Wildcat
by Spike's Serena
crossover with X-Men
rating : hum...PG?
disclaimer : the BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon and mutant enemy.
Prologue
Sunnydale - November 2000
It's 9 o'clock in the morning. First period is on : gym class. Students
pair up for an auto-defense class. Cordelia is with Xander, Willow with
Buffy (Larry didn't want to try it again with her). But those 4 friends
were discussing about an other matter.
"Giles want us to join him in the library after class," Buffy said. "I
talked to him this morning and he was quite disturbed. He was really freaky
: totally un-Giles like."
"I wonder what disturbed him so much."
"I don't know, Xan," Buffy answered. "I guess it could be all those mutants
that decided to let the world know of their presence. Giles told me he
didn't like it."
"I don't know," Willow said. "I find them courageous to admit that they are
different. People just freak out because they don't know anything about
them."
"Will, they don't know anything about demons and stuff and I'm sure they
would freak out if they ever find out about what goes bump in the night.
Demons are from hell. But those mutants are humans and most of them are
more dangerous than vampires."
Suddenly, Harmony bumped into the Slayer. "Watch out where you walk
freak-girl."
Willow turned toward the snob to defend her friend. "I think it's you who
walked in her."
"I wasn't talking to you geek!"
"Fashion victim!"
"Waste of place!"
"Bleached brain!"
"Totally undesirable nerd who was dumped by her boyfriend that found her
useless and a complete waste of time." Harmony plastered a big smile on her
face that told everyone she had win.
That was pure cruelty for Willow, especially when the remark came from that
blond bimbo. But instead of hidding her emotions as usual, it started to
boiled. As the snob walked away, Xander and Buffy understood something was
wrong. Normally, the red head would have just ignore her and turn away, but
something was different this time : Willow wasn't controlling herself. She
walked steadily in the same direction Harmony took.
When she arrived just behind her back, the blond turned around and watched
her with a look of distaste. "What do you want? To be insulted again,
loser?"
WHAM!
Harmony screamed. The teacher looked at where the call was from. Willow
was shaking in rage and fear and Harmony was crying in pain on the floor.
When she came closer, she notice that the red head was looking fearfully at
her hand. Coming closer to her, she saw claws. That's when Harmony looked
up, her face bathered in blood because of the wounds.
Willow backed up until she reached the wall. She didn't know what happened.
One moment she was advancing toward the blond girl in the intention to
smack her good, the other minute, her nails were extending into claws.
Not hearing her friends call to her, she ran out of the gym, out of the
school toward the Rosenberg's house. She should have stayed with Buffy and
Xander and Giles and... well Cordelia. But they wouln'd have understand.
She wasn't one of them anymore.
She was a mutant.
Part 1
New York - March 2001
Willow slammed the car's door. "This thing just has to break down in the
middle of the night!" She screamed in rage. Knowing the car was just good
to be shredded into little pieces, she took her bag and started to walk.
The morning she had run back home, she had packed some souvenirs, a bit of
clothes and her computer. She had taken the bus to San Francisco. Her
first choice had been Los Angeles, but knowing her luck, she would have run
into Angel. She had stayed there two months, living in motels and changing
jobs every weeks or so. In January, she had decided to go to the Maine, but
had finally landed in New York. There she was.
During those 3 months, Willow had explored her mutant powers. She now knew
that the claws appeared because she could change into an animal, a wildcat.
She had noticed this when, in a fit of rage, she had looked in the mirror.
What looked at her was a girl with claws, the yellow eyes of a cat, and a
bit of fur. At first, she thought she was a werewolf, but she discovered it
couln't be true when she didn't change at full moon. She also discovered
she had an extraordinary healing capacity. And that heightened sense of
vision at night? That was great.
Willow looked up as she came face to face with wall of brick. The moon
showed her a sign near the entrance.
CHARLES XAVIER'S SCHOOL FOR GIFTED YOUNGSTERS
The famous lightbulb appeared above Willow's head. "Well, I could always
enrole myself in a school. I have some savings and I just have to hide the
fact that I am a mutant. Anyway, I'm talented in computers. Yeah, that's a
great idea!" Willow had started to talk to herself a few weeks after
leaving Sunnydale. She felt alone and needed to talk to someone. She
finally choose herself as a friend.
