TITLE: Children of the Evolution
AUTHOR: Simone of the Zordiak
DISTRIBUTION: Just tell me where you put it, 'k?
DISCLAIMER: All things Buffy belong to Joss, but he's mean, so I 'borrowed' them. (I give them back when I'm finished... I swear) All things X-Men belong to Marvel... I think.
SUMMARY: Some people seem to be unable to learn from their mistakes. The Initiative is dead and buried, but they still want their Supersoldier. And so they start a chain-reaction with consequences far beyond their imagination.
FEEDBACK: Please.
CATEGORY: AU/Adventure/Crossover
RATING: ?
PAIRING: Not sure, yet.
AUTHORS NOTES: I am not a native English speaker, so I hope you will forgive me my mistakes (spelling and grammar).
The X-Men are mostly from the MovieVerse, with some mixed in stuff from the comics. I went AU after XMen Movie I, the stuff of XMen II has not yet happened in this story and I don't think it will happen.
"quote" is speech
#quote# is telepathy
Children of the Evolution
--- Chapter 5 ---
He was having a headache. Correction, he had the mother of all headaches. Too much had happened in the last few days and his mind had difficulties to work through it all. Erik rubbed his forehead, trying to relieve some of the tension he could feel pulsing behind his eyeballs. But unfortunately this only reminded him of the strange state of existence he currently found himself in. He was blue... electric blue... actually his body, if it could still be called body, seemed to consist out of solid blue energy and small amounts of this energy were constantly fizzing away from him to merge with his surroundings. It was disturbing to watch.
Someone touched him at his shoulder and he looked up questionly. It was the witch. The not-so-redhead looking witch. She looked like her body had been formed out of plants and earth and dark green energy.
"The first time in the astral plane can be quite unsettling. It is the first time you see yourself like the image your mind has of you."
She gestured at herself. "I for example, could have defined myself several different ways. I could have taken my cultural background, had it meant enough. Or, as a computer expert, could have formed my image out of ones and zeros. But in my mind I am first and foremost a witch, an earth-witch to be exact and so my form takes on these qualities."
Once more he looked at his blue hands and he had to admit that it made sense. Ever since his powers had manifested themselves, he had build his entire identity around them. And here, in this strange place outside of his own mind and body, he 'was' his power. It was fascinating and frightening at the same time.
He turned his head to the left, thinking, as he looked at the astral form of his oldest friend. It had been months since he had seen him, but he had no trouble recognising him. Charles looked like himself, only made out of colour-changing energy, a metaphor for his telepathy, it seemed. But the correctly formed image ended at his waist, leaving everything below a nebulous cloud, undefined and unformed. Charles had been in a wheelchair for so long, that his mind had 'forgotten' his legs. In its own, strange way, the form was absolutely perfect for him.
Then he frowned as he looked at the form of Xander, who was sitting straight across of him. His form seemed to be close, but not his true one, like he was wearing a costume. He turned back to Willow, to ask her about it, but she spoke up before he could ask his questions.
"It is a long story, but Xander has some trouble with his astral forms and so he's allowed me to form his essence into what my mind thinks is fitting form him."
Forms? Plural? Erik had the feeling that this would be a long conversation.
---
He had known that the man was a mutant, who of his colleagues hadn't? Dr. McCoy had not made a secret out of it. But the last time he'd seen the man, on a geneticists meeting in Switzerland, the only thing that indicated his mutation had been the abnormal long arms. He'd looked a bit strange in the tailored suit, but no one had really cared as they had talked shop, the mans mind was brilliant and that had been all that counted.
So he'd expected Dr. McCoy to look similar to when he had seen him the last time and was, quite explainable, shocked when he found himself face to face with a big blue furry creature, which strangely reminded him of the Cookie Monster from the Sesamestreet.
Sure, he was still the same brilliant mind and watching him work was a joy to behold and yet, he couldn't help but have one train of thought shooting through his brain: 'How did he kept his fur from contaminating the samples?'
