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: On the Road again, Just can't wait to get on the road again. The life I love is making music with my friends… oh wait, I'm not Willy Nelson, oh well, probably a good thing at that. Xander's back on the road and his high flying chaos riddled road trip has begun. The last time Xander was on the road he 1. Robbed the batcave; 2. Found a bunch of minions when taking a potty break; 3. Took the first steps towards creating a harem and world domination and that was just in two to three days on the road. What will happen when he spends some serious time exploring the world? Enjoy.
'Thought'
"Speech"
/foreign language/
Chapter 27: Adventures With Murphy
"And on the eighth day God said, 'Okay, Murphy, you're in charge!'" ~Author Unknown
"Istanbul was Constantinople now its Istanbul not Constantinople, Been a long time gone, Constantinople Now its Turkish delight on a moonlit night. Every gal in Constantinople, Lives in Istanbul, not Constantinople, so you've a date in Constantinople She'll be waiting in Istanbul. Even old New York, was once New Amsterdam, why they changed it I can't say. People just liked it better that way!
So take me back to Constantinople…" Xander sang the song by 'We Might Be Giants' as he walked through Istanbul with his backpack, just enjoying the sights of the ancient city.
The city was an interesting mix of ancient and new, paying testament to the many different empires and cultures that had left their mark on the city. The buildings in parts of the city were close together, roof to roof and wall to wall, sometimes at the same level and sometimes separate. Other parts of the city had newish apartment buildings or condos while other parts of the city were made up of spacious squares, markets, thoroughfares and all of it dotted with large mosques and churches as well as the occasional synagogue.
Xander had sped up onto the land where the outskirts of western Istanbul met the Black Sea. Blurring through the gaps and alleyways until he felt that he was far enough inland , he finally stepped out onto the street at a normal speed. Now here he was, walking through the crowds singing to himself like he didn't have a care in the world.
The people around him alternated between smiling and shaking their heads in amusement or frowning and shaking their heads in frustration at what appeared to be another "Loud American;" though Xander didn't know what they were saying given that the language spoken on the streets around him was all Turkish.
'I'd say it's all Greek to me, but given some of Giles's history lessons, it would probably be best if I didn't tell the Turks to their faces that I consider them anything like the Greeks.' Xander gave a mental quip after he got to the end of his loud rendition of 'Istanbul.'
Xander looked up as he finished his song and saw that sure enough, Lady Luck was still keeping an eye on him, because right in front of Xander was a Sparkbucks Coffee shop that was sealed up tightly with steel panels covering the front door and window.
Shrugging to himself, Xander stepped out of the throng of people walking the sides of the street and traveled down a small tight alley that separated the Sparkbucks from a small bakery.
Rounding the corner of the alley and going behind the Sparkbucks, Xander found himself stepping over and around the bags of trash that hadn't been shipped off to the dump yet, kicked a cat off the step of the solid steal back door, and knocked on the metal.
"Shave and a haircut, two bits." Xander knocked, stating the lyrics as he rapped his knuckles against the door in the proper pattern before laying his hand on the doorknob, but not trying to open the door.
Xander felt the mechanics in the door query the nano-clanks in Xander's hand along with his biometric readings, acquiring the proper access codes in return. As a result, a soft series of 'click' sounds was heard to issue from the door, and it released with the hissing sound of a pneumatic lock sliding back into the wall.
Xander smiled, 'Good old Evil overlord list, make it look like a normal lock, but have it be a biometric scanner and high-tech security system.' He thought to himself as he looked up and down the alley quickly before entering the empty store and quickly shutting the door behind him.
As Xander entered the store the lights flickered on and Xander made his way back to the manager's office.
As Xander entered the door to the manager's office, what looked like a normal monitor for a computer screen rotated to face the door and an image of a red-headed digital face popped up, "Hi there Xander! Are you having a good vacation so far?" The digital image of Willow asked.
Xander smiled in return, "Hey RedTree. Yeah I practiced my speed running and I've been learning things quickly, heh, get it, learning quickly…" Xander stated, trying to be funny but coming off as a geek. Xander looked a bit chagrin and he quickly changed the topic as the image of the AI RedTree just shook her head at Xander and his normal goofiness.
