First you melt the chocolate -- dark, dark chocolate. Annamarie didn't have to jury-rig a pot and pan; The Academy had a double-boiler in the kitchen cabinet and everything. Fancy.
Then came the coffee grounds. Again, there was the good stuff. Seriously, Momma always said if everything on coffee packaging was written using the 26 Latin letters, you were doin' it wrong.
Little bit of vanilla, little bit of cinnamon. Flavor was important.


But the key then was cooling it, solidifying it. Because coffee, or cocoa, a lady sips. Shards of near-distilled solid caffeine goodness, you can just chow down like a little girl hiding under the covers.

And she was going to need it. Lots of it.

She didn't reflect on whether anyone would notice the smell.

Jane made her way through the crowded streets of New York. Snow was falling at a steady pace and the pedestrians were huddled in heavy coats, hats and scarves. Jane wore a light jacket. Even in the coldest of winter the cold never really bothered Jane. She loved the winter. Summers were a different story. The heat in a New York summer was unbearable.

Today was one of her days off and she had errands to run. The heavy snow kept some people inside, which made the sidewalks a little easier to navigate.

There was a loud crash and it was followed by a few more. A car collided with a truck in an intersection and then a few more cars hit them. The slippery roads made stopping difficult and drivers were not being as careful as they should.

People around her stopped and pulled out cell phones. Jane ran toward the accident. There were people in those cars that needed help.

Jane reached the first car involved in the accident and went to open the door. It was stuck. Jane pulled harder and the whole door came off. Had she not been so concerned about the people inside the car she would have noticed what she did.

tags: sif

Jane sat at the counter of the diner and wrapped her hands around the cup of coffee, letting the warmth sink into her hands. Arctic air had blown in from the north and sent the residents of New York inside seeking warmth. Jane didn't mind the cold as her fellow New Yorkers. The cold was invigorating and refreshing.

The sun was just coming up, but it wouldn't bring much warmth. Jane had already been up for hours after waking up from a rather vivid dream and headed to her favorite all-nite diner.

She had dreamed she was in Asgard and was a goddess of Asgard. Asgard had been attacked by Frost Giants and the battle had been fierce. Her arms were tired from swinging the sword and she had various injuries all over her body. There had been a few close calls with enemy weapons, but she had managed to stop them at the last second. She was tired, sweaty and sore, but had never felt so alive.

Then she woke up.

The dream wasn't surprising. They had just started the Norse mythology in her one class and Jane always had these dreams when she taught Norse mythology.

Jane sighed and took a sip of her coffee.

tags: sif

Occasionally, Matt truly did miss being able to see.  Though his enhanced senses had compensated him for the loss of his sight in many ways, there were things that they simply could not replace.  The inability to check his appearance in a mirror being one of them.  He'd gotten quite good at coordinating his clothing, and he kept his hair simple enough so as not to worry, but he was allowed some measure of self-consciousness.

When he'd told Karen and Foggy about his encounter with the Russian woman at the coffee house, Foggy had not been surprised at all, chalking it up to the Murdock luck he'd come to recognize.  Karen, though, Karen had seemed rather jealous...


But Matt decidedly wanted to know more about this woman.  Something about her... was rather curious.  Perhaps just his imagination, but after the crazy days he'd had lately, it was probably worth following up on.

And if it wasn't, then he got a nice dinner and a nice evening out of it.  Fair enough trade.

tags: matt murdock, natasha romanova

She'd purposely come to talk to the Prydes about her school when the girl wasn't home. It wasn't too hard a sell, even without some telepathic suggestions and manipulation. She didn't need to convince the parents, not really, telepathy took care of that, but the point of it was that if the girl's parents were for it then she'd be more likely to come. So after a nice talk with the couple who'd expressed enthusiasm at the prospect of their daughter attending an exclusive boarding school because of her incredible potential (oh how little they knew), they agreed about letting the girl attend, but after of course they talked to her about it and she got to meet and chat with the headmistress herself. 

