AN: In this chapter I took some words from a tiktok video from creator "Howtodovoices". It is an amazing channel and I highly recommend.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Buffy, Marvel, or Harry Potter. Don't sue.

Chapter 09 – Questions Answered

Sighing contentedly, Cordelia leaned back in her seat, looking around the inside of her car. The windows had long since fogged over, the warmth inside the car causing a layer of condensation to collect on the glass. Her top was partly unbuttoned and a thin sheen of sweat clung to her skin, her hair mussed from where her date had run his hand through it while they kissed. Looking over at him, seeing the dumbstruck grin on his face, she sighed, "You're still a loser."

"I know." Jesse McNally said, "but I'm your loser."

"Ugh. Don't remind me. At least you aren't as bad as your loser friends."

Jesse's face fell, a look of worry that hadn't been there a moment before, "…yeah."

Cordy gave him a confused look, "What? What'd I say?"

"Nothing, it's just… Something weird is going on. With Xander. He's been… acting very strange lately. He's suddenly much better at fighting than he should be. He knows things he shouldn't and has been spending a lot more time with Ms. Calendar lately."

"You think he's hot for teacher?"

"No… well, maybe. But that's not the point. Xander hasn't been acting like himself. He puts on a good front, but I know him too well. There's also that Boros guy hanging around. I've seen Xander going off with Jenny, only to see her with Boros a minute later."

"Yeah, I thought he and Ms. Calendar had something going on. Giles wasn't too pleased seeing them together." Seeing his surprised look, she rolled her eyes, "What? I'm far more perceptive than people think. I'm not just some dumb cheerleader."

Jesse smiled, "I never thought you were."

-oOo-

The day after exorcising the two spirits, the words spoken by the ghost of a dead teacher continued to ring in Xander's mind. "I pushed him away and it brought us nothing but pain. Don't make the same mistake I did."

He didn't want to accept it but that niggling temptation to put Jenny into the machine, to finally have a companion who he wouldn't have to watch grow old, was louder than ever. He was currently standing before the console, looking at the list of mutant powers available to be given. He debated just smashing it to pieces, rid himself of the temptation, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Many times throughout his life he had chased a rumor or legend about some magical item that could grant immortality, only for every single one to be a dead end. The longer that went on, the more people he had lost to time, the less hope he had. There came a point that he stopped caring, stopped feeling. He became the epitome of what Giles thought 'The Immortal' to be. Then Siobhan had entered his life. Taking care of her, raising her, forced him to feel again. Now for the first time he had a real, tangible method of granting immortality and it terrified him. So many things could go wrong, yet in the end he accepted that Jenny and Siobhan were adults and could make their own decisions. If this was what they wanted, then he would accept whatever repercussions came from it.

Sighing heavily, he stepped away. He needed to make a call.

-oOo-

Parking her car outside the CRD building, Jenny got out and approached the main entrance, taking a deep breath before opening the door and entering. She went directly to the main production floor where the celestial computer was located. Upon entering she found Siobhan and Xander both by the console. He appeared not as 'Boros', but as an adult version of his naturally born self.

"That's a new look."

"It's the appearance I normally use when at home. I prefer that Siobhan sees the real me, instead of the fake faces I show to the world. Since you refuse to save yourself from this life, you might as well see me like this too."

Jenny looked him over, "I like it. You grow up nice."

Xander grinned salaciously, "so did you."

"Ugh." Siobhan said, stepping into the doorway, "must you two flirt all the time? You're like teenagers."

-oOo-

Outside the CRD complex, Jesse was crouched behind a car, having followed Ms. Calendar. He'd seen her enter the building that was once controlled by a demon, leaving him wondering what she was doing there. He cautiously moved closer, circling the large building trying to get a view through one of the windows. They were mostly caked in grime but after climbing on an old rotted wooden crate, he was able to find a section of glass that was cleaner than the rest. He was looking into a wide-open space that held a smattering of old neglected machinery and a single unit that looked like something out of a science fiction movie. Instead of a video screen, it projected information into the air by way of a hologram that activated as Xander pressed his hand to a wide gel-like pad that seemed to take the place of a keyboard. The problem was that it wasn't Xander. At least, not Xander as Jesse had ever seen him. He was clearly older, his hair longer and his physique more sculpted. The teen could imagine this is what Xander would look like in twenty years. As he watched, Siobhan stepped into view, the girl who delivered the wolfsbane potion to Oz. She had said she was delivering it for Boros, so she was clearly connected to him in some way. But then… what was she doing here? It was yet another strange thing tying Boros to Xander. The teen settled in to watch what was happening inside, hoping he could finally get some answers.