"So is there anything that I need to know about specific to Istanbul or the world in general?" Xander questioned Red while sitting down in the office chair that was in the room.
Green lines of ones and zeroes started to flip past where the image of RedTree's eyes should have been and the AI intelligence gathering program started feeding Xander the news.
"Well Xander, I've decoded a few jpg images that a group of Kurdish separatists were using to send encrypted messages. Apparently security is high in the city due to a bombing campaign by the PKK. You should watch out for suspicious activities if you are going to frequent any areas with high foot traffic. Additionally, there are several other unknown groups in the city, but all of their messages are in code words that make them read like letters from children." Red explained to Xander who nodded along while double checking to make sure his shoes were tied tightly; it wouldn't do to trip on a shoelace when going over one hundred miles a minute.
"Ok, that's understood." Xander explained as he sat up in his chair and focused more fully on the computer monitor where Red was talking to him. "Hey, any way I could get a taste of the normal 'Turkish coffee' that would normally be in this store while you give me the rest of the report?" Xander questioned.
Red smiled briefly, and a small white china cup transported in to the right of the computer's keyboard while Red continued talking, "Speaking of coffee, the United Nations is holding a meeting to discuss the complete reversal of the original embargos on your countries, and we are starting to have contacts requesting trade agreements with our ambassadorial corps." Red stated before giving a feral grin, "Though our ambassador's are playing hard to get while we have the world by the balls." Red continued, reminding Xander that though RedTree looked like his friend Willow, she was still a separate entity.
Xander shared a similar feral grin with the computer monitor, "Excellent, and the upgrades to the security systems throughout the Sparkbucks coffee shops is on track for completion before we reopen the doors?" Xander questioned.
"Yep!" Red said with a smirk, "In fact, if you hang around the shop for a bit more, the little clanks should be by that store within the hour. Should they expect you to still by on site when they arrive?" She queried at the end.
Xander paused for a moment to sip the thick Turkish approximation of the Sparkbucks coffee before giving an exhale of pleasure, "Ahhhh, that hits the spot." Xander stated before shaking his head in the negative, "Oh, and no, I should be out and about the city by the time they get here. It's," Xander paused while looking at the watch that formed around his wrist when he mentally asked what time it was.
"It's 11:30, and I still haven't eaten yet." Xander replied a bit surprised at the time. His stomach rumbled then and he smiled up at the screen where RedTree giggled at Xander's gastric sound effects.
"At the sound of the grumble it will be time for me to go eat." Xander quipped before downing the rest of his coffee and smiling at the image of one of his AI's. "I'll just be off, thanks for the updates Red. I'll check in tomorrow when I get to a stopping spot, and you know how to find me if you need me." Xander said with a smile.
The digital image of Willow smiled back at Xander, "Take care of yourself mister, see, resolve face." She bantered back, and Xander merely laughed as he got up and left the office.
Xander moseyed out of the office and then towards the backdoor, which opened for him automatically at the same time that the lights of the store shut down.
Xander walked back through the alley and out to the main street where the front of the shop was. Looking back towards the store, Xander saw a man shivering and shaking while looking longingly at the Sparkbucks coffee shop.
Xander frowned and just shook his head, 'Glad I didn't get cut off from the Sparkbucks, especially since I drink so much of it. I'd hate to see the reaction of somebody who was cut off after drinking it pretty much twenty-four seven.' Xander thought to himself as he walked down the street towards where the GPS program in his brain's nano-clanks stated a good kabob place was located.
In Earth's high outer orbit the Watchtower floated, a silent sentinel of hardened glass and metal that looked out over the world below. It was a bastion of justice and a beacon of solidarity towards the goal of bettering the lives of the humans on the planet below. The tower was pristine, polished, and like some watching gargoyle that warded off the evil spirits, it was silent in its scrutiny of the world beneath it.
The silence of space was marred as one of the large plate glass windows on the side of the station began to flex and warp, looking like ripples on a pond that were growing more violent. The violent wrinkles in the crystalline structure finally cracked, releasing a gaseous cloud of atmosphere out into the quiet vacuum of space.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" The sound of absolute agony rippled through the released mix of oxygen, nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide and trace other gasses that were being sucked out of the station. The scream was cut off by the sound of a heavy 'THUD!' right before the blast doors closed and sealed over the leak that had issued from the shattered glass.