---
It had been a bad idea, Xander reflected, a very bad idea to let the two men have time and space to discuss their differences. The beginning of the screaming match had attested to that. Both had different ideas how to react to the threat of human/mutant experimentation and they were giving him a huge headache. And the more the two debated, the worse his headache got and his patience grew thinner and thinner. And finally he exploded.
"You are both so wrong that it isn't even funny anymore! You," he pointed at Xavier, "think everything can solved without the use of force, while you," and now he pointed at Erik, "seem to think that physical violence solves everything! But what both of you don't realise is that this is that this is not chess we are playing, but domino and Willow and I already set the stones falling!"
With a simple movement of his hand he remodelled the entire astral space around them.
Cells with electrified glass walls, one next to the other were seaming the corridor they where standing in now. And in the cells there were the strangest things either Erik or Xavier had ever seen.
"This is a memory, the memory of a little government project called 'The Initiative'. They set up shop in our hometown two to three years ago. We first learned about them Thanksgiving day 2000 and they troubled us for quite a while. Demons and those in contact with the supernatural would disappear and we had no idea what they were doing to them. Until IT appeared...,"
A tall, humanoid creature appeared in front of them, part human, part android, and part demon patchwork.
"IT's name was A.D.A.M., Automated Demonoid Android Machine and it should have been the USA's new superweapon, if everything went like they had planned. Unfortunately they forgot the most important rule of weaponingeniering: never create a weapon that can think for itself. It killed its creators first, then it vivisected a six year old little boy in its quest for knowledge. A.D.A.M. then decided that humans were too flawed and should be replaced by creatures after his own design. It nearly succeeded."
Suddenly the corridors were full of battlenoise, soldiers and demons dying alike at the weapons and hand of each other.
"It took a very powerful spell, to merge and balance the abilities of four people into one, a spell that nearly killed us. After that debacle the Initiative was shut down, the building sealed with cement, but we, Willow and I, we knew sooner or later they would try something like that again. And we started planning, digging for information of other, older, similar projects and we found quite a lot. We collected evidence, papers, every last scrap of information we could find and we prepared."
Again the astral space shifted and now they were floating over a huge, flat plain filled with a complex arranged pattern of dominoes.
"When Willow noticed my disappearance and was informed of Riley vanishing at exact the same time, she started searching for us. Since I left a bit of my blood, sealed in a vial for emergencies, behind, she could weave a spell of mindspeech and talk to me. Together we planned and put the stones into the right pattern."
"When the undergroundcomplex was literally brought to light, the first line was set in motion."
Below them a row of dominoes started to fall, leaving new and exotic designs in their wake.
"Willow activated the second by releasing all the information of THIS project to the public."
A second line started falling, adding to the musters of the first and creating their own.
"The third was a quite visible display of witchcraft. Had the situation been less dramatic, the chosen ritual would have been another, not so dangerous one, but so they were witness of a one in a lifetime chance of watching the fracmental summoning of a force of existence... I hope Andrew and Jonathan made some good tapes of that."
The designs of this line of fallings stones looked extremely beautiful, more so than the patterns of the first two ones.
"The fourth line will be activated with the release of all the data of the other projects we know about, everything that we found out, will be made public as of today, at six a.m.. The internet is quite a beautiful tool if you want to reach a lot of people and it had already begun."
"The next one lies solely in Willow's hands. With her admittance of being a witch, with the added fact that magic is real, works and can be used as long as you have training and a bit of talent, the balance should be partly restored."
"Number six is the release of evidence that the supernatural is more than a brunch of stories. With the backup of the Initiative data, the existence of several quite violent and human hating and/or eating demontribes can be proved. If they want to hate and fear someone, let them hate a target that can actually BE dangerous for their health and existence."
