LOGAN:
I was worried about the girl, she wasn't looking so good, and she didn't seem to notice. Though she hadn't been as quiet as she used to be, that so far was the only good thing about this whole deal.
I had also learned, Why she'd said loosing my temper wasn't a good thing to do. I hadn't told them yet but I couldn't use my claws anymore. They'd used some kind of acupuncture in me that pinched a nerve in my arms. They'd shoved the pins so deep in my skin that it healed up around the pin, making it impossible to pull out without something sharp. Also they took the words 'shock therapy' to heart, they called it a 'pain tolerance' test, I call it the 'lets see what happens if we electrocute the hell outta you' test. Then they pumped more drugs in me than I thought possible.
We met up with Scott, Storm and a friend they'd obviously made. The guy looked like the missing link or something. Well more like a giant cat that walks on two feet. His head was like a leopard or a Jaguar, and he was covered in thick black hair. His hands were like a humans, save for the jaguar like claws. He had at least four inches on me, the guy was huge. His feet were like large jaguar feet, and he wore no shoes, in fact, he only wore the bright red pants, which he'd apparently made a hole in for his tail. His eyes were a dark golden color and he had teeth that would put those vampires to shame. Plus he was all muscle, this was a guy that no normal person would want to fight. But me not being a normal person I was curious to know just about how well he could fight, he was big, so he was probably slow.
"This is Jag, his cell's down the hall from ours," Storm told us, the large guy nodded a greeting.
We'd ended up in a large room, full of chairs, tables and a place to get, not so appetizing food. Buffy made Lilith sit down, by this time, (even though it had been about ten minutes) the girl seemed exhausted, and didn't resist. She had broken out in a cold sweat again but I don't think he fever went down any.
I noticed Scott now had his glasses back, I guess they didn't want him to escape in the middle of the water.whatever kinda sense that made.
"Is she okay?" Storm asked noticing Lilith.
"She's got a fever, I think its a bad reaction to whatever drugs they gave her," I told her.
"I hope she'll be okay, Have you heard anything about the professor?" Storm asked.
"No not a damn thing," I said sighing in frustration.
The beast guy, Jag, looked over at me with a slight glance of accusation, "Shhh, girl sleep," he said gruffly his voice animalistic, and almost like an enunciated growl.
Sure enough though, I looked over and Lilith had her head on the table sleep. I looked over at Buffy who was talking to Scott and Mystique, "Make sure she's breathing," I said.
"She is, but I'll make sure she stays that way," Buffy replied.
"Why? Did she stop?" Storm asked.
"The last time she fell asleep, she did, woke up talking about there was no air," I explained.
Suddenly I heard Jag growl, a deep throaty animal like growl, that even made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I smelled a vampire nearby; I followed his gazed which fell on none other than Angelus.
"Hey what's wrong?" Storm asked.
"Don't like him, bad," Jag grunted, then growled more as Angelus came closer.
"Take it easy big foot," Angelus said to Jag casually.
"What do you want leech?" I demanded, he seemed happier than normal.
"Nothing much, an idle chat maybe?" he replied flippantly, then idly began to play with Lilith's hair as she slept.
{Author's Notes: Maybe its the pink tips, but Vampires seem to love her hair, I know lol}
At this I stood up, but Buffy was already there, mere feet from him, "If you don't get your hands off of her, I'm going to break them both,"
"Promise lover?" he said.
Buffy grabbed him by his shirt and threw him into a table, causing everyone to stare. Though since there was nothing wooden, all plastic, she couldn't find anything to kill him with.
"Buffy want to tell me what's going on?" Scott asked finally, just noticing her strength, and since Angelus had vamped out when he'd hit the table, he also saw that, which he hadn't before because his eyes were closed.
"In a nut shell.Angel's a vampire.and I kill vampires," she said, leaving Scott's mouth in a surprised 'oh'.
Storm also was surprised at that.
"Isn't that the short version lover?" Angelus smirked, getting up.
"Not breathing," Jag grunted.
"Yeah Vampires don't need to," Buffy told him.
"Not demon, girl not breathing," Jag clarified.
"What?" I turned around sharply and noticed immediately that her lips had started to take on a slight blue tinge. But Jag was closer, "Wake her up."
Jag nudged her slightly, then harder when she didn't wake up, then he shook her, and again she woke up gasping for air. She almost screamed seeing Jag, I guess that would be disturbing to see when you wake up, if you didn't know him.
"Hey kid its okay." I assured her.
"There was someone else, I saw him, but I couldn't see who it was," she muttered putting a hand to her head, "But there was still no air,"
Buffy turned from Angelus but not before telling him to leave.
"There was someone where?" she asked Lilith.
"I was in a dark room, there was no air, I couldn't breathe, and I tried to find the door, but I could and the room kept getting smaller.and sitting in the corner I saw someone, but I couldn't tell who it was, I was too focused on trying to breathe," she explained.
It all sounded like a feverish delirium, but Buffy seemed to be thinking it was more, unless she was just patronizing her, but Lilith would know that. Her gaze fell on Jag.
"Who're you?" she asked slightly confused.
"Oh right, um Jag, Lilith, Lilith, Jag.But we call her Lil," Buffy said.
Lilith nodded, and her gaze fell on Angelus who hadn't left.
"Why are you still here Angel?" Buffy demanded.
"Oh don't mind me just think of me as furniture, or something." He said grinning.
"Looks like we need to redecorate," Storm said slyly, her eyes turning white.
"Wait," I said, "Don't Storm trust me, not a good idea,"
I didn't want them to do the same thing to her as they did to me. I think it might kill her, hell I think they intended on killing me, but no such luck.