With the closing of the blast doors, the Watchtower satellite was again a silent guard against the evil that would seek to do harm to the Earth.
dsfas
From his seat in front of a café that looked upon a large Istanbul mosque, Xander's head shot up as he suddenly had the urge to say, "It wasn't my fault." Looking around, Xander shrugged off the urge to deny all guilt before finishing off his last few bites of lamb and bread and just savored the atmosphere as he listened to the end of the 12:18 prayers at the mosque.
Xander patted his full belly, and wished that he could order the transportation of another Turkish coffee. Unfortunately he knew he shouldn't after wandering the streets and seeing the many cafes and restaurants sporting signs stating, "No Sparkbucks left" in multiple different languages. Xander didn't want to call attention to himself or possibly start a caffeine riot.
'Besides, the weather is nice if still a bit chilly.' Xander thought as he was the only one eating in the outdoor portion of the café. 'I should just enjoy the experience.'
The sun was beaming down in the sky, shining off the white domed roof of the large mosque located at the Gaziosmanpasa Merkez Cami on Ordu Cd. The open cobbled area between Xander and the mosque was bustling with tourist taking photos of the building while women and children awaited their husbands who were soon to leave the mosque. It was an idyllic site, and Xander was thrilled to see it.
'Who would have thought that Xander Harris would ever make it clear across the world from Sunnyhell to Istanbul?' Xander thought to himself with a smile. His smile grew as he continued to ponder, 'I bet Heir Snyder would pop a blood vessel if he realized I was a world traveler now. And the cleaning staff would be busy mopping up the left over's from his head exploding if he had any idea that I was ruling my own country.' Xander smugly thought to himself before digging into his pocket and pulling out exactly the right amount of local currency to pay the bill and tip.
'I love science!' Xander mentally quipped as he stood up and stretched and pulled his backpack over his shoulder; the backpack that had more stuff in it than all of Cordelia Chase's clothing and shoe closets combined.
Smiling and nodding to the waiter as he left the little restaurant, Xander decided to wander closer to the mosque to enjoy the experience and beauty of the day.
'I'm so glad I was able to go on this road trip. This is so great.' Xander thought with a smile as he started to cross the road.
'The birds chirping, the sun shining, the families gathering to greet each other for a noonday break.' Xander continued to smile as he noted the people gathering as throngs of men started to exit the mosque after the midday prayers.
'It really is great to see some things remain the same no matter where in the world you are.' Xander thought happily as he noticed the kids running up to great their fathers and older brothers.
Xander watched and smiled as he saw that there were families greeting each other. Old men debating and speaking to each other with faces showing the signs that these were the happenstances of long friendships. The tourists were gawking, the people were chatting in Turkish and other languages. A man was walking with an olive drab bulging trench coat towards the gathered people. Vendors were moving through the gathered people offering drinks or food.
'Wait a second…' Xander's brain triggered and his face swung to look at the man in the trench coat, 'A man moving alone with a bulging trench coat!' Xander thought as the world seemed to slow down and something RedTree had told him to watch out for returned to his mind, just as the man seemed to open his coat and raise his arm upwards as he started to shout.
It was like a stop motion play, where everybody's faces took on an inquisitive look while turning to look at the man screaming something about 'Kurdistan'. Fathers' eyes got large, and some woman started to scream as they saw the coat open up and realized that the man was strapped with bag upon clear bag of ball bearings and screws, while packets of explosives and wires surrounded the man's torso and waist.
The man's arm started the raise, and it was clear that a switch and button were in his hand and wires were disappearing down his sleeve.
Xander acted almost without thought.
One second Xander was sedately crossing the street, then less than an instant later the world seemed to stop as his brain screamed, 'FULL SPEED!'
Xander closed the distance before the man's thumb could depress the switch, tearing the detonator and the attached wiring away from the man as Xander stopped ten feet beyond the where the terrorist was standing.
As Xander stopped, the world regained speed, and the sounds of the bellows and screams of the crowd came to life, just as the man who had been yelling about something something Kurdistan began screaming bloody murder also.
Xander turned to look back at the man as the crowd around Xander and the terrorist ran in helter skelter in all directions away from them.
