media_tyrant:

Mojo was excited. Very excited. Almost to the point of sin. Well, maybe past the point, but then again, Mojo was beyond any such limits. His plan bordered the realms of genius and insanity, as his plans so often did. He had watched with intial dismay as the mutant population had been reduced to a fraction of its former size. Naturally he was concerned about how this would affect his ratings...er, the survival of a species..and..screw it, he only cared about his ratings. However, some interesting events have occured as a result. One of which had been the assault of Norman Osborn, who was nutty enough to have his own soap spinoff, upon the newly formed mutant nation, Utopia. It had pitted the Avengers against the X-Men in a life or death struggle.

Well..not the real Avengers, which was something of a letdown. However, the episode had given Mojo an idea of epic proportions. One that would fulfill all his dreams, albeit insane, but dreams nonetheless. However, every journey must begin with a single step, and thus why Mojo had summoned his chief servant, his go-to gal, as looney a woman as he ever made crazy, Spiral.

riiichaaards:

With the creation of the Future Foundation, there could be no doubt that Reed's focus was on moving mankind forward, but there are a few things that bore constant observation to prevent movement in the opposite direction. One of those things was Latveria.

With the recent ascension of Kristoff Vernard to Latveria's throne, the question was not whether or not he could bring greater stability to the tiny nation - but what Doom was up to that would distract him from his Latverian responsibilities.

Fortunately, there was a direct approach to the problem available - go straight to the source. He activates his secure satellite-link transmissions equipment, opening a communications channel to the Latverian Regent himself.

thunderbolthulk:

 Dammit, Banner.

Thaddeus Ross hates what's left of his life right now.  He was once a 4-star general in the United States Air Force, and now he has to stew in an elaborate holding pen devised by the man he hates most in this world.  He devoted the last several years of his career to hunting down and killing the Hulk only to become something just as dangerous and monstrous as that beast he despises.  The world thinks he's dead, and he can't tell them otherwise, lest his collusion with supervillains and his ill-fated treason completely destroy his legacy.

Now he's trapped in every way a man can be trapped.  Stuck for who knows how long in the body of this blasted red hulk.

Red.  It had to be red, didn't it, Sterns?  Spent all those years fighting communists, and now this.  Better dead than red.

The only comfort he has is that he did it all for his daughter.  Betty.  And even that solace is mitigated by the fact that the Leader and MODOK turned her into a goddamned she-hulk.  And she's off with Banner and his misbegotten family of freaks.

There's only one way out of this predicament, and it's not something he's looking forward to, but the options are limited.  Accepting charity from Banner sticks in his craw, but the man has set up an opportunity for Ross to work off his debt to society in service of the Avengers.  Most of whom hate his guts and know him only as that sneering bastard who fought them at every turn, even going so far as to form The Offenders just to spite the Defenders... going so far as punching the Watcher in the face.  All that insanity was way out of his usual character... but this power, this incredible power... he was absolutely drunk on it.  Secretly wanting power enough to match the first Hulk for so long, then finally getting it... it does something to you.  Took him a long time to get a hold of himself.  Too long.  Everything's shot all to hell.

So, it's either rot in prison, or indentured servitude to the Avengers.  After spending so many years as a leader of men, this will be hard to swallow.

The only mitigating factor is that he'll be following the orders of the one man he respects more than the chain of command... Captain America.  Thaddeus Ross would die for that man.

So it's time to play ball.