Spark of Genius
Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy verse, Girl Genius verse, DC comics or any of the other smatterings of pop culture and literary ideas that I refer to in my story, I just tread through a few other sandboxes. Oh, and several names are made up, some are real. The Ambassador from Romania is made up.
AN: Sorry it took so long to update, but I had a lot of kinks to work out on the story flow and what I wanted to happen in the next couple of chapters. Basically this story started out of a rabid plot bunny that mutated into a short story, that then mutated into a long story, which has the possibilities of mutating into a series if I so choose and enthusiasm stays strong for the story. With that in mind I wanted to make sure that I didn't paint myself into a corner and that the plot ideas that spawned this story can still come to life. That's right, I have several very large situations that are from DC Comics and Girl Genius cannon that I want to work into Xander's life, it just gets complicated when I try to keep honest with timelines and try to weave them all in and still keep the story fun. I like a hero that succeeds, but I also want to keep Xander away from becoming a Gary Stu where everything goes perfectly for him and he always gets the girl while coming away totally unscathed. This is Xander that we are talking about, and beside Harry Potter, I don't know another character whom Fate, Lady Luck and Mr. Murphy like to mess with more than Xander Harris. With that said, I hope you enjoy the chapter.
AN: I'm going to eventually be finding one or two long term love interests for Xander, props to anybody who calls it before I actually work the women into the story. Feel free to place your bets in the reviews or via private message and I'll give you props in the chapter where the answer(s) are given.
'Thought'
"Speech"
Chapter 18: One of Those Days
"If you can stay calm, while all around you is chaos…then you probably haven't completely understood the seriousness of the situation."
~The Office
For the Justice League, the day after The Leviathan addressed the United Nations started out pretty much normal for the heroes; which the average person would think was odd given that a country had disappeared, reappeared and changed political structures. But the reality of the situation was twofold.
One, the Justice League really didn't get involved in international politics where human life was not threatened. Sure some soldiers and intelligence figures had gotten killed in the coup, but the sad truth was that coups happened and the heroes of the Justice League didn't take political sides when nations changed governments. Heck, Batman, Superman and a slew of other heroes had been to enough alternate dimensions/earths where the heroes interfered in the actions of every day humans, and as a result of those experiences the Justice League had come up with strict rules that they would let the normal humans live their lives free of interference for the most part. It wasn't the place of heroes like Superman to play 'Big Brother,' even if they had X-ray vision that would make it easy. The fact that the Romanian people were healthy, happy with the situation and seemed to fully support the current government was the main concern. As long as the Leviathan didn't go about trying to invade his neighbors, then all should be good as far as the Justice League was considered.
Second, the heroes were just too busy to actively interfere with what was currently a 'peaceful' situation. If you take into account the constant actions by the already active group of super villains that plagued Metropolis, Gotham, New York and every other city in the United States let alone the world, then add in the normal every day muggings and criminal activities that needed to be thwarted, the Heroes were swamped busy. This busy work schedule was further compounded by world and environmental catastrophes.
For example, the day after Romania appeared again Superman had to deal with one bank heist, two car chases, one flood in Ethiopia, an armed robbery of aid workers in Nicaragua and Mrs. O'Leary's cat stuck in a tree, all before lunch. This isn't to say that he didn't think about the situation in Romania and at the United Nations. Superman, aka Clark Kent, was a reporter for the Daily Planet and thus had to keep his day job; so he wrote an editorial piece about the happenings at the United Nations and about the information trickling out of Romania. At the same time he set the computers in the Fortress of Solitude to review the existing data they had on The Leviathan and The Grey Knight.
At the same time that Superman was doing all this, Batman was hot on the trail of the Joker who had, once again, broken out of Arkham Asylum and was again threatening to unleash another madcap crime wave throughout Gotham. Between Bruce's detective work in trying to capture the Joker, the nightly patrols of the city and the approximately three to four hours of sleep Bruce Wayne was able to grab in between running his company and playing the role of the playboy, he didn't have much time to devote to the whole Romania situation. That isn't to say that Batman's interest hadn't been piqued by The Grey Knight showing up and claiming family ties to the new ruler of Romania, though the family resemblance was hard to judge given the armor and helmets. Already the super computer in the Batcave was looking over historical references between the mark of the Grey Knight and Romania, and Bruce had been intrigued to note that there were historical traces of a noble Romanian family bearing the crest and the black banner. Bruce had marked the items of note and forwarded them on to the hero known as 'The Question' for further review and investigation. That was about all the time Batman had to give to the situation as unlike the other heroes in the Justice League, Batman was only a normal man. An incredibly bright, skilled, and talented man, but one without super powers that would enable him to travel great distances in a short period of time or work without sleep, food, or a break to rest.
Speaking of great distances in a short period of time, at the same time that the other heroes were busy, The Flash chased down two car driving felons, intercepted three drug smuggling speed boats (while at sea and at full speed), knocked out Mirror Master before he could escape into a mirror and disarmed several bank robbers in several different U.S. states; and that was all before breakfast. Frankly, The Flash was bored with his lazy day and nothing to do. Thus Wally West was currently running from Sparkbucks to Sparkbucks all around the world, using his speed to get around the 'one drink limit' that had been put into place for him after The Flash had 'gone to plaid' the first time. By this time that was a lot of Sparkbucks to visit as every major democratic country had multiple Sparkbucks in their large cities and many small cities and towns had at least one of the coffee shops. Truly, Xander's coffee shops were spreading throughout the world and dominating the coffee market. Thus, like a true addict trying to achieve the equal of that initial buzz, The Flash was spending his day traveling from store to store to get more doses of that perfectly blended caffeinated purity called spark roast coffee. Wally West was merging in and out of the speed force, never quite getting enough caffeine to fully harness the speedsters power source, but continuing to try. This isn't to say that Wally was only thinking of himself and his caffeine addiction. Due to the increase in speed from the spark roast coffee The Flash was able to catch up on his entire backlog of fan mail from seven years, read 'War and Peace' to improve his mind, and take up and perfect the hobby of scrap booking. Wally thought it was nice to have his Christmas gifts planned out in advance, and Wally hoped that Batman appreciated the fact that he had gone to the trouble of finding a bat shaped paper punch for Batman's commemorative Justice League Christmas scrapbook.
As a more sedate member of the Justice League, J'onn the Martian Manhunter was busy taking care of monitor duty and was contemplating the nature of humanity, both of which would be more than a fulltime job for most individuals.
Meanwhile, The Question was snipping off the aglets from the laces of the shoes found in the closets of the Justice League Watchtower; ignoring the fact that the shoes belonged to the other heroes but confident that they would all thank him later when the sinister motives behind said aglets was exposed. After finishing the culling of the aglets, The Question had plans to expose several granola-bar producing companies as being secret government brain washing operations, and then start the infiltration of Romania.
