[center][img]https://cdn.marvel.com/content/1x/004tho_com_mas_mob_03.jpg[/img][/center][indent][sub][color=gray][b]UOU Presents:[/b][/color][color=lightgray] THOR, GOD OF THUNDER[/color][/sub][sup][right][b][color=gray]ISSUE #5:[/color][/b] [color=lightgray]Heart of Ice [/color][/right][/sup][/indent][hr][indent][color=lightgray][sub][b]Winchester Point [color=red]♦[/color] Alaska [/b][/sub][/color][/indent]
[indent]
The last survivors of Winchester Point barricaded themselves in the infirmary. Thor stacked stainless steel furniture against the door, unsure if it would even slow their foe but unwilling to leave their safety to a single lock. While he busied himself fortifying their position, Jane looked after Keith.

His injuries weren't significant. Some bruising around his ribs and on his left forearm. A minor concussion seemed likely, given he lost consciousness. But he had no broken bones or major lacerations that she could find. Jane gave him a small dosage of pain killers and anti-nausea medication; provided they weren't eaten by a flesh amalgamation tonight, he'd be right as rain soon.

"I'm glad you're okay." She took Keith's hand in her own. Bags hung heavy under her eyes. Since this nightmare began she'd earned a few cuts and bruises of her own. It was a miracle she'd made it this long.

Keith sat up. He cupped her face in his hand and the two shared a tender kiss. "Me too," he muttered as they parted. "I almost wasn't a couple'a times. If I hadn't run into, uh, this guy in the woods-" Keith shot a look over toward Thor, who was doing his best  to look busy but was clearly ease-dropping.

Turning, she faced Thor, giving the stranger a once over. His armored boots decorated with little wings, the crimson cloak hanging from his shoulders, the breastplate peeking out of his coat- he was no woodsman.

"Thank you. You saved my husband's life."

Thor grinned. "T'was no great feat of mine. In truth, stripped of my power, these monsters nearly overcame me twice. Without your aid I fear I would have perished as well."

"Sounds like we make a good team." Jane nodded. "...Thor, was it? God of Thunder?" She raised an incredulous eyebrow.

"Aye," he returned the nod. "I am bound to Midgard for the foreseeable future. Full glad am I to find such worthy companions so soon after my arrival."

"Sorry, did you say you were [i]stripped[/i] of your power?" Keith asked, flinging his legs off the side of the examination table. "You sure don't look like some helpless kitten to me."

A shadow passed over Thor's face before he looked away. "Indeed. Though my strength might seem impressive to mortals, 'tis merely a fraction of the might I once commanded. It would seem I am no stronger than the average Asgardian now.

Keith threw his hands into the air. "Woe is me, I only have the power of a freakin' god!"

Thor looked perplexed. "Have I offended? I mean no-"

"No." Jane interrupted, putting up a palm. "You're fine, Keith is just...being Keith. What he [i]means[/i] is that you're still much stronger than we are. We don't stand a chance against these things without you." She said, giving Keith a knowing look. His expression turned sheepish.

"How many more of those monsters remain?" Thor asked.

"Russ and I killed Joel. Lit him up when he started growing spider legs from his ribs." Jane said, wrapping her arms around herself. "Moffat and Waites are dead, too. They were in the garage when it blew up."

"We got Wilford earlier. And Thor turned Maloney into pulled pork." Keith added.

"I think that just leaves the meatball in the cafeteria." Jane said.

"That 'meat ball' may prove our end, I fear," Thor said. "It has changed its form in such a way that I can no longer harm it with my bare hands. Your flames slowed it but did not destroy it, as they did previous foes. Do you have any greater armaments we might wield?"

The two humans looked at one another. They exchanged a few questions about the state of their equipment: what was and wasn't destroyed during the attack, how much ammunition they had used up, if there was anything they could be missing. Neither came up with an answer they found adequate. Jane's suggestion they call the state troopers was shot down when Keith mentioned the monster's psychic influence over the radio. The flamethrower was their best weapon against the Man-Beast, and it was gone. They had no backup.

"Maybe we should just run." Keith muttered, turning his clammy hands over. "My truck has enough fuel to get to Kenai."

"And what happens when we leave?" Jane asked, crossing her arms. "It'll take hours for us to get there, send word to the authorities and for them to finally get back here. That thing would have free reign to infect whatever it wants. Maybe every living thing in this forest. Or, hell, it could run, and then it'd have half a million square miles of wilderness to hide in."

Thor was still as stone. "It would not." He whispered. "It plans to follow us. It wants me to join it. To render up my godly body to become one with its so-called 'perfection.' Nay, I will not permit it to leave."

"What are you talking about?" Jane asked, worry besmirching her features.

"It speaks to me in a higher language than the mortal mind can perceive: the tongue of the divine. This is how I am able to converse with you, despite never learning your mother tongue." Thor explained. "Most of us speak it for the sake of convenience, but there are some who master its strange arts in pursuit of greater power. It is said the elder gods used this power to speak reality into existence. If this creature consumes enough matter..." Thor closed his eyes. "I fear for Midgard's future. For all the realms, perhaps."

Jane went silent. Keith shook his head in disbelief, though he couldn't speak either.

"So you claim you're some kinda god, right? N' there's a lot like you?" Keith asked, finding his courage along with his voice. "How in the hell can they permit somethin' like this happenin'? Why ain't they doin' anything?"

There was righteousness to his anger, Thor knew. Long ago had Odin stepped away from meddling in the affairs of mortals. [i]'They do not worship as they once did,'[/i] he bemoaned. [i]'Why should I waste my power on a people that do not believe?'[/i]

The memory made his choler rise. He remembered, too, his mother's anger at having heard it the firs time. All of Asgard had shaken when they quarreled that day. If Freya were still head of her own pantheon, as she had once been before the Aesir and Vanir were joined, she would never have allowed it. Unfortunately for her and Midgard both, Odin reigned. The Allfather took his hand from the earth. He left them to their own devices for more than a thousand years. Few Asgardians dared to defy his order. Thor and his brothers had, on occasion, though he was shamed to remember each visitation was only for their own entertainment. Not once had he answered a prayer.

"Forgive me. I require a moment alone." Thor said. 

He retreated from the main room of the infirmary to the backroom, which was used primarily for storage. Shuffling through piles of boxes, he eventually found a chair to fall upon. Weariness dragged him down. It propagated through his every pore like a virus. Even his Asgardian stamina faltered. Was this how mortals lived? Every battle ended with exhaustion, barely able to stand? It was a hard thing to imagine, and harder still to endure for the first time in his immortal life. They were made of sturdier stuff than the gods gave them credit for.

"Heimdall, I know you can hear me. And I know Odin has forbade your intervention in mine affairs. This is my punishment, and I intend to carry out my sentence with the dignity befitting my royal lineage." Thor began, clenching and unclenching his fists. "But I do not call upon ye for mine own sake. Rather, you have seen that beast I face: it spits in the face of the divine. In its blasphemy it threatens all of Midgard. The fates have put me in its path, I think. I must destroy it, but I cannot- not alone. Mjölnir heeds not my call. I know you cannot help me, Heimdall, but...Send me someone who can. I beg ye.

[i]Please."[/i]

A rift tore open reality before him. A brilliant portal of every color of the rainbow danced on the wall, rippling with potential. A voice boomed through it: [i]"I hear all and see all, Odinson. You will not stand alone."[/i]

Thor knocked over the chair with the speed he rose. "Heimdall!" He smiled from ear to ear, his fear melting away at the voice of his friend.

A form emerged from the portal, shimmering. It was tiny, barely rising to Thor's knee. As the light died away it became corporeal: a red, fuzzy creature in a rather dashing green tabard, a leather pouch strung along its back and a pan held in its hand. A squirrel, and one of great import, at that.

"Oh dear. This isn't the pantry." It chittered confusedly. Then it looked up. "Oh my, Thor! My good fellow! It has been so long!"

Thor's face lit up like the sun. "Ratatoskr, how I missed thee!"

Without a second thought he scooped up his tiny friend, who climbed atop his shoulder excitedly. "I seem to have taken a wrong turn on Yggdrasil." He thought, looking around the sterile room filled with boxes of paper and medical supplies.

"Nay, friend, it t'was Heimdall that called you here at my request. I am in dire need of your aid."

"What ever could I do for the God of Thunder?"

"It has been a long story, friend. Let us rejoin my mortal allies and I will tell the tale."
[/indent]