Family

Chapter Thirteen

Disclaimer: all characters are property of their respective owners.

Spoilers: to the end of season 7 of Buffy (I'm not including the season 8+ comics in this continuity), general spoilers for Batman and mild spoilers for X-Men: Evolution season 1.

Author Note: the version of the Batman that will appear here draws from several versions. And the X-Men hails from the X-Men: Evolution cartoon, although I'm not above drawing from the comics.

A/N 2: I would appreciate feedback on the story, on how could be improved, or things that I have gotten wrong.

I wish to give thanks to JediKnight for betareading and general creative input.

Silas Wayne home. Gotham City.

Once Silas' butler had served the refreshments, tea for Silas, Charles and Ororo, coffee for Bruce, Buffy and Scott, and soda for the rest, and then removed himself from the room, Buffy was the first to talk.

"Professor, why don't you start from the beginning?" she said.

"Silas, do you remember what the grants I received from Thomas were for?" he asked.

"Something about atypical mutations on human DNA, if I remember correctly." Silas said.

"On broad strokes, that's right." Xavier said, before giving a condensed and simplified explanation about the x-gene and mutants, and then he told about he being a mutant and about his school, "...some people consider us mutants the next step in human evolution, some kind of Homo Superior."

"You don't agree." Silas said, recognizing in his tone Xavier's disdain for that notion.

"The image of evolution as a series of steps from inferior to superior lifeforms is, while attractive and popular, completely wrong, and in fact evolution produces dead ends as much as successes, and frequently the difference between them is sheer chance." Charles explained, "Time will tell if mutants really become a further evolution of Homo Sapiens, or we're just another evolutionary dead end."

"And Dawn is a mutant?" Silas asked, and then noticed Bruce whole lack of surprise, "You knew?"

"She appeared yesterday night in the front porch of Wayne Manor, apparently stepping out from a portal." Bruce said, with a nod, "The terrain around the manor is covered by cameras and movement sensors, and Alfred monitors them. And when Buffy told me about your offer, I researched you, your work and your school. Connecting the dots wasn't that difficult, though I have to admit that I suspected less enlightened motives at first." he said with an apologetic smile, "But I want to know how did...?"

"How did I know?" Xavier said, "When the powers of a mutant awaken, it produces a spike of psychic energy that can be detected by a machine that I have developed, called Cerebro. Unfortunately, it vanishes very quickly, and Cerebro needs a powerful telepath to pinpoint the location and identity of that mutant."

"And then you offer them a place in the school." Silas said, "But I gather that there are other people doing the same, with less altruistic intentions."

"Unfortunately, you are right." Xavier said, his gaze on the ground, "One of the first mutants that I met was a Holocaust survivor. I argued for peaceful integration, he was all for direct action, and we ended up fighting. He has his own group of mutant terrorists now, and he is calling himself Magneto on account of his magnetic powers. While I can't blame him, given his life experiences, for not believing on a peaceful resolution, he seems unable to see that his ways will only hasten the war between humans and mutants that he fears."

"Ouch." Buffy said, but whatever else she was going to say was interrupted by a loud buzzing from her handbag, "What the...?" she said, producing a cellphone from her handbag, "It's Izzy... Isabella Ferguson, from the NGO we are working with, I need to answer, you keep talking."

Buffy went to the corridor, while she pressed the button to answer the phone.

"Izzy? Did Xander call?" Buffy asked without preamble.

"Faith did, from Wakanda..." Izzy started to say, only to be interrupted by Buffy.

"From where?" She said, before dismissing it, and going back to the matter at hand, "It doesn't matter where they are, how are they?"

"Xander and Faith are well, but..."

"Ayesha." Buffy said, closing her eyes.

"Yes." Izzy said, "She was killed by the werehyenas they were chasing." Izzy said, pausing for a moment, before starting to explain, "They had been magically enhanced, from what Faith could tell me."

Buffy had to sit down on a nearby chair. A small part of her was relieved that it wasn't Faith, but that part was drowned by the grief on learning that the young Anglo-Arabian Slayer had been killed.

"Goddammit, I really hoped I was wrong and no one had died..." she said, after a moment.

"You know that this is not how this thing works." Izzy said, sympathetically.