Emma agreed of course, and showed up a few days later again at their door to officially meet her next student. This girl's abilities could be useful, something more physical for the team. Not to mention there was every indication that this girl was quite smart, something Emma was always glad to have.

tags: emma frost

New York City was always bustling with people and traffic.  It was one of the busiest cities in the world and one of the largest.  Money flowed in and out of the city quicker than the rivers that bordered Manhattan.  It was the perfect target for a terrorist organization known as HYDRA.  It was the middle of the day when green and yellow hooded individuals poured out of semis near the United Nations building.  That was not their real target.  While they were attacking the UN, more were in the financial district and setting off explosions near the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.  The gold being housed there was worth billions.

tags: ant-man/giant man, matt murdock, sif, spider-woman-drew, the thing, wolverine

Late night on the firing range. Valentina was letting off steam by testing a new target. It looked suspiciously like the new director. As she had yet to met the man face to face, any similarity would be called a coincidence with her last breath.

tags: nick fury, valentina fontaine

 Heading out of the bar's doors, Clint pocketed his night's winnings with a whistle and lost the drunken slouch he had had not five minutes ago. There was either groceries or rent for another few days, easy money. Sticking his hands in his pockets, he spun on his heel to head home for the night. It was a quiet walk, most nights, and he didn't usually worry much about being bothered the half dozen blocks between bar and home. He wasn't stupid, however, he did keep both ears open as he threaded through the shadowy streets. 

tags: clint barton, matt murdock

 Kurt had been amazed by the elegance of Emma's charter plane (though the portions were tiny and he never really saw the appeal of vegetables) but that was nothing compared to her 'schoolgrounds'. It made him wonder how Emma could afford all of this without seeming to worry about any of it, and what her money was in. He could think of wild adventures and plots involving oil baronies or technology geniuses, stocks that tripled with a magic word. With her abilities, he may not be too far off. 

He crept through the hallways to explore the rooms, listening for the sounds of people before proceeding. Sometimes, he had to crawl across the ceiling to avoid the help (Miss Frost might have instructed them otherwise, but he didn't really want to talk some poor startled person down from calling the local priest), but it became a game of sneaking around as quietly as possible. He covered most of the bottom floor without being seen before his traitorous stomach nearly gave him away. Glowering at his torso, he remembered there was  the kitchen a few doors further down...

tags: kurt wagner

It was extremely rare for Janet to be in a bar. A lounge, reasonably often. A restaurant, frequently. But a bar, very rare.
But something she wanted -- very much wanted, after being publicly humiliated -- was here, so she was here. Now, if she could get something else she wanted.

"What do you think," she said as she stepped behind the security professional. "Would it be a mistake to order a pineapple martini here?"

tags: spider-woman-drew, wasp

The line to see her favorite author and get his newest book signed was incredibly long, but Jane Foster wasn't about to give up. Calling her stubborn was like calling water wet. Jane would get to meet him and would get her copy of his book signed. She just wished that the line would actually move a little.

tags: daredevil, sif

Jake Lockley drove away from the Brooklyn diner he had just found in his cab with the light turned off showing he was not working. The food their was pretty good and he liked the woman who owned it. All and all this new gig seemed to be working out pretty good to him. It definitely gave him greater job satisfaction than his old gig. Plus this cab work he was now doing would give him much better access to the lower levels of society that would be very good for him mission.

The drive back to long island and Steven Grant's estate was a little gone but at this time of night the roads weren't too busy. Jake pulled up to the rear entrance to the estate and parked that cab in one of the garages to let Steven deal with later. Jake turned off the cab's radio and Steven Grant got out of the cab changing out of the cabbie's clothes as he made his way to the mansion.

As he walked into the mansion Marlene ran over to him giving him a kiss as she put her arms around him. "Steven it's good to have you back," She says smiling up at him.

"I had to start working on the new business," Steven says as he kissed her back, "I trust that the market hasn't completely fallen apart while I've been gone."

"No. You're still doing well there," Marlene says, "Though Frenchie wants to talk to you about how your little project upstairs is going."

"Thanks darling," Steven says, "I'll be up to check on him in a little bit before we have to go to that charity function."

"Yes," Marlene says letting go of him, "And I suppose I could help you clean up before we head out." She grins coyly at him.

"That sounds like a splendid idea," Steve says with a grin as he started heading out stairs.

Marc enters the secret room upstairs where Frenchie was working on his little project. "It looks beautiful Frenchie," Marc says looking at the Mooncopter he was working on.