Shayera Hol, aka Hawkgirl, was in her quarters planning a date with John Stewart, the Green Lantern, when a gold statue of a hawk on her desk buzzed and then emitted a holographic image of a winged man wearing a Thangarian military helmet. She reported that the situation was continuing as planned, and then went back to planning her date as the holographic communicator ceased activity. She sorted through her clothes, growling when she saw the shirt that had played a prominent role in a certain viral video about 'Hawk-girls Gone Wild' and reminded herself to burn the outfit while she picked out a sundress and finished dressing for her picnic lunch date. Her day would be filled with time with John.
The Green Lantern had helped out Wonder Woman in dealing with a dam that had broken in Tennessee and was busy giving his head a fresh shave before his date with Shayera.
Zatanna was in Las Vegas doing a magic show at Caesar's Palace Casino, and the other assorted heroes were out doing the hero bit or dealing with a day in the life of their alter-ego.
Really, the only member of the Justice League who was involved at all with the Romania situation was Wonder Woman. As Ambassador to Man's World from the Amazonian people and the Island of Themyscira, Diana had spent most of the day communicating with her mother back and forth regarding what response they would have to the apparent 'change in ownership' of Romania. On one hand, the Romanian people were happy in the country and The Leviathan had stated that he followed the path similar to the Amazonians of peaceful but protective. This, added to the beneficial technologies that The Leviathan had shared with his people, would be a great boon to the Amazonian's goals of world peace if only he would share the benefits with the rest of the world. There lay the quirk in the situation, as the Amazons did not want to create a conflict with the governments of Man's World, and the United Nations had approved an embargo on Romania; an embargo that at the moment was tenuous as diplomats argued about how to force Romania to share its gifts, whether through strict tariffs or through completely dropping the embargo. Queen Hippolyta had urged her daughter to caution and patience as the Amazons did not want to make an enemy of either the governments of the World of Man or The Leviathan. Until The Leviathan showed his position on the Amazonians, the Amazonians would refrain from either helping or hindering the new Romanian ruler's efforts.
Thus, much like the reaction to Black Adam and his ruling of Kahndaq, the Justice League would mostly just wait and see what changes The Leviathan would bring.
On that same morning The Leviathan, aka The Grey Knight, aka Xander Harris (aka 'loser' if you asked Cordelia Chase) had awoken refreshed and finished his morning bathroom and breakfast routine. After his well rounded breakfast of Twinkies and Sparkroast coffee, Xander found his way down to the energy-field laboratory in the depths of his Chateau.
"Hmmm, if I bisect the directional feed and keep the energy initiation sequencers the same, dash in a bit of protonic energized molecules and a pinch of powers man was not meant to deal with, this should form an effective energy absorption field." Xander spoke to himself as he bent over the partially charred relay and transistor box of The Black Heterodyne's transportation device, it looked like two copper giant Van Der Graaf generators with a space between them of about six feet, the former precursors to Xander's transporter technology with a relay box attached to them by power conduits. The blue and red sparks of Xander's welding torch and digital electro-spanner illuminated Xander's face, showing that he was wearing a pair of vintage welding goggles and that his tongue was sticking out of his mouth while he thought and welded. He was wearing a simple pair of blue jeans and a white t-shirt and was oblivious to the sparks that splashed on his pants and made small burn marks on the denim material.
Plugging the feeder cable of one of the proton accelerator packs into the device and double checking the connections to the giant field projection probes and the Chateau's electric system, Xander added a few more welds before smiling to himself and taking a few steps back to admire his handy work.
Though the wiring in the transistor box looked shoddy (a weird mixture of antiquated vacuum tubes, transistors, Tandy home computer parts, a hamster wheel and some bailing wire) Xander had a good feeling that it would work.
"Not bad, not bad at all if I do say so myself." Xander said to himself, proud that he had been able to put together one of his more complicated ideas in one morning.
'And to think, I didn't even cackle manically once while making it.' Xander thought to himself, his smile growing across his face.
'What a shame. To think that you're using 1.21 gigawatts and yet no laughter. The other mad scientists would be ashamed of you.' A voice that sounded surprisingly like Dr. Brown from the 'Back to the Future' movies said in the back of Xander's head.
Xander just shook his head. "Bah! I don't need laughter to make sure that my experiments go off without a hitch." He answered out loud, and moved over to the power switch on the wall.
Keeping his goggles on, Xander subconsciously dropped one hand to cover and protect his family jewels, and then threw the switch on the wall to start the power flow to the device.
A loud 'Pop!' sound snapped across the room and issued out of the two eight foot tall copper probes as the charged molecules were formed and energized between them, causing Xander to instinctually duck and cover at the sharp sound of what his brain told him must have been the air being displaced almost instantaneously.
Chagrined at himself for ducking, Xander mentally chided himself, 'Should have stuck with tradition; maniacal laughter from now on just to make sure that the invention works and the laws of physics remember they're still my bitch.'
It wasn't something that Xander would have said out loud, but heh, he was a mad sparky genius after all, and what is a mad genius without a bit of inner monologue. With that going through his head, he moved towards the newly generated field and examined the almost glassy looking clear energy barrier that was being created.
"Hmmm, I wonder what would happen if I poke it with a stick?" Xander verbally pondered before doing just that.
After a cautious poke, and then a double poke with a long stick that had once been a table leg, Xander smirked to himself.
"Heh. It works!" Xander smiled and shouted to himself in joy. A gleam came to his eyes and he chucked the table leg at the field to see if it would withstand the increased force.
Xander whipped the leg at the barrier with all his super strength, his smile only getting larger as the table leg seemed to burst into splinters as it hit the barrier, the pieces of wood falling to the ground around the metal probes in the form of splintered bits and pieces.
Xander wandered over towards the machine that he had made, and checked the gauges to see what the energy consumption was like. A ticker tape readout showed Xander that the power usage was stable, except for when force was applied to the surface. Then the readings got weird, as the field took less power to form rather than more upon the point of impact. Somehow the energy field was absorbing a portion of the power of the kinetic energy and using it to fuel the field.
Xander's eyebrow raised, "Wow, if I could get the energy absorption rate up to perfect or greater than parity, I could make a perpetual shield or maybe even some sort of energy generator. Wa Ha ha ha ha! Physics is my bitch! Take that perpetual energy doubters." Xander cackled to himself manically, doing his best to once again remain true to mad scientist traditions.
"Chateau, I need a Toast-Master 2000 and a pistol of some sort sent down to my lab." Xander yelled at the ceiling, a definite gleam to his eye.
"Yes Xander, any specific gauge or model of pistol?" The feminine voice of the Chateau questioned back at him.
"Surprise me." Xander quipped back, in a joyful mood given that it seemed he'd invented a force-field.
A second later a purple flash of energy appeared over the work bench in the room and a Toast-Master 2000 was left lying on the table; it appeared that the Chateau was experimenting with changing the colors of the light spectrum that appeared when she used her transporter array.
