higher, further, faster

" I need to find the edge of me. Maybe, if I fly far enough, I'll be able to turn around and look at the world, and SEE WHERE I BELONG. "

[captcinmcrvel]

valhallabcund:

@captcinmcrvel

By her own standards, Valkyrie hadn’t resided on Sakaar for very long. She’d spent years there, drinking her troubles away, but her life had been a long one and years she could scarcely remember made little impact compared to the ones she was trying desperately to forget. By others’ standards, her time there seemed immeasurable. She’d met many people during her time there, made enemies and friends alike, but few truly stuck out. Of those that she remembered, most wanted her dead.

Carol Danvers, she supposed, was different. They hadn’t known one another long, but Valkyrie had known, on some level, that Carol was a resident of Earth. Perhaps she shouldn’t have been surprised, seeing the woman in a bar she frequented, but the surprise was there all the same. Earth, after all, was a large planet, and Valkyrie had no way of knowing if Carol was even on the planet considering her travels in space. Still, the surprise was not entirely an unpleasant one and Valkyrie found herself taking the barstool next to Carol’s with little hesitation.

“It’s been some time, hasn’t it?” She observed, nodding to the bartender as he set a glass in front of her. As someone who drank endless amounts of strong, expensive alcohols, Valkyrie was one of his favorite patrons. “It’s a shame you found yourself in this city when… whatever happened happened. I’m a little fuzzy on the details.” That was no accident; Valkyrie did her best to remain fuzzy in general.

Throughout the course of Carol’s career as the Avengers’ resident boss of space, she had spent time on more planets than people could even think of. Typically her visits didn’t include taking in the local culture and getting to know the people, though those were things that she definitely enjoyed. She was often a woman of war arriving to demolish their unfair systems, protect their people from invaders, or piss them off enough that they chased her to another planet and sorted out the problems that she had caused there. All in all, the opinion on Captain Marvel was split across the universe, but Valkyrie had always seemed somewhat positive in her regard for Carol. That was something Carol appreciated!

“Give or take three years, right?” Carol said, hoping that her timing was accurate, though honestly, she doubted that Valkyrie would pick up on it if it was wrong. There were a lot of things that a person could say about Sakaar, but the grand majority of its reputation came from the fact that most didn’t know what they had done in their time there. That was kind of the point, and why Carol had gone there looking for celebration after absolutely bossing a living sun back to its own dimension. “I think we’re all fuzzy on the details,” Carol said grimly, holding up her hand for the bartender to give her the same as Valkyrie was currently having. “At least not much has changed in your daily routine,” Carol said with something of a smirk. “Are you finding anything as entertaining as the Contest here? I know after space Earth can seem kind of …” Disappointing. “Small.”

[captcinmcrvel]

thcscarletwltch:

If New York City was going survive its most recent disaster, there was no doubt in Wanda’s mind that they would need all the resources that they could realistically gather from the wasteland. Though Wanda was powerful, after her heated discussion with Johnny regarding recklessness and safety, she always made a point of venturing into the wasteland with a teammate. Carol Danvers was among her favourite partners, she was an incredible fighter, and more importantly, one of Wanda’s closest friends. Unlike the other Avengers, she had accepted Wanda more easily, though she imagined that was because Carol joined the Avengers after Wanda’s unfortunate partnership with Ultron. Ultimately, however, it was irrelevant: they were close friends and together, Wanda had no doubt that they could provide for the city.

“I’ll leave that up to you,” she said with a small smile. Carol, considering her super strength, was primarily in charge of hauling the boxes into the Tower. Wanda was attempting to sort through them, making it easier for the Avengers to deliver to the city. “We could put Bruno Mars on it,” she suggested. “Johnny is always playing him and it’s really quite fun music.” When Carol leaned against the boxes, Wanda stopped rifling through the boxes and moved closer to her friend. “I think things are always changing,” Wanda admitted. “Sometimes it’s for the best and other times it’s unfortunate, but we’re strong and we’re capable of adapting.” It wasn’t much of a pep talk, but Wanda wanted to be honest with Carol. “I think that Doom intended for all of this to happen,” she said slowly. “Men in positions like Doom love power and control. What would be better for him than controlling the superheroes through the public? He can’t directly be blamed for our misery,” Wanda said with a sigh. “I’m confident and happy with my decision not to list, but I think that listing was right for you at the time. That doesn’t mean you’re trapped though, Carol.”

Avengers, by definition, had to thrive in chaos. People who shied away at the first sign of adversity or flunked out at the beginning of a battle need not apply, and that meant when Carol fought alongside the rest of the team, she could rest assured that she was battling with someone that was absolutely amazing. Wanda, though, was one of her favourites. Maybe that was because they had got along well since the very first day, or maybe it was because she could always count on the other woman to go out after a fight to help them feel as if they were normal all over again, but either way, Carol was ecstatic to work with her friend. She was definitely an easier person to work with than Stark. She loved the guy, but he talked so much he could blow up a hot air balloon with the air he produced!

