Aug 13, 2022 - Death’s Merchant, Ch 2 (FR-13)
Aug 13, 2022 - Death’s Merchant, Ch 2 (FR-13)
Author: mmooch
Summary: **Part of 2022 August Fic-a-Day Challenge** Tony decides to risk a second death for answers
Crossover: Iron Man
Rating: FR-13
Word count: 1145
Challenge: for the livejournal 2022 August Fic-a-Day Challenge
Timeline: pre-series for both; shift the timelines to match up. Honestly, I don’t know the timeline of Marvel as it is told in the movies and shows, so I’m saying that Jarvis died before Howard and Maria.
A/N: Tony is about 2 years older than Buffy at this time in both series.
Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. MCU characters belong to Marvel, Disney et al. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.
Psychiatric Hospital, California
Despite the drugs they had her on to keep her ‘calm’, Buffy still could tell something strange was going on in the hospital. First, the light blinking in the corner of her room was a solid red now; she didn’t know what that meant, but different wasn’t good in her opinion. Second, she couldn’t hear any nurses checking on the other patients in her wing. True, it was after lights out, but there was usually somebody that needed tending to, and nobody needing help was different.
So it didn’t really surprise her when the door to her room opened and a stranger walked inside. What was shocking was his identity.
“Tony Stark,” she managed to say with a relatively even tone. “How do I rate a visit from you?”
He took a seat on the other side of the room and replied, “You have answers to questions I have. Or at least given the reason for your hospitalization, I have reason to think you do.”
Getting the sudden urge to fight against her restraints again, Buffy tried to play it cool. “I don’t know what you’re talking about?”
“Vampires, blood sucking, any of this ringing a bell?” he snarked.
“Are you here to kill me?” she demanded, guessing that he had been turned.
Tony appeared genuinely startled by the question, “Of course not! How could you help me if you were dead? And if you’re talking about me…converting - is that the term? - you into a vampire, well, I don’t know how to do that, so even if I wanted to, I couldn’t.”
“Turning…that’s what’s it’s called,” she said, leaving out the how, just in case.
“Good to know; I hate sounding stupid because I don’t know the right terminology. First things first, is it safe for me to drink animal blood? I’ve been buying from a blood bank, but that means people who need it to keep living aren’t getting it, and eventually somebody will say something and that will bring unwanted attention to me,” he rambled almost humanly, which confused the young Slayer.
“I don’t know. None of the vampires I’ve met care about drinking human blood straight from the source,” she admitted.
He looked troubled by that. “That seems risky on their part, especially if they drain the people instead of saving some of the blood for later. Or do they target people almost nobody would miss, like the homeless or other street people?”
Buffy shook her head, “Lothos and his minions targeted my classmates. It was in the news and everything.”
“That’s stupid,” Tony complained. “Okay, so I’ll have to do some testing on the animal blood thing, or possibly see about synthesizing blood. I guess you don’t know what it is about blood that makes it vital for vampires to drink?”
“It’s what makes life possible,” she told him.
He nodded, “That makes sense, I suppose.”
“Can I ask a question? Why aren’t you like the other vampires I’ve met? Apart from Lothos, most of them are just about the killing and drinking,” Buffy clarified. “Did you even kill your loved ones? The texts I’ve read said that’s usually the first thing new vampires do; something about the demon within them destroying what ties them to their mortal life.”
“I like being Tony Stark, and most of what that entails. Killing my family and friends would mean giving that up. No stupid demon - even if it’s technically me - is going to take that away from me.”
“I’m not sure if that makes me more or less terrified of you,” she admitted. “On the one hand, the fact you can fight your urges is great. On the other hand, if you decide to go full darkside, it would be very difficult to defeat you.”
“But you could?” he asked, more curious than upset at the thought.
She shrugged, “If not me, then the next Slayer after me.”
“Slayer?”
“You don’t know who I am?”
“You’re Buffy Summers, daughter of Hank and Joyce Summers.”
“And the latest in a long line of Vampire Slayers,” she completed the line.
