Chapter Text
It was just a glimpse, a single image of a group of people in costumes fighting, but for Xander it might as well be catnip.
Turning away from his connection to home, Xander leapt and landed on a tar and gravel roof. He could hear the sounds of a major city, a siren in the distance, cars honking, someone arguing with someone else at full volume.
Compared to the Blind Eternities it might as well be perfect silence.
Xander relaxed and connected to the land around him. New York City, legendary land, tap for two red, one colorless or to enhance the training speed of target group.
"Of course it's New York," Xander said with a smile, really hoping he was in Marvel though he wouldn't mind DC and wondering how many and what color Mana he'd need to create Superman.
Shaking off the idle thought, Xander climbed down the fire escape of the five-story tenement and into a back alley.
It was dirtier than the back alleys he was used to, there were bags of trash, scattered drug paraphernalia, and the overwhelming stench of urine. Say what you will about Sunnydale, but the trash collectors were amazingly efficient and the Mayor didn't allow trash to pile up, even in the demon dominated areas.
The sound of a switchblade snapping open was loud in the silence. "Give me all your money!" a rough voice demanded.
"Really?" Xander asked in disbelief as he turned around and faced a broad-shouldered man in dirty clothes who was badly in need of a shave and might as well have the title 'Random Mugger Number One' floating over his head.
"Yeah really," the man said, seeming to be offended by Xander's disbelieving tone.
"You are mugging me?" Xander asked, just to be sure.
"We're in a back alley, I got a switchblade, what part of this transaction is confusing you?" the man demanded.
"Remember Tommy!" a pair of voices called out and a purse that was probably filled with bricks slammed into the side of the man's head as a couple in blue tracksuits with red stripes and matching leather masks that covered everything from upper lip to hairline attacked the mugger, quickly subduing him, zip ties binding his wrists behind his back.
Xander scanned the pair. They were unpowered superheroes, a husband and wife pair called Remembering Tommy, both of whom had white shirts under their jackets with the picture of a young boy and a phone number to call if he was found.
"Are you alright?" the wife asked.
"Thanks to you both I'm fine," Xander told her, making the couple beam. "If you had one wish, what would it be?"
"We don't do this for a reward," the man said, making Xander smile even wider.
"I know, but I'm curious," Xander said.
The man gestured down at his shirt sadly.
Xander nodded and let blue Mana trickle into his brain, making his eyes glow a solid blue as he scryed for the boy.
"The spice must flow," the woman said, causing her husband to turn and stare at her. "What? His eyes are literally glowing blue."
Xander gestured and a hole opened in the air revealing a young boy's bedroom.
The boy stared in disbelief at the portal.
"Tommy?" the man asked, voice trembling.
"Mom? Dad?" the boy asked wide eyed, before running through the portal to hug them both.
The newly reunited family laughed and cried as they clung to each other and Xander made his escape.
"What the fuck?" the mugger on the ground asked, thinking they must have hit him harder than he thought.
"It's good to be a planeswalker," Xander said as he stepped out of the alley and headed down the street.
He'd met his first real superheroes. It didn't matter that they didn't have powers, they were the real deal!
Xander kept an eye out for a pawn shop so he could get some local cash. He'd probably get more from a coin shop for a roll of gold coins, but there was a chance they'd draw attention if they differed enough from whatever the local version of them were. It'd be just his luck if they turned out to be extremely rare and the secret service started chasing him for counterfeiting.
"Cash for gold," he read the neon sign above a small storefront with bars over the windows. "Neat!"
Xander had to be buzzed in through the armored door and there was a counter to ceiling section of bullet proof glass protecting the cashier, a slender Indonesian man.
"Hello, how may I help you," the man said cheerfully.
Xander smiled and pulled a roll of gold coins out of his pocket and set them in the tray set in the counter. "I need cash," he said cheerfully.
The cashier pulled the tray through the glass. "It'll take me a minute to check them."
"That's fine," Xander said and went to look through a number of health and tourist pamphlets. He spent a few minutes looking through them, finding them to be pretty normal and not much different from what he'd read in doctor's offices and the DMV.
