Author: dhampyrx2
Category: Crossover W/ X-Men: Evolution, X-Men comic elements Timeframe:
Post-Dirty Girls, S7 Pairings: I'm open to suggestions that don't involve
Spike, unless he reverts to his old, evil self
Summary: Xander's loss of an eye at the hands of Caleb stirred up a hornet's nest of trouble. His family is angry, worried, and happens to include several Alpha Class mutants, who will descend on SunnyDale with a vengeance to find out what happened, and take their frustrations out on the Caleb and the First Evil's hides.
Standard Disclaimer: I own squat. Several very wealthy people own the rights to Buffy, X-men, and any other character I may throw in. I make no money off of this. Nobody else try to do it either.
Distribution: You want it, Just ask.
*****
Prologue
Beep, Beep, Beep.
The incessant sound of a heart monitor was Alexander's Harris' constant companion as he sat up in his bed in Sunnydale hospital. His hand idly stroked the mass of bandages wrapped around his head, protecting the now empty eye socket from infection. He looks to the chair at his right, and tries to grin at the sight of his oldest friend, Willow, sleeping there, a small line of drool falling down her chin. He fails at his attempt to smile. Instead he begins to brood over how he came to his current situation. Here he was a seven year veteran of the war against the things that go bump in the night, and he'd finally had his first serious injury. He and his friends had finally encountered something his mutations couldn't shield them from, at least partially.
Not that any of them but Willow knew he was a mutant. He wasn't ashamed of what he was, but he didn't advertise it either. It just never came up. Unlike most of his family, his REAL family, not the Harris', his gifts weren't obvious, even when he was using them to their fullest extent. So, he never bothered to bring them up. Besides, with parents that were famous heroes like his, announcing who he was would have been like painting a huge target on his back for every wannabe super villain out there from Mr. Sinister to his Uncle Graydon. He'd have lost the safety of the anonymity that the 'Dale provided, and would have had to trade it for the life of an X-man.
His ability to read, analyze, and exploit probabilities if he stopped to think about them really just made him seem occasionally insightful. So what if they bordered on a form of precognition? In the end, they just made him a tactical recourse, and if he mentioned them, he was certain Buffy and Giles would have tried to keep him out of the fight even more, to protect his 'insight'. Heh, the very gift they would have wanted to protect helped him deduce that. He'd have never convinced them that he was needed in every major fight they faced to actively enforce damage control, and try to nudge things toward the best case scenario, in a sort of slow, mundane version of his mother's probability affecting powers.
As for his other gift, well his immunity to most active powers saved his hide on more than one occasion, that was true, but it wasn't foolproof. Sure, his body specific nullifying field protected him from the magic power ups to Olaf's troll hammer and his increased strength, making it seem like a regular large human hit him; not to mention stopping Willow's stream of power when she went nuts. Those were all well and good. But he had limits. He could take a punch from the Juggernaut, and feel like plain old Cain Marco had hit him, but it Juggsy threw a car at him, instead of directly applying his power, Xander was as good as dead.
There was also his other limit. He had no power, either nullifying or precognition, over natural forces. So, if someone like Storm hit him with lightning, a natural force, you'd have Kentucky Fried Zeppo. That's why he didn't challenge Glory one on one. A goddess, even a hell goddess, was an embodiment of natural order. He was just a plain flatscan against someone like her. Although, Xander had to admit he was getting ready to try his luck testing that theory toward the end.
It was that same limit that led to the debacle the other night, as far as he was concerned. The First was a manifestation of a natural force, so Xander couldn't predict what it could do. At best, he could get a few minutes of insight into what Caleb was trying, if he was there to read the probability factors. Well, he could read the Bringers and Turok-Han easily enough, although those were mixed blessings. He told Willow he was totally blind against the First. How could he tell her he had willingly sacrificed his eye to save Kennedy? That he knew going in what would happen, and that if they didn't do that stupid attack, then in a couple of days, the Bringers and Turok-Han would storm the house to attempt to further demoralize them, and that the loss of life would be nearly triple what they had suffered?
Caleb had called him "The One Who Sees." A truly inspiring way to say, "the poor mutie stuck in a rock and a hard place. Bah, why did that stupid hick's empowerment by the First have to override his abilities? Even if it meant coming clean over who he was, Xander would have been glad to feed that stupid cornfed preacher his teeth in a fair fight. But, it did override him, and he had been at Caleb's mercy. Xander continued to brood, unwilling to do what he knew could turn the tide of the war, and yes, it was truly a war this time. He would not endanger his family by calling them to the Hellmouth. Not until he had exhausted every other option available to them.
*****
The nurse on duty at Sunnydale General hung up the phone after what looked like a heated conversation. She had just informed Xander's biological parents of his condition, and all but insisted they get here to help him. She was clearly irate, but quickly schooled her features as she made her way toward the room of the patient in question. It was time to clean out his wound again, and she had done some creative scheduling to be the one to do it tonight. *After all, *, she thought wryly as her eyes flashed into a pupiless yellow for a moment, before returning to a common brown, *a Grandmother is supposed to help soothe her grandchild when he hurts himself. *
With that thought, Mystique had to suppress a grin, before she knocked on the door to Xander's room, looking forward to (in spite of both the situation, and herself) actually talking to the boy for the first time in years, instead of just periodically checking in on him from afar.
