Homecoming

[the_next_avenger]

Joe hit the rooftop and rolled immediately to spread out the impact, glad that his reinforced boots absorbed the shock better than his old ones. He came up from the roll and kept running, his black trenchcoat moving behind him like a cape. The scents and sounds of New York were so familiar, so inviting that the cold night didn't seem foreboding at all. In fact, it was so inviting that he'd almost wished he'd come home sooner.

 

Soon, he'd have to stop by the mansion and see some of his other friends. Sammy brought him home but there were others who needed to know he was back. Now that he knew Bruce was running the Avengers, he had to pay his respects and find out where things stood between them. They'd last spoken a few years ago and the conversation hadn't ended well. Since then, it seemed that the Captain had taken a shine to Bruce and really liked him. Secretly, Joe had always wondered if his father wished he was more like his friend rather than a drifter, but Joe never brought it up because he wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer.

A scream split the night air and Joe immediately adjusted his position due west, in the direction of the sound. One block over in a dark alley, three thugs had cornered a young woman and were making lewd gestures at her in concert with verbal description of what they'd like to do to her. Joe didn't like guys who harassed women and so he leaped down into the alley, coming up behind the group.

"Look guys, I'm gonna make this real simple. Let the nice lady go and I'll only break a hand, jaw or leg before you go to jail." Joe said, pointing at each man respectively as he indicated which limb they'd get broken.

"Make this a fight and all of you will spend six months in the hospital and THEN go to jail. Your choice." he said, turning slightly so that he wasn't facing any of them directly.

Two of the thugs chose to try circling him so that he couldn't get away while the third guy grabbed the woman and held a knife to her.

"And which super-chump are you supposed to be?" the thug asked.

Joe sighed and waited for them to attack.

Comments

[comic_awareness]

Bruce was on his way back into the city, heading in the general direction of the Mansion. He'd flown down to New Jersey, to surprise his girlfriend, only to find the former power plant deserted. A quick cell call had revealed that Angel had been attacked and they'd gone to the hospital. Not wanting to feel like an intruder, especially with so much of the girl's friends and family there, he'd opted to head back to the Manhattan.

He cut a glowing streak across the sky, skimming a little low over some of the rooftops. Something in one of the alleys, however, caught his attention.

New local vigilante? He wasn't quite sure what was going on there... But he definitely didn't like the woman being grabbed thing.

He paused in his flight, high enough in the air that if they didn't look up, they wouldn't probably notice. Had to play this carefully...

[the_next_avenger]

The first guy screamed and came at Nomad with a wild punch. He was sloppy and undisciplined, though; Joe batted the arm aside even as the thug's momentum carried him forward.

He responded with a vicious elbow to the jaw that echoed with the satisfying sound of a wet crack in the alleyway. The thug fell down clutching his jaw and yelling something about it being broken.

"Jaw."

The second man was already coming at his back and managed to get two meaty arms wrapped around the young super-soldier. Joe drove the back of his head in the man's nose, once, twice, three times and felt the ruffian's arms loosen. Nomad quickly grasped his attacker's left arm and pulled, flipping him over his shoulder and onto the hard pavement.

Joe twisted once, twice and then pulled backward at the shoulder joint.

Crack, Crack, POP!

The second thug howled in anguish, clutching his shoulder.

"Arm."

And now Nomad turned to the last thug who held the knife on the woman. There was fear in the man's eyes, but he wasn't releasing his grip.

"Come any closer and she's dead! I swear I'll kill her!" he yelled.

Joe wished he had his dad's shield right now, but he didn't. What he did have was a knife, which he drew from inside his coat.

"If you hurt her, you're done. Let her go and we can settle this." Joe said. He didn't have any real way to get the guy to let her go but he hoped his dad's patented stare would get the man to doubt himself long enough to strike.

[comic_awareness]

All right, he saw where this was going. He dropped out of the sky and fired a tightly focused, narrow blast of photonic energy from his hand, blasting the knife out of the guy's hand.

With his other hand, he put a bubble of solid energy around the woman. "I'd listen him," he said.

[the_next_avenger]

Joe saw the energy blast and then the energy bubble around the woman and looked up at the newcomer. Great, one of New York's other heroes decided to show up once things were handled.

The thug looked between Nomad and the other guy and backed up against the wall.

