Title: The Dopplegang Effect
Author: Becka
Chapter 11: Moments of Truth
o
After everything had died down, Xander invited Spike up to his room. They still had a lot to talk about. He wasn't really clear on why the blonde had decided to search for him, but he was definitely sick of Logan and Spike pulling all the alpha-male crap with one another and figured the easiest way to get them to stop was to separate them.
On the other hand, he was exhausted. Offering Spike the bed, he set up a blanket and a pillow on the floor. They could talk tomorrow, after all, and while he wasn't exactly sure of what was going on in the blonde's head, he did know he wanted a full night of sleep before he dealt with it.
"Night, Spike," he mumbled, and then his head hit the pillow and Morpheus welcomed him with open arms.
o
The room was cold and hard. He wondered where he was and how he'd gotten there. The metal walls and ceiling offered him no comfort, and he stared at the blood splattered across the smooth surface.
Red dripped down his face, streaking there like a sinner's tears. The man in the corner just smiled at him. "Do you have any questions?"
He did have a question, and though the man made his skin crawl, he choked out, "Who am I?"
"My precious Doppelganger, of course," came the amused reply. Then the man threw back his head and laughed.
o
With a start, Xander jerked upright. His shirt was soaked with cold sweat and it clung unpleasantly to his body. Slowly he became aware of his surroundings. The walls were plaster, not metal. The floor was carpeted. The ceiling was painted white.
He felt two eyes on him and he turned his head to stare blindly at Spike. The vampire regarded him with strangely understanding eyes and asked, "Y'want to talk about it, pet?"
If Spike had only made a snarky comment or asked him with something _other_ than that quiet voice, so much unlike the Spike he was used to hearing, Xander would have been able to brush it all off and pretend to go back to sleep. But Spike hadn't. Somehow, he'd known exactly what to say.
Xander buried his face in his hands, and whispered helplessly, "I... I don't know who I am anymore, Spike."
"You're Xander Harris, pet. Y'got a wicked sense o' humor and you're one o' the bloody bravest mortals I ever met." Spike answered without missing a beat.
The dark-haired man shook his head. "That's not it. I mean, back home I was just Xander Harris. I fought demons, but I wasn't anything special. And now I look at myself in the mirror and I can't help it. The first thing that crosses my mind is, 'Who are you? Who the fuck are you and why are you wearing my face?' I used to be the fucking donut boy. Now I have _wings_, Spike, and I can spread them and _fly_. And I can _hear_ them in my head, and they fucking hate me. Like I asked for this, like I'm stealing their powers on purpose."
Spike was silent.
The mutant bit his lip. "It scares me, Spike. It scares me so fucking much, because somehow I _know_ what they're capable of. I _know_ how to use these powers and combine them and make them do things I shouldn't be able to do. I gave Warren back his wings. I became an angel of ice."
He began to shake, so he wrapped his arms around himself and tried to keep the stutter from his voice. "It hurts. It hurts so fucking bad. It's like my body's tearing itself apart to make something new. And every time it does, every time I look in the mirror afterwards, I see me slipping away and I don't know what's gonna be left when I'm gone..."
The vampire slid out of the bed without a word and wrapped his friend in a wiry embrace. He held the dark-haired man as he shook uncontrollably and all the while he whispered, "You're Xander, pet. You're Xander Harris."
o
Some time later, after Spike was sure Xander was definitely asleep, the vampire rose and crept silently out of the room. He made his way outside and pulled a cigarette from his pocket.
"Need a light, bub?"
The blonde turned to the older mutant and smiled, all teeth, "Not from you, mate." His vampiric face came forward and he dropped his unlit cigarette to the ground.
Logan growled softly in respond.
They circled each other slowly. Golden eyes locked with brown ones, so dark they were nearly black, and the vampire and the mutant sized one another up.
"Whelp's mine," Spike said shortly. "Keep your bloody hands to yourself."
"I don't see yer name on him, bub," Logan replied in the same tone. "So, back off."
Smiling darkly, the vampire hissed, "Make me, mate. Got a chip in my head that says I can't hurt a human. But then, you ain't human, are ya?"
No more words were needed as Logan growled again and launched himself at the blonde. They went down in a blur of fists and feet, snarling like wild animals. For every punch that the mutant landed, Spike got one in that was just as good. Heavy breath for breath, pounding heartbeat for heartbeat, neither one of them was willing to give an inch. The two men matched each other evenly.
