Fates of Love
Author: BigHead / Everyone here belongs to someone else, except me. I belong to a boatload of taxes, hence no money being made
Summary: Fate has a wicked way of playing with the ones in their clutches.
Rating: Teen, might go up later.
Author's Notes: This is me, trying to play with a different style of writing than what I'm accustomed to, but I had to try it. Tell me what you people think, okay?
Feedback: YESSSS! PLEEEEAAAASEEE!
Metropolis
It all started with a bucket of paint, a broken ATM card and a Friday afternoon.
Five years after Sunnydale had sunk, things were greatly different. His time as a Slayer hunter in the African savannah was long gone, his tentative start as a Watcher as well. He now worked as the official Facilities Manager for the Council, but he had to agree that the title made no justice to what he truly did. With so many Slayers around and so many places to keep a look on, he now acted as the first man on a prospective site, scouting locations good enough to assemble a school for 'special girls' or perhaps just a new office for a company specialized in 'art appraisal', as the cover stories said. He could only overview the renovations, but he had always been a man of the 'hands on' approach, but said 'hands on' caused a small accident involving his wallet and a bucket full of paint landing right on top of it, thus smashing all of his cards.
Being a Friday afternoon, it meant spending the weekend with twelve dollars and fifty two cents in his pocket or going to the bank to withdraw some money from his account.
So, acting on his famed courage, Xander sighed for the tenth time, while dodging the mass of people on his way to the bank
He entered the posh lobby, the security guard eyeing him with a hint of apprehension. The SoCal native had grown accustomed to the reactions his eye patch gave to some people, but untrained and armed people were sometimes stupid, so he decided to play cool and approached the man.
"Don't worry, I liked the pirate look way too much when I was a kid," he said with his lopsided grin in place. The security officer smiled slightly, the one-eyed foreman noticed the tension disappearing from the man's body as if by magic.
He entered the bank proper and got in line, a very long line. He drew his checkbook and patted himself for a pen, finding none. Sighing once again while internally cursing his luck, he got out of the line of people and approached one of the counters, to use one of the chained pens.
He started writing the check, when the over-used pen decided to add to his misery, the tip breaking and the ink started blotting the book.
And then Xander did the stupidest thing that he could at the moment. He would later blame his anger and annoyance, but as a survivor of Sunnydale, he had learned that you had to act like a Jedi under some circumstances or feel the wrath of the Dark Side.
"What else can go wrong?" he muttered, but as soon as he did, Xander noticed exactly what he had said and groaned, head snapping up, looking to all sides.
The front door exploded, admitting something resembling a tank walking on two feet, plus another five men with guns coming out of a sci-fi movie.
"Oh, great."
It was the classical bank robbery, with classical threats and classical screaming. The only thing non-classical was the armored thug ripping the vault's door open as if it was made of paper. Xander actually smiled, he had seen his fair share of incredible things since he had learned that Buffy was the Slayer, but that rated far high in the list.
The one-eyed man sighed, if things were different, this could probably end peacefully, but the morons decided to attack this particulartown, in bright daylight, making as much noise as they possibly could.
At least they were smart enough to not try it in Gotham. The thought actually brought a smile to Xander's face, and that, he realized, was another mistake.
One of the masked thugs saw him smile.
"What's so damned funny, cyclops?" the man said, pointing the futuristic-looking gun in is direction. Xander had been threatened by things way worse than a moron with a gun, so he wasn't as scared as the man expected him to be.
"You know," he replied in a calm voice "I think you didn't plan this thing through, cause, y'know, Superman hears things really really good, and you boys weren't exactly silent."
The brunette noticed that, while he couldn't see the man's mouth, it was clear that the guy was smiling.
"Oh, yeah, we planned this through, and we knew that he could appear. That's why we came prepared," he said, and removed a pendant from inside his shirt. A pendant with a green stone attached.
Kryptonite.
"Oh, shit," Xander cursed, blaming his big mouth once again.
"What if your enemy isn't Superman?"
"What if your enemy isn't Superman?" a strong and very feminine voice echoed in the mostly silent room, drawing everyone's attention to the entrance.
Xander Harris had grown quite accustomed with strong feminine people, after all his best friend in the entire world were bona-fide super-heroes of the opposite sex variety, but nothing in this world would have prepared him for her.
She was beautiful, more beautiful than any other woman he had seen, holding herself with an air of someone who knew exactly who she was and what she was capable of. He knew what she was thinking about, because he had seen the same look in Buffy's face every once in a while. Two silver bands in her forearm, a golden lasso on her hip, the tiara, the armor, they all reflected the light from both the sun entering the large windows and the artificial lights attached to the ceiling, but they all paled in comparison to the fire burning behind those ice blue eyes.
Wonder Woman.
"Stop right now and lower your weapons, and no one will be harmed," she said in a tone that held no room for an argument.
The armed robbers, really not having planned on having her as a contingency, did the exactly stupid thing it was expected of them, meaning opening fire on her. Faster than any untrained eye could follow, she deflected two of the bolts with her enchanted bracelets, one of them flying straight back to one of the robbers, putting him out of commission. She moved forward and grabbed one of the marble counters, and using it as both a shield and as a battering ram, removed two more threats.
That's when the man using the powered armor decided to join the fight. Using the power of the servo-motors, he grabbed the vault door and threw it as a huge Frisbee.
