maceintheface:

"Kevin! Come back here, we need to talk about this!" Marcy Steele called after her son. Along with her husband, Bobby Steele, she'd just managed to smooth over things with the principal at the Maria Stark Academy after the fight Kevin had been in.

"I'll be home later!" Kevin snapped, stalking off with his hands in his pockets.

"Marcy, just let him go... it's a guy thing. He needs some time." Bobby reassured her, watching his step-son storm off. He'd overheard enough while waiting to speak to the principal that the fight had been something to do with comments about Eric.

~~~

"Why the hell did Mom and Dad have to move back here anyway? Not like Bobby couldn't have stuck with his almost the same stupid sports-talk job back home..." Kevin muttered to himself as he went down the street. Now he was living in hero central. All he ever risked running into out west was Wonder Man, and he doesn't count. Now it seems like every other day there's the Fantastic Four or Spider-Man or whoever doing their thing in Times Square and the media going nuts for it. All of them who've gotten to come back so many times.

So why not his dad?

And did any of them even ever apologize for what they dragged him into? Hell no. Sure, he got the occasional check-in from Herc, since he was one of Dad's buddies (nice guy, but dude needs to shower more often), but do you think him or his mom had the Avengers on their speed-dial? Fat chance.

Bunch of stupid costumed glory hounds...

iamnotahorse:

Their journey through space was a bittersweet one for Bill. On the one hand Bill greatly valued being in the company of old friends. On the other hand, they were coming closer and closer to where his world once existed. The logic was that perhaps they could find traces of energy from fleeing ships and use it to track down any survivors. Bill of course understood the logic but..seeing the emptiness again would be difficult.

Bill had grown increasingly insular the closer they got. He'd answer when spoken to, but always in brief, concise answers. He wasn't angry with them, he certainly hoped they believed that, but the memories of events had destroyed whatever enthusiasm he had regained while on Earth. They were almost there, the site of his ultimate failure.

iamnotahorse:

"Wow! Mommy can I talk to the horse-man?" The voice had come from a little girl, doubtless less than a decade old.

"I don't think so honey. I think he wants to be by himself."

The child's mother was wise. Bill practically radiated a sense of loneliness. Well that and anger, despair and a healthy dose of self-loathing. Bill was seated, barely as the small chair chair struggled to contain his bulk even in his "standard" form, at a local cafe. At first he had gotten quite a few looks, but he had been fortunate in that one of the waitresses recognized him as someone eho had helped Thor.

'This is not my planet. These are not my people. They're both gone.' This mantra had gone through his head constantly since he had returned to Earth.

Bill was currently nursing his fifth couple of coffee. The gold coin, he picked it up during one of his forays into Asgard, had bought him several cups of the brew. It wasn't bad really, but he imagined it wasn't strong enough to really effect him. He was currently expecting the arrival of a friend. Someone who was also leaving among a people not her own.

lady_sif:

Sif had provided the way to Asgard and with Sersi's help they had retrieved Mjolnir from the spot it had sat since Thor had been taken by Loki. Sersi had reported that there had been many attempts to move it, but all had failed. With Moljnir in the hands of Captain America, they made their way to Hel.

Sif went straight for an audience with Hela and let the Avengers go off to find Thor. With fortune and luck on their side, Sif would be able to distract Hela long enough for the Avengers to free Thor.

"Hela! I wouldst have words with thee!" Sif said as she approved the ruler of this realm. The spirits of the dead hovered near Sif as she approached the throne where Hela sat with a large wolf on each side.