Xander looked around to the faces of those he had spent the last hour
explaining everything he knew so far about his transformation. Most
of it was pretty basic stuff. Fast healing, strong, fast, enhanced
senses, and metal claws. At one point Xander had needed to stop so he
could hug Willow for whom the entire explanation had been too much.
She was afraid for her friend and she needed that friend to tell her
everything would be alright.
"As I was explaining to Xander earlier," Giles said, "the
possibilities, while fraught with possible danger are incalculable.
If Xander's is able to perform even half as well as he did last night
then he will be extremely valuable in our fight."
"That's right," Xander interrupted, "that's why we decided that I
needed to tell you guys everything. We don't want to have secrets
about this stuff between us, that could hurt us in the long run and
that's the last thing we want."
Xander noticed the apprehensive looks at his words on both Giles and
Miss Calendar's face. He wondered what it could possibly mean but was
derailed from his train of thought by the question, "So what are we
going to do to fix him?"
The question came from Buffy, an unreadable expression on her face.
She looked at Giles and Miss Calendar. Both teachers looked at a
loss, obviously lost in thought elsewhere and completely caught off
guard by the question. Buffy impatiently tapped on the table and
said, "Well, what are we going to do to fix him Giles?"
The librarian completely confused by the question, "I beg your pardon
Buffy, what do you mean?"
"Well we can't leave him like this, Giles," she said, waving her hand
in Xander's direction, "you said it yourself, it's too dangerous for
him. Someone might come after him. So we need to undo whatever was
done
to him."
"I didn't say it was too dangerous, I said there could be some
danger." Giles corrected.
"Amounts to the same thing in my book," the Slayer said, "it puts him
in danger so we need to help him."
"Buffy," Giles began but was cut off.
"No," the blonde Slayer said, "don't Buffy' me. Xander had something
happen to him and we need to get out the books and find a way to
change him back to the way he was for his own good."
"Buffy," Xander began, his voice holding just the slightest edge to
it, "Giles and I have been over this. Whatever that crazy bastard did
to me, it's internal, it's permanent, he changed my DNA for Pete's
sake Buffy. There's no magic on me anymore, it's all in my genes now."
"But if Magic did this, magic can undo it, right?" Willow asked. Her
concern for her friend evident in the quiet way she asked the
question. Xander sat down next to her and said, "Hey Wills, don't
worry, its
ok."
"You're not hurt?" she asked in a small voice. He shook his
head, "nope, I feel fine. Giles and I have been all over that already
and I'm fine. It's fine." It was a lie of course. He had done most of
the talking, and he was still wigged out but for now he hoped Giles
backed him up on this.
"Indeed Willow," Giles interjected, as if answering Xander's silent
player. "And to answer your question although you're right it was
magic that did this it was Chaos magic, a particular bad sort. The
amount of magic it would take to undo the effects of this kind of
magic would require the practitioner to be nearly ten times stronger
than the person that caused the effects in the first place."
"Well there has to be someone that powerful out there, right?" Buffy
asked.
Jenny shook her head, "It would also require the person casting the
reversal spell to sacrifice their soul. Who exactly would you ask to
do that Buffy, hmm?"
Buffy looked chastised for a moment and the room fell silent, giving
Xander a chance to really take stock of how he felt.
He felt great, in fact, he felt fantastic. There was no way he was
going to give this up just because everyone thought it might be safer
for him. Especially since being like this meant he was going to be
able to better help keep his friends safe. He looked over at Buffy
and said, "Don't worry Buff; I'm not hurting in anyway. I'm fine the
way I am now. I'll be ok."
"No, you won't Xander." Buffy said, "Things will come after you,
especially if you try to patrol. They'll find out about you and then
you'll have a target on your back."
"You mean like you do?" Xander asked, "Look Buff I know you're just
trying to watch out for me, and I appreciate it, but you're not
thinking about one important thing here."
"What?" The blonde asked in confusion.
