red fabric curtains that were covering the twenty foot tall floor to ceiling windows.

"And what a beautiful morning it is." Xander said groggily but with a smile as he watched Dora's standing on her tiptoes to fix the curtains, causing her 'nurses uniform' to ride up her thigh and show that she was wearing a pair of bright red lacy boy-short panties and the top of her garter belt attached to white stockings.

Dora turned and glanced over her shoulder, throwing Xander a wink when she saw that he was looking her over.

"It's strictly look but don't touch this morning, on Igor's orders and because of your health. Frankly sir, if your upgrades hadn't kicked in during your last battle we wouldn't be having this conversation and you would either be permanently dead or emerging from the Lazarus Pit right about now." Dora elucidated as she turned to Xander and wagged her finger at him scolding. Somehow the effect of the scolding was less effective due to the fact that her breasts were practically falling out of the lacy red bra that she was wearing underneath the thoroughly unbuttoned white nurse's uniform.

"But what if I want to? I thought I was the one in charge here?" Xander questioned, mock pouting and playing along but still wondering in why Dora wasn't interested in playing, especially given what she was wearing.

"Uh uh uhhhh, no you don't. The arrangement between the Igor family and the Heterodyne line specifically states that the Master will not begin any strenuous activities until they are fully able to be up and about after any near death, partial death, mostly dead, undeath, or total death experiences; though Igor mentioned that there is a clause that says out of body experiences don't count." Dora stated while moving around the room to open the curtains fully, letting in the sun.

She opened one of the lead lined pane glass windows and a crisp and refreshing breeze filtered into the room while also causing nice looking goose bumps to rise up on her arms.

Xander unconsciously licked his lips as he was watching her work, the effect of the flush from the cold air and the resulting goose bumps had him turned on for some reason.

Clearing his throat so that he could talk as his mouth was surprisingly dry at the moment, Xander asked, "So um, if there is to be no 'strenuous activities' to be had, why are you teasing me so much this morning?"

"What better way to motivate you to get 'up' and about?" Dora said with a bit of a husky laugh and a wink, and then blew him a kiss from across the room as she went and opened another window.

Xander pouted, but his heart wasn't in it, and he couldn't keep himself from grinning while he watched Dora moving around the room.

Her moving around the room made him realize that he didn't know where he was.

"Um, not to sound naïve, but where am I? I mean, I know I'm in a bed in a room, but where that room and bed are, geographically speaking, where on the planet, um, yeah, you get what I'm asking?" Xander asked, bumbling over his words as he babbled a bit and struggled not to make a fool out of himself. Unfortunately, the big head was not fully staffed with blood cells given that Xander was watching Dora move around the room still.

"You are in Sighişoara, Transylvania sir, in the real castle of the former vampire known as Dracula but born Vlad Dracul, order of the Dragon and father of Vlad Tepes Apparently, it was the father who was the real Dracula, not the son Vlad the Impaler." Igor answered with more details than Xander really wanted while entering the room.

"Good morning Igor." Xander stated as he threw off his blankets and tried to step out of bed, only for Xander's legs to partially give out under him and caused him to balance himself on one of the cherry wood posts of the canopy bed.

"Woah, a little wobbly this morning." Xander stated, and then smiled as Dora came over with a robe and a shoulder to lean on; it was a bit chilly in the room to be walking around in only boxers.

Dora robed Xander and then helped steady him as he walked towards a table that sat before the windows. As Xander moved across the room he steadily got stronger and was able to move himself under his own power and balance before he got to the table and sat himself down.

"What do you mean by the true castle of Dracula or real castle?" Xander questioned Igor as Dora walked out of the room for a second, and returned with a large platter of breakfast food for Xander, which she set in front of Xander.

"Most people assume that Bran castle is the castle of Dracula. The castle was for all intents and purposes invisible until it appeared to the world with the death of the vampire formerly known as Dracula. We believe there may have been a spell that dissipated upon death. Understandably, this has caused much consternation in the townsfolk, and the mayor of Sighişoara has come to the front gate questioning if he could speak with the master of the castle. Apparently there are some legal and international clauses in the earlier treaty that joined Transylvania with Romania regarding the people's right to vote in absence of the true Voivode, or Duke of this region. Now that the castle is present again, the Master of which is said to be the Voivode, we will no doubt be hearing from the Romanian national government as well." Igor informed Xander in a matter of fact tone of voice.

