What Doesn't Kill You Only Makes You Stronger

Please see disclaimers on the first page.

A/N: The description of Chandra's eyes was borrowed from another fic of mine (Born Again) written under the pen name of Manda--it fit this fic too. If anyone has read that story, I wouldn't want it thought that I was plagiarizing. Thanks! Please review....because that would make me very, very, very happy and inspired : )


“I can feel their fear, Spike. Did I hurt anyone else?” the fuchsia haired woman asked worriedly. It wrenched Willow’s heart to see Chandra clinging to desperately to Spike, seeming so lost and broken. The moment the thought ran through her mind, Chandra’s head snapped up and she glared at the redhead. Her strength was never to be questioned.

“I’m many things, Willow, but broken is not one of them.”

For the first time, Chandra let the spectators have a good look at her. When the fuchsia haired woman looked up, several gasps could be heard, but she kept their gaze. As it had been so long since anyone had looked at her wit sut surprise, she was automatically prepared for it. She knew that the mere sight of her eyes alone caused a great many discomfort. Even among mutants, they were one of a kind, shimmering in several shades of purple. Metallic violet circled her pupil while the iris was a purple-indigo flecked with lilac. A lighter shade of violet surrounded the iris. While she was an extraordinarily beautiful woman with pale ivory alabaster skin, a lush cupid’s bow mouth, and an angelic face, they were her most striking feature, especially as they contrasted against the waist length fuchsia waves that cascaded down her back. A color that no dye could replicate. A long, but thin scar bisected her left eye. The welt started just above the eyebrow and extended two inched beyond the lower lid. The right side of her neck was marred with the number 315 tattooed boldly in black. Her body was toned and fit, but not without curves that would have had Xander drooling if ereneren’t so freaked out. They were all torn between looking upon her beauty and looking away from her haunted eyes. Tri-violet orbs that exposed all hacriacrifice, pain, and betrayal
“W
“Who would think that after everything you have seen,” Chandra commented darkly, “a little mutant girl like me would shock you? I know you’ve seen much worse, here on the Hellmouth.“ Buffy felt something in the back of her mind, a tingle that forced her defenses up. “Get out of our minds,” she demanded when she realized what was happening. Chandra responded with a smirk. “Would you rather be in mine?”

“That is enough, Chandra,” a soft, but authoritative voice commanded.

No one had heard Charles Xavier nor his X-Men enter. Upon hearing his old friend’s voice, Giles sighed in relief. He would have gone to greet him, but the mutant was very intent on the young woman. Another woman with auburn hair with snow-white streaks stayed close behind next to her was an older man in a leather jacket that he identified as Logan, one of his colleagues. He was also very focused on Chandra, trying to decipher whether or not she goi going to be a threat.

The woman in question stood to face the visitors and a smile lit her face at the sight of the Professor. “Hello, Professor Xavier,” she greeted politely before shooting Logan a fleeting glance. “I’m no threat to the Professor. I’m actually very pleased to see him again.”

‘Great. Another fucking telepath,’ Logan growled to himself.

“And I you, dear,” the bald Englishman reciprocated after glaring at his X-Man. “But I need to know if you are a threat to anyone else.”

“I don’t want to be,” came the pained whisper and it broke his heart. Xavier never thought he’d be in this situation with Chandra. He remembered her as a little girl, the sister of a former student. She had been a flatscan then. She bore no powers, only her shocking pink hair and violet eyes betrayed her status as a mutant. Her parents had forced her to dye her hair black and wear dark glasses to hide her true appearance then. But now she stood before him in her natural glory, pure power radiating from within.

~You are a telepath, correct, child?~

~Yes. But I am far more than that.~

~And what are you?~

~Daddy made me into the perfect weapon.~

~You’re father did this to you? He experimented on you?~

~He promised me that it would help Jason. It didn’t. He just made me a monster.~ Tears long suppressed began leaking from her eyes at the mon oon of her older brother.

Charles had a hard time disguising his disgust, even more so after a few choice images of the many experiments performed on the woman before him flowed into his mind. Tears of his own gathered in his eyes as her pain washed over him. He held his arms to her and she gladly went to him and accepted the embrace. Still disheveled and covered in her own dried blood, Chandra Stryker laid her head in the Professor’s lap and let him enter her mind to put the confusion and hurt to rest. Quickly, she fell into a deep. “I apologize for the telepathic conversation,” he apologized with his eyes still on the sleeping woman. “There were some questions I had to ask her privately. Now, Rupert, is there somewhere she can rest? Perhaps someone can help her clean up?”