"My choice," he said, as if that was all the explanation
necessary, "As long as Giles and Miss Calendar can confirm that I'm
not going to be hurt by this thing, and more importantly that none of
you will be either, then I don't see why I can't stay this way. It
will really be a big help to you. You wouldn't believe some of the
things I've got running around in my head."
"That's not your job Xander," Buffy said, almost pouting, "I'm the
Slayer. It's my job to risk my life, not yours."
Xander shook his head, "Buffy, this has been my fight since the night
Jesse died." He clasped Willow's hand at her sharp intake of breath
in memory of their lost friend. He looked at Buffy and continued his
voice thick with emotion, "You remember Jesse, the guy we lost at the
Harvest. He was my brother Buffy; he was OUR brother, in every way
that mattered. He died and was turned into a monster by that bitch
Darla. Do you think in even your most insane moment that there is the
slightest possible possibility that I'd give this fight up. It's not
my job? It's not my fight? IT IS MY FIGHT! You know why? Because I
CHOOSE to fight. You were chosen, but I CHOSE, and you don't have the
right to take that choice away from me, Slayer or not, Chosen One or
not. I'm going to continue this fight and there's nothing you could
ever do to stop me. At least this way, I've got a good chance of not
getting killed."
"Xander," Miss Calendar began carefully, she knew a little bit about
the comics, a guilty pleasure when she was younger, and she knew what
Wolverine was capable of. More importantly she knew what happened
when you really made him mad; people died. "I'm sure Buffy is just
concerned for you, we all are." She turned to Buffy and said, "Buffy,
I know you're worried about Xander but there's really not much we can
do. Like we said, this kind of magic isn't something you can undo
without an incredible price. The person that cast this spell
obviously didn't care who he hurt, but we have to care. Rupert is
right; the magic has
completely altered Xander's DNA. I don't know of, nor have I ever
heard of any kind of magic that can do that except Black Magic. REAL
bad stuff. WE don't have anyone that can cast a spell to undo it, and
even if we did I don't think they'd sacrifice their soul to do it.
Plus, in the end we couldn't even be sure that a spell like that
would be successful. Right now he's alive and fine. And if my memory
of the X-men serves me, he's in better shape than any person on the
planet, maybe even you. But casting a spell to undo this, it could
kill him."
"You a closet X-men fan? All right Miss C." Xander said in a chuckle
that caused the teacher to blush.
Buffy looked a little perturbed that Jenny was suggesting that Xander
was in better shape than she was, but as she looked closely at her
Xander-shaped friend she realized that he was in good looking shape.
Still, she was the Slayer; she was the one that fought the demons and
the vampires. Isn't that what her first Watcher had told her, it was
HER duty, not someone else's. She couldn't let someone take the risk
that was hers.
"Xander," she started carefully, "I know you want to help, and I
really appreciate it, really I do. But I can't let you risk your life
like this. I know you said you choose to fight but you shouldn't have
to, this is my duty, it's my job, and it's my fight. You're supposed
to be able to have a normal life, and I'm the one that's supposed to
fight and die in the dark." The last part was said with no small
amount of bitterness in her voice and Giles cleared his throat.
"Buffy, you're not going to die anytime soon, not if I can help it."
"But you can't Giles," she said, not even looking at her
Watcher, "you couldn't stop me from dying in the Master's cave, and
you won't be able to stop it when it's my time again. I know that
now. I can't fight destiny." She looked up at Xander, a pleading look
in her eyes, "But you CAN Xander, you can, please."
Xander looked around the room, trying desperately to look anywhere
but into the tear-filled eyes of the Slayer. He wanted to be angry
with her; to feel some rage at her for her presumption she could tell
him what he should and shouldn't do with his life. He just couldn't,
even though she was wrong for trying to take his choice from him he
understood why. That was why he hated to disappoint her.
"I'm, I'm sorry Buffy. But this is my fight; this is my fight because
I, as a human being CHOOSE TO MAKE IT, my fight. If you fail, then we
all die. Then my decision not to be a part of it won't make a bit of
difference, I'll still be dead, and so will the entire world."
