Marvel University

Chapter 3: To Bring Together... Part 2

7:08 PM, East Los Angeles, CA

Run.

That's all Amadeus Cho could do after his house was attacked, blown up, and had his parents killed. It's been about a week since it happened, and he had been on the run since then. His only apparent company was a small coyote pup he found while he was on the lamb.

He was tired, hungry. Yeah, he would slid something in his pocket when he would pass by gas stations, but nothing to actually satisfy him. He also needed to think of his new coyote puppy. Kirby, he named it. He had been walking for so long, he barely even knew where he was. But he knew one thing: he smelt food.

It was around after sunset, and he was already hiding behind a bush, so maybe he could snag something without being noticed. But he'd have to calculate everything, and that meant EVERYTHING to pull this off.

First, he needed a diversion. Not too small that nobody would care, but not too big to scare people off. But maybe that was just what he needed. He also needed to recognize that they'd see that one of the meats on their grill was missing. And he needed to know what to do while Kirby while he waited. Maybe he could take Kirby with him? But maybe if he did, they'd think he'd take too much, so they'd say no.

Maybe he could just walk up, ask for something, and leave.

"Come on, Amadeus. You're overthinking like you do everything else. Just play it cool..." he said to himself.

So he got up from where he was hiding, and walked up to the huge group of people around a grill, with Kirby in his coat.

"H-hey..." he started nervously.

They all turned to look at him, and some of them started to murmur in Spanish. Until someone finally responded.

"Eh, what can we do for you, niño?" one of them spoke up.

"I-I just want to get something to eat. I'll be one my way after, I promise. I don't wanna bother any of you... er... lovely people," he said with an awkward smile. Amadeus tried to sound as innocent and persuasive as possible without overdoing it.

Three men around the grill looked at each other in disbelief and huddled around each other. Amadeus tries to listen in, but he never actually learned Spanish, only the simple words.

"Ay, yo, es otro de esos niños que actúan como si no nos robaran toda nuestra comida. ¿No te acuerdas de la última vez, hermano?" one of them whispered to the other.

"El último par de veces en realidad. Estoy harto de caer en ello cada vez. El hecho de que sean adolescentes no significa que no podamos crecer una columna vertebral," another responded.

"Esto realmente podría ser un truco para alguien que simplemente no quiere trabajar por su comida," another said back.

"Cierto. Quiero decir, la forma en que estaba hablando me estaba alejando. ¿Quién llama al azar a un grupo de personas alrededor de una parrilla "gente encantadora"? Él obviamente ha planeado algo, chicos," the first one said.

The others nodded and began to walk up to Amadeus.

"Well, he said 'hermano'. That means 'brother' right? I'm gonna be like their new... brother? Oh, I'm gonna die of starvation," Amadeus thought to himself as they walked up to him.

"So... what's your name, niño?" the first one asked.

"A-Amadeus..." Amadeus responded.

"Okay, A-Amadeus," the first one mocked, causing a small chuckle amongst the people.

"We've been through this before and we don't want any trouble, so why don't you just go back to where you came from and actually work for what you want instead of mooching off of other people, eh?" the first one continued.