Knight Innovations

[madimpossibledreamer]

And now you're meeting this universe's version of Happy.
~Dreamer~

Main Points:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Iron Man Crossover
Summary: Knight Innovations puts out its first hiring call.
Word Count: 1878
Rating: Teen
Notes: His people are vaguely Japanese/Asian, so Megam is the Goddess, the form the universe takes when it feels like interacting with individual elements within itself.  Teicho is vaguely ‘appearance of a beginning’.  Kamin is, well, the realm of the Kami.  As for his name…I have no idea.  Maybe it’s due to invaders or contrasting cultures? Apparently Nako is a girls’ name that means south child, but I don’t know.

 

           Nakol’s intrigued, and by the turnout, he’s not the only one.
           Whoever had been doing the advertising knew what they were doing.  For the most part, the various residents of Sunnydale didn’t really think much about their town.  No pride, no…real anything, actually.  It’s just the place they live.
           Somehow (maybe magic, rumor was the guy or girl or variation thereof setting this stuff up had magic), the corporation hiring was only doing so in Sunnydale, and was being set up by a Sunnydale native.  Nakol had been thinking about moving to LA—he’d probably get more work, as a cab driver—but he’d hung around for a reason he couldn’t explain.
           The news that the Slayer had moved to the town had nearly driven away any of the honest demons just trying to make a living, until the rumor spread that this new Slayer didn’t target demons as long as they didn’t hurt humans or threaten the world.  More and more supporting evidence had emerged, both about the Slayer and about her friends (yet another sign this one was different than the others).
           And then the call had come out.  Humans and demons alike were invited to come and work as long as they could get along and not hurt each other or the world.  The announcement at Willy’s Place had been less than convincing, mostly because while Willy was a source of a large quantity of information, the quality of said information was, more often, in question.
           But then Clem had been talking about it, and that made it just a little bit more realistic.  Apparently he knew the guy, even played a few games of kitten poker with him, so he had to be at the very least a somewhat decent human.
           He’s not one hundred percent certain how the humans had heard the call to recruit, though he suspected it had something to do with the Sunnydale Herald and word of mouth.
           He took the chance and showed up at the warehouse, and now he’s waiting with a bunch of others who are starting to get antsy.  Is it a trap?
           Someone claps, making everyone jump.  “Wow, hey, did I say ‘free food’ or what?  I never see this many people show up to one of my shindigs.”  The one who strolls into their middle…
           It’s hard to tell, given that humans age so slowly to begin with and then it seems like the process speeds up, but he’s pretty sure this is a young human.  He’s in a sharp suit, well-fitted, and despite the fact that it’s dusk he’s wearing sunglasses.  He’s also not wearing dress shoes, but more comfortable ones.  He hasn’t been among humans long enough to identify the precise terminology.
           “We’ll get to the whole hiring process in a minute, but please, if I could have your attention and a little bit of help.  Anyone with the strength to do so, we’ve got a lot of supplies to move in, so—yes, thanks, that kind of enthusiasm is exactly what we’re going for.”  He grins, charming and bemused, at the female empath demon runs up and trips at his feet.  He holds out a hand to help her up, and she takes it.  “Though I’d advise being more careful next time.  Trust me, from experience.  That kind of enthusiasm?  Hurts.”
           She giggles sheepishly, and he holds up his hands.
           “Also, to speak to the rumor, yes, the Slayer is an employee here at Knight Innovations.  If you can’t handle that, best to walk away now.”  A few do.  He rocks on his heels like he has trouble sitting still, but he’s not impatient or put out.  “Okay, follow me to the truck, those of you who can do heavy lifting, and once that’s out of the way the hiring process will be underway.”
           Nakol shrugs and follows.  He’s not the strongest one, but he can at least help out.  As he grabs one of the boxes from the delivery truck, he marvels at all these different species working together with no argument and the charisma and lack of fear from the kid directing them all like he’s one of those human…what’s it called, conductors of a band.
           “You’ll all get money just for showing up.  Or, you know, payment of your choice, within reason.  We’re converting this to a workplace-slash-office at which a good portion of you may be working, so if you want you can go through all of those and look for furniture.  I’ll warn you they’re spelled so I wouldn’t advise walking off with anything, in the interest of fair play.  Though if you feel lucky, punk, then go right ahead.  I’m not going to stop you.”  He smiles.  It’s probably some sort of human joke.  He glances around the area, and Nakol gets the feeling that behind the sunglasses he’s missing nothing.
           “So, to confirm, nobody left is unwilling to work with the Slayer?” he asks again, and there’s a few shakes of the head and some confused looks from the humans.
           “Right, okay, so she’s going to help us do interviews as well as some others of my friends, because that’s the big problem at Knight right now.  Staffing.  From the outset I wanted my baby to be inclusive.  That’s you lot here now.  If you’re not willing to have her do the interview, you can request someone else.  There’s me, Willow,” he waves, and a redhead pushes through and waves shyly, “…Giles.”