Xander yelled "EVERYBODY DOWN!" and everyone ducked their heads, with the exception of the super heroine and the armored man. The metal door flew true, but instead of dodging the incoming missile, Wonder Woman hit it with both fists in a downward arc right at the edge of the spinning door. Momentum made the door flip like a huge coin as if she was making a head or tails game. It climbed a few meters while spinning, and landed right behind her. One of the robbers still standing, after seeing her do that, let go of his weapon and kicked it away, raising his arms in surrender.
Diana hoped the armored one would do the same, but she had no such luck. She had to finish this, and fast. Using the fabled Magic Lasso, she snagged one of the arms and pulled with all her might. Instead of breaking at the shoulder joint, the armor came as well, going airborne for a few seconds. The man inside screamed, his visor showing clearly the deceptive small hand cocking itself for a punch.
The powered armor flew back, sparks covering the entire brown painted frame. People still had their heads lowered since the door's incident, so no one got hurt, with the exception of the armor pilot, who slumped unconscious when the armor entered more than four inches into the vault's side wall.
Xander was the first to stand back up, while Wonder Woman looked around while recoiling her lasso. She distracted herself for a mere second, and it was more than enough for the last thug, who had hid himself behind a pillar, to try and save his own ass, meaning finish the job his associates tried to do. He started raising his weapon and Xander noticed that Wonder Woman was looking away from the threat. The one-eyed man did what was ingrained in his subconscious, save someone in danger at his own personal risk, and he jumped at Diana, while the man pressed the trigger.
Time slowed down for the ex-demon hunter, his only worry being reaching her on time. Wonder Woman was unprepared for such an action, so when Xander hit her right on, she almost fell to the floor. It was enough for the concussion blast to miss her, but it clipped his side, making him be thrown five feet back, landing in a heap.
He lost consciousness immediately.
Xander woke up with a small groan, but instead of cold marble at his back, he felt the softness of a mattress, and the pain he had felt previously at his side had been replaced by a feeling of tightness. The smell was also a dead giveaway.
Hospital room.
"Oh, God. Not again," he mumbled. There was just another person at the room, and with his still blurred vision, he didn't recognize who was, except that it appeared to be a woman.
"Your friends missed you for about fifteen minutes," she said, and Xander recognized the voice.
"Princess Diana," he said formally. "Not that I don't appreciate the gesture, but what you're doing here?" he asked, while his vision got back into focus. She was wearing a simple white t-shirt, hair in a ponytail and jeans, and he could say that she seemed to be even more beautiful than in her normal attire.
"I wished to see how you were faring, I came here every day since you saved me, and I consider myself lucky in seeing you awake for the first time since your ordeal," she said, approaching the bed.
"What happened?"
"You don't remember?" she asked slightly surprised.
"Most of it, yeah, but last memory I have is seeing a thug pointing one of those Terminator rifles in your direction," he said, while attempting to sit back instead of lying down. Diana helped him, and he noticed she had amazingly soft hands from the brief contact. Once he was comfortable, he thanked her.
"Well, young Alexander, you actually saved my life. The concussion shot that grazed you would almost certainly kill me if it caught me fully. Instead, you managed to take me out of harm's way at your own personal risk. For this, I'm eternally indebted to you," she said with so much seriousness that he gulped, while shaking his head.
"Oh, no. No life debt things. I don't want to own any favors from anyone, Princess," he said, shaking his head all the time. "No offense."
"None taken. But I come from an old culture, where those things are not taken lightly. I couldn't accept your rebuttal, even if I agreed with it, which I don't. You saved my life, Alexander."
Xander sighed. "Please, don't call me Alexander, Princess. I prefer Xander," he said, and he detected something in Wonder Woman's eyes. Surprise, maybe?
"Alexander is much more fitting, Protector of Man. It suits you perfectly," she said with a small smile. "However, I agree. Xander it shall be, but only on two conditions. One, you call me Diana, and two, you accept my gratitude and my offering of a debt in the old terms."
"No can do, Princess," he heartily shook his head. It didn't bode well for his health, since it started pounding. "Ouch, remind me to not move my head, at all. Brain's loose inside of it," Xander replied, and he saw a small smile crease Diana's classically beautiful features. "I'm just a guy who did the right thing at the right time, and I ain't no super hero. I don't want you worrying about simple old me while saving the world, okay?"
"That's where you are wrong, Alexander, I worry about you and everyone else while I'm saving the world, as you said. And what you did tells me you're everything else but simple, so don't diminish your actions for no reason."
He just lowered his head deep in thought. "Let's reach an agreement, then? I call upon my life debt now, as set in the old terms. I, Alexander Lavelle Harris, release Diana, Princess of Themyscira of her life debt, on the agreement of going for a cup of coffee once I'm free from this damned hospital."
Diana was deeply surprised. How did that young man know the terms of a life debt invocation? According to the old laws, he could have asked her for nearly anything and she would be bound to agree, and all he asked was for a cup of coffee?
She was no detective like Bruce, but Alex…Xander intrigued her. A lot.
And she hated unanswered questions. So, she smiled and extended her hand. "Agreed. But only if you call me Diana. And it will be, as you Americans say, my treat."
Xander shook the hand, surprised with her acceptance. "And I'm Xander."