Thor and Loki were on the floor of their home, playing Battleship, while Angela sat on the sofa watching cartoons. Odin was sat in his armchair reading the paper while Frigga was cooking in the kitchen. All in all it was a good morning in the Odinson/Odinsdottir household.
Until there was a roaring sound from the sky.
Thor stood up and made his way to the window to see what the noise was.
Angela turned her head to the noise and Loki kneeled and craned his head.
Just as Thor reached the window, there was an almighty crash in the backyard. A crash that sent Thor to the floor and set car alarms off in the neighborhood.
"What in Hel was that?" Frigga shouted as she rushed into the living room.
Loki stood up and frowned. "I think it is aliens." He said. "Or perhaps a test pilot has perished in our backyard."
"Father-" Thor pulled himself to his feet.
"Do not listen to your brother." Odin stood up from his chair. "I am certain that it is not 'aliens'. This is not an episode of Star Trek."
"Then what do you think it is, father?" Angela asked, getting to her feet.
"Most likely, it is indeed a test pilot." Odin answered curtly. "Though we can hope he is not dead." He made his way to the back door and opened it with his wife and children crowding behind.
Heimdall was looking over his garden fence. "Odin!" He called out. "You have an alien spaceship in your backyard!"
"Aliens?" Thor asked excitedly.
"It is not an alien spaceship, Heimdall." Odin said coolly.
Heimdall chuckled. "Remember, Odin, I see all. That is why Xavier made me the security guard."
"You were the Gatekeeper of-"
"That was before Ragnarok, neighbor." Heimdall said. "You have an alien in your backyard. And your oldest son is investigating."
"Oldest son-?" Odin questioned. He looked behind him and noticed something wrong. He looked back towards the large metal object crashed in a crater in his backyard and saw Thor touching it.
"Thor!" Odin cried out. "Keep away from that-we know not yet what it is!"
Thor stood on tiptoes to peer inside a window. "Father... I see something. I think it is a horse."
"A horse?" Loki ran over. "It cannot be a horse, Brother."
"Wait, I would like to see the horse too." Angela said. She tried to follow her brothers, but was grabbed on the arm by Odin.
"Aldrif! You do not go to the... Thing." Odin snapped. "Am I understood?"
"Yes, Father." Angela replied moodily.
"Father!" Thor cried out as the metal object began to open. Thor and Loki took a step back and looked at the thing with apprehension.
"Congratulations, Odin." Heimdall leaned against the fence. "You are making contact with alien life."
From the metal object, which looked somewhat like a small aircraft, stepped out a small child. A small child with orange-brown skin, three fingers and a thumb on each hand, pupil-less eyes and a long face, rather like a horse. But without lips. Or ears.
Thor jumped back in horror, while Loki frowned and his jaw dropped slightly.
"Father what is that?" Angela asked in disgust.
"Yes, Odin, what is that creature?" Frigga asked.
"I do not know." Odin said softly. "I intend to find out." He walked towards the alien child.
"Hello. My name is Bill. I am from the planet Korbin." The alien child looked around as he said those words. "And I think I am lost."
"Father." Thor whispered loudly. "It talks."
"Yes, Thor, it does." Odin agreed. "However, 'it' is also called 'Bill', so-"
"Odin, we should get the child inside before any more neighbors see." Frigga suggested.
"Yes. Good idea, Frigga." Odin agreed.
"It looks so weird!" Loki protested.
"Its appearance makes me nauseous!" Thor whined.
"Who are you going to call?" Angela folded her arms. "The FBI?"
"We are not going to call anybody, Aldrif, now be nice." Frigga snapped. "Are we, Odin? Going to call somebody?"
"We must send this child back where he came from, the planet Korbin." Odin said as he led the alien child inside. "But as he crashed into our backyard, he is not going anywhere for the moment."
"And so he is still staying with us." Thor said, his mouth full of sandwich. "The alien kid."
"He calls himself Bill." Loki sneered. "Beta Ray Bill."
"That's a weird name for a kid." Tony shrugged.
"Bill's perfectly normal." Steve pointed out.