Xander looked stunned, and used the time it took to swallow a mouth full of eggs and a swallow of coffee to think of what he wanted to know next or what plans to make.

"Igor, my brain is going a million different directions with the information you just gave me. What other information should I know before I start making some decisions? I have the feeling that time is of the essence here if we want to possibly stake a claim as this Voivode and get ourselves a country." Xander shrewdly questioned.

"Yes sir. The forces you left behind in the cavern finished off the remaining vampires and the squidies are reporting that they caught all vampires attempting to escape into the city. All of our weaponry and technology has been removed from the scene of the attack and returned to New Mechanicsburg or here at the castle; defense robots have been stationed here at the castle as well. I felt it best to remove all of our presence from the City of Gotham for now, so the coffee shop has been quietly closed and all sign that it existed in Gotham has been removed." Igor stated while reviewing a list of items off of the consol in his hands before continuing to give Xander other pertinent information on the current Transylvanian/Romanian treaty of unification as well as the state of the castle they were in now.

After listing off troop strength and economic information on Xander's current situation, Igor stopped and posed a question to Xander.

"Oh, and one last thing sir. What would you like to do with the young lady you rescued during the destruction of the vampires in Gotham? We have been able to ascertain that her name is Ms. Vale, Ms. Vicki Vale and is apparently a reporter in Gotham and sometime friend of a Mr. Bruce Wayne." Igor stated, giving Xander a knowing look at the stating of Bruce Wayne's name as Xander had filled Igor in on some details regarding Batman's alter ego.

Xander was silent as he continued to eat his food and thought on what to do about the situation. Factors, plans, contingencies and possibilities flew through his head, as well as alternatives on what to do when Murphy or Lady Luck raised their head as they always seemed to do around him.

Standing up, Xander started pacing across the room. Every so often he would stop and talk out loud to himself as ideas came to him.

"So first we deal with the castle. No no no, first I get the possible nosey reporter out of here and then I deal with the Romanians." Xander said to himself, and then turned to pace back the other direction, looking at the floor as he was deep in thought.

Reaching the apex of one turn of his pacing and turning back to go the other way, Xander stopped and focus to look over his shoulder at Igor.

"What is the percentage chance of us successfully taking over the Transylvanian territory and keeping it? Keep in mind that I want to keep the people happy and make them as prosperous as possible." Xander questioned his steward/chief henchman.

Igor's fingers flew over the screen of the consol in his hands and then turned to look at Xander.

"Depending on how much money, prosperity and security you can bring to the area, it could be possible to not only get the Romanian people to acquiesce to your request, but actually welcome it. They seem to be having problems with their current dictator, so if something perhaps could happen to him, we would be in a perfect position to take over at least the Transylvania region if not all of Romania. Additionally, the Black Heterodyne's traditional ties to the country could be off assistance." Igor detailed.

"No, no references to The Black Heterodyne, I want to erase all connections between my ancestors and vampires if possible. What do you know about this dictator?" Xander answered as he began pacing again.

Igor again consulted the computerized consol device in his hands.

"Nicolae Ceauşescu came to power in 1965 and allowed the Soviet Union to pretty much run the country. Death toll at his direction and that of the communist system under him is estimated to be over two million." Igor stated, looking back up at Xander to see if he needed any more information.

Xander again stopped, looked at the ceiling and his lips moved silently as he was going over facts in his head.

"I've heard of this guy, but in my dimension he was overthrown in a very bloody revolution back in 1989, how come this guy is still alive and kicking in the late 1990's?" Xander questioned, still looking at the ceiling and thinking, he found it distracting whenever Dora and her outfit came into view.

Xander thought of Dora and glanced over at the table where he had been eating breakfast and where she was now cleaning up. She had her legs together and was bending over at the waist with her panty clad ass pointing towards him, the view made Xander gulp and then quickly look back at the ceiling as he had almost missed Igor's answer.