Storm looked at me oddly, "Logan."
"Just don't." I said sharply.
"Logan what's wrong?" Lilith asked me.
That came to me as a surprise, she'd never had to ask me that before, I looked at her hard.
"I can't read you Logan.that bothers me.I think your blocking me out." she said carefully, as if she was scared of making me angry.
"I'm not." I started but she cut me off.
"Maybe not on purpose, but you are," Lil insisted, "Why?"
"I don't know what your talking about," I snapped defensively.
"Yes you do Logan," she pushed.
"If you can't read me; How the hell would you know?" I practically growled.
She looked as if she'd been slapped, and she grew very quiet.
"See now look what you did, mate, you made her all quiet," Spike said walking up behind Angelus.
Jag gave the girl a sympathetic look, but when he caught scent of Spike he growled again.
SPIKE:
I looked him up and down in genuine admiration. He looked like he could rip a hole in the side of a semi. Actually if he'd had scales and a pair of wings, he'd look like a gargoyle.
"And who might you be mate?" I asked him.
"Jag," he said shortly, he voice more like a growl.
"The names Spike mate," I grinned, he could be really useful.
See me and Angelus we had this thing figured out, we put our slight differences aside, namely Dru, we decided we could own this place. The guards, no problem, that Mckeen guy wanted us to turn most of them. I'm not sure I get why he favored vampires over mutants, maybe he had a grudge. Though what ever the case is we intended to take full advantage of it. At the time, I knew Lil was reading me, but she didn't say anything. Apparently Logan did make her clam up. But she seemed to watch me carefully, I only flashed her a grin, that promised death if she were to say anything. She quickly looked down at the floor.
"Mate?" Jag cocked his head to the side in confusion.
"It means friend in British speak, and Australian," Lilith supplied automatically.
"Love, that would be English," I said rolling my eyes, "The language we speak in England."
"Its more of a patronizing term though he doesn't mean you guys are friends," she continued completely ignoring me.
"Not friend.Not Mate.Demon," Jag growled.
"Yeah.what's your point?" Angelus asked.
It seemed everyone else had grown blissfully quiet after Logan's little outburst. Logan had sat down but kept a careful eye on both me and Angelus. Buffy was dead set on Angelus, and the other three, they didn't seem to know what to do with themselves.
"Should die," Jag growled.
"We're already dead, mate," I replied.
After a second I noticed a group of four kids about the slayers age, nearby, that kept glancing over every few minutes. Finally a girl, came over. Oddly exotic looking girl, cute, but her blood didn't smell edible, it smelled metallic.
"Hey you guys are from the institute right?" she asked her accent foreign but I couldn't place it.
"Some of us." The white haired woman responded.
"Well we're students, but we're kind of new, so we weren't sure," she explained.
"Your Alchemy Right?" the woman asked.
Go figure, the girl had metallic gold streaks throughout her long black hair. Her honey colored eyes had metallic flecks in them, and her nails looked like they were made of gold.
"Yeah, but call me Ali, The dark, haired girl is Raven a.k.a. Huntress, The leather clad Blonde, is Blaze, but um she's a little nuts I think," she paused, "The guy, that's Sparks,"
"Tell them to come over we don't bite," the woman responded, "Most of us anyway," She looked pointedly in my direction, "By the way my names Ororo, but you can call me Storm."
Ali gestured for them to come over, they did willingly except for the blonde she seemed reluctant she held back slightly. Then flicked a glance in my direction, then her gaze slid over the rest of the group. Her eyes were like impossibly green daggers, she seemed different than the rest, unconcerned about the current situation. I also noticed she opted not to put on the uniform. Which was a damned good thing because what she was wearing now.let me just explain it. She wore tight black leather pants, and a rather low cut black tank top. Her curly bright blonde fell down her back, at the time I hadn't noticed, that she'd stopped moving and was just looking at me. I guess she noticed me staring.
She started to come over, and brushed off the protest of Storm.
"Can bum a cigarette?" she asked, "I haven't had one in like forever."
She ran her hand through her hair. I looked down and noticed I still had a cigarette in my hand. After a moment I pulled out my pack and handed it to her. She pulled one out and handed it back.
"Need a light?" I asked her.
She laughed, along with the other three kids, but no one else seemed to get the joke. She looked idly back at the others with the unlit cigarette in her mouth. She held her hand out in front of her and it went up in flames. She lit the cigarette then offered me her burning hand. I looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "Neat trick."
The flames went out, "Easily impressed, that's why they call me Blaze, that and no one knows my real name, it saves me from having to murder anyone that calls me it," she said idly inhaling the smoke then blowing it out, "Thanks for the cigarette," she turned to leave the paused without turning around, "By the way what's your name?"
"Spike," I told her.
"I'll see you around then.Spike," she said, before joining the group.
LILITH:
They all sat down and began talking about something or other, I think escape plans. I was too tired to listen, and too disturbed. Logan had really bothered me, it bugs me that he blocking me out, or maybe everyone.
What really bothered me was what I got from Blaze, nothing. But this was a different kind of nothing that what I got from Logan. Logan's nothing was like reading a brick wall. Blaze's nothing was like trying to read a book without words, there was nothing there. That scared the hell out of me, that meant she was basically a Sociopath.
"Aren't you too young to smoke?" Scott asked, coughing slightly.
"According to who?" Blaze said.
"Me, now put it out," Logan said firmly breaking his silent streak.
She only raised an eyebrow, then blow smoke in his face, "Bite me."
