The Solution is Actually a Crystalline Solid

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Iron Man Crossover (Self-Made Hero)
Summary: Xander finds a fix for his power problem.
Word Count: 515
Rating: Gen

          His eyes narrow instinctively on seeing the rock.  He’s generally just browsing.  It never hurts to get more of his magic on, and even most of the Tonys in his head actually agree by now.  It’s not being in control that freaks them out, and understanding what he’s doing and that magic follows predictable, science-like laws does wonders for Stark-related freakouts. 
          He actually physically backpedals, pulling the sunglasses down his nose as he stares.  Anya would probably have an inappropriate and amusing remark if she’d been paying attention, but she’s too busy ogling all the money.  (There’s an issue that while they both enjoy the banter especially trading the innuendoes, he has the feeling she’s more interested in his money or the possibility of money than in him, which is an issue that he’s dealt with so often in his lives, but it’s a problem for another day.  Especially alongside this beauty.)  Everyone’s bypassing it during the sale—probably don’t actually know its real value; it’s unpolished and imperfect…but that’s power.  Real power.  He hasn’t confirmed exactly what it is—that would require some sort of spell or scan, and he doesn’t have the tech for it here and doesn’t plan to just cast spells willy-nilly in the middle of the shop given that less than half of the people probably even believe, really believe, in that stuff.  It’s actually a little more surprising Giles hadn’t noticed, but he’s not about to bring it up since he suspects he wouldn’t get a sale if he did.
          The arc reactor and armor had stopped working after the change back, even if his brain hadn’t…but with a little more open worldview, he’d also managed to go even further.  When he finally makes the suit, he’ll need it to be a stealth suit.  People would probably notice an Iron Man suit wandering around, and he doesn’t want to put anyone in danger by revealing their secret (that makes such a change, mostly because parts of him understand what that means, now) or come to the attention of the government.  Xander’s used to being quiet when he’s not shooting his mouth off, oddly humble, because he knows what it means when he draws attention.  Most Tonys are used to everything being a production, for the same reason.  He’s already managed to make a general rune of protection suit of magic energy, but he’d really feel more comfortable with both magic and tech at his back.
          This might just do it.  Yeah, it’ll involve powering his suit with magic, not energy, but it’ll solve the energy problem in the first place, since he’s got dozens of failed arc reactors sitting in his workshop and doesn’t particularly want to steal a nuke (it’s already a shock he hadn’t gotten on someone’s radar by stealing that rocket launcher, to be honest).
          Instantly his head is full of designs.  He nearly starts drawing them here, using magic to draw the schematics, but he knows it’s a stupid idea.
          Hello, secret identity, anyone?  He knows better than to take superspy lessons from Buffy.