"Ceauşescu's secret police employed meta-humans who would kill off any dissidents." Igor simply answered.

This caught Xander's attention. "Any named meta's I should be aware of?"

"One goes by the name of Starfire or Red Star, though he was only involved in once instance where rebels had taken over a theater of people and were threatening to kill them if the government didn't relent in its communistic goals. Starfire's last location was noted as being in the Ukraine. The other meta's seem to be more involved in the killings, and Starfire is simply a supporter of socialism who does the occasional heroic act and uses it to praise the ideology of communism." Igor explained, reading the details off his device.

"Whew, that's good. No Red Son to deal with." Xander stated as he continued to stare at the ceiling.

Xander got frustrated with staring at the ceiling and turned to Dora. "Dora dear, you're sexy as all that plus a bag of Twinkies, but sadly you're too much of a distraction at the moment. Would you please leave us?" Xander asked politely.

Dora smirked knowingly and sashayed her way out of the room, making sure to put extra sway in her hips, and blew a kiss at Xander before she finished leaving and closing the door to the room.

'I hate to see her go, but love to watch her leave.' A little voice in Xander's head stated.

Xander shivered to clear the thoughts of Dora's swaying hips from his mind.

"Ok, where were we? Oh yeah, so Igor, I've decided to take over Romania." Xander stated as he walked up to Igor and put a hand on the older man's shoulder. The two walked towards the door of the castle's bedroom.

"So what do you know about capturing a small country and turning it into a superpower in the space of a week?" Xander queried as they walked out the door and through the gaudily decorated hallways.

"Not much sir, though I do have the proper training on managing any property you may acquire. Capturing, defending and building up an area are more the Master's line of work." Igor replied as they walked down a flight of steps that opened into a hallway.

"Fair enough, I can work with that." Xander stated after a few more minutes of thinking and walking.

Turning a corner at a 'T' Intersection, Xander and Igor entered the main hall and saw workmen patching the holes in the floors and walls. Where the great table had been were now banks of computer terminals staffed by some of Xander's people busily monitoring their stations and working away at whatever it was they were doing.

"Wow Igor, I'm impressed. Whatever it is, I'm impressed you were able to get it up and running in the time that I was unconscious." Xander stated looking around with a smile.

"Thank you sir, it's what I do." Igor simply replied with a slight bow of his head.

"Question though, how are you powering this place? I notice all of the torches that were burning have all gone out and don't remember any of these electrical light panels or any electric sockets being around here before?" Xander asked as he looked at the ceiling and then around the room at all of the electronic devices, communications systems, and thousands upon thousands of feet of conduit and electrical cabling that was present in the room.

"Your new design for the Lazarus Pit fluid power device has been completed sir. Though it is not as compact as the transdimensional device, one unit does put out enough power to run all of the equipment you see here and all of the lights for the castle." Igor explained, motioning with his arm around the space of the room.

"One device can do that, hmmm. So of course you've used another five to ten units right." Xander stated, a maniacal smile coming across his face as he thought of what he could do with all of that energy.

"Of course sir, I know your feelings regarding overkill." Igor replied. "As soon as the magic keeping the torches lit went out we started installing the electric systems. This was soon after we followed your transponder signal and arrived to help you." Igor continued.

"There's no such thing as overkill." Xander stated with a smile to which Igor merely nodded dutifully.

"Ok people, here's the plan." Xander raised his voice so that everybody in the large room could hear him.

"First, start remaking the castle, none of this kitschy vampire crap and let's make it high tech here, though keep the tapestries of the humans fighting vampires and demons; I have plans for those. Igor should be able to pull out the blueprints that I had for my dream fortress. Second, I'm going to get that reporter out of here as soon as possible. Assuming she is awake already?" Xander pointed the last part at Igor.

"Yes sir, awake and asking questions, though none of her questions have been answered. She has been confined to a room without windows and has only seen one of the doctors who work for you." Igor responded.

Xander nodded, "Good, let's keep it that way." Xander stopped mid sentence, "No, better yet we can use her and possibly get Batman and the other heroes off of our trail for a while." Xander finished.

