Christmas Eve 2008
Ezekiel left his house after a quiet dinner with his family to meet up with his helpers for the night. Ezekiel stepped out of the portal to the doorstep of Hulk's house on Genosha. He barely knocked on the door before it was flung open and an energetic girl slammed into him as she exclaimed, "Ezekiel!"
Ezekiel smiled as he returned the hug as he said, "It's good to see you too Gabby."
Gabby's smile was almost blinding as she looked up at Ezekiel and asked, "Is it time?!?"
Ezekiel chuckled slightly as he walked into the house while Gabby excitedly skipped next to him before he said, "Almost, we need to change first."
Hela who was at the kitchen table with Hulk glanced up from the board game they were playing as she asked, "Change? I thought we were just dropping off gifts?"
"We are, but we also need to get into the proper holiday spirit."
Hulk nodded in agreement as he said, "Hulk like being elf."
Ezekiel shook his head as he said, "Hulk, speak like a normal person."
"No, Hulk don't wanna."
Ezekiel shook his head again as he mumbled, "This must be his rebellious phase."
Hulk played his turn before he said, "Gabby, it's your turn."
"Okay!" Gabby said as she ran back over to the table before she started to play her turn.
Ezekiel followed behind and took a seat next to Hela as he asked, "Playing life, huh? Who's in the lead?"
"It's honestly pretty close… But I think Hulk is in the lead though." Hela said as she started her own turn.
Ezekiel chatted with everyone as they finished out the game before Hulk raised his hands in the air and said, "Hulk win! Hulk best at life!"
Ezekiel shook his head before he helped pack up the game and then stored it away next to the massive collection of board games Hulk owned. Afterwards he turned around and asked, "Are you guys ready to go deliver presents?"
Hela and Hulk nodded while Gabby bounced up and down as she excitedly said, "Yes!"
"Alright, let's get everyone in costume and then we can head out." Ezekiel said as he pulled out special henge seals.
Gabby bounced in front of Ezekiel first and stuck out her arm as she said, "I'm ready!"
Ezekiel chuckled as he placed the seal on her arm before he injected chakra into it and activated the seal. A cloud of smoke appeared and a moment later Gabby reappeared in a mostly green outfit along with a green hat and shoes. Her hair was hidden under the Santa hat and it showed off her pointed ears that twitched slightly as she ran over to the mirror by the front door.
Gabby giggled with excitement as she looked herself over in the mirror and Ezekiel moved in front of Hulk. A moment later a large smoke cloud enveloped Hulk and when it cleared he was a lot smaller and in the same outfit as Gabby. The only difference was he was still green, and instead of being skinny he was extra wide which made Ezekiel smile.
Ezekiel then turned to Hela and just before he attached the seal, she said, "You better not make me an elf."
"Do you wanna be Santa instead?"
"Aren't you supposed to be Santa?" Hela asked which caused Ezekiel to nod before she asked with an expectant look, "Then that means I should be Mrs. Clause, don't you think?"
Ezekiel's eyes widened slightly but didn't answer before he placed the seal on her arm and injected chakra. A cloud of smoke later and Hela now looked like a fat, little old lady with white hair. Her outfit was a red colored dress that went to her ankles with a matching hat, shoes and a pair of half rimmed glasses sat on her now bulbous nose.
As Ezekiel changed into Santa, Hela glanced down at her new appearance and her mouth twitched slightly before she moved to look in the mirror. As soon as she saw her full appearance she spun around and shot a glare at Ezekiel who now looked exactly like Jolly Saint Nick. With his massive belly that giggled when he walked, his large white beard and iconic suit.
Gabby was already excited as she looked at Hela's transformation. But when she noticed Ezekiel, her eyes practically glowed as she said, "You look just like Santa!"
Hela stared at Ezekiel for a few moments who smirked back and gave her a wink. Hela's eyes narrowed slightly before she pulled off the seal on her arm and changed back to normal. A second later Hela used magic to change into what could only be considered a sexy Mrs. Clause outfit. It was a low cut, skin tight, red dress that stopped mid thigh. While white stocking covered the rest of her legs and ended just short of the dress to show off the tiniest bit of bare skin. She still had a red Santa hat on, but instead of red shoes she now wore high heeled red boots that stopped at her knees.
