The Scoobie gang stood on the landing in front of the doors to the Xavier Institute. After a few moments, Buffy pointed out: "Um, there's no doorbell."
Spike and Giles both rolled their eyes in a way that could roughly be translated as "Americans!" Giles stepped forward and grasped the large brass knocker that hung on one of the double doors, banging it three times.
"Oh, right," a sheepish Buffy muttered.
A few moments later, the door swung open to reveal a tall man with red sunglasses. "Hello. You must be Mr. Giles and," he took a look at the rest of the gang, "everyone. I'm Scott Summers. Please come in. Professor Xavier is expecting you." He stepped to the side to allow them to pass. Everyone walked in, except for Spike.
Scott gave the bleached and leather clad man a once-over, before asking, "What's the matter?"
Spike smirked at the man, instantly disliking him, and instantly feeling the need to get a rise out of him. "Sorry mate, but general invites don't work with us vamps. I need a personal invitation to come in."
Scott stood there for a moment, looking slightly taken aback, to Spike's approval. "I'm sorry, did you say 'vamp?' As in, 'vampire?'"
"Well, yeah." Spike looked around Scott at Giles. "What, Rupes, you didn't tell them who all you'd be bringin'? Not very polite of you."
"No, I did," Giles said, becoming flustered. "Scott, I told your professor that I'd be bringing Spike, who, though he is a vampire, would be working with us."
"He is right, Scott," came Ororo's voice from behind them. "There is no cause for alarm." She looked directly at Spike. "Please come in, Spike."
He smiled slightly as he stepped over the threshold. "An' here I thought you didn't trust me."
"I do not," she said calmly. She turned and walked into the mansion. "If you would follow me, the professor is waiting."
As the group made their way into the foyer, it became very obvious to them that this 'professor' guy they'd be working with was a very rich man.
"This guy must be loaded!" exclaimed the ever-blunt Anya. "I can't wait to meet him if he's this rich. Ooh, honey, do you think he'll give us large sums of money as a wedding present?"
"Ahn, I really don't think--"
"Well of course you can expect a wedding present. That is, as long as we get invited," a voice interrupted Xander's chastisement.
Anya smiled brightly down at the man who spoke. He was bald, and sitting in a…well, no one was quite sure what he was sitting in, but it was floating.
"Hello. I'm Anya Jenkins. Are you this professor guy we keep hearing about?"
Professor Xavier smiled at the young woman. "Yes, I am indeed 'this professor guy.' My name is Charles Xavier, and this is my school, as well as my home. I believe you've already met Ororo and Scott. If you'll all have a seat," he gestured to the many couches arranged in the middle of the room, "I'll call down the rest of the team and we can all be properly introduced. From what Mr. Giles tells me, we could be working together for some time, and I feel I must first apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you."
"Well hey, if you asked me if I'd rather be home slinging burgers and slaying two-bit vamps or on a trip to New York, you can guess which one I'd pick," Buffy said.
Xavier chuckled. "Well, thank you, that puts my mind at ease. Please, sit."
Everyone quickly found a seat. "Scootch on over, Niblet. You know I always get to sit next to the prettiest girl in the room." Dawn grinned up at Spike, then scooted over next to the armrest. Spike plopped down next to her, stretching his arm over the back of the couch behind her. He made the fit on the couch a tight squeeze, with Giles, Buffy, and Dawn already sitting there, and Buffy elbowed him in the ribs trying to give herself some more room.
Spike glared at Buffy for a moment before turning to Dawn and whispering, "'Course that also sits me next to the bitchiest girl in the room." Dawn giggled. Spike kicked his boot-clad feet out in front of him, setting them on the coffee table, and Buffy proceeded to shove them off with her own feet.
"Do you think you could stop being a jackass for two seconds?!" she hissed. "And don't think I didn't hear that little comment, either," she glared at him.
Spike's only response was a small chuckle.