"Oui. Marc. Elle est magnifique," Frenchie says looking up from his work. "I still don't get why you need it to look like la lune."

"It's a symbol, Frenchie," Marc says looking at the copter, "It's a symbol."

tags: moon knight

Natalia Romanova had been given orders to report to the gym. She would be meeting her new instructor for hand to hand combat training. Never in a million years had she thought she would be here training to be a warrior for Mother Russia. Her husband, her heart still ached from the loss of Alexi, had died serving his country and she would honor his memory by serving as well.

"Hello?" she said as she looked around. She didn't see anyone. Did she have the right place?

tags: natasha romanova, winter soldier

Monday mornings were the worst. Natasha always stayed up too late on Sunday nights and come Monday morning she was always dragging. Nothing helped her more than that first cup of coffee. The best coffee in the city was at a small local coffee shop in Hell's Kitchen just around the corner from her apartment. Natasha could live in a penthouse, her Russian handlers would have provided her one, but an office assistant would not make enough to afford a penthouse. She had to live within the means her cover would be making.

Natasha gave her usual order to the barista and walked over to the counter where it would be served. She heard her name called, grabbed the cup and turned around to go.

tags: black widow, daredevil

 Getting around these days just plain sucked. Sure traveling in new York had never been easy, or particularly pleasant, but now that he was a giant rock-man? The fun just kept on leaving.  This thought crossed his mind when another taxi passed him.

"Oh c'mon, ya bum! I got cash right here in my hand! You're honestly telling me I'm the strangest fair you've picked up!? Okay, come to think of it he probably was.  Ben just mumbled while a couple gawked at him as they passed by. "What? You never seen a blue-eyed thing before? It's New York, you see 'em every day!" 

Finally as Ben was starting to get more than a little perturbed, a bus of all things stops for him.  Ben gratefully gets on, giving the driver a tip. "Thanks, mac. Drop me off at the Garden, would you?" The driver nodded as Ben went to the back where the longest seats were kept.

tags: daredevil, the thing

 Even in his "disguise", Ben knew he stood out like a sore thumb. Still, stares were better than people metaphorically getting their pitchforks out. He'd gotten a call from Reed, called back just long enough to let the other man know he got the call, asked about the cure's progress, not happy with the answer, and then hung up. Ben needed booze, and plenty of it. 

He went to one of his usual watering holes from his pre-Thing days. When he walked in he nearly caused a near-parody of one those events in the movies where everybody immediately stops what they're doing and stares at you.Ben decided he didn't like being the recipient of such attention. 

"Take a photo ya mugs! I ain't stayin' here all night!" He grumbles, making his way over to the bar. He eyed the stool dubiously before grabbing another one to put beside it, before climbing up gingerly. "Give me two of the strongest thing ya got, and keep 'em coming."

"Um, sure thing pal."

tags: nick fury, the thing

 Kurt grabbed the wide broom with his hands and the dustpan with his tail, tackling the leftover food and cups where the dazzled audience left them on the ground and next the seats. Piotr and Svetlana were already handling the next section, bickering like it was the only way to get air in their lungs. Kurt chuckled and collected the candies and popcorn into small hills, scooping them up to dump in the compost bins with a happy hum. He had been allowed to do a spinning and tumbling fall into a solid 'mirror', flashing lights and gunpowder disguising a well-timed bamf to have him appear on the other side of the looking glass, completely unharmed. He had enjoyed the stunned gasps and cheers and paused in his clean up to bask in the echoing cheers. During his reverie, however, he could hear the stomping and grunting of ringmaster Getmann and Kurt frantically weighed out hiding or not. 

He would certainly not be happy about Kurt using his tail in his chores, that was certain. Once Herr said his tail was lewd and indecent and Kurt couldn't understand for the life of him what that meant. It was a tail! It took Misha the Bearded Lady explained in laughing terms for him to understand and he couldn't look at his own tail for weeks after without blushing. Which the other ladies found out about and kept giggling at him. But as for now, if Getmann found Kurt shirking his chores, he'd be livid, so hiding wouldn't work. Kurt decided to drop the pan and sweep like Piotr was, determined to not be seen as lazy. However, the ringmaster stormed off in another direction, not coming into the tent, and Kurt sighed in relief. What had gotten into him to be so cross after closing, Kurt wondered.  

tags: emma frost, kurt wagner

 "JAKE!" The barista hollered over the rush hour noise of coffee-craving professional types and college students. Clint checked his watch out of habit, sidestepping someone with a candy-iced thing and the newspaper too blind to see him.  Finally he heard the name he gave for coffee amongst others and headed forward. Grabbing one of the drinks with a 'N- something' name that looked like close enough, he turned and took a sip as he headed for the creamer.

