It's an odd experience, celebrating Christmas without my family. Granted, we were never all that close, but we did always spend the holidays together. I confess, I was feeling rather maudlin last night, and was planning on spending Christmas Eve holed up in my room with a bottle of disgustingly expensive whisky I stole from Stark's liquor collection, so I could sulk in peace. Those plans fell through when Thor showed up and dragged me out of the mansion for the night because he wanted to go "caroling".
Granted, they were more "drinking songs" than actual christmas carols, but it did make for a rather memorable evening, and took my mind off that it's the first Christmas I'm not spending with family. The Avengers, they're... well, not family, really, and I don't know if I'll ever think of them that way? But friends. I like to think so.
And there are certainly worse ways to spend a holiday than with friends.
As I walk into the mansion living room on Christmas Day, wearing a gaudy red sweater with a cartoonish snowman in a Santa hat on it, surrounded by tiny reindeer, a sweater I had found outside my door, clumsily wrapped in expensive-looking gold paper, with the name "Sunshine" scrawled on it in Tony's chickenscratch, I step into the room to find The Hulk of all people, kneeling by the tree and poking at the christmas gifts underneath with a massive finger, a curious expression on his face. And he's wearing an absolutely gigantic sweater of his own, this one an eye-searing shade of green, with white and red candy canes stitched across the back. He looks up in surprise as I walk in, looking almost guilty, like a kid caught peeking at his christmas presents.
"GLOWY MAN AWAKE!"
"Yeah, sorry, I was planning to get up earlier, but Thor had us out... carolling longer than I had expected, and I didn't want to spend christmas with a hangover. I see Tony decided to gift you with a sweater too."
Hulk nods, tugging at the fabric "HULK LIKE. IT'S WARM. BANNER GET SWEATER TOO, BUT HE SAY HULK TRY HIS FIRST."
I doubt Hulk has ever gotten anything resembling a gift in his life, unless you count people trying to give him the gift of bullets to the face, and from what I remember of Banner's family life, his holiday situation wasn't much better. I glance towards the gifts under the tree, namely the ones wrapped in the red and blue paper with the winter motif I picked up during my trip "home". I was never great at picking out good gifts, and that certainly hasn't changed now that the people on my christmas list consists of a millionaire, a war hero, a Norse god, a gamma mutate, two brilliant scientists, a doctor, and a fashion designer. Stark alone is basically the man who has everything already, except a stable emotional life, and I don't think I have the budget to provide that. So instead of doing anything flashy with the gifts, which I'd probably have failed at anyway, I went for some smaller but more thoughtful ones. I'm the most proud of what I found for Steve, however.
I know for a fact that Steve is a former artist in this timeline, because part of my gift to him is an old issue of a pulp magazine called Amazing Stories from 1938 that he had painted the cover for as a freelancer, that I had stumbled across in a thrift store in the Village. Frankly, I was surprised it hadn't disintegrated into dust by now, considering the paper quality for these magazines, but hey, not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth, so I included the magazine with a small set of water colors I picked up as well.
I wonder if I should have gotten Jarvis something too. We've interacted maybe a dozen or so times in the months I've been living here, and considering the odd hours I keep, it's a wonder I see him at all, but still. Eh, I'll leave that up to Stark.
Steve sticks his head through the door, and I get a glimpse of the sweater he's wearing, which looks a bit more red, white and blue than you'd expect from a christmas-themed article of clothing. "Oh, Hulk! Johan! I was just looking for you two. I see Mr. Stark decided to give you guys sweaters too. I think that actually makes the whole team."
"Yeah, I think he was going for a theme or something. What, did Pym and Janet get these too?"
Steve rolls his eyes with a fond smile "Sure did, and of course the one he got for Pym can only fit a man who's atleast 12 feet tall, while Janet's is more fitting for a doll. And you can see what he was going for with mine" He steps into full view, confirming that, yep, his sweater consists of red, white and blue stripes, with white stars in the blue. "The man isn't subtle, is he?"
"Stark's been called a lot of things in his life, but I doubt subtle is one of them. You don't think he knitted these things himself, do you?"
Steve shakes his head as he tugs at the bottom of his shirt "Considering it didn't unravel when I pulled it on, I doubt it. If the clothing in question involved armor plating and circuits, maybe, but Mr. Stark doesn't strike me as the type to have the patience for knitting."
"STAR MAN HAS GOOD POINT."
Our conversation is broken when Janet suddenly flies in, landing on Steve's shoulder in her Wasp form, and sure enough, she's wearing an undersized sweater, but any humor from the clothing is dilluted by the worried expression on her face. "Uh, guys? Me and Hank were just listening to the CBS christmas broadcast on the radio, and there was a news report. I think we might have a situation..."
...
Washington D.C, White House, At The Same Time
"Mr. President, you CANNOT be serious!" Robert McNamara said, his voice incredulous "This is a matter of national security! The very purpose of my department! You can't seriously be considering the suggestion of this... this pseudoscientific academic! This is an act of war, not a research paper!"
