nextgen_misc:

The ships moved effortlessly through the rough seas as they made their way toward land. They kept formation and large metal robots stood like silent sentinels on the decks. They were waiting to reach shore and then would sweep across the land destroying everything in their path. It had been the same tactics they had used in other areas of the North.

Sol in her chariot drawn by the horses Alsvid and Arvak came up over the horizon and snapping at Sol's heels was the wolf Skoll. One day the wolf would catch and devour Sol, but for now he continued to chase her day after day. On the sea in front of the metal ships of Kang floated the small fleet of ships of the Norsemen.

anyastark:

Anya was glad to get into a daily routine and be back in classes again. Summer classes had started on the 9th and Anya couldn’t have been happier. Classes and school were parts of The Plan and steps to running Stark Inc one day. A year ago it would have been the only thing she wanted in life, but now it was one of two things she wanted in life. The only other thing she wanted in life was graduating today.

While she was starting classes again, Steve was just finishing high school. As soon as her Friday classes were over she donned her suit and rocked off to New York for Steve’s graduation ceremonies. It was a mad dash into the condo and into a dress. Quick job on her hair and makeup and she climbed into the car with the family.

Anya had attended with her parents, James and Steve’s parents. She was so proud of him. She knew he could do it even when he thought he couldn’t do it. She believed in him even when he didn’t believe in himself. Impatiently she waited for his name to be called.

Tomorrow she'd give him his graduation gift. She couldn't wait to see the look on his face when he got it. Patience was not a strong suit of Anya's.

shield_maiden:

Apparently fighting off vampires and cultists earned a person a stay at the city's palace. The local king was most appreciative of having his city emptied of the vampires and cultists and had invited the Avengers along with Red Sonja and Conan to stay for the night in his palace.

Svalin cared not where she stayed, only that she had a place for Tryggvi and someplace to sleep. Hard or soft, it didn't matter. She was used to sleeping on the ground as much as she was used to sleeping in a bed. The girls were shown to one suite and the guys to another. In the middle of the room that connected to the two bedrooms was a large bathtub put into the floor. Servants filled it with steaming water. The same was in the guys' room. They were all expected at dinner in two hours.

Svalin carefully checked her weapons and equipment and laid the out one by one on a table in the room. Getting clean was not the highest priority for her.

nextgen_parent:

Ororo sat in her room, confined and utterly bewildered.  She hadn't done anything wrong, and yet the people of her country chose not to believe her.  She was mildly frustrated and deeply hurt by the accusations.  Her only hope was that her husband and her daughter could find a way to prove her innocence.

toni_rhodes:

Robots had her surrounded, each one with a different material for its skin or a different weapon mounted on it, but Toni Rhodes was not afraid.  The first one was the easiest; she took it down with a simple electrical blast, shorting out all of its systems at once.  Another electrical blast gave her some space, but didn't have the effect on the rest that it had on the first.

She shifted tactics, hitting the next one with a hard blast of infra-red radiation, melting a hole right through its head.  Against the third, she used a microwave burst, producing a similar effect, though with a greater disruption of its circuits.

A fourth unleashed a barrage of missiles, tracking her.  She shifted again, throwing up radio signals at it, manipulating the signal back to the robot, destroying it.  A fifth blasted her with lasers, but she absorbed the first barrage, then took control of the second, sending them right back long their path into the gun-barrel. 

A flier swooped down at her, peppering the area with bullets.  She threw up an electromagnetic screen, deflecting them, and rode those same electromagnetic lines into the air, first blinding the robot with a visible light barrage, then hitting it with an electromagnetic pulse to knock out its memory circuits.

As she landed, she was assaulted by another robot, narrowly avoiding a blow to the head.  She hit it with electricity, light blasts, even radio waves, but those had no effect.  She shifted again, throwing x-rays at it, perceiving the robot's interior like an x-ray technician would.  There.  Weak spot just in the center of its chest.  She grappled some of the scrap metal with an electromagnetic field, and threw it at the robot, taking it down.

When the dust settled, she looked up to the control booth of the Avengers' training room.  Not as fancy as the Danger Room over at Xaiver's, but much more homey.  "How'd I do?"

anyastark:

As always, Anya knew exactly what to get Prince Dork for his birthday. Gifts for him were never hard. Others, like Mom, on the other hand were almost impossible to buy for. The Dork didn't need anything for Darlene or his motorcycle, so she went with something else he loved.

