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madimpossibledreamerI didn't think that the hiatus would last this long, but prewritten seems to be what I can do right now. Sorry guys!
~Dreamer~
Main Points:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Iron Man Crossover (Self-Made Hero)
Summary: Xander finally gets a suit of his own.
Word Count: 510
Rating: Gen
~Dreamer~
Main Points:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Iron Man Crossover (Self-Made Hero)
Summary: Xander finally gets a suit of his own.
Word Count: 510
Rating: Gen
Xander sips the tea and watches the suit come into being. The process is automated not so much by a horde of robots, because even with the few inventions he’s traded away over the years he doesn’t have the money or equipment, especially not when he has to use the metal or circuits for toys for himself or his friends rather than making moolah, but by magic. It was a more…intelligent sort of spell. He gave it the sense of where each piece was to go and then let it complete assembly on its own.
The tea’s an acquired taste. It helps when he doesn’t trust himself with more caffeine (thus no coffee because decaf’s just nasty), and with extra clotted cream or just plain cream with a good helping of sugar it’s not too bad.
The process definitely cool. No arguments about that. He can’t stop grinning.
“Uhm, Xander, is it a bad time?”
Willow. At least she’s sounding more aware of feelings and such than previously, so hey, he’s not complaining.
“If you wanna go anywhere pronto, yeah, it’s a bad time.” He gestures toward where the stairs would be and doesn’t even look to see the magic platform appear. He’s done the elevator thing enough he could probably cast it in his sleep if he wanted. “Otherwise you can join me watching my baby come to life.”
“Your…baby?” She sounds kind of creeped out which honestly is probably a sensible reaction. And then her red hair drifts into view in the corner of his eyes, and he grins into his mug. “Oh!”
She jumps rather than waiting for the platform to reach the top, running over to where he is and staring, unabashed. “That looks so cool!”
His grin grows wider. His cheeks are starting to hurt, but it’s a price well worth paying. “It does, doesn’t it.” He takes another sip as if he isn’t extremely proud and itching to babble. Then he sets it down and loses all pretense.
Willow looks bemused for a little, and doesn’t understand all of the technological and scientific and magical words, but she makes a try and actually gets most of the important ones. She’s not an idiot, after all, and it’s a shock to run into someone who can match his intellect.
Careful with that ego, Mr. Stark, it’s going to hurt when that deflates.
He gets through all of the babble and then goes into the less technical bits of the tour. “Okay, so the suit is clearly equipped with a stealth feature. It’s a little more magic than science, since Stark never found much motivation to work on that much. I, on the other hand, not only have to protect my own secret identity but those of my fellow teammates.”
He winks at her, and she rolls her eyes. “Ladykiller you’re not.”
“Thanks, Wils, love you too,” he responds, completely undeterred. “There’s a very techie and very present-day vocal synthesizer to alter my voice, again for protection of the identity of secret. The suit’s got two layers of protection, well, three if you count the runes. There’s one layer of magic that goes just above the skin, like spandex, but stronger, obviously. I like to call it the ‘Exoskel’. It works off intent; if you’re trying to cause harm then it acts as a magical shield. It also makes you harder, better, faster, stronger, and I know ‘cause you can wear it by itself and that’s what I’ve been using in the field before going full Iron Man. Then there are runes I painstakingly inscribed on every single piece of armor. Then, there’s the armor itself, which is made of a super strong alloy that ain’t any of the comic book ones because I couldn’t get that to work.”
She nods. “Okay, it’s protective, it’s invisible, what else does it do?”
“Oh, ye jaded one, feast your eyes on this.” He holds out a hand and concentrates, mumbling the spell under his breath, and the central power crystal glows.
She actually does gasp. “Is that…”
“A Cedrian crystal?” he finishes, picking up the mug and sipping from it.
And now the tea’s cold. Bleh. But at least it’s a source of sugar, and he can look cool doing it, which is why he purposefully doesn’t spit it out. “Yep, spotted it during the big Magic Box sale and snapped it up. Solved my power problems.”
