anyastark:

The chess pieces were set and it was time to strike.

Lady Mandarin and the Skeleton Crew were sent to the Thunderbolts' headquarters. Lady Mandarin hovered just outside the building. She brought both hands up and unleashed her repulsors. The force hit the wall and it blasted apart.

magic_hands:

Martin might've not really understood why people where so against teleporting in, but at least he was learning to respect it. Which is why the young mage appeared at the door of the West Coast Avengers HQ instead of right in their living room. He'd even sent those blue magic lights as messengers ahead of him. Okay, those things weren't patient, they were nagging little things really, but they counted as giving a heads up! And much easier than dealing with knocking. It got people to the door much better anyway.

Plus, not like this was too out of the blue. Annoying squeaking lights should've gotten the message across. There needed to be dapper suit shopping! He couldn't do it on his own. In fact, he'd even dressed up a little more, with a blazer and pocket square to go with his usual vest, hat and gloves ensemble.

While he waited for the slow people on the other side of the door, Martin occupied his time by examining the door itself, tapping it with his hat and looking to see what sort of magical protection, if any, the building had.

knightinwhite:

Mimes were swarming outside Harrod's. Well, that was odd, but people could get hurt. Satin pulled out the swords and sliced the pavement in front of one, then testing the Blades of Zz'ria on him with a tentative prick towards the shoulder. Nope. An innocent. ... An innocent part of a silent mob that was knocking people over trying to get inside the store.

nextgen_holiday:

Each year toward the end of December people come together with friends and family to celebrate and exchange gifts. The atmosphere is light, merry and there is plenty of cheer to go around. Holiday music fills the air while bright colorful lights light up the nights. Mistletoe is placed in strategic locations and people are willing caught under it.

It's a time of celebration, even for superheroes.

magic_hands:

Martin patiently waited by the door for Manny. Since it was colder now, he wore a blazer on top of his vest, but the ever-present hat was still perched on his head. 

magic_hands:

Part of every young person's education involved practicing what they were studying, and young mages were no exception. Dr. Strange was using the Sanctum for something and the training room at HQ was still recovering from whoever had used it last. So Martin was stuck with using the other HQ rooms, and since he needed more space for this, he'd set up in the living room, moving the sofas out of the way to make space. 

ngserpentsoc:

Vadoma gave the members of the Serpent Society instructions on what they were to do. They were being paid quite handsomely to do a small job. The job was to destroy a factory in the Boston area.

It was a simple plan. Get in and do as much damage as possible. Then get out before being captured.

magic_hands:

nextgen_holiday:

“Fathers, like mothers, are not born. Men grow into fathers and fathering is a very important stage in their development.” – David Gottesman

brit_sorcerer:

Quinn popped into the Sanctum Santorum hoping to catch Dr. Strange. There were a few spells Quinn was having trouble with and he wanted some professional advice.

magic_hands:

It was a common thing for Martin to do, teleport to a city that sounded mildly interesting and go exploring. Manny had been going with him for walks around Boston to get more used to being around people and crowds, and he tried from time to time to walk the less crowded streets himself sometimes, which was what he was up to now. Seattle had had a demon infestation apparently some time back, which meant it was a prime location for some exploring, maybe he'd even find some demons to hunt!

After walking around, hands in his pockets, on the mostly emptier streets during the day, Martin saw some crowds up ahead and frowned, slightly worried. He had no idea what the crowd, a rather small one honestly, was there for, it could've been a protest or a group going to a game of some sort, but it still made him uncomfortable. Rather than attracting attention by teleporting away in the middle of the street, Martin noticed someone exit a nearby door and he hurried in before the door could shut. 

Hands still in his pockets, he surveyed the place. It was annoyingly loud, the sounds of a bunch of washing machines going at once tended to be, but it was rather empty which was good. So Martin hopped onto one of the laundromats many machines and decided to wait for the crowd outside not too far away to pass by or disperse.

charmedlife:

"Manny? Kelly?" Bea asked over the comms. "Could you meet me in the den?"

magic_hands:

Currently he was set up on her living room floor, sitting there and showing off new minor spells he'd been practicing. As if the poor archer's place didn't have enough magic in it, here he was infusing extra in the air. "May I have something to drink please?" Magic was thirsty work and one did not manage to make her books dance to The Black Keys without needing a refreshment. Disney had it right, musicals were best with normally inanimate objects. 

soft_inside:

 Manny was getting ready for movie night. He had a big bowl of chocolate-chip cookie dough ice cream in one hand, and a bag of cheddar cheese Ruffles in the other. He hadn't decided on what to watch yet, but that was half the fun.

hotshot_hawkeye:

She wasn't entirely sure how she had made a deal with the little sorcerer Martin to teach him guns, but Frances liked to made good on promises. Oh no wait, it was for the magic arrows that had saved her ass, that was it. Anyway, she had to be make good and since no one was trying to kill/enslave/genderswap/veganify the world (yet, it was only ten in the morning), today was a decent day to do so.