The New York Mets.

Luckily they were playing in New York on the Dork's birthday this year. Coordinating with Lyta, the girlfriend (hee hee the Dork had a girlfriend and one Anya liked), they came up with A Plan. Lyta would distract the Dork and get him to the stadium. Lyta also was responsible for telling the X-ers and making sure they knew The Plan.

The Plan was simple.

Get to the stadium three hours before the game and join battling practice with the team. Then dinner in the private box before the game, and then watch the game from the private box. Snacks and drinks would be served all night.

It would be the perfect birthday for Prince Dork.

She informed the other Brother Dork, Eliza, Dad and Mom of the plans. Mom excused herself from the activity and said she would have lunch with Prince Dork tomorrow. Which if Misha saw Mom, he would send her right home. She looked exhausted today and it was best that she stayed home. She wasn't sure if Eliza and Dad would make it, but the other Brother Dork was going.

She got ready and grabbed James. They arrived at the stadium before everyone else.

shield_maiden:

Svalin was up with the rising of the sun. She watched the sunrise from the abandoned house they had stayed in for the night. Battle was coming and she could never sleep the night before a battle. It wasn't nerves. It was anticipation for the coming fight. Today they would hunt down this Thulsa Doom and if they were lucky, Varnae as well.

The day would be clear and sunny and perfect for battle.

Svalin, needless to say, was looking forward to it. She wasn't sure about the other Avengers, but she sensed the anticipation from the redheaded woman warrior and the male warrior. He reminded her of her brother and it made her miss her siblings.

She should go check her equipment and weapons. There was a battle coming.

anyastark:

Anya looked at the clock and blinked. It was nine am. More importantly, what day was it? Since getting her new toy she had been one busy Stark and had lost track of what day it was. She would probably get a lecture from someone, but hey shiny new toy.

While she wouldn't get her license back for another week, she could work on her new car. Sure it was nice and shiny and was a nice machine, but it could always be improved. She tore it apart the second after she had gotten it in the garage. Well, she tore the power system apart. The batteries were going to be replaced by the new nifty zero point energy module she and Justin had invented.

The problem she had run into and had been trying to solve for awhile now was keeping the car's power systems from overloading from the new power source. Power systems were not her strong point. Dad and Justin were better with them. She could always ask one of them, but she really wanted to figure this out on her own.

Anya rubbed her eyes. Maybe some fresh air would help. Sleep would probably be best, but since the nightmare the other night she didn't want to sleep. Not unless she really had to.

She had thought she was past Temujin and the nightmares. Apparently she wasn't quite yet. Lucas's help did a lot of good getting him out of her mind, but one couldn't control dreams. Though she did admit that this had been the first one in a few months.

She sent an email to Lyta. There was planning and plotting that needed to be done and they only had a week. Anya had an idea of what they should do, but she wanted to run it by Lyta and see if it would work with her. Then she sent another email. This one was a special request and Anya didn't think she'd be allowed access, but it never hurt to ask.

Back to work until she got a reply to her inquiry.

iron_hide:

Justin arrives at the Manhattan apartment, checking over the address that Mom gave him one more time. He probably should have called to see if she'd be home, but he'd rather she not find a reason not to see him. Of all his "family", Toni is probably the most affected by his appearance, and the person he's spoken to the least of his immediate family. She's checked on him while he was asleep, and helped him out here and there, but they haven't really bonded or anything. He's not sure she wants to, and if it turns out he'll be leaving soon, he could be wasting his time.

But he's never had a sister before, and there's a part of him that needs to know what that's like. This is one of the few upsides to Tina being out of town on business for work; if she was here, Justin might make an excuse to leave and go see her so that he doesn't have to confront this.

Anya says she's cool, so she's cool. he thinks.


Justin knocks on the door and waits for an answer....and hoping he doesn't run into Rhodey's wife.

aerosmithette:

Akilah held the paper in her hands, flabbergasted by the news it brought.  She was being summoned back to Wakanda to attend a trial against her mother.  Apparently, Ororo Munroe had attacked the Wakandan capitol relentlessly for almos two hours, destroying much of the city and killing many innocents.  She couldn't believe it.  She absolutely could not believe it.  However, Akilah knew she had to return home as quickly as possible.  She immediatly started gathering clothes and supplies for the trip home.  She also intended on telling her teammates that she was leaving for awhile.  However, she was not one to strike up conversation so easily.  Akilah made it apparent that she was going somewhere by gathering her things at the door. 