“Do you think we should go more for heavy metal, or stick with something simple, like old style rock and roll? What type of music makes you want to blast things apart the most, Wanda?” Wanda’s powerset was entirely different than Carol’s own, though they had their similarities when it came to long distance weaponry, Wanda with her hexes and Carol with her energy blasts. Wanda had honed her mind and her body, whilst Carol relied on being a decisive heavy hitter. “Bruno Mars sounds amazing. How did I not think of Uptown Funk? It’s genius!” Carol nodded as Wanda spoke, taking a moment from moving the boxes to give her friend the attention she deserved. “He can’t directly be blamed, but he can definitely be indirectly blamed,” Carol said. She let out a sigh. “I would love to have an excuse to punch something, but the situation is a lot more delicate than that.” Carol was not a violent person without due cause, but she was frustrated, as was the grand majority of the city. “It isn’t the list that makes me feel trapped. It’s whoever has put us here that has me wondering what their end goal is. Surely if they wanted to destroy the city, they would’ve done it by now?”

[captcinmcrvel]

supersoldierwithashield:

Steve’s military career hadn’t been exactly standard. Before the serum, he was just a pet project, a kid no one believed would make any kind of difference, have any other future than being sent home (in a body bag most likely). After the serum, those months as a dancing puppet, he was still a joke, the promotion to ‘captain’ a title only. But eventually, he’d gotten the chance to prove himself. To show that he may have been a different kind, but he was still a solider through and through. 

Carol Danvers, she was another soldier with a less than conventional career path. But it took her all the way to the stars, Steve hadn’t even dreamed of going that far. The ‘space race,’ as he learned it was called, didn’t happen until twenty years after he was in the ice. “Doom?” he repeated, breathing steady as he threw a jab, and ducked at the one she returned. “Yeah, I guess I’m not the greatest soldier these days,” he said, flashing a smile at her. In truth, he’d never been great at following orders, anyone who knew him would say the same. “It’s not that bad,” he said, but when another one of his jabs went wide, and hers landed on his side, he knew she was right. He sighed, and stepped back, dropping his hands. “It’s complicated,” he said. Like most things were these days. “There’s just… a lot happening. We’re trapped here, and now the heroes who signed are under pressure, while the ones who didn’t are under scrutiny. There’s – “ He stopped himself from mentioning Bucky. Or Sharon’s Leviathan missions. “There’s a lot,” he finished lamely. 

Even after all of the battles that Carol had faced over the years, the suns that she had swallowed and the armies that she had felled, she still maintained that the hardest time of her life was those first few weeks in basic army training before she split off into the Air Force branch. Her commanding officers were determined to break her down and mould her back into what they wanted her to be, and that meant that the physical aspect was only one difficulty. Truthfully, the military had formed her into who she was today just as much as her transformation into Ms. Marvel had, and that was something that she was sure Steve understood more than anyone else.

“Doom. Big guy, kind of sour faced, has to try really hard not to convince us all he’s a secret super villain? I mean, his parents must’ve really hated him. At least change your name before you procreate, guys!” Carol had learned a long time ago that relying on her gut and her gut alone was as good an option as any, and right now, her gut was telling her that the president was not to be trusted. The more mistakes he made, the more inclined Carol was to throw caution to the wind and just punch him herself. If she did it quick enough, they would never know! “Everyone has their off days. I’m sure we can spare you a few weeks or so,” Carol teased. Steve’s service had never been something that was in question, even when they were on opposite sides. “Do I detect a hint of hesitation there?” Carol asked, leaning against the bag, hand on her other hip. “I know we were on opposite sides of things for a bit, but you’re still my friend. If there’s something you’re struggling with, you have me.” She paused for a moment, a grin coming onto her face. “So long as there isn’t a free burger giveaway happening in Central Park or something, because no friendship is strong enough to keep me away from that.”

[captcinmcrvel]

ncvarider:

The Avengers are well and good, but they have a humongous blind spot where cosmic threats are concerned, and in certain circumstances they had been responsible for creating those threats–Rich had little time for people who charge in without understanding what they’re dealing with, which is why he’s always been eternally grateful for the presence of Carol Danvers in his life. She fits in with them in a way that Rich could never with his commitment to the Corps, makes sure that if they’re going to charge in that they at least have some idea of what they’re doing, and she’s one of the best and bravest people that Rich has ever met. When he had made the decision to send the Guardians back out through the tear in the Cancerverse, it was because he felt like the Earth would still be in good hands, in her hands. 