Frances was at the outdoor shooting range, at the safety line with a few different examples for Martin and decided to warm up a little with a handgun and stationary target while she waited. 

marlow:

In the Life According to Wong, young sorcerers are known for two things. Misbehaving magic and the inability to stay full for very long.

Correction - three things. The worst timing and problems with boundaries of all sorts.

All right, so that's four. Young sorcerers weren't big on logic.

It was the second reason that had Marlow up in the middle of the night checking her tiny kitchen for chocolate or pretzels, or even kale chips if it stopped her stomach from rumbling. She tried to be quiet so she wouldn't disturb Martin in the guest room. It looked like they'd managed to clean everything out of the cupboards during their movie marathon.

anyastark:

Iron Girl flew in through the missing wall and landed in what used to be her office. Her helmet opened and her armor started coming off. As the armor was coming off she did a quick survey of the wounds caused by the adamantium piercing her armor.

ng_underworld:

 Stephen Remus sat in the office of his penthouse, smoking a cigarette as he looked out the window.

"You have your team. You ready for your first outing?" Remus asked the figure behind him.

"Yes," came the audibly distorted voice. "We know where they'll all be."

Remus takes another drag of his cigarette before responding. "Good. You've all been practicing, let's see how you do against the real thing. Good hunting."

The sound of metallic boots are heard leaving as the figure goes to announce the mission's start.

nextgen_misc:

In England near Glastonbury Tor a portal opened up and a large demonic red creature emerged. The Red Lord emerged from Otherworld and had been unleashed upon the mortal world. Chaos and destruction followed in his path.

magic_hands:

treadlightly:

They'd done their scouting. They've put up all the defenses they could, and put themselves in a position to attack. Buck has reviewed what they have on hand, and the situations exploding around them.

"Alright, folks, thank you for your patience. I know its been a tense situation waiting and doing patrol work... but I think we've identified some key points in the enemy strategy. We're still going to have to be careful. We're dealing with major influences here, but...

Alpha Flight... and their current guests, should be obvious. There's every sign that more of the Great Beasts will be awoken... that's a top priority situation.

X-Men... and the Genoshans - in following up the uprisings earlier, we've identified a 'Cult of Apocalypse', who took the whole massive fight before as a sign its time for En Sabbah Nur's awakening. We've located some of their likely strike points, your leadership has marked maps.


Champions and Thunderbolts, we've located a massive danger in the Red Lord. Its been determined that it will likely take both teams to deal with it.

Nightstalkers and Big Hero 6, we have a second target of the same type, Sakhmet. You two are on that.

SHIELD will be picking up on all of the general monitoring, crowd safety and control, and other work we've been doing in the lead up to this.

Finally, Avengers, Defenders and FF - you're with me. We're targeting the masterminds behind this.

Any questions?"

nextgen_misc:

Once the Champions returned to their headquarters and destroyed the Quantum Mirror returning all the heroes to normal. Once that was done they called a meeting of the superhero teams. Irina transported the Champions to the Avengers Mansion and volunteered to provide transportation for the other teams.

hotshot_hawkeye:

( Pray they don't come knocking on your door. )

anyastark:

It was a day full of meetings and scheduled phone calls. As always. Anya looked at the clock and had twenty minutes before her next meeting. Just enough time to head down to the cafeteria and grab something to eat. She was starving and needed some caffeine. She had too much blood in her caffeine stream. She hated it when that happened.