Letting his goofier side come out, Xander walked over to the Toast-Master 2000, picked it up and flicked it to the 'ON' setting before swinging to point the barrel at the energy field.
"Hasta La Vista… Babe." Xander quipped, trying to do an imitation of Arnold Schwarzenegger in 'The Terminator,' while squeezing the trigger.
The plasma ball shot across the room and impacted the force field in a flash of fire and light, the shield lit up like a magnesium flare in a blast of white light as it dispersed a lot of the absorbed energy into the visual spectrum.
"Gaaaahh!" Xander gasped and turned his eyes away, glad that he was still wearing the welding goggles as it had probably saved his vision.
"Damn, I'm going to have to figure out some way of bleeding off the energy." Xander stated as he saw that the once almost clear energy field continued to glow bright white for about half a minute before the light started to bleed off as the imparted energy was used up by the field.
A turquoise flash appeared over the work bench, this time depositing a small caliber pistol.
Xander walked over to the work bench and looked down at the pistol.
"Heh, funny Chateau." Xander stated, putting the Toast-Master down and picking up the Walter PPK.
Xander picked up the small caliber pistol, "My name is Harris, Xander Harris." He stated, doing a horrible impression of Sean Connery playing the part of James Bond. Keeping with the theme Xander walked perpendicular to the force field and then spun on his heels and fired the gun at the energy field, acting just like the opening credits of the 007 movies.
Just as he fired his gun, Xander heard behind him, "Xander, Xander can you hear me?" In Willow's voice.
Turning quickly to swivel around and look behind him, Xander's startled face took on a wide eyed pained look, as he turned just in time to receive the ricocheted bullet right in the ass.
After the assumed death of Xander, things in Sunnydale hadn't been all rosy and puppy dog tails. The reality of the night had finally caught up with Buffy and the gang, and the blonde slayer mourned both the loss of her love interest and the friend who had saved her life and fought beside her. Both Buffy and Willow's depression had been so deep and debilitating that after two weeks of no slaying patrol Giles had stooped to the level of buying a box of Twinkies just to get a reaction from the two girls.
The box of Twinkies had definitely received a reaction, as Buffy broke Giles' glasses with a right hook before falling into his arms in tears. Willow's reaction was a bit more dramatic as her magic had expressed itself, and in her deep morning she somehow connected with the earth magic and the world seemed to weep as Sunnydale experienced rain for a straight week; something unheard of in Sunnydale for that time of the year. Still, both girls had finally been able to open up about their feelings and started to heal, though being at the school continued to be difficult due to all the reminders of Xander. For whatever reason, Xander must have left a big impression on the hearts and minds of the students at Sunnydale High for though most people who died were soon forgotten, at Xander's disappearance the school seemed to change and react. People actually remembered Xander and wondered what had happened to him. This caused ramifications to spread throughout the school. The bullies like Larry actually apologized after giving Jonathan a swirly, Cordelia's barbed comments didn't have their same pizzazz or sting, and flowers and letters started to show up sporadically around Xander's former school locker; a locker which was not reassigned to any new students and which took on the image of a shine for the king of cretins and class clown.
This isn't to say that Willow had given up hope, no way. In true Willow fashion, she buried herself in research, trying to find a way to bring her Xander shaped friend back to them and to save his soul from whatever hell dimension that he had been cast into. Surprisingly Ms. Calendar, the computer science teacher, had approached the remaining Scoobies and Giles and told them about who she really was and why she was in Sunnydale. Though Buffy was angry at first about the deception, Buffy's anger rapidly turned to hope as Jenny Kalderish had quickly offered to use her clan's contacts and her own magic to help search for the lost Xander.
All of that research and spiritual power was now focused on a circle in the center of the library, a circle and runes drawn in yellow crayon with Twinkies set at the five corners of the pentagram and an Orb of Thesulah in the middle.
"But Giles, what do we do if he is in a hell dimension? What do we do if he is in heaven and doesn't want to come back? I want my Xander shaped friend back and miss him so much." Willow babbled to Giles as he and his girlfriend Jenny finished putting the Twinkies in the proper positions to help form a mystic connection to Xander.
Giles finished setting out the Twinkies and then removed his glasses and polished them, "Calmly now Willow. The ritual has been checked over by Jenny's clan elders and it should work to connect us with Xander's soul. If for some reason his soul is in hell we will attempt to bind it to the orb and then remake his body. You have to remain calm though, for we will need your power to help bridge the gap to wherever he is." Giles firmly stated, replacing his glasses.
Willow gave a few deep breathes to calm herself, and then took her position at the head of the circle and pentagram. The three magic users assumed their positions, Buffy just watched in the background, shifting her weight from one foot to the other with nervous energy but unable to participate due to her own lack of magic.
Jenny Kalderish started the chant, "Este scris, această putere este dreptul poporul meu de a conduce."
Willow took over then, "Nici mort, nici al fiinţei, Te invoc spirit al trecerii, Te implor, Doamne; nu ignoră aceasta rugăminte, Lăsa orbită să fie vasul te invoc sufletul, Este scris, aceasta putere este dreptul poporul meu de a conduce, Aşa să fie, cu ajutorul acestui magic glob de cristal. Aşa să fie! Aşa să fie!
Acum! Acum!"1
With that last chant, a swirling golden light flashed from the orb in the middle of the circle, and the Twinkies at the corners powdered into dust and disappeared.
Willow reached out and picked up the glowing magic crystal ball, and talked into it hesitantly, as if it was a mystical teleconference microphone.
"Xander, Xander can you hear me?" Willow questioned.
"AHHHHHHHH!" Xander's blood curdling scream answered in reply.
Willow's eyes shot open in horror and she immediately devolved into Willow-Babble, "OhMyGod! Xander'sInHellAndTheyAreTorturingHim! WeNeedToSaveHim! OhMyGodOhMyGodOhMyGod! She started hyperventilating.
"Son of a bitch! Mother fucker that Hurts! Got to get that out of my Ass!" Xander's voice continued to issue from the crystal ball. The looks on Jenny Kalderish and Gile's faces turned pasty white as all sorts of imagined thoughts of Xander being tortured with pitchforks and pineapples up the rear-end filtered through their heads.
"Good lord." Giles muttered, quickly removing his glasses and polishing them in his handkerchief till they were polished to a high gloss shine.
Jenny looked like she would get sick at the groans of pain and curse words that continued to flow from the crystal ball.
"Don'tWorryXander! We'llSaveYou!" Willow continued to babble, quickly yelling encouragements to Xander to 'hang on' through the crystal ball.
Suddenly the moans and groans coming from the crystal ball stopped.
"Wait a second… Willow, are you there?" Xander's voice issued clearly from the crystal ball.
"WeHearYouXander! We''sTheLastThingWeDo!" Willow cried back in reply, still talking a mile a minute.
