The Knight

[madimpossibledreamer]

I had this concept and I felt all nice and original.  And then I read Extremis.
...Soooo, yeah, it's not original, but whatever, I'm still gonna run with it.  If you haven't read it, I recommend it.
~Dreamer~

Main Points:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Marvel Crossover AU (Self-Made Hero: The Infinity Mirror)
Summary: Giles finds the third of his recruits.
Word Count: 700
Rating: Gen

         Alexander Jessie Knight is dying.
         At any other time, the media would be having a field day.  Because Knight is news.  Because he just quietly burst onto the scene, to the point he makes Athena jokes.  And once he was there, well.
         The world apparently can’t get enough.  They just love the schizophrenic nature he has behind the camera, the fact that sometimes you might get Xander, joking and flirty but quiet and respectful and humble, and sometimes you might get Tony (not that the world understands that) who loves the camera and shows off and does all the stunts that people read tabloids for.  Everyone always wants the newest Knight tech.  The stock shares only continue to grow in value.  He wins so many awards, is the focus of so many articles.  Knight Innovations was declared one of the best places to work worldwide in all years since its creation.  He and Kris were declared one of greatest Power Couples of the Age.
         Admittedly, it’s probably an unhealthy obsession for Andrew to be reading every single thing and have his picture of Xander shirtless on his wall but he’s pretty sure Xander knows and hasn’t yelled at him yet, so he figures that’s permission.
         Point is, usually, the world would care.  Especially since happens to be at the same time that Miss Chase has died.
         But the thing is, Miss Chase has died.  Everyone’s dying.  It’s the end of the world, and Andrew knows enough magic to know that they don’t have much chance.
         But he’s selfish, and he’s pretty certain he loves Xander, and if anyone can engineer their way out of this situation, it’s Xander, so he’s putting all his hopes with Xander.
         They’d been working on nanotech.  It’s not completed yet.  May have side effects or even kill Xander.  But given the choices, it’s a chance of death, which is better than the certainty of death.
         It had happened months ago.  Xander had gotten wounded by a demon lord.  It hadn’t mattered, not right away.  It became obvious about a week ago that there was poison or a curse or something slowly eating away at Xander’s brain.  At least, it had been slow, but something seemed to trigger it.  The first clue was his boss collapsing in the middle of the building, hands to his head, but Knight was prone to migraines, so it hadn’t been as worrying as it should’ve been.  Since then, his condition had deteriorated significantly, to the point he was now in a coma.
         “Sorry about this,” he says, and then injects the nanites into Xander’s blood, and given the sudden screaming and twisting it hurts, but Andrew can’t bring himself to feel guilty.
         And then the proximity alarms go off.
         “Star?” he asks cautiously, having never given the same protocols as, for example, Kris.
         Instantly the AI answers, worried.  “Yes, Mr. Wells.”
         “You should probably suit him up.  I’ll go deal with the visitors.”
         He’s sure she notices his voice shake.  She’s an AI with the ability to analyze every single tremor.  She doesn’t call him on it.  “I’ll get Ranger One ready for a house party.”
         When the world explodes like a supernova and then collapses down into the dark, Xander’s still unconscious.  He only wakes later, with Willow kneeling above him.  “This isn’t your world,” she explains before he can even say anything, and he just smiles vacantly at her and yawns.
         “Uhm.  Okay.”
         “Welcome back,” Oz says quietly, and he nods back, super happy.  He really hadn’t been kidding about stealing the werewolf, minus the fact that he’d at the very least respect relationships and wouldn’t have dared.
         “The multiverse is in danger,” Giles says somewhat distantly as he walks into the room.  “I’m gathering a team to help save it.”
         And that’s just begging for a specific response.  Unfortunately, he has no cigars handy, but he can at least say the requisite line.  “I love it when a plan comes together.”
         That gets a mad grin from Willow and amused eyes from Oz, and it’s almost enough to distract him from the fact that he’s hearing Star’s explanation of his world ending without him in his head.