"I can give you eighty percent of their value in gold weight," the cashier announced as he returned. "You would probably get a better price in a coin shop," he added reluctantly.
"That's fine, you gotta make some profit too," Xander told him.
"Thank you for understanding," the man said and quickly gathered a large collection of bills and filled out a receipt that he placed in the tray and slid out to Xander.
Xander pulled out his wallet and slid the bills inside. "Now that's a satisfying bulge," he said with a grin before putting it in his back pocket.
"Thank you, come again," the man said with a wide smile as he checked a monitor below the counter and buzzed Xander out.
"I will," Xander promised as he left, stomach rumbling to remind him that food was an option. Deciding he wanted to try a genuine New York hot dog from a cart like he'd often seen Spiderman do in so many comic books he headed for Central Park. Really, he was just heading downtown, but he was sure he could find it without asking for directions. If he had to, he could always scry for it. Sure, he had a bitch of a time finding his way through the Blind Eternities but when actually in a reality, he could find anything.
He quickly scryed for Spiderman just to check… and found a man in a black and grey Spiderman inspired costume with the spider symbol over his face and spikes lining the arms carrying a baseball bat and hiding in the shadows of a warehouse on the docks.
Was he a hero, a villain? The one thing Xander was sure of was that he wasn't Peter Parker or any version of him, which sadly meant Xander probably wasn't in Marvel. Xander let his vision expand, he immediately saw armed men and… young women and children that really don't look happy to be there.
He could actually see the Spiderman knock off figuring the odds and counting the number of armed thugs he could see when they opened the door to the warehouse to let in a van that delivered half a dozen children and several more armed men.
The man's shoulders slumped as he realized there were too many for him to handle.
A child started crying and the sound of a hand meeting flesh made it cut out.
The spider knock-off stopped figuring the odds as he stiffened and choked up on his bat. He wasn't going to win and he didn't care.
Xander decided that it was a good time to see if he could empower people through scrying. Holy and Unholy Strength hit the Man-Spider followed by Reflexes and Clarity of Mind. The Man-Spider hit the closed warehouse door like a wrecking ball, wood exploded as he rammed through it and into the warehouse. Xander watched closely, ready to portal in if needed, but Man-Spider had the skills needed, especially while running at double speed and four times the body.
The human traffickers fell like he was scything stalks of wheat, stalks of wheat who screamed and bled. Fifteen armed thugs who sold humans like cattle hit the ground in under four minutes and they did not get back up.
Man-Spider hadn't gotten away completely unscathed; he'd shattered his bat and burst a couple of seams as well as taking a bullet to the shoulder. He pulled the bullet out of a shallow wound in his shoulder with his fingers and stared at it in disbelief before dropping it and bandaging the wound with stuff he had on him before pulling out a cell phone and calling the police.
Xander grinned as he dropped the spell and continued towards Central Park.
Colonel Stars and Stripes was standing behind the bar in the Headquarters of Justice Forever, a 1920's speakeasy hidden beneath an abandoned building, pouring himself a beer. The ex-Mafia member, who had decided to make up for his past by becoming a superhero, was relaxing as he waited for the rest of the members to arrive.
Insect-Man arrived first, in rough condition.
"Good op?" Colonel Stars and Stripes asked, seeing how excited the insect themed superhero was from his body language.
"Saved a couple dozen women and children down at the docks," Insect-Man replied, taking off his mask and grinning widely. "I was planning on just staking out their operation and taking notes so we could plan out the take down, but they moved up their shipping schedule."
"And you didn't call in backup?" he asked with a frown.
"No time and I may have lost my temper," Insect-Man admitted.
"That'll get you dead," Colonel Stars and Stripes warned, the older man concerned and taking a closer look at him.
"And it should have killed me today," Insect-Man agreed, walking over to the workout equipment and training area they'd set up where the dance floor had been. "Something strange happened to me, watch." He stepped over to the weight bench and lifted a bar loaded with over three hundred pounds with one hand showing some effort, but not nearly as much as he should have.
"Can't be steroids," Colonel Stars and Stripes said, "your muscles aren't that big and you weren't that strong yesterday."