Then stopped and eyed the coffee through the lid suspiciously, convincing his mouth to not spit the sip back into the cup. Crude oil, with two shots of battery acid. "Hey this isn't-" he said as he turned back and jerked the cup out of the way, coming up short of the woman he nearly walked into. 

tags: clint barton, natasha romanova

Even at high noon, or nearly that, the interior of the bar was shadowed. It wasn't open for the day yet, but that didn't matter. Stoney didn't care if an old friend showed up to sit in a corner, drink and smoke in peace. It was one of the few places Logan knew he could find peace and quiet in New York. He was even thinking of buying into it, just so he could get himself a key to the back door. Quiet-like, silent partner in a place old soldiers could drink without getting hassled. Yeah, he could put money behind that, no questions asked. Maybe there was an apartment upstairs.

He blew a plume of smoke into the thick dark air and cussed again at the wait.

Logan hated waiting. He'd gotten a message to be in New York, but it had been a week and he was tired of the noise smells of the city. Christ, people crowded in together were worse than animals. Put them in boxes with all that concrete and asphalt around, it was bad on his senses.

At least he blended in without a problem. Nobody paid any attention to him as he went from bar to bar, picking up information, meeting contacts, finishing the odd fight. The fleabag hotel he was in only cared if he was paid up. Yeah, it was time to find some place permanent to stay in the city when he had to be here for work. Fleabags tended to have real fleas. He wasn't the animal they thought he was. He liked his bed clean and bug-free.

Which reminded him of why he was here to begin with. Fury was going to pay extra for the inconvenience.

mood: cranky tags: nick fury, wolverine

Ant-Man cracks Egghead's Scheme!

Ant-Man Silences the Voice!

Living Eraser Rubbed Out by Ant-Man!

Ant-Man Defeats Porcupine!

Who is the Ant-Man?

Carefully, Hank Pym pinned the headlines up in his private laboratory.  A little ego never hurt anyone, after all, and he had much to be proud of.

It was crazy.  He should have died in that anthill.  What had he been thinking, testing his shrinking formula on himself?  But it had also been... a thrill.  And the power of those ants!  It had inspired him to create the helmet he used as Ant-Man, which opened his mind to a secret world few could even dream of.

And now, Hank Pym, scientist, plied his skills as the Ant-Man,.  It was crazy.  It was insane.  It was something no respectable scientist in his right mind would be doing.

It was a hell of a lot of fun.

He'd show them.  He'd show everyone.  That just because you were small... didn't mean you couldn't be big.

tags: ant-man/giant man

She still took a plane between coasts. Dad would probably have handled his commuting with that... thing in the lab, but she wasn't sure she was comfortable with that yet. Scientists might want to teleport, and maybe if she could expand it cost-effectively it might have eventual implications for Nevell's shipping interests, but jet-setters used jets.

She'd put a lot of work into today's show in California, wearing one of the line's prime examples herself. It was all going over well

...Until the woman in the Halloween costume with the thick Romanian accent showed up. Without lifting a finger, she took the clothes. Right off the models. And Janet.

She wasn't even able to go after that witch, as she ended up tied up in material of her fabulous lace-up sandals.

Janet had no idea what had just happened, but she was publically humiliated, and there would be a reckoning for this.

tags: wasp

She's still not sure why she left SHIELD.

Ok, she was. They were going to have her behind a desk for months. And being behind a desk was not going to do a thing to lessen the crap she was going to have to put up with and listen to while playing government bureaucrat. All her time of service, and now she was practically starting over.

