The rest of their freshman year passed fairly uneventfully. Vampires were dusted and hostile demons killed. Willow announced she was dating a girl she met, Tara McClay. Oz came back for a visit and to tell everyone he had found a way to suppress the wolf. Fortunately, for his piece of mind, Xander ran into him first and gently told him, Willow had met someone new. He was able to control himself when Willow introduced him to Tara. He wished them well and left town. Though the Scoobies never saw him again, he did periodically call to check in and let them know he was still alive.
The Engineers working on the collection device, after thoroughly documenting the placement of each piece of the device, both with cameras and drawings, began reassembling it. Xander was allowed to observe.
"It's like a giant jigsaw puzzle in 3D." He commented, to Max, the leader of the team.
"Yes, it really is. How it works is up to the scientists to figure out. Making sure it can work is our job. You really do seem to be interested in this."
"I like working with my hands and l like figuring things out. I've worked at a contracting supply store for the last three summers. I helped assemble display products. I got pretty good at it. It just never occured to me before all this, to see if I could make a career out of it. Now that it has occured to me, I'm finding all of this very interesting. Watching you guys put it together, makes me want to try to build things too."
"Then maybe you should. The classes you need to take to get a mechanical engineering job require you to design and build your own projects. You could start by looking around and seeing where there might be a need for something and then figure out a way to fullfil that need. From there, you figure out how to make it and what you need to make it. One step at a time. Engineers are methodical people, we have to be. One wrong move and you've assembled something wrong and that can cause all kinds of problems. Take the time you need to get it down solid. That's why we're doing this several times. The repetitiveness might seem unnecessary, but we often have to make repairs with very little time to spare. Having every step firmly imbedded in our minds means it goes faster."
Xander took his advice to heart and since Slayage was where there definitely was a need, he began considering several different ways to make it easier. Finally he settled on designing and building a portable air powered stake launcher. Fiberglass was lighter then wood or metal and could be shaped. Making it so he could wear the air canister on his back, meant using supports to hold it in place. Using a rifle as the inspiration to hold and shoot the stakes out of, meant cutting it down and seeing how it worked and then figuring out how to make and attach his own version of it to the air canister. Finally, he had a finished product and he decided to test it. He went looking for vampires. He found a fledge and shot it. His little back pack air canister could only propel the stake between 75 and 100 yards, but that was still a considerable distance. And it worked. Provided he shot them from behind. If they saw him coming, they could dodge or catch it. But still, he could dust two out of three vampires he ran across from a distance. It was a start. He decided to show his design off to the others. The reactions were mixed.
"I don't know, Xander. What's the point?" Buffy asked.
"Buffy, this is how human vampire hunter even the playing field. Giles' books all say, the most successful human vampire hunters were innovators. That or they simply overwhelmed the vampire with numbers. The best way is always for a hunter to dust a vampire from a distance, because it carries less risk and potential injury. My superpowers are passive. I can't shoot fire out of my hands like Amy can. I don't have super strength like you and Faith. But I do have a brain and a willingness to figure out other ways of doing it. Safer ways. I've tested it repeatedly, it works. I can dust a vampire from between 75 and 100 yards. As long as their backs are to me or I'm camouflaged. If they see me coming, they catch the stake or dodge it. But between my ability to camouflage myself and this, I can improve my odds of dusting a vampire, without risking injury. Just because I heal faster now, doesn't mean I want to be reckless. I want to live to rock in a rocking chair on a porch next to Cordy, watching our grandkids play. To do that, I have to come up with other ways to help us survive this town or figure out how to permanently close the Hellmouth or destroy all vampires. I can make more, for those who want to try using it."
Amy and Cordelia did. Willow had no interest in it if Buffy didn't and Buffy definitely didn't. She thought it was ridiculous. Faith preferred to fight up close and personal and having a teammate that could heal her injuries meant even less incentive to try it. Giles was intrigued and congratulated Xander after seeing it in action. Although, since he rarely actually went hunting with them, he declined one. Amy and Cordelia found that they worked well and that Xander was right, hitting vampires from behind worked better. He figured out another way to help as well by having the team wear ultraviolet head lamps. They didn't dust the vampires, not being strong enough, but they did burn them, which helped buy time to stake them.
Soon their freshman year ended and then so did summer and before they knew it, a new school year was starting. The engineers took the collection device and left with it. Amanda arranged to come back once a month to get more info dumps from the repository.
The Scooby Gang was grateful they'd escape an apocalypse for once and wondered what the new year would bring. They should have remembered that Murphy loves a challenge.