Tony grinned, proud that he guessed right, “So there are people keeping the number of vampires down. I figured something had to be doing it or else humans would have been wiped out a long time ago.”
“You are a very strange vampire, Tony Stark,” Buffy commented, almost feeling at ease in his presence, which scared her enough to go back on edge again.
“If they’re anything like the one that turned me, I’m glad to be strange. The only reason I went off with her in the first place was I was beyond drunk and thinking with my little brain. I wouldn’t have wanted her number in the morning, much less spend the rest of my vampire life with her.”
“Aren’t you too young to drink? And what happened to her?” Buffy asked.
“Aren’t you too old to be that naïve?” he teased, then added, “I accidentally killed her when I pushed her into a tree branch.”
She glared at her visitor and snapped, “Give me a break, they have me on drugs that are making it hard to think straight. You’re lucky I can talk to you at all.”
“Good point. We’ll have to do something about that. J, let’s see about getting Buffy transferred to another hospital where we can convince the doctor not to drug her,” he said to his phone. He looked at Buffy and told her, “You’ll have to stop telling people about vampires, so they’ll let you out eventually.”
The phone responded in a British accent that reminded her of Merrick, “Already started, Sir.”
Giving him a look of incredulity, Buffy inquired, “Why wouldn’t that work here? And why are you helping me get out when I just told you that I kill vampires?”
“For the first question, it could work, but depending on the doctor, I’m guessing it would take longer than you want to stay here. About the second one, as long as it isn’t me you’re going after, I don’t care if you kill all the vampires in the world. That bitch ruined my life when she did this to me and if she’s normal, they deserve what they get from Slayers like you,” he snarled, finally sounding angry.
“What makes you think I won’t come after you?” she asked, testing him a little with her defiant attitude.
Tony shrugged, “Call it a hunch. I get the feeling that as long as I don’t go around killing people, you won’t go out of your way to try and kill me.”
While she wouldn’t admit it to him, Buffy actually thought he might be right about that. Plus, if she got caught killing Tony Stark - despite the fact he was a vampire - she’d be thrown in jail for the rest of her life.
A/N: I hope this answers at least some of the questions reviewers had. I might turn this into a version of wish-verse Buffy.
Author: mmooch
Summary: **Part of 2022 August Fic-a-Day Challenge** Tony decides to risk a second death for answers
Crossover: Iron Man
Rating: FR-13
Word count: 1145
Challenge: for the livejournal 2022 August Fic-a-Day Challenge
Timeline: pre-series for both; shift the timelines to match up. Honestly, I don’t know the timeline of Marvel as it is told in the movies and shows, so I’m saying that Jarvis died before Howard and Maria.
A/N: Tony is about 2 years older than Buffy at this time in both series.
Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. MCU characters belong to Marvel, Disney et al. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.
Psychiatric Hospital, California
Despite the drugs they had her on to keep her ‘calm’, Buffy still could tell something strange was going on in the hospital. First, the light blinking in the corner of her room was a solid red now; she didn’t know what that meant, but different wasn’t good in her opinion. Second, she couldn’t hear any nurses checking on the other patients in her wing. True, it was after lights out, but there was usually somebody that needed tending to, and nobody needing help was different.
So it didn’t really surprise her when the door to her room opened and a stranger walked inside. What was shocking was his identity.
“Tony Stark,” she managed to say with a relatively even tone. “How do I rate a visit from you?”
He took a seat on the other side of the room and replied, “You have answers to questions I have. Or at least given the reason for your hospitalization, I have reason to think you do.”
Getting the sudden urge to fight against her restraints again, Buffy tried to play it cool. “I don’t know what you’re talking about?”
“Vampires, blood sucking, any of this ringing a bell?” he snarked.
“Are you here to kill me?” she demanded, guessing that he had been turned.
Tony appeared genuinely startled by the question, “Of course not! How could you help me if you were dead? And if you’re talking about me…converting - is that the term? - you into a vampire, well, I don’t know how to do that, so even if I wanted to, I couldn’t.”
“Turning…that’s what’s it’s called,” she said, leaving out the how, just in case.