She'd been a good agent. One of their best field agents. Which is why she'd been selected to look into the emergence, or maybe re-emergence of this HYDRA thing. Bunch of idiots claiming a legacy from something in the 40's, during WWII. It had been going well - until someone had botched. She's pretty sure it wasn't her. Her cover was solid. Either someone else on the mission slipped up, intel made a mistake or... something. She'd been used as a guinea pig. Something about radiation treatments and venom. Whatever had happened, she was different when it was over. More powerful. Enough to escape, and then to return to SHIELD.

And despite suddenly having a powered operative, they didn't trust it. They wanted to run tests. To ground her - indefinitely. Sure, she'd still draw a paycheck, but not for anything like she'd been trained for. Not for what she'd signed on for. Rumor had it there was a new director moving in soon - but she wasn't going to hold her breath on anything changing.

She had her P.I. license. She had her gun license. Getting her private security clearance wasn't hard. Moving her things to California also wasn't hard. It wasn't til she left SHIELD that she realized how few things she actually owned. Half her wardrobe was uniforms. Half of what was left were various things she'd been given for undercover work, with armorweave, hidden pockets, and so on. Those had to go back too. If it hadn't been for having to pack the cat's things, and the cat, her life would have fit in two suitcases. Kind of sad... but it sure made moving cross country easier.

She'd been there not three days when she got her first hire. Apparently no one else was taking jobs for a particular client, following a host of injuries to their security. Turned out, the thieves had been these two freaks in masks that talked in grisly little nursery rhymes, calling themselves the Brothers Grimm. They rode on what had looked like clouds, and flung... magic beans at her. Yeah, she hadn't been able to believe it herself. Especially when they sprouted into thorn vines all around. After that, it got weirder. She'd run them off, but everything hurt after that fight. And in trying to find them... well, it seemed they had friends.

New city, new approach. While she'd gotten some good publicity in security circles for her success, she wasn't making any progress in tracking down the Brothers. So she'd taken to working a second job. She'd heard about some costumed odd-jobs back east, and it seemed that now the west coast was sprouting costumed villains who walked on clouds.... she might as well join the party.

Jessica fashioned herself an outfit, and, searching for a name that fit, she decided the whole super strength plus crawling on walls thing was as good a deciding schtick as any - so at least til this case bore fruit, she'd work her day job as Jessica Drew, while Spider-Woman handled the investigation side come nightfall.

Didn't leave much time for anything else, but that's ok. Not like she has much of a life.

tags: spider-woman-drew

Jane Foster wiped the sweat off of her face with a towel and then tossed the towel on the bench in the women's locker room. She had worked up quite a sweat tonight during her self defense class at the local YMCA. The women's self defense class was one of the more popular classes at the Y and Jane was teaching it three nights a week. Even with so many classes there was still a waiting list to get in. Jane had offered to teach it five nights a week, but the directors had limited it to three nights a week.

Which wasn't a bad thing. She needed some time to grade the papers from her mythology classes she taught during the day at Empire State University. She loved the mythologies of the world, but her favorites were the mythologies of the Norse. For some reason she found it the easiest to understand and learn.

She grabbed her duffel bag and headed out of the locker room. It was time to go home and work on grading some papers.

tags: sif

Natalie Roman shut her computer off and gathered her handbag. Another day of working at Stark Industries was done and it was time to go home. The nine to five office job wasn't bad or hard. She could do this job in her sleep if she had to and it was a perfect cover. No one took real notice of an executive assistant except of the person she worked for and it gave her access to things at Stark Inc that were invaluable. Information was easy to get and easy to save on flash drives to take with her at the end of the day. It also allowed her to learn the layouts of the various Stark Inc buildings and factories which would help her with her other job. Stealing information was valuable, but stealing prototypes was even more valuable.

Natalie made her way out of the building and caught the train that would take her across town to her small apartment. She order out for a quick dinner and then it was time to do her real job.

A few hours later after night had settled over the city the Black Widow was breaking into a Stark Inc factory in New Jersey.

tags: black widow

High up above the city, Matt Murdock took a deep breath and listened.

To the sounds of hundreds of cars and the subtle differences in their engines.  To the sounds of countless little snippets of conversation, and the millions of little mechanical sounds of everything from ceiling fans creaking in un-air-conditions apartments to the ever so subtle hum of power lines that lay beyond human hearing.  Barking dogs and police sirens and, yes, a helicopter making an emergency landing at Manhattan general.

