The Next Generation of Marvel Heroes

Vesper was out on one of his nightly patrols. He was hoping for plain, normal criminals. After a few supernatural run-ins with the Defenders, he was hoping for normalcy. Though demonic infestations of mystical doodads was apparently good at making the lesser evils hide out. The city air felt vibrant but wrong as Vesper banked alongside a building. He was scanning the neighborhoods for some sort of heroics to do.

He was just about ready to turn toward home when he caught a faint voice on the edge of his hearing.

"-do you got it? I got the money."

Vesper slowly wheeled toward the sound. It was late enough at night for whatever was being purchased to be of an illicit nature. Something he could stop on his own. Something he could control. After the last six months, he desperatly needed that.

It took a little night-sky circling, but he found the alleyway where the dealing was happening. He silently landed on a rooftop and peered over the edge. Looked like a dealer and two addicts. When he briefly dropped his silence field, sounded like it, too. Vesper put his silence field back up before he carefully scaled down a fire escape. A few quick checks as he went and it looked like the drugs were getting paid for.

Vesper launched himself off the last platform to the pavement below. He hit the ground on the other side of a dumpster and rolled. He came up smoothly and flexed his fingers. Time to go to work. He stepped out into the alley more as he dropped the silence field. Vesper opened his mouth to call out and paused.

In unison, all three people looked at him. It wasn't being noticed that made a cold chill run down his spine. It was because all three sets of eyes reflected light back at him. He was positive he didn't just walk into dogs and cats dealing drugs.

The human shapes of the three bodies down the alley grew blurry. The druggie on the left moved forward a step, the human guise disappearing. A wave of uncertainty washed over him as the demon clacked his teeth together. Vesper was about to take a step back when the druggie on the right, moved closer. The human guise dropped to reveal another demon. Its appearance hit him in the gut with how much he reviled it. He grit his teeth and clenched his fists. Vesper raised his arm to fire from one of his bracers as the dealer moved toward him as well. Its appearance changed as six appendages grew out of the demon's back. With every twitch of the legs on the back of his torso, Vesper grew more confident he could take these demons. He was one of the Defenders; they did this all the time lately.

He wasn't immediately overwhelmed when all three demons attacked him at once. He fired with both bracers. The sonic attack reverberated between the close buildings. Though three attackers at once started to slip through his defenses. One of the spindly, spidery legs darted across one of the pouches on his thigh. It ripped right through the pouch and sent the contents spilling out across the concrete. Thankfully, the armor under the pouch was stronger, but the disposable cell in the pouch clattered against the ground.

Two of the demons redoubled their attacks on Vesper while the Pride Demon bent over to pick the phone off the pavement. It tilted its head left and right. It hit the one number programmed into the phone.

New York City felt taut from the skies. As Vesper winged his way around buildings, he could feel the tense anticipation brought on by wall-to-wall coverage of the huge storm heading their way. Though that didn't mean the gangs he tracked did less.

It just meant they got more trigger happy and frantic about the next shipment getting in before the rest of the city blew away. He was on his way to a meeting. He'd overheard part of it. He didn't have all the details but enough to get there and make these drug-pushing gangs regret it.

He kept his ears tuned toward the ground as he flew. It was always good to know if he was spotted and going to be shot at. Which is why he didn't fly right by a set of apartment buildings in Brooklyn when he heard a blood-curdling scream.

Vesper adjusted course and swooped lower to try to figure out what that was and where it came from.

Marcelo Jaoquim Alencar da Silva double-checked that everything had been in order before he left the penthouse. This business meeting was vastly important. It had many aspects he had to juggle in both parts. He had gone through the right channels to get this meeting at Frost International.

Sage and Stephanie had given him pointers on things outside of the realm business. The business end he could handle; everything else that mattered he would take pointers on. He had a ring on his right hand to block cursory telepathic scans. He was assured if Emma Frost really wanted in his mind, she would get there. So, he had to be careful not to think of things, even in passing, about his secret identity. The ring would help remind him.

He walked confidently into Frost International in his tailored dark gray suit. The appointment had been set. He had made sure it was before school started at Stephanie's alma mater and it was with Emma Frost herself. Patrolling had been light the night before so Marcelo moved smoothly into the building.

He caught his reflection in a surface. There was a brief satisfied smile at what he saw. His double-breasted wool suit fit perfectly. His white, cotton shirt helped his emerald green silk knit tie stand out as an accent. He reached up and adjusted his cotton pocket square slightly with the hand not holding his leather briefcase. His silver cuff links caught a sparkle of light from the motion. His newer leather ankle boots, thankfully, did not squeak as he strode across the small expanse of floor to the reception desk.

"Bom dia," he greeted the receptionist with a smile. "Marcelo Alencar da Silva to see Ms. Frost."

Things post-wedding had been going well. Husband and wife had no left the mansion for a few days after the wedding. By the time they were willing to visit around São Paulo, Marcelo kept their days busy. But not so busy their nights at home weren't busy either.

After sending off information to Brooke about the Symkarian group to hire as security for the New York reception, Marcelo went looking for his casual, not extremely well-tailored clothing. He needed to take Stephanie to visit his aunt. While she had been briefly at the Brazilian wedding reception to congratulate the couple, he knew she expected a visit.

The chauffeur would arrive soon to drive them to outside of the favela his aunt lived in. They would have to walk in to the slum. A standard precaution Marcelo had taken.

Now, he just needed to find his pants...

Marcelo had started regular patrolling in earnest when he wasn't trying to spend the night with Stephanie. It felt good to get the suit on. It covered his scars well and he had added a little protection to the spots where a sword had run straight through his body. In addition to his normal patrols, he used what little superhuman power he had to keep tabs on what Sebastian Shaw was doing. Since he could listen to things at a distance and fine tune his hearing from there, he tried to be careful not to blip on any of Shaw's cronies' radar.

Though that was where he picked up Shaw had put a bounty on Marcelo Alencar da Silva's head. The target wondered if this was the first time the same man had bounties on his head for two separate identities. He doubted it, but he liked to think he was pioneering in some way.

Ignoring the tabloid stories about him and Stephanie being on the rocks was easy enough since Marcelo didn't read tabloids nor did he have a secretary who did anymore. It was harder to ignore Helena when she scheduled a visit with him during office hours. The hour-long visit started pleasantly enough. It actually lasted that long because despite his small, almost heartfelt prayers, no business came up to interrupt the visit with his ex. It turned slightly awkward when she started sounding out if the tabloid reports were true or if Stephanie had gone to rehab or something of the sort. Then it got into well-controlled infuriating when Helena casually brought up some information she gathered about the time Stephanie and Marcelo weren't together. Marcelo was more than happy to escort Helena from his office after the hour was done.

He wasn't quite sure what the future had in store for him, but the Brazilian billionaire figured everything but the impending wedding would give him a headache at the very least.