flieswithfire:

The incursion into the Weapon X facility had resulted in the liberation of its inhabitants - one of them being Evie. During the chaos, she'd managed to slip through the building to a door... a door to the outside. The collar inhibiting her abilities was removed, broken into tiny shards, and Evie was free to use her powers as she wanted. Finally. Fear, panic and the need to flee had her lifting off the ground and flying as fast as she could away from the building. She didn't have any direction in mind, hell, she didn't even know where she was, but she wanted to be away. Far, far away.

( Fly away, Firefly )

nextgen_holiday:

Christmas. Yule. Saturnalia. Dies Natalis Solis Invicti. Many cultures have celebrated and still celebrate a winter festival. There have been many names for it over the millennia. No matter the name it is a time to come together and celebrate with feasts and gifts with friends and loved ones.

Each culture has a legendary figure who would deliver gifts to children during this time. In Russia and some Slavic cultures he is known as Ded Moroz, Grandfather Frost, and comes not on Christmas but on New Year’s along with his granddaughter Snegurochka, or ‘”Snow Maiden”. In the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe he is known as Father Christmas. In the Netherlands and Belgium he is known as Saint Nicholas or “Sinterklaas” and in France he is known as Père Noël. In the United States we know him as Santa Claus.

No matter the name or who is delivering gifts, it is the season of peace, joy and togetherness. It is the season for thinking about loved ones, friends and those less fortunate. It is a time to witness the goodness and generosity the human race is capable of. It is a time for peace on Earth and goodwill toward man.

anyastark:

For a lot of people the day after Thanksgiving meant hitting the stores and getting great deals on items that would most likely be Christmas presents. For the female Avengers and others the day after Thanksgiving meant a different tradition. They would gather and rate the hunkiness of the male members of the various teams.

Anya had sent out invitations to the females on the other teams well in advanced and made arrangements for food and refreshments.

Once the day arrived she and the Thunderbolts traveled down to New York and gathered at the Avengers Mansion. Anya readied the slide show and waited for everyone to assemble.

quitethecharmer:

Vincent supposed he had nothing to lose except maybe a few hours of his time, and it was for a good cause in any event. So, he had bought a number of tickets to an Unlimited Wrestling Federation charity event that Grimm was emceeing, and sent out invitations to his only notable male friends, Halbjorn and MacKenzie. He encouraged them to invite anyone else they liked, and he would most likely accommodate them.

third_reich:

It was a normal summer day in New York City. The thermometer was at 80, the sun was out and there was relatively no humidity. It was a perfect summer day.

A bright light appeared in the middle of Central Park and started to grow. It expanded rapidly and grew to the size of a two story house. The tear in space in time was still for a moment and then things began to emerge from it. A giant robot walked through with guns ready. A moment later a second robot emerged, this one looked like a giant flying manta ray. It was followed by another that looked like a giant flying head.

The three robots were followed by a division of soldiers, each armed with automatic rifles and wearing uniforms with swastikas. They marched out of the portal and split in half. One group went east and the rest went west. Following the soldiers came a few other individuals. The Red Skull, Masterman, Warrior Woman, Iron Cross, and U-Man came out of the portal.

"Attack!" the Red Skull shouted. "Destroy the city!"

nextgen_adult:

After Jennifer Kale had confirmed that Vincent's experiment was not the cause of the unusual situation, they'd moved on to the Sorcerer Supreme. After a cursory examination of Vincent and the magical imprint left upon him, Strange seemed oddly amused by the turn of events, considering it's rather benign tone overall.

"This cannot be allowed to stand indefinitely, however. I should be able to perform a spell of soul-mending, which should rectify the problem. We'll need the true cause of this, however..." He steps away from his fellow mages, and Kristoff, and conjures a portal.

"Quinn. Come here now. I have some questions for you." When an individual could raise as much trouble as that one could, it behooved Strange to keep a feeler out as to his location.

fleetfootmac:

Trying not to worry too much about everything going on, Mac came by the FF's headquarters with a nice little potted sundew plant.

quitethecharmer:

Vincent knocked at the door to Andrea's room. Hopefully this conversation wouldn't be something he'd come to regret.