Being invited to play boardgames at Avengers tower is one of the stranger ways someone has checked up on him since coming back, but it’s been–good to see that there are still people he cares about, people who understand what it’s like to suddenly be stuck here after having the freedom of flight and space for so long, alive and well. He chuckles when Carol starts groaning and rolling her eyes after a few minutes of attempts to sink her battleship, nods his head. “Y’know I am, after fighting back literal space pirates the plastic version leaves something to be desired.” He leans back as well, follows her gaze out the window where a demon flies by with that terrible screeching sound. “Never thought I’d miss those things,” He chuckles and shakes his head. “There’s things with teeth and claws all over the galaxy–I saw something nearly identical on a tiny moon near Argor once. They had six eyes though, the ability to regrow their limbs.” He shrugs his shoulders, sighs. “These feel like–a vicious distraction.” 

Carol had never envisioned that she would join the Avengers, a team that by and large were relatively Earth-bound in their response to threats. They handled aliens when they arrived on their doorstep, but they rarely went to the source of the problem, which was where Carol had thrived long before she had her own genetic code blended with that of a Kree super-soldier. The stars called to her in ways that very few humans could understand, besides maybe the Fantastic Four, and definitely Richard Rider. Besides the fact that he knew where she was coming from, he was great fun, and trapped in New York away from space as she knew it, she needed something to stop her dying from boredom.

“You fought the space pirates?” Carol asked, eyes wide. “That’s not fair, Rider! The Guardians told me that I needed to ‘pick my battles.’ Rocket even argued that getting paid would be monumentally more satisfying. I had to watch as we flew away from the giant floating spaceship. Do you know how painful that was?” Carol hummed, looking out over the city once more, memories of many a space battle coming to her mind without much prompting. “Everything that I’ve ever fought out there had a reason for fighting me back, you know? These demons - they don’t just protect their turf. They’re reinforcing something, like a regime, almost. Or maybe I’m just searching for conspiracy theories because I really, really want something to punch.”

[captcinmcrvel]

master-of-mystic-arts:

When the call came from Carol, Stephen really hoped she was not going to ask him to give her cat an examination. He had never been a veterinarian, and his magical skills were not exactly useful on alien felines. So he was relieved when she told him it was not about the cat–but his relief faded when he saw that she had been injured. He had heard of and seen other wounds from the demons, but this one looked, well, strange. 

“Hmm,” he murmured, looking at her arm, “Well, if you can’t absorb magic, then I don’t think a healing spell will help. So it seems I may need to try and draw out whatever magical residue is within.” So far, Stephen had not seen any magical transfer from the demons, but then there was still much about the demons they did not know. Hopefully they would not keep giving unpleasant surprises like this. He smiled and accepted the coffee, not wanting to be rude by telling Carol that he preferred tea. “Very thoughtful, thank you. But I think I had better deal with your wound first. I can’t promise the spell won’t hurt, so don’t try to sue me for malpractice if you end up in pain.”

“I can’t absorb it, but it can definitely still affect me,” Carol said, holding back a wince as she remembered the many, many occasions when that had been proven over and over again. One of them, of course, had been the first time she met Stephen Strange and had asked for his assistance. An evil Sorcerer from another dimension with a particular bone to pick with Carol hadn’t seemed like a big deal at the beginning, especially considering she could absorb the force of any blasts, and then she had realised that magic, tragically, avoided the protection her Kree genes provided her.

Strange was definitely the man to come to with things like this. Besides the fact that he was basically the magic boss where she was the space boss, he had also been a doctor before that fact. Carol was convinced that she would be walking - or flying - out of here good as new in no time. “Okay, magical residue doesn’t exactly sound like a fun time,” Carol said, “but I trust your opinion, doc. Anything that gets me back out there punching demons to Pluto has me firmly on board.” Carol laughed, shaking her head. “Please. Tony is the Avenger that would sue you, not me. I don’t even have a lawyer on speed dial, you’re safe.” Besides, nothing could be as painful as her cats sticking their claws into her to wake her up. It wasn’t the physicality that hurt the most, it was the betrayal!

[captcinmcrvel]

akagoddammit:

Drinking hadn’t been all bad, right? After all, if she hadn’t been kicked out of one bar and forced to find a new one, she wouldn’t have met Carol Danvers that night. She definitely wouldn’t have started a goddamn conversation with her, or got wasted enough to agree to an arm wrestle – which turned out to be much more evenly matched than either of them expected. 

It was a weird goddamn thing, but hesitant as she always was to admit she had friends, there was really no denying it. Carol laughed at the same shit she did, cursed like a sailor, and even if she was America’s Freakin’ Sweetheart and Superfreak Extraordinaire – they got along. Plus, very few other people dared to drink the coffee she made, and if she always had to finish every pot alone, she’d get caffeine poisoning. 