"Woah, Woah Willow. Take a deep breath and slow down. One second, let me grab a pair of needle nose pliers and get this bullet out of my ass cheek." Xander said through the magical ball.
Willow continued to almost hyperventilate, but a hand on her shoulder from Jenny helped to get her into a deep breathing set, almost like she was doing Lamaze breathing. The sounds of squelching and a muffled groan almost caused her to hyperventilate again but Jenny's hand on her shoulder helped to keep Willow somewhat calm.
"I say Xander, are you alright?" Giles stated, leaning forwards to talk into the crystal ball.
His answer was a muffled grunt and then, "Ah Ha! Got it. Whew, much better. Mental note, no shooting myself in the ass again." Xander's voice replied.
"Now, where were we…? Oh yeah, Willow, how the hell are you guys talking to me?" Xander questioned.
Willow explained, again going into babble mode, and it was only through years of Willow translation training that Xander understood that the remaining Scoobies had cast a spell to connect to him.
"Well relax a bit, I'm not in a hell dimension, but I can't come home at the moment." Xander explained after getting a much too detailed description of the ritual that had been used to call him; he felt a moment of sadness for the Twinkies that had given their lives in order to complete the call.
"What do you mean you're not in a hell dimension? And why can't you come home? Now that we know where you are we can see about opening a portal or something and calling you home." Willow answered confidently, overly sure of herself in her naivety and new found magical powers.
"Well, you see there are two problems with that plan. One, Magic won't work on me due to some stuff that's recently happened, and two, I seem to have drawn the attention of a vertically challenged alternate dimensional being with enough power to make any of the big bad's we've dealt with look like a bunch of pre-schoolers in a diaper soiling contest." Xander responded with chagrin.
"Good Lord." Giles stated, and he was once again buffing his glasses to a high gloss shine.
"Xander, this is Ms. Calendar. Just what type of a being are we talking about, and where exactly are you?" Jenny asked, interrupting as it seemed that Willow was still trying not to hyperventilate while Giles was in deep thought and polish glasses mode.
"Hey Ms. C!" Xander replied happily, glad to hear several familiar voices that he hadn't been sure he would ever hear again. "Well, try 5th dimensional being… Wait a second, you're a computer teacher. Perhaps you are geeky enough to understand comic book lingo. Have you ever heard of DC Comics and about a magical midget that used to bother Superman?" Xander attempted to explain.
Jenny's face was pensive, and she looked over at Willow and Giles to see if either of them knew what he was talking about; she didn't even try to see if Buffy knew as the slayer was now sitting down on the floor next to them with a clearly befuddled look on her face.
Willow had a gestalt moment, and quickly answered back, "Wait, do you mean Mr. Mxyzptlk? But he's just a comic book character that you and Jesse used to talk about."
"Right and wrong, Mr. Mxyzptlk seems to like the chaos around me, and that's not just a comic book, because I'm here in the DC Comics universe." Xander replied, his voice coming across as conflicted, as the Scoobies could tell that he wasn't completely sure what to think about his situation. The idea that Xander could be trapped in a comic book world had never been really guessed at when the Scoobies had discussed the possibilities of what happened to Xander.
The response kept the Scoobies quiet for a moment, but then Buffy spoke into the orb, "Xander, I miss my sidekick. How are you doing? Really?" She questioned, a deeper side of the normally bubbly blonde coming out as she talked pensively into the orb.
It was silent for a moment, but then Xander responded, "Honestly? I miss you guys a lot and wish I was home or at least with you. On the other hand, I'm not a sidekick here Buff. Here, I'm the one with the super powers and enough brains to give Willow a run for her money." It was quiet for a moment, as if Xander was finished, but then he continued, "Truthfully, I'm needed here. I wouldn't say I was the classic hero and out there with Superman or Wonder Woman saving the day, but I do have people who look up to me here and need me. Guess I've left the slacker ways behind and had to get all responsible and stuff, what with the powers that I have left over from Halloween." He finished, and you could hear the goofy smirk in Xander's voice.
Mixed emotions flashed over the faces of those gathered, and they were silent for a moment until suddenly Willow's head nodded like she was falling asleep and then shot back up again.
"Woah, I suddenly don't feel so good." Willow stated, a sheen of sweat starting to form on her forehead.
Jenny quickly put her hand to Willows forehead and then looked at Giles, "The spell is starting to tax her strength, we will need to cut it off if you don't want her to sleep for a week." She informed Giles, who nodded back at his girlfriend.
"Xander," Buffy started.
"I heard Buffster. God it's good to hear your voices, I wish I could talk to you more, or even just get a hug, but I understand you've got to go…" Xander interrupted.
"Xander, we will continue to research ways to get you home," Giles began, only to be again cut off by Xander.
"No Giles, anything that gets me back to SunnyHell will probably have to be done from this side and with science. I've got responsibilities here that I have to take care of and couldn't come home right now anyway." Xander explained, the seriousness in his voice coming through clearly over the link.
Buffy smirked and looked over towards the orb held in the now noticeably wilting Willow, the orb's light starting to dim a bit, "Don't get all serious on us buster, we still need our Xander friend to be quick with the jokes and to defuse the pressure when it's totally the wrong time to be joking." Buffy quipped.
Xander's laugh came through the crystal ball, the volume raising and lowering as the light in the ball seemed to wax and wane, "No worries Buff, I'll still be there to tease you about your bleached brain and the G-man's tweed obsession." Came the humorous reply, both Buffy and Giles gave mock 'Hmph's', but you could see the slight smile on their faces. All of the Scoobies looked a bit more peaceful now knowing that Xander wasn't really dead.
"Will we be able to talk again?" Xander's serious comment split the momentary silence.
By this point Jenny had her arm wrapped around Willow and was holding the teenager in place so that she didn't faint. "Yes Xander, but we have to go right now. We'll try to contact you when Willow recovers and the moon is in its right phase." Giles answered.
The orb by now only had a bit of dusky light shining from it, and Willow was gasping just trying to hold onto the connection with Xander.
"Alright, I miss you guys. Stay safe, and don't forget to do the donut run before the research parties. I know how Willow gets when she doesn't have her sugar fix." Xander tried to joke, but the bit of sorrow trickled through his voice.
"By Xander, We miss you!" Buffy and Willow stated quickly, tears starting to trickle from their eyes. And like that, the connection failed and Willow fell forward, Giles and Jenny catching her as the Orb fell out of her fingers and rolled across the floor to be stopped by Buffy.
Buffy moved across the circle and hugged Willow, as both girls cried. Even Jenny had a few tears in her eyes, as the girls released a lot of pent up sadness that they had been holding in ever since Xander had disappeared on Halloween night.
Giles got up off the ground stiffly and put a hand lightly on Jenny's shoulder. She looked up at him and nodded, answering the unspoken question that she would look after the two girls. With that, Giles slowly walked back to his office to get a cup of tea and to deal with his own emotions in his own way.