Logan's eyes practically burned a hole through her head. But she got up and left.
"She needs to watch who she tells that to, like Spike for instance, who she seems to have taken an interest in," Buffy said.
"No she hasn't she only wanted a cigarette," Sparks said.
"Yeah right." Buffy started but I stopped her.
"She doesn't feel anything, except anger, I got a slight hint of anger from her when Logan told her to put out the cigarette, she doesn't like to be told what to do," I explained.
"Whoa, wicked accurate, your good," Alchemy said, "So what are you like the professor?"
"No, nothing like his power.well a little," I tried to explain but I really didn't feel like it, so I changed the subject, "So what about you? Why Alchemy?"
"Instead of blood running through my veins I have a liquid gold colored bio-metal, that I can control," she explained.
She then held out her hand. The gold metal seemed bead out of her pores on her hand, then it slowly began to build up, it then began to take shape as a sphere. Then it hardened. She tossed it up and down.
"When its touching me its virtually impenetrable, and when it isn't." Ali tossed the metal ball which was now the size of a bowling ball, then kicked it, it flew past Spike's head and hit the wall, though because the wall was encased in Acrylic it only cracked the wall and hit the floor with a 'thunk', "it's still really hard."
Buffy laughed a bit, until she got an odd look from Alchemy.
"Oh sorry I was just thinking about what would happen if one of the vampires were to bite you." Buffy explained.
"Vampires, that's kinda cool and kinda creepy all at the same time.but I imagine they'd be unpleasantly surprised, When the metal's not touching me it automatically hardens, they'd have a mouth full of metal," Alchemy grinned.
"Kid that ain't cool in the least bit," Logan said rolling his eyes.
"Whatever," she shrugged casually apparently not convinced, "Hey, aren't you the dude with the claws?"
"Why?" Logan said simply.
"Cause," Alchemy said looking as if he should know, "That's awesome."
"Your easily impressed aren't you?" He said raising an eyebrow.
"I didn't say I was impressed, I said it was awesome, there's a difference," she replied.
"Yeah well the claws ain't working so well right now kid," he informed her.
The others suddenly took and interest in that.
"They shoved acupuncture needles in my arms and now I can't use 'em," he said angrily.
"Oh they probably just pinched a nerve, they can be pulled out and you'll be fine its nothing permanent," she shrugged.
"Yeah well I need something sharp to cut out the needles," Logan said rolling his eyes.
Alchemy shook her head, as if he was missing something.
"What?" Logan asked.
"Here," Alchemy said holding up an object that wasn't in her hand before.
It was a gold scalpel. Logan looked at her a moment in surprise.
"But um, your going to have to cut them out yourself, 'cause, I've heard you have a slight temper problem," she told him.
"Slight is only putting it mildly," I said bitterly. The words alone, weren't that harsh, but the caustic venomous tone I'd used was what made everyone stare. After a moment of long silence and avoiding Logan's gaze, I got up and left walking out of the room completely.
Buffy:
Logan got up to go after her, but the large cat guy stopped him, standing in front of him.
"You stay, Jag go," Jag said.
"I don't think so bub, move outta my way," Logan snarled.
"I think she wants to be alone Logan," I told him.
"Jag let her be alone, but Jag still protect," Jag insisted.
Logan reluctantly nodded, and sat down, he looked at his armed then at the gold scalpel. He then began to cut open his arm and dig out the pin, which he did with much difficulty. He kept healing back up a quick as he'd cut himself open, but eventually he got them out much to everyone else's distaste.
"So," Sparks said looking at the bloody mess Logan had left, "Whose hungry?"
Logan only looked at the kid, then there was a 'snict' sound. Logan's claws sprung out from the back of his hands.
"Now that's cool," Alchemy said in genuine admiration.
He retracted his claws, satisfied that the worked still.
"So why do they all you Huntress?" Scott asked the girl who'd been silent the entire time.
She looked directly at him, "I have an animalistic mutation,"
Her eyes turned feral yellow, like Jag's eye color, like a wild cat.
"I can see in infrared," she said then her eyes turned back to there normal icy blue color, "My senses, agility and strength are heightened. And according to the professor I have animal tendencies, like animalistic fears, instincts, like he says I'm overly aggressive.yeah right.he also said I'm territorial.its not like I pee on trees."
"Raven's very aggressive, make her mad and its like throwing a cat the size of Godzilla into water, you'd better run," Sparks explained, running his hands through his spiky jet black hair.
Raven narrowed her eyes, flashing the feral yellow color in anger, "Shut it Sparky," she snarled.
"See," he said widening his gray eyes as she took a step toward him.
"Cut it out," Logan snapped.
"Hmmm, and they call you Sparks because of something to do with electricity?" I guessed.
"Y'up I can take electricity from my surroundings and use it as a weapon, though I'm not sure they know that I take from my surroundings," he replied.
Ali sat down next to Logan, was about to out her mouth to say something when Jag came back in carrying Lil in his hands.
I was the first one up, then Logan, then Storm.
"What happened?" I asked, see the girl laying unconscious in his arms.
"She fell," he said shortly.
"What do you mean 'she fell'?" Logan demanded.
"She stand, then she not stand," Jag attempted to clarify.
Logan narrowed his eyes, it was apparent that Jag and Logan may not get along in the near future. It funny though how Lilith provoked people to protect her, it wasn't that she was weak, because she really wasn't. Even Mystique felt the need to help her, it was strange maybe there was just a vibe she put off.