“For a thousand years.” She’s still staring at it in awe. With grabby fingers.
“You’re not taking the crystal.” He pauses a moment, then sighs. “It was raw so I did have to cut it, using some pretty advanced techie techniques, I might add. If you want the shavings or whatever they call them you can have them.”
She looks greedy, and has this out of control look in her eyes, and he really probably should not be encouraging this but it’s too late now. “Anyway, with this the true issue isn’t the power. It’s channeling the power where it needs to go. The connections aren’t exactly built to tap into it. I mean…they are, they totally are, that’s why I built them, it’s just that compatibility is an issue that I’ve only sort of solved. I’m working on it. Basically, I can only pull on a certain amount of the energy within a given time, though if I absolutely need to I can channel into the crystal and feed that into my suit. Physical ‘wires’, also known as the human component, work better because that’s how Cedrian crystals and magic traditionally work, but it’s also not feasible channeling the kind of power for my suit to work the whole time. And I don’t want to deal with all the ‘overuse of magic’ side effects. The connections are probably the first thing I’ll look into upgrading. Fortunately, it’s not me casting the spells all the time, just serving as a peripheral conduit, so it won’t be as dangerous for me to use the suit so much.”
She frowns. “Okay, I’ve got some ideas but I’m not sure. I might have something for you.” Of course, she’s been studying magic a lot too. “For example, ley lines are places of natural magic energy flow, right? So how do they work?” Unfortunately, she’s ignoring the subtle (or maybe not so subtle) hint about overuse of magic, but hey, he can keep trying.
“You’ve been promoted to Tech Advisor, congrats. It’s a lucrative position many would kill for.” Those are really cool ideas, but he has to do some field testing first. “We’ll have a discussion on that later.”
“Okay, weapons.” She nearly grabs the clipboard from the table and starts taking notes. And, hey, if she’s helping him research she’s not playing with magic she shouldn’t be, so double win.
“The equivalent of Repulsors are magic energy beams. I forget what spellbook I found it in but it’s pretty useful. In other words, I’ve been using the non-concentrated form of the spell without any armor and it works well. The armor just funnels it into a stronger beam. Theoretically. I’ve also got telekinesis—useful in case Repulsors fail or for more complicated manipulations. And flight—yet another redundant system, but hey, the Repulsors are the mainstay. Just so useful. Illusion, too, though that’s pretty experimental given that I haven’t tried channeling it through the tech yet. It’s actually what I’m going for in experimental data first, since I’m going to need it for the stealth. Stealth is key. Lightning bolts, for when I want to get my Thor on. Fire and light, ‘cause those are always useful.” He smiles. “I’ve got your average science tracking systems, meaning Stark tech. Communications, including jamming stuff in case I need to make with the disappearing. I’ve got White Star as the friendly onboard AI. I’ve got a ton of awesome computer toys, including a lot of random apps I downloaded. Including GPS. I’ve got magic tracking, too, which is particularly neat and I can’t wait to try it out. And demonic tracking.”
She’s grinning, but he doesn’t like the look in her eyes. “Xander, this looks really cool.”
“I’m not letting anyone else take a test drive until I know it works. I might build another one for you, but that’ll take a while. Figuring out how to use a suit ain’t easy, either." He shrugs modestly. “I’ll just make it look easy ‘cause I’ve had practice. Muscle memory, really, but still.”
She frowns, and he feels something dark float through her mind. He’d been in his lab too much recently. He hadn’t realized how bad it’d gotten. Still, it’s gone before she acts on it. Which is something. “Well, I definitely want to watch. Test, test, test.”
“Oh, yeah, says the woman who’s unhealthily obsessed with school.” The slap on the back is a little low, but he ignores that. Magic is a pretty good aphrodisiac. Remind him to talk to Tara, who might be able to do something.
The suit’s taking form. Silver and purple with a few tasteful hints of blue, like the White Star itself. And it’s a work of art.