"Yeah, but I think he meant the whole 'Beta Ray' put in front of it." Bruce said. "Beta Rays are a type of radiation."
Tony raised an eyebrow. "Bruce, you think the kid's radioactive?" He asked incredulously. "Anyone else agree?"
"Mm." Hank shrugged. "It's certainly possible."
"And if the alien horse kid is radioactive," Bruce began, "you're all getting cancer-"
"And dying!" Tony slammed his hands on the table melodramatically.
"Who's dyin'?" Logan asked, dumping his tray on the table.
"Thor and Loki, apparently." Natasha answered coolly. "They found a radioactive horse-faced alien in their backyard yesterday."
Logan frowned. "A what?"
"Exactly." Steve said. "I couldn't keep up either."
"You comin' over to us?" Logan asked, meaning himself, Bucky, Phil and Stephen since Steve and Tony fell out.
"Yeah, I am. Just Thor asked me here." Steve said. He took his lunchbox, dragged it off the table and walked away with Logan.
"Maybe you should apologize, Tony." Hank suggested.
"Pfft. Why should I?" Tony folded his arms. "Tell me?"
"Because Steve was your best friend." Bruce said.
Tony's shoulders dropped slightly, barely enough for his friends to register, though he knew that Bruce was right.
In the staff room, Odin was with the staff who didn't have lunch duty. As of today, that included Peggy Carter, May Parker, Clay Quartermain, Nick Fury and Genis Vell. Or rather, Odin was sitting away from them, stirring his coffee cup.
Nick walked over to him. "Penny for your thoughts?"
"Oh. Hello, Nick." Odin greeted.
"Something's bothering you." Nick said. "I can tell."
"I just had a child come into my care." Odin said. "A child I cannot care for."
"An alien, right?" Genis Vell said as he passed with his coffee cup. "That's what the kids are saying."
Clay moved closer. "Wait, you have an alien kid?"
"Is that what that crashing noise was yesterday?" Peggy asked. "I thought your house had been hit by a bomb!"
"Very funny, Peggy." Nick rolled his eye. "So it's true, Borson, you're harboring an alien?"
"I am not harboring anything." Odin snapped.
"You know it's okay, right?" Genis Vell asked. "I'm an alien. My father Mar Vell is an alien, as is my sister Phyla Vell. Adam's an alien. And half the staff at Stan Lee are also aliens. And Norrin, Yondu and Stakar at Marvel Middle School."
"How do you know so many aliens?" May asked.
Genis Vell shrugged. "When you are from outer space, you get to know other people from outer space." He replied. "As far as I know though, only my family are from Hala."
"Tell me about the kid that came down from the sky, Odin." Nick said.
"He is... Rather strange looking." Odin began. "I know not what to do with him."
"Do you know his home planet?" Genis Vell asked.
"Indeed. I believe he said it was Korbin." Odin answered.
Genis Vell sucked his teeth and grimaced. "Korbin." He shook his head. "Korbin was destroyed by, uh, by Surtur."
"That child is like Superman." Nick said. "Probably sent to get away from the destruction."
Odin's eye widened. "Surtur? From Muspelheim?"
"Uh... Yeah." Genis Vell nodded.
"Oh dear." Odin shook his head. "That poor child."
"I know, Odin. Try not to let it get to you-" Nick began.
"That child and my family have both lost our homes to Surtur." Odin said.
"So what does he look like?" Genis Vell asked.
"He is small. Like a child usually is." Odin replied. "His eyes have no pupils. He has a long snout with no nose or lips-or even ears. I am rather unsure how he hears. He has three fingers on each hand. And his skin is oddly colored. It is a shade of dark orange."
"I've never come across an alien who looks like that." Genis Vell said. "Although... Perhaps my father has." He shrugged. "I don't know. I'll talk to him when he's off lunch duty. Maybe he can come around and see the kid."
"Odin, what's the child's name?" May asked.
"He said it was Bill." Odin answered.
"With such a weird description, I was half expecting him to be called Kal-El Chaka Khan or something just as stupid." Nick said. "But Bill?" He tutted. "Wasn't expecting that."
"Bill is just so... Normal." May agreed.