"I know, I know, but 'Death is our gift' won't be of great help to the family and friends..." Buffy said, before pausing, "Xander, how is he taking it? He lost Anya and now Ayesha..."

"...I didn't talk with him, but, according to Faith, he is taking it better than she expected, but you know Xander better than me."

"Yeah, I do. I'll call Willow, and reserve air tickets for everybody to Gotham" Buffy said, knowing that Izzy knew that by 'everybody' she meant the surviving Scoobies, "Listen, the least we can do for her family is pay for the funeral and everything."

"I don't want to sound like McAuslan, bloody tightwad that he is, but are you sure?" Izzy said, "The funds are a bit tight right now, and the old coots may use it..."

"Don't worry about the money." Buffy cut her, "If necessary, I'll pay it from my own pocket."

"That means that Thomas Wayne left you something, I imagine."

"You could say that. I don't think that McAuslan and the other old coots keeping control of the moneybags are going to be a problem much longer."

"That much." Izzy said in a surprised tone.

"Yes, but it's something that we can't discuss on the phone, okay?" Buffy said, her eyes still closed, "God, what a mess. Well, if that's all..."

"Hang on, Willow and Andrew are calling." Izzy said, she paused for a moment, muting the phone for a moment, before going back to talk to her, "Hmm, do you mind if I made this into a conference call?"

"Go ahead." Buffy said.

"Is this thing on?" a very familiar and unexpected voice said.

"Giles? I thought it was Andrew and Willow calling?"

"I asked Andrew to set this... contraption, so I could call Headquarters."

"Still having problems with modern technology, Giles?" Willow said. Giles tsked, and she could just see him cleaning his glasses.

"I assume that this call is about Ayesha."

"In part," Willow and Giles said at the same time. There was a pause for a moment, before Giles cleared his throat.

"Ayesha's death is a tragedy and I want to tell her parents personally, it's the least that I can do." he said, "Also, I think that we should..."

"...run with the expenses of the funeral? Already talked that with Izzy." Buffy said, "And if MacAuslan and his bunch get difficult, well, I have alternate means now."

"So the Waynes left you something in the will." Willow said.

"You can say that, but there are some other things that we should talk about in person." Buffy said, "Wills?"

"Well, I didn't know Ayesha much, but Xander had been closer to his old self since they were together, and that is always a plus in my books." Willow said, "Losing Ayesha is going to be hard for him, especially so soon after Anya."

"That's why I want everybody here in Gotham. He needs our support, something that we haven't given him much over the years." Buffy said, remembering some harsh words several months ago, "But we can deal with that later. What were those other things, beyond Ayesha that you wanted to talk about?"

"Andrew caught something on the Internet." Giles said, "I'll let him explain it."

"Buffy, ah, hello, and sorry for the pictures." Andrew said.

"What pictures?." Willow said, interested.

"We'll talk about that later." Buffy said with iron finality, "So, what did you find on the 'net?"

"Ah, yes, yesterday night, in the middle of the desert of New Mexico something fell from the sky during the storm."Andrew said, trying to sound mature, "A war hammer, with some peculiar inscriptions. I'm trying to get clearer images, but Internet is spotty in that area."

"A hammer and a storm? Why does that sounds familiar?" Buffy said.

"Norse mythology, Thor, the God of Thunder, wielded an enchanted hammer, Mjolnir, which only he could lift." Giles supplied.

"Okay, thanks, so a hammer, maybe Thor's, fell in New Mexico during the storm, right?" Buffy said.

"More than that. The storm took a wedge shape and started to disperse when the point reached the general area of New Mexico where the hammer fell, not too long after it fell."

"...Okay, that is quite more alarming." Buffy said.

"And that's not all; do you remember the 'Hulk' creature that was sighted in Culver U a few days ago?" Willow said.

"Yes?" Buffy said, it had been just before Dawn and her had to go to Connecticut, and everything that happened. "Ah, yes, when we arrived the area was cordoned by the Army."

"Well, there was another sighting of him, this time in Harlem, fighting against a similar creature in the midst of the storm." Willow explained.

"Did you manage to get something this time around?" Buffy said.

"No, the Army had cordoned the area, again." Willow said, "And Strange was doing his stuff between dimensions."