He rested his hands on her shoulders and continued, "We are your
friends, and we love you, and we're not going to let you face that
darkness alone, because you would never let us face it alone. Yes it
is your destiny, but you are our friend, you're MY friend, and
friends don't ever abandon one another, not ever."
Buffy started to cry at that point, and she buried her head in his
chest. Slowly, one by one the others stood and either hugged her as
well, or simply rested a hand on her shoulder, letting her know
through contact that she wasn't alone, she wasn't ever alone.
Sunnydale Junkyard, next morning
It had been an emotional night for the Scooby gang and that was why
they had gotten such a late start on their little field trip. The
idea was to see just what Xander could do with his new augmentations.
Actually the point was to give the others an idea of what it was he
was capable of, Xander was already fairly familiar with his
abilities, and could feel his body growing stronger and stronger with
each passing hour. He knew that his healing factor had taken quite a
beating in his magical transformation and it was working overtime to
repair the damage the magic had done. Sure he felt stronger and
faster and better than he ever had as Xander Harris, normal guy, but
as Wolverine, he knew he was still no where near a hundred percent.
He had decided he'd give it another day or so before he started
training hard to get himself in top physical condition, for now a
little demonstration wasn't going to hurt him.
He arrived smiling at Willow and Buffy who had their heads together
discussing something or other, probably him, and he found Miss
Calendar and Giles looking over something that he was shocked to see
was comic books, specifically "Wolverine" comics.
"Where did you get those?" Xander asked as he walked up.
Miss Calendar seemed to blush as she said, "They're mine, they're old
and I haven't collected in a while but I figured that they would give
Rupert and the others a taste of what you might be capable of. I
don't have any recent issues and nothing over the last couple of
years, other things… took precedent."
That was the second time that Miss Colander had called Giles Rupert'
and it wasn't lost on Xander. He wondered if the girls had caught it
as well but instead of asking he said, "Yeah real life can be that
way sometimes." Xander said nonchalantly. Ignoring, or at least
trying to ignore the rise in her heartbeat when she said things'.
Something started bothering him at the back of his mind about Miss
C., a whisper that something might be wrong about her and he should
keep an eye on her. So far though she had done nothing but help them
and he couldn't see why he'd be thinking she was dangerous. He shook
the thoughts off and chalked them up to a new sense of paranoia
thanks to the memories he'd gotten from Wolverine. He also was
starting to notice other attributes to the pint sized mutant,
starting to surface. The most annoying thus far however was a strong
desire he had for a cigar. He shook the thought off, the last thing
he needed was problems with Snyder about him smoking.
As far as Miss Calendar was concerned, he was happy to let the
thought go for now, but if need be, they'd be having a long talk.
That was, however, something Xander was really getting tired of. Last
night had been a long, draining night. After everything was settled
with Buffy they had remained at the Library talking until way after
sundown about everything they knew about Xander as well as the events
of the previous evening and any possible long term problems. Spike
was beginning to become a problem and it was decided he needed to be
dealt with as soon as possible. So after all of that Xander and Buffy
had walked Willow home and then the two of them finally decided they
needed to toss a coin to decide who was going to walk who home.
Xander had still been smiling about it when he walked into his house
and went up stairs to find his mother packing a suitcase.
FLASHBACK
"Mom, what's going on?"
"I'm packing your father a suitcase, Xander, what does it look like?"
She stopped to look at her son, again amazed at just how filled out
he had become.
"You're, you're kicking him out?" Xander asked in shock. He'd never
thought he'd see this day.
"No," she said, quickly crashing his hopes, "your father asked me to
pack for him. Your little display this morning put the fear of God
into him, it's a horrible thing, I can tell you Xander when a
parent wakes up' and realizes just how horrible they've been to
their own child. It never happened with your father's father. He died
blissfully unaware just how tortured a life he forced your father
through."
"You mean dad was..." Xander couldn't finish the sentence, he
remembered his grandfather being a small man. Not that he had many
memories of him; he died when Xander was young.
"Yes he did. He went through the same hell that he's put you through.