Chapter 1
The relatively polite knock jarred Xander out of his musings, and woke up Willow, who let out an unladylike snort and a mumbled "comein" as she tried to regain coherency. The mutant carpenter looked at the clock on the wall, which read 2:00am...time to clean his eye out...yay.
"Looks like it's socket detail time, Will," he said resignedly, as the nurse entered. He glanced at the woman and nearly startled at the sight of her. Not that she was particularly beautiful. She seemed made to blend into a crowd in fact. Her appearance was wholly plain. Still something about her caused a near-reaction in him.
Willow sensed Xander's surprise. She had known him since kindergarten, and could read him as easily as anyone. Once, when they were all younger and more innocent, Jesse, the long dead third in their childhood escapades, had jokingly said that reading Xander was Willow's special power to match their friend's mutant ones. The thought brought a small grin to her face for a second. She was no mutant, kick-ass Wicca powers aside, she was human. But a Willow knew her Xander. They were closer than siblings now, almost like twins in how they could read one another. Either would do anything to help the other without a second thought.
"Time to clean your eye, Mr. Harris," the nurse said, her voice full of the false cheer that seemed to be a requirement for the nursing profession.
The sound of the woman's voice caused Willow to frown as she recalled the cause of her trip down memory lane. Xander seemed to react strangely to this woman. Willow stood, and was about to say it was OK, and that she'd clean her oldest friend's eye out, when that friend chose to interrupt her before she had the chance.
"It's alright, Willow. I'm just a little jumpy. If she was here to cause trouble, I'm sure she'd do it without carrying eye-wash and sterile pads," Xander said wryly, appearing to be mildly amused at his friend's sudden jump to both his defense, and some conclusions. "In fact, I'd rather you not see me all missing eye-y right now, Will. Not a pretty sight, I'm sure. Why don't you check on the other girls we helped after that...pileup on the freeway that sent us all to the hospital and let the nice lady do her job," he added, remembering their cover story for the multitude of injuries he and the potentials sustained.
Willow nearly balked at his suggestion until she saw the look in his eye. He really didn't want to expose her to his wound. Xander was always sweet like that. She was about to say it was alright when the nurse chimed in again.
"Yes, my dear. Your brother is right. You stretch your legs and we'll take care of things, no problem."
Willow looked like she would still argue for a moment, before finally relenting. "Alright, I'll see how Rona and the others are. Faith could probably use some coffee right about now anyway. I'll be back to sit with you in a little while, Xander," she said, never even thinking to dispute the 'brother' comment. They gave off that kind of vibe around each other.
"You're the best, Will.", he answered, grinning at her as she left the room and closed the door behind her. Once he was sure she was gone, his demeanor changed, and he let out a resigned sigh as he said, "Hi, Nana Raven. Or would you prefer Mystique?"
The nurse jumped slightly, startled for a moment, before setting aside her supplies and reverting to her natural form. Mystique had returned to her roots, as far as clothing was concerned, once again donning the flowing white dress with golden skull accents she had worn before the long ago debacle at Asteroid M. She smiled wryly at her grandson, crossing her arms in annoyance as she looked him over.
"How did you know it was me?", she asked, unsure whether to be upset at her quick discovery, or proud of her eldest grandchild for ferreting her out so easily.
"Your wearing the same form you used to when you used to sneak in visits when I was little, your voice is the same, and...I used my precog to analyze who would show up first."
Raven Darkholme smiled proudly at the young man on the bed in front of her, idly stroking his hair as she said, "You always were brighter than you let on. Your father was like that in high school too, you know. And you can call me Nana, if you still really want to. Although I'll gut anyone but you or T.J. that makes one comment over it." Her voice was deadly serious at the end, reminding anyone who heard her that she was a dangerous assassin and terrorist, grandmotherly instincts aside.
Xander endured the doting gesture, knowing his often seemingly cold-hearted grandmother was truly concerned if she would let her guard down this much in a place she could potentially be seen. "I'd be insulted if I didn't know about how you used hack my grades then drop hints to dad and Auntie to get me a tutor, during fights with the X-men. At least I know you care.", he replied, taking her hand from his head and patting it gently.
Mystiques face split into what many would have called a sinister cousin of the 'Xander-grin' as she replied, "You know that was as much to annoy your mother and Logan, as it was to help you, boy."
Xander's own gentler grin answered hers. "Yeah, I know."
They shared the tender moment for a few seconds, before Mystique pulled her hand away, and began to remove Xander's bandages. People would get suspicious if they weren't changed, and she'd be damned if her grandchild would get sick from an infection because they spent all their time acting mushy. Her eyes grew hard as she saw the wound up close for the first time. She'd seen and done some nasty things in her life, but the way the eye was poked out had been exceptionally brutal. Someone like Sabretooth would have loved it.
"What the hell happened? And don't give me that pile-up nonsense.", she hissed, her voice stern with maternal authority.
"We were fighting some asshole preacher with a yen to hurt women. He has an empowerment from an elemental force, which cancels my nullifying field, and a...friend of Willow's was going to die if I didn't do something.", he answered, his voice now nearly monotone.
Mystique fumed at the thought of someone hurting her family like this, and at the thought of Xander sacrificing himself to save his little friend's girlfriend, as she continued to clean out the injury. After a moment to think things over she asked, "What about your precog? Why couldn't you avoid this?", she asked, her voice low and frustrated. To think he was hurt over an out of control witch, her flatscan Slayer wannabe play toy, and the mismanagement of that blonde airhead he followed around all the time bothered the blue woman to no end.
