Title: Created not Chosen

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: None.

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Dark Angel.

Summary: Buffy has the abilities of a Slayer, but she is no Slayer. Xander knows this because they were children together, till they both escaped from Manticore. Vampires meet Transgenics. Dark Angel Crossover.

"This is Xander and Jessie." Willow introduced as the two boys sat down at the table. "Guys, this is Buffy. It's her first day."

"Oh, me and Buffy go way back." Xander said with a slight grin. "Then there was the period of estrangement when we were both growing as people, but now we're back together. Almost like old times."

"Is it just me, or are you a blithering idiot?" Jessie asked Xander.

"It's not you." Buffy said. "Though the idiot can have moments of genius. So, you go by Xander now? Only Trace ever called you that."

"Yeah, well only Trace ever called you Buffy, so I guess we're even." Xander shot back.

"Wait, you two actually know each other?" Willow asked.

"Extremely well." Buffy said. "Until we were five."

A sad half smile crossed both Buffy and Xander's face for a moment as they remembered Trace and the others. The moment was lost when Cordelia interrupted.

"Sorry to interrupt your downward mobility," The socialite said. "But you won't be meeting Coach Foster, the woman with the chest hair, due to the extreme dead guy in the girl's lockers."

Buffy exchanged a glance with Xander and he indicated for her to go. Making her excuses to the others she left, with Willow and Jessie turning to look at him curiously. Xander just grinned and said nothing.

"Alright, why can't you all leave me alone." Buffy said as she walked into the library. "A Vampire killed someone and shoved it in a Girl's locker."

"It is your destiny." Giles said as he began to face her. "You are the… wait what is he doing here?"

Giles was staring directly at Xander, who had entered with Buffy and was standing next to her.

"I told Merrick like fifty times, and now I am telling you." Buffy sighed. "I am not the Slayer."

"You passed the test." Giles said.

"That knife thrown at my head?" Buffy said with an eye roll, then pointed a thumb at Xander. "He could have passed that test."

"Have been doing that probably twice a year since I was nine." Xander said with a shrug.

"Who and how slowly can I kill them?" Buffy half growled.

"Stay on topic." Xander said.

"What do you think you are then?" Giles asked.

"And what the fuck is a Slayer?" Jessie said from where he stood at the door with Willow beside him.

"I think you all had better sit down." Xander said.

Willow and Jessie immediately went to the large table but Giles just looked at them for a moment until Buffy shot him a look and he then joined the two school students.

"Ok, Jessie, to answer your question." Buffy began. "Vampires are real and the Slayer is a teenage girl with the speed and strength to fight them. Giles here is a Watcher, they are a secret society who train and guide the Slayer."

"Emphasis on Secret." Giles muttered.

"No so much." Xander said. "The US Government has known about Demons and Vampires since World War Two. That was one reason for Project Manticore. I think proper introductions are in order."

Without a word both Xander and Buffy snapped to attention.

"Name, Alexander." Xander began. "Designation X5-008."

"Name, Elisabeth." Buffy added. "Designation X5-012."

"Oh my god." Jessie breathed. "It was real. Transgenics."

"What exactly is a Transgenic?" Giles asked.

"They are genetically engineered Super-Soldiers. Enhanced in every way." Jessie almost gushed.

"Kind of, but not really." Buffy interrupted. "Yes, we were trained to be soldiers, and yes, we are genetically engineered, but it was to add specific animal traits to humans. Feline genes for flexibility and better night vision, mongoose genes for faster reaction times, those kinds of things. The idea was not to create the ultimate battlefield soldier, though some thought it was, but instead to make a breed of soldier that could stand up to Demons and Vampires on a semi-level playing field."

"And there were a lot of… errors." Xander said. "We were part of the initial batch of fifty X5's. By the X5 stage they were reasonably good at adding animal traits while keeping human appearance, unlike the X2's and X3's. Of the initial fifty, five did not survive gestation and the rest of us were split into squads of fifteen. By the time we were three, there were seventeen left alive, mostly from biochemical mistakes that caused nasty side effects. At age five, when we escaped, Buffy and I were the only ones left of the initial fifty. Of course, by then they had latter batches they were concentrating on with some better results, but by no means 'enhanced in every way'."

"Not all the non-human looking ones were mistakes. Some were designed for specific conditions, like enhanced lizard like skin and nictating eyelids for desert combat or those X2's with gills and webbed feet for underwater operations, but I think some of the X3's were also designed to infiltrate the Demon communities as undercover agents." Buffy added.

"I think they have had as much as they can absorb right now." Xander said, looking at the three stunned people around the table.

Giles absently nodded, while Willow chewed on her lower lip and Jessie just blinked before pausing for a few seconds and blinking again.

"Mom, I'm home." Buffy called as she opened the front door and tossed her keys into the small bowl on a side table. "There's someone I want you to meet."

"I'm in the living room." Joyce Summers replied.

Buffy and Xander moved into the living room to find Joyce sitting on the couch having put the TV on mute. Joyce rose and held a hand out for Xander to shake.

"Joyce Summers." She introduced.

"Xander." He replied.

"Mom." Buffy said, getting Joyce's attention. "Do you remember what I told you the first day we met?"

A confused look crossed Joyce's face, not because she did not remember that meeting, but wondering why Buffy had brought it up.

"Yes." Joyce said cautiously.

"Mom, Xander is the other one I told you about. He's like me." Buffy said.

Seeing some scepticism in Joyce's eyes, both Xander and Buffy turned around, reached to the back of their necks and pulled aside their hair and collars. There, clear as day, on the boy's neck was a barcode, very similar to the one that was on her little girl's own neck.

"You were the one from her squad?" Joyce asked.

"Yes, Ma'am. X5-008." Xander said, not quite standing at attention.

"Do your… guardians know?" Joyce asked.

"No. They are just in it for the Foster Carer's paycheque." Xander replied.

"You are staying here tonight." Joyce said. "Anything else we can sort out later but tonight…, yes. I take it you have no issue sharing a room?"

Both shook their heads, and Buffy's eyes rolled slightly.

"Good." Joyce said with a nod. "Buffy, go show him your room and let me know if you need any extra bedding or anything. I'm going to start on a special dinner. This calls for a celebration."

"What does?" Xander asked confused.

"My little girl just got part of her Family back." Joyce said with a semi-sad smile.

TBC….

A/N: This is a setup chapter mostly. There is a lot of things that will be answered later, like how much Joyce actually knows, how Buffy and Xander got separated, more about Buffy and Xander's childhood at Manticore. Willow, Jessie and Giles' reactions to the revelations will likely occur in the next chapter. They were in a bit of shock so the ramifications of what they were told have not really hit them yet.