"Andrea? It's Vincent. I need to talk to you, if you have some time."

nextgen_parent:

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first annual Maria Stark Foundation Charity Auction. I'm Alison Blaire and your host for tonight's festivities. Prepare yourselves for a night of fun to help a worthy cause. In just a few minutes many very handsome men will be brought out one by one for your chance to win a date with one of them.

Before we begin I would like to bring out Her Imperial Highness Anya Stark. Miss Stark helped arranged tonight's event and will give you a little more information on the charity organization tonight's proceeds will help."

Anya walked out on stage and smiled. "Thank you, Ms. Blaire. All of the proceeds from tonight's event will go directly to Doctors Without Borders or Médecins Sans Frontières. This organization was created in 1971 in France to benefit the citizens of the world. The organization is committed to bringing quality medical care to people caught in crisis regardless of race, religion, or political affiliation all across the globe. MSF operates independently of any political, military, or religious agendas.

I'm happy to announce on behalf of the Maria Stark Foundation, that all money collected here tonight will be matched dollar for dollar by the Maria Stark Foundation."

"Thank you Miss Stark and that is a very generous offer by the Maria Stark Foundation. Now it's time to begin. So open those wallets and let's bring out our first man." Anya left the stage and went to take her seat.

"First we have the son of Captain America Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff. James Romanov-Rogers is currently an Avenger and has recently moved to Seattle to lead the West Coast Avengers."

"Let's start the bidding at a hundred dollars."

awesome_andrea:

The Andreas had discussed it and decided that it was only logical (that had been the android) and right (that had been the human) that they make Mac aware of the situation currently going on.  So the human Andrea had called him up and asked him to come over, saying that she had news.

The two could be found waiting in the lounge of the FF's living quarters.

The android was not worried, of course.  Because she had no capacity to feel worried.  But the human was very worried.  She was feeling very small and vulnerable and alone.

nextgen_misc:

It started as a large blast of magical energy in London, but it quickly spread outward. It started slowly, but it quickly gained speed and eventually it would travel over the whole planet.

fleetfootmac:

"So, I hope you're okay with a history flick? I know there's a lot more normal stuff out, but this one's about Edward VIII's brother, and I've got a ...Thing about Edward the VIII." Pause. "Not a Thing as in a man-crush, the guy was a freaking moron, but ... it's complicated, I guess." Sheepish Mac is sheepish.

fleetfootmac:

He'd found one -- an all-ages karaoke bar. A night out for him, Andrea, Kassi, and Ben. No mention of the trouble at home for now.

"A root beer, please -- Abita, if you've got it -- and the lady will have a Cherry Coke."

nextgen_holiday:

There's a piece of paper and a pen attached to a bulletin board. Across the top is written:

New Year's Resolutions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
+

Anonymous entries accepted.

nextgen_holiday:

“We’re here outside the Four Seasons Hotel in New York where the who’s who is gathered tonight. Celebrities, royals and superheroes have all turned out for the annual Maria Stark Foundation Winter Charity event benefiting Toys for Tots.

It’s truly an all-star gala here tonight.

New York’s own princess, Anya Stark, was seen being escorted by what appears to be her new flame, actor Austin Cain. Her brother and currently second in line to the Russian throne, Mikhail Romanov, was seen entering the party with Lyta Worthington, heiress to Worthington Industries. Tony and Natasha Stark, parents of a new baby, are making their first public appearance since the birth of their son.

Mackenzie Rider, a prince of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis, is escorting Ms. Andrea Denker of the Fantastic Four tonight. Kristoff Vernard, leader of the Fantastic Four, was seen in attendance with his wife Cassandra and their son Scotty. Vincent Amorason, heir to Latveria, arrived alongside his brother and was seen escorting a member of the Defenders, Asleif Thorsdottir. The rest of the Fantastic Four are here too with their dates, though Miss Valeria Richards is not in attendance. Franklin Richards is in attendance and is escorting one Miss Gill.