There was the terrorist, screaming and laying on the ground in a growing bloody pool, his arm missing from the shoulder.
Xander blinked, wide eyed before looking down at the detonator in his hands; the detonator that was still clenched in the hand and attached to the clothed arm of the terrorist.
'SHIT!' Xander mentally cursed before looking around quickly and then back at the arm in his hands. Realizing that he was holding a severed arm, Xander cursed to himself again before dropping the arm and looking down at the heavily bleeding wannabe terrorist, 'Yep, definitely need some more practice with grabbing things at high speeds.' Xander thought before looking around the square.
Already the siren sounds of rapidly approaching police was coming from the distance, and before him the man lay screaming on the ground trying to hold on to the bloody shoulder.
Xander looked around again, thinking quickly as thoughts raced through his brain on what he should do. Finally he cursed to himself and thudded over towards the former suicide bomber while unlimbering his lightsaber from the side of his pack.
"The day was going so well, and then you had to come fuck it up." Xander spat as he ignited his blade and the red sword of light shot from the end of his outstretched saber.
The terrorist starred up at Xander with wide eyed fear, babbling in some language that Xander figured was a plea for mercy.
"Oh, so now you want mercy you baby killer." Xander spat as he marched closer and closer to the now desperately crawling bleeding terrorist.
Xander marched forward and stomped on the man's chest, not hard enough to really injure or kill the terrorist, but enough to keep the babbling man from escaping.
"Get this through your head you insignificant bastard, I'm not going to kill you." Xander said before kicking away the man's hand that was holding on to the severed arm socket.
Xander whipped his blade down and formed a nice neat slice that cauterized the wound due to the heat of the lightsaber. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to heal you either." Xander said as he prefaced his statement by holding his blade against the stump to make sure it was truly burned and stopped bleeding.
Stepping back, Xander extinguished his blade and reattached it to his backpack with an unconscious flare of a handle flip and clip. At the same time Xander's other hand reached down and grabbed the man by the bunched up collars of the man's trench coat and dragged him up to dangle in the air.
Xander used his now free hand to grab a hold of the explosive vest on the man and tore it loose before chucking it straight up in the sky as hard as he could.
The vest disappeared into the sky quicker than a wink.
Xander was about to growl something else at the man for ruining his road trip and for trying to kill those innocent civilians, but the sound of screeching tires on the road next to him caught his attention.
Xander ignored the man who was struggling to breathe due to Xander's hold, and turned his head to see several police cars pull up and disgorge heavily armed police and soldiers.
"Shit!" Xander cursed again, mentally hoping that RedTree was not going to see a recording of this or he was going to get in trouble for cursing.
Xander quickly turned and launched the one armed terrorist towards the windshield of one of the police cars.
The responding police officers dove out of the way as the man impacted the front windshield of one of the police cars and crashed right through it.
By the time the Turkish Police and soldiers looked back up, Xander was nowhere to be found.
Xander hopped from roof to roof, sprinting and then leaping across the rooftops so as to not be scene from the street yet not flying up into the air where he could possibly show up on Radar or be seen by people on the ground or in the sky.
After throwing Ahkmed the one armed terrorist, or whatever the man called himself, through the windshield of the police cruiser, Xander had sprinted through the crowd of people in a blur before leaping to the rooftops lining the street labeled Ordu Cd.
After that it was a semi-clumsy take at parkour where Xander first had to experiment at using just enough force to send him jumping from one roof to the next without punching a hole through the ceiling of the building he was landing on yet at the same time enable him to straddle the distance between buildings.
The first roof jump, Xander put too much force into it and jumped clear over the target roof to crunch the clay tiles of the second apartment building under his feet. Xander's feet skittered under him as the tiles loosened and flew around him as he scurried to gain more distance on the scene of the averted attack.
'So much for not causing a scene.' Xander groused to himself as he under-judged the second jump and had to reach out and catch the ledge with his fingers to pull himself up onto the targeted roof.
"Uhf" Xander grunted as the gutter of the condo building slightly impacted his ribs and his fingers punched into the roofing material to pull him upwards.
With a pull, Xander was on the roof and running again, leaping up and over TV antennas and sliding under low hanging clothes lines while dodging around pipes and chimney's that dotted the roofs.