"What happened, How did she fall?" Logan said very slowly articulating each syllable of each word, as if maybe Jag would miss something, but really that was just Logan's attempt at Passive aggression. Though if you ask me I don't think he's good about being passive.
Very calmly I put myself between the two, "Did she pass out?"
He nodded, and laid her down on the table. I checked her pulse to find it still beating, rather hard, in fact, her breathing was strong, so I figured it must be from the fever.
"Aww what's the matter? Is she broken?" Angelus strolled over with Spike and Blaze behind him.
"Broken?" Ali raised an eyebrow, as she stood up and went over to him.
"Get away from him, he's one of the ones that do bite," I warned.
"Does he now? Well then I'm sorry you can go any further," Alchemy crossed her arms defiantly.
"She's cute, Buffy Where'd you find her?, and let me guess she's Indian?" Angelus said smirking and patting her on the head.
"Alchemy get away from him!" Storm commanded.
"Oh no you didn't. First of all Cute? Do I look like a puppy to you? And second of all." Ali's angry rant was cut off abruptly when Angelus grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off the ground. Automatically Alchemy began to cover herself completely with the gold metal until all we saw was her golden shape, "Bite this leech."
She back handed him, causing him to drop her in surprise. I noticed her nails become sharp and serrated. She stabbed her nails into his chest, Angelus's eyes widened in shock but he knew better than to pull away because of the serrated edges.
"You know, I would be very upset if I was a bit of a masochist," he grinned despite the pain.
"Masochist huh?" Ali placed a metal foot on his stomach pushed hard, and pulled back her hands at the same time ripping her nails from his chest, tearing his skin more. All we could do was watch in utter amazement. Except for Sparks he stepped up by her side. His gray eyes taking on a silvery sheen as sparks danced around his eyes; sparks also around his hands. He brought his hands together and a stream of electricity hit Angelus sending him across the room and causing the lights to flicker.
Angelus lay on the ground, barely able to move.he sat himself up slightly, giving the two a deadly glare.
Ali only smirked, the gold seemingly absorbing into her skin, "Hey Angelus.Feel the charge," she paused and blew him a kiss "Taste the rainbow."
The two were about to turn her back on them when Ali paused again, "By the way, I'm Egyptian, not Indian."
The whole room seemed to have grown quiet. Then all the sudden laughter broke the silence, Blaze's laughter to be exact.
"What the hell is so funny?" Angelus demanded in anger.
Spike too seemed to bite back laughter.
"You just got your ass kicked," Blaze said laughing again, "By Cleopatra nonetheless,"
"You know I'm not sure whether that's an insult, she was after all Pharaoh.but on the other hand, she was also a whore, so if I'm Cleopatra.you must be Barbie's friend Skipper turned Crack-ho," Alchemy said as a matter-of-factly.
Blaze narrowed her eyes, the humor completely gone from her face, though before her laugh had been slightly hollow or dry.or maybe insincere. Whatever it was it wasn't normal, but maybe its as Lilith said, she doesn't feel anything, and if that's the case she probably fakes all of her emotions, but the anger looked real. I grabbed Ali by the shoulder and pulled her backward.
"Chill," I told her.
SCOTT:
I watched them for a second before looking over at Lilith, Jag had sat down, his back was turned to her. I noticed something odd about her, she was too still, it took me a second to realize that she wasn't breathing. I shook her in a successful attempt to wake her up. Her eyes snapped open, and she took a gulp of air, then proceeded to take quick shallow breaths.
Jag turned around his eyes wide, Storm had also come to my side.
"Hey, Are you okay?" I asked.
She nodded. I noticed now that everyone was looking now. Though I wasn't sure if it was a good idea for them to take their eyes off of the vampires.
"She stopped breathing again?" Logan asked.
I nodded.
"I don't get it why?" Storm said completely baffled, "How many times has this happened?"
"This is the third time," Buffy said.
"Because there's no air," Lilith said as if that was the obvious solution.
"Sweetie, everyone else here is breathing fine," Alchemy informed her.
"Not here, where he is there's no air," she clarified.
"Who?" Logan asked.
She only looked at him apparently still upset about his outburst. It funny because that used to be her normal response to him. So Logan did what he normally did, he stared at her until she answered him.
"The Professor," she said finally.
"What?!" Logan exclaimed in shock.
"You saw Xavier?" Storm said patiently not wanting her to clam up.
"Yes," came her short response but she didn't seem to want to say much more.
"But its just a dream right?" Logan asked.
"Not necessarily," Mystique said breaking her silent streak, "Since both of them have some form of telepathy, there minds could have formed a connection, especially if Xavier's reaching out to her, though he may not be doing it on purpose, or maybe he's not doing anything, it could also be her subconsciously searching for him."
"But I don't know where he is, I just know that there's know air but he can breath, Its dark, and he doesn't talk he just sits there like he's catatonic or something," Lil said, visibly shaken.
"Hey does anyone know if we get a phone call?" Buffy asked suddenly.
There was silence, apparently nobody had thought about that, then finally Sparks shrugged, "Doubt it,"
" I don't think this is the time for phone calls anyway," I told her.
"Actually I know someone who might be able to help, plus maybe you could call Jean, she's not here so she's got to be back at the institute right?" Buffy explained.
I was amazed that nobody had thought of that until this moment, though most of us doubted they'd let us it was worth a shot especially if Buffy really knew someone that could help.
"Well," I said, "Might as well try, What are they going to do?"
"Say know and force me to beat them senseless?" Buffy suggested.
"No beating anyone senseless unless we're sure that we can get out afterward," I told her.
"That was sarcasm Scott," she said bluntly.
"I know," I replied.