"Seven will have to wait until the end of the week, I want them to have a bit of time to digest all the information. It will make it easier for me, to contact certain groups, anti war groups, human rights groups, several large student groups, we made a list of contacts to use for situations like this."
"Eight is the unveiling of the Watchers Council and their less than stellar methods and the number of slayers, American or not, that had left their live on the battlefield for those stuffy Brits, which should put one or two nice blocks into the British/American relations."
"Nine is suing the government. What they had done is illegal and amoral and they should pay for it."
"Ten finally is 'suggesting' a number of laws to the senate, equal rights, call it emotional blackmail if you like. But at that time, the public image of the USA will be damaged, their allies suspicious of their movements and reasons, the general public in hysterics, the bigger protest groups on the warpath and the pressure to make things right again will be immense."
The dominoes below them exploded into a beautiful woven mandelbrotpattern made of colour and light.
"The eyes of the world will be adding their own weight, but to not appear a hypocrites, they will have to allow similar laws and since they will be suspiciously watching the USA for some time, the politicians will have to make sure the laws are obeyed."
He settled back into a chair that had appeared out of thin air. Slowly the bright image of the dominoes vanished, to be replaced by the coffeeshop where it all had started.
Outwards he looked calm and collected, but inwards he was shaking to keep the astral image that Willow had spun for him in one piece, for his outburst of anger had let 'her' closer to the surface and he had no wish to allow the hyena out right now.
"So," he said, "any other questions?"
---
He was feeling a bit steamrollered, the beauty of the plan the two had created had left him speechless. Each part of their plan was simple, easy to do, but together they had created a net in which even the greasiest lawyer would be lost.
Erik liked it. The idea of letting humans do most of the work, of using the own expectations of them against them was great. And the fact that they would have a good guy image in the end was not to shabby either.
He leaned back in his own chair and smiled. Oh yes, he had been deaged, had quite good chances to get out of the governments watchful presence and it looked like the plan Xander and Willow had spun would work to all of their benefits. The future, he decided, looked a lot of brighter right now.
tbc
AUTHOR: Simone of the Zordiak
DISTRIBUTION: Just tell me where you put it, 'k?
DISCLAIMER: All things Buffy belong to Joss, but he's mean, so I 'borrowed' them. (I give them back when I'm finished... I swear) All things X-Men belong to Marvel... I think.
SUMMARY: Some people seem to be unable to learn from their mistakes. The Initiative is dead and buried, but they still want their Supersoldier. And so they start a chain-reaction with consequences far beyond their imagination.
FEEDBACK: Please.
CATEGORY: AU/Adventure/Crossover
RATING: ?
PAIRING: Not sure, yet.
AUTHORS NOTES: I am not a native English speaker, so I hope you will forgive me my mistakes (spelling and grammar).
The X-Men are mostly from the MovieVerse, with some mixed in stuff from the comics. I went AU after XMen Movie I, the stuff of XMen II has not yet happened in this story and I don't think it will happen.
"quote" is speech
#quote# is telepathy
Children of the Evolution
--- Chapter 5 ---
He was having a headache. Correction, he had the mother of all headaches. Too much had happened in the last few days and his mind had difficulties to work through it all. Erik rubbed his forehead, trying to relieve some of the tension he could feel pulsing behind his eyeballs. But unfortunately this only reminded him of the strange state of existence he currently found himself in. He was blue... electric blue... actually his body, if it could still be called body, seemed to consist out of solid blue energy and small amounts of this energy were constantly fizzing away from him to merge with his surroundings. It was disturbing to watch.
Someone touched him at his shoulder and he looked up questionly. It was the witch. The not-so-redhead looking witch. She looked like her body had been formed out of plants and earth and dark green energy.
"The first time in the astral plane can be quite unsettling. It is the first time you see yourself like the image your mind has of you."
She gestured at herself. "I for example, could have defined myself several different ways. I could have taken my cultural background, had it meant enough. Or, as a computer expert, could have formed my image out of ones and zeros. But in my mind I am first and foremost a witch, an earth-witch to be exact and so my form takes on these qualities."
