"Charles." Jean said to the Professor when she answered the phone. "I take it you received my report on the situation in Sunnydale." It had been a week since their conversation with Rupert Giles and she had finished her evaluations on all the Potentials.
"Yes, I did and Emma assures me she has completed the set up of her office and is beginning to see the girls. Xander's therapist reports he hasn't missed any appointments and is attempting to deal with his own issues, no details of course, as those are all private. My concern is Buffy and Dawn Summers."
"Dawn wants to see a therapist, Buffy is resistant, for both of them. She's having difficulty acknowledging her issues. It doesn't help that the one and only time she was remotely evaluated before involved a psych student she'd attended High School with who was sired by Spike, the second vampire she was involved with."
"I don't image it would be. All you can do is try. As for Dawn, Social Services are moving to make an official recommendation for both individual and family counseling. Until that goes though, focusing on other tasks is probably best. Is Dr. Giles being at all supportive of them seeking therapy?"
"He's ambivalent about it. He says it's their decision and is staying out of it. The Watchers are not known for acknowledging psychological issues in Slayers or Potentials, let alone giving or seeking treatment for them. More likely, they'd probably send out a retrieval team, as they did against Faith and facilitate the Calling of another Slayer." Jean said, feeling for all of those Slayers and Potentials the Council had wronged over the centuries with no oversight on them.
"Unfortunately, you're probably right. On another topic, I've completed the purchase of the former Chase Mansion, you can go ahead and begin refurnishing it. I'm certain the girls would all enjoy helping with that. Only four of the girls have family that we've been able to locate, including Amanda, who already lives in Sunnydale and Kennedy. Until we can locate any surviving Watchers, I will assign one of our people to be an unofficial Watcher for the out of town girls and Amanda can attend training with those remaining in Sunnydale. Until we can train new Watchers in a more modern approach, shall we say?"
"That sounds good and I have information regarding the two doctors who we believe were responsible for Xander and Cordelia's creation. We've exhumed their bodies and found that they both have the x gene, so yes, they were mutants themselves. Their bodies were not embalmed, apparently that's an old, unofficial rule in Sunnydale. The dead are almost always buried the same day or the day after they arrive in the morgue."
"Most likely because of the ingrained corruption in the city officials still left over from Mayor Wilkins. We know he employed vampires and had no issues with them being in Sunnydale after all."
"Unfortunately true. The team has identified all thirty of the suspected other created mutants. Until we can examine them, we can't be sure that Xander and Cordelia were the only ones created. We're working on tracking the females down first. If Logan and the others speculation is correct and the thing that was possessing Cordelia does have contingencies in place, then another mother is currently being manipulated into place."
"As I understand it, it was approximately a year after the visions began that she fell into a coma and was tricked into believing she needed to be part demon to deal with them and became possessed. It's also when the second activation stage happened and she began to display other powers."
"The method of manipulation may be different with a different mother. I believe the main point was to cause sufficient damage that accepting the offer was the only means of survival." Jean said.
"A good point. Just because it took a year for Cordelia to reach that point doesn't mean it would take as long or even longer for another to reach it. Finding any other created mutants must be a priority." Charles said firmly. "Work on the Potentials Academy and Training Center will begin soon and the temporary training center being set up in the warehouse won't be much more then a gym. In the meantime, the girls can be homeschooled. They're behind educationally by several months at this point anyway and homeschooling will allow them the individual attention necessary to allow them to catch up. I'll work on the arrangements, track down the McGregor's patients and determine if there any are any more created mutants, like Xander and Cordelia. If we can find them, we can protect them."
"We've begun trying locate them. Very few of the people Xander and Cordelia graduated with remained in Sunnydale. Some left to attend college or just get away from here and who could blame them, especially after what happened at their graduation ceremony. Logan asked me to pass on his report as well."
"Go ahead."
"Basically the Watchers idea of how to deal the situation with the vampires and demons here was crap. It's the same strategy they've employed for centuries. Send the Slayer out at night and have her dust mostly fledglings. If they'd allowed Xander to make use of his military knowledge they could have raided nests during the day time and reduced the overall numbers considerably. But none of the others were comfortable with him even having that knowledge. Buffy has issues with guns, Giles, like most Watchers prefers to send their Slayer out armed only with a stake unless they encounter something using a different weapon. He did give her some instruction in the use of a sword, crossbow and staff specifically for that reason and Willow probably feared he retained it because of his mutant abilities, which he did. Denied the use of that knowledge except in emergencies against what they called Big Bars, Xander is self taught with an ax and crossbow. Logan has begun training him."
"The Watcher should have done it, if only to have helped with keeping them safe. I suppose he never completely broke out of the mindset that just the Slayer was supposed to be fighting. A ridiculous idea which just helped cement the Watchers Council's hold on them." The Professor all but growled.