“Fine, fine, product demonstration coming up. Hope you love a show, ‘cause Daddy’s gonna deliver.” He makes a face. “Remind me not to say that again, it’s creepy.” White Star murmurs an affirmative, but Willow’s louder. At least she’s reacting to that. At least she’s reacting to something. And he walks down and holds out his arms, and the armor comes around him like it’s caressing him. Like it’s saying ‘welcome home’.
And he grins and starts putting it through its paces. There are no fireworks. No light show. But he can play with the repulsors and fly around and look cool when doing it, so that’s what he’s going to do, to Willow’s applause.
The tea’s an acquired taste. It helps when he doesn’t trust himself with more caffeine (thus no coffee because decaf’s just nasty), and with extra clotted cream or just plain cream with a good helping of sugar it’s not too bad.
The process definitely cool. No arguments about that. He can’t stop grinning.
“Uhm, Xander, is it a bad time?”
Willow. At least she’s sounding more aware of feelings and such than previously, so hey, he’s not complaining.
“If you wanna go anywhere pronto, yeah, it’s a bad time.” He gestures toward where the stairs would be and doesn’t even look to see the magic platform appear. He’s done the elevator thing enough he could probably cast it in his sleep if he wanted. “Otherwise you can join me watching my baby come to life.”
“Your…baby?” She sounds kind of creeped out which honestly is probably a sensible reaction. And then her red hair drifts into view in the corner of his eyes, and he grins into his mug. “Oh!”
She jumps rather than waiting for the platform to reach the top, running over to where he is and staring, unabashed. “That looks so cool!”
His grin grows wider. His cheeks are starting to hurt, but it’s a price well worth paying. “It does, doesn’t it.” He takes another sip as if he isn’t extremely proud and itching to babble. Then he sets it down and loses all pretense.
Willow looks bemused for a little, and doesn’t understand all of the technological and scientific and magical words, but she makes a try and actually gets most of the important ones. She’s not an idiot, after all, and it’s a shock to run into someone who can match his intellect.
Careful with that ego, Mr. Stark, it’s going to hurt when that deflates.
He gets through all of the babble and then goes into the less technical bits of the tour. “Okay, so the suit is clearly equipped with a stealth feature. It’s a little more magic than science, since Stark never found much motivation to work on that much. I, on the other hand, not only have to protect my own secret identity but those of my fellow teammates.”
He winks at her, and she rolls her eyes. “Ladykiller you’re not.”
“Thanks, Wils, love you too,” he responds, completely undeterred. “There’s a very techie and very present-day vocal synthesizer to alter my voice, again for protection of the identity of secret. The suit’s got two layers of protection, well, three if you count the runes. There’s one layer of magic that goes just above the skin, like spandex, but stronger, obviously. I like to call it the ‘Exoskel’. It works off intent; if you’re trying to cause harm then it acts as a magical shield. It also makes you harder, better, faster, stronger, and I know ‘cause you can wear it by itself and that’s what I’ve been using in the field before going full Iron Man. Then there are runes I painstakingly inscribed on every single piece of armor. Then, there’s the armor itself, which is made of a super strong alloy that ain’t any of the comic book ones because I couldn’t get that to work.”
She nods. “Okay, it’s protective, it’s invisible, what else does it do?”
“Oh, ye jaded one, feast your eyes on this.” He holds out a hand and concentrates, mumbling the spell under his breath, and the central power crystal glows.
She actually does gasp. “Is that…”
“A Cedrian crystal?” he finishes, picking up the mug and sipping from it.
And now the tea’s cold. Bleh. But at least it’s a source of sugar, and he can look cool doing it, which is why he purposefully doesn’t spit it out. “Yep, spotted it during the big Magic Box sale and snapped it up. Solved my power problems.”
“For a thousand years.” She’s still staring at it in awe. With grabby fingers.
“You’re not taking the crystal.” He pauses a moment, then sighs. “It was raw so I did have to cut it, using some pretty advanced techie techniques, I might add. If you want the shavings or whatever they call them you can have them.”