Once more he looked at his blue hands and he had to admit that it made sense. Ever since his powers had manifested themselves, he had build his entire identity around them. And here, in this strange place outside of his own mind and body, he 'was' his power. It was fascinating and frightening at the same time.
He turned his head to the left, thinking, as he looked at the astral form of his oldest friend. It had been months since he had seen him, but he had no trouble recognising him. Charles looked like himself, only made out of colour-changing energy, a metaphor for his telepathy, it seemed. But the correctly formed image ended at his waist, leaving everything below a nebulous cloud, undefined and unformed. Charles had been in a wheelchair for so long, that his mind had 'forgotten' his legs. In its own, strange way, the form was absolutely perfect for him.
Then he frowned as he looked at the form of Xander, who was sitting straight across of him. His form seemed to be close, but not his true one, like he was wearing a costume. He turned back to Willow, to ask her about it, but she spoke up before he could ask his questions.
"It is a long story, but Xander has some trouble with his astral forms and so he's allowed me to form his essence into what my mind thinks is fitting form him."
Forms? Plural? Erik had the feeling that this would be a long conversation.
---
He had known that the man was a mutant, who of his colleagues hadn't? Dr. McCoy had not made a secret out of it. But the last time he'd seen the man, on a geneticists meeting in Switzerland, the only thing that indicated his mutation had been the abnormal long arms. He'd looked a bit strange in the tailored suit, but no one had really cared as they had talked shop, the mans mind was brilliant and that had been all that counted.
So he'd expected Dr. McCoy to look similar to when he had seen him the last time and was, quite explainable, shocked when he found himself face to face with a big blue furry creature, which strangely reminded him of the Cookie Monster from the Sesamestreet.
Sure, he was still the same brilliant mind and watching him work was a joy to behold and yet, he couldn't help but have one train of thought shooting through his brain: 'How did he kept his fur from contaminating the samples?'
---
It had been a bad idea, Xander reflected, a very bad idea to let the two men have time and space to discuss their differences. The beginning of the screaming match had attested to that. Both had different ideas how to react to the threat of human/mutant experimentation and they were giving him a huge headache. And the more the two debated, the worse his headache got and his patience grew thinner and thinner. And finally he exploded.
"You are both so wrong that it isn't even funny anymore! You," he pointed at Xavier, "think everything can solved without the use of force, while you," and now he pointed at Erik, "seem to think that physical violence solves everything! But what both of you don't realise is that this is that this is not chess we are playing, but domino and Willow and I already set the stones falling!"
With a simple movement of his hand he remodelled the entire astral space around them.
Cells with electrified glass walls, one next to the other were seaming the corridor they where standing in now. And in the cells there were the strangest things either Erik or Xavier had ever seen.
"This is a memory, the memory of a little government project called 'The Initiative'. They set up shop in our hometown two to three years ago. We first learned about them Thanksgiving day 2000 and they troubled us for quite a while. Demons and those in contact with the supernatural would disappear and we had no idea what they were doing to them. Until IT appeared...,"
A tall, humanoid creature appeared in front of them, part human, part android, and part demon patchwork.
"IT's name was A.D.A.M., Automated Demonoid Android Machine and it should have been the USA's new superweapon, if everything went like they had planned. Unfortunately they forgot the most important rule of weaponingeniering: never create a weapon that can think for itself. It killed its creators first, then it vivisected a six year old little boy in its quest for knowledge. A.D.A.M. then decided that humans were too flawed and should be replaced by creatures after his own design. It nearly succeeded."
Suddenly the corridors were full of battlenoise, soldiers and demons dying alike at the weapons and hand of each other.