There would be more than a splash of alcohol in Giles's teacup this night.
The girls would spend the next hour crying together and joking about Xander, but overall they were all happy to know that their friend was still alive.
Back at the Chateau, Xander slowly sank to his knees in the laboratory as the connection with his friends ended, his rear end totally healed. Long ago, he had promised himself that he would never cry when he was hurt, he would always be strong for his friends and he would also never give and cry due to the abuse heaped on him by his parents. Xander came close to breaking that promise as his longing for his friends went through his mind, but convinced himself it was just from the fumes from the potions in the lab next door.
Xander sat on the floor for about fifteen minutes, removing the goggles from his face and wiping at his eyes to get the stinging out of them while the energy field device hummed in the room a few feet from him.
His thoughts were on his friends, but slowly Xander pulled himself together and walked over towards the machine and let his hands begin to tinker with the inner workings while his brain continued to go over memories of Willow, Buffy, Giles and their times together.
Being that he was a mad scientist, Xander hadn't turned the machine off or cut the energy. However even with his thoughts primarily focusing on his friends far away, he was still able to dodge the sparks of electricity that jumped about the inner workings of the machine as he disconnected and inserted a bypass switch and several gauges that would allow him to modulate the harmonics of the energy field.
Xander's work caused him to start humming, first a sad song, and then a goofy song as memories of past activities in Sunnydale came to him. It was a cathartic experience as he was able to expel some of the fears and sorrow that he had been subconsciously holding in since he had been deposited in this new dimension.
Finally finishing with a smile on his face and a whistle as he remembered the happy times, Xander flipped a switch on the machine and picked up the pistol again.
Moving to where he was again facing the energy field, Xander prepared himself to use his super speed if the bullet decided to again come back at him; he also made a mental note to make sure to always wear his nano-clothing from now on.
Aiming the Walter PPK at the force field, Xander fired, and then smiled to himself as the bullet went right through the force field, ricocheted off a metal plate that was on the other side of the force field and flew back to bounce off the other side of the energy barrier.
When the bullet was stopped by the other side of the energy field, Xander's smile grew even larger as he realized that he could now control what came in and out of the field; even making it so that something could be fired through it but still not pierce the barrier from the other side.
Happy with himself, and still thinking of his times with his friend, Xander set the pistol down on the work table and then moved towards the door; turning off the power to the experiment and the room on the way out.
It was time Xander did some fun stuff for himself, a vacation sounded about perfect now.
"I wonder what is going on in Vegas?" Xander said to himself as he shut off the lights and proceeded out of the room. "Vegas should be a place to have some chaotic fun without ramifications." He continued to speak to himself as he proceeded towards the transport center.
It was indeed time that Xander relaxed a bit and had some fun, and Vegas would promise to lead to a whole lot of fun and chaos, or at least one or the other.
Owning your own country, Native American reservation, and coffee empire has its perks, namely ease of creation of fake ID's and enough money to throw around so that you can pretty much buy anything you like. The ID and backpack full of cash helped to make sure that Xander was enjoying his time in Vegas, and it had made him chuckle to see that even in such large name casinos like New York New York and the MGM Grand, his Sparkbucks coffee shops were proudly displayed and full of customers.
Wearing his nano-clothing in the form of a glaringly bright orange Hawaiian shirt and jeans, Xander had a nice leather backpack slung over his shoulder as he wandered towards the Sparkbucks inside the New York New York Casino.
Not really wanting to drink alcohol, after seeing what it had done to his parents and uncle, Xander purchased a Sparkbucks coffee from the staff and even got a knowing smile from the barista whom Xander recognized as being a citizen of New Mechanicsburg valley. A step into the back of the coffee shop, and into the manager's office, allowed Xander to see the latest intelligence report of the city as the coffee shops also worked as listening and intelligence gathering posts for Xander's operations; something that the Chateau had set up for Xander when she was bored. Xander read through the list of who's who in Vegas, the planned and unplanned events going on in the city, noted which conventions were in town and even which acts were playing.
Xander mentally cringed when he saw that Zatanna was in town, not because he didn't enjoy his time with her and want to possibly see her again, but because he was pretty sure he had broken one of those unspoken female dating rules about calling the day after a date or having sex. Making a call to Zatanna had been flitting in and out of his mind several times since that night, but then again it would have been hard to explain why he couldn't get together with her.
'Right, I can see that call going well, "Hey Zatanna, sorry I didn't call but I was a bit busy breaking into the Batcave, making Superman puke on Lex Luthor, filming Hawkgirl in a wet t-shirt and then framing Batman, followed by killing Dracula before taking over Romania; oh let's not forget telling off the world leaders and disappearing a country."' Xander thought to himself and scoffed under his breath as he continued to read the latest local intel report.
"Yeah, like that would go over well." Xander finished mumbling as he put the list down in a waste paper basket and then pressed a button on the desk that caused the trash can to flame and instantly immolate the paper. Xander nodded to the manager of the store and then walked out of the New York New York Sparkbucks, heading out towards the street and down The Strip; sipping his coffee perfection.
Still thinking about Zatanna, Xander figured, 'Eh, it's a big city full of big casinos, and there are lots of people around here. I shouldn't have to worry about running into Zatanna.' Xander thought as he headed up the escalator into Ceasar's Palace.
Xander spent the next half an hour wandering around the glitzy casino, enjoying the dancing female silhouettes at the shadow bar and then strolling through the card table and slot machine areas until he came upon a elegantly curtained off area that had two large men standing guard before a velvet roped off section.
Xander's curiosity got the better of him, and he decided to stroll over towards the guards to see what was in the secluded area.
Now in Xander's mind he was still that goofball teenager from Sunnydale with a bit of super powers and a spark of mad genius, reality was that he looked a lot different than he had when he left his home dimension. Sure he still had the disarming goofball grin perfected, sure he still had the dark clean cut but a bit messy hair, but he certainly didn't have the body of an average teenager whose favorite food was Twinkies. Even under the brightly colored Hawaiian shirt you could tell that he was built like Superman or a muscled MMA fighter, and due to the influence of the primal spirit he naturally walked like a predator, as graceful as a panther.
Xander was a bit startled when both of the guards tensed up at his approach and seemed to assume stances that suggested they were ready for violence. Xander immediately recognized the raised level of threat of the two suit wearing guards and he immediately adopted his goofball persona that had gotten him out of so many beatings and situations with high-school bullies back in Sunnydale.
"Hey guys! How's it going?" Xander said with a big smile and a wave, standing back out of the personal space of the two tall men who Xander realized he stood eye to eye with.
"I'm sorry sir, but this area is for high rollers and special guests of the casino only. Please go about your business." One of the guards stated, moving to stand between Xander and the roped off entrance to the high rollers area. The second guard moved slightly behind the first in order to provide backup and protection to his partner facing this physically intimidating man who had a certain disarming charm about him; what better mannerisms for a professional assassin went through both guards' minds.
