quitethecharmer:

Vincent had been put up on thirty-six hours of enforced bed-rest after retrieving Cassandra, and losing.. part of himself. The world seemed different. He was cold. He got hungry and tired as mortals of average physicality did. It was terrifying, and humiliating, and sickening for him. His body felt incomplete.

As soon as he'd been able to get out of bed, he'd retreated to his lab. All his work on the other major project he was working on was carefully recorded, preserved, and cordoned off, and then everything else got wiped clean. Hours passed, then days, then weeks. He only stopped his calculations and testing when he needed to eat or sleep. Discarded junk food wrappers and instant food packaging overflowed his wastebasket by now The exception was checking in with Kristoff to be assured that Andrea's repairs were proceeding on schedule.

At this point it was a month later, and more than fifty percent of the laboratory walls were covered with notations. He was attempting to isolate the energy that constituted the Asgardian 'spark', and then reinfuse himself with it. He would have called Asleif for consultation, but he couldn't bear to interact with anyone while he was in this state.

He couldn't stay like this.

Without his power.

Without his identity.

Weak. Vulnerable. Unable to protect anyone.

notinplainsight:

Kalypso hovered high above the Earth in the Mesosphere close to Kármán line where the Earth's atmosphere ended and space began. She looked down at her home planet, the small blue sphere spinning below her. From this height it looked so peaceful and so calm. There was no sound, no air, and only cold. It was almost perfect. Kalypso could stay up here for a very long time.

As much as she wanted to stay there, she knew she couldn't. She had to go to Olympia and talk to Ikaris and the other Eternals. The images that she pulled from the minds of the heroes were disturbing and what they meant was disturbing. It had unnerved her enough that she had barely slept in the past month. She really didn't need to sleep, but she liked doing it, especially with Jack next to her. Kal liked dreaming.

Kalypso enjoyed the calm and peace

War with the deviants would come soon. That much was guaranteed. Eventually they would strike at their ancient enemies, the Eternals. The war between the Eternals and deviants had been going on for tens of thousands of years, ever since the first days after the Celestials created the Eternals and the deviants.

Kal stared down at the planet. Being up here emphasized the point that she was pulling farther and father away from humanity. She had always known she was different, at one point believing she was just a mutant, and a little separate from normal humans. Now it was entirely different. She was an Eternal and even farther from humanity than before. This upcoming war would pull her even farther away.

A few more minutes and then she'd go to Olympia.

dream_catcher:

Between all the problems around the holidays, Lucas finally more or less ran himself ragged. Moira and her family have been wonderful at helping since the solstice, and he's put most of the weight he lost back on and he's been sleeping less, but still trying to take it easy.

And, of course, now the world is entering a World Cup year, which means the soccer is especially interesting, even if its not his main sport. At the moment, he's found himself a comfortable spot on the couch and a game on satellite, which he's watching with intent interest.

nextgen_media:

New York, New York – There has been another shake in the business world as Stark Inc released news of another CEO change It is the second one in less than a year, but the company continues to do well in these tough financial times despite the changes in leadership. It was announced at a press conference that Stark Inc is one again being run by Anthony Stark. Margaret Donovan Stark, Tony’s half-sister, ran the company as CEO since June of 2009. It is unknown what Ms. Donovan Stark will be doing in the company after the change of leadership. CONT PAGE 2A

New York, New York – Mayor Bloomberg announced today that the city will be opening one new shelter for the homeless in each of the five boroughs of the city. The mayor urges the homeless to seek out these new shelters during these cold winter days and nights. CONT PAGE 2A


New York, New York Anti-mutant protests continue throughout the city and the country as Senator Sloane continues to press for mutant and superhero registration in Congress. While the protests have remained peaceful for the most part, there have been a few instances of violence at some of these protests.


New York, New York Chaos ensued when the two lions, Patience and Fortitude, outside the New York Public Library came to life and started moving through the streets of the city. The city's resident heroes showed up and stopped the two giant stone lions. In addition to the animated statues, in the Central Park Zoo the animals were released from their cages and the visitors to the zoo were put in the animal enclosures. It is unclear whether these two events are related and the perpetrator is unknown at this time. CONT PAGE 3B

nextgen_misc:

The satellite image began with the United States Naval Destroyer, the USS Washington, in open ocean. For a moment, it seemed as though nothing unusual was going on, but then something broke the surface. It was a massive ship, shaped very much like some kind of gigantic fish. Weapons ports opened on the strange new vessel, blasting away at the destroyer. Other ships, equally marine-like in nature, surfaced and surrounded the destroyer, completing the process of blasting it to pieces.

The video stopped, and the Fantastic Four's SHIELD liason, Agent Doug Deeley, turned to the assembled heroes. "This is the fifth attack on US Naval forces in three months. We got lucky this time. Most of the crew survived. The craft are clearly Atlantean in origin, though we've been unable to determine if they're proper military forces or a rogue element. Attempts to contact any of the Atlantean royal family have failed."

The balding black man breathed heavily. "We therefore have to presume the worst."

He changed the projection on the screen to a naval map showing the Northeastern coast of the United States. "Strategic analysis of the attacks suggests that they're heading towards Manhattan. We've already alerted the Avengers, but as the Fantastic Four have more experience with Atlantis, we were hoping you'd be able to assist."