Authors Note: And we meet our players on the stage.
A little girl, Xander figured she maybe was twelve, maybe, slunk in, a backpack clenched in her arms, her long dirty blond hair in a messy pony tail. She wore glasses at least two sizes too big for her, and her nails were bitten to the quick. Lean arms that showed too little fat, a sign he recognized from Africa, too much time without enough food. She glanced up at all of them staring at her, and her luminous grey eyes went wide and she froze, suddenly looking like a rabbit about to bolt.
Safira stalked behind her, but Xander could tell she wasn't quite a mad as she was pretending, and she looked sad somehow.
"Jolie, may I introduce Xander Harris - our new watcher, as well as Steve Rogers, and Dr. Bruce Banner."
Xander noted that she didn't mention the Avengers or anything else.
Jolie flinched as Steve smiled at her, but Bruce's name had her whipping her head around so fast the pony tail snapped back around and caught her on the face, raising a slight welt.
"Dr. Bruce Banner, author of 'Xenomorphic tendencies on cellular regeneration when exposed to Gamma radiation" and the new Science article about 'Regenerative RNA aspects of Asgardian blood'?"
Bruce blinked, looking at her. "Yes, I wrote both of those."
"How did you get the Asgardian blood, much less get the idea to break it apart to see if their RNA would match the RNA of Earth?" The question was lightning fast and her eyes never strayed from Bruce.
"I asked Thor nicely last time he was here. Though granted it started with Steve mentioning he couldn't get drunk. Then I started to compare how the gene sets differed as Thor had also mentioned the alcohol here was a pale imitation. It was more of a lark than anything else." His voice absent minded as he replied, his eyes still focused on the girl.
Those grey eyes snapped to Steve, then back to Bruce, then at the tower then she turned to Safira.
"You brought me to the Avengers? With Tony Stark, Captain America, and Dr. Bruce Banner? People stronger than me, men stronger than me, smarter than me?" There was something between outrage, terror, and excitement in her voice.
"Yes."
Jolie stood her body rock still, then she turned to Xander who was still leaning against the kitchen bar watching her. Her hands trembled and she hunched forward as if expecting a blow..
"I'll do anything to stay. I'll fuck you, give you blow jobs, scrub the floors, just let me talk to Dr. Banner occasionally, and maybe ask Mr. Stark a question or two about his arc reactor. I have some idea on how that might affect cellular regeneration. I know you have people here that can force me, I won't complain, just let me talk to them sometimes?" The naked plea almost broke him, but he didn't let it show on his face.
Steve and Bruce both went white, while Safira closed her eyes. The pieces all snapped together for Xander.
With a sigh he straightened up and walked over to Jolie, she flinched back but didn't move, her lips trembling. He dropped to the floor in a cross legged pose and looked at her, his eyes below hers as he kept his hands folded in his lap.
"Jolie. I'm Xander. Here are the rules for living here. You get a lock for your bedroom that you can control from the inside. You never have to let anyone touch you that you don't want, male or female. You need to tell me if you are hurting or if anyone hurts you. No one in this building will ever try to hurt you or touch you in ways you don't want. You need to go to college. You need to laugh and find things you will enjoy. I am sure Bruce will enjoy talking to you, and I promise if you ask the kind of questions I think you'll ask Tony, he'll never shut up. This is your home as long as you want it to be. So you think you can live with those rules?"
She leaned back a bit looking at him. "You aren't going to make fun of me for reading and liking books? Or expect sex for more library books? Or hit me because I know stuff and get frustrated with how stupid people are? Or make me do things I hate just because you can force me?"
Though it didn't show on his face, a part of Xander cried for the child she never got to be, a child he recognized from the mirror. "Never. I'd like it if you trained with Safira and Natasha if she has time. But other than finding some exercise you like to do, you don't have to train. You don't have to be a slayer if you want to be something else. When you meet Jarvis he'll give you access to any books you want. Unlimited. And Tony will totally agree with you on how stupid people are."
"Unlimited books?" Her eyes went even brighter and she had the same look on her face Buffy did when told about a shoe sale, wary and hopeful. "And I don't have to pay for it?"