Jessica was slumped forward on her desk, a mug in front of her now, trying to remember why drinking wasn’t an option anymore. It was hard when Doom’s party had blown up only a few nights before, and – oh yeah, the little world-shattering revelation that her mother was out there somewhere. She wanted a drink, and if she were alone, she’d probably already be looking for an open bar. Carol was bored, it was a symbiotic combination. 

They both knew the only reason she hadn’t starved to death was because Trish and Malcolm used to keep her fridge stocked despite her protests. But neither of them were around anymore. “Whiskey has calories,” she murmured, not bothering to pick her head up from where her chin rested on folded arms. Her eyes flashed and flicked towards Carol’s for a moment, before she looked away, leaning back in her chair. “This is just my face,” she insisted. “I’m goddamn tired of demons,” she said, shaking her head. “I should punch Doom in his throat though. Asshole almost got me crucified at his little get together.” She sighed, and looked over at Carol again. “Surprised you don’t have better things to do. No heroic deeds to be done tonight?” 

In retrospect, it had probably been a terrible idea given Carol’s own past indiscretions (for lack of a better term, and it was definitely one that was easier to swallow) to become friends with Jessica Jones. It had been at a low point for both of them, Carol still reeling from Mar-Vell’s loss, and then Helen and Tracy’s soon afterwards. Grief had gripped her, had pushed her closer and closer to the bottle, and while she had avoided being taken by it completely, she knew that was a slippery slope. Now that Jessica was sober - or at least trying to be - things were easier to justify, and she could instead appreciate the time she spent with her friend without trying to psychoanalyse both of their bad decisions.

Not all battles were physical. Not all villains could be combated by punching them in the face, or a well timed blast to the stomach. Carol knew that well, and Jessica was one of the few that truly understood it. Kilgrave was dead, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still here in every way that mattered, the same way as Carol’s experiences continued to haunt her, remaining in the back of her mind. The one thing that she had to rely on was the fact that if anything went wrong, she could always return to the stars where she was sure she belonged. Now, that had been taken from her, and Carol would be lying if she said she wasn’t feeling desperately claustrophobic.

“Not good ones,” Carol argued. She had ‘Carol moments,’ phases that took her completely for a few weeks before they were forgotten. The Atkins diet had been one of them. Although now Carol could appreciate the fact that carbs were not the enemy, she was still at least semi-health conscious. “No it’s not,” Carol said, making a point to squint her eyes, turn her head to the side as she looked at Jessica’s face. “Your normal is resting bitch face, but this is pensive bitch face.” Few things shook Carol, few things made her pause for a moment, but being proven wrong (again) was definitely one of them. “Did you get out okay?” Carol asked, a little softer than usual. “Oh, no. I passed on the patrol baton to Tony. He’s having one of his nights, so he needed something to do. Saving kittens from trees suits him!”

[captcinmcrvel]

spoiledsteph:

Patrolling was a solo gig for Spoiler, mostly. Quicksilver joined her from time to time, but her typical beat put Steph up against the world. The occasional rescues she managed to swing on her own offered her a real rewarding feeling, but it did get kinda boring and lonely.

That made tonight pretty extraordinary. Or, in the case of Captain Marvel, out of this world. (In the privacy of her own thoughts, Steph could make as many bad puns as she wanted.) 

“I can assist, I can distract, I can—” Steph narrowly avoided tripping over a trash can and covered it up as a jump at the nearest demon. Her baton wasn’t going to get her far against these guys, but she could take some hits while the cooler Cap saved the day. “I can help!” She jabbed a screeching demon in the eye. “And no flames in my repertoire, by the way.” The only burns Steph got were from her waffle maker, and all of those were worth it.

Carol had always been determined to be the best of the best. When she decided to put her powers to good use, to save people, she wanted to do it on the largest scale possible, and so the Avengers had seemed like the perfect fit. She had been criticised in the past for failing to see the little details, the means that led to the ends, but in her opinion, that was why the public had faith in their vigilantes. They filled in the gaps that the more famous heroes couldn’t, and Carol appreciated them for that.

“Assistance in the form of distraction sounds perfect!” Carol called over to the girl, grinning despite herself. The rattle of the trash can, after all, was definitely too loud to have been intentional. “Nice trick,” she commented as the vigilante sent herself flying at one of the demons. “Fearless. We can work with fearless!” Carol’s hands burned with an instinctive desire to blast these idiots back over the border into the wasteland, but that would draw undue attention, and cause unnecessary panic. Superstrength alone it was! “Can you get their focus on you? Right now, they’re dodging my punches, and it’s really damaging my self esteem!” A joke, of course. Carol’s self esteem was like Fort Knox - able to be destroyed from the inside only.

