Title: Sirens' Song
Author: Sinayah
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Buffy, Angel, or Xmen. They belong to very rich people who don't appreciate them as we fanfic writers do.
Disclaimer 2: The Chapter Title and Lyrics belong to Doro & Warlock.
Authors Note: Many heartfelt thanks to my muse Zenura, without her I wouldn't have had the guts to write. If you like this story please review or send me an email, I'd really appreciate hearing what you think. Enjoy!
Chapter 6: East Meets West
"when east meets west, it's gonna be one helluva mess…"

Monday at Bayville High the students and faculty noted a distinctive change in the attitudes of two particular groups of students. The first group, made up of some of the schools best students seemed to go about business as normal but everyone got the distinct feeling the teens were walking on eggshells. The second, more rambunctious group, were sullen and trying extremely hard not to cause trouble, especially when they came in contact with members of the first group. The teachers all knew by now that their Principal, Ms. Darkholme, was in trouble with the superintendent and they passed the changes in these students off as the womans' way of cracking down on the teen's mischief.

At lunch break that day Scott Summers approached his Brotherhood counterpart, Lance Alvers. "Hey Alvers, just wanted to let you know that the professor and Logan have decided we should have our first Danger Room session this Saturday. I guess Logan's designing a whole new scenario for us to use. Anyway, you and the others are supposed to be at the mansion by eleven a.m. Saturday morning."

"Dude don't you X geeks ever take a break? Eleven on a Saturday morning? Shit we're still asleep then, that's what weekends are for." Lance responded, irritated in the extreme. Mystique had ordered them to cooperate with whatever arrangements the X geeks made, and he'd obey her demands, but he didn't have to like it.

Scott grimaced, agreeing with the Brotherhood team leader. He was no more exited about this than Lance was, but the professor had accepted Serenas' plan whole heartedly. He felt it was a good opportunity for them all. "Hey, don't shoot the messenger man; I don't like it any more than you do. None of us have much of a choice since our 'guardians' have ganged up on us."

Lance nodded, knowing that his rival was as disgusted as he with the whole idea. "I know Dude, but this is just fucked up. You don't want to know what the boss lady threatened to do to us if we didn't cooperate on this crap. I'll tell the guys about it later and we'll be there on Saturday. Might be late though, Freddy is not a morning person."

The laser eyed teen nodded and walked back to his friends before he and Lance could give in to the urge to start insulting each other. "Well that's over with. They'll be at the mansion on Saturday. I guess they're looking forward to the session as much as we are. This just sucks." Scott divulged as he sat down with his team mates. The dark haired boy brooded silently through the rest of the break.

* * * * * * * * * *

Monday night, over another dinner of take out food, Lance relayed the news to his friends. The rock tumbler got the exact response he had been expecting. The outraged bellows of Freddy and Todd almost deafened Lance.

"What? That's just whacked yo! They can't expect us to give up our Saturday to fight with them!" Came from Todd, who usually spent his weekends lying around the house keeping it free of insects. Freddy's response was no better. He spent the rest of the evening complaining about how he hated getting up early on the weekend and how he would crush the X freaks for ruining his day.

Pietro remained silent on the subject, though he made a point of scowling and pouting to show his displeasure in front of his house mates. Inside though, the white haired boy was exited about the excursion. Not only would he get a chance to annoy Evan Daniels and the other Xmen, but he would get another chance to talk to Serena. As far as Pietro was concerned, Saturday was going to be one fine day.

* * * * * * * * * *

The week flew by for the rival teams and they woke on Saturday morning with mixed feelings on the day ahead of them. Waking early out of habit Serena went about her morning routine humming softly to herself. Stopping in the kitchen to grab her morning coffee the dark haired woman took the elevator down to the floor that held the Danger Room. She wanted to take a look at the new scenario's Logan had programmed for this mornings session.

She entered the large room and found her burly friend already there. He was in the control room making some last minute adjustments. "Morning Wolvie. Everything ready for today?" she asked, peering at the monitor around Logans broad frame.

"Almost done Chatterbox. I sure hope this plan of yours works. I hate havin to go up against kids in a fight, there's just somethin wrong about it." Logan responded, finishing his work.

The past Friday evening when Serena had sat down with Logan and Charles they'd talked about a few different things. The first thing Charles had asked about was, predictably, the outcome of the meeting. Logan had explained what was going on and the professor had been pleased with their solution. Serena had gone on to detail what the 'venting' sessions were really for.