"Nope. You'll have chores." He forced a smile when she flinched. "Normal chores, picking up your room, doing your laundry, and helping with dinner. You think you can handle that?"
Jolie chewed on her lip a bit and glanced at Steve. "What about him?"
Safira rolled her eyes and walked over to Steve. "The only girl he is touching right now better be me. Well, and Natasha when she is kicking our butts."
Steve looked torn between embarrassment, mortification, and rage that any child should think like this.
The girl clearly didn't believe him, and Xander was saved trying to convince her with Jarvis spoke.
"Miss Jolie, I would be happy to help you get books and arrange your room."
Her eyes darted everywhere and her fingers tightened on backpack as she swallowed. "Who's that?"
"Jolie, I would like to introduce you to Jarvis, the AI for Stark. He helps us and has access to the systems here."
"A true AI? Did you pass the Turning test?" The fear leeched out as the idea sank into her and her eyes lit up.
"Come on, munchkin, I'll show you your room." Safira said. "Then you can question Jarvis non-stop with stuff that the rest of us couldn't understand." Her voice had a layer of compassion that Xander understood all too well.
Safira led Jolie, who still had a death grip on her backpack, to her room, the room that would only be hers. She couldn't room with anyone else Xander knew.
"Xander, what the hell was that?" Steve demanded, his fists tight at his side his body tense and ready to fight.
Xander started putting dishes on the table, his back to the two men. "A slayer."
"No!" Steve all but shouted the word, but lowered his voice as his eyes darted in the direction the girls had gone. "Why would she think she had to pay for things, pay with sex?" His voice broke a bit and Xander arched an eyebrow at him.
"You know why, but if you want me to say it. I suspect a bad foster care experience, and some major mistake on the Council's side, which I WILL be addressing." Xander's voice got a bit cold at that sentence. "But as for the rest, that is a child who learned a long time ago men aren't to be trusted. I'll let Jarvis interact with her, he isn't male, exactly. I'll warn Tony, when he gets back, with a battle axe if needed, and I'll be as non-threatening as possible around her. I doubt she'll ever be comfortable around you or Barton. You scream male dominance. But Bruce is 'Doctor' first, and everything else latter." He shot a half smile at Bruce. "Besides, you're one of the most non-threatening men I've ever met."
"Me?" Bruce choked. "Have you forgotten who I am?"
Xander rolled his eyes. "Hulk is not you, and you are not him. Get over it."
"Safira, Jolie, food," he called out. "Steve, Bruce, please stay. I'll need help to balance her fear. I'll put Jolie between Safira and Bruce. I could use the buffer until she gets more situated."
Bruce and Steve exchanged fast glances and nodded. "Sure, I helped cook after all. Might as well eat here." Bruce said. Steve just shrugged, and then got a dopey smile on his face when Safira walked out tugging a resisting Jolie.
"But I have so many more questions to ask," Jolie protested.
"Jarvis will be around later. Though if you spend all night talking and don't sleep I'll ask him to not respond," Xander warned. "Besides, you need food. I need you to tell me what you would like me to get you for your room. And I'm sure Bruce would be delighted to answer questions over the meal." He might have felt the slightest twinge of guilt at tossing Bruce to the dubious mercy of a slayer, but that soon faded as the two of them chattered away about things that Xander didn't even understand the words. Bruce didn't look like he was suffering, and Safira kept Steve suitably distracted. Xander took the opportunity to make lists in his head. No tablets at the table, was one of his few rules. If you ate at the table, socialize.
Dinner had started with Jolie trying to disappear between Safira and Bruce. But Safira ignored her, talking to Steve, while inhaling her normal caloric intake, and Bruce started asking questions about college and her major. Plus what she was interested in researching. That was all it took. An adult that actually listened to and could keep up with her. Jolie glowed and chattered, and almost ate enough to make Xander feel better. He added to his list more snack food in the fridge once he figured out where her food desires lay.
As the dinner went on, his stress lowered as his plans developed, though he really wanted to ask Jarvis about Tony, but since Jarvis hadn't brought it up, Xander kept his mouth shut around the others.