Why do you think they call it a cycle? When you grow up and have kids
of your own you're going to have to work damn hard not to fall into
those habits. We become what we're taught Xander unless we work to
fight it."
"I'm never going to be like HIM!" Xander said in no small amount of
rage. He felt guilty after he saw the way his mother stepped back
instinctively. "I'm sorry," he said ashamedly.
"Don't be," his mother said lovingly, "I know how you feel. Your
father said the same thing, but then he discovered the bottle, or it
discovered him and that was the beginning of the end for him. He's
sobering out now, or trying to. That's why I'm packing. There's a
nice detoxification hospital in Los Angeles, that's agreed to take
your father in. Your uncle Thomas has agreed to let your father take
a leave of absence, and to cover his salary while he's away."
"My uncle Thomas? Who's he?" Xander asked in confusion, too much was
changing to fast for him.
Jessica smiled sadly, "Thomas is my brother. He runs the company that
your dad works for. It's that reason and that one alone that your
father still has a job. You think any company would let him work
being drunk like he usually is?"
Xander just shrugged, "I just chalked it up to Sunnydale blindness,"
he commented quietly.
Jessica shook her head, "No, no, not that, just good old fashioned
covering your family's ass. He never let your father work on anything
important, which is why your dad's never been promoted. Thomas never
wanted anything else to do with us because he said he couldn't
socialize with us while he knew what was going on in this house."
"If he knew what was going on, why didn't he do anything?" Xander
asked, a little of his anger returning, "He's your brother how could
he just let..."
"Because I told him to," she said simply, "This is my family and I
was determined to fix it without anyone else's help. I was a fool
Xander, and you've suffered the most for my foolishness. I just hope
that someday, you'll be able to forgive me, and your father. We both
let you down so much, so much" she began to cry, hard sobs that took
all of her strength from her and she collapsed to the floor. Xander
ran to her and held her, not quite yet having the strength to say he
forgave her, but he did tell her everything would be all right.
END FLASHBACK
He sat that way with his mother for hours, letting her pour her heart
out to him about everything in their lives that she felt responsible
for. It wasn't supposed to be this way, she was supposed to raise up
a healthy, happy family.
Xander had listened and comforted his mother, telling her things from
his life as well. He was shocked to learn that both his parents knew
about vampires. An explanation as to why when he was younger neither
wanted him ever to go out at night. A concern that slipped away as
his father fell deeper and deeper into his bottle. He also, when she
asked, explained what had happened to him in the last twenty-four
hours. He didn't know why he told her, but he just felt it was right.
After her hugs and heartfelt promises that he would ALWAYS be her
son, no matter what, Xander had put her to bed, promising to help her
finish packing for his dad in the morning.
That was exactly what he had done and it was why he had been the last
person to arrive at the junkyard for his "performance" as he thought
of it.
Giles said, "Well now that you've arrived Xander shall we get on with
it?"
"Sure Giles," Xander said, smiling, "no problem. What do you want to
do first?"
"Buffy, if you would?" Giles said and the Slayer slowly got up from
where she was sitting with Willow and slowly approached Xander.
"First," Giles said, "we want to see how good you really are at hand
to hand. Buffy will spar with you," he said, pausing at the slight
trepidation he saw in her face, "you'll both start slow," he said,
his tone meaning they weren't to argue, "then I want you to begin to
slowly increase your speed. I want you to pull your punches, both of
you, no sense in anyone getting hurt, do you understand?"
Both nodded their agreement and Giles stepped back. "You sure you
want to do this Xan?" Buffy asked trying to give her friend a way out
of the beating she knew was coming his way. Xander just gave her his
trademark smirk and said, "Don't worry Buff, we won't tell the vamps
you got your butt handed to you, and a pretty butt it is."
Buffy's face went wide with shock, as did everyone else's at the
boldness of the young man and then her eyes narrowed and she
said, "Why you," as she moved in for the attack.