"Well, its good practice," Xander mumbled as he made it to the edge of a cross street and sent himself, arms spinning through the air, towards the opposite side of the street.
"For if I ever visit Gotham and want to play tag with Batman." Xander finished as he hit the roof on the other side of the street and rolled from the impact before popping up off his hands back into a run that was slightly above human capabilities.
Below Xander on the street he heard the sounds of police and ambulance sirens speeding back towards the area of the attempted bombing, and Xander just shook his head at his luck.
"Sure, it's me, go figure I'd chose the one kabob restaurant that is in front of the one mosque that is targeted for a bombing today." Xander groused as he sprinted past two stunned men taking a smoke break on the roof of a government building.
Xander smirked and gave them a jaunty wave before flinging himself towards the next roof that was across a good thirty foot gap. Xander just smirked to himself as he rolled upon impact, noticing that one of the staring men behind him had lost his cigarette while staring open mouthed at Xander.
Xander's smirk turned into a grin as he just enjoyed the thrill of using his body to twist and traverse the rooftops. As the wind swept through his hair he started to really enjoy his travel across the city, forgetting the darkness that he had just dealt with back in front of the mosque.
"Woo Hoo!" Xander shouted before jumping off of the roof he was on to flip three times in the air before landing on his feet and going into a handstand roll on the south side of Ordu Street.
Xander had a big smile on his face as he saw a big gap in the buildings coming up as he just picked roofs at random while he headed in a westerly direction.
Finally Xander came to a scrabbling halt at the end of a roof that dropped off to a grassy slope that then lead to a spur of river or canal.
Xander looked around to see if he was alone. Not seeing anybody, Xander looked back to the distance he had covered and then ran his hands through his hair while walking the length of the roof of the building until he came up on the back alley of the building.
Xander took one more look around him, and then with a smirk stepped off into nothing to plummet towards the ground.
Right before he hit the ground, Xander commanded his Nth metal's gravitational negating powers to kick in, and his rapid decent slowed quickly until he lightly touched down in a casual walk that led him out of the alley and onto the sidewalk.
Whistling to himself, Xander figured he had seen enough of Istanbul. Waving a hand up in the international gesture for, "Hey Taxi! Get your ass over here!" Xander flagged down a cab while mentally querying his nano-clanks as for a geographic reference that was on the far western side of Istanbul.
As the cab pulled up, Xander slid into the back seat and took off his backpack before he said, "Take me to Faith Mountain."
The driver nodded profusely and answered in heavily accented English, "Yes, I take you." Before starting to pull away from the curb.
Xander repeated, "Faith mountain, far west side of Istanbul." Xander said, this time Xander dug in his pocket and pulled out a one hundred dollar bill in U.S. currency before sliding it up to the now wide eyed taxi driver.
The driver smiled a big white toothed smile before turning back to look at Xander, then in perfect British accented English the man stated, "Right away, just lay back and enjoy the ride."
Xander laughed and did just that, kicking back in the seat and closing his eyes for a slight nap, safe in the thought that his nano-clanks would wake him up long before anything could happen to him.
Xander opened his eyes as he felt the taxi cab come to a complete stop.
"This is your stop." The driver said with a smile, "That will be another hundred dollars." He stated with a big smile.
Xander mere gave the man a blank stare and raised an eyebrow.
Finally the driver gave a hesitant uncomfortable laugh and shrugged, "Can't blame a man for trying?"
Xander quirked a smirk before pulling another hundred dollar bill out of his pocket and handing it across to the man. "No problem, just as long as you never saw me." Xander stated, holding onto the bill and not releasing it until the driver smiled and nodded.
Xander nodded and pulled his pack with him out of the cab before closing the door.
Xander just shook his head and smiled as the cab drove off quickly. 'Cabbies, they are the same no matter where in the world you go. I bet if I was in Sunnydale they would drive a vamp to church if paid enough.' Xander thought to himself.
With that, Xander looked out at the city of Istanbul and the channel he had crossed while he cat napped. With a shrug, Xander cinched up his backpack, turned towards the mountain peaks behind him and took off in a blur towards the western mountains of Turkey.