Xander shrugged as he replied, "The First Evil, the elemental force I mentioned, is beyond my ability to read. Caleb's power comes from it, so I can't read him either. By the time I could get a read on any probabilities, my loosing an eye was the best case scenario. It was literally leading to world-ending scenarios if I looked out only for myself."
Mystique calmed her ire at her grandson's friends as he said that. She knew Alex always looked at the big picture. With his gifts, he couldn't help but look at the big picture. If he said it was needed, she knew she had to trust his judgment in that, whether she liked it or not. Hell, his ability to thwart prophecies and help avert Apocalypses on this god- forsaken Hellmouth is what kept his grandfather, Magneto, from harassing the boy to exploit his gifts for the 'good of mutant kind'. Erik knew that if the world ended, there was no 'mutant kind' anymore. So, he left Xander to his own devices. Still, she'd be glad when the rest of his family arrived help the boy through this.
Xander noticed the look in his Nana's pupiless yellow eyes as she finished cleaning his eye, and began to put on a new dressing to the wound. "You called them.", he said flatly.
"They deserved to know, and you need the help here. Potential Slayers are still just flatscans until that Faith girl dies. And then only one becomes remotely useful."
Her answer told Xander that she had been in town checking up on him for a while, and probably understood the situation as well as anyone. That didn't stop him from getting upset as he hissed, "I don't want them risking themselves here. Especially Talia. This is my area to deal with. I don't want them exposed to the things we face here. They have enough to deal with already. I want my family safe. Including YOU, Nana."
"That's our choice, Alex, not yours. Either way, they'll be here tomorrow morning. Get used to it.", she replied with another of her evil Xander- grins, as she finished bandaging him up and reassumed her 'generic nurse form'.
Xander would have argued further, had Faith not entered the room a moment after Raven had changed into her disguise again. The sultry Dark Slayer had a coffee in her hand as she walked past Mystique without a word and took Willow's former seat.
"Hey, Boytoy. Red looked way wiped so I convinced B to watch the kiddies for a while, and asked Kennedy to help Red get some rest. Anyway, that means we get to hang for a couple of hours and catch up. You feel up for it?", Faith asked, trying to remain cool and calm as she talked to someone she had tried to kill the last time she had seen him, well in her own body, anyway.
Xander smiled in a way that showed she had nothing to feel nervous about as he said, "Five-by-Five, Faith. I was just saying goodbye to nurse Darkholme here." He had used Mystique's real last name, knowing that only Willow would have ever recognized it, now that Jesse was gone, but that it would annoy Mystique regardless of the safety involved in using it.
Raven nodded curtly to the young man, knowing he was goading her. She settled on a final jab to try to embarrass the young mutant as she headed toward the door. "Yes, well goodbye then, Mr. Harris. Try not to...exert yourself with your pretty young girlfriend.", she said, smirking with her back tuned to them as she exited before her grandson could reply. It was all she could do to keep from laughing as she heard the Dark slayer begin to tease Xander about telling stories to inflate his own reputation, followed by some innuendo that would make most grandmothers blush crimson. Good thing for her Raven Darkholme wasn't most grandmothers.
*You know, I rather like that girl. And as a Slayer, at least she isn't totally useless.*, Raven thought to herself as she exited the hospital. She then checked for onlookers, before changing into a large raven, and perching in a tree that overlooked Xander's window, watching as the boy blushed deeply as he talked to Faith. She would stand guard over him in the shadows until the X-men arrived. After all, he was family.
*****
The Xavier Institute in Bayville, New York, was in chaos as a result of Mystique's call. And while the more sarcastic members of the household, (i.e. Logan) would say that ANY contact with the shapeshifter would inevitably lead to trouble and confusion, this was still considered a special case. Someone very dear to several of the X-men had been maimed, and it was Mystique who had called to inform them. Not only that, she had all but insisted they come to California to assist that person. This led to several factors that caused the elevated chaos throughout the mansion.
Logan, known as the Wolverine, snarled at anyone but those who were slotted for the mission, those close to Xander, and popped his adamantium claws with even less than usual provocation. Tabitha "Meltdown" Smith scared more than one Institute student with her unnaturally serious demeanor. Rogue just looked like a reincarnation of her normally angry teenaged self, as she muttered an occasional "You'd better watch him, Momma", under her breath as she got ready to leave.
Lights flickered on and off, and small appliances and trinkets spontaneously exploded as a frantic Wanda Maximoff-Wagner, also know as the Scarlet Witch, formerly of both the Brotherhood of evil mutants; and later on, with much greater accolades and world recognition, with the hero team the Avengers, ran around the house alerting her current team, the X-men, of Xander's condition. One would be hard pressed to ignore that the light flickering and explosions all seemed to coincide with her stopping to either fret frantically, or more often, mutter death threats and promises of retribution against anyone who hurt the young man.
Another contributing factor to the sense of disarray within the home of the famous X-Men was the growing cloud of smoke caused by Wanda's husband of sixteen years, Kurt Wagner, also known as Nightcrawler, former founder and leader of the European team Excalibur, before he returned to the States, and the X-Men, as he teleported seemingly endlessly. As he teleported, making arrangements for their impromptu trip, he muttered to himself in his native German, usually in a far more self-reproving tone than his wife. One who understood German, as many of the X-Men could, would be able to translate his mutterings into a combination of self-recriminations for not being there for Xander, prayers for the safety of both young Alex Harris, and Mystique, prayers that his often self-centered mother, the aforementioned Mystique, watched out for Xander, and calming words toward his wife when her Hex Powers began to grow serious enough that they might delay the couple from getting ready to leave.
