-Welcome, friends. I've been writing for a while but never posted any of my half-assed stories online. This time, I decided to actually try and give it a shot. So, hopefully you dig it and decide to stick around! For the record, I totally hate writing introduction chapters as they always feel awkward and long-winded so forgive me. Cheers!-
Three alarms had been set to wake Emilie Walker up. Three alarms had been slept through, leaving Emilie scrambling to make it out the door on time. She drove erratically and distracted the whole way to work before finally reaching the small laboratory she'd only recently started at. Checking her watch, she saw that she was one minute shy of being late. Quickly grabbing her bag and exiting the car, she wildly ran through the sliding glass doors and into the heavily air-conditioned building. Fumbling with the turnstile, she spat out a few curses before finally freeing herself and sprinting to her office. The lights were still only half on, indicating that she was one of the first people here. If that was the case, it was quite possible that her boss wasn't even in yet.
"Morning Em," Jane chirped, peeking into her unlit office.
Stiffening, she slowly turned around, a guilty smile on her face. "Hey there."
"Rough morning, huh?"
"Yeah, about that," Emilie began.
"Don't worry about it, seriously. I'm glad you're with us, I'm not going to fire you because your one minute and thirteen seconds late."
"But who's counting right?" She replied, some of the tension leaving her body.
Jane let out a small laugh, "Right."
"Look, I've got those reports you asked for about the conditions of the experiment we did last week and-"
A deafening clap of thunder interrupted her, causing the office to shake and a few items to fall haphazardly off of her desk.
"The hell was that?" She asked, wide eyes staring unblinkingly at Jane.
She sighed, leaning against the doorframe. "That would be my-uh, friend," she answered, crossing her arms and heading out of her office.
"None of my friends show up with their own weather sound effects!" She yelled after her, still shaken from the jolt of the rumble.
Bending over, she picked up the pens and post-it notes off the floor. As she stood, she painfully banged her head off the underside of the desk.
"God damn," she muttered, sinking back to the floor and rubbing her skull in an attempt to alleviate some of the sting.
She heard the sounds of footsteps approaching her office and quickly pulled herself back up. Jane reappeared, looking much less annoyed and definitely more perky. Behind her, a tall, muscled man manifested, strings of golden hair falling gracelessly to his shoulders.
"Emilie, this is my friend-"
"Thor."
"Yeah, actually. How did you-"
"Holy shit."
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Thor remarked, holding out a large hand to her. Emilie did not move, her wide-eyed stare returning and her mouth falling open. An awkward silence passed as Thor kept his hand out only to have Emilie continue to ignore it. Finally, he slowly returned his arm to his side and averted his gaze to the floor.
"Em," Jane prodded, a concerned look washing over her.
"Yeah, I'm still here," she replied, still staring unblinkingly at the majestic man in front of her.
Jane nodded, turning silently to usher Thor out of the room, leaving Emilie to soak in her awe alone. After a few more moments, she finally came around, letting out a gasp of air and collapsing into her office chair.
"What a morning," she whispered to herself, staring out of the office and across the hall to Jane's windowed suite. She could see her carefree demeanor had left, leaving a flustered posture mirroring Thor's own antsy stance. She couldn't hear what they were saying through the closed door, but she could tell that he did not bring good tidings.
Feeling suddenly as if she were intruding on a private moment, she tried to look busy, all the while trying to process that she was less than thirty feet from an actual God.
After what seemed like an eternity of silent arguments and awkward peeping on Emilie's end, the duo emerged, both looking flustered and anxious. Pretending to be occupied with random papers on her desk, Emilie kept her head down and listened as their footsteps became louder and closer. Before they could reach her office, another deafening crack erupted throughout the air.
Stumbling out of her chair, she moved out and into the main space, standing next to Jane and Thor.
"If that thunder wasn't you, who was it?" She asked, her voice shaky. The fear etched on both of their faces did nothing to calm her nerves, instead she felt her pulse skyrocket.
"We must leave," Thor announced, pulling both women close to him.
Before she could respond, Emilie was being pulled a hundred different directions. The tug in her lower abdomen was similar to riding roller coasters at the beach in the summer only this time she was fighting tears instead of laughter. Her eyes were squinted painfully shut so that she was beginning to see stars. The flap of her jacket was rapidly echoing around her, the only sound that she was able to recognize amongst the whooshing of air in her ears.
Without warning or preparation, she came to a sudden stop, falling painfully onto a cooled marble floor.