"Just a few more things to check," she muttered as she slid her things to the wall.

i_feel_you:

After they had dropped their stuff off at a local hotel room and caught a quick nap (the joys of continental flights), Aine and Luna had hopped in a cab and took off for Avengers Mansion.

"Here we are," Luna said when they arrived, paying the cabbie before climbing out of the cab. She looked over to Aine. "Relax. Don't be nervous. It'll be fine. You're with me, so there's nothing to worry about. Unless the team's changed drastically, they all know me, for the most part."

She made her way to the front door and knocked.

butterflybullet:

Particularly with the extra help, Vernique didn't take long to whip up some properly local fashion. Once everyone was outfitted who needed to be, she preened a bit -- that was just unavoidable. "Well, now that everyone looks acceptably fantastic: off to town to look for signs of Kang Was Here?"

nextgen_misc:

A dry hot wind carried dust with it as it swept across the plain. The sun scorched the earth and the summer heat was relentless. Vultures circled in the air against the backdrop of a dull blue sky. Off in the distance the brown walls and buildings of a city blended into the landscape.

There was a flash of bright light and six people and one horse stood on the dry plain.

marvelkid:

With most of the others all off on some cross dimensional adventure, his parents away for the week, and no villains to beat up at the moment, Wally Altman-Kaplan has made his way to the Avengers Mansion since he finished is homework at school.

And since no one was around when he got there, Wally's in the kitchen. And something smells pretty good. There's some rock music playing in the kitchen as Wally dances a bit. He's dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt and not bothering to hide the golden Nega-Bands on his wrists. There's a small mess on the counter and come cookies in the oven. Wally seems quite pleased with himself for not setting anything on fire.

anyastark:

Anya rubbed her eyes. Staring at the holographic 3-D model was not getting her any closer to solving the problem. She was trying to design a zero point energy module small enough to power her suit and her potential new car. Her new suit was a power hog and she needed a more efficient and powerful energy source for it. Zero point energy seemed the way to go, but the problem was creating a device small enough to be put in the suit. Every design she had tried so far had failed. She was about ready to call in the big guns, Dr. Richards or Dr. Vernard. They were the foremost experts on zero point energy. Not to mention designing and engineering was not Anya's strong point.

A break was definitely needed. She had been in the office since 7am and had worked straight through since then.

She sent an email to Dad asking him to come down to the lab if he got some free time.

Now for that break. She shut off the computer and the hologram and headed for Pepper's office to see if Pepper wanted anything to eat while Anya was getting something.

weavingwizard:

This takes place sometime after Daniel got rescued from the Green Man.

Daniel stirs then sits up. His head hurts. His body hurts. His magic screams in his ears and mind from being pulled around. The magic that he can sense in the universe feels distant and cold. It does not feel warm and welcoming like it should. He knows why. The Green Man hurt him while he was trapped.

He shivers and climbs off the bed in the medical bay and sighs. They had him hooked up to an IV pole to deal with the fact he hadn't eaten in a long time and he was dehydrated. That was good. He pushes the pole with his arm that isn't attached to the line feeding him and weakly moves to where there is a sink and a mirror. He can see where he has been treated by Akilah's magic. He can see that there is white and green streaks threaded into his hair for now. Eventually his body will fix that.

Oh hell. Akilah is going to be mad. Daniel tries to think of what to say but ends up thinking of nothing that is quite good enough and hobbles back to the bed too tired to think of anything to defend his actions.

shield_maiden:

Svalin and Tryggvi just landed on the small lawn in the back of the Avengers Mansion. Svalin had been getting antsy and decided to take Tryggvi out for a flight around New York. They were both feeling too confined. At least at the Defenders compound there was room to move around and a nice ocean breeze. There were too many tall buildings in New York and they were all too close.

Svalin dismounted and immediately removed the saddle. She let it fall on the ground and then removed the bridle. She smiled and lightly rubbed Tryggvi's nose before placing a kiss on his forehead. "Thank you, my friend. 'Twas a most enjoyable flight."

anyastark:


To: Prince Dork (misha_romanov@xaviers.edu)
From: Anya Stark (anya_stark@starkindustries.com)
Subject: Sun and fun

Hey Dork,

I'm inviting the Avengers to the Tahiti house for a week. You're invited and so are the X-ers.

