author: Lucinda

rating: Y-14 for violence

seventh in the 'My Daughter' series

main characters: Charles Xavier, Sean Cassidy

disclaimer: Travers and Faith are the creation of Joss Whedon for the series BtVS and/or Angel the Series. Tom, Caine, Sean and Charles Xavier are the creations of Marvel comics.

distribution: with the rest of the My Daughter series.

notes: AU after Faith turned herself in during S1 Angel/S4 BtVS. :Words in colons: are telepathic communication.

Sean Cassidy walked into the Professor's office, still puzzling over the man's nervous call. Professor Charles Xavier hadn't given any explanation for his unease, simply asking that Sean come to his office to help discuss a situation. "So, you'll be telling me what's going on now?"

"Sean, please, have a seat." Charles shuffled a few pages, and picked up his cup of tea. "I received a call from a few of my colleagues in England. Apparently, Tom and Caine caused quite a disturbance at a small historical society. There were frightened people, property damage, and apparently a death threat to the administrator, a Mr. Quentin Travers."

"Then they aren't telling you everything." Sean settled into a chair, holding out one hand for the pages.

"What do you mean?" Charles frowned, and handed over the papers. "I have copies of the reports right here."

Sean accepted the pages, scanning over the police report of frightened people, shattered doors, and a broken bronze sword, described as a priceless historical artifact. It hadn't been so priceless that they hadn't been able to give it an insurance figure. Nothing was reported as stolen. Nobody had been killed. None of the names from this historical society were at all familiar.

"Tom and Caine have done a great many things that aren't so law abiding, but this..." Sean pointed at the pages. "There's no reason for it. They've done many things against the laws, but never without a purpose. Nobody was killed, and from the looks of it, if he'd wanted a man dead, there would be bodies. Nothing stolen. I don't even see a reason why they would be there."

For a moment, it looked as if Charles wanted to protest. "I suppose you're right. He's always had some sort of motivation for his actions in the past. But why would he go terrorize a small historical society?"

Looking back at the reports, Sean frowned. "Not quite so small. With this location and that much space for their buildings in the heart of London, they've got themselves quite a bit of pull. Possibly titled backers, and they've either got a lot of pull recently, or a lot of history."

"Their grounds are smaller than my school." Charles paused, and thought about that. "In the heart of London? That would be more like the center of New York, wouldn't it?"

"The area where a person can pay a thousand dollars a month to lay claim to an apartment the size of this office." Sean nodded. "London's had a great deal more time to grow than New York, and a place that size... It takes a good deal to keep it."

"Someone needs to go look into this historical society then." Charles held out a hand for the papers. "We also need to find..."

"Send Jean and Betsy to look in London. They might be able to find some clue about why he went there. But if that's all he did, Tom's not going to be there anymore." Sean interrupted, not handing over the papers. "If you could use that tracker of yours to figure out where he is, someone should go try to figure out what he's up to. He's already taken care of whatever he was planning to do in London, and is continuing with his plan."

"We need to figure out his plan quickly. He and Caine can be quite destructive." Charles moved out from behind his desk, and shook his head. "Can you explain to Jean and Betsy what to look for while I try to locate your cousin?"

"Of course. When you do figure out where he is, I want to go. You don't have anyone else that understands the way he thinks as much as I do."

Charles nodded, and made his way out the door, the floating chair moving through the doorway. "Of course. But not alone, you might be able to handle Tom, but not Caine."

"There are very few individuals who can handle the Juggernaut." Sean agreed, and started towards the lower levels. "Where are they, Professor?"

"I asked them to meet you in the library." With that parting comment, Charles Xavier left to go track down the current location of Tom Cassidy.

Sean just shook his head, making his way towards the library. It wouldn't be that hard to find, as many times as the place had needed repairs, even rebuilding a few times, Charles had kept the floor plan fairly consistent. It would be upstairs, overlooking the back yard, with the edge of the lake visible. Shelves would line the walls, and there would be a few solid tables near the windows.

"The Professor didn't tell us very much, just that we're going to London to investigate something." Jean's words were a subtle request for more information.

Nodding, Sean moved towards the tables, leaning against one. "Tom Cassidy and Caine Marko. For reasons that are a bit unclear, the two of them caused a bit of unwelcome attention at what's supposed to be a historical society in London."

"I didn't think either of them were historians," Jean muttered. "Or were they looking for someone? What did they take?"

"Nothing was reported stolen, and there were no fatalities." Sean spoke, placing the pages on the table. "I've got the address here, and the current administrator is someone called Quentin Travers."

"Travers..." Betsy was frowning. "That name sounds familiar. What would either of them be searching for in a historical society?"

"That would be the questions we'd like to know." Sean smiled mirthlessly. "We'd like the pair of you to go to London and try to get a bit more information. Tom might be a criminal, but he's not crazy. He must have had a reason for this, and if we can figure out what it it, we're closer to knowing what to do about it. I have a few suspicions about this historical society."

"In that neighborhood?" Betsy arched an eyebrow, lifting the address from his mind. "You're right, that does seem rather odd. I still have a few useful contacts in S.T.R.I.K.E. and I'm sure that you'll be making a few calls to someone still working for Interpol."

"You think Travers is hiding something." Jean added, looking at the two of them. "Is he a mutant?"

"All I can be sure of right now is that the name isn't familiar from my days at Interpol, the neighborhood's a bit much for a simple historical society, and that Tom always has a reason for what he does." Sean held out his hands, emphasizing his lack of information. "Things aren't adding up right. We need to know more about what happened, about this Travers, and just what sort of historical things they do."

"Smuggling? Or possibly some sort of intelligence operation..." Betsy commented, considering the papers. "I know that several of the spies I used to work with had training in matters of history, it helps sort out the motivations of governments and gives a wonderful cover."

"Historian spies?" Jean looked at Betsy as if the words had been some incomprehensible foreign language.

"Historians have a better cover than models. Nobody expects them to worry about anything recent, and most people don't pay attention to them." A hand gesture dismissed the topic. "Sean is right, this historical society is obviously hiding something. We'll just have to go and very carefully find out what that something is and if it's a threat to us."

"While you ladies are doing that, I'll be going to wherever it is that Tom has gone off to, in hopes of finding out what he's doing now." Sean added. "The Professor's supposed to be locating him now."

:Sean? Can you think of any reason why Tom would go to Los Angeles: The thoughts of Charles Xavier reached out, echoing slightly inside Sean's skull.

"Known the man for years and I'm still not used to hearing him without my ears." Sean rubbed at one ear, despite knowing that it would do nothing for the echo. He spoke out loud, both because it was easier for him and in case there might be something useful to the ladies. "I've got no idea why he'd be there. With the timing, they must have left right after their visit to Travers, unless Caine isn't with him. No telling how long he'll be there, we should leave soon."

:You should know by now that Caine is very difficult to read. However, I am almost certain that he is in the area as well, so those of you who are going should proceed with caution. Be at the Blackbird in an hour.:

"Well, ladies, you can go off and pry into secret societies, I'll go play hide and seek with my cousin and the Juggernaut." Sean started to leave the library, and then called out, "Good luck to you, and I wouldn't mind a little for me. We'll probably need it."

As Sean tried to prepare himself for whatever situation he would discover in LA, he hoped that someone would send a little good luck his way. The way things went with the X-Men, he'd be sure to need it. He just hoped he'd be able to deal with whatever it was that they'd find. A paramilitary groups? Terrorists? Mutant extremists? Religious protests? He just didn't know how any of those scenarios would involve a British organization that claimed to be nothing more than a historical society.

end MD7: My Cousin's Where?