It started out slow but soon the two fighters realized that each was
capable of more and Buffy for her part was absolutely shocked. She
never anticipated Xander could be this good. Every punch she threw he
simply ducked or weaved out of the way. She decided to step it up
more and was soon moving at what she knew to be the limits of what a
normal human was capable of. Still Xander was matching her blow for
blow. She too was simply avoiding the punches that were, for her,
coming in slow motion. As if by uniform, silent agreement both
fighters moved into the Para-human speeds.
To the three people that were watching the punches were beginning to
blur. Giles removed his glasses in utter shock. It was one thing
hearing that Xander was now capable of this. It was even another to
have read the comics, that Miss Calan… he meant Jenny had brought. It
was an all together different thing to actually see it happening in
front of him. He knew the speed at which a Slayer was capable of
moving and he knew Buffy was moving into that area where thought and
action for a Slayer became one. The point when she was purely the
warrior she was capable of becoming, and Xander was right there with
her.
Willow and Jenny, although neither having the frame of reference that
Giles did were both equally amazed at what they were seeing. Willow
even more so because she had never really seen Buffy moving like this
except at night and to see it in the bright light of the day it was a
completely new experience, it was beautiful somehow. That is if you
forgot that the reason she was moving like this was because she was
trying to punch a hole in her best friend's chest.
Suddenly there was a muted metallic thump and everyone watched as
Xander was suddenly lifted from his feet by a powerful punch launched
at his chin by the Slayer. Buffy pulled back her hand and yelped in
shocked pain and shook her hand, "That HURT!" she cried out in a very
girly manner. Then her mind kicked into gear and she realized
suddenly what she had done. Everyone was staring at her in shock and
horror. A Slayer was at least as strong as a vampire, and a vampire
was at least three or four times stronger than a normal human. She
had just hit a normal human with a blow that would nearly
incapacitate a vamp, long enough for her to stake it. In other words,
she had just hit one of her best friends with a punch strong enough
to kill him. All these thoughts running through her mind one after
the other stunned her into immobility. It was for that reason alone
that she was the last one to reach Xander's side.
"Careful, don't move his head," Giles said as he looked down in fear
at the young man that was becoming like a son to him. Xander's eyes
seemed to stare unseeing up at the sky and Giles knelt down close to
him and said, "Xander, can you hear me?"
"Of course I can hear you Giles," Xander said, not moving anything
but his mouth, "mutant enhanced hearing remember?"
"Are you hurt?" this from Willow who was wringing her hands in worry,
only Jenny's hand resting on the young hackers shoulder sufficient to
keep her from throwing herself upon her friend's chest.
Xander cast his eyes over and looked at Willow, smiling his trademark
grin, "Not a bit." He started to sit up and Giles rested his hand
upon his shoulder, "Steady, Xander, that was quite a blow. One like
that could easily pulverize a cinder block."
Xander's grin widened, "I know, Giles, but I'm fine, really."
"Then why weren't you moving?" Jenny asked, as relieved as the rest
that Xander seemed to be ok.
"Oh, that," Xander said sheepishly, as if just realizing that his
apparent immobility had terrified his friends, "I was just laying
there, wondering if that was what it was like to get hit by a truck,
and if it isn't, it's got to come close."
He finished sitting up and then waved the others away from him, to
give him room. Giles and Jenny took the hint and moved away, Jenny
pulling Willow away with her. After they had given them enough
distance Xander had rolled back and then kipped up to his feet. He
held his hands out to his side as if to say, "Ta da." and then he was
practically engulfed by a red-haired whirling dervish complete with
Willow-
babble, "ohgodXanderIwassoscaredyoudidn'tevenmoveandIsawhowhardshehity
ouandIknowthatshecankillyouwithonepunchandIthoughtIlostyouandpleasedon
'tdothatagain.." the rest trailed off into an incoherent mumble that
even Xander's newly enhanced hearing wasn't able to understand
because of the wracking sobs that accompanied it.
Xander looked up from Willow and over at Buffy, the one person that
hadn't spoken a word to him yet. She looked lost, completely zoned
out and he said, "Buff, you in there?" She looked up at him and the
look in her eyes told him everything he needed to know. He smiled
what he thought was a supporting smile and adjusted his hold on
Willow's still sobbing frame and held out his arm to Buffy. She
hesitated only a moment before she practically leapt into the
embrace. Even over her sobs of relief her clear apologies for having
nearly killed him could clearly be heard by everyone.