-oOo-

Xander spent a moment staring blankly at the holographic display before speaking. "Do you know how many people I've watched die? I don't. I tried, I tried for a long time to remember them all, but after a while… how could I keep up? There have been so many I can barely remember their names anymore. I've seen kingdoms crumble; I've seen the people I cared about rot and decay while I go on. There is one constant in the universe… everything fades. Everything… except me. And you, if you go through with this. This is your last chance to back out. Immortality is not something I would choose to inflict on anyone."

"I know, and that's why I'm not going to let you suffer it alone anymore."

Xander looked at her with a hint of surprise in his eyes before sighing and turning back to the console, "I assume you've put some thought into what powers you want?"

"I still have the memories of what it was like to be Jean Grey, how strong she was. I want that again."

"So, telepathy and telekinesis." Xander nodded. Information began to appear on the screen, "What else?"

"Else?"

"You get six total powers, five plus the genetic immortality. According to this thing any more than that can have adverse effects. I don't actually know what the repercussions may be, but in the X-men comics a character named David Haller has numerous powers and they drove him insane. Multiple personalities, each controlling a different ability."

Jenny nodded in understanding, "Five powers. I'm assuming telepathy and telekinesis count as two?"

"They do, yes. I would also recommend you take shape shifting. Being able to alter my appearance helped keep me sane all those years. I could settle down in a place and stay there for a long time, not having to leave to prevent people from noticing that I wasn't aging. I would just add the occasional wrinkle or grey hair." Xander looked at his daughter, "You both should."

"You're getting powers too?" Jenny asked Siobhan.

The girl nodded, "I want to help fight monsters."

"Sweety-" Xander started, the frustration in his voice making Jenny realize that they had been having this argument for a while.

"Don't 'sweety' me, dad. You raised me on bedtime stories about the vampire slayers. You taught me to stand against evil and now that I have a way to actually do that, you say it's too dangerous. With this," she pointed at the machine, "I can have the power to hold my own in a fight, the power to kill vampires. I'm not going to sit on the sidelines anymore."

Xander could not deny that the idea of his daughter putting herself in danger night after night unnerved him but, in the end, he couldn't blame her. She had a very strong sense of moral responsibility and didn't pull her punches when someone didn't live up to her expectations, going so far as to tell him off for walking away from a mugging they had witnessed years before. Looking down at her his mind quickly flashed back to Siobhan's childhood. He had lived so long that he had collected endless amounts of knowledge and had wanted to share that knowledge with his daughter, whom he had grown to love so very much. He remembered her tiny hands holding the violin, struggling to manipulate the strings. He remembered her resolve, that no matter how hard it was she wouldn't give up. After all, she had wanted to make her daddy proud. He remembered how she got better and more confident as time progressed. His mind jumped forward through so many activities, like learning to play several instruments and multiple forms of martial arts, ballet, dance, gymnastics, sword play, archery, horseback riding, and more. The girl's mind was a sponge, she absorbed everything she could get her hands on. Xander taught her everything he could and what he couldn't teach her she took classes for. The one thing she didn't excel at no matter how hard she tried was cooking. The girl was a nightmare in the kitchen.

His mind then moved on to how sad she was when she found out that he would have to watch her grow old and die while he lived on. She swore then and there that she would be by his side always and that he would not be alone as long as she lived. So far, she had kept that promise. It upset Xander quite a bit that instead of applying to an Ivy League college, she had chosen to move with him to Sunnydale to keep her promise. They'd had quite the disagreement over that, but it turned out that Siobhan could be even more stubborn than her father. Finally, he'd agree to let her put off college a year so she could attend UC Sunnydale when they moved here. She was ecstatic when he told her about the X-gene database and Jenny's demands to make her as immortal as he was. The fact that she didn't have to leave him alone brought happy tears to her eyes. She even did the Snoopy dance, something that he had shown her when she was young. She hadn't done that since she was a child. Of course, she hadn't taken it well when he refused to allow it. She had been even more vocal than Jenny was in her attempts to change his mind. Xander sighed, "Why do you have to be so stubborn?"

"Because you raised me that way?" she said simply.

"Clearly, there's no stopping this, so… as long as you take a power that allow you to protect yourself, I'll go along with it."

They talked for a bit, debating different powers and their usability in the real world. Xander went more in depth about what he could do, which led to Jenny asking the question. "What was it like for you when you first got your powers?"

"When I first ended up in the past, I found myself deep in the desert. I walked for days, sure that I was going to die of starvation or dehydration. I didn't know at the time that I didn't need to eat or drink anymore, though I sure figured it out after nearly two weeks lost in the desert. I eventually came across a tribe of people living in a small nomadic camp. Luckily, by that time I'd figured out the shape-shifting enough to return to my base human form, so as not to scare them."

"What did you look like before that?" Jenny asked. Siobhan was just as enthralled by her father's story, even though she had heard it before. Although the version she had heard was happier, as growing up he had turned parts of his life into bedtime stories, tales of excitement and adventure appropriate for a little girl.

