swashbuckler:

Steve Barton was back, though not necessarily to stay.   He'd sat through a very quick doctor's examination which had revealed that he was in generally good health, though perhaps not having been eating as regularly as he should have.  His right arm was entirely gone, as was his right shoulder and a portion of his pectoral muscle and back.  It had all been replaced by cybernetics that seemed slightly ahead of current technology. 

Loosely over his back, he carried a shield that looked like it once belonged to Captain America.  It had.

They'd commandeered a conference room for a quick war council.

"Okay," Steve said, pacing with the need to keep moving.  He looked older by a year or two, maybe more if you counted the stress and shell-shocked look in his eyes.  "When I disappeared, I ended up in a different dimension.  There, the Earth had been conquered by aliens some time in the 50's. Most of the population had been wiped out.  But some survived as slaves or experiments.  But there was a resistance.  I hooked up with them, started teaching them how to really fight back.  Even, kinda put together a rag-tag Avengers.

We were barely holding our ground.  But now, the mothership, with the aliens leaders, is on Earth.  And we have a plan to take them down.  But we needed muscle.  We pieced together just enough technology, with the help of one of those Avengers, to send me back here."

He swallowed.  "This is that Earth's last chance.  I need you to help me."

toni_rhodes:

There was, in fact, a very good reason Toni hadn't talked to her friends in a while:  She'd been rather sick.

Or something, anyway.  There was definitely something wrong with her.  She didn't... feel right.  No appetite.  And her powers were going pretty haywire.  She'd either end up shooting out too much energy or too little.  And when she did, either way, it felt like just about every nerve in her body was on fire.

She'd told her parents, of course, but she couldn't bring herself to tell her brother or Anya.  They had too much on their plates already.  Just about one more worry would probably break her best friend in half.  She'd have to settle for telling her later and suffering the "you should have told me"'s there.

Fortunately, as both a mutant and Avenger, she had access to the best medical treatment of both worlds.  Regular tests had been occurring over the past several weeks, but now...

Now she was feeling worse than ever.   And as she sat waiting for the results of her latest test, Toni Rhodes was quite worried.

ng_independent:

Remember Fargo!

Brad Simmons lowers his hand, satisfied with his work. On the concrete beneath him lies the body of an older male mutant, mutilated from several hundred lacerations. The mutant bleed well and freely, leading to the three words painted upon the alley wall before Simmons. The scent of the still-warm and fresh blood assaulted his nostrils and he took it in, moving closer to the wall. His eyes were only half-open, lidded in euphoria as he feels his body sync with the homo superior genetics he's just augmented himself. His body stabilizes and the constant pain he's been in over the last few months abates, allowing him to think clearly once again.

One down, millions more to go.

And he still had to rescue Liz.

The cuts and bruises he'd accumulated over the last few weeks vanished from his skin as though they'd never been and Brad Simmons walks out of the alley, leaving his latest test subject there for someone to find, along with his message. And someone would, eventually.

Nothing stays hidden for long in Mutant Town.