"He is no normal child, May, I assure you." Odin said.
"Where is he now?" Clay asked.
"Frigga is nursing his injuries back home." Odin said. "He did, after all, crash land in our back yard."
Back in the cafeteria, Scott put his tray down on the table and poked at his rice with a fork. His younger sister Cassie and her friends Tommy, Billy, Teddy, Kate, Eli and America were also sitting at the table.
"You gonna eat that, Scott?" Cassie asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It's dry." Was Scott's response.
"Nothing worse than dry rice." Cassie responded.
"No! You listen here! Steve has the best ideas..." A voice cried out from another table.
"Can't go one day without the election getting mentioned." Eli huffed.
"Well, it's important. They're going to be representing us all when they go to the sixth grade." Scott said. "You know, like how Brian Braddock does now. You think this election is ugly, he was running against his sister Betsy last year."
"Scott, I'm in the same grade as you are and I can tell you that that's crap." Kate slammed her fork down. "This is easily worse."
"Yeah, how?" Scott raised an eyebrow.
"For starters, it was just Brian and Betsy fighting each other, not the whole entire school fighting each other. This is civil war, Scott and you know it."
"So they're calling it." Cassie shrugged.
"While we're on the subject, who're you voting for?" Kate asked.
"Steve." Scott said. "I always sensed something off about that Johann Schmidt."
"Do you have proof that he's a Nazi though?" Eli asked.
"Hank Pym's aunt." Cassie and Scott said in unison.
"She's usually right about stuff." America shrugged. "She seems to know everything."
"She's a gossip." Kate snorted.
"Definitely." Scott agreed. "Who are you voting for, then?"
"Steve." America said with a nod.
"Yeah. Steve." Teddy agreed.
"Steve for me." Billy said.
"Another voter for Steve." Eli said.
"Tony." Kate said. Everyone looked at her. "Geez, like hell I'm voting Tony. I'm voting Steve."
"I'm voting Steve too. So's Cassie. Right sis?" Scott turned to his sister, who nodded.
"I uh... I'm voting Tony." Tommy said.
"Really?" Kate raised an eyebrow. "You're going to vote for Tony?"
"I just... Feel like Schmidt being a Nazi isn't, uh, true." Tommy said. "Look, I'm gonna leave." He grabbed his practically full tray and stood up.
"You know it's not right with the superpowers, right Tommy?" Kate asked. "People should be able to keep secrets if they want."
"Truth is, I don't know anymore." Tommy said. He walked away, watched by his friends, and dumped the full tray into the nearest bin.
"That was a waste of food." America said.
The arguing over Tony and Steve continued throughout the lunch period. Friendships continued to be torn apart. Even familial relationships. And though Thor was voting for Steve, he tried his best to maintain his friendships with those who were voting Tony, which was proving difficult.
Even as Thor walked down the hall to get to his classroom, he could see people shunning their former friends, or hear them arguing. He heard a full blown argument from Brian and Betsy Braddock.
"How dare you vote Tony!" Betsy shouted.
"I think he has some good ideas-" Brian began.
"Brian!" Betsy shouted. "He's a little prick!"
"He's a little prick who's got good ideas!"
"Oh yeah?" Betsy folded her arms. "Name me one."
"Super powered people should say who they are." Brian said.
"That-it-he's not running for president!" Betsy growled.
"He's running for class president!" Brian snapped. "Student body president."
"For god's sake, Brian!" Betsy snapped back. "You're the president now!"
"And you remember how ugly it was last year, when we were fighting against each other."
"Yeah, but I'm doing fine. I'm your vice president."
"I don't know why people are making such a big deal about the whole powers thing, that isn't just what Tony's standing for, you know." Brian shrugged. "He wants healthier eating in the cafeteria. Steve wants Johann Schmidt canned because he thinks he's a Nazi. There's no real evidence either that Schmidt is a Nazi."
Thor carried on walking. Slowly. Thinking about the repulsive alien creature back at home. The alien who showed up out of nowhere, demanding the affections of his mother. And Thor didn't like that. He didn't like it any more than all this infighting over Steve and Tony.