"When I went out that Halloween, I had dressed as the first mutant, the man who came to be known as Apocalypse. I was wearing a costume made of tin that looked like his armor suit and my face was painted. I had slate gray skin, blue lips, the whole deal. After ending up in the past the costume became real. The armor was no longer tin and the paint... well, it sure wasn't paint anymore. So anyway, by the time I had stumbled across the camp I had figured out how to return to my unaltered form, as I obviously knew my own face better than any other. As soon as I arrived, I learned that everyone there spoke a strange language I didn't recognize. It was then that I learned that I could read minds. The problem of course was that they also thought in that same language, preventing me from getting anything out of it. Still, I had no control over my telepathy, I was constantly hearing every single mind nearby. I was just lucky that the camp was small, only about twenty people, and it was in the middle of the desert which meant any other minds were far outside my range. Here in Sunnydale, you will be surrounded by tens of thousands, all their thoughts screaming at you until you learn to block them out. I don't envy you." Seeing the worried look on her face, he shrugged, "I told you this wasn't going to be a pleasant experience."

Jenny nodded, taking a deep breath before pushing forward. She knew and wasn't going to back down. "What about you, Siobhan? What powers are you thinking about?"

"I've always wanted to be able to fly. I've seen dad zipping around for as long as I can remember and despite his claims that it's not actually feasible in the modern age, I still want to fly."

"You will need some form of invisibility so that you aren't seen." Xander stated, "It would not be good if someone took a picture of a human flying around under their own power. We don't need that kind of attention. Also, you'll need some way to prevent causing a sonic boom if you fly too fast."

Beyond telepathy and telekinesis, Jenny ended up deciding on enhanced mental processing, reasoning that it would allow her to do far more with her powers than she otherwise would have been able to. She also took Xander's advice and selected one of the stronger sounding shape-shifting powers. For the last "slot" she decided upon Technokinesis, the ability to communicate with and control technology.

At Xander's insistence, Siobhan chose a power that would infuse her cells with energy that made them nigh impenetrable, making her body as durable as diamond. Along with high-speed flight, she selected a basic superhuman physiology package allowing for enhanced strength, speed, stamina, and reaction times. The ability to control light appealed to her as it allowed for both invisibility and the creation of holograms. That was the only way she could think of to alter her appearance, given that her cells would likely be resistant to any change. As her final power she chose intangibility, which should allow air to pass through her as she flew instead of collecting in front of her, which was the cause of sonic booms.

Once they made their final decisions, Xander used the interface to prepare the system, imputing the proper selections. On command, the human-sized chamber opened, the glass top lifting away. "Siobhan, you're up."

"How does it work?" The girl asked while inspecting the metal tube.

"The machine releases a retroviral mist mixed with an anesthetic that puts you to sleep. The mist permeates your cells adding the selected x-genes to your DNA. Once fully incorporated, the system releases a powerful electrical charge that stresses out your body to the point it reacts by activating your mutations."

"It sounds painful." Jenny said.

"I imagine it is. That's probably why you are sedated during the process."

Siobhan took a moment to work up her nerve before stepping forward. She had been waiting for this moment nearly all her life and she wasn't going to back down now. She positioned herself inside the chamber and nodded, signaling her father to begin. Xander gave the command to shut the chamber causing the glass to descend over her, sealing her in. Her eyes roamed around the inside of the compartment, her breathing coming out faster in the enclosed space. Seconds later she could hear a soft hissing sound as a dense white mist began to fill the tube. After only a few breaths, she began to feel lightheaded and soon fell unconscious.

-oOo-

Jenny's eyes widened when Siobhan's body began jerking and twitching, appearing to have a seizure. "What's going on?"

"It's the electricity." Xander stated, actively not looking at his daughter suffering, "it's activating the mutations."

After Siobhan stopped twitching, Jenny released a sigh of relief. A soft whirring sound signaled a vacuum system activating, pulling out the remaining white mist and clearing the tube. Siobhan did not look any different, leaving Jenny hoping that it wasn't all for nothing. There was a release of air as the chamber lid lifted. Siobhan was lying within, appearing to be asleep. Just when Jenny was beginning to wonder if they should try to wake her, she took a sudden sharp breath and her eyes snapped open.

"How do you feel?" Xander asked.

"I… I feel strong." She grabbed onto the edge of the chamber and pushed herself clear. She then took a single step and shot forward, an exclamation of surprises escaping her throat as she careened across the room, slamming into the far wall with a mighty crash.

"Siobhan!" Xander and Jenny cried in unison as they ran forward. There was a large hole in the wall where the girl had struck it, plowing through into an empty abandoned office.

"Durability works." Siobhan mumbled, pulling herself back through the hole in the drywall. She did not appear hurt, confirming that she was now a mutant. After looking his daughter over to confirm she was uninjured, Xander nodded in confirmation and turned to Jenny.

"Your turn."