Letting out a groan, she rolled onto her back and stared up at an electric night sky. Galaxies and constellations she had never known of were littered across the sky, decorating the deep blackness of space. Turning her head to her right, she was greeted by an elegant palace, gleaming and glittering with gold and magic and guarded by men in armor unlike any other she'd ever been exposed to.
Movement to her left signaled to her that she had not landed alone.
"Where the fuck are we?" She grumbled, a sharp pain emanating from her ribs as she spoke.
"We are in Asgard," Thor announced, suddenly standing over her and offering his hand yet again.
Hesitating, she eventually placed a hand in his and allowed him to pull most of her weight off the ground, hissing as the movement fueled the throbbing in her side.
"Are you hurt?" He asked, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"I don't know, I landed pretty hard," she replied, placing her own hand softly on the skin around her aching ribs.
Jane appeared, her chestnut hair blown back and her cheeks reddened by the journey.
"I landed like that my first time too," she offered, gesturing to Emilie as she hunched over.
"That's unfortunate," she answered, at a loss for anything else to say.
"We should get inside," Thor suggested, making his way towards the palace without waiting to hear any objections. Jane scurried after him, falling into step at his side and speaking in hushed tones, leaving Emilie behind to gape once again at her situation.
"Seriously, what a morning," she repeated as she limped after them.
Once she stood in the shadow of the massive structure she allowed herself to truly marvel at her surroundings. A faint glow reflected off her face as she examined the ornate details of the royal home. A handful of guards armed with sharpened spears regarded her curiously as Thor nodded at them, forcing them to step aside and let the son of Odin through. Matching the outside, the interior of the palace was massive and decorated beautifully. Paintings and exquisite sculptures ordained the foyer, leading guests further into the structure and into a maze of hallways leading to unknown destinations.
"Can somebody please tell me what we're doing here?"
Her voice echoed off the stone walls and she cringed as her own question was asked back to her.
"It's the safest place at the moment," Thor answered, turning to face her. "We should get you looked at."
She waved him off. "I'm fine."
He nodded slowly, unconvinced.
"What's this about being safe? Was there someone after us?"
"Not you, per se," he began. "You and Jane were in the wrong place at the wrong time and it is my duty to protect those I selfishly put in harm's way," he finished, shooting Jane a pleading look. Her face gave away nothing, yet Emilie could see a flinch of anger before she regained her neutral expression.
"Do you suppose we will be back in time for dinner?"
Both parties looked at her, puzzled.
"It's just that I set out some chicken to thaw and I really don't want it sitting in the apartment all night, the cat might eat it or it might-"
"Emilie, we're literally in another realm, being pursued by a henchman of one of the universe's most feared villains and all you can think about is some god damned chicken?"
Jane stood, exasperated, her hands on her hips and a look of frustration on her face.
Emilie shot her an apologetic look. "I'm quite sorry that I don't have the etiquette for the situation. You see, I've never left the state of Pennsylvania let alone the Gosh dang atmosphere so my reactions probably aren't the most conventional. Oh, let's not forget the part about being chased away by some creepy villainous alien thing!"
Sighing, Jane shifted on her weight, clearly as uneasy with the situation as Emilie. Thor regarded the pair for a moment before moving to lean against the wall.
"We should be safe here for now but I need to construct a better plan."
"And what are we supposed to do? Run around and play medieval housewives while you take this on by yourself?" Jane stomped over to him, gently placing a hand on his arm and silently urging him to look up at her. As his blue eyes met her chocolate orbs, his gaze softened and the strain lifted from his body. "We do it together," she added, shooting him the tiniest smile.
"Very well," he began, "but first we need to seek out permission to stay here."
"Permission? You're father-"
"My father no longer rules. Since his relapse into Odinsleep, my brother has taken the crown for himself."
"Loki? That's impossible, we saw him die! He died!" A puzzled look graced her face as Emilie stood back, watching the information unfold.
"You know as well as I that my brother is skilled in deceit and illusions. It appears that his righteous act of self-sacrifice has redeemed him in many eyes and he now reigns over the kingdom. I have not returned home to snatch his most prized possession from his hands. We need to stay here, else we risk being caught. I know not what these creatures want from me yet I know they will stop at nothing until I am captured. Until I can discover their motives and their weakness, we need the safety of Asgard." He paused, swallowing and averting his gaze to the floor. "But first, I need to ask permission of my brother."
With that, he took off out of the room, leaving a frustrated Jane and a perplexed Emilie to settle in his wake.
"Seriously, what the actual fuck," Emilie muttered, "I just wanted some damn chicken for dinner."