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, but the facts have been changed to protect the corrupt and innocent equally.
AN: I'd had this chapter pretty much worked out in my head since before I finished the last one, just needed to figure out how the pieces worked together before I put it all down on paper. Hope you enjoy, it should be a relatively long one.
AN: Sorry for the delay, I was waiting on my beta reader but it turns out she is in midterm exams and can't review this work. No beta reader for this chapter, I apologize for any mistakes that I missed.
'Thought'
"Speech"
Chapter 21: Making Friends, Influencing People
"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society."
Mark Twain
Two and a half weeks had passed since Xander started working on integrating the new shield technology into his abilities, and he was suffering because of it; not for any physical pain but from shear loneliness and mounting frustration. Integrating the energy shield system and excess energy release mechanism into his internal nano-clanks and nano-clank clothes took longer than Xander had expected. Xander's excess time where he struggled to get his new machine working was plagued by unwanted second guesses about Zatanna and thoughts about his separation from the Scoobies; all of it pulling at his mind at the most inopportune moments, which explained the increased number of explosions in his labs. Xander still planned on heading to the swamps of Louisiana, but in true hellmouth inspired style Xander knew that if he ignored his idea of perfecting the shield before going to the swamp then he would surely find that he needed it when he got there; such was the way of Murphy-fu.
The delay of two plus weeks frustrated Xander to no end, as more time spent merely working around the castle meant more time for Xander's brain to think too much on his situation and how he missed Willow and the rest of the Scoobies. It woke him in the middle of the night, nightmares about not being there to revive Buffy in the Master's cavern, nightmares about Willow getting turned along with Jesse and Xander halving to stake her as well. Xander spent several nights waking up in a cold sweat, often with a new doomsday device created that his subconscious had decided to make.
Bombs that created a dimensional portal that would destabilize stars by sucking mass out of them were locked into vaults deep within the Castle along with cannons that would allow Xander to put a hole straight through Mars. Laser beams and energy blasters that would enable Xander to carve his name into the moon, while standing on the Earth, where taken apart and entrusted to Bob the Castle just so Xander didn't have to see them every time Xander entered his labs. Like an exhaust vent that stops a steam boiler from exploding, Xander's subconscious reacted to Xander's angst and nightmares by inventing devices that would supposedly protect him. Unfortunately no device could solve or protect Xander from his problem; he was lonely.
On the morning of December fifteenth, ten days before Christmas and a snowy morning in Romania, Xander sat with tired red eyes gazing over the roof of his fortress and upon the white clean snow as the sun rose above the mountains that surrounded his castle. Dora and Tara had tried to get Xander to go to bed with them the night before, and not even their new lingerie had been enough to draw Xander out of his funk or to go to bed with them; even their offer of combining Twinkies and sex together hadn't worked to catch Xander's attention. Afraid of his nightmares and tired of waking up to find he had built another device that could either end the world or drive sane men crazy, Xander had spent the night focusing on finishing the installation of his new shield and weapon system into his clothes and body. Completion of his project came with the rising sun, and this found Xander sitting outside in the snow contemplating life in the cold frosty air.
'Did I do the right thing with Zatanna, walking away like that?' Xander debated in his head for the thousandth time.
'Damn it man, don't be double guessing that decision again!' The voice of the Primal growled in reply to Xander's internal question. Normally Xander wouldn't have listened to anything the Primal said, but Xander was so lonely that he was willing to listen just to be talking to somebody; even if it was with himself. ' What? Do you really want to be in a possibly abusive relationship like your parents were in? Do you really want to be with a girl who is willing to use her powers against you just because she can? Damn it man, you're the Alpha and you don't get pushed around by anybody! She thought you were a normal human at first and still attempted to blast you through the back of that bar in Vegas, hell, she greeted you with a slap and only after knowing you for one night! Stop whining like a bitch and get over it.' The Primal finished with a few choice curse words that Xander questioned the anatomical capability of fulfilling.
'We understand that you're lonely Xander, heck I had to deal with not having an equal or with being by myself during most of my travels outside Castle Heterodyne.' The voice of Xander Heterodyne stated. 'Still, you've completed your shield, so go to the swamps and talk to the Swamp Thing and stop this Dr. Phil imitation. If you want to get in touch with a feminine side then go pounce on Tara or Dora, they are more than willing to fulfill that for you.' The Heterodyne persona groused at Xander while the Primal continued to curse in the background. Added to the cacophony of voices in Xander's head was also a little voice that cursed over the loss of Zatanna's boobs and the lack of a proper harem to date.
'Fine, Fine! Damn it all, I'll stop bitching and go already if you stop bitching back at me. Truce already.' Xander cursed back internally while rising from his sitting position on the roof. Rising to his feet and stretching, Xander's back and shoulders popped and crunched a bit as the bones shifted after being stuck in a crouched position in the cold snowy December day for so long.