I was worried about the girl, she wasn't looking so good, and she didn't seem to notice. Though she hadn't been as quiet as she used to be, that so far was the only good thing about this whole deal.
I had also learned, Why she'd said loosing my temper wasn't a good thing to do. I hadn't told them yet but I couldn't use my claws anymore. They'd used some kind of acupuncture in me that pinched a nerve in my arms. They'd shoved the pins so deep in my skin that it healed up around the pin, making it impossible to pull out without something sharp. Also they took the words 'shock therapy' to heart, they called it a 'pain tolerance' test, I call it the 'lets see what happens if we electrocute the hell outta you' test. Then they pumped more drugs in me than I thought possible.
We met up with Scott, Storm and a friend they'd obviously made. The guy looked like the missing link or something. Well more like a giant cat that walks on two feet. His head was like a leopard or a Jaguar, and he was covered in thick black hair. His hands were like a humans, save for the jaguar like claws. He had at least four inches on me, the guy was huge. His feet were like large jaguar feet, and he wore no shoes, in fact, he only wore the bright red pants, which he'd apparently made a hole in for his tail. His eyes were a dark golden color and he had teeth that would put those vampires to shame. Plus he was all muscle, this was a guy that no normal person would want to fight. But me not being a normal person I was curious to know just about how well he could fight, he was big, so he was probably slow.
"This is Jag, his cell's down the hall from ours," Storm told us, the large guy nodded a greeting.
We'd ended up in a large room, full of chairs, tables and a place to get, not so appetizing food. Buffy made Lilith sit down, by this time, (even though it had been about ten minutes) the girl seemed exhausted, and didn't resist. She had broken out in a cold sweat again but I don't think he fever went down any.
I noticed Scott now had his glasses back, I guess they didn't want him to escape in the middle of the water.whatever kinda sense that made.
"Is she okay?" Storm asked noticing Lilith.
"She's got a fever, I think its a bad reaction to whatever drugs they gave her," I told her.
"I hope she'll be okay, Have you heard anything about the professor?" Storm asked.
"No not a damn thing," I said sighing in frustration.
The beast guy, Jag, looked over at me with a slight glance of accusation, "Shhh, girl sleep," he said gruffly his voice animalistic, and almost like an enunciated growl.
Sure enough though, I looked over and Lilith had her head on the table sleep. I looked over at Buffy who was talking to Scott and Mystique, "Make sure she's breathing," I said.
"She is, but I'll make sure she stays that way," Buffy replied.
"Why? Did she stop?" Storm asked.
"The last time she fell asleep, she did, woke up talking about there was no air," I explained.
Suddenly I heard Jag growl, a deep throaty animal like growl, that even made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I smelled a vampire nearby; I followed his gazed which fell on none other than Angelus.
"Hey what's wrong?" Storm asked.
"Don't like him, bad," Jag grunted, then growled more as Angelus came closer.
"Take it easy big foot," Angelus said to Jag casually.
"What do you want leech?" I demanded, he seemed happier than normal.
"Nothing much, an idle chat maybe?" he replied flippantly, then idly began to play with Lilith's hair as she slept.
{Author's Notes: Maybe its the pink tips, but Vampires seem to love her hair, I know lol}
At this I stood up, but Buffy was already there, mere feet from him, "If you don't get your hands off of her, I'm going to break them both,"
"Promise lover?" he said.
Buffy grabbed him by his shirt and threw him into a table, causing everyone to stare. Though since there was nothing wooden, all plastic, she couldn't find anything to kill him with.
"Buffy want to tell me what's going on?" Scott asked finally, just noticing her strength, and since Angelus had vamped out when he'd hit the table, he also saw that, which he hadn't before because his eyes were closed.
"In a nut shell.Angel's a vampire.and I kill vampires," she said, leaving Scott's mouth in a surprised 'oh'.
Storm also was surprised at that.
"Isn't that the short version lover?" Angelus smirked, getting up.
"Not breathing," Jag grunted.
"Yeah Vampires don't need to," Buffy told him.
"Not demon, girl not breathing," Jag clarified.
"What?" I turned around sharply and noticed immediately that her lips had started to take on a slight blue tinge. But Jag was closer, "Wake her up."
Jag nudged her slightly, then harder when she didn't wake up, then he shook her, and again she woke up gasping for air. She almost screamed seeing Jag, I guess that would be disturbing to see when you wake up, if you didn't know him.
"Hey kid its okay." I assured her.
"There was someone else, I saw him, but I couldn't see who it was," she muttered putting a hand to her head, "But there was still no air,"
Buffy turned from Angelus but not before telling him to leave.
"There was someone where?" she asked Lilith.
"I was in a dark room, there was no air, I couldn't breathe, and I tried to find the door, but I could and the room kept getting smaller.and sitting in the corner I saw someone, but I couldn't tell who it was, I was too focused on trying to breathe," she explained.
It all sounded like a feverish delirium, but Buffy seemed to be thinking it was more, unless she was just patronizing her, but Lilith would know that. Her gaze fell on Jag.
"Who're you?" she asked slightly confused.
"Oh right, um Jag, Lilith, Lilith, Jag.But we call her Lil," Buffy said.
Lilith nodded, and her gaze fell on Angelus who hadn't left.
"Why are you still here Angel?" Buffy demanded.
"Oh don't mind me just think of me as furniture, or something." He said grinning.
"Looks like we need to redecorate," Storm said slyly, her eyes turning white.
"Wait," I said, "Don't Storm trust me, not a good idea,"
I didn't want them to do the same thing to her as they did to me. I think it might kill her, hell I think they intended on killing me, but no such luck.