Willow immediately volunteered, but looked to Buffy for direction. “Where do you want her, Buffy?”

“Mom’s room. She won’t be back in town until tomorrow.” The redhead nodded and was about to ask Xander for help moving her, but Logan was at her side in an instant. “I got her, kid,” he said softly as he picked Chandra up as if she weighed nothing. Willow nodded with a smile and led the mutant up the stairs so they could tend to her.

Before anything else could be said or done, Buffy had to get some things straight. “Hi,” she addressed Xavier and Rogue. “I’m Buffy. I live here. Willow’s the redhead upstairs with hairy growling guy. The boy with the confused look on his face is Xander, the Billy Idol wannabe’s name is Spike, and you,” she specifically said to the wheel chair bound mutant, “Obviously know Giles. Which leaves me to asho aho are you, why are you are, and what is going on? And please feel free to sit down,” which she aimed at Rogue. She was straightforward and may have seemed a but curt, but only because of her concern for the woman passed out on her mother’s bed.

Charles smiled warmly at Buffy and with a slight nod of his head told her that he understood her frank manner. “It is always a pleasure to meet friends of Rupert’s,” Xavier verbally replied. “My name is Charles Xavier. I run a school in New York for mutants. The young woman beside me is Rogue and the growling gentleman is Logan, also known as Wolverine.”

“Charles and I were at Oxford together, Buffy, and have stayed in close contact since. I called him as soon as Spike told us that Chandra is a mutant,” Giles added.

Everything was finally sinking in for Xander and he grinned at the two before him. “I got it--you’re X-Men. You took down the Sentinels. Willow and I saw the whole thing and were cheering you on.”

“Thank you Xander. Tell me, do you pay much attention to mutants in the news?”

~*~*~

Willow went off to gather some of Buffy’s clothes that she hoped would fit Chandra. After Logan laid her gently down on the queen size bed, he brushed a lock of vibrant hair from her forehead. In the act, he caught sight of the tattoo on her neck. ‘They marked her like a piece of fucking property. ‘ When the redhead came back into the room, he was growling and rubbing his knuckles, staring intently at the prone woman before him. Willow was startled to hear him speak when he a, “D, “Do you know what they did to her?” His voice was low and dangerous, but held a touch of sadness too.

“No. All Spike got to tell us was that the two of them were in the lab together. He was in for a month, she was in for two years,” she answered and then took a seat on the bed with a pile of clothes. There was a moment of silence before she looked up at Logan pointedly and then glanced at the clothes in her hands. “I’m gonna, um--”

“Yeah, I gotcha. I’m gone.” His face was unreadable as he turned away and made for the stairs. “I’m Willow, by the way,” she called after him. He turned and his stone facade cracked and he offered her a small smile. “Logan.”

“I’ll take good take of her, Logan.”

“Thanks, kid.”

~*~*~

All conversation stopped when heavy footsteps thundered down the stairs. Rogue and Xavier knew that it was an angry Logan. “All right, Blondie,” he snarled when he reached the motley crew in the living room, coming to a stop before the vampire. There was something off about the blonde, something about his scent and it was all over Chandra. “You were there. Tell me what they did to her and tell me what the fuck you are, ‘cause ya ain‘t mutant and ya sure ain‘t human.”

Spike glared back at the mutant. “That’s because I’m a vampire, mate. Have been for over two centuries.”

“A vampire?” Those had been the first words out of Rogue since leaving the Blackbird. “As in Lestat and Dracula?”

“None of that Anne Rice slop, love,” he replied without taking his eyes off of the growling Wolverine. “Simply caricatures of the real thing.”

Buffy decided to take control of the situation and spell everything out for the X-Men, secret identity be damned. There was no time become embroiled in a debate about the existence of vampires. “It’s true,” the young woman stated and all eyes were immediately on her. “Spike is a vampire--we should all know because we‘ve been trying to kill each other for years--”

“Ah, yes, the Slayer.” Xavier recalled before she could continue. “There is one girl in every generation to defend humanity against the demons, vampires, and other forces of evil. Rupert has been your mentor, or Watcher rather, for some time correct?”

“So much for the secrets of the Watcher’s Council and the Slayer, Giles,” Buffy grumbled.