As Xander darted across the landscape in a blur of black shirt and blue jeans he went out of his way to try and grab figs, olives, fruit, nuts or even targeted leaves off of passing trees and bushes while dodging obstructions or jumping over fences.
The first time ended up with Xander stumbling as he accidentally uprooted the tree that held the target olives, but after dropping that and continuing his run Xander got better and better at plucking just the targeted item from the tree with the proper force to not damage it.
Xander bit his cheek in concentration as he tried for another single olive from a bunch without taking the entire bunch or the branch it was attached to along for the run.
Xander smiled to himself as he looked at his hand and saw that he had grabbed just the single olive.
By this point Xander was entering the north western mountains of Turkey and was running along at a fast pace.
Wanting to entertain himself, Xander chucked the olive into the air in front of him and then increased his speed to catch the olive out of the air with his mouth.
Smirking and chewing the olive, Xander spat the seed out before looking for another olive tree along his path from which to grab the green and black produce.
Seeing a heavily laden tree in front of him, Xander changed his direction enough so that he could blur under the tree; capturing one bunch in each hand and leaving him with about eighteen or so olives to play with.
Xander's western trip through the mountains took on a more zig zag pattern as he first threw one olive forward and to the left and then sprinted to grab it with his hand, before throwing one forward and to the right to catch that one out of the air with his mouth.
This was followed by tossing one to the right and one to the left at the same time, where Xander challenged himself to be fast enough to keep track of the olives and catch both of them in his mouth before they hit the ground.
The second one bounced off his nose, but Xander was undaunted and tried again.
'Second time's a charm.' Xander thought with a smirk as he caught both olives on his next attempt while hurtling a goat that was munching on some weeds.
Next Xander tried three, then four olives at the same time, till he was on five and started to grab extra olives off of trees around him to keep the game going.
By the time Xander hit six olives going in every which direction, he was running right and left, forward and backwards, looking up to make sure he kept them in view.
Back-stepping at inhuman speeds, Xander stared straight up as he tried to maneuver underneath his last olive.
'More, more more, almost there…' Xander thought as he opened his mouth to catch the final olive, 'Got it!' Xander thought, right before he crashed headfirst backwards through some sort of structure and went rolling head over heels in a cloud of splintered wood and dust.
Xander continued to roll backwards over the hard stone ground, 'Thud, thud thump-tidy thump thump thud' until he ended up laying on his back on the hard cobble stone street staring up at the sky.
"Oow, mental note, make sure you know what's behind you when running backwards." Xander said to himself before rubbing the back of his head that had hit the ground.
Xander looked down at the cobble stone street that he was laying on while pushing himself up to his knees, all the while grumbling to himself about the aches and pains that were quickly healing, and thankful that his backpack had impacted first against the door, wall, or whatever he had run into.
So distracted was Xander, that it wasn't until he got to his knees and started to rise to his feet that he realized that he wasn't alone.
A pair of very nicely polished wingtip black and white dress shoes was standing right in front of Xander, and the shoes led to a nicely tailored if older style suit. Xander's eyes trailed up the suit, up and up until he met the dark eyes of a well groomed man with a heavily engraved and gold leafed cane.
Xander looked up into the man's eyes, and noticed that the man did not appear to be amused.
Looking quickly to the left and then to the right, Xander realized that he was in the middle of a marketplace. Only this market place had prices in a myriad of language, and all of the items were more apt to be on the shelf's of Giles's office or written about as ingredients in the magic books in the Sunnydale School library.
To Xander's left was a shop advertising magic tombs and which had several scrolls in a window advertising that they harkened back to when Atlantis was above the sea. In front of that store was a stall that was selling raven's blood, eye of newt and tongue of toad as well as other spell ingredients.
To Xander's right was a booth selling wand and stave blanks, polished wood with which to make magical foci. Besides that was a vendor stand selling drinks from a bubbling caldron. And to Xander's left and right, front and back, and all around him really where what Xander realized where probably witches and wizards, or as they were known in the DC comic book universe, Homo-Magi.
Xander stood up fully, brushed himself off and looked around at all the blankly staring people who were absolutely silent.
Xander looked around, feeling a bit uncomfortable under the weight of the stares, so in classic Xander-defuse-the-situation-humor, Xander quipped, "Hey there, did anybody get the name of the door that hit me?" He said with a patented goofy grin.