Professor Charles Xavier simply regarded the Defence Minister with a bland expression "I assure you, Mr. McNamara, my credentials as an academic are perfectly legitimate, even if they happen to focus on an obscure subject. And while I have no interest in interfering in your... jurisdiction, this is a threat you are not prepared to face."
"Listen, you charlatan, the fact that they even let you roll into this building is a security breach, I should-"
"Gentlemen, this is not the time nor the place!" President Kennedy said firmly, cutting off the argument "Professor Xavier may be a relative unknown, but he's one of the few who we know has any level of expertise in what we're facing at the moment, and he's been kind enough to volunteer to assist us. If the information we have on this... Brotherhood is accurate, we're going to need all the help we can get."
"And why is he so eager to volunteer, hmm?" McNamara said, glaring suspiciously at the seemingly harmless professor "For that matter, why does some random academic have any knowledge about a mutant terrorist like Magneto?"
"My shared past with the man now known as Magneto is no secret, Mr. McNamara" Xavier answered, his tone just as even as before, not rising despite McNamaras provokation "Shortly after my service in Korea, I spent some time in Israel, at a clinic for Holocaust victims. There, I encountered a troubled young man named Eric Lensherr for the first time..." He closed his eyes briefly, memories flashing through his mind "Magneto believes that mutants are the future of humanity, and that it's their destiny to rule the world, with the rest of humanity either conquered or driven backwards into extinction. This latest insanity, the attempt at turning Santo Marco into some sort of homeland for mutantkind, is simply going to be the first step."
"Marvelous, another madman convinced he's leading a master race, exactly what I wanted for Christmas" Kennedy says tiredly, rubbing his face with his hands "I'll be perfectly honest, Professor, what I know about mutants can be counted on one hands thumb, and consists mostly of half-forgotten biology lessons from my schooling days, but there's been grumblings coming from some military circles about them ever since Magneto attacked Cape Citadel earlier this year. Why exactly do you think a military response to this agression is inadvisable?"
"Simply put, Mr. President?" Xavier said, his face stern "As it stands right now, the United States armed forces stand no chance against Magneto and his brotherhood, atleast not without using enough force that it would likely spark World War 3."
McNamara scoffed incredulously "Are you out of your mind, Xavier? The United States posseses the finest military on the planet, manpower alone would be able to overwhelm whatever bargain bin mercenaries Magneto is using to hold Santo Marco!"
"Tell me, Mr.Mcnamara, how did the military perform against Magneto at Cape Citadel?" Xavier didn't wait for him to answer "And unless you've made a serious overhaul of your equipment in the past few months, nothing has changed. Magneto possesses the power to control magnetic fields, any sort of standard weaponry is completely useless against him. Your men would be slaughtered before they even managed to cross the border into Santo Marco."
McNamara reddened "Alright then, Professor. If you're such an expert, what exactly do you expect us to do about this situation? Just let Magneto have his run of the place?!"
"While I don't approve of Mr. McNamara's tone, I'm afraid I must agree with him here, Professor. This kind of action cannot be tolerated, not only is there the safety and lives of the population of Santo Marco to consider, but allowing Magneto free reign will set a dangerous precedent for any would-be conqueror and supremacist out there, which is simply unacceptable, especially after the Masters of Evil incident just last month. We must intervene as quickly as possible."
Xavier nodded "I may have a suggestion. I believe both of you have heard of the team known as the X-Men?"
Kennedy leaned back in his chair, hands crossed over his chest "Yes, I did read the report from the Citadel battle, they were the group that fought Magneto the first time. They were allegedly also involved in capturing the mutant thief who called himself Vanisher..." His eyes narrowed in suspicion "What exactly IS your connection to these X-Men, Professor? If you do not mind me saying so, it is rather convenient that an expert on mutants just happen to be in contact with one of the few verified mutant groups in the country."
Xavier hesitated for a moment, but the time for subterfuge was long past, and finally, he decided that the truth was the better option "As you may have guessed already, I am a mutant myself, it's not something I've shared willingly with anyone other than a select few, because I feared that my work towards mutant and human coexistance would be far more difficult if people feared me. The X-Men are some of those few. Shortly after I returned from Israel after I parted ways with Magneto, I decided to begin searching for other mutants like myself, newly emerged ones who would need help with controlling their powers. Five of them accepted, and became my proteges. My X-Men."
Kennedy regarded him silently "Professor Xavier, you are aware you effectively confessed to operating a team of superpowered vigilantes on American soil, yes?"
Xavier simply nodded "I'm aware, though I admit I'm surprised my own mutant status wasn't the bigger issue."
"Like you said, it's not much of a secret if you think about it, and though some might disagree" Kennedy shot the sour-faced McNamara a glance "having different genetics isn't a crime. Regardless, we'll deal with the vigilante issue at a later time, as we have far more serious matters to deal with. I assume your suggestion is to deploy your X-Men to try and defeat Magneto once again?"
"They've succeeded before, and they've only improved in skill since then."
"You have a point, but I'm not going to send in a group of unsanctioned operatives to do our work for us. And it'd be foolish to assume that five people would be enough to perform a counter-coup, nevermind how skilled they might be. Gather your X-Men, Professor, but inform them they won't be going in alone. I'm going to request the Avengers help with this crisis."