Leaving 5pm on the 4th. Coming back on Friday the 9th around 1pm.

Let me know how many are coming.


Anya.

next_avenger:

It was most peculiar. Mom had given him a few files on James Buchanan Barnes to read over after explaining who he was and what had happened to him. She had also explained how she had run into the James Buchanan Barnes on the Exiles team and how it started her thinking about this world's Bucky. Mom had also explained how that when she was being held she was conscious enough to hear references about a project and a man kept on ice. Since Mom was pregnant and couldn't go looking for him herself, she gave the information to him knowing that he would go. James wasn't about to go on his own though. He was going to ask the one person he knew would help him.

His brother.

After school was out James suited up and went looking for Charlie.

shield_maiden:

Svalin had promised Vernique a trip west when Svalin went, but Halbjorn was here in the city to get changed back into a male. Svalin still needed to go and get her other weapons and gear, but she could wait. Her brother was recovering from his injuries and Svalin knew what would help the process along. Mead. And lots of it.

There wasn't mead in the Avengers mansion, but Svalin knew where they could get some. With that in mind she went looking for Vernique. Perhaps she would accompany Svalin and Halbjorn to Asgard.

nextgen_parent:

Sersi chuckled when her nephew told her about the Avengers little problem. She of course had agreed to help and had flown over to the mansion. She was in residence for the next few days to change them all back.

toni_rhodes:

This takes place roughly around the same time as the Avengers are rescuing Daniel.


Toni desperately needed someone to talk too, having just come from a check-up at the Xaiver Institute with Doctor McCoy.  Fortunately, of course, there was always Anya.  Who was in her lab.

Not that Toni was surprised.  It was where her workaholic best friend always was, when there wasn't something else to be doing.  She pressed the buzzer.

"You in there, girl?"

ng_independent:

They had arrived at Earth and had orbited for awhile before Empress had selected her targets. It had taken some time. She didn't want just ANYONE. They had to be among the best. She WOULD win the gladiatorial games this time. NOTHING would stop her. Not even a small thing like gender.

Empress didn't care if it was cheating. The only thing that mattered was winning and she would win this time.

The teleporters were activated and the selected targets were beamed directly to the lab. There they underwent a little transformation and were given attitude readjustments and then put into a holding cell.

The men would wake up in the holding cell to find a few changes.

weavingwizard:

Daniel never asked for help when it came to his father. He had just disappeared into his lab one day after helping out with some other stuff. Then he left a few days latter smelling like he hadn't bathed in a few days without a word.

Like that he was gone. Not a word or hint. He should have said something. People can yell at him latter.

Right now though? It's been a week. No sign of the young wizard nor any word.


Just what was up with Daniel?

nextgen_media:

"We interrupt this regularly scheduled program to bring you this breaking report. It seems like a giant, what can only be called a citadel, rose from the very ground itself and covered almost the entire area of Central Park just moments ago. The monstrosity seems to be composed completely out of stone and there are no discernible entrances. What appears to be people on flying robotic horses circle the citadel. Who built this and to what end has yet to be discovered."

next_avenger:

James was going to ask Valeria if she wanted to go out, but he decided that staying in would be better. Staying in with junkfood, bad movies and curling up on the couch was even better. He was going to stay at the condo, but Mom and Tony could use some quiet time together so he headed over to the Avengers Mansion.

Junkfood. Check. Drinks. Check. Bad movies. Check. Classics such as Mansquito, Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus, Alien Apocalypse, Basilisk: The Serpent King, Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep and his personal favorite, Hellhounds

James left a message for Val and then stretched out on the couch. A bowl of popcorn sat on his stomach and a glass of milk sat on the floor next to the couch.

Basilisk: The Serpent King was playing on the large screen tv.

anyastark:

Anya had tried to make it a point to remember birthdays, but occasionally one slipped by her. This time it was Qamar whose birthday slipped past her. She was two days late.

When he got back to his room he would find presents waiting for him on his bed.