In the meantime, the professor had closed his eyes, sending a telepathic signal to the rest of the X-Men telling them to meet in the sitting room.
"You called, prof?" asked a young man with sandy blonde hair as he descended the grand staircase. He was soon followed by a beautiful woman with fiery red hair, then a dark-haired man and a woman with a white stripe in her chestnut locks. They also sat down on the couches facing the Scoobie gang.
"Yes, Bobby, these are the people I was telling you all about. They have agreed to help us with our current situation," the professor explained.
Bobby grinned widely at the group. "Well we're much obliged. Whatever these things are, we pretty much had our asses handed to us by them." He jerked a thumb towards the woman sitting next to him. "Hell, even Rogue here got whupped!"
"An' Ah swear, Bobby, you say one more word and ya'll are gonna be the one gettin' whupped!" the woman called Rogue drawled in a thick southern accent. She punctuated her sentence with a punch to Bobby's shoulder.
"Ow! Geez, watch that super strength, willya?" he complained, rubbing his now bruised shoulder.
"If you two are quite done, perhaps one of you could tell me where Logan or Kitty--" the professor was cut off by the sounds of someone bounding loudly down the stairs.
"Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry," said the girl as she skittered into the room. She was small in stature, with shoulder-length wavy brown hair. She looked to be maybe a couple of years older than Dawn. "I was just getting ready to take a shower when you called cause I mean I didn't know that they would be here so soon and then I had to find my clothes but I had already put them in the hamper so I had to find something else--"
"Breathe, sugah!" Rogue cut off the girl's ranting.
The girl took a deep breath before speaking again. "Hi! My name is Katherine Pryde, but pretty much everyone calls me Kitty."
"Hi," Dawn replied, smiling. It looked like there was going to be at least one person she could hang out with. This trip was looking better by the minute.
"Well," Xavier began. "Since it seems no one knows where Logan has gotten to, or how long he will be gone, we may as well begin. I'd say introductions are in order all around." He looked expectantly at his guests.
Giles spoke up. "Yes, of course. Ah, my name is Rupert Giles. I've studied the occult all my life, and was recruited by a Council in England to become a Watcher, sort of a teacher and mentor to Slayers. I no longer work for the Watcher's Council, but you could say I'm still Buffy's unofficial Watcher." He looked next to Buffy, who smiled back at him.
She turned and addressed the group. "Um, hi. I'm Buffy Summers. I've been the Slayer since I was fifteen. It's…like a calling, I guess." She paused, not really knowing what else to say. "Uh, I pretty much kill demons, occasionally avert apocalypses. Oh, and I've died a couple of times." She waited a moment to let that one sink in.
"Boy, that whole resurrection thing really gets around, huh, Jean…Scottie?" Bobby looked across at Scott and the redheaded woman sitting next to him.
"Very funny, Robert," she said, rolling her eyes.
"Tell me, Buffy," the professor leaned forward in his…uh, chair thing. "What exactly comes with being a Slayer? I must say, I'm fairly familiar with most types of super abilities, and the people who posses them, but I had never before heard of vampire slayers before I met Rupert. I'm quite interested in learning more about you."
"Uh, well…I'm really strong. And I heal fast. I kind of have a natural fighting ability, but I still have to train to keep myself in top form, you know, keep all my instincts honed. I can also sort of sense when there's a demon near me, especially vampires. Oh, and sometimes I get these really weird prophetic dreams when something big is about to go down. I just call it the whole slayer package," she shrugged.
"Fascinating. When you say prophetic, do you mean they're almost precognitive? Like you're seeing the future?" Xavier asked.
"Well…not exactly seeing the future. The dreams are really confusing most of the time, and by the time we figure them out whatever is going to happen is already happening. But they do help us out."
"You also said you could 'sense' demons? Is it like a telepathic connection, or..?"
"No, nothing like that. It's not anything that's in my head. It's more like…in my gut. I can just feel when they're around. After awhile, I can even tell if it's a specific demon or a vampire. And, you know, if I know them personally, I can tell exactly who it is. It becomes a very…particular feeling."