Crossing the gateway, she made her way to the front door. In her ideas, it
was the perfect schoolyard. It was great outside. It had trees and
flowers, some benches, a river, a basketball court? And the school? It was
a castle with beautiful walls and furniture. "How to not like this place?"
Willow whispered to herself.
She finally found some place to hide and sleep until the sun rises again.
She closed her eyes and hoped she could live here.
* * *
Charles looked up from his desk : someone was knocking on his door. Rolling
to it, he opened it to find a girl with an aura of a mutant standing
outside, waiting patiently to be invited in. Smiling to her, he rolled back
to his desk.
Willow was a bit nervous. Here she was, ready to enrol in a private school,
demanding herself if she had enough strenght to hide her "other side". But
she was feeling at peace here and that man gave her confidence. "My name is
Willow..." she hesitated, "...Jamieson. My parents decided to move near my
grand-mother's house. They sent me away earlier to chose a school. My car
broke down a few miles from here and I stumbled on your front door. So I
decided to come see the principal for further informations."
Charles looked attentively at the girl. Apparently, she had invented all
that story. She probably didn't know it was a school for mutants like her.
Well, he'd give her the chance to discover it by herself. "I'm professor
Charles Xavier. I created this school to give gifted youngsters the chance
to perform in their specific talent. This is a public school so no need to
pay. We just have a very hard test to admit someone in. What is your
talent, Willow?"
"Well, I'm very good with computers. Actually, I'm..hum...a hacker. And
believe me, I'm damn good at it." She liked it more here within each
passing hour. This M. Xavier was fantastic. And the cherry on the top? No
need to pay the admission.
"So, are you interested?"
"Actually, that's the most interesting school I've found out. When could I
take the test?"
"Now." He lead her to the computer room next door. Noone was there. [ Good.
That will give me a chance to prevent the X-Men and the students not to
give away the punch. ] He placed her in front of one of the monitor. "Show
me your hacking ability."
[ That's the test? Oh boy! ] With a smile, Willow played with the board
like a pianist play piano. She finally cracked the last code. "There."
Charles looked at her, surprised. That little red head had penetrated in the
FBI files! "Well, I think you have no doubt what my verdict is. You're
fantastic, Willow. Come on. I'll show you you're room."
* * *
The same night, Charles called all the X-Men in his office. When they were
all seated (except Logan who was standing near the door), he started to
explain them the situation. "Have you dicovered something different in the
school?"
Suddenly standing straight, Logan said, "Yeah, there's a new scent around
here."
Charles smiled. "We have a new student. Her name is Willow Jamieson... and
it's probably not her real name. She told me some invented story, enrolled
in the school... and have absolutely no idea that this is a school for
mutants. I want her to discover by herself. I'd like you to go in the
rooms to pass out the message." When they were all out, he went back to his
bedroom and fell asleep.
* * *
That morning, Willow was a busy bee. First, she took a shower, got dressed
and went to the cafeteria to take something to eat. She was quite happy to
discover it was early and that no students were out of bed yet. After that,
she gave herself the opportunity to visits some classrooms. When she
noticed it was waking up hour for everybody, she hide in her room for about
1 hour, right until the time the bell rang. She got out and almost ran to
professor Xavier's office. He was waiting for her right there with her
schedule.
"Normally, I give the physics class, Willow. I had a free period this
morning. I'll show you the first room. After that, I'm sure you could ask
someone your directions. You'll see it's small groups in class. I'm pretty
sure you'll make friends very fast."
Willow heard the word friends and forgot about everything else. She could
have friends again. When she entered in the classroom, all the eyes turned
on her. For a moment, the old Willow came back as well as her shyness.
Turning her head, she met the eyes of the martial arts teacher. Then she
notice the great hair, the great mouth, the great shoulders, those great
hands, etc. Buffy saying : A fixation on insignificant detail is a definite
crush sign. [Insignificant? Yeah, like that great body is insignificant...]
"Willow?"
"Oops, sorry. I was lost in the space. You were saying?"
"This is Logan. He's going to teach you the basics of martial arts. Have a
good day."
Taking place on the floor between two students, Willow forced her mind to
come back to reality. [No time for spaceout, Will.] Turning her head to her
right side, a seventeen years old girl smiled at her. She had long brown
hair and two striking white spots of hair on the front. "Hi, I'm Mary."