“Good to know; I hate sounding stupid because I don’t know the right terminology. First things first, is it safe for me to drink animal blood? I’ve been buying from a blood bank, but that means people who need it to keep living aren’t getting it, and eventually somebody will say something and that will bring unwanted attention to me,” he rambled almost humanly, which confused the young Slayer.
“I don’t know. None of the vampires I’ve met care about drinking human blood straight from the source,” she admitted.
He looked troubled by that. “That seems risky on their part, especially if they drain the people instead of saving some of the blood for later. Or do they target people almost nobody would miss, like the homeless or other street people?”
Buffy shook her head, “Lothos and his minions targeted my classmates. It was in the news and everything.”
“That’s stupid,” Tony complained. “Okay, so I’ll have to do some testing on the animal blood thing, or possibly see about synthesizing blood. I guess you don’t know what it is about blood that makes it vital for vampires to drink?”
“It’s what makes life possible,” she told him.
He nodded, “That makes sense, I suppose.”
“Can I ask a question? Why aren’t you like the other vampires I’ve met? Apart from Lothos, most of them are just about the killing and drinking,” Buffy clarified. “Did you even kill your loved ones? The texts I’ve read said that’s usually the first thing new vampires do; something about the demon within them destroying what ties them to their mortal life.”
“I like being Tony Stark, and most of what that entails. Killing my family and friends would mean giving that up. No stupid demon - even if it’s technically me - is going to take that away from me.”
“I’m not sure if that makes me more or less terrified of you,” she admitted. “On the one hand, the fact you can fight your urges is great. On the other hand, if you decide to go full darkside, it would be very difficult to defeat you.”
“But you could?” he asked, more curious than upset at the thought.
She shrugged, “If not me, then the next Slayer after me.”
“Slayer?”
“You don’t know who I am?”
“You’re Buffy Summers, daughter of Hank and Joyce Summers.”
“And the latest in a long line of Vampire Slayers,” she completed the line.
Tony grinned, proud that he guessed right, “So there are people keeping the number of vampires down. I figured something had to be doing it or else humans would have been wiped out a long time ago.”
“You are a very strange vampire, Tony Stark,” Buffy commented, almost feeling at ease in his presence, which scared her enough to go back on edge again.
“If they’re anything like the one that turned me, I’m glad to be strange. The only reason I went off with her in the first place was I was beyond drunk and thinking with my little brain. I wouldn’t have wanted her number in the morning, much less spend the rest of my vampire life with her.”
“Aren’t you too young to drink? And what happened to her?” Buffy asked.
“Aren’t you too old to be that naïve?” he teased, then added, “I accidentally killed her when I pushed her into a tree branch.”
She glared at her visitor and snapped, “Give me a break, they have me on drugs that are making it hard to think straight. You’re lucky I can talk to you at all.”
“Good point. We’ll have to do something about that. J, let’s see about getting Buffy transferred to another hospital where we can convince the doctor not to drug her,” he said to his phone. He looked at Buffy and told her, “You’ll have to stop telling people about vampires, so they’ll let you out eventually.”
The phone responded in a British accent that reminded her of Merrick, “Already started, Sir.”
Giving him a look of incredulity, Buffy inquired, “Why wouldn’t that work here? And why are you helping me get out when I just told you that I kill vampires?”
“For the first question, it could work, but depending on the doctor, I’m guessing it would take longer than you want to stay here. About the second one, as long as it isn’t me you’re going after, I don’t care if you kill all the vampires in the world. That bitch ruined my life when she did this to me and if she’s normal, they deserve what they get from Slayers like you,” he snarled, finally sounding angry.
“What makes you think I won’t come after you?” she asked, testing him a little with her defiant attitude.
Tony shrugged, “Call it a hunch. I get the feeling that as long as I don’t go around killing people, you won’t go out of your way to try and kill me.”
While she wouldn’t admit it to him, Buffy actually thought he might be right about that. Plus, if she got caught killing Tony Stark - despite the fact he was a vampire - she’d be thrown in jail for the rest of her life.
A/N: I hope this answers at least some of the questions reviewers had. I might turn this into a version of wish-verse Buffy.