The man in front of Xander scowled.
The people around Xander scowled.
As one, wands and staffs of all sizes as well as open hands were pointed at Xander.
Xander's eyes opened wide, and as the world slowed down as spells of all shapes and sizes flew towards Xander, he thought, 'Damn-it Murphy! Curse You!'
Xander mentally commanded his nano-clank clothing to merge over his body, while at the same time he jumped straight into the air impossibly high.
Spells zipped through where he had just been, impacting against the first line of individuals who had been standing around Xander. Several were knocked down or unconscious by the spells of their fellow magical townsfolk, but the dark haired main in the nice suit weathered the storm with a flick of his finger and a magical shield that popped up around him. The multiple colors of ice, earth and tints of magic flashed against his shield and against the shields of others as they tracked the intruder to their hidden city as he landed on the roof of the building that had the magic books inside of it.
Xander landed just as his silvery material trickled over his face and turned him into a living version of what looked like the 'silver surfer.' Looking around quickly, he saw a weird distortion in the air over an archway he must have entered through, otherwise a city that looked to be floating off the ground was all that could be seen until it disappeared into some magical smoke.
A little voice in the back of Xander's brain happily quipped in an academic tone, 'Good job old chum, you've discovered the Hidden City of the Homo-Magi!' The voice sounded exactly like one of those old time British explorers in a pith helmet.
Xander, however, was not as amused.
"Damn-it, can't we all just get along?" Xander yelled, waving his hands in the air to show that he wasn't a threat.
Unfortunately waving hands is often a precursor to throwing spells if somebody was a magic user, so the already mistaken view of Xander as an invader was furthered by his actions.
Arrows of magical light and a wash of fire were his answer.
"Whoa!" Xander yelled as he dived to the left and rolled across the roof of the building to dodge the blasts.
"What is it with you people? You're just like Zatanna, blast with magic first and then ask questions later!" Xander groused loudly as he ducked, dodged, and weaved through the magic shooting at him as he danced across the rooftops of the market square.
Below Xander the dark haired man in the suit distinctly heard the words that the metallic intruder stated while simultaneously moving across the rooftops like liquid silver or even with the swiftness of the Greek God Mercury.
Glaring at the connotation of the man's words, John Zatarra raised his cane towards the roof where the man was and willed hands of stone and wood to reach out of the rooftop to grab the silver man.
Xander glared down where the hands were trying to grab him, and took a second to shatter them with a mixture of his super strength and his magic canceling Nth metal. But the brief instance of inaction caused several spells to hit Xander and slide over his metallic suit, leaving behind a tingle.
Below Xander, several of the Homo-Magi were stunned as their magic simply washed over the figure as if he wasn't even there. They were gob smacked as even the magical golem that had been created from the buildings material couldn't hold the figure. Now it was their turn to be stunned for a moment of inaction, a moment that Xander took advantage of.
Quicker than they could say "Abracadabra," Xander was off the roof and had sprinted back to where he had originally entered the hidden marketplace on the opposite side of the town square. The remnants of the shattered and formerly magically sealed gate to the hidden town of magic users still lay open, and the Turkish countryside was seen on the other side.
Xander stopped in the doorway and turned to quip back at the startled magic users, "You're town sucks, and trust me; my travel agent will be hearing about how horrible my stay was. Ciao!" Xander snarked, before waving once and then disappearing in a blur to get the hell out of Turkey before anything more could happen to him.
Behind him, Xander left a startled gossiping town and one overly protective father who was going to have words with his magical showman of a daughter.
Not terribly far away, hidden in the territory along the border between Syria and Iraq in an old palace of Arabic influences, one man fought off a horde of black clad ninjas.
The man was fluid in motion, throwing, gouging, and breaking bones as he dodged one attacker and used the number of trained assassins attacking him to his advantage. He moved with the skill and experience of ages of practice, but had the body of a young man in his late twenties or early thirties; even if he kept two bits of grey hair just above his sideburns and ears.
Ra's al Ghul finished tossing around the assassins in his employ as he fully enjoyed his workout. He knew where every attacker was as he spun like a dervish through the mass of attackers. The quiet opening of a door across the large room that contained the training sandpit drew his attention and let him know that he had other business to deal with besides playing with the young assassins.