Yawning and stretching, rubbing his face and feeling a good shadow of beard growth, Xander gave a mental command to his the nano-clanks in his body and the little clanks located in the skin of his face cut off the hair that had grown there; giving Xander a close shave and causing the little bits of stubble to fall down onto his shirt and to drift to the snow below him; the nano-clanks in his clothing quickly absorbing the protein matter of the hair and transferred it back into calories that was given to the internal nano-clanks for dispersal. Yes it was a bit disgusting, but waste not want not after all.
Giving his back another twist to the right and then the left to get his blood flowing, Xander yawned one more time before walking towards the door back into the castle while mumbling curse words under his breath at how life sucked at the moment and how Lady Luck and Murphy could go do several anatomically impossible things.
As Xander neared the portal down into the castle a little songbird flew down from the sky and landed on the handle to the door, and started singing a cheery little song to greet the morning.
"ZAAAAP!" Xander's hand shot up towards the happy song bird and released a blast of energy that shot out of his palm and vaporized the little bird into a puff of feathers and cinders; all without breaking stride towards the door.
Xander continued to curse under his breath as he brushed the cinders off the handle and let himself into the first level of security and traps to get back into the castle; a tired and grumpy spark without coffee was a dangerous thing, and Bob the Castle expedited Xander's entrance back into the castle just to keep down any possible damage to his systems should Xander get more frustrated with his situation.
Upon entering the castle proper, Xander was met by Igor right outside the airlock/mantrap that was part of the protections for the roof entrance.
Xander began to speak, but before he could even say a word Igor forced an oversized mug of steaming coffee into Xander's hands.
"Sir, if I might suggest, please drink this first before commencing with the rest of your day." Igor stated; stoic faced as ever.
Xander frowned but complied, giving Igor a little glare before taking the hot mug of coffee and downing it in one long chug.
Ignoring the burn in order to get the caffeinated goodness into his system faster, Xander finished chugging the Sparkroast coffee and then handed back the mug with a big sigh. Xander paused and closed his eyes for a second while breathing deeply, just letting the coffee and his nano-clanks do their work at getting caffeine to his brain before opening his eyes and looking down on the short hunchback that ran Xander's empire.
"Thank you Igor, you do always seem to know just what I need don't you." Xander said, and he cracked a small smile, the first smile Xander had in over a week.
"Yes Sir, I do try. Good news Sir, the Sparkbucks coffee brand and coffee shops have fully saturated eighty percent of the world market, you now have a stranglehold on the world's coffee drinking population and added to the world wide caffeine addiction by sixty four percent." Igor stated, his stoic look turning into a blood thirsty grin as he explained the expansion of Xander's coffee empire. "Has the Master given any thoughts to my suggestion about adding nano-clanks to the coffee in order to complete his world domination?" Igor finished with a slightly insane smile that kind of scared Xander a little.
"Um, good news Igor, and um, no, we won't be adding the clanks to the coffee just yet. But keep the good ideas coming." Xander answered as he slowly inched around the still grinning master minion.
Igor's face dropped back into its classic stoic mask of indifference, "Very well master, I have your new upgraded helmet for the Leviathan outfit laid out on your bed along with a clean nano-suit. Will the master be needing anything else?" Igor completed with a slight bow.
Xander sighed and told Igor "No" before tromping past and proceeding towards his room. Xander's funk seemed to return and again hang about him like a thunder cloud of depression; though the coffee had chased away the mumbled cursing.
The Louisiana swamps are an interesting dichotomy of death and decay and life and rebirth. Some theories regarding life on planet Earth suggest that the beginnings of life on this planet first formed in a primordial soup not altogether unlike the mash of plant, mineral and animal that made up the soggy marshes and swamps of the Atchafalaya Basin.
Brackish water gave way to algae filled septic pools that stank of methane and swirled with mud kicked up by the animal life that swam in its depths. The American Alligators shared space with many different types of birds and fish in the muddy waters, and snakes, birds and insects populated the partially submerged Cyprus trees and nested in the Spanish moss and fungus that populated the tree tops.
It was into this setting that Xander's portal opened up, depositing Xander (in his Leviathan outfit) floating five feet over the level of the waters. Besides the occasional levy, there wasn't a spot for Xander to really land on solid ground, so it looked like he would have to find the 'Swamp Thing' through use of his flight abilities.
"Crikey, would you look over there. That's a Snowy Egret, she's a beauty she is." The directional device in Xander's hand stated in an Australian accent as it described some of the wildlife that was within view of where Xander appeared.
"Great, thanks, but could we focus on finding Alec Holland so we can get out of this swamp?" Xander grumpily asked looking down at the device in his hand; he was still a bit cranky and not really in the mood to have to both float around a swamp while dealing with a machine that was more interested in doing bird spotting than getting to the goal of the trip.
