Alias/X-Men crossover; links

monanotlisa made a new icon for me, and to celebrate it, I wanted to write a drabble which turned out into a story. A crossover at that, Alias/X-Men, starring two elderly gentlemen I've never written before, Arvin Sloane and Erik Lehnsherr, aka Magneto. So, nervousness abounds.

Timeline: Early to mid season 2 for Alias, post-X2 for the X-Men movieverse. Sloane pov.

Alias-only readers, Mr. Lehnsherr can control all things metal, tried to change everyone in New York into a mutant in the first movie and ended the second one nearly committing global genocide on non-mutants through his best friend. Also, he was in Auschwitz as a child. Issues.

X-Men-only readers, Mr. Sloane used to be a CIA agent who went rogue to found a shadowy organization called the Alliance a good while ago. At that point of the show he's busy double-crossing the Alliance by setting the CIA up to destroy them. (Don't ask.) Which the two CIA double agents in his branch of the organization, his best friend Jack Bristow and said friend's daughter Sydney aren't aware of; they're busy double-crossing Sloane. Also, his wife Emily has cancer. Issues.

ETA: Thanks to monanotlisas incredibly fast beta-reading skills, this is the slightly polished-up version...

( Two men meet on a ferry... )

As always, I'd be grateful for a title.

In other news, artaxastra ponders the American divide, which I think we in Europe often simplify or overlook. And doyle_sb4 wrote a terrific, intense take on Buffy. One reason why I like Buffy the character so much is that she's one of the few hero(ine)s who gets credibly emotionally scarred as the show progresses, and this story, set at the end of season 1, shows how it starts.