"Let's drop her off in Gotham near the cemetery and see if we can hit more than one bird at the same time. Somebody get me my armor and make an anonymous report to the American national news stations that the answers to the Gotham disappearances will be answered in one hour at the cemetery." Xander ordered.

Igor clapped his hands, and all of the people in the room started to become active.

"Your armor is in the room through that door Sir." Igor offered, pointing to an antechamber off of the former great hall.

"Great! Thanks Igor." Xander stated with his traditional goofy smile that was so typical for the Scooby.

Right before Xander entered the antechamber, Xander called out behind him.

"When I get back from dealing with Gotham, I estimate we will have a short window of opportunity to deal with Ceauşescu's. Have a squad of Jäger's armored up, but paint them all black and remove the family crest." Xander started to turn towards the antechamber but quickly turned back around to add another command. "And grab me the blank helmet, paint it black and put a giant white question mark on it." Xander said the last part with a smirk.

Xander laughed to himself as he walked into the room to put on his armor.

'Always leave your enemies guessing.' Xander thought to himself as he put on his armor. He had a busy day ahead of him.

Vicki Vale had woken up in a room with four walls and no doors or windows. She had found herself in a hospital bed and the last thing she remembered was looking into the eyes of a man who had called himself Alucard when she had been introduced to him at a party earlier that week. Her awakening had been four hours earlier, and now she was out of bed and pacing as she was nervous at being locked up and anxious for answers to her questions.

Just as she reached one side of the seamless cubicle room and turned to walk back the other direction a flash of blue light lit up the room and a portal opened up, the same type of portal that the doctor and her food had arrived and left by for the last two days.

However it was a very different figure than a simple doctor that stepped out of portal.

It was like a being out of nightmares had stepped into the room with her as the figure that towered over her by three feet turned his red glowing eyes and skeletal head towards her and walked towards her.

Vicki found herself backing away from the giant metal looking being who wore skulls embedded in his armor. Unfortunately there was nowhere to escape, and Vicky found her reverse motion halted when she ran into the wall behind her.

"I've been looking forward to meeting you." The metal being stated in a deep dark voice.

Vicki's fight or flight instincts took over, and since there was no way to fight, and nowhere to flee to, she froze up in fear.

Vicki's eyes went wide open, and her only response was to let out a blood curdling scream as fear took over her body and she found herself cowering in the corner of the room with nowhere to escape to.

"Shit!" Xander said in his helmet, "I forgot to turn off the Vader voice. Quick Jarvis, change the voice to something totally innocent and harmless." Xander ordered.

Xander next tried to tell Ms. Vale to calm down.

Unfortunately what came out of Xander's mouth was the voice of a four year old little girl that sounded distinctly like Shirley Temple. "Woah there Ms. Vale, please don't scream, I'm not going to eat you or anything." Xander said.

The mix of voice and image was comparable to that of the villain from one of those horror movies where the kid's toy is possessed and starts murdering people. The mix of little girls voice and the words 'eat you', coupled with the visage of the giant skeletal figure with glowing eyes, was enough to do the trick.

Vicki Vale passed out from fear, eyes rolling back into her head as her mouth was frozen in a silent scream of terror as she slumped to the floor.

"Well at least she stopped screaming." Xander palmed his face while saying to himself. "Jarvis, just broadcast my normal voice." He commanded.

Bending down, Xander lifted Ms. Vale into his arms and carried her across the room and laid her in the bed in the middle of the room. Following that, Xander moved so that he was standing behind the bed so that he wouldn't be in her line of site when she woke up.

Xander stood there for a couple minutes, waiting to see if she would wake up on her own, but noted that the clock on his HUD was telling him that time was passing; which was unfortunately something that Xander couldn't afford to waste at the moment.

Pointing his arm at the head of Ms. Vale a hatch on the back of Xander's forearm slid seamlessly open and a nozzle poked out of the hatch; the nozzle constricting so that the radius of the opening was very small. With that, Xander shot a small quick stream of water that hit Vicki Vale right between the eyes.