[captcinmcrvel]

hcwkguys:

Throughout his life, Clint had messed up a lot. He couldn’t exactly deny that, particularly not when the phrase most people associated with him was some variation of ‘this looks bad.’ Screwing up was what Hawkeye did best, and Clint was intimately aware of the fact. Some things, though, he screwed up worse than others. Whatever he’d had with Jess – he still wasn’t sure what to call it, wasn’t sure how they’d both had such incredibly different definitions of what it was – he’d screwed up especially well and, unfortunately, that meant Carol hadn’t exactly been his biggest fan, either.

Usually, Clint could deal with that. He knew he’d been in the wrong, and he wasn’t going to fault someone for refusing to speak to him due to that fact. But he was a nervous talker, and he chatted during battles even when the other person obviously wasn’t in the mood for conversation. Not talking him apparently hadn’t done the trick for Carol, but punching him in the face seemed to do wonders! He’d heard from various sources that it was a very therapeutic thing, and he was glad Carol seemed to agree. Unfortunately, it was looking like he might have to let her punch him again.

“I don’t know,” he said, “I don’t know! I’m not even, like, a recognizable Avenger! Last time I got arrested, one of the cops asked if I was War Machine. War Machine! He wears a full suit of armor, and I had a bow and arrow. How do you make that mistake?” He took a cautious sip of his coffee, eyeing Carol like he was expecting her to take that second punch any minute now. “Maybe they thought I was trying to impress you and they wanted to help me out.”

For someone who was as much a perfectionist as Carol was, she had made a lot of mistakes. In fact, if she was asked to write a summary describing herself, she would put ‘giant fucking mess’ right above ‘hero’ in her description. She had been trying valiantly to change that order, strove towards it on a daily basis, but some things were in the blood. The only thing that separated her from other human messes was the fact that she could hide it relatively well. She had been practicing for over thirty years, after all! She should be an expert at it by now, as she attempted to be in everything she faced.

Unfortunately, messes seemed to be drawn together, and Carol found herself actually enjoying Clint’s company somewhat. She would never admit that out loud, out of loyalty or something else, but it was definitely there, lingering in the back of her mind. Now that Starbucks had thoroughly insulted her, Carol was even more confident in saying that she would never totally warm up to Clint Barton. She would keep finding petty reasons until the day they died!

“They thought you were Rhodes?” Carol repeated, lifting an eyebrow as she looked over Clint appraisingly. “You don’t have the … Rhodes.” She had been going for abs, but tragically, Clint did in fact have abs of his own. “Maybe being in another dimension is cutting off the air supply to some people’s brains?” Carol suggested, unsure of another explanation. It was possible! Her powers meant she could survive in space where others could not. “They thought -- oh my God, you just managed to add to the shit pile of insults that I’ve already received in the last five minutes. You’re going to need to come up with a creative way to get back into my good graces in the next ten seconds. Ten, nine …”

[captcinmcrvel]

heartcfiron:

Through her work as Ironheart, Riri had met a lot of superheroes. She was obviously closest to Tony – that went without saying! – but she’d made friends with others along the way, too. Captain Marvel was one of her favorites. The sheer determination the woman carried was beyond impressive, and the fact that she was willing to do whatever it took to solve issues that needed solving made her worthy of Riri’s respect. She was also one of the heroes who seemed to return that respect, who didn’t write Riri off because of her age or the fact that she was far from the first superhero to fly around in an iron suit fighting bad guys. A lot of people saw her as a less experienced Iron Man, and while that might be a fair assumption for those who didn’t know her, Riri didn’t think it was true. She’d worked hard to get to where she was, and Captain Marvel was one of the heroes who seemed to understand that.

Working alongside her was always fun, an adventure no matter what the task at hand. Tonight, the task wasn’t exactly one Riri would rush home to tell her friends about. The teenagers in question certainly needed saving and would have been pretty much doomed without the combined efforts of Ironheart and Captain Marvel, but they’d also sort of brought the attack on themselves by trying to put a joint out on a demon’s tale. Heroism could be thankless work sometimes!

“I’m not much of a party person,” she admitted, dodging a demon’s claw and hitting him with a reactor blast. “Totally didn’t notice the bassist, but I did see the guy get his tongue stuck to the ice sculpture! He cried. I felt a little bad laughing at him after that. The reveal thing sort of brought the party down, I think.” Things had sort of devolved after that, and any fun Riri had been having feded significantly. 

Carol knew a little something about being a legacy hero given her own experiences. Ironheart was not Iron Man - the name by definition required a little altering - but their suits were majorly similar, Tony had taken the young girl under his wing, and they worked together like bread and butter. When Mar-Vell died, leaving a space that Carol doubted would ever be filled, she had strove to be his double, to fit into the gap that he had left entirely. She had stretched herself out, had manipulated the things she believed in, the things that her gut instinct told her to do, because she was constrained by what he would have done, what he would think of her actions. It took more than a few years for her to break out of that, to realise that she had been relying on her own opinion even when no one else agreed with it since the day and hour she could look up to the stars. After that revelation, she became a monumentally better hero, and she hoped she was improving every day.