*****
From a corner in the hanger where the most recent incarnation of the Blackbird Class 'X-jet' was being prepared for flight, fifteen year-old Talia Josephine Wagner watched with thinly veiled concern as her parents went though yet another emotional mini-breakdown, before continuing their preparations. She was as worried over Xander as anyone, he was her older brother after all, but she was trying to keep her head about things. She suspected that a great deal of the emotional fallout happening now was a result of the tumultuous circumstances around Xander's birth, and the reasons he did not currently, nor had he ever, held a permanent residence with the X-men.
Talia still shuddered whenever she thought of the circumstances of her beloved sibling's conception and birth. About how her parents had dated secretly in high school, since they had been on opposing groups of the early Mutant Rights movements, with different views on how to deal with flatscan, or regular, humans. The Romeo and Juliet quality didn't bother the teenager, though. The fact that her parents had sex at that age, and that her mother gave birth to Alex at only seventeen is what gave T.J. the willies. Her mother had freaked out, as her youth and her powers had already left the Scarlet Witch emotionally unstable, and fled to California to have the baby in secret, giving him up for adoption soon after.
Kurt hadn't even known he was a father until the two had met again for the first time since the night she left. By then Wanda was an Avenger, Kurt was in Excalibur, and poor Xander was five years old. Talia's mother confessed what she had done in tears, sure that Kurt would never forgive her for giving their son away, a fact that still tore at her heart even today. Kurt, however, just asked where Xander was, and if they could see him. He would later confess, that while he had been upset, he was glad Xander had something approaching a normal childhood, and that he had never stopped loving Wanda. That love, rekindled as they tracked down her brother's trail through the foster care system in California, led to their eventual marriage, and Talia's own birth.
Xander had remained in California, in the small suburb of Sunnydale, at his own choice, and with the reluctant blessing of his parents even after they finally tracked him down. Talia had been a year old, which meant Xander was eight, by the time her family found him. The boy, already showing his gift of tactical precognition at that early age, something believed to be due to his status as a third generation mutant, had stated that he would be a target for very bad people should his famous family reclaim him full time. Not only that, but also his friends and his foster family would eventually be targeted and killed. Xander, even then suffering from a White Knight complex that many accused his father of contributing to the boy's DNA, could not let that happen.
Oh, they visited him often from the time he was located, since he didn't stay with them. He even discreetly visited the Institute on occasion over the summers, including his longest stay ever a couple of years ago, when he claimed he had been in Oxnard with car trouble for the whole trip(complete with an added cover story about working as a male stripper, that "Aunt" Tabby, the former Boom-Boom, now called Meltdown, had come up with for him behind their parents' backs). That was a fun time for the girl, who adored her older brother whole-heartedly.
She often envied him his life without the dangers of the X-mansion, and his ability to pass as normal in the human world, something she could never have. Talia had inherited her father's appearance, including elfin ears, three-fingered hands, digigrade legs, two toed feet, a prehensile tail, yellow eyes, and fangs. Her blue skin, while not furry like Kurt's, was a shade or two lighter than her grandmother's similarly blue skin, and marked her as a mutant as well. Her appearance, and the rather public courtship her parents endured as celebrities in adulthood, meant T.J. would never enjoy her brother's anonymity.
Another part of T.J., codenamed Nocturne, had just wanted Xander to say to heck with normalcy, and come live with her and their parents. Once, as Xander got older and started to attend High School, it looked like that might have happened, when something unforeseen reared its ugly head, the Hellmouth. The moment he knew what went on at night, and what was at stake, Xander Harris(who should change his name to Wagner in T.J.'s humble opinion), ever the White Knight, could not abandon his friends, his town, or the world.
And so it went, Xander fought his war against the night with the Slayer and her ilk, using his mutant gifts to quietly nudge things in the favor of the living, and the X-Men fought their own battles centered over rogue mutants, aliens, the FoH(stupid Uncle Graydon), and the like. Talia knew Xander would never join the X-men as long as Sunnydale needed him, and he was adamant about keeping them safe from the added dangers of his life, so she couldn't fight by his side there either.
*Of course that's all changed now*, Talia Josephine muses in her head as she boards the X-Jet with the others that were going, among them Xander's and her godfather, Wolverine, their Aunt Rogue, "Aunt" Tabby, and their parents, of course. *Xander's been hurt bad, and respecting his insane need to protect us ended when Grandma(only Xander dared to call her Nana, even if T.J. was allowed to crack a few jokes about it here and there) called _us_ from a hospital to let us know what was going on. We're helping him this time, whether he likes it or not.*, she thought to herself as she strapped in. Despite the fact that those in the now taxiing jet knew the blue assassin had a soft spot for her children and grandchildren, the fact that Mystique voluntarily called the X-Men for help, meant all bets were off.
Talia looked over to her fretting parents from her seat on the jet. Her mother was crying again, her face was wrought with old guilt, and new pain, and raw anger. The 'elfette' as some jokingly called her, until she caught them at it, that is, idly felt a stab of near-pity for whoever was stupid enough hurt her brother. There was going to be hell to pay over it.
"Hang tight, big brother, we're going to be there for you.", the girl whispered, her voice flinty and concerned all at once, as she spoke.