Vicki sputtered awake, "Wha, What? What's going on, where am I?" She asked as she started to turn her head to look around and figure out what was going on with the weird dream she had just had.

"Stop!" Xander commanded in is normal voice, "Don't turn around just yet, just listen to my voice."

Vicki Vale's head stopped looking around, and Xander's HUD was telling him that her heart rate was again rising and heat was spreading across her skin in a pattern that would suggest she was again becoming afraid.

"Don't worry Ms. Vale, you are safe here and nobody would hurt you. I will not hurt you and just want to get you back to Gotham safe and sound in just a moment." Xander calmly stated.

"Wh, Why was there a freaky metal giant with a little girls voice in here then." Vicki hesitantly asked, not daring to look behind her.

"It was a mistake with his, I mean my voice system. But don't worry, the whole freaky thing like you say is just to scare bad guys, kind of like Batman." Xander replied, smiling inside his helmet.

Vicki was confused, "Wait, so you're a hero like Batman?" She questioned.

"Um, no, I wouldn't call myself a hero like Batman." Xander stated, but quickly continued when he saw Vicki start to tense up again, "That doesn't mean I'm a villain or big bad though, I just don't necessarily follow the same rules that Batman does or go out of my way to fight crime." He finished.

Vicki began to relax, and as she relaxed her normal reporter instincts kicked in as she smelled a story.

"So care to tell me who that freaky guy who kidnapped me was, or what he was doing with me, what happened to him and if Batman was really behind the disappearances of the Lost Ones?" She rapid fired questions at Xander, now turning to look behind her at the metal behemoth while taking a chance to wipe the water off her face with the sheet of the bed.

"Um, well… How about this? How would you like exclusive video that will tell you all your answers and probably be the story of the year in Gotham?" Xander questioned, smirking inside his helmet as he saw Vicki's eyes seem to light up.

Vicki Vale bit her lip as she thought for a moment, and then the attractive blonde reporter looked Xander in face and said, "Yes, on two conditions. Get me home first and tell me who you are." She said with a smile.

Xander chuckled, "I'm the one keeping you here and the only way out, and you give me demands?" He questioned, but you could hear the humor in his voice. "Fine, I'm used to dealing with demanding attractive blondes." This statement caused Vicki to blush a bit.

"I'll give you the video footage when we step through into Gotham and as for who I am, I'm the Grey Knight." Xander stated as he stepped forward and offered his hand to help Vicki off of the medical bed.

Vicki slid off the bed easily, and slipped on her shoes that she had been wearing when she was kidnapped, and were now pair under the edge of the bed. She noted that she was still in the clothing she had been wearing when captured and subsequently rescued, but that she smelled like she was clean.

"Come, let's go to Gotham." Xander's voice stated, once again sounding deep and menacing as his voice modulator changed.

With that, a blue portal opened and both figures stepped through hand in hand.

The Gotham Cemetery was swarming with living people, which was uncommon for place where normally the dead rested. Not only where there journalists, photographers, and camera men swarming the entrance, but the police force was there en masse as well.

Yellow police area tape cordoned off the gates to the historic Gotham Cemetery, and teams of containment suit wearing county officials and Hazmat members were working in the cemetery, but the Gotham City Police Department was out in force. Even the horse mounted police were there to cordon off the cemetery where a squad of SWAT members had gone missing a week prior.

The reporters were barraging questions at stoic faced police officers, shouting questions from behind the hastily erected tape and hurricane fencing barricade while a stream of individuals in hazmat gear carried or pushed containers of something out of a hole that stood in the middle of the cemetery.

"Is it true that those containers contain human remains?" One reporter shouted as he scribbled notes on his pad of paper.

"No comment." A police officer responded.

"What about allegations that Batman was responsible for the disappearances of the Lost Ones?" A lady with a microphone yelled in question.

"Again, no comment." The officer answered.

"What about..." A third started to yell out a question when his question was interrupted by the snap and hiss of blue energy forming into existence and opening into a portal in the middle of the restricted area behind the barricade.

Officers swung around and pointed guns at the unknown energy portal, and the Hazmat team members dived for cover behind grave stones.