Jolie was nodding off at the table, even as she struggled to keep asking questions, when Jarvis spoke.
"I have delivery men bringing a bed for Miss Jolie. I've taken the liberty of downloading a catalog of items to her tablet for her to select from, for now the bed is the same size as Miss Safira's so the sheets will match. Let me know if you need anything else." There was a slightly distant tone to Jarvis that Xander caught, and from the frown on Bruce's face he knew he caught it also, but the other seems oblivious.
"I get my own bed?" Jolie asked, her voice wary.
"Yes, and I have coded the locks to only work with your voice pattern. The only way they can be overridden is if I see your vitals pass safe levels or there is a building wide emergency." Jarvis said before Xander could reply, and it worked better.
Before anyone could reply the elevator dinged and two men showed up, carting a bed between them. Jarvis had apparently channeled Tony, or asked him, and it was a high end mattress, with a hand carved frame that would have looked more at home in a show case than a teenagers room. The next two hours were spent pampering a girl who still flinched when any of the men got too near, though Bruce was tolerated the best. The necessities were ordered, the tablet had been adopted with a rabid intensity, before her energy waned again.
Xander stepped back and let Safira tuck the girl in, though he ached to cuddle her and assure her the monsters would never touch her again, but he knew she couldn't handle that. It would take time and exposure. Natasha would probably be his best ally in this fight.
"Xander?" He looked up at Safira's word, arching an eyebrow. "I'm going to go down and spar with Steve, I need to get some of this stress out. Promise I'll use condoms if we do anything."
Steve flushed bright red and started to stammer. Xander just rolled his eyes.
"I've told you before, go get the implant and be done with it. I doubt Steve's biology is compatible to STD's." He paused thinking. "Though you might want to talk to Bruce," he ignored Bruce's stammering, "Not sure how powerful Steve's swimmers would be."
At this point Steve was torn between mortification and amusement.
"Maybe. Condoms are safer right now." She narrowed her eyes at him. "As long as he doesn't get too enthusiastic."
"We have not done anything close to that," Steve protested, the words tumbling out as fast as he could say them.
Safira sighed, "Yet. I'm working on it."
"Eh, go. I don't need to hear about your sex life of lack thereof. Get." A red Steve was dragged out by a smirking slayer and Xander just rolled his eyes.
"She's been abused," Bruce's voice was flat.
"Yep, probably had to provide sex to get anything she wanted." Xander agreed his voice just as unemotional as Bruce's.
"Plans?"
"Ream out the people on my end, make sure this sort of mistake doesn't happen again, spoil her to the extent of my abilities, and do everything I can to give her the ability to heal. Why? You have any other ideas or thoughts?"
"Besides tracking down who did it to her and going all Hulk on them?" Bruce asked, his voice dry and not particularly joking.
"Yes, besides that. I might have some ideas on that front."
"Oh?"
Xander smiled, and Bruce flinched back a bit, though his own smile hovered at the edges as Xander replied. "I think there is a red haired witch I might ask for a favor or two."
"I will be delighted to provide Miss Rosenberg any information she might need," Jarvis offered his voice had an edge of coldness to it.
"Thanks." Xander looked at Bruce. "Any other concerns?"
Bruce sat silent for a moment. "When does she start Cornell?"
"I assume winter semester, so January. Though I need to follow up on her acceptance, etc."
"Well, she is welcome in my lab whenever. She is brilliant, Xander." His voice was soft.
"Is she? I mean I didn't understand half of what she talked about, but I'm usually the stupid one in the group."
Bruce shot him an arch look but didn't address it. "Yes. I suspect half her issues are no one can keep up with her."
"Can you and Tony?" Xander meant the question honestly, he didn't know.
Bruce smiled. "Yes. She's brilliant, but she doesn't have the years or the amount of reading and research under her belt. Give her a decade and she might challenge us. That isn't an insult, that is just life teaches you a lot. So yes, we are still ahead of her. But I guarantee Tony will be bribing her to hire her the second she gets that masters, maybe before."
