• Prologue: Parlour Tricks


    Space. Ancients have always thought this to be the home-place of the gods, the heavens, the place where the idea of life on earth was thought up. But the ancients are gone, along with their beliefs, and modern man has taken their place. Modern man doesn't believe in gods. Modern man knows what lies out there in Space. Or so they think....
    The US has many satellites in the earth’s orbit, but only one has the ability to listen store worldwide communications data. This satellite, named UN COMM, was approved by the UN as part of a project to try and keep a record of all important media files related to worldwide events for future generations. This satellite is the most advanced the world has ever seen, and is currently being hacked. No alarms are sounded, because everyone on earth watching this satellite doesn't know this. The hacker has done their job well, as the satellite is completely under their control, and is transferring all of its data directly into a single laptop. Now if anyone cared or had even known to take counter-measures to try and locate the hacker, they would have failed. But they would have noticed that the laptop that information is now being downloaded to an apartment building somewhere in the populous city of London. And an abandoned warehouse in Russia. And last but not least a fish sorting plant in New York City that was last used for a union meeting a month before. All these places exist, or rather, they had existed in real life. When people finally realized that their satellite had been taken over, and went to investigate these places for information, all they found was fire crews watching the ashes of the now burnt down places. The leaders of the world were really stumped about what had happened, and why. And while they were pondering this, this hacker was really happy that no one hadn't caught him for once, as he was one of those hackers who was always caught. But thanks to his new employer and the state of the art hardware that they had supplied, hacking was a piece of cake! Jenkins (as most people called him) was really happy about this whole deal. Before he had been living in a real shabby-looking apartment in the bad side of Chicago, with nothing much than an old laptop and some ratty clothes to his name. But all that changed when he got a email asking for his specific services as a hacker. At first he though it was the feds, trying to trick him into custody again. But as it turned out, it was a legitimate job offering! Now he had his own penthouse at the top of one of the most lavish apartment buildings in New York City, and basically everything he asked his employer for. His employer was mysterious at times though, often sending “supervisors” to come check on him and give him messages instead of coming directly himself...or herself. Jenkins didn't really know whether his employer was a guy or a girl, cause every time they called him (which was once if Jenkins recalled right), they spoke through a voice encrypter. But now that the “big project” had been done, his employer would personally deliver the money to him.
    “Well as long as he sticks to the original agreement.” Jenkins muttered to himself while leaning back in his computer chair. He was a bit suspicious of his employer, but what else could he complain about? His life was full of luxuries now, like he always wanted! And as long as that was set in stone, he had no reason to go against his employer. Jenkins leaned back in his chair, pondering what he would do after this job.
    “Maybe I'll go to an island somewhere, and just relax in peace.” he said this out loud, his eyes closed as he daydreamed about which island he would go to. And even though he was speaking to no one in particular, a voice answered him, bringing him out of his reveries.
    “Shouldn’t you be worrying about your job instead of islands?” Jenkins eyes opened wide as he looked around startled, seeing who it was. His eyes finally saw the large man at the door, partially hidden by the shadows in the hallway. Jenkins heartbeat slowed just a little as he recognized the owner of the voice. At once he regained his cool, grinning at the man called Frank that came to check on him once in a while.
    “Don't you have anything better to do than to spook people Frank?” Frank stepped out of the shadows, looking like the Cheshire Cat reappearing in front of Alice, complete with big conspicuous smile and everything. He was wearing his trademark outfit, the one he had on every time he came to check up on Jenkins: the black casual dress pants, the white button-up t-shirt, and of course the black tie. But of course none of his attire fit in with his shaggy hair and beard.
    “Hey Jenkins, I have a surprise for you today. The boss wants to congratulate you on finishing your job, most splendidly I may add.” Before Jenkins could ask how he knew about the job being finished that quickly, Frank continued.
    “You see, your...I mean our employer, felt the need to throw aside all this anonymous persona crap, and decided to come to thank you for your services in person. I have the utmost fortune to introduce you to Mr. Locke.” That’s when Jenkins noticed a second man standing besides Frank. He was taller than Frank, heck even taller than Jenkins, and Jenkins was 6 feet. What also caught Jenkins eye was his apparel. He was wearing a grey designer suit, expensive leather shoes, and looked every bit of a European business man. He had his hair put back in a neat ponytail, that along with his trim goatee made him look almost like a museum curator. Jenkins went to shake his hand.