The hypnotist had kept her ulterior motive for the sessions a secret from the teens, but she needed the help of the adults to make it work. She wanted the two groups to merge and become a single fighting unit. Her plan was to start their weekly sessions with the expected fights, but before they finished she wanted them to have to work together toward a common goal. In this way she planned to build the teens respect for each other and eventually she hoped they would become friends and the four Brotherhood members would join the Xmen at the mansion.

Charles had proclaimed the younger woman a genius. Logan had been sceptical at first but agreed that her plan had a chance of working. Serena had then confided her final secret, that of her history with Pietro Maximoff and their reunion that afternoon. Charles had thought it would increase their chances of Serenas' plan working if the speedster wanted to rebuild their old friendship. Logan had seen the joy on her lovely face and said that as long as she wouldn't hesitate to fight him if necessary then it was fine with him.

Back in the present, Serena asked Logan to show her what he'd come up with for the teens workout. He explained that they would start out with a 'laser tag' type game, each group trying to win by disqualifying their opponents. They would be allowed to use their powers as long as they didn't intend to harm someone. The second part of the workout was Logans pride and joy. He'd constructed an obstacle course and maze that would force the two groups to work together if anyone wanted to get out. Each person's mutation would be needed at some point.

Serena congratulated her friend on his ingenuity and went upstairs to prepare breakfast. Alone with her thoughts the hypnotist found her mind wandering to her missing friend. She'd tried repeatedly to get in touch with Spike, to no avail. About mid week the cell phone number had stopped working. 'I'll have to use magic I guess. I'll go into the city tonight and get the supplies for a locator spell. Once I find the bloody pain in the arse I'll ask Charles if I can borrow the jet for a day to go see him and stake him for making me worry.' She mused. Siren disliked using magic to accomplish what should be a simple task, she wasn't very experienced in the dark arts and it would take a great deal of concentration to locate her missing vampire.
* * * * * * * * * *

Lance, Pietro, Todd, and Freddy arrived at the mansion fifteen minutes late to find Serena waiting for them at the gate. "Well it's about time you boys showed up." She unlocked the gate to allow them to drive through. In a polite gesture Lance asked if she wanted a ride back up to the house. "You bet; it's cold out here. Scoot over Ptichka."

The snowy haired boy obliged, but grumbled "It's too early for pet names 'Rena, I can barely respond to Pietro right now." The boy was pleased that she still called him by the old nickname, but he didn't want his friends to know that.

"Early? It's almost noon you lazy things. I've been up since seven! Even the kids have been up for a couple hours." She responded as Lance parked the jeep in front of the mansion. Leaving the tired eyed boys stretching next to the car Serena jogged up the steps and held open the door. "Come on boys, hurry up before Wolvie pops a claw over your lateness. Ptichka, you're supposed to be the fast one!"

Using his speed Pietro was beside her before she'd finished the sentence. A moment later Todd was also up the steps and asking, "Why do you keep calling Pietro that?" If it was an embarrassing nickname or curse word Todd wanted to know. He didn't have much to tease Pietro with.

Serena chuckled, seeing the plea for silence in the speed demons eyes. "I call him Ptichka. It is the nickname I gave him when he was just a little boy. It means…" The lion eyed woman found Pietro's hand over her mouth before she could reveal the embarrassing translation for his pet name.

"Don't even think about it 'Rena. You're not gonna disgrace me in front of the boys." Pietro stated, glaring at his friend. He liked the nickname, it was accurate from what he could remember of his youth, but he really didn't want Todd hopping around calling him a little bird.

Siren removed the boys' hand from her mouth and nodded. "Alright, I won't tell them your nickname. Now come along and we'll get this session started. I'm sure you've thought up a hundred insults you want to give my friends." That said, she led the boys through the house and down the elevator to the Danger room where the Xmen were suited up and waiting for them.

* * * * * * * * * *

Serena and the Professor watched the first half of the session from the control room. She found that the two teams were evenly matched, even though the Xmen outnumbered the Brotherhood by two members. Logan was down there with the teens to make sure everyone played by the rules and no one got hurt. He was grinning over the childish antics and scathing insults that were interspersed throughout the game.

The adults had been unable to control their laughter when Pietro had sped around the room giving the opposing team wedgies, or when Nightcrawler had pantsed the speedster in retaliation. They'd also winced at some of the comments exchanged between Evan and Pietro and Lance and Scott. Those two pairs would be the most reluctant to change their attitudes.