           “It’s nice to meet you all,” an older human greets them with some sort of accent Nakol can’t place.
           “Tara.”  A woman waves from behind the other one.
           “Anya, who some of you might know better as Anyanka.”  Nakol raises his eyebrow.  He’d heard one of the vengeance demons had been living as a human, but he didn’t expect to see her here.  There’s a murmur, and a few cheers, and she—or at least, her human visage—grins.
           “Spike and Dawn.”  The two wave.  Well, actually, Spike uses a gesture that is probably derogatory in human terms, given that the even younger female hits him to keep him in line.  “They’re working as a team.  And that’s all of us, most of whom aren’t actually employees, but they’re doing this as a favor.  I promise we’ll get more professional as we go, but that’s where all of you come in.”  He grins.  “We’ll do this in different rooms, or as close to different groups as we can get.  Any of you who’ve got business soon or a job or school tomorrow or anything else that’s important time-wise should go first or very close to first.  We’ll take groups of five for the initial interviews.  If you have to come back later because you run out of time or need sleep or whatever, that’s okay, we’re always hiring.”
           The different interviewers split up to different rooms, as best they can.  There aren’t a lot of actual rooms, so Nakol eyes the area again.  The easiest would probably be to add steel beams and glass partitions, but given that it’s Sunnydale that’s probably too fragile.  Still, he’ll bring it up when he gets his turn.  He notices that the man hadn’t introduced himself.  He suspects it’s part of the magic, that he man is purposefully playing oblivious in order to ensnare with the mystery of it all.  It’s working.  The rest glance nervously at each other, lost, but after a minute or two everyone starts clumping up into groups of five, sometimes with honest, quiet conversation, and heading after each of the named interviewers.
           There’s something compelling about the whole procedure.  It seems casual, entirely unplanned, and yet there’s something calculated about it.
           He’s in no hurry, so he settles back and waits.  He raises one this-plane-eyebrow at the oddly getting-along humans and demons chatting excitedly once they leave the rooms, a few waving cheerfully and leaving.  He’s never seen such an eclectic gathering that didn’t end up in a firefight.  By the time hours have passed and there’s still nothing that happened, both eyebrows are raised.  That’s nothing less than a miracle, and he’s definitely curious, now.  What kind of human gathers such a group of people and somehow manages not to have explosions or the dead?
           And then he realizes that’s practically daring Megam to appear and change events, since the universe is nothing but perverse.  He would perform the appropriate ritual to ask her not to listen to one of her insignificant elements, but giving the timing he’ll be too late.  He was wrong to call attention to it, which is why he appears uncomfortable when the young human comes to collect him.
           He seems exhausted but the emotion is still hidden behind layers of charm and enthusiasm.  He pulls his purple sunglasses down slightly to study Nakol.  “Teicho demon, huh?  Don’t see many like you.”
           “No—most of my people prefer to stay in our ancestral homelands,” he says before he even realizes he’s speaking.  It’s a shock that this human knows demons well enough to identify species at a glance, but then, he’s not sure what else he expected with this remarkable human.
           The child turns to another of the group, and that’s when it happens.
           He’s swapped his forms before he even realizes.  He stretches a little, feeling a little cramped as always now that his human form exists in the realm of Kamin.  To his credit, the human has no fear noticeable even to Nakol’s alternate senses.  His fur hides the wound gained when he’d somehow moved in front of the lunatic of a human.  He hadn’t even seen the attack coming, hadn’t made the conscious decision to stop it.
           “That’s a little close shave, huh?”  He glances back to find a grin.
           “You are insane,” he responds, voice hissing through pointed, predatory teeth.
           “Well, that’s an interesting way to see my mind.  Kind of conventional, but I’ll set that aside for now.”  He glances around.  “Everyone else all right?”
           “I’ll evacuate the potential employees.  And yes, in the interests of full disclosure or whatever he said, this is liable to happen at work although by the point you’re actually working here, there will be more wards up,” the eldest volunteer warns and heads off accompanied by the youngest and the vampire.
           The maniac with a knife tries again, which is laughably pathetic.  They might be humans with a hint of dark, old magic, but they are still humans using very human weapons, and his fist is enough to easily knock one out.
           “Witches beautiful, now might be the time to deal with the cultist portal they’re trying to open over there,” the man says sensibly and then taps on his shoulder.  “I appreciate the save, but you’re aware I’m not helpless, right?”  He taps his sleeves in emphasis, and with his special sight, Nakol can clearly see the bracers complete with runes on either hand.  That’s proven mere moments later, as one of them manages to sneak through the small gap between his limbs and the floor and attempt a stab.  A glow appears between the knife and the man’s body, protecting him, and Nakol realizes with resignation that he has met his new boss.