The rest of the Scoobies immediately thought of Angel, but Buffy's thoughts were focused on the vampire sitting next to her, whose presence she was always extremely aware of.
"Well, this is all just so interesting to me, but I think my inquiries are slowing the introductions. Forgive me. Please continue," Xavier said, gesturing to the person sitting next to Buffy.
He sat for a moment, before simply saying, "Spike," and looking expectantly over at Dawn.
Buffy once again elbowed him in the ribs. He glared at her, then sighed. "My name is Spike. Or William the Bloody. I'm--"
"Or Captain Peroxide!" Xander exclaimed, interrupting the vampire. Spike glared at him. "Boy, if looks could kill…oh wait, you can't even do that, can you, Spikey?" he jeered.
Spike closed his eyes and took a calming breath. "As I was sayin', I'm a vampire." He looked up to gauge their reactions, and was slightly disappointed to find not much of one. "Been around about a hundred twenty-eight years, killed a whole bunch of people, had a grand old time of it, too, until these government wankers captured me and put a chip in my head that zaps me anytime I try to hurt a human, found out I could still hurt demons, and pretty much been workin' with this lot ever since."
"Yeah, you know, except for that whole Adam thing and you trying to kill us," Xander pointed out.
"Oh, sod off, whelp. I can count more than a few times I also happened to save your sorry ass."
"Excuse me! I believe Dawn is next!" Buffy yelled, effectively shutting down the soon to be quarrel. "Dawnie?"
"Hi, I'm Dawn Summers, Buffy's sister. Only, not really because I was originally this mystical green energy that was the key to opening the door to all realities and these monk guys made me human out of Buffy's blood so that she could protect me from this skanky hobag of a hellgod that was trying to kill me and use my blood to open the doorway to her hell dimension but Buffy stopped it cause we had the same blood so she all died saving the world and after that the key wasn't in me anymore so now I'm just you're run-of-the-mill teenager," she finished with a shrug.
Everyone in the room sat in dumbfounded silence.
"Well sugah, Ah think you topped all of us on that one," Rogue chuckled.
"Yeah, and now I have to go next. Thanks a lot Dawn," Xander sulked. Dawn giggled at his forlorn face.
"I'm Xander Harris, carpenter slash construction worker slash foreman. I don't have any special powers or anything, but I've been there with the slayage since the beginning. Original Scoobie member here." He smiled at Willow, then Buffy.
"I'm Willow Rosenberg, also an original Scoobie. I'm a practicing Wicca…only, not so much anymore, due to um, personal issues." She shifted uncomfortably, then was eased by the touch of Tara's hand to hers. "I'm also really good with computers, hacking into systems and stuff like that."
"I'm Tara Maclay, and I've been a W-Wiccan since I was young. My mother was a witch also. I can also, um, r-read auras and stuff like that," she smiled softly.
"I'm Anya Jenkins. I introduced myself already, but you've probably forgotten. It's okay. The human mind is a very fragile thing. I'm a former vengeance demon, recently human, even more recently engaged to Xander. Did you see my ring?" She thrust her left hand out for the other occupants of the room to inspect. She smiled widely. "We're getting married soon. I can't wait until the honeymoon so we can have lots of post-marital sex, and then I can find out if it's any different from all the premarital sex we've been having." She looked around excitedly at the shocked faces in the room. Her smile wavered as she glanced over at Xander, who currently had his head hung down into his hands. "I'm doing that thing you were telling me about again, aren't I?" she asked him.
He slowly lifted his head from his hands. "Yeah! Yeah. It's okay, hon." He looked over at the uninitiated. "Get used to it. We're still trying to."