When Wolverine called a five minute break to set up the second half of the session Serena left the control room and went back upstairs to make lunch for all ten teenagers. She'd just finished the last of a huge pile of sandwiches, half for Freddy and half for the others, when Storm came into the kitchen.

"Good afternoon Siren, I see you've made enough lunch for our little army. Logan sent them all to the showers about ten minutes ago so they should be up soon." The weather witch commented, smiling happily. The dark skinned woman had taken Serenas' place in the control room to view the second half of the session and had been pleased with the results of her friends experiment.

"How did it go? Did they manage to stop fighting and work together?" Serena asked. She planned to view the tape recording later but was anxious to know how things had proceeded.

Ororo nodded and gave her friend the good news. "When they left the Danger Room they were all speaking pleasantly to each other and talking about how much fun the session was. The professor glanced into their minds as well and declared the day a success. Congratulations Serena, I think we may be off to a good start in bringing the two groups together."

The news brightened Sirens mood and put a joyful expression on her face. Ororo turned to go outside but turned suddenly and said, "I almost forgot. You got a letter yesterday. The professor forgot to give it to you and he asked me this morning to put it in your bedroom."

Serena called a thanks over her shoulder as she ran from the kitchen, her thoughts whirling. 'It has to be from Spike, he's the only one besides Dru who knows where I am and I talked to Dru last week. It's about time Spike, you pain!' Throwing open her bedroom door Serena spotted the letter propped against her pillow. Snatching it up a relieved sigh passed her lips as she saw her vampire friends Victorian scrawl on the envelope.

Tearing it open she began to read, taking in words such as captured, tortured, chip, pain, humiliation, spell, slayer, engaged, watcher, and chained. Her relief quickly dissipated into horror as she read. As she read the last lines, her friends' plea for help, the small woman crumpled to the floor and screamed at the top of her powerful voice "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

* * * * * * * * * *

The howl of grief and anger echoed through the mansion. Serenas' emotions crashed over the two telepaths like a tidal wave, making both clutch at their heads in pain as the womans anger, pain, grief, and horror filled their minds.

In the dining room where the teens and Logan were eating the lunch their friend had prepared ten heads simultaneously jerked up while one bowed in pain. Everyone recognized the anguished cry as coming from Serena. Kurt immediately teleported to her side, Pietro arriving a split second later.

The two boys found Serena curled in a fetal position on the floor, a piece of paper clutched in her fist. They crouched next to her, their enmity for each other forgotten the moment they saw the strong woman in such pain. Kurt was the first to wrap his arms about her, rocking with her as she cried. Pietro took the letter from her fist, gripping her hand tightly as he read.

Logan and the teens came thundering up the stairs and into the room. Wolverine had his claws out, Evans' hands were spiked, Scott had his hand on his visor and Rogue had her glove off, each was prepared to kill whatever it was that had caused Serena to shriek like a banshee.

Seeing no intruder, only the small woman on the floor being held by one boy and clasping the hand of another Logan motioned for the teens to stay in the hall while he entered the room and lifted his little friend off the floor and sat with her on the bed. "Serena, Chatterbox, what's wrong? What happened?" the gruff man asked, rocking her as Kurt had done. Serena just burrowed her head into the crook of his neck and shoulder, sobbing.

"I think this has something to do with it." Pietro said, reading the missive. "It's from someone named Spike, and he says he's been captured and experimented on from what I can tell, and he's currently living in 'the watchers' bathtub, chained. I don't understand most of it but this guy is asking for Serena's help in getting away from some people."

Hearing the word experimented; Logan began to growl low in his throat. "Chatterbox? Honey you need to calm down and tell us what's going on. We'll help you get your friend back, but we need you to tell us what to do. Come on Serena, talk to us."

Serena forced her emotions back under control and lifted her head from Logans' shoulder. 'I have to be strong for Spike, I have to help him. My friends will help me; they won't let the slayer keep my Spike.' Wiping her eyes, which had blackened as she started shape shifting Siren looked at her friends, all of them prepared to do battle for her.

"Someone get Professor Xavier and Storm. Everyone meet in the ready room. Lance, Todd, Fred, Pietro, you're free to leave if you don't want to get involved in this. Anyone who stays is going to have their world turned upside down. After I explain some things I'll be taking volunteers on a trip to California, on a rescue mission." Serena steeled herself and gave orders like a little general.