tushanshu | Video;

[ The video turns on to a view of a man’s face, and those observant enough to notice nitpicky details might realize that this is a man who’s familiar with and comfortable using strange bits of technology. There’s no fear in his eyes, no outward confusion or panic. He looks calm and in control, and when he speaks, he sounds like it, too. ]

Hello. My name’s Steve Rogers and I just recently arrived from a city called New York. I was debriefed about the situation and I wanted to offer my help to anyone who needs it.

[ He pauses for a moment as he collects his thoughts. These days, it’s not often that he goes somewhere that people aren’t at least slightly familiar with who he is. Providing a brief resume is a somewhat novel experience. ]

I’ve been a soldier for a long time, but I’m also good with my hands. Construction, farming, hunting, good old-fashioned heavy lifting, I can help with that. I can speak a number of languages, too, if anyone needs translations done. I know I’m new, but I want to pull my weight. So if you know anyone who might need a hand with something, let me know.

[ Offering a faint smile, he gives the camera a short nod. ]

Thanks for your time.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah? Help with the heavy lifting? Or help by joining the team?

[ With all this talk of things falling from space and destroying parts of the town, Steve's already thinking about protecting the citizens. And for that, he needs Avengers. ]

Seems like this place could use a few more Avengers and I've got some openings if you know anyone who'd be interested.

[Santo flexes his arm a little... which doesn't show off much since rock, but the point is there.] I can do all the heavy lifting you need, Cap-

[And then the other part sinks in, and he has to just stare for a moment because (1) he never thought he'd be asked to be an Avenger, and (2) he never thought Captain America would be asking him.

This is beyond awesome... But he has to play it cool.]

Well, I'm kind of still holding out for the X-Men, but... Okay, let's be real here, Summers is a douchebag times a thousand, and Logan was serious about me and the others being "just kids".

So, yeah, I could totally be an Avenger.

[ Privately, he has to agree with him. Summers is a douchebag. Or what Steve assumes the word means, given the context of the way Santo has used it. ]

Good thing about being an Avenger is, there's always room to join a few more teams. If the X-Men call, no one's going to stop you from answering.

[ Once an Avenger, always an Avenger, no matter what other titles one goes on to hold. ]

Until then, welcome to the team.

[No need to be private about it. Just about every mutant (at least the kids) knew this fact even before Scott challenged the Avengers.]

This is seriously the coolest day of my life now. I mean, this is it, right? I'm on the team? There's no like... Initiation ritual or pre-acceptance hazing?

[He'll never get over this, in the best way possible.]

[ Steve smiles, catches himself laughing quietly under his breath. It's heartening to know that despite so many things changing in the world, being an Avenger still means something to people. ]

That's it. You're one of us now. And nobody can ever take it away.

[A couple years ago, Santo jokingly suggested he was quitting the X-Men and wanted to join the Avengers... He was kind of right, I guess.]

Sweet...

Hey, Cap, since I'm all official now, can I ask you a favor?

Of course. You can always ask me anything you want.

[ And because he's Steve Rogers, he'll always tell the truth. ]

[Steve, this world isn't good enough for you.]

I want you to consider making Anole an Avenger too. I mean, he's a bit green still [Ha ha, get it?] But he's like the Spock to my Captain Kirk. He's the smart one when I'm good for punching the guys that need punching.

So... Yeah, you should at least consider asking him to be a Young Avenger or something if you're worried he's not ready for the big leagues like us. [Close enough.]

If I remember correctly, Logan trained him, didn't he?

[ He thinks he remembers correctly. ]

I'm going to meet with him later. I'll talk to him about it then.

Along with the rest of us, I guess... I mean, how do you define "training"? And what do you think training means to Logan?

[Santo doesn't have the highest opinions of the older X-Men... Logan just barely escapes that.]

Look, when we were still part of the Xavier Institute, I was with the top squad, the ones hand-picked by Emma Frost, and then I was with the first of our class to become X-Men. Victor wasn't any of those things... But he's better than me. In just about every way, he's better suited to be a hero. And everyone likes him.

I'm just saying, you'll be missing out if you don't invite him to be a member too, but I'm sure you'll figure that out when you meet him.

Edited 2013-06-16 17:39 (UTC)

I'm not doubting you. I just want to talk to him first. Get a feel for who he is and what he wants.

[ He mulls it over for a moment, then adds; ]

That's the thing about being an Avenger. You either are or you're not. If you are, you find your way onto the team eventually. Don't worry. I'll get him sorted out.

I gotcha. [He smiles a little. He's honestly a bit relieved because he doesn't know if he could/should be an Avenger without his Jiminy Cricket.] He's a lock, then. You'll like him way more than you like me... Hard as that may be to believe.

[Yeah okay, he's done hyping someone who isn't him now.]

I gotta tell you though, it doesn't sound like the Avengers are as exclusive as I was led to believe... Er, not that I'm complaining, obviously.

[ It's true. Once upon a time, it was a small team. People came and went, new people took the place of those absent, but it was rather like an exclusive club. Times are changing, though. Threats are getting more prevalent and those who make them are getting stronger. There are more battles now. More people are needed to fight them. ]

Maybe it used to be, but times are changing. The team's evolving to meet the needs of the people it serves. And we need mutants. Too long we've been a team apart from the X-Men. I want to change that.

Don't let Frost hear you say that, she'll hold you to impossible standards and bitch about it nonstop.

[But whoa! Is this for real? Cap is saying that he acknowledges and wants mutants to be a part of the team. That's like America acknowledging mutants or something like that. Which... Is pretty awesome.]

Hey, uh... Can I ask you what the last big world-ending thing you went through was? Mutant-related preferably, but anything works, really.

[Because, yeah, his last party with the Avengers was Emma complaining that they didn't do enough to save them when they were all fighting for their lives to keep Hope from being assassinated by everything, and Utopia was cut off from the rest of the world.]

[ Frost. Emma Frost. Steve’s memory flashes back to fighting her, then watching Scott tear the Phoenix Force out of her. ]

Fighting against Scott Summers and some of the X-Men. He and four others became possessed by the Phoenix. Eventually the battle became just fighting him. There were casualties, but in the end, the Phoenix was destroyed and the effects of M Day were erased. The mutants came back into the world the way they’d been before.

[ And that, as far as Steve is concerned, had been a victory, though its cost had been so very high. ]

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