"I'm Willow. Nice to meet you." Willow was surprised. In Sunnydale, it
would have take several weeks before being talked to. If you are dressed as
a geek, you get insulted by the snobs. If you are dressed as a snob, nerds
don't see you and you've got a series of tests to be accepted by other
snobs. If you dress like Willow did at the moment, darkly, you get ignored
for an undetermined mount of time. Here, people were friendly.
She would have friends.
Part 2
After the martial arts class, Willow stayed with Mary. It was the first
time she spoke to a friend in three months. "Mary, could you help me? I'm a
bit lost."
"Sure, what is your next class?"
"Biology."
"That's with Dr Jean Grey. I'm in this class too. Actually, I"m in the lab
most of the time. I'm... interested in physiology and energy. You'll see.
She's great." They walked together to the laboratory. "Hi, Jean."
"Hello, Mary. You must be Willow. Welcome to the lab." Jean remembered
what Xavier had said. So, without giving her the "punch", she decided to do
a little test. Waiting for the students to calm down, she walked to the
blackboard. "Calm down everyone. Today, we're going to study a
particularly difficult and disturbing chapter in biology : mutation." She
observed Willow at that moment. The girl couldn't have bigger eyes and be
more attentive. [Yep, she is definitly a mutant.]
* * *
The first day was the most exausting. Willow went to bed early, trying to
absorb everything she had learn and everyone she had met that day. First of
all, her new friend, Mary. Intelligent, curious, charming smile, a bit shy
and that weird habit of hers to wear gloves everywhere. At lunch time, she
had presented her her boyfriend Bobby. Polite, definitly wonderful, a real
gentleman. She didn't really had time to meet other students. But Mary had
assured her there wasn't many other people to meet that was around
seventeen. Most of them were twelve. As for the teachers, she new almost
everyone of them. Jean Grey was a beautiful lady. Intelligent, always
seems to be in control of situation, dating that hunk Scott... "Focus,
Willow." Scott was the mecanics teacher. Interested in what in teach,
concentred, calm, but a bit too stoic. Ororoe. [What a weird name.] She's
the specialist of chemistry. [Maybe an experiment made her hair turn white.]
Explain simply, everybody listen to her, noone understand a thing.
Professor Xavier was clear, simple. No other words. But Willow's favorite
one, Logan. [O.K. gotta work with the sense of humor, but absolutely
gorgeous!]
The second day was a riot compared to the first one. Willow understood that
the adults teached more than one subject.
The third day, she was in an already deep friendship with Mary. The girl
was fantastic. She had admited to Willow that once, she had had a crush on
Logan. The red head understood her too well. They had spend their lunch
hour together, trading childhood histories. None of the two spoke about the
recents adventures. Sometimes, Bobby would join them after class. They
would then spend the night talking and laughing. Willow was happy. About
that she was sure.
The only thing that could make her feel a bit sad, was that she couldn't
talk to her new friends about her biggest problem. They would hate her for
sure and professor Xavier would probably kick her out.
Fourth day was now on and almost finished. The last class was english and
Willow had happily saluted Ororoe when she had learned Mary was in this
class with her. When the class started, Willow installed herself
comfortably in her chair and listened, chewing on her pencil. She had
discovered that she had that habit of chewing things... discovered it like
one day before she looked into the mirror to find the two elongated canines
of a wildcat. She had been almost has surprised when she willed them to
retract and they did just that.
[I'm bored. Totally bored.] She started to scratch the desk with her
nails, make her fingers play across the desk, scratch her nails, make her...
"What the hell?"
Willow turned her head to find Mary starring at her hand. Looking down, she
realized it wasn't nails at the end of her fingers. But claws. Jerking
away from the desk, Willow lifted herself from the chair and ran out of the
room. She ran and ran until she reached her room. Yanking the door open,
she took the bag out from under her bed and packed her things quickly.
Hearing footsteps coming her way, she decided the window was a safer escape
than the front door.
Jumping out in the still cold hair of April, she wished she had come to New
York a bit later. It was still cold outside and she didn’t know how far was
the next habitation. Feeling someone a bit too close for her like, she let
the wildcat in her emerge. She took her bag and slung it over her shoulder
as she made a wild dash to the gateway. Stepping outside of the yard, she
allowed herself a little break, than the cat pushed her legs to run faster
than a human could. She was now a predator that was in danger to be
discovered. She had to get as far as possible from that school...
...and forget her friends once again.