    “It’s an honor to meet you at last sir, It’s been a pleasure working for you.” he said with a smile, trying his best to look professional...it wasn’t really working for him. To Jenkins’ surprise, instead of just blowing off his handshake, his employer shook his hand vigorously while smiling and said “Ah at last, i have the pleasure of personally thanking my most wonderful employee! You have been most helpful to me in this project!” Jenkins was startled by his overt enthusiasm, and was quickly tongue-tied and fully aware that his face was really red. Mr. Locke noticed this and smiled even wider, if that was even possible, and turning to Frank said “look, the boy’s so modest hes blushing!” Frank didn’t even bat an eyelash, he just grunted and continued standing there with his arms crossed at the doorway. Mr. Locke turned back to Jenkins, who at this point wanted to very much crawl under a rock or something, and laughed.
    “My dear boy, you have helped a great cause by assisting with this project.” Mr. Locke was still grinning, obviously still happy about something. “And today I have come here personally to fill you in on the project details and why you have been doing what you’ve been doing.” Jenkins’ ears perked at this last comment, having been curious to the motives of his employer.
    “You see, me and my partners in business have a vision to change the world...Think of it as a humanitarian pursuit.” He added that last part in there after seeing the look of puzzlement on Jenkins’ face. Mr. Locke strode across the floor to the giant floor-to-ceiling window looking out as if concentrating.
    “Jenkins my dear boy, who do you think supplied all these nice living conditions for you?” Jenkins thought about it, and replied. “Didn’t you sir?” Mr. Locke turned around and looked at Jenkins as if amused, then looked back out the window. “Yes and no my dear boy. Technically I did, but in reality it was my supporters who paid for it. Their donations made my funds possible.Which in turn made your dreams possible. Tell me Jenkins, does all this seem surreal to you? How you ended up here in this lavish place when you were living in the dumps of society?” Jenkins was about to answer, but then suddenly felt very drowsy, and when he replied, it was in a slur of words.
    “ I.....I dunno sir...” Jenkins’ vision was getting blurry, and in a haze he saw Mr. Locke walk away from the window and stand next to Frank, watching him intently. He heard a buzzing sound, and realized that it was Mr. Locke talking.
    "Frank, I think the nerve agent is taking it’s desired effect. Now please stab our boy Jenkins here, but use the smaller blade please.” Jenkins’ brain went into panic mode, but his body wouldn’t respond right. He tried to get away, but all he managed to do was take a few steps, and fall down. Jenkins could only watch as Frank came over and picked him up by the shoulder, then pulled a knife out of nowhere. He had a weird look in is eye, almost feral. Just as he was about to stab Jenkins, Mr. Locke spoke up.
    “Wait Frank, i think i forgot something...why yes, i forgot to introduce ourselves properly.” At this point, it was all Jenkins could do to stand up straight, let alone respond back.Not that Mr. Locke cared, for he spoke anyways.
    “Ever heard of the Norse gods, my boy? Of course you have, they teach you all about us in your schools these days.” At this comment Jenkins' mind went into panic again, picking up at the implications of this last statement. Mr. Locke seemed to sense this, and smiled a really evil grin. “Yes, I said us. You see I am actually the Norse god of trickery and deceit, Loki. And the man standing behind you waiting to kill you is Fenrir, my ever-loyal companion.” Jenkins would have screamed had his body let him, but for now he had to be content to let his mind scream instead. Mr. Locke walked up to him, hands behind his back, studying Jenkins’ face with a dissatisfied grin on his face.
    “I don’t think you understand how severe your situation is right now...here let me show you.” Mr. Locke said this as he reached out and touched Jenkins on the forehead. All of a sudden a crack appeared. Not on the wall, but in mid-air right in front of Jenkins’ face. Jenkins’ eyes darted across the room, looking everywhere, seeing nothing but cracks. He managed to stammer out one thing. “What...What are you doing to me?!?” Mr. Locke, now Loki, replied.
    “It’s not what I’m doing my dear boy, it’s what I'm undoing.” Then everything just burst, and the second Jenkins blinked, all he could see was bright light, then blue. He breathed in, and noticed that the air was fresher, not from AC units. Then he realized an intense pain in his abdominal area. He glanced down and was surprised to see he had a giant gash in his stomach and that it was bleeding heavily. Jenkins stood up wobbling, still feeling some effects of the nerve agent. He looked up to see Mr. Locke and Frank leaving through a door, and then realized that he was on a roof. He tried to run after them, but stumbled and fell. Off the edge of the roof.
    Mr. Locke and Frank watched as Jenkins plummeted 72 stories, and heard the screams of people as his body hit the ground. Mr. Locke then went to the door, opened it then turned back, talking to Frank. “We should go now, we don’t want anybody learned the secrets to our parlour tricks.” Then he just blinked out of view. Frank looked down at the growing scene down on the pavement, shrugged then blinked out too, muttering to himself. “I still say we should have carved up his body, that way they wouldn’t know who he was...”