As Xander fought to regain consciousness he was greeted by an unexpected smell. Even through the fog he was in he was able to recognize the sent of the smoke that had filled his apartment thanks to an unwelcome guest.
"Time to wake up whelp," said Spike as he extinguished his cigarette.
"Any reason you are waiting over my bed?" asked Xander as he opened his eyes.
"Cause its my bed, I'm just waiting for you to wake up so I can have it back."
Finally looking around Xander realized Spike was right. He was in Buffy's basement, on the bed she had allowed the vampire to use. Trying to remember how he had gotten into this position Xander was flooded with memories of pink and blue elf women.
"So what happened after the blue demon jumped into me?" asked Xander with a sigh.
"Red," said Spike with a hint of fear. "She woke up just as the blue one had finished going in. She lost it for a bit after that and really let loose against the attackers."
"She didn't kill anyone did she?" asked Xander.
"She was about to, even had them lined up execution stile. The only thing that stopped her from having more blood on her hands was Anya," said Spike with a slight smile. "She got in between Willow and the freaks and starts telling both sides off like they weren't nearly all powerful beings that could rip out her bones."
"That's Anya for you. Get her mad enough and there is nothing that can stop her from telling you off," said Xander with a wistful smile. "Of course that doesn't explain why Willow didn't kill the demons."
"Oh yeah, you were asleep for this part. It turns out that the things that attacked us are mutants from another dimension, not demons. According to Anya they are just like slayers or witches, normal people that have freaky powers," said Spike.
"Mutant invaders from another dimension," groaned Xander. "When did this turn into a comic book?"
"When the mutants are superheroes," said Spike with a smirk. "Apparently Anya visited their dimension in the sixties. She says that they even have a living Captain America."
"Who?" asked Xander. The name sounded familiar, but he just couldn't place it.
"He was a comic character that was killed off at the end of the Second World War," said Spike.
"Wait, you read comics?"
"Back before they went PC I loved them. Superman told people to slap a Jap and Batman killed people with guns. Stopped reading them after they turned into a bunch of sissy boys though. Anyway enough about the good old days, you better get up there before Red dusts me fro keeping you from her," said Spike.
Briefly weighing the pros and cons of a dusted Spike verses an upset Willow, Xander decided that it wasn't worth it and went upstairs.
When he arrived he was greeted by the sight of Andrew drilling the blond man about what it was like to be a superhero. Xander decided if he couldn't punch the man for hurting Willow the night before, then leaving him in Andrew's fanboy clutches would be punishment enough. For now at least, later was still fare game.
"You're up earlier than expected," said a female voice behind him. Turning around he saw the blue elf/demon/mutant woman from the night before. "We got off on the wrong foot last night, my name is T.J.," she said while extending her three fingered hand.
"If I remember correctly there were no feet involved last night, only you coming out from no where and possessing me," said Xander making sure to emphasize the word possessing so the woman couldn't mistake his feelings about it.
Seeing that Xander had no intention of taking her hand T.J. lowered it and said, "Yeah, sorry about that. After your friend attacked us we thought it would be a good idea to just take you and run. The quickest way to do that would be to barrow your body, and possession is kind of my thing."
"Interesting because its my thing too. Of course I tend to be the person who is being possessed instead of the person doing the possessing. Though I got to ask you, why me? Unless you are really hard up for one-eyed carpenters in your dimension I don't see why you would want me," said Xander deciding to try to be a bit nicer. After all no one had laid the slayage on her and her friends so they couldn't be all bad.
T.J. simply shrugged, and brushed some loose hair from her yellow eyes and said, "I don't know all the details but we are supposed to activate your mutation. Until we find a way to do that we are stuck here. If you want more details go ask Blink, she's in the kitchen with some of the people from your group."
Deciding that would probably be a good idea considering the dirty looks he was getting from the large red, black, and vaguely Native American looking thing from outside the window, Xander went to the kitchen.
"Is he gone?" whispered a voice.
Looking around Xander couldn't identify who had asked him that question. T.J. had gone out side with the behemoth, and no one else was in the room at the time. Deciding to play along Xander said, "Is who gone?"
"The annoying blond kid," said the voice.
"Yeah, he's annoying the guy with claws right now in the other room," said Xander.
"Thank God," said the voice right before the wall began to do a Terminator 2 impression. "If I had to listen to any more of his questions about being a superhero and space flight I would have smacked the kid," said the chalk white man that formed from whatever had been covering the wall. "I mean, even a geek like me can only take so many Star Trek references before they snap."
"I can sympathize, but do you mind not doing that to the walls in the future? If you break them by doing that, I'm the one that has to fix them."
"Don't worry that trick isn't any worse than adding a coat of paint," said the man.
"Yeah, if you say so," said Xander as he continued towards the kitchen. If he hadn't spent the last seven years fighting demons on a portal to hell, he would have probably been beyond freaked out by now. At it was he was only slightly weirding out, and couldn't figure out if that was a good thing or bad thing.
When he finally entered the kitchen Xander saw Willow and the pink elf lady talking. Willow wasn't dark or evil, so everything looked like it was of the good.
"Xander your up!" exclaimed Willow as soon as she saw him. "Nocturne said you had another two hours before you wake up."
"Who?" asked Xander.
"The person that possessed you last night," said the pink elf woman.
"Oh, you mean T.J.," said Xander.
"Yeah her, your friend is just enjoying the fact that we have code names. My name is Clarice, or you can call me Blink like your friend," said Clarice.
"Nice to meet you in a non kidnapping situation Clarice," said Xander. Willow may trust them, but he was inclined to hold onto the fear for a while.
"I'm sorry if you were uncomfortable with the possession but your group did attack us first," said Clarice in a tone that indicated that while she was sorry she would do it again if forced to.
"Yeah well, the slay now, ask questions never usually works well when the world is about to end," said Xander. In his mind Buffy may have been a bit quick on the kill, but she was still one of his girls and he would defend her. "T.J. told me you were sent to make me a mutant. Just what did she mean by that?"
"Well from the way Clarice explains it is that you are already a mutant, your power just hasn't shown its self yet. The job her team was given is to give you just a little push to make you what you were meant to be," said Willow.
"This wouldn't be the way Bugs gives Daffy a little push off a cliff would it?" asked Xander in a kidding tone.
"Maybe, mutations are sometimes activated in times of stress according to Blink. That probably isn't true for you though or you would have gotten powers as soon as we met Buffy," said Willow.
"And just what does your favorite Slayer say about all of this?" asked Xander.
"I think that it's worth the risk if we can have another person that can help fight against the First," came a voice form his blind side.
"Gah!" said Xander as he attempted to jump out of his skin. "No fair using my blind side to enhance your slayer sneakiness Buff," said Xander in serious tone.
"With any luck your mutant powers may let you grow another one," said Clarice. "That is if we can find out how to activate your mutation with out killing you."
A fight with superheroes, possession, and now a possible sentence of death if he gets powers. This was certainly turning out to be an interesting day on top of the old Hellmouth.