Thor pushed the door of the classroom open and saw nothing but fighting and hatred.
Steve shouting at Tony who was shouting back at Steve. Both looking angry and full of hate.
Bruce was glaring at Logan, while Logan seemed to be just itching for a fight, both looking like they could kill the other.
Thor moved over to his seat, trying to avoid all the confrontation, and sat down.
"Thor, you're late," Mr Selvig began, "not that we had much opportunity to do anything at the moment anyway. Not with all this arguing."
"It wouldn't be arguing if Tony would listen to what I had to say!" Steve snapped.
"I've listened, I don't like it." Tony folded his arms. "I don't think anyone as scrawny as Steve deserves to be president."
"How dare you?!" Steve growled. "You're disabled too!"
"I am not disabled!" Tony yelled.
"At least I didn't create a stupid genocidal robot!" Steve yelled back. "Too late to feel guilty about that, Tony, the damage is done!"
"Loki skewered Phil like a kebab!" Tony countered. "Imagine if everyone did that! And your Nathan Summers tied up my Wade Wilson and kept him captive! That shows that you can't trust-"
"Only because Wade Wilson broke his nose!" Steve huffed. "Keep your goons under your damn control, Tony!'
"Okay!" Mr Selvig shouted at the top of his voice, over the two. "Boys, keep politics out of the classroom! And Steve, language."
"Well, it's not like Tony, Bruce, Hank and Loki don't need reigning in." Darcy whispered to Jane.
"It's not like either of them have superpowers." Jane replied. "I mean, probably. But it's not our business to know."
"It's absolutely our business to know!" Darcy hissed. "People with powers can snap and turn on us-look at Phil Coulson-"
"That was an accident." Jane hissed back.
"But we need to know their weaknesses."
"And do what?" Jane asked. "Darcy, we're kids."
"We have a right to know." Darcy said adamantly.
"Leave it." Jane snarled.
Darcy grabbed Jane's wrist. "Listen to me!"
"Get off me!" Jane punched Darcy in the arm.
"How dare you?!" Darcy pulled Jane's hair.
Jane responded by punching Darcy in the face.
Next thing, they were both punching, pulling, biting and scratching each other.
"Hey! Stop it!" Mr Selvig shouted. When Jane and Darcy carried on fighting, Mr Selvig rushed over to them. "Darcy! Jane! To Principal Xavier right now!"
Darcy and Jane carried on fighting and Mr Selvig carried on trying to break them up.
"Well, it's not like they're the first to fight like this." Phil said to Nick.
"Yeah. Wilson and Summers were first." Nick agreed. "And that was barely a day into the campaign."
"Clint and Natasha." Phil said.
"Clint broke his bow hitting Natasha and Natasha ripped his hearing aid out." Nick said. "And shoved it in his eye."
"The Power kids, Julie and Jack." Phil added.
"Oh yeah." Nick nodded. "Jack is voting Steve and Julie is voting Tony. Namor pulled them apart at lunch."
"And Mrs Rael did the same to Kamala and Doreen." Phil said.
"Jane and Darcy won't be the last to fight." Nick said. "There's so much tension. Because of the election. Phil, this really is a civil war."
"I know, Nick." Phil nodded. "I know. And I'm on the right side."
"So am I." Nick said as Jane and Darcy were finally separated and sent to the principal.
"Steve?" Phil questioned.
Nick nodded in confirmation. "Steve."
"Yeah. Me too." Phil said.
"Okay, now that that disturbance is out of the way, we can get back to fractions." Mr Selvig said.
A/N: So I'm introducing Beta Ray Bill because he's my beautiful baby and nobody gets to say anything bad about him. I know in the comics he was introduced rather differently (he had a fight to the death with Thor with Odin watching because he was Worthy) and that he was much taller-among other things-but more will be revealed in time. Also, there will be a fight between Thor and Bill so yay!
Also Asgard! Yay!
Young Avengers! Yay!
Kree! Yay!
Original Guardians of the Galaxy! Yay
Nine Realms! Yay!
More stuff is opening up. What does this mean?
Stay tuned.
Chapter III is also up in Kid Cable and Kid Deadpool.