Buffy shuddered. Her one time going with Strange had been... unsettling.

'Unsettling? Face it, Buffy. You were terrified.' she thought. The set of dimensions that Strange usually played in was far different from the ones she was somewhat familiar. Not even the one where she had freed the slaves had felt as wrong as some of the realms where Strange had led them.

"Buffy!" Willow shouted at the phone, attracting her attention again.

"Sorry, I was woolgathering, what you were saying?" Buffy said

"I was asking if you had talked with Riley about that 'Hulk'." Willow repeated.

"Yes, but he couldn't tell me anything. He implied that his people were being kept out of the loop about the 'Hulk'." Buffy explained, "And that was all." She then looked at the time, and said, "Well, I have to tell you, I was talking about Dawn's new High School when Izzy called, and before you ask, that is one of the things we shouldn't be discussing by phone."

Gotham City Library

Julie Madison had been looking for records of the fate of the Kyle Collection. So far, she had records of some pieces being auctioned after Felix Kyle's suicide, but the bulk of the collection seemed to have been missing sometime between the Crash of '29 and the death of the head of the Kyle family. And trying to find surviving family had been a dead end. There was a great-granddaughter that worked as a stewardess, but she doubted that Selina Kyle knew anything about her great-grandfather's old collection.

No, she felt that her best bet to learn what happened to the Kyle collection was the Waynes. Felix sister, Constance, had married Charles Wayne, and he had also been a collector. If somebody knew what had happened, that person was Constance only surviving son, Silas Wayne. And given that Bruce was a good friend, she hoped that he could put a good word for her to be able to talk with the reclusive elder Wayne.

Silas Wayne's home

Bruce was listening to the fascinating discussion between Xavier and Silas, when he noticed Buffy had come back, and her face told her that something had happened. He observed that Dawn had noticed it too and as soon as Buffy sat down they talked quietly, at least until Dawn gasped audibly, drawing the attention of the rest of the table.

"Something that we should know, Buffy?" Silas said looking at the young woman.

Buffy then briefly explained about the situation in Africa, avoiding mentioning Slayers and werehyenas.

"...I hope that you don't mind that I asked them to come here, Bruce. They are my best friends, and we have been through a lot together." Buffy said, "They'll stay in the penthouse, of course."

"I don't mind, Buffy." Bruce said, with a sad smile, "And I wouldn't mind meeting them either, because I assume that you are going to disclose..."

"Us being brother and sisters?" Buffy said, understanding what Bruce was leaving unsaid, "Of course, besides if that Vicky Vale is that good a journalist as you said, she'll unearth enough things to suspect the truth."

"That's probable. And that means that she'll probably learn some things about your school, Charles." Silas said.

"She is welcome to," Xavier said with a smile. "I have always kept the school separate from my research about mutation, and I doubt that she will find any clue of what I do. Besides, it's not like schools with somewhat opaque admission criteria aren't a dime a dozen." He then looked at Scott, Jean, Kitty and Kurt, "And the results of our pupils in Bayville High speak for themselves. They are between the top students in the high school."

"Charles, shouldn't we go to check in our hotel?" Ororo said, looking at the time.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't notice the time. I hope that it isn't any problem."

"No problem at all. It's getting late, anyway." Buffy said, "Tomorrow we should have a definite answer about Dawn."

"That's all that I ask." Xavier said, as Ororo stood up.

They said goodbye, and left. After they left they sat back on the table.

"If they would have told me a week ago all of this I wouldn't have believed it." Buffy commented.

"Yeah, how many cousins do we have now, for example?" Dawn said.

"There is the Kanes... We'll have to tell them, of course." Silas said, and then turned to Bruce, "Part of the legacy comes from Martha's own money, I presume."

"Yes, from what I remember." Bruce said, "It would be a simple question of asking Mr. Cobblepot."

"Ah, old Edwin. He is a good man, not like the harpy of his sister-in-law or his scoundrel of a nephew." Silas said, shaking his head.

"What can you tell me about them? The Kanes, I mean." Buffy asked, "Beyond our grandparents, we never knew much about our mother's family."