Storm looked at me oddly, "Logan."
"Just don't." I said sharply.
"Logan what's wrong?" Lilith asked me.
That came to me as a surprise, she'd never had to ask me that before, I looked at her hard.
"I can't read you Logan.that bothers me.I think your blocking me out." she said carefully, as if she was scared of making me angry.
"I'm not." I started but she cut me off.
"Maybe not on purpose, but you are," Lil insisted, "Why?"
"I don't know what your talking about," I snapped defensively.
"Yes you do Logan," she pushed.
"If you can't read me; How the hell would you know?" I practically growled.
She looked as if she'd been slapped, and she grew very quiet.
"See now look what you did, mate, you made her all quiet," Spike said walking up behind Angelus.
Jag gave the girl a sympathetic look, but when he caught scent of Spike he growled again.
SPIKE:
I looked him up and down in genuine admiration. He looked like he could rip a hole in the side of a semi. Actually if he'd had scales and a pair of wings, he'd look like a gargoyle.
"And who might you be mate?" I asked him.
"Jag," he said shortly, he voice more like a growl.
"The names Spike mate," I grinned, he could be really useful.
See me and Angelus we had this thing figured out, we put our slight differences aside, namely Dru, we decided we could own this place. The guards, no problem, that Mckeen guy wanted us to turn most of them. I'm not sure I get why he favored vampires over mutants, maybe he had a grudge. Though what ever the case is we intended to take full advantage of it. At the time, I knew Lil was reading me, but she didn't say anything. Apparently Logan did make her clam up. But she seemed to watch me carefully, I only flashed her a grin, that promised death if she were to say anything. She quickly looked down at the floor.
"Mate?" Jag cocked his head to the side in confusion.
"It means friend in British speak, and Australian," Lilith supplied automatically.
"Love, that would be English," I said rolling my eyes, "The language we speak in England."
"Its more of a patronizing term though he doesn't mean you guys are friends," she continued completely ignoring me.
"Not friend.Not Mate.Demon," Jag growled.
"Yeah.what's your point?" Angelus asked.
It seemed everyone else had grown blissfully quiet after Logan's little outburst. Logan had sat down but kept a careful eye on both me and Angelus. Buffy was dead set on Angelus, and the other three, they didn't seem to know what to do with themselves.
"Should die," Jag growled.
"We're already dead, mate," I replied.
After a second I noticed a group of four kids about the slayers age, nearby, that kept glancing over every few minutes. Finally a girl, came over. Oddly exotic looking girl, cute, but her blood didn't smell edible, it smelled metallic.
"Hey you guys are from the institute right?" she asked her accent foreign but I couldn't place it.
"Some of us." The white haired woman responded.
"Well we're students, but we're kind of new, so we weren't sure," she explained.
"Your Alchemy Right?" the woman asked.
Go figure, the girl had metallic gold streaks throughout her long black hair. Her honey colored eyes had metallic flecks in them, and her nails looked like they were made of gold.
"Yeah, but call me Ali, The dark, haired girl is Raven a.k.a. Huntress, The leather clad Blonde, is Blaze, but um she's a little nuts I think," she paused, "The guy, that's Sparks,"
"Tell them to come over we don't bite," the woman responded, "Most of us anyway," She looked pointedly in my direction, "By the way my names Ororo, but you can call me Storm."
Ali gestured for them to come over, they did willingly except for the blonde she seemed reluctant she held back slightly. Then flicked a glance in my direction, then her gaze slid over the rest of the group. Her eyes were like impossibly green daggers, she seemed different than the rest, unconcerned about the current situation. I also noticed she opted not to put on the uniform. Which was a damned good thing because what she was wearing now.let me just explain it. She wore tight black leather pants, and a rather low cut black tank top. Her curly bright blonde fell down her back, at the time I hadn't noticed, that she'd stopped moving and was just looking at me. I guess she noticed me staring.
She started to come over, and brushed off the protest of Storm.
"Can bum a cigarette?" she asked, "I haven't had one in like forever."
She ran her hand through her hair. I looked down and noticed I still had a cigarette in my hand. After a moment I pulled out my pack and handed it to her. She pulled one out and handed it back.
"Need a light?" I asked her.
She laughed, along with the other three kids, but no one else seemed to get the joke. She looked idly back at the others with the unlit cigarette in her mouth. She held her hand out in front of her and it went up in flames. She lit the cigarette then offered me her burning hand. I looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "Neat trick."
The flames went out, "Easily impressed, that's why they call me Blaze, that and no one knows my real name, it saves me from having to murder anyone that calls me it," she said idly inhaling the smoke then blowing it out, "Thanks for the cigarette," she turned to leave the paused without turning around, "By the way what's your name?"
"Spike," I told her.
"I'll see you around then.Spike," she said, before joining the group.
LILITH:
They all sat down and began talking about something or other, I think escape plans. I was too tired to listen, and too disturbed. Logan had really bothered me, it bugs me that he blocking me out, or maybe everyone.
What really bothered me was what I got from Blaze, nothing. But this was a different kind of nothing that what I got from Logan. Logan's nothing was like reading a brick wall. Blaze's nothing was like trying to read a book without words, there was nothing there. That scared the hell out of me, that meant she was basically a Sociopath.
"Aren't you too young to smoke?" Scott asked, coughing slightly.
"According to who?" Blaze said.
"Me, now put it out," Logan said firmly breaking his silent streak.
She only raised an eyebrow, then blow smoke in his face, "Bite me."