* * *
Without a warning, the door of his office was opened. Charles looked up
from his desk to find his oldest students come in. "What is it, Storm?"
Ororoe stepped closer to him. "Your plan kind of...didn't work out. Rogue
saw her claws. Willow knows she saw it and ran out of the mansion with her
bag. She's in the woods."
Charles turned to Logan. He knew Willow was interested in him and maybe it
was a bit reciprocated. "Wolverine, go in the woods and find her. Try to
make her come back."
With that, Wolverine went out of the office but was stopped by Scott's
voice. "Don't take my motorcycle this time."
"In the woods? Yeah, like I'd like to kill myself," Wolverine muttered. He
took his coat and stepped out in the late afternoon air. Knowing she must
have at least 15 minutes start ahead of him, he pushed his legs to maximum
speed imediatly. After 20 minutes of running, he took time to rest.
Seeting on the ground, he let his mind go freely. [Come on, she can't have
gone so much away.] Then, his nose picked up her scent. Suddenly feeling
enough rested, he stood up and stepped back in the chase. "Better hide,
little red ridding hood, because de big bad wolf is coming."
* * *
Willow wasn't aware of the mutant following her. She was too preocupied to
try to know if someone was following her. It was when it was too late that
she realized she should have been more attentive. She felt down on the
ground when someone bumped into her...hard. Looking up, she met Logan's
eyes. Willow growled, "What do you want? To insult me just like that bimbo
Harmony? Just leave me alone." With that, she walked away.
Logan slammed her into a nearby tree. "Wake up! You're not in a dream, it's
reality. I don't know who this Harmony is and I don't care. The only thing
I know is that the professor is worried and told me to come after you."
"He probably just want to give me to the autorities to have "forgotten" to
tell him I was a mutant. Now get out of my way if you don't want me to
shred you into little pieces." She pushed him hard.
Logan had enough. He lost control on his basic instincts. Standing up, the
adamantium claws got out of his hands. Wolverine had awakened.
Willow couldn't get past the claws. "Goddess, you're one too." She felt the
anger leave her body : the canines retracted as well as the claws, the fur
disapeared as well as the yellow tint in her eyes. She fell on the ground.
Wolverine retracted the claws and came close to her. "You're not alone,
Willow or whatever your name is. Why do you think the professor let you
come in the school without asking you a billion questions?" Willow looked up
in surprise. "That right. He's a mutant as well as the rest of the school.
Each one of the teachers are mutants called X-Men. And the students? Your
friend Mary absorb energy from people she touches and her boyfriend Bobby
control the ice. They are worried senseless. So, what do you say? Should
I let you go away or would you like to back with me?"
Willow didn't have to think twice. Here she was, running away from a school
where no matter what you were, they understood you. She had friends who had
known all long that she was a mutant and hadn't batted an eye. And she
wanted to go away? What a joke! She took Wolverine's hand and let him pull
her up. Smiling at him, they walked toward the school in silence.
Finally, she had found someone to understand her.
Part 3
Knock knock knock
"Come in! Ah, Willow. Welcome back."
Willow smiled shyly at the professor. She was starting to wonder what she
was thinking when ran out of the school. "Sorry for having left like that.
I just thought..."
"I know. You thought I was angry at you to have hide your little secret. I
know you're questionning yourself about how I know that and how I knew you
were a mutant. I'm psychic. I can read minds, I can control them, and I am
telepath. Come with me." Charles got out of his office, Willow following
with Wolverine at her side. He led her to an elevator hidden in the wall.
[How come I didn't discovered this sooner?]
One floor below, Charles gave her the tour of the real school. Willow saw
a laboratory and a medical center. Jean was there and the red head learned
that the doctor was born with the gift of telekenesy. Ororoe was there too.
She soon discovered that everybody called her Storm and that she control
the elements of meteo. The next thing she visited was the second basement.
It was a garage, [if you can call it like that.] Willow looked astonished
at that kind of modern plane. Scott, or Cyclops as you prefer, was there.
She had always wondered why he was always wearing red sunglasses. Now she
had the answer. Because of these beams he couldn't control.
By the end of the visit, Willow was exausted. It had been a hard day for
her. She had learn more today than any day in her life. Even more than
when she was research girl back in Sunnydale...that was a totally different
secret. But she knew she wouldn't be able to tell them tonight. She was
too tired. She'd have to talk to the X-Men tomorrow. Right now, all she
wanted to do was sleep. And she did just that.