Xavier chuckled. "Well, Anya, you certainly are a breath of fresh air." Anya beamed at him. "I suppose I can start the introductions on our end. You already know who I am, but now I'd like to tell you what I am. I am a mutant. I was born with a genetic enhancement that gifted me with certain powers when I reached puberty. I am a telepath. I can reach into any mind and see everything that is there. I could control it if I so wished. I could control the entire world if I wanted, for I am currently the most powerful telepath in the world. I could use my gifts for great evil, but I do not. In fact, I help to fight against mutants who would use their powers for their own gain, as well as against humans who wish to wipe us out of the gene pool. I created this school to help other mutants learn to control their powers and teach them the right reasons to use them. This place is also a safe haven for mutants who have no where else to go, having been shunned by the rest of society. These," he gestured toward the young people who lived there, "are my X-Men."
Scott spoke up first. "Again, my name is Scott Summers, codename Cyclops. I can fire concussive blasts from my eyes, but a childhood accident damaged the part of my brain that would normally control my power. I have to wear ruby quartz glasses at all times to keep the power in check. Otherwise, I could punch a hole through a mountain. I was a member of the original team of X-Men, and currently co-team leader with Ororo."
The redhead went next. "I'm Jean Grey-Summers. I'm a telepath, like the professor, though not nearly as powerful. I'm also a telekinetic. I can move just about anything with my mind."
Next in line was Ororo. "I posses the ability to control the weather. My codename is Storm."
"Robert Drake. But call me Bobby. My codename is Iceman, for obvious reasons." Then, before their eyes, his entire body shifted to one of glacial ice. He lifted his hand, and an icy rose formed in his palm. He leaned across the coffee table and gave it to Dawn.
"Wow," she breathed. "That is so cool. Literally," she giggled.
Rogue rolled her eyes. "Show off," she muttered, elbowing Bobby in his icy ribs. He shifted back to his normal form and very maturely stuck his tongue out at her.
Rogue elbowed him once more before beginning. "Mah name is Rogue. Ah have the ability to absorb a person's energy, memories, personality, and if it's another mutant, powers, all through skin to skin contact. Ah haven't been able to learn to control it yet, so Ah have to keep covered pretty much all the time. The effects of the transfer are usually temporary, unless Ah hang on too long, then they can become permanent. Ah'm also super-strong, pretty much invulnerable, and Ah can fly. Those are all powers Ah permanently…acquired. When Ah touch someone, it usually knocks 'em unconscious, and if the contact goes on too long, Ah could kill 'em," she finished quietly. The dark-haired man sitting next to her reached over to take one of her gloved hands in his, giving it a reassuring squeeze. Then he addressed the group.
"De name is Gambit," he began with a thick Cajun accent. "Friends call me Remy LeBeau. I have de power to change an inanimate object's potential energy to kinetic energy. Dat would be Scottie's definition. I'd just say I blow t'ings up. I'm also a master thief, former--" He was cut off by the sudden snapping of Spike's fingers.
"LeBeau! I knew I recognized that name. New Orleans Thieves Guild, yeah? Me and Dru ran into some of you blokes when we were down there in the '50's. Happened to have ourselves a couple of Assassins for dinner and you lot came and asked us if we wanted to work for you. You one of Jean-Luc's?" Spike asked.
For his part, Remy was only slightly taken aback at the sudden recognition. "Oui. Adopted son."
Spike nodded in recognition. "So I guess that makes you their leader then?"
Remy shrugged. "Not really. More like absentee monarch. De guilds be Unified now. I left de leadin' to de former Assassin's leader."
"Oh yeah? Unified? Well finally. Always knew if you lot just got your act together you could be a hundred times more powerful if you quit your squabbling. And besides, the guilds always did treat us vamps with their due respect. Not something we forget," Spike said as he reached across the coffee table. Remy met him halfway and they clasped wrists.
"Likewise, mon ami."
The two men sat back with a mutual understanding. Don't fuck with me, I don't with you.
Spike was met with a look from Buffy that said 'What was that all about?' The look he gave replied 'What?' A similar wordless conversation was occurring between Remy and Rogue.