“As I’ve told you," managed to explain while ignoring the rolling of her eyes. "Charles and I have known each other for years, ever since I made the decision to join the Council. We’ve never severed contact--that’s why he knows you’re the Slayer, Buffy. Besides, the man is just about the most powerful telepath in the world. He’d eventually find out anyway.”

“Yes, old friend, I would have. Your feelings on the matter have always been very strong. It was almost impossible to miss them.”

Logan and Rogue were still trying to take in the information they’d just been given. A thought came to Wolverine as he pondered the situation. “If Buffy’s the Slayer and Blondie’s a vamp, what the hell is he doing in your house? Especially since you’ve been trying to kill each other for years.”

“Easy Wolfman,” Spike spat and Logan‘s claws were itching to come out. “I had to get Chandra out of the installation. She was bleeding all over the fucking place when we got out and I couldn’t very well take her to a hospital. I knew that even if they wouldn’t help me, the bloody Scooby Gang over there would help her. Besides,” he added bitterly while searching his duster for a pack of cigarettes, “They put a computer chip in me head. I couldn’t harm a human if I tried.” With that, he stormed out of the house with an unlit cigarette between his lips.

“Oh, shit,” Xander breathed. “At any other time, I’d be ecstatic to know that he can’t rip my throat out. But right now I’m not. I actually feel sorry for him.”

~*~*~

Only Logan noticed Rogue slip out of the house to go after the distraught vampire. Everyone else was reeling from this discovery. The young woman found Spike on the back porch, chain smoking. “Hey.”

“Yeah? What do you want?”

“Just wanted to check on ya, that’s all.”

Her Southern accent was melodic and soothed his frazzled nerves. It didn’t hurt that she was pretty hot too.

“Love, I’m a vampire--a monster. I doubt your X-friends would like you out here with me.”

“They know I can take care of myself, Spike. Anyway, I know how you feel--what it’s like to have something vital taken away from you. ‘Cause of my mutation, I can’t touch anyone, not skin to skin. If I do, I take their life force and get stuck with their thoughts in my head. If the person is a mutant, I also take on their powers. In any case, they get knocked out and if I hold on too long I’ll kill them. So, really, I‘m kind of a vampire too,” she added with a sad smile.

The vampire’s heart broke for the girl. To live a life without knowing any touch, to never kiss or make love would be a terrible fate. Of course if one was creative, one could get around that. But nothing could replace the intimacy of flesh to flesh contact. “I’m fucking sorry to hear that, pet.” Rogue just nodded and kept on talking. “Scott, he’s another X-Man, our team leader. His mutation is pretty crappy too. He has to wear these red shades to keep him from frying everything in sight. His eyes emit red laser-like blasts. Like me, he doesn’t have an off switch.”

“And does the Wolfman have a shitty mutation, hence the stick up his ass?”

Rogue snickered at the nickname, knowing that if Logan heard it again, Spike would be meeting his claws. “Logan has an incredible healing factor and enhanced senses. He’s also stronger than the average fella.” Thinking about whether or not to mention the adamantium claws, Rogue just realized that this mission would especially disturbing for him. The vamp noticed her sudden change in mood and asked her about it.

“What’s going on, pet? You’re very quiet all of a sudden. Something about Logan?”

“Yeah,” she softly replied. “This mission is gonna be really tough for him.”

“Hs sts stuck in one of those labs, wasn’t he?”

“Yeah. How did ya know?” she asked in utter surprise.

Spike tapped the side of his nose with a wry grin. “He’s not the only one with enhanced senses. I can smell the metal in him. It’s very distinImplImplants?”

“It’s a metal called adamantium. It was grafted to his entire skeleton. They even gave him claws. They come out and retract at will.”

“Wait,” Spike insisted. “You said adamantium?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“’Cause the sick fucks that had me and Chandra wanted to stick that shit in her.”

Logan came out onto the porch just in time to hear Spike’s last statement. He had the vampire pinned to the ground with both sets of infamous foot long claws poised at his neck before either he or Rogue could react. He was having a hell of a time containing his composure. “Who? Who did it?” he demanded. “Who tried to do this to her? Fucking tell me!!”

Commendably, Spike kept his calm, despite know the razor sharp knives at his throat could decapitate him. Rogue on the other hand was scared out of her whits. “Logan, get off him! He didn‘t do anything.” The blonde glanced at her and shook his head. “No worries, love. I can tell him what he needs. Had I been given the chance, I would’ve said something earlier.”

“Then tell me.”

“Her father. Now get the bloody hell off of me.”