Logan, was the only one that heard the girl, and grunted his approval at the sentiment as he flew the Blackbird to Sunnydale.
*****
Summary: Xander's loss of an eye at the hands of Caleb stirred up a hornet's nest of trouble. His family is angry, worried, and happens to include several Alpha Class mutants, who will descend on SunnyDale with a vengeance to find out what happened, and take their frustrations out on the Caleb and the First Evil's hides.
Standard Disclaimer: I own squat. Several very wealthy people own the rights to Buffy, X-men, and any other character I may throw in. I make no money off of this. Nobody else try to do it either.
Distribution: You want it, Just ask.
*****
Prologue
Beep, Beep, Beep.
The incessant sound of a heart monitor was Alexander's Harris' constant companion as he sat up in his bed in Sunnydale hospital. His hand idly stroked the mass of bandages wrapped around his head, protecting the now empty eye socket from infection. He looks to the chair at his right, and tries to grin at the sight of his oldest friend, Willow, sleeping there, a small line of drool falling down her chin. He fails at his attempt to smile. Instead he begins to brood over how he came to his current situation. Here he was a seven year veteran of the war against the things that go bump in the night, and he'd finally had his first serious injury. He and his friends had finally encountered something his mutations couldn't shield them from, at least partially.
Not that any of them but Willow knew he was a mutant. He wasn't ashamed of what he was, but he didn't advertise it either. It just never came up. Unlike most of his family, his REAL family, not the Harris', his gifts weren't obvious, even when he was using them to their fullest extent. So, he never bothered to bring them up. Besides, with parents that were famous heroes like his, announcing who he was would have been like painting a huge target on his back for every wannabe super villain out there from Mr. Sinister to his Uncle Graydon. He'd have lost the safety of the anonymity that the 'Dale provided, and would have had to trade it for the life of an X-man.
His ability to read, analyze, and exploit probabilities if he stopped to think about them really just made him seem occasionally insightful. So what if they bordered on a form of precognition? In the end, they just made him a tactical recourse, and if he mentioned them, he was certain Buffy and Giles would have tried to keep him out of the fight even more, to protect his 'insight'. Heh, the very gift they would have wanted to protect helped him deduce that. He'd have never convinced them that he was needed in every major fight they faced to actively enforce damage control, and try to nudge things toward the best case scenario, in a sort of slow, mundane version of his mother's probability affecting powers.
As for his other gift, well his immunity to most active powers saved his hide on more than one occasion, that was true, but it wasn't foolproof. Sure, his body specific nullifying field protected him from the magic power ups to Olaf's troll hammer and his increased strength, making it seem like a regular large human hit him; not to mention stopping Willow's stream of power when she went nuts. Those were all well and good. But he had limits. He could take a punch from the Juggernaut, and feel like plain old Cain Marco had hit him, but it Juggsy threw a car at him, instead of directly applying his power, Xander was as good as dead.
There was also his other limit. He had no power, either nullifying or precognition, over natural forces. So, if someone like Storm hit him with lightning, a natural force, you'd have Kentucky Fried Zeppo. That's why he didn't challenge Glory one on one. A goddess, even a hell goddess, was an embodiment of natural order. He was just a plain flatscan against someone like her. Although, Xander had to admit he was getting ready to try his luck testing that theory toward the end.
It was that same limit that led to the debacle the other night, as far as he was concerned. The First was a manifestation of a natural force, so Xander couldn't predict what it could do. At best, he could get a few minutes of insight into what Caleb was trying, if he was there to read the probability factors. Well, he could read the Bringers and Turok-Han easily enough, although those were mixed blessings. He told Willow he was totally blind against the First. How could he tell her he had willingly sacrificed his eye to save Kennedy? That he knew going in what would happen, and that if they didn't do that stupid attack, then in a couple of days, the Bringers and Turok-Han would storm the house to attempt to further demoralize them, and that the loss of life would be nearly triple what they had suffered?
Caleb had called him "The One Who Sees." A truly inspiring way to say, "the poor mutie stuck in a rock and a hard place. Bah, why did that stupid hick's empowerment by the First have to override his abilities? Even if it meant coming clean over who he was, Xander would have been glad to feed that stupid cornfed preacher his teeth in a fair fight. But, it did override him, and he had been at Caleb's mercy. Xander continued to brood, unwilling to do what he knew could turn the tide of the war, and yes, it was truly a war this time. He would not endanger his family by calling them to the Hellmouth. Not until he had exhausted every other option available to them.
*****
The nurse on duty at Sunnydale General hung up the phone after what looked like a heated conversation. She had just informed Xander's biological parents of his condition, and all but insisted they get here to help him. She was clearly irate, but quickly schooled her features as she made her way toward the room of the patient in question. It was time to clean out his wound again, and she had done some creative scheduling to be the one to do it tonight. *After all, *, she thought wryly as her eyes flashed into a pupiless yellow for a moment, before returning to a common brown, *a Grandmother is supposed to help soothe her grandchild when he hurts himself. *
With that thought, Mystique had to suppress a grin, before she knocked on the door to Xander's room, looking forward to (in spite of both the situation, and herself) actually talking to the boy for the first time in years, instead of just periodically checking in on him from afar.
Chapter 1
The relatively polite knock jarred Xander out of his musings, and woke up Willow, who let out an unladylike snort and a mumbled "comein" as she tried to regain coherency. The mutant carpenter looked at the clock on the wall, which read 2:00am...time to clean his eye out...yay.