"Well I guess that just leaves me," said Kitty. "My codename is Shadowcat. I can separate all the molecules in my body, allowing me to sort of 'phase' through solid objects. It pretty much means that I'll never have to use a doorknob for the rest of my life. Also, when I'm phasing, I'm lighter than air, so I can actually walk on the atoms of the air. Oh, and if I phase through anything electrical, my power totally shorts it out."
Professor Xavier addressed the entire group. "Well, now that we all know each other, I was hoping we could get down to business. Have you been able to find out anything more about what we're facing?"
"Hey Chuck, sorry if I'm late," came a gruff voice from around the corner. The man who came into view was short, but extremely muscular, and he had some extremely weird hair, all pointed up on the sides.
"Logan, so good of you to show up," Xavier replied dryly. "I would like you to meet--" Before he could finish his sentence the man called Logan had leapt over the coffee table and grabbed Spike by the lapels of his duster, hauling him to his feet and throwing him against the nearest wall. Suddenly three metallic claws shot out of his left hand, puncturing Spike's right shoulder and pinning him to the wall. Spike vamped out, roaring in pain.
Everyone recovered from their initial shock and sprang into action. Shout's of 'What the hell is going on?' and 'Logan! Wolverine!!' and 'Get off him!' all melded together until Buffy grabbed Wolverine's shoulders and ripped him away from Spike, his claws tearing out of Spike's flesh with a sickening sound as Buffy threw him across the room.
"Would someone like to explain to me what the hell just happened?" Buffy yelled, trying to get a look at Spike's injured shoulder.
Wolverine climbed to his feet. "Would someone like to explain to me why the hell there's a vampire in this house?" he growled. "How the fuck did he get in here?"
"He is here because he was invited. If you had been here when I told the rest of the team about who was coming to help us with our current problem then you would have known. And you should have known better than to simply attack a man who is sitting on our couch!" Xavier scolded harshly.
Wolverine stalked up to Spike until they were nose to nose. Well, more like chin to forehead. Spike wasn't that tall, but he had a good eight inches on this guy. "I still don't like it. He's a demon. Therefore dangerous."
The only thing betraying Spike's rage was the twitching of the muscle in his jaw as he clenched his teeth and the slight flaring of his nostrils as he breathed heavily. "You know," he said lightly, "ever since Rupes told me about you lot I've had myself a bit of a theory that I've been dying to test."
Wolverine narrowed his eyes slightly, but did not respond. The only sound heard was the rising of a demonic growl coming from Spike's chest. Buffy's eyes widened as she recognized his intent, but in the space of time it took for her to open her mouth and draw breath to speak Spike had pounced, punching Wolverine in the face with such force it sent him crashing against the wall across the room.
"Mutants, yeah?" Spike said as he jumped on top of the dazed Wolverine. He pummeled him in earnest, the pure fury he felt at being attacked still strong. "Guess that means not quite human, which means I get to kick the living shit out of you!" he roared.
This time it was Spike that Buffy ripped away from Wolverine. With practiced ease she twisted his arm behind his back, kicking his legs out from under him and throwing him to the floor, straddling his back and effectively pinning him to the ground. She looked up at her former Watcher.
"Looks like things just got a little more interesting, huh, Giles?"
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Author's Note: SOOOOOO sorry it took so long for me to update. Real life got in the way, and I had a hellacious case of writer's block. This chapter truly spectacularly kicked my ass. But I felt it was necessary to formerly introduce everybody just in case any "uninitiated" were reading this fic. Hopefully, now that all that tedium is out of the way, I will be able to update more often. So tell me, what do you think about the new development that Spike can hurt mutants? Just thought it could make things a little more interesting. As always, thank you to all who do review. I realize I'm playing to a pretty specific audience, but this is at heart a Buffy story. So if like it, tell your friends to give it a try! And there will always be plenty of Spuffiness and Rogambit, so that's just a bonus!
Yapatchalata!
Coquine