discardedheir:

SHIELD was notified. Cassandra and the children were taken care of, and the Fantasticar was about to enter Latverian airspace.

Obviously, the automatic national defenses were on alert, but they could be temporarily disabled with a code that changed every hour of every day, but was based on particularly complex algorithm Doom had concocted at the age 24 and never shared with another human being, and into which one simply had to plug in the full date and time. And, of course, add the name Valeria.

It's been a very, very long time since he's disobeyed the Master. The Fantasticar touched own on the outskirts of Doomstadt unmolested; Kristoff deliberately does not look in the direction of the gypsy funeral grounds. He can't let himself do that right now.

Since the defenses hadn't been activated, Doomstadt is looking its normal calm, quiet self. People walk unmolested down the cobblestone streets, and the water flows in the fountains. The castle looks its normal self from this distance as well.

Time for them to see about making the Master of Latveria explain himself.

nextgen_media:

Las Vegas, NV The Seven Heavens, the newest hotel in Vegas, opened its doors today. The new hotel was once the famous Tropicana Hotel, but a recent purchase by an unknown consortium transformed the icon Vegas hotel into something new and modern. People have come from all over to be at the grand opening of this hotel. The new owners are being reclusive and have not granted any interviews to date. CONT PAGE 2A

oooh_shiny:

Alexandra Thorne, at least that was what she was now known as, busied herself with closing up her shop Curious Goods for the evening. Antiques littered the shelves, tables and display cases in the small shop in the Near West Side of Chicago. The store had been open for the past ten years and run and owned by Alex.

She made her way around the shop putting things back where they belong after people had moved them during the day. It looked like the items were placed haphazardly around the small store, but Alex had a particular place for everything. She wasn't anal retentive about things, but there were a few small areas of her life where it shown through.

She went into the back of the store and emerged with a small dish of cheese and bread and sat it on top of one of the display cases. There were a few things from the old days she held on to. She made her way to the door and stepped outside for a moment.

The air held a slight chill to it, hinting at the colder weather to come. Maybe in a year or two she would move southward. She was tired of cold winters and snow.

Alex looked up and down the busy street. Despite the myriad of people on the street, there would be no more customers today. She took one last look and stepped back inside.

charmedlife:

Definitely needed to distract Nicolai before they all went mad on the news. Until he got clearance to go home, they needed something to get their minds off of This.

So she came in carrying the file someone else had just prepared. "They finished the background check on my sister's girlfriend. And...there's a little insight into her Upsetting Family Issues, at least. She's the orphan of criminals."