The aim of the officers became a bit shaky as a huge metallic figure with the semblance of the Grim Reaper in armor stepped out of the portal and faced the audience before him. He was followed by a petite attractive blonde out of the portal before it snapped shut.

The crowd screamed and started to back away in fear as an officer yelled for the figure to 'Freeze!'

"Hold!" Xander shouted, and his speaker system magnified his voice so that everybody in the back of the crowd could easily hear him. He pushed Vicki Vale behind him so that he could shield her from any bullets that might be fired at him by the shaken police officers.

"Hold I say!" His deep voice boomed. "I'm not here to harm you. It was I who notified the press that there would be a conference here at this time." Xander continued.

The police officers continued to point their guns at Xander, though Xander noticed that several of them were shaking as they tried to draw a bead on him.

Glaring down at the police officers, Xander repeated himself, "I said I'm not here to harm you, so point those guns elsewhere or a ricochet will hurt somebody. Frankly, if I wanted to kill you, you would be dead already. Besides, those puny weapons couldn't hurt me even if you did fire them." Xander stated, not necessarily inspiring the crowd to have confidence in him, but at least getting the police officers to stop pointing their weapons at him.

Stepping forwards toward the barricade where the reporters were, Xander noticed the crowd shrink back, yet the reporters resolutely continued to film or speak into microphones describing the situation.

"I've come here to inform you of what happened in the Cemetery two nights ago. Two nights ago, the hidden siege of Gotham City by the undead was lifted." Xander stated, his gaze panning across the people, their eyes strayed away from him whenever his eyes focused down on them.

"Wha, wha, what do you mean siege of undead?" the female reporter, who had been yelling questions at the police officer earlier, hesitantly asked Xander.

"The Lost Ones, as your news had dubbed them, are dead. They were dead the night they went missing I am afraid, as they were possessed and turned into Vampires. The vampires were a swarm of undead that threatened to destroy the entire city." Xander stated.

This statement shocked the people, and the crowd began to mutter; Xander's increased senses and auditory sensors picked up on the whispering statements of disbelief.

"It is true. I am the Grey Knight. Two nights ago my men and I traveled to this dimension and fought and slayed over five thousand vampires and the master vampire known as Dracula. That yonder hole is filled with the dust of the slain. I came to this dimension in my battle to destroy demon spawn wherever they may exist. For proof I will be giving Vicki Vale, whom I and my men rescued when doing battle in that hole over there, a video recording of portions of the battle." Xander announced in his 'Darth Vader' voice while turning towards Vicki and handing her a disc that popped out of a slot on Xander's hip; the slot then seeming to disappear and meld back into the metal around it.

Vicki smiled triumphantly at the other reporters, who were now getting past their original fear of Xander and were throwing questions at her.

Xander held his hand up to still the questions, and waited for silence to fall before speaking again, "I want it known that Batman was not involved in the disappearance of the Lost Ones and that he was seeking to find them when we slayed the demonic forces that had housed themselves within the bodies of the people they killed. To the families of the Lost One's I send my condolences, as the destruction of the vampires leaves only dust. Alas, there will be no bodies returned to your families." Xander stated solemnly.

The crowd was taken aback at the news that the hundreds of known disappeared ones were not coming back and it was overwhelming to think that over five thousand people were dead. Unfortunately the solemn silent moment was interrupted by the sound of jet engines as a Justice League Javelin hovered down over the crowd and Batman jumped out; followed by Wonder Woman and Superman who swept out of the sky on his own power.

The crowd parted and the reporters continued to film as Batman made his way towards Xander's position, pushing a police officer out of the way when the officer tried to stop Batman from crossing the barricade.

Looking up at Xander with a scowl plastered across his face, Batman growled, "I could have saved them you bastard, you didn't know for sure they couldn't be saved." Batman stated while pointing standing before Xander.

Xander was frustrated as the HUD on his clock said he didn't have much more time to get this done with before he needed to be back in Romania. So maybe that explains why he snapped back at Batman.