Xander allowed the cry-fest to go on for a few moments more before he
finally pulled both girls away from him and said, "You didn't almost
kill me Buffy. That punch knocked me on my ass, sure, but I barely
felt it."
Buffy looked up at him in shock and said, "Really?" Xander
nodded, "Really."
"What are you saying Xander?" Giles asked, confusion clearly written
across his face. Xander looked at him and said, "I'm saying that
Adamantium laced bones work as advertised. Yeah she knocked me down;
there was no way a punch like that wouldn't. But it didn't really
hurt, I felt it, but it was not painful at all."
Giles began to try and stutter some kind of response when Jenny piped
in, "It's the Adamantium," she said as way of explanation. When
everyone looked at her she took it as tacit request to
continue. "Adamantium on his bones makes his entire skeleton like one
big crash cage. Buffy punching him in the jaw is about like trying to
punch a steel helmet, only stronger. Look at her hand."
For the first time everyone looked down at Buffy's swollen right
hand. Swelling that even now was becoming less and less, and the
bruising fading. "Wow," Buffy said, as she realized for the first
time the damage she had done. "It hurt but I didn't think I'd hurt it
that much."
Giles took a closer look and said, "This is incredible, you did that
kind of damage to your own hand, punching Xander?" He then got a look
of extreme anger on his features and said, "What in the Hell were you
doing punching him so hard." If it were possible the short girl
seemed to grow even smaller at her Watcher's thunderous demand. She
tried to meet his eye but she couldn't. She knew they were all
incredibly lucky. She could have easily killed Xander if he'd been
normal, and then where would they be? Finally she heard Xander's
voice say, "It's as much my fault as it is hers Giles, maybe even
more."
Every eye rested on him and Giles felt some of his anger began to
shoot in Xander's direction and the young man obviously felt it too
because he rushed to explain.
"I mean, we were sparring and all and getting faster and faster. We
were evenly matched Giles, you saw us. Then she got just a little
faster and well I guess I'm not quite up to a hundred percent yet
and, well, a lucky punch was bound to get through eventually."
"Lucky?" Buffy exploded before she realized what she was
saying, "I'll show you lucky you…" suddenly she realized she was
again the sole recipient of her Watcher's angry glare and she shut up
immediately, her eyes dropping to the ground.
Giles saw what effect his anger was having and relaxed somewhat. He
realized that the fear of hurting Xander was doing far more to the
girl's emotions than any amount of recrimination he could muster.
Also it was more a release of his own fear at Xander's possible
injury that was truly fueling his ire. Still, it had been close, if
Xander had been injured, or god forbid killed, Giles didn't even want
to consider the possibilities.
"Well, be that as it may," Giles finally said, "I think we should
call it a day, yes?"
"No way," Xander said, "I told you I'm fine. I want to see what else
I can do, especially with these babies." He popped his claws out with
that statement and Giles shuddered internally again as he saw the
three one-foot long claws erupt from the back of his right hand.
"Very well, if you insist Xander, but I think we should hold off from
any future sparring matches between you and Buffy until we ascertain
whether or not you suffer any effects from today's misfortunate slip."
"Is that British for you want to make sure she didn't scramble my
brains before you let us fight again?" the mutant youth asked her.
Giles sighed as he said, "Yes, that's exactly what I meant."
"Oh," said Xander, "then why didn't you just say that?"
Giles was about to fire back a response when he caught the gleam in
the youth's eye and he pulled his glasses off and rubbed his nose as
he again cursed to any God that might be listening, the humor of
American youth.
"Ok, now that we've made fun of the Brit in a sufficient fashion,"
Xander began, "Let's see what I can carve up?"
After the demonstration Xander did on various car parts, including
axels and engine blocks, there was no question on anyone's mind that
Xander's claws were definately going to live up to their hype, and
more importantly he could take care of himself, very, very well.