Ironheart was much younger than Ms. Marvel had been, and already she seemed to be settling into the role more easily. Perhaps it was because a genius mind was more pliable, easier to adapt to certain impossible situations, but Carol believed it was something intrinsic within Ironheart instead. She took the essential components of Tony’s beliefs - futurism, progress, protecting, defending, Avenging - and added her own spin to them, acted off her own initiative.

“He cried?” Carol repeated, letting out a burst of laughter as one of the demons took a swing for her. She dodged it easily, hyper cosmic awareness coming in handy yet again, and returned with an uppercut of her own that sent the creature flying back into the wall behind them. Carol winced at the property damage, feeling moderately guilty, but that disappeared quickly when the next demon stepped up to the plate. “Some would argue it just made it more interesting,” Carol said with a roll of her eyes, “but he could have put people in danger. He did put unlisted people in danger. Perhaps that was his intention.” Forcing people to sign, though, never ended well. Carol knew enough from personal experience, had seen this happen before.

[captcinmcrvel]

panthergcd:

Since opening Wakanda up to the rest of the world, T’Challa had taken on many projects. He lent his mind to various scientific groups, lent his funds to charities, his time to outreach programs. He had a lot to make up for, after all. Wakanda’s previous rulers had offered no help as the world fell apart, had lived in sanctuary while people starved all around the world, and T’Challa could not let that be him. When he saw a cause worthy of Wakanda’s support, he threw himself into it wholeheartedly. Alpha Flight – and, by extension, Carol Danvers – was more than worthy. He wasn’t sure if she thought herself a leader, but it was clear in looking at her that that was precisely what she was. She was bold and wonderful, unflinching of the terrors of the world around her, and it was admirable to say the least.

“It does seem unnaturally small now,” he agreed. Had something like this happened in Wakanda, most of the country might not have noticed at all. T’Challa’s people did not often leave Wakanda’s boarders. They had no reason to. But New York… New York was different. T’Challa knew he was far from the only person antsy at the isolation. “I’d wager whoever is behind this put more than a small amount of planning into it.” It seemed well-thought out, as if someone had been biding their time in hopes of the perfect moment. They’d certainly found something close to it. “Well, we certainly have to find something to do that’s more productive than you eating furniture,” he said dryly, a smile playing at his lips. “Unfortunately, it seems there isn’t much to do that hasn’t already been done.”

To an outsider perspective, Carol was an extremely busy woman. Frequently reporters and fans had asked her how she managed to fit everything in, and Carol had just laughed it off, brushed past it with a joke and a winning smile. The thing was, Carol always needed to be busy. She needed to be striving every second of the day to either better herself or help other people. Even her hobbies were intense, no moment for relaxation. Alpha Flight was currently grounded, the Avengers’ reach - which was previously the entirety of the world - had been dramatically cut, and for all of her experience in space and with NASA, she couldn’t figure out the first thing about how to get out of this dimension, or who put them there. T’Challa was someone who had a finger in every pot as well, and was probably facing the same change in role as Carol was. Both of their situations - Carol pulled from space, T’Challa from his country - were temporary ultimately, but that didn’t mean they weren’t heavily taxing on their emotions.

T’Challa hid it about as well as Carol did herself - or maybe he was enjoying the break? Honestly, Carol struggled enough leading Alpha Flight, nevermind an entire country. “Did you travel much when you were growing up?” Carol asked curiously. T’Challa was well cultured, spoke as if he had travelled extensively, but she knew that for an exceeded length of time Wakanda’s existence was unknown to the world at large, just another small country in the largest continent on Earth. “At the beginning I wondered if we had moved into a temporal lapse, or something of the kind, whether the entire thing was a freak natural event. With everything else that’s happened, though, I have other suspicions now.” Hoping for an accident instead of an intentional act was optimistic, wasn’t it? “We could always go rescue some kittens from trees?” Carol suggested, a weak smirk pulling at her lips. “Or train. Again.”

[captcinmcrvel]

@hcwkguys

Carol wasn’t exactly sure how this was supposed to work. She wasn’t even entirely convinced that she knew what had happened between Jess and Clint. There was definitely an element of awkwardness there, but then again, there was an element of awkwardness between Clint and the grand majority of SHIELD at one point. Hawkeye seemed incapable of keeping it in his pants, and she wasn’t talking about his firearm.