Ezekiel noticed her outfit and his mouth dropped slightly open as she purposely bent forward and allowed him to see down the top of her dress while she adjusted her boots. She tilted her head up and locked eyes with him before she gave him a confident smirk and a wink as she slowly stood up straight. Gabby, who just finished checking out Ezekiel, turned around to see Hela's new look and said, "Wow! You look amazing! I wanna wear something like that too!"
Ezekiel glanced at Gabby and his right eye started to twitch before he said, "Maybe next time, we need to get going."
"Oh, okay."
Ezekiel opened up a portal to the place where he stored all the presents and decorations he planned to use this year. After collecting everything that was already stored in special sacks, the group headed for their first stop, the main secret base. The base itself was relatively quiet at this time since Ezekiel didn't like people doing missions around the holidays.
The four of them only ran into a handful of people who were up and about as they entered the cafeteria area. Once there, Ezekiel pulled out a massive tree and set it up near the entrance. As Gabby and Hulk decorated the tree, Hela helped Ezekiel hang up other decorations before they pulled out all the presents Ezekiel prepared. It took almost an hour before they were finished and afterwards they headed for their next destination.
At the Xavier Institute they set up another tree and unloaded another pile of presents. As for their next destination, Ezekiel stopped at every Hand outreach center they created and dropped off presents for all the people who attended them. It was mostly for the kids, but even teens and the adults going through job training received appropriate gifts.
The next stop after that was orphanages around the USA, Canada and Mexico. Ezekiel and his team didn't stop at all of them himself, since they wouldn't have enough time. So while they stopped by a handful, ninjas, clones and help from sorcerers made the rest possible. His clones also dropped off presents for Ezekiel's friends like Tony, Tao, Hela, Hulk and others.
Once they were finished, Ezekiel and his group ended up visiting over fifty locations before Ezekiel took them to eat a late night snack at Hulk's house. When they arrived Hulk found his house completely decorated with a large tree and a handful of gifts placed under his tree. Hulk stared at the tree and presents for a few moments before he looked at Ezekiel and asked, "When did we decorate my house?"
"We didn't, it must have been the real Santa." Ezekiel said with a hint of a smile as he shrugged.
Hulk glanced between the tree and Ezekiel a couple times before he asked, "Can I open them?"
"Tomorrow morning after you wake up. For now, let's eat and then call it a night."
Hulk nodded in agreement before he headed towards the kitchen table where Ezekiel pulled out a bunch of sealed food. He placed fresh pizzas, pasta, salad and a bunch of other things on the table along with drinks before he took a seat next to Hela. As they started eating, Gabby munched on a large piece of pizza before she asked, "Ezekiel, are you doing anything special tomorrow?"
"I always spend major holidays with my family."
"Oh, okay…" Gabby said in a slightly depressed tone.
Ezekiel studied Gabby's expression for a few moments before he asked, "Did you want me to visit you tomorrow?"
Gabby's eyes widened before she looked a little guilty as she nodded and said, "Yeah… But I didn't know you had plans with your family."
"It's fine, I could take a little while to drop by and say hello since I know you don't like clones. But it won't be for that long."
Gabby's eyes instantly lit up and she nodded her head quickly as she said, "Stopping by is good enough for me!"
"Alright, I'll shoot for sometime before lunch."
The rest of the meal passed pretty quickly with Hulk eating a lion's share of the food. Afterwards everyone said goodbye to Hulk before Ezekiel and Hela sent Gabby back home. Ezekiel then escorted Hela home before he said, "I'll see you tomorrow night."
Hela smiled slightly as she said, "Sure, I'll see you tomorrow."
When Theo arrived back home he had a little over three hours of sleep before something heavy landed on him. To be precise, two heavy things landed on him and knocked the air from his legs as they said, "Merry Christmas! It's time to wake up!"
Theo's eyes snapped open to find his siblings smiling at him as they laid on top of him. Theo locked eyes with both of them before he said in an annoyed tone, "I hope you know… There will be consequences for your actions."
Milly shared a glance with Isaac before they both jumped off the bed and bolted for the door at incredible speed. Theo practically exploded from his bed as he charged after them and caught them both as they entered the kitchen. A second after he tackled them to the floor he summoned a handful of clones who piled on top of them. Within moments laughter filled the air as Theo and his clones held down his siblings and tickled them both.
"Mercy, mercy! We give up!" Milly quickly said in between fits of laughter.