"Good. Then this is the best place for her."
"Probably." Bruce stood and stretched. "Good night, Xander. Don't be too hard on your people."
"I will. They deserve it." His smile had no humor and Bruce nodded. "Okay, but that little girl needs joy…" he trailed off and shook his head. "And I shouldn't try to teach a grandmother to suck eggs. Safira proves you know how to handle this. Let me know if you need help."
"Thanks." Xander watched him trail out then looked up at the ceiling worried about Tony and Pepper, as well as the little girl asleep in the room next to him, because she was just that, a little girl. "Are they safe?"
"I have been instructed to not provide any information about either of them. But they are not dead." Jarvis said his voice still a half second too slow and distant.
Xander thought about that and nodded slowly. "Let us know what you can please. And pass on this information. We - all of us - care and are worried."
"I will."
There was nothing else he could do about that situation, so he shut it away and pulled up the phone to deal with the situation he could affect.
Two rings, and Giles picked up. "Yes, Xander she did get there okay, right?" He sounded worried, but right now Xander's mood was significantly less than charitable.
"Yes, she arrived fine. So, I assume she has had some problems fitting in?" His voice drier than normal.
Giles sighed. "She talks down to everyone and won't be in the same room with any of the watchers, always talking about how they can't keep up with her. She hides in the library all the time and has insulted every possible roommate, by refusing any social interaction and always reading something. Getting her to even bathe has been a challenge. And if anyone touches her without warning she reacts with extreme violence, which as a slayer isn't good. She broke the arms of two watchers.
Xander closed his eye trying not to scream. "Who did her intake?"
"Ummm, one minute." He heard shuffling of paper on the other end, then Giles spoke, "Here it is, Robin and Kennedy. Must have been while Kennedy was up her for a training class. We were asked to foster her by a social worker who knows of slayers. Apparently at her last home, she was uncontrollable and they wouldn't keep her anymore after she was called."
"Rupert Giles - Watcher." Xander's voice was icy calm and he heard the sudden silence on the other end. "I have requested this before, and now I am formally requiring it as a member of the Board. We will get a social worker, female, preferably one with some nursing background and she will be in charge of all intakes. I expect this to be in place by the beginning of the year. All intakes over the last year are to be reviewed and signed off on. This is a formal request by the Seer, Alexander Lavelle Harris, the One Who Sees."
He could hear the absolute silence. Xander never pulled that card, ever. But it was a right all Board members had and it could only be overturned by a unanimous vote of the other members.
"This will be done by the beginning of the year; I will notify the other members." His tone formal as he replied, then it dropped and he sounded old. "What did I miss, Xander? What precipitated this request? Not that I'm complaining."
Xander sighed trying to keep his tone level. Giles was one man, over worked, and taking it out on him was not fair. "She's been sexually abused and was required to provide sexual services for anything she wanted, like books. I'll lay you money every person she attacked was male. Giles," the word had anguish in the undercurrents, "she offered me sex, blowjobs, anything to just be able to talk to Bruce. TALK! And then you tell me about her behavior there? Yeah, she was pushing everyone away trying desperately to protect herself. We can't do this to them. They are our charges and we should have seen this at the intake, but Robin and Kennedy would be by far the most clueless about it. Though I would have expected better from Robin."
Giles sighed. "He was probably distracted, there are interpersonal issues going on."
"And I don't want to know. But this will be fixed and not happen again. She'll be fine here. I have enough strong women, and men who respect that strength that I think she will feel safe."
"Good, I'm glad that is the right place for her. But not for the reasons I thought it would be good for her. Thanks, Xander, I'll get going on this now." They spoke another minute, with Giles warning of a Buffy visit before early January and he hung up.
"Jarvis?"
"Yes?"
"Just keep me apprised please? I get the feeling Tony wants us to sit this one out, so I will, but still."
"I will."
Authors Note:
I do love this series. Swear if life slows down I'll write more on everything original and fanfic. But this is done and will be posted. follow me on Facebook if you want funny things about my series and notices - look for BadAshBooks. Enjoy!