'I DO EVERYTHING AT THE LAST MINUTE.'
Death.
Gods, it's a good thing Christmas happens only once a year. The fuss. People racing through shops looking for gifts, throwing themselves at sales... Terrifying. I didn't personally have to sprint around shopping centers with my tongue hanging out, but crowds of irritated and angry people didn't improve my mood either. With empathy I still hadn't fully mastered—and therefore couldn't properly switch off—being near a crowd was a special kind of pleasure.
So I spent the season slightly wound up. Laura added fuel to the fire. 'Bleach' was behind her, but her playful little hands had gotten hold of 'Hellsing.' Do I even need to describe how she looked at me now? No, I understand everything. Teenage maximalism, a child's impressionability, and the desire to troll everyone and everything. But why me?
Worse, by some method utterly incomprehensible to me, she had managed to become friends with Federico and Victor. Fine, the vampire had visited my apartment a couple of times, so I could believe the little menace had gnawed her way into his brain. But how did she get to von Doom? Unless the poor Count had simply located the nearest suitable victim and dumped 'the beloved boss's daughter' on him.
Now she was clearly planning something involving the upcoming holidays. But she kept silent like a partisan under interrogation. Fine, friends. I would remember this. As for me, I buried myself in training and gift acquisition. I finally got around to expanding my language database and translating the writing on the Tablet.
The ancients hadn't complicated things. They'd simply written out a general theory of altering an object's biological age along with the parameters required to 'activate' the artifact. Everything turned out to be brilliantly simple. The extraordinarily complex device functioned on a principle similar to an ordinary oscilloscope. A particular signal was fed into its 'power input.'
In the Tablet's case, that signal was a beam of light passing through specific filters and striking at a specific angle. The pyramid provided both the filters and the angle. For normal use, energy accumulated naturally in the Tablet for about ten years. Then the artifact discharged that accumulated reserve into one fortunate recipient and returned his youth.
Silvermane, however, could be in serious trouble. First, the Tablet hadn't been used in a long time and had accumulated a respectable charge. That alone wasn't the problem. The angle at which the light struck the correct section of the Tablet determined how much power would be released into the target—in other words, how far the person's age would be rolled back.
Silvermane had simply reconstructed the original pyramid. What was wrong with that? Heh. Wrong latitude. The sun would strike at a different angle. Only slightly different, but different nonetheless. So the old man could very well kill himself with his rejuvenation ritual.
I also finally finished developing mental protection. More precisely, I figured out how to stop the protected subject from going insane. Victor's metal helped. It turned out that even without an internal charge, the substance blocked psionics completely. And if I added 'active armor' over it in the form of my original mental-defense mechanism... I doubted any telepath would be suicidal enough to enter such a head.
After that the problem became 'simple.' Find exactly what property of the metal-organic tissue produced that effect and borrow it. Sounds easy. It wasn't. It was very difficult. But I managed. The protection was ready. Which meant one small harmful person would be marching off to school after Christmas vacation.
Fortunately, Xavier's school was not far from us. I could take Laura there and pick her up like an ordinary child. And if Charles tried to enter her mind... Hmm. He was experienced. He'd probably get away with only a horrifying migraine. If he pulled out quickly enough.
At the same time, I prepared Laura's Christmas present. A complete collection of the 'Bleach' manga with congratulations and the mangaka's autograph. It also gave me an excuse to check how the Brotherhood's Japanese branch was developing. Yeah. The councilor responsible for Japan had attacked her assignment enthusiastically. The local vampires turned out to be highly energetic people as well. I didn't neglect the others.
Kurt already had a fairly rare and interesting work by Dr. Stillwell waiting for him: 'Neogenics: Truth and Fiction.' Unfortunately, obtaining the author's autograph had proven impossible. The man was a patient in a psychiatric hospital. Victor would receive an object of priceless value: a belly-button brush. What else do you give a man who already has everything? If he lacks something, he'll obtain it himself. For Federico, who turned out to be an enthusiastic rapier fencer, I'd ordered an excellent blade made from processed von Doom metal. In strength, it wasn't far behind adamantium.
I prepared special gifts for my two girls. Rogue would receive a dark scarlet rose containing a large quantity of my cells. That meant it could transmit energy to her and, hopefully, a good mood.
For Felicia, I prepared something unusual. I had deeply disliked Fury's insinuations. So I wanted to maximize the girl's protection without raising suspicion and without changing her genome. Right. Take one kitten. An ordinary Maine Coon from a pet store. Now begin the upgrade.
First, through Symby, install a system of priorities and restrictions—a slightly more developed and refined version of my usual 'suggestion.' The last thing I needed was the future bodyguard attacking his owner while in a bad mood. Do not harm this girl. I sent an image. Protect her. Guard her. Then I loaded images of 'allies' into the cat, including their scents, voices, appearances, and so on. Good.
Now the upgrades. Rebuild muscle tissue. Add regeneration. Kimura's armor. And, for emergencies, invisibility, levitation, and a slightly modernized jaw. The resulting animal—whose fur had somehow become dark blue with stripes—had performance characteristics approaching those of a special-forces squad. Exactly right for a sweet young woman with a remarkable talent for landing in trouble. Heh. And when he grew up, he'd be only slightly smaller than a Black Russian Terrier.
The remaining days before the holiday flew past at insane speed. At the last minute, I remembered a couple of other people who deserved congratulations. How had I not thought of them sooner?