He inhaled again and took in the smells of his city.  Of exhaust fumes and rotting garbage and countless different pizzas, all claiming to be the original Ray's.

And then he saw the city in the way that only he could, playing out over every nook and cranny as far as his radar sense would go.  The way it looked only to him, a sharp beat of outlines wired directly into his brain.

Less than a week since he had used his law degree to find a loophole in the promise he had made to his father.  Less than a week since Daredevil had battled the Fixer and the criminal had run right into the path of a speeding subway car.  He'd have liked to thing his father was resting easier, but he knew, in his heart of hearts, that Jack Murdock would not have approved of his son choosing the path of violence like this.

But the Fixer had only been the tip of the iceberg.  There were rumors floating everywhere that, in one way or another, every major criminal, whether they ran numbers or drugs or protection or weapons, worked for a mysterious Kingpin, a spider at the web of every major criminal enterprise in the city and many minor ones besides.  It was foolhardy and unbelievable.  But if it was true, and he possessed the power to help bring this man... or woman... down, then he had to do everything in his power to make that happen.

And, though he would never admit this, he had liked being Daredevil.  After spending so much of his life bottling up his aggression, his anger, his physicality, it had been a release.  He had hidden so much of himself, even more so since the accident that had robbed him of his sight had also left him with greatly enhanced senses, that to be free of all those limitations, of having to be the meek blind man, it had felt amazing.

It had been like finding himself for the first time in years.

He chuckled to himself.  "Guess it really is true what they say: justice is blind."

And whether as Matt Murdock or Daredevil... he would be justice for those who had none.

tags: daredevil

 My name is Ben Grimm, and once upon a time..I was human. I grew up on Yancy Street, used to run with the gang there, but I straightened myself out, went to school. Shacked up with a guy I had little in common with at first glance, but a man I'd come to see as my best friend. The man who changed my life..Reed Richards. I'd always loved flying, so being in the Air Force had been a dream job. Got into more than my fair share of scrapes in the process, both in the air and on the ground. So when Reed told me his dream about going off into space, I jokingly told him if he could do it I'd pilot it.

Sometimes I think irony loves me a little too damn much.

Low and behold Reed actually pulls it off and I find myself keeping the promise I hadn't even thought through. Added to the mix is Susan Storm and her kid brother, Johnny. Sue's a sweetheart, smart, and not bad looking at all, but her brother's a pain in the ass goofball. Not sure how they convinced Reed to let them on, but they did. So the big day came and for awhile it looked like things we're going to work out fine, but like I said, irony just loves good ol' Benjie. We ended up in what reed called a "cosmic storm" or some thing like that, and I had to go out and play moonwalker to fix something on the ship. I did it, but we all ended up getting hit with those rays of cosmic energy. I got back inside, but I could feel something changing me, but I had little time to dwell on it as our ship was taking a swandive back to Earth. I mananged to right it enough to save our lives, but we still crashed.

At first I thought we were all lucky to be alive, but then everything changed. Turns out those rays gave us all superpowers. Reed could now stretch, Susan could turn invisible, and Johnny could light himself on fire. But me? I wasn't quite so lucky. I got turned unto a giant, rocklike..thing. I ran from the others, angry, sad, and a host of other stuff I can't begin to describe. I went to my girl's place, hoping she'd understand and offer something in the way of comfort, but she was terrified of me. In stupid anger I went on a bit of a rant through town until Reed and the others calmed me down. Reed promised he'd find a way to cure me. He then started talking about forming some kind of super-team, but I was in no mood to listen to any of that. I just walked off, telling Reed I'd be in touch. 

Thing. That's what people in the streets called me. Guess that's what I am now. The Thing.

tags: the thing

Annamarie lived with her adopted mothers in Caldecott, Mississippi. It was a good life. They loved her, she learned a lot, and she didn't have to talk much about what happened the day her powers manifested.

And then, after one particularly happy week for the family, there were gunshots. Annamarie'd gone for her shotgun, especially since they'd started not long after Momma'd left the house, but her Other Mother had called her into a particular room and made her promise to stay calm. Then she'd stepped out. A few minutes later, she'd walked back in very, very slowly, reminded Annamarie to stay calm... and grabbed her face, kissing her forehead.

And continuing until she died.

And then everything changed.

tags: rogue