"Woah there, I thought we were looking for the elusive Green user, or in this case Swamp Thing?" The device questioned.
"Same thing you stupid machine. Alec Holland was originally a scientist who was working on synthesizing a chemical compound that mirrors the Green. Mercenaries attacked him to force him to give them the formula, and in the fight he was covered in the chemical, lit on fire, and dived into the swamp where he died. Somehow he became one with the Green and emerged with a misshapen body made out of plant matter. He can control any plant and even travel great distances by reshaping his body out of plant matter… wait a second, why the hell am I explaining this to you!" Xander started out describing the situation to the machine but ended up just snapping in frustration. "Frankly, you really don't have to know all this, your job is just to find him. So get on with it already!" Xander snarked.
"Woah there, fine, travel south by southeast towards the coast line and in one thousand meters you should find him… few chops short a barbie you are today mate." The Green machine replied.
Xander didn't really answer; rather he focused on following the arrow on the machine as he floated in the right direction pointed by the machine while moving around the occasional trees in his way.
"I know you didn't want me to describe the wildlife to you, but you might want to watch out for the Woah! Danger Danger!…" The machine started, only the warning was too late as a water moccasin, aka cotton mouth, fell out of the tree that Xander was floating under, and landed right around Xander's shoulders and neck.
"Ahhhh! Get it off! Get it off! Ahhhhh!" Xander yelled as the snake, probably as startled as Xander, flailed about on Xander's shoulders and tried to bite him a few times before Xander was able to grab a good hold on the snake and throw it; sending the water moccasin skipping across to surface of the fetid water until it sank beneath the dirty pool of water in a splash.
"That was a water moccasin, very dangerous, very deadly. What a beauty she was!" The machine described.
Xander panted a few times, trying to catch his breath as his adrenaline rush came back under control. The snake hadn't been able to pierce the shield that had automatically formed, nor the nano-clothing, so he didn't have to worry about the bites. Still, there was something instinctual about not liking snakes falling out of a tree on top of you, especially poisonous ones. Snakes didn't rate up there with clowns or praying mantis ladies, but Xander still wasn't a big fan of them.
"Thanks for the warning, a little late weren't we?" Xander finally snapped after bringing his heart rate down under one hundred and eighty beats a minute.
"Crikey, first you don't want the descriptions, then you do mate. You made me, I only do what you tell me to do." The machine complained back before continuing, "Move forward one hundred feet and you will have arrived at where the Green user is."
"Bah, whatever." Xander groused before following the directions, floating around a couple of trees in his way and then floating above a calm pool of water that the machine said the Swamp Thing was in, but not in sight.
Xander glanced to the left, then to the right and then turned in a full circle. The machine told him that the Swamp Thing was right on top or below Xander, but he couldn't find the Swamp Thing anywhere.
Shrugging, Xander called out, "Swamp Thing, Alec Holland, I need to talk to you." Xander yelled.
No answer came.
Frustrated a bit, but in proverbial sight of his goal, Xander tried again. "Come on Alec, I need your help. I know you're here. My name is The Leviathan, and I need your help." Xander yelled, slowly floating so that he could yell out in a circle around him.
It was quiet, the only sound of reply to Xander's yell was the flap of birds wings as the animals in the trees around Xander took off into the sky at his disruption of the normal sounds of the swamp.
"Come on big guy, I know you are right here, I can track you and I just need to talk." Xander tried again.
Finally Xander received an answer, a deep voice that seemed to come from the trees all around him. "Go away. I am not interested in talking to you stranger." The voice replied and then was silent.
"Woah! Crikey, look at him go. The Green user is now two thousand meters to the north." The Green machine, Xander's directional device, told Xander.
Xander sighed in frustration and flew into the sky where he skimmed the tree tops at subsonic speeds before arriving where the Swamp Thing had moved to.
Floating down out of the trees, Xander tried again.
"Come on Alec, I really need your help, my people need your help. At least let me talk to you." Xander pleaded, looking at the trees and growth around him.
"Leave me alone." The voice came from behind Xander.
Xander whirled around towards the sound of the voice, only for vines and tree branches to snag him from behind and start to wrap around him, attempting to stop Xander from moving.
Even more frustrated than he was before, Xander used his strength to easily break away from the grasp of the branches and vines and fly up above the tree branches; branches that seemed to sway in some nonexistent breeze that drove them to reach out for Xander's legs.
"Now the Green user is five hundred feet to the west." The machine stated, and Xander quickly flew in that direction until he came to a pool of water that made up a grass filled channel next to a levy.
Seeing some bubbles coming up from the water, Xander floated down towards the bubbles and pleaded again. "Come on up buddy, I just want to help you and see if you can help out my people. Won't you please just come up and talk to me?" Xander pleaded again, his growing frustration and mounting sorrow at life coming through in Xander's voice.