* * *
"Logan."
He turned around to find Storm coming his way. "The professor wants us in
his office. Willow came to him this morning with an other secret to tell
us." He didn't take time to groan or anything. Willow wanted to tell them
something and he wanted to hear it.
A few minutes later, all the X-Men were in the office, waiting for Willow to
start. She told them about vampires, her friends Xander and Buffy, the
Slayer and the Watcher, the hellmouth, her discoveries about being a mutant.
All that time, they were all quiet, not wanting to disturb her from her
history.
When she was finished, Willow looked at all the faces one by one, not
knowing what to expect from them. At her surprise, they took it very well.
They had seen weird things in their life and they wouldn't start to denied
some weirder facts.
Charles was proud of her. She had let her guard and doubts down to tell
them her life. She trusted them and that pleased him to no end. It was
obvious, she was happy to have told them. Probably got rid of some weight
of her shoulders. Seeing she was fidgeting, he let her go. He knew she had
some things to discuss with her friends.
Willow went out, trying to find...Rogue as they called her. But someone
stopped her. Turning around, she found herself nose to nose with Wolverine.
"Hey, thanks for telling us all that stuff. You trusted us and that means
something to me."
"No, thanks to you for slamming me into a tree and making me see the
reality. If you hadn't follow me, where the hell could I be by now?"
Wolverine smiled at her and bend down to give her a light kiss. Than he
gave her a small push outside. "Come on. Someone can't wait to see you,
Wildcat." He then walked back to his classroom.
Willow smiled at his back. [Hum, Wildcat. I like that.]
* * *
"And he called you Wildcat?"
"Yeah. I just love it," Willow answered.
"I bet you are," Rogue gigled. "He could have given you any other nickname
and you would have liked it."
Willow was glad she and Rogue had resolved their problems. The week before,
they had talked for 5 hours straight about anything and everything. She had
learn about Rogue's first kiss, her first meeting with Wolverine, her love
with Bobby, Iceman as she called him sometimes. Then, Willow would talk
about the Slayerettes, the incident in the school gym with Harmony. Then
they would talk about what a great guy was Wolverine. It was normally
around that time that Bobby would go to the bathroom to escape the
conversation. Willow had laugh the first time it had happened.
Bobby saw Rogue and Wildcat talk under one of the trees near the river.
Walking slowly toward them, he tried to make less noises as possible. But
he knew Willow would discover him soon enough because of those damn senses
of hers.
Willow felt Iceman sneek on them. She winked at Rogue and let lose her
claws and canines. Her friend gave her a weird look but said nothing. When
she felt the poor guy close enough, she jumped on her feet and "BOO!" The
two girls laughed like there was no tomorrow when they saw Iceman's face
turning white. His look was priceless.
"Yeah, yeah, you scared me. So, what are my two favorite pals talking
about?"
"We were talking about what a great ass Wolverine has," Willow said
inocently. "Just joking Mr. Freeze."
"You're not gonna let go that ridiculous nickname, are you?"
"Nope." The red head gave him a smile. "Well, I'll just let you two
lovebirds snuggle a bit. I've got homeworks to do. See you later!"
"Bye Wildcat!" Rogue said.
At the entrance of the mansion, Willow turned around and looked at her
friends. Yes, she, Wildcat, a mutant, had friends and parents she never
had.
She was home.
Epilogue
Sunnydale - May 2002
Buffy was slammed hard in a tombstone. Standing up quickly, she punched the
vampire away, but another one jumped on her. She was seriously outnumbered.
Turning toward her friends, she saw they weren't better than her. Xander
was struggling with a vampire, Cordelia was screaming her head out and Giles
was trying to stake one with no success.
Suddenly, a vampire was hit by some kind of red beam of light. Nearby, a
tree was it by lightning and felt on a vampire, crushing him. The weirdess
was that there was no clouds of storm, just a clear sky and some stars. One
of the vampire tried to jump on Giles, but he stayed in the air like he was
floating and ended up flying on a tree branch. When he turned into dust,
the other bloodsuckers ran away like a bunch of scared kittens. Turning
around, the Slayerettes saw a whole gang of weird people standing near a
mausoleum. But what catched their eyes was the small silhouette with red
hair standing by their side.
The Wildcat was back in Sunnydale.