"Looks like it's socket detail time, Will," he said resignedly, as the nurse entered. He glanced at the woman and nearly startled at the sight of her. Not that she was particularly beautiful. She seemed made to blend into a crowd in fact. Her appearance was wholly plain. Still something about her caused a near-reaction in him.
Willow sensed Xander's surprise. She had known him since kindergarten, and could read him as easily as anyone. Once, when they were all younger and more innocent, Jesse, the long dead third in their childhood escapades, had jokingly said that reading Xander was Willow's special power to match their friend's mutant ones. The thought brought a small grin to her face for a second. She was no mutant, kick-ass Wicca powers aside, she was human. But a Willow knew her Xander. They were closer than siblings now, almost like twins in how they could read one another. Either would do anything to help the other without a second thought.
"Time to clean your eye, Mr. Harris," the nurse said, her voice full of the false cheer that seemed to be a requirement for the nursing profession.
The sound of the woman's voice caused Willow to frown as she recalled the cause of her trip down memory lane. Xander seemed to react strangely to this woman. Willow stood, and was about to say it was OK, and that she'd clean her oldest friend's eye out, when that friend chose to interrupt her before she had the chance.
"It's alright, Willow. I'm just a little jumpy. If she was here to cause trouble, I'm sure she'd do it without carrying eye-wash and sterile pads," Xander said wryly, appearing to be mildly amused at his friend's sudden jump to both his defense, and some conclusions. "In fact, I'd rather you not see me all missing eye-y right now, Will. Not a pretty sight, I'm sure. Why don't you check on the other girls we helped after that...pileup on the freeway that sent us all to the hospital and let the nice lady do her job," he added, remembering their cover story for the multitude of injuries he and the potentials sustained.
Willow nearly balked at his suggestion until she saw the look in his eye. He really didn't want to expose her to his wound. Xander was always sweet like that. She was about to say it was alright when the nurse chimed in again.
"Yes, my dear. Your brother is right. You stretch your legs and we'll take care of things, no problem."
Willow looked like she would still argue for a moment, before finally relenting. "Alright, I'll see how Rona and the others are. Faith could probably use some coffee right about now anyway. I'll be back to sit with you in a little while, Xander," she said, never even thinking to dispute the 'brother' comment. They gave off that kind of vibe around each other.
"You're the best, Will.", he answered, grinning at her as she left the room and closed the door behind her. Once he was sure she was gone, his demeanor changed, and he let out a resigned sigh as he said, "Hi, Nana Raven. Or would you prefer Mystique?"
The nurse jumped slightly, startled for a moment, before setting aside her supplies and reverting to her natural form. Mystique had returned to her roots, as far as clothing was concerned, once again donning the flowing white dress with golden skull accents she had worn before the long ago debacle at Asteroid M. She smiled wryly at her grandson, crossing her arms in annoyance as she looked him over.
"How did you know it was me?", she asked, unsure whether to be upset at her quick discovery, or proud of her eldest grandchild for ferreting her out so easily.
"Your wearing the same form you used to when you used to sneak in visits when I was little, your voice is the same, and...I used my precog to analyze who would show up first."
Raven Darkholme smiled proudly at the young man on the bed in front of her, idly stroking his hair as she said, "You always were brighter than you let on. Your father was like that in high school too, you know. And you can call me Nana, if you still really want to. Although I'll gut anyone but you or T.J. that makes one comment over it." Her voice was deadly serious at the end, reminding anyone who heard her that she was a dangerous assassin and terrorist, grandmotherly instincts aside.
Xander endured the doting gesture, knowing his often seemingly cold-hearted grandmother was truly concerned if she would let her guard down this much in a place she could potentially be seen. "I'd be insulted if I didn't know about how you used hack my grades then drop hints to dad and Auntie to get me a tutor, during fights with the X-men. At least I know you care.", he replied, taking her hand from his head and patting it gently.
Mystiques face split into what many would have called a sinister cousin of the 'Xander-grin' as she replied, "You know that was as much to annoy your mother and Logan, as it was to help you, boy."
Xander's own gentler grin answered hers. "Yeah, I know."
They shared the tender moment for a few seconds, before Mystique pulled her hand away, and began to remove Xander's bandages. People would get suspicious if they weren't changed, and she'd be damned if her grandchild would get sick from an infection because they spent all their time acting mushy. Her eyes grew hard as she saw the wound up close for the first time. She'd seen and done some nasty things in her life, but the way the eye was poked out had been exceptionally brutal. Someone like Sabretooth would have loved it.
"What the hell happened? And don't give me that pile-up nonsense.", she hissed, her voice stern with maternal authority.
"We were fighting some asshole preacher with a yen to hurt women. He has an empowerment from an elemental force, which cancels my nullifying field, and a...friend of Willow's was going to die if I didn't do something.", he answered, his voice now nearly monotone.
Mystique fumed at the thought of someone hurting her family like this, and at the thought of Xander sacrificing himself to save his little friend's girlfriend, as she continued to clean out the injury. After a moment to think things over she asked, "What about your precog? Why couldn't you avoid this?", she asked, her voice low and frustrated. To think he was hurt over an out of control witch, her flatscan Slayer wannabe play toy, and the mismanagement of that blonde airhead he followed around all the time bothered the blue woman to no end.