She had settled, very maturely, on not speaking to him even when they were being shot at, or chased by mutant dinosaurs. When it became abundantly clear that wasn’t working, Carol had punched him in the face during sparring, and that had relieved enough tension that they could definitely work together. Today, though, that progress immediately stalled. Hell, it might even have gone backwards.

“I just … don’t understand,” Carol said as she walked down the street, blinking a few times. She felt numb, honestly. Empty in a way that she hadn’t since Mar-Vell’s death. “How can Starbucks take your Avengers ID card as excuse for a discount but not mine? I’m Captain Marvel! I’m with you! Why would someone with an Avenger lie about being an Avenger? How does this make any sense?!”

[rebuildhq]

Priyanka Chopra || Carol Danvers || Captain Marvel || Avengers || Identity: Public || 33 || Female || Boston, Massachusetts || Avenger, leader of Alpha Flight Space Program, author || Registered || Listed || PLAYED BY LOLA

biography:

Carol Danvers was always going to amount to great things, even if the people around her didn’t seem to see it that way. As a young woman, Carol was faced with challenge after challenge on her journey to discover the stars, beginning with her father’s refusal to send her to college in the place of her brother, believing that his son was less of a flight risk than his daughter. The night that her father revealed his lack of faith in her was the night that Carol became even more determined to do amazing things with her life. She signed up to the Air Force, who put her through college, and when she graduated, she took on a position as a pilot, excelling in each and every mission she was sent on.

She was the fastest of everyone, the best of the best, but that wasn’t enough to satisfy Carol. She had always been eager to push harder, faster, go further than anyone had done before, and now that she had her wings, she was convinced that there was nothing else holding her back. When Carol was captured during one of her missions over hostile enemy territory, she not only refrained from revealing any American secrets, but also returned to a CIA safehouse with key information about their enemies. That impressed her bosses enough that she was promoted to Air Force Intelligence, and eventually found her way to NASA as their head of security.

As the youngest security captain in NASA’s history, Carol became involved in the schemes of the interstellar alien Kree Empire. It was during her various encounters with this race that she met an alien by the name of Mar-Vell, becoming extremely close to the man. In what NASA would brand as a tragedy, but Carol would later say was one of the most pivotal moments of her life, Carol was knocked into a damaged Kree Psyche-Magnitron, a powerful device which could turn imagination into reality. Carol’s genetic structure was altered, transforming her into a half-Kree superhuman.

Although Carol’s extremely successful career at NASA was damaged by these events, Carol found it to be a blessing in disguise. Her powers became stronger and stronger over the months, and her discipline and Air Force training meant that she was more than capable of getting a handle on them. She resigned from NASA - in typical Carol form this was not done quietly, but instead was combined with writing a scathing expose that meant returning to this place of employment was extremely unlikely - and dedicated herself to becoming the best hero (and journalist) she could possibly be.

Heroism became something of an addiction for Carol, and when she was asked to join the Avengers, she accepted almost immediately, eager to once again be the absolute best of the best. She was welcomed rapidly and became an extremely valuable member of the team, growing close to the grand majority of its members. Throughout the years there have been more than enough challenges and tribulations, including the so-called ‘Civil War’ between heroes and the presence of the Skrulls and Syndicate in the city, but Carol stood firm with her teammates, and was an instrumental part in keeping everything together.

New York being suspended in another dimension yet to be determined is something that Carol couldn’t have predicted, but as far as she’s concerned, it’s just another situation that the Avengers and other superhero teams will be able to resolve with enough time. While the scientists scratch their heads and burn off brain cells in the labs, Carol is going to be out defending her place as America’s golden girl, protecting as many people as possible, and pretending as hard as she can that she’s not feeling desperately claustrophobic.

[captcinmcrvel]

@flyboylantern

There were a lot of legends in space. Quill had started up a culture of Footloose worship, the Kree remained a species that were treated with reverence and something like fear in standard conversation, the Ravagers changed between being petty thieves and insanely talented bounty hunters depending on who was telling the story. The Lantern Corps were no exception to that rule. Each of them were governed by an emotion, of that everyone could settle, but the strength of their kind relied almost entirely on the wielder’s makeup because of that.

Carol knew more than enough about how dangerous a well honed person could be. After all, she was one herself. That was why she hadn’t intentionally sought out the Lanterns when she was in space. Carol Danvers didn’t step down from a fight, but she didn’t go looking for one either - except for tonight. Tonight, she had chosen to go beyond the border of the city and punch some demons in the face, because she was grounded since New York became a world unto itself, and she was bored out of her mind.

She was just about to consider retreat - the demons spawned a little too quickly for complete comfort - when she spotted something green out of the corner of her eye. “Wow,” she said as she flung another photonic blast towards a group of demons, tearing through several of their kind. “Small world. I wasn’t expecting to see one of the Lanterns here. Bet this is the worst gig you’ve ever had, huh?” Definitely more than he signed up for, at least.