Logan's eyes practically burned a hole through her head. But she got up and left.
"She needs to watch who she tells that to, like Spike for instance, who she seems to have taken an interest in," Buffy said.
"No she hasn't she only wanted a cigarette," Sparks said.
"Yeah right." Buffy started but I stopped her.
"She doesn't feel anything, except anger, I got a slight hint of anger from her when Logan told her to put out the cigarette, she doesn't like to be told what to do," I explained.
"Whoa, wicked accurate, your good," Alchemy said, "So what are you like the professor?"
"No, nothing like his power.well a little," I tried to explain but I really didn't feel like it, so I changed the subject, "So what about you? Why Alchemy?"
"Instead of blood running through my veins I have a liquid gold colored bio-metal, that I can control," she explained.
She then held out her hand. The gold metal seemed bead out of her pores on her hand, then it slowly began to build up, it then began to take shape as a sphere. Then it hardened. She tossed it up and down.
"When its touching me its virtually impenetrable, and when it isn't." Ali tossed the metal ball which was now the size of a bowling ball, then kicked it, it flew past Spike's head and hit the wall, though because the wall was encased in Acrylic it only cracked the wall and hit the floor with a 'thunk', "it's still really hard."
Buffy laughed a bit, until she got an odd look from Alchemy.
"Oh sorry I was just thinking about what would happen if one of the vampires were to bite you." Buffy explained.
"Vampires, that's kinda cool and kinda creepy all at the same time.but I imagine they'd be unpleasantly surprised, When the metal's not touching me it automatically hardens, they'd have a mouth full of metal," Alchemy grinned.
"Kid that ain't cool in the least bit," Logan said rolling his eyes.
"Whatever," she shrugged casually apparently not convinced, "Hey, aren't you the dude with the claws?"
"Why?" Logan said simply.
"Cause," Alchemy said looking as if he should know, "That's awesome."
"Your easily impressed aren't you?" He said raising an eyebrow.
"I didn't say I was impressed, I said it was awesome, there's a difference," she replied.
"Yeah well the claws ain't working so well right now kid," he informed her.
The others suddenly took and interest in that.
"They shoved acupuncture needles in my arms and now I can't use 'em," he said angrily.
"Oh they probably just pinched a nerve, they can be pulled out and you'll be fine its nothing permanent," she shrugged.
"Yeah well I need something sharp to cut out the needles," Logan said rolling his eyes.
Alchemy shook her head, as if he was missing something.
"What?" Logan asked.
"Here," Alchemy said holding up an object that wasn't in her hand before.
It was a gold scalpel. Logan looked at her a moment in surprise.
"But um, your going to have to cut them out yourself, 'cause, I've heard you have a slight temper problem," she told him.
"Slight is only putting it mildly," I said bitterly. The words alone, weren't that harsh, but the caustic venomous tone I'd used was what made everyone stare. After a moment of long silence and avoiding Logan's gaze, I got up and left walking out of the room completely.
Buffy:
Logan got up to go after her, but the large cat guy stopped him, standing in front of him.
"You stay, Jag go," Jag said.
"I don't think so bub, move outta my way," Logan snarled.
"I think she wants to be alone Logan," I told him.
"Jag let her be alone, but Jag still protect," Jag insisted.
Logan reluctantly nodded, and sat down, he looked at his armed then at the gold scalpel. He then began to cut open his arm and dig out the pin, which he did with much difficulty. He kept healing back up a quick as he'd cut himself open, but eventually he got them out much to everyone else's distaste.
"So," Sparks said looking at the bloody mess Logan had left, "Whose hungry?"
Logan only looked at the kid, then there was a 'snict' sound. Logan's claws sprung out from the back of his hands.
"Now that's cool," Alchemy said in genuine admiration.
He retracted his claws, satisfied that the worked still.
"So why do they all you Huntress?" Scott asked the girl who'd been silent the entire time.
She looked directly at him, "I have an animalistic mutation,"
Her eyes turned feral yellow, like Jag's eye color, like a wild cat.
"I can see in infrared," she said then her eyes turned back to there normal icy blue color, "My senses, agility and strength are heightened. And according to the professor I have animal tendencies, like animalistic fears, instincts, like he says I'm overly aggressive.yeah right.he also said I'm territorial.its not like I pee on trees."
"Raven's very aggressive, make her mad and its like throwing a cat the size of Godzilla into water, you'd better run," Sparks explained, running his hands through his spiky jet black hair.
Raven narrowed her eyes, flashing the feral yellow color in anger, "Shut it Sparky," she snarled.
"See," he said widening his gray eyes as she took a step toward him.
"Cut it out," Logan snapped.
"Hmmm, and they call you Sparks because of something to do with electricity?" I guessed.
"Y'up I can take electricity from my surroundings and use it as a weapon, though I'm not sure they know that I take from my surroundings," he replied.
Ali sat down next to Logan, was about to out her mouth to say something when Jag came back in carrying Lil in his hands.
I was the first one up, then Logan, then Storm.
"What happened?" I asked, see the girl laying unconscious in his arms.
"She fell," he said shortly.
"What do you mean 'she fell'?" Logan demanded.
"She stand, then she not stand," Jag attempted to clarify.
Logan narrowed his eyes, it was apparent that Jag and Logan may not get along in the near future. It funny though how Lilith provoked people to protect her, it wasn't that she was weak, because she really wasn't. Even Mystique felt the need to help her, it was strange maybe there was just a vibe she put off.