The alligator that had been causing the bubbles under the surface of the water answered Xander's request to come up to talk, snapping out of the water and hooking onto Xander's leg with its jaws.
Xander had only a startled moment before he was tugged under the water by the weight of the thirteen foot long alligator. Xander disappeared under the water as if a trap door had been opened under his feet, and soon the water turned into a roiling mass of bubbles and flailing plant matter as the depths of the canal was churned up by the conflict between man and beast.
The battle went on for about ten seconds, but the outcome was never in question as even with the weight and strength of a full grown alligator it was no match for the power of Science!
Xander was the first one to breach the surface, a gasp was heard to issue from inside Xander's helmet as he shot out of the water like a bullet; the water dripping and cascading off of a clear shield that was visible about an inch from the surface of Xander's body before quickly disappearing and causing what mud and debris that had been on it to fall back into the water below.
Xander kind of shuttered in the air before pulling off his helmet and throwing it at the levy with enough force to bury the helmet a couple feet down in the muddy soil.
"GASSSSP!" Xander took in a big breath of air to try to fill his lungs again with that needed mix of nitrogen and oxygen that was so necessary for life on planet Earth. "Pant, Pant, mental, Pant, note. Get a supply of oxygen built into the helmet system as, Pant, the shield cuts off the flow of Oxygen, Pant." Xander wheezed as he floated over to sit on the levy and look down at his knees while catching his breath.
Wiping a hand over his head and his eyes, Xander pant became a muffled gasp, which turned into a sniffled inhalation of air. With that, Xander started to cry, the sorrow, pain and stress of this shitty situation had finally gotten to him.
"Do you know what it is like to have your family hate you or to have those who you love pulled from your grasp and be denied even the ability to hear their voice." Xander cried under his breath to the air quietly at first.
"Was my life not shitty enough to start with?" Xander questioned, tears pouring from his eyes as he looked to the sky. "What, you just figured you needed some fucking mortal to be your spittoon and said, hey, let's pick Xander, he obviously hasn't had enough pain in his life?" Xander yelled at the sky, while crawling to his knees in the mud of the levy; the spotless black pants of his suit and his dress shoes showing a dichotomy that summed up Xander's life, power and ability yet stuck dealing with shit.
"I hate this! I hate this being alone! I hate being the only one like me, not having family! Not having Friends, not having Equals, not having Anybody! Damn you! Damn you to hell whoever you are who brought me here! Damn you Mxyzptlk for keeping me here! I just want to go home, I just don't want to be alone anymore!" Xander railed at the sky, standing up and shaking his fist at some unseen watcher before collapsing back to sit in the mud and cry.
Xander's shoulders shook as his body released much of the pent up pain and sorrow that had been in him since he came to this new dimension. Perhaps it had been the 'call' with the Scoobies that had led to this moment. Perhaps it was another instance where Xander had tried to make a difference and help others only to be attacked. Whatever it was, Xander had reached the end of his proverbial rope and the tears were now clouding his vision till the point where everything in front of him was a blur of greens and browns.
A heavy hand carefully rested itself on his shoulder, startling Xander with the deep voice that accompanied it, "I understand your pain." The voice said with compassion as deep as the roots of the earth.
Xander startled and his crying turned into a gasp/hiccup where snot from his nose got caught in his throat for a second. Xander coughed and then sneezed while simultaneously trying to wipe the tears from his eyes before looking to his right.
There, looking like a conglomeration of weeds and grasses, with the occasional twig mixed in, was the swamp thing; a weird amalgamation of plant matter shaped into the rudimentary form of a bulky human but with caring distinct greenish brown eyes and very human hands. One of the hands gently patted Xander on the back, helping Xander to regain his breath.
Xander finally coughed and cleared his throat before wiping his eyes with the back of his sleeve and then looking forward again, bringing his sniffles under control.
The Swamp Thing and Xander just sat there on the muddy levy and stared out over the water for several minutes before Xander finally sighed and broke the silence.
"Thanks; I guess you would understand how I'm feeling. My name's Xander." He stated, pulling his right arm from around his knees and putting it out for the Swamp Thing to shake.
The Swamp Thing removed his large left hand from Xander's shoulder while at the same time shaking Xander's hand with the right, "Alec Holland, though some people call me Swamp Thing, though you seemed to already know that." Alec said with his deep rumbly voice, a bit of an unasked question in the last part.
"Heh," Xander softly chuckled as he wiped the last of the remaining tears from his eyes, "Yeah, I know all about you. Where I come from you're a hero and they write books, television shows and movies about you." Xander explained, sliding his butt in the mud until he could kind of face the Swamp Thing better.
"Really?" Alec Holland asked, surprising coming through his voice.
