hellfireprince:

Paulo held the door as Julian strolled into the hotel, adjusting his tie for the third time since getting in the car. He was sure there were paparazzi following them; they hadn't let up since the business at the Statue of Liberty several days ago. The others were caught under the limelight just as much, if not more, and while Julian relished the attention on one level, some things deserved the consideration of privacy.

Like today.

"Paulo, you're certain you delivered the invitations?" Julian asked again before entering.

"Yes, Mister Howard. Again, I couldn't put them directly into Mister Summers' hands, but the attendant I tipped said he would be certain they were received." Paulo says.

"He should have called by now. Or at least told me to take a flying leap. What if he's still not well after..." Julian wondered.

"Sir, you said you saw him leave with a young woman before you could get to him. I'm sure he's fine. Now, calm yourself and go see him." Paulo said gently.

Julian took a deep breath and nodded, then steeled himself. There was no telling how Andrew would react to him, or news of their relation. He hoped to be welcomed, but it was quite possible that Andrew would want nothing to do with him at all. It was also highly possible that his father would feel the same way.

Pushing the doubts out of his head for the moment, Julian walked up to the service desk and smiled at the young lady behind the counter.

"Julian Howard to see Andrew Summers, please. Let him know that I'm here, and I'll wait at his convenience." he says.

nextgen_media:

New York, New York The cleanup from the powerful storm that raged through the city continues. The storm occurred during the fight at Liberty Island. The group calling themselves the MLF took a few prominent sentors' kids hostage in an effort to get the Registration Act killed in Congress. The X-Men and Avengers eventually showed up to rescue the kids, but it was group calling themselves X-Factor who eventually rescued the kidnapped children. CONT PAGE 1-B

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles saw a zombie invasion of dead actors and actresses. The Defenders, down a few of their numbers, showed up to deal with the zombie invasion. Among the Defenders was no other than Captain Britain. The team stopped the zombies and LA returned to its normal chaos. CONT PAGE 1-C

sea_shelly:

Marrina doubled checked the locks on the doors.  They were absolutely locked.   She double checked that the security cameras for the pool had been turned off.  They were.

The pool in Alpha Flight's headquarters was, by her request, entirely fresh water, no chemicals and no chlorine, and on a constant purification cycle.  It was expensive, but her physiology depended on being able to properly hydrate and submerge herself at least once every seven hours or so.  She preferred to only go about five, but seven started to push it.  And if she was out of water for more than twelve...

She didn't like to think about that.

Today, however, had been a particularly stressful day.  The submersion chamber she used for sleeping was being cleaned, so that was out.  And she'd spent the better part of the day assuring various government officials, who'd finally gotten around to reading the mission logs, that her first loyalty was to Canada, while also telling them in no uncertain terms that she was not going to be used to put any kind of pressure on Namor and that she was fully intending to keep her royal title.

And then she'd talked to her parents, the Smallwoods, about her encounter with her birth father, something she'd been putting off.  It had been a good conversation, she assured them that they would always be her parents in her mind, but that she did also need to try and make room for Namor, who would have raised her if he had but known.

She sighed.  It had been way too long a day and the only thing she'd wanted to do was catch a quick nap.  But since that was out of the question, she'd gotten herself a little privacy this way.  She disrobed and dropped into the pool, sinking to the bottom and just breathing in and out, letting the water take her cares away.