"What happened, How did she fall?" Logan said very slowly articulating each syllable of each word, as if maybe Jag would miss something, but really that was just Logan's attempt at Passive aggression. Though if you ask me I don't think he's good about being passive.
Very calmly I put myself between the two, "Did she pass out?"
He nodded, and laid her down on the table. I checked her pulse to find it still beating, rather hard, in fact, her breathing was strong, so I figured it must be from the fever.
"Aww what's the matter? Is she broken?" Angelus strolled over with Spike and Blaze behind him.
"Broken?" Ali raised an eyebrow, as she stood up and went over to him.
"Get away from him, he's one of the ones that do bite," I warned.
"Does he now? Well then I'm sorry you can go any further," Alchemy crossed her arms defiantly.
"She's cute, Buffy Where'd you find her?, and let me guess she's Indian?" Angelus said smirking and patting her on the head.
"Alchemy get away from him!" Storm commanded.
"Oh no you didn't. First of all Cute? Do I look like a puppy to you? And second of all." Ali's angry rant was cut off abruptly when Angelus grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off the ground. Automatically Alchemy began to cover herself completely with the gold metal until all we saw was her golden shape, "Bite this leech."
She back handed him, causing him to drop her in surprise. I noticed her nails become sharp and serrated. She stabbed her nails into his chest, Angelus's eyes widened in shock but he knew better than to pull away because of the serrated edges.
"You know, I would be very upset if I was a bit of a masochist," he grinned despite the pain.
"Masochist huh?" Ali placed a metal foot on his stomach pushed hard, and pulled back her hands at the same time ripping her nails from his chest, tearing his skin more. All we could do was watch in utter amazement. Except for Sparks he stepped up by her side. His gray eyes taking on a silvery sheen as sparks danced around his eyes; sparks also around his hands. He brought his hands together and a stream of electricity hit Angelus sending him across the room and causing the lights to flicker.
Angelus lay on the ground, barely able to move.he sat himself up slightly, giving the two a deadly glare.
Ali only smirked, the gold seemingly absorbing into her skin, "Hey Angelus.Feel the charge," she paused and blew him a kiss "Taste the rainbow."
The two were about to turn her back on them when Ali paused again, "By the way, I'm Egyptian, not Indian."
The whole room seemed to have grown quiet. Then all the sudden laughter broke the silence, Blaze's laughter to be exact.
"What the hell is so funny?" Angelus demanded in anger.
Spike too seemed to bite back laughter.
"You just got your ass kicked," Blaze said laughing again, "By Cleopatra nonetheless,"
"You know I'm not sure whether that's an insult, she was after all Pharaoh.but on the other hand, she was also a whore, so if I'm Cleopatra.you must be Barbie's friend Skipper turned Crack-ho," Alchemy said as a matter-of-factly.
Blaze narrowed her eyes, the humor completely gone from her face, though before her laugh had been slightly hollow or dry.or maybe insincere. Whatever it was it wasn't normal, but maybe its as Lilith said, she doesn't feel anything, and if that's the case she probably fakes all of her emotions, but the anger looked real. I grabbed Ali by the shoulder and pulled her backward.
"Chill," I told her.
SCOTT:
I watched them for a second before looking over at Lilith, Jag had sat down, his back was turned to her. I noticed something odd about her, she was too still, it took me a second to realize that she wasn't breathing. I shook her in a successful attempt to wake her up. Her eyes snapped open, and she took a gulp of air, then proceeded to take quick shallow breaths.
Jag turned around his eyes wide, Storm had also come to my side.
"Hey, Are you okay?" I asked.
She nodded. I noticed now that everyone was looking now. Though I wasn't sure if it was a good idea for them to take their eyes off of the vampires.
"She stopped breathing again?" Logan asked.
I nodded.
"I don't get it why?" Storm said completely baffled, "How many times has this happened?"
"This is the third time," Buffy said.
"Because there's no air," Lilith said as if that was the obvious solution.
"Sweetie, everyone else here is breathing fine," Alchemy informed her.
"Not here, where he is there's no air," she clarified.
"Who?" Logan asked.
She only looked at him apparently still upset about his outburst. It funny because that used to be her normal response to him. So Logan did what he normally did, he stared at her until she answered him.
"The Professor," she said finally.
"What?!" Logan exclaimed in shock.
"You saw Xavier?" Storm said patiently not wanting her to clam up.
"Yes," came her short response but she didn't seem to want to say much more.
"But its just a dream right?" Logan asked.
"Not necessarily," Mystique said breaking her silent streak, "Since both of them have some form of telepathy, there minds could have formed a connection, especially if Xavier's reaching out to her, though he may not be doing it on purpose, or maybe he's not doing anything, it could also be her subconsciously searching for him."
"But I don't know where he is, I just know that there's know air but he can breath, Its dark, and he doesn't talk he just sits there like he's catatonic or something," Lil said, visibly shaken.
"Hey does anyone know if we get a phone call?" Buffy asked suddenly.
There was silence, apparently nobody had thought about that, then finally Sparks shrugged, "Doubt it,"
" I don't think this is the time for phone calls anyway," I told her.
"Actually I know someone who might be able to help, plus maybe you could call Jean, she's not here so she's got to be back at the institute right?" Buffy explained.
I was amazed that nobody had thought of that until this moment, though most of us doubted they'd let us it was worth a shot especially if Buffy really knew someone that could help.
"Well," I said, "Might as well try, What are they going to do?"
"Say know and force me to beat them senseless?" Buffy suggested.
"No beating anyone senseless unless we're sure that we can get out afterward," I told her.
"That was sarcasm Scott," she said bluntly.
"I know," I replied.