"Yeah, really." Xander stated, and then went on to explain about his life in Sunnydale in a dimension far far away. Xander started off telling Alec about the television show and movie that he had seen as a child, but stories about comic books soon devolved into tales about his home life with his drunken parents, stories about Willow and Jesse, and even about the night life in Sunny-hell and his fight against the darkness that had changed venues when Xander was sent to this new dimension. What had started out as a brief discussion about what Xander knew about the hero and elemental master that was the Swamp Thing turned into Xander spilling his soul and life history to this stranger who listened and gave silent comfort as good as any 'giving tree' had ever done.
Xander and Alec Holland spent the next hour just talking back and forth about their lives, their loneliness, and their battles against the darker forces of this world and hell; as the Swamp Thing's primary enemy was a master of the occult who had frequently called upon demonic forces in their battles. Slowly but surely the two talked, and found two similar souls who simply wanted to help but seemed to get the short end of the stick no matter what they did. Finally, after almost three hours of chatting they ran out of stories to tell and sat there silently staring out at marshes as the day progressed.
"Crikey boss, look at the time. My batteries are going to need a charge, so I'm going to shut off now mate." The Green Machine interrupted the silence, and drew Xander's attention back to the original reason why he had come to the swamps.
"Oh, I almost forgot, Doh!" Xander prefaced with a smack to his forehead. "Alec, how would you like to have a home where you were accepted, a nearly fully human body, and the ability to help save the world and the lives of millions of people?" Xander questioned.
Swamp Thing turned from gazing out at the marsh and blinked at Xander, trying to take in what Xander had said. Finally he responded, "Excuse me, could you repeat that with a bit of an explanation?" Alec Holland questioned.
Xander smiled back and rubbed the back of his head with his hand, not realizing that he was smearing a bit of mud into his hair before explaining. "Well, it's like this. You're lonely, I'm lonely without any friends to really talk with, sure there is Adam, but he isn't much of a conversationalist," Xander rambled a bit before getting to the point. "The thing is, I kind of run Romania now and my people are going to starve due to some actions by evil politicians; not that I believe there is such a thing as good politicians that is." Xander sort of got to the point and continued his imitation of Willow babble. "See, um, damn. Ok. I know you want a human body and I can use science to help you get your plant form to be more human than it is, we may even be able to help you get to the point where you could have a real relationship with a human if we work together. I need your help getting the plants to help feed my people, and at the same time I can give you gardens, swamps, deserts, jungles and plains from which to use as your personal greenhouses to save all manner of plant and animal species. Together we can safeguard the lives of millions of humans while helping to clean up the Earth and save as many endangered species as possible." Xander finished, almost out of breath from his whirlwind explanation.
Xander smiled at Alec expectantly, hoping for an answer.
Alec Holland, aka the Swamp Thing, stared back at Xander trying to figure out first what the young man had said and then whether he trusted the teen.
Finally, a smile crept across the Swamp Things face and he put forth his hand, "You have a deal Xander, though I don't know why you would offer this to me as it sounds like your skills in sciences could probably solve many of your problems."
Xander shook Alec's hand and shrugged, "Eh, it's the right thing to do, and besides, I'd do anything to help a friend." Xander finished with a growing smile.
Alec's smile grew at Xander's statement, "Yes, friends. Now Xander, explain how you plan on making jungles in Romania during the month of December?"
"Why, with Science!" Xander yelled with a smile, jumping to his feet and into a heroic pose. Smiling down at the still seated Swamp Thing Xander put his hand down to help Alec to his feet before going on to explain. "Well, it's like this, I kind of forgot to stop my clanks from hollowing out all of the mountains in the country, so with a little bit of artificial sunlight…" Xander explained while ducking down to dig his hand into the levy pull out his buried helmet before waving the Swamp Thing to follow him into a portal that snapped open.
Xander's explanation continued, "First I take a bit of reactor fusion material at just the right density and then give it a good gravitonic swirl…" Xander's explanation was cut off as both Xander and Alec Holland disappeared into the green colored portal that had opened. With its closing, the swamp was returned to the sounds of nature. The only proof that Xander had been there was the muddy spot on the levy, and the floating body of the alligator that had tried to bite off more than it could chew.
