A/N: Because both Ash and Dave are played by Chad Lindberg. Just a little crossover idea. I'm retconning Buffy ever so slightly, but I think it's within the realms of plausibility for that show. I'll add this to my Whedonverse crossover semi-headcanons that Paul Ballard is Gadreel's vessel.

Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or BtVS.

Tech Hunter

"So what got you into all this?" Dean asks, resting his beer bottle against the Roadhouse bar and giving Ash a curious look. "The whole hunter tech support thing?"

Ash looks up from behind his laptop screen and makes his reply as if it's the most ordinary thing in the world. "Demon on the internet."

Dean's eyes widen slightly. He wonders if he heard that right, or if all the drugs have taken a toll on Ash's brilliant brain. "There's a demon on the internet?"

Either Ash misses the sceptical incredulity in his tone, or chooses to ignore it. "Not anymore. Back in '97 there was."

"Really?" Dean's still struggling to buy this.

"Yeah. It kind of got set free from some ancient binding spell and started targeting computer geeks in my high school. I ended up getting caught up with it and nearly dying, but I survived. Just."

"And that's what made you want to hunt demons?"

"Yeah, after I woke up from my coma. My parents put me through months of therapy after that. They thought it was a suicide attempt and no-one believes you if you tell them you were nearly murdered by a demon on the internet, but I got out eventually."

Dean's struggling to believe it himself, but he supposes he's seen crazier. "Yeah? Then what?"

"Made a whole new identity for myself, man. I wanted to hunt down demons like the one that nearly got me. No-one would take Dave the crazy kid with suspected brain damage seriously, so I came up with Ash: Computer Expert and Digital Demon Hunter. Then it turned out the demon on the internet was long gone and there hasn't been another one since, so I kinda had to come up with another way to put my skills to good use. Ended up with Ellen and Jo not long after they kicked me out of MIT."

"Uh huh," Dean nods and takes another gulp of beer. Demon on the internet. That's a new one. But hey, he's hunted a racist ghost truck before, so he supposes he isn't one to talk.