It was some time later that Logan stared at Spike, breathing heavily. His voice was tinged with grudging admiration. "Not bad. Not as good as me, but not bad."
The vampire's ridges faded away and Spike panted, "That's my line, mate."
In silent agreement, they both dropped to the ground and lay on their backs, trying to catch their breath. The blonde muttered, "Reckon I could use some help protectin' Xan-pet an' all."
Logan responded quietly. "Reckon I could, too."
"Truce?"
"Fer the moment, bub. Fer the moment."
o
Rogue sighed, blowing a tuft of hair from her face. She didn't know what to do anymore. Frustrated, she stared up at her ceiling and wished that Xander had never come to Xavier's Institute.
She _still_ hadn't had a chance to talk to Logan, and now it seemed that everyone was ignoring her in favor of that utterly infuriating man. She couldn't go anywhere in the school without someone talking about him. Even worse, they wouldn't listen to her when she tried to tell them what a jerk he was.
Professor Summers had apparently gotten over his dislike of Xander, even if his wife hadn't, and most of the boys really looked up to him. Plus, he'd endeared himself to the entire female population with the stunt he'd pulled with Warren. And with all the commotion going on, she hadn't even gotten a chance to touch him!
It was like Xander had been elevated to sainthood or something. Everyone was talking about him. Everyone wanted to get to know him better. Everyone wanted him, period. Rogue couldn't understand it.
To top things off, that morning Bobby had the audacity to dump her! All right, so maybe she'd been a bit harsh on him when she'd yelled at him for sneaking into Xander's room, but he was supposed to be her _boyfriend_, wasn't he? And he'd just gone and ignored everything she'd told him and done what he'd wanted.
So now Xander had taken both Logan _and_ Bobby away from her. He was _such_ a jerk! Why was she the only one who could see that?
Sighing again, she slipped out of her bed and pulled her gloves on. She couldn't sleep with so much on her mind, and she decided some fresh air would probably help.
Rogue made it outside without a problem. It was late, so no one was up, and she enjoyed having the whole area to herself. She hadn't gone too far when she caught a tiny movement from the corner of her eye. Squinting into the darkness, she was able to make out a shadowy outline: shaggy hair pulled back into a ponytail, a span of feathery wings - it was him!
She couldn't believe her luck. She'd finally found him by himself. It was dark and secluded, and even if he did cry out, no one would be able to hear him!
Quietly, she crept through the bushes, tugging one of her gloves off. /Just a little farther.../ she thought, extending her hand to touch him. /Just a little.../
Two taloned hands grabbed her from behind, and before she could cry out, one of them stuffed a dirty rag into her mouth. Xander turned to face her with a cold smile on his lips. She tried to scream as his features melted away, his body becoming smaller and more slender. The wings shriveled to tiny nubs on his back before disappearing completely, and his skin took on a metallic blue gleam. Scaled patterns pushed to the surface.
Golden eyes gleamed with an unholy joy as Mystique smiled darkly.
"Wicked girl," she hissed. "Wicked, wicked girl."
o
When Xander awoke, he realized he was missing something. Actually, if he was going to be honest with himself, he was missing _someone_. Spike had been... nice to him. And the vampire's arms around him had given him a sense of security, which had in turn let him fall asleep again. The nightmares hadn't plagued him after that.
Blearily, he glanced outside. It was still fairly dark out. The vampire had probably gone out to hunt.
Pulling himself to his feet, he decided to search for his friend. Before last night, he had known where he and the blonde stood with regards to one another, but with his gentle, soothing voice and his cool, comforting arms, Spike had turned Xander's world upside down.
He was still half-asleep, not to mention half-dressed, as he stumbled to his window and opened it. Using the ledge to give himself a push, he spread his wings and scoured the area for the glare of bleach-blonde hair. He saw a rustle of movement at the edge of the forest, and was surprised to see the tiny figure of Rogue and two mutants he'd never met before. Even from his vantage point, he could clearly tell that she didn't want anything to do with them.
Well, he mentally shrugged, he may not like the girl very much, but she looked like she could use a little bit of help. He angled his wings downwards and landed a few feet from the group.
"Midnight Ariel Police Patrol," he said in a formal voice. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to see some ID."