It was a thing of beauty, rich lush wild gardens that hadn't been seen on earth since the fall of Babylon and its hanging gardens or perhaps even the fabled closing of the Garden of Eden. Birds and monkeys filtered through the trees and flashes of color of the trees and wild exotic flowers mixed with the different colors of birds made it a paradise to be hold. The hot sun beat down on the tropical foliage, but at ground floor it was dark and moist with the sounds of insects buzzing and the occasional whoop of a monkey echoing from the trees. It was a perfect ecosystem that would have made the creators of the 'Bio-Dome' green with envy, and it was housed completely within a mountain deep underground in the snowy Romanian countryside. Even the ten foot diameter miniature sun that Xander had completed was housed under the surface of the Earth and through the use of computer systems that controlled the wind, moisture systems and air flow, Xander was also able to use his new shield technology to keep his 'sun' contained in a vacuum that could be darkened to nighttime conditions on a regular basis. Tint the shield so less light and heat energy got out, and you had a Dyson's Sphere that could have powered every building in earth indefinitely, lessen the tint and the shields ability to contain the heat and you had weather control that mirrored any environment you wanted while still giving off more power than Romania or Xander could really plan on using. Similar miniature suns were used in other hallowed out chambers for deserts, plains, rainforests, swamps and for raising crops of every kind; all of it easily maintained without any chemicals by brief interactions with the now very human looking Swamp Thing. Sure Alec Holland's hair and complexion were still green, but due to the heavy usage of controlled nano-clanks, gone was the shambling mass of plant matter that resembled a ball of muck on legs and now was a being whom looked more human than thing.
Xander and Alec Holland were developing a good friendship, able to lose some of their loneliness by talking about the biology sciences that originally caused Alec his problems and enjoying the joy of finding a like minded person who understood what it was like to be a good guy who fate just seemed to screw over. In the month after returning from the Louisiana swamp both Alec and Xander had formed a friendship with inside jokes, often about biology or science subjects, and enjoyed working together to get the plant life and animal life situated and growing as quickly as possible. Through the use of the former Swamp Thing's powers and Xander's teleportation technology and other skills, the two of them were able to have the ecological systems fully up and running in less than a month.
The two of them were having fun just having a friend for once, and even though Xander still hadn't heard back from the Scoobies in the promised time of one week, the loneliness and sorrow that had been plaguing him was partially gone. Xander's goofiness was allowed to come out again, and Xander actually found himself in a prank war with Alec at one time. Alec filled Xander's bedroom with a thick carpet of tall itchy grass, and in turn Xander now referred to Alec as the 'Jolly Green Giant' rather than Swamp Thing after tampering with the nano-clanks creating Alec's form, suddenly turning the former Swamp Thing into a 20 foot tall giant green guy in a toga; an ability that Xander eventually told Alec how to turn on and off at will.
Christmas had come and gone and Xander had exchanged gifts with his minions, the people of Romania, Igor, the castle and the Chateau, Tara and Dora, Alec Holland, and even Black Adam. Xander sent Black Adam a bunch of magic books and artifacts that had been found in Dracula's castle and Arcane Manor, and to Alec Holland he gifted the former Arcane Manor and a Chia-pet. Black Adam in return, not a follower of the Christian holiday of Christmas but a friend/ally of the Leviathan's, gifted The Leviathan with a treasure chest of jewels. Alec's gift to Xander was a bit more helpful in that between the two of them they were able to create plant spores that worked with Xander's nano-clanks, allowing Xander to scrub carbon-dioxide out of Xander's body and basically create a secondary air supply for when Xander wanted to use his shield system; suffocating was not of the good, so this was a great Christmas present for Xander.
Bob the Castle and the Chateau enjoyed their new power sources of miniature suns surrounded by Dyson's spheres, and in return they gave Xander two day's off from exercises; meaning he was only chased around the skies of Romania three or four times by flaming Gargoyles and attack drones rather than the usual six days during the week after Christmas and before New Year's Eve.
When Alec had questioned why the two architectural family members attacked Xander at all, they had simply replied, "We attack because we love him." This question had puzzled the former Swamp Thing, but the understanding nods of Igor, Tara and Dora and caused Alec to just smile and nod at the normal craziness that he was coming to expect from being around Xander.
On the world wide front, the situation seemed to be going in Xander's direction though the world governments had no clue about the alliance between Romania and Kahndaq or what was really going on inside the country. Sparkbucks continued to take over the world coffee market and add more devoted followers/customers to its brand loyalty. World governments didn't understand how Romania was still thriving so well, especially since all of their analysts' projections had stated that Romania would have run out of food and specific manufactured goods right before Christmas, and the news coming out of Romania suggested that there was a plethora of all types of food and fresh produce coming out of the country instead; where Romania was getting tropical sugarcane and or desert raised figs was anybody's guess. The oil flow into the country was nonexistent, and since the rest of the world relied on petroleum products for industrial growth and transportation the world leaders were flabbergasted to see pictures of cars, busses, and trucks moving about the streets of Bucharest in record numbers. What added further discombobulation to the politicians situations and analysis of Romania was that all of the vehicles gave off no sign of exhaust. In fac,t the images clearly showed that there was absolutely no exhaust or smog at all in Romania if the images taken from the spy planes that skirted the boarders of the country were giving an accurate portrayal of the situation.