Xander shrugged as he replied, "The First Evil, the elemental force I mentioned, is beyond my ability to read. Caleb's power comes from it, so I can't read him either. By the time I could get a read on any probabilities, my loosing an eye was the best case scenario. It was literally leading to world-ending scenarios if I looked out only for myself."
Mystique calmed her ire at her grandson's friends as he said that. She knew Alex always looked at the big picture. With his gifts, he couldn't help but look at the big picture. If he said it was needed, she knew she had to trust his judgment in that, whether she liked it or not. Hell, his ability to thwart prophecies and help avert Apocalypses on this god- forsaken Hellmouth is what kept his grandfather, Magneto, from harassing the boy to exploit his gifts for the 'good of mutant kind'. Erik knew that if the world ended, there was no 'mutant kind' anymore. So, he left Xander to his own devices. Still, she'd be glad when the rest of his family arrived help the boy through this.
Xander noticed the look in his Nana's pupiless yellow eyes as she finished cleaning his eye, and began to put on a new dressing to the wound. "You called them.", he said flatly.
"They deserved to know, and you need the help here. Potential Slayers are still just flatscans until that Faith girl dies. And then only one becomes remotely useful."
Her answer told Xander that she had been in town checking up on him for a while, and probably understood the situation as well as anyone. That didn't stop him from getting upset as he hissed, "I don't want them risking themselves here. Especially Talia. This is my area to deal with. I don't want them exposed to the things we face here. They have enough to deal with already. I want my family safe. Including YOU, Nana."
"That's our choice, Alex, not yours. Either way, they'll be here tomorrow morning. Get used to it.", she replied with another of her evil Xander- grins, as she finished bandaging him up and reassumed her 'generic nurse form'.
Xander would have argued further, had Faith not entered the room a moment after Raven had changed into her disguise again. The sultry Dark Slayer had a coffee in her hand as she walked past Mystique without a word and took Willow's former seat.
"Hey, Boytoy. Red looked way wiped so I convinced B to watch the kiddies for a while, and asked Kennedy to help Red get some rest. Anyway, that means we get to hang for a couple of hours and catch up. You feel up for it?", Faith asked, trying to remain cool and calm as she talked to someone she had tried to kill the last time she had seen him, well in her own body, anyway.
Xander smiled in a way that showed she had nothing to feel nervous about as he said, "Five-by-Five, Faith. I was just saying goodbye to nurse Darkholme here." He had used Mystique's real last name, knowing that only Willow would have ever recognized it, now that Jesse was gone, but that it would annoy Mystique regardless of the safety involved in using it.
Raven nodded curtly to the young man, knowing he was goading her. She settled on a final jab to try to embarrass the young mutant as she headed toward the door. "Yes, well goodbye then, Mr. Harris. Try not to...exert yourself with your pretty young girlfriend.", she said, smirking with her back tuned to them as she exited before her grandson could reply. It was all she could do to keep from laughing as she heard the Dark slayer begin to tease Xander about telling stories to inflate his own reputation, followed by some innuendo that would make most grandmothers blush crimson. Good thing for her Raven Darkholme wasn't most grandmothers.
*You know, I rather like that girl. And as a Slayer, at least she isn't totally useless.*, Raven thought to herself as she exited the hospital. She then checked for onlookers, before changing into a large raven, and perching in a tree that overlooked Xander's window, watching as the boy blushed deeply as he talked to Faith. She would stand guard over him in the shadows until the X-men arrived. After all, he was family.
*****
The Xavier Institute in Bayville, New York, was in chaos as a result of Mystique's call. And while the more sarcastic members of the household, (i.e. Logan) would say that ANY contact with the shapeshifter would inevitably lead to trouble and confusion, this was still considered a special case. Someone very dear to several of the X-men had been maimed, and it was Mystique who had called to inform them. Not only that, she had all but insisted they come to California to assist that person. This led to several factors that caused the elevated chaos throughout the mansion.
Logan, known as the Wolverine, snarled at anyone but those who were slotted for the mission, those close to Xander, and popped his adamantium claws with even less than usual provocation. Tabitha "Meltdown" Smith scared more than one Institute student with her unnaturally serious demeanor. Rogue just looked like a reincarnation of her normally angry teenaged self, as she muttered an occasional "You'd better watch him, Momma", under her breath as she got ready to leave.
Lights flickered on and off, and small appliances and trinkets spontaneously exploded as a frantic Wanda Maximoff-Wagner, also know as the Scarlet Witch, formerly of both the Brotherhood of evil mutants; and later on, with much greater accolades and world recognition, with the hero team the Avengers, ran around the house alerting her current team, the X-men, of Xander's condition. One would be hard pressed to ignore that the light flickering and explosions all seemed to coincide with her stopping to either fret frantically, or more often, mutter death threats and promises of retribution against anyone who hurt the young man.
Another contributing factor to the sense of disarray within the home of the famous X-Men was the growing cloud of smoke caused by Wanda's husband of sixteen years, Kurt Wagner, also known as Nightcrawler, former founder and leader of the European team Excalibur, before he returned to the States, and the X-Men, as he teleported seemingly endlessly. As he teleported, making arrangements for their impromptu trip, he muttered to himself in his native German, usually in a far more self-reproving tone than his wife. One who understood German, as many of the X-Men could, would be able to translate his mutterings into a combination of self-recriminations for not being there for Xander, prayers for the safety of both young Alex Harris, and Mystique, prayers that his often self-centered mother, the aforementioned Mystique, watched out for Xander, and calming words toward his wife when her Hex Powers began to grow serious enough that they might delay the couple from getting ready to leave.
