"I hate traffic." Cordelia swore as they passed the Welcome to Sunnydale sign. "L.A. traffic is bad enough, but the highway was clogged. I was hoping we would get here before sunset and now it's after dark."
"You don't have to worry." Tony said as he drove and followed the directions Cordelia gave him to Xander's apartment. "See my bracelets." He held up one of his hands. "The latest incarnation of my suit will respond to a call from the bracelets. It can travel at nearly mach three, so it could be here in a matter of minutes. And I've dealt with vampires before. I had no idea that there was a town infested with them, but apparently New York has a lot of a different breed of them and Blade and his associates are kept busy dealing with them."
"Blade?" Cordelia asked.
"Half non demon breed type of vampire. His mother was pregnant with him when she was sired. From what I understand 99% of such instances the baby doesn't survive. Blade needed blood to survive, but tried not to kill to get it. He doesn't have the blood lust demon breeds do. One of his associates developed a serum that he can use instead because he doesn't want to be drinking blood."
"I don't blame him. Anyway, we have a lot of demon breed vampires around here, especially in Sunnydale, because of the Hellmouth. Its energy draws them and sort of makes them stronger, I guess. We have a lot in Los Angeles too. Big population and they can get overlooked in it."
"The Hellmouth is this dimensional portal Reed's investigating, right?"
"Yes. Should they have asked you to investigate it?"
"No, definitely not. Reed's a polymath, he knows a wide variety of sciences. I'm an engineer, I understand the science behind a lot of different things, but Reed's the one who can figure that thing out and I'm the one who could build something to actually deal with it."
"Xander told me that Dr. Richards determined that overwhelming it with energy might shut it down. Xander says that means blowing it up."
"Pretty much." Tony agreed, as he pulled up to Xander's building and parked.
Cordelia used her key and found Xander sitting at his kitchen table cleaning an ax.
"You can make and throw fireballs at vampires and you still use your ax?" She asked him.
He looked up and grinned. He'd known someone was at the door and even known that there three people at the door. Logan had been teaching him to use his senses - which like the bone claws - were inherited from him. He'd known it was Cordelia when she'd used her key. She was the only other person with a key presently. Anya having given hers back months ago, before he and Cordelia had reconciled.
"Cleaned a nest of demons out, along with Logan and Faith. Blunt force still works better with them. Logan's adamantium claws work great on them too. What brings you to Sunnydale?" He gaze moved passed her and lighted on the two people with her and he understood. 'Oh boy, please don't let Iron Man kill me!' Was his first thought, as he realized Cordelia's genetic, one of them, fathers was standing behind her.
Tony noted the flash of fear? On the young man's face. 'Well, what you do know, something else Pepper was right about. He's scared of me. He fights vampires and demons and he's afraid of me! This is going to be fun!'
"Mr. Stark. Nice to meet you." Xander stood up and motioned them in. "Can I get you something to eat or drink? I've got pop or juice."
"Scotch, neat." Tony told him.
"I don't have any alcohol in my place, sir. Aside from an occasional beer, I don't drink. Pop or juice is about all I can offer you."
"Alright, I've been cutting way back anyway. A pop is fine." Tony noted the sir and realized it was said in an automatic, not suck up manner. "Sir?" He asked.
"I've been possessed twice, sir. Once by a soldier, kinda, it may actually have just been a version of myself. I retained a great deal of military knowledge, which I intended to use by joining the Army. A plan that was derailed by Willow removing the knowledge from me because the Army would have discovered that I was a mutant and she was trying to hide that from everyone, including myself. Professor Xavier helped me recover it a couple of months ago."
"I understand you're related to Logan or Wolverine as he's known."
"Yes, sir. He's been teaching me how to use the abilities I inherited from him. Jean, one of my genetic mothers, has been teaching me to control my telepathy. I accidentally read Angel's mind and I never want to see someone thoughts like that again. Not unless I have permission and a damn good reason, I mean."
"Good, are you as strong as Jean?"
"No, they don't think I'll ever be anywhere near that strong. I'll learn to control what I have. I much prefer what I inherited from Logan or Rusty Collins, my other genetic father. Unfortunately, I won't get to know him because he's dead, but the fire power I inherited from him is amazing and very useful when dealing with vampires."
"I imagine it is. But if you've got all that military knowledge back, why aren't you using it?"
"Knowledge is one thing, experience is another. Logan's teaching me to understand and use it. He has served in the Army, the Canadian Army, anyway, both in WWI and WWII. And I did use it twice before Willow removed it, to deal with two Big Bads that we were dealing with. An apocalypse demon that could burn the humanity out of humans and the Mayor of Sunnydale when he turned into a sixty foot snake that could swallow people whole."
"Impressive, how did you deal with them?"
"Rocket launcher for the demon and bomb for the Mayor-snake.
"How did you get your hands on a rocket launcher?!"
"Cordelia and I stole it from the National Guard Base outside Sunnydale."
A statement that had both Tony and Pepper staring at the young couple.