Theo didn't let up for a second as Jacob entered the kitchen and looked over the situation before he completely ignored it as he walked past them to get to the coffee pot. Daniel walked in a few moments later glanced at Theo and his clones still tickling his siblings before she asked, "What exactly is going on here?"
Theo glanced up at his mom as he said, "Just teaching both of them that jumping on someone isn't the proper way to wake them up."
"Oh… Alright, finish up soon. We are leaving in the next half an hour." Daniel said with a slight shake of her head as Jacob handed her a coffee mug.
Milly and Isaac begged for help, in between their laughter for over a minute before Theo finally let them go. Afterwards he headed downstairs and took a quick shower before he got ready for the day. When he walked back out of the kitchen he found his entire family waiting for him with smiles on their faces and a pile of boxes resting on the coffee table.
Theo saw the size and shape of the box and was instantly filled with dread as he knew what was coming. He spun on his heel but before he could even take a step his mother said, "Come on, it's a family tradition."
"Yeah, it's just a few hours. Besides, everyone else is doing it."
Theo raised an eyebrow as he glanced over his shoulder and said, "That's the type of thing people say when they want you to try drugs… Do you want me to say yes to them too?"
Jacob shared a glance with Daniel who frowned slightly before he said, "Alright, I said that wrong… The rest of the family will be wearing them and it'd be nice if you did too. At least long enough for a group photo, then you can take it off."
Theo paused for a few seconds before he let out a defeated sigh and turned around. His family smiled as he took the box from them and before he could even open it, they picked up their own boxes. A few moments later Theo's right eye started to twitch as he looked at what he could only describe as holiday vomit. It still amazed Theo to no end that for some reason his family had the ability to find the worst sweaters possible each year.
He was honestly starting to think Jacob and the others got together each year and had them custom made. Only for the simple fact that there was no way other people would want the hideous things…
With another helpless sigh Theo slowly put on the sweater before he followed his family out the door. Like every year, they were going to May and Ben's to spend the day. But unlike before, their house was no longer going to be overcrowded. After Theo shared his secrets with his family, he upgraded the houses in their neighborhood.
It wasn't too crazy and most people wouldn't notice it with the high fences and landscaping that hid most of it. But Theo hand basically doubled the square footage of his family's homes and hid it all from street view. Even an overhead view wouldn't show anything unless you compared pictures of how it used to look. Sure it took up some of the back yard from each property, but they all had overly large backyards to begin with.
Theo also took that time to not only reinforce each home, but he also upgraded everything inside them. While it wasn't necessary to do, Theo did it anyway because he could and it didn't really cost much. As they stepped up to the front door, Daniel faintly smiled at Theo before she stepped through the door followed by everyone else. Theo missed her smile and was the last person through the door. But as he stepped through it his whole body froze in place.
Just past the entry way, in the middle of the new living room stood Hela. While that wouldn't normally cause him to freeze, what she was wearing did. She was currently wearing the exact same ugly sweater as the rest of his family. Hela turned towards Theo a moment later and when they locked eyes she said with a smile, "Merry Christmas."
Theo stared at her for a few seconds and the ugly sweater she was wearing before he finally let out a sigh and said in a defeated tone, "Merry Christmas to you too…"
Theo closed the door and as he stepped into the house past the entryway he froze again. Seated in the living room was Tao, Agatha and Hulk who also had the same ugly sweater on. Theo was about ready to make a portal to Tony's house when Tao caught his eyes and smiled as she said, "I didn't know your family had such a tradition, but I find it interesting."
Agatha nodded in agreement as she said, "I must admit, the sweater is starting to grow on me."
"Hulk like pretty sweater."
Theo stared at all of them before he slowly turned towards Hela with hope in his eyes. Out of everyone here, she wouldn't be corrupted…
Hela noticed Theo's look and smiled before she said, "Honestly, it's pretty comfortable."
The light left Theo's eyes as he said in a broken tone, "You… You were the chosen one, you were supposed to bring balance to this madness, not join them!"
A present smacked Theo in the side of the head and made him stumble slightly as Tao said, "Stop quoting Star Wars, it's not that serious."
Theo looked over to see the present floating next to his head as Tao added, "Merry Christmas."
Theo accepted the gift while he grumbled about everyone being crazy. Afterwards he joined everyone in the kitchen for breakfast before he spent the rest of the day with his family and the handful of people who knew who he was… Well except Fury, but he was spending time with his own family.