The blondish, hairy man holding Rogue shoved the girl towards his partner with a snarl. Xander sized him up curiously; if Hank was a giant blue teddy bear, this man was a giant blonde one on crack. He ducked away from a vicious looking set of claws and held up his hands. "Just because you're ugly doesn't mean you have to take it out on me, y'know."
Another snarl, and the mutant tried to spear-tackle him. Xander dodged a second time and waggled his finger. "Bad dog!"
The man was relentless, but thanks to the soldier in him, combined with Logan's heightened senses, he had no trouble staying just out of the furry man's reach. To be honest, it was exhilarating. All his life he'd been the token normal guy, and now he was fighting against a big, scary mutant with no problem whatsoever. Things were actually starting to look up.
He spared a glance at the blue woman who held Rogue immobile. Maybe she and his opponent weren't really working together; after all, the woman was making no move to help him at all.
Fluffy, or so he'd mentally dubbed the man, took advantage of his distraction and swiped his wicked claws at Xander's chest. They tore through his skin with unbelievable ease, and the dark-haired mutant stumbled back. The blood trickling down his chest didn't bother him, but he felt dizzy.
Xander stumbled back another step, realizing that it wasn't blood loss that was making him woozy. His damned mutation apparently had decided to kick in, and as the darkness swallowed him whole, his last thought was that he was in _deep_ shit.
o
Rogue's eyes widened when Sabertooth's claws slashed across Xander's chest. She whimpered a little, wondering if when Xander fell, that's what they'd do to her.
The dark-haired mutant stumbled back, his brow furrowing, and she realized he was having one of the blackouts she'd heard about. He slumped to the ground a moment later, unconscious.
The hair on her neck rose as Sabertooth growled again, but instead of killing Xander like she'd expected, he reached down and slung the young man's body over his shoulder. He turned towards the two women and Rogue saw a feral grin on his face.
Mystique shoved the redhead away with contempt, and Rogue wasn't able to catch her footing in time. She fell to the ground and scraped her knees against the cold, unforgiving earth.
She stared up at Magneto's two henchmen fearfully. How had they gotten inside the school's defenses? Would they kill her now? Or would they take her wherever they were taking Xander?
The blue woman made a kissy-face at her. "Wicked girl," she said again. "You're playing for the wrong team." Then Mystique laughed and both she and Sabertooth walked away with Xander in tow.
Rogue stared after them for a minute, then scrambled to her feet. She couldn't believe her luck. Not only was she alive, but those two had just gotten rid of her biggest problem for her! Trying not to grin, she turned on her heel and ran back to the institute.
o
Henry groaned, rubbing at his eyes with a hairy paw.
He'd been studying Xander's DNA for what seemed to be an eternity, and he _still_ hadn't been able to isolate the original strand. He was close, though. He could feel it.
The Professor had actually suggested it to him; after all, how could they truly understand the dark-haired man's mutation if they didn't know _what_ he'd mutated from. After six hours in front of his computers, though, he was about ready to call it a night.
A tiny beep alerted him that one of his programs had found something, and he quickly began to scan through the raw data that flickered across one of the monitors at a rapid speed. His eyes narrowed.
"Impossible," he muttered, searching the information for some sort of error. "That simply can't be right..."
But, much to his shock and dismay, he found no mistake.
o
Professor Xavier answered the frantic knocking on his door with a soft-spoken, "Come in."
"Ah!" he said, smiling as Henry entered quickly, "I was wondering when you'd come and see me. Have a seat, Henry. Would you care for some tea?"
The furry mutant shook his handful of computer printouts and responded,"No, Professor, I -"
"Relax, Henry," the older man said. "There's no rush."
Henry tried again, "But there _is_ a rush! Professor-"
"Oolong or Earl Grey?"
"Professor!"
Xavier quirked a brow and said, "I know, Henry."
"You... what?"
Gesturing for the flustered mutant to take a seat, the Professor responded, "I'm guessing that you've managed to isolate Alexander's original DNA and found two things. The first of which is probably that his mutation isn't natural; it was genetically engineered."
Henry's mouth flapped comically as Professor Xavier calmly poured him a cup of tea.
"... and the second of which is probably even more disturbing to you. Our dear Alexander Harris isn't a Harris at all. Rather, he's Alexander Lenscher, born to my dear friend Eric Lenscher and his lover, Raven Darkholme. More widely know as Magneto and Mystique."
The blue man's mouth hung open, and the Professor gently shut it with a click.
He asked mildly, "Did you want sugar with that?"
o