A card from Anya included two tickets to the symphony, dinner for two at Casa Mono, and a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble.

anyastark:

Anya rubbed her eyes and then looked at the laptop screen. This piece of code was giving her problems beyond measure. Coding was never this hard, but for some reason it was just not coming to her today. Sneakers played on the television and she was camped out on the couch in the living room.

Dad was still at work. Mom was napping (weird that she actually slept now) and Dork #2 was still in school. It was quiet in the Stark household. Which usually meant that something would happen to cause a boom.

Anya blinked a few times. Maybe it was time to take a break when the letters on the screen started running together and got blurry. She looked at the clock. It was close to three in the afternoon. Just around the time Steve was getting out of school.

She smiled. She knew exactly what she was going to do. A quick call downstairs for a car and then she ran to get changed.

Twenty minutes later she was leaning against the car waiting for Steve to come out of the building. She ignored the looks from the students coming out. She was who she was and she was leaning against a Town Car waiting for her boyfriend. Nothing special.

borntolead:

Take it easy. That's what they told Charlie when they released him from the medical bay. Take it easy. Don't overwork yourself. Rest.

He couldn't do that. Not after the way he screwed up. He couldn't "take it easy". He couldn't just lie around on the game room couch, watching t.v.

Charlie made his way to the workout room, ignoring the aching pain still shooting through his entire body. He couldn't sit still. No-he didn't WANT to sit still. His teammates often poked fun at him about his "workout addiction". Normally, he'd just laugh along with them, but right now? Charlie didn't want to deal with any of that. Right now, he just wanted to blow off steam, and take out some of that pent-out frustration on a punching bag.

When he entered the workout room, Charlie placed his shield next to one of the weight benches. He shouldn't be lifting weights without a spotter. He shouldn't be benching that much. Hell, he shouldn't be lifting weights at all.

Toni had been kidnapped by those Dark Rider bastards. Toni had been kidnapped, and he couldn't stop them. He tried, but it wasn't could enough. He tried, and he got his ass handed to him.

They said that it wasn't his fault. His parents told him. His teammates. Everyone. They told him that he was overpowered, and they didn't blame him. Once they knew where she was, they'd go and get Toni.

He didn't believe them. He fucked up big time. He could've stopped Toni from being kidnapped. He let her down, and the entire team.

It was all his fault.

Not caring how much he was sweating already, Charlie continued to bench weights, ignoring the sharp pain shooting through his entire body.

nextgen_misc:

The media watched the battle from the safety of Ellis Island while on Liberty Island the battle raged on.

cosmic_son:

Having found a pretty good mix of spoiling and privacy, and having a place to get both in abundance, Iason sends an invitation to Eliza to join him in Vegas for the holiday weekend - he can provide the flight, of course. Arrangements have already been made, and they shouldn't even need to leave the room if she doesn't want to.

borntolead:

As he did every year, whether he had a girlfriend or not, Charlie bought a little something for each of the Avenger girls for Valentine's Day. Nothing too big (he didn't want to deal with angry boyfriends, after all), just a singular rose and a small box of chocolates for each girl.

A smile on his face, Charlie made his way around Avenger's mansion to deliver each girl her gift.

next_avenger:

Living with three women, especially the women in his family, for over a year had taught James quite a few things about women and what they liked. Valentine's Day had come and James had to do something for Valeria. He did wish that Anya was around to ask for her advice, but he'd muddle through somehow.

He didn't have the Stark name to throw around to get into nice places, but he did know someone who could hook him up. A week ago he had wandered into Stark Inc and talked to Pepper. Pepper could make the arrangements James needed and also give him advice. James was not afraid to admit that he was clueless when it came to these types of things.

With Pepper's help, plans had been made and the day had finally arrived.

James put on a suit, bought flowers (daisies, not roses) and showed up at the Baxter Building.

aerosmithette:

Once again, Akilah was easily found with her nose in some information.  This time, however, she was sitting at a computer with various tabs open about Valentines Day.  She'd heard about the occassion from the rest of the Avengers she'd been listening to.  It was something she'd never been familiar with, but it interested her greatly.

ladydevil:

When she got back she peeled her uniform off in her room. Her body was bruised and she smelt like that place. So she sighed then took a long shower to wash the smell out of her hair and off her skin. She dried off and got dress in a pale floral dress she found hanging up then changed into something dark green that covered her up nicely while still leaving her feeling somewhat pretty. She got a dark vest and pulled that on then went in search of the boots and knee high socks that went with the outfit pretty well.