"There is no way one man could have defeated the thousands that were down there, let alone defeated and brought them back to life. Don't be a 'Dick' Batman. Oh, I'm sorry, somebody else you know is referred to as a 'Dick'. I do know, and I refuse to rehash what has already been done." Xander stated, putting emphasis on the word Dick and inferring that Xander knew about the identity of Bruce Wayne's heir as well as other things; a potential threat to get Batman to back down.

Batman growled and tensed to attack Xander, only to be pulled back by Wonder Woman who had reached Batman's side.

"Hold Batman, What do you mean 'you know' Grey Knight?" Wonder Woman asked as she appraised the armored figure before her in a tactical manner, yet with no sign that she too wanted to attack.

"I know that when a vampire takes its host that all that is left is a soulless body inhabited by a demon. I know this the same way I know you Princess and I know your people. I know how you were formed and about your childhood, and I know your future; you should tell your mother to not be so obstinate about the assistance of Men. I know that we are not all Hercules and if she doesn't change her mind then her people are going to be in trouble when the gates below your island threaten to open." Xander pointedly stated, noticing the Princess's jaw tense and her grip tighten on Batman's shoulder as Xander's words cut her deeply. The Grey Knight was casually referring to secrets that weren't often shared and shouldn't be known outside of the Amazon people.

"So you admit that you are a man then? How can you know this?" She demanded, stepping in front of Bruce and right up to Xander's chest, looking right up at him.

Xander cursed mentally for letting it slip that he could possibly be a man. He needed to keep his identity absolutely secret if he wanted to succeed with all of his plans.

Looking down at her and saying the first thing that came to his mind, Xander replied, "I am merely the Grey Knight, demon slayer. That is all you need to know. I know what I know, because I know." Xander cringed at the last part of his statement. Fortunately the Darth Vader voice covered up for his imbecilic rambling and made it sound more 'wise' than 'idiot inserting both feet into his mouth' as Xander noticed several members of the audience and reporters nod their heads like he was stating great philosophic truths.

Smiling to himself, Xander continued before the three heroes or many reporters could ask him more questions.

"I'm not your enemy Princess, nor yours Batman and Superman. It is ultimately your choice to make as I will not be picking a fight with you, just as I didn't restrain Batman until he attacked me first." Xander stated, looking at the three heroes and stopping to focus on Superman and smile inside his helmet. "I could be your friend for all you know. For instance, Superman, you should get your father's heart looked at, and Batman, protect those contingency plans better, or Ghul will get them and use them against you and your friends." Xander stated, finishing to look at Wonder Woman. "And you Diana. I would ask your mother that she not attack me if I come to your island, but know that I will do so only in defense of the world or your island if they are threatened by the forces of Hell." Xander completed.

These statements struck at the hearts of the heroes as they realized that this being, this Grey Knight, really did know about them and their deepest darkest secrets. Before they could ask him any further questions, however, a snap and hiss of energy sounded and a blue portal opened up over the Grey Knight's head and quickly snapped to the ground; leaving the space he had been standing in empty.

The crowd was silent for a second, and then sprung to life in a cacophony of questions being hurled at the heroes regarding what the Grey Knight had stated. Others were yelling at Vicki Vale to share her secrets or at the police to allow them access to the tunnel to see the battle site. The police were yelling at the crowd to back up and stating 'No Comment.' The heroes were left to depart quickly before they were barraged with too many questions of their own.

All in all, the Grey Knight had answered many questions, but he had in turn left even more behind unanswered.

AN: Another chapter down. An author friend pen-named Tenhawk had asked me to stop using the JL heroes as only straight men for the jokes in this story, which was fitting as I was a good 4/5ths of the way done with this chapter and had already been planning on just that when I received his email. Now that Xander is somewhat out in the open we will be seeing him interacting with the world of super heroes/villains and public more often whether he wants it or not. Additionally, if you actually read the powers and abilities that Xander has gained, there are still villains out there that could totally destroy Xander with as much ease as you or I stomp on an ant. That said, don't worry about this becoming a Gary Stu. This isn't to say that Xander won't still attempt to become stronger, but I'm not going to say any more as I hate doing spoilers before I actually write something out. Cheers.