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[color=red][b][h3]#1[/h3][h2]C O M I N G  T O  A M E R I C A[/h2][/b][/color][/center]
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[b][color=yellow]San Agustin, New Mexico[/color][/b]

The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, commonly known as SETI, effectively died on the planet Earth in their year of 2010, as the Dominator mothership crashed flaming into the Atlantic Ocean for all the world to see. Up until that point, only a rare few on Earth knew the truth of life on other worlds. After that, it became common knowledge. The impact this revelation had on society would take multiple dissertations to fully encapsulate, but it had one unique, very measurable, social impact: every UFO watcher, crank "abductee," Roswell truther, and hopeful kid with a telescope were all now without a hobby (or for some, income stream). On the other hand, every astronomer and radio engineer that had spent months or years of their lives listening fruitlessly to the stars, or monitoring satellites for radio signals were now busier than ever. After the Dominators' attack, S.H.I.E.L.D. bought up every listening post, radio telescope, and satellite they could get their hands on, put their people in charge, and bent them all toward the preemptive detection of otherworldly threats.

Such was the case with S.H.I.E.L.D. Sentient World Observation and Response Monitoring Station 01, formerly known as the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, in the middle of the desert plains of New Mexico. As remote as one could get in the middle of the United States, it was three hours by car to the nearest town, and so most of the station's operators lived in the on-site quarters, rotating out every three months. Could be worse, most figured; could be at Station 06 in the South Pole. Sure, they didn't have the funding of the R&D department, the fancy toys of the Strategic Response Unit, nor the glitz and glamor of the Metahuman Relations Unit, but the Sentient World Observation and Response Division took pride in their work, knowing how important their job was to safeguarding humanity.

Dr. Erik Selvig was one such enthusiast-turned-guardian of world peace. Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Minnesota ten years before, it took him a long while to adjust to the New Mexico heat, but he endured it gladly. His enduring fascination- bordering on obsession- had been the concept of wormholes, both as natural phenomena and as a potential means of transport through or between universes. When word spread through the astronomical community of S.H.I.E.L.D. acquiring long-range sensory equipment used for SETI to detect alien attacks, he volunteered his expertise immediately. Since then it had been his enormous pleasure to serve as the foremost expert within S.H.I.E.L.D. on the inter-dimensional travel, wormholes, and related phenomenon. It was not long after he began working for S.H.I.E.L.D. that they placed him here, on watch for multi-universal aliens, dimensional travelers, and other such uninvited guests. He loved his work, and wouldn't give it up for the world. He even received special permission to buy some of the nearby land, had a house built, and decided to retire there. Just him, and the desert sky.

At the present moment, Dr. Selvig was in his "office," reading the newspaper. The cover of the Daily Planet was, as usual, split between the inspiring heroism of Superman, and the daring political machinations of Calvin Ellis, progressive America's newest golden boy. Erik scoffed at the young president's latest naive maneuver, "[color=maroon]They'll never confirm Glastonberry.[/color]" He sniffed, adjusted on the toilet seat, and folded the paper to read the piece on Superman. The Man of Steel was a long-enduring object of fascination for scientists of across many disciplines. Erik himself wondered if there was any truth to the rumor that Superman's power was drawn from the Sun, and why that might be the case. Some sort of advanced animal photosynthesis? It was a subject of much conjecture during coffee and lunch breaks.

A knock on his stall door broke him from reading the paper. "[color=fff79a]Professor, we need you in observation deck one.[/color]" A tense, female voice told him.

There was only one of his colleagues that called him Professor. There was also only one that would barge into the men's room to get his attention. "[color=maroon]Jane, I appreciate the personal touch, but could you give me a minute?[/color]"

"[color=fff79a]One minute. Hurry. I'm not kidding. This is big.[/color]" She didn't sound like she was kidding. She practically ran out the door, and a minute later Dr. Selvig was following her.