She looks greedy, and has this out of control look in her eyes, and he really probably should not be encouraging this but it’s too late now. “Anyway, with this the true issue isn’t the power. It’s channeling the power where it needs to go. The connections aren’t exactly built to tap into it. I mean…they are, they totally are, that’s why I built them, it’s just that compatibility is an issue that I’ve only sort of solved. I’m working on it. Basically, I can only pull on a certain amount of the energy within a given time, though if I absolutely need to I can channel into the crystal and feed that into my suit. Physical ‘wires’, also known as the human component, work better because that’s how Cedrian crystals and magic traditionally work, but it’s also not feasible channeling the kind of power for my suit to work the whole time. And I don’t want to deal with all the ‘overuse of magic’ side effects. The connections are probably the first thing I’ll look into upgrading. Fortunately, it’s not me casting the spells all the time, just serving as a peripheral conduit, so it won’t be as dangerous for me to use the suit so much.”
She frowns. “Okay, I’ve got some ideas but I’m not sure. I might have something for you.” Of course, she’s been studying magic a lot too. “For example, ley lines are places of natural magic energy flow, right? So how do they work?” Unfortunately, she’s ignoring the subtle (or maybe not so subtle) hint about overuse of magic, but hey, he can keep trying.
“You’ve been promoted to Tech Advisor, congrats. It’s a lucrative position many would kill for.” Those are really cool ideas, but he has to do some field testing first. “We’ll have a discussion on that later.”
“Okay, weapons.” She nearly grabs the clipboard from the table and starts taking notes. And, hey, if she’s helping him research she’s not playing with magic she shouldn’t be, so double win.
“The equivalent of Repulsors are magic energy beams. I forget what spellbook I found it in but it’s pretty useful. In other words, I’ve been using the non-concentrated form of the spell without any armor and it works well. The armor just funnels it into a stronger beam. Theoretically. I’ve also got telekinesis—useful in case Repulsors fail or for more complicated manipulations. And flight—yet another redundant system, but hey, the Repulsors are the mainstay. Just so useful. Illusion, too, though that’s pretty experimental given that I haven’t tried channeling it through the tech yet. It’s actually what I’m going for in experimental data first, since I’m going to need it for the stealth. Stealth is key. Lightning bolts, for when I want to get my Thor on. Fire and light, ‘cause those are always useful.” He smiles. “I’ve got your average science tracking systems, meaning Stark tech. Communications, including jamming stuff in case I need to make with the disappearing. I’ve got White Star as the friendly onboard AI. I’ve got a ton of awesome computer toys, including a lot of random apps I downloaded. Including GPS. I’ve got magic tracking, too, which is particularly neat and I can’t wait to try it out. And demonic tracking.”
She’s grinning, but he doesn’t like the look in her eyes. “Xander, this looks really cool.”
“I’m not letting anyone else take a test drive until I know it works. I might build another one for you, but that’ll take a while. Figuring out how to use a suit ain’t easy, either." He shrugs modestly. “I’ll just make it look easy ‘cause I’ve had practice. Muscle memory, really, but still.”
She frowns, and he feels something dark float through her mind. He’d been in his lab too much recently. He hadn’t realized how bad it’d gotten. Still, it’s gone before she acts on it. Which is something. “Well, I definitely want to watch. Test, test, test.”
“Oh, yeah, says the woman who’s unhealthily obsessed with school.” The slap on the back is a little low, but he ignores that. Magic is a pretty good aphrodisiac. Remind him to talk to Tara, who might be able to do something.
The suit’s taking form. Silver and purple with a few tasteful hints of blue, like the White Star itself. And it’s a work of art.
“Fine, fine, product demonstration coming up. Hope you love a show, ‘cause Daddy’s gonna deliver.” He makes a face. “Remind me not to say that again, it’s creepy.” White Star murmurs an affirmative, but Willow’s louder. At least she’s reacting to that. At least she’s reacting to something. And he walks down and holds out his arms, and the armor comes around him like it’s caressing him. Like it’s saying ‘welcome home’.
And he grins and starts putting it through its paces. There are no fireworks. No light show. But he can play with the repulsors and fly around and look cool when doing it, so that’s what he’s going to do, to Willow’s applause.