"Oh, cool! How much money does it take to be a high roller?" Xander questioned with a big smile, quirking his head to the side and shrugging his backpack up higher on his shoulder.
"You must deposit at least two hundred and fifty thousand dollars with the casino in order to play the games in here sir." The forward most guard replied.
"Cool! Does five hundred thousand work to get me in?" Xander questioned, looking down at his backpack as he swung it around towards the front and opened it up to show the two guards; not seeing both guards reach into their coat jackets when Xander opened the backpack. By the time he looked up at the two of them and showed them that he must have been carrying at least a million dollars in bundled large denomination bills, both guards had assumed a more relaxed position; both were professionals used to dealing with the eccentric rich.
"Certainly sir, please follow me," the second guard stated with a totally different tone while unclipping the velvet rope and leading Xander back into the darkly curtained off entrance; the first guard remained in his position guarding the entrance.
Xander followed the large guard through the curtained doorway and into a gold and marble filled area that allowed natural light to briefly light bits of the high roller area with beams of light that filtered down through dense natural foliage of real trees and vines. The room looked like a darker and more secluded private garden in the midst of a Roman palace. Alcoves were distributed against several of the walls, some of them hidden by long crimson curtains that contained private card games or business deals, Xander could only guess, while roman fountains trickled throughout the mass of greenery. In the corners of the halls and rooms of this secluded palace were more suited guards, mixed in sporadically with private body guards of the players, and the hint of cigar smoke and expensive perfumes or colognes wafted through the air; tinged with the sounds of muffled conversations and the dealers distributing cards or announcing winners or losers. Xander walked past a roulette table where several older men in expensive suits were playing and enjoying the company of some very much younger females. Xander shook his head and smiled to himself as he continued to follow the guard past the table and towards a cashier's booth with gilded bars in front of it.
A short, attractive young woman with blonde hair in a ponytail, a cute little nose and dimples gave Xander a smile from behind the bars.
"How may I help you sir?" She questioned, neatly arrayed in her uniform and cute as a button.
Xander couldn't help but smile back at the attendant, "I'd like to deposit some money and get some chips." He answered while dumping his backpack on the counter and haphazardly pushing over about half of the pile of bundled bills toward the attendant. The other portion he negligently slid off the counter and back into his bag before putting it over his shoulder and smirking back at the attendant.
The cashier's eyes twinkled a bit as she smirked at Xander's casual actions and somewhat goofy mannerism. Quickly and efficiently she slipped the bands off the bundles of cash and ran it through a counting machine before grabbing several brackets of chips.
"Here you go sir, five hundred and seventy five thousand dollars in chips." The attendant replied before passing over the chips to the attendant guard who had issued Xander inside the high roller area.
Xander's raised eyebrow at the guard received a reply of, "I'll carry your chips for your sir, security standard."
Xander merely smiled back and said, "Sure thing, lead the way kemosabe," while pointing towards an area of the high roller area that promised poker games.
The cashier stifled a giggle behind them as the guard resolutely led Xander over towards a table that had a seat open at it.
Sitting down between a man with a white ten gallon hat the size of Texas, with a belt buckle similarly sized, and a dark haired leggy beauty in a skirt suit and a scowling bald behemoth of a body guard behind her, Xander gave them a patented Xander smile and a "Hello everybody," before setting his backpack down at his feet.
Xander received a stayed nod from the beautiful lady on his left, a "Howdy son" from the man who was obviously a Texan on Xander's right, a glare from the third man at the table in the Italian suit with the gold necklaces, and a slight bow from the Japanese business man with the female neutral expression wearing bodyguard standing behind.
"So, what are we playing here?" Xander asked with a goofy smile as the guard who was accompanying Xander placed the rather large stack of chips on the table and moved away from the table.
The lips of the dark haired beauty on Xander's left quirked into a slight smile for a moment at Xander's behavior, before resuming their staid appearance. Her cultured voice answered, "We are playing poker, Texas Hold 'Em to be exact Mr…?" She answered, leaving off at the end and awaiting the answer of his name.
Xander smiled back at her as the dealer started dealing out cards to the players, "Xander Miss, Alexander Harris is my name but my friends all call me Xander." He replied and smiled at her and before bending down to peak at his dealt cards without showing those around him, his actions clearly showing that he didn't have a clue what he was doing.
The fact that the lady had asked questions to Xander and that Xander had replied made the hulking behemoth behind her scowl even more, if that was possible.
The Texan beside him cut in, "I'm Bob Anderson from Texas, son, but everybody just calls me Big Bob the oil baron." The man on Xander's right said with a smile and a slap on Xander's back. Xander didn't even move though the blow would have at least budged a normal man of Xander's build, this went unnoticed by everybody at the table except for the beauty on Xander's left; of course both bodyguards at the table noted it, and the large bald man's scowl grew darker still while the female bodyguard didn't make any sign of noting the lack of reaction.
Xander was totally oblivious to the whole goings on, and just smiled back at the Texan. "It's nice to meet you Bob." Xander said, and shook the man's hand before looking at the other individuals at the table.
"Mr. Kawai Aki-no-kami," The Japanese man stated with a slight head bow and a neutral expression face. The man in the Italian suit just sneered at Xander, at the same time that the beauty on Xander's left stated, "Talia, Talia al Ghul."
Xander's smile faltered before fading from his face to become a neutral mask as he recognized Talia's name, the lack of a smile being noted by the participants at the table.
"Um, it's a pleasure to meet you all." Xander replied before focusing down on his cards.
Unperceived by Xander, Talia beside him frowned for a second before picking up her cards, the mood at the table becoming quiet.
Xander had actually played poker before, in fact his father and his uncle Rory had often forced Xander to sit in the open seat whenever poker night rolled around and one of his father's drinking buddies wasn't available to fill the table. Xander had originally hoped to play dumb and then mop up the table with the competitors, but the fact that he was sitting at the table with the daughter of the world's most notorious eco-terrorist and immortal had him deciding not to use his super genius to count cards or figure the odds.
Basically Xander's thoughts were comprised of, 'Oh Shit! Oh Shit! Oh Shit! I'm sitting next to Talia al Ghul, Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit! Ok, play it cool and you should get out of this ok, it's not like she is going to figure out that you aren't your every day Hawaiian shirt wearing goofball.' Xander's thoughts reviewed everything that he knew about Ra's al Ghul and the voices in his head were having a high intensity discussion on what to do with this situation and how to get out of this situation unscathed without giving away anything more about himself.
All of this led to naught when Xander realized that somebody was saying his name.
"Xander? Mr. Harris? Alexander it's your turn." Talia repeated, finally catching Xander's attention after the fifth repetition.
Xander looked up from his cards and realized that everybody around the table was focusing on him; Big Bob was looking at Xander with a look that seemed to state that the Texan believed Xander was outright crazy.