She stood up and left the office heading for the cafeteria.

magic_hands:

Martin adjusts his hat and grins. They were going to visit Dr. Strange! He didn't get to go to Earth's dimension often, and there was so much fun to do with magic. Even better? Clea would be escorting them there which meant for the first few days? Lots of long errands (which they generally ignored) and no supervision!
What should we start with? I hope we stay long enough to finish our fun stuff to-do list.

nextgen_holiday:

"Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart." - Seneca

In America today is a day for being thankful for the things in people's lives. Today was a day to celebrate family, friends, prosperity and health with food, family and friends. It is a time to reflect on what is important us and to recognize the gratitude we hold for having those things in our lives.

magic_hands:

"Manny? Are you free for lunch?" He'd been showing up to HQ more since the whole therapy thing suggested he should. But he still needed to get out of the HQ for some fresh air and he needed someone to come with him if he wanted to eat out. The Sanctum was currently being used for whatever serious business Dr. Strange was dealing with, which meant that he couldn't stay over there. "We can stay in the city I promise! I can't go for lunch by myself..." He hoped the older guy would agree, Manny was nice and Martin figured he'd be good lunch company.

nextgen_holiday:

All Hallow's Eve, or Halloween as it has been come to be called, is a popular holiday with children and adults alike. It is a holiday that had its roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain or Summer's End. Samhain celebrated the end of the "lighter half" of the year and the beginning of the "darker half".

On this evening the barriers between this world and the Otherworld were believed to be thin and the spirits, good and bad, of the dead could pass through. The spirits of the family's ancestors were welcomed in while evil and bad spirits were warded off by the wearing of masks and costumes. The costumes and masks disguised one as a harmful spirit and avoided harm from others.

It was also a harvest celebration and time to take stock of food stores for the winter. Livestock were slaughtered and the meat prepared for storage. It was the final harvest of the year and the crops were then stored for the winter. Celebrations included bonfires and tales of the family's ancestors.

It was a celebration of the dead and of the harvest.

Today we dress up in scary and not so scary costumes and masks and go door to door for candy or attend costume parties. It is a night for revelry, pranks and fun.

magic_hands:

Newspapers flew about the living room then burst into angry blue flames, any loose objects in the room seemed to rattle, and Martin was looking at the TV like it was going to be his next victim. Too bad it was a wall mounted one.

He hadn't seen Dr. Strange in a while. That wasn't too odd in itself, after all he did often have things to do that took time, but it'd been longer than usual and even Wong hadn't heard anything. Up until this point, Martin had only been worried because it'd been so long and Dr. Strange had promised to teach him certain spells as a birthday present. But his birthday had come and gone and no Dr. Strange was around. So Martin had been spending his time at the HQ feeling a little dejected.

Of course, that was until he saw the news.

Liars! They were nothing but LIARS!!

Dr. Strange was The Greatest! He was Sorcerer Supreme! Did people not know what that meant?! He'd never ever do the stuff they were claiming. Never! How dare these people talk nonsense and slander about his mentor?  How DARE they?!

Martin stomps off to the training room to unleash a little.

magic_hands:

nextgen_parent:

"Thank you both for agreeing to conference this discussion. I know we all have concerns about the young man. I think he's fairly significantly tied into the attacks by the... beings that were wearing the generic suits the Thunderbolts recovered." Dr Henry Pym, Scientist Supreme (it's on his business cards and everything), addresses the others present.

"Before I share my findings, and present my working theory at this point, I'd like to hear both of your thoughts on Jack."

magic_hands:

There was not enough Marlow Appreciation. This needed to be fixed.   

Other people had birthdays and such where you could get them all sorts of presents and show how much you liked and appreciated them but Marlow didn't have a birthday. It wasn't fair that people didn't have that day to show her how awesome she was. So Martin usually picked a random day each year to get her a present (though sometimes he forgot if he'd brought one that year and she ended up getting more than one). This year though he was determined she'd get a whole Appreciation Day.

Arriving on the grounds of the Defender's compound, Martin is positive he has the right location. Usually with teleporting there was always a little doubt but the place had her magic all over it. So with his usual blue flames he'd arrived right outside where he could sense her magical protection spells.

Of course it was still within the scope of the non-magical security.

Yep, right place. Those blaring alarms couldn't be wrong. It worked so much better than a doorbell too.

ze_leaper:

It was, in her estimation, not exactly a difficult job, though the security system was more advanced than what she was usually used to.  But Adrienne had spent a considerable amount of time staking the place out and watching the comings and goings of the people who lived there.  More importantly, the plans provided by her employers, along with a few technological extras (she'd waived a portion of her fee in exchange for getting to keep them, in fact), should have made it easy enough.

More importantly, if she had done her work correctly, there was a slight gap in where the external security cameras covered.  But you would have to be able to fly, practically, to hit the spot correctly.

Fly... or leap.

