Chapter 1:
Friends at the Movies
This bit may be boring, but it is necessary to build up these characters. The next chapter will be much more interesting.
(Two weeks since Loki's arrival)
It was a warm, summers evening in Miami as five friends walked from the movie theater to their car.
"Dang! That was awesome!"
"Calm down, it was OK."
"OK?! That was incredible! When he fired his atomic breath?! Wicked!"
"Yeah, but we only got to see him for, what, 10% of the movie?"
"And that was an intense 10%, and aren't you being over dramatic?"
Mike and Jason were arguing about how good of a movie Godzilla (2014) was as they walked out of the theater with Jason's younger sister, Jane, Mike's older brother, Henry, and their friend, Laura. Mike thought that the movie was incredible, being a lifelong Godzilla fan, but Jason was more scrutinizing…
"I'm just saying it was an OK movie" continued Jason.
"Ah, whatever" Jason dismissed Mike with a wave of his hand. "Jane, what do you think?" he asked his sister.
Jane hesitated, knowing how sensitive Jason can get about his movies. "Well, I liked the action…"
"There, she likes it!" interrupted Jason.
"No she didn't, she didn't even answer!"
"Guys, would you chill! It's just a movie!" yelled Henry, trying to interrupt the feuding friends.
"I know…" Jason said with a joking voice, "I'm not crazy!"
"Right…sure" Laura said sarcastically.
Mike was still clearly still infatuated by the movie, as he did not stop talking about it till they got to the car.
"Shotgun!" yelled Mike as he slid over the hood, only to lose balance and fall over, letting off a high-pitched "Wahh!" as he fell.
"Mike, you're going to scratch my car!" yelled Henry as he checked his hood for scratches. Mike ignored him as he quickly got up to get back to his seat, but Jane had already beat him to it.
"Aw, come on! I called it and you know it!"
"I don't go by those rules" she taunted from her seat. Henry sighed as he went to the driver's seat.
"Mike, don't make this a big thing, just get into the car!"
"But she's sitting in my..."
"Mike!" yelled, Henry, who was now glaring at him, not willing to sit through another petty argument.
"Ah, fine" said a defeated Mike as he shoved into the back seat with Jason and Laura.
"Alright guys," said Henry as he finished backing up the car, "what's the verdict?" He was referring to the movie. They gave their answers out of 5 stars.
"Four" said Laura
"Four" said Jane
"Five!" yelled Jason
"Three and a half" said Mike.
"You're crazy Mike!" retaliated Jason.
"There was way too much dialogue."
"So what, you would prefer all action without knowing anything about the M.U.T.O.s or Godzilla?"
"Yes!"
"You have no sense of art!"
"Guys!" interrupted Laura, who was stuck in the middle, "chill! Just agree to disagree! I'm in the middle!"
Jason just glared over at Mike. "This isn't over!" he said, pointing an accusing finger.
After a heated exchange of glares, the two finally let it go.
The next morning, Henry was awaken by Peanut, Mike's brown and white cat. Despite the fact that Mike was his owner, Peanut, for some season, always went to wake up Henry every morning precisely at 6:30am. This was probably because Henry was easier to manipulate when annoyed, and he wanted to be fed.
"Argh! Peanut, leave me alone!" Not only was it summer, but it was Saturday, so there was absolutely no reason to be woken up. Determined, Peanut jumped onto Henry's face and curled up on it.
"Fine!" said a muffled Henry, "I'll feed you!" Peanut meowed in delight and ran for the kitchen/dining room. Henry slowly got up and followed him. He first poured Peanut's food into his bowl, which the cat quickly devoured, then he poured a bowl of cereal for himself and sat at the table. At the table, Henry was greeted by a dreary Mike.
"Morning bro" he greeted, then he turned attention to Peanut, "and mornin' to you little guy!" he said as he scratched the cat's chin.
Henry rolled his eyes.
"So, did you get your classes yet?" asked Mike.
"The classes don't open till tomorrow" he replied, enthusiastically
Henry was transferring from his community college to the University at Miami. He was not to thrilled about it, since he will be leaving friends, Mike included, behind in Feeny Community college, even if it was only for a year. Henry was the oldest in the group, at 21, followed closely by Laura, Jason, Mike, an Jane, being the youngest at 19. It's not like he was moving, but now that he was moving on from his required courses to his more advanced courses, his time with them would be limited.
"Come on, don't give me that frown!" Mike said, trying to cheer him up, "...Mr. Peanut doesn't want to see you so sad" he said while holding up the cat, making a frowning face.
Henry rolled his eyes at how ridiculous his brother looked. "You're crazy, you now?"
Mike put down the cat and replied, "Yeah, but at least I admit it." He continued, "So, how are things with Laura?"
Henry froze as he put his spoon back down. "Uh, fine, I guess."
"Come on! you know what I mean!"
"What! Mike, we're just friends!"
"That's not dad said!"
"What! dad told you!?"
"Yeah, you know me, I can get anything from anyone! So, when did this thing start?"
Henry turned back to his cereal, trying to come up with a way to deny it. After almost a minute, though, he finally gave in. "Well... how do I say this... I guess..."
"Come on man, spit it out! The anticipation's killing me!"
"Alright, sheez...A few months ago. I started developing..."
"Feelings? Affections? Stirrings?"
"Do you want me to finish this or not!?"
Mike sat back in his chair, calmly petting his cat meticulously. "Please continue."
"I realized, that we have several things in common, and, I don't know! I just, feel different now!"
"Ah, love, the strangest thing in the world, and that's saying a lot from me..."
"It's not love!"
"Right" Mike said using are quotes, smiling mischievously.
"Look, can we change the subject?"
"Alright, if you're not comfortable discussing your love life, we can talk about something much more important: Comic-con! Only two more days!"
Henry was ready to kill Mike, but he let it slide in exchange for changing the subject.
Mike continued "Ok, so, I'm going as Batman, I think Jase is going as Spiderman, Jane is going as herself, boring! How about you? Are you actually going to go as someone?"
"Yes, Bruce Banner."
"Yes, You're dressing up, finally...wait, Bruce Banner wears normal clothing."
"Yep."
"Come one!"
"Mike, don't you think that dressing up is a bit, childish?"
"Uh, duh, that's why I'm doing it; I'm immature!"
"Well you can say that again..."
"I'm immature!"
"Agh!"
On that same morning, Agent Jack Ryder, of the FBI, walked into his superior's office after being called for a possible assignment.
"Chief, you asked for me?"
The chief, as everyone called him, was sitting at his desk, conversing with a skinny man, discussing something that he showed on his computer screen. Upon seeing Spoke, he sat up and introduced the two men.
"Ah, Agent Spoke, please meet William Spoke, an analyst."
"Mr, Spoke" greeted Ryder as they shook hands.
"Agent Ryder."
The chief then continued, "Mr. Spoke here ha been showing me some interesting about a former physicist name, what was..."
"Dr. Drake Clithe, sir" replied Spoke.
"Right, Dr. Clithe, apparently, despite his meager earnings as a high school teacher, has recently sold his home in North Miami and purchased an extensive, but severely under kept warehouse near the Everglades, far from any nearby communities. I know what you're thinking..."
"This guys a wacko" confirmed Ryder.
"That's what I told Mr. Spoke here, but listen to this..." the chief gestured Spoke to speak.
Mr. Spoke fumbled a little bit, being caught off guard. "Uh, yes, so Dr. Clithe was once a renowned physicist, very much respected and even took part in the building of the machine that helped in the discovery of anti-matter particles. But he was ostracized and lost much of his funding when he theorized that other dimensions existed in the form of fictional works..."
"Fictional works?" Ryder asked with disbelieving eyes.
"Yes. anyway, we have a disillusioned, angry man, with experience in building devices with radioactive components, somehow having the monetary resources to buy a large warehouse, and we've got this..." Mr. Spoke took out a thermo-satellite picture of the warehouse. "If you see here, the warehouse is emitting enough heat to run an office building, but it's been of the grid for years, probably running off generators. Oh, and I forgot to mention that he's been purchasing numerous electrical components for the last year, and it has increased in the last two weeks."
"And that's a recipe for trouble" finished the chief, "And I need you to go check it out. This place is isolated, abandoned; basically an urban wasteland, right up your alley" said the Chief.
"And you want me to see if anything suspicious is going on? Why not just send in a SWAT team now?"
"Unfortunately, Ryder, this is all just speculation, and for all we know, he's some loony nut who found an inheritance and made himself a merry-go-round, and that might be all there is to it."
"So this could just be a wild goose chase?"
"Yeah, just check it out and contact me when you've confirmed what's going on."
Ryder looked to Spoke, then back to the Chief. "Alright sir. Where do I find this guy?"
The Chief picked up a piece of paper from his desk and handed it to him... "Here it is, good luck."
Ryder looked up, perplexed. "You say it as if it were a major mission?"
"Not much happens in Miami. I'm saying good luck that you actually find something!"
Alright, so now that you know some of our real world characters, let's go back to Loki, and perhaps some other well-known characters who need no introductions.
