Date: Sun, 9 May 2004 20:27:04 -0700 (PDT) From: Tony Justiss Subject: tales of a thunder god - 3 Hello, everybody. I want to say this is not my first story and that I do have experience prior to this at writing. I am however new to this universe and its challenging and ingenious setting. It's been a while since I've read a Thor comic or seen anything with him starring in it, but I'm doing research and trying to portray the character correctly as I remember him. There will be changes to his personality because he's not the same person, yet is... You'll see. I do not own or know any of the following: Nsync, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Pink, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, Tom Cruise, 98 Degrees or any other celebrities. I also know nothing of their sexual orientations. Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and all related characters. The Anita Blake Vampire Hunter book series or the Merry Gentry series by Laurell K. Hamilton. The Vampire Chronicles, Tales of the New Vampires, The Mayfair Witches, all series written by Anne Rice. Power Rangers series. Dune series is by Frank Herbert Harry Potter book series is by J.K. Rowling. Star Wars is copyright by George Lucas. Buffy & Angel television series. Star Wars Star Trek, Star Trek TNG, Star Trek DS9, Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek the New Frontier, Enterprise television series, movies, and novels. I enjoy hearing feedback from people. If you have any to offer such as comments or any thoughts toward the story you may reach me at Mighthammer@yahoo.com Chapter 3 Adam took off down the alley at a breakneck run. Without stopping he kicked off from the ground and jumped. Jumped, higher, higher, clear to the top of a twenty-story building. There was a loud boom of impact as he landed gracefully on the rooftop of the tall building. Adam looked into the sky and thanks to his godhood, his vision was much sharper and stronger then a normal humans; he could easily see far off into the dead of night. There it was the airplane, high in the air smoke trailing behind it. Adam thrusts his arms into the air and jumped up. Gravity took effect and he quickly came back down. He tried again and again to no avail with the same results. "Dammit!" he swore softly. He couldn't for the life of him remember how to fly. He knew that he could. He could clearly remember flying, but not how he had done it in the first place. Frustration filled him as his Swiss cheese memory that was riddled with many gaps offered no hope. He felt like Sam Beckett in Quantum Leap. Knowing stuff but not remembering it exactly because of an incomplete memory. Adam took in a deep breath then slowly released it. "Alright, just calm down and think," he whispered to himself. He closed his eyes and took his own advice. He just had to think and the answer would surely come to him. The answer had to be there, somewhere buried within his new memories. With his eyes closed he mentally searched through his thoughts, sorting through the multitude of new memories that had suddenly been given to him. Suddenly without warning a strong feeling came over him. A feeling from deep within his gut told him to raise his hammer. His body reacted before he knew it and his arm was raised without voluntary action hammer in hand and pointed towards the heavens. Adam opened his eyes and looked down at the ground. "Well fuck me," he whispered surprised to see his feet completely off the ground. In fact his entire body was hovering almost five feet off the ground without aide. Adam shook off his surprise knowing that he had people to save. Directing his hammer towards the sky, he quickly rose higher into the air. Then without further ado he shot off into the starlit sky like a bullet. Even with the buildings below all lit up with their neon lights, no one on the streets could see the god of thunder streaking through the sky. Adam could see it. There up ahead was the airplane, thick black smoke trailing behind it from a destroyed engine. He put on a burst of speed flying quicker towards the plane. As he got closer, he discovered he wasn't alone. On top of the plane itself were two beings. One of them was a male, dressed in a skintight dark blue suit and gold half-helm that stopped at the middle of his nose. Long auburn hair cascaded from the back of the helm stopping mid back. Completing the outfit, the person wore a long trench coat. The same gold color as his helmet. The other person was male also, dressed in a wicked looking black suit. It was form fitting with silver running all over it in random patterns. A long, black cloak with a high flared collar was clasped around his neck. His pale, white skin was a direct contrast to his jet-black hair and endless dark eyes. "Just surrender already!" yelled the man in black. The one in gold lowered himself into a fighting stance his mouth fixed into a taunting smirk. "You'll have to kill me before I give up to you!" The black clothed man raised his arms and yelling loudly, he fired twin beams of black light from the palms of his hands. The man wearing the helm made a complicated gesture with his hands and a metallic purple shield formed in the air before him. The beams hit the shield and fizzled out with a swishing sound. Thor hovered in mid air watching as the two beings battled, throwing destructive blasts of light and smoking orbs of energy. One of the beams missed and hit the plane creating a hole through it. With a start Adam realized why the plane was going down in the first place. These beings were battling each other with no care as to the safety and well being of those flying inside. He had to put a stop to this, save the plane from going down, and fast. Adam flew down, landing in the middle of the two men. Holding his hammer tightly in his hand he glared at both men. The wind blew hard but Adam paid it no attention. "How dare you interrupt our battle!" screamed the man in black. Adam drew himself up to full height. Glaring coldly at the man he outwardly showed a portion of his power. Lightning crackled up and down his body, appearing in his eyes, and danced from finger to finger. He looked very intimidating, which was what he was going for. Blond hair flying around his head like a halo he angrily responded in a booming voice. "I am Thor, God of Thunder, protector of all life on Earth!" The man in black sneered at Adam. "Well, Thor you seem like bore so how about you DIE!" He brought his arm up and sharp slivers of orange light began to slide up from a cone around his feet, collecting and forming into a ball of shining light. Bringing his hand down in a quick snap, the ball raced forward the heat from it boiling the metal of the plane beneath it. Adam was ready for it. His hammer glowed blue as he charged it up with his own power, then with a loud CRACK; he swung his hammer hitting the orange ball of energy. The ball soared off into the sky, higher, and higher up till it left there sight. Adam smiled at the man smugly. "What part of I am a God didn't you get?" The man in black didn't seem to care for he showed his own power. His eyes turned blood red and he actually seemed to get taller. "I am not a weakling little man. I'm the Judge, Acolyte of his Supreme Evil, Leader of the Church of Pain, First Priest of the One." "He didn't ask for your measurements," replied the man in gold, speaking for the first time. He raised his right arm and then made a motion with his hand. From nowhere appearing in his hand was a long gold staff topped with a large Egyptian ankh, which is a cross with a circular loop above the horizontal bar. The Judge narrowed his eyes grinning a chilling smile that would have turned any other person's blood cold. Adam wasn't the least bit scared. Days ago, he would have been, but this was now and he had seen scarier things in his past. "Eat this!" yelled the man in gold, thrusting his staff forward. Golden light poured from the Ankh on top, making Adam shield his eyes because of how intense it was. The bright light could have passed for another sun the way it lit up the sky. When Adam opened his eyes, the Judge was gone. He looked around and found the man in gold standing next to the flaming engine that was giving a not so good noise. The plane was steadily losing altitude at an alarming rate. Opening his mouth, Adam was going to say something but then caught himself at the sight before him. The man in gold waved his hand at the engine. The flames died away and the torn and twisted metal suddenly began to move and reshape itself till it completely was back together, reformed, as if it never had been damaged in the first place. The plane stopped its descent, righting itself it began to quickly regain altitude. The man in the gold trench coat spun around sharply turning to Adam. Even though he couldn't see half of his face behind the concealing helm the stranger wore, Adam could almost envision a glare there. "What did you think you were doing?" asked the man in gold coldly. Adam raised a thin, blond eyebrow. "Excuse me?" The man in gold stepped forward hands clenched into fist. "I asked what the fuck did you think you were doing? Because of you the Judge got away." "Didn't you get him with that attack?" asked Adam confused. The stranger let out an angry sigh. "No! He teleported away before I could get a decent shot. You interrupting our fight didn't help matters much either!" Adam really didn't like where this was going. He thought he was the hero here. How did he suddenly turn into Susan Luchi at an awards show? "Last time I checked I was the good guy." "Whatever," the stranger muttered turning around walking towards the edge of the plane. "Wait!" Adam said suddenly, stepping forward. "What's your name anyway? If we're on the same side..." The man in gold shrugged his shoulders. His coattail flew all about wildly in the blowing wind. "If we're on the same side then I guess I'm a friend--" "What if I don't need a friend?" A smile graced that covered face. "I didn't say I was yours." Seeing Adam's face he chuckled a little. Shrugging in apology he said, "Sorry, couldn't resist. The name's Dr. Fate. People just call me Fate." He jumped off the plane disappearing over the edge. Adam raced to the place Fate jumped from. He looked down seeing Adam's gold trench coat shimmer like reflecting light, then in one eye blink the coat transformed. In an explosion of feathers the coat turned into a pair of angelic, white wings. In one mighty flap, Fate shot forward into the night. Adam stepped back in shock jaw dropping open in disbelief. He stood there for a good couple of minutes staring into space. Only the sound of the wheels of the plane lowering got his attention. Shaking off his shock he raised his hammer then with hardly a thought he flew off into the night. He kept his flight high to the sky so to prevent being sighted. It wasn't long before he was standing in the back alley of Cowboys, Mjolnir turned back into a ring, and he back into book author Adam Justiss. The inside of the place was deserted when Adam entered. He looked at the time on the wall and winced. It was past closing time by an hour. That meant that Brian had definitely already left. Guilt washed over Adam as he thought of the way he left the other man. Adam walked across the dance floor to the bar counter. He sighed, plopping down on a stool and slumping onto the countertop. A towel suddenly fell on the top of his head. Grabbing the towel he rose his head up. Ritchie stood against the wall on the other side of the counter, staring at Adam unblinkingly. "Is there a reason why you're staring?" asked Adam meeting the cold, green- eyed stare of Ritchie's head on. Ritchie crossed his arms and Adam sighed, feeling an interrogation coming on. "Yeah, how about where the hell have you been?" "That's none of your business," replied Adam moodily, slumping his head against the countertop. He snapped his head back up as a towel swatted against his head. He glared stonily at Ritchie who wasn't at all moved by the icy look. "It may not be none of my business, but someone left out of here an hour ago pretty upset and confused about where the hell you suddenly went to. Actually, I'm confused as to why you suddenly left Brian too." Adam shrugged lifelessly. He wasn't in the mood for this. It was bad enough he already felt like crap for leaving Brian without a decent answer, but being grilled about something he felt horrible for already was redundant. Ritchie opened his mouth to ask what the fuck was wrong with him but stopped. He stared into Adam's eyes. Really looked for the first time since seeing his cousin return. There was genuine sadness and guilt swimming in those green eyes. Ritchie closed his mouth suddenly feeling like shit. Running a hand through his wavy, red hair as he did sometimes when he felt nervous or just completely fucked inside, he began talking. "Listen..." Ritchie said softly. "I'm sorry alright. I didn't mean to get all Mommy Dearest on you. Its just Brian looked so sad. You should have seen him, Adam." Adam chewed on his bottom lip nodding a little in answer. "I know, I know. What I did was fucked up. I didn't want to leave him like that, but it was an emergency." "Emergency?" "... It's private, but a friend of mine needed help," Adam smoothly lied feeling even more horrible for lying. But every super hero had a secret identity for a reason. People who knew generally get hurt. Ritchie wanted to broach the subject but he let it drop. He walked from behind the counter and began turning out lights from around the bar. He took the chairs and stacked them on the tables, doing the nightly routine of closing down. Adam usually helped with closing down but now he had no energy to do it. He felt so bad inside for what he did. Brian had the potential to be a really great friend and he had blown it even before it began. "So was this you guys' first date?" asked Ritchie suddenly coming up behind Adam who still sat on the stool, looking like the second cousin of 'misery' which is 'depression'. Adam snapped his head up as Ritchie's question registered in his mind. Surprised he looked to his cousin baffled. "What? What makes you say that?" Ritche grinned mentally cheering inside. On the outside he appeared calm. "No, reason," he said casually, still playing on his suspicions. "It's just that you were smiling like a fucking schoolgirl when you were with him, that's all." "No, I wasn't," Adam blushed, cheeks turning a light shade of pink. Ritchie smiled pacifying. "Suure." Laughing, Adam picking up the towel lying near him he threw it at Ritchie. "Hahaha, Ritchie Rich." The red head rolled his eye at the old nickname he earned during his childhood. That along with Rusty was something he wished he could prevent from ever entering the human vocabulary. Adam stood up stretching his arms above his head. "I'm going home to curl up in my bed, and fall asleep watching Clowns, Who Knew They Could Kill." Ritchie raised his eyebrow giving his cousin a patronizing look. "Who do you think you're fooling. You mean watching, Sixteen Candles..." * * * Solo picked up the shining katana holding the blade vertically at eye level. A blue unearthly glow surrounded the lethal sword, once the sword of Old Kings now the weapon of Knight Solo. Closing his eyes Solo pulled deep within himself for the Power. The Power that was his to wield granted to him by the Council of Elders and the Ruling Elf Lords. He snapped open his eyes and with a mighty slash he swung the sword. A ring of blue light flew from the blade flying through the air at the speed of light. There was an echoing of crashes, as row after row of forest trees was destroyed by the ongoing ring of blue light. Giving a tired sigh, Solo brushed back his brown hair that fell into his eyes. Sweat dribbled down his forehead and his breath came in deep pants. He had done it-- Adam stopped in his typing suddenly, his fingers pausing on the home keys of the keyboard. He sat in the cushy, black chair that stood in front of his computer. The room he was in was large, filled with two computers and shelves of books. Two days had passed since Adam had left Brian at Cowboys and he hadn't seen him since. He tried going to his house, but Brian was never at home. Now, Adam was finally doing what his Agent had been begging him to do. He was starting on his book. It was the much-anticipated sequel to his first book, 'All Stars are Really Angels in Heaven'. He hadn't thought of a title for this book yet but he knew that it would come. Adam's biggest hope was that the sequel would do as good as the first book had done. "Ugh!" Adam cried out frustrated. It never failed. He had finally come down with it. Writers Block. For the life of him Adam couldn't type anymore. He knew where the events were going next but he didn't know how to type it down correctly. Sighing, Adam leaned back in his chair stretching his arms high above his head. Giving a loud yawn, he stood up stretching every muscle in his body. He had been sitting in that chair for hours, typing without a break or pause. Smiling at the screen, Adam quickly saved his work. He had written more than three chapters today, which was good for a day's work. Feeling stuffy Adam walked outside onto his porch. Breathing deep he took in the fresh air that filled his lungs with new energy. Adam plopped down on the porch swing that was fastened near the end of the porch. Leaning back and slowly kicking off, Adam took his time to look around at his neighborhood. The neighborhood hadn't changed much since he had been a teenager. That's right, Adam had lived in this same house since his late teens. After his parents died, the house was left to him in their will. Even though he had had his own place, he sold it, packed up and moved back into his old house. It was a nice place to live in. Even though the area was primarily for wealthy people, no one living here was snotty or stuck up. In fact, the neighborhood was friendly, very friendly. Like Pleasantville friendly. The neighbors even got together every summer to put on a neighborhood block party. "Hey there." Adam blinked his eyes focusing in on the voice. He stared down at a familiar face standing at the bottom of the porch steps. Hurriedly standing, Adam gave Brian a shaky smile that stemmed from nervousness. Feeling his stomach tighten suddenly Adam hoped that he didn't make a fool of himself, by doing something like tripping on his own feet. "Hi, Brian," said Adam flashing him a small smile. Brian walked up the stairs then leaned against the railing in front of the porch swing. They stood there in that moment of awkward silence. You know the seconds where conversation is nill between yourself and another person. You both have something to say but each person doesn't know how to say it to the other. "About the other night..." began Adam not even knowing where he was going with this. It was not like he was going to tell Brian the truth. He couldn't. "I know I left suddenly..." Brian held up a hand stopping him. "Wait. You don't have to tell me. It's your business. I'm sure that whatever came up was an emergency. Cause you left pretty quickly, so it had to be big." Adam nodded thinking about the flaming plane, then the Judge and Fate fighting on top not caring if they killed people in their all out battle. "Yeah, it was." Brian grinned, which Adam found himself feeling weak kneed at. "Then everything is all cool. No worries." Adam smiled a real smile. A sigh of relief left his lips as the tension left his body. At least one thing in his life right now was looking up. He and Brian might not get together because Brian was straight, but that didn't mean they couldn't be good friends. Now, Adam just had to find out more information on this strange Fate, and find out what the Judge wanted and if he posed a serious threat to the population. *************************************************** I enjoy hearing feedback from people. If you have any to offer such as comments or any thoughts toward the story you may email me at Mighthammer@yahoo.com For those of you who would like to join, I've started a new Yahoo! Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TonyJustiss there you can talk about this story and any others that I've written. Other stories you can read in the Tales universe: "Tales of a Real Dark Knight" "Tales of a Superhero Band" "Tales of the New Phoenix" "Tales of a Young Mutant" "Tales of a Human Spider"