She took a step backwards and then ran forward across the roof, leaping at the last second.  The strength in her legs was great and it carried her the distance, the suction cups she'd applied to her gloves letting her cling to the building's side.  Small tools made short work of the window latch and the security system, and she was able to slip inside.

She looked around and quickly nodded to herself, moving with all stealth.  The nice thing about most security systems was that when people were actually there, they tended to run at a much lower level.  Perfect.  And there was the lab.   And someone had even left the door slightly ajar. 

Almost too easy.  Carefully and quietly, she began to creep inside.

magic_hands:

In the middle of the Thunderbolt's kitchen, a familiar swirl of blue flame comes out of nowhere and the young mage pops in. He'd come on a very important mission.

Ice cream sandwiches.

A species so rare in this freezer that it was almost extinct. Every single time they'd get more boxes of the stuff, it'd disappear almost immediately. Even the ones he'd specifically labelled with his name on it!

Now to find out if there were any left. The freezer door swings open on its own. There were boxes yesterday surely....

"JACK!"

strangeson:

Who: Orlen Strange and martin others as well OTA.
What: messing his place up
Where: new york.
Rating: pg
Status: Incomplete.
( I just put the damn carpet. )

anyastark:

It was Saturday and that meant spending the day with Buck, but apparently bad guys had no consideration for her love life and had decided to attack. How rude. The Avengers were called out and Buck had texted her to let her know something had come up which meant that Anya had a free day.

There was the temptation to go hide in the lab or even go into the office, but she decided to stay in her pajamas and make her way down to the rec room. It had been forever since she had been able to sit and watch a movie. Today she was going to take advantage of the cancellation in plans and do her best impression of a couch potato.

She popped in Breakfast at Tiffanys and stretched out on the couch.

magic_hands:

 Bumping along a dirt road in  what, to any sane person, was probably the most outlandish and least safe car ever, Martin looks out the window at all the wheat fields. Now surely somewhere in there was a demon. There had to be! The detector in the car said so! Granted, at the last stop it had lead them to the ghost of some old lady that was very dull, and her dog which had just been noisy, but still...it should work eventually. He needed to tell Marlow how much he liked this car again. Charmed to the brim meant: bonus! He could touch stuff. And hey, that was a rare thing with him. 

Anyway, they were better than the Ghostbusters. You had to call those guys. Nobody had called them!

The Great Demon Hunting Road Trip continues!

nextgen_misc:

It was a quiet misty morning in New York City. Thus far nothing to out of the normal had happen but the day was still young.

Then a loud roaring like thunder came from the sky as a burning and crashing spaceship headed towards the center of Central Park.

A loud boom struck through the entire city as the ship crashed in the park leaving a big crater. Then the crew of the ship began to make there way out of the wreckage of the ship.

onearmofhydra:

Night settled on the city of Cambridge and the activity level in the city slowly died down as the hours of the night progressed. Midnight came and went and the minutes and hours rolled slowly by. By three am there was almost no activity on the sidewalks and an occasional car rolled down the street.

The quiet of the city night was shattered by a loud explosion at the location of 491 Broadway. The explosion sent brick and mortar in all directions and the concussion blast set off the alarms of nearby cars. Men in yellow uniforms with full yellow helmets on poured out of four nearby transports and rushed into the hole in the side of the building created by the explosion.

The men in yellow weren't the only ones who were interested in getting into the renovated firehouse in Cambridge. Another small team had been sent to retrieve a certain device and schematics for it. That team wasn't going in by the gaping hole created by the explosion.

charmedlife:

Oh, Bea couldn't be having with this anymore. Not after nearly 71 hours.

She found the number, got on the phone. "Hello, is this Buck Rogers, in whatever century is appropriate?"

magic_hands:

Martin sits on one of the chairs in the Sanctum Sanctorum waiting for Orlen to arrive. It's been a while since he's seen the other sorcerer, not quite a year but that was more than too long. And he'd heard Orlen had joined the Avengers recently but they hadn't had the chance to go meet up again.

Martin thinks it'll be a bit of a shock for him. After all, the last time Orlen had seen him was when Martin had actually looked his age, 12. But even though he was 13 now, magical adventure mishaps had left him looking more like 16. He figured it'd be fun to see Orlen's reaction to it. Then they could have their troublemaking magical fun like always. Best part was that Dr. Strange was out of the dimension.