"Heh heh, oops, um, raise." Xander stated, throwing out a hundred thousand dollars in chips. Before putting his cards down and gripping the gold gilded metal bar that decorated the edge of the table, trying to keep his hands from fidgeting.
Talia matched Xander's raise while giving Xander a deep inquisitive look, one elegantly groomed eyebrow raised as she looked Xander over.
The look caused Xander to gulp, and there was a metallic crinkling sound below him.
Looking down, Xander saw that his fingers had sunk into the gilded metal on the expensive poker table. His eyes got big for a second before jerking his hands back, showing that he had left actual finger prints bent into the solid metal bar that edged the table.
"Eh, um, I can pay for that." Xander said, fighting to calm himself as he felt that he had been totally caught off guard by the situation he found himself on. All he had wanted was a bit of fun and to forget all of his crazy problems, and here he found himself sitting next to none other than Talia al Ghul, sitting at a poker table with God knew who else, and he had just given away that he was a bit stronger than was usual.
"God Son! You're stronger than the long horns on my ranch back home. What do they feed you back home, corn meal with a side of steroids?" The Texan questioned with his Texas drawl, breaking the ice.
'When in doubt, crack a joke!' A voice in the back of Xander's head yelled, so Xander did.
"Nope, just Twinkies and lots of coffee. It's all that healthy eating that does the body good." Xander replied, giving Big Bob his classic Scooby goofy grin.
Big Bob laughed and again slapped Xander on the back. By now the Italian suit wearing mafia wanna be was no longer sneering and actually looked a little pasty in his complexion, but now the two body guards and their employers were firmly focused on Xander. Xander fell back on years of practice in defusing tense situations and just continued to joke around.
"Yeah, it's that mixture of California sunshine and large city smog, I even have the genuine raised in California seal on my rear end. You know, happy cows and all that…" Xander stated with a self deprecating smile while focusing back on the cards.
Big Bob laughed, and then decided to fold.
Xander raised, Talia matched Xander and called, and so did Mr. Kawai Aki-no-kami; the mobster folded and gathered his remaining chips and left the table.
Xander looked around at the cards and then continued to smirk, Talia laid down her cards and showed that she had three jacks, king high. Mr. Kawai Aki-no-kami bowed politely to Talia as he had a pair of queens and a pair of aces. Xander merely smirked as he laid down a royal flush and won the pot.
A somewhat playful scowl split Talia's pretty face, but Mr. Kawai Aki-no-kami actually cracked a smile for the first time in the game and applauded Xander's win before stating that he too must make an honorable exit.
Xander took that opportunity to try to make an escape also.
"Going so soon Mr. Harris?" Talia asked, laying a hand on the back of Xander's wrist as he went to pile up his chips and leave.
Xander was a bit nervous, but called upon all of the suave expertise with women that he had acquired from Halloween to get himself out of this situation. Smiling charmingly at Talia, his mannerisms seemed to change to truly show how attractive he could be, even though he was still wearing a horrible Hawaiian shirt.
"My dear Ms. al Ghul, I'm sorry but I really must be going. Besides, I'm nobody for you to bother yourself about," Xander stated, extricating himself smoothly but surely with a debonair smile, turning to walk away; dropping a large tip on the table for the dealer and handing a wad of bills from his backpack to the guard in order to pay for the damage to the table.
As Xander walked away, gracefully but with a little added speed to his step, his super hearing overheard her mumble to her bodyguard, "Ubu, Xander Harris is no 'nobody.' He obviously recognized my name, and given his strength, he is an unknown that my father would want to know about. Look into it." Xander heard Talia command as Xander high tailed it to the cashier's booth and then out of the high roller area. He mentally cursed at Lady Luck and Murphy in his head the whole way to and from the cashier's booth.
'Damn it!' Xander thought. 'Just once! Just one damn time I want to be able to relax, have fun, and not get myself into any trouble. Damn you Murphy!' Xander raged inside his head, a scowl painted across his face.
There is a saying that one shouldn't mock the gods, for that way lays destruction. Though Mr. Murphy and his law weren't per say part of a pantheon of gods, they did seem to hold a great deal of sway in Xander's life. That's why as soon as he stepped out of the high roller area he heard his name called out from behind him.
"Xander! Xander Harris." A female voice shouted.
Turning, expecting to see Talia al Ghul following him, Xander had a moment to realize that a hand was coming at him palm first before he found himself quickly dodging a slap from the irate, but gorgeous as ever, Zatanna.
"What do you have to say for yourself Xander? You promised to call me and it's been almost a month with no word from you. After what we did? What do you have to say for yourself?" Zatanna raged, coming up to Xander and poking her finger into Xander's chest looking up at him, as even though she was wearing high heels and a top hat Zatanna was still shorter than Xander.
"Um, Hi Zatanna… well um, I said I'd call you when I was in town, and I um, just got into town, so um, here I am." Xander stated while trying to give Zatanna a contrite grin while at the same time turning a bit red in the face at his understandably lame answer and because he and Zatanna had become the center of attention on the casino floor.
"I liked you Xander, I really liked you, and how dare you try and give me such a lame excuse. It wasn't like you were trying to hide from the world and couldn't find time to give me a simple phone call." Zatanna raged, throwing up her hands every now and then while continuing to poke Xander in the chest to punctuate her words.
Xander was speechless as he just thought, 'Um yeah, actually that is exactly what happened. Oh, and by the way, fuck you Murphy, could you screw with my day any more than this?'
Before Xander could come up with another excuse, a burst of gunfire went off as several casino patrons threw off their suit coats and showed the world that they were wearing clothing that looked like snake scales.
"Long Live Kobra!" The gunmen yelled as they started robbing people around them and indiscriminately firing into the crowd. Fortunately their aim sucked as nobody had told them that you shouldn't wield an AK-47 with one hand, but that still didn't help the poor waitress who took a round to the stomach.
Pandemonium ensued as people screamed and ran in every direction. The security guards guarding the entrance to the high roller area dived behind slot machines for cover and pulled out their weapons in an effort to get a clear shot at the members of the Kobra terrorist group that was attacking.
Xander acted quickly by bodily picked up Zatanna over one shoulder while using his speed and flight powers to swoop down and grab the bleeding waitress with the other arm before launching himself over behind a nearby bar; the alcohol bottles on the back wall behind the bar exploded as they were hit by rounds from the terrorists' automatic weapons.
Setting down Zatanna, and carefully laying down the weakly gasping and terribly bloody young girl in his other arm, Xander grabbed a towel and held it over the wound while he tried to figure out what to do.
Zatanna was shocked for a moment, not only was she under attack, but Xander, the normal guy who she had accidentally made naked on stage, had just flown with the speed of Superman and showed strength that was beyond normal.
"Who the hell are you?" Zatanna gasped at Xander wide eyed as she covered her head to protect herself from the falling shards of glass.