Things were going Xander's way, in fact the situation outside of Romania was the reverse of what the world leaders had originally planned as rather than Romania begging for the embargo to end, the citizens of the world were picketing and demanding that the embargo end so that they could access the cures and wonders of Romania. The crowds outside Romanian embassies throughout the world were filled with the poor, the sick and the dying, all begging to be allowed in. When they were repeatedly denied and told that they would be more than welcome if it wasn't for the embargo placed on the country of Romania, those same crowds of angry voters and citizens turned on their leaders. So far the leaders hadn't been willing to lose face by dropping the embargo, but the pressure was mounting and already rival political parties in every country in the world were pointing fingers at the incumbent representatives as the reason for the peoples' continued suffering.
All in all, everything was going great for Xander.
Meanwhile, in an office high above the streets of Metropolis, in a building freshly fumigated and newly refurbished after being cleaned of the smell of rotten eggs from floor to ceiling, stood a bald man in an expensive suit gazing out the window. To his left a video screen showed the slightly bearded and bedraggled face of a man of eastern European descent.
"So, you promise that if we do this service for you, your company will supply us with the arms that we need to push the southern bastards off of our lands?" The man on the screen said in a heavily accented English.
The bald figure in the tailored five thousand dollar suit turned to the screen and grinned, the smile not meeting his eyes. "Yes, that is right Mr. Nardoc, you do this one favor for me, which should be easy given the weaponry I give you, and you keep the weaponry free of charge. Top of the line Lexcorp laser cannons, heavy artillery, and the latest version of our fully automatic energy repeating rifle for you and your men, and all you have to do is help me get my small team through the boarder of Romania." Do we have a deal?" Lex Luthor questioned, the hunger for the Romanian technology clearly shining through his eyes.
The visage of Nardoc looked down, as if deep in thought, before looking back at the owner of Lex Corp. "And you promise that there will be no repercussions to the people of northern Kaznia?"
Lex's smile grew larger, "Nardoc, trust me. Romania is a paper tiger, they won't come out of their country, and they won't do anything to you for merely knocking down a few of their electric towers that guard their borders. Trust me on this my friend, you will soon have the fire power to fully free your people, once and for all." Lex complete with a look that suggested butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.
Nardoc grudgingly agreed, and they started to hash out the details.
Elsewhere on a private uncharted island in the Pacific Ocean a hale and healthy man of indeterminate age sat at a desk in an office that overlooked the island and the pale blue waters that surrounded the coral reefs around the island. However the man's focus was fully directed towards the reports before him, ignoring the stately room around him that was dotted with antiques from throughout the history of humanity. The man knew each piece intimately as he had created several of them or picked them up on his travels throughout the world, travels that spanned hundreds of years. A brief knock on the door was ignored as the man continued to review the reports on Romania and the technology that was in that country; technology that could possibly effect his plans of cleansing the world of the mass of humanity and turning the Earth back into its pristine nature.
One of the dark suited guards that dotted the room opened the door, and the dark perfection that was Talia al Ghul sashayed into the room on her designer heels and in a form fitting skirt suit. She stopped several feet in front of the desk, and stood silently as she waited to be recognized by her father. Several minutes passed, and finally Ra's al Ghul, leader, environmentalist, sociopath and father of Talia closed his report before silently gesturing for his daughter to sit at one of the chairs opposite him at his desk.
"Thank you father. How are you doing today?" Talia asked liltingly, a slight bow of her head to the master of her life and the man whom she respected above all others, even her beloved Bruce Wayne.
"Ahh Talia, it is good to see you again my daughter. Mixed news coming out of Romania, an interesting news that is mixed with an increase in industrialization yet at the same time less pollution than has ever been known since before the Mongol hordes threatened its borders. I still haven't decided what to do with that country. The Leviathan may be a kindred spirit in our goals to clean up the world, but he seeks to do so by breeding more people and keeping his population alive, while my vision guides us that humanity has spread like a disease and cannot be trusted to heal this world. He is a power that we will have to look at, as all of our criminal agents from the Society of Shadows have been flushed from the country or executed; the country was due for a cleansing what with the dictator there, but our plans will need to be changed." Ra's stated, at first answering his daughter but finishing up as he got lost in his thoughts and gazed out the window at the beauty of the paradise like tropical island and the sea around it; a weird dichotomy considering the man was casually discussing and contemplating the path to mass genocide of the human species.
"Yes father." Talia dutifully answered but then remained silent as her father continued to focus out the window, deep in thought.
After several moments of silence, where barely even the breathing of the guards could be heard due to the plush carpet and tapestries that filled the room, Ra's al Ghul finally turned back to his daughter and looked upon her.
"I sense you did not come here to discuss our continued quest, how was your trip to the United States? Is there something you wish to tell me?" Ra's questioned while sitting back in his chair; a guard walking forward and bringing Ra's and his daughter a tea service with two already prepared cups of tea ready. The two members of the al Ghul family paused to claim a cup before Talia answered.