That meant more fun.

soft_inside:

 Manny's current job had him looking after a wannabe-popstar. Not exactly a glamorous gig. The worst he'd had to deal with was an over-enthusiastic fangirl screaming she wanted to have the guy's baby. Manny rolled his eyes. It certainly looked like he was hitting a slump. Maybe he should try and work things out with the UWF execs. 

nextgen_parent:

"Anya, remind me to send over Christina with my credit cards for the two of you to go on a shopping trip on me. These are beautiful." The floating image of Dr Henry Pym states over holo-conference with Anya. "The fabric sheets are nano-thin solar paneling and batteries in one, and unless I'm somehow horribly mistaken, they're borrowing some Shi'ar-tech principles for molecular suspension.

Wear this suit, and get enough daylight, and you won't need to eat, drink, sleep, breathe, or even expel waste." He pauses, then pokes his finger through a bullet-hole. "Unless it gets ruptured, of course. Haven't run the tests on high pressure or vacuum conditions yet.

It actually reminds me a little of some ideas your father and I threw around, ages ago, before he set up the first generation of the current line of waste disposal systems for his suits."

nextgen_citizen:

Car alarms went off and people screamed, a few firing shots, as a metahuman rampage is in progress. Police bands are abuzz with reports of six mutants or robots or something that shouldn't be causing significant property damage. Reports are sparse, with the only details about the attackers being 'tall', 'strong', and 'brightly colored'.

The individuals were human in shape, but completely covered in single color suits. They were strong, and fast, and nothing police or bystanders seemed to be throwing at them would make them stay down for long.

nextgen_citizen:

Zoey loved New York City. When they came to New York it meant that Zoey could visit Scotty. No matter what business her mother had in the city with her job, she always made sure Zoey had the chance to visit Scotty. Zoey brought all her Super Buddies toys with her and her favorite movie.

After they played with the toys and watched the movie they moved onto playing Hide And Go Seek. Scotty was it and Zoey ran to hide. She ended up in a room with a lot of gadgets and machines. She hid under the desk. Giggles came from her. Scotty would never find her here.

Zoey waited for what seemed a long time. Maybe she had hid too well and Scotty got tired of looking for her and was doing something else. Maybe he gave up and she would be waiting here all day. Maybe she should go see what he was doing.

She crawled out from under the desk. It was time to go find...what was that glowing square thing? It looked NEAT.

Zoey moved the chair over to it and climbed up on the chair. Pretty!

anyastark:

Anya sat at the small table and focused on the screen on the table in front of her. Just because she was eating lunch it didn't mean she couldn't work. Work was consuming all of her time and energy lately and would probably continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

The burger on the plate had a few bites out of it and only a few fries were missing. Anya's mind was focused on food and not work.

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.

Anonymous Entries Accepted

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.

nextgen_deviant:

The subway tunnels and other tunnels underneath to the streets of Boston were home to some homeless people along with other non-human things. Deviants, a race of genetic 'failures' created by the Celestials, also lived in the dark places under the city of Boston. The small group hid from humanity and from their ancient enemies, the Eternals. Once they numbered millions on the surface and subjugated the ancestors of modern man, but the accursed Eternals and Celestials decimated their numbers and drove them into hiding.

Gruck moved about in the almost total darkness. He and his fellow deviants had moved into a new section of abandoned tunnels and were busy exploring. Gruck's foot struck something and he stopped to inspect it. He turned the object over in his hands and used a clawed hand to brush away some of the dirt crust enveloping the object. Light burst forth from the small cleared path and Gruck's yellow reptilian eyes widened. Blue light illuminated the tunnel.

The other deviants around him stopped and started at the object in Gruck's hands. Gruck pulled the gem in closer to his body and glared at each of his fellow deviants. It was his and he had been the one to discover it and he would be the one to keep it. He could feel the power coming from the gem and he wanted it for himself. He could read the thoughts of the deviants around him. This was the gem's doing. With his mind Gruck pushed his thoughts out to the other deviants and for a moment he felt resistance, then submission.

The other deviants dropped to their knees in front of Gruck.

Gruck smiled. The gem gave him power over the other deviants and he knew what he was going to do.

Over the next few weeks the numbers of deviants beneath the streets of Boston grew as those under Gruck's power brought more deviants into the city. Gruck's power grew with each use of the gem and he was able to control more and more deviants. He didn't stop there. He expanded his control to the humans that were also living under the streets.

When Gruck thought he had enough he led them to the surface. It was time to reclaim the surface for the deviants and enslave humanity.

Chaos reigned on the streets of Boston from the Back Bay to Beacon Hill.