Los Angeles’ own superhero team, the Defenders are in attendance as well. Arriving with her team is Grace Danvers, daughter of Hollywood hunk Simon Williams and she is being escorted by teammate, Eiltin. The two Asgardian princesses and daughters of Thor, Asleif and Aridis, are also attending the festivities with their team.
Akilah Munore, the crown princess of Wakanda, is here tonight with her steady flame, Daniel Sherwood a member of the Young Avengers. The other Young Avengers are in attendance tonight with their dates, alongside the adult Avengers.

Donald Trump arrived with his wife and is one of many other famous faces to arrive. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Hugh Jackman, Jack Nicholson, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift are just a few celebrities who have made an appearance here tonight.

It’s truly a party of the who’s who and it’s all for a great cause.”

quitethecharmer:

Well, the annual rating event had revealed a bit more than Vincent had been expecting, but he was still resolved to get through his list. Even concerning MacKenzie. Especially concerning MacKenzie, given the nature of the item.

He picked up the phone and dialed.

fleetfootmac:

Mac showed up, wearing clean and decent but not fancy clothes, to pick up Andrea for their second date. It was hard not to smile at Roberta the receptionist like some kind of idiot.

fleetfootmac:

MacKenzie Rider was still in a cheerful daze from the date last night.
Right after breakfast on Wednesday, he called Andrea.

anyastark:

Anya didn't have many traditions in her family, unless you counted being a bastard as one of them. The Avengers however did have a few time honored traditions that must be kept going. Sure saving the world from alien invasions, beating up the world level threats and other heroic things were some of those traditions, but not everything could be about beating up the bad guys. One such non-heroic thing was Rate the Hunk.

Each year the female Avengers got together and rated their fellow male Avengers. The new generation had eagerly picked up and kept this tradition going. However, they had expanded it a bit.

The day after Thanksgiving was a perfect day to avoid shopping crowds, take over the rec room, banish the males and look at pictures of them. Anya had run it last year and she took it upon herself to do it again this year. Invitations went out to fellow female heroes. Avengers, X-Women, Defenders, Champions and Thunderbolts all got invitations to come to New York to Rate the Hunk.

Food, drink and snacks were laid in. Signs were put up on the doors and electronic surveillance was set up to see if males dared to interrupt.

Anya settled in on one of the couches and queued up the stash of photos she had collected in the past year.

fleetfootmac:

Kassi had helped Mac decide on a nice shirt, button deep blue, with nice dark jeans.

He showed up a few minutes early at the Baxter Building with their tickets and a small pot of Butterfly Ginger. He told the lady at the desk he was here to pick up Andrea.

quitethecharmer:

It was looking to be a rather busy week for Vincent. Aside from what he had to do, there were certain things he simply felt he should do, and at least one he was looking forward to.

fleetfootmac:

He wanted a job. A regular sort of job, that you could work hard at but not have to worry about much. Delivery for the plant store was perfect. Running around making sure people got what they paid for in a timely fashion. Flexible hours wouldn't interfere with helping out the Avengers or walking Kassi to and from school, and he was pretty damn qualified for getting things places fast, if he did say so himself.

Well, what do you know. Second day on the job, and he already had a really interesting one. Three Venus flytraps to Andrea Denker at the Baxter Building of all places. Not bothering to hide his ankles since he wasn't escorting Kassi, he made his way quickly there, rang the buzzer, and told the lady at the desk whom he needed to see about signing.

discardedheir:

Kristoff got Vincent and Andrea together privately within the castle.

"Vincent and I have obtained invitations to the meeting in Symkaria," he says. "Raising the likelihood that this is a trap from 'very likely' to 'extremely likely'."

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:

Staggered and vague reports are coming that Dr. Doom has now followed his unprovoked aggression against neighboring Symkaria with attacks against Atlantis and Wakanda. As both of these nations are insular and isolated, these reports have been difficult to confirm, and no public announcements have been made by any of the governments involved.  There are even rumors that the respective kings of Atlantis and Wakanda are missing in action.

Even though all the reported victims so far have been isolated or marginalized nations, the U.N. and various governments around the world are reported to be in an uproar trying to decide what action to take.

nextgen_media:

"Reports are coming in from Symkaria that both major cities are under siege by what are unmistakeably Doombots and other Latverian military automata.