"Well, your great-grandfather Robert was an ass." Silas said, and then added to the surprised expression of Bruce, "What? Can't I swear if I feel like it, because I'm an old man?"

"Ah, well, you always looked so... so..."

"Prim and proper? Bruce, you didn't meet me in my youth, I was a bit of a wild man back then, something that didn't help with my relationship with Patrick. I settled down after the marriage, and the birth of Maria."

"Maria is your daughter?" Dawn asked

"Was. She died in a car crash twenty years ago." Silas said, somberly.

"Ahhh, let's go back to the Kanes, then," Dawn said, awkwardly, "You were talking about our great-grandfather Robert Kane."

"Ah, yes. Robert Charles Kane, he basically threw your grandfather Richard out of the Kane Estate for daring to think for himself in several matters. And instead of groveling back to ingratiate with his father, he went to California to start a new life." Silas said.

"So that's the story of Grandpa Richard. He was always very tight-lipped about what he did before going to Los Angeles." Buffy said, "And Richard's brothers? What about them?"

"Richard had an older brother and a much younger half-sister. Genevieve was a free spirit and she had a daughter out of wedlock, I don't know what happened to her." Silas said, "Robert Foster Kane, your great uncle was a weak man, from being dominated by his father; he came to be dominated by his partner, my brother Patrick."

"Ouch."

"Yeah, he even died a year after Patrick." Silas said, "It wasn't a surprise that all of his three children were rebels on one way or another. Martha became one of the best social workers this goddamned city has known."

"And her siblings?."

"Well, Martha had an older sister, Gabby and one younger brother, Robert." Silas explained, "Robert is alive and has a daughter, Bette, around Dawn's age. He basically directs the R&D in Kane Enterprises."

"And Gabby?"

"She was always a free spirit. She ended joining the Army and ended marrying Jacob Kane, no relation, a man she met in West Point." Silas said, "She died fifteen years ago, in a mission, leaving two daughters, Elizabeth and Kate. Liz should be a couple years older than you, Buffy, but I haven't heard of her in a couple years."

"And Kate?" Dawn asked.

"She is roughly around Buffy and Bruce age." Silas said, "She went into the Army, the Rangers, I think, but she left it this past year."

"I didn't know that Kate had left the Army, what happened?" Bruce asked.

"You know how abrasive can she be, Bruce." Silas said, "From what I have heard, she dared to tell the wrong general he was wrong, and being right in doing so, to boot."

"Good for her." Buffy said, and then added when Silas arched a eyebrow quizzically, "Military ex-boyfriend, he was a good guy, but his boss, and the boss of his boss..." she shook her head.

Meanwhile, after taking a couple shortcuts, the X-Men had arrived to the hotel where they would be lodged for the night. While the kids went to their rooms for the night, Charles and Ororo stayed to talk.

"What's your opinion about our prospective new pupil and her family, Ororo?." Charles asked-

"I'm not sure, Charles. There is something about Buffy..." she paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts, "She reminds me of Logan on some moments."

"How so?" Charles said. He had the same impression, but he wanted to know what had led her to make that comparison.

"I saw a few glimpses when we were talking yesterday morning, but they disappeared so quickly that I thought that I was imagining things." Ororo said, "But when she came back and told us about the death of that girl in Africa... It was clear as day."

"I suspected as much, all over the talk, I kept getting glimpses of something... primal, for lack of a better word, in the back of her mind. Violent, yes, but reined in by her own willpower, and she has more than anybody realizes." Charles said, "Dawn is more normal, though surprisingly mature for somebody of her years... And Bruce is an enigma."

"What? How?" Ororo said, "I mean, it's obvious that he is quite a bit more intelligent than his reputation says, but..."

"You know his story?" Charles asked, and then continued when Ororo shook her head, "His parents were gunned down before him when he was eight."

"No, I didn't." Ororo said, "That must have been..."

"Extremely traumatic, yes. But I didn't even get a glimpse of the trauma on a surface reading, and that may mean two things: that it doesn't affect him, which would point to an antisocial personality disorder, which would merit watching, if only to ensure that Buffy or Dawn don't get hurt, or he has one of the more disciplined minds I have found, which also merit watching, if only because there is no way that such a person is just an indolent millionaire playboy."

TO BE CONTINUED...