She gave up on getting dressed and flopped on her bed. Just mostly dressed and not in a great mood. She searches for her phone and starts to go through the list of names. She almost calls Jack needing to hear from family. She doesn't though. Misha is almost picked out instead but it isn't him either she turns to.

She calls Iason while dragging a tissue. She just needed to hear him right now.

The phone rings and she waits.

aerosmithette:

It was night, and the room was dark, save for the orbs of light hovering over the books sprawled about the room.  Akilah sat with one book in her lap, carefully reading through the pages and analyzing history, potions, and theorized spells.  Although white magic was her specialty, some books on darker magic were in the mix.  At that moment, she was reading about a spell that allowed one to absorb magical energies from another being.

"Although it generally requires physical contact, absorption can be performed at a distance through an arcane sensitive medium," she recited.  Then she paused.  "How would one go about countering this?"  And she delved further into her studies.

jackmurdock:

Breathing hard, Jack managed to land lightly on a rooftop and fall down in the shadow of a brick chimney. He’d pushed it with that last dive, but the exhilaration pushed him to take it. It was a high he was quickly becoming addicted to despite the danger of being out in the city at night dressed in gray-black and a mask over his face. Who did he think he was, Daredevil?

He waited to catch his breath before coming out of the shadows to look at the city from his vantage point.

weavingwizard:

He had really hoped his Dad would be around on his birthday. He hadn't mentioned he was turning twenty to anyone and had gone home earlier than usual. All he got was a pizza he ended up ordering and a beer he had ended up grabbing from the refrigerator.

He hadn't wanted to act out of sorts. It just sucked that his old man just really wasn't around much anymore. Other adventures and other people had become far more important than Daniel. He wasn't going to let it get him down. Except it did matter.

So here he was almost a week latter still not having breathed a word of how nuts it was really driving him. He was trying his hand at a new potion in the area he had set aside on the Hydro base for magical experiments. He was also pretty firmly trying to ignore and avoid everyone since his mood had boiled from mildly disappointed to a male variant of PMS because he still hadn't heard anything from his old man and it was starting to really bother him.

ng_independent:

The Empress was most pleased. Very pleased indeed. Things were going according to her plan. The recent fights had been entertaining and she had her champion. Now she could win the games here on her home world. Her champion would win no matter what and she now had more soldiers in her army. She was quite pleased indeed.

She was stretched out on her litter as four of her soldiers carried her to the area. It was the start of the games and by the end her champion would be victorious.

Everything was going according to plan.

borntolead:

Keeping true to his promise of a magical evening out on the town to make up for the incident in Las Vegas, Charlie made his way to Toni's room, a small bouquet of flowers in hand.

He's got reservations at nice Italian restaurant and tickets to Wicked. He's dressed in a nice button-down shirt and a pair of black slacks.

Grinning, Charlie knocked on Toni's door.

"Miss Rhodes? Your escort for the evening has arrived."

nextgen_misc:

Friends, family and loved ones are bound to notice the disappearance of some females.

aerosmithette:

There was somebody waiting to be let in.  She stood with her hands on her hips and one foot stepping out.  Akilah had come to join the Avengers, since she didn't feel like she had any reason to stay at home in Wakanda any longer.

ng_independent:

"I have made my selections!" Empress declared to her assembled "court". "ColLECT thEM!" she ordered.

"Of course your majesty," a guard said with a deep bow.

"I want them dressed and ready to FIGHT as soon as poSSible!" She wanted to find her champion as soon as possible. There were fights to win. Respect to be gained. Blood to be spilled! All of it was for her personal gain. She relished in the power her fighters gave her. "Now GO!"

The guard bowed again and hurried off to obey her Empress' wishes.

An hour later all of the selected girls were teleported up to the ship and the brainwashing process began.

As soon as possible they would be put into the arena and would fight for their Empress' pleasure.

anyastark:

Anya was spending the day being lazy. Which for her meant camped out on the couch with her laptop and some movies. She hadn't moved off the couch in quite awhile and she didn't intend to move any time soon. She had worked her ass off in the past month to finish up her Independent Study work a week early so she had a break before classes started. New York was home and she needed to be home for awhile.