Ra's stopped, and stood still, and like a well oiled machine every one of the previously attacking ninjas halted mid attack, stopped, bowed, and left the room.
Ra's turned to the see his daughter enter the room and walked towards her as two servants met him with a towel and a glass of water with a hint of lemon.
Nonchalantly wiping his face with the towel, he gave it back to the servant without really making note of the service that was his due, and took the glass from the second bowing servant before slowly sipping the refreshing beverage.
Talia al Ghul stopped and bowed to her father before standing and waiting to be addressed.
Ra's negligently waved her to walk with him, "What is it my daughter?" Ra's questioned as he walked through a door and into a living room of the palace where they were currently staying.
"You asked me to notify you about information on Alexander Harris, Father," Talia stated as she followed dutifully after he father.
"Ah yes, the boy from the casino. I assume you have news of some sort?" Ra's stated as he entered the living area and pulled his sweaty shirt off. Noting a slight tear in the fabric he frowned before tossing it on the ground. An unnoticed servant followed along behind them and quickly disappeared with the frayed garment, it would be properly disposed of as the Demon's head couldn't be seen to reuse soiled or torn garments.
Talia nodded slightly as she saw her father glance at her out of the corner of his eye, "Yes my father, he disarmed an attempted suicide bomber today, several hours ago, in Istanbul." Talia stated clearly.
Something about the way Talia said 'disarmed' drew his attention. Ra's asked, the question in his voice, "Disarmed?" He asked with a slight rising of his cultured eyebrow as a servant came behind him and draped a long flowing silk robe over his shoulders..
"Yes father, Alexander tore the man's arm off along with the detonation device and activation wires. He then proceeded to draw a glowing red blade of some sort from his pack and further severed the man's shoulder off. Our agents at the hospital state that the blade gave off great heat as the stump was fully cauterized around the injury point." Talia reported.
A slight smirk grew across the Demon Head's face, "Interesting. Is there anything else to report?" He questioned while walking around to a lower seated couch and reclining. A servant entered with a variety of meats, fruits and rice to eat, and set the platter down on a low table before Ra's.
Talia remained standing, "Yes Father. The bomber was hospitalized with a broken neck and fractures to both clavicle bones. Apparently Xander threw him through the front window of a police car forty feet away and used the action as a distraction to disappear. After that, Xander evaded pursuit and even your men could not track his whereabouts. Your men are getting copies of the security cameras from the mosque, but so far all that has been seen is Xander disappearing in a blur."
Ra's al Ghul's eyebrow quirked again at the use of Alexander's shortened name, Xander. Ra's smiled, "Excellent daughter. Come, sit and eat with me, tell me about this young man who has obviously caught your eye." Ra's stated.
Talia blushed ever so slightly, but regained her composure seamlessly before bowing her head slightly to her father. It wasn't often that he invited her to eat with him, and she cherished her father's attention.
The conversation over dinner was detailed, and plans for approaching Xander were laid amidst the enjoyment of the meal.
Less than a thousand miles away, Xander exited the mountains of Turkey, blurred through Armenia, and slowed down at the border to Bialya.
AN: Well, out of the frying pan and into the fire, or maybe not, or maybe. You'll just have to read along to find out. That said I'd like to jokingly paraphrase Lord Vader on the Death Star, "I find your lack of Reviews… disturbing." I say it humorously, because reviews really do inspire me to continue writing this story. The reason this chapter came out when it did was because I spent a few days sick and at home on a chat client with readers and other authors who helped bounce ideas around for me. I really appreciate that, as you have no idea how helpful it is. That said, if you like it, have ideas or even just crazy thoughts you need to get out of your head, please let me know in a private message or review. I don't really care about my review count all that much, but your statements of joy at my chapter keep me interested in writing this. If you don't leave a review or some sort of message saying, 'eh, its horse dung but I read it,' or 'I love you michaelsuave, I want to have your baby' then for all I know the hits to my story are just google and yahoo bots pinging it to keep up to date for their search engines. Shrug* it's up to you. Hope you enjoyed it, think I'm going to take a break from this and work on my other stories for a bit.