After decades of only occasionally mildly disturbed peace, Latveria has apparently finally invaded its southern neighbor.  Victor Von Doom's motivation for this attack remains unknown; he has made no public statement."

awesome_andrea:

Andrea was currently in the lounge of the living quarters portion of the Baxter Building, a laptop open on the table in front of her, and books alongside that.  Of course, she already had the contents of those books scanned into her memory, but the more human aspects of her programming matrix insisted upon also having the physical articles in front of her.

Her eyes were fluttering in their sockets, and the computer was humming along, text appearing on the screen with speed far faster than any person could type.

Only her second week of school and she was already working on papers.  Granted, her class schedule was somewhat larger than that of other students.  Without the need for sleep or food that other students possessed, she was able to take an enlarged class schedule, across better hours.

quitethecharmer:

In his admittedly short life, Vincent had faced all sorts of things beyond normal comprehension, of the arcane, the extra-dimensional, the chronologically displaced, or extra-terrestrial. Right now, he would rather be dealing with any of those.

He took a breath and went out on stage to the podium with his best show smile in place, waving to the crowd of college freshmen and their parents.

"Ladies and gentlemen, of the entering class of 2014, my name is Vincent Richardsson, probably better known until now as Vincent Amorason. The dean of your university has invited me today as part of your orientation ceremonies to address you. Me, someone only the same age as most of you and not even in college myself yet." He shrugs, letting the crowd have a brief chuckle with him. "I am here today to tell you one simple and disheartening fact.

Most of the world is dead." Vincent paused to let some of the shock ripple over the crowd.

"I'm not going to bore you with details about orbital deceleration or genetic stagnation or the greenhouse effect, no. When I say 'the world', I mean the world all the peoples on this planet have made it to be. Society.

How long does the discovery of a new species, or a new medication, or solar system, stay in the news? If it ever makes the mainstream news to begin with. Conversely, how long do we need to hear about the infidelities of some athlete or politician?

The edges of the map may have been filled in, but we should not let ourselves grow satisfied with that. There are other planets to map, and worlds beneath the surface of our own that we have barely charted.

Do not let the spirit of exploration, of discovery, die in your generation. Do not settle for some line of study simply because you feel it is profitable or what your parents want; but don't take your family for granted. You never know when anyone you treasure might be lost to you, even if they're still alive and well.

Cultivate your friendships. You have more to discover about the people you've known all your life than you can even yet imagine.

Respect your teachers, even if you don't like them. Respect them more if they challenge you. Question what you learn, but only when you're prepared to do the work to find your own answers or confirm the ones you've been given.

Find your own ideals and goals, and realize them. If nothing else, realize that the world is waiting to be made a better place, and you can expect no-one to do it but yourselves. Thank you."

He doesn't wait for any applause. He simply vanishes, with less light and noise than is typical for him.

nextgen_misc:

It was a day like any other day for the island of Manhattan.  The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the cabbies were swearing.  All was as it should be.

As it should be, until something had come up out of the harbor.  Multiple stories tall, covered in scaly green-skin, its every step a practical earthquake.  Bullets could not stop it!  It marched through the city, stepping on all in its wake, smashing and striking out at anything that seemed to annoy it.

Giganto walked the streets of New York!   The police were helpless!  There was only one team with the experience to handle such a beast!

....No.  Not the Avengers.  They're busy this issue.

The World's Greatest Super-Heroes... THE FANTASTIC FOUR!

awesome_andrea:

Andrea was reasonably certain of her choices regarding her future, though various probability forecasts has already come up with several things that could go catastrophically wrong.  The probability on those, fortunately, was rather low.  Success seemed far more likely.

She had already spoken to her father on the matter.  He, of course, had agreed to support her in whatever choice she made.  Comforting, though largely unhelpful.  But she ultimately did not wish to overly burden him.  He already felt badly enough for not being able to help her in the time she had become human and it had taken a great deal of convincing to keep him from coming to rip Vincent limb from limb.

Therefore, she needed another opinion in the matter.  Kristoff or Cassandra would do nicely, and thus she went to seek one of them out.