"My trip was enjoyable father," The Brunette beauty stated before continuing, "There wasn't much of interest, and the delivery of documents you requested I bring to your agents in Gotham went well. My Beloved did not know that I was in town. It was something that happened when I visited the city of Las Vegas that would have me bring information to you." Talia completed, pausing to take a sip of her tea.
"A yes, Ubu informed me of your interest in a young man that was there. Was there something more than his good looks that attracted your attention my daughter?" Ra's stated with a hint of rebuke in his question.
Talia briefly bowed her head in supplication before answering, "I am but your obedient daughter father, the reason Mr. Alexander Harris drew my attention was threefold: First, Alexander knew your name and knew of me the moment I gave my name; the look on his face was not one who recognizes a notable head of charity foundations around the world or of a myth from the history of man, but of your true quest. Second, due to an altercation in the casino, I along with the rest of the casino learned that Mr. Harris has been of some intimate relations with one Zatanna Zatarra, magic user of the Justice League. Third, we were attacked by several terrorists of the Kobra organization, and Alexander Harris showed both the ability to ignore magical attacks as well as exhibited several meta-human abilities such as flight, super strength and a speed comparable to several of the main members of the Justice League. I believed the new appearance of a powerful being who knows who you are would be of interest. I've taken the liberty of retrieving a copy of the casino's surveillance videos for your review father." Talia finished with a nod to one of the guards near the door.
At Talia's nod, Ubu pushed his way through the doors into the room and proceeded towards a large screened TV that sat across the room opposite Ra's al Ghul's desk. Ra's patiently watched as the screen flashed to images of Xander talking to Talia at the high roller's table, to Xander leaving the high rollers area and being confronted by Zatanna, to the fight with Kobra. Different camera angles cut into the film and showed in split screen the full details of what happened behind the bar during the battle as well how easily the young Alexander Harris dispatched the attackers and shrugged off the magical attack by Zatanna. What was most disconcerting was the fact that somewhere between reentering the curtains of the high roller area and actually entering the high roller area, Mr. Harris disappeared.
Ra's sat back in his seat and thought quietly after the video ended. Finally, Ra's reached across his desk and used a small mallet to strike a tiny five inch gong that hung on a stand on his desk.
The 'gong' sound reverberated through the room, and a moment later several dark robed figures literally dropped out of the ceiling and landed in a crouch where they bowed before Ra's.
Ra's turned to address the ninja's that were part of his Society of Shadows, "Return to Las Vegas and gather as much information as you can on this Alexander Harris. Spend as much time as it takes, but I want to know who this person is, even if you have to travel to the opposite side of the world in your quest. Also, send out a request to our agents throughout the world to gather information on this man, he may yet be an asset to our quest." Ra's al Ghul commanded. The ninja's in turn left as quietly and as quickly as they came.
Turning to his daughter, Ra's waved her in dismissal, "Good work my daughter. You may leave. I must meditate on the information you have brought me." Ra's stated, to which Talia and Ubu left Ra's as quietly as the ninjas had.
Left in his room, Ra's al Ghul continued to watch a repeat of the action at the Casino.
"Who are you Alexander Harris, and what secrets do you hold that I can use?" Ra's stated to himself before again staring out the window at the waves that rolled against the shores of his island.
In the backwood forests of Romania, deep in the snowy wilderness and far from any human being, in a place where only squirrels hibernated, there was a shimmering of light and suddenly a man appeared. This man was very distinct even though he was incognito; with a plain flesh colored face without a nose or mouth or eyes showing, the man who wore a tailored purple suit.
"Brrrr, much colder than the Watch Tower, that's for sure." The Question stated with a shiver before activating a device on his person. A sudden yellow gas cloud appeared around the man, and when it cleared a man with a normal plain face appeared wearing normal Romanian farmer's winter gear with boots and even snow shoes.
"I need to remember to thank the Bat for some of this gear. This will make things a lot easier, especially since he gave me Velcro ties for the boots; none of that aglet evil to deal with." The Question continued talking to himself, this time the shiver had nothing to do with the cold and more about his quest to combat the evil that was aglets and the shoe industry's insidious plans for world domination.
"At least Romania doesn't seem to be suffering from global warming," The Question continued to talk to himself as he made his way out of the snowy woods that he had appeared in and out onto some farmland. In the distance he could see the Transylvanian mountains where perhaps the answers to some of his questions regarding The Leviathan could be found.
"It must be the lack of Romanian Boy bands, yes, another snippet of fact to go with my theory that Boy Bands are the leading cause of global warming." The Question finished. With that, he set off across the fields towards his target.
AN: Ok, took me a while but I had a lot of stuff to get out here, and didn't quite know how I was going to get it all working together. This chapter lays a lot of ground work, answers some questions, builds and adds some characters, and adds to the madness. Hope you enjoyed it. Cheers!