[captcinmcrvel]

@master-of-mystic-arts

Stephen Strange had always held a special spot in Carol’s heart, mostly because he had been there the very first time she met her cat, Chewie. Sure that cat turned out to be an alien that laid a hundred and twenty seven eggs on board the Guardians’ ship and almost caused an interdimensional calamity, but Chewie was a part of Carol’s family now, and one of the only living creatures that she could face on one of her bad days. That meant something! Having the Master of the Mystic Arts on speed-dial came in handy for more than just reminiscing, though, and today she was in the Sanctum with a very specific problem.

“One of the demons bit me,” Carol informed him, looking down at the very strange wound on her arm. It was bleeding red and blue, as was usual for her with her mixed DNA, and no matter what she attempted, she couldn’t encourage her healing factor to kick in again. “I can’t absorb magic, so I’m guessing it’s something of a weakness for me?” Carol suggested. She wasn’t a scientist, but she could guess enough based on trial and error. “So if the demons are magical, I’m not gonna be able to heal it up alone. That’s where you come in, buddy. I even brought you coffee as a preemptive show of gratitude!”

[captcinmcrvel]

@ncvarider

When Tony and Steve turned to her during Avengers’ game night and questioned why Carol thought she had the authority to challenge the established rules of Monopoly and/or Cluedo, she had immediately retorted with the fact that she was basically the boss of space. Bravado aside, she was of the firm opinion that she was the Avenger that had the most experience with threats outside of their own atmosphere. That was why she was confident in saying that humans who became heroes in other cosmos was definitely a niche market, and one that was rapidly depleting. Quill was dead, Nova was dead, and so Carol was even more determined to fight on in their stead, to make up for their sacrifice.

As it turned out, at least in one of those cases, raising a drink to a lost friend had been unnecessary. Richard Rider, the slippery son of a bitch, found himself coming back to life in the kind of dramatic way that would befit one of the X-Men, and Carol couldn’t really put into words how thrilled she was to find out that was the case. She settled instead for old familiar signs of affection, and that was how they ended up sitting on the floor of Avengers Tower, playing Battleships.

“I admit,” Carol said with a groan, leaning back on her hands, “the back of the box really sold me on this being the most amazing board game ever invented. Are you bored? I’m bored. Maybe it’s an Air Force thing.” She turned to look out the window, gaze across the skyline, and watched as one of the flying demons flew itself right into the window. “How can some of them be so formidable,” she questioned, “and others be dumber than the flying monkeys in Wizard of Oz? Have you ever experienced anything like them before? I’ve dealt with manatees with wings before, you know, on that planet near Xandar, but nothing like this.”

[captcinmcrvel]

@spoiledsteph

Carol was known by many names. Spaceface. The boss of space. Captain Marvel. Cheeseburger. Defender of Earth, protector of the atmosphere, Avenger of the cosmos. She was not, however, known for stopping burglars in the middle of the street, allowing them to clothesline themselves on her fist, but when the situation presented itself, who was she to step away from that? She was an Avenger, that meant she protected people, and just because she was usually too busy to deal with street level thuggery, that didn’t mean she wasn’t good at it!

Of course, the moment the burglar let out a yell and dropped to the ground, the demons at the end of the street perked their … ears? (Their anatomy was honestly so confusing.) Maybe Carol wasn’t so great at the whole ‘keeping it lowkey’ thing after all. That was brand new information! “Hey guys,” Carol said as the demons began to walk towards her. “We can work this out without me having to set you on fire, okay?” They didn’t seem to be listening, and Carol groaned, looking around. “If there are any shadow vigilantes out there, now would be a great time for some assist, preferably the kind without flames!”

[captcinmcrvel]

@kryptonianstars

It was rare that Carol found herself with someone who had the same level of power that she possessed. Her abilities, after all, were garnered from the Kree DNA that had bonded with her own genes, and that meant that they were meant to be utilised on a cosmic level. Unleashing herself completely while restricted to Earth’s atmosphere, or simply New York as was the case recently, was not something that she needed to test in order to know that it wasn’t going to end well. Today, she had someone by her side that understood that particular burden in a way that only a few of her teammates truly could, and that was Superman.

Demons continued to patrol the streets, becoming more and more agitated in the wake of the party. “They’re feeding off the city’s anxiety,” Carol commented as they hovered above the street, looking over at Superman against the backdrop of slightly unusual sky. Only someone who spent their life looking to the stars as she did could see the telltale differences during the day. At night, though, it was obvious they were elsewhere in the universe. “Are you up for thinning out the herd a little? If we work together, it should only take us a few moments, and then we could get some burgers. There's a place on Doom Boulevard I’m yet to try, but it gets good reviews from Hawkeye, so I’m sold!”