"Yeah," Insect-Man agreed. "I wasn't this strong before the op."
"Adrenaline would have wore off, not drugs… I've got no idea," he admitted.
Insect-Man gestured to his bandaged shoulder. "I got shot and it barely penetrated."
"That… That's impossible," Colonel Stars and Stripes said. "Maybe the bullet was a dud? Got wet somehow?"
"Maybe, but I'm a lot tougher now," Insect-Man said, "and I don't know why. It's like something out of a comic book."
Colonel Stars and Stripes nodded slowly. "Well… we are superheroes," he said with a small smile.
"This is crazy," Insect-Man said. "I'm stronger and tougher and it felt like they were moving in slow motion when I fought them."
"Dave's the comic book guy," Colonel Stars and Stripes said, "though I don't know if that translates into reality… such as it is."
Insect-Man snickered and the two sat at the bar to have a beer.
"Nightbitch in the house!" the magenta-haired young woman in her grunge and steampunk inspired costume called out as she entered with Doctor Gravity.
"Looks like we're early," Doctor Gravity said, the well-muscled black man setting his aluminum foil coated bat on a table.
"Nah, you're just about right on time," Colonel Stars and Stripes replied.
"Remembering Tommy is usually here first, they must have run across a mugger," Doctor Gravity guessed.
"Coke please," Nightbitch said, raising her hands to catch the soda as Insect-Man tossed the pair a couple of cans.
Kickass and Hit-Girl entered next and looked around in surprise.
"Remembering Tommy hasn't shown yet," Nightbitch said, knowing why they were surprised.
"Anything new?" Hit-Girl asked, taking a seat at the table while Kickass greeted Nightbitch with a kiss before sitting down.
"Yeah, but let's wait for Remembering Tommy," Insect-Man said, "I don't want to repeat myself."
"Fair," Hit-Girl said, stealing Nightbitch's Coke and taking a sip before returning it.
"We're here!" Remembering Tommy called out as they entered with a young boy in a domino mask.
"You got a sidekick…" Kickass started before his voice trailed off as he took in the boy's features.
"I'm Tommy," the boy said happily.
"I think that actually blows my announcement out of the water," Insect-Man said before they all cheered and started trying to ask questions at once before Colonel Stars and Stripes whistled loudly.
"Let them talk," Colonel Stars and Stripes ordered.
"I'm not sure you'll believe us," the husband said.
"Yeah, it's kinda… impossible," the wife said.
"It was a genie," Tommy said bluntly.
"I… I wonder if I made a wish and didn't notice," Insect-Man said.
"No, we made a wish out loud after rescuing a guy from a mugger," the wife assured him.
"Not for you, for me," Insect-Man said. "Let me show you." He walked over to the weight bench and easily curled a couple hundred pounds with one arm before setting it back down. "I gained super powers."
"Holy shit," Hit-Girl said in the sudden silence.
"That's two wishes," Doctor Gravity said. He quickly looked up. "I wish we all had super powers as well!"
There was another silence as everyone waited.
"Huh, quick thinking, shame it didn't work," Hit-Girl said.
"Yeah, that would have been cool," Kickass agreed.
A hole opened in the air and Xander stuck his head through. "Give me like ten minutes, I'm waiting in line for pizza." He pulled back and the hole vanished.
"Did I just see that?" Nightbitch asked.
"That's the guy we saved from a mugger who found our son for us," the husband said.
"Awesome wish," Kickass told Doctor Gravity.
"What?" Xander asked as everyone in line with him stared at him.
"Joe, make sure you get the last five pizzas perfect," the guy behind the counter called back.
"What? Why?" a voice called from the back.
The guy behind the counter shrugged. "Health inspection is doing a surprise check on food quality," he finally said.
"Got it!" Joe called out.
As everyone turned to stare at him, the guy behind the counter just said, "What? I don't have a clue how to explain this and I'm not risking getting cursed because Joe screwed up his order."
"Fair," Xander agreed.
Typing By: Abyssal Angel
Beta By: Abyssal Angel and Mist of Shadows