*****
From a corner in the hanger where the most recent incarnation of the Blackbird Class 'X-jet' was being prepared for flight, fifteen year-old Talia Josephine Wagner watched with thinly veiled concern as her parents went though yet another emotional mini-breakdown, before continuing their preparations. She was as worried over Xander as anyone, he was her older brother after all, but she was trying to keep her head about things. She suspected that a great deal of the emotional fallout happening now was a result of the tumultuous circumstances around Xander's birth, and the reasons he did not currently, nor had he ever, held a permanent residence with the X-men.
Talia still shuddered whenever she thought of the circumstances of her beloved sibling's conception and birth. About how her parents had dated secretly in high school, since they had been on opposing groups of the early Mutant Rights movements, with different views on how to deal with flatscan, or regular, humans. The Romeo and Juliet quality didn't bother the teenager, though. The fact that her parents had sex at that age, and that her mother gave birth to Alex at only seventeen is what gave T.J. the willies. Her mother had freaked out, as her youth and her powers had already left the Scarlet Witch emotionally unstable, and fled to California to have the baby in secret, giving him up for adoption soon after.
Kurt hadn't even known he was a father until the two had met again for the first time since the night she left. By then Wanda was an Avenger, Kurt was in Excalibur, and poor Xander was five years old. Talia's mother confessed what she had done in tears, sure that Kurt would never forgive her for giving their son away, a fact that still tore at her heart even today. Kurt, however, just asked where Xander was, and if they could see him. He would later confess, that while he had been upset, he was glad Xander had something approaching a normal childhood, and that he had never stopped loving Wanda. That love, rekindled as they tracked down her brother's trail through the foster care system in California, led to their eventual marriage, and Talia's own birth.
Xander had remained in California, in the small suburb of Sunnydale, at his own choice, and with the reluctant blessing of his parents even after they finally tracked him down. Talia had been a year old, which meant Xander was eight, by the time her family found him. The boy, already showing his gift of tactical precognition at that early age, something believed to be due to his status as a third generation mutant, had stated that he would be a target for very bad people should his famous family reclaim him full time. Not only that, but also his friends and his foster family would eventually be targeted and killed. Xander, even then suffering from a White Knight complex that many accused his father of contributing to the boy's DNA, could not let that happen.
Oh, they visited him often from the time he was located, since he didn't stay with them. He even discreetly visited the Institute on occasion over the summers, including his longest stay ever a couple of years ago, when he claimed he had been in Oxnard with car trouble for the whole trip(complete with an added cover story about working as a male stripper, that "Aunt" Tabby, the former Boom-Boom, now called Meltdown, had come up with for him behind their parents' backs). That was a fun time for the girl, who adored her older brother whole-heartedly.
She often envied him his life without the dangers of the X-mansion, and his ability to pass as normal in the human world, something she could never have. Talia had inherited her father's appearance, including elfin ears, three-fingered hands, digigrade legs, two toed feet, a prehensile tail, yellow eyes, and fangs. Her blue skin, while not furry like Kurt's, was a shade or two lighter than her grandmother's similarly blue skin, and marked her as a mutant as well. Her appearance, and the rather public courtship her parents endured as celebrities in adulthood, meant T.J. would never enjoy her brother's anonymity.
Another part of T.J., codenamed Nocturne, had just wanted Xander to say to heck with normalcy, and come live with her and their parents. Once, as Xander got older and started to attend High School, it looked like that might have happened, when something unforeseen reared its ugly head, the Hellmouth. The moment he knew what went on at night, and what was at stake, Xander Harris(who should change his name to Wagner in T.J.'s humble opinion), ever the White Knight, could not abandon his friends, his town, or the world.
And so it went, Xander fought his war against the night with the Slayer and her ilk, using his mutant gifts to quietly nudge things in the favor of the living, and the X-Men fought their own battles centered over rogue mutants, aliens, the FoH(stupid Uncle Graydon), and the like. Talia knew Xander would never join the X-men as long as Sunnydale needed him, and he was adamant about keeping them safe from the added dangers of his life, so she couldn't fight by his side there either.
*Of course that's all changed now*, Talia Josephine muses in her head as she boards the X-Jet with the others that were going, among them Xander's and her godfather, Wolverine, their Aunt Rogue, "Aunt" Tabby, and their parents, of course. *Xander's been hurt bad, and respecting his insane need to protect us ended when Grandma(only Xander dared to call her Nana, even if T.J. was allowed to crack a few jokes about it here and there) called _us_ from a hospital to let us know what was going on. We're helping him this time, whether he likes it or not.*, she thought to herself as she strapped in. Despite the fact that those in the now taxiing jet knew the blue assassin had a soft spot for her children and grandchildren, the fact that Mystique voluntarily called the X-Men for help, meant all bets were off.
Talia looked over to her fretting parents from her seat on the jet. Her mother was crying again, her face was wrought with old guilt, and new pain, and raw anger. The 'elfette' as some jokingly called her, until she caught them at it, that is, idly felt a stab of near-pity for whoever was stupid enough hurt her brother. There was going to be hell to pay over it.
"Hang tight, big brother, we're going to be there for you.", the girl whispered, her voice flinty and concerned all at once, as she spoke.
Logan, was the only one that heard the girl, and grunted his approval at the sentiment as he flew the Blackbird to Sunnydale.
*****