Her new armor was waiting to be finished and there were new nightclubs to check out, but today she was just going to be lazy. Which meant kicking back and working on coding projects that she had been meaning to do when she got some free time. From Russia With Love was playing on the television, but she didn't pay it much attention. She really didn't need to. She had the thing memorized.

The penthouse was rather quiet for a Sunday. Mom was...somewhere in the penthouse. Anya would guess the gym, but she thought she recalled seeing Mom head into her bedroom. Dad was in the lab of course. Eliza had moved to New Orleans and Dork 2 was...she didn't know where James was. Not even a peep out of Prince Dork.

Her stomach rumbled and she briefly thought about moving to see if there were any leftovers in the fridge. That would require moving though. Maybe in a little bit. Or better yet, maybe a family member would wander by and get her something to eat. There was also takeout.

Later. Anya would eat later once she finished this part of code she was working on. Maybe she'd see if Steve was up for dinner.

borntolead:

The Quinjet has been landed and secured in a location where the Avengers can locate it easily.

And thanks to the internet, they're already at the first wedding chapel on Charlie's list, The Temple of Love. Quick 'n easy, while maintain some level of class at the same time. Perfect for Anya.

Inhaling, Charlie threw the doors open, the rest of the Avengers behind him.

"I OBJECT!"

Only to find that the couple currently in standing in front of Elvis exchanging vows aren't Anya and Steve.

borntolead:

About a half-hour after he had overhead Steve and Anya's conversation, the Avengers get a message from Charlie on their comms.

"We've got a situation, team. Steve and Anya's futures are at stake here. Drop whatever it is you're doing and meet me in the lobby. Now." And yes, when Charlie uses a stern tone of voice it means that he means BUSINESS.

They'll find Charlie waiting the lobby, tapping his foot impatiently, keys to one of the Quinjets in one hand...and a list of the most popular quick 'n speedy wedding chapels in Las Vegas in another.

sammyfury:

Sammy's birthday gift to herself was skipping her morning workout and spending the time in bed reading the Christmas gift from Iason, with a megamug of coffee nearby and pad of paper to make notes on. Her plans weren't any different from the previous birthdays. She would go to class later, then have an early dinner with whichever parent was free that night. It would be Mom since Dad was on the helicarrier. She'd already received Dad's note with instructions to buy herself something pretty on him. Funny Dad. Pretty was something matte black and a trigger that was juuuuuust right. With Qamar in Haiti, there was no reason to change the usual plans.

Still, it would have been nice to find a hovercar in the garage with a great big red bow.

anyastark:

Anya came out of the large walk-in closet carrying two dresses. She couldn't decide and she was running out of time. Their flight would be leave in about three hours and Anya didn't want to miss it. Flying commercial sucked, but they were at least going first class.

A weekend away with Steve. She had given him a weekend away for Christmas and now she was delivering on that gift. Coincidentally there was a concert in Vegas that Steve would be interested in going to. Aerosmith was playing one of their final concerts with Stephen Tyler as their front man and Anya couldn't let Steve miss this.

Vegas was close to LA and after the concert they could hop a flight to LA and attend the Golden Globes on Sunday night. It was a plan.

The door to her room opened and she smiled when she saw Steve.

"I know. I'm trying to finish packing, but I can't decide which dress to wear in Vegas."

butterflybullet:

Vernique was sneaking around the mansion today, flitting about at about 4 inches tall.

Her priority seemed to be investigating the kitchen. She looked around at everything almost as if she was cataloging it in her head. She even managed to open a few cabinets and sit on the edge of the door to look at the contents.

swashbuckler:

In the weeks following the battle to free the various women from the Deviants, Steve had seen almost no super-heroic action.  It was as though the world of crime had decided to take a bit of a holiday break.  He'd continued to take his regular doses of growth formula, just in case, but had only had one call to change size during that time.

Now, though, he entered the training room, ready for a giant-sized work out.  He concentrated, getting ready to push himself to his nominal fifteen feet fighting height.  He felt the usual tingle run through his body and then...  pain.  It started in his guys but quickly spread to the rest of his body, feeling like his every nerve was on fire.  He couldn't move, his muscles felt locked, couldn't even cry out in pain or cry out for help.

He saw the floor coming up to meet him (or was he coming down to meet it?  He couldn't tell) but could not do anything to stop it.  He hit the floor with a hard thud.