"A little busy here, it'd be nice if you could use some of your magic to help out," Xander growled, focusing on the girl beside him. Closing his eyes he didn't see that Zatanna began chanting backwards and a purple shield spell flew out of her hands, causing an energy barrier to pop up over the bar; a barrier that turned all of the incoming bullets into flower petals.
Zatanna on the other hand turned and looked again at Xander, just in time to see the short sleeve of Xander's shirt liquefy into some sort of metallic moving tentacle that trailed down Xander's arm and then disappear under his bloody hand and into the gaping wound in the waitress's stomach.
The waitress gasped, her eyes went large, and then she fainted.
Zatanna, thinking that Xander was hurting the girl turned her hands towards him and attempted to blast him away from the injured girl with raw magic.
The magic shot out of her hands and flew at Xander, yet upon impact with Xander it seemed to roll right around him to blast a two foot hole in the woodwork of the bar next to Xander, sending wooden splinters flying.
Xander ducked away from the splinters, and then shot out a hand to grab both of Zatanna's hands in his own.
"Fucking stop that, I'm trying to help her." Xander growled, his eyes flashing green back at Zatanna. He removed the bloody dish town away from the girls wound, and watched as the nano-clanks in his shirt had pooled into the gap in the girls torso. Slowly the stream of almost liquid metal slowly retracted as the hole in the girls stomach closed up; the stream of nanoclanks formed into solid long sleeves on Xander and gloves as the rest of his outfit changed to fully cover most of his body in a silvery material. Xander's body was left covered in a layer of the silvery metal, leaving his head exposed so that he could still see clearly.
"Wha, what the hell are you?" Zatanna stated as she scooted away from him, her mind seeming to freeze as a formerly normal seeming man whom she had been intimate with turned into something totally unknown right before her eyes.
Xander turned away from the waitress and Zatanna as he grabbed two large bottles of absolute vodka in each hand and moved to stand up.
"Less talk, more magic at the bad guys." Xander commanded as he darted into a standing position and flung the two bottles at the two closest gunmen.
Xander's aim was true as one bottle impacted the back of one of the gunmen and crushed the man's spine while the heavy glass of the second bottle ricocheted off the back of the skull of a second, sending the second gunman careening face first into a slot machine; said slot machine started up and hit the jackpot, spilling coins across the floor and onto the head of the now unconscious second gunman, as such was Xander's luck.
Xander again ducked behind the bar as the remaining three gunmen turned their attention, and their automatic rifle fire, towards the new threat that had so easily disabled two of their brethren.
Xander crouched down and turned towards Zatanna to see her still staring at him wide eyed in a daze.
"Ok, soooo not the time. Snap out of it Zatanna, you're supposed to be a Justice League member, get with the game." Xander snapped at her before quickly crab walking behind the bar until he reached the end, grabbed another two bottles and dived out to from behind the bar through the entrance on the side.
Again two more bottles flew through the air, and because Xander had whipped them around at waist level, one bottle took out the knees of one of the gunmen (causing the gunman to also hit his head on a slot machine and also win another jackpot) while the second bottle took the fourth gunman in the crotch. After that, the fourth gunman was too busy puking and holding his former manhood to be a threat any more.
Zatanna had finally gotten into the action, as before the fifth gunman could react to Xander's second attack the gunman suddenly found his gun transformed into a snake that attacked him while a swarm of playing cards flew out of Zatanna's sleeve and buried the man up to the neck.
For a moment, all was quiet except for the groans and whimpers of the wounded and scared casino inhabitants.
Xander was the first to break the silence, "Fuck this, I'm done with Vegas." He stated, his nano-clothing again turning into a Hawaiian shirt and jeans as he stalked out from behind the bar and walked towards where he had dropped his backpack full of cash.
"Wait! Xander! Who the hell are you? What the hell are you?" Zatanna again yelled at him, walking out of the bar and starting to walk after him as Xander picked up his backpack proceeded towards the curtains to the high roller area.
Xander swung on her, and the flash of green in his eyes caused Zatanna to take a halting step back from where she was about to grab him by the back of his shirt.
"You listen here Zatanna." Xander snapped, poking a finger in Zatanna's direction. "I've had some pretty messed up girls that I've gotten involved with, and I draw the line when they try to attack me with magic…" He stated, and then thought for a second as he reviewed that sentence in light of his past dating experiances, "Ok, I also draw the line when they try to eat me, suck out my blood and or soul, but attacking me is definitely a no no in my relationship book." Xander stated before turning away from her and starting to stalk away.
"Wait, Xander let me explain! Wait!" Zatanna stated, and when Xander didn't stop she made another mistake, she tried to cast magic on him again.
"Ezeerf!" She yelled, and a cold snap of magic shot from her hands towards Xander in an effort to halt him and freeze him in mid step.
The magic hit Xander in the back, but then slid right over him, frosting the carpet and crystalizing a slot machine next to him, but having no effect what so ever on Xander.
Xander snarled and was on Zatanna so fast that she would have missed the blur of movement if she had blinked.
Xander held Zatanna off the floor by the front of her tuxedo jacket, holding her right up to his face and slowly snarled out, "Don't… Do… That… Again." He commanded, the look in his eyes promising pain if she tried to attack him again in any way.
Xander looked into Zatanna's eyes, and realized that he was scaring the crap out of her. Shaking himself mentally, he lowered her to the ground and then stepped back away from her.
"Zatanna, I enjoyed our one night together but take my words to heart. Watch who you use your magic on. Who knows, you and your magic abilities and even your good intentions may be the very thing that destroys something precious, maybe even something precious like the entire Justice League." Xander stated, staring unblinkingly down at Zatanna who took an unconscious step back at the perceived threat.
With that, Xander turned and stalked through the curtains of the high roller area, muttering about how "I didn't need this shit" and that "I need to go blow something up."
By the time Zatanna had caught her breath and proceeded to follow where Xander had disappeared behind the curtains, all sign of Xander was already gone.
Xander's actions had not gone unnoticed as not only Zatanna, but also several of Xander's former poker partners, made note to look deeper into the past and present of Alexander Harris.
AN: Well there you go. Sorry it took so long, but as you can see it was a very jam packed chapter with a lot of details and foreshadowing and hints at things to come as well as a lot of answers supplied. Bonus points if you can figure out the hints that I've laid out with the names and details of the poker players; each will play a part in the coming story and there is enough there that if you do some research or guessing you can figure out how they may come to deal with Xander or his alter egos. Best wishes!
The ritual is a changed version of the gypsy magic spell that gave Angel back his soul.
1: Translation of the spell:
What is lost, return,
Not dead, nor not of the living,
Spirits of the interregnum, I call,
Gods, bind him, cast his heart from the evil realm,
I call on you, Lord; do not ignore this request,
Let this orb be the vessel that will call his soul,
It is written, this power is my people's right to wield,
So shall it be, with the help of this magic crystal globe.
So it shall be! So it shall be!
Now! Now!