Professor Xavier. Christmas Eve.
***************************
Charles was just finishing arranging presents beneath the tree. Tomorrow the children would have their holiday. The year had been genuinely difficult, but they had survived it. They remained together despite everything. The old mutant smiled. His family remained loving and close. Yes, there were quarrels and misunderstandings. Sometimes he had to act in ways he wasn't proud of. Unfortunately, sometimes there was simply no alternative. Even so, tomorrow they would sit around one large festive table amid songs and laughter.
The ringing doorbell interrupted the headmaster's thoughts.
"Strange. Who could that be at this hour?"
He sensed no intelligent presence outside. The security cameras showed only a small box resting peacefully on the doorstep. Nothing else. Caution screamed that such a package could be dangerous.
Common sense pointed out that if somebody had carried a not particularly small parcel across the entire secured grounds without being noticed, then left just as quietly without triggering any alarm, that person could probably have done a great many unpleasant things to Charles and his students already.
Besides... he was curious. What could it possibly be? The mutant rolled into the entrance hall and opened the door. A sealed gift box sat on the threshold, tied with ribbon. A letter rested on top. Charles read it.
'To Professor Charles Xavier. Planet Earth, continent of North America, United States, New York, secret mutant school. Merry Christmas. We wish you continued success in remaining human.'
That was all. No sender. No return address. The director sighed heavily, brought the package into his office, and opened it safely. Inside was an entire bag of lemon drops and seven books whose titles began with 'Harry Potter...'
"What is all this supposed to mean? Still... nothing urgent at the moment. I suppose I can read."
The professor opened the first book.
One Mercenary in One Basement.
*************************
Deadpool chewed cat food and happily hummed a simple little tune.
"Heh. Free shows, free chow. Add some beer and this place is basically paradise. Took some getting used to at first, yes, my precious, definitely took some getting used to. But what am I supposed to do now? The tapes are finished... and the Whiskas is almost gone."
At that moment, the wall behind the mercenary slid aside. Puzzled, Deadpool decided to see what was there. Behind the wall was an exit to the street. Beside the exit stood a box. Inside were Christmas greetings, beer, normal food, and several plush pony toys.
"Duuuude, you're awesome! But damn it, where's my Whiskas?"
The delighted mercenary grabbed the beer, picked up the box of ponies, and headed back into the basement. Episode four of season two had really touched his soul. Definitely worth watching again, especially with beer. And there was enough cat food left for another couple of days. The normal food remained untouched by the exit.
Walter Mayer.
********************
And here it was—the Hardy estate. I had to admit, it was a picturesque place. I hadn't even known something like this existed only fifty kilometers from New York. Laura and I were expected. Mrs. Lydia herself greeted us and escorted us into the sitting room. I looked around as we walked.
The house produced an odd double impression. On one hand, it was obvious that real love had gone into its construction. I wasn't an experienced empath yet, but things like that could still be felt. And yet now the mansion seemed to have lost part of itself. As if something was missing... or someone.
Noticing my interest, Mrs. Hardy drifted into memories.
"My husband built this house for us a long time ago..." She fell silent for a moment. "But nobody lives here now. The city is simply more convenient. It's closer to Felicia's university, and I'm constantly traveling..."
"I understand."
I didn't ask what had happened to Mr. Hardy. It was obvious enough. And suddenly I realized something else. She still loved him. Loved him and waited for him.
The evening passed peacefully. Felicia looked absolutely stunning. Dinner had been prepared only by the women of the Hardy family, without allowing any servants to help. In fact, there were no servants in the house at all that day. So we genuinely sat together in a small, almost family circle. It seemed they really did already consider me part of the family. Pleasant.
Then came the exchange of gifts. Mrs. Hardy received several presents from Laura and me. I had to admit they were rather 'standard' gifts. In return, we received equally conventional sets. Something airy and sky-themed for Laura—possibly a dress, though I wouldn't swear to it. And a set of fountain pens for me.
Felicia's present was more interesting. She gave me a real raven. The bird was gloomy and serious. Laughing, the girl remarked that we looked remarkably alike.
Laura acquired a set of 'Bleach' figurines. The amount of happiness involved... And finally, my gift. A cute dark-blue kitten.
"Oh, he's adorable!"
The cat was immediately placed on Felicia's lap and subjected to vigorous cuddling. I caught myself wildly envying the animal. Uh? I could swear that bastard just grinned and winked at me. Hmm. I might have overdone something in his genome. Oops. I'd modified his brain as though it belonged to a human.
"What's his name?"
I looked again at the cat's smug expression. Yeah. Only one name suited a creature like this.
"Cheshire. I think you'll like each other."
The fluffy menace (damn it, was I actually becoming jealous of a cat? This was a new low) meowed in satisfaction and sprawled across the girl's knees, offering his belly for scratching.
Laura received her manga. And I... I was going to kill Victor. Laura gave me a red coat and hat. The little monster didn't stop there. She then handed me a gift from 'Uncle Victor.' The present consisted of two pistols of monstrous size and caliber. They were heavy too. Four magazines came with them, already loaded. Yeah. At least Felicia thought the whole thing was just cosplay.
And that was how the day ended. We talked a little longer and enjoyed Mrs. Hardy's culinary talents. A couple of hours later, Lydia announced that some people should already be asleep and took Laura away. That left Felicia and me alone. Not counting the raven and the cat. We did not waste the opportunity. Mmm. This was definitely a happy Christmas.