"It took a very powerful spell, to merge and balance the abilities of four people into one, a spell that nearly killed us. After that debacle the Initiative was shut down, the building sealed with cement, but we, Willow and I, we knew sooner or later they would try something like that again. And we started planning, digging for information of other, older, similar projects and we found quite a lot. We collected evidence, papers, every last scrap of information we could find and we prepared."
Again the astral space shifted and now they were floating over a huge, flat plain filled with a complex arranged pattern of dominoes.
"When Willow noticed my disappearance and was informed of Riley vanishing at exact the same time, she started searching for us. Since I left a bit of my blood, sealed in a vial for emergencies, behind, she could weave a spell of mindspeech and talk to me. Together we planned and put the stones into the right pattern."
"When the undergroundcomplex was literally brought to light, the first line was set in motion."
Below them a row of dominoes started to fall, leaving new and exotic designs in their wake.
"Willow activated the second by releasing all the information of THIS project to the public."
A second line started falling, adding to the musters of the first and creating their own.
"The third was a quite visible display of witchcraft. Had the situation been less dramatic, the chosen ritual would have been another, not so dangerous one, but so they were witness of a one in a lifetime chance of watching the fracmental summoning of a force of existence... I hope Andrew and Jonathan made some good tapes of that."
The designs of this line of fallings stones looked extremely beautiful, more so than the patterns of the first two ones.
"The fourth line will be activated with the release of all the data of the other projects we know about, everything that we found out, will be made public as of today, at six a.m.. The internet is quite a beautiful tool if you want to reach a lot of people and it had already begun."
"The next one lies solely in Willow's hands. With her admittance of being a witch, with the added fact that magic is real, works and can be used as long as you have training and a bit of talent, the balance should be partly restored."
"Number six is the release of evidence that the supernatural is more than a brunch of stories. With the backup of the Initiative data, the existence of several quite violent and human hating and/or eating demontribes can be proved. If they want to hate and fear someone, let them hate a target that can actually BE dangerous for their health and existence."
"Seven will have to wait until the end of the week, I want them to have a bit of time to digest all the information. It will make it easier for me, to contact certain groups, anti war groups, human rights groups, several large student groups, we made a list of contacts to use for situations like this."
"Eight is the unveiling of the Watchers Council and their less than stellar methods and the number of slayers, American or not, that had left their live on the battlefield for those stuffy Brits, which should put one or two nice blocks into the British/American relations."
"Nine is suing the government. What they had done is illegal and amoral and they should pay for it."
"Ten finally is 'suggesting' a number of laws to the senate, equal rights, call it emotional blackmail if you like. But at that time, the public image of the USA will be damaged, their allies suspicious of their movements and reasons, the general public in hysterics, the bigger protest groups on the warpath and the pressure to make things right again will be immense."
The dominoes below them exploded into a beautiful woven mandelbrotpattern made of colour and light.
"The eyes of the world will be adding their own weight, but to not appear a hypocrites, they will have to allow similar laws and since they will be suspiciously watching the USA for some time, the politicians will have to make sure the laws are obeyed."
He settled back into a chair that had appeared out of thin air. Slowly the bright image of the dominoes vanished, to be replaced by the coffeeshop where it all had started.
Outwards he looked calm and collected, but inwards he was shaking to keep the astral image that Willow had spun for him in one piece, for his outburst of anger had let 'her' closer to the surface and he had no wish to allow the hyena out right now.
"So," he said, "any other questions?"
---
He was feeling a bit steamrollered, the beauty of the plan the two had created had left him speechless. Each part of their plan was simple, easy to do, but together they had created a net in which even the greasiest lawyer would be lost.
Erik liked it. The idea of letting humans do most of the work, of using the own expectations of them against them was great. And the fact that they would have a good guy image in the end was not to shabby either.
He leaned back in his own chair and smiled. Oh yes, he had been deaged, had quite good chances to get out of the governments watchful presence and it looked like the plan Xander and Willow had spun would work to all of their benefits. The future, he decided, looked a lot of brighter right now.
tbc