"Okay, I give up! Take me to jail, please!" he begged.

Joe walked over and punched him out, knocking him to the floor.

Then he looked up at the new guy...that he was starting to think he knew.

"I had it, you know. You didn't have to jump in. But thanks." he said.

[comic_awareness]

"I could tell," he said, and meant it.

Okay, he definitely knew that voice and...

Bruce's eyes widened behind his mask.

"...Joe?"

[the_next_avenger]

Yeah, just like he thought.

"You wanna let the lady go so we can talk this out? By the way, it's Nomad now." he said.

[comic_awareness]

"Oh, geeze, right," Bruce said, dissolving the force field. "You all right, miss?"

[the_next_avenger]

"I-I'm okay." she said, smiling at Bruce, then Joe. She waves at both of them and then leaves, pulling out her cellphone to call the cops.

Joe watches her go and then looks up at Bruce.

"I see you haven't lost your flair for making an entrance." he said with a smirk.

"How have you been?"

[comic_awareness]

Bruce grinned. "Hey, you gotta some a sense of style in this game."

"I've had better stretches, but it mostly worked out in the end," he said.

At the Mansion.... (Open to Avengers)

[the_next_avenger]

Joe pulled up to Avengers Mansion to meet Bruce and check the place out. It was just as big as he remembered it. No, wait. It was bigger still. Every time he'd come here, he'd had the time of his life, at least when he was a boy.

As he got older, though, the place became a museum to his father's legacy and something of a reminder of the man he wasn't.

He knocked on the door, unwilling to just walk inside and hoped that he didn't get fried by the security.

"Hey, Bruce. You here?" Joe called out.

[avengingwarbird]

It was one of those days where she was lounging at the Mansion again, craving company of some sort. Roxie felt lonely after her break-up with Vincent, that much was true, but she also wasn't looking to get back into any of that with anyone right now.

She still had a lot of things to figure out.

Still, she'd spent the day at the Mansion, clearing the fridge clean out of any baked goods that Jarvis might have stock-piled in there.

There was a Roxie-sized dent in the red wine as well, though Roxie herself wasn't drunk. It took a lot more than that to get the demi-goddess wasted.

She was the first to the door after she heard it knock. Not at all carefully - after all, the voice on the other end was looking for Bruce, so how dangerous could whoever was on the other side be? - she swung open the door, and blinked.

Staring back at her was a face she hadn't seen in a very long time.

"Joe?"

[the_next_avenger]

Joe's face had at least two days of stubble and he was somewhat taller than when he'd left. He looked down at the woman in front of him and, for the second time that evening, he felt like he knew the person in front of him but he could exactly place it.

Then it hit him like a ton of bricks.

"Roxanne Danvers? Is that you?" he asked, squinting a bit at the hair color. She was blonde the last time he saw her, several years ago, he was sure of it. But the dark hair suited him.

His gruff exterior immediately softened and he offered her one of his trademarked all-American smiles.

"Wow. You look great. Not that you didn't before or anything. I mean...yeah. How are you?" he asked, looking for a topic of conversation that didn't go into Roxie's looks. He remembered her being very pretty...as well as very much about having fun.

Joe used to be the opposite of fun.

"You're still short." he said, teasing her about her height. He used to do that a lot to both her and Sammy.

[avengingwarbird]

She blinked a couple of times, disbelieving her eyes. Joe. He'd been one of her first big crushes, which wasn't all too surprising. You'd have to be an LMD not to have a crush on someone who shared Captain America's genes. He'd enlisted one day, and then disappeared. That had been a few years ago, and she hadn't honestly given him much thought since, except to once in awhile wonder where he had disappeared off to.

The cold, sullen look that had taken the place of what had once been a bright, sparkling smile broke a little as Roxie smiled at him, while cursing her misfortune. There had been a time, before the Kreenapping, when Roxie would have been all over Joe right then, like green on grass.

She tended not to take no for an answer.

But she was a different woman now.

Still, she pulled her old friend into a warm, if brief, hug, and then grabbed him by his arms and pulled him into the Mansion.

Finally, she said, "Me? You're the giant!" Roxie's eyes swept over him. He'd always been taller than her, but he had gotten so much taller since she'd seen him last. "You look fantastic, though." If a little scruffy, but it worked on him.

"How have you...where have you...how is everything?" She was leading him into the kitchen as she hammered him with questions. There may not have been any pies or tarts or cakes left, but there were things for sandwiches.

[the_next_avenger]

Joe hugged Roxie, noting that she'd definitely grown up in the last few years. She was pretty back then, but she was far too young for him. Now she was gorgeous and...he couldn't go to that place in his head.

Not now and maybe not ever again.

He was a different man.

"Thank you. You look amazing, like I said." he followed her inside the mansion and did his best to keep his mind on the conversation and Roxie. Something about her seemed different, and not just her hair.

"I've been good. I've been...traveling. Let's say that. Things didn't work out with military school." Joe said. The tone of his voice indicated that there was a lot more to that story that he wasn't talking about.

"Things are all right. Mom and the Captain were glad to see me. Sammy found me in St. Louis and talked me into coming home." he told her.

"What about you? Know any cool places to hang out? I could use a night out soon but I don't know how much New York has changed." he said. Roxie knew how to have a good time and where to hang out. She also knew other things, but Joe did his best not to judge someone on how they lived their life, so long as they weren't hurting anyone else.

It didn't always work, but he tried.

[avengingwarbird]

Roxie indicated the island in the center of the kitchen with its assortment of chairs and barstools - all of which seemed to work together. There were different kinds, to accommodate the variety of people who inhabited the Mansion. She nodded at one, implying that Joe should take a seat.

She then reached into the fridge and pulled out a variety of meats, cheeses, vegetables, and condiments and laid them carefully across the island in front of Joe, and then turned back to get a plate, a few knives, and the cutting board.

As she set to making him a sandwich, she snuck a look at Joe. The way he'd paused before he said the word "traveling" piqued Roxie's curiosity. When they'd been younger, he'd still been a little older than her, and so she knew there were certain things about his life that she was unaware of. And unlike Roxie's later years, where she'd appeared in the society pages and gossip columns for her antics and exploits - both in and out of costume - Joe had pretty much disappeared.

"Sammy's good at that," Roxie nodded, brushing past the military school bit. There was something there - a story - but Roxie didn't want to push. Joe had just returned, and scaring him away was pretty much the last thing she wanted to do.

He would, she hoped, open up when he was ready.

"New York is...New York," Roxie said. "A new hotspot every week, but the old pizza places, falafel stands, and hot dog vendors are still the better than the new places that crop up." Truth be told, it had been a very long while since Roxie had slipped into something shimmery and barely there and gone out for a night on the town, having her choice of men available to her to do with whatever it was that pleased her most.

"I have a permanent invitation to the Boom Boom Room and Le Bain, but if you're into tons of celebrities and kitschy eighties decor, Ph-D at Dream Town isn't too bad." She paused. "Westway is nice, but small, and a little hipstery." She said that last word a little disdainfully. She didn't understand that whole irony thing. Just be who you are and do things because you feel like it, not because you're trying to make some bizarre statement. "There are other, more low-key places, too."

[the_next_avenger]

Joe sat down at the island and watched as Roxie made him a sandwich and actually felt really good for a bit. He hadn't had a homemade meal in...well, longer than he'd like to think about. And the last woman who'd done so for him...well, he didn't want to think about her, either.

"Yeah, Sammy is good at getting people to think about things other than themselves. She kind of saved me. I wasn't doing so well, though I fooled myself into thinking I was." Joe said, sneaking a look at Roxie while her back was turned. Yes, he was sure there was something different about her, something in the way she stood and carried herself. When she answered the door, Joe thought he saw an unhappiness or an anger in her expression that vanished when she realized it was him.

Was she expecting someone else?

Now as she talked about the New York hotspots, Joe noted that Roxie wasn't talking about them with the same flair she used to use when talking about fun. She loved having fun and seeing new places. He'd read about her exploits in the society pages when he was in Colorado and then while was on the move. It was one of the few things that connected him to home. She usually hung out with different people and he figured she was enjoying herself. The woman he saw before him barely bore a resemblance to happy, flighty girl he used to know.

He started ask her if something was wrong but then stopped himself. He didn't want to pry into her life; he was practically a stranger to her after all this time. Why would she trust him if she had a problem.

"I really like the small and low-key spots. I used to love shopping at the Mom and Pop places I came across while I was...traveling. St. Louis had a lot of great barbecue spots that you had to really look for. The locals always know the best places to eat and hang out. I haven't been to a club since sophomore year at the Springs." he said.

"Do you still go to those places? Maybe you could show me around sometime, if we're not both punching out baddies?" he suggested.

[avengingwarbird]

Roxie slid a plate laden with a few different kinds of sandwiches in front of Joe, along with a pitcher of ice-cold lemonade. "It's funny," she said, "the sorts of things we fool ourselves into thinking."

Yeah, there was enough baggage in that room, right then, to fill an entire baggage claim area at LaGuardia.

She reached back into the fridge and came out with an oversized container of potato salad, which she carefully scooped out into a large bowl before passing that over to Joe as well.

One didn't just come home and not eat.

Roxie nodded her head and leaned against the counter opposite her friend, pulling all of her long, dark brown hair over to one side, absently brushing through it with her fingers. "Anytime you want to go, I'm game," she smiled.

And then, after a moment's hesitation, "...I don't want to pry, but..." she paused. "You know, never mind. I'm glad you're back."

[the_next_avenger]

As Joe was about to leave the mansion, feeling better about his night now that he'd talked to Roxie, he stopped to look over the portraits of the Avengers who'd existed since the formation of the group. He stopped at his father's picture and studied it.

He would be standing there if anyone was coming into the mansion.

[comic_awareness]

That, in this case, would be Bruce.

"Hey," he said. "Sorry I'm late. There was a pretty major traffic accident on the roads. Stopped to help out."

[the_next_avenger]

Joe looked up from his musing and nodded to Bruce. "No problem, man. I ran into Roxie and we talked for a bit. She's been through some stuff. She invited me to crash at her place so that my parents don't drive me nuts." Joe said.

"Whatever the Kree did to her is eating her alive, man. Have you offered her some time off?" he asked.

[comic_awareness]

Bruce nodded. "She took a leave of absence for a while immediately after."

He frowned though. "The whole Olympian thing is kind of my fault. Her trying to get in touch with it was my plan when they knocked out our powers."

[the_next_avenger]

"I can't tell you what to do with your team, but maybe you should offer her another one. Your the head guy in charge, man. Your biggest priority is getting everyone in and out of the combat zone in one piece. If you can do that, that's victory right there, even if the mission is a failure." Joe said.

"Also, this Vincent guy that she used to date. Do you think he can function on the team without their relationship?" Joe asked. He was curious about Vincent but he didn't really have a reason to voice it. Such concern would look odd coming from a non-member.

"Who is your number two?"

[comic_awareness]

Bruce nodded. "You're probably right. Seemed to me like she was doing okay, but people just don't reinvent themselves that easily."

Another nod. "I think they're okay. Time enough to avoid it with Vincent going on a leave of absence."

Roxie reinventing herself, Nicky and his Asgardianness and the fallout from being banished from his home, Jay and the fact that he seemed to be getting worse the more he Hulked-out, Vincent and all his issues, Erin and her inexperience (and him putting her in such a clutch position during such a big fight...).

Seemed like he and Marcus might be the only sane ones. And he was the one running the show.

"Never really got around to picking one. We've really only had like six members at one point," he said. "Nicky or Marcus usually fill the role, when it comes up."

[the_next_avenger]

Joe can see that Bruce cares about his people and that he's not just the leader of the team because he's the toughest guy there. That was one of the reasons the Avengers was in good hands. He also seemed to know his people which was also a good sign.

"You should probably get a second, just in case. If everyone knows the command structure, then the team can still function if something happens to you, God forbid. If the team knows who's in charge when you're not available, then they can still operate and pull out the win when needed." Joe told him.

Something else came to mind just then and Joe wondered if he'd regret it, but Bruce needed people he could count on if his teammates were injured or otherwise occupied.

"Look, I'm doing some work with SHIELD right now but they haven't asked me for a lot of help yet. If you need another reservist, I'm willing to help out if you're down on numbers." Joe offered.

"Just keep me in mind if you need another body to help out."

[comic_awareness]

Another nod. "A good idea. Kinda depends on if Marcus decides to stay or not. If Vincent goes--which he is--I'm hoping I can convince him to stick around. But either him or Nicky would be the best fit."

He smiled. "I appreciate it, Joe. Thanks."