She had lingered behind, but he was slow to catch up, hopping on one foot to kick off the toilet paper stuck to his heel. "[color=maroon]What's going on, what's happening?[/color]"

"[color=fff79a]We had an in-atmosphere detection.[/color]" Dr. Jane Foster told him as they hurried back to the station's main observation deck. Jane had been Erik's TA, and he had mentored her greatly through her doctoral program. She had then gone on to teach at Culver University. Where Erik had volunteered to join S.W.O.R.D., Jane had been headhunted.

"[color=maroon]Christ, how did they get past the atmospheric sensors?[/color]" Erik was huffing and puffing to keep up with her. "[color=maroon]Do we have a [i]-hoof-[/i] heading they came from?[/color]"

"[color=fff79a]He's not from space. Well, not any space nearby us. Class K wormhole, spat him out right over San Fransisco. We got the whole thing on video.[/color]"

"[color=maroon]You're kidding.[/color]" Erik pulled his glasses out of his shirt pocket and put them on as he entered the observation deck. It was a far grander name than the room deserved, as it was largely made up of banks of computers, monitors, and printouts, with a large monitor at the far end of the room. At the present moment it was playing a short video on loop. A surveillance feed of a city street, in the upper-right corner of the video an anomaly popped into existence in the sky. In the camera's grainy resolution, it just looked like an explosion of color punching out of the sky. Then a moment later, a distinctly humanoid silhouette descended in freefall from the anomaly, which vanishes from sight, as does the apparent visitor behind a building, out of sight of the camera. The video looped, and Erik watched it, mesmerized.

"[color=fff79a]Got it off a bank, you wouldn't believe our luck.[/color]" Jane said, leading Erik over to some data feeds for him to look over. His head never turned away from the looping seven-second video. "[color=fff79a]At first we just got a gamma micro-burst on the satellite grid. Then as we're isolating the wavelength, atmosphere sensors go off, full Einstein-Rosen event horizon stabilizes, not even fifty meters off the ground. Only lasted two point eight seconds, you saw in the footage. Locals thought it was a firework. We tracked it down to San Fran and managed to get the video off of a bank five blocks away.[/color]"

Erik stopped her, "[color=maroon]Hang on a sec, locals? You're in touch with local law enforcement already?[/color]"

Jane was practically manic, she was so excited, barely stopping to breathe. "[color=fff79a]Yeah, we enhanced the video enough to get a basic description, and gave it to the SFPD. Male, Caucasian, twenties or thirties, between six-and-a-half and seven feet tall, at least three-hundred pounds, and long blond hair. We've got them on orders to find him, but just to observe, not approach.[/color]"

"[color=maroon]All that from about, what ten pixels?[/color]" Erik was incredulous. Jane smiled at him; winded, but exhilarated. "[color=maroon]My question is: why haven't you initiated a Code R?[/color]"

"[color=fff79a]Dimensional Intruder alert?[/color]" Now Jane was incredulous. "[color=fff79a]Don't you think that's overkill?[/color]"

"[color=maroon]It's protocol. We have an alien walking around San Fransisco. We don't know where he's from or why he's here.[/color]"

"[color=fff79a]Alright.[/color]" Jane conceded the point, and sat down at her console to type the emergency command into the system.

The effect was instantaneous. The lights turned from buzzing white florescent to danger-red, and an automated voice sounded on repeat, "[i][b][color=ed1c24]Alert. Dimensional intruder detected. All duty personnel, report to your emergency station. Alert. Dimensional intruder detected. All duty-[/color][/b][/i]"

"[color=39b54a]Will someone shut that the hell off?[/color]" Shouted Major Abigail Brand, stamping into the room in a state of obvious agitation. The commander of S.W.O.R.D. was twenty-eight, a green-haired half-alien, and was hell on wheels. The security alarm was deactivated, silencing the automated message and returning the lights to normal. Abigail sighed in relief. "[color=39b54a]Thank you. You know when that alarm is tripped, the first person to know is Maria Hill. She's gonna be up my ass in sixty seconds, so we have that long to figure out what the hell is going on.[/color]"

"[color=maroon]We got a live one.[/color]" Was the most Erik could offer, going over the data that he had been ignoring a moment before.

"[color=39b54a]I need a live feed on the main monitor now. Get me satellites 6A through 6J in position over San Fransisco. I want thermal, radiation sensors, and bio-scan.[/color]" The S.W.O.R.D. commander wasted no time barking orders, before turning back to her teams of hurriedly-conferring scientists and technicians. "[color=39b54a]Okay people, what have you got for me?[/color]"

"[color=maroon]Energy signature of the bridge doesn't have any matches on record. As far as we know, he's new in town.[/color]" Erik said, rubbing his eyes under his glasses. "[color=maroon]He might not be a total stranger though. A class K wormhole with these readings is something we've seen before, with some of Wonder Woman's enemies.[/color]"

"[color=39b54a]You're telling me we're dealing with a Greek God?[/color]" Abigail seemed somehow discomforted by the idea. Meanwhile, the main monitor flashed between satellite imagery of San Fransisco and static. "[color=39b54a]Son of a- Who do I have to kill to get a decent connection around here? And where is my thermal?[/color]"

Shrinking back from the shouting soldier, Erik replied, "[color=maroon]It's just a guess, we don't have enough data to cross reference to be sure.[/color]" This was true, but not due to a lack of inter-dimensional travelers. In his "enthusiast" days, Erik estimated that Earth was host to over five-hundred cross-dimensional incursions in an average year. If that estimate was accurate, S.W.O.R.D. detected less than three percent of those incursions. "[color=maroon]It's very probably magic, though.[/color]"

"[color=39b54a]Magic, of course. Well, what is our magic man doing, does anyone have eyes on him? I saw the APB, he's a big boy, he ought to stand out in a crowd.[/color]"

"[color=fff79a]Not yet,[/color]" Jane answered, "[color=fff79a]But SFPD haven't picked up any unusual chatter. If he's doing anything, he's not making any waves.[/color]"

Abigail sighed, rapping her knuckles against the nearest desk as she watched a fuzzy feed of the bird's eye view over the block that their visitor had been dropped into. "[color=39b54a]Shit, well, we don't want to leave him alone too long. Get whoever you can to head over and check it out. Scratch that, get someone competent. No repeats of last time, capiche? Besides that... If things are quiet, we can hope they'll stay quiet. Who knows, maybe he's just a tourist.[/color]"

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[b][color=yellow]San Fransisco, California[/color][/b]

Thor was hopelessly lost. Both in a spiritual, emotional sense as well as a very literal one. Thor had an excellent sense of direction, as befit an experienced hunter and sailor, but the directions his brother had given him were confusing, and seemingly contradictory. Additionally, Thor found that in city streets and buildings all tended to look alike, further exacerbating his confusion. He was able to generally orient himself based on a few landmarks, a large red bridge chief among them, but was otherwise having a miserable time trying to find his way around.

Midgard was very different to how Thor remembered it. That was what Loki had told him just after he had broken the news of his exile to his brother. He was right about that, it was indeed very different. Thor realized in retrospect that his brother had used the truth to lure him in, as he often did. Loki visited Midgard all the time, he had told Thor, surreptitiously, without father knowing. Thor would be eaten alive if he went down without his beloved elder brother's help, which Loki was all too happy to provide. And help he did indeed. He gave the exiled prince a glamour so that his manner of dress would fit in among the Midgardians, and to hide his axe from their sight. Thor had been so overjoyed to have the support of someone in his family after the ordeal he had just been through, that he didn't question his brother's motives. Not even as Loki handed him a thick wad of Midgardian paper currency, and directions to accommodations he recommended. Thor asked if he could still hunt and fight with the Norsemen, but Loki told him they were now called "Social Democrats" and weren't fun anymore, and Thor believed that too, though he didn't understand what it meant.

Thor found out very quickly that the money Loki had given him was actually a bunch of worthless, colorful paper. He had tried to give some as alms to a beggar, and the man had thrown the pink strips back at him, insulted. Thor found out immediately after that nothing was free on Midgard, not even directions, and so he continued to wander, lost in body and mind. A dark cloud hung over the exiled Prince Thor, almost literally; overcast skies began to roll in over the bay. He wasn't sure what was hurting him most at that moment: his father throwing him away, his mother letting it happen, or all of it being his own fault to begin with. The fact that his bother couldn't put aside his love of mischief long enough to help Thor in his hour of need wasn't sitting well with him, either.

Just as he was about to give up trying to find the probably imaginary hotel Loki had sent him to look for, something caught the corner of Thor's eye. He picked his head up and caught sight of a brilliant flag, emblazoned with the rainbow colors of the Bifrost . Had that been one of the infuriatingly vague landmarks Loki had told him to look for? Thor had forgotten. Still, he crossed the street to investigate further, leaping clear over the oncoming traffic. Thor found that buildings on both sides of the street were overflowing with rainbow flags, all in various designs and colors. Even the people on the street seemed particularly colorful, and was reminded for a homesick moment of the vibrancy of Asgard.

Just as he was about to slip back into his depression, he caught sight of something familiar. A ways up the street, stood in front of a building with yet another rainbow flag, were a pair of men smoking. However, they were both stout in build, arrayed in metal and leather, with heavy beards, and thick body hair. Thor recognized vikings anywhere, and picked up his pace to join them. 

The vikings recognized Thor approaching, and waved as he came closer. One, smoking a cigarette, called out, "[color=0072bc]Why hello big fella, where's the fire?[/color]"

"[color=ed1c24]No fire, just a fellow warrior in need of guidance. A-and maybe a little money.[/color]" The smoking viking looked at Thor, looked at his companion, and then looked back at Thor, clearly looking him up and down suspiciously.

"[color=0072bc]Suit's too nice to be panhandling... Did you get robbed?[/color]"

"[color=ed1c24]Sort of, yes. It's a long story.[/color]" Thor said, with real weariness in his voice. The two vikings shared another glance.

"[color=0072bc]They take your phone, did you call the police?[/color]"

"[color=ed1c24]Ah, well, I would rather not get involved with all of that today. Too much hassle. I just want to get back to my hotel.[/color]"

The other man spoke up, "[color=black]Oh, your hotel, of course! Are you a tourist? I should have known from your accent. No, no, let me guess. Sweden? No, wait, Iceland![/color]"

Thor smiled nervously, "[color=ed1c24]Something like that, yes.[/color]"

"[color=0072bc]Why don't you come in, have a drink, and we can get you all sorted out. Sound alright friend?[/color]" The man stamped out his cigarette under a spurred, leather boot, and took Thor's arm, leading him back inside the establishment. 

Thor sighed, and let them lead him inside. He could use the drink. "[color=ed1c24]Give me the biggest horn you have, and fill it with mead 'til it's spilling over.[/color]" Inside was predictably a bar; dark, smoky, loud, with thrumming music playing. The place was filled with men with similar appearances to the two Thor had met outside, dressed in various arrangements of leather, chains, and hirsute skin. Thor was beginning to think these vikings were a little on the odd side, but they were friendly and had libations, so he wasn't about to complain.

"[color=0072bc]We don't have craft beers, but I like where your head's at.[/color]" The man he had been speaking to rounded the bar and washed his hands, before pulling out a heavy, glass mug from underneath.

Thor sat down at the bar, the steel stool creaking loudly under his weight. "[color=ed1c24]Fine, give me whatever